Job design methods seek how to design jobs. It is the process of putting together various elements to form a job, bearing in mind organizational and individual worker requirements, as well as considerations of health, safety, and ergonomics. Jobs can be designed to range them from very simple to highly complex ones depending on the skill required to perform the job.
Socio-technical Approach
This is another important approach to job design in which social and technical aspects of the organization are considered. Under it, jobs are designed according to individual needs and organizational requirements. This approach thus considers the social aspects and technical system of the job. Peer supervisor relationship, need for group work and creation of supportive environment are some key elements of the socio-cultural approach of job design. Jobs are created to deal with the situational demand for technical and social needs.
Employer’s motivation is the most important factor in organizational productivity. Various researchers have found that employee motivation is the function of socio-factor. Furthermore, this approach considers both job-related technical systems as well as accompanying social forces of the job. It means it includes an entire job situation along with organizational and social factors while designing jobs. This approach leads to the development of self-managed work teams in the organization.
The technical and social aspects of the job are analyzed in order to create jobs which have a supportive relationship. Moreover, it requires a combined effort of employees, supervisors, and union representatives to design and redesign the jobs under this approach. Their needs guide them for the better result. In this ground, jobs can be designed to the employee’s individual needs and technical requirements i.e. according to individual needs and organizational requirements. Hence, it is situational approach as it assesses the technical requirements and social surroundings of the job.
Merits of Socio-Technical system approach:
- Jobs designed under this approach provide greater employee job satisfaction because of fulfilling social needs of employees.
- This method gives more emphasis in the participation of employees. So, the overall productivity of the organization is expected to be increased.
- Employees can relate their output and social benefits. This helps to increase the tenure of employees.
- Jobs create a learning environment. So, employees will be more skillful.
Demerits of Socio-Technical system approach:
- Jobs give more emphasis on employee needs rather than on organizational needs.
- Most of the operating level employees may not be efficient for the decision making. So, the decision made by employees may sometimes mislead the organizational objectives.
- Employee union for sake of union-only may influence the overall planning of the organization.
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