Position Descriptions in Employee Performance Management

Communications, Management, Personnel, Planning

A position description describes the duties, responsibilities, authorities, and required skills for a job.

A position description should exists for each position in the company and should be the basis for determining the compensation for each job and subsequently for each person in the organization.

the position descriptions allow the company to set salaries consistent with the industry and also to ensure that the individuals within the organization are being fairly and equitably compensated in relation to each other.

Position descriptions are also the basis for hiring.  They define the skills and abilities of the desired candidate and suggest where the candidate should demonstrate experience in the required duties and responsibilities.

Second, the job description is the basis on which the manager writes the performance plan, in cooperation with the employee.  It defines the level and extend of the tasks that are valid for an individual in a particular job.

to summarize:

• Job descriptions describe each job in the company.
• A job description describes the duties, responsibilities, authority, and skills associated with the job.
• A particular job description describes the expectations that an individual in that job should meet.
• It allows the organization to establish salaries consistent with the industry and consistent within the organization.
• It is the basis for hiring.
• It is the basis for performance planning.
• It sets the acceptable level of performance in a performance evaluation.

A search on the Internet will reveal several sources from which an organization may obtain a set of job descriptions if the organization does not have descriptions for their job categories and does not wish to independently develop a collection.

Craig @ November 1, 2008