Purpose: This exercise will help you develop a better understanding of the underlying issues in job redesign.
Step 1: Begin by thinking of three different jobs, one that appears to have virtually no enrichment, one that seems to have moderate enrichment, and one that appears to have a great deal of enrichment. These jobs might be ones that you have personally held or ones you have observed and about which you can make some educated or informed judgment.
Step 2: Evaluate each job along the five core dimensions described in the job characteristics theory
Step 3: Next see if you can identify ways to improve each of the five dimensions for each job; that is, see if you can determine how to enrich the job by using the job characteristics theory as a framework.
Step 4: Using the background information about the three jobs you examined as context answer the following questions.
1. What job qualities make some jobs easier to enrich than others?
2. Can all jobs be enriched?
3. Even if a particular job can be enriched, does that always mean that it should be enriched?
4. Under what circumstances might an individual prefer to have a routine and unenriched job?