Job rotation is a management technique that assigns trainees to various jobs and departments over a period of a few years.
A job design technique in which employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The objective is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and to cross-train them.
—BusinessDictionary.com
Job rotation implies systematic movement of employees from one job to the other. Job remains unchanged but employees performing them shift from one job to the other. With job rotation, an employee is given an opportunity to perform different jobs, which enriches his skills, experience and ability to perform different jobs
Facts of Job Rotation
***In some businesses, the object is to educate employees, giving them information about other operations in the company. Not only does this peak the interest of many on the payroll, but it can also allow employees to ask questions and suggest improvements in areas they wouldn’t normally see.
***At another level of a larger company, managers and supervisors are sometimes moved, in a series of planned job rotations. Business owners and operating officers might use a rotation plan so that management personnel are familiar with various sections of the business. Then, when the time comes to fill a vacant position due to retirement, for example, there may be more than one candidate familiar with the duties of that slot.
***In certain industries and with work that involves physical labor, job rotation may be used to avoid over-stressing some workers.
The constant, repetitive use of the same muscles can be one of the hazards of the workplace. Wise use of rotation may help workers stay healthy, and maintain a good work atmosphere as well. Safety is often a key consideration in this situation.
***Job rotation involves shifting a person from one job to another, so that he is able to understand and learn what each job involves. The company tracks his performance on every job and decides whether he can perform the job in an ideal manner. Based on this he is finally given a particular posting.
Job rotation is done to decide the final posting for the employee e.g. Mr. A is assigned to the marketing department whole he learns all the jobs to be performed for marketing at his level in the organization .after this he is shifted to the sales department and to the finance department and so on. He is finally placed in the department in which he shows the best performance.
There are few Drawbacks of Job Rotation –
***Rigid employees not ready for it quits.
***Adjustment problem in new job scenario with increased challenges and difficulties.
***Adjustment problem with the timings if the company works in shifts.
***Increased stress and peer pressure.
Advantages of job rotation
***Avoids monopoly :- Job rotation helps to avoid monopoly of job and enable the employee to learn new things and therefore enjoy his job
***Provides an opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge: – due to job rotation the person is able to learn different job in the organization this broadens his knowledge.
***Avoiding fraudulent practice: – In an organization like bank jobs rotation is undertaken to prevent employees from doing any kind of fraud i.e. if a person is handling a particular job for a very long time he will be able to find loopholes in the system and use them for his benefit and indulge ( participate ) in fraudulent practices job rotation avoids this.
Disadvantages of Job Rotation
***Frequent interruption :- Job rotation results in frequent interruption of work .A person who is doing a particular job and get it comfortable suddenly finds himself shifted to another job or department .this interrupts the work in both the departments.
***Reduces uniformity in quality :- Quality of work done by a trained worker is different from that of a new worker .when a new worker I shifted or rotated in the department, he takes time to learn the new job, makes mistakes in the process and affects the quality of the job.
***Misunderstanding with the union member :- Sometimes job rotation may lead to misunderstanding with members of the union. The union might think that employees are being harassed and more work is being taken from them. In reality this is not the case.
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