ANTHONY REDPATH/CORBIS

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chapter

Job Analysis, Employee

Involvement, and Flexible
Work Schedules

Provide examples illustrating the

which job analysis typically

is completed.

sections of job descriptions.

objective

objective

Identify and explain the various

performance of HRM functions.

Discuss the various job

objective

objective

Indicate the methods by

job requirements and the

Describe the different group

objective

objective

Discuss the relationship between

objective

After studying this chapter, you should be able to

Differentiate and explain the

characteristics that motivate

employees.

techniques used to maximize

employee contributions.

different adjustments in work

schedules.

various factors that must be

taken into account in designing
a job.

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rganizations are reengineering themselves in an attempt to become

more effective. Companies such as Samsung, United Technologies,
and Sports Authority are breaking into smaller units and getting flatter. There is emphasis on smaller scale, less hierarchy, fewer layers,
and more decentralized work units. As organizational reshaping
takes place, managers want employees to operate more independently and
flexibly to meet customer demands. To do this, they require that decisions be
made by the people who are closest to the information and who are directly
involved in the product or service delivered. The objective is to develop jobs
and basic work units that are adaptable enough to thrive in a world of highvelocity change.

In this chapter, we will discuss how jobs can be designed so as to best contribute to
the objectives of the organization and at the same time satisfy the needs of the
employees who are to perform them. Clearly, the duties and responsibilities present in
jobs greatly influence employee productivity, job satisfaction, and employment retention.1 Therefore, the value of job analysis, which defines clearly and precisely the
requirements of each job, will be stressed. We will emphasize that these job requirements provide the foundation for making objective and legally defensible decisions in
managing human resources. The chapter concludes by reviewing several innovative
job design and employee contribution techniques that increase job satisfaction while
improving organizational performance. Teamwork and the characteristics of successful teams are highlighted. Stacy Sullivan, director of HR at Google, notes that the
work environment and the sense of team spirit have become a critical job element.2

Relationship of Job Requirements and HRM Functions

objective

job
A group of related activities and duties

position
The different duties and
responsibilities performed
by only one employee

job family
A group of individual jobs
with similar characteristics

job specification
A statement of the needed
knowledge, skills, and
abilities of the person who
is to perform the job

A job consists of a group of related activities and duties. Ideally, the duties of a job
should consist of natural units of work that are similar and related. They should be
clear and distinct from those of other jobs to minimize misunderstanding and conflict among employees and to enable employees to recognize what is expected of
them. For some jobs, several employees may be required, each of whom will occupy
a separate position. A position consists of different duties and responsibilities performed by only one employee. In a city library, for example, four employees (four
positions) may be involved in reference work, but all of them have only one job (reference librarian). Where different jobs have similar duties and responsibilities, they
may be grouped into a job family for purposes of recruitment, training, compensation, or advancement opportunities.

Recruitment
Before they can find capable employees for an organization, recruiters need to know
the job specifications for the positions they are to fill.3 A job specification is a statement of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of the person performing the
job. In the HR department for the City of Mesa, Arizona, the job specification for
senior HR analyst includes the following:

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2.
3.

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143

Graduation from a four-year college with major course work (minimum fifteen
hours) in human resources management
Three to five years experience in employee classification and compensation or
selection or recruitment
Two years experience in developing/improving job-related compensation and
testing instruments and procedures4

Because job specifications establish the qualifications required of applicants for

a job opening, they serve an essential role in the recruiting function. These qualifications typically are contained in the notices of job openings. Whether posted on organizational bulletin boards or HRIS Internet sites or included in help-wanted advertisements or employment agency listings, job specifications provide a basis for
attracting qualified applicants and discourage unqualified ones.

Selection
job description
A statement of the tasks,
duties, and responsibilities
of a job to be performed

In addition to job specifications, managers and supervisors use job descriptions to

select employees and orient them to jobs. A job description is a statement of the tasks,
duties, and responsibilities of a job. (See Job Descriptions later in this chapter.)
In the past, job specifications used as a basis for selection sometimes bore little
relation to the duties to be performed under the job description. Examples of such
nonjob-related specifications abounded. Applicants for the job of laborer were
required to have a high school diploma. Firefighters were required to be at least six feet
tall. And applicants for skilled craft positionsplumbers, electricians, machinists
were required to be male. These kinds of job specifications discriminated against
members of certain protected classes, many of whom were excluded from these jobs.
Since the landmark Griggs v Duke Power case and the Civil Rights Act of 1991
(see Chapter 3), employers must be able to show that the job specifications used in
selecting employees for a particular job relate specifically to the duties of that job. An
organization must be careful to ensure that managers with job openings do not hire
employees on the basis of individualized job requirements that satisfy personal
whims but bear little relation to successful job performance. In one case known to
the authors, a company desired to hire only tall salespeoplemale or femaleon the
assumption that tall individuals presented a more authoritative stature.

Training and Development

Any discrepancies between the knowledge, skills, and abilities (often referred to as
KSAs) demonstrated by a jobholder and the requirements contained in the description
and specification for that job provide clues to training needs. Also, career development
as a part of the training function is concerned with preparing employees for advancement to jobs where their capacities can be utilized to the fullest extent possible. The
formal qualification requirements set forth in high-level jobs indicate how much
more training and development are needed for employees to advance to those jobs.

Performance Appraisal
The requirements contained in the description of a job provide the criteria for evaluating the performance of the holder of that job. The results of performance appraisal

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may reveal, however, that certain requirements established for a job are not completely
valid. As we have already stressed, these criteria must be specific and job-related. If the
criteria used to evaluate employee performance are vague and not job-related,
employers may find themselves being charged with unfair discrimination.

Compensation Management
In determining the rate to be paid for performing a job, the relative worth of the job
is one of the most important factors. This worth is based on what the job demands
of an employee in terms of skill, effort, and responsibility, as well as the conditions
and hazards under which the work is performed. The systems of job evaluation by
which this worth may be measured are discussed in Chapter 9.

objective

Job Analysis

job analysis
The process of obtaining
information about jobs by
determining the duties,
tasks, or activities of jobs

Job analysis is sometimes called the cornerstone of HRM because the information it
collects serves so many HRM functions. Job analysis is the process of obtaining
information about jobs by determining the duties, tasks, or activities of those jobs.5
The procedure involves systematically investigating jobs by following a number of
predetermined steps specified in advance of the study.6 When completed, job analysis
results in a written report summarizing the information obtained from the analysis
of twenty or thirty individual job tasks or activities.7 HR managers use these data to
develop job descriptions and job specifications. These documents, in turn, are used
to perform and enhance the different HR functions such as the development of performance appraisal criteria or the content of training classes. The ultimate purpose
of job analysis is to improve organizational performance and productivity. Figure 4.1
illustrates how job analysis is performed, including the functions for which it is used.
As contrasted with job design, which reflects subjective opinions about the ideal
requirements of a job, job analysis is concerned with objective and verifiable information about the actual requirements of a job. The job descriptions and job specifications developed through job analysis should be as accurate as possible if they are to
be of value to those who make HRM decisions. These decisions may involve any of
the HR functionsfrom recruitment to termination of employees.

Job Analysis and Essential Job Functions

It should be emphasized that a major goal of modern job analysis is to help the organization establish the job-relatedness of its selection and performance requirements. Job
analysis helps both large and small employers meet their legal duty under EEO law.
Section 14.C.2 of the Uniform Guidelines states: There shall be a job analysis which
includes an analysis of the important work behaviors required for successful performance. . . . Any job analysis should focus on work behavior(s) and the tasks associated
with them. (The Uniform Guidelines are discussed more fully in Chapter 3.)
The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also had a marked
impact on the process of job analysis. Specifically, when preparing job descriptions
and job specifications managers and supervisors must adhere to the legal mandates

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Figure 4.1

Job Analysis, Employee Involvement, and Flexible Work Schedules

145

The Process of Job Analysis

SOURCES OF DATA

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job analyst
Employee
Supervisor

Tasks
Duties
Responsibilities

JOB DATA

METHODS OF
COLLECTING DATA
Interviews
Questionnaires
Observations
Records
O*NET

Tasks
Performance
standards
Responsibilities
Knowledge required
Skills required
Experience needed
Job context
Duties
Equipment used

HUMAN RESOURCES
FUNCTIONS
Recruitment
Selection
Training and development
Performance appraisal
Compensation management

JOB SPECIFICATION
Skill requirements
Physical demands
Knowledge requirements
Abilities needed

of the ADA. The act requires that job duties and responsibilities be essential functions
for job success. The purpose of essential functions is to help match and accommodate human capabilities to job requirements. For example, if the job requires the jobholder to read extremely fine print, to climb ladders, or to memorize stock codes,
these physical and mental requirements should be stated within the job description.
Section 1630.2(n) of the act gives three guidelines for rendering a job function essential: (1) the reason that the position exists is to perform the function, (2) a limited
number of employees are available among whom the performance of the function
may be distributed, and (3) the function may be highly specialized, requiring needed
expertise or abilities to complete the job.8 Managers who write job descriptions and
job specifications in terms of essential functions reduce the risk of discriminating on
the basis of a disability. Remember also that once essential functions for a job are
defined, the organization is legally required to make a reasonable accommodation to
the disability of the individual.

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Gathering Job Information

Job data may be obtained in several ways. The more common methods of analyzing
jobs are through interviews, questionnaires, observation, and diaries.
Interviews. The job analyst may question individual employees and managers
about the job under review.
Questionnaires. The job analyst may circulate carefully prepared questionnaires
to be filled out individually by jobholders and managers. These forms will be
used to obtain data in the areas of job duties and tasks performed, purpose of
the job, physical setting, requirements for performing the job (skill, education,
experience, physical and mental demands), equipment and materials used, and
special health and safety concerns.
Observation. The job analyst may learn about the jobs by observing and recording on a standardized form the activities of jobholders. Videotaping jobs for later
study is an approach used by some organizations.
Diaries. Jobholders themselves may be asked to keep a diary of their work activities during an entire work cycle. Diaries are normally filled out at specific times
of the work shift (such as every half hour or hour) and maintained for a two- to
four-week period.
Although HR specialists, called job analysts, are the personnel primarily responsible for the job analysis program, they usually enlist the cooperation of the employees and managers in the departments where jobs are being analyzed. These managers
and employees are the sources of much of the information about the jobs, and they
may be asked to prepare rough drafts of the job descriptions and specifications the
job analysts need.

Controlling the Accuracy of Job Information

If job analysis is to accomplish its intended purpose, the job data collected must be
accurate. Care must be taken to ensure that all important facts are included. A job
analyst should be alert for employees who tend to exaggerate the difficulty of their
jobs in order to inflate their egos and their paychecks. When interviewing employees
or reviewing their questionnaires, the job analyst must look for any responses that do
not agree with other facts or impressions the analyst has received. Furthermore,
when job information is collected from employees, a representative group of individuals should be surveyed. For example, the results of one study indicated that the
information obtained from job analysis was related to race. In another study, the
experience level of job incumbents influenced job analysis outcomes.
A job analyst who doubts the accuracy of information provided by employees
should obtain additional information from them, from their managers, or from
other individuals who are familiar with or perform the same job. It is common practice to have the descriptions for each job reviewed by the jobholders and their managers. The job description summaries contained in O*NET, compiled by the U.S.
Department of Labor, can also serve as a basis for the job analysts review.

O*NET and Job Analysis

For many years the U.S. Department of Labor published the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, commonly referred to as the DOT. This book contained standardized

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147

and comprehensive descriptions of about 20,000 jobs. The purpose of the

DOT was to group occupations into a systematic occupational classification
structure based on interrelationships of job tasks and requirements. The
To explore the Department of
DOT helped bring about a great degree of uniformity in the job titles and
Labors new O*NET database,
descriptions used by employers nationwide.
including how to convert from the
The Department of Labor has replaced the DOT with the O*NET
DOT to O*NET, go to the Student
online database.9 The O*NET database includes all occupations from the
Resources at:
DOT plus an update of more than 3,500 additional occupations. The datahttp://bohlander.swlearning.com
base job descriptors include skill abilities, knowledge, tasks, work activities,
and experience level requirements. Importantly, in order to remain current
with occupational change, the O*NET program collects and publishes data
continuously, a feature not available with the old DOT. The O*NET database is useful for a variety of HR activities including career counseling and training as well as
job analysis.
USING THE INTERNET

Approaches to Job Analysis

The systematic and quantitative definition of job content that job analysis provides is
the foundation of many HRM practices. Specifically, the job analysis serves to justify
job descriptions and other HRM selection procedures. Several different job analysis
approaches are used to gather data, each with specific advantages and disadvantages.10 Five of the more popular methods are functional job analysis, the position
analysis questionnaire system, the critical incident method, task inventory analysis,
and computerized job analysis.

Functional Job Analysis

functional job analysis
(FJA)
A quantitative approach to
job analysis that utilizes a
compiled inventory of the
various functions or work
activities that can make up
any job and that assumes
that each job involves
three broad worker functions: (1) data, (2) people,
and (3) things

Developed by the U.S. Training and Employment Service, the functional job analysis (FJA) approach utilizes an inventory of the various types of functions or work
activities that can constitute any job. FJA thus assumes that each job involves performing certain functions. Specifically, three broad worker functions form the bases
of this system: (1) data, (2) people, and (3) things. These three categories are subdivided to form a hierarchy of worker-function scales, as shown in Figure 4.2. The job
analyst, when studying the job under review, indicates the functional level for each of
the three categories (for example, copying under DATA) and then reflects the relative involvement of the worker in the function by assigning a percentage figure to
each function (such as 50 percent to copying). This is done for each of the three
areas, and the three functional levels must equal 100 percent. The result is a quantitatively evaluated job. FJA can easily be used to describe the content of jobs and to
assist in writing job descriptions and specifications.

The Position Analysis Questionnaire System

position analysis
questionnaire (PAQ)
A questionnaire covering
194 different tasks that, by
means of a five-point
scale, seeks to determine
the degree to which different tasks are involved in
performing a particular job

The position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) is a quantifiable data collection method

covering 194 different worker-oriented tasks. Using a five-point scale, the PAQ seeks
to determine the degree, if any, to which the different tasks, or job elements, are
involved in performing a particular job.
A sample page from the PAQ covering eleven elements of the Information Input
Division is shown in Figure 4.3. The person conducting an analysis with this questionnaire would rate each of the elements using the five-point scale shown in the
upper-right-hand corner of the sample page. The results obtained with the PAQ are

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Figure 4.2

Meeting Human Resources Requirements

Difficulty Levels of Worker Functions

DATA (4TH DIGIT)

PEOPLE (5TH DIGIT)

THINGS (6TH DIGIT)

0 Synthesizing

0 Mentoring

0 Setting up

1 Coordinating

1 Negotiating

1 Precision working

2 Analyzing

2 Instructing

2 Operating-controlling*

3 Compiling

3 Supervising

3 Driving-operating*

4 Computing

4 Diverting

4 Manipulating

5 Copying

5 Persuading

5 Tending

6 Comparing

6 Speaking-signaling*

6 Feeding-offbearing*

7 Serving

7 Handling

8 Taking instructionshelping*
*Hyphenated factors are single factors.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Revised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991), 5.

quantitative and can be subjected to statistical analysis. The PAQ also permits
dimensions of behavior to be compared across a number of jobs and permits jobs to
be grouped on the basis of common characteristics.

The Critical Incident Method

critical incident method
A job analysis method
by which important job
tasks are identified for
job success

The objective of the critical incident method is to identify critical job tasks. Critical
job tasks are those important duties and job responsibilities performed by the jobholder that lead to job success. Information about critical job tasks can be collected
through interviews with employees or managers or through self-report statements
written by employees.
Suppose, for example, that the job analyst is studying the job of reference librarian. The interviewer will ask the employee to describe the job on the basis of what is
done, how the job is performed, and what tools and equipment are used. The reference librarian may describe the job as follows:
I assist patrons by answering their questions related to finding books, periodicals, or other library materials. I also give them directions to help them find
materials within the building. To perform my job I may have to look up materials
myself or refer patrons to someone who can directly assist them. Some individuals may need training in how to use reference materials or special library
facilities. I also give library tours to new patrons. I use computers and a variety
of reference books to carry out my job.

After the job data are collected, the analyst then writes separate task statements
that represent important job activities. For the reference librarian one task statement

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Figure 4.3

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149

A Sample Page from the PAQ

INFORMATION INPUT
1
1.1

INFORMATION INPUT
Sources of Job Information

Rate each of the following items in terms of the extent to which it is

used by the worker as a source of information in performing his job.
1.1.1

Visual Sources of Job Information

NA
1
2
3
4
5

Extent of Use (U)

Does not apply
Nominal/very infrequent
Occasional
Moderate
Considerable
Very substantial

01 U

Written materials (books, reports, office notes, articles, job instructions, signs, etc.)

02 U

Quantitative materials (materials which deal with quantities or amounts, such as graphs, accounts,
specifications, tables of numbers, etc.)

03 U

Pictorial materials (pictures or picturelike materials used as sources of information, for example,
drawings, blueprints, diagrams, maps, tracings, photographic films, x-ray films, TV pictures, etc.)

04 U

Patterns/related devices (templates, stencils, patterns, etc., used as sources of information when
observed during use; do not include here materials described in item 3 above)

05 U

Visual displays (dials, gauges, signal lights, radarscopes, speedometers, clocks, etc.)

06 U

Measuring devices (rulers, calipers, tire pressure gauges, scales, thickness gauges, pipettes,
thermometers, protractors, etc., used to obtain visual information about physical measurements;
do not include here devices described in item 5 above)

07 U

Mechanical devices (tools, equipment, machinery, and other mechanical devices which are sources
of information when observed during use or operation)

08 U

Materials in process (parts, materials, objects, etc., which are sources of information when being
modified, worked on, or otherwise processed, such as bread dough being mixed, workpiece being
turned in a lathe, fabric being cut, shoe being resoled, etc.)

09 U

Materials not in process (parts, materials, objects, etc., not in the process of being changed or
modified, which are sources of information when being inspected, handled, packaged, distributed,
or selected, etc., such as items or materials in inventory, storage, or distribution channels, items
being inspected, etc.)

10 U

Features of nature (landscapes, fields, geological samples, vegetation, cloud formations, and other
features of nature which are observed or inspected to provide information)

11 U

Man-made features of environment (structures, buildings, dams, highways, bridges, docks, railroads, and other man-made or altered aspects of the indoor or outdoor environment which are
observed or inspected to provide job information; do not consider equipment, machines, etc., that
an individual uses in his work, as covered by item 7)

Source: Position Analysis Questionnaire, copyright 1969, 1989 by Purdue Research Foundation, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Reprinted with
permission.

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might be, Listens to patrons and answers their questions related to locating library
materials. Typically the job analyst writes five to ten important task statements for
each job under study. The final product is written task statements that are clear,
complete, and easily understood by those unfamiliar with the job. The critical incident method is an important job analysis method because it teaches the analyst to
focus on employee behaviors critical to job success.

Task Inventory Analysis

task inventory analysis
An organization-specific
list of tasks and their
descriptions used as a
basis to identify components of jobs

The task inventory analysis method can be considered a job-oriented type of job
analysis. The technique was pioneered by the U.S. Air Force to analyze jobs held by
Air Force specialists. Unlike the PAQ, which uses a standardized form to analyze jobs
in different organizations, a task inventory questionnaire can be tailor-made to a
specific organization.
The technique is developed by identifyingwith the help of employees and managersa list of tasks and their descriptions that are components of different jobs. The
goal is to produce a comprehensive list of task statements that are applicable to all
jobs. Task statements then are listed on a task inventory survey form to be completed
by the person analyzing the job under review. A task statement might be, Inventories
current supplies to maintain stock levels. The job analysis would also note the importance and frequency of use of the task to the successful completion of the job.

HRIS and Job Analysis

Human resource information systems have greatly facilitated the job analysis process.
Available today are various software programs designed specifically to analyze jobs
and to write job descriptions and job specifications based on those analyses. These
programs normally contain generalized task statements that can apply to many different jobs. Managers and employees select those statements that best describe the
job under review, indicating the importance of the task to the total job where appropriate. Advanced computer applications of job analysis combine job analysis with job
evaluation (see Chapter 9) and the pricing of organizational jobs. Computerized job
analysis systems can be expensive to initiate, but where the organization has many
jobs to analyze the cost per job may be low. HR publications such as HRMagazine
and Workforce contain advertisements from numerous software companies offering
HRIS job analysis packages.

Job Outlook
Computer Programmers
Prospects should be best
for college graduates with
knowledge of a variety of
programming languages
and tools; those with less
formal education or its
equivalent in work experience should face strong
competition for programming jobs. Earnings ranged
between $45,960 and
$78,140 a year.
Source: Occupational Outlook
Handbook, 200405 Edition.
http://www.bls.gov/oco

Job Analysis in a Changing Environment

The traditional approach to job analysis assumes a static job environment where jobs
remain relatively stable apart from incumbents who might hold these jobs. Here,
jobs can be meaningfully defined in terms of tasks, duties, processes, and behaviors
necessary for job success. This assumption, unfortunately, discounts technological
advances that are often so accelerated that jobs, as they are defined today, may be
obsolete tomorrow. The following statement by two HR professionals highlights this
concern: Typically, job analysis looks at how a job is currently done. But the everchanging business market makes it difficult to keep a job analysis up-to-date. Also,
companies are asking employees to do more, so there is a question of whether jobs
as we know them are obsolete. This means we must do an analysis of work as quickly
as possible, leading to more emphasis on technology-related options, such as webbased job analysis.11

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objective

Furthermore, downsizing, the demands of small organizations, and the need to

respond to global change can alter the nature of jobs and the requirements of individuals needed to successfully perform them. For organizations using virtual jobs
and virtual teams there is a shift away from narrow job specifications and descriptions to a world where work is dejobbed and emphasis is placed on the distribution
of work. In a dynamic environment where job demands rapidly change, obsolete job
analysis information can hinder an organizations ability to adapt to change.
When organizations operate in a fast-moving environment, several novel
approaches to job analysis may accommodate needed change. First, managers might
adopt a future-oriented approach to job analysis. This strategic analysis of jobs
requires that managers have a clear view of how jobs should be restructured in terms
of duties and tasks in order to meet future organizational requirements. Second,
organizations might adopt a competency-based approach to job analysis, in which
emphasis is placed on characteristics of successful performers rather than on standard
job duties, tasks, and so on. These competencies would match the organizations culture and strategy and might include such things as interpersonal communication skills,
decision-making ability, conflict resolution skills, adaptability, and self-motivation.12
This technique of job analysis serves to enhance a culture of TQM and continuous
improvement, because organizational improvement is the constant aim. Either of
these two approaches is not without concerns, including the ability of managers to
accurately predict future job needs, the necessity of job analysis to comply with
EEOC guidelines, and the possibility of role ambiguity created by generically written
job descriptions.

Job Descriptions
As previously noted, a job description is a written description of a job and the types
of duties it includes. Since there is no standard format for job descriptions, they tend
to vary in appearance and content from one organization to another. However, most
job descriptions will contain at least three parts: the job title, a job identification section, and a job duties section. If the job specifications are not prepared as a separate
document, they are usually stated in the concluding section of the job description.
Highlights in HRM 1 shows a job description for an HR employment assistant. This
sample job description includes both job duties and job specifications and should
satisfy most of the job information needs of managers who must recruit, interview,
and orient a new employee.
Job descriptions are of value to both the employees and the employer. From the
employees standpoint, job descriptions can be used to help them learn their job
duties and to remind them of the results they are expected to achieve.13 From the
employers standpoint, written job descriptions can serve as a basis for minimizing
the misunderstandings that occur between managers and their subordinates concerning job requirements. They also establish managements right to take corrective
action when the duties covered by the job description are not performed as required.

Job Title
Selection of a job title is important for several reasons. First, the job title is of psychological importance, providing status to the employee. For instance, sanitation
engineer is a more appealing title than garbage collector. Second, if possible, the

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Highlights in HRM 1

Job
Identification

JOB TITLE: Employment Assistant

Division:
Southern Area
Department:
Human Resources Management
Job Analyst:
Virginia Sasaki
Date Analyzed: 12/3/05
Wage Category: Exempt
Report to:
HR Manager
Job Code:
11-17
Date Verified:
12/17/05

Brief Listing of
Major Job Duties

JOB STATEMENT
Performs professional human resources work in the areas of employee recruitment and selection, testing, orientation, transfers, and maintenance of employee
human resources files. May handle special assignments and projects in EEO/
Affirmative Action, employee grievances, training, or classification and compensation. Works under general supervision. Incumbent exercises initiative and independent judgment in the performance of assigned tasks.

Essential Functions
and Responsibilities

Job Description for an Employment Assistant

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
1. Prepares recruitment literature and job advertisements for applicant placement.
2. Schedules and conducts personal interviews to determine applicant suitability
for employment. Includes reviewing mailed applications and resumes for qualified personnel.
3. Supervises administration of testing program. Responsible for developing or
improving testing instruments and procedures.
4. Presents orientation program to all new employees. Reviews and develops all
materials and procedures for orientation program.
5. Coordinates division job posting and transfer program. Establishes job posting
procedures. Responsible for reviewing transfer applications, arranging transfer
interviews, and determining effective transfer dates.
6. Maintains a daily working relationship with division managers on human
resources matters, including recruitment concerns, retention or release of probationary employees, and discipline or discharge of permanent employees.
7. Distributes new or revised human resources policies and procedures to all
employees and managers through bulletins, meetings, memorandums, and/or
personal contact.
8. Performs related duties as assigned by the human resources manager.

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JOB SPECIFICATIONS
1. Four-year college or university degree with major course work in human
resources management, business administration, or industrial psychology; OR
a combination of experience, education, and training equivalent to a four-year
college degree in human resources management.
2. Considerable knowledge of principles of employee selection and assignment
of personnel.
3. Ability to express ideas clearly in both written and oral communications.
4. Ability to independently plan and organize ones own activities.
5. Knowledge of human resources computer applications desirable.

title should provide some indication of what the duties of the job entail. Titles such
as meat inspector, electronics assembler, salesperson, and engineer obviously hint at the
nature of the duties of these jobs. The job title also should indicate the relative level
occupied by its holder in the organizational hierarchy. For example, the title junior
engineer implies that this job occupies a lower level than that of senior engineer.
Other titles that indicate the relative level in the organizational hierarchy are welders
helper and laboratory assistant.

Job Identification Section

The job identification section of a job description usually follows the job title. It
includes such items as the departmental location of the job, the person to whom the
jobholder reports, and the date the job description was last revised. Sometimes it also
contains a payroll or code number, the number of employees performing the job, the
number of employees in the department where the job is located, and the O*NET
code number. Statement of the Job usually appears at the bottom of this section
and distinguishes the job from other jobssomething the job title may fail to do.

Job Duties, or Essential Functions, Section

Statements covering job duties are typically arranged in order of importance. These
statements should indicate the weight, or value, of each duty. Usually, but not always,
the weight of a duty can be gauged by the percentage of time devoted to it. The statements should stress the responsibilities all the duties entail and the results they are to
accomplish. It is also general practice to indicate the tools and equipment used by
the employee in performing the job. Remember, the job duties section must comply
with law by listing only the essential functions of the job to be performed (see Job
Analysis and Essential Job Functions earlier in this chapter).14

Job Specifications Section

As stated earlier, the personal qualifications an individual must possess in order to
perform the duties and responsibilities contained in a job description are compiled
in the job specification. Typically the job specification covers two areas: (1) the skill
required to perform the job and (2) the physical demands the job places on the
employee performing it.

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Skills relevant to a job include education or experience, specialized training, personal traits or abilities, and manual dexterities. The physical demands of a job refer
to how much walking, standing, reaching, lifting, or talking must be done on the job.
The condition of the physical work environment and the hazards employees may
encounter are also among the physical demands of a job.
Job specifications should also include interpersonal skills or specific behavioral
attributes necessary for job success. For example, behavioral competencies might
include the ability to make decisions on imperfect information, decisiveness, the
ability to handle multiple tasks, and conflict-resolution skills. Behavioral attributes
can be assessed by asking applicants situational interview questions (see Chapter 6).
For example, a manager could ask an applicant about a time he or she had to make a
critical decision quickly.

Problems with Job Descriptions

Managers consider job descriptions a valuable tool for performing HRM functions.
Nevertheless, several problems are frequently associated with these documents,
including the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

If they are poorly written, using vague rather than specific terms, they provide
little guidance to the jobholder.
They are sometimes not updated as job duties or specifications change.
They may violate the law by containing specifications not related to job success.
They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing organizational
flexibility.

Writing Clear and Specific Job Descriptions

When writing a job description, it is essential to use statements that are terse, direct,
and simply worded.15 Unnecessary words or phrases should be eliminated. Typically,
the sentences that describe job duties begin with a present-tense verb, with the
implied subject of the sentence being the employee performing the job. The term
occasionally is used to describe duties that are performed once in a while. The term
may is used in connection with duties performed only by some workers on the job.
Even when set forth in writing, job descriptions and specifications can still be
vague. To the consternation of many employers, however, todays legal environment has
created what might be called an age of specifics. Federal guidelines and court decisions
now require that the specific performance requirements of a job be based on valid jobrelated criteria.16 Personnel decisions that involve either job applicants or employees and
are based on criteria that are vague or not job-related are increasingly successfully challenged. Managers of small businesses, in which employees may perform many different
job tasks, must be particularly concerned about writing specific job descriptions.
Managers may find that writing job descriptions is a tedious process that distracts
from other supervisory responsibilities. Fortunately, software packages are available to
simplify this time-consuming yet necessary task. One program provides an initial
library of more than 2,500 prewritten job descriptions. Since the program works much
like a word processor, text can be easily deleted, inserted, or modified to user demands.

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objective

Job Design

job design
An outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs
through technological and
human considerations in
order to enhance organization efficiency and
employee job satisfaction

Figure 4.4

It is not uncommon for managers and supervisors to confuse the processes of job
analysis and job design. Job analysis is the study of jobs as currently performed by
employees. It identifies job duties and the requirements needed to perform the work
successfully. Job design, which is an outgrowth of job analysis, is concerned with
structuring jobs in order to improve organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction. Job design is concerned with changing, modifying, and enriching jobs in
order to capture the talents of employees while improving organization performance.17 For example, companies such as Harley-Davidson, Lucent Technologies, and
PageNet, which are engaged in continuous improvement, or process reengineering,
may revamp their jobs in order to eliminate unnecessary job tasks or find better ways
of performing work. Job design should facilitate the achievement of organizational
objectives.18 At the same time, the design should recognize the capabilities and needs
of those who are to perform the job.
As Figure 4.4 illustrates, job design is a combination of four basic considerations: (1) the organizational objectives the job was created to fulfill; (2) industrial
engineering considerations, including ways to make the job technologically efficient;
(3) ergonomic concerns, including workers physical and mental capabilities; and
(4) behavioral concerns that influence an employees job satisfaction.

Basis for Job Design

Organizational objectives for the

job, including tasks, duties, and
responsibilities to be performed

Industrial engineering concerns

centering on efficient production
processes and work-method
improvements

THE JOB

Ergonomic considerations
involving human capabilities
and limitations

Behavioral concerns reflected

in the different talents, abilities,
and skills of employees

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Behavioral Concerns
Two job design methods seek to incorporate the behavioral needs of employees as
they perform their individual jobs. Both methods strive to satisfy the intrinsic needs
of employees. The job enrichment model and the job characteristics model have long
been popular with researchers and practitioners as ways to increase the job satisfaction of employees.

Job Enrichment
job enrichment
Enhancing a job by adding
more meaningful tasks
and duties to make the
work more rewarding or
satisfying

Any effort that makes work more rewarding or satisfying by adding more meaningful
tasks to an employees job is called job enrichment. Originally popularized by Frederick Herzberg, job enrichment is touted as fulfilling the high motivational needs of
employees, such as self-fulfillment and self-esteem, while achieving long-term job
satisfaction and performance goals.19 Job enrichment, or the vertical expansion of
jobs, may be accomplished by increasing the autonomy and responsibility of employees. Herzberg discusses five factors for enriching jobs and thereby motivating
employees: achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and performance of the
whole job versus only parts of the job. For example, managers can use these five factors to enrich the jobs of employees by
Increasing the level of difficulty and responsibility of the job
Allowing employees to retain more authority and control over work outcomes
Providing unit or individual job performance reports directly to employees
Adding new tasks to the job that require training and growth
Assigning individuals specific tasks, thus enabling them to become experts

job characteristics model

objective

A job design theory that

purports that three psychological states (experiencing meaningfulness
of the work performed,
responsibility for work
outcomes, and knowledge
of the results of the work
performed) of a jobholder
result in improved work
performance, internal
motivation, and lower
absenteeism and turnover

These factors allow employees to assume a greater role in the decision-making process
and become more involved in planning, organizing, directing, and controlling their
own work. Vertical job enrichment can also be accomplished by organizing workers
into teams and giving these teams greater authority for self-management.
In spite of the benefits to be achieved through job enrichment, it must not be
considered a panacea for overcoming production problems and employee discontent.
Job enrichment programs are more likely to succeed in some jobs and work situations than in others. They are not the solution to such problems as dissatisfaction
with pay, with employee benefits, or with employment security. Moreover, not all
employees object to the mechanical pacing of an assembly line, nor do all employees
seek additional responsibility or challenge. Some prefer routine jobs because they can
let their minds wander while performing their work.

Job Characteristics
Job design studies explored a new field when behavioral scientists focused on identifying various job dimensions that would improve simultaneously the efficiency of organizations and the job satisfaction of employees. Perhaps the theory that best exemplifies
this research is the one advanced by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham.20 Their job
characteristics model proposes that three psychological states of a jobholder result
in improved work performance, internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and
turnover. A motivated, satisfied, and productive employee (1) experiences meaningfulness of the work performed, (2) experiences responsibility for work outcomes, and

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(3) has knowledge of the results of the work performed. Hackman and Oldham
believe that five core job dimensions produce the three psychological states. The five
job characteristics are as follows:
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Skill variety: The degree to which a job entails a variety of different activities,
which demand the use of a number of different skills and talents by the jobholder
Task identity: The degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and
identifiable piece of work, that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a
visible outcome
Task significance: The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the
lives or work of other people, whether in the immediate organization or in the
external environment
Autonomy: The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining
the procedures to be used in carrying it out
Feedback: The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the
job results in the individual being given direct and clear information about the
effectiveness of his or her performance

The job characteristics model appears to work best when certain conditions are
met. One of these conditions is that employees must have the psychological desire
for the autonomy, variety, responsibility, and challenge of enriched jobs. When this
personal characteristic is absent, employees may resist the job redesign effort. In
addition, job redesign efforts almost always fail when employees lack the physical or
mental skills, abilities, or education needed to perform the job. Forcing enriched jobs
on individuals lacking these traits can result in frustrated employees.

Employee Empowerment

employee empowerment
Granting employees
power to initiate change,
thereby encouraging
them to take charge of
what they do

Job enrichment and job characteristics are specific programs by which managers or
supervisors can formally change the jobs of employees. A less structured method is
to allow employees to initiate their own job changes through the concept of empowerment. Employee empowerment is a technique of involving employees in their
work through the process of inclusion. Empowerment encourages employees to
become innovators and managers of their own work, and it involves them in their
jobs in ways that give them more control and autonomous decision-making capabilities (see Highlights in HRM 2). As described by one manager, employee empowerment involves pushing down decision-making responsibility to those close to internal and external customers.
While defining empowerment can become the first step to achieving it, in order
for empowerment to grow and thrive, organizations must encourage these conditions:
Participation. Employees must be encouraged to take control of their work tasks.
Employees, in turn, must care about improving their work process and interpersonal work relationships.
Innovation. The environment must be receptive to people with innovative ideas
and encourage people to explore new paths and to take reasonable risks at reasonable costs. An empowered environment is created when curiosity is as highly
regarded as is technical expertise.

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Highlights in HRM 2
Empowered Employees Achieve Results
In todays highly competitive and dynamic business environment, employers as diverse as
Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Cigna HealthCare, Costco, AutoZone, Disney, and Applebees have
turned to their employees to improve organizational performance. Empowered employees
have made improvements in product or service quality, have reduced costs, and have modified or, in some cases, designed products.
At Kraft Foods, employees at the companys Sussex, Wisconsin, food plant participated in
work-redesign changes and team building that increased productivity, reduced overhead,
and cut assembly time.
Avon Products empowered its minority managers to improve sales and service in inner-city
markets. Grounded in the belief that minority managers better understand the culture of
inner-city residents, Avon turned an unprofitable market into a highly productive sales area.
Dorothy Galvez, administrative assistant to Robert E. Mittelstaedt, Jr., dean of the W.P.
Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, has empowered her position by
planning college activities and events, preparing special college reports, learning new educational and business technology, and serving as the deans representative at college and
business events.
At Fords factory in Wayne, Michigan, one group of employees made a suggestion saving
$115,000 a year on the purchase of gloves used to protect workers who handle sheet
metal and glass. The group figured out how to have the gloves washed so they could be
used more than once.
Home Depots Special Project Support Teams (SPST) work to improve the organizations
business and information services. Employees with a wide range of backgrounds and
skills collaborate to address a wide range of strategic and tactical business needs.
American Airlines Rainbow Team of gay employees brought in $192 million in annual
revenue by targeting the gay community.

Access to information. Employees must have access to a wide range of information. Involved individuals decide what kind of information they need for performing their jobs.
Accountability. Empowerment does not involve being able to do whatever you
want. Empowered employees should be held accountable for their behavior
toward others, producing agreed-on results, achieving credibility, and operating
with a positive approach.
Additionally, employee empowerment succeeds when the culture of the organization is open and receptive to change. An organizations culture is largely created
through the philosophies of senior managers and their leadership traits and behaviors. Effective leadership in an empowered organization is highlighted by managers
who are honest, caring, and receptive to new ideas and who exhibit dignity and
respect for employees as partners in organizational success.

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Industrial Engineering Considerations

The study of work is an important contribution of the scientific management movement. Industrial engineering, which evolved with this movement, is concerned
with analyzing work methods and establishing time standards. Specifically, it involves
the study of work cycles to determine which, if any, elements can be modified, combined, rearranged, or eliminated to reduce the time needed to complete the cycle.
Next, time standards are established by recording the time required to complete each
element in the work cycle, using a stopwatch or work-sampling technique. By combining the times for each element, observers can determine the total time required.
This time is subsequently adjusted to allow for the skill and effort demonstrated by
the observed worker and for interruptions that may occur in performing the work.
The adjusted time becomes the time standard for that particular work cycle.
Industrial engineering constitutes a disciplined and objective approach to job
design. Unfortunately, the concern of industrial engineering for improving efficiency
and simplifying work methods may cause the behavioral considerations in job design
to be neglected. What may be improvements in job design and efficiency from an
engineering standpoint can sometimes prove psychologically unsound. For example,
the assembly line with its simplified and repetitive tasks embodies sound principles
of industrial engineering, but these tasks are often not psychologically rewarding for
those who must perform them. Thus, to be effective, job design must also provide
for the satisfaction of behavioral needs.

industrial engineering
A field of study concerned
with analyzing work methods and establishing time
standards

ergonomics

Ergonomic Considerations

An interdisciplinary
approach to designing
equipment and systems
that can be easily and
efficiently used by human
beings

SYRACUSE NEWSPAPER/RANDI ANGLIN/THE IMAGE WORKS

Alan Hedge, a professor

of ergonomics at Cornell
University, sits in a special
chair with a floating arms
keyboard designed to be
ergonomically correct. In
the background are other
ergonomic chairs that
Hedge and students
tested.

Ergonomics attempts to accommodate the human capabilities and limitations of

those who are to perform a job. It is concerned with adapting the entire job system
the work, the work environment, the machine and equipment, and the processesto

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objective

match human characteristics. In short, it seeks to fit the job to the person rather than
the person to the job.21 Ergonomics attempts to minimize the harmful effects of carelessness, negligence, and other human fallibilities that otherwise may cause product
defects, damage to equipment, or even the injury or death of employees.
Equipment design must consider the physical ability of operators to use the equipment and to react through vision, hearing, and touch to the information the equipment conveys. Designing equipment controls to be compatible with both the physical
characteristics and the reaction capabilities of the people who must operate them
and the environment in which they work is increasingly important. Ergonomics also
considers the requirements of a diverse workforce, accommodating, for example,
women who may lack the strength to operate equipment requiring intense physical
force or Asian Americans who may lack the stature to reach equipment controls.
Managers must adapt the workplace to the labor force or risk sacrificing quality and
productivity.
Ergonomics improves productivity and morale and yields positive return on
investment (ROI). Peter Budnick, president of ErgoWeb, Inc., notes, At our company we look at ergonomics as much more than a musculoskeletal issue. Injuries are
one of the natural outcomes of poor workplace design. But so is lost productivity,
loss of efficiency, errors and increased waste. We really look at ergonomics as a broad
approach to improving human performance.22 Ergonomics has proven cost-effective
at organizations such as Compaq Computer, 3M, Pratt and Whitney, and the U.S.
Postal Service. Unfortunately, more than 1.8 million workplace injuries occur yearly
resulting from motions such as lifting, bending, and typing. Therefore, ergonomics
has recently focused on elimination, or at least reduction, of many repetitive-motion
injuries, particularly those related to the back and wrist. For example, with the
increased use of computers, ergonomics has particular application at employee
workstations. Figure 4.5 provides a checklist of potential repetitive-motion problem
areas for employees using computers.

Designing Work for Group/Team Contributions

Although a variety of group techniques have been developed to involve employees

more fully in their organizations, all of these techniques have two characteristics in
commonenhancing collaboration and increasing synergy. In increasing the degree
of collaboration in the work environment, these techniques can improve work processes
and organizational decision making. In increasing group synergy, the techniques
underline the adage that the contributions of two or more employees are greater
than the sum of their individual efforts. Furthermore, research has shown that working in a group setting strengthens employee commitment to the organizations goals,
increases employee acceptance of decisions, and encourages a cooperative approach
to workplace tasks.23 Two collaborative techniques are discussed here: employee
involvement groups and employee teams.

employee involvement
groups (EIs)
Groups of employees
who meet to resolve
problems or offer suggestions for organizational
improvement

Employee Involvement Groups

Groups of five to ten employees doing similar or related work who meet regularly to
identify, analyze, and suggest solutions to shared problems are often referred to as
employee involvement groups (EIs). Also widely known as quality circles (QCs), EIs
are used principally as a means of involving employees in the larger goals of the
organization through their suggestions for improving product or service quality and

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Figure 4.5

161

Computer Workstation Ergonomics Checklist

Use the following list to identify potential problem areas that should receive
further investigation. Any no response may point to a problem.
1. Does the workstation ensure proper worker posture, such as
Thighs in the horizontal position?
Lower legs in the vertical position?
Feet flat on the floor or on a footrest?
Wrists straight and relaxed?
2. Does the chair
Adjust easily?
Have a padded seat with a rounded front?
Have an adjustable backrest?
Provide lumbar support?
Have casters?
3. Are the height and tilt of the work surface on which the keyboard
is located adjustable?
4. Is the keyboard detachable?
5. Do keying actions require minimal force?
6. Is there an adjustable document holder?
7. Are armrests provided where needed?
8. Are glare and reflections minimized?
9. Does the monitor have brightness and contrast controls?
10. Is there sufficient space for knees and feet?
11. Can the workstation be used for either right- or left-handed activity?
Source: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Elements of Ergonomics
Programs: A Primer Based on Workplace Evaluations of Musculoskeletal Disorders (Washington,
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1997).

cutting costs.24 Generally, EIs recommend their solutions to management, which

decides whether to implement them.
The employee involvement group process, illustrated in Figure 4.6, begins with EI
members brainstorming job-related problems or concerns and gathering data about
these issues. The process continues through the generation of solutions and recommendations that are then communicated to management. If the solutions are implemented, results are measured, and the EI and its members are usually recognized for
the contributions they have made. EIs typically meet four or more hours per month,
and the meetings are chaired by a group leader chosen from the group. The leader
does not hold an authority position but instead serves as a discussion facilitator.
Although EIs have become an important employee contribution system, they are
not without their problems and their critics. First, in order to achieve the results
desired, those participating in EIs must receive comprehensive training in problem
identification, problem analysis, and various decision-making tools such as statistical
analysis and cause-and-effect diagrams. Comprehensive training for EIs is often cited

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Figure 4.6

Meeting Human Resources Requirements

The Dynamics of Employee Involvement Groups

STEP 1
Group members brainstorm ideas for
organizational improvement. Ideas can
be for product/service improvements,
safety concerns, cost reductions, etc.

STEP 4
Recommendations
are implemented
and group
members are
rewarded for their
contributions.

REASONS FOR
EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT GROUPS
Employee knowledge of affected areas
Special skills and abilities of employees
Technical changes
Customer requirements

STEP 2
Group members
prepare
solutions and
recommendations
for improvements.

STEP 3
Managers evaluate group
recommendations and make decisions.
Source: Adapted from materials prepared by The Family and Relationship Center, 7946 Ivanhoe Avenue, La Jolla, CA 92037.

as the most important factor leading to their success. Second, managers should recognize the group when a recommendation is made, regardless of whether the recommendation is adopted. This approach encourages the group to continue coming up
with ideas even when they are not all implemented by management. Third, some
organizations have found that EIs run out of ideas, and management must feed them
ideas to keep the process going. Finally, and most important, managers and supervisors must exhibit a participative/democratic leadership style in which employees are
encouraged to work collaboratively with management to improve organizational
performance.

Employee Teams
employee teams
An employee contributions
technique whereby work
functions are structured
for groups rather than for
individuals and team
members are given discretion in matters traditionally
considered management
prerogatives, such as
process improvements,
product or service development, and individual
work assignments

During the past decade perhaps one of the more radical changes to how work is
done is the introduction of organizational teams. Jim Barksdale, president and CEO
of Netscape Communications, states, These days it seems as if every time a task
needs to be accomplished within an organization, a team is formed to do it. This
statement simply emphasizes the increasing importance of teams to organizational
success in an ever-dynamic business climate. At such diverse organizations as Federal
Express, Hewlett-Packard, the City of Phoenix, Calvin Klein, and Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, the benefits of employee teams have included
more integration of individual skills, better performance in terms of quality and
quantity, solutions to unique and complex problems, reduced delivery time, reduced
turnover and absenteeism, and accomplishments among team members.25

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Team members brainstorm, support, and

challenge each other,
and interact as they
work together for a
common goal.

Figure 4.7

Job Analysis, Employee Involvement, and Flexible Work Schedules

163

Employee teams are a logical outgrowth of

employee involvement and the philosophy of empowerment. Although many definitions of teams exist, we
define a work team as a group of individuals working
together toward a common purpose, in which members
have complementary skills, members work is mutually
dependent, and the group has discretion over tasks performed. Furthermore, teams seek to make members of
the work group share responsibility and accountability
for their groups performance. Inherent in the concept
of employee teams is that employees, not managers, are
in the best position to contribute to workplace performance. With work teams, managers accept the notion that
the group is the logical work unit to apply resources to
resolve organizational problems and concerns.26
Teamwork also embraces the concept of synergy.
Synergy occurs when the interaction and outcome of
team members is greater than the sum of their individual
efforts.27 Unfortunately, synergy may not automatically
happen, but rather, it must be nurtured within the team
environment.28 Figure 4.7 lists the factors contributing to a synergistic team setting.
Teams can operate in a variety of structures, each with different strategic purposes or functional activities. Figure 4.8 describes common team forms. One form,
self-directed teams, is often championed as being the highest form of team structure.
Self-directed teams, also called autonomous work groups, self-managed teams, or highperformance teams, are groups of employees who are accountable for a whole work
process or segment that delivers a product or service to an internal or external

Synergistic Team Characteristics

Team synergy is heightened when team members engage in these positive behaviors.
Support. The team exhibits an atmosphere of inclusion. All team members speak up and feel free to offer
constructive comments.
Listening and Clarification. Active listening is practiced. Members honestly listen to others and seek clarification on discussion points. Team members summarize discussions held.
Disagreement. Disagreement is seen as natural and is expected. Member comments are nonjudgmental
and focus on factual issues rather than personality conflicts.
Consensus. Team members reach agreements through consensus decision making. Consensus decisions require finding a proposal that is acceptable to all team members, even if not the first choice of
individual members. Common ground among ideas is sought.
Acceptance. Team members are valued as individuals, recognizing that each person brings a valuable
mix of skills and abilities to team operations.
Quality. Each team member is committed to excellent performance. There is emphasis on continuous
improvement and attention to detail.

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Figure 4.8

Meeting Human Resources Requirements

Forms of Employee Teams

Cross-Functional Teams. A group staffed with a mix of specialists (e.g., marketing, production, engineering) and formed to accomplish a specific objective. Cross-functional teams are based on assigned rather
than voluntary membership.
Project Teams. A group formed specifically to design a new product or service. Members are assigned by
management on the basis of their ability to contribute to success. The group normally disbands after task
completion.
Self-Directed Teams. Groups of highly trained individuals performing a set of interdependent job tasks
within a natural work unit. Team members use consensus decision making to perform work duties, solve
problems, or deal with internal or external customers.
Task Force Teams. A task force is formed by management to immediately resolve a major problem. The
group is responsible for developing a long-term plan for problem resolution that may include a charge for
implementing the solution proposed.
Process-Improvement Teams. A group made up of experienced people from different departments or
functions and charged with improving quality, decreasing waste, or enhancing productivity in processes
that affect all departments or functions involved. Team members are normally appointed by management.

customer. Team members acquire multiple skills enabling them to perform

a variety of job tasks. To varying degrees, team members work together to
improve their operations, handle day-to-day concerns, and plan and conTo obtain a wide variety of
trol their work. Typical team functions include setting work schedules,
information on teams, including
dealing directly with external customers, training team members, setting
free pamphlets and articles, view
performance targets, budgeting, and purchasing equipment or services.
the Center for the Study of Work
Self-directed teams are designed to give the team ownership of a
Teams. Go to the Student
product
or service. In a manufacturing environment, a team might be
Resources at:
responsible for a whole product or a clearly defined segment of the produchttp://bohlander.swlearning.com
tion process. Similarly, in a service environment, a team is usually responsible for entire groupings of products and services, often serving clients in a
designated geographic area. Providing employees this type of ownership
usually requires broader job categories and the sharing of work assignments.
To compete in todays national and international markets, managers have formed
virtual team
virtual teams.29 Virtual teams use advanced computer and telecommunications techA team with widely
nology to link team members who are geographically dispersedoften worldwide.30
dispersed members
Management may form a cross-functional team (see Figure 4.8) to develop a new
linked together through
computer and telecompharmaceutical drug and have the team operate in a virtual environment to achieve
munications technology
its goal. Virtual teams provide new opportunities for training, product development,
and product market analysis. Importantly, virtual teams provide access to previously
unavailable expertise and enhance cross-functional interactions.31 However, although
virtual teams have many benefits, they are not without their problems. Paulette
Tichenor, president of Organizational Renaissance, a team training organization,
notes these concerns with virtual teams: language and cultural barriers, unclear
objectives, time conflicts due to diverse geographical locations, selecting people who
are self-starters and have technological skills, and behavioral problems caused by a
lack of close interpersonal contact.32
USING THE INTERNET

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Source: Randy Glasbergen. Reprinted with permission.

Regardless of the structure or purpose of the team, the following characteristics

have been identified with successful teams:
Commitment to shared goals and objectives
Motivated and energetic team members
Open and honest communication
Shared leadership
Clear role assignments
Climate of cooperation, collaboration, trust, and accountability
Recognition of conflict and its positive resolution
Unfortunately, not all teams succeed or operate to their full potential. Therefore, in
adopting the work-team concept, organizations must address several issues that
could present obstacles to effective team function, including overly high expectations, group compensation, training, career movement, and power.33 For example,
new team members must be retrained to work outside their primary functional
areas, and compensation systems must be constructed to reward individuals for team
accomplishments. Since team membership demands more general skills and since it
moves an employee out of the historical career path, new career paths to general
management must be created from the team experience. Finally, as the team members become capable of carrying out functions, such as strategic planning, that were
previously restricted to higher levels of management, managers must be prepared to
utilize their newfound expertise.
Another difficulty with work teams is that they alter the traditional manageremployee relationship.34 Managers often find it hard to adapt to the role of leader

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objective

rather than supervisor and sometimes feel threatened by the growing power of the
team and the reduced power of management. Furthermore, some employees may
also have difficulty adapting to a role that includes traditional supervisory responsibilities. Therefore, from our experience in working with teams, extensive attention
must be given to training team members as they move through the four stages of
team developmentforming, storming, norming, and performing.35 Complete training would cover the importance of skills in (1) team leadership, (2) mission/goal
setting, (3) conduct of meetings, (4) team decision making, (5) conflict resolution,
(6) effective communication, and (7) diversity awareness.36

Flexible Work Schedules

Flexible work schedules are not a true part of job design because job tasks
and responsibilities are not changed. Nevertheless, we discuss adjustments in work
schedules here because they alter the normal workweek of five eight-hour days
in which all employees begin and end their workday at the same time. Employers
may depart from the traditional workday or workweek in their attempt to improve
organizational productivity and morale by giving employees increased control over
the hours they work.
Speaking on the importance of flexible work schedules, Lois Brakon, codirector
of the Families and Work Institute, notes, Flexible schedules are going to be the way
good, competitive businesses work.37 Flexible work schedules may be assigned by the
organization or requested by individual employees (see Highlights in HRM 3). The
more common flexible work schedules are the compressed workweek, flextime, job
sharing, and telecommuting.

The Compressed Workweek

Under the compressed workweek, the number of days in the workweek is shortened
by lengthening the number of hours worked per day. This schedule is best illustrated
by the four-day, forty-hour week, generally referred to as 4/10 or 4/40. Employees
working a four-day workweek might work ten hours a day, Monday through Thursday. Although the 4/10 schedule is probably the best known, other compressed
arrangements include reducing weekly hours to thirty-eight or thirty-six hours or
scheduling eighty hours over nine days (9/80), taking one day off every other week.
Several examples illustrate this popular work arrangement.38 At AVT Document
Exchange Software Group in Tucson, Arizona, all general workers work four tenhour days, with workers choosing the day they would like off. The organizations
information technology employees, working swing and midnight shifts, work four
nine-hour days. Working one less hour is comparable to offering a pay differential.
In comparison, employees at Nahan Printing Inc., in St. Cloud, Minnesota, work
three twelve-hour shifts, while employees at Marcel Dekker in New York City are
employed on a Monday-through-Thursday office schedule with employees working a
total of thirty-eight hours. At Marcel Dekker, employees are given the option of
starting their workday between 7:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M.
Managers cite the following reasons for implementing compressed workweek
schedules:
Recruitment and retention of employees39
Coordinating employee work schedules with production schedules

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Highlights in HRM 3
How to Request a Flexible Work Schedule
You may be thinking, My manager would never agree to a flexible work schedule. But thats
not necessarily so. When valued employees make reasonable scheduling requests, managers
often try to accommodate employee proposals. Here are some proven strategies for securing
different types of flexible work hour arrangements.
Investigate. Look into similar arrangements others have made within your company or
industry. Research company policy. Be realistic by providing a schedule that will fit the
demands of your organization.
Be Professional. Treat your request as a business proposal. Be positive and assume a
can-do attitude. Be serious and present the proposal as a benefit to both you and your
company. Present your idea as a win-win arrangement.
Write It Out. Submit your request for a flexible work hour arrangement in a well-organized,
detailed written proposal.
Promote Yourself. Explain your value to your organization. Have others speak to your
abilitiesespecially those in authority. Ask to be evaluated based on your quantity and
quality of work rather than on the hours you actually spend on the job.
Anticipate Questions. Be prepared for potential problems and have specific answers on
how to deal with these issues. For example, how will you communicate or coordinate with
other employees?
Propose a Review. Propose review dates to evaluate your new flexible schedule. Continually assess how you work with others and your manager.
Source: Adapted from Julie Shields, Showing How to Flex It, Incentive 178, no. 3 (March 2004): 47.

Accommodating the leisure-time activities of employees while facilitating

employee personal appointmentsmedical, dental, financial40
Improvements in employee job satisfaction and morale
The major disadvantage of the compressed workweek involves federal laws
regarding overtime.41 The Fair Labor Standards Act has stringent rules requiring the
payment of overtime to nonsupervisory employees who work more than forty hours
a week. (See Chapter 9.) Another disadvantage of the compressed workweek is that it
increases the amount of stress on managers and employees, and long workdays can
be exhausting.
flextime
Flexible working hours
that permit employees the
option of choosing daily
starting and quitting times,
provided that they work a
set number of hours per
day or week

Flextime
Flextime, or flexible working hours, permits employees the option of choosing daily
starting and quitting times, provided that they work a certain number of hours per
day or week.42 With flextime, employees are given considerable latitude in scheduling
their work. However, there is a core period during the morning and afternoon

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when all employees are required to be on the job. Flexible working hours are most
common in service-type organizationsfinancial institutions, government agencies,
and other organizations with large clerical operations. The regional office of Sentry
Insurance Company in Scottsdale, Arizona, has found that flextime provides many
advantages for employees working in claims, underwriting, and HR areas. At Sentry
Insurance, employees work a core period from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. Flexible time periods
are 6 A.M. to 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. to 7 P.M.
Flextime provides both employees and employers with several advantages. By
allowing employees greater flexibility in work scheduling, employers can reduce
some of the traditional causes of tardiness and absenteeism. Employees can adjust
their work to accommodate their particular lifestyles and, in doing so, gain greater
job satisfaction. Employees can also schedule their working hours for the time of day
when they are most productive. In addition, variations in arrival and departure times
can help reduce traffic congestion at the peak commuting hours. In some cases,
employees require less time to commute, and the pressures of meeting a rigid schedule are reduced.
From the employers standpoint, flextime can be most helpful in recruiting and
retaining personnel. It has proved invaluable to organizations wishing to improve service to customers or clients by extending operating hours. Qwest, a telecommunications
company, uses flextime to keep its business offices open for customers who cannot get
there during the day. Research demonstrates that flextime can have a positive impact
on the performance measures of reliability, quality, and quantity of employee work.
There are, of course, several disadvantages to flextime. First, it is not suited to
some jobs. It is not feasible, for example, where specific workstations must be staffed
at all times. Second, it can create problems for managers in communicating with and
instructing employees. Flextime schedules may also force these managers to extend
their workweek if they are to exercise control over their subordinates.

Job Sharing
The arrangement whereby two part-time employees perform a job that otherwise
would be held by one full-time employee is called job sharing. Job sharers usually
work three days a week, creating an overlap day for extended face-to-face conferencing. Their pay is three-fifths of a regular salary; however, job sharers usually take on
additional responsibilities beyond what the original job would require. Companies
that use job sharing are primarily in the legal, advertising, and financial-services
businesses. Among more notable national programs, Sprint began an extensive job
sharing program for its attorneys, and Kaiser Permanente, one of the nations largest
health maintenance organizations, developed a job sharing program for physicians in
its Northern California region. American Express, Lotus Development Company, and
Carter Hawley Hale Stores also use job sharing extensively. Employers note that
without job sharing two good employees might otherwise be lost.
Job sharing is suited to the needs of families in which one or both spouses desire
to work only part-time.43 It is suited also to the needs of older workers who want to
phase into retirement by shortening their workweek. For the employer, the work of
part-time employees can be scheduled to conform to peaks in the daily workload. Job
sharing can also limit layoffs in hard economic times. A final benefit is that employees
engaged in job sharing have time off during the week to accommodate personal
needs, so they are less likely to be absent.

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169

Job sharing does have several problems, however.

Employers may not want to employ two people to do
the work of one because the time required to orient and
train a second employee constitutes an added burden.
They may also want to avoid prorating employee benefits between two part-time employees. This problem
may be reduced, however, by permitting the employees
to contribute the difference between the health insurance (or life insurance) premiums for a full-time
employee and the pro rata amount the employer would
otherwise contribute for a part-time employee. The key
to making job sharing work is good communications
between partners, who can use a number of ways to stay
in contactphone calls, written updates, e-mail, and
voice mail.44

BOB DAEMMERICH/PHOTOEDIT

Telecommuting

Telecommuting allows
employees to balance
both work and family
responsibilities.

telecommuting
Use of personal computers, networks, and other
communications technology such as fax machines
to do work in the home
that is traditionally done
in the workplace

One of the more dynamic changes and potentially the

most far-reaching is telecommuting. Telecommuting is
the use of personal computers, networks, and other communications technology such as fax machines to do work
in the home that is traditionally done in the workplace.
A variant of telecommunicating is the virtual office,
where employees are in the field helping customers or
are stationed at other remote locations working as if
they were in the home office.45
Both managers and HR professionals note the following advantages of telecommuting:46
Increased flexibility for employees
Ability to attract workers who might not otherwise be available
Lessened burden on working parents
Less time and money wasted on physical commuting
Increased productivity
Reduced absenteeism
Perhaps the strongest economic reason in favor of telecommuting is its power to
retain valued employees. Retention is a top priority for employers largely because the
costs of replacing employees are far higher than those involved in installing a telecommunicating arrangement. Figure 4.9 presents suggestions for establishing a successful
telecommuting program.
While telecommuting offers significant benefits to employers, it also presents
potential drawbacks. These include the loss of creativity as employees are not interacting with one another on a regular basis, the difficulty of developing appropriate
performance standards and evaluation systems for telecommuters, and the need to
formulate an appropriate technology strategy for allocating the necessary equipment.47 Additionally, managers may believe that telecommuting negatively affects
employee-supervisor relationships through loss of knowledge or information, trust,

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Figure 4.9

Meeting Human Resources Requirements

Keys for Successful Telecommuting

Identify jobs best suited to distance work. Those involving sales, customer service, and auditing are
logical choices.
Select responsible employees. Employees who are self-starters, motivated, and trustworthy and who can
work independently are ideal candidates. Establish employee feedback procedures and performance
review methods for employee evaluation.
Establish formalized telecommuting procedures. Telecommuting guidelines could cover hours of availability, office reporting periods, performance expectations, and weekly progress reports or e-mail updates.
Begin a formal training program. Training for both telecommuters and managers should include the technical aspects of equipment usage and relationship factors such as how and when to contact the office or
availability and location of support facilities.
Keep telecommuters informed. Physical separation can make telecommuters feel isolated and invisible.
Department and staff updates, inclusion of telecommuters on project teams, required attendance at
meetings, and chat room discussions all keep telecommuters in the loop.
Recognize when telecommuting isnt working. State in telecommunicating policies that the arrangement
may be terminated when it no longer serves company needs or if the employees performance declines.
Source: Adapted from Barbara Hemphill, Telecommuting Productivity, Occupational Health and Safety 73, no. 3 (March 2004): 16.

and a sense of connectedness.48 Employers wishing to have their employees telecommute must also comply with wage and hour laws, workers compensation regulations, equipment purchase or rental agreements with employees, and federal EEO
posting requirements (see Chapter 3). Employees who are denied the opportunity to
work from home may feel discriminated against and elect to pursue legal action or
simply become disgruntled employees.

SUMMARY

Job analysis data may be gathered using several collection methodsinterviews, questionnaires, observations, and diaries. Other
more quantitative approaches include use of
the functional job analysis, the position analysis questionnaire system, the critical incident method, task
inventory analysis, and computerized job analysis. It is
objective

objective

Job requirements reflect the different duties,

tasks, and responsibilities contained in jobs.
Job requirements, in turn, influence HR
functions performed by managers, including
recruitment, selection, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation, and various labor
relations activities.

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The format of job descriptions varies widely,

often reflecting the needs of the organization
and the expertise of the writer. As a minimum, job descriptions should contain a job
title, a job identification section, and an essential functions section. A job specification section also may be
included. Job descriptions should be written in clear
and specific terms with consideration given to their
legal implications.

To improve the internal process of organizations and increase American productivity,

greater efforts are being made by organizations to involve groups of employees in work
operations. Employee involvement groups are composed of employees in work units charged with offering
suggestions for improving product or service quality or
fostering workplace effectiveness. Employee teams
stress employee collaboration over individual accomplishment. Teams rely on the expertise and different
abilities of members to achieve a specific goal or objective. Self-directed teams are characterized by their willingness to perform traditional managerial tasks.

objective

Job design is a combination of four basic

considerations: organizational objectives;
industrial engineering concerns of analyzing
work methods and establishing time standards; ergonomic considerations, which accommodate
human capabilities and limitations to job tasks; and
employee contributions.

objective

In the job characteristics model, five job factors contribute to increased job performance
and satisfactionskill variety, task identity,
task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
All factors should be built into jobs, since each factor

Changes in work scheduleswhich include

the compressed workweek, flextime, job
sharing, and telecommutingpermit employees to adjust their work periods to accommodate their particular lifestyles. Employees can select
from among these HR techniques to accommodate
diverse employee needs while fostering organizational
effectiveness.
objective

objective

influences different employee psychological states.

When jobs are enriched through the job characteristics
model, employees experience more meaningfulness in
their jobs, acquire more job responsibility, and receive
direct feedback from the tasks they perform.

objective

the prevailing opinion of the courts that HRM decisions on employment, performance appraisal, and promotions must be based on specific criteria that are jobrelated. These criteria can be determined objectively
only by analyzing the requirements of each job.

KEY TERMS
critical incident method
employee empowerment
employee involvement groups
(EIs)
employee teams
ergonomics
flextime
functional job analysis (FJA)

industrial engineering
job
job analysis
job characteristics model
job description
job design
job enrichment
job family

job specification
position
position analysis questionnaire
(PAQ)
task inventory analysis
telecommuting
virtual team

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objective

objective

objective

objective

1. Place yourself in the position of general

manager of a service department. How
might formally written job requirements
help you manage your work unit?
2. Discuss the various methods by which job
analysis can be completed. Compare and
contrast these methods, noting the pros or
cons of each.
3. Working with a group of three or four students, collect at least five different job
descriptions from organizations in your
area. Compare the descriptions, highlighting similarities and differences.
4. Explain how industrial engineering and
ergonomics can both clash with and complement each other in the design of jobs.

objective

objective

objective

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

5. The job characteristics model has five

components that enhance employee jobs
skill variety, task identity, task significance,
autonomy, and feedback. Give an example
illustrating how each component can be
used to improve the organization and the
job of the employee. (Suggestion: Consider
your present or a recent job to answer this
question.)
6. Figure 4.8 shows the different forms of
employee teams. Provide an example of
where each type of team can be used. How
do teams create synergy?
7. As a small-business employer, explain how
nontraditional work schedules might make
it easier for you to recruit employees.

BIZFLIX EXERCISES

Intolerable Cruelty: Just Doing My Job

This chapter discussed several aspects of job analysis
and job design. Try to apply much of that discussion to
this scene from the film Intolerable Cruelty. Use the
questions below as guides to your viewing.
Ruthless, beautiful Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine
Zeta-Jones) matches the brilliance of divorce attorney
Miles Massey (George Clooney). Conflict rises and falls
as the two try to outwit each other in this charming
romantic comedy. The film twists and turns in typical
Coen brothers (co-screenwriters; Joel Cohen, director)
fashion as it reaches its predictable end.
This scene comes from The War Room segment
that occurs about 20 minutes into the film. It follows
Rex Rexroths (George Herrmann) escapade with a
young woman (Kristen Dattilo). His wife, Marilyn
Rexroth, hired private detective Gus Petch (Cedric the
Entertainer) to videotape the event. He now needs

some legal help. Miles Massey meets his new client and
discusses the case. The film continues with some
women sitting by The Waters swimming pool talking
about their ex- and present husbands.
What to Watch for and Ask Yourself

What knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are

required for the successful performance of Miles
Masseys job?
Recall the earlier chapter section Job Analysis.
Apply some observations from that section to this
scene. What duties, tasks, and activities do you infer
from the scene for Masseys job?
Job design views certain job characteristics as important for a persons motivation and satisfaction (see
the earlier section Job Design). Which of the five
core job dimensions appear(s) in Miles Masseys job?

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HRM Experience
Establishing Ground Rules for Team Success
Professional trainers understand that setting ground rules for teams is a cornerstone for continued team success. Ground rulesor team normsare agreed-on formal rules that guide
group member behavior. Norms established prior to the teams task regulate the behavior of
group members. Ground rules simply state how members want to be treated and how members agree to treat others. When team members follow the established norms, then norms
help maintain order, promote positive behavior, and can be used to correct undesirable
actions. Remember, because teams operate in different settings, different norms may be
appropriate in different arrangements.
Assignment
1. Working within your team, select what you believe are the ten most important norms for
team behavior.
2. From the following Behavior List, have each team member silently select two lists of ten
items each of the behaviors they believe most critical for team success. The first list of
ten items (your A list) is considered the most important for group conduct. The second
list (the B list) is desired items but those not of major importance.
3. In a group discussion, have all team members select a final list of ten items from both
lists. These become your teams final norms. Select no more than ten items. During your
discussion, items can be modified or combined to meet your teams specific needs.
4. Prepare a written document of chosen behaviors and have all team members sign the
form. You have now established a written contract for positive team conduct.
Behavior List
While working in our team, individuals should . . .
1. Do their fair share of the work.
2. Check to ensure that everyone clearly understands what is to be done.
3. Encourage planning, including short-range agendas as well as long-range goals.
4. Encourage open and candid opinions about issues.
5. Listen willingly and carefully to other peoples ideas, even if those people have a
different viewpoint.
6. Prepare thoroughly before meetings.
7. Make team members feel at ease in discussion.
8. Ask questions when they do not clearly understand tasks or procedures.
9. Propose specific analyses of the pros and cons of decisions faced by the team.
10. Follow through on task assignments.
11. Help other members when assistance is requested.
12. Treat all team members as equals.
13. Paraphrase or restate what someone else says in order to check meaning.
14. Openly voice opinions and share ideas.
15. Be flexible in arranging meeting schedules.

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16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

Meeting Human Resources Requirements

Compliment others for things they have said or done.

Be willing to meet whenever it is necessary to discuss a problem.
Deal with conflict directly, bringing it to the attention of the team.
Express enthusiasm about what the team is doing.
Encourage budgeting of the teams time.
At the end of a meeting, restate their own responsibilities to check for agreement.
Be serious about the teams work.
Arrive on time for regularly scheduled meetings.
Be willing to listen to other team members ideas.
Get the teams approval on important matters before proceeding.

case study
Building a
Stealth Fighter
with Virtual
Teams

On October 26, 2001, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort

Worth, Texas, won its largest manufacturing contract evera whopping $200 million. The contract, received from the U.S. Department of Defense, is to build a new
family of supersonic stealth fighter planes. Success of the megaproject will hinge
greatly on intricate teamwork. For example, more than eighty suppliers will be
working at 187 locations worldwide to design and build components of the Joint
Strike Fighter. A seventy-five-member technology group at Lockheeds aeronautics
division will link the suppliers, along with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines, to
Britains Defense Ministry to track progress and make midstream design and production changes if necessary. Individuals working at more than 40,000 computer
stations will collaborate to get the first plane airborne in just four years. Speaking of
the teamwork involved, Mark Peden, vice president for information systems at
Lockheed Aeronautics, said, Its the true virtual connection.
Teams working both nationally and internationally will interact as if team
members were working in the same room. Teams will communicate via their computers while looking at shared documents, carry on e-mail chats, and use electronic
whiteboards on which geographically separated team members can draw pictures or
charts, in real time, as others watch and respond. The Internet is designed to allow
people from different companies with incompatible computing systems to interface
on web sites that speak a common language.

QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.

What advantages will Lockheed Martin gain by using virtual teams? Explain.
Identify and discuss potential problems with using virtual teamsfor example,
interpersonal, technical, or geographical concerns.
Discuss specific training that virtual teams could receive.

Source: This case was written by George Bohlander, based on information found in Faith Keenan and
Spencer E. Ante, The New Teamwork, Business Week (February 18, 2002): EB 12.

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case study
But My Job
Has Changed

175

Job descriptions are a critical tool used for job orientation and training and, importantly, in annual employee performance evaluations. When the duties and responsibilities listed in the job description do not reflect current job content employee/
management disagreements can arise, as this case illustrates.
Both employees and managers agree that Brenda Batten has been an exceptional
employee. As a senior technical representative (STR) for Blackhawk Aironics, she is
valued for her knowledge in airplane instrumentation. One manager described her as
simply an expert in the complex technology of satellite weather systems.
In May 2004, Blackhawk Aironics implemented a new work reorganization
plan. STRs such as Brenda now work largely by telecommuting with managers and
engineers at company headquarters in Denton, Texas, and with customers scattered
throughout the United States. Additionally, under the new work plan, STRs were
given more freedom to deal directly with customers and engineers without supervisory intervention. This freedom greatly facilitated customer service needs and
demands in an aviation market everyone considers highly dynamic.
Brendas current job description reflects the technical dimensions of her position but not the telecommuting requirements now performed. Personal competencies such as decision-making, self-motivation, problem-solving, and communication skills are not covered.
In May 2005, Brenda met with her manager, Martin Eaton, for her annual performance review. Unfortunately, unlike past meetings, which were highly satisfactory,
this meeting quickly developed into a disagreement. At the center of the controversy
were the factors to be used to measure Brendas new job demands. Martin wanted to
place major emphasis on the tasks and duties listed in her current job description. As
he explained to Brenda, I hardly see you anymore, and I have no objective criteria or
performance data by which to measure those behaviors you now use. Brenda, in
response, acknowledged that some things in the current job description were still
important aspects of her job, but overall the current job description did not capture
the full scope of her new duties and responsibilities. Brenda concluded that she was
satisfied with Martins evaluation of the technical aspects of her job, but she was
clearly not pleased with the overall evaluation of her performance. As she told Martin, Its simply not fair, you just dont know what I do now.

QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.

Given the facts of this case, is it possible for Brenda and Martin to reach a satisfactory result? Explain.
How could an organization go about identifying and measuring the personal
competencies of employees?
How could the company prevent this problem from occurring in the future?
Explain.

Source: Based on an actual case known to the authors. All names and locations are fictitious.

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NOTES AND REFERENCES

1.

2.
3.

4.
5.

6.
7.

8.

9.
10.

11.

12.

13.
14.

15.
16.

Arnold B. Bakker, Evangelia Demeroob, and Willem Verbeke,

Using the Job Demands Resources Model to Predict Burnout
and Performance, Human Resources Management 43, no. 1
(Spring 2004): 83.
Pam Withers, Retention Strategies That Respond to Worker
Values, Workforce 80, no. 7 (July 2001): 3741.
Thiagarajan Srinivasan and Brian H. Kleiner, How to Hire
Employees Effectively, Management Research News 25, no. 5
(2002): 6575.
Adapted from job description for Senior HR Analyst, City of
Mesa, Arizona.
Donald M. Truxillo, Matthew E. Paronto, Michelle Collins, and
Jefferson L. Sulzer, Effects of Subject Matter Expert Viewpoint
on Job Analysis Results, Public Personnel Management 33, no.
1 (Spring 2004): 3344.
George T. Milkovich and Jerry M. Newman, Compensation, 8th
ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2005).
Richard Henderson, Compensation Management in a Knowledged-Based World, 9th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 2003).
Information on the technical aspects of the Americans with
Disabilities Act can be obtained from the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission. See, for example, The ADA: Questions and Answers, ADA Technical Assistance and Resource Manual, and The ADA: Your Responsibility as an Employer. Publications can be ordered from the EEOC web site at http://www
.eeoc.gov.
The O*NET database Internet site is at http://www.doleta.gov/
programs/onet/.
A detailed description of different job analysis techniques is
beyond the scope of this text. For those interested in more
comprehensive information or job analysis tools, see Michael
T. Bannick and Edward Levine, Job Analysis: Methods, Research,
and Applications for Human Resource Management in the New
Millennium (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002).
Helen Palmer and Will Valet, Job Analysis: Targeting Needed
Skills, Employment Relations Today 28, no. 3 (Autumn 2001):
8592.
Erich P. Prien, Kristin O. Prien, and Louis G. Gamble, Perspectives on Nonconventional Job Analysis Methodologies,
Journal of Business and Psychology 18, no. 3 (Spring 2004): 337.
Chris Burand, Good Job Descriptions Can Boost Productivity, American Agent and Broker 74, no. 10 (October 2002): 8.
Chi Ming Chow and Brian H. Kleiner, How to Differentiate
Essential Job Duties from Marginal Job Duties, Managerial
Law 44, no. 1/2 (2002): 12126.
Jamie Swedberg, Put It in Writing, Credit Union Management
26, no. 12 (December 2003): 5053.
Chapter 3 discusses the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and the necessity for performance standards to
be based on valid job-related criteria.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

26.
27.
28.

29.

30.
31.

32.

33.

Sharon K. Parker, Toby D. Wall, and John L. Cordery, Future

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CHAPTER 4

34.
35.

36.

37.
38.
39.

40.

41.

Job Analysis, Employee Involvement, and Flexible Work Schedules

Glenn Parker, Leading a Team of Strangers, Training and

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Vicki Powers, Keeping Work and Life in Balance, Training
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The Latest Data on Gen X Women and Their Perceptions,
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Rosalind Chait Barnett and Douglas T. Hall, How to Use
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Michael White, Stephen Hill, Patrick McGovern, and Colin
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Overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act can be
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.gov.

42.
43.

44.

45.

46.
47.

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Managing Human Resources, 14e, Bohlander/Snell - 2007 Thomson South-Western