Everything you need to know about job enrichment.

Job enrichment is an effort to add such attributes to a job as a variety of tasks, freedom to decide and operate, wholesomeness and completeness of the tasks performed, and performance feedback for the job.

The man at work should feel motivated, and this can be done by making the job more interesting and challenging.

Job enrichment is done by adding or changing the contents of the job or by giving more discretion to the job-holder or both. Addition to the job content is also described as job enlargement. It may be done by loading the job horizontally or vertically or both ways.

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Loading the job horizontally would mean addition of more of the same kind of content as earlier, while in the case of vertical loading, the new content involves greater stimulation and variety.

Job enrichment has been defined as the process of permitting the individual employees to decide his own working place. It also permits the employees to serve as their own supervisors or to repair their own mistakes. It provides the worker greater autonomy for planning and controlling his own performance.

Learn about:-

1. Introduction and Meaning of Job Enrichment 2. Characteristics of Job Enrichment 3. Core Dimensions 4. Ways Used in the Workplace 5. Actions 6. Precautions to be Taken

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7. Important Steps in Process 8. Techniques 9. Relationship between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment 10. Advantages 11. Limitations 12. Steps for Implementing Job Enrichment Program.

Job Enrichment: Meaning, Characteristics, Dimensions, Precautions, Techniques, Advantages, Limitations and Program


Contents:

  1. Introduction and Meaning of Job Enrichment
  2. Characteristics of Job Enrichment
  3. Core Dimensions of Job Enrichment
  4. Ways Used for Enriching Jobs in the Workplace
  5. Actions of Job Enrichment
  6. Precautions to be Taken for Job Enrichment
  7. Important Steps in Job Enrichment Process
  8. Techniques of Job Enrichment
  9. Relationship between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment
  10. Advantages of Job Enrichment
  11. Limitations of Job Enrichment
  12. Job Enrichment Program

Job Enrichment – Introduction and Meaning

The term ‘Job enrichment was first coined by Fredrick Herybug in his famous research work with motivators and maintenance factors. This term ‘Job enrichment’ has become a more popular concept. Job enrichment means adding duties and responsibilities that will provide for skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback on job performance.

In other words, it means adding a few more motivators to a job to make it more rewarding. To be specific, a job is enriched when the nature of the job is exciting, challenging and creative, or given the job holder more decision-making, planning and controlling power. Thus, job enrichment loads the job vertically. It tries to deal with dissatisfaction by increasing job depth as work activities from a vertical slice of the organisational unit are combined in one job.

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Job enrichment is based upon the intrinsic reward theory – the reward should be built into the job. It is more effective and long-lasting than extrinsic rewards which are in the form of additional benefits like productivity bonus, better pay, perks, etc. Job enrichment makes the job more pleasant and gives a sense of accomplishment.

Job enrichment is done by adding or changing the contents of the job or by giving more discretion to the job-holder or both. Addition to the job content is also described as job enlargement. It may be done by loading the job horizontally or vertically or both ways. Loading the job horizontally would mean addition of more of the same kind of content as earlier, while in the case of vertical loading, the new content involves greater stimulation and variety.

Loading, however, should not result into a perception on the part of employee that he has to exert more for the same amount of benefits as earlier. It must result into more job satisfaction. The other method of job enrichment is increase in the power – the discretion of the employee to enable him to act freely, make judgements independently and account for his performance.

The test of job enrichment is employee satisfaction and the resultant improvement in productivity. Some of the problems which arise while introducing job enrichment scheme may be related to the individual’s own preferences and personal difficulties. Some people are happy with simple jobs and the existing pay and perquisites. They do not want any further responsibility, learn anything new or accept new challenges. A better job may sometimes require mobility, for which an individual may not be willing.

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The difference between job enlargement and job enrichment is obvious. While job enrichment focuses on satisfying higher-order needs, job enlargement focuses on adding additional tasks to the worker’s job for greater variety. We can blend the two approaches together by expanding the number of tasks and adding more motivators for a two-pronged attempt to improve quality of work life.

When can Job Enrichment Become Successful?

1. The quality of work is the basis consideration.

2. The job requires a good deal of originality and individual judg­ment.

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3. The employees themselves clearly prefer less control and super­vision.

4. The organisation encourages employees to participate in plan­ning, innovations and creations.

5. The employees prefer to have strong higher order needs for achievement.

6. Jobs to be enriched are professional ones which are performed by higher level employees.

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7. Lower level needs such as pay, job security, supervision etc. of the employees are fairly satisfied.


Job Enrichment – Top 8 Characteristics: Direct Feedback, Client Relationship, New Learning, Scheduling Own Work, Unique Experience and a Few Others

1. Direct Feedback:

The employees of the organisation should be able to get immediate knowledge of the results they are achieving through job-enrichment. The evaluation of performance can be built into the job or provided by a supervisor.

2. Client Relationship:

The employee who serves a client or a customer directly has an enriched job. The client may be an outside person like a mechanic dealing with a car-owner or an inside person like a computer operator executing a job for another department of the organisation.

3. New Learning:

An enriched job allows its incumbent to feel that he is growing intellectually.

4. Scheduling Own Work:

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In job enrichment, an employee will be able to enjoy freedom to schedule his own work. Deciding when to tackle which assignment is an example of self-scheduling. Employees who perform creative work or enjoy greater opportunity to schedule their assignments than those who perform routine jobs.

5. Unique Experience:

An enriched job will have some unique qualities or features like quality controller visiting a supplier.

6. Control over Resources:

Under job enrichment, each employee will have control over his resources and expenses. For example the employee has authority to order supplies required for compliance of his job.

7. Direct Communication Authority:

An enriched job allows the worker to communicate directly with people who are using his products such as a quality assurance manager handling a customer’s complaints about the quality.

8. Personal Accountability:

An enriched job holds an employee responsible for the results. Because he receives praise for good work and blame for bad work.


Job Enrichment – 5 Core Dimensions: Skill Variety, Task Identity, Task Significance, Autonomy and Feedback

Hackman and Oldham have developed a job characteristics approach to enrichment. This approach identifies five core dimensions of job enrichment.

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These five dimensions are:

1. Skill variety

2. Task identity

3. Task significance

4. Autonomy

5. Feedback.

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In an ideal sense, a job might have all five dimensions to be fully enriched. If one of the dimensions is absent, workers are psychologically deprived and motivation may be reduced. These core dimensions influence an employee’s psychological state that tends to improve performance, satisfaction and quality of work and reduces turnover and absenteeism.

Their effect on quality of work is less dependable. Many managerial and white-collar jobs, as well as blue-collar jobs, often do not possess in some core dimensions.

Different employees react to these core dimensions differently the typical employee finds them to be basic for internal motivation:

Dimension # 1. Skill Variety:

Skill variety permits employees to perform different operations that often require different skills. Jobs that are perceived high in variety are seen by employees as more challenging because of the range of skills involved and relieve monotony that develops from any repetitive activity. Variety gives employees a greater sense of competence, because they can perform different kinds of work in different ways.

Dimension # 2. Task Identity:

Task identity allows employees to perform a complete piece of the work. When tasks are broadened to produce a whole product, then task identity has been established.

Dimension # 3. Task Significance:

Task significance refers to the amount of impact, as the worker perceives, that the work has on other people. The impact can be on others in the work organization, as when the worker performs a key step in the work process, or on those outside the firm. Task significance denotes that workers should believe they are doing something important in their organization and/or society.

Dimension # 4. Autonomy:

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Job autonomy gives employees some discretion and control over job-related decisions. Job autonomy seems to be fundamental in building a sense of responsibility in workers. Although they are willing to work within the broad constraints of an organization, they also insist on a degree of freedom. MBO is one way of establishing more autonomy because it provides a greater role for workers in establishing their own goals and pursuing plans to achieve them.

Dimension # 5. Feedback:

Feedback refers to information that tells workers how well they are performing. Feedback can directly come from the job itself or management and other employees can give it. The concept of feedback is of much significance to people at work. Since they are spending a substantial part of their lives in their work, they wish to know how well they are performing.

The feedback also enables employees to adjust their performance, if there are any deviations. Workers must receive complete job feedback, both positive and negative. If they received only negative feedback, it may be de-motivating.


Job Enrichment  Ways Used for Enriching Jobs in the Workplace

The central focus of job enrichment is giving people more control over their work (lack of control is a key cause of stress, and therefore of unhappiness). Where possible, allow them to take on tasks that are typically done by supervisors. This means that they have more influence over planning, executing, and evaluating the jobs they do.

In enriched jobs, people complete activities with increased freedom, independence, and responsibility. They also receive plenty of feedback, so that they can assess and correct their own performance.

Here are some ways which can be used to enrich jobs in the workplace:

1. Rotate Jobs:

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People are given the opportunity to use a variety of skills and perform different kinds of work. The most common way to do this is through job rotation. The workers are moved through a variety of jobs that allow seeing different parts of the organization, learning different skills and acquiring different experiences. This can be very motivating, especially for the people in jobs that are very repetitive or that focus on only one or two skills.

2. Combine Tasks:

Combine work activities to provide a more challenging and complex work assignment. This can significantly increase “task identity” because people see a job through from start to finish. This allows workers to use wide variety of skills, which can make the work seem more meaningful and important.

For example, you can convert an assembly line process, in which each person does one task, into a process in which one person assembles a whole unit. This model is applied wherever people or groups that typically perform only one part of an overall process. Consider expanding their roles to give them responsibility for the entire process, or for a bigger part of the process.

3. Identify Project-Focused Work Units:

It breaks the typical functional lines and form project-focused units. For example, rather than having all the marketing people in one department, with supervisors directing who works on which project, the departments could be split into specialized project units-specific storyboard creators, copywriters, and designers could all work together for one client or one campaign. Allowing employees to build client- relationship is an excellent way to increase autonomy, task identity and feedback.

4. Create Autonomous Work Teams:

This is job enrichment at the group level. Set a goal for a team, and make team members free to determine work assign­ments, schedules, rest breaks, evaluation parameters, and the like. You may even give them influence over choosing their own team members. With this method, supervisory positions are significantly cut back, and people will give leadership and management skills.

5. Implement Participative Management:

Allow team members to participate in decision-making and get involved in strategic planning. This is an excellent way to communicate to members of a team that their input is important. It can work in any organization—from a very small company, with an owner/boss who is used to dictate everything to a large company with a huge hierarchy. When people realize that what they say is valued and makes a difference, they will be likely be motivated.

6. Redistribute Power and Authority:

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Redistribute control and grant more authority to workers for making job-related decisions. As supervisors delegate more authority and responsibility, team member’s autonomy, accountability, and task identity will increase.

7. Increase Employee-Directed Feedback:

Make sure that people know how well, or poorly, they are performing their jobs. The more control is given for evaluating and monitoring the performance, the more enriched jobs will be. Rather than having quality control department go around and point out mistakes, consider giving each team responsibility for their own quality control. Workers will receive immediate feedback, and they will learn to solve problems, take initiative and make decisions.


Job Enrichment – Actions Suggested by Hackman Theory for Enrichment of a Job

Hackman theory has suggested very important actions for enrichment of a job as follows:

(1) Forming Natural Work Unit:

Distributing work in a logical way is an important and obvious part of the design of any job. Whenever possible a job should be assigned to one person or group of persons from beginning to end (whole).

Therefore it is necessary to identify the basic work items and to cluster them into natural work units. Work should be assigned naturally rather than randomly. Because of this, the job holder can clearly see his contribution and this ultimately leads to task identify and task significance.

(2) Combining Tasks:

The Hackman theory suggests not to fractionalize job but to combine fractionalized to form new and larger modules of work. If the task cannot be handled by an individual then assign it to a small team of employees, who have the freedom and responsibility for its completion. Thus a meaningful work unit should be formed which calls for a variety of skills and increases ones task identity.

(3) Establishing Relationship with Client:

When an employee doesn’t have any contact with the ultimate user of his product or services, he hardly gets any feedback of his work. Therefore it is necessary to establish a direct relationship with client and get a feedback in the form of praise or criticism.

This could also increase skill variety, as the employee would have to maintain good interpersonal relations with outsiders. Autonomy also increases when he is given responsibility for managing this relationship. Such contact can be established by expanding communication channels outside the organization.

(4) Vertical Loading:

This is one of the most crucial principles of job design. When other changes are not possible or feasible, vertical loading alone can bring remarkable effects on motivation. There are several ways to accomplish this.

(I) Greater discretion in planning work, deciding work methods, checking quality, training less experienced persons etc.

(II) Advancement of workers from a position of no authority to near total authority for their work.

(III) Greater freedom about when to start and stop work, when to have a break, how to assign priorities etc.

(IV) Opportunities to solve important problems independently without falling back on superiors.

(V) Information about job costs, profits, financial controls and planning should be given to employees.

Thus vertical loading will directly lead to more autonomy which in turn will lead to a feeling of responsibility for work outcome.

(5) Opening Feedback Channels:

Everyone would like to know whether their performance is improving, deteriorating or aiming at a constant level. There are various channels to provide this feedback. However it is better to learn about one’s performance directly as one does a job rather than from a superior. Such feedback is more direct and less biased than feedback supplied by a superior. Direct relationship with client’s quality control efforts as weekly performance reviews are some of the ways to get direct feedback from work.


Job Enrichment – Precautions to be Taken for Enriching Jobs: Not a Substitute for Good Management, Enrichment is Relative Term, Snowball Effect and a Few Others

Job enrichment has been so well publicised and made so popular that this scheme is a method of increasing worker motivation and satisfactions worker productivity, improving quality and quantity of production, enhancing worker’s responsibility etc. But in reality, they are all misleading conceptions. Therefore, the management of an organisation should take precautions about job enrichment.

1. Not a Substitute for Good Management:

It is wrong to assume that job enrichment would be a substitute for good or efficient management. If other environmental factors in the organisation are not adequate, job enrichment will have little or no effect.

2. Enrichment is Relative Term:

Generally it is considered that the workers are less productive and less responsible in their jobs, and job enrichment initially, is likely to increase the productivity and responsibility. But it is wrong to assume that job enrichment is the only way to increase the worker-responsibility and productivity. It may however increase them relatively only to some extent.

3. Snowball Effect:

Job enrichment may create a ‘snow balleffect. If the organisation has a fixed authority to distribute the work among the workers, then job enrichment may lead to taking away authority from one to another. For example- a manager’s authority may be curtailed to increase the workers authority. This creates a practical difficulty since today labour unions are very strong and they definitely resist such a scheme.

4. Wrong Assumption that Workers Want More Responsibility:

Job enrichment assumes that workers want more responsibility so as to increase their productivity but this assumption is completely wrong. Because, workers who are satisfied with their current level of responsibility are most likely to be faced with higher responsibility and this may cause more problems than before.

5. Negative Short-Run Effects:

Job enrichment may have negative short-term effects. It may increase worker productivity and responsibility only for a short period but in due course, the workers become accustomed to their usual routine work system. Then this may lead to a drop in productivity.

6. Job Enrichment May Become Static:

Employee’s man become bored in due course even in their enriched jobs once then have been working to their full capacity. Therefore it may become necessary to further enrichment of their jobs but it may be beyond the capacity of the workers. In such cases, the static conditions may have to be faced by the organisation.

7. Participation in Management May Not be Effective:

Herzberg originally recommended that workers should not be involved in the enrichment process on the ground that workers are often conditioned to see their jobs in-terms of ‘hygiene’ factors and not in-terms of their job content. Therefore the management must consider this point in their participation process.

8. Difficult to Implement:

Generally, workers always oppose any change in their set-up or nature of work. In facts the job enrichment theory is a paradox. On the one hand it increases the responsibility of the employee but on the other, it is difficult to implement because of the employees opposition of course, ultimately, the employees may be benefitted when their wages increase along with productivity.


Job Enrichment – Important Steps in Job Enrichment Process

The important steps in job enrichment process are as follows:

(i) Selecting the jobs which are amenable to job enrichment.

(ii) Introducing the scheme on a pilot basis.

(iii) Identifying the changes that may enrich the jobs.

(iv) Concentrating on motivational factors such as achievement, self-control, responsibility and advancement.

(v) Trying to change the control of the job rather than changing the employees from their jobs.

(vi) Providing training, guidance and encouragement and help wherever necessary.

(vii) Introducing carefully job enrichment programme to over­come the opposition of the employees.

(viii) Preparing the specific programmes for each project and en­suring control information to monitor the performance.

(ix) Integrating the enriched jobs into the daily routine of the organisation.


Job Enrichment – Techniques

The techniques of job enrichment are as follows:

1. Increasing the responsibility of a job by adding a variety of tasks.

2. Providing wider scope, more sequence and increased pace of activity.

3. Assigning a natural unit of work either to an employee or a group of employees.

4. Minimising controls to provide freedom to the employees.

5. Allowing the employee to set his own standards of performance.

6. Making the employee directly responsible for his performance.

7. Providing the employees control information and allow them to monitor their own performance.

8. Encouraging employee participation in planning, innovations and creations.

9. Introducing new, difficult and creative tasks to the employees.

10. Assigning the specific projects to individual employees or groups of employees that will enhance their expertise.


Job Enrichment – Relationship between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment

Job enlargement means enhancement of the number of tasks accomplished by the individual in the organisation. It is the process of increasing the scope of a job by adding more tasks to it. Enhancement of task in the organisation creates more satisfaction on the part of individual to utilize more of his abilities and capabilities.

Researcher like Katz and Kahn, Hoppock, Super and Monks have revealed that satisfaction of the employee increases when the work becomes more skilled and complex through job enlargement.

In the words of Strauss and Sayles “Job enlargement means, instead of assigning one man to each job, a group of men can be assigned to a group of jobs and then allowed to decide for themselves how to organise the work. Such changes permit more social contracts and greater control over the work process.”

For example, in a company there are three groups of sales persons for three different sales functions namely, booking orders, delivering the product and providing after sale service. Under job enlargement, all the groups are emerged together so that every sales person perform all the three functions.

Job enlargement reduces monetary and boredom by providing the employee a more complete or whole job to do. It helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. It is also a method of training and developing more versatile employee. But it does not increase the depth of job. Enlarged jobs require larger training period, as there are more tasks to be learned.

Job enlargement is differ from job enrichment Job enlargement involves a horizontal loading of the job by adding a variety of operations which the job ­holder will perform. On the other hand, job enrichment involves a vertical loading of the job, so that the job­holder himself controls the planning and execution of his job. In Job enlargement employees have not given such autonomy which the employees in the job enrichment has given.

On the other hand, they have performed more work at the same level of responsibility and the employees in the job enrichment perform less work with greater autonomy and responsibility. In job enrichment, the employees perform the managerial function, which is not in job enlargement.

Job enrichment has been defined as the process of permitting the individual employees to decide his own working place. It also permits the employees to serve as their own supervisors or to repair their own mistakes. It provides the worker greater autonomy for planning and controlling his own performance.

It is based on the assumption that in order to motivate employees, the job itself must provide opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement and growth. An employee whose job is enriched will perform the management functions of planning and control so far as his own work is concerned.

Job enrichment is the process which increase the scope of a job by adding variety of tasks. It allows the employee to set his own standards or to repair his own mistakes. It provides greater autonomy and responsibilities for performing work. In the job enrichment employee, he control the planning and execution of his job.

The job enrichment treats the work as a whole and not in parts for improving efficiency and making the employee responsible for the entire job. Here necessary responsibility is provided through proper delegation.

Job enrichment is the most widely used method of job design. It provides a meaning work experience and learning to employees. A majority of today’s executives want jobs that are interesting and provide a sense of accomplishment. Extreme divisions of labour and technical consideration have resulted in routine and repetitive jobs.

Therefore, it has become necessary to redesign jobs to provide intrinsic motivation and satisfaction to employees. Thus, job enrichment is a very powerful motivational tool. It is require to developing the individual for higher position. It has helped to improve productivity and reduce labour turnover and absenteeism in AT and T (USA), Oliveti and Fiat (Italy), Renault (France) and many other companies.

However, job enrichment may fail to motivate employees who are alienated and who prefer job security, shorter work, bonus and good pay to autonomy and responsibility. Such employee feels that it is an additional burden without appropriate compensation. Job enrichment may make work difficult and therefore, proper training should be provided to the employees to handle the enriched jobs.

Job enlargement and job enrichment are the two important motivational factors. Both motivates employees towards the organisation. It was introduced in 1950s to motivate the employees or to provide them interesting, worthwhile and challenging jobs for achieving better work performance from the employees.

Job enrichment is provided, if the work is meaning or worker has knowledge of work for job structuring and for proper delegation of work. Here the employee is responsible for the entire job.


Job Enrichment – Advantages

If applied properly, job enrichment offers benefits to the job holder as well as to the organization. The job holder derives satisfaction from the job in the form of recognition, achievement, and self-actualization. For him, the job itself becomes a source of satisfaction.

As his job performance improves, he develops a sense of feeling that he is contributing something positively to the organization. Various benefits of job enrichment accrue to the organization in the form of better intrinsically-motivated employees, better employee performance, and lesser absenteeism, turnover, and grievances.

1. It enriches the role of an individual that encourages growth and self-actualization.

2. The job is designed in such a way that encourages intrinsic motivation.

3. Increased motivation improves performance by providing both a more human and a more productive job.

4. Reduces negative effects such as labour turnover, absenteeism, grievances and reduces idle time.

5. Society benefits from the more effectively functioning person as well as from better job performance.

Thus, job enrichment occurs when the work adds more challenge, achievement, opportunity for growth, responsibility and provides feedback, and recognition. However, employees themselves are the best judge to decide the factors that enrich their jobs. Management can just collect the information about the factors that tend to enrich job, bring about those factors in the job system, and then find out whether employees feel that their jobs are enriched.

Management, therefore, must give equal attention to the motivational factors as well as maintenance factors. While increasing the motivational factors, maintenance factors need either to be kept constant or higher. In case maintenance factors are not paid adequate attention and there is a decline in them, the employees will not respond positively to the enrichment program because inadequate maintenance factors cause distraction.


Job Enrichment – Limitations

Around 1970s, when job enrichment was adopted as a tool of motivation, it attracted a lot of criticisms from both academicians and practitioners. They questioned the value of job enrichment. In general, the same criticisms of the two-factor theory of motivation apply to job enrichment.

Apart from the problems in applying job enrichment into practice, it does not offer the results as anticipated. First, there is a basic question whether workers really want the type of changes in work contents under job enrichment programme. Various surveys suggest that very few workers are dissatisfied from their present jobs and only little proportion of them want a change in their job contents.

In India, this problem is more serious because workers want more wages and job security. Second, job enrichment is basically limited to unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Jobs of highly skilled managers and professionals are of varying degree and offer high challenge and accomplishment.

As such, there is very little scope of applying job enrichment. These can be enriched not by usual methods but by applying modern management techniques such as management by objectives, participative management, delegation of authority, status systems, etc.

Besides these limitations, there are some problems in applying job enrichment in practice because of which it does not pay adequate dividends. First, the major problem appears to be the tendency for top managers and personnel specialists to apply their own scale of values of challenge and accomplishment to other people’s personalities.

This evokes more resistance from workers rather than accepting it. Second, there is a tendency to impose job enrichment on workers rather than applying it with their consent. Such type of problems have been faced by many organizations which have attempted job enrichment.

Despite these limitations, job enrichment is a valuable motivational technique, but the management must use it selectively and give proper recognition to the complex human and situational variables.

The following are the limitations of job enrichment:

(1) The problems in the work system are rarely diagnosed before the jobs are redesigned.

(2) The work itself is not actually damage on so many occasions.

(3) Even if the work itself is substantially changed anticipated gains are diminished or reversed because of unexpected effects on the surrounding work system.

(4) The work design projects are rarely and systematically evaluated.

(5) Line managers, consulting staff members and union officials cannot obtain appropriate education in theory and strategy of work redesign.

(6) Traditional bureaucratic practices hamper the work redesign.


Job Enrichment – Steps for Implementing Job Enrichment Program

Job enrichment can only be truly successful if planning includes support for all phases of the initiative. Ohio State University Extension began a job enrichment program in 1992 and surveyed the participants five years later. The results, broken down into three sub-buckets of data beyond the main grouping of advantages/disadvantages as shown in table, indicate the University had not fully considered the planning and administrative aspects of the program. While the benefits are seemingly obvious, program fail not because of a lack of benefits, but rather due to implementation problems.

Implementing a job enrichment program:

1. Step One:

Find out where people are dissatisfied with their current work assignment. There is little point to enrich the job and change the work environment if the wrong jobs are enriched and the wrong changes are made. Like any motivation initiative, determine what the people want before their work begins. Surveys are good means of doing this. There should not be any mistake made on the basis of any presumption (that you know what people want). Go to the source—and use that information to build enrichment options.

2. Step Two:

Consider which job enrichment options can be provided. There is no need to drastically redesign the entire work process. The way that the enriched job is designed, must strike the balance between operational need and job satisfaction. If significant changes are needed, consider establishing a “job enrichment task force”—perhaps use a cross-section of employees, and give the responsibility for deciding which enrichment options make the most sense.

3. Step Three:

The program is designed and communicated. If the significant changes are made, people should know about it, what is being done and why. Work with the managers to create an enriching work environment that includes lot of employee participation and recognition. Remember to monitor the efforts, and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of what is being provided.

The factors on which the success of job enrichment programmes may depend are:

(i) Identification of the problem – What is lacking in the job? What are the expectations of the jobholder?

(ii) Training of the jobholder to enable him to cope with the challenges of the new job.

(iii) Assigning job responsibility with adequate discretion to decide and operate.

(iv) Adding content or changing it to make the job look more pleasant rather than burdensome.

(v) Providing opportunity for self-assessment.

(vi) Linking performance with the reward system.