Feedback on the course HR
INeal
Noe11e_ch_04_FINAL.pptxChapter 4
The Analysis and Design of Work
©McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objectives
LO4-1 Analyze an organization’s structure and work-flow process, identifying the output, activities, and inputs in the production of a product or service.
LO4-2 Understand the importance of job analysis in strategic human resource management.
LO4-3 Choose the right job analysis technique for a variety of human resource activities.
LO4-4 Identify the tasks performed and the skills required in a given job.
LO4-5 Understand the different approaches to job design.
LO4-6 Comprehend the trade-offs among the various approaches to designing jobs.
©McGraw-Hill Education
Introduction
No “one best way” to design jobs and structure organizations.
Organizations need to create a fit between environment, competitive strategy, philosophy and jobs and organizational design.
Failing to design effective organizations and jobs has important implications for competitiveness.
©McGraw-Hill Education
3
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 1 of 6
Work-Flow Design
Important in understanding how to bundle tasks into discrete jobs
Organization Structure
Need to understand how jobs at different levels relate
LO 4-1
©McGraw-Hill Education
4
Work-flow design is the process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service, prior to allocating and assigning these tasks to a particular job category or person. Organization structure refers to the stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization.
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 2 of 6
Work-Flow Analysis
Provides a means for managers to understand all tasks required to produce a high-quality product and the skills necessary to perform those tasks
Analyzing work outputs
Can be a product or service
©McGraw-Hill Education
5
Figure 4.1 Developing a Work–Unit Activity Analysis
©McGraw-Hill Education
6
Figure 4.1. Organizations need to identify clearly the outputs of work, to specify the quality and quantity standards for those outputs, and to analyze the processes and inputs necessary for producing outputs that meet the quality standards. Work-flow process helps managers to understand all the tasks required to produce a number of high-quality products as well as the skills necessary to perform those tasks. This work-flow process is depicted in Figure 4.1. The final stage in work-flow analysis is to identify the inputs used in the development of the work unit’s product. As shown, these inputs can be broken down into the raw materials, equipment, and human skills needed to perform the tasks. Raw materials consist of the materials that will be converted into the work unit’s product. Equipment refers to the technology and machinery necessary to transform the raw materials into the product. The final inputs in the work-flow process are the human skills and efforts necessary to perform the tasks. Every work unit—whether a department, team, or individual—seeks to produce some output that others can use. An output is the product of a work unit and is often an identifiable thing, such as a completed purchase order, an employment test, or a hamburger. However, an output can also be a service, such as the services provided by an airline or a housecleaning service.
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 3 of 6
Work-Flow Analysis continued
Analyzing work processes
How is the output generated (operating procedures)?
Team-based job design
Lean production
Analyzing work inputs
Raw materials, equipment, and human skills
Just-in-time inventory
Equipment
©McGraw-Hill Education
7
The work processes are the activities that members of a work unit engage in to produce a given output.
Lean production refers to processes developed in Japan, but then adopted worldwide, emphasizing manufacturing goods with a minimum amount of time, materials, money—and most important—people.
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 4 of 6
Organization Structure
Dimensions of structure
Centralization
Departmentalization
©McGraw-Hill Education
8
Two of the most critical dimensions of organization structure are centralization and departmentalization. Centralization refers to the degree to which decision-making authority resides at the top of the organizational chart as opposed to being distributed throughout lower levels (in which case authority is decentralized). Departmentalization refers to the degree to which work units are grouped based on functional similarity or similarity of work flow.
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 5 of 6
Organization Structure continued
Structural configurations
Functional structure
High levels of centralization
Very efficient with little redundancy
Divisional structure
Low levels of centralization
More flexible and innovative
Not efficient
©McGraw-Hill Education
9
Figure 4.2 The Functional Structure
Jump to long description in appendix
SOURCE: Adapted from J. A. Wagner and J. R. Hollenbeck, Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 1998).
©McGraw-Hill Education
Figure 4.3 Divisional Structure: Product Structure
©McGraw-Hill Education
Figure 4.4 Divisional Structure: Geographic Structure
©McGraw-Hill Education
Figure 4.5 Divisional Structure: Client Structure
©McGraw-Hill Education
Work-Flow Analysis and Organization Structure 6 of 6
Organization Structure continued
Structure and the nature of jobs
Jobs in functional structures need to be narrow and highly specialized.
Managers of divisional structures often need to be more experienced or high in cognitive ability relative to managers of functional structures
©McGraw-Hill Education
14
Job Analysis 1 of 6
The Importance of Job Analysis
Work redesign
Human resource planning
Selection
Training and development
Performance appraisal
Career planning
Job evaluation
LO 4-2
©McGraw-Hill Education
Job analysis refers to the process of getting detailed information about jobs.
15
Job Analysis 2 of 6
The Importance of Job Analysis to Line Managers
Must have detailed information about all the jobs in their work group to understand the work-flow process
Need to understand the job requirements to make intelligent hiring decisions
Are responsible for ensuring that each individual is performing satisfactorily
Must ensure that the work is being done safely
©McGraw-Hill Education
16
Job Analysis 3 of 6
Job Analysis Information
Nature of information
Job descriptions
Tasks, duties and responsibilities (TDRs)
Job specifications
Knowledge, skill, ability, and other characteristics (KSAOs)
Not directly observable
©McGraw-Hill Education
A job description is a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a job entails. A job specification is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform the job.
17
Job Analysis 4 of 6
Job Analysis Information continued
Sources of Job Analysis Information
Subject-matter experts
Job incumbent
Supervisors
Social networks
©McGraw-Hill Education
18
Job Analysis 5 of 6
Job Analysis Methods
Job analysis is the process of getting detailed information about a job.
Two recognized methods
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)
The Occupational Information Network (O*NET)
LO 4-3
©McGraw-Hill Education
19
Job Analysis 6 of 6
Dynamic Elements of Job Analysis
Jobs change and evolve over time
The job analysis process must also detect changes in the nature of jobs
Dejobbing
Viewing organizations as a field of work needing to be done rather than a set of discrete jobs held by specific individuals
LO 4-4
©McGraw-Hill Education
Job Design 1 of 5
Mechanistic Approach
Identify the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency
Scientific management
Workers are trained in the “one best way” to do a job, then selected on their ability to do the job
Monetary incentives
LO 4-5
©McGraw-Hill Education
The mechanistic approach has roots in classical industrial engineering. The focus of the mechanistic approach is identifying the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency.
Scientific management was one of the earliest and best-known statements of the mechanistic approach.65 According to this approach, productivity could be maximized by taking a scientific approach to the process of designing jobs.
21
Job Design 2 of 5
Motivational Approach
Focuses on psychological and motivational potential of a job
Attitudinal variables are important
Job Characteristics Model
skill variety
task identity
autonomy
feedback
task significance
©McGraw-Hill Education
The motivational approach to job design has roots in organizational psychology and management literature and, in many ways, emerged as a reaction to mechanistic approaches to job design. It focuses on the job characteristics that affect psychological meaning and motivational potential, and it views attitudinal variables (such as satisfaction) as the most important outcomes of job design.
22
Job Design 3 of 5
Biological Approach
Also called ergonomics
Examines the interface between individuals’ physiological characteristics and the physical work environment
Applied to redesigning equipment for jobs that are physically demanding
Provides a climate that values safety and health
©McGraw-Hill Education
Job Design 4 of 5
Perceptual-Motor Approach
Design jobs that don’t exceed people’s mental capabilities and limitations
Based on the least capable worker
©McGraw-Hill Education
The perceptual–motor approach focuses on human mental capabilities and limitations. The goal is to design jobs in a way that ensures they do not exceed people’s mental capabilities and limitations.
24
Job Design 5 of 5
Technology
Absence presence results when interacting with multiple media
Technology can increase opportunities for errors
SBAR method
©McGraw-Hill Education
“SBAR” method, originally developed in commercial and military aviation as a means to hand off an airplane moving through different people’s airspace, to standardize communication protocols at the hand-off point in medical contexts.
25
Appendix of Image Long Descriptions
©McGraw-Hill Education
Appendix 1 Figure 4.1 Developing a Work-Unit Activity Analysis
Raw inputs – What materials, data, and information are needed?
Equipment – What special equipment, facilities, and systems are needed?
Human Resources – What knowledge, skills, and abilities are needed by those performing the tasks?
Activity – What tasks are required in the production of the output?
Output – What product, information, or service is provided? How is the output measured?
©McGraw-Hill Education
Appendix 2 Figure 4.2 The Functional Structure
The president is at the top, followed by the vice presidents for each functional area (marketing, engineering, etc.). Reporting to the vice presidents are subunits, such as sales and quality assurance. Reporting to the manufacturing subunits are the plants, with layers of supervisors and assembly workers.
©McGraw-Hill Education
