Hackman and Oldham have claimed that the characteristics of the job provided to the employees can have a great impact on their performances, motivation, job satisfaction and job commitment. For the success of organisational goals and objectives, it is necessary that the human resources of the organisation are effective and are managed properly, which is not an easy task. Organisations are trying their best to optimise the performance of the employees and are searching for new ways that would help them in achieving it. In this assignment, we will discuss whether the claim made by Hackman and Oldham stands true for the human resource management in the modern day world and decide if improving the characteristics of the work can improve the performance of the employees.

Human resource management is an approach that helps business organisations in managing their human resources/workforce using various concepts, such as compensation management, benefits, performance management, training and development, etc. (Inc.com, 2016)

In the modern day business world, it has become very easy for managers to replicate technology and business operations to achieve market competencies. In such a situation, business organisations are now solely relying upon their human resources for achieving market competencies. As a result, business organisations are now investing millions of dollars in training and developing their human resources and providing them with work conditions that would help in optimising their performances and improving the overall results for the company. Hackman and Oldham were two experts who gave the famous theory of Job Characteristics, which is commonly known as JCT. The basic crux of the theory was that the job itself or the tasks which are given to the employees are a key component that can help in governing the job conditions for the employees. In this assignment, we will examine the argument made by Hackman and Oldham and test if the argument is actually valid in the modern day world (Tutor2u.net, 2016).

The modern day business world has reached a level where the competition is between national and multinational companies. Multinational companies have a competitive advantage over national companies and national companies are too trying to enter the global market to balance the scales. To achieve such competencies, it is important to have a competitive pool of talent that can perform well and help in the achievement of company’s objectives.  The workforce or the human resource will perform well when the work conditions are adequate and motivational enough to make them work harder. Human resource managers, over the period of time, have realized that the best way to improve the work conditions for the employees is by making the job more interesting and challenging. Job enrichment is a concept that has come up in the past few years. The concept aims at providing new and challenging work to the employees so that they do not feel bored and can perform better in their jobs. Let us now talk about some benefits of providing a challenging work environment to the workforce:

Learning new skills à a number of behaviour experts have proved that the employees are always excited when they are given an opportunity to acquire new skills and techniques. By providing the employees with some new tasks that can challenge their skills and knowledge, the management is able to motivate them to work harder. The employees themselves feel motivated because it brings them an opportunity of learning new skills, which would further help them in developing their career paths and while they are being considered for promotions. Therefore, the employees perceive benefits when the management offers them new, exciting and challenging work, which is different from their day to day routine (Bizcommunity.com, 2016).

Reduced boredom à boredom kills the possibility of high performance in business organisations. Employees usually feel bored when the management provides them with same kind of work over and over again. By repeating the same work again and again, they lose their interest in it and desire a change in their routine or the tasks that are assigned to them. Therefore, if the management is able to provide the workforce with challenging tasks and jobs, it can reduce their boredom and would be able to motivate them to do something by moving out of their comfort zones (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016).

Receive recognition à recognition has been regarded as one of the most important need for the people who work in business organisations. Even in the Need Hierarchy Theory given by Maslow, recognition at the workplace is included as one need which can motivate the employees to work harder (Study.com, 2016). Providing the workforce with challenging tasks allows the management to test skills, knowledge, strengths and weaknesses of the employees. The employees who are able to perform well and are able to stand up to the expectations of the company are able to gain recognition in the workplace and increase their chances of promotion or performance appraisal.

Employee motivation à employees value it when the senior management of the company trusts them with competitive and challenging tasks regularly. They feel that they are an important part of the organisation and their efforts will contribute towards the success of the organisation. With an increase in the responsibilities, the employees become motivated and they try to perform better. Consequently, they become more committed towards their jobs and the organisation on the whole (YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library, 2015).

Sense of accomplishments à it takes a lot of effort on the part of the management to improve the work conditions for the employees and provide them with such work that would help in optimising their performance. When the company works hard to improve the work conditions of the employees, the employees to get a sense of belongingness and they tend to work harder to meet the expectations of the company. When the employees work harder they end up achieving more, which instils a sense of achievement in their minds.

Benefits for the employers à the concept of job enrichment is not just beneficial for the employees but also has a number of benefits for the employers too. When the employers provide challenging and exciting tasks to the employees, they are able to test their skills and knowledge related to the job. If the employees are able to provide creative solutions for the tasks assigned to them, they can be considered for promotions in the future as they have the calibre to be promoted to higher job profiles. On the other hand, if the employees are not able to perform the challenges that are given to them, the management can assess the areas where the employees lack skills and techniques. On the basis of the lacking skills and techniques, which the management identifies in the employees, the management can plan training and development programs so that its workforce can become more competitive (Reddy, 2016).

Helps in creating a professional approach à the concept of job enrichment provides challenging tasks to the workforce by introducing regular changes in their routines so that they can be moved out of their comfort zones. Such changes make the workplace more interesting and help in setting up a more professional approach in the organisation.

Reduced absenteeism à it has been noticed that the concept of job enrichment can actually help in bringing down the absenteeism rates in business organisations. By following the concept of job enrichment, the management is able to improve the quality of work for the employees. The employees have to perform better in order to stand up to the expectations of the company and also have to act more responsibly. Once the employees find that they are responsible for a lot of work, which the organisation has trusted them with, they become more professional towards their work and tend to avoid taking unnecessary leave. As a result, the rates of absenteeism are reduced if the employers can provide a challenging work environment to the workforce.

Reduced labour turnover rates à it has been observed that the business organisations that do not work towards making the workplace more exciting and challenging for the workforce often have experienced higher turnover rates as compared to those companies that regularly try to make the work situations challenging for the employees and bring them out of their comfort zones. The basic reason behind this fact is that when the management provides the same work to the workforce again and again, it restricts its capacity to think out of the box and reduces their chances of career development as they are stuck in the same jobs for their lifetime. They do not experience any growth opportunities and feel bored due to same work being given to them again and again. As a result, such employees sow a greater tendency to quit the organisation and shift to organisations that provide them challenging work and new growth opportunities. On the other hand, an organisation that provides its workforce with a lot of challenging and exciting work, which helps the employees in coming out of their comfort zones and trying something new and is able to keep them motivated. Such organisations increase the prospects of future promotions of their employees and also bring about a development in their skills and knowledge. Such employees experience higher job satisfaction as they feel advancement in their career paths and as a result, they show lower tendency to quit the organisation (Study.com, 2016).

From the facts discussed above, it can be clearly understood that the type of work can actually have a great deal of impact on the performance of the workforce working in the organisation. The employees who are provided with challenging and exciting work from the management experience less boredom and are eager to prove their calibre by performing well in the organisation. The work that an organisation offers to its employees also show the level of trust which the organisation places in them. Thus, employees working with such organisations show higher job satisfaction, job commitment, motivational and performance levels. On the other hand, the organisations that provide boring and monotonous work to its employees deprives them from the opportunity of gaining recognition in the workplace by proving their calibre, skills and techniques. It prevents them from making advancement in their career paths as monotonous work provides them with no growth opportunities.

It can be clearly concluded that the management of a business organisation can optimise the performance level of its workforce only when it can provide them with challenging and exciting work conditions.  Thus the claim made by Hackman and Oldham, which says that the characteristics of the job or the task provided to the employees can help in improving their performance, stands out to be true for the modern day human resources. 

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