Free Essay. Job Description and Its Legal Components

A job description serves critical functions in organizational management. The document serves as a structure that guides the employees in carrying out their everyday jobs. However, it should be well written and updated continuously to enhance its effectiveness. This aspect is a critical function of management, which complements staffing, directing, controlling, organizing, and planning. Managers design and update job descriptions to meet changes in the business environment. In this perspective, educational requirements, knowledge, skills, abilities, tools, technology, and task specification are essential parts of the document. These aspects support organizational performance management systems since they improve employee' morale and worker-employer communication through job clarification. A job description is also the basis of goal setting, which is a critical function of management. Thus, it enhances the company's performance management systems by supporting managers' strategic aims.

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Job descriptions are management tools, which specifies the functions, and the responsibilities underlying specific jobs. It is a function of management since it is a basis upon which the decision-makers design compensation criteria and employee training programs (Al-Marwai & Subramaniam, 2009). Precisely, it is the basis of staffing, a function of management that entails screening of the potential employees, and the selection of qualified candidates. The document outlines the qualifications, competency, and skills that organizational employees ought to possess. Also, it is a function of management in that it supports directing roles. Job descriptions, in this case, enables the managers to oversee, guide, and instruct the employees. Thus, they are vital in implementing critical components of management, such as role clarification, developmental goal setting, performance appraisal, and compensation criteria (Al-Marwai & Subramaniam, 2009). It is, therefore, a function of management that support the decision-makers in implementing strategic goals towards the achievement of objectives.

Several aspects of job descriptions are vital in establishing performance management systems. Some of these components are technology, tools of work, educational requirements, employee' skills, and responsibilities. Tasks consist of the responsibilities that the workers do in the workplace. In this regard, job descriptions outline the tasks skills requirements, and competency underlying specific jobs. It enhances effective performance management since it specifies the responsibilities, the expectations, and targets to achieve set goals. Tools and technology, on the other hand, is an essential part of job descriptions that specify the techniques for executing everyday work. It enables the employees to nurture the requisite skills that allow them to use organizational technologies and thus promote the establishment of performance management systems.

Skills, knowledge, and abilities determine the competency of an employee in executing specific organizational functions. As part of job descriptions, these aspects are the basis of implementing training programs that enable the workers to develop their skills. However, periodic review of job descriptions is necessary for an organization to maintain suitable employees (Al-Marwai & Subramaniam, 2009). Companies thus develop appropriate performance systems through training and career development programs that provide opportunities for the employees to update their skills as the business environment evolve.

Educational requirements, on the other hand, is the basis of arriving at the most appropriate employees during recruitment. Selection of workers that meet specific standards of education is necessary for a company to achieve its goals. Since it determines the level of employee' skills and expertise, then it suggests that this aspect of job description supports a human resource objective to have competent workers that meet industry standards. Hence, the establishment of such a workforce not only enhance the achievement of organizational goals but also the establishment of a sound performance management system.

Job descriptions should comply with the state and federal employment and labor laws. The critical details in this document are employee' qualifications, job details, summary objectives, job duties, and responsibilities. However, the legal aspects of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guide the formulation of job descriptions by legalizing the discrimination against the employees and job applicants. Hence, the mechanism for assessing employees' qualifications besides performance management in job descriptions should be free from discrimination against one's religion, race, and sex (Schlanger & Kim, 2013).

The methods for assessing qualified candidates should be efficient in identifying talents. The first approach is the use of structured interviews. In this case, individual candidates results enable an employer to gain more insights into one's communication skills, knowledge, and characteristics (Pulakos, 2005). Situational judgment test is another approach where the employer observes suitable workers as they perform the assigned tasks. Work sample or problem-solving tests, on the other hand, is an approach where an employer assess a candidate's logic skills, cognitive ability, creativity, leadership skills, and intelligence based on performance (Pulakos, 2005). These techniques support the organization's objectives since it provides an opportunity to assess talents, decision-making skills, and the suitability of the candidates. Also, it enables an employer to select suitable candidates with necessary behavioral traits, creativity, and leadership skills that are critical for the implementation of the organizational operations.

Conclusively, job descriptions are critical for the strategic management of human resources and for enhancing the effectiveness of an organization's functions. Managers, however, should continuously update the document to reflect industry changes. It is a function of management since it supports the strategic goals of decision-makers in controlling, directing, planning, and organizing.

References

Al-Marwai, S. A., & Subramaniam, I. D. (2009). A Review of the Need for Writing & Updating Job Descriptions for 21st Century Organizations. European Journal of Social Sciences, 12(2). DOI: 10.1002/9781119207542

Pulakos, E. D. (2005). Selection assessment methods: A guide to implementing formal assessments to build a high-quality workforce. SHRM Foundations. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/documents/selection-assessment-methods.pdf/url/

Schlanger, M., & Kim, P. T. (2013). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Structural Reform of the American Workplace. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2309514