Job Enlargement & Job Engagement Article

Definitions :

Job Enlargement:

Definition:

Job Enlargement is said to be a contingency when organizations rotate their employees on different ranks / positions and also assign slight extra tasks to perform in normal routine (Dessler, 2005)

Job enlargement is to expand the duties of a job to inculcate more range and increased number of tasks at the same level. (Greenberg & Baron , 1997 , p.163)

 Simply, It is a process involving expansion of tasks and duties at horizontal level (at same level) in order to deliver a challenging & different work in order to alleviate the work boredom and dissatisfaction.

Job Engagement:

Definition:

Robinson et al. (2004) define employee engagement as “a positive view of an employee about his/her organization. Engaged employees work with passion to improve performance within his/her the job for the benefit of the employer. Therefore, organizations must work to promote and nurture engagement, which demands a two-way relationship between employer and employee.”

Gallup International defines Job Engagement as work with enthusiasm and involvement.

Precisely, It is an approach to infuse commitment in employees towards organization’s goals and values, for contribution to organizational success and personal well-being.

Job Enlargement Explained;

Hellergen & Sverke (2001) assert that, with increased competition , organizations are finding it difficult to retain employees and management gets overwhelmed with extra responsibilities and costs , therefore it is becoming very common to transform the work activities of the employees at workplace and enabling them to work at different levels.

According to Dessler (2005), Stagnancy in work nature and tasks without due change might bring inefficiency and may result in workplace boredom and decreased motivation level of employees.

Advantages of Job Enlargement :

Job Enlargement has been widely suggested as recommendation for employee satisfaction and employee motivation in research articles and papers.

·        Job Enlargement effects motivation level , organization commitment level & satisfaction level ((Morrison, 1994; Hellgren & Sverke, 2001)

·        Job Enlargement , if implemented in its true essence is far more easier and cost saving than Job Enrichment (Amacom. 1973)

·        With accomplishments and fulfillment of personal growth needs , employee retention increases.

·        Job Satisfaction considerably increases as the contributions are acknowledged and work becomes challenging.

Disadvantages of Job Enlargement

Some researchers hold view that Job Enlargement lessens the social interaction of employees at workplace , and this can be attributed as the main reason that it decreases the motivation level of employees.

·        High Training costs

·        Redesigning existing work system

·        It is not necessary that Productivity will increase

·        Workload Increases

Job Engagement Explained;

Concept of Job Engagement is relatively new, and it appeared in literature for two decades (Ellis and Sorensen, 2007).

According to Perris Global Workforce Study (2003) , Job Engagement is when the employees put every persistent discretionary effort to help their company succeed. With these definitions, Job Engagement is often confused with Job Satisfaction , which in real spirit is not. Engagement is commitment with passion to strive for the success of employer or company which is beyond Job Satisfaction (BlessingWhite, 2008; Erickson, 2005). Hence , the Job Engagement is obtained by aligning Job Satisfaction and Job Contribution.

According to Penna research report (2007) , the employees are satisfied and ultimately more engaged when they find meaning of and at work. Employees want to work in those organizations where they can obtain the meaning of their work.

Development Dimensions International(DDI, 2005) adds that employee engagement can be infused and achieved by following measuers;

·        Alignment of efforts with strategy

·        Psychological Empowerment

·        Encouragement of teamwork and collaboration

·        Assistance to employees in growth and development

·        Providing Support and Recognition

Advantages of Job Engagement

Employee engaged organizations experience enormous benefits; employee retention, productivity, profitability, customer loyalty and safety. Moreover, Researches also suggest that there is positive relationship of job engagement with organizational performance and customer satisfaction (Coffman, 2000; Ellis and Sorensen, 2007).

Disadvantages of Job Engagement

There are some limits , which managers need to consider . Professor Thomas Britt adds that when employees are more engaged , they create high expectations of their own work and when faced with persistent low organizational support , less availability of resources and lack of guidelines due to some external shocks creates a dissatisfaction with employees that may compel them to leave the organization.

Conclusion

Job Enlargement and Job Engagement are two very essential components that organizations need to infuse and implement in their workforce. With bringing variety to the daily routine tasks and encouraging employees involvement in their work and decisions of organization can contribute a lot in terms of flourishing , job satisfaction , job involvement , organizational citizenship behavior and perceived organizational support.