Home
Emergency
Management,
Safety & Security
How-to's on people
management, employee
training and customer
service, scroll down for
links to
articlesand our
inspiring Easytraining
Insights Digital Newsletter
Read highlights of
Easytraining
News
Subscribe
to Easytraining News
List
yourself for advices
on the re-opening of our
discussion
forms
List
yourself here to
be advised about our
Employee Motivation
practical guide book
Personal Profile
Quick Assistance
Read
terms and conditions
Content for reading only. NOT to
be "copied & pasted", republished,
uploaded,broadcast,
shared with
file sharing, or used commercially
by others,
e.g. to conduct or sell
training without a licensing
agreement.
Safety & Security in
the Workplace
Seeing Things from the Customer's
Perspective
Job Descriptions: Dead
Wood or Living Tools?
The Learning Organization
Understanding Employee
Drives
and Motivations
Beyond Training: Training
and
Development
How can I motivate my
Employees?
Managers
& Supervisors
Expected to Create a
Motivated Team
Think Strawberries
A lesson in creative management,
employee training and sales!
"IF" by Rudyard
Kipling,
wise words of advice
Your Electronic Signature
As
a Marketing Tool
Marketing Your
Business on the
Web
Achieving Goals Through
Training and Development
Domain Names for
Sale for: Trainers, Consultants,
Hospitality Professionals
Books
on Management, Consulting, Business,
and other Subjects
Job Descriptions:
Dead Wood or Living Tools?
Copyright
© 2000 Claire Belilos
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services
http://www.easytraining.com/job_description.htm
Terms: For reading only. Not to
be sold, reprinted,re-written, distributed, re-broadcast,
uploaded,
or used to conduct training by others without written agreement
In small family-owned
businesses you can hardly find the necessary management tools to
steer the business to success: policies, procedures, job descriptions,
evaluation forms and employee handbooks. These issues
are either communicated verbally (if they had been thought out in
the owner's mind) or are being dealt with haphazardly, depending
on the understanding and instincts of the Supervisor in charge.
The result is: lack of consistency, low employee morale,
lack of trust and teamwork, and a suspicion of favouritism. Quite
often, you are even faced with many instances of employee theft!
In larger companies a Human Resources function exists, whether there is full-time Human Resources personnel or not. In the latter case this function is directly handled by the General Manager or Finance Executive. Since many relate Human Resources mostly to Payroll and Benefits, we find that quite a number of companies gave this responsibility to their Finance Officer. Needless to say that in such instances the more sophisticated issues of Human Resources, Employee Training & Development, Customer Service and other related issues are either never considered or are judged solely on their cost-factor with no-one at the helm to give organizational direction.
Whether companies have
or do not have specialized Human Resources and Training personnel,
many suffer from antiquated policy manuals and human resources tools.
There is a general tendency to just "add" items
to rusty policies and procedures or to "copy" tools from
other companies, which are also either antiquated or not fit for
the company in question.
The general concept is that the
company must have tools such as policy and procedures manuals, job
descriptions, appraisal forms and employee handbooks as a "painful
obligation", a "pretense at being organized".
Some revise the tools every few years (it would be sad here
to quote an average frequency since many do not do so for 20-25
years despite the dynamic changes the business and working world
went through in the last three decades). Those who do revise
them usually do so on old standards and previous formats, without
making provision for today's fast-moving pace, constantly changing
environment, economies, work and labour realities.
There
is a great deal of restructuring, downsizing, and merging of companies
right now for the purpose of streamlining costs and revenue. And
yet, many fail to see that real savings in payroll and productivity,
coupled by service upgrade to attract and maintain markets, greatly
depend on how management directs the organization from the inside.
The organization's expression and direction is driven from
inside out.
The stamp of management
begins with the company's mission and what it communicates to employees.
The most essential tools which lead employees in the right
direction, help create a positive work environment, employee motivation,
and final work performance are the tools used for Human Resources
management. First on this list are: Job Descriptions and Employee
Handbooks.
In many cases it is not clear whether
employers give an employee his job description in hand or at the
very least shows it to him, explain it and discuss it with him (or
her). Many regard job descriptions as necessary printed sheets
they must collect in a binder kept in the Manager's office and the
Human Resources Department. In other words, Job
Descriptions are usually treated as "dead wood". They
are neither read nor used. They just "exist". Usually,
employees learn bit by bit what is expected of them - only upon
being reprimanded since the "usual" job description, whether
it is given or not to the employee, does not clearly reflect the
expected employee behaviour performance.
Employee Handbooks and
Job Descriptions are of crucial importance for the understanding
of the company, its setup, values and thrust; a comprehension of
the different functions and job responsibilities which make it work;
and, of course, the role each employee plays to bring all this to
realization. These are actually "management tools"
and should be given the attention they deserve. They are not
there "just for being there". They must clearly
reflect the company, its customers, the market, and the individual
roles people play.
Their role is to assist managers,
trainers and employees realize company objectives and performance
objectives. If we deprive employees of such clear direction,
who are we to expect flawless performance? Who are we to blame
the people we employ?
This is why we should think of Employee Handbooks and Job Descriptions as "active, living, dynamic tools" to be continuously used and revised for updates and refinement.
The way they are written
can greatly affect the entire work force, organizational environment,
and Customer experience. Here is a checklist to help you determine
whether your company's Job Descriptions are effectively written
and gainfully used:
- When did you last read your company's Job Descriptions?
- What is their purpose?
- What do you aim
to achieve through them?
- Do they bring about
measurable and observable results?
- If not, what do
they achieve?
- Who uses them on
a regular basis? for which purpose?
- What do they communicate
to employees?
- Do they only list
task responsibilities?
- Does each responsibility
mentioned clearly explain its purpose? Do they guide employees on HOW they are
expected to perform?
- Who refers to them regularly?
- Are they being
used as Training Tools?
- Are they also being
used as Evaluation Tools?
- Do they communicate performance criteria for evaluation purposes?
- How do employees know with which criteria they are being evaluated?
- Do you encourage them to use them to determine training needs?
- Do you encourage
employees to use them to evaluate themselves?
- Do you encourage input from employees to improve the content?
- Do Department Heads regularly upgrade Job Descriptions?
- Are employees part
of the process?
- Are Job Descriptions
used to plan Training activities?
- Are they being
used to discuss operational matters with employees?
- Are they Customer-
and-Service focused?
- Are they performance
focused?
- Do they communicate
the general direction of the company?
- Do they send a
"team work" message?
- Do they mention
company policies and procedures?
- Do they refer to
house rules and regulations?
- Do they mention
job-related safety and security?
- How often do you
revise and update them?
- If they are not being used as described above, why do you have them?
Our forthcoming book
on employee
motivation will
include some existing samples, re-written for effectiveness.
If you feel people do not perform as they should, have a good
look at their job descriptions. Are these subject to different
interpretations? Then, you may indeed expect inconsistent
job performance.
If you decide to have more effective
tools in place, contact Claire Belilos through http://www.easytraining.com/contact.htm
You are invited to subscribe
to our monthly
newsletter at
http://www.easytraining.com/easynews.htm. Easytraining.com
News is a free-style newsletter discussing different management
issues.
In all instances, please provide verifiable
details as requested on the form. All details provided will
be treated confidentially. Thank you.
Copyright © September
2000 Claire Belilos
Read our Terms and Conditions
This article is not to be uploaded,
sold or distributed in any form or manner without the written permission
of the author (see contact address below).
____________________________________________________________________
Claire Belilos,
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services, http://www.easytraining.com, is a Management and Training
Consultant. Her background includes fifteen award-winning
years with Hilton International Hotels She creates and facilitates
custom-tailored problem-solving workshops on organizational issues,
including employee training and customer service. She designs
human resources strategies, work tools, training and evaluation
tools.
She can be reached at:
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services
#2007-1011 Beach Avenue,
Vancouver, B.C. V6E1T8,
Tel: (604) 685-8449 Pacific Time
Home Page: http://www.easytraining.com
Contact at http://www.easytraining.com/contact.htm
Subscribe to our free
monthly Easytraining News at http://www.easytraining.com/easynews.htm
List yourself for
our forthcoming employee motivation book at http://www.easytraining.com/motivationbooklist.htm
List yourself to be
advised of the forthcoming management discussion forums
http://www.easytraining.com/csforumlisting.htm
Read excerpts from
our Easytraining Insights Digital Newsletter at
http://www.easytraining.com/insights.htm