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Theories of Work Redesign

Theories of Work Redesign

The implementation of an ERP system such as SAP R/3 can have a dramatic effect on the style, structure, and culture of the organization. When this occurs, work redesign is inevitable. Employees, who have undergone training with the process system and acquired greater knowledge interacting with it, need tasks assigned that use these skills. Employees who find it difficult to work with the enterprise system need non-system jobs assigned to them. Performance evaluation and career advancement should reflect the organizational changes. Work redesign around the process system should not only increase the efficiency of the company but also provide the organizational participants with enriched work. Task design should result in work itself providing the employees with the motivation to perform well, and increasing on-the-job productivity. Most of all, jobs need to be designed in such a way that they provide employees enjoyable work by putting their skills and talents to use.

How can individuals be motivated at work? Researchers in human behavior science have been trying to answer this question for a long time. It has been a difficult question to answer because individuals are different from one another. In the mid 1970s, researchers considered work redesign as the solution to motivating employees at work. Case studies of successful work redesign projects indicate that work redesign can be an effective tool for improving both the quality of the work experience of employees and their on-the-job productivity (Hackman, 1975). A number of researchers have studied work redesign over the years . The table below provides an outline of the theories espoused and their basic assumptions.

Researchers

Theory

Basic Assumptions

Frederick Herzberg (1959)

Two Factor Theory

Hygiene factors are necessary to maintain a reasonable level of satisfaction in employees, which are extrinsic and are related to the job context. They are pay, benefits, job security, physical working conditions, supervision policies, company policies and relationships with co-workers .

Motivating factors are intrinsic to the content of the job itself. These are factors such as achievement, advancement, recognition and responsibility. It is these factors that bring job satisfaction and improvement in performance.

Douglas McGregor (1960)

Theory X and Theory Y

McGregor's Theory X assumes that employees are lazy and unwilling to produce above the minimum requirements. By contrast, Theory Y assumes that people are not by nature passive or resistant to organizational objectives. The essential task of management is to arrange organizational operations in such a way that employees achieve their own goals by directing their efforts towards organizational objectives.

Turner and Lawrence (1965)

Requisite Task Attributes Model

They used six requisite task attributes, such as variety, required interaction, knowledge and skill, autonomy, optional interaction and responsibility to calculate a requisite task attribute index (RTA). They found strong links between attendance, worker's involvement and attributes of the work.

William Scott (1966)

Activation Theory

When jobs are dull or repetitive it leads to low levels of performance because dull jobs fail to activate the brain. However, when jobs are enriched, it leads to a state of activation and enhances productivity.