Do you think all companies can really do without detailed job descriptions

Do you think all companies can really do without detailed job descriptions? The essay mention the advantages of detailed job descriptions, then lets see what will happen if the firm has a unclear JD or without any JD.

Name: Nguyen Thi Thu Ha

Student’s code: 11181360

Class: AEP - Human Resources Management 60

Do you think all companies can really do without detailed job descriptions? Why and why not?

No Without detailed JDs, gradually, the operation will be disordered, even uncontrollable To explain why, I will mention the necessaries of a detail job descriptions

to companies, especially recruiters and managers Then let’s see what will happen when using a poorly written or non-existent JD.

1 Streamlining the selection process and receive a high concentration of candidates who are suitable for interview or further selection:

According to the detail information mentioned in JDs, candidates will assess if they are suitable for the position So that as the role of a communication tool, JDs ensure that the applications received for the position closely match the needs of the role itself, in other words, It saves time to evaluate the application and filter candidates that not meet the requirements

Further, detail JDs express the corporate culture that helps candidates to carefully consider if they are really suitable for the working environment in the long-term As a result, the organizational commitment is better, in other words, the turnover rate is lower, the ability of successful internal recruitment is higher If there is no detail JD, costs (time, money, work disruption) for recruitment and training will be higher

2 JD is a useful management tool which is able users to assign the tasks sensibly and monitor the implementation of employees

In the company, there are a variety of Departments (Marketing, Finance, Operations management, IT…) and in Departments, there are a variety of positions, from managers, deputies, section managers, to employees, even collaborators, trainees and apprentices Each person handles multiple tasks to get the general productivity It is a huge data system that required detail JDs to clearly assign each person’s tasks

Reversely, in the case that tasks assigned are not suitable and fair, employees have no motivation to work People who work less have low productivity meanwhile people who work more suffer the pressure In the other aspect, if leaders do not capture the work progress, there is no orientation, things will become disordered, even uncontrollable

3 The basis to look back and understand if the company’s structure has dealt with all tasks and goals in the present time? Work arrangement has been sensible? Then, they detect the inadequacy and adjust to boost the labor productivity

No society has ever remained the same Social change is always happening, the company has to change itself to adapt to new conditions In the short-term, they adjust products or marketing strategies, but in the long-term, It is advisable for them to adjust, even restructure the personnel system and human resources If no, the company is left behind the social development No meet the needs of customers, means no revenue, no profit and bankrupt at last

For instance, I am working for a start-up company that its main major/goal is supplying human resources for other companies As a result, the manager has to arrange

so that the number of staffs working in Human Resource Department is higher than other departments to manager both internal and external HR situations But then, in nCoV-19 epidemic, the hiring orders received were decreased, he was forced to issue redundancy notices for some unimportant positions, to ensure the operation can be continued After the epidemic, social situation has been gradually stable, he decided to hire more internships to support HR Department

4 Evidence for performance appraisal of staffs; assessment of employee potential, by Goal - Setting, Balanced scorecard, ISO… to carry out labor reward, labor discipline or fire; assessment of the whole company productivity to build business strategies

Without a good job description, it becomes very difficult for an employee to know what is expected of him and for a manager to provide an accurate and effective appraisal Situations may occur that managers assess employees based on personal likes and dislikes rather than defined performance criteria Again, this presents the possibility

of unfair labor practices and wrongful termination lawsuits

5 Planning for human resource development: training, career development…

Training planning means finding the outstanding staffs to give advancement opportunity or intensive trainings and the reverse ones to transfer or retrain Career development is a system of encouraging employees to gain new skills to grow their own careers Without detail job descriptions (for example, delegated tasks essentially fall under the "other duties as assigned" umbrella), employees are hard to see the connection between his role and the success of the organization and his department, they don’t have clear targets to shoot for in training and development So that, the company doesn’t take maximum advantages of their employees That is an unexpected waste

Other benefits:

6 Building the pay rate: pay sheet, pay ranges, pay scale

7 As the role of “extended labor contract”, JD is the basis to resolved conflicts and grievances, including legal conflicts

Generally, JD is vital in all stages above of the operation process in all enterprises Without detail JDs, the operation process may be disrupted Its importance is not the same in every enterprise, but in different levels of concern, depends on scale and types of companies and what position the company is looking for.

 It is more important in big companies with a large capacity of human resources In small companies, start-up companies, most owners of businesses are unaware of all they

do, and too often expect employees to just “fill in” needed holes as the need arises In this case, undetailed JDs are not totally bad

 Depend on what type of jobs: The higher and more important position is, the more detailed JD should be Looking for a manager, a director requires a very detailed JD because the amount of people who have enough ability is less, further, his role may affect

a lot to the company Reversely, hiring laborers or not officially position is much more simply because of the diversified labor alternatives

To conclude, the company is collective consisting of many individuals Each individual has different ability, different roles and do the same goals that is the company promotion,

so that they need guidelines It is the job description what define them Having detailed job descriptions is the ideal tool to keep the track of the working progress of employees and the operation process of the whole company