The Impact of Behavioural Elements of Job Design on Employee Engagement of Public Sector Administrative Service Officers in Sri Lanka

D M P S K Dissanayake,L V K Jayatilake

doi:10.4038/kjm.v8i1.7593

D M P S K Dissanayake, L V K Jayatilake

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4038/kjm.v8i1.7593

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Abstract

Public Sector should be focused on improving the productivity by empowering employees and this will be part of an overall growth strategy of the countrie’s economy. Therefore, the service quality of public sector of the country is significantly important.The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of behavioural elements of Job Design on the level of employee engagement of Sri Lanka Administrative Service Officers. This quantitative study, 141 SLAS officers among 2384 SLAS officers are examined to identify the impact of each of the behavioural element tested in Hackman and Oldham’s Job characteristics model on the level of Employee engagement. In addition the level of employee engagement of SLAS officers and the level of each of the five behavioural element embedded in the job of SLAS officers are measured in the study. The results of the study indicates that 65% of the variance in Employee Engagement is explained by five behavioural elements of Job Design. It is also found that Autonomy, Task Significance and Skill Variety elemants of Job Design are positively correlated with the level of employee engagement of SLAS officers and Task Identity and Task Feedback elements of Job Design are not significantly correlated with employee engagement. The study also proved that SLAS officers are moderately engaged in their job, having moderaley positve mean values for vigour, dedication and absorption elements. The level of Autonomy and Skill Variety elements embedded in the job of SLAS officers is at a moderate level and the level of Task Significance and Task Identity elements embedded in the job of SLAS officers is at a high level. The feedback provided by the job to its holder is at a low when considering the job of the sample. A more accurate method should be developed to provide a feedback to the job holder regarding the performance.

Highlights

Public Sector employees in Sri Lanka can be identified as a major determinant factor of the country’s development and future affairs
It is found that Autonomy, Task Significance and Skill Variety elemants of Job Design are positively correlated with the level of employee engagement of SLAS officers and Task Identity and Task Feedback elements of Job Design are not significantly correlated with employee engagement
It is found that Autonomy, Task Significance and Skill Variety elemants of Job Design are positively correlated with the level of employee engagement and confirm the prevailing theoritical arguments explained in the Literature

Summary

Introduction

Public Sector employees in Sri Lanka can be identified as a major determinant factor of the country’s development and future affairs. According to the figures of Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, the public sector employment consists of 15.1% of total employed labour force of the country and it is 1,182,914 persons in total (Department of Census and Statistics, 2016). This amount indicates that the public sector employment has a significant impact on the country’s future. It is believed that the public service is already too large and unwieldy, many institutions are overstaffed and it is one of the largest public sectors in the world (National Human Resources and Employment Policy, 2012). It is important to be noted that, public sector should be focused on improving the productivity by empowering employees and this will be a part of an overall growth strategy of the country’s economy (Nafeel, 2014)

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