Case for Analysis: Work Redesign in an Insurance Company

Explain which core characteristics of the employees’ jobs will be changed if the consultant’s recommendations are accepted.

The core characteristic that needs to be changed according to the consultant’s recommendation is the job range. Employees only had a job depth but very little job range.

The consultant suggested the company to change operation structure to a client basis from functional orientation, in which each employee would handle every aspect of service as issuing policies, collecting premiums, change beneficiaries, processing loan application pertaining to a particular policyholder. This company has a great job depth; the manager of internal operation believes that, this is the key of success of the company. The job depth is considered as the source of knowledge base and expertise in the firm. The consultant has come to an opposite conclusion according to the information provided by the employees.

He considered and concluded that if the job nature and dimension can be spread horizontally then monotonous nature of work can be changed and employees can be motivated. He added inclusion if electronic data management system will reduce the amount of manual task offered to individual employee and that will eventually cut off the labor cost to the firm.

Which alternative redesign strategies should be considered? For example, job rotation and job enlargement are possible alternatives. What are the relevant considerations for these and other designs in the context of this company?

Job redesign is actually restructuring the elements of the job by making it more motivating to the performer. It enhances the motivational potential of the job by altering core job dimensions. Job redesign strategies that can be considered are job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. Redesigning a job by altering its job range can be performed by either job rotation or job enlargement. Job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, in which the job is enlarged by adding related tasks.

In this case the organization has separate departments to issue policies, collect premiums, change beneficiaries and process loan applications. To enlarge these jobs or to convert it into a client basis, it can be redesigned such as one employee will be responsible for all transaction related to a particular policy holder. Job enlargement can also result in greater workforce flexibility. In this job enlargement design technique, the number of tasks associated with a job is increased to add greater variety to activities, thus reducing monotony.

Employees are bored with monotonic schedule of jobs, so by implementing this technique it will be possible to regain employee satisfaction. A job design technique in which employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner is known as job rotation. The objectives is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job and to cross-train them. In this Insurance Company the employees for different departments can be rotated within the organization. This one may be an alternative redesign strategy.

From the employee perspective this can be another strategy that can be taken into consideration, as this will help to reduce repetitive nature of jobs. The other job redesign technique that can be used is for redesigning job is job enrichment; this is a process to redesign job depth. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee. In this organization every employee is an expert in their own domain, so the organization is very efficient.

Employees are already working in a much enriched situation, so employee grievances won’t be reduced with this technique. While job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, job enrichment is a vertical restructuring method by virtue of giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. For this company the problem is the employees are interested in job redesign by changing job range while the manager of internal operation is more interested in job redesign by increasing job depth.

The employees are getting bored by monotonic work schedule, they are feeling uncared by the authority and these may be the reasons of high absenteeism.

What would be your decision in this case? What should management be willing to pay for employee satisfaction?

In my opinion Total Quality Management (TQM) combining the ideas of job enrichment and sociotechnical theory will be the best fit here. Managers who implement TQM design jobs that empower individuals to make important decisions about service quality.