RUNNING HEAD: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Organizational Structure Assignment 2

HRM 500 Human Resource Foundation
Strayer University













RUNNING HEAD: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 2
Organizational Structure
In this assignment, a discussion on the approaches for finding out the process of job
analysis would be done. A discussion on the pros and cons for each approach would also be
carried out. The process of doing the job design would also be analyzed.
As HR Manager it is first of all essential to find out the need and reason for the problem.
The major problem that the company is facing is to fulfill the requirements for the customer
representatives who can handle customer queries, complaints and satisfy them on priority. The
major approaches that could be used for conducting the process of Job Analysis for customer
service representative position are:
Work Diaries and Critical Incident Approach This refers to observing and finding out
the various incidents, types of queries and the problems that exist in that specific job.
Each customer service representative in the company could be asked to write down the
job profiles and what they like or dislike about it and above all any specific incidents that
were critical and developed the feeling on them that the job profile is not right for them.
This method is beneficial as specific incidents that are bound to happen will surely be
listed down in this. The weakness of this approach is that the diary or the incident that has
taken place with one may not take place with other person (Brannick & Levine, 2002).
Questionnaire on the analysis of the position This is an approach that states that
position that has to be filled is analyzed from all the angles. The expert or the HR trained
personnel will find out the good and bad features related with the job. It can also use the
methods of interviews and the conduction of aptitude tests for the people working in that
department to check their satisfaction levels and the behavior that they possess. This is
advantageous as the work profiles and the problems that are encountered in that profile
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would be known from that individual himself. The loophole is that it may be specific
experience or view point of an individual.
Checklist Approach This is an approach that is used to make a checklist of the different
roles and responsibilities that the people have to fulfill while working for customer
service department. This will have easy as well as challenging tasks. The sensitivity and
the importance of the job could easily be realized by the number of difficult tasks in it.
This is beneficial as all the responsibilities are listed down. The weakness is that certain
responsibilities or problems encountered may not be listed down (Morgeson &
Humphrey, 2006).
The approach that would be beneficial for this organization is the questionnaire and
interview for the position analysis. This way the people who are already working for this position
would be able to better communicate on the idea of the good and bad attributes related with this
customer service representative job. This will help us in understanding the areas where the
customer service position faces issues and people do not want to opt for it.
Job Design refers to a process of organizing and outlining the roles, responsibilities and
the tasks related with the specific job. It is said to be a step after the Job Analysis has been
carried out. There have been many approaches to the Job Design. The two most important
approaches that would be selected by me to design the job for the customer service
representative are:
Job Attributes or characteristic approach This approach states that there is a direct
relation that exists in the performance, work & the rewards that are associated with it.
The people would be motivated to work and perform if they will have certain rewards
associated with their jobs. There are majorly 5 dimensions that are used to describe any
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kind of a job: significance of task, autonomy with it, identity of the task, variety of skills
and the feedback linked with it.
Engineering Job Design Approach This is an approach wherein the works, tasks or the
activities that have to be carried out by the employees are planned a day in advance by
the management and even his seniors and sent to him for his performance. The details
that are forwarded to the employees are what have to be done, when, how and in what
way with the specific deadlines in which the tasks have to be accomplished. This
approach has been developed by F W Taylor and has applied his scientific principles in it.
These job design approaches would be followed by me.
The major challenges that I would be facing through the implementation of these
approaches are:
Sometimes certain tasks have to be planned immediately and come suddenly that could
not be communicated in advance in engineering approach. Irrespective of the task
urgency it has to be performed
Certain characteristics that are associated and needed in the people may not be found in
the individuals that have been selected for the job profiles, but they have to be appointed
as the position may have urgent requirements.
The strategies that the company should adopt in order to attract and select the
qualified applicants for customer service representative position are:
Creation of a magnetic, healthy and free culture within the organization It is essential
that the company should create healthy and free culture within the organization (Itoh,
1994). This culture will enable the people to discuss their problems, challenges and issues
with their seniors along with the management. This helps in finding out the reasons for
RUNNING HEAD: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 5
the dis-satisfaction and thereby management could easily find ways to eliminate these
problems. They will take out various measures and ways in which the problems could be
removed and employees are given best services and the environment to work upon. This
environment and culture would have training, development, growth, learning and
knowledge enhancement in all ways.
Development of employee benefit and referral programs The Company may develop on
fruitful policies that will attract any people to work for the company. One of the policies
that it can implement is employee referral program. The internal employees should be
motivated to refer certain skilled and talented people to work with us and in return they
should be given the referral bonus. Similarly there can be various other policies like
welfare and employee engagement activities that will keep them active and motivated
throughout the duration that they will work with the company. They will experience
company being like their family that will remain retained within it.
By following these strategies, the company will be able to attract and retain the talent
within it. It will be able to introduce a culture that will encourage the healthy and fruitful
thoughts to be encouraged within the organization enabling the hiring and retention of skilled
and competent people within the company. These strategies would be beneficial as the internal
employees when act as the branding tool then surely the people will believe them and other
talented pool of expertise people will surely join the company and solve the issues of manpower
crunch that exists presently.
Job Analysis has given us the information on the various responsibilities and the kind of
personnel that has to be appointed or hired for the profile of customer service. The information
collected would act as a source of finding the ways in which the talented pool from the market
RUNNING HEAD: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 6
could be attracted. The ways in which this information could be used to measure the performance
of the customer service representatives are:
Recruitment and Selection Process - Based on the Job Analysis for this profile, there
would be preparation of the manpower requisition form that would be circulated and
approved by the seniors and to HR. HR will be able to coordinate with various manpower
agencies to find the right people with right skills and qualification to be put in this right
kind of a job. This way the company will be doing the right mapping for the candidates.
Compensation and Benefits - It could be utilized to benchmark the salaries and perks for
the specified position of customer service representative. It will find out the level of
income or packages that have to be given to attract the individuals from market for this
profile (Graen et al, 1992).
Discovering the duties and responsibilities that are unassigned Through this way, the
company would be discovering the various unassigned responsibilities and duties that
have to be given to these individuals. There would be certain specific areas of roles that
may be left out as an inclusion in this profile. The process will help in including and
mentioning them in the responsibility handout that is prepared and handed over to the
employees who join.
Hence it could said that in case the company has been facing issues and challenges of
hiring the right people for the right jobs then the job analysis and proper job design will surely
help in removing all the obstacles. This will also make the internal employees satisfied and
happy.


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References
Brannick, M. T., & Levine, E. L. (2002). Job analysis: Methods, research and applications for
human resource management in the new millennium.
Graen, G., Novak, M. A., & Sommerkamp, P. (1982). The effects of leadermember exchange
and job design on productivity and satisfaction: Testing a dual attachment
model. Organizational behavior and human performance, 30(1), 109-131.
Itoh, H. (1994). Job design, delegation and cooperation: A principal-agent analysis. European
Economic Review, 38(3), 691-700.
Morgeson, F. P., & Humphrey, S. E. (2006). The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ):
developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the
nature of work. Journal of applied psychology, 91(6), 1321.