Welcome to blogs.oregonstate.edu. Are you able to answer this question confidently?
My Reflection
Looking back, there have been some difficulties with maintaining and developing my previous job. The reason is that a job description that you initially read before taking on the said position can include responsibilities that then tend to change. To be very specific, I am referring to my previous position as a sterilization technician. Of course, it seems self-explanatory that you, of course, clean instruments that are used during procedures with patients; my new tasks did add to the original list of responsibilities.
Basically, it started as my position description, then turned into some front desk scheduling, ordering supplies, a lot of chairside assistance, and even things like cleaning the staff kitchen. I think most can agree that a lot of jobs, especially in the healthcare field, tend to have all these random chores to do along with responsibilities that technically aren’t supposed to be done by certain employees. To be fair, we were short-staffed, resulting in extra tasks that I would tackle, but how do you put a stop to that?
Along with frustration, it’s worth mentioning that job descriptions are considered the mother of all HR processes as forming a foundation for recruiting, training, performance evaluation, and compensation. Incorrect descriptions compromise fairness in addition to failing to reflect changing responsibilities. If important functions are unclear, workers run the danger of receiving inadequate compensation, receiving a faulty evaluation, or even becoming vulnerable legally (Tyler, 2013). The Job Analysis lecture noted that job design and descriptions must include both tasks and the KSAOs, as well as the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes needed for success.
There is a need for periodic analysis, as it links between what employees actually do and what HR documents show dissolves. In my case, the sort of mismatch accountability, expectations came from an employee who was free at the moment, rather than from structured roles. Since HR frequently lacks direct insight and updating job descriptions conflicts with everyday responsibilities, maintaining accurate job descriptions makes it challenging. By keeping up with descriptions, updating when needed, and having the managers, HR, and employees work together continuously (Tyler, 2013). Although it might seem something so small to address, employees value the documents that represent them, their boundaries, and growth that can be kept as existing, through regular review checkpoints, allowing staff to be acknowledged for the actual work they do.
References
Tyler, K. (2013, January 1). Job worth doing: Update descriptions. Society for Human Resource Management. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-magazine/job-worth-update-descriptions
Oregon State University (2025). Week 4 Lecture 1: Job Analysis. College of Business.