Organizational Structure

HRM 500

Organizational Structure

date

Organizational Structure

In an organization, the HR managers play an important role by defining the job and its related tasks. Employees are hired on the basis of their abilities, skills, knowledge, and experience. The employees are the most valuable part of an organization, which helps in achieving the desired goals and tasks. The HR managers perform different activities and tasks, which helps in hiring, controlling, and monitoring employees. Every employee is hired on the basis of their skills and capabilities, which should match with the job responsibilities and requirements defined by the HR managers during job analysis. A job analysis helps the business organization in a number of ways (Lavenson, Lawyer & Boudreau, 2004).

The purpose of the paper is to define the different approaches of job analysis, which are chosen by the HR managers to define a job position in the organization. The task is to develop a job analysis for the position of customer service representatives. There are different approaches and techniques that are chosen by the HR managers to perform the job analysis.

Examine at least three (3) approaches that you can take as the HR manager to conduct a job analysis of the Customer Service Representative position. Suggest the major pros and cons of each selected approach. Recommend the approach that would be most effective in conducting the job analysis for this organization. Justify your recommendation. 

Job analysis refers to the systematic process of gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, and reporting information about the requirements and responsibly of a particular job. The information helps in differentiating one job position from another. It also helps in defining the work conditions regarding the job position. The Job Analysis is an important process, which helps the HR managers in recruiting, selecting, and hiring the right candidates that are suitable for a position. The job analysis helps in selecting the candidates that can add value to the organization by giving in their best performance and productivity. The overall performance of the organization is based on the hiring of capable employees, which is dependent on job analysis. Job analysis helps the management in answering queries and questions related to a job position in the organization (Toracco & Swanson, 1995). There are various approaches of job analysis, and each approach has its own pros and cons.

Worker-Oriented Job Analysis

The worker oriented job analysis deals with the specifications of a job, which helps in defining the skills, capabilities, and knowledge required for a specific position. The approach focuses on defining the specifications of a job including the responsibilities and requirements and hiring employees accordingly. It helps in defining the work functions and physical and mental demands of a job position. The purpose of this approach is to choose a candidate, which can help in enhancing the performance of an organization by fulfilling the responsibilities and duties in the best possible manner (Wintermantle & Mattimore, 1997).

Functional Job Analysis

The functional job analysis approach helps the HR managers in defining the functions of a job position. For example, the customer service representative will be responsible for communicating and interacting with the customer. They will help customers in getting relevant information regarding the products and services offered by a company, and will help in answering their queries. All these are the functions of a job position, which are well-defined using this approach (Lavenson, Lawyer & Boudreau, 2004).

Task-Oriented Job Analysis

The task oriented job analysis helps the HR managers in defining the tasks associated with a job position, which requires different level of mental and physical capabilities. This approach helps the HR managers in making sure that the employees are hired, which can match the required skills and knowledge to fulfill their role and responsibility in an organization.

Cognitive Task Analysis

A job position requires certain tasks and activities, which requires mental skills and intelligence. The HR managers use the Cognitive Tasks Approach to define the skills and abilities required for achieving job position. Every position has its own requirements, which might vary up to a great extent (Wintermantle & Mattimore, 1997).

Select two (2) out of the four (4) approaches to job design that are the most important for you to consider. Suggest two (2) challenges that you may encounter when designing a job using each of the selected approaches. Support your response with specific examples to illustrate the potential advantages and disadvantages of using each approach.

Job analysis is a challenging task, which requires the HR managers to put in efforts. Hiring, recruiting, and selecting are some of the most important functions of HR managers, which has a strong impact on the productivity and performance of the organization. Job analysis helps the HR managers in analyzing the tasks and responsibilities of a particular position, which can help the HR managers in recruiting the right candidates. The task-oriented and worker-oriented approaches are the most relevant and the most commonly used approaches. It helps the HR managers in making sure that they hire the right employees, which can add value to the organization and have a positive impact on the overall performance of the organization (Walter, 1954).

While designing a job, the HR managers encounter different challenges. They have to consider the responsibilities and requirements of a job position. Each and every position is important and relevant for the organization as it somehow contributes in the organization and helps it in achieving the strategic goals and objectives. In order to design a job, the HR managers have to focus on the relevance of the position in a company. For example, in an IT company, the software developers will play the most important role. Similarly, the customer service representatives play an important role in building understanding and good relations between the company and its customers. While designing a job, the HR managers have to assure that the designed job can contribute in the overall success and progress of the company (Toracco & Swanson, 1995).

Designing a job refers to the assigning of role, duties, power, position, authority, and level of importance with a certain job position. The job design helps in attaching certain attributes with a position, which helps in hiring the best and most suitable employees. One of the most common challenges that HR managers face while designing a job is differentiating one job position from another. The HR managers have to focus on the specified purpose of a job so that they can differentiate the positions. Another challenge that HR managers encounter is dealing with the costs and expenses of the organization when defining a job a hiring employees accordingly. For example, if an employee is hired on a senior position, their packages and compensations need to be accordingly. Defining the job in an appropriate manner will helps in setting the compensation and benefits packages accordingly (Lavenson, Lawyer & Boudreau, 2004).

Using the four (4) approaches to job design, create two (2) strategies that the organization can implement to attract and select qualified applicants for the Customer Service Representative position. Justify the main reasons that the selected strategies would be effective.

There are various strategies applied by the organizations to attract right and qualified candidates for a job position. The position is marketed through different approaches and methods, which can help in attracting suitable candidates. The job positions are marketed through newspapers, online websites, recruitment websites, recruitment agencies, and official websites. The HR managers also start campaigns in universities and educational institutes, which help in attracting a large pool of candidates. It is the responsibility of HR managers to select the most appropriate candidates for a job position, which can help in adding value to the organization. All these strategies are helpful in attracting skilled and qualified candidates for a job position (Wintermantle & Mattimore, 1997).

Propose three (3) ways that you can use the information obtained from a job analysis to measure the performance of Customer Service Representatives. Provide a rationale for your response.

The HR managers hire and recruit employees and provide them with proper training, which can help them in fulfilling their role and responsibility in the organization. Once the employees are hired, it is essential for the HR managers to monitor and measure the performance of employees. Measuring the performance helps in analyzing and evaluating that which employee is performing good and which employee is not performing well (Beer, 1997).

The customer service representatives are responsible for provide efficient services to the customers, which helps in building long-term relationship between a company and its customers. they are responsible for effectively communicating and coordinating with customers by answering their queries and providing them with relevant information and knowledge. Organizations hire CSRs to effectively deal with their customers and influencing their purchasing behavior. The HR managers should continuously monitor the performance of CSRs or they can lose many potential customers and consumers. Measuring performance includes various tools and systems, which help in keeping a track of all the relevant information regarding employees and their performance. They can measure the performance by getting feedback from the customers who have availed the services of customer service representatives. If the customers are satisfied from the services provided to them, this means that the representatives are fulfilling their jobs successfully. Or else, the human resource management should take necessary actions and steps (Wintermantle & Mattimore, 1997).

References

Beer, M. (1997). The Transformation of the Human Resource Function: Resolving the Tension between a Traditional Administrative and a New Strategic Goal. Human Resource Management vol. 36 (1), pp. 49-53.

Lavenson, A., Lawyer, E. & Boudreau, J. (2004). HR Metrics and Analytics Uses and Impacts. Centre for Effective Organizations. Retrieved from (http://classic.marshall.usc.edu/assets/048/9984.pdf).

Toracco, R. & Swanson, R. (1995). The Strategic Role of Human Resource Development. Human Resource Planning, vol. 18 (4), pp. 10-21.

Walter, C. (1954). Job Evaluation Methods. The Royal Press Company. Retrieved from (http://www.library.wisc.edu/selectedtocs/ca1754.pdf).

Wintermantle, R. & Mattimore, K. (1997). In The Changing World of Human Resources: Matching Measures to Mission. Human Resource Management, vol. 36 (3).