DESIGN AND REDESIGN OF

WORK SYSTEMS
Design of Work Systems

 Job Specialization
 Creates jobs with very narrow task (activity) assignments
 Resulted in high efficiency, quickly achieved job
competency, low training costs, but created monotonous
jobs
 Job Enlargement
 An increase in task variety to relieve boredom
 Job Rotation
 Employees moved across different specialized positions
 Enlargement & rotation add variety but not necessarily
responsibility
Design of Work Systems

 Job Enrichment
 Increasing amount of responsibility
for quality & productivity that
employees have for their own work
 Vertical Loading
 Reassignment of job responsibility
formerly delegated to supervisor to
employee
Five Core Job Characteristics

 Skill variety  Autonomy

Extent to which work Extent to which employee
allows employee to use is able to work &
variety of skills determine work procedure
at own discretion
 Task identity
 Feedback
Extent to which work
allows employee to Extent to which work
complete whole or allows employee to gain
identifiable piece of work sense of how well job
responsibilities are met
 Task significance
Extent to which employee
perceives that work is
important & meaningful to
those inside or outside
organization
What Workers Need

 Changing demographics  Employee needs

& life styles representation
 Worker needs vary by (“voice”)
age, gender, race,  Workers want to be
religion, physical involved in work-
abilities, sexual related issues & expect
orientation, & marital organization to listen
& family status to concerns
 Employee needs for  Employee concerns
work/life balance about safety in
 Workers less workplace
committed to  Workers want safe,
organizations today hazard-free working
 Also suffer from environment
burnout & lower
performance
Types of Task
Interdependence
 Pooled interdependence  Reciprocal
 Individual employees work
interdependence
independently of each  Workflow is random
other in performing tasks
but utilize coordination of  Responds to immediate
activities situation
 Sequential  Employees have joint &
interdependence shared responsibilities for
work
 Work in process flow is
linear, from one individual  Higher levels of
to another interdependence require
 One individual depends on
higher levels of
timely completion of coordination & attention
quality work from another
coworker
Redesign of Work Systems

 Current & future work systems more broadly

defined & more closely related to strategic
choices
 Workers becoming more involved in design &
reengineering of jobs
 Cross-function teams strategically beneficial
 Also create challenges in effectively managing themselves
 Employees raised in individualistic cultures need
training to be effective team members
 Employees typically go through a life cycle which
addresses critical psychological and motivational
states which may affect performance and
productivity
Outsourcing

 Involves contracting out some of organization’s noncore

work activities to outside specialists
 Can do work more effectively
 Often for less than cost of doing work in-house
 Areas frequently outsourced:
 Payroll
 Benefits
 Technological support
 More than 75% of organizations outsource at least one
HR function
Outsourcing

 Can free up HR staff to focus on more

strategic issues
 Considerations:
 Cost savings
 Whether contractor can deliver
 Compliance with laws
 Impacts on employees whose jobs might
be lost
 Impacts on morale of remaining employees
Offshoring

 Involves exporting tasks & jobs to countries where labor

costs significantly less than in U.S.
 India remains largest market
 Wages approximately 10% of those paid in U.S.
 Often considered good by local standards
 Challenge of managing virtual global teams
 Need for tight organizational & operational control to
ensure coordination & communication
Offshoring

 Advantages  Disadvantages
 Cost savings  Loss of
 Extend work domestic jobs
day to 24  Transfer of
hours technical
knowledge
 Public
image/loyalty
concerns
Mergers & Acquisitions

 Mergers pursued for a variety of

reasons:
 Economies of scale in operations
 Consolidation in saturated markets
 Improving competitive position through
larger asset base
 Two thirds of mergers fail
 Largely because of inability to merge
cultural & other human factors
Technology Issues and
Challenges for HR

 Telework
 Employee surveillance &
monitoring
 e-HR
 Social Networking
Telework

 Dramatic growth in number  Issues affecting

of Americans working from
home success of telework
programs
 3.4 million in 1990
 19.6 million by beginning  Clear performance
of 2000 measurement system
is key
 Deciding which
employees will be
offered participation
 Equipment expense
 Some managers
uncomfortable
having direct reports
away from office
Employee Surveillance and
Monitoring
 More than 80% of large employers utilize monitoring
technology
 Internet usage
 E-mails
 Computer files
 Voice-mail
 Telephone usage
 Under Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
employees have only limited privacy rights
E-HR

 Opportunityto deliver
transactional types of services
online
 Payroll
 Employee benefits
 Scheduling
 Recruiting
 Training
 Career development
Social Networking

employers can reap benefits of social networking to

promote communication, particularly among remote
workers

can be done through public social networking sites such as

facebook or on an organization’s in-house intranet
Barriers to Change

 Disrupting status quo may be met with resistance by

both employees and managers
 Costs & reallocation of resources
 Employees will resist change unless they
 Perceive need to change
 See benefits from change
 Risk & uncertainty; no guarantee of improvements
 Poor coordination & communication can undermine
change initiatives
Overcoming Resistance to
Change
 Promote & implement change so it
provides benefits to those impacted
 Involve employees in change process to
increase their commitment to change
 Open, two-way communication
 Early before change decisions are made
 Dispel rumors
 Increase trust & acceptance of change by
keeping employees informed & asking for
input
 Reading 6-1
Using Outsourcing for Strategic Competitiveness in Small and Medium-sized Firms

Outsourcing originated in the manufacturing sector but has

spread and is growing widely in the service sector
80% of Fortune 500 organizations outsource into a $386
billion annual market
Most outsourcing has been done by larger firms yet small
and medium-sized organizations can take advantage of
outsourcing to enhance their competitive advantage
Reading 6-1
Using Outsourcing for Strategic Competitiveness in
Small and Medium-sized Firms

Outsourcing matrix considers organizational activities by

strategic importance (core or non-core) as well as by
outsourcing role (supplementary or complementary)
Supplementary outsourcing is that which leads to the
replacement of an activity being conducted within the
firm while complementary outsourcing leads to
supporting an activity being done within the firm so that
its delivery become more effective
Reading 6-1
Using Outsourcing for Strategic Competitiveness in
Small and Medium-sized Firms
Reading 6-1
Using Outsourcing for Strategic Competitiveness in
Small and Medium-sized Firms

 Cell 1 outsources non-core supplementary activities and

provides enhanced efficiency
 Cell 2 outsources non-core complementary activities
and provides synergy and legitimacy
 Cell 3 outsources core complementary activities and
enhances activities of strategic importance

Cell 3 outsourcing is more risky than that of Cells 1 or 2

Reading 6-2: Monitoring Employee E-mails: Is
There Any Room for Privacy?

Employers generally assume the expense and effort associated

with monitoring employee e-mails for three reasons; (a)
protecting the firm from liability risks, (b) protecting
company assets, and (c) ensuring job performance.
Employees and employee advocates have raised privacy
concerns around this monitoring but, to date, employers
have prevailed in every case in which they have been
accused of violating employee privacy rights
Employers can face more stringent conditions on monitoring
employee e-mail and different cultural expectations about
privacy, particularly in the European Union.
There can also be behavior and performance consequences
associated with monitoring.
Reading 6-2: Monitoring Employee E-mails: Is
There Any Room for Privacy?