Week 4 – Blog Assignment


The Challenges of Job Analyses and Job Descriptions

No one knows better than member’s of today’s society that we must be ready to for changes that could happen at a drop of a dime. This is no different in the terms of business and the needs that Human Resources Management has to preserve the company’s relevance through the development and maintenance of their job descriptions. In order to successfully do this though, they must understand how to overcome the challenges associated with it.

I believe one of the many challenges of achieving well-rounded job description development is ensuring a healthy balance is sought after so there aren’t gaps allowing responsibilities to go uncompleted. This can be done by accommodating the talents of specific workers without being too flexible to the point where they aren’t having to fulfill the other not so desired roles of the position. As described in the article Job Worth Doing, it is very easy to slip into the habit of allowing employees to define their own positions or HR even altering the entire position to fit that individual. “It is important to review the job description and not just match the description to the person currently doing the job.” (Tyler, 2022).

Another challenge I can see HR facing, is keeping up on consistently updating each job’s descriptions. It is common that once a position gets filled, the contract outlining the job gets put away and does not get touched again. It is important that a Job Analysis is being conducted at certain times so that HR can confirm that the work is being done by an employee with the proper characteristics needed to perform the work successfully. It should regularly be referenced in job performance reviews at least yearly according to Janet Flewelling, a director of HR operations at Insperity. This is the best way to ensure that it is being regularly updated and not forgotten about.

If an HR department can ensure that it takes the proper steps to develop and maintain each job’s description and the expectations that come with it, they will allow their employees to better fulfill their roles within the company.

References:

Swift, M. (2022, October). Job Analysis. [PowerPoint slides].

Tyler, K. (2018, April 11). Job worth doing: Update descriptions. SHRM. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx

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