Topic 2: Linking the Job with the Organization's Corporate Goals and Strategies.

As discussed in the previous topic, job design is about creating job roles and responsibilities that
match the company's goals and the employees' skills and interests. This strategic alignment is
essential for the success of businesses of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses
(SMBs) to large enterprises. Notably, the first step to align job with the company's strategy is to
understand the big picture (goals) of the organization.

The key considerations of a job design are the tasks that need to be done, the methods that
should be used to do them, the relationships that the job has with other jobs and people
outside the organization. Other considerations include the qualifications that people need to do
their job well. This strategic approach to shaping job roles is really important in organizations
because it ensures that positions align with broader business goals while meeting the needs of
employees.

 It is important to note that an organization's strategy spells out how it will achieve its
goals and get ahead of competitors. But turning high-level strategy into concrete results
depends on employees efficiently executing day-to-day work. This is where optimized job
design comes in.

Effective job design aligns roles with strategic objectives. It clarifies who does what to support
the overall game plan. Streamlined processes and information flows between interdependent
roles further enable execution.

And because well-designed jobs tap into employees' passions and strengths, companies benefit
from enhanced productivity, discretionary effort and capabilities. Employees know exactly how
their work ladders up to produce organizational success.

Factors to Consider When Designing High-Performing Jobs:

1. Span of Control
Span of control refers to resources for which a worker is given decision rights and held
accountable for performance including material resources, human resources and financial
resources. Span of control answers the question: What resources do I have at my disposal to get
the job done?

Span of control also considers your position within your business’s hierarchy. For example, if
you’re a senior executive, you may have a wide span of control, with hundreds of employees
reporting to you and autonomy around pricing decisions and budgeting. If you’re a mid-level
manager, you may have a narrower span of control, with fewer team members and limited
high-level projects.

 For example, retail companies have customer service, inventory management, and product
development departments. While each is important, customer service representatives
might need larger spans of control if customer retention is down. The same can be said for
inventory management if operational inefficiencies cause any delays.

2. Span of Accountability
Span of accountability is the range of trade-offs affecting the performance measures you use to
evaluate employees’ achievements which are defined in financial and non-financial terms.
 Examples of performance measures include: Market value, Customer satisfaction and
Operating expenses.

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When employees understand what they’re accountable for and need to adjust to achieve success,
they’re more likely to contribute to another of strategy’s four Ps: Strategy as plans, which
comprises formal systems for setting strategic goals, determining action items, and tracking
progress. Depending on an employee’s position within your organization’s hierarchy, their span
of accountability can be wide or narrow. For example, while executives’ performance hinges on
your organization’s market value, factory-floor workers might only be concerned with keeping
operational costs down.

“Span of accountability is also rooted in the nature of the job and its role in strategy execution,”
Simons says in Strategy Execution. “For jobs where you want lots of creativity and innovation,
you want people to make lots of trade-offs. This means you need to hold them accountable for
wider measures.” Creating jobs with wide spans of accountability but narrow spans of control
can result in what Simons calls an entrepreneurial gap, where employees are forced to innovate
and influence those controlling the resources they need. Alternatively, narrowing employees’
span of accountability and offering ample resources can stunt creative problem-solving but
bolster compliance.

These scenarios illustrate how the relationship between the spans of control and accountability
determines how innovative your employees can be.

3. Span of Influence
Span of influence is how many people you need to reach out to when collecting data, probing for
new information, and attempting to influence others’ work. Eg. Consulting before making
impotant deciasions. To ensure employees have adequate spans of influence, consider who they
must influence to achieve the goals they're accountable for. As you adjust their spans, specify
how much you want them to engage with others.

This will determine how that individual will spend their time during the day. Additionally, by
adjusting this span, you’re again focusing on one of the four Ps of strategy. This time, it's
strategy as patterns of action. Strategy as patterns of action entails responding quickly and
effectively to changes in the competitive landscape and encouraging learning and development
within your organization to ensure employees understand internal dynamics and challenges.

According to Strategy Execution, job attributes that help determine span of influence include:

i. Cross-unit task forces: Involves challenging employees from different departments to

For example, software engineers can complete most of their projects with little help or input, but
project managers must typically exercise more creativity to accomplish goals by capitalizing on
existing relationships, building alliances with influential individuals, and creating compelling
presentation materials to garner support for initiatives.

4. Span of Support
Span of support refers to the support you can expect from those in other organizational units. eg.
The support system. It is tied to strategy’s final P: Strategy as perspective, which communicates
your business’s overarching direction and helps inspire pride in employees. By providing
employees with a support system, you can encourage them to seek out opportunities and thrive
in their roles. However, unlike other job design factors, this span can be challenging to adjust
because workplace culture determines how much support employees receive.
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“In some organizations, employees may find that others aren’t willing to help them; eg. when
they ask for support, the response may be a flat out, ‘that's not my job.’ But in other
organizations, people are eager and willing to help when asked. According to Strategy
Execution, organizations with wide spans of support have four attributes:
i. Pride and purpose: Employees inspired by their organization’s mission are more likely to
help others achieve its goals.
ii. Group identity: Selective hiring makes people feel special, fostering a sense of
camaraderie and willingness to help others.
iii. Trust: Individuals must be comfortable with feeling vulnerable when asking for help.
iv. Fairness and equity: Employees will assist one another if they know recognition and
rewards will be shared fairly and equitably.
NB: Not all jobs require a wide span of support, but many organizations prioritize it.
Measuring the Impact of Properly Designed Job
Optimized job design provides clear benefits, but how can organizations measure progress and
outcomes? Tracking relevant metrics is key for continuous improvement and demonstrating the
impact of job redesign initiatives.

Useful measures and assessment for the impact of job design include:
i. Employee surveys to gauge engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and perceptions of
workload, autonomy, and other factors.
ii. Comparing results over time and against benchmarks.
iii. Productivity data such as output, quality, cycle time, and goal achievement.
iv. Monitoring for improvements tied to changes in job design.
v. Absenteeism and turnover rates; well-designed jobs should positively influence these
over the long term.
vi. Client satisfaction metrics to determine if job design changes are translating into better
end-user experiences.
vii. Training needs and completion rates as roles evolve; This points to gaps that may require
training.
viii. Careful tracking; provides insight into what’s working while revealing areas needing
adjustment.

NB: These metrics keep job design focused on tangible improvements.