See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/250306682

A Review of the Need for Writing & Updating Job Descriptions for 21st Century
Organizations.

Article  in  European Journal of Social Sciences · December 2009

CITATIONS READS

3 12,184

2 authors, including:

I D Subramaniam
Multimedia University
28 PUBLICATIONS   325 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by I D Subramaniam on 22 February 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009) ISSN 14502267

A Review of the Need for Writing & Updating Job Descriptions

for 21st Century Organizations

Sahal Ali Al-Marwai

Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Malaysia
E-mail: sahalali@hotmail.com

Indra Devi Subramaniam

Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Malaysia
E-mail: indra@mmu.edu.my

Abstract
This research paper, is an empirical investigation into the strategic importance of writing
and updating job descriptions for organizations. A total of 126 organizations participated in
an on-line survey. The results indicate that majority of the respondents have a positive
perception of the usefulness and importance of updating and writing new job descriptions.
Majority of the organizations also felt that their organization change very fast that it was
necessary to have a mechanism to write new job descriptions and to update existing ones. Many of
the organizations have introduced mechanisms to periodically update existing job descriptions and
write new descriptions. Majority of the organizations felt that the presence of this mechanism has
increased the level of organizational efficiency, productivity and the efficiency of the hiring
and selection of correct candidate.

Keywords: Updating Job Descriptions, Recruitment and Selection, Performance

Management

Introduction
Job description as a document serves a many very important functions in an organization, If written
properly and constantly updated, it provides the employees with the structure they need to carry out
their jobs. When taken together, job descriptions reflect the challenges facing the organization as well
as its aspirations. As organizations grow in response to changing business environment, job
descriptions must be updated to address the current requirements of the jobs. In spite of its importance,
job descriptions are “often outdated, overlooked and under-considered” (BNET, 2009, p. 1).
Many organizations these days seem to overlook the importance of updating and writing new
job descriptions. In most cases, companies tend to make job descriptions but totally forget to update
them. They often ignore the importance of updating job descriptions, believing that it is sufficient to
leave the job descriptions as they were initially made. Little do they realize that the updating and
writing of new job descriptions is very important and keeping job descriptions relevant is very crucial
for the competitiveness and well-being of the entire organization. What is apparent here is that the
updating of job descriptions and the writing of new job descriptions bring about a number of strategic
benefits to the organizations that adopt proper mechanisms to ensure that job descriptions are
constantly updated and new ones written where needed.

241
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to draw attention to the importance of updating and writing new job
descriptions for a business organization. More specifically, the study aims to do the following:
1. Determine the usefulness and importance in updating and writing new job descriptions.
2. Determine whether organizations have mechanism in place for updating and writing new job
descriptions.
3. Elicit the reasons organizations update and write job descriptions
4. Determine whether organizations change necessitate writing new job descriptions and updating
existing ones.
5. Compare the improvements experienced with presence of strategies to update and write new
job descriptions.
6. Propose a mechanism that needs to be adopted by organizations for making a periodic review
and updating of the new job description.

Significance of Study
The study can benefit business organizations in the sense that it highlights the empirical importance of
updating and writing new job descriptions. In essence, this research would provide an opportunity for
these organizations to understand just how important it is to update their job descriptions and to write
new job descriptions as needed. Via the acquisition of such knowledge, organizations would be able to
take proactive steps towards addressing their inefficiencies in updating and writing new job
descriptions.

Literature Review
Job Description and Its Relevance to an Organization
Job descriptions are normally used in order to propel campaigns pertaining to recruitment, set new
expectations for workers, assist in establishing salary grade level for different job categories, align
goals of individuals and activities in the organizations with their strategic objectives (Mader-Clark,
2008; Farnham, 2000 and Gan and Kleiner, 2005).
According to Dessler (2008), a job description typically contains the following sections:
• Job identification
o Job title
o Preparation data
o Preparer
• Job summary
o General nature of the job
o Major functions/activities
• Responsibilities and duties
o Major responsibilities and duties (essential functions)
o Decision-making authority
o Direct supervision
o Budgetary limitations
• Relationships
o Reports to:
o Supervises:
o Works with:
o Outside the company
• Standards of performance & Working condition
242
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

o What it takes to do the job successfully

Many organizations regard the writing of a job description as of importance only when it
concerns the creation of a new position. This is a myopic view. Job descriptions have many uses.
Possession of a job description would effectively make the job of looking for the right person,
interviewing the right person and hiring the right person much easier. Job descriptions are capable of
communicating the company’s expectations and permit the employees to understand what it takes in
order to be capable of excelling in the job. Gan and Kleiner (2005) and Mader-Clark (2008) believe
that job descriptions when formulated properly, are capable of affording the organization with the
following benefits:
• Improving morale of employees.
• Enhancing communication between employer and employee.
• Being able to measure future performance.
• Setting the stage for the fair and legal discipline or terminating the employees that are
unable to meet expectations.
• Enhancing the ability to retain stellar employees.
• Assisting in planning for the future.

Need for Writing New Job Descriptions and Updating Old Ones
Organizations could undergo restructuring, expansion, downsizing or relocation. Companies,
departments and teams change and also business priorities as well as technologies. This could result in
the job functions of employees changing to accommodate the changes in their organizations. Employee
might assume new responsibilities or leave out tasks that were not working very well. Such changes
should not be ignored and strict adherence to the old job descriptions would be counter productive to
organizational wellbeing. In the event that the job functions of the employees change, it is imperative
that their job description change as well. In essence, after writing initial, job descriptions, there are a
number of good reasons to update them in accordance with the changes taking place in the job
functions of the employees (Mader-Clark, 2008). The bottom line is that just as it is important to write
new job descriptions when an employer is planning to hire new employees, it is equally important to
continually update job descriptions to keep them relevant with the real job functions of employees in
the organization ( Mader-Clark, 2008) and (Gan and Kleiner, 2005).
Apart from specifying job functions to employees, job descriptions are used by employers in
performance management. Performance Management is an integrated approach to ensuring that an
employee’s performance supports and contributes to the organization’s strategic aims (Dessler, 2008).
It consolidates goal setting, performance appraisal and development into a single common system, the
aim of which to ensure that the employee’s performance is supporting the company’s strategic aims.
The building blocks of performance management according to Dessler (2008) are:
• Direction sharing
• Role clarification
• Goal setting
• Developmental goal setting
• On-going performance monitoring
• On-going feedback
• Coaching and support
• Performance appraisal
• Rewards, recognition and compensation
• Work flow, process control and return on investment management
Many of these activities are based on job descriptions. It is not possible to successfully manage
performance via the use of outdated job description that does not list the real functions of the job in
question.
243
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

Another compelling reason for updating job description is the hiring process would suffer if one
were to hire new employees based on obsolete job descriptions. One of the important factors
determining effective recruiting is successful prescreening of applicants. This involves listing of job’s
requirement in the advertisement or providing realistic preview of the job during initial call. Job
postings using obsolete job descriptions will not attract the right candidate for the job. Job interviews
are used to select the candidates for the job. Questions that are asked during selection interviews are
structural, behavioral and job related. In order to have predictive validity the questions have to based
on authentic job descriptions. Job analysis have to be carried out and job description written on the
actual job duties. Management could encounter legal problems if job offers and employment contracts
are prepared on job descriptions that have not been updated (Roberts, 1997; Mader-Clark, 2008).
Freeman (1996) and Mader-Clark (2008) have specified a number of reasons to update a job
description and these are listed below:
1. Where a function is added or deleted from the job.
2. Where someone that is hired possesses new skills that does not track the old description.
3. Where a higher level of contribution from a position is required, such as a new skill or a
body of knowledge.
4. Where there has been a change in the requirements of the job, like a special certificate to
carry out the job.
This is not an exhaustive list of reasons to change the job description and a good rule of thumb
here is to make a review of the job description with the employee on a very regular basis in order to
ensure that it still essentially reflects the work that the employee is doing. In this context, regular basis
varies from one decision to another. Where a company is well-established, once a year might be
sufficient but where the company is fast moving, quarterly might be appropriate and in some cases, ad
hoc updates might be in order. What can be said here is that a regular review period must not be
delayed too much and the job description has to be updated as and they go (Mader-Clark, 2008;
Roberts, 1997).
Where an employee is currently performing his or her job that is being described, it needs to be
understood that his or her input has to be obtained concerning the accuracy of the job description. It
might not be necessary to have the employee sign the new description but it needs to be recorded when
the employee has reviewed it. When both the employer and employee are in agreement in relation to
the job requirements, difficulties can be avoided in the future (Mader-Clark, 2008; Freeman, 1996).

Process of Developing a Set of Thorough and Current Job Descriptions

According to Heneman and Judge (2009), as far as the process of writing new job description or
updating existing ones is concerned, it should encompass the following elements:
1. Defining the need to revise job description format.
2. Job analysis.
3. Updating or creating new job descriptions for every classification and making sure that they are
premised on current and proper information.
4. Making an assurance that the description meets all legal standards for every position.
5. Job evaluation.
6. Updating.
The first step here normally concerns making a comprehensive definition of the need to revise
the job description format and this is done while using pre-existing information and format as much as
possible in order to minimize costs and time as well.
Job analysis can be described as the process of making study of jobs for the purposes of
collecting, analyzing, synthesizing and reporting information concerning job requirements.
Job evaluation can be described as the process of systematically making a determination of the
relative value of jobs within the organization. Here, the ranking method is the most appropriate and
simple to administer. Jobs are compared to each other on the basis of the overall worth of the job to the
244
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

organization. In essence, the worth of the job is normally based on judgment of skills, responsibility,
effort and also working conditions.

Methodology
A survey method was used to conduct this research. The research instrument was a structured
questionnaire. Data was collected through a website specifically designed for this research
(www.mmu.ueuo.com). A total of 126 Malaysian companies (both products and services companies)
having international presence participated in the study. The size of the sample would be 126 of the
local Malaysian companies with an international presence (both products and services companies), also
both small and large companies. 35% of the respondents would be from Kuala Lumpur, 32% would be
from Penang while 33% would be from Johor Bahru. The analysis reveals that 67 of the respondents
were human resource executives of the Malaysian companies and this made up 53% of the total size of
respondents. Respondents that are Managers are 39 and this made up 31% of the total size of
respondents. CEO’s and normal staff comprised of a minority with each having 5 % and 11 %
respectively. The Companies Locations and the occupation of the respondents are presented in Table 1.

Table 1: The Companies Locations and the Occupation of the Respondents.

Companies Locations
Occupation of the
Kuala Lampur Penang Johor Bahru Total
Respondents
Manufacturing Service Manufacturing Service Manufacturing Service
CEO 1 2 0 2 0 1 6(5)
HR Executives 2 19 8 15 12 11 67 (53)
Managers 5 7 8 6 11 2 39(31)
Normal staff 3 5 2 0 3 1 14(11)
Total 11 (9) 33 (26) 18 (14) 23 (18) 26 (21) 15 (12) 126 (100)
(Figures in Brackets indicate percentage to total)

Research Findings
This section, presents comprehensive account of the research findings. In essence, these research
findings are obtained from an analysis of the data acquired via the use of the on-line questionnaire.
They are presented in Table 2.

245
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)
Table 2: The Empirical Findings of the Research

Number of Respondents
Research Questions
Frequency Percent
1. Does your organization have an adequate mechanism to write
new job descriptions and to update existing ones?
• Yes 84 67 %
• No 25 20 %
• Do not know 4 3%
2. Does your organization change very fast that it is necessary to
have a mechanism to write new job descriptions and to update
existing ones?
• Yes 107 85 %
• No 19 15 %
3. What are the main reasons that compel your organization to
updated existing job descriptions or writing new job
descriptions?
• Enhanced the ability of the organization to retain stellar
54 43 %
employees
• Provides a method of terminating employees cannot meet
44 35 %
expectations
• No reason 28 22 %
4. Do you find the updating or writing of new job descriptions to
be very important?
• Yes it s useful 98 78 %
• No it is not useful 28 22 %
5. Is it important to have a general requirement to update or
write new job descriptions?
• Important 77 61 %
• Not important 36 29 %
• Do not know 13 10 %
6. What are the improvements that have taken place with the
presence of strategies to update and write new job
descriptions?
• Increase in the level of organizational efficiency 47 37 %
• Better productivity 30 24 %
• More efficient process of hiring and selection of correct
35 28 %
candidates
• No improvements 14 11 %

Determining Whether Organizations Have a Mechanism to Write New Job Descriptions and
Update Existing Ones
In making an analysis of the data, it was found here that 67% of the respondents stated that their
organizations did have a mechanism to write new job descriptions and update existing ones; 20% of the
respondents said that they did not have such a mechanism in place while 3% did not know whether or
not they had such a mechanism. This demonstrates that many organization have a mechanism to update
and write new job descriptions but at the same time there were a number of organizations that did not
have such a mechanism and this demonstrates that these organizations do not seem to understands the
importance of having job descriptions.

246
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

Determining How Fast Organizations Change So As To Necessitate Having a Mechanism to

Write New Job Descriptions and Update Existing Ones
The data analysis reveals that nearly 85% of the respondents stated that their organizations underwent
some kind of change so as to make old job descriptions become outdated and for the job descriptions to
be either updated or written again. The other 15% stated that their organizations did not undergo
significant change for it to require new job descriptions to be written or for old ones to be updated.

Reasons for Updating Existing Job Descriptions or Writing New Job Descriptions
From the analysis of data, it was found that a large majority of the respondents (78%) had stated that
the main reasons why it was necessary to update the job description or to write a new one when
required was that it enhanced the ability of the organization to retain stellar employees and it provided
a method by which employees that were unable to meet expectations were terminated. In essence, they
believed that inefficient employees that were ill-suited for the job could be laid off while efficient
employees that have the necessary skills are hired to work at the organization.
Job requirements change as well and some functions might be added or deleted. Where the job
description is updated in order to reflect the change brought about, then it is likely that the updated job
description would be likely to attract the correct applications to fill in the required positions.

Usefulness of Updating and Writing New Job Descriptions

A large majority of the respondents had stated that the updating and writing new job descriptions was
very useful and important for the organization for the purposes of remaining relevant and capable of
being competitive. Precisely 78% of the respondents had made this selection in relation to this
question. They did say that the importance stemmed from the fact that such a mechanism got rid of
irrelevant and ineffective employees and paved the way for the inception of new and highly skilled
ones. Only a small minority of 22% said that writing or updating job descriptions were not useful.

Importance on Having a General Requirement to Update or Write New Job Descriptions

About 61% of the respondents said that there should be a general requirement to update or write a new
job description and it was a requirement that was very important and could not be overlooked.
Approximately 29% of the respondents stated that having such a requirement is not that important and
no harm would be done with the absence of such a requirements

Comparison of the Improvements Experienced with Presence of Strategies to Update and Write
New Job Descriptions
A majority of 89% of the respondents stated that they had experienced a number of improvements after
having a mechanism in place to ensure that the new job descriptions were added when necessary and
that old job descriptions were updated when required. Among the improvements that were observed
here is the increase in the level of organizational efficiency, better productivity, and a more efficient
process of hiring and selection of correct candidates that are able to assist the organization in meeting
its strategic objectives. A minority of 11% said that they did not experience much improvement with
the presence of such a mechanism and hence discredited it entirely as unimportant. What can be said
here is that having effective job descriptions does improve the performance of the company.

Summary and Discussion

The axiom that is capable of being expounded here is that the creation of new job descriptions and the
updating of pre-existing ones are very important when it comes bringing about a number of strategic
247
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

benefits to the organization in question. Many organizations are understood not to have such a
mechanism in place and as a consequence not only do they lose out on the advantages accrued by
virtue of having mechanism to update and create new job descriptions, they are likely to face a number
of issues and problems when changes take place and they are unable to find suitable employees for the
job. In such cases, the organization would be attracting job applicants that are highly unsuited for
helping the organization address the challenges that it is currently facing.
What is apparent here is that organizations undergo a constant change and when change takes
place; it might be the case that much more or much less might be demanded of an employee. When
such a case, it is important for the current job description to be updated in order to reflect the changing
requirements of the job. Where an update does not take place, then the current job description would
not be reflective of the new requirement and application for job positions would be put in by applicants
that do not have sufficient expertise to perform the job in a way that addresses the challenges faced by
the organization. By updating the job descriptions, it would be understood here that applicants that
have the necessary qualifications and skills to address the challenges in question would be putting in
applications for the job, which means here that the organization would be attracting and hiring the
correct people for the job.
As far as the creation of new job descriptions are concerned, it is appreciated here that the in
some cases, new jobs might be created in order to replace old ones and hence it might be necessary for
there to be the creation of a new job description in order to reflect the existence of new jobs at the
organization. Where such is not done, then it becomes very hard for the organization to fill up the new
jobs due to the fact that they will be attracting wrong applicants via the use of old and outdated job
descriptions.

Mechanism for Periodic Reviewing and Updating of the Job Description

In view of the importance of having job descriptions that are current and relevant, all organizations
should have a mechanism in place that would ensure periodic reviewing and updating of job
descriptions. This could be achieved if the mechanism incorporates an ongoing screening process
followed by an action process. The following process could be used to achieve this. It should be a two
phase process: screening process and the action process

The Screening Process

A screening process to determine whether there is a need for updating or writing a new job description.
The human resource department should carry out this screening process by applying the CSE cycle.
This CSE cycle is a step by step process that involves checking, scanning and evaluating. These
processes are as follows:
• A check will be made of the periodically conducted job description surveys, from recruiting
form letters and via checking the employees’ e-mails, letters and various requests for updating the
job descriptions
• Scanning will be carried out to determine whether a new job has been created, whether a job’s
responsibilities and duties have changed, whether the job reporting relationships have changed
and whether resolution to job classification appeal is needed. Scanning is also carried out in order
to determine whether the standards of the company has changed, whether the skill requirements
have changed, whether they are looking for promotions and whether there is restructuring.

248
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)
Figure 1: The Screening Process for Updating or Writing a new Job Description

• Evaluation is concerned with making an assessment of all of the potential requests and such a
process needs to be conducted in consultation with the employees, supervisors and managers. In
addition to this, evaluation is also conducted by performing interviews with employees who are
intending to update their job descriptions and to make an evaluation of their requests. Results of
the scanning process are also evaluated.

Action Process
After the completion of evaluation process in the Screening Cycle, it will be clear whether there is a
need for updating or writing a new job description. If such a need is established, the action will be
taken using the Action Cycle. The appropriate job description is then written and a review is done by
sending out each and every one of the job description to the employees and the supervisor for review.
Theoretically speaking, the review process is performed in joint fashion by the line manager and the
employee and hence they are expected to take part in such discussions. It is proposed here that all
levels of management have to carefully make a review of the job description to make sure that they are
reflective of the major responsibilities of the job. All levels of the management have to carefully make
a review of the job description that was submitted in order to make sure that the duties stated are
agreed on by all supervisory levels and that the goals of the organization are met. In the event that
inaccurate job descriptions are encountered, these have to be revised (Mader-Clark, 2008).
The approval of the updated job description should be obtained from the employees, the head of
the department and the coordinator. Having done this, the updated job description is then sent out to
the HR department and approved. It is also good practice to acquire feedback of the job description for
the purposes of making a verification of the fact that the job’s responsibilities and reporting
relationships are very accurate.

249
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)
Figure 2: The Action Process for Updating or Writing a new Job Description

Limitations of the Study

This study does have a limitation in the sense that the sample size that was small had effectively posed
an obstacle to the use of much more advance statistical tools in order get much more meaningful
information. Hence, is it submitted here that the findings of the survey that was obtained via the
utilization of the questionnaire might be incapable of being generalized in order for a much bigger
population. In addition to this, limitations of time also were encountered and this was due to the fact
that a considerable amount of time was spent in sending out the questionnaire and acquiring the
feedback, in which a number of delays has been encountered.

Conclusion
This study has brought to light a number of issues pertaining to the domain of job description and it has
highlighted the importance of having a proper mechanism in place within organizations that is
specifically designed in order to ensure that new job descriptions are written when necessary and old
and outdated job descriptions are updated as and when required. The nature of 21st century business
organizations are highly unpredictable and hence the demand of organizations change fast, making it
necessary for hiring employees that are to possess additionally skills or certain special kind of skills in
order to satisfy the changing requirements the organization. It is only with a proper mechanism to
ensure new job descriptions are written and old ones updated can the organization be able to attract the
correct employees that posses the skills and competencies that are required to satisfy the organization.

250
 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 12, Number 2 (2009)

References
[1] Aboody, F. M. (1996). Job Descriptions for the Information Profession. London: Aslib.
[2] BNET (2009). Updating Job Description. Retrieved 20 April 2009 from BNET.com.
[3] Farnham, D. (2000). Developing and implementing competence-based recruitment and
selection in a social services department – A case study of West Sussex County Council.
International Journal of Public Sector Management,13(4), 369-382
[4] Gan, M. and Kleiner, B. (2005). How to Write Job Descriptions Effectively. Journal of
Management Research News, 28(8), 48-54
[5] Dessler, G. (2008). Human Resource Management. New Jersey: New Jersey.
[6] Heneman H. and Judge T. (2009).Staffing Organizations 6th Edition, Middleton, WI: McGraw
Hill International Edition
[7] Mader-Clark, M. (2008). The Job Description Handbook- Everything You Need To Write
Effective Job Descriptions- And Avoid Legal Pitfalls 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Nolo.
[8] Roberts, G. (1997). Recruitment and Selection: A Competency Approach. London: IPD.

251
View publication stats