8/13/2019 The Techniques of Job Design

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ThetechniquesofjobdesignTherearemanytechniquesofjobdesign,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 enhancejob satisfaction and performance. However,

thereareoccasionswhenitfailstodoso.Thefollowingarethemainreasons

foranyfailure:

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Themanagersaresometimesresistanttothedelegationofauthority.Inotherwords

theyare

hesitant

in

leaving

control

and

planning

of

work

to

subordinates.

Thereareoccasionswhenjobenrichmentfailstomakeasignificantchangeinthejobcontent.Failuremayarisefromindividualdifferences.Someworkersdonotdesireenrichedjobs;

they

are

quite

happy

in

their

own

little

world.

Itisnotpossibletoenrichalljobsbecauseoftechnologicallimitations.Forexample,productioninanassemblyplantcannotbemodifiedexceptatconsiderablecost.JobrotationJobrotationisverysimilartojobenlargement,butinsteadofgivingtheworkersmoretaskstoperform,theirjobsareswitched,atregularintervals,withthoseofotherworkers.Theschemepossessesthesameadvantagesanddisadvantagesasjobenlargement.

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