Job Enlargement Vs Job Enrichment

Job enlargement and job enrichment are both used as techniques for employee motivation and
satisfaction. However, they differ a lot from each other. The critical difference is job
enlargement is a horizontal expansion of duties and tasks across the same organizational
level, whereas job enrichment is the vertical expansion of the roles, responsibilities,
authority and activities along with the different hierarchical levels.
Job Enlargement
A person hired to handle the reception work is responsible for handling customer enquiries,
queries and calls on the front desk. She kept on doing the same work for two years and got
bored. She discussed the problem with the HR manager, who planned to implement job
enlargement for making her job profile interesting.

Few more task were added to her job profile like interacting with the clients and making
outbound calls to create new customers for the company. These added tasks reduced her
monotony.
Difference and Comparison

BASIS JOB ENLARGEMENT JOB ENRICHMENT

Meaning Job enlargement refers to Job enrichment is that

increasing the number of tasks motivational tool which
to be performed by an allows more decision making
employee to reduce work power and work related
related boredom. authority to the employees.

Tool or Technique Job Design Technique Management Tool

Objective/Purpose Reduce Boredom and Make Job Challenging

BASIS JOB ENLARGEMENT JOB ENRICHMENT

Monotony

Skills Requirement No Yes

Expansion Horizontal Vertical

Level of Remains the Same Increases

Responsibility

Level of Authority Remains the Same Increases

Directions Supervisor's Direction Self-Directed

Dependency on Independent Dependent

Each Other

Supervisory More Comparatively Less

Control

Result Positive or Negative Usually Positive

A human resource executive was initially responsible for maintaining the employees’ record and
calling the candidates for interviews as directed by the HR manager. To add more value to the
HR executive’s job profile, the manager gave him some authority related to the work already
assigned to him.
The new responsibilities included providing the employees’ provident fund details to the
accounts department, keeping contact with the provident fund office and initial scrutinizing of
the candidates for the interviews. These additional responsibilities hold authority and
accountability, making the employee more efficient, confident and satisfied with the job.
What is Job Enlargement?
Job enlargement refers to that job design technique which integrates the various tasks performed
at the same level (horizontally) to the employee’s existing job duties.
Features of Job Enlargement
Job enlargement is a suitable technique for companies where a centralized organizational
structure is followed, and the number of employees is limited. To understand the concept in a
better way, let us go through its features:

 Horizontal Expansion: In job enlargement, the number of task, responsibilities and

duties are increased which are at the same level or similar to the existing job
position.
 Job Redesign Strategy: It can be referred to as job redesigning, i.e. preparing the
work modules such that optimum utilization of the employee’s efficiency can be
done.

 Performance Feedback: It encourages the employees to give meaningful feedback

on their performance and job profile.
  Workforce Flexibility: The scope of the job responsibilities is widened, and
employees are motivated to be versatile in their work, thus initiating workforce
flexibility.

 No Additional Skills Required: The employees are given tasks similar to the ones
which they are already performing. Therefore no special skills or training is
necessary.

What is Job Enrichment?

Job enrichment can be defined as a vertical restructuring of a job, i.e. integration of the tasks,
role, responsibilities and authority across different levels in an organization, to add value to the
employee’s existing job profile.
FEATURES OF JOB ENRICHMENT

 Job enrichment is a strategy which the organizations use to retain their employees
and make them feel worthy. The following characteristics of job enrichment will
help us know more about Vertical Expansion: Job enrichment adds on functions
like decision making to the employee’s job profile which was earlier performed by
the higher-level superiors. Therefore it is considered a vertical expansion of tasks.
 Self-Disciplined: When the employees hold authority, responsibility and
accountability of their work, they tend to maintain a self-disciplined attitude and
sincerity towards their role in the organization.

 Requires Skilled Employees: Job enrichment is a tactful strategy which is difficult

to be implemented if the employees do not possess decision making and problem-
solving skills.

 Challenging Job: Allowing the decision making authority to the employees makes
their job more challenging and leads to employee empowerment and engagement.

 Professional Approach: Job enrichment inculcates professionalism in the working

and attitude of the employees by providing them with worthiness and recognition.

 Personal Accountability: The employee is wholly and solely responsible for his
work, i.e. his excellent work will be appreciated, and poor performance will be
criticized.
  Authority and Responsibility: The employees get the liberty of taking decisions
related to their work, and the employee is responsible for completing the given task
successfully.

Process of Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is not an immediate practice. It requires a lot of planning and proper
implementation. Its step by step process is mentioned below:

 Combining Tasks: At the initial stage of job enrichment, different tasks related to a
particular job are combined to form a satisfactory job profile for the employees.
 Creating Natural Work Units: The next step is making the employees comfortable
by letting them select their work units independently to which they can easily relate
and work with.

 Establishing Relationships: Next is the establishment of employees’ cordial

relations with the management, associates, clients, social institutions and other
external organizations to provide social recognition and boost their morale.

 Expanding Job Vertically: The job must be developed qualitatively, i.e. the
activities of the higher level are added to the employee’s job profile. Thus,
increasing the authority and responsibility in a job enhances the employee’s
performance.

 Opening Feedback Channels: Lastly, the employees are free to share their
problems and views, and the management can guide and suggest performance
improvements and ways to overcome weaknesses.
 Benefits of Job Enlargement

Job enlargement is a short term strategy, i.e. it can be used to motivate the employees instantly
but may not last for a long time. To know the various advantages of adopting job enlargement,

read below:
The work becomes tedious if an employee has to perform the same activities daily. Thus, the
employee is allocated some different tasks in addition to the existing job profile. With the
allocation of new responsibilities, the employees put in more skills, knowledge and efforts to
accomplish the given task. After taking up new responsibilities, duties and tasks along with
increased workload, the skills and abilities of the employees are increased. Thus, they can ask for
a better salary while switching the job. The work modules formed under job enlargement are
related and diversified, improving the job satisfaction of the employees.
The employees have a variety of activities which reduces the monotony of performing similar
tasks all the time. This makes the work more exciting and keeps the employees engaged.
Benefits of Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is widely practised by many of the companies to simplify their work and reduce
the level of job dissatisfaction among the employees. The following are some of the advantages
of adopting the strategy of job enrichment:

By performing similar tasks daily and following the superior’s instructions at every stage creates
boredom and dissatisfaction. Therefore, job enrichment removes these barriers to enhance
employee’s performance. The amended job profile along with the delegation of authority and
responsibility leads to job satisfaction among the employees.

The employees regularly performing the same work gets frustrated and finds out ways to escape
work, either through absenteeism or employee turnover. Thus, job enrichment protects the
organization from such situations. Job enrichment brings out leadership skills and also helps the
employees in learning new work-related skills also.
Job enrichment motivates the employees and boosts their morale and confidence to provide
opportunities for self-realization. The employees working on a particular project hold better
control and have in-depth knowledge of the work. Therefore, with the help of job enrichment,
they can make their own decisions which are more beneficial to the organization.
Job enrichment decreases the superiors’ control over the employees’ operations and functioning
and saves their time on taking all the decisions by themselves.
Limitations of Job Enlargement
Job enlargement has proved to be inefficient for the large organizations where the workload is
high and direct control of the management is low. The following are some of the other
disadvantages of job enlargement:

The practice of job enlargement adds new tasks to the existing duties, ultimately increasing the
employee’s workload. Moreover, increasing the workload without increasing the workers’
compensation, decreases the employee’s morale and satisfaction.
Job enlargement is assumed by employee union as worker’s exploitation, i.e. work overload at
low compensation. Since the employees take time to adapt to the new tasks allocated to them, the
productivity is hampered in the short run.
Limitations of Job Enrichment
Job enrichment may seem to be unsuitable for the organizations where the employees are
unskilled or semi-skilled. Let us understand the various disadvantages of job enrichment

mentioned below:
Technology sometimes hinders the application of job enrichment in the organizations since the
technical functionality of the machines may not require any changes in the jobs. Job enrichment
demands training of employees and restructuring of the work. All this need finance which is
sometimes higher than the profits earned.
At times, the employees fall short of the skills knowledge and expertise required to perform a
particular task. Job enrichment is a time-consuming process, and the productivity of the
organization will suffer, in the short run since the employees may take time to become
comfortable and accustomed to such practice.
Summary
Let us now summarize the above points of differences into the following:

1. Job enlargement is the combining of different tasks, duties and activities performed on
the same level of the organization. Whereas, job enrichment combines the activities across
the different hierarchical levels of the organization along with the allocation of decision
making power and authority.
2. Job enlargement is a technique of job design. However, job enrichment is management
used as a strategy by the organizations.

3. When the former is used for reducing the boredom arising from routine work, the latter is
done with the objective of making the job challenging and interesting for the employees.

4. In job enlargement, the employees do not require any special skills. But in job
enrichment, the employees must possess skills of decision making.

5. The former is a horizontal expansion of tasks across the same level of the organizational
hierarchy. The latter is a vertical expansion of the activities involving decision making
along with the different levels of the organizational hierarchy.

6. The employee’s level of responsibility does not change in case of job enlargement
whereas the same increases with the implementation of job enrichment.

7. The authority in case of job enlargement remains constant, and no extra decision-making
power is allocated to the employees. On the contrary, job enrichment allows more body and
decision making power in the hands of the employees.
 8. All the activities of the employees in job enlargement directed by the superior. Whereas
in job enrichment, the employees become self-directed and make their path.

9. When the former is an independent practice which merely increases the employees work
without any use of job enrichment. The latter requires job enlargement or is an addition of
decision making authority to the increased workload.

10. In job enlargement, the complete control of the employees’ activities is with the superior.
In job enrichment, the employees exercise self-control over their actions and decisions.

11. The result of job enlargement is unpredictable and can be positive if employees get
motivated or contrary if they feel overloaded with work. The result or outcome of job
enrichment is usually positive leading to employee satisfaction and self-actualization.

The small scale companies are centrally managed by the owners and do not have many
departments. Therefore they use job enlargement as a motivational tool.
The large scale industries, where the workload is high and the organizational structure
is decentralized into various departments; job enrichment is essential to provide job satisfaction
and growth of the employees.