Value Added Job Design

Friday, April 19, 2013

 

Job Design, as the term implies, is the organizational process of assembling individual work components into a coordinated and cohesive set of tasks we call a “job”.  Why “coordinated and cohesive”?  It would be fairly unsafe and implacable to have an aircraft pilot fly the plane and function as an in-flight attendant.  In addition, a set of job tasks which are not “cohesive” would lead to a fragmented and inefficient approach to the organization’s efforts to deliver its product or services.  Therefore, care must be taken when creating a job to organize the tasks in a way which adds value to both the organization and the individual.  Once again, in an effort to attract and retain an organization’s top talent, it is important to know why and how the work product is delivered to the end customer, internally or externally.

 

Many jobs are designed with a progression from less to more difficult tasks, which are performed at successive higher organizational levels.  This segmentation of work allows for the most appropriate level of knowledge, skill, and ability to be applied to a given function.  From an organizational development standpoint, individuals are afforded an opportunity to grow their skill level in step-like fashion over time and thus optimizing the possibility of success.  Bench depth and strength are built under more or less controlled conditions ensuring that the desired talent is developed to the benefit of the whole organization.  Therefore, it is critical to allow for the design of jobs in a manner which allows managers to add or subtract tasks in a way that brings out the optimal performance in a given employee, i.e., the employee's "comparative advantage".

 

An organization which wants to build the scope and depth of a potential top performer can use value added job design to add specific tasks focused on one or more growth areas.  As the employee gains greater skill levels in the desired area, more demanding tasks can be added to continue the skill growth.  As an example, consider an entry level electrical engineer with a utility company.  Initially the scope o such a job is limited with heavy supervision.  However, providing the entry level engineer with progressively more challenging tasks within a coached environment will speed up development.  Combine this sped-up development with selective financial and non-financial rewards and the organization is likely to retain this top performer. 

 

Of course to make all of this happen:
 

● The organization must communicate what opportunities are available,

● The employee has to be identified as a top performer,

● They have to be teamed with an appropriate coach,

● Reward and recognition has to be obtainable,

● The organization has to deliver with the challenging tasks.

 

One thing we forget is that even a top performer may, on occasion, fail.  Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”  The function of value added job design is to create an environment where the organization’s key talent can experiment without the threat of serious physical, organizational, or financial harm.