What is the focus of the job characteristics model?

The job characteristics model emphasizes the importance of enriching jobs to enhance employee motivation and satisfaction. This model identifies five core job dimensions that influence three critical psychological states, ultimately leading to positive outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, improved quality of work, and higher overall performance.

By altering jobs through practices such as increasing autonomy, variety, and significance, the model aims to increase employee engagement and intrinsic motivation. The idea is that when employees find their work more meaningful and feel that they have a greater impact on their environment, they are more likely to be productive and satisfied with their job.

Focusing on this job enrichment aspect is what sets the job characteristics model apart, as it actively seeks to modify the work itself to enhance the employee experience rather than simply maintaining security, creating standard descriptions, or streamlining hiring processes, which do not directly address employee motivation and enrichment.