Assignment 2 - Organizational Structure.docx

Organizational Structure Barbara Schumann Strayer University HUM 500 Victor H.P. Villarreal, Ph.D. May 14, 2017  Organizational Structure To achieve high-quality performance, organizations have to understand and match job requirements and people (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2014). Our CSR’s interact with customers on behalf of the organization. They provide information about our products and services, take orders, respond to customer complaints, and process returns. AS an HR Manager, how did I get to that point of defining what a CSR does within our organization. This understanding requires job analysis, the process of getting detailed information about jobs (Noe et al, 2014). Analyzing jobs and understanding what is required to carry out a job provide essential knowledge for staffing, training, performance appraisal, and many other HR activities (Noe et al, 2014). Various approaches can be taken to conduct a job analysis, I’d like to examine three (3) of the approaches: Job Descriptions, Sources of Job Information, and the Position Analysis Questionnaire, and suggest the major pros and cons of each of them in relation to the CSR position job analysis. An essential part of the job analysis is the creation of a job description (Noe et al, 2014). A job description is a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDR’s) that a job entails (Noe et al, 2014). These tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDR’s) are called for any given position within an organization and are observable actions. They are defined in terms of functional need that when fulfilled, achieve a certain outcome within the organization (Bertelsen, 2012). The advantages using the approach of job description regarding the CSR Position is the fact that it helps with better recruitment. Well-written job descriptions serve as communication tools that allow both employees and candidates to clearly understand the expectations of the role, its essential duties, and the required competences, educational credentials, and experience for the role. By doing this well, it can improve both internal and external recruitment, and can retain and motivate the best talent by ensuring that employee expectations are aligned with the organizations expectations of what the role entails (Cepelenski, 2013). They provide a common denominator for employees and supervisors to discuss specific performance deficiencies and determine what training may be needed, also they can assist in performance appraisals for the employees, by using the job description as a comparison to what the is doing compared to what the job entails. On the other hand, using the job description approach can have its disadvantages as well. Some employees may consider a job description to be the definitive documentation of what they are expected to do, and not do, in the position (Vulcan, 1997). As a result, they may be unwilling to take on extra tasks or go the extra mile because "it's not in their job description" (Vulcan, 1997). At the same time, a formal job description may limit an employer's view of an employee's capabilities, resulting in missed opportunities for promotions of and contributions from certain employees (Vulcan, 1997). Also, potential job candidates can be negatively affected by job descriptions as well because a detailed job description that includes an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities may overwhelm even the most qualified candidates; and as a result, some may feel too intimidated to apply for the job, not realizing the amount of training and assistance they would receive to learn all the parts of the job (Vulcan, 1997). Sources of Job information is a good way to tell how to obtain formation for a job analysis and would be great approach to use for the CSR position. The pros and cons for this approach intertwine at each source of information. For example, if information for analyzing an existing job comes from incumbents, that is, people who currently hold that position in the organization, as they are a logical source of information because they are the most acquainted with the details of the job and should be able to provide very accurate information (Noe et al, 2014). But, the drawback in that is that the incumbents’ may have an incentive to exaggerate what they do in order to appear more valuable to the organization (Noe et al, 2014). Therefore, information from incumbents should be supplemented with information from observers, such as supervisors, who look for a match between what incumbents are doing and what they are supposed to do (Noe et al, 2014). Research suggests that supervisors may provide the most accurate estimates of the importance of job duties, while incumbents may be more accurate in reporting information about the actual time spent performing job tasks and safety-related risk factors (Noe et al, 2014). After gathering information, the job Analyst uses the information to analyze the job (Noe et al, 2014). One of the broadest and best-researched instruments for analyzing jobs is the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) (Noe et al, 2014). The PAQ would be a helpful approach when it comes to the CSR Position. The PAQ is a standardized job analysis questionnaire containing 194 items that represent work behaviors, word conditions, and job characteristics that apply to a wide variety of jobs (Noe et al, 2014). The questionnaire organizes these items into six sections concerned different aspects of the job: information input, mental process, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other characteristics (Noe et al, 2014). Using the PAQ provides an organization with information that helps in comparing jobs, even when they are dissimilar, as well as the advantage that it considers the whole work process, from inputs through outputs (Noe et al, 2014). However, the person who fills out the questionnaire must have college-level reading skills, and the PAQ is meant to be completed only by job analysts trained in this method (Noe et al, 2014). In fact, the ratings of job incumbents tend to be less reliable than ratings by supervisors and trained analysts, also the descriptions in the PAQ reports are rather abstract, so the reports may not be useful for writing job descriptions or redesigning jobs (Noe et al, 2014). The best approach in conducting a job analysis for the CSR position is sources of job information. With this approach, you can obtain information regarding the position from the incumbents that currently hold the position in the organization because they are the most acquainted with the job details. You can also supplement this information from observers, such as supervisors, who can compare what the incumbents are saying their jobs entail versus what they are doing. This is a great way to get an on-hands approach of what goes into the job analysis for the CSR position and in turn will keep it current and evolved. Job design is the process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will be required in a given job, or job redesign, a similar process that involves changing an existing job design (Noe et al, 2014). There are four approaches to job design: job enlargement, job rotation, job engineering, and job enrichment. Of these four approaches, I would like to discuss job enlargement and job enrichment as I feel these approaches are the most important to consider for the CSR position. Job Enlargement refers to broadening the types of task performed (Noe et al, 2014). It uses the principles of job motivation and satisfaction by making jobs less repetitive and more interesting (Noe et al, 2014). The idea is to begin employees with one task and once they have achieved mastery, they can add an additional task that is in keeping with the first task.  Regarding our CSR position, an employee might handle only the simplest sort of customer service calls and then expand to more complex ones as time goes on.  An advantage of this approach is that it is motivating, since, we gain internal satisfaction from acquiring new skills, since we like to learn as McGregor’s Y Theory suggest. Organizations that use job enlargement to make jobs more motivational employ techniques such as job extension and job rotation (Noe et al, 2014). By combining several simple jobs to form a job with a wider range of task, organizations wouldn’t need to hire another applicant to carry out some operations or can hire temp staff or part-time staff. Disadvantages to this approach is the fact that if all the tasks are dull, then the employees will not necessarily be more motivated by the redesigned job (Noe et al, 2014). An example of this is combining the jobs of a receptionist, typist, and file clerk into a job containing all three. But, if the individual loves to talk on the phone but is a slow typist and doesn’t like to be on their feet to file back files, then I think they will be less than motivating to have their receptionist job redesigned. Job Enrichment empowers employees by adding more decision-making authority to jobs. Like Job enlargement in that the employee gets to do more tasks, but the focus is more on autonomy and responsibility in the tasks that are part of the enrichment. An advantage of job enrichment is employee motivation. When employees feel like they are trusted with greater responsibilities in an organization, their level of motivation increases. As a result, employees become more productive, adhere better to the organizations policies and regulations, and miss less work. A great example of enrichment in a CSR position is giving the employee the authority to resolve customer problems within a certain tier, such as refunding the customer for a product or service. A disadvantage that can come with job enrichment is poor performance. While some employees excel in job enrichment, while others perform poorly, due to lack of training, lack of interest, and even lack of clarity about their new tasks. Poor performance can cause employees to feel a sense of incompetence or as if they have let the organization and themselves down. Also, due to poor performance an employee can get stripped of their new responsibilities which can cause embarrassment among their incumbents. For example, if an employee was given the additional task to have the authority to decide whether to issue a refund or replace a merchandise and she or his does but didn’t follow the guidelines set by the supervisor and refunded too much, costing the company money. That employee will feel like they failed, perhaps they feel as they didn’t received training or the guidelines by their supervisor were too vague, this would affect their motivation and in turn their job perforamcne. Using the four approaches to job design I have created two (2) strategies that the organization can implement to attract and select qualified applicants for the CSR Position. Those two strategies are job rotation and flexible work schedules. I believe these two strategies will be positive incentives to attracting qualified applicants, as many applicants are seeking positions within organizations in which they can obtain benefits that allow them to have a work-life balance as well as positions that will not bore them and allow them to have variety. Job Rotation refers to the movement of employees among several jobs within the organization. Because a CSR position can be monotonous and redundant at times, job rotation as I previously mentioned can add variety and reduce boredom whereby the employees can perform a variety of tasks. If you are someone considering a position as a CSR this type of approach will attract you to the position because it may give you a sense of security that you won’t move to the next task within that position till you master the current one you’re in. Flexible work schedules are one way an organization can give employees some say in how their work is structured. Flexible work schedules include flextime which a scheduling policy in which full-time employees may choose starting and ending times within guidelines specified by the organization (Noe et al, 2014). Job sharing is another flexible work schedule which is a work option in which two part-time employees carry out the tasks associated with a single job (Noe et al, 2014). Lastly, telework or telecommuting is basically the broad term for doing one’s work away from a centrally located office. This strategy would be attractive to those seeking the CSR position because it is a way to make them feel as they are in control of their schedule, thus being able to give them a work-life balance and reducing the pressure of being confined to set hours. Flexible Work Schedules are appealing to CSR positions because most the work of a CSR is done via phone and on-line flexibility to work location and hours would be appealing to applicants. Analyzing jobs and understanding what is required to carry out a job provide essential knowledge for staffing, training, performance appraisal, and many other HR activities. (Noe et al, 2014). Three ways that the information obtained from a job analysis can be used to measure the performance of the CSR is through performance evaluations, employee development, and compensation. Regarding performance evaluations, the results from a job analysis can allow the organization to develop the CSR according to the specific needs of their job title. Additionally, the organization may also use the results of the job analysis to groom the CSR for promotions by training in areas that will contribute to future positions, such as a Lead or Senior CSR. Using the results of a Job Analysis in regard to Employee development, the organization may identify any gaps on an individual level and assist the CSR employees with their career management. Therefore, allowing the organization to identify training needs; adjusting the frequency of feedback the manager provides; clarifying, adjusting, and or modifying performance outcomes; and discussing behaviors or activities that need improvement (Noe et al, 2014). Lastly an organization can use the results of the job analysis for compensation reason, ensuring that all CSR’s throughout the organization in different departments requiring similar duties and KSAPCs are being compensated similarly. Furthermore, results from the job analysis can assist in pay increases by utilizing to compare what the CSR is required to carry out versus what they are doing.  References Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2014). Fundamentals of human resource management (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education Bertelsen, B. (2012).Everything You Need to Know About Job Analyses, Descriptions, and Specifications. [Newmarket Ont.]BrainMass Inc. Ceplenski, C. (2013, November 05). 4 Benefits of Effective Job Descriptions. Retrieved May 12, 2017, from http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2013/11/05/4-benefits-of-effective-job-descriptions/ Vulcan, N. (2016, November 11). Disadvantages of Job Descriptions. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from http://oureverydaylife.com/disadvantages-job-descriptions-2815.html ORGANIZAITONAL STRUCTURE 9 Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 1