Four traditional approaches - Admission/Application Essay Example

Approaches to Job Design Introduction The four approaches to job design were introduced in the 20th century in America. These are scientific management, job enlargement/job rotation, job enrichment, and the job characteristics theory. In this paper, the four approaches will be described and compared. The first approach is the scientific management which focuses on the specialization and simplification on work. This approach is used mainly for jobs that are scientifically-specific such as engineers.

In this design, the workers do not need to analyze or think about the tasks as they are permanent and instructed already mostly with a repetitive nature. Workers in these jobs tend to be experts of their duties as they have to repeat the work and leads to effective and speedy productive (DuBrin, 2011). However, it limits the workers to explore themselves, their thoughts, and creativity. This approach is rarely used in the modern businesses as they focus on motivating employees through job rotation or job enrichment.

In order to eliminate the boredom that scientific management of jobs can cause, two other methods have been introduced; job enlargement and job rotation. In this approach, there is no repetition and workers are given a chance to stay motivated and productive (Pinder, 2014). Job enlargement is where workers are given increased number of tasks instead of just one task. Workers are given other tasks related to their work so that they have variety and there is no specification. Job rotation is the approach in which the workers are given different tasks related to the same department.

They are rotated from time to time so that there is no repetition.Job enrichment is different from scientific management and job rotation as it involved a vertical responsibility. This approach is used to motivate the employees by giving them more responsibility other than their ordinary duties. They are given managerial tasks and supervising tasks along with their work so that they are more recognized. This approach is commonly used in modern businesses where workers are given more challenging and creative jobs that keep them motivated.

It gives the workers more responsibility towards planning, managing, and decision-making. Unlike the first two approaches, this has proven to be more motivating and productive. It contributes to human satisfaction and task efficiency, and also a greater scope for personal achievement (DuBrin, 2011). The job characteristics theory is a model which is introduced by Hackman & Oldham. In this model it was outlined that every worker would respond differently to the same job and their levels of motivations will depend on the types of job attributes and their individual attributes.

There are five types of job attributes that can change and affect employee motivation; skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. These can impact the individual and psychological attributes of each worker in three areas; experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results (Pinder, 2014). This model is popularly used as it focuses on the flexibility of the tasks and the workers’ psychological states. The jobs are designed in accordance to these elements and they improve productivity and efficiency.

It is different from all other straight forward job design approaches. References DuBrin A. (2011). Essentials of Management. Cengage Learning Pinder C. (2014). Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior. Psychology Press