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on one poinr: Give employees a
chance ro succeed and ro improve ar
rasks rhar challenge them.
Enrichment
in
Action
One of rhe largest job enrichmenr
programs in rhe country is ar Ameri–
can Telephone and Telcgraph Co.
Malcolm Gillette, Director of rhe
Human Resources Progrnm for rhc
company, rold
The
PtAJN
TRUTI! ,
" \'i/e believe you can 'r changc a
workcr's attitudc on a boring job
unless rou change whar he does. ·•
Onc of rhe bese examples of such re·
strucruring,
he
poinred out, involved
girls working on relephone direccories.
Before rhe program, cach of 30
girls rorared on
21
separare jobs in–
volved in producing rhe direcrorics.
"So
whar we did," said Gillerre. ·'is
rhar insread of doing jusr one rask,
we gave each girl che rcsponsibiliry of
doing one book apiece. Each gi rl was
co do all che jobs on rhar particular
book - compilarions, alphaberizing,
arrangemenrs wirh che prcss, ere. So
now when askcd 'Whar do you do at
work?' insread of replying, 'I work on
phone books,' cach girl could reply,
·J
am a direcrory clerk. I produce rhe
dirccrory irself. lr's my piece of rhe
business.'"
Gillerre wenr on ro show rhar che
resulrs of rhe program were very cn–
couraging. Abscnreeism and tu rnover
droppcd ro zero while job sarisfacrion
and producrivi
ry
increased.
Onc of che more advanced job cn–
richmcnt programs has becn imple–
mcnred ar rhe Merrimack Va llcy
Works, jusr ourside Bosron. Mas–
sachuserrs. Thc company employs
abour 10,000 pcople in rhe manufac–
ture of eleccronic carricr syscems. Af–
rer an attirude survey confirmed wide–
spread disconrcnr among workers, che
jobs were resrrucrured so rhat employ–
ccs did complete subassemblies, pro–
ducing and cesring funcrioning pares
rnrher rhan doing single reperirive
rasks on an asscmbly-line basis.
Two years larer, anorher survey
showcd rhese marked improvemcncs:
16
increascd producr iviry, decline in ab–
senreeism, and workers wirh incrcased
cake-home pay.
A number of ocher companics, in–
dudin~
Saab and Volvo of Sweden .
have employed similar resrrucruring
wi rh rhe same resulrs.
Meeting the
Challenge
Implemenring job enrichmenr
srraregy presenrs a particular chal–
lengc ro managemcnr.
lt
rcguircs
couragc ro overthrow long-esrab–
lished rradirions, real discernmcnr ro
make rhe righr changcs, and determi –
na rion ro srick with che new policies
during rhe rough days when chey
seem ro be hampering more rhan
helping
There are certain barriers rhac man–
agers can expecr ro encounrer. The
firsr involves
existing policies and prac–
tices.
Thcse usually conAicr wirh che
new job clcsign so rhar
che
employee
can'r carry our rhc responsibiliry he
could be given. \"(/berever feasible,
rhese policies and pracrices should be
changcd.
Sometimes rhcre are
phpical and
technological barriers,
such as exisr on
assembly line jobs. These jobs are che
kind for which onc can nor do very
much. even wirh job cnrichmenr. The
hope is ro auromare rhem our of exis–
tence in rime, or ar leasr ro improve
rhe guali ry of rhe produce movi ng on
rhe asscmbly line. Workers always
prefer ro work on bctter qualiry prod–
uces. Cheaply consrrucred items are
no incentive ro work.
If a boring. assembly-line job can–
nor be auromared our of exisrence or
ar leasc improvcd, rhose workers
forced ro work on rhem should be
parrially assigned ro larger casks rhar
havc meaning and purpose. Perhaps
rhe personnel deparrmenr could hire
only rhosc pcople whose abiliry levels
are so low rhey mighr be challcnged
by such a job (or unri 1such a worker
upgraded his own abiliry).
One of che principie barriers ro
making jobs richer is
the attit11cles rmd
resistance of mantlgement itself
ome
supervisors fecl iris a chrear - ' 'If rhc
employee has che responsibiliry, rhcn
whar do I do?" Acmally, a lirrle fore–
sighr would hclp rhem. Givi ng work–
ers more responsibiliry would,
in
rhe
long run. free managers of a number
of minor rasks and allow rhem ro
concentrare on decisions and marrers
of
a
"higher order."
Worker Enrichmenr
T oo
Anorher big barrier ro job enrich–
mcnr is roo ofren ovcrlooked or
de-cmphasi7ed. Thar is rhc general un–
willingness among workcrs
to
respond
ro managemcnr's job irnprovemcnr
e«orrs.
le is rrue rhat managemcnr's prom–
ise for personal reward rends ro moti·
vare workers on rhe job. Bur unless
workcrs are wi lling ro respond and do
their pare, relarivcly lirrle progress can
be made.
The bese job enrichrncnr prograrn
in rhe world will nor help any worker
who is nor willing ro srraighren our
his own arrirude firsr. \'i/orkers
should be willing ro work hard and
accepr any discomforrs which may ex–
isr unril enrichmenr rakcs full effecr.
They should be willing ro accept
rheir jobs as a challenge, realizing rhac
cven enriched jobs are bound ro havc
ar leasr some elcmencs of redium and
routine. But mosr imporranr, workers
should firsr srrive ro havc rheir overnll
prioriries ami goals in li fe straighr if
rher expecc real happincss, peace of
mind, and succcss on rhe job.
As Jesus pu
e
ir: ··Bue seek ye firsr
che kingdom of God, and his righ·
ceousness, and al! rhesc rhings [in–
cluding job success, which providc.os
food, clorhing, and shdrcr] shall be
added unro you" (Marrhew 6:33).
More derailed informarion on how
ro begin ro become a succcss ar work
is availablc, in our free, fu 11-color
64-page bookler
The Seven Lawr of
Sucus.r.
\"(/rice for ir if you have noe
alrcadr done so. The address of our
ollice nearest you is in rhc insidc
fronc cover.
Remernbcr, you've gor norhing ro
lose bur rhc blue collar blues. O
PLAIN TRUTH November 1972