Page 467 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Job Enrichment

BIBLIOGRAPHY ees to have more control in planning their work and
Blank, William E. (1982). Handbook for Developing Competency- deciding how the work should be accomplished, is one
Based Training Programs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- way to tap into the natural desire most employees have to
Hall.
do a good job, to be appreciated for their contributions to
Bortz, Richard F. (1981). Handbook for Developing Occupational the company, and to feel more a part of the company
Curricula. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
team.
Davies, Ivor K. (1981). Instructional Technique. New York:
McGraw-Hill. Job enrichment has its roots in Frederick Herzberg’s
two-factor theory, according to which two separate
Finch, Curtis R., and Crunkilton, John R. (1999). Curriculum
Development in Vocational and Technical Education. Boston: dimensions contribute to an employee’s behavior at work.
Allyn & Bacon. The first dimension, known as hygiene factors, involves
Fryklund, Verne C. (1965). Analysis Technique for Instructors. the presence or absence of job dissatisfacters, such as
Milwaukee, WI: Bruce. wages, working environment, rules and regulations, and
Mager, Robert F., and Beach, Kenneth M., Jr. (1967). Develop- supervisors. When these factors are poor, work is dissatis-
ing Vocational Instruction. Palo Alto, CA: Fearon. fying and employees are not motivated. However, having
Norton, Robert E. (1997). DACUM Handbook. Columbus: positive hygiene factors does not cause employees to be
Ohio State University Press. motivated; it simply keeps them from being dissatisfied.
Peach, Robert W., ed. (1997). The ISO9000 Handbook (3rd ed.). The second dimension of Herzberg’s theory refers to
Chicago: Irwin Professional Pub. motivators, which are factors that satisfy higher-level
U.S. Department of the Air Force, Air Force Officer Accession needs such as recognition for doing a good job, achieve-
and Training School (1998–99). Curriculum Catalog. ment, and the opportunity for growth and responsibility.
Alabama: Maxwell Air Force Base.
These motivators are what actually increase job satisfac-
U.S. Department of the Army, Combined Arms Center and Fort tion and performance. Job enrichment becomes an
Leavenworth (1990). Training the Force—Battle Focused important strategy at this point because enriching
Training FM 25-101. Kansas: Fort Leavenworth.
employees’ jobs can help meet some of their motivational
U.S. Department of Labor. (1998). O*NET—The Occupational
Information Network. Retrieved October 26, 2005, from needs. There are basically five areas that are believed to
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm affect an individual employee’s motivation and job per-
formance: skill variety, task identity, task significance,
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
autonomy, and feedback. Job enrichment seeks to find
(1998–99). Occupational Outlook Handbook. Washington,
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. positive ways to address each of these areas and therefore
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Adminis- improve employee motivation and personal satisfaction.
tration O*NET 98 (1998). Keeping Pace with Today’s Chang- Skill variety involves the number of different types of
ing Workplace [CD-ROM]. skills that are used to do a job. This area is important
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2000). because using only one skill to do the same task repeatedly
Standard Occupational Classification Manual. Washington, can be quite boring, typically causing the employee’s pro-
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
ductivity to decrease after a period of time. However,
Winning, Ethan A. (1996). “The Many Uses of the Job Descrip- using a variety of skills in a job will tend to keep the
tion.” Retrieved October 26, 2005, from http://www.all- employee more interested in the job and more motivated.
biz.com/articles/jd.htm
One way businesses are focusing on this area is
through job rotation, that is, moving employees from job
Richard F. Bortz to job within the company, thereby allowing employees a
variety of tasks in their work and helping prevent bore-
dom. While this process can be costly to the company
because employees must be trained in several different
JOB ENRICHMENT areas, the cost tends to be balanced by the increase in
Job enrichment is a way to motivate employees by giving morale and productivity. Job rotation also gives each
them increased responsibility and variety in their jobs. employee the opportunity to see how the different jobs of
Many employers traditionally believed that money was a company fit together and gives the company more flex-
the only true motivating factor for employees and that if ibility in covering tasks when workers are absent. How-
you wanted to get more work out of employees, offering ever, while job rotation is a good way to enrich employees’
them more money was the only way to do it. While that jobs, it can also hinder performance: Having to know sev-
may be true for a small group of people, the majority of eral different jobs in order to rotate can prevent employ-
workers today like to work and to be appreciated for the ees from becoming proficient at any of the jobs.
work they do. Job enrichment, which allows the employ- Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages of job rota-

444 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION