Job Analysis and Job Design

Introduction
Manpower planning is concerned with determination of quantitative and qualitative requirements
of manpower for the organization. Determination of manpower requirements is one of the most
important problems in manpower planning. Job analysis and job design, provide this knowledge.
Before going through the mechanism of job analysis and job design, it is relevant to understand
the terms which are used in job analysis and job design.

Job: A job may be defined as a “collection or aggregation of tasks, duties and responsibilities
which as a whole, are regarded as a regular assignment to individual employees,” and which is
different from other assignments, In other words, when the total work to be done is divided and
grouped into packages, we call it a “job.” Each job has a definite title based upon standardized
trade specifications within a job; two or more grades may be identified, where the work assignment
may be graded according to skill, the difficulty of doing them, or the quality of workmanship.
Thus, it may be noted that a position is a “collection o tasks and responsibilities regularly assigned
to one person;” while a job is a “group of position, which involve essentially the same duties,
responsibilities, skill and knowledge.” A position consists of a particular set of duties assigned to
an individual.

Job Analysis Defined

Developing an organizational structure, results in jobs which have to be staffed. Job analysis is the
procedure through which you determine the duties and nature of the jobs and the kinds of people
(in terms of skills and experience) who should be hired for them.’ It provides you with data on job
requirements, which are then used for developing job descriptions (what the job entails) and job
specifications (what kind of people to hire for the job). Some of the definitions of job analysis ate
given as follows, to understand the meaning of the term more clearly:

According to Michael L. Jucius, “Job analysis refers to the process of studying the operations,
duties and organizational aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they called by some,
job descriptions.”
 According to DeCenzo and P. Robbins, “A job analysis is a systematic exploration of the
activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties,
responsibilities, and accountabilities of a job.”

According to Herbert G Herman “A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single
employee to contribute to the production of some product or service provided by the organization.
Each job has certain ability requirements (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. Job
analysis process used to identify these requirements.”

Flippo has offered a more comprehensive definition of job analysis as, “Job analysis is the
process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a
specific job. The immediate products of the analysis are job descriptions and job specifications”
Thus, job analysis involves the process of identifying the nature of a job (job description) and the
qualities of the likely job holder (job specification).

Uses of Job Analysis

1. Achievement of Goals: Weather and Davis have stated, “Jobs are at the core of every
organization’s productivity, if they are designed well and done right, the organization makes
progress towards its objectives. Otherwise, productivity suffers, profits fall, and the organization
is less able to meet the demands of society, customer, employees, and other with a stake in its
success.”

2. Organizational Design: Job analysis will be useful in classifying the jobs and the
interrelationships among the jobs. On the basis of information obtained through job analysis,
sound decisions regarding hierarchical positions and functional differentiation can be taken and
this will improve operational efficiency.

3. Organization and Manpower Planning: It is helpful in organization planning, for it

defines labour in concrete terms and co-ordinates the activities of the work force, and clearly
divides duties and responsibilities.

4. Recruitment and Selection: Job analysis provides you with information on what the job
entails and what human requirements are required to carry out these activities. This information
is the basis on which you decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
5. Placement and Orientation: Job analysis helps in matching the job requirements with
the abilities, interests and aptitudes of people. Jobs will be assigned to persons on the basis of
suitability for the job. The orientation programme will help the employee in learning the activities
and understanding duties that are required to perform a given job more effectively.

6. Employee Training and Management Development: Job analysis provides the necessary
information to the management of training and development programmes. It helps in to determine
the content and subject matter of in training courses. It also helps in checking application
information, interviewing test results and in checking references.

7. Job Evaluation and Compensation: Job evaluation is the process of determining the
relative worth of different jobs in an organization with a view to link compensation, both basic
and supplementary, with the worth of the jobs. The worth of a job is determined on the basis of
job characteristics and job holder characteristics. Job analysis provides both in the forms of job
description and job specification.

8. Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal involves comparing each employee’s

actual performance with his or her desired performance. Through job analysis industrial
engineers and other experts determine standards to be achieved and specific activities to be
performed.

9. Health and Safety: It provides an opportunity for identifying hazardous conditions and
unhealthy environmental factors so that corrective measures may be taken to minimize and avoid
the possibility of accidents.

10. Employee Counselling: Job analysis provides information about career choices and
personal limitation. Such information is helpful in vocational guidance and rehabilitation
counselling. Employees who are unable to cope with the hazards and demands of given jobs may
be advised to opt for subsidiary jobs or to seek premature retirement.
Steps in Job Analysis
The six steps of job analysis are shown in figure 3.1:
Determination of uses
of job analysis

Collection of back
ground information

Selection of job
for analysis

Collection of job
analysis data

Information processing

Job Job
Description Specification

Figure 3.1 : Job Analysis Process

1. Determine the Use of the Job Analysis Information: Start by identifying the use to which
the information will be put, since this will determine the type of data you collect and the technique
you use to collect them.

2. Collection of Background Information: According to Terry, “The make-up of a job, its

relation to other jobs, and its requirements for competent performance are essential information
needed for a job evaluation. This information can be had by reviewing available background
information such as organization charts (which show how the job in question relates to other jobs
and where they fit into the overall organization); class specifications (which describe the general
requirements of the class of job to which the job under analysis belongs); and the existing job
descriptions which provide a starting point from which to build the revised job description”.

3. Selection of Jobs for Analysis: To do job analysis is a costly and time consuming process.
It is hence, necessary to select a representative sample of jobs for purposes of analysis. Priorities
of various jobs can also be determined. A job may be selected because it has undergone
undocumented changes in job content. The request for analysis of a job may originate with the
employee, supervisor, or a manager.

When the employee requests an analysis it is usually because new job demands have not been
reflected in changes in wages. Employee’s salaries are, in part, based upon the nature of the work
that they perform. Some organizations establish a time cycle for the analysis of each job. For
example: A job analysis may be required for all jobs every three years. New jobs must also be
subjected to analysis.

4. Collection of Job Analysis Data: Job data on features of the job, requited employee
qualification and requirements, should be collected either form the employees who actually
perform a job; or from other employees (such as foremen or supervisors) who watch the workers
doing a job and there by acquire knowledge about it; or from the outside persons, known as the
trade job analysis who are appointed to watch employees performing a job. The duties of such a
trade job analyst are (i) to outline the complete scope of a job and to consider all the physical and
mental activities involved in determining what the worker does.; (ii) find out why a worker does
a job; and for this purpose he studies why each task is essential for the overall result; and (iii) the
skill factor which may be needed in the worker to differentiate between jobs and establish the
extent of the difficulty of any job.

5. Processing the Information: Once job analysis information has been collected, the next
step is to place it in a form that will make it useful to those charged with the various personnel
functions. Several issues arise with respect to this. First, how much detail is needed? Second, can
the job analysis information be expressed in quantitative terms? These must be considered
properly.

6. Preparing Job Descriptions and Job Classifications: Job information which has been
collected must be processed to prepare the job description form. It is a statement showing full
details of the activities of the job. Separate job description forms may be used for various
activities in the job and may be compiled later on. The job analysis is made with the help of these
description forms. These forms may be used as reference for the future.

7. Developing Job Specifications: Job specifications are also prepared on the basis of
information collected. It is a statement of minimum acceptable qualities of the person to be placed
 on the job. It specifies the standard by which the qualities of the person are measured. Job analyst
prepares such statement taking into consideration the skills required in performing the job
properly. Such statement is used in selecting a person matching with the job.

Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Data

As discussed earlier, information is to be collected for job analysis. Such information may be
collected by the trained job analysis, superiors concerned and job holders themselves. Job
information is collected through the following methods:

1. Participant Diary/Logs: Workers can be to keep participant diary/long or lists of things

they do during the day. For every activity he or she engages in, the employee records the activity
(along with the time) in a log. This can provide you with a very comprehensive picture of the job,
especially when it’s supplemented with subsequent interviews with the worker and his or her
supervisor. This method provides more accurate information if done faithfully. However, it is
quite time consuming. Further, each job holder may maintain records according to his own way
which presents problems in analysis at later stage. Therefore, it has limited application.

2. Interview: There are three types of interviews you can use to collect job analysis data:
individual interviews with each employee; group interviews with groups of employees having
the same job; and supervisor interviews with one or more supervisors who are thoroughly
knowledgeable about the job being analyzed. The group interview is used when a large number
of employees are performing similar or identical work, since this can be a quick and inexpensive
way of learning about the job. As a rule, the worker’s immediate supervisor would attend the
group session; if not, you should interview the supervisor separately to get that person’s
perspective on the duties and responsibilities of the job.

3. Critical Incidents: In this method, job holders are asked to describe incidents concerning
the job on the basis of their past experience. The incidents so collected are analyzed and classified
according to the job areas they describe, A fairly picture of actual job requirements can be
obtained by distinguishing between effective and ineffective behaviors of workers on the job.
However, this method is time consuming.
The analyst requires a high degree of skill to analyze the contents of descriptions given by
workers.
4. Technical Conference Method: This method utilizes supervisors with extensive
knowledge of the job. Here, specific characteristics of a job are obtained from the “experts.”
Although it is a good data gathering method, it often overlooks the incumbent worker’s
perception about what they do on their job.

5. Job Performance: Under this method, the job analyst actually performs the job under
study to get first-hand experience of the actual tasks, and physical and social demands of the job.
This method can be used only for jobs where skill requirements are low and can be learnt quickly
and easily. This is a timeconsuming method and is not appropriate for jobs requiring extensive
training.

6. Functional Job Analysis: Functional job analysis (FJA) is employee- oriented analytical
approach of job analysis. This approach attempts to describe the whole person on the job. The
main features of FJA include the following:
• The extent to which specific instruction are necessary to perform the task
• The extent to which reasoning and judgment are required to perform the task
• The mathematical ability required to perform the task and
• The verbal and language facilities required to perform the task.

7. Observation Method: Using this method, a job analyst watches employees directly on the
job. Observations are made on various tasks, activities, the pace at which tasks are carried out,
and the way different activities are performed. This method is suitable for jobs that involve
manual, standardized, and short job cycle activities. This method also requires that the entire
range of activities be observable; possible with some jobs.

8. Questionnaires: The method is usually employed by engineering consultants. Properly

drafted questionnaires are sent out to job-holders for completion and are returned to supervisors.
However, the information received is often unorganized and incoherent. The idea in issuing
questionnaire is to elicit the necessary information from job –holders so that any error may first
be discussed with the employee and, after corrections, may be submitted to the job analyst.

Questionnaire for Job Analysis

 1. Your Name ………..………..………..………..………..………..………..

2. Title or Designation of your job …………………………………………

3. Regular or Extra …………………………………………………………

4. Your Department ……………………………………………………….

5. To whom do you report directly (Name and Title): ………………………

6. Description of work:
(a) Daily Duties:

(b) Periodical Duties:

(c) Occasional Duties:

7. Your knowledge Requirements:

(A) Store Procedure and Methods:

(B) Merchandise:

8. What Equipment do you use?

9. What Materials do you work with or sell?

10. If you supervise the work of others, state how many and what their jobs are.

11. To what job would you normally expect to be promoted?

12. From what job were you transferred to your present job?

This technique is time consuming and generally does not yield satisfactory results because many
employees do not complete the questionnaire or furnish incorrect information because of their
own limitations. The use of questionnaire is recommended only in case of those technical jobs
where the job contents are not completely known to the supervisor or the operation is too complex
to observe.
Job Description
Job description is the immediate product of job analysis process; the data collected through job
analysis provides a basis for job description and job specification.

Job Description: is a written record of the duties, responsibilities and requirements of a

particular job. It is concerned with the job itself and not with the job holders. It is a statement
describing the job in such terms as its title, location, duties, working conditions and hazards.

Flippo has Defined Job Description as, “A job description is an organized, factual statement of
duties and responsibilities of a specific job. In brief, it should tell what is to be done. How it is
done why. It is a standard of function, in that defines the appropriate and authorized content of a
job.

According to Pigors and Myres, “Job description is a pertinent picture (in writing) of the
organizational relationships, responsibilities and specific duties that constitutes a given job or
position. It defines a scope of responsibility and continuing work assignments that are sufficiently
different form that of other jobs to warrant a specific title.”

According to Zerga, who analyzed 401 articles on job description about 30 years ago. A job
description helps us in:

(i) Job grading and classification (ii)

Transfers and promotions.
(iii) Adjustments of grievances;
(iv) Defining and outlining promotional steps:
(v) Establishing a common understanding of a job between employers and employees;
(vi) Investigation accidents ;
(vii) Indicating faulty work procedures or duplication of papers;
(viii) Maintaining, operating and adjusting machinery;
(ix) Time and motion studies;
(x) Defining the limits of authority;
 (xi) Indicating case of personal merit;
(xii) Studies of health and fatigue;
(xiii) Scientific guidance;
(xiv) Determining jobs suitable for occupational therapy;
(xv) Providing hiring specifications; and (xvi) Providing performance indicators.

“Job description” is different from “performance assessment.” The former concerns such
functions as planning, co-ordination, and assigning responsibility; while the latter concerns the
quality of performance itself. Though job description is not assessment, it provides an important
basis establishing assessment standards and objectives.

Writing Job Description

A Job description is a written statement of what the job holder actually does, how he or she does
it, and under what conditions the job is performed. This information is in turn used to write a job
specification. This lists the knowledge, abilities, and skills needed to perform the job
satisfactorily. While there is no standard format you must use in writing a job description, most
descriptions contain at least sections on:

1. Job Identification: It includes the job title, alterative title, department, division, and plant
and code number of the job. The job title identifies and designates the job properly, the
department, division, etc., indicate the name of the department where it is situated – whether
it is the maintenance department, mechanical shop etc. Location gives the name of the place.
This portion of job description gives answer to two important questions: to what higher level
job is this job accountable. And who is supervised directly?

2. Job Summary: Job summary describes the contents of the jobs in terms of activities or
tasks performed. Job summary should clear the nature of the job. Primary, secondary and other
duties to be performed on the job should clearly be indicated separately.

3. Duties and Responsibilities: This is the most important phase of job description and
should be prepared very carefully. It describes the duties to be performed along with frequency
of each major duty. Responsibilities concerning custody of money, supervision and training of
staff etc. are also described in this part.
 Example of a Job Description

Job Title: Record Clerk Job No. 011

Supervisor: Record Supervisor Job Grand –III
Supervises: None Date: 2/21/12
Job Summary: Originate, process, and maintain comprehensive records; implement required
controls; collect and summarize data as requested.
Job Duties and Responsibilities :
• Review a variety of documents, listings, summarizes, etc, for completeness and
accuracy.
• Check records against other current sources such as reports or summaries; investigate
differences and take required action to ensure that records are accurate and up to date;
compile and summarize data report format as required.
• Implement controls or obtaining, preserving, and supplying a variety of information.
Prepare simple requisitions, forms, and other routine memoranda.
• Provide functional guidance to lower-level personnel as required.
Working Conditions: Normal working conditions. But visits sites on average twice a week.
Eight hours per day Relationships:
• With equivalent officers in other departments.
• Maintains formal and social contacts with local officials.
Job Characteristics: Skilled operation of computer, calculating machine, or key punch
machine is not necessarily a requirement of this job.

The above information is correct and approved by:

(Signed) (Signed)
Job Analyst In charge Manager
4. Supervision: Under it is given number of persons to be supervised along with their job
titles, and the extent of supervision involved –general, intermediate or close supervision.
 5. Relation to Other Jobs: It describes the vertical and horizontal relationships f work flow.
It also indicates to whom the jobholder will report and who will report to him. It gives an idea of
channels of promotion.

6. Machine, tools and equipment define each major type or trade name of the machines and
tools and the raw materials used.

7. Working Conditions: The working environment in terms of heat, light, noise, dust and
fumes etc, the job hazards and possibility of their occurrence and working conditions should also
be described. It will be helpful in job evaluation.

8. Social Environment: It specifies the social conditions under which the work will be
performed. In this part the size of work group, interpersonal interactions required to perform the
job and development facilities are mentioned

Job Specification
The job specification states the minimum acceptable qualifications that the incumbent must
possess to perform the job successfully. Based on the information acquired through job analysis,
the job specification identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job effectively.
Individuals possessing the personal characteristics identified in the job specification should
perform the job more effectively than individuals lacking these personal characteristics. The job
specification, therefore, is a important tool in the selection process, for it keeps the selector’s
attention on the list of qualifications necessary for an incumbent to perform the job and assists in
determining whether candidates are qualified.

According to Dale Yoder, “The job specification, as such a summary properly described is thus
a specialized job description, emphasizing personnel requirement and designed especially to
facilitate selection and placement.”

Flippo has defined job specification as, “Job specification is a statement of the minimum
acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly ………….. It is a standard of
personnel and designates the qualities required for acceptable performance.”

In is clear from the above definitions that job specification is a statement of summary of personnel
requirements for a job. It may also be called “standard of personal for the selection”
 A Job Specification should include:

(i) Physical characteristics, which include health, strength, endurance, age, height, weight,
vision, voice, eye, hand and foot co-ordination, motor co-ordination, and colour
discrimination.
(ii) Psychological and social characteristics such as emotional stability, flexibility, decision
making ability, analytical view, mental ability, pleasing manners, initiative,
conversational ability etc.
(iii) Mental Characteristics such as general intelligence, memory, judgement, ability to
concentrate, foresight etc.
(iv) Personal Characteristics such as sex, education, family background, job experience,
hobbies, extracurricular activities etc.

All these characteristics must be classified into three categories:

• Essential attributes which a person must possess.

• Desirable attributes which a person ought to posses.
• Contra indicators which will become a handicap to successful job performance.

Job Design
Job design is of comparatively recent origin. The human resource managers have realized that the
design of a job has considerable influence on the productivity and job satisfaction; poorly designed
jobs often result in boredom to the employees, increased turnover, job dissatisfaction, low
productivity and an increase in overall costs of the organization. All these negative consequences
can be avoided with the help of proper job design.

According to Jon Werner and DeSimone, “Job design is the development and alteration of the
components of a job (such as the tasks one performs, and the scope of one’s responsibilities) to
improve productivity and the quality of the employees’ work life.”

Job design has been defined by Davis (1966) as: “The specification of the contents, methods, and
relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as
the social and personal requirements of the job-holder.”
 Milkovich and Boudreau defined job design as, “Job design integrates work content (tasks,
functions, and relationships), the rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the qualifications required
(skills, knowledge, abilities) for each job in a way that meets the needs of employees and the
organization.”

Michael Armstrong has defined job design as “the process of deciding on the content of a job
in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in
terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that should exist between
the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.”

Job design is an attempt to create a match between job requirements and human attributes. It
involves organizing the components of the job and the interaction patterns among the members
of a work group. It helps in developing appropriate design of job to improve efficiency and
satisfaction.

Principles of Job Design:

Principles are the bases of the approach used in job design. Robertson and Smith (1985) have
suggested the following five principles of job design:

• To influence skill variety, provide opportunities for people to do several tasks and
combine tasks.
• To influence task identity, combine tasks and from natural work units.
• To influence task significance, form natural work units and inform people of the
importance of their work.
• To influence autonomy, give people responsibility for determining their own working
systems.
• To influence feedback; establish good relationship and open feedback channels.
Methods of Job Design
The various techniques of job design and redesign are discussed below:

1. Job Simplification: In job simplification, the complete job is broken down into small
subparts; this is done so that employee can do these jobs without much specialized training.
Moreover, small operations of the job can also be performed simultaneously so that the complete
operation can be done more quickly.
For job simplification, generally time and motion studies are used.

2. Job Rotation: Another technique designed to enhance employee motivation is job rotation,
or periodically assigning employees to alternating jobs or tasks. For example, an employee may
spend two weeks attaching bumpers to vehicles and the following two weeks making final checks
of the chassis. During the next month, the same employee may be assigned to two different jobs.
Therefore, the employee would be rotated among four jobs. The advantage of job rotation is that
employees do not have the same routine job day after day. Job rotation only addresses the
problem of assigning employees to jobs of limited scope; the depth of the job does not change.
The job cycle of the actual daily work performed has not been lengthened or changed. Instead,
employees are simply assigned to different jobs with different cycles.

Job rotation is often effectively used as a training technique for new, inexperienced employees.
At higher organizational levels, rotation also helps to develop managerial generalists because it
exposes them to several different operations.

Advantage of Job Rotation Technique:

• The employee experiences variety of work, workplace and peer group. Job rotation
helps to broaden the knowledge and skills of an employee.
• The main advantage of job rotation is that it relieves the employee from the boredom and
monotony of doing the same job.
• With the help of this method, people become more flexible. They are prepared to assume
responsibility especially at other positions.
• Job rotation broadens the work experience of employees and turns specialists into
generalists.
• It is beneficial for the management also as the management gets employees who can
perform a variety of tasks to meet the contingencies.
• This method improves the self image and personal worth of the employee.

Disadvantage of Job Rotation Technique:

 • Job rotation also creates disruptions. Members of the work group have to adjust to the
new employee.
• Productivity is reduced by moving a worker into new position just when his efficiency at
the prior job was creating organizational economies.
• Training costs are increased.
• The supervisor may also have to spend more time answering question and monitoring the
work of the recently rotated employee.
• It can demotivate intelligent and ambitious trainees who seek specific responsibilities in
their chosen specialty.

3. Job Enlargement: Another means of increasing employee’s satisfaction with routine jobs
is job enlargement, or increasing the number of tasks performed (i.e. increasing the scope of the
job). Job enlargement, like job rotation, tries to eliminate short job cycles that create boredom.
Unlike job rotation, job enlargement actually increases the job cycle. When a job is enlarged,
either the tasks being performed are enlarged or several short tasks are given to one worker. Thus,
the scope of the job is increased because there are many tasks to be performed by the same
worker. Job enlargement programs change many methods of operation- in contrast to job rotation,
in which the same work procedures are used by workers who rotate through work stations.
Although job enlargement actually changes the pace of the work and the operation by reallocating
tasks and responsibilities, it does not increase the depth of a job.

The focus of designing work for job enlargement is the exact opposite of that for job
specialization. Instead of designing jobs to be divided up into the fewest of tasks per employee,
a job is designed to have many tasks for the employee to perform. An enlarged job requires a
longer training period because there are more tasks to be learned. Worker satisfaction should
increase because is reduced as the job scope is expanded. However, job enlargement programs
are successful with jobs what have increased scope; such workers are less prone to resort to
absenteeism, grievances, slowdowns and other means of displaying job dissatisfaction.

Enlargement is done only on the horizontal level. Thus, the job remains the same, but becomes
of a larger scale than before. In the words of Geroge Strauss and L.R. Sayles “Job enlargement
implies that instead of assigning one man to each job, a group of men can be assigned to a group
of jobs and then allowed to decide for themselves how to organize the work. Such changes permit
more social contacts and control over the work process.”

Job enlargement has the following advantages:

• Increase in diversity of jobs

• Job satisfaction
• Provides wholeness and identity with the task and increases the knowledge necessary to
perform it.
• Provides variety of skills.
• Reduces tension and boredom.
• Trains and develops more versatile employees.

Despite these advantages this is not a completely satisfactory method of job design as it does not
increase the depth of a job. Enlarged jobs require longer training period as there are more tasks
to be learned.

4. Job Enrichment: The concept of job enrichment has been derived from Herzberg’s two-
factor theory of motivation in which he has suggested that job content is one of the basic factors
of motivation. If the job is designed in such a manner that it becomes more interesting and
challenging to the job performer and provides him opportunities for achievement, recognition,
responsibility, advancement and growth, the job itself becomes a source of motivation to the
individual.

According to Richard W. Beatty and Graig Eric. Schneider, “Job enrichment is a motivational
technique which emphasizes the need for challenging and interesting work. It suggests that jobs
be redesigned so that intrinsic satisfaction is derived from doing the job. In its best applications
it leads to a vertically enhanced job by adding function from other organizational levels, making
it contain more variety and challenge and offer autonomy and pride to the employee.”

According to P. Robbins, “Job enrichment refers to the vertical expansion of the jobs. It increases
the degree to which the worker controls the planning, execution and evaluation of his work.”

In the words of Robert Albanese, “Job enrichment sometimes called. “vertical job leading’ is a
job redesign strategy that focuses on job depth.”
According to Mondy. Holmes, and Flippo, “Job enrichment refers to basic changes in the
content and level of responsibility of a job so to provide for the satisfaction of the motivation
needs of personnel. Rebert Ford, who was associated with designing of jobs to make them more
enriched, has provided some bases (though not exhaustive) for job enrichment as shown in Table

Table 3.2 : Job Enrichment Bases

Tasks Motivator involved

Assign specific or specialized task to Responsibility, growth, advancement

individuals enabling them to become expert

Making periodic reports directly available Internal recognition

to the individual himself rather than to the
supervisor.

Giving a person a whole, natural unit of Responsibility, achievement, recognition

work (module, exchange district, division,
area, etc.)

Increasing the accountability of individuals Responsibility, recognition

for own work

Techniques of Job Enrichment: In order to enrich the jobs. The management should adopt the
following measures:

• Freedom in decisions
• Assign a natural work unit to an employee.
• Encouraging participation
• Allow the employee to set his own standards of performance.
• Minimize the controls to provide freedom to the employees
• Make an employee directly responsible for his performance.
• Encourage participation of employees in deciding organizational goals and policies.
• Expand job vertically
 • Introducing new, difficult and creative tasks to the employees.
• Sense of achievement.

Advantages of Job Enrichment: The advantages of job enrichment are as follows:

• It enriches the role.

• Job enrichment is the most widely used of job design as it provides a meaningful learning
to employees.
• It makes the work interesting and employee get motivated.
• It helps in reducing the rate of labour turnover and absenteeism.
• It increases skills of the employees.
• It increases morale and performance.
• Reduce Boredom and dissatisfaction.
• Increase in output both qualitative and quantitative.

Disadvantages of Job Enrichment: Dunham and Newstrom state, “Even the strongest
supporters of job enrichment readily admit that there are limitations in its application.” Newstrom
and Keith Davis also write, “Employees are the final judges of what enriches their jobs. All that
management can do is to gather information about what tends to enrich jobs, try these changes
in the job system, and then determine whether employees feel that enrichment has occurred.” A
few limitations of or problems with job enrichment are as follows:

• Increase cost
• Need more employee counseling, training, and guidance.
• Not applicable to all jobs.
• Negative impact on personnel. Imposed on people.
• Objected by unions
• Pay dissatisfaction

JOB ENLARGEMENT vs. JOB ENRICHMENT

Job enlargement and job enrichment are both important forms of job design in order to enhance
productivity and satisfaction of the employees. They differ from each other in the following
respects:
1. Nature of Job: The major difference between job enrichment and enlargement lies in the
nature of additions to the job. Enlargement involves a horizontal loading or expansion, or
addition of tasks of the same nature. Enrichment involves vertical loading of tasks and
responsibility of the job holder; it improves the quality of the job in terms of its intrinsic worth.

2. Purpose: The purpose of job enlargement is to reduce the monotony in performing

repetitive jobs by lengthening the cycle of operation. On the other hand, the purpose of job
enrichment is making the job lively, challenging and satisfying. It satisfies the higher level
needs such as ego satisfaction, self expression, sense of achievement and advancement of Job
holders.

3. Skill Requirement: Job enlargement may not necessarily require the use of additional
skills which the job holder was using in performing the job before the enlargement. This is
due to similarity of additional tasks. Enrichment calls foe development and utilization of
higher skills, initiative, and innovation on the part of the job holder in performing the job.

4. Direction and Control: Job enlargement requires direction and control from external
sources, say supervisor. In fact, the job holder may require more direction and control because
of enlargement of his responsibility. Enrichment does not require external direction and
control as these come from the job holder himself. He requires only feedback from his
supervisor.