what is it exactly?
Job enrichment increases job depth by expanding job content to create more opportunities for employees to be satisfied with their work. Frederick Herzberg, a man famous for his creation of the two-factor theory of motivation, was all for this type of job design and completely against the other two. He suggested that workers cannot become motivated if they are just switching from one job with meaningless tasks to another (job rotation), or if they are just doing various jobs with tasks they find boring that have been combined (job enlargement). Job enrichment is more advantageous than job rotation and enlargement because it concentrates on job depth on top of job scope, which is the extent to which planning and assessment roles are performed by the employee alone rather than the manager or supervisor.
Are you motivated at and happy with your job, like the female worker in the photograph to the left?
Are you motivated at and happy with your job, like the female worker in the photograph to the left?
core characteristics
The following are the main characteristics of an enriched job:
1. Skill variety - How versatile a job is, in terms of skills and tasks required to be performed.
2. Task identity - How obvious it is that a job has been completed; how much of a difference there is between the start of doing a job and the completion of it.
3. Task significance - How much of an effect the job has on the company.
4. Autonomy - How much freedom of choice, or creative input, the worker has in the performance of his/her job.
5. Feedback from the job itself - How much the worker receives criticism or feedback once the job is completely finished.
If a job ranks highly in all or most of the above characteristics, it is an enriched job. Growth-need strength is how much of a desire or need a worker has to advance in a company and do something more valuable in terms of their job. It is assumed that people with strong growth-needs perform well in enriched jobs.
1. Skill variety - How versatile a job is, in terms of skills and tasks required to be performed.
2. Task identity - How obvious it is that a job has been completed; how much of a difference there is between the start of doing a job and the completion of it.
3. Task significance - How much of an effect the job has on the company.
4. Autonomy - How much freedom of choice, or creative input, the worker has in the performance of his/her job.
5. Feedback from the job itself - How much the worker receives criticism or feedback once the job is completely finished.
If a job ranks highly in all or most of the above characteristics, it is an enriched job. Growth-need strength is how much of a desire or need a worker has to advance in a company and do something more valuable in terms of their job. It is assumed that people with strong growth-needs perform well in enriched jobs.