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5.DefiningandOrganizingWork-2.pptx

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Defining and Organizing Work

The ways in which work is defined and organized tend to separate those responsible for public HRM into two camps—HR specialists and everybody else.

In that respect, these functions generate responses such as those that accompany topics including rotating your car’s tires or flossing your teeth.

Experts consider them essential, but many of us do not spend enough time on them, and certainly

do not want to spend more time talking about them.

For HR specialists, writing a job description—a position’s duties and the minimum qualifications required to perform them—

is the key to position management.

And position management (classifying positions by job type and level of responsibility, and limiting total agency payroll to the sum of the salaries authorized for all classified positions) is

the cornerstone of personnel management from which all other activities derive.

It all Begins with Work…

Work is the amount of effort applied to produce a deliverable or to accomplish a task (a terminal element) or a group of related tasks. As defined by different types of jobs or processes.

Manual labor is the physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals.

A job is an activity, often regular, and often performed in exchange for payment.

A person usually begins a job by becoming an employee, volunteering, or starting a business.

The duration of a job may range from an hour to a lifetime.

The activity that requires a person's mental or physical effort is work.

If a person is trained for a certain type of job, they may have a profession. The series of jobs a person holds in their life is their career.

Job Design

Job design is the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder.

Or in other words, its how a job is positioned and designed in relation to the job holder and more specifically an organization’s goals.

Its principle characteristics are geared towards how the nature of a person's job affects their attitudes and behavior at work, particularly relating to characteristics such as skill variety and autonomy.

The aim of a job design is to improve job satisfaction, to improve through-put, to improve quality and to reduce employee problems (e.g., grievances, absenteeism).

Five Core Job Characteristic…

Work should be designed to have five core job characteristics, which engender three critical psychological states in individuals—

experiencing meaning,

feeling responsible for outcomes,

and understanding the results of their efforts.

In turn, these psychological states were proposed to enhance

employees’ intrinsic motivation,

job satisfaction,

quality of work and performance,

while reducing turnover.[4]

Core job dimensions

Skill variety —

This refers to the range of skills and activities necessary to complete the job.

The more a person is required to use a wide variety of skills, the more satisfying the job is likely to be.

Task identity —

This dimension measures the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

Employees who are involved in an activity from start to finish are usually more satisfied.

Task significance —

This looks at the impact and influence of a job.

Jobs are more satisfying if people believe that they make a difference, and are adding real value to colleagues, the organization, or the larger community.

Autonomy —

This describes the amount of individual choice and discretion involved in a job.

More autonomy leads to more satisfaction. For instance, a job is likely to be more satisfying if people are involved in making decisions, instead of simply being told what to do.

Feedback —

This dimension measures the amount of information an employee receives about his or her performance, and the extent to which he or she can see the impact of the work.

The more people are told about their performance, the more interested they will be in doing a good job. So, sharing production figures, customer satisfaction scores etc. can increase the feedback levels.

Critical psychological states

Experienced meaningfulness of the work:

The extent to which people believe that their job is meaningful, and that their work is valued and appreciated.

Experienced responsibility for the outcomes of work:

The extent to which people feel accountable for the results of their work, and for the outcomes they have produced.

Knowledge of the actual results of the work activity:

The extent to which people know how well they are doing.

Job Descriptions…..

A job description is a list that a person might use for general tasks, or functions, and responsibilities of a position.

It may often include to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person in the job, or a salary range.

Job descriptions are usually narrative, but some may instead comprise a simple list of competencies;

for instance, strategic human resource planning methodologies may be used to develop a competency architecture for an organization, from which job descriptions are built as a shortlist of competencies.

Limitations of Job Descriptions

Prescriptive job descriptions may be seen as a hindrance in certain circumstances:

Job descriptions may not be suitable for some senior managers as they should have the freedom to take the initiative and find fruitful new directions;

Job descriptions may be too inflexible in a rapidly changing organization, for instance in an area subject to rapid technological change;

Other changes in job content may lead to the job description being out of date;

The process that an organization uses to create job descriptions may not be optimal.

Having up-to-date, accurate and professionally written job descriptions is critical to an organization’s ability to attract qualified candidates, orient & train employees, establish job performance standards, develop compensation programs, conduct performance reviews, set goals and meet legal requirements.

How to improve traditional Job Descriptions…

Job descriptions would be more useful if they clarified the following:

Tasks. What work duties are important to the job?

Conditions. What things make the job easy (such as close supervision or written guidelines explaining how to do the work) or hard (such as angry clients or difficult physical conditions)?

Standards. What objective performance levels (related to organization objectives) can reasonably be set for each task, measured in terms of objectives such as quantity, quality, or timeliness of service?

Competencies. What knowledge, skills, and abilities are required to perform each task at the minimum standard under the above conditions?

Qualifications. What education, experience, and other qualifications are needed to ensure that employees have the necessary competencies?

Job Analysis

A job description is usually developed by conducting a job analysis, which includes examining the tasks and sequences of tasks necessary to perform the job.

The analysis considers the areas of knowledge and skills needed for the job.

A job usually includes several roles.

The job description might be broadened to form a person specification or may be known as Terms Of Reference.

The person/job specification can be presented as a stand alone document though in practice, it is usually included within the job description.

A job description is often used in employment (a new position that needs to be filled).

Different Groups have different Perspectives

Elected and appointed officials: have contradictory attitudes because they feel they are in charge (not HR);

Merit system reformers: they feel that analyzing and classifying positions as the key to getting away from the evils of the spoils system.

Public HRM specialists: they consider job descriptions and classification systems as the key to effective position management, which includes compliance with legislatively mandated controls as well as a major input of the budgetary process.

Management and supervisors: they used them for recruitment, performance evaluations, setting pay scales. And or disciplinary actions.

Employees: helps identify the goals and objectives needed to accomplish their job--maybe.

Elected and Appointed Officials

Focus on politically Appointed (patronage) positions

Jobs are not defined, analyzed, or classified at all under political patronage systems.

‘No public job should be so complicated that any citizen could not complete it.”

The proliferation of independent contractors and electronic communication…. Make political patronage even easier.

Merit System Reformers

Focus on Civil Service Systems:

for merit systems reformers fighting to increase government effectiveness in the face of patronage politics,

job analysis epitomizes the principles of scientific management

and budget transparency that enable them to control the spoils system.

The Classification Act of 1923 formalized job analysis and classification in the federal government, allowed merit system reformers to support a job analysis which is:

the first step to ensure that employees are hired and promoted based on ability and performance,

and that jobs of equivalent difficulty are paid the same salaries.

Evils of the Patronage Systems are Legendary..

Under the patronage systems it is difficult to determine how many employees actually work for an agency because there are three possible answers (all different):

(1) all persons are on the payroll (whether or not they are expected to show up);

(2)all persons who actually show up for work on a regular basis, and

(3) the authorized positions in an agency (whether or not they are filled and whether or not those individuals actually show up for work).

Each of these answers is the result of different pressures on the patronage systems.

First option a payroll “padded” with people who get paid but never show up. Boss gets a pocket kickback.

Second option, a valid payroll with actual employees.

Third option, a payroll inflated by showing as filled positions those that are actually vacant (allowing senior managers to pocket the salaries of ghost employees).

HR Specialist and Position Management

Good position management can be defined as a carefully designed position structure which blends the skills and assignments of employees with the goal of successfully carrying out the organization’s mission or program.

Sound position management reflects a logical balance between employees needed to carry out the major functions of the organization and those needed to provide adequate support;

between professional employees and technicians;

between fully trained employees and trainees;

and between supervisors and subordinates.

Good position management also requires consideration of grade levels for the positions involved.

Grades should be commensurate with the work performed to accomplish the public mission and should not exceed those grades needed to perform the work of the organizational segment.

A carefully designed position structure will result in reasonable and supportable grade levels.

The underlying assumption of a position management is that public agencies, left unprotected , will be unable to resist pressure from elected officials to add patronage positions or to fill vacant civil service positions with patronage employees.

As a result most public classification systems clearly places upon public manager the authority and responsibility to establish, classify, and manage their positions.

The need to achieve an economical and effective position structure is critical to the proper and responsible use of limited financial and human capital resources.

Position Management & Position Classification

Example for NASA

http://ohcm.gsfc.nasa.gov/sup_info/toolbox/Position/PositionManagement.htm

Managers and Supervisors

Since supervisors and managers play major roles in the management and classification of subordinate positions, they are responsible for assuring a sound position structure in the organizations they lead.

A quality classification system allows considerable freedom and flexibility for a position managers and HR specialist to establish an organizational structure that is not only efficient and cost conscious, but also helps ensure the public agencies limit pressure by elected officials to create patronage positions.

Employees Focus on Career Management

Employees have a different perspective than either managers or elected and appointed officials.

They want to be treated as individuals, though a continual process of supervision, feedback, and reward.

They want to know what their job duties are and how performance will be measured.

They want to be paid fairly, based on their contributions to productivity and compared with the salaries of other employees.

They want their individual skills and abilities to be fully utilized in ways that contribute to productive agency and to their own personal career development.

Discussion Questions

How does the historical development of job analysis relate to the differing objectives of elected and appointed officials, merit system advocates, HR directors and specialists, supervisors and managers, and employees? How are these reflected in the concepts of position management, human resource management, and career development?

Why are traditional job descriptions unsuitable for supporting personnel management as its focus has changed to human resource management and career management?

How do performance-oriented descriptions differ from traditional job descriptions? Why are they more effective from the supervisor’s viewpoint? From the employee’s viewpoint?

How can performance-oriented job descriptions be combined with traditional (position management-based) job analysis and classification systems?

Key Terms

Career development

Career ladders

Job analysis

Job (position) description

Performance-oriented job descriptions

Position management

Staffing (manning) table

Work management