Tony has been director of human resources at TEAM FUN!, a sporting goods manufacturer and retailer, for three months. He is constantly amazed that the company does so well, considering that everything is so loose. Nothing is documented about job roles and responsibilities. People apparently have been hired because Kenny and Norton, the owners and founders, liked them or their relatives. Tony is lunching with Mary, a friend from college who now manages the human resource function for a large financial investor. Tony tells Mary, “I don’t know if I should quit or what. They both got mad at me last week when I suggested smart cards for security. The employee handbook looks like a scrapbook from their kids’ high school football days . . . no, their high school football days. No one has job descriptions. I don’t get it. Everyone likes working there. The job does get done. Am I the one with the problem?”
Mary replies, “Couldn’t be you! It does sound like a great place to work. Has it grown fast in the past few years?”
“Unbelievably,” Tony says. “It had 25 employees 5 years ago, now we have nearly 150.”
“That’s probably part of it,” Mary answers. “Remember how Dr. Smith said in his class that you could get by without a formal human resource structure up to about 100 employees?”
“Yeah. That was a great class! I met my wife in that class! We did lots of team exercises and projects,” Tony sighs.
Mary nods. “Anyway, maybe you could begin with writing your own job description. That would be a start.”
“Then I could talk about formal job evaluation processes.” Tony cheers up. “That’s a great idea. Have you used QUICKHR, the new software tool?”
Mary shakes her head. “No, but a package is a good idea. What’s your current HRIS like?” Tony laughs until he can’t catch his breath. Mary continues, “Okay. That’s another place you could start.”
Questions:
1. Help Tony write his job description.
2. What techniques should he use to gather data?
3. How should he conduct the job analysis?
4. What should he say to Kenny and Norton to ensure their buy-in on this project?
5. How will job descriptions change the organization?
6. Give Tony some pointers on software packages and HRIS.