ABC Ltdhas a Large Secretarial Pool on the Third Floor of of Company

question 79

Essay

ABC Ltd.has a large secretarial pool on the third floor of company headquarters where professional and lower-level managers have their reports and other documents word-processed.The tasks are received by the secretarial pool coordinator and assigned randomly (on an availability basis)to secretaries in the pool.The secretaries often do not know the managers or professionals for whom the word-processing assignment is being completed.They rarely find out about the quality of their work because revisions are often sent to other secretaries in the pool due to the rotating work assignment system.Some assignments involve simple word-processing while others require complex formatting using more sophisticated word-processing software.Some secretaries don't mind working in the pool,but most are there because it represents the entry-level secretarial position.They resent the lack of control over work assignments and look forward to being transferred to other secretarial jobs in the firm where there is more freedom to schedule their own work activities.Turnover in the pool is much higher than for other support staff at ABC Ltd.Would job enlargement (combining tasks)be an effective job design strategy for employees in ABC's secretarial pool?

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Definitions:

Transfer Prices

Prices charged for goods, services or intangible property transferred within an organization between divisions or subsidiaries.

Decentralized Units

Subsections of an organization that operate semi-independently, making their own decisions and handling their specific operations.

Investment Turnover

A financial ratio that measures the efficiency of a company's investment in its assets by comparing net sales to average total assets.

Operating Income

The profit realized from a business's own operations, calculated before taxes and interest, also known as operating profit.