Organization and Work Design

What you will learn in this chapter We learned that human resource management involves a series of cycles starting with “hiring people” (Chap. 1 ) and that the design of human resource management systems differs depending on how people are viewed. We also learned that to motivate workers, it is useful to make their work interesting and challenging and to satisfy their desire to grow as human beings. However, human behavior in an organization is regulated not only by the subjective mental aspects of the workers’ own emotions, feelings, and desires, but also by the structural aspects of the organization as a whole, such as its rules and systems. In particular, in the “getting them to work” aspect of the human resource management cycle, companies need to set rules and work procedures for each individual to engage in work. If each individual worker is regarded as “software” in terms of the organization as a whole, these structural aspects of the organization can be regarded as “hardware,” a container or framework, so to speak. While taking into consideration the soft aspects of human feelings and desires, a company must also create a structure, framework, and rules for the organization as a whole so that employees will work properly and ultimately lead to profits. What organizational structures and rules do firms have in place to increase the efficiency, performance, and profitability of their workers? As a result, how are employees’ job interest and satisfaction limited? How can a balance be struck between a sense of fulfillment and rules if management wants to pull employees in the direction it wants while still giving them job satisfaction? In this fifth chapter, you will learn the basics of building such an organization, how employees work, and how to manage them.