Human Resource Planning and Job Design Strategies at CERA

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HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AND WORK DESIGN
AT CERA
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Executive Summary
This is the business report of CERA in which the importance of innovation in the company has
been described. It further explains about the job designing in a company and different
approaches HR managers of CERA can adopt to increase the productivity of the company, the
profitability, and growth at a fast pace while satisfying the employees of the company by
providing them an innovative working environment. Afterward, it has explained the factors
leading to the innovation in the job design and working place. Some of the examples have also
been used of the companies that have successfully implemented innovative HR practices in their
company.
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Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................2
Introduction....................................................................................................................................4
Innovation in the company...........................................................................................................5
Different Approaches to job design..............................................................................................8
What drives innovative job Design............................................................................................11
Examples.......................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................14
References.....................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
This report is about work design and job design in CERA (Civil Engineering and Research
Associates). CERA was established in Sydney in the year 2007 having a vision of emerging as a
consulting company in the area of civil construction. The job designing in an organization is
affected by the business strategy an organization adopts. Job design is important in an
organization in designing the changes which are required for improving the working conditions.
Work design helps the employees in the organization to perform effectively. In this report, the
importance of introducing innovation in the company has been described. Different approaches
to job design have also been explained mentioning its impact on the company. The drives of
innovative job design are mentioned in this report describing the effects of innovative job design
on the company and innovative working behavior paves a good way for the company for
adopting and implementing the changed job design.
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Innovation in the company
At present, innovation is the requirement of every organization. Innovation is the application of
implementing the creative and new ideas, method and concept which is used by an organization
in enhancing its performance, in strategic planning, product development. This involves adding
value to the services, products or markets so that a differentiation can be made from the
competitors and value can be perceived in customers and markets. An improvement or
replacement can be introduced in the business processes (Davila, 2012).
Innovative ideas may come from inside and outside the company i.e. from employees, managers,
work of development, published market research done by other organization, in-house research,
and sources of new technologies.
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The human resource manager of CERA should conduct research and planning in different areas
to introduce business innovation which includes-
 Market environment’s trends should be analyzed collecting information about the needs
and desires of customers and competitors also.
 HR manager of CERA should conduct consultancy with the customers and its employees
for knowing what changes are required to be made in improving the processes, products,
and services. The customer should be connected regularly for welcoming their ideas.
 New ideas should always be welcomed by the HR manager and changes should be
adaptive as change is the rule of nature and it is important for every company to introduce
the changes in the working environment as well as in its business process.
 In order to promote the innovation CERA’s manager of human resources should develop
an effective strategy and planning which will be a key business process for the whole
business. Innovation should also be introduced in the business culture.
 The manager should use difficulties and complaints which he gets in response from his
clients. This will encourage the consultants to introduce improvements in its work that
can overcome the complaints.
 Suggestion boxes can be set by the human resources department around the workplace or
they can hold company away occasionally to brainstorm ideas. Regular workshops can
also be held by the company making sure that processes and events are there to capture
ideas.
 Proper and timely training should be given to the employees empowering them to think
in an innovative way so that they can satisfy their clients by handling them well and all
this will result in making more clients for CERA.
 For driving innovation in the business HR department of CERA should make use of the
resources that are available which includes advisors of business. Ideas may be
commercialized by seeking intellectual property protection. Collaboration can also be
made with researchers having local and international collaboration.
 The supportive atmosphere should be created so that the people in the company feel free
to express their ideas without ridicule or criticism’s risk (Bucherer.et.al, 2012).
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 No penalization should be done for failing of the ideas. This will encourage taking of
risks and doing experiments.
 Reward Innovation. An appropriate incentive can be offered which will encourage staff
for creativity thinking human resources department will establish good relations with
their employees.
Innovation will improve the productivity of employees of CERA, costs will be reduced,
competitiveness will be increased, the value of the consultancy of the company will be build up,
new relations and partnerships can be developed due to innovation resulting in increasing the
profitability of the company and turnover.
The company can suffer from various risks if the innovation is not introduced or failed. As it
might result in failing the efficiency and productivity, the company can go out of its business,
market share to competitors could be lost, Steady growth will be seen in margins and profits of
the company (Amit and Zott, 2012).
The chances of survival of business are improved due to innovation and it also helps in driving
the increased profits. Innovation should be promoted in the company effectively. Funding for
innovation is also important as just having creative ideas and concepts are not only enough but
the proper funding of them is also important. Growth can be funded through innovation. This can
be done either by tapping into external funding like equity finance or loans or own funds can also
be used. Thus, the innovations are very important for any company and contribute to the success
of the company and its high profitability.
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Different Approaches to job design
In job design entire job or set of tasks are designed. The proper twinning of job and performer is
the basic objective of job design. This will derive satisfaction of job to the performer along with
the good performance of the job. Job design of CERA is not that effective due to which it has to
face many hindrances in its work. Job design should be such which always welcome the
innovative behavior and employees of the company perform their job in an effective manner
(Wood.et.al, 2012). The efficiency of the company is increased by defining the job in accordance
with the particular tasks and activities. It acts as a motivational factor for the employee as if the
jobs are designed in a good manner then it becomes easier for the employees to perform their
tasks. There are different approaches which should be considered by the human resources
department of CERA while designing its job and work which includes the following:-
1. Job Simplification-
In job simplification, performing a job becomes easy when the job is broken down into narrow
and simple activities set. The productivity of workers is improved. By simplification of job in
CERA, it will be simple and inexpensive for the employees to perform the job. Work activities
can be interchanged in relation to such jobs by the workers. But job simplification should be
done with full understanding as it can be possible that a very simple job can make workers
finding their jobs monotonous and boring by which they will be demotivated. The work quality
can be affected in a negative manner and employees will not be satisfied with their work.
2. Job Rotation-
The HR department can exercise the job rotation by moving employees with the same skill
requirements to some other job at the same level. This will remove the monotonous and boring
feeling among the employees towards their work by doing some different activities and they will
be motivated. CERA should also consider some of the drawbacks that can be caused due to the
job rotation (Bartling.et.al, 2012).
3. Job Enrichment-
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Job enrichment is closely related to the job enlargement. This will make the job interesting for
the employees. The problem of absenteeism and turnover of workers will be discouraged. It
makes workers high satisfaction with the work. The employees are motivated as they get more
opportunities for growth and advancements. The sense of responsibility is developed and
employees are ready for innovative job design.
4. Job Enlargements-
This horizontal loading focuses mainly on increasing responsibilities and tasks to enlarge the
jobs. The working efficiency of the workers of CERA will be improved by adopting this
approach. It increases the quality of work by reducing the cost of production and improves
worker’s satisfaction level. Department of the human resource may require conducting the
training for performing the tasks enlarged. CERA’s HR manager should continuously focus on
the products so that it can measure if there is any fall in the productivity by bringing a new
system in designing the job.
5. Job Engineering-
By adopting this approach, the HR manager will need to focus on tasks that required to be
performed, the time is taken to complete the task, performance standards, efficiency of service
flow and independence among machines and people. This will make hiring easier as low-skilled
employees can be trained easily and relatively low wages are paid to them. No mental efforts
will be needed due to the specification of high level permitting the short work cycles in which
the performance can be automatic (Freeney and Fellenz, 2013).
6. Quality of Work life-
CERA’s human resource manager should make a review of the quality of work life by examining
the factors such as job satisfaction, sense of competence, involvement in the job, productivity
and job performance. All these factors will make CERA understand about the quality of work
going in the company. High quality work will attract more and more clients for CERA which
will expand its business.
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HR manager can adopt these different approaches in its working environment for designing an
effective job. But selecting an appropriate job approach is very important for CERA to be made
which should be made as per the working conditions prevailing in company and requirements of
the company. Suggestions for the same can be asked by the employees who will develop the
feeling of belongingness among them and innovative working behavior will be developed in
satisfied employees which will ultimately benefit the company (Donaldson, 2016).
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What drives innovative job Design
Innovation in job design is crucial for every company. Critical and analytical thinking is essential
in job designing. Factors and barriers affecting the successful execution of the job should be
identified. There are various drives for the innovative job design that should be considered by
CERA's HR manager to achieve success in its business by making its working environment more
accountable. For introducing the changes in the workplace it is important for CERA’s employees
to have innovative behavior. They should be willing to welcome the change and learn from it.
Job design innovation is a model of organization that focuses on the methods which are new for
improving the working environment (Shantz.et.al, 2013). The approach of design-driven is used
for creating customer value and opportunities of market and CERA will have to make strong
business strategy and technical feasibility. Factors that will impact the job design and
organization design includes the following-
Technological Innovation: Change in technology affects job design. The productivity of
employees is relatively raised by new technology in some tasks and employees are replaced in
other tasks. This is a big driving force for the company to introduce innovation in its job design.
CERA will be required to change its job design which is a mixture of tasks that are assigned to
workers. It will also demand workers with different high skills.
Need for more customer Orientation: Every company wants to make new customers and in
order to attract them the company has to add changes in its work design which are innovative.
The HR managers of CERA also have to implement the innovative job design to make more and
more clients for the company. For this CERA has to find out what are the needs of clients that
have not been met and data will be gathered for the same by choosing interest area and particular
topic (Truxillo.et.al, 2012).
Work-based on Knowledge: Innovation in the designing of work and working environment is
required in the company if works required to be done needs a lot of superior knowledge. Then
innovative policies of the company
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Social changes and demographic trends: By breaking down the traditional roles of genders HR
managers can innovate their job design. Social changes are taking place continuously which
force the managers to introduce the changes as per the changing needs.
The emergence of the new economy and virtual corporations rise: The increased participation
and productivity is required because of the economic growth that drives for the prosperity of
higher level. So the HR manager should ensure to provide employees with different opportunities
for innovative job designing.
Examples
There are various innovative HR practices and policies adopted by numerous companies that
result in its success. Some of the examples are described below-
1. Cisco has embraced the idea of interviewing via video. This is the good marriage of cutting
costs measure and technology sophistication.
2. In order to lessen hierarchy the feeling of traditional business, job titles were eliminated by
Zappos. Removing the job title fosters the staff to be more united and have a cohesive
employee’s team.
3. Edward Jones is an example of a company who offers successfully flexible components for
their employees by focusing on the contribution made by employees and not on the time devoted
by him at the workplace (Hoop, 2016).
4. Various facilities are provided by Google to its employees such as offering a financial
incentive, organizes team excursions, offered a balance between personal and work life which
limits the stress of employees.
5. Regular dinners, fun events, and programs are held by Wary Parker, devoting time to their
corporate culture (Plano, 2018).
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