At first glance, assessing and identifying your skills, values, and interests may seem to be a simple method for matching people to career fields. Ultimately, your career choice will involve a complex evaluation of many factors about you including personality traits and aspirations. The CDO offers a number of resources and assessments, including MyPlan, an online career decision-making program, that will help you gain more information about yourself and various occupations. Many of us think that there is only one occupation that is best suited for us, but there are really several that may be good choices.

Refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees discretion, autonomy, and the ability to do their jobs effectively. The idea is that the presence of certain structural factors helps empower people, but in the end empowerment is a perception. The following figure demonstrates the relationship between structural and felt empowerment. For example, at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, employees have the authority to stop the production line if they see a blemish on the product. Leadership style is another influence over experienced empowerment. If the manager is controlling, micromanaging, and bossy, chances are that empowerment will not be possible.

Try the additional practice questions below to review your knowledge of this chapter. Once you have completed the quiz, click on ‘Submit Answers for Grading’ to get your results. What you will do for a living depends a lot on who you are. This may sound obvious, but many people neglect considering this important side of selecting a career.

For example, a person who strongly values service to others may choose to become a counselor or social worker. In this instance, the likelihood of job dissatisfaction is decreased bubs meaning in relationship because the person’s career choice is consistent with his or her personal values. Values evolve and continue to develop just as the individual grows and develops.

Is a job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how they perform their own tasks. This approach allows employees to take on more responsibility. As an alternative to job specialization, companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes, such as reduced turnover, increased productivity, and reduced absences. This may be because employees who have the authority and responsibility over their work can be more efficient, eliminate unnecessary tasks, take shortcuts, and increase their overall performance. At the same time, there is evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause dissatisfaction among certain employees.

Your manager is not the only helpful source of feedback. This has the benefit of giving you more feedback in the first place. It also has the upside of making it easier to ask direct questions about your own performance.

Through use of general education and electives, you have the opportunity to explore several career options. While some careers require a specific college major, many are not tied to any specific degree. Therefore, in choosing course work and finally a major, examine your skills, values, and interests, along with academic requirements and potential career choices.

With new technologies being released every day, they must improve their skills to handle complex tasks and integrate the latest technologies into their work. Machlup revised the meaning of the term “work” as a way of managing and using knowledge. Along with usual work decision making work is also given to the employees and not many may be comfortable with this. Job enrichment seeks to find positive ways to address each of these areas and therefore improve employee motivation and personal satisfaction. The unbroken line of authority that extends from top of the organization to the lowest echelon is termed the chain of command. The ____ is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization.