UNIT 5

ANALYZING
THE WORK
ENVIRONMEN
T
OBJECTIVES:

• Discuss the concepts of job analysis, job

specification and job description
• Explain the importance of analyzing the work
environment in devising the HR budget
WAYS TO LOOK THE CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT

1. ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
2. GROUP PERSPECTIVE
3. INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE
 ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

WORKFLOW refers to the way work is organized to

meet the organization’s production or service goals.

3 GENERAL TYPES OF ORGANIZATION IN TERMS

OF STRUCTURE

 Bureaucratic organization
 Flat organization
 Boundaryless organization
BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATION

Typically resembles
pyramid which uses a top-
down or “command-and-
control approach
management.
Based on a functional
division of labor.
FLAT ORGANIZATION

Has only few levels of

managers and
employees and
emphasizes
decentralization.
• Ex: A bartender may be
allowed to cross- train
in housekeeping to
enable him to become
flexible and more useful
to the company.
BOUNDARYLESS ORGANIZATION

Enables company to form

relationships with customers,
suppliers and/or competitors,
either to pool organizational
resources for mutual benefit
or to encourage cooperation.

• Ex: An accountant in KL
hotel can be transferred to
its Cairo affiliate hotel for
several months.
GROUP PERSPECTIVE

TEAM - small number of people with

complementary skills who work toward common
goals for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable.
SEVERAL TYPES OF TEAMS
 Self Managed teams (SMTs)
 Problem-solving team
 Special-purpose team
 Virtual team
SELF-MANAGED TEAMS (SMTs)

• Responsible for
producing an entire
product, a component,
or an ongoing service.
• The primary motivation in
implementing such work
teams in organizations is
to improve quality and
productivity, and to
reduced operating costs.
PROBLEM-SOLVING TEAM

Consists of volunteers from

a unit or department who
meet one or two hours per
week to discuss quality
improvement, cost reduction
or improvement in the work
environment.
 SPECIAL PURPOSE TEAM
Task force consists of members
who:

• span functional or organizational

boundaries
• whose purpose is to examine
complex issues like introduction
of new technology, improving
the quality of a work process
• encouraging cooperation
between labor and management
 VIRTUAL-TEAM
• Uses interactive computer
technologies such as the
internet, groupware and
computer-based video
conferencing to work
together despite being
separated by physical
distance
• Similar to problem-solving
team except that the members
interact only electronically
instead of face-to-face
INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE

MOTIVATION impetus that energizes, directs and

sustains human behavior. Person’s desire to do the
best possible job or to exert the maximum effort
to perform assigned tasks.
MOTIVATION THEORIES
 Two-Factor Theory
 Hierarchy of Needs Theory
 Work Adjustment Theory
 Goal-Setting Theory
 Job Characteristics Theory
TWO-FACTOR THEORY

Frederick Herzberg - employees

find satisfying or dissatisfying about
their jobs.
Implications:
 Job should be designed to provide as
many motivators as possible.
 Making external changes in hygiene
factors such as pay or working conditions
is not likely to sustain improvements in
employee motivation over the long run
unless internal changes are also made in
the work itself.
 HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow - every human has 5 basic

needs.
Implications:
 The company should provide eaningful work and
activities for the employees to realize higher level
needs.
 The survival needs (safety and physiological needs)
should always be addressed first.
 The development needs ( belongingness, esteem and self
actualization needs) will be addressed in time based on
opportunities presented to employees and their willingness
to pursue higher level needs.
 WORK ADJUSTMENT THEORY

Rene Dawis and Lloyd Lofquist - employees’

motivation levels and job satisfaction depend on the
fit between their needs and abilities and the
characteristics of the job and organization.
Implications:
 A job design that an employee finds challenging and
motivating may not motivate another employee.
 Not all employees want to be involved in decision-making
tasks.
 GOAL-SETTING THEORY
Edwin Locke - employees’ goal help to explain
motivation and job performance.
Implications:
 Employees will be more motivated to perform when they have
clear and specific goals
 Employees will be more motivated to accomplish difficult goals,
provided they are attainable
 In many cases, goals that employees participate in creating for
themselves are more motivating than goals that are simply
assigned by managers
 Employees who receive frequent feedback on their progress
toward reaching their goals sustain higher levels of motivation
JOB CHARACTERISTICS THEORY
Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham - employees will
be more motivated to work and more satisfied with their
jobs if their jobs contain certain core characteristics.
5 core job characteristics:
 Skill variety
 Task identity
 Task significance
 Autonomy
 Feedback
• SKILL VARIETY the degree to which the job requires the person to do
different things and involves the use of a number of different skills,
abilities ad talent.

• TASK IDENTITY the degree to which a person can do the job from
beginning to end with visible outcome.

• TASK SIGNIFICANCE the degree to which the job has significant

impact on others both inside and outside the organization.

• AUTONOMY the amount of freedom, independence, and discretion

the employee has in areas such as scheduling the work, making
decisions and determining how to do job

• FEEDBACK the degree to which the job provides the employee with
clear and direct information about job outcomes and performance.
JOB DESIGN

The process of organizing

work into the task required to
perform a specific job.
3 influences on job design:
 Workflow analysis
 Business strategy
 Organizational structure
JOB DESIGN

5 approaches to job design

 Work simplification
 Job enlargement
Job rotation
Job enrichment
Team-based job design
 WORK SIMPLIFICATION enables work to be broken down in
simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency.

 JOB ENLARGEMENT expands a job’s duties. Additional tasks are

added to an employee’s current tasks list.

 JOB ROTATION rotates workers among different narrowly defined

tasks without disrupting the workflow.

 JOB ENRICHMENT is an approach to job design that

directly applies job characteristics to make jobs more
interesting and to improve employee motivation.

 TEAM-BASED job design focuses on giving a team, rather than

an individual a whole and meaningful piece of work to do.
JOB ANALYSIS

• Systematic gathering and

organization of information
concerning jobs. It puts job of
position title under scrutiny to
reveal important details about
the job.
• TASK basic element of work
that is logical and necessary
step in performing a job duty.
JOB DESCRIPTION

• Summary statement of the

information collected in the
job analysis process which
identifies, defines, and
describe a job n terms of its
duties, responsibilities,
working conditions and
specifications.
JOB SPECIFICATION

• Refers to a list of desirable

characteristics of a position in a
company.
• Characteristics pertains to
qualification (education,

work experience, license if applicable

and training) KSA's (knowledge, skills
and attitudes) and personality
(appearance, height, weight and
health condition)