Human resource management practice I also available by michael armstrong

Chapter 

11

  Work, Organization and Job Design

139

 

●

facilitate the effective use of resources and 

the control of waste;

 

●

as far as possible enable employees to gain 

fulfilment from their work by providing 

scope for variety, challenge and autonomy;

 

●

encourage cooperative effort through 

teamworking;

 

●

provide a good work environment in terms 

of working conditions;

 

●

take account of the need to provide a healthy 

and safe system of work (‘build safety into 

the system’) bearing in mind the need to 

minimize stress and pay attention to 

ergonomic considerations in the design of 

equipment and work stations to eliminate or 

at least significantly reduce the risk of such 

conditions as repetitive strain injury;

 

●

take account of environmental 

considerations;

 

●

operate generally in accordance with the 

principles of ‘smart working’ as described 

below.

Smart working

As defined by the CIPD (2008: 4), smart working is: 

‘An approach to organizing work that aims to drive 

greater efficiency and effectiveness in achieving job 

outcomes through a combination of flexibility, auto-

nomy and collaboration, in parallel with optimizing 

tools  and  working  environments  for  employees.’ 

The characteristics of smart working as established 

by the CIPD research were:

 

●

self-management – a high degree of 

autonomy and a philosophy of 

empowerment;

 

●

the use of virtual teams or work groups;

 

●

focus on outcome-based indicators of 

performance;

 

●

high-performance working;

 

●

flexibility in work locations and hours;

 

●

use of more advanced communications 

technology;

 

●

hot-desking and working from home;

 

●

ways of working that are underpinned by or 

drive high-trust working relationships;

 

●

alignment of smart working with business 

objectives.

Typical  smart  working  arrangements  identified  by 

the  CIPD  research  include  flexible  working,  high-

performance working, ‘lean’ production and design-

ing jobs in which there is a higher degree of freedom 

to  act. The  role  of  each  of  those  arrangements  in 

work design is described below.