Current and future work systems are extensively defined, and thus, strongly linked to management’s strategic decisions. Employees are getting more active in work design and reengineering. Cross-functional teams are advantageous from a strategic standpoint, but they can also be problematic. Managing their activities efficiently is a difficulty for them, which is further intensified by rising demands in modern companies. Thus every critical analysis of the approach to work design and redesign should prioritize the inclusion of an employee perspective into their HR policies.
It is the responsibility of the work system to recognize the demands of the organization’s employees while they are performing their jobs in order to achieve the business’s objectives. Employees work for a variety of reasons; thus, they anticipate different actions from their employers. As a result, firms should consider a variety of factors while creating their work systems to guarantee that their employees are comfortable at work. A company’s objectives are determined first, and then an operations strategy is developed to meet those goals. Designing a work system, which provides the framework for the company’s productivity, is a part of the operations strategy. Job design, work measurement, and worker pay are all part of the work system. The corporation defines the purpose of each job, what it entails, and how much it costs to hire people to execute the work. A position must bring value to the organization and help it accomplish its goals.
Assume a firm has the goal of operating a posh, premium restaurant. The restaurant must establish a set of occupations, the duties that each job entails, and a method for evaluating the employee’s success in the job to achieve its goal. A chef, a skilled kitchen crew, a professional wait staff, a maitre d’, a wine steward, and other positions would be available at the restaurant. The chef’s responsibilities might include, for example, designing the cuisine theme and menu. Revenue would be used to evaluate performance.
The purpose of job design is to ensure that each employee’s roles and responsibilities are aligned with the restaurant’s objective. Analysis eliminates unnecessary tasks and improves the process for completing tasks. Work measurement is a process for evaluating employee performance and comparing alternative processes. Job design, work measurement, and the setting of time standards and worker pay are all part of Work System Design (Mello, 2014). The fascinating truth is that decisions made in other areas of design can have an impact on the work design system, and that changes in the work design system can influence decisions made in other areas. Design of Work Systems will be influenced by the same factors that affect product or service design.
Overall, the chapter’s approach to job design and work systems development is insightful and detailed. It provides an all-encompassing perspective on the ways these subjects are addressed in the modern HR management. Arguably the chapter would benefit from slightly greater precision and additional examples to better illustrate the conveyed concepts. As the chapter is densely packed with relevant information, examples would be particularly beneficial since they would allow the readers to connect with the new facts on a personal level. Finally, additions and updates might be necessary for the future editions of the book, since the rapid evolution of the modern business world is likely to have affected the status quo on the subject.
Reference
Mello, J. (2014), “Design and Redesign of Work Systems” in Strategic Human Resource Management, Cengage Learning.