Arab British Academy for Higher Education

Thetechniquesofjobdesign
Therearemanytechniquesofjobdesign,butforthepurposeofthiscourseweareonly
concernedwiththetechniquesofjobenlargement,jobenrichmentandjobrotation.
Jobenlargement

Thisisthehorizontalexpansionofthecontentofajob,whichisachievedbyincreasingthenumberand
varietyoftaskswhichareassociatedwithit.Whenjobenlargementiscarriedoutinanorganisation,
workersaregivenanopportunitytoperformawiderrangeoftasksatthesamelevel.Forexample,a
factoryworker,whopreviouslywasjustinstallingatube,maygettheopportunitytoassembletheentire
televisionset.
Thistechniquehasachievedsomepositiveresults,butithasthemajor
disadvantagethatalthoughthenumberoftasksavailabletotheindividualis
greater,theymaybejustasroutineanddullasthebasicjob.

Jobenrichment.
Jobenrichmentistheverticalexpansionofajobsoastoincluderesponsibilitiesata
higherlevel.Theworkermayplanhisownworkscheduleandbegivensomedecision
makingpowers.Forexample,aclerkmaybegivenapprovaltosignlettersonbehalfof
themanagerwithoutalllettershavingfirsttobeapprovedbythelatter.
Job enrichment does enhance job satisfaction and performance. However,
thereareoccasionswhenitfailstodoso.Thefollowingarethemainreasons
foranyfailure:

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Themanagersaresometimesresistanttothedelegationofauthority.Inotherwords
theyarehesitantinleavingcontrolandplanningofworktosubordinates.
Thereareoccasionswhenjobenrichmentfailstomakeasignificantchangeinthejob
content.
Failuremayarisefromindividualdifferences.Someworkersdonotdesireenriched
jobs;theyarequitehappyintheirownlittleworld.
Itisnotpossibletoenrichalljobsbecauseoftechnologicallimitations.Forexample,
productioninanassemblyplantcannotbemodifiedexceptatconsiderablecost.
Jobrotation
Jobrotationisverysimilartojobenlargement,butinsteadofgivingtheworkersmore
taskstoperform,theirjobsareswitched,atregularintervals,withthoseofother
workers.Theschemepossessesthesameadvantagesanddisadvantagesasjob
enlargement.
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