With innovation and creativity becoming success drivers for any organisation, it is important that it gives its employees the freedom to get innovative and creative with their job roles too.

Role definition

With innovation and creativity becoming success drivers for any organisation, it is important that it gives its employees the freedom to get innovative and creative with their job roles too.

    Today, a large number of companies are encouraging employees to have flexible roles, rather than pre-defined and strict ones. This enables them to expand their working frontiers to multiple departments and make ‘free’ decisions on projects or products. Such a work structure can prove very beneficial to the company as it ensures that the human resources are being put to best use and enables them to stay in line with the latest market trends.
    Gyan Daultani - VP (HR & resource management group), Nihilent Technologies tells us the advantages offered by a flexible job role for the employee and employer,“A flexible job role discards the monotonous nature of an employee’s day-to-day responsibilities. Flexibility in the role can add a significant element of ‘change’ in the working environment. An employee is not confined to perform under strict or pre- defined areas and can try to add value to his/her existing role by exploring tasks in related areas.”
    On the other hand, there are certain advantages to a rigidly defined job role as well, that should also be kept in mind. Rajesh Rai, director, HR at Expedia India elaborates on the same,“Rigidly defined job roles are very much requirement-based. They work best where the need for such roles is paramount. It is very common in organisational structures, processes, and roles that are rigid in which each part of the organisation does what it is designed to do and hence makes ‘rigidity’ an important feature of accomplishment for employer and employee productivity. Such roles are utilised to increase efficiency when tasks and technologies are relatively stable.”
    But, which of the two is better in today’s scenario? Daultani answers, “Most of us believe that today’s world is based on ‘knowledge workers’. A professional has to be skilled in his/her area of work as well as knowledgeable about related areas. This calls for continuous learning and innovation into job roles, which can be achieved only if we have an open-minded approach towards our roles and responsibilities. As a rigid structure does not allow the freedom to think beyond a framework, an open-minded approach can be accomplished through flexibility in job roles.”
    Kamal Meattle, CEO, Paharpur Business Centre, enlightens us on how flexibility in job roles inculcates innovation in an organisation,“Flexible job roles give a professional ample opportunity to think and be creative as his/her mind is free from boundaries and obligations. In a flexible role, one can also manage time in a much better way and there is an increased feeling of personal control over schedule and work environment. Though it does not mean that if a person doesn't have a flexible role, his/her creative juice will stop flowing, it does however encourage one’s growth.”
    Hence, thought should be put in whether flexibility or rigidity in job roles is more beneficial to one’s organisation and accordingly, a suitable work structure should be defined for the employees to enhance their productivity.