Job Description

The reviewed, edited, and
reformatted product of the job
analysis.

Attempts to provide statements of
fact that describe the job as it is.

Acts as a job contract that conveys
employee rights and establishes
corresponding obligations.
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Job Description

It protects the employee and the
employer by letting the employee
know what is expected and what
must be accomplished.

Comes in a variety of forms.

May be used as a substitute for / or
by the job analysis.
2
Job Description

While not universally accepted it
continues to be viewed by many
organizations as a valuable
multipurpose personnel and
management tool.
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Definition Of Terms

Work consisting of
responsibilities and duties
assignable to one employee.
(There are as many positions
as there are employees sometime even more).
Position

Example: M. Jones, Secretarypurchasing
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Definition Of Terms

Work consisting of
responsibilities and duties that
are sufficiently alike to justify
being covered by a single job
analysis / job description.
Assignable to one or more
employees.
Job

Example: Secretary-purchasing
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Definition Of Terms

Class

A group of jobs sufficiently similar
as to kinds of subject matter;
education and experience
requirements; levels of difficulty,
complexity, and responsibility;
and qualification requirements of
the work.

Example: Secretary II.
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Definition Of Terms


A grouping of job classes having
similar job content but differing in
degree of difficulty, complexity ,
and responsibility; level of skill;
knowledge; and qualification
requirements. The jobs within a
class-series can form a career
ladder.

Example: Secretarial Series I-IV
Class-Series
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Definition Of Terms

Family

Two or more class-series
within an organization that
have related or common work
content.

Example: Administrative
Occupation (Secretary/
Clerical).
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Definition Of Terms


A grouping of jobs or job
classes within a number of
different organizations that
have similar skill, effort, and
responsibility requirements.

Example: Administrative
Occupation (Secretarial /
Clerical)
Occupation
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Job Description
Multipurpose Applications

Planning
It provides data for
establishing internal
equity and external
competitiveness.

Organization Design

Staffing Levels

Career Ladder

Career Pathing

Job Design

Pay System Design
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Job Description
Multipurpose Applications
Operations

Recruiting And Screening

Test Design

Hiring And Placement

Job Orientation

Developing Operating
Procedures

Training And Development
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Job Description
Multipurpose Applications

Control
» Performance Standards
Identifies acceptable levels of performance.
» Legal Requirements
Establishes valid, non-discriminatory
standards for each applicant or incumbent.
» Collective Bargaining
Sets the starting point for management to
establish valid pay differentials.
12
Elements Of The Job Description

Job Identification

Job Summary

Job Identification

Accountabilities

Job Specifications
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Job Identification

Job Title

Job Location

Status (Exempt Vs
Nonexempt)

Job Grade

Job Code
(Referencing System)
Evaluation
Points

Document Author,
Approvals, And Date
Title Of
Supervisor

Pay Range


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Job Summary

A "word picture" of the job that delineates
its general characteristics, listing only
major functions or activities.

It is valuable to those who need a quick
overview of the job. It is especially useful
in job matching when an organization is
participating in a pay survey.
15
Job Summary

It is important that a high level of clarity be
conveyed in a few words. Code words are
often used to accomplish this goal, but
they must be used with a great deal of
care to avoid a mischaractorization of the
job.
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Common Job
Summary Code Words

Under
Immediate
Direction
The incumbent normally
performs the duty
assignment after
receiving detailed
instructions as to the
methods, procedures,
and desired end results.
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Common Job
Summary Code Words

Under General
Direction
The incumbent normally
performs the duty
assignment after
receiving general
instructions as to the
methods, procedures,
and desired end results.
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COMMON JOB
SUMMARY CODE WORDS

Under
Direction
The incumbent normally
performs the duties
assignment according to
his or her own judgement
requesting supervisory
experience only when
necessary.
19
Common job
summary code words

Under
Administrative
Direction
The incumbent normally
performs the duty
assignment within broad
parameters defined by
general organizational
requirements and
accepted practice.
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Common Job
Summary Code Words

Under Guidelines
Set By Policy
The incumbent normally
performs the duty
assignment at his or her
discretion and is
limited only by
policies set by
administrative or
legislative authority.
21
The Job Definition
Responsibilities and Duties
This section identifies the primary reasons for
the existence of the job.
A responsibility is of sufficient importance that
"not" carrying out the duties within it or
performing them below a minimally established
standard will critically affect the required
results and demand remedial actions by
management.
22
The Job Definition
Responsibility statements are analyzed and
listed separately and each is subsequently
supported by a list of duties that further
describe the responsibilities.
The commonly accepted limit of
responsibilities per job is seven (7) but it will
vary with the complexity of the job.
23
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Job AnalysisProvided Job
Content Data
The job responsibility
and duty statements are
typically, at this stage in
the process, the product
of edited job analysis
data.
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Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Ranking
Responsibility
and Duty
Statements
After identifying the
responsibilities and
duties of a job, the next
step is to place them in
some kind of order so
that the reader can
obtain a clear and
concise picture of the
content of the job.
25
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Activity-Worth Dimensions and Rating
Scales
A computer assisted process in which the
organization attempts to identify, quantify,
and rank the frequency, duration,
criticality, complexity, and etc, of job
responsibilities and duties.
26
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Activity-Worth Dimensions and Rating Scales
Responsibilities should be listed in order of
importance and duties listed under each responsibility
should follow the same order.
The input of the incumbents as well as others familiar
with the work should be solicited when
responsibilities and duties are given some order of
importance.
27
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Describing Jobs of Different Levels
of Complexity
The higher the level of the job, the more
complex the job requirements and
associated incumbent activities.
The more complex the requirements and
activities, the more difficult it is to
describe them in clear, unambiguous
terms.
28
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Describing Jobs Of Different Levels Of
Complexity
The more complex the activities, the more
difficult it is to identify relevant activities
that are observable and measurable in
quantitative terms, although qualitative
measurements are certainly possible and
applicable.
29
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Describing Jobs Of Different Levels Of
Complexity
The higher the level of the job, the greater
the likelihood that the way identified job
activities are performed will vary
significantly among incumbents.
30
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Describing Jobs Of Different Levels
Of Complexity
As jobs increase in importance, the
cognitive and affective domains become
more important, and the psychomotor
domains become less important.
31
Job Responsibility / Duty
Statements

Special Notations
"Performs other duties as assigned" should never
be on any individual's job description.
It is unnecessary to start an activity statement
with the words "responsible for".
The format of the activity statement may take
either the outline or paragraph form. The author
recommends the outline form.
32
Accountabilities

Briefly describes the major results
achieved in the satisfactory
performance of the job responsibilities
and duties.

It acts as a guide for the goal-setting
process that integrates job
requirements with job-holder
contributions.
33
Job Specifications

Identifies the knowledge and skill
demands made on the incumbent and the
physical and emotional conditions under
which the incumbent must work.

The design of the job specification
section and the information it provides
relate to the kind of job evaluation plan
used by the organization.
34
Job Specifications

When writing managerial job descriptions,
the specification section may include such
items as people and dollar impact.
35
Other Kinds Of Information Used In
Describing Jobs

Conditions of Employment
» Environmental
» Reasonable Accommodations
» Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
36
Other Ways Of
Describing Job Facts

Position Description

Standing Operating Procedures

Class Description

Performance Standards
37
Other Ways of Describing Job Facts
Class Specification
Job Description
Position Description
SOP
Performance Standards
38
Revising The Job Descriptions
The first rule in writing a job description is
that it must describe the job as it is.
However, as the job changes it must be
updated.
Much of the resistance experienced with the
use of job descriptions has its genesis in
organizations' failure to stay abreast of job
content changes.
39
Revising The Job Descriptions
The person who should be given primary
responsibility for maintaining the job
description is the incumbent.
Incumbent inputs to the revision of a job
description should be on an as needed
basis, with the major monitoring
responsibilities falling on the immediate
supervisor.
40
Revising The Job Descriptions
All jobs should be reviewed at least once a
year, preferably in conjunction with the
annual performance review.
Audits should be scheduled once every three
to five years and that responsibility lies with
the human resources department.
41
Revising The Job Descriptions
The job description should never be
considered a straitjacket as to what can be
done by the jobholder.
42