Critical Thinking: Business Analysis Assignment - Chapter 6

This assignment delves into critical thinking within a business context, specifically focusing on leadership management. The student analyzes their role as a business analyst, redesigning the job using the job characteristics framework to make it more engaging. It explores the critical factors in work sy...Read More

Running head: CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Question1
The respective job that I have taken into consideration for myself is that of Business Analyst.
The job of a business analyst is to create a detailed business analysis where he or she has to
outline problems, solutions, opportunities and recommendations of the business. The activities of
a business analyst includes creating a budget and forecasting, defining business requirements and
reporting them back to the stakeholders. The job of a business analyst is not only challenging and
requires patience, perseverance and an analytical bent of mind but also intriguing and interesting
at the same time. The job of a business analyst is not monotonous. The job has multidimensional
and multifaceted angles which makes the profession interesting and commendable (Debortoli,
Müller & vom Brocke, 2014).

2CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
theskillsneededforthejobof"BusinessAnalyst"are:1.Ananalyticalbentofmind2.Enthusiasminresearchandfieldwork3.Patienceandperseverencethetasksidentifiedforthejobare:1.Dataanalysis2.Researchandanalysisofmarketandenvironment3.Inculcationofnewbusinessideasthejobofabusinessanalystis1.Meaningful2.Challenging3.Intriguing4.SelfsatiatingAfterpursuingthejob,ifeel1.Satisfied2.Responsibletowardsmydutyandresponsibilitythroughthejob,irealized:1.BusinessAnalystisademandingjobthatsharpensbusinesshorizon1.Theleadersofthecompanywhereihadbeenplacedasabusinessanalystmotivatedmewithmonetaryandnonmonetaryincentiveswhichincreasedmyproductivity.2.Jobenrichmentbythemanagementmademeworkmoreefficientlyandeffectively.3.Monetaryandnonmonetaryincentivesandflexibleworktimingsalsogavemejobsatisfaction.4.Theeffectivenessofmyworkasabusinessanalystwasbroughtaboutbyexcellenttrainingandassistancefromtheteamleaders.

3CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Employee growth: As an
employee, I have been given
chance to grow in my
professional career of Business
Analyst I chose by job
enlargement and enrichment.
Need: As an employee, my basic
and self actualization needs were
fulfilled through growth
incentives.
Strength: As a business analyst, I
have learnt to be diligent,
industrious with unconventional
and flexible analytical skills.

4CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Question 2
A work system in an organization is defined as a collaborative effort which are designed when a
particular task or goal is identified which requires more than one person in order to accomplish
the task. A typical managerial work system incorporates the customary elements such as
technology, information and business resources in order to create the products and services for
the customers in both external and internal ways. A work system is typically designed with the
help of the elements such as job description, job design, work management and the compensation
of the workers and employees. In the work systems in management, the companies determine the
purpose of each job, what does the job consists of and the costs needed for the employees to
carry out the job. The part played by technology in work systems is indeed important. The
technologies help the work systems to integrate themselves into a collaborative and cooperative
framework where they would be functioning effectively and efficiently (Argyris, 2017).
Question 3
Job enlargement can be defined as the increasing the scope of job through extending the range of
the duties and responsibilities of a particular job. Job rotation, on the other hand, can be defined
as a technique utilized by certain employers to rotate the assigned jobs of their employees
through their employment. The basic difference between job enlargement and job rotation is that,
in job enlargement, the scope of a particular job is widened, while in job rotation, the same
employee is made to carry out tasks that might be different from his or her genre. Whereas, job
enrichment can be defined as a method of motivating the employees where the jobs are designed
in such interesting and challenging way that employees stay engaged amicably with the jobs.
While job enlargement and job enrichment, both can work as a motivational tool for the

5CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
employees, job rotation might not always be motivational. Sometimes, in job rotation, employees
are provided with difficult jobs that might be different from their genre which sometimes creates
anxiety, stress and low productivity. Job rotation, on the other hand, are done by the employers
for both positive and negative reasons, such as increasing the flexibility of the employees which
often turns obnoxious. Job rotation is also accompanied by non cooperation among the agencies
that can lead to commotion (Morgeson, Brannick & Levine, 2019).
Question 4
There are numerous barriers to change in organization. They are: poor communication, negative
attitude of the employees, inadequate resources, obnoxious work culture and rigidity, lack of
management support for change and limited understanding of change (Cummings & Worley,
2014). There are numerous ways by which the barriers could be curbed, such as by planning and
implementing a perfect communication strategy, providing the employees with proper training
on work culture and organizational cooperation, enhancement of the management to make it
more flexible so that they might embrace change rather than abhorring them (Noe et al., 2017).
Question 5
As a business analyst in a reputed company, I have observed a failure in job redesign. The
company had tried to redesign the job of a content writer into a content strategist. However, the
redesigning was a massive failure because the content writer was a fresher and had no such
experience of being a content strategist, therefore, he resisted to change. He was not able to grasp
the job and had time management issues which escalated to a catastrophic disaster the employee
was again demoted to his old designation. From the incident, it can be understood that without
proper scanning of capabilities of the employee, job redesigning can be a failure (Cascio, 2015).

6CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Question 6
Off-shoring tends to increase productivity and reduce costs. However, the off shoring
recruitment has been found out to be having no such effect on the native employment in the
aggregate. Job outsourcing helps the companies of U.S. to be more competitive in the global
marketplace. The labor costs are somewhat diminished with the help of off shoring from the
countries having lower income and also the productivity of the companies increased by
inculcating skilled and moderately skilled labor (Mihalache & Mihalache, 2016). Even though
there has been evidences of U.S. being unemployed due to off shoring, the percentage of such
situation is somewhat less than the benefits that off shoring provides to the business (España,
2013).
Question 6.1
In the SMEs, outsourcing can be a good source of increasing productivity and profitability. The
HR department, which concentrates on the activities such as payroll processing, formulating and
implementing HR policies, recruitment, employee and performance management, reaches to a
critical point where there would be needs of outward force. The HR functions, in case of
outsourcing, would be based on background screening, employee assistance/ counseling, talent
hunt which would be carried out in order to identify the core competencies of the organization.
The HR functions would be affected as a new source and portal of HR desk would be necessary
for management which would include fresh training and recruitments in the HR department. The
HR also has to diversify its functions for managing outsourcing employees.

7CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
Question 6.2
As an employee, I feel that if the management monitors my e-mail, it would be a breach to my
privacy and confidentiality, which is my statutory right as an employee. As an employer, I would
choose to monitor the e-mails of my employees in order to control their activities but up to a
certain limit, without breaking their zone of privacy. If the employer monitors the emails of the
employees keeping in mind his or her privacy and confidentiality concerns, the morale of the
employees would not sink (Ghoshray, 2013).

8CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
References:
Argyris, C. (2017). Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge. Available at:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203788417
Cascio, W. F. (2015). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill. Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/05da/d8dc13d3b16932070ee01a6654f82540355d.pdf
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage
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Debortoli, S., Müller, O., & vom Brocke, J. (2014). Comparing business intelligence and big
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g_Business_Intelligence_and_Big_Data_Skills/links/59dcac26458515e9ab4c8119/
Comparing-Business-Intelligence-and-Big-Data-Skills.pdf
España, J. (2013). The real costs of offshoring. Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences,
25(2), 40. Available at:
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9CRITICAL THINKING: BUSINESS
east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190921T071307Z&X-Amz-
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Mihalache, M., & Mihalache, O. R. (2016). A decisional framework of offshoring: integrating
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47(6), 1103-1149. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1111/deci.12206
Morgeson, F. P., Brannick, M. T., & Levine, E. L. (2019). Job and work analysis: Methods,
research, and applications for human resource management. Sage Publications.
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