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Job Specialisation and the Job Characteristic Model

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Essay 2b
Topic - Job Specialisation uses standardised work procedures to have workers perform repetitive; precisely defined and simplified tasks. Explain why companies use this approach to job design. Using the Job Characteristics model, describe how specialised jobs can be modified to eliminate the boredom and low job satisfaction associated with them. (Chapter 9)

According to the management text book Williams & McWilliams, 2010, job specialisation reflects the degree to which tasks get broken down and divided into smaller tasks. Benefits include worker proficiency, decreased time between task transfer and the ability to develop specialized equipment for a specific function. So why do organisations employ such a technique? It’s because they want to leverage these advantages and indeed some of the world’s biggest organisations employ their staff in such a way because it help workers become experts in their assigned job responsibilities. For example, Subway fast food restaurant have a systematic way to prepare food for customers by dividing into few segments that have workers in charge of it so that it is efficient and productive. Production cost can also be cut down by using job specialisation. Low wages and salaries are paid to employees due to the simple and easy nature of the work and employees can replaced easily too. The companies do not need to hire professionals who are higher experienced and educated so that they can maximise their profit.

Job design is defined as the number, kind and variety of tasks that individual workers perform in doing their jobs (Williams & McWilliams, 2010). Job design could determine the future of a company because nowadays companies use job specialisation as part of their common job design. Adoption of job specialisation is very common job design principle among companies. It is widely practiced by successful

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