Eva Katz , MBA, Lecturer
Beit Berl College of Education, Israel
Email: eva_katz@.beitberl.ac.il
Dr. Marianne Coleman, Senior Lecturer
University of Leicester, England
Email: msc9@le.ac.uk
Job enlargement and job enrichment are approaches to motivation suggesting that jobs can be enhanced by making them more appealing to people. Job enlargement is the practice of expanding the content of a job to include more variety and a greater number of tasks at the same level (Greenberg and
Baron, 1997, p. 163). Job enrichment or ‘vertical job loading’ is where individuals can gain more responsibility, autonomy and control over the tasks they perform (Riches, 1994, p.240). Job enrichment gives employees a high degree of control over their work, from planning and organizing, through implementing and evaluating the results. It is based on Herzberg’s (1959) studies indicating that the most effective way to motivate workers is by focusing on higher order needs. In this paper an attempt will be made to explore how teacher educators’ jobs can be enlarged and enriched through involvement in research activity.
As workers have become more educated, more affluent and more independent, they began reaching for organizations with a better quality of work life (QWL). QWL seeks to employ the higher skills of workers and to provide an environment that encourages them to improve their skills. The idea is that human resources should be developed and not simply used (Newstrom and Davis, 1997, p. 294). The difference between job enlargement and enrichment is summarized in Figure 1:
Higher order
Job
Job
Enrichment and
Enrichment Enlargement
Lower
Order
Routine job Job Enlargement
Few
Number of Tasks
Many

Figure 1. Difference between job enrichment and enlargement
(Adopted from Newstrom and Davis, 1997, p. 295)
A Job Characteristics Approach
Hackman and Oldham (1980) developed the job characteristics model, which specifies five core dimensions that can help people feel that they are doing meaningful and valuable work, and enrich their jobs. They are:
1. skill variety: allows employees to perform different operations that require different skills.
2. task identity: allows employees to perform a complete piece of work.
3. task significance: the amount of impact, as perceived by the worker that the work has on other people. The key point is that employees should believe they are doing something important.
4. autonomy: some degree of freedom, gives employees some discretion and control over job-related decisions, building a sense of responsibility.
5. feedback: information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can come directly from the job (task feedback) or it can be given verbally by management and other employees.
Ellis and Bernhardt (1992) examined the extent to which the core job characteristics as defined by Hackman (1977), such as significance, autonomy, and the quality of feedback, were perceived as being present in the job of teaching. Fourteen people in the sample (N=207) of teachers from
Connecticut, who indicated that they held enriched jobs, were significantly more satisfied with the challenges presented by their jobs than were the 193 respondents not holding enriched jobs. They recommend development of job enrichment opportunities for teachers as: work together with teacher training institutions, act as mentors for new teachers and also be involved in research and development of instructional materials.
This article seeks to link theories of motivation with the increased research activity that is now taking place in Colleges of Education in Israel.
Colleges of Education in Israel
Since 1979 colleges for training teachers in Israel have undergone and continue to undergo considerable change. The major alteration has been that they have been re-conceptualized as academic institutions (Ariav and
Seidenberg, 1992, Ariav et. al., 1993). One result of this reform has been an extension of the study program to four years and accreditation to grant a B.
Ed. degree together with a teaching certificate (Kfir et al., 1997).
The process of academization has resulted in changes among the faculty at these institutions. In the past, teacher educators had been trained as schoolteachers, meaning that they had either no academic degree or only a
Bachelors degree. The trend today is to hire more lecturers who have either
Ph.D. or Masters degrees (Kfir et. al., 1997). Many of the existing faculty, with
M.A. degrees were encouraged to retire or return to the universities to obtain a Ph.D. degree. New faculty is given tenure only if they possess a Ph.D.
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degree.
As part of this changing landscape, a reform has been introduced to “upgrade” the role of teacher educators through incentives to professional advancement.
Until 1997, teacher educators became candidates for tenure after only 2-3 years of teaching. Salaries rose only in accord with wage agreements between the teachers’ labor union and the government and tenure, and teacher educators’ main task was instruction. A full-time job in a teacher training college is 16 hours in the classroom per week. Unlike their counterparts in Israeli universities, their job description did not include research and publication, and their relatively heavy workload left them little time to devote to these pursuits (Ariav et. al., 1993).
Since 1997, four academic positions have been added to the existing position of “teacher”. These four positions are: senior teacher, instructor, senior instructor, and professor. The criteria for moving up the hierarchy from one position to the next are based on evaluation in the following areas: teaching excellence, educational initiatives, development of learning materials, and research and scholarship. These positions bring with them a salary increment of up to fifteen per cent. It is hoped that the reform to institute professional advancement for faculty members will encourage teacher educators to engage in other activities, besides teaching. Research is expected to be one of them. Some of the issues raised by these changes were investigated by means of a survey to the faculty of a large academic college of education in
Israel.
To better understand the developmental stages of teacher education in Israel, and the changing role of research work, the examination of a single institution can be taken to illuminate some of the issues at stake (Ariav and Seidenberg,
1995, p. 136). The College is one of Israel’s twenty-one academic teachertraining facilities, with about 6,000 students and a faculty of more than 700.
In 1989, in an effort to encourage research among faculty, the Research and
Evaluation Unit was established (Fresko, 1997). Their goals are as follows:
1. to conduct valid and reliable research in the areas of education and teacher training which will contribute to efforts to improve teacher preparation, as well as instruction and learning in the schools.
2. to encourage the college teaching staff to engage in scholarly research endeavors as befitting an academic institution.
3. to develop research skills and scientific thinking among instructors and students by providing services needed to conduct research (computer assistance, statistical advice, professional consultation, etc).
4. to provide the College with on-going feedback and evaluation concerning different study programs and activities.
Interest in research will increase in the following years as teacher educators will look for promotion in addition to internal satisfaction derived from the research activity. How is research contributing to the job enrichment of
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teacher educators and what are the managerial implications of the job enrichment approach?
Research Questions
In order to consider the implications, the following research questions were addressed:
1. What are the professional characteristics of teacher educator researchers at Colleges of Education in Israel.
2. How, according to teacher educator researchers, is research work contributing to the five dimensions of the job characteristics approach?
Methodology
A survey questionnaire was mailed to the entire population (400) of the
College’s School of Education faculty in June 1999. Their participation in the research was completely voluntary, and the respondents’ confidentiality was protected by answering the questionnaire anonymously. Seventy-six responses were returned. A follow-up letter was mailed to the entire faculty in
October 1999. Twenty more responses were returned, a total of ninety-six responses, or a return rate of twenty-five percent. Although this is rather low, it is not unusual for similar questionnaires in Israel.
Measures
The questionnaire included seventeen items that measured different attitudes toward research. Respondents rated these items using a 4-point Lickert scale with the following scale values: 1 do not agree, 2 slightly agree, 3 agree, 4 agree very much. In addition the questionnaire included fourteen yes/no items, where respondents marked their preferences and expectations from the
College when conducting research. At the end of the questionnaire, respondents were asked twenty-two demographic questions.
Data Analysis
Means, standard deviations and correlation of variables were calculated to get some significant differences. Variances were examined by education, gender, number of publications and tenure.
Findings and Discussion
Professional Information about the Respondents
From the ninety-six questionnaires that were returned (n=96), only eight respondents had not been involved in research in the past, 12 are not involved at the present and only two respondents are not interested conducting research in the future. Eleven respondents do not have any publications, fifty-two have between 1-10, and thirty have more than 10 publications. The results to the questionnaire are a good indicator of the attitudes of those faculty who are involved in research or want to be involved in it in the future. One hundred forty faculty members from the College participated in the Third International Conference on Teacher Education, in
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June 1999, held at Beit Berl College in Israel. Eighty participants presented one hundred twenty papers. It can be assumed that this is the number of faculty members that are interested in research.
Thirty respondents to the questionnaire were male and fifty-nine were female.
There were twice as many female respondents than males. The average age of faculty is about fifty. Female assistant professors are about three years older than male counterparts.
Some professional background information about the respondents: Fifty-one have M.A. degrees and forty-three respondents have Ph.D. degrees. Seventy respondents are in tenured position; almost sixty have more than twenty years of experience, twenty-eight have between 10-20 years of experience, and eight have less than 0-9 years of experience. But only one-third with more than twenty years of teaching experience have been employed at the college for more than twenty years.
Job Enrichment
Skill Variety, Task Identity and Task Significance
Three core dimensions mentioned by Hackman and Oldham (1980) to contribute to job enrichment are: variety of skills, task identity and task significance used at the job. Involvement in research can contribute to all three dimensions. In order to find out how research contributes to these dimensions, the research skills teachers want to improve and advantages of the involvement in research mentioned by them can be examined.
Preferences and Expected help from the College in Conducting
Research
Results indicate high preference for conducting research in teams (N=66).
Middlewood (1999) also found that the opportunity to work with others is one of the most valuable factors in the success of the research programs (task significance). About two-thirds (N=58) of the respondents would like to collaborate with researchers from other institutions. They are looking outward, beyond the College. Their frame of reference for judging personal progress is their rank in the professional community (Davis, 1977, p. 338). They are as much interested in what their professional peers think of their work as what the manager thinks of it. They could be said to be ‘cosmopolitan’ in their orientation in that they relate more to their professional peers than specifically to the institution where they work (Coleman, 1994, p.63).
Seventy-nine respondents are interested conducting research only part time
(task variety). Multiple roles tend to increase the variety of a person’s inputs, which should increase creative and decision-making abilities, and reinforce self-image and ego satisfaction, which should improve motivation (Davis,
1977, p.338). When teacher educators work on more than one application of their specialty, such as teaching, administration, or research, when they broaden and diversify their activities, they are likely to be more productive
(Davis, 1977, p. 338).
The importance of skills developed is indicated by the fact that half of the respondents would like to improve their statistical skills, would like help from the library and help from a secretary.
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The research unit introduced a yearlong workshop during 1999/2000 school year and thirty-one staff members signed up. At each meeting, about twelve participants attend.
Respondents to our survey outlined a variety of existing skills used in order to engage in research work. In relation to language skills, 70 faculty members reported that they published in Hebrew, sixty published in English and eight in other languages. Seven respondents read literature reviews in French, four in
Yiddish, three in Arabic, three in German, and three in French and German.
Arabic and French, French Arabic and German, French and Rumanian,
French and Russian, French and Spanish was reported by one respondent each, and two reported on Spanish. Hoyle and McCormick’s (1976) model of extended professionality mentions that high involvement in professional activities (research) is linked with regular reading of professional literature and professional collaboration.
Twenty-eight respondents reported that they studied in U.S.A., five in U.K., and one person each reported about studies in South Africa, France, Belgium,
Canada, and Rumania. The findings of the survey indicate that teacher educators engaged in research use a variety of skills, some of them acquired during their studies, and some of them being improved or learned, like the use of statistics or research tools.
How can skill variety’s influence be explained? Apparently the crossfertilization of ideas reinforces their scientific productivity. Multiple roles tend to increase the variety of a person’s inputs, which should increase creative and decision-making abilities, and to reinforce self-image and ego satisfaction, which should improve motivation (Davis, 1977, p. 338). The relationship between demands and performance – if the demands are too few, it may lead to boredom, and if too many, it may lead to burnout. The most effective performance will occur when those two are balanced (Riches, 1994, p. 238).
Feedback
Whose evaluation or feedback is most valued by teacher educator researchers?
Torrington and Weightman (1989) cited in Riches (1994, p. 290) emphasize the importance of valuing staff. They identified several ways in secondary schools they studied:

feedback - indications of success from colleagues, involving informal as well as formal assessment like evaluation and appraisal

delegation – giving members of staff responsibility

consultation and participation – in decision-making and in developing the culture of the school
Evaluations of teaching have been conducted by students, colleagues, administrators and even the faculty members themselves. How does the research activity of teacher educators contribute to their evaluation?
Responses are summarized in Table 1:
Table 1. Responses about the relation between research and evaluation procedures (N=96), on a scale from 1 to 4.
Teacher educator researchers: _
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Are highly regarded by their colleagues
Are highly regarded by management
Are highly regarded by their students
X
3.147
2.904
2.447
S.D.
0.78
1.03
0.96
The findings indicate that respondents believe that their research activity is mostly appreciated by colleagues, then by management and least by students. Other research findings show that professors prefer colleague evaluations to administrator evaluations by a factor of 3 to 1 (Dornbusch,
1979). These findings indicate that teacher educator researchers are more interested in what their professional peers think of their work than in the opinion of their manager, an indication of what might be termed a professional or cosmopolitan orientation (Coleman, 1994, p.63).
Feedback from colleagues is important to teachers’ sense that they are having an impact. Blasé (1982) states that low levels of work motivation are the result of achieving outcomes with little or no reward for individual effort. Teacher educators believe that they do not receive the recognition that they deserve, and would like to get more feedback from management, as seen in the results in Table 2.
Table 2. Responses on the contribution of research to involvement in decision-making processes by respondents with different amounts of publications (N=96), on a scale from 1 to 4.
Teacher educators who do research:
_
X
No publication s
N=11
3.33
_
X
1-10 publication s
N=52
3.07
_
X
More than 10 publications
N=30
_
X
All responden ts
N=96
2.91 Are highly regarded by management
(p=0.089)
Have better chances to reach management positions (p=0.062)
Are involved in decision making processes at the
College (p=0.04)
3.15
2.85
3.08
2.20
2.43
2.14
1.86
2.88
2.19
Researchers with more than 10 publications believe less that their research is highly regarded by management, and that research is contributing to their chances to reach management positions. They do not see themselves as involved in the decision-making process in the College. Another possibility is that teacher educators who are not involved in research are more likely to believe that having more publications can contribute to involvement in
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decision-making processes and in reaching management positions.
Autonomy
Professionals, especially researchers, expect a degree of autonomy of operation in view of the extent of their training (Coleman, 1994, p. 62).
Autonomy is a dimension of empowerment that relate s to teachers’ beliefs that they can control certain aspects of their work life. The hallmark of autonomy is the sense of freedom to make certain decisions (Short, 1994).
Autonomy is a necessary prerequisite for a sense of accomplishment. Schools that create environments that support experimentation by teachers also build teachers’ sense of autonomy. Out of ninety-six respondents only thirteen responded that they would like management’s recommendations about preferred topics for research. Most respondents prefer to decide about their research topics and not follow recommendations from the management.
Researchers at Colleges of Education receive maybe not full, but considerable levels of autonomy. Their motivational needs are fulfilled; they are self-disciplined and enthusiastic about their accomplishments. The management is also satisfied that the organization has an active research staff whose motivational needs are fulfilled. But research findings also show that teacher educators do not believe that they are involved in decisionmaking processes at the College.
High Internal Work Motivation
One of the personal and work outcomes of an activity that contributes to job enrichment is high internal work motivation (Hackman and Oldham 1980).
What motivates teacher educators to engage in research?
According to Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs model, people have needs they wish to satisfy. He focuses attention on five levels, from the most basic, lowest level need to the highest-level need: physiological needs, safety and security needs, belonging and social needs, esteem and status needs and self-actualization and fulfillment needs.
Herzberg’s (1959) model provides a distinction between maintenance factors, which are necessary but not sufficient, and motivational factors, which have the potential for improving employee effort.
1. maintenance factors or extrinsic rewards can be job security and working conditions, and they dissatisfy employees primarily when they are absent.
2. intrinsic motivators are internal rewards that a person feels when performing a job, that evolve from the work itself.
Nias (1981) cited in Riches (1994, p. 233) has applied Herzberg’s theory to an educational context. Using a sample of 135 primary school teachers, she found that job satisfaction arose out of factors which were intrinsic to the job, but also identified ‘negative satisfiers’, which if removed would result in more job satisfaction whereas the contextual dissatisfiers would not do so. It can be tied to other behavioral developments, such as job enrichment, empowerment, self-leadership, and quality of work life (Newstrom and Davis,
1997, p. 125). As seen in Table 3, according to respondents, research is contributing to the following areas, areas that are related to intrinsic
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motivation.
Table 3. Responses on the contribution of research to professional development (N=96), on a scale from 1 to 4.
Engaging in research contributes to:
Openness to innovations
Improvement of professional status
Improving self confidence
Professional contacts
_
X
3.47
3.45
3.36
3.35
S.D.
0.82
0.74
0.87
0.73
Professional growth 3.34 0.84
The results from our survey also indicate that teacher educators can fulfill higher order needs such as esteem and self-actualization (Maslow, 1954) through research. Davis (1977, p. 338) mentions that professional and scientific employees respond favorably to motivational factors such as those proposed by Herzberg (1959). Those factors are achievement, recognition, advancement, the work itself, possibility of growth, and responsibility.
The direct effects, the personal and work outcomes of the core job dimensions are summarized in Table 4:
Table 4. How core job characteristics affect work outcomes through three psychological states. Adapted from Hackman and Oldham, (1980)
Core Job Dimensions
Skill variety
(Different skills and abilities used)
Task identity
(Complete piece of work)
Task significance
(Importance of work)
Autonomy
(Control performance) over task
Direct Effects
(Psychological states)
Perceived meaningfulness
Perceived responsibility
Personal and Work
Outcomes
High internal work motivation
Improved performance work
High satisfaction with the work
Reduced absenteeism and turnover Feedback
(Information performance) about
Perceived knowledge of results
In conclusion, job enrichment and quality of work life (QWL) programs
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generally are desirable for both human and performance needs; they help employees and the firm. Research activities can enlarge and enrich teacher educators’ professional life. The results from the questionnaire administered to the faculty of one College of Education indicate that teacher educators can fulfill higher order needs such as self-esteem, self-actualization (Maslow,
1954) and professional growth through research.
Despite the importance of the impact on the individual researcher, most research undertaken in schools and colleges is likely to be intended to promote school improvement (Coleman, 1999, p. 170). The work of a single researcher or of a group of researchers is more likely to be implemented and for those findings to have an impact, where the research has the backing of senior managers and the topic of research is seen to be relevant to the needs of the college (Coleman, 1999, p.169). An ongoing conversation between researchers and management and involvement of researchers in decisionmaking processes at the College may lead to more effective institutions and job enrichment for staff.
Note
This study was funded through a grant from Beit Berl College of Education in
Israel. We wish to thank the Research Unit, Dr. Barbara Fresko and Dr. Drora
Kfir for their assistance and help.
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