Job Redesign

Abstract

A large number of schemes have been put forward in recent years as aids to improved productivity. Some have been seized on by enthusiastic consultants as panaceas for a myriad of organisational problems and even academics have become enamoured by various techniques without taking due account of the evidence for their efficacy. There is, needless to say, no panacea, no scheme which will do good to all organisations in all circumstances. A number of schemes have been shown to have some value in some circumstances, and five of these approaches to job redesign are considered in this chapter. They are: flexible working hours; management by objectives; Scanlon plan; job enrichment; socio-technical systems design (autonomous working group). It must be stressed, however, that the following outlines are intended to give the reader a brief account of the various programmes, and are not intended as cook-book recipes for organisational change.