Work Design

and Technolog

yMR. ARVIN R. LUNARMAIE - HRM

It is an arrangement in the workplace that has the objective of overcoming employee alienation and job dissatisfaction that comes about from mechanical and repetitive task in the workplace.

Technology is changing people’s jobs and their work behavior.

Technology in the workplace affects employee behavior in a variety of ways.

Continuous Improvement Processes

The goal is to continuously reduce/eliminate variations from a set of standards to lower costs, reduce errors and improve quality.

Process Reengineering

Start with a “clean sheet of paper” and re-think/re-design everything in terms of the processes used in operations.

Technology (cont…)Technology (cont…)

Mass customization: Processes that are flexible

enough to create products and services that are individually

tailored to individual customers (e.g., built to order

products)

Mass production: Using division of labor,

standardization, and automated processes to manufacture products in

large quantities.

E-commerce: the sales side of electronic business

E-business: the full breadth of activities included in a successful internet-based enterprise

E-organization: application of e-business concepts to all organizations

1. Internet: a worldwide network of interconnected computers.

2. Intranets: an organization’s private internet

3. Extranet: extended intranets accessible

Motivation: Ex. CyberloafingEthics: Ex. Electronic surveillance

Group

Communication Ex. Virtual meetingsPolitics and Networking Ex. Cyber-schmoozing

INDIVIDUAL

Task Characteristic Theories

Task Characteristic Theories Requisite Task

Attributes Theory

It began with the pioneering work of Turner and Lawrence in 1960. They predicted that employees would prefer jobs that were complex and challenging.

5 Core Job Dimensions5 Core Job Dimensions

1. Skill variety2. Task identity3. Task significance4. Autonomy5. Feedback

Job Characteristics Model

Social Information Processing (SIP) ModelSocial Information Processing (SIP) Model

Employees adopt attitudes and behaviors about their jobs (for better or worse) in response to the social cues provided by others with whom they have contact.

Work Design OptionsWork Design Options

Job Rotation(or what many call cross-training)

The periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another.

Job Enlargement

Is a job design technique where in there is an increase in the number of tasks associated with a certain job.

Job Enrichment

The vertical expansion of jobs (it increases the degree to which employees control the planning, execution and evaluation of his/her work)

Work Space DesignWork Space Design

Size (i.e., square feet per employee) Arrangement – (i.e., distance between people and

facilities ) Privacy – (i.e., the presence or absence of walls,

partitions, cubes - about 40 million US workers work in cubicles),

Feng Shui – (i.e., an ancient Chinese system for arranging a person’s surroundings so they are in harmony/balance with nature. Goal = maximize “Chi” or life force)

Work Schedule OptionsWork Schedule Options

Flextime (i.e. flexible work hours) workers must be at their jobs during “core” hours but can either start early and leave early or start late and leave late

Job Sharing (i.e. having 2 or more employees split a 40 hour work week). This can be done by splitting each day (i.e. working from 8am-12noon and another employee works 1pm to 5pm) or by splitting the week (i.e. working Monday thru Wed and another employee works Wed thru Friday).

Telecommuting – working from home via a computer linked to the office. This is often associated with a “virtual” office.

THANK YOU..