Abstract

The article focuses on new strategy for job enrichment. Job enrichment, which began with the pioneering work of sociologist Frederick Herzberg and his associates, originally was intended as a means to increase the motivation and satisfaction of people at work and to improve productivity in the bargain. Now it is being acclaimed in the popular press as a cure for problems ranging from inflation to drug abuse. Much current writing about job enrichment is enthusiastic about what it can accomplish. Job enrichment has been described as yet another management fad, and even as a fraud. Reports of job enrichment failures are beginning to appear in management and psychology journals. This article attempts to redress the excesses that have characterized some of the recent writings about job enrichment. As the technique increases in popularity as a management tool, top managers inevitably will find themselves making decisions about its use. The intent of this paper is to help both managers, and behavioral scientists become better able to make those decisions on a solid basis of fact and data.