Job Design as a Motivational Tool - Essay Example

A business owner or manager must be able to guide their employees in order to keep their motivation high so that they can produce at their maximum capacity. Job design is the instrument that allows managers to obtain the best possible results out of their subordinates. Job design is a work arrangement aimed at reducing or overcoming job dissatisfaction and employee alienation arising form repetitive and mechanistic tasks (Businessdictionary). This report discusses different job design techniques that can be used to motivate employees.

The six job design strategies discussed in the report are job enlargement, job rotation, job enrichment, flextime, job sharing, and flexplace.Job enrichment is the practice of enhancing job content by building into it more motivating factors such as responsibility, achievement, recognition, and personal growth (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn). A small business owner depends a lot on the output of their staff since resources are limited. The employees must be empowered by the owner in order to get more out these employees.

The job enrichment strategy can be used effectively by proving the employee with higher level of involvement in the everyday activities of the business so that the employee feels that the overall performance of the company is highly dependent of the work the person is performing. Job enlargement increases the variety of tasks by combining two or more jobs into job description that used to be performed by different set of workers. This is a very typical scenario in a small business. Sometimes the accountant is also the marketing executives.

The small business owner can use this strategy, but the owner must make sure the employee is being compensated adequately in financial terms so that the person does not feel he / she is being exploited. Job rotation is a work layout technique that involves a horizontal approach which involves the periodical shifting or rotating of employees into different job tasks. In small company job rotation occurs intrinsic without the employees noticing the business owner is shifting their job duties. The business need determines the rotation of the employee.

Employees get motivated when the manager gives them different tasks to perform because the monotony of repetitive work tasks is eliminated. Employees enjoy working in a place where their time needs are part of the equation. A system that provides the flexibility employees desired is flextime. Flextime is a job design system that allows the employee to select the time he or she will work (Rosenberg). This technique motivates employees because they know the business owner respects the personal commitment of a person such as the commuting of their children or other personal commitments.

This non-financial reward is sought out a lot by single parents. Flexplace is the ability of the worker to work outside a fix location. A form of flexplace that is very beneficial for small business owner is telecommuting. Telecommuting occurs when a worker works out of their home office and communication occurs via the internet. The small business owner saves money in facility layout, while the employee saves money in transportation costs. The employee is motivated by this set up because they can work on their own time.

Job sharing involves splitting a full time position among two persons. This set up gives the business owner greater flexibility and allows savings in the form of fringe benefits savings. The business environment in the 21st century requires owners to adapt to the changes that are taking place. Loyalty among employees is a lost art since human resources are looking for the best opportunity available in the marketplace. A good way to increase employee retention is to effectively utilized job design techniques to motivate employees and provide the types of non-financial reward employees seek.

Work Cited PageBusinessdictionary.com. 2008. “Job Design.” 12 May 2008. Rosengberg, D. 2008. “Flextime: A definition” 12 May 2008. Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.