Job design and employee performance in organizations

Abstract

The study was focused on establishing a relationship between job design practices and employee performance in Mengo Hospital. A cross sectional survey design which was both qualitative and quantitative in nature was employed for the first time on respondents within the medical surgery, nursing and dental departments of the hospital. The research objectives were based on establishment of relationships between job enlargement, job rotation and job enrichment with employee performance and research questions were formulated from these objectives to guide the researcher throughout the entire survey. The study also employed a self-administered questionnaire as a research instrument and it comprised of both open and close ended questions relating to job design practices in terms of job enlargement, job rotation and job enrichment as well as questions relating to employee performance in terms of employee efficiency, productivity and quality of output. The population considered appropriate for the study was 95 respondents from which a sample size of 76 was chosen basing on the krejcie and Morgan table of sample size selection criteria. Data that was collected from these respondents was analyzed and coded using the social package for social scientists with the help of data computations instruments so as to generate tables showing means, percentages, standard deviations as well as charts including pie charts, and bar graphs that were clearly explained. Descriptive statistics were also generated for all the dimensions under both the dependent and independent variable and were explained using a scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree as well as the rate at which responses were deviating from the mean figure. The results generated from the study showed that there was a negative but significant relationship between job enlargement and employee performance and significant but positive relationships between job rotation and performance as well as job enrichment and performance, meaning that the research questions were answered accordingly. The study also availed key recommendations such as investment in more training of employees, downsizing on the labor force, improvement of working conditions, enhancement of management structures as well as availing employee with more autonomy at their work place.