Chapter 5: Job-Based Structures and Job Evaluations

Job evaluation

The process of systematically determining the relative worth of jobs to create a job structure for the organization

Job Evaluation Method: Classification

A series of classes covers the range of jobs. Class descriptions are the labels. Compare job descriptions to class descriptions to find the best fit. The label captures work detail yet is general enough to cover jobs. Describe classes further with titles of benchmark jobs.

The design process of the job evaluation:

- Attend to fairness of the design rather than results. - Review procedures help ensure procedural fairness. - Powerful members of the job evaluation committee may sway results.

Benchmark Jobs

- Contents are well known and relatively stable over time - The job is common across employers - A reasonable proportion of the work force holds this job

Disadvantage of Ranking as a Job Evaluation Method

- If ranking criteria is poorly defined, evaluations become only opinions. - Evaluators must be knowledgeable about every single job under study. - Results are difficult to defend and costly solutions may be required.

Alternation Ranking

- Orders job descriptions alternately at each extreme. - Evaluators agree on which jobs are the most and least valuable, then the next, etc.

A sample of bench mark jobs will capture the diversity of work through:

- The DEPTH of work ranges from highest to lowest position - The BREADTH of work depending on the nature of the business

Paired Comparison

- Uses a matrix to compare all possible pairs of jobs. - When all comparisons are completed, the job judged "more valuable" becomes the highest ranked job, and so on.

Major Decisions in Job Evaluation:

-Establish purpose of evaluation -Decide whether to use single or multiple plans -Choose among alternative approaches -Obtain involvement of relevant stakeholders -Evaluate plan's usefulness

Job evaluation helps establish an aligned pay structure which:

-Supports organization strategy -Supports work-flow -Is fair to employees -Motivates behavior toward organization objectives

Eight Steps in Designing a Point Plan

1) Conduct Job Analysis 2) Determine compensable factors 3) Scale the factors 4) Weight factors by importance 5) Select criterion pay structure 6) Communicate and train users 7) Apply to remaining jobs 8) Develop online support

The evaluation is based on:

A combination of job content, skills required, value to the organization, organizational culture, and the external market. This potential to blend organizational forces and external market forces is both a strength and a challenge of job evaluation

The Final Result of the Job Evaluation Process:

A structure, a hierarchy of work that translates an internal alignment policy into practice.

To be useful, compensable factors should be:

Based on the strategy and values of the organization. Based on the work performed. Acceptable to the stakeholders affected by the resulting pay structure.

Advantage of Ranking as a Job Evaluation Method

Cheap, simple, fast, easy to understand and explain to employees.

Criteria for scaling factors:

Ensure the number of degrees is necessary to distinguish jobs. Use understandable terminology. Anchor definitions with benchmark job titles and work behaviors. Make it apparent how the degree applies to the job.

The number of job evaluation plans hinges on what?

How detailed it needs to be to make pay decisions, and how much it will cost

Who should be involved in the job evaluation process?

Managers and employees with a stake in the results should be involved in the design process.

Step 3: Scale the Factors

Once the factors are determined, scales reflecting the different degrees (or levels) within each factor are developed.

Step 1: Job Analysis

Point plans begin with a job analysis and content of the jobs help define, scale, and weight compensable factors.

Job Evaluation Method: Ranking

Simply orders the job descriptions from highest to lowest based on relative value or contribution to success.

Four generic groups of compensable factors:

Skills required Effort required Responsibility, and Working conditions.

Job Evaluation Method: Point Method

Three common characteristics: Compensable factors. Factor degrees are numerically scaled. Weights reflect the relative importance of each factor.

Step 4: Weight the Factors

Weight the compensable factors according to the relative importance of the job to the organization. Weights are often determined through an advisory committee that allocates 100% of the total value among the factors.

"Content" refers to:

What work is performed and how it gets done. Perspectives differ on whether job evaluation is based on job content or job value.

Compensable factors

based on strategic direction and how the work contributes. Factors are scaled for presence and weighted for importance. Points are attached to each factor weight. Total points determine its position in the job structure.

Step 2: Compensable Factors

characteristics in the work that the organization values, that help it pursue its strategy and achieve its objectives.

There is not a one-to-one correspondence between:

internal job value and pay rates

Some see job evaluation as a process for linking what two ideas?

job content and internal value with external market rates

Internal alignment based on job content orders jobs by:

skills, duties, and responsibilities

A structure based on job value orders jobs by:

the relative contribution of the skills, duties, and responsibilities to the organization's goals