HRER505:

Lesson 04:Talent Management and Job Content

Commentary - Tasks

In order for any organization, profit or not-for-profit, to accomplish its purpose, (an end product, if you will), a list of work to be done must be compiled. This "work" has historically been identified as tasks or duties. A number of factors influence how these tasks or duties are accomplished. Size of organization, nature of work, location of the work site, and preference of the owner or manager are examples of these factors.

At times a single person is assigned to complete the entire product, start to finish. Agrarian society often required a worker to plow, plant, harvest, and even mill the product. With the onset of the industrial revolution, the series of tasks needed to complete the work was compiled into "jobs" as we know them in more recent times. With research, most notably by economist Adam Smith and consultant Frederick Taylor, it was determined that identifying jobs specific to a single or a limited number of tasks was the most efficient way to get work completed.

However, in the mid 1900s other consultants were observing that workers were bored and not as energized when doing the same task or tasks over and over again. Managers began to use other approaches. In some cases jobs were combined and the incumbents were asked to complete these "broader" jobs. In other cases workers themselves and their respective jobs were combined and they worked as a team, with a team leader, to complete the work. That is, rather than being a specialist, workers became generalists.

While the model originally was that of production work, other types of work and professions followed a similar movement from generalist doing all of the tasks to specialist doing only filing or typing or customer service, back toward the generalist function. With technology it is relatively easy to see jobs such as salesperson expanding to include not only the actual sales of a product or service but also composing the correspondence to a client and filing of the invoices into an electronic folder.

This change in how jobs are established is referred to with a number of different terms. Some organizations and consultants label it "job enlargement" while others talk of "job enrichment" and even "dejobbing." Whether a job is specialized or more general, it usually begins to be created using a process most often called "job analysis." Gathering data or information for this analysis can be accomplished in various manners. Common approaches include use of interviews, observation, questionnaires, and diary/work logs. The job analysis forms the basis for writing a job description and from there "job specifications" identifying the traits, skills, and experience needed by a worker to perform the job successfully are noted.

Today assistance in formulating the description is readily available. Some organizations have their own material which has been developed internally over time to aid managers. Also available are the Standard Occupational Classification, jobdescription.com and O*Net, the later two available as online sources. These tools give both managers and human resource professionals support in assembling the basics of a job, including duties. From there a more tailored description can be written, if needed.

It is important that the "essential" duties be identified in order for an organization to be in compliance with the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Essential duties are those that are the essence of the job. That is, why does the job exist; what is it mainly to do or accomplish for the organization. A job description can include duties expected to be completed beyond those that are essential within the description, but those non-essential duties cannot be used as a basis for not hiring a worker who, based on the ADA, could otherwise complete the essential duties. This aspect of writing a job description will be addressed in the Employment Law course. If you would like to explore it now, researching it through a text or an online search is relatively easy.

Even more intriguing than the decision to settle on specific or broad jobs is a concept that has been put into place in many organizations referred to as "competencies." That is, beyond searching for people who are able to complete the job duties that are in the description, some organizations have taken the duties and responsibilities and identified the capabilities or "competencies" required to meet the expectations of the job. The agility and flexibility needed by organizations in an ever more competitive global economy are not always available when workers/employees move from one finite, specific job to another. As a result, organizations are beginning to look for employees with the characteristics needed to move with relative ease from one expectation to another. As are duties, these characteristics are observable and measurable.

Jobs and job descriptions have changed over time based on measurements indicating their effectiveness, or not. Many organizations maintain specific duties while others use competencies. Again, the size of the organization, the nature of the work, the location of the organization, and the preference of the owner or manager influence the approach to describing jobs. The reading assignment will provide detailed information about how to write descriptions of jobs and how these descriptions assist an organization in meeting its strategic plan. Whatever approach is used by an organization, it is important to keep in mind that job analysis is intended to assist in the talent management within an organization. Job analysis is at the core of effective, efficient, legal talent management.

View this video clip to hear a practitioner give his view of different trends in "job content." You may want to weave some information from the video into a future assignment activity such as the Interview Project, the Management Book Review, or the Seminar Paper.

---