Keywords

Competency, Job description, Job design, Organizational behavioral competency, skills, job performance, task-based job description.

Introduction

The design of competency-based job descriptions, which would affect organizational productivity and employee performance, was the main emphasis of this study. An essential instrument for allocating work to jobs in an organization is the description. A job description's objective is to assist in various HR procedures like recruiting, selection, and orientation, performance assessment, succession planning and compensation. The templates and forms differ, and An essential technique for allocating labor between roles in an organization.

Currently, work is divided into jobs, each of which is represented by a job description. However, the focus is now changing to describing the abilities required to perform those tasks. Competency means individual skills, experience, knowledge, values and personal attributes that a person has and uses in different tasks.

The goal of this study is to examine how job descriptions are utilized and perceived within the organization and to determine how they might be used more effectively and actively throughout the whole lifetime of an employee. The study also examines how the company’s human resources can make better use of competencies. The purpose of the research is to generate recommendations regarding the structure, terminology and job descriptions. The theoretical portion of the paperwork is based on the evaluations of literacy and instances of the applications. The existing job descriptions and their content are also analyzed. The research also studies the use of competencies in the organization. The most important sources of data for this research paper are the intranet and examples from literature and journals.

Objectives of the Study

1. To determine the relation between the organizational competency and job description.

2. To comprehend the connection between job description and employee’s productivity.

3. To assess the employee’s competency (knowledge, skills and attitude) of the employees.

Review of the Literature

Job Description

A Job description or JD is a written account of the general responsibilities and obligations of a particular role at work. Relationships with other people in the organization, such as management responsibilities, supervisory level, managerial requirements, and relationships with other colleagues. In this context, it is frequently referred to as a "Role Description" and may contain details about the grade or level of the role, working circumstances, physical demands, health and safety needs, and other qualifications for the job role.

The desire, motivation, necessary abilities, and behaviors needed to properly carry out a work are defined by the competencies description. Competencies are used to define required soft skills- for example “attention to detail” or “fostering communication” they frequently go above and  beyond soft skills necessary for success in specialized professions, like sales, marketing or IT, etc.,

The fact that competencies bring various job descriptions and roles inside businesses under one common framework is one of the reasons why people use competence in job description.  This provides the structure to the organization’s HR programs and helps  HR staff members  understand the roles, levels, and dependencies between occupations in their firm much better. Beyond that, expanding the job descriptions to include competencies creates a whole world of talent management opportunities.

Forming a Job Description

The organizational structure is a framework that helps to arrange work into positions described by job descriptions. The organizational structure illustrates the formal and informal relationship between people and positions in an organization. Usually, large organizations use the bureaucratic organizational structure with many levels of management and a top-down management approach. Boundaries between jobs and units are rigid and career paths are hierarchical within one function. In bureaucratic organization, jobs are specialized and job descriptions are narrowly defined. The flat organizational structure is usually used in organizations that have a strong focus on the customer. Flat organization emphasizes teamwork, has only a few levels of management and a decentralized management approach. Boundaries between jobs and units are flexible and career paths are horizontal and can cross functions. In the flat organizational structure, jobs will be broadly defined.

The steps involved in building a job description include preparing a work-flow analysis, job design and job analysis. Work-flow is the system used to manage activities in order to accomplish the corporate objectives. Work-flow analysis is the process where work moves from the customer’s initiation to the firm and then out of it as a ready service or product. Work flows through individual jobs in a similar way; the input of work is initiated to the worker; the worker adds value by applying work in it and moves it on to another worker. Sometimes work-flow analysis reveals that some tasks could be combined, simplified or even eliminated. Work-flow analysis is used in business process reengineering to improve quality, service, speed and costs by organizing human resources differently and taking advantage of technology. The process of arranging tasks needed to complete the tasks is called job design. Five different methodologies can be utilized to analyze how organizational structure, workflow analysis, and business strategy affect job design. Work simplification is a good technique to organize labor and generate a lot of uniform results in a stable setting. Job rotation and job expansion can be effective methods for introducing variety into the tasks performed by employees in environments where tasks are simple and highly detailed. Job rotation and job enlargement both increase jobs and responsibilities without interfering with the workflow. By bringing specific components back of the work together, job enrichment aims to increase employee motivation by allowing one person to generate a whole.

Conducting a job analysis is necessary before creating employment responsibilities and job evaluation. It should detail the duties involved, anticipated results, and hierarchy of the organization, as well as the nature and purpose of the position. The job holder’s characteristics should also be seen on the job analysis. The steps involved in doing a job analysis are gathering data and applying it by preparing job descriptions, job specification and job standards. Jobs that require analysis are spotted during data collection by reading previous job analysis reports or organizational charts. Interviewing of current employees and a job analysis questionnaire are tools used to gather information on the job roles, responsibilities, abilities and performance standards on a specific job. A job description is a written explanation of the goals, parameters, obligations, and responsibilities of a particular position. It is created based on a job analysis for both internal corporate usage and external use to attract customers from outside the organization.

Skills and Competencies Classifications as per International Standard 

By the mid-1990s, occupational classifications no longer met the changing needs and interdependencies of the professional labor market. Skills and competencies were becoming more important in job placement than occupations. As opposed to vocations, skills and abilities were becoming more crucial for job placement. This led to the addition of particular labor market demands known as skills and competences to national occupational classifications. Different national competence categories are making an effort to standardize competency descriptions in order to make them comparable. In 2009, Markowitsch and Plaimauer Psychologists typically develop the methodologies used to characterize abilities and competencies, which are then employed, for instance, in human resource development and education. The goals of competency portfolios are to highlight a person's abilities and capabilities before creating specialized profiles. The first question that has to be asked when structuring a list of competencies is: “What does competency mean?” For example, the competencies listed on the European CV include the following personal skills and competencies: mother tongue and other language skills, social, organizational, computer, and artistic skills and competencies.

Competency-based Job Description

As the job description portrays a job, a person specification describes a person that is needed for the job. It does not describe the last post holder or people in similar position nor a perfect person but a person who can do the task in accordance with. A job specification is a written description of the human qualities required for the position, including the aptitudes, skills, experience, qualifications, motivation, and mental and physical demands. The criteria should be fair, relevant and justifiable with specific requirements that can be measured such as:” an ability to meet deadlines”, and “detailed knowledge of programming.” Two frequently cited frameworks for characteristics used as a basis for person specification and job description are the seven-point plan and the five-fold grading system. It is becoming very common that the person specifications are based on skills and competencies that are recognized most important concerning performance in the job. Skill is best seen when someone works on a task confidently without hesitation. Increasing skill level can be seen as being able to cope with a wider range of disturbances without disturbing the performance of the task. Competency means skills, experience, knowledge, values and personal attributes that a person has and uses. The focus is shifting towards competences that are needed to achieve customer satisfaction. Competence can also mean a person’s underlying characteristics which result in effective or superior performance on the job. Beardwell and Clayton wrote in their book “Human Resource Management” (2007) that stress the importance of the employee’s thinking and working “outside the box” of traditional job descriptions. Now, employees should be capable of working without prior experience, clear guidelines or close supervision. Flexibility is very important; employees should be prepared for any kind of change, e.g. new tasks, location or organization. (The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, 2002a) stresses the concept: “thinking performer”, “who applies a critically thoughtful approach to their job” as their professional standard.

Competencies as Competitive Assets

Research suggests that financial results account for 50 to 70 percent of a company’s market value. “Intangibles” such as intellectual property and human capital also form a large part of a company’s market value have listed seven critical organization capabilities that create intangible shareholder value. One of these is learning or knowledge management. Knowledge management’s purpose is to make use of all ranges of competences that the personnel can use in their work. An organization’s ability to move ideas vertically, horizontally, externally and globally implies that learning capacity has become an intangible asset. Since human capital can be difficult to measure, employees can be seen only as expenditures. Human capital is becoming increasingly recognized as a competitive asset. Employees are seeing the importance of investing in their own learning and personal development and employers have to take steps to retain talent, nurture it and manage it effectively.

Competency-based Job Description Program

The ineffective use of job descriptions by businesses is a common issue. Job descriptions are ultimately updated and used when needed in recruiting or during major changes in an employee’s job description. Creating and maintaining a job description program takes time, effort and someone who is responsible for it. There are also pitfalls in creating job description programs such as mismanaging the program, missing critical elements of the job description, failing to describe the job accurately, failing to use the job description correctly and forgetting the format, organization and grammar. The main objective is to provide a guideline on how to form and manage a competency-based job description program. The first task for companies who wish to change to a competency-based job description model is to establish competency guidelines and develop a competency model noted that gaining an understanding of the factors that influence the attraction phase of the attraction-selection-attrition cycle (ASA) is important for organizations who wish to attract the most qualified applicant pool. Applicants are often exposed early in the recruitment process to some form of a job description or advertisement. Researchers have yet to examine how competence information in job descriptions affects applicants’ attraction to organizations. Attempting to understand how competency-based job descriptions influence applicant attraction could have significant practical value to organizations. Accordingly, the present study examined applicants’ attraction to an organization based on the presentation of competency and task-based information in the job descriptions. Personality characteristics were examined to determine if any personal characteristics contributed to job description preference.

One possible outcome, as a result of differing job descriptions, is that applicants are less attracted to organizations with competency-based job descriptions because they are more comfortable with traditional, task-based job descriptions (Lawler, 1994). Lawler (1994) proposed an alternate suggestion, noting that the competencies may contribute significantly in luring new hires and keeping hold of current staff. He further noted that a competency approach, however, may be beneficial for attracting only certain types of employees; Lawler (1994) noted that candidates who are motivated to acquire new abilities, take on new responsibilities, and participate in business management are probably the kinds of candidates who would be drawn to a company that employs competency information. This might suggest that individuals’ attitudes toward learning may affect their attraction to an organization, based on the kind of job description used. These research inquiries are looked at in the current study, which examined the attraction to organizations that used either a competency or task-based job description and explored whether openness to experience or love of learning affected organizational attraction.

In an article Job description handbook written by Margie Mader-Clark in the year 2013 Everything you need to define the job, step by step has a description—and if you craft it carefully, you can use a job description for effective hiring, new employee orientation, evaluating performances, discipline and plan for future growth. But if it’s poorly written (or not written at all), your company can face all sorts of problems, from low employee morale to legal troubles.

In a journal called “The 3D job description written by Beáta Sz. G. Pató (2017) in the year 2015 April 13 talks about the necessary accessories for creating a job description, through a model. The model concentrates on the person and a job description document, which is capable of connecting and synchronizing the organizational goals. The author introduces a tool that assists in creating job descriptions.

In a journal called the “Manager and managerial tool- Job description” describes The management specialists and the management literature often mention the decisive role played by the methodological component of management (i.e. the managerial tools, the design methodologies, reengineering and support of a functional management systems) in the scientism of manager's work. In the context of professionalization of both managers and management, treating scientifically, the management processes, becomes a major subject with impact on both quality and efficiency of management Table 1.