Job Enrichment: What It Is And How To Measure It

Abstract

The respiratory care department manager who wishes to enrich the work—the content and the environment—of his staff may take measures that include improved management practices, work group reorganization, and job enrichment techniques. The objective of job enrichment is to give the worker greater control over parts of his work. Effectiveness of a job enrichment program depends heavily on the manager's leadership style, which can vary from authoritarian to democratic. A job enrichment program should be preceded by consultation with and survey of the staff. It may then be wise to run an experimental pilot program, which can be evaluated before a full-scale effort is instituted. Both the pilot program and the full-scale effort must be exposed to rigorous criticism, and subsequent policy must be created on the basis of the results observed.