JOB DESCRIPTION - GUIDANCE NOTES

THE PURPOSE OF JOB DESCRIPTION

The basic purpose of a job description is to clarify accountabilities across the organization. It is the foundation of various HR processes in an
organization.
A job description is intended to indicate, as clearly and precisely as possible, the scope, content and complexity of a particular job, as required to be
carried out in the organization to a level acceptable to the organization
A job description is not intended to provide a fully detailed specification of the tasks and activities involved, nor should it be concerned with the
capabilities or performance of a particular jobholder. It describes a job, not the qualities of a person doing it.

LAYOUT OF THE JOB DESCRIPTION TEMPLATE

The job description form provides for a variety of relevant information to be set out logically under the following main headings:
1. Basic information on role
2. Job purpose
3. Dimensions
4. Principal accountabilities
5. Major challenges
6. Key decisions
7. Key interactions
8. Knowledge, skills and experience

Some notes concerning each of these headings are provided below:

1 Basic information on role

-Please insert job titles where mentioned
-Don't use abbreviations anywhere in the job description particularly in mentioning the department and divisions
-Note that "Reports to" should be the title of the post to which the jobholder reports, rather than the name of an individual. If you are answerable to
more than one post for different areas of your responsibilities, please give a brief indication of this division of reporting responsibilities.
Administrative reporting : The role which signs-off on your performance appraisal
Functional reporting : The role whom you refer to for taking decisions related to functional policy adherence or expertise e.g Head of Finance
department at Plant reports administratively to Plant Head and functionally to Head, Corporate Finance

-Description of terms used in the reporting chart are:

"Your superior" --> Your immediate manager
"Peers" -- Colleagues who also report to your immediate manager
"Subordinates" -- Colleagues who directly report to you

2 JOB PURPOSE
Job purpose is a short and accurate statement of WHY the job exists
It should summarize the overall role of the job from the organization’s point of view, and one sentence should normally be adequate for this
This section is not meant to give extensive job detail, but acts as an introduction, a “thumbnail sketch” of the job.

The following three component format is an effective means of articulating the job purpose. The job purpose can be created by answering the
following three questions:
1. What does the job holder do ?
2. What does it effect or provides ?
3. Why does the job holder do it ?

Example --
-Job Title : Production Shift Supervisor
-Job Purpose Statement: "Supervise a production team in the plant to achieve output targets within set safety & quality standards, and within
agreed or reduced costs"
-Break-up as per the 3-component format :
1. What does the job holder do -- "Supervise"
2. What does it effect or provides -- "a production team in the plant"
3. Why does the job holder do it -- "to achieve output targets within set safety & quality standards, and within agreed or reduced costs"

Page 1 of 7
3 DIMENSIONS
This section records the significant quantities on which the job has some direct or indirect impact. It provides numerical data, which give a feeling
for the scope and scale of the job. The three broad kinds of quantitative data that are required are:
1. Financial --useful quantities include annual budgets, project costs, annual revenue, sales turnover, etc.
2. Staff -- the number of subordinates reporting (1) directly and (2) indirectly to you
3. Other -- these will vary depending on the job, but may indicate some of the significant volumes associated with the job, e.g. the number of
accounts for a sales job, the number of calls received for a receptionist; project responsibilities (e.g. simultaneously responsible for 3 projects of 3
months duration); regional responsibilities (e.g. responsible for marketing in South East Asia region)

Point to note:
- Accuracy of definition is more important than exactness in figures. Thus:

i) 2006 department costs: Rs. 409,321

ii) would be more usefully recorded as:

iii) 2006 Total department budget (Staff, Overheads, Expenses): Rs. 400,000

4 PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

Principal accountabilities identify clearly, the major parts of the work for which the job holder is accountable. This involves identifying the most
significant responsibilities of the job which have a clear end result for the achievement of which, the job holder will be held accountable. They
answer the question "What are the main areas in which this job must get results in order to achieve its purpose?"

Note in particular:
- Taken together, accountability statements represent all the key outputs of the job
- Accountability statements focus on results, not duties or activities. They tell the "what", not the "how";
- Accountability statements are different to a list of tasks, actions and duties, because a whole series of these can contribute to one end result
- Accountability statements are timeless, i.e. They do not change unless the job the job itself is changed in a fundamental way
- Each accountability statement is distinct from the rest, and describes an explicit area in which results must be achieved by the job holder's action
- Accountability statements suggest measures which could determine whether they are being met
- Experience shows that for most jobs between four and eight Principal Accountabilities will be sufficient to identify all the key outputs associated
with the job
- Each statement should consist of one sentence in this form:

Key Responsibility Expected End Result Major Activities % of time spent Performance measures

Example of principal accountabilities

1. Job Title: Plant hardware manager

Key Responsibility -- "Forecasting hardware capacity needs and directing subordinates in the installation of equipment"
Expected End Result -- "To ensure availability of hardware equipment at all times"
Major Activities --
(i) Maintaining service record of all hardware equipments in plant
(ii) Interacting with department heads and collecting information for hardware capacity increase/ upgradation as decided in annual plan
(iii) Collating and analyzing the information so collected to forecast hardware capacity needs for each department
(iv) Sharing forecasted plan with department heads and getting sign-off
(v) Procuring equipments as per plan and getting them installed

% of time spent -- 30%

Performance measure --
Time taken (from formal request to final installation) for upgrading equipments which are marked for upgradation
Time lost due to unavailability of equipment

2. Job Title: Quality engineering manager

Key Responsibility -- "Planning and implementing quality processes and procedures"

Expected End Result -- "To ensure early detection of quality problems in the development phase of new vehicles"
Major Activities --
(i) Interacting with product development team to understand the development plan
(ii) Creating a quality plan for various stages of product development and laying down quality process and parameters for every key activity
(iii) Conducting weekly audits to assess adherence to quality process
(iv) Conducting laboratory tests at end of every stage to decide GO or NO GO signal to product development team
(v) Interacting with product development team regularly to answer their queries and guide them on the quality process

% of time spent -- 40%

Measure -- % reduction in quality related problems in new vehicle trials

Page 2 of 7
 5 MAJOR CHALLENGES
Statements under this heading:
-Provide information on difficulty of the job
-Show complexity of the job
-Describe problems faced on the job

The following questions can be used to guide your thinking in articulating the major challenges:
1. What are the most complex issues faced on this job?
2. What are the critical aspects of this job that must be handled with exceptional care?
3. What serious problems can arise from this job?
4. What can be done to prevent these problems from arising?
5. What can be done to minimize the impact of problems that have arisen?

Example --
"To maintain sufficient stock for office use within limited storage space. This is ensured by accurate monitoring and planning of stock and
prioritizing the use of storage space"

6 KEY DECISIONS
Statements under this heading give an indication of the authority the jobholder is given. Key decisions made by a job holder fall under the following
two categories:
1. Typical decisions made by this position
2. Recommendations made by this position for superior’s decision

Example--
Typical decisions made by this position:
(i) "Respond to customers’ needs/ complaints and decide on appropriate course of action regarding timely delivery of goods"
(ii) "Planning and execution of delivery schedule"
Recommendations made by this position for superior’s decision:
(i) "Replacement of defective goods"
(ii) "Hiring and dismissal of delivery men"

7 KEY INTERACTIONS
This information concerns the roles with whom the jobholder interacts during normal execution of work. It indicates the main contacts of the job
holder both within (internal) and outside (external) the organization and the share of time spent between the two. Do not include your immediate
superior or your subordinates in your interactions.

8 SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

This area of the job description is designed to bring out the knowledge, skills and experience required for the job. It should summarize the
knowledge and experience necessary to perform the job to a fully acceptable level at standard performance. This could include:

- Any specific technical, specialized, professional knowledge or experience needed

- Minimum vocational/academic qualifications required (or their equivalent e.g. “3-4yrs experience through on-the-job training”)
- Management and other skills needed and the minimum post qualification time and experience necessary to become fully proficient in the job –
i.e. not simply entry level requirements.
- Any preferred/essential qualifications (Please state which)
- Background (e.g. previous relevant experience in similar work/type of organization)
- A guide to typical years of experience required to do the job to a fully acceptable standard.
- Personal skills (e.g. telephone negotiation skills, budget management skills)
- Personal characteristics (e.g. good communicator, team player)

Point to note:
- DO NOT simply describe the jobholder’s own qualifications/experience. Describe the job requirements, as if you were listing requirements that
would be included in a recruitment advertisement

Example --
Educational Qualifications -- "A recognized basic degree or equivalent professional qualifications in any field. Desirable specialization could be in
mass communication"
Professional Experience -- "A minimum of 10 - 12 years working experience in Corporate Public Relations in a medium-sized company, preferably
in a listed company. Of these, 5 years should be at middle management, with managerial responsibilities"
Personal Characteristics and Behaviors -- "Strong interpersonal skills, good communication skills"

COMMON FAULTS IN JOB DESCRIPTIONS

-Use of jargon instead of plain language and facts.
-Description is too long and detailed with many irrelevancies.
-Description is superficial, does not capture the uniqueness of the job.
-Incorrect emphasis on the different aspects of the job
-Focus on the jobholder and not the job.
-Summary of duties rather than the primary purpose of basic end results.
-Lengthy detailed list of activities.

Page 3 of 7
 Role Analysis Template
(Please read attached guidance notes before completion)

00 Basic Information on role

Designation & Role Incumbent name

Department & Function Location

Functionally Administratively
Please indicate the role whom you
report to in your current role

Approved By
Role Written by:
(Immediate superior)

Approved by: Functional/ Unit head) Date

01 Section One : Job Purpose

A two to three line statement outlining the reason for which the job exists. The structure of this statement should be (1) What does this job do (2) What does it
effect or provide (3) Why does it do this

02 Section Two: Position in organization chart

Draw an organization chart that shows clearly your job, your immediate manager, colleagues who also report to your manager, and your subordinates. (Please fill
only job titles and not names of role holders)

Peers Peers Peers Peers Peers Peers

Subordinates Subordinates Subordinates Subordinates Subordinates Subordinates Subordinates

03 Section Three : Key Interactions

List the roles (job titles only) with whom you interact for execution of your work. Please mention the overall % of time spent between internal and external interactions
e.g. 40%:60%
Internal interactions External interactions
Agency (whom you
Agency (whom you interact with) Nature/ purpose of interaction Nature/ purpose of interaction
interact with)

Overall ratio between internal : external =

Page 4 of 7
Page 5 of 7
04 Section Four : Principal Accountabilities
List the expected end results that must be achieved in order to fulfill your job purpose and the activities that help in achieving these results. (Please mention % of
time spent in achieving each expected end result and not for each activity done to achieve the end result)

Key Responsibility Expected outcome Activity % of time spent Performance measures

Please indicate the Please indicate the

Please indicate the output that
Please indicate the
is generated from executing
responsibility
this responsibility
Please indicate the key activities done to
% of your total time performance measures used
execute the responsibility and deliver the
spent in executing to gauge the success against
required output
this responsibility expected outcome

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

4.10

Page 6 of 7
10 Validation Comments by Head of Department

Please validate this role description for (i) the accuracy and (ii) completeness of its content based on your understanding of the role as it exists today. Please
provide appropriate corrective comments wherever required. For each comment that you provide, please indicate the section of role description to which it is
directed

Section
Comments

No. Title

1 Basic Information on role

2 Job Purpose

3 Principal Accountabilities

4 Key Interactions

Knowledge , skills and

5
experience

Signature Signature Signature

Incumbent Functional Head Unit Head

Page 7 of 7