Vijay Bankar

Once, I heard someone say, what is so important about the Job Description? After all, it's just a piece of paper & what difference does that make? The Job Description can best be compared to a  'User Manual'  which tells us  'how to'  operate particular device or machine. It gives precise details about components, requirements, directions for effective and efficient use. As they say 'When all else fails, read the instructions', and, 'When all else fails, and the instructions are missing - kick it'. In our case we can't kick it; hence a wise option is to 'read the instructions'. Let us see why a Job Description is so important. As we all know the process involved for this is called 'Job Analysis' and theoretically the output is 'Job Description' and 'Job Specification'. [While the Job Description describes tasks to be accomplished, the Job Specifications lists the Knowledge, Skills, and

[Image source: Google Image] While going through SHL - "2013 Global Assessment Trends Report", trends reflected that 'Creating / implementing Competency Model (s) was ranking at number eleven (11) in list of 'HR Priorities - 2013'. And only one-third of respondents indicated that Competency Models are used effectively in their organizations.  Now, that was an unexpected finding, considering the fact that Competency Development and Management is an integral part of strategic HR initiatives. In fact mission critical for successful strategy implementation for any organization. ( 'The Execution Premium' by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ) It also reminded me of a well-known quote, "Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important" by Stephen R. Covey. As a matter of fact it was Hay Group that assisted Mr. Lou Gerstner Jr. Chairman & CEO, IBM (1993-2002) in developing eleven "

The employee survey is an effective tool available to HR Professionals for organization diagnosis. Especially when you are not sure where to start, while designing blueprint, and articulating development initiatives for improvements. Mr. Ralph Christensen, advocate the same point in his book 'Roadmap to Strategic HR', 2006 (Access the organization's readiness for change). We can use the survey as a tool for diagnosing problems prevailing within an organization. Employee surveys also facilitate fact-based decision making. In the advent of 'Big data', and decision making based on 'HR Analytics', significance of the Employee surveys had increased to a great extent. ( 'Big Data in HR' report by Josh Bersin, Principal Analyst, Bersin & Associates - April ). Rapid changes in the external environment such as mergers, acquisitions etc. have also contributed to increased importance of the views / opinions of employees, more than ever befor