CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Job enrichment is a management concept
that involves redesigning jobs so that they are more challenging to the
employee and have less repetitive work. The concept is based on a 1968 Harvard Business Review article by
psychologist Frederick Herzberg titled 'One More Time: How Do You Motivate
Employees?' In the article, Herzberg stated that the greatest employee
motivators, based on several investigations, are (in descending order); achievement,
recognition, work, responsibility, advancement, and growth. To improve employee
motivation and productivity, jobs should be modified to increase the motivators
present for the employee. Job enrichment can be described as a
medium through which management can motivate self-driven employees by
assigning them additional responsibility normally reserved for
higher level employees. By doing this, employees feel like their work has meaning and is important to the
company. This theory is based on the premise that employees have a natural
tendency to want to succeed and are eager to be trusted with a bigger role in
the company. When these type of workers aren't being challenged, they tend to
slack off and not give their best effort because they view their task to be
below their skill set. Conversely when an employee is given autonomy over
his/her work, they tend to feel responsible for the outcome of the project and
will try to put forward the best end result possible. Overall Job Enrichment is
essential to the workplace because it helps prevent feelings of repetitiveness
in the day-to-day operations from hindering productivity.
To enrich a position, first brainstorm a list of potential
changes to the position. Once you have a list of options, Herzberg recommends
using the following seven principles to review the options, and shortlist only
those that invoke one or more of the following: Removing some controls while
retaining accountability ;Increasing the accountability of individuals for own
work giving a person a complete, natural unit of work ;Granting additional
authority to employees in their activity ;Making periodic reports directly
available to the workers themselves rather than to supervisors ;Introducing new
and more difficult tasks not previously handled ;Assigning individuals specific
or specialized tasks; enabling them to become experts .For example, you might
have on your list 'Allow staffer A to present the monthly report directly to
senior management.' When you review this option against our list above, you
find that it will meet the following goals: ;Increasing the accountability of
individuals for own work - by having them present directly to senior staff.
;Granting additional authority to employees in their activity - by trusting
them to make a presentation to a second level manager. Advantages; Learn new skills: By having more responsibilities, the employee
will have the chance to work on new tasks and therefore learn new skills.
Decision making can lead to the employee to think, decide, and try new things.
By having to learn new skills, the employee has the opportunity to become
proficient at certain tasks and even become experts. Reduce boredom: Job enrichment focuses on giving employees more
variety and responsibilities.
The target of job enrichment is to reduce the
chance of boredom from the repetitive, tedious activities. Creates a better work environment:
The net result of job enrichment is an overall more positive environment that
promotes maximum productivity. This is simply because employees who are treated
better tend to have better attitudes around the work place and tend to spread
that positivism around the office. Disadvantages
Lack of preparation:
Because employees are given more activities and responsibilities in job
enrichment, they do not necessarily have the right skills or experience for the
job. Because the employee is not prepared or trained enough to do the activity,
then they may not be as efficient as someone who is already trained or skilled
in that particular activity. As a result, they may have a lower productivity
rate.Heavier Workload: Job
enrichment increases the employee’s overall workload. This requires skill in
reprioritization for the employee. Some employees may not be able to quickly
adjust to their new responsibilities. Employees may feel overloaded and tired,
so they may have a lower productivity rate. Clash with Non-participants: Understandably, not every employee
at a company can participate in job enrichment. Those who cannot join may feel
disconnected from the company and not part of the team. The employees who
cannot join may even feel jealous towards participants.
Poor Performance: As a result of lack of preparation and heavier
workload, some employees may not perform as efficient as prior to job
enrichment. These employees may actually work better in a non job-enriching
environment. By not doing as well as desired, they may feel inept. Their poor
performance may lead to demotions, which tends to have a negative impact on the
employee’s self –confidence and motivation. Job enrichment, as a managerial
activity includes a three steps technique: Turn employees' effort into
performance: Ensuring that objectives are well-defined and understood by
everyone. The overall corporate mission statement should be communicated to all.
Individual's goals should also be clear. Each employee should know exactly how
he/she fits into the overall process and be aware of how important their
contributions are to the organization and its customers. Providing adequate
resources for each employee to perform well. This includes support functions
like information technology, communication technology, and personnel training
and development. Creating a supportive corporate culture. This includes peer
support networks, supportive management, and removing elements that foster
mistrust and politicking.
Free flow of information, Eliminate secrecy. Provide
enough freedom to facilitate job excellence. Encourage and reward employee
initiative. Flextime or compressed hours could be offered.
Provide adequate recognition, appreciation, and other
motivators provide skill improvement opportunities. This could include paid
education at universities or on the job training.Provide job variety. This can
be done by job sharing or job rotation
programmes.It may be necessary to re-engineer the job process. This could
involve redesigning the physical facility, redesign processes, change
technologies, simplification of procedures, elimination of repetitiveness,
redesigning authority structures.Link employees performance directly to reward:
Clear definition of the reward is a must.Explanation of the link between
performance and reward is important.Make sure the employee gets the right
reward if performs well.If reward is not given, explanation is needed.Make sure
the employee wants the reward. How to find out? .Ask them. Use surveys(
checklist, listing, questions). Once you know what the employees want, give
them the tools they need to earn it and follow through on your word..the
research therefore seek to evaluate job enrichment ,its implication and
application with a case study of first bank plc
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of job
enrichment is to make the position more satisfying to the employee. Overall
goals for the company often include increasing employee job satisfaction,
reducing turnover, and improving productivity of employees.
To rephrase this: we want
to enrich our staff's positions so that they will be happier, more productive,
and less likely to seek a job elsewhere. Also it Reduce repetitive work.
Increase the employee's feelings of recognition and achievement. Provide
opportunities for employee advancement (i.e. promotions into jobs requiring more
skills). Provide opportunities for employee growth (i.e. an increase in skills
and knowledge without a job promotion). So when job enrichment is neglected a
lot of this benefit is eroded.
The firm faces high
employee exist, redundancy,job, dissatisfaction, low productivity etc.
Therefore the problem
confronting this research is to provide an evaluation of job enrichment
,implication and application.
1.3
RESEARCH QUESTION
What is the nature of job
enrichment, its implication and application?
What is the nature,
implication and application of job enrichment in first Bank plc?
1.4
OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
To determine the nature,
implication and application of job enrichment.
To determine the implication and application of
job enrichment in first bank plc.
1.5
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
RESEARCH
The research shall
recommend measures to attract firms to adopt job enrichment as a necessary
tool for improving staff productivity. It shall serve as a rich source of
information on issues concerning job enrichment.
1.6
STATEMENT OF THE
HYPOTHESIS
1. Ho: Productivity and retention rate in first
bank is low.
Hi: Productivity and retention rate in first
bank is high
2. Ho: Job enrichment is not significant in first Bank.
Hi: Job enrichment is significant in
first Bank.
3 Ho: Impact of job enrichment in first bank
is low.
Hi: Impact of job enrichment in first bank
is high
1.7
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study focuses on the
evaluation of job enrichment, implication and application with a case study of
first Bank Plc.
1.8
DEFINITION OF TERMS
JOB ENRICHMENT DEFINED
Job
enrichment is a
management concept that involves redesigning jobs so that they are more
challenging to the employee and have less repetitive work
JOB ROTATION
Job Sharing or job rotation programmes. It may be
necessary to re-engineer the job process. This could involve redesigning the
physical facility, redesign processes, change technologies, simplification of
procedures, elimination of repetitiveness, redesigning authority structures. Link
employees performance directly to reward:
VERTICAL JOB LOADING
Vertical job
loading is the terminology used
by Herzberg to describe his principles for enriching positions and giving
employees more challenging work.
JOB ENLARGEMENT
'Job enlargement,' a.k.a. 'horizontal
job loading,' which often involves giving employees more work without changing
the challenge level.
MOTIVATION
The actuation of
employees to optimal performance
REFERENCES
Frederick Herzberg, HBR Jan 2003, One More Time: How Do You
Motivate Employees? Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2003/01/one-more-time-how-do-you-motivate-employees/ar/1
Brookins, M. (n.d.).The Advantages & Disadvantages of
Job Enrichment. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-job-enrichment-11960.html
Feder, B.J. 2000, "F.I. Herzberg, 76, Professor And
Management Consultant", New York
Times, Feb 1, 2000, pg. C26. Available from: ProQuest Historical
Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2003). [28 October 2006].
Hackman, J.R. & Oldham, G.R. 1976, 'Motivation
through the design of work: Test of a Theory”, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, [Online], vol.
16, no. 2, pp. 250–279. Available from: Science Direct. [1 November 2006].
