Designing a good job

In the last blog we concluded with the last of the mechanisms to control the issues of agency costs. In this blog we begin a new discussion on the design of jobs - the discussion that follows over the next few blogs is based on the HBR article - Designing High performance jobs by Robert Simons.

A common situation that an entrepreneur gets into is that after having begun with an exciting vision and building a good strategy and developing a strong product, hired good people to build the necessary networks but then implementation goes bad! A lack luster response is seen from the managers, delays in delivery to customers are common, and there are several coordination issues. The entrepreneur begins to ask - "have I chosen the wrong people in these critical jobs?" A closer look and the problem look to be at all levels and across the organization.

These issues are generally because the balance of what an employee expectation of organization's resource in supply are not balanced by the demand that the individual in that role has for the organizational resources. The balance is essential and requires answers to the four basic questions

1. What resources do I control to accomplish my tasks?
2. What measures will be used to evaluate my performance
3. What do I need to interact with and include achieving my goals?
4. How much support can I expect when I reach out to others for help?

Put other way these are questions about

1. Control
2. Accountability
3. Influence
4. Support

We shall continue discussion on these over the next few blogs