prof Hopkins

Individual Work Week 5

Read and refer to “Case Study: Revising Job Descriptions” on pages 181-184 of your text. Then complete the following assignment:

Respond in writing to Case Questions 1-3 on page 184.

1. Based on what you know about high-tech companies, what are some likely strategic objectives for HITEK? Given these, what should be the objectives of HITEK’S HR department? Do you think these are the objectives that guide the behaviors of Isabel Rains? Explain.

Based on what I know about high-tech companies, some of the likely strategic objectives for HITEK are sustained industry concerns and challenges with supply chain pricing. Some other objectives are limited product existence, customization, globalization and market planning. Consequently, to have a successful strategy, a company must have many solid strategic objectives which provide organizational direction. Therefore, strategic objectives offer a way to measure the organization’s progress toward recognizing the mission statement’s concepts. (Jackson, 2012)

Given these objectives, the HR department should be aligned with the organizations goals. HITEK provides the best computer strategies to the operational situation due to functionally clear business objectives. The managerial process requires HR policies and procedures to be interconnected with these organizational strategic objectives. The human resources objectives at HITEK should support organizational goals including profitability, business philosophies, ethics and values. Through exemplary employee commitment, HITEK ensures client success. Employees benefit from the company’s open-door policy and sharing all levels of work, but lack extensive employee job description of duties. (Jackson, 2012)

I think these are the objectives that guide the behaviors of Isabel Rains who insists that all HR department ideas are aligned with her perspectives. Therefore, HR Vice President Rains declines new employee suggestions. “Written rules and standard operating procedures guide all behavior. Department employees know their own job descriptions well, and there is little overlap in their duties.” (Jackson, 2012, pg. 182) Due to this, HITEK has no real employee structure and the realistically their employees make their own guidelines. Thus, the company is not progressing to its full potential due to Isabel Rain’s reluctance to changes and growth. (Jackson, 2012)

2. Jobs change frequently at HITEK. What approach to job analysis makes the most sense in such a fast-changing environment? Customized? Standardized? Task-focused? Competency modeling? Evaluate the strengths and weakness of the alternative approaches and make recommendations for how Jennifer should proceed.

The approach to job analysis which makes the most sense in such a fast-changing environment is competency modeling. “For competency modeling, the objective is to describe the competencies of successful employees for a series or progression of several jobs.” (Jackson, 2012, pg. 157) Competencies permit workers to accomplish results which will create company value. HITEK needs to comprehend their core competency requirements which are skills, abilities, behaviors, and knowledge. Efficient competency modeling supports HR functions with strategic goals which vertically aligning HR policies and procedures with the organizational objectives. Thus, interconnecting their human resource’s system with the organization’s strategic goals, will strengthen its talent base. (Noonan, 2012) “Competency modeling can be carried out using a few different approaches, but the most common are the individual job level and the organization level.” (ICF International, 2015) Therefore, this approach is a critical component for being a successful organization in our current economy. This must be viewed as a company-wide task and not just the responsibility of the HR staff. (Noonan, 2012)

Customized job analysis could work with a changing atmosphere because of its ability to create detailed work descriptions. But it tends to be too time consuming for a fast paced organization. Standard job analysis is great for a comparison to similar jobs. Yet it is too rigid and structured for HITEK who has shared job responsibilities. (Jackson, 2012) “Task-focused job analysis describes what the job involves in terms of work activities and outcomes.”(Jackson, 2012) This approach is more useful for planning a training program at HITEK and not for job analysis. Although I think competency models would work best for HITEK, they do have their disadvantages such as misinterpretation by HR staff. (Noonan, 2012) Therefore, my recommendations for Jennifer would be to explain to Billy O’Hara, HITEK’s president, that the HR department is resistant to adjustments and ask if he could assist you with recommending these much needed changes for future growth and prosperity.

3. Is the new job description (Case Exhibit 5.4) better than the old one (Case Exhibit 5.3)? Why, or why not? Consider the perspective of employees as well as that of the person supervising this job. Does your answer change depending on the way the job description is being used?

The new job description is better than the old one because it give more details and a depiction of the preferred skills and educational qualifications. Supervision received is stated as well as other information which gives more direction and information to employees, management or potential applicants for employment. My answer does not change from the perspective of employees or supervisors because these details are necessary for all organizational employees to further understand the position being described.

Answer the following question: If you were in Jennifer’s position, which strategies would you employ to gather information and standardize the approach of job analysis and competency modeling at HITEK? Why?

If I were in Jennifer’s position, the strategies that I would employ to gather information and standardize the approach of job analysis and competency modeling at HITEK would initially be to administer standard questionnaires to all employees regarding their positions. I would examine the results and deliver each employee a customized competency model assessment. Due to competency modeling’s usefulness in classifying the main competencies and activities that are comparable with each department, the employees’ job descriptions will exhibit, describe and communicate a stable company culture. Then, I would individually correspond with each employee, if possible, to obtain feedback and present their new job description to them for approval. (Jackson, 2012)

References

Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S., & Werner, S. (2012). Managing Human Resources, (11th Ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.