Work Design Roles - Assignment Example

 Work Design Roles Humans are the most critical resources of any business organization. In order to harness this resource in ways that would give them competitive advantages over others, business organization have focused their attention on design of the roles of their employees. In order to fulfil this need, research in Human Resource managers study a number of processes as the part of their studies which helps them in not only fulfilling the human skills requirement of the employer in an optimum way, but also to evaluate the performance of the employee in order to keep them motivated and contributing toward the organization. Processes used in this regard by the Human Resource Managers include selection, development and the rewarding process which together form the key elements of an HRM cycle. However, one process that is closely related to all these key elements is the process of Job/Work design. Work Design can be defined as the process of specification of the responsibilities, methods as well as relationships of jobs in order to meet the technological and organization requirements of a business organization as well as the personal requirement of job holders. It is important for Human Resource manager to understand the importance of work design in order to understand the affect that a particular role can have on the employee and on the organization. This report attempts to provide an understanding of how important is work design for employees, by detailing and differentiating between the roles of a Bookstore Manager and an LGV Lorry Driver (Barrett & Mayson, 2008). Human Resource managers use a number of approaches for work design within any organization. One of most commonly used approach is of Socio-Economic Theory. It specifies four basic principles, which according to its authors contribute majorly toward optimum design of any role. These principles are Responsible autonomy, Adaptability, Whole Tasks and Meaningful Tasks. In the following lines, work design of a bookstore manager and an LGV Lorry driver are differentiated based on these principles (Miner, 2002). Work Design of a Bookstore Manager The position of bookstore manager is considered a senior position among management level employees. This is because not only the store manager is responsible for the financial performance of the store, he/she is also responsible for developing and leading a team of employees that work at the store as well. Hence, this position not only requires significant management skills but also require leadership skills. The work environment of a bookstore manager is the store itself which is often filled with customers coming in to browse and shop for books. The store manager reports to senior management which is often the area manager. The person working on this role is required to develop new strategies to enhance the sales of the stores while also maintaining the current sales (Barrett & Mayson, 2008). These strategies may involve development of in-store offers as well as recommendation of books, design of the store in order to make more welcoming as well as maintaining the security of the store through evaluation and adoption of technology. A bookstore manager is also required to poses excellent communication skills to communication effectively with the employees in order to motivate them and to make a positive impression of the store on the customer. The work design of the bookstore manager also requires the manager to be responsible for the team that he/she is leading (Berman et al., 2009). This include development and setup of programs to enhance employees skills through training, performance reward programs as well as implementation of processes through which the manager can receive feedback from the lower level employees. She/he is also required to guide the employees in order the resolve their issues as well as plan and assign responsibilities for the team as well (Bratton & Gold, 2001). The role of bookstore manager requires dynamism. This means that a bookstore manager should be able to adapt himself/herself and the resources to the requirement of different environment in order to maximize the returns for the organization. This would also require the bookstore manager to be able to manage and handle employees as well as their staff functions while also being capable of managing the size of his/her team. She/he must also be able to deal with uncertainty at work place, and should be confident of taking right decision with whatever information is available. Furthermore, the person working as the bookstore managers is also required to be able to work independently to achieve the goals set for him by the organization, while also being capable of breaking down a larger task into smaller ones in order to assign responsibility to his/her team. She/he must be multi-skill and multitasking and should be able to independently select what and how to do when assigned a responsibility (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Work Design of an LGV Lorry Driver In contrast to bookstore manager, the position of LGV Lorry driver is considered a skilled job rather than a management position, in which special skills are required to perform the job responsibilities. Also, the work design of the LGV Lorry Driver does not require from the person working at the position to be responsible for a team. Rather, the LGV driver him/herself is considered a part of a team and hence it is required that an LGV Lorry Driver be very effective when it comes to communicating with team member and with senior employees (Bratton & Gold, 2001). The work design of the LGV driver also requires the person to be responsible and care of his/her vehicle. She/he must also be able to operate in a variety of situations and environments and must be able to do independent task management for a group of assigned tasks. It also requires the person to be act responsibly for the tasks assigned to the in order to achieve the targets set for them and can contribute significantly as an individual or while working in a group (Miner, 2002). Relative Motivators Bookstore Manager There are a number of things which can act as a motivator for a Bookstore manager. First, a bookstore manager enjoys a high level of autonomy, which allows him/her to plan and design his/her work in a fashion that he may deem suitable in order to meet his goals. Being a senior manager, a Bookstore manager also enjoys greater performance rewards than any of the employees at a lower level, which the manager always have the strong sense of making a significant contribution to his/her employer organization. This position also allows the manager to face different situation almost every day, which allows him/her to acquire new skills and knowledge on a regular basis, while also allowing the person to apply the knowledge and practice the whole range of skills that he/she posses while on work (Accel-Team, 2010) . LGV Lorry Driver An LGV Lorry Driver, on the other hand, has totally different motivators. The aspects of the job which could keep the LGV Driver motivated include the performing of a job that is repetitive but not complex. An LGV Lorry driver also has a much smaller set of responsibility that those working at higher levels. This role also requires the person working as a LGV Lorry driver to manage the tasks related to his responsibility (that is, the delivery of goods from one place to another) by himself. This serves as a good experience to learn self management skills. Another motivator for an LGV Lorry driver is the performance based perks, where he/she may be rewarded to achieving goals in particular amount of time or a on a continuous basis (Accel-Team, 2010). Satisfaction in Roles Bookstore Manager A person may choose to become or remain a bookstore manager for a number of reasons. First of all, the person working at this position enjoys a lot of independence. This allows him/her to be creative with his/her work and try new things. A person may also choose this position because of the social and psychological rewards embedded in this job as it requires the person to come in contact with customers in order to build a relationship with them, as well as with employees in order to motivate and drive them, which may result in significant performance improvement of employees and thus the store. This position also offers significant opportunities to develop a wide range of skills as well as for growth while the monetary rewards at this position are also significant (Berman et al., 2009). LGV Lorry Driver On the other hand, a LGV driver may be satisfied with his/her job because the job involves tasks which are much easier to understand and do then of those of senior level employees. The self management of tasks as well as responsibility allows the driver some autonomy within the job while the driver may also seek satisfaction from the fact that LGV driving requires skills and the vehicle cannot be driven by anyone. Furthermore, there is the experience of visiting new places and going through new situations everyday which not only allows the driver to gain new knowledge but also appreciate the beauty of the nature while on road (Bratton & Gold, 2001). Conclusion Both Bookstore Manager and LGV Lorry driver have different responsibilities and hence contribute to their organization in a different way. The bookstore manager, though enjoy independence and larger monetary benefits, however, has a large domain of responsibilities which requires performing complex tasks. LGV Lorry Driver, on the other hand, has much simpler and easier tasks to perform, however, the level of rewards at that level is not huge and it offers only limited autonomy within the work. Works Cited Accel-Team, 2010. Job Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.accel-team.com/work_design/index.html [Accessed 27 January 2010]. Barrett, R. & Mayson, S., 2008. International Handbook of Entrepreneurship and HRM. Edward Elgar Publishing. Berman, E., Bowman, J., West, J. & Van Wart, M., 2009. Human Resource Management in Public Service: Paradoxes, Processes, and Problems. SAGE. Bratton, J. & Gold, J., 2001. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Routledge. Mathis, R. & Jackson, J., 2007. Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning. Miner, J., 2002. Organizational behavior: foundations, theories, and analyses. Oxford University Press. Stredwick, J., 2000. An introduction to human resource management. Elsevier. Read More