Month: January 2025

Job descriptions are the first thing that attract a potential new employee to a job. They depict the tasks the job entails, what position you will have in the job, why the job exists in the first place, and what kind of environment you will be working in. Job descriptions help those searching for a job find one where they believe they can excel and where the expectations are clear.

My current experience with job descriptions is in the construction industry. As an almost graduated college senior, I am currently looking at many different job descriptions for different construction companies in the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, the job descriptions I look at describe positions like entry level project engineer or estimator, working conditions like being in an office or on a project site, and tasks like contacting architects and editing construction drawings.

Accurate Job Descriptions

One difficulty in developing job descriptions is ensuring the description appropriately outlines all of the information an employee should know about their job, such as who they should report to, what work they are to do, and what conditions they are expected to work in every day. Inaccurate descriptions of employee responsibilities and measures of performance on a job description can lead to employee lawsuits if the expectations for the employee’s job were unclear (Tyler). Accurate job descriptions not only prevent conflict with employees, but they can also help with recruitment and with performance evaluations. From my experience, I would also suggest that companies include specific expectations of resources the employee should understand how to use, such as online programs like Excel.

Updated Job Descriptions

Another challenge with job descriptions is keeping them up to date. Especially in the construction industry where construction projects are always changing, it is important to keep job descriptions updated to ensure they are accurate. Having an old job description can cause confusion with employees on their responsibilities and benefits, as well as discourage potential recruits. Industries are constantly changing, and job descriptions should change accordingly. Job descriptions should be updated at least once per year (Tyler). I would also suggest that companies look at job descriptions of other companies similar to them to compare and make any improvements to their own company’s job descriptions. This may help update job descriptions with the current job position expectations in that industry and may also help compete against other companies with more detailed descriptions. In my personal experience, I would consider a job with a clear description of tasks that sound familiar to me from working in construction, rather than a job with a low-level description with tasks I am unfamiliar with.

Citations:

Tyler, K. (2013). “Job Worth Doing: Updated Descriptions.” SHRM, https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-magazine/job-worth-update-descriptions.

With a rise in the importance of HR Management at companies, there is also an increase in attention towards a primary focus of HR: the people. Attracting and maintaining talented employees is essential for companies to remain competitive, and using resources to create a workplace where employees are engaged and where they feel valued will help a company achieve this (Breitfelder and Dowling 40). According to the class lectures, it is the responsibility of HR managers and others involved in HR to organize a company so there are employees with adequate skills working in appropriate roles that will help the organization achieve its goals while also satisfying the needs of each employee. Below are three examples of companies from the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For from 2020 who have figured out how to have successful companies with happy employees.

#23 David Weekley Homes – Construction

This company clearly values its employees and takes action to improve the lives of employees inside and outside the workplace. An HR strategy they are practicing is paying attention to the personal needs of employees. Similar to Google’s most effective managers, David Weekley managers express interest in the well-being of their employees (Garvin 78). They make changes and additions to the company to better the lives of their employees accordingly, such as when they provided employees with access to personal finance help after many employees requested it.

#33 Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America – Financial Services and Insurance

Allianz provides employees with tremendous work-life balance and encourages employees to care for themselves and their families when they most need it, even if this means putting work on hold. As was mentioned in the lectures, one aspect to strategic HR management is to ensure employees have a manager that trusts them and that will defend them when necessary. At Allianz, employees feel this way about their managers and that their managers would do anything to help them.

#42 T-Mobile USA – Telecommunications

At T-mobile, employees and their managers are collectively known as “Team Magenta,” and employees are valued and recognized for their hard work and skills. Like in the successful managing relationships at Google, at T-mobile employees are trusted by their managers to make correct decisions on their own (Garvin 79). T-Mobile also makes it a point to create a diverse set of employees, which can help retain employees by making more people feel like they belong.

All of these companies have managers who pay careful attention to their methods so they can manage in a way that is effective for the business but also for employees. The kind of manager I would want to be would be one that emphasizes the importance of the employees to the success of the company and that fosters a working environment that employees would enjoy and feel comfortable in. Like with the Google managers, I would empower employees to complete tasks on their own and use their own thinking to solve problems, and I would encourage transparent communication with my employees so they felt comfortable at work (Garvin 78). I would also focus on connecting people within the company to give it more of a “family feel,” and I would focus on the positives of situations to help employees grow and make necessary changes rather than focusing on the negatives and making employees feel bad, which could discourage them from working at the company (Breitfelder and Dowling 43).

The aspects of a manager’s job that are most challenging likely relate to the people they are managing, because each person is different with different needs, and understanding people is very difficult compared to understanding other aspects of business. It is likely difficult for managers to understand which benefits would be most desired by the majority of employees, or what kind of atmosphere (loud or quiet, open or closed-off) would be best for employees to work in, as a couple of examples. It is also hard to know exactly what set of skills each employee has. It would be necessary for managers to gain interpersonal skills to determine how to connect with employees in their organization and gauge what kind of human capital they have in order to create a successful business.

Citations:

• Garvin, D. A. (2013). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business Review, 91(12), 74-82.
  • A description of Google’s Project Oxygen and the use of data to demonstrate to Google’s managers the value of good people management.  
• Breitfelder, M. D., & Dowling, D. W. (2008). Why Did We Ever Go Into HR?Harvard Business Review, 86(7/8), 39-43.
  • Two Harvard MBAs discuss why they chose to go into HR and what the “new HR” looks like.  

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