Week 5 Project

Work Organization and Job Design—Meaningful Work

When you think of job design, what comes to mind? How does job design factor into the business strategy? Before the HR professional can even begin to evaluate the workplace and job design, careful attention must be given to the workforce. What an employee in the U.S. may feel brings meaning to the job may not necessarily resonate with an employee in another country.

Below are a few questions to ponder:

Does the department manager determine what makes a job meaningful?

Does the employee determine what makes a job meaningful?

Does the employer and employee share their opinions?

If an employee is not happy with the assigned tasks and work environment, production will most likely be low. Lack of enthusiasm and disinterest can also lead to costly errors. To continuously have the employees excel in their positions requires the HR professional, executives, stakeholders, and managers realizing employees are not chattel, but an investment that dictates the overall survival of the organization. Work humanization programs have been investigated in several countries to understand how employees perceive the meaning of work and what makes work meaningful.

According to Wintersberger (2017), there are:

Five core job dimensions which employers need to address to make the work more meaningful:

Five Core Dimensions for Work Satisfaction In order for the HR professional, leaders, and managers to make work more meaningful for the employees, the following core job dimensions must be addressed:

Review each term to know more.

Once the HR professional has a true grasp on what motivates the employees, then and only then can the job design begin. 

Link to Resources As per Wintersberger (2017), “When organizations adapt their work organization and production systems to the external environment (e.g. the educational system in the country and types of skills available among the workforce) then they are more likely to have ‘comparative institutional advantage’” (p. 244).

From the South University Online Library, read the following:

Hill Staffers Find Work Meaningful but Seek Balance  

(https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?

sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edo&AN=82875969&site=eds-live)

Workplace Spirituality and Stress: Evidence from Mexico and US  

(https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?

sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bth&AN=100417340&site=eds-live)

Creating Satis�ed Employees Through Workplace Spirituality: A Study of the Private Insurance Sector in

Punjab (India)   (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?

sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.42921418&site=eds-live)

An Integrative Model of Work/Family Interface for Chinese Employees  

(https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?

sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edb&AN=96556142&site=eds-live)

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Additional Materials

From your course textbook, International Human Resource Management: A Case Study Approach, read the following chapter:

Work Organization and Job Design across National Contexts

From the South University Online Library, read the following articles:

Whose Responsibility Is Meaningful Work? (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp? sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx? direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2011-12324-002&site=eds-live)

Job Design and Innovative Work Behavior: One Size Does Not Fit All Types of Employees (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp? sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ent&AN=85116522&site=eds-live)

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