Differentiate between job enlargement and job enrichment. Describe how each affects the performance of employees.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Job enlargement involves the number of tasks for workers; job enrichment involves increasing the workers' responsibility. The idea behind job enlargement is that increasing the range of tasks performed by a worker will reduce boredom and fatigue and may increase motivation to perform at a high level, increasing both the quantity and the quality of goods and services provided. Job enrichment is increasing the degree of responsibility a worker has over a job by, for example, (1) empowering workers to experiment to find new or better ways of doing the job, (2) encouraging workers to develop new skills, (3) allowing workers to decide how to do the work and giving them the responsibility for deciding how to respond to unexpected situations, and (4) allowing workers to monitor and measure their own performance. The idea behind job enrichment is that increasing workers' responsibility increases their involvement in their jobs and thus improves their interest in the quality of the goods they make or the services they provide.