An article published recently investigates the method of job crafting  as the path to reconcile production organisation and individual aptitudes

Working well. Not only from a productive perspective, but also from a social and human viewpoint. Being truly part of a production organisation and taking an active part in it, experiencing it consciously. The new human and industrial relations constitute one of the developing horizons for businesses. Corporate culture which is also about the culture of good work. Using all the tools that can be implemented. Reading “Il significato del job crafting nell’organizzazione del lavoro. Inquadramento teorico, tendenze evolutive  e prospettive manageriali” (The meaning of job crafting in work organisation. Theoretical framework, evolutionary trends and managerial perspectives) written by multiple authors by Davide De Gennaro, Filomena Buonocore and Maria Ferrara (all from the “Parthenope” University of Naples), may therefore be a good way to find out more about one of the most important methods of finding a job and also the right job.

This research is in fact an investigation into the method of job crafting, i.e. the assumption on the part of workers of proactive behaviours to improve the way they work and thus make it more satisfactory and consistent with their own inclinations. The reasoning of the authors in fact is based on the connections between the characteristics of people and work organisation: the greater the “compatibility” between these two elements, the greater the working welfare on one hand and the productivity on the other.

The article then looks more closely at aspects related to job crafting starting with the theoretical approach and then moving on to its evolution and especially to its prospective uses. What triggers job crafting – the authors explain -, are situations of dissatisfaction but especially personal characteristics and contexts that lead to positive reactions that improve the job placement, satisfaction and therefore productivity as well as the improvement of relations within working environments. Everything therefore relates to the organisational and managerial running of the business.

In fact the authors come to two conclusions about the application of the job crafting method in companies. The first is that the allocation of tasks cannot be “handed down from above”, the second is that the organisation of work can generate positive results but also negative ones and that the task of a good manager  is to create “positive environments” as much as possible.

The work by De Gennaro, Buonocore and Ferrara is a good summary of a theme that is only apparently simple and easy to apply. For this reason, it should be read carefully.

Il significato  del job crafting nell’organizzazione del lavoro. Inquadramento teorico, tendenze evolutive e prospettive manageriali (The meaning of job crafting in the organisation of work. Theoretical framework, evolutionary trends and managerial prospects)    

Davide de Gennaro, Filomena Buonocore, Maria Ferrara

Impresa Progetto, Electronic Journal of Management, 1, 2017.