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Assignment 1 Words: 4013 Submitted: Wed Aug 10 2011 Mark submitted by Author “In the current business environment, what role do job design and workforce diversity play in attempts to improve individual and organizational performance.” Human Resource Management (HRM 502) 1st visit to Coursework.info? Welcome!
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Page 1: Assignment 1

Assignment 1

Words:4013

Submitted:Wed Aug 10 2011

Mark submitted by Author

 

 

“In the current business environment, what role do job design and workforce diversity play in attempts to improve individual and organizational

performance.”

 

 

 

 

Human Resource Management

(HRM 502)

 

 

 

 

 

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Page 2: Assignment 1

 

 

Zaved Mannan

D-6 Tower Bhaban, Fuller Road

Dhaka University Campus

Dhaka 1000

Bangladesh

 

Student ID: 11320053

 

 

 

Date: 29.08.2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Sturt University

Australia

 

 

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Table of Contents

 

 

 

Introduction                                                             4

 

Job Design Defined                                                    5

 

Workforce Defined                                                    6

 

Workforce Diversity Defined                                        6

 

Performance Management                                         8

 

Role of Job Design in attempts

To Improve Performance                                           9

 

        Job Specialization                                               9

 

        Rotation                                                            9

 

        Job Enlargement                                               11

 

        Job Enrichment                                                  11

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        Job Characteristics Model                                   12

 

        Empowerment                                                   13

 

Role of Workforce Diversity in

Attempts to Improve Performance                              15

 

        High Quality Decision Making                                15

 

        Better Understanding and

          Service of Customers                                         15

 

          More Satisfied Workforce                                   16

 

          Higher Stock Prices                                            16

 

          Lower Litigation Expenses                                  17

 

        Higher Company Performance                            17

 

Job Design and Workforce Diversity                             18

 

        Tracking Diversity Metrics and

          Diversity-Related Goals                                       18

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        Explicit Rewards for Increasing

          Diversity and Diversity Training

          Programs                                                          19

 

          Review Recruitment Practices                             19    

 

Conclusion                                                         20    

 

References                                                                          22     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Introduction

 

 

Appropriately managed diverse workforce can represent a resource to the firm. The

diverse workforce may represent a unique combination of skills, experiences and

attributes that is not easily replicable or appropriable. Several surveys and researches

into effective diversity use and management suggests the difference inherent in a

diverse workforce can be a positive influence on organizations, particularly in relation

decision-making, innovation, creativity and globalization.

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Job design is important to influence employee motivation. HR manager must consider

motivational issues in designing jobs to achieve effective performance of both

individual and organization.

The first purpose of this review is to define and analyze few key HR concepts.

Research on job design, workforce diversity and performance management will be

reviewed. The second purpose of this review is to critically evaluate the role of both

job design and workforce diversity in attempts to improve individual and

organizational performance. The third purpose of this review is to integrate job design

and workforce diversity. If HR managers design jobs in such way that promotes and

manages workforce diversity in an organization, then both individual and organization

will have improved performance in the current business environment.

 

Job Design Defined

A job consists of a related set of tasks that are carried out by a person to fulfill a

purpose (Davis, 1966). Job design has been defined by Noe et al (2010) as: “is the

process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in

a given job. Job redesign refers to changing the tasks or the way work is performed in

an existing job.”

Job design has two aims (Davis, 1966):

To satisfy the requirements of the organization for productivity, operational

efficiency and quality of product or service;

To satisfy the needs of the individual for interests, challenge and

accomplishments, thus providing for ‘job engagement.

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Clearly these aims are interrelated and the overall objective of job design is to

integrate.

 

Job design influences employee motivation. Therefore, HR manager must consider

motivational issues in designing jobs to achieve effective performance (Ramlall,

2004).

The job designer can then consider how the jobs can be set up to provide the

maximum degree of intrinsic motivation for those who have to carry them out with a

view to improving performance and productivity (Wilson’s, 1973). The outcome of

job design may be a job description.

 

Workforce Defined

Bartol at all (2010) defined workforce as “is people employable by the organization.”

Organizations recruit employees from the external labor market. “The external labor

market includes persons actively seeking employment (Noe et al, 2010)

 

Workforce Diversity Defined

“Diversity refers to the individual’s visible and invisible distinguishing

characteristics” (Bartol et al, 2010). Diverse workforce can be divided into two

dimensions: primary and secondary dimensions. These two dimensions are described

in table 1 (Bartol et al, 2010):

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Table 1 Diversity of DimensionsPrimary Dimensions Secondary DimensionsAge

Race

Gender

Physical ability

Ethnicity

Sexual orientation

Education

Religious beliefs

Military Experience

Geographic location

Income

Work background

Parental status

Marital status

 

According to Table 1, primary dimensions refers to those characteristics people

possess when they born (e.g. race, age, gender) and secondary dimensions refers to

those characteristics people acquired during a person’s lifetime (e.g. education,

marital status, income).

There are always certain groups in any society that are discriminated against

unfavorably due to the prejudices and preconceptions of the people with whom they

have to deal. The effects of this can be seen in the employment arena. Disadvantaged

groups who have already been identified are (Braham, P., Rhodes, E. and Pearn, M.,

1981):

Women;

People from other racial backgrounds;

Disabled people; and

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Older people.

 

 

The types of preconception that still affect the employment of these four groups are,

for example, that women do not want too much responsibility at work or they are less

reliable workers because of their home commitments; that employees would not want

to work for a black supervisor; that the ability to fill out an application for in good

English is an indication of an individual’s potential to do a manual job; that someone

who has suffered from mental illness will automatically crack up under the slightest

pressure; that older people are less adaptable; and that they have become less

interested in their careers (Braham, P., Rhodes, E. and Pearn, M., 1981).

 

Performance Management

When managing the performance of individuals and organization both inputs

(behavior) and outputs (results) need to be considered. This is the so called ‘mixed

model’ (Hartle, 1995) of performance management which covers competency levels

and achievements as well as objectives setting and review.

Therefore, Performance management in its fullest sense is based on the belief that

everything that people do at work at any level contributes to achieving the overall

purpose of the organizations. It is therefore concerned with what people do (their

work), how they do it (their behavior) and what they achieve (their results) (Hartle,

1995).

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Role of Job Design in Attempts to Improve Performance

 

Many of us assume the most important motivator at work is pay. However, studies

point to a different factor as the major influence over worker motivation is job design.

How a job is designed has a major impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction,

commitment to an organization, absenteeism, and turnover.

Job specialization

There are a number of advantages to job specialization. Breaking tasks into simple

components and making them repetitive reduces the skill requirements of the jobs and

decreases the effort and cost of staffing. Training times for simple, repetitive jobs tend

to be shorter as well. On the other hand, from a motivational perspective, these jobs

are boring and repetitive and therefore associated with negative outcomes such as

absenteeism (Campion, M. A., & Thayer, P. W., 1987).  

Rotation

 

When employees periodically move to different jobs, the monotonous aspects of job

specialization can be relieved (Denton, D. K.,1994). Using this technique, among

others, the company is able to reduce its turnover level. In a supermarket study,

cashiers were rotated to work in different departments. As a result of the rotation,

employees’ stress levels were reduced, as measured by their blood pressure.

Moreover, they experienced less pain in their neck and shoulders (Rissen, D., Melin,

B., Sandsjo, L., Dohns, I., & Lundberg, U., 2002).

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Job rotation has a number of advantages for organizations. It is an effective way for

employees to acquire new skills and in turn for organizations to increase the overall

skill level of their employees (Campion, M. A., Cheraskin, L., & Stevens, M. J.,

1994). In addition, job rotation is a way to transfer knowledge between departments

(Kane, A. A., Argote, L., & Levine, J. M., 2005). Rotation may also have the benefit

of reducing employee boredom.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that companies successfully rotate high-level employees

to train managers and increase innovation in the company. For example, Nokia uses

rotation at all levels to bring a fresh perspective to old problems (Wylie, I., 2003).

Wipro Ltd., India’s information technology giant uses a 3-year plan to groom future

leaders of the company by rotating them through different jobs (Ramamurti, R.,

2001).

 

Job enlargement

By giving employees several different tasks to be performed, organizations hope to

reduce boredom and monotony as well as utilize human resources more effectively.

Research indicates that when jobs are enlarged, employees view themselves as being

capable of performing a broader set of tasks (Parker, S. K., 1998). There is some

evidence that job enlargement is beneficial, because it is positively related to

employee satisfaction and higher quality customer services, and it increases the

chances of catching mistakes (Campion, M. A., & McClelland, C. L., 1991). At the

same time, job enlargement consisting of adding tasks that are very simple in nature

had negative consequences on employee satisfaction with the job and resulted in

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fewer errors being caught. Alternatively, giving employees more tasks that require

them to be knowledgeable in different areas seemed to have more positive effects

(Campion, M. A., & McClelland, C. L., 1993).

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is a job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how

they perform their own tasks. This approach allows employees to take on more

responsibility. Companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes,

such as reduced turnover, increased productivity, and reduced absences (McEvoy, G.

M., & Cascio, W. F., 1985). This may be because employees who have the authority

and responsibility over their work can be more efficient, eliminate unnecessary tasks,

take shortcuts, and increase their overall performance. At the same time, there is

evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause dissatisfaction among certain

employees (Locke, E. A., Sirota, D., & Wolfson, A. D., 1976). The reason may be

that employees who are given additional autonomy and responsibility may expect

greater levels of pay or other types of compensation, and if this expectation is not met

they may feel frustrated. One more thing to remember is that job enrichment is not

suitable for everyone (Cherrington, D. J., & Lynn, E. J., 1980).

Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs

with increased motivational properties (Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R., 1975). An

integrated view (Robertson and Smith  1985) suggests that the following motivating

characteristics are of prime importance in job design:

        Autonomy, discretion, self-control and responsibility;

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        Skill variety;

        Use of abilities

        Feedback;

        Belief that the task is significant.

        Task significance

        Task identity

        Interest and challenge

 

According to the job characteristics model, the presence of these core job dimensions

leads employees to experience three psychological states: They view their work as

meaningful, they feel responsible for the outcomes, and they acquire

knowledge of results. These three psychological states in turn are related to

positive outcomes such as overall job satisfaction, internal motivation, higher

performance, lower absenteeism and turnover (Brass, D. J., 1985).

Empowerment

One of the contemporary approaches to motivating employees through job design is

empowerment (Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N., 1988). The idea behind

empowerment is that employees have the ability to make decisions and perform their

jobs effectively if management removes certain barriers. Employees who feel

empowered believe that their work is meaningful. They tend to feel that they are

capable of performing their jobs effectively, have the ability to influence how the

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company operates, and can perform their jobs in any way they see fit, without close

supervision and other interference. These liberties enable employees to feel powerful

(Spreitzer, G. M., 1995). In cases of very high levels of empowerment, employees

decide what tasks to perform and how to perform them, in a sense managing

themselves.

Empowerment of employees tends to be beneficial for organizations, because it is

related to outcomes such as employee innovativeness, managerial effectiveness,

employee commitment to the organization, customer satisfaction, job performance,

and behaviors that benefit the company and other employees (Ahearne, M., Mathieu,

J., & Rapp, A., 2005). At the same time, empowerment may not necessarily be

suitable for all employees. Moreover, the idea of empowerment is not always easy to

implement, because some managers may feel threatened when subordinates are

empowered (Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A., 2005).

 

 

 

Role of Workforce Diversity in Attempts to Improve performance

 

 

Having a diverse workforce and managing it effectively have the potential to bring

about a number of benefits to organizations.

High Qulaity Decision Making

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In a diverse work team, people will have different opinions and perspectives. In these

teams, individuals are more likely to consider more alternatives and think outside the

box when making decisions. When thinking about a problem, team members may

identify novel solutions. Research shows that diverse teams tend to make higher

quality decisions (McLeod, P., Lobel, S., & Cox, T. H., 1996).

Better Understanding and Service of Customers

A company with a diverse workforce may create products or

services that appeal to a broader customer base. For example,

PepsiCo Inc. was able to increase the percentage of women and

ethnic minorities in many levels of the company, including

management. The company points out that in 2004, about 1% of the

company’s 8% revenue growth came from products that were

inspired by the diversity efforts, such as guacamole-flavored Doritos

chips and wasabi-flavored snacks (Hymowitz, C., 2005). A company

with a diverse workforce may understand the needs of particular

groups of customers better, and customers may feel more at ease

when they are dealing with a company that understands their needs

(Slater, S. F., Weigand, R. A., & Zwirlein, T. J., 2008).

More Satisfied Workforce

When employees feel that they are fairly treated, they tend to be

more satisfied. On the other hand, when employees perceive that

they are being discriminated against, they tend to be less attached

to the company, less satisfied with their jobs, and experience more

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stress at work (Sanchez, J. I., & Brock, P., 1996). Organizations

where employees are satisfied often have lower turnover.

Higher Stock Prices

Companies that do a better job of managing a diverse workforce are

often rewarded in the stock market, indicating that investors use

this information to judge how well a company is being managed. For

example, companies that receive an award from the U.S.

Department of Labor for their diversity management programs show

increases in the stock price in the days following the announcement.

Conversely, companies that announce settlements for discrimination

lawsuits often show a decline in stock prices afterward (Wright, P.,

Ferris, S. P., Hiller, J. S., & Kroll, M., 1995).

Lower Litigation Expenses

Companies doing a particularly bad job in diversity management

face costly litigations. When an employee or a group of employees

feel that the company is violating EEOC laws, they may file a

complaint. Regardless of the outcome, these lawsuits are expensive

and the resulting poor publicity also has a cost to the company. For

example, in 1999, the Coca-Cola Company faced a race

discrimination lawsuit claiming that the company discriminated

against African Americans in promotions. The company settled for a

record $192.5 million (Lovel, J., 2003) As you can see, effective

management of diversity can lead to big cost savings by decreasing

the probability of facing costly and embarrassing lawsuits.

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Higher Company Performance

As a result of all these potential benefits, companies that manage

diversity more effectively tend to outperform others. Research

shows that in companies pursuing a growth strategy, there was a

positive relationship between racial diversity of the company and

firm performance (Richard, O. C., 2000). Companies ranked in the

Diversity 50 list created by DiversityInc magazine performed better

than their counterparts (Slater, S. F., Weigand, R. A., & Zwirlein, T.

J., 2008). And, in a survey of 500 large companies, those with the

largest percentage of female executives performed better than

those with the smallest percentage of female executives (Weisul, K.,

2004).

Job Design and Workforce Diversity

 

What can organizations do to manage workforce diversity more effectively through

dob design? In the most successful companies, starting from top management and

including the lowest levels in the hierarchy, each person understands the importance

of respecting others. If this respect is not part of an organization’s culture, no amount

of diversity training, job desinging or other programs are likely to be effective.

Considersing these facts, HR manager can include following aspects when they

design  or redisgn job. These aspects will improve workforce diversity in an

organization.

Tracking Diversity Metrics and Diversity-Related Goals

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Job desing should make the managers accountable for diversity. People are more

likely to pay attention to aspects of performance that are measured. In successful

companies, diversity metrics are carefully tracked. For example, in PepsiCo, during

the tenure of former CEO Steve Reinemund, half of all new hires had to be either

women or minorities. Bonuses of managers partly depended on whether they had met

their diversity-related goals (Yang, J. L., 2006). When managers are evaluated and

rewarded based on how effective they are in diversity management, they are more

likely to show commitment to diversity that in turn affects the diversity climate in the

rest of the organization.

Explicit Rewards for Increasing Diversity and Diversity Training Programs

A study of over 700 companies found that programs with a higher

perceived success rate were those that occurred in companies

where top management believed in the importance of diversity,

where there were explicit rewards for increasing diversity of the

company, and where managers were required to attend the

diversity training programs (Rynes, S., & Rosen, B., 1995).

Review Recruitment Practices

Companies may want to increase diversity by targeting a pool that

is more diverse. There are many minority professional groups such

as the National Black MBA Association or the Chinese Software

Professionals Association. By building relations with these

occupational groups, organizations may attract a more diverse

group of candidates to choose from. The auditing company Ernst &

Young Global Ltd. increases diversity of job candidates by mentoring

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undergraduate students (Nussenbaum, E., 2003). Companies may

also benefit from reviewing their employment advertising, selection

procedures, tests and interviewing process to ensure that diversity

is important at all levels of the company (Avery, D. R., 2003).

 

Conclusion

 

 

Early alternatives to job specialization include job rotation, job enlargement, and job

enrichment. Research shows that there are five job components that increase the

motivating potential of a job: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy,

and feedback. Finally, empowerment is a contemporary way of motivating employees

through job design. These approaches increase worker motivation and have the

potential to increase performance for both individual and organization.

Organizations managing diverse workforce effectively benefit from diversity because

they achieve higher creativity, better customer service, higher job satisfaction, higher

stock prices, lower litigation expenses and higher company performances.

Management of diversity effectively promises a number of benefits for employees and

organizations.

Organizations can manage workfroce diversity more effectively through job design by

building a culture of respect, making managers accountable for diversity, creating

diversity-training programs, reviewing recruitment practices, and under some

conditions, utilizing affirmative action programs.

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