Chapter 4: Job Analysis
Details of Slide 29-Job Analysis in a Worker-Empowered World
In slide 7 (titled: Steps in Job Analysis) we discussed the second step titled – ‘Review relevant
background information’. In that second step, we mentioned about analysing background
information through organisation chart (or Hierarchical Chart) and Process Chart (Example given
on Slide 8). Another important part of reviewing relevant background information is deciding if
we need to redesign the job.
Previously scholars believed ‘Specialized’ job works the best but now most agree that
specialized jobs may backfire. Hence, they have suggested 3 ways to redesign a specialized job
to make them more challenging. The three ways are:
1. Job Enlargement
2. Job Rotation
3. Job Enrichment
1. Job Enlargement: Assigning workers additional same level activities. Job enlargement is
through increasing the number of tasks to be performed by the employee in order to reduce work
related boredom.
Example: Company A has Receptionist named Jane. Jane is responsible for activities like
handling customer queries and attending calls on the front desk. As she had been doing these
same works for 3 years and she got bored. As she discussed this issue with the HR Manager of
her company, the HR Manager has now decided to implement the job enlargement to make
Jane’s work more interesting. The HR Manager has added few more activities/tasks like
interacting with clients and making outbound calls.
In the above example of Job Enlargement, you can notice more responsibilities were added but
the responsibilities were of the same level.
2. Job Rotation: Systematically moving workers from one job to another.
Example: In Management Trainee Programs, the fresh graduates who join as Management
Trainees are usually asked to work with different departments of the organization initially before
getting a permanent position in a specific department. For example, these Management Trainees
work in the Marketing department in week 1, then in week 2, they work in the HR department
and then in week 3, they work in the Finance department and so on. Gradually, these
Management Trainees work in all the departments by rotation during their initial period at the
organization. Such a practice is called Job Rotation.
Job Rotation is usually helpful for the organization, if the organization wants their employees to
have a good understanding of the activities of all the departments in the organization.
3. Job Enrichment: Redesigning the job in a way that increases the opportunities for the worker
to experience feelings of responsibility, achievement, growth and recognition.
Example: Company B has employee named Nadim. Nadim works as a HR Executive and his
responsibilities include mainly related to recruitment like preparing the job advertisements,
posting the job ads in the social media, collecting the CV of the candidates who apply of various
positions. However, Nadim did not have any authority of making any decision regarding the
recruitment process. The HR Manager of the Company B saw Nadim had potential to be a good
HR Manager of the company in the future. Hence, the HR Manager decided to improve Nadim’s
skills and prepare him for the future role with the process of Job Enrichment. Thus, the HR
Manager asked Nadim to get involved in the selection process as well where Nadim participated
in the employee selection interviews and shared his opinion about who should be hired in the
organization. This process allowed Nadim to have not only more responsibilities and also to have
a feeling of growth and recognition.