Most managers have been challenged by an irresponsible employee with the statement “It’s not in my job description”. This could have occurred when the employee is being told off after messing up a job. On other occasions this excuse is heard is when an employee is asked to do something they don’t usually do or something they don’t like to do.
Over the years I have heard this excuse enough that I began to question the use of job descriptions. In my mind an employee was paid a certain amount and if the work they were being asked to perform was legal and safe, then the manager had every right to ask them to do it. If they refused to do it or performed it badly on the basis that it wasn’t in their job description, they should be subject to discipline.
Using the job description as an excuse was not acceptable. That practice led me to the point where I really didn’t see the value of having job descriptions.
Then management was faced with the issue of pay equity and equal pay for equal work. Job descriptions became an important element in these initiatives. They formed a basis upon which compensation decisions were made. However, the negative factors of job descriptions remained.
Job Descriptions can provide added value
After years of disillusionment with job descriptions, I encountered a different approach to the subject. The new concept brought meaning to the issue by focusing on two or three areas in the job description.
Purpose of the Job
Ask most employees what the purpose of their job is, and they give you a list of duties and activities. They have never thought of their job as having a purpose. In those few cases where an employee has recognized that their position has a purpose there is often a lack of an expected outcome when the purpose is achieved.
If employees understand that their job has purpose, it becomes a much more rewarding experience than when they are just “doing things”. Their sense of self-importance is raised. They gain an awareness of making a contribution to the organization.
On the surface this activity seems simplistic but it isn’t. Many employees have a difficult time arriving at what the purpose of their job really is. They have an even greater challenge determining what the outcome will be if they carry out their job successfully.
Key Result Areas
Many employees don’t discern between the making of strategic decisions and the need to sharpen pencils. In order to get them focused on the important aspects of their jobs, we ask them to identify what are the critical parts of their job function. They are asked to focus on up to half a dozen duties since beyond that number the duty is seldom of a critical nature.
We also ask that they identify what result will occur when they carry the function out successfully.
It is surprising how much difficulty some employees encounter when trying to identify what are the key result areas of their position. When they have successfully accomplished this task, they are better equipped to set priorities and accomplish those tasks and activities that will add the greatest value to the organization.
The Manager Doesn’t Agree
One of the challenges as well as opportunities inherent in this approach to job descriptions is the response of the employee’s manager.
The manager may not agree with the employee as to what the purpose of the job really is or the manager may not agree on the key result areas. In a positive environment this disagreement will provide a platform for the employee and manager to identify where they differ. It allows the manager to show the employee what management expects from the positive performance of the job.
The New Approach
In those cases where there is a long list of activities the employee tends to believe that the list covers everything they are expected to do. Any additional duties are viewed as not being part of the individual’s job description. The approach that is suggested in this article eliminates the litany of activities that occur in so many job descriptions.
It directs the employee to those facets of their work that should be given the greatest attention but it clearly sets out that the few Key Result Areas do not encompass all the tasks the employee is responsible for executing. The excuse, “It isn’t in my job description is no longer valid.”
Fred Pamenter is managing partner of PPB&D Consulting Limited, a Toronto based Human Resource firm. T: 416-620-5980
E: ppbdconsulting@aol.com
