Workforce Design - Literature review Example

? WORKFORCE DESIGN Submitted By Introduction 3 Workforce/Job design Approaches 4 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The alarming rate of unemployment in the wake of current economic downturn has forced us to revisit our workforce design. Downsizing lay-offs have very devastating effects not only on the employees but also on the economic, political and social condition of the country. In this economic climate workforce redesigning with special emphasis on organizational values is one way to handle this situation in company’s benefit. Latest trends and approaches identifies HR as a strategic partner of the business. Workforce/job design is considered the building block for the smooth running of the human resource processes. There are many approaches regarding workforce/ job design are available all of them provides vehement support that a work design chosen appropriately keeping in view organizational needs and values do contribute positively for organizational success. There is no one best approach towards the workforce design. Organizations need to create and find the best fit between its environment, competitive strategy and philosophy with its organizational structure and design. The changing world of work, which is marked by increased competition, information and communication technology, workforce dynamics, has enforced many changes in organizational structure. In the wake of new economy and emergence of knowledge workers and the challenges of economic and financial crunch, intense competition, changing employment legislation, social and demographic trends organizations these days are battling to stay alive by doing more with less employees. (De Ceiri) There are many approaches surrounding workforce design and organizational structure we will focus our research on few approaches such as Competency Analysis, knowledge management, changes in organizational structure/workflow etc. Workforce/Job design Approaches There are many approaches for workforce/job design but as already discussed there is no one best approach. Organizations have to seek the best fit between organizational demands and environmental demands for any effective job design. Let’s dig deep into what are these demands and how job design is actually practiced. One of the organizational demands is that job design approach adopted should be derived from the organizational strategy which determines the duties, breath of task and responsibilities. Formalization of jobs and breadth and depth of task is determined by the company characteristics. Culture of the company and the society needs to be taken into account before deciding the managerial choices for job design tactics and employee’s acceptance of these job design decisions. Organizations also demand that employee’s concern should also be fulfilled regarding need for flexible work arrangements and perceptions of fairness in job duties. Environmental demands also cannot be ignored while deciding for the job design. Many environmental forces have their strong impact on job design such as influence of labor force which determines skill availability to perform task and demographics of workforce such as aging labor, influence of technology such as virtual teams and telecommunicating, influence of globalization such as workforce diversity, cross culture issues, influence of ethical and social responsibilities such as concerns for physical condition of job design and type of tasks, the influence of economic conditions such as growing economy or downturn economy. (David) Workforce planning, job analysis and job design play an important role in Human Resource management and the interaction between them is the key to success. The recent global financial crisis that was least predictable has led to certain downturn in the economy. Volatility in oil prices is also affecting the businesses. Recent trends and developments such as these has emphasized the role of business plan that not only anticipates but also helps in coping with such situations. For HR it means predicting, procuring and managing future HR needs of the company and redesigning of job design to match current needs. The trends in job analysis also affect the job design. Current trend of flatter organizational structures, team based work, technology advancement and knowledge management has its impact on job design. Before deciding job redesign we need to analyze existing work situation by reviewing job descriptions, assessing needs and aspirations of employees, determining feasibility of job redesign in terms of technology, organizational structure, workflow etc. and foster organizational climate that is receptive of change. (management) In the light of all the challenges that organizations face these days we will review the contribution of workforce design that are relevant to organizational challenges such as attracting, retaining and motivating talent. Although all approaches have their own set of advantages and disadvantages the idea is to select the job design that fits your organizational landscape. One such approach is Job/Competency Analysis/design. (Job design) As we observed that despite the down turn in economy British businesses still find it difficult to fill job vacancies. What is lacking is the proper workforce planning and resource strategies on the part of the business. Competency analysis provides the answer to this problem. HR is considered the building block of the organization and the backbone of all HR activities is the job design. This process is viewed as the first step in building effective workforce and organizational capability. The process of identifying tasks, responsibilities and context of a role, and the identification of knowledge, skills and abilities required to fulfill this job is the basic necessary frame work of job analysis and job design. It is necessary to attract, retain and motivate talent. (Nandervis) Competency based job description allows organizations and employees to be dynamic and stay competitive in the changing environment both in terms of job requirements and change in business strategy. Job analysis and the resultant job description give a static view of job requirements and relevant job related behavior. Competency based model is more dynamic and hence more suitable for our fast changing world. As the business environment is constantly growing, changing and evolving due to ever changing internal and external environment competency model provides the required adaptability to organizations to be in line with corporate objectives. With organizational change the role of individuals also change, HR assists in identifying current work, what a group needs to accomplish, attract, retain and motivate the best individual to fill this job and help in analyzing any possible gaps in capacity, resources and training. Job design needs to be replaces with more dynamic role analysis based on competency analysis for overall process mapping and other means of improving efficacy. (Deb) In this age of globalization and the technological advancements competencies required by employees to fulfill their jobs effectively and efficiently are also fast changing. The burden is not only on the employees to keep them updated but organizations are also having difficulty to fulfill job vacancies with the right kind of people. To counter these problem organizations need to employ formal resourcing strategies. Another approach is to inculcate learning culture in the organization which will not only help organizations in adopting development strategies which is a key to success in future but will also help in attracting and retaining good talent. (HRM Guide Human Resource Management) With the need of learning environment and highly knowledgeable workers comes the concept of knowledge management. This is another approach of workforce design which is gaining popularity these days. Knowledge management is crucial for any learning organization’s success, innovation and development. Knowledge management is the new rage of the town it has become big business growing explosively. What we observe today is a whole battalion of knowledge consultants, KM trade journals and conferences about knowledge management all over the globe. Knowledge management provides core source to key thinkers in the emerging economy. (Stephen E. Little) With the down turn in the economy the need for knowledge workers has also increased. Organizations these days are aiming at achieving maximum benefits from minimum possible resources. Management of such workers are very important because they usually are assigned challenging tasks which requires complex problem solving skills and the unique intellectual capabilities they possess which ensures development of knowledge. Hence knowledge management is not only vital for organizations success but for the job satisfaction of the knowledge employee as well. Knowledge workers not only require conditions that facilitate knowledge creation and sharing but also challenging job design. (Wilton) In the area of job design there is growing consensus that knowledge management is the best approach for knowledge sharing attitudes essential for organizational long term success. Work processes should be designed in such a way that facilitates knowledge sharing in building social capital. Adoption of team based working especially multi disciplinary; cross functional teams are the need of the day. (Woods) The category of knowledge workers has shown the maximum growth rate by far in all sectors of the economy. It is viewed that knowledge will be the most important raw material for future. This has led to restructuring of traditional method of job design. Traditional concept of job design relied on job to organize people but now people must organize and design job. (Malik) As no theory is perfect knowledge management theory has its own disadvantages such as high turnover. This is due to their high market rating and demand. A company has to invest a lot in developing a knowledge worker and the employee leaves it is a great loss for company. It is very costly both in monetary and nonmonetary terms to find replacement for knowledge workers. (Daft) Organizational structure/workflow is another approach of workforce design. Many companies in the wake of new emerging economies are discarding the traditional workforce design which was built on hierarchy system. The traditional organizational structure was authoritative and bureaucratic in nature which was a hindrance in speedy decisions. The new trend has replaced tall organizational structure with flatter one. Organizational structure actually depicts the division of labor, coordination, communication and workflow. The flatter organizational structure ensures better coordination and cooperation among employees and hence helps in achieving corporate objectives. Organizational structure actually depicts organizational culture and power relationships. (L.McShane) In the current economic scenario where many companies are restructuring and coining terms like downsizing, decluttering, streamlining, refocusing, decruiting, laying off, reduction in workforce, reduction in headcount, skinning down, becoming lean, workforce rebalancing and rightsizing. All these terms means that a certain number or class of organizational members is not employed by the organization any more. This form of organizational restructuring or redesigning was traditionally associated with low level workers but with the recent down turn in economy it has now spread to staff specialist, middle managers and even senior executives. Redesigning of organizational structure requires close thinking and analysis of business processes so that the required efficiency in terms of cost, quality, service and speed can be achieved. Downsizing needs to be done very carefully otherwise company will lose key employees necessary for organization’s future success. This is one of the disadvantages of this approach others are more social, ethical and economic effects of layoffs on the society. (Sims) There are many other approaches of workforce/ job design such as flexible work hours which is also gaining popularity due to advancement in technology, telecommunication which has also given rise to virtual jobs and also virtual offices. With the onset of internet there are many jobs which can offer flexible working hours to their employees. Flexible work week is a deviation from traditional of standard 8-hours day. It helps improving efficiency, cost effective and increases the resource base for the company. The disadvantage with this approach is that it is not applicable to all industries and may in some cases reduce employee’s coordination and collaboration because of their lack of physical meeting. It can be a hindrance in some cases when work needs to be done in a team or in holding meetings. (Jay Heizer) We have a wide variety of approaches towards workforce/ job design. In this paper I have discussed few important and relevant with the current scenario. Although there is no one approach which is suitable for any economic climate. There are approaches which are more widely used during economic downturn such as organizational structure redesigning and there are approaches which are more widely used during economic growth such as knowledge management and work force diversity. Having said this I would state that we cannot single out any approach as more suitable for a certain economic climate. Suitability of any workforce design approach depends on many factors such as the type of industry, organizational strategy, environmental demands etc. The success of any approach depends on the fit between its organizational climate and environmental climate which determines the HR landscape. Conclusion After discussing various approaches and their advantages and disadvantages, we can draw this conclusion that the success of the workforce design depends on the selection of the best fit for the organization. It requires taking into consideration various organizational and environmental demands. References Daft, Richard L. Organization theoryand design. USA: Thompson, 2007. David, Lepak. Human Resource Mangement. New Delhi: Pearson education, 2009. De Ceiri, H Kramer,R. Noe, R.A. Hollenbeck,J.R,Grenhart. Human Resource Management in Australia. Sydney: McGrawHill, 2008. Deb, Tapomoy. Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Atkantic publishers, 2006. HRM Guide Human Resource Management. 28 May 2008. 7th March 2011 . Jay Heizer, Barry Render. Operations Mnagement. New Delhi: Pearson education, 2009. "Job design." AHRI Professional Diploma of human Resources (2008): 8-9. L.McShane, Steven. organizational behavior: Essentials. New York: Tata McGrawHill, 2007. Malik, Fredmund. Managing performing living:Effective management for a new era. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2006. management, Bbaker and Mckenzie lawyer and Marqurie graduate school of. Australian Master Human Resource Guide 2009. Sydney: CCH Australia Limited, 2009. Nandervis, A. Compton,R. & Baird M. Human Resource Management Strategies and Processes. Melbourne: Thompson, 2008. Sims, Ronald R. Reforming(transforming?) A public human Resource Mangement agency. USA: Information Age Publishing, 2010. Stephen E. Little, Tim Ray. managing Knowledge. Sage Publications, 2005. Wilton, Nick. An introduction to Human Resource Management. New York: Sage publications, 2010. Woods, Geoffrey. Human resource management: a critical approach. New York: Routledge Publications, 2009. Read More