In this essay, we argue that relational/social dimensions are very important in the context of service- and knowledge-based work contexts. When we compare this to task dimensions, these are even more important when we consider the broader context of job design in terms of the outcome of multi-job organizational design. However, at the work level, it depends on the work context as both might interact with contrasting results for the same job. To support our argument, we begin by providing a brief background on the development of job design theory and interest in social perspective in general. We then introduce social dimensions and discuss their importance through three means: an empirical meta-analytic study, some implications of their importance at the broader organizational level, and thirdly, we examine their implications on job characteristics and levels of results. Finally, we provide a comparison between the social and task dimensions. Work design theories have experienced extensive developments over the years. To avoid a long historical narrative, we refer the reader to Wall & Martin (1994: 159-171) or Morgeson & Humphrey (2008: 5-8) for a detailed look at this history, as they show the main milestone of the conceptual process and practical developments in work design. The job characterization model (JCM) is a model that has arguably dominated the job design literature longer than any other (Grant & Parker 2008). Oldham & Hackman provide a simple history view of JCM (2010:2-5), which includes 5 task dimensions: task meaning, variety, identity, autonomy and feedback from the job. To place these historical developments in current perspective, we note several observations about changing job design theories. The first is that the na...... middle of the paper ......advantage. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Morgeson, F.P., & Humphrey, S.E. (2008). Work and team design: Toward a more integrative conceptualization of work design. In J. Martocchio (Ed.), Research on personnel and human resource management (Vol. 27, pp. 39-92). United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing LimitedOldham, G. R., &Hackman, J. R. (2010). Not what was and not what will be: The future of job design research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 463–479. Parker, S. K., Wall, T. D., & Cordery, J. L. (2001). Future work design research and practice: Towards an elaborate work design model. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 74, 413-440Wall, TD; & Martin, R., (1994) 'Job and work design' from Cooper, C. L. and Robertson, I. T. (eds.), Key Reviews in Managerial Psychology pp.158-188, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd