Job Analysis: AAPS’ Paralysis

Job Analysis: AAPS’ Paralysis

Anoop Singh, Aditya Sharma, Pooja Thakur and Sarika Bakshi (AAPS) were employees at four different organizations. All four were wedged amidst similar problems in their jobs. Anoop Singh (Anoop) was disheartened as his job responsibilities and duties were nowhere in sync with his job title and he sensed regression in his career. Pooja Thakur (Pooja), a freelancer, had proved to be a smart worker but was disgruntled and decided to quit as her employers were clueless in deciding an appropriate compensation for her work when they decided to take her on the payroll. Like Pooja, Sarika Bakshi (Sarika) also proved to be a very hard-working and result-oriented employee. However, post losing an opportunity to grow in her career due to inadequate performance appraisal standards for her job profile she was discontented with her employment. Aditya Sharma (Aditya), on the contrary, was not able to perform up to his full potential and was frustrated as the job description for his role was outdated and operations in his company were not process-driven. What were the reasons behind all these employees’ concerns? Did these concerns stem from a common root? Could there be a common solution for all?

Anoop Singh at M&V Research Company Ltd.

M&V Research Company Ltd., is a market research company. Its core business involved generating monthly market research reports on various industry verticals, spanning 18 industries. Each industry vertical was headed by a Team Leader, assisted by a team of 10–12 well-qualified research personnel. The team leaders in turn reported to a Project Manager. There were six Project Managers, each overseeing three industry teams while also individually working on country reports. All the Project Managers reported to General Manager-Operations.

Apart from Operations department, the other departments within M&V were HR & Admin, Accounts & Finance, Sales & Marketing and IT & Systems. Each of these departments was headed by a General Manager. The General Managers reported to the COO of the company, who in turn reported to the CEO along with other Directors (Exhibit I)..................

Aditya Sharma at Furniture & Decorations Pvt. Ltd.

Furniture & Decorations Pvt. Ltd. (F&D) was a well-established furniture manufacturer and retailer, operating with its four stores and two workshops in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). Starting as a small furniture shop 40 years ago, it had grown into a popular brand with increasing demand for its products. Of late, it also started online retailing through its dedicated website...............

Pooja Thakur at Brown’s Handicrafts

Brown’s Handicrafts was a startup company, founded by three college friends. The company engaged in the business of aggregating handicrafts from rural artisans and selling them through their online portal. Being a startup, working on shoestring budgets, the company opted for flexible workers (freelancers, work-from-home moms and part-timers) wherever possible to save on the costs of hiring permanent employees............

Sarika Bakshi at Waves Publishing

Waves Publishing Pvt. Ltd. (Waves) was one of the established publishing houses of India, publishing both academic and non-academic books and journals. It operated out of its office in Mumbai and had employee strength of 120 employees.

In 2014, Sarika Bakshi (Sarika), a dynamic young MBA graduate was recruited through a campus recruitment drive into Waves’ Digital Marketing division, a new division within Waves. Sarika reported to Karan Gupta (Karan), the Head of the Digital Marketing division. After an initial training of 1 month, she was assigned the work of coordinating between the vendors and Waves’ Digital Marketing division...............

Assignment Questions

I. Using the following framework, what's your analysis of each of the four situations presented in the case study? More specifically, how do you relate each of the four situations to the broad contours of job analysis presented in the framework?

II. Identify the ideal solution to the problems being faced by Anoop Singh, Aditya Sharma, Pooja Thakur and Sarika Bakshi. What would be your suggestion to the respective HR heads to ensure that such situations don't recur?

III...............

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Organizational Structure at M&V Research Company Ltd.

Exhibit II: Job Analysis for General Manager – Consulting

Exhibit III: Job Description of the Floor Manager at F&D

Exhibit IV: Pooja’s Resignation Letter

Exhibit V: Sarika’s KRAs Set By Karan

Exhibit VI: Sarika's KRAs Set by Sourabh

Job Analysis: AAPS’ Paralysis

Synopsis

This case study enables a discussion on the concept of job analysis and the allied concepts of job description and job specification. It attempts to bring out the significance of job analysis through four instances where there was either lack of job analysis, inadequate job analysis or outdated job analysis. Anoop Singh, Aditya Sharma, Pooja Thakur and Sarika Bakshi (AAPS) were on the verge of quitting their jobs as erroneous job analysis had left them dissatisfied. The case study poses the dilemma of how to disentangle job analysis related issues. It facilitates a discussion on the role of job analysis, failure of job analysis and its repercussions, and the relevance of integrating job analysis into a job role. It highlights that job analysis, though a seemingly theoretical and an unimportant HR practice, could deeply impact several other allied HR decisions, if it is inadequate or incomplete.

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding

• • Gary Dessler and Biju Varkkey, “Job Analysis”, Human Resource Management, 12^th Edition, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., 2011 – To understand the concept of job analysis and its inter-linkage with job description and job specification

Case Positioning and Setting

This Caselet can be used for MBA course in:

• • Human Resource Management – To teach the concept of job analysis and its inter-linkage with job description and job specification

Assignment Questions

• I. Using the framework (illustrated in assignment question number I given in the case study), what's your analysis of each of the four situations presented in the case study? More specifically, how do you relate each of the four situations to the broad contours of job analysis presented in the framework?
• II. Identify the ideal solution to the problems being faced by Anoop Singh, Aditya Sharma, Pooja Thakur and Sarika Bakshi. What would be your suggestion to the respective HR heads to ensure that such situations don’t recur?
• III. .....................

Suggested Reading for the Faculty

The following articles are suggested to broaden the theoretical constructs of Job Analysis and also to provide a broad framework for meaningful classroom analysis:

• • Robert Simons, “Designing High-Performance Jobs”, Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005 – To identify the ways in which jobs can be made high performing by empowering the employees
• • “21st-Century Job Descriptions”, Harvard Management Communication Letter, February 2001 – To discuss the criteria for developing relevant job descriptions

Preamble

This case study is an attempt to sensitize the students/participants to the nuances of job analysis and its allied concepts’ (job description, job specification, recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, job evaluation, etc.) organizational implications. While job analysis is generally perceived as just a theoretical HR function, this case study highlights how employees can be subjected to undue anxiety leading to (probable) exit if due diligence has not been carried out. Accordingly, this case study can be orchestrated in the classroom on the following lines [Exhibit (TN)-I]: .......................