Redesign Work Using Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The world of labor is changing. I’m sure this isn’t a surprise. Consequently, organizations are searching for ways to revamp jobs. And that generally is a challenge.

Let’s say the organization is introducing a brand new technology. Consequently, a number of the things that employees were doing manually, they don’t must do any longer. The technology will handle it. We’re not talking about layoffs. The organization still has work to be done. The brand new technology might take away those manual tasks and add latest ones. Or the organization might want managers to delegate a few of their responsibilities in order that they can spend more time coaching employees and increasing performance.

The organization must reassign work tasks and the way the organization assigns those tasks is vital. In the event that they randomly just say, “Hey you … start doing this …” that could lead on to less-than-optimal results. That’s where job enrichment and job enlargement come into the discussion. 

Job enlargement is when an worker is given additional tasks which are much like what they currently do. Principally, the job becomes larger. The advantage to this strategy is that it may help with reducing boredom and repetitive work. An example could be in a call center where a customer support rep who only hung out answering phones is in a position to answer customer email inquiries as well. 

Job enrichment is giving employees additional responsibilities, still closely related to the work they do. For instance, an accounting clerk who used to prepare expense reports for a manager to review and approve, might now review the expense report for accuracy. Then the manager is solely a double-check. This selection is great for skill development and getting employees ready for future opportunities. 

You may see that there’s a profit when redesigning work to strategically shift responsibilities and increase productivity, develop worker skills, and overall improve the operation. That won’t occur if the organization just randomly gives out work tasks to easily get something off their plate. 

So, when organizations are taking a look at work assignments, before they only assign it to someone, take a moment to ask just a few questions:

  • Is that this task something that changes the systems within the organization? In that case, it could be more aligned with job enrichment. And it could make sense to map out how the brand new process would work. 
  • Would we’d like to supply additional training / education to the worker? Even when it’s only minutes or an hour, organizations have to be prepared to supply support with latest assignments.
  • Does the organization have a plan in place for peak operational times? It’s great to enlarge jobs, but when the organization enters their peak season, employees may not find a way to take care of productivity and customer support. 

The answers to those questions can assist resolve the very best method to reassign the work and set employees up for achievement. Also, if we use the instance above with the introduction of latest technology, it may help with the implementation. The final thing the organization wants is to spend a whole lot of resources introducing a brand new technology only to have it not work as planned … because employees weren’t prepared to make the shift of their work. 

Job enrichment and job enlargement are options to assist organizations redistribute the work successfully. Organizations should use them thoughtfully to learn employees and the business. 

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