Question from the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
How do you incorporate discretionary responsibilities into the job description?
Response:
This discussion hinges on the difference between prescribed duties and discretionary duties.
Prescribed duties are easy. Those are the ones you are told explicitly to do.
But do we pay an executive, who writes a letter, for the mechanics of pushing a pen to make ink flow onto a piece of paper, or pressing keys to make letters appear on a screen? Or do we pay an executive for the discretionary thinking that goes into the message of the letter?
Do we pay a machine operator for the prescribed duties of moving a piece of metal into position and pressing a button to cut the metal? If that were the case, we would simply purchase robotics. Or rather, do we pay the machinist for the discretion of how raw materials are organized to enter the work area, the cleanliness of the scrap produced by the machine, the attention paid to the preventive maintenance to keep the machine operating?
Indeed, effectiveness in a position may have more to do with discretionary performance than prescribed performance.
So, how do we build discretionary performance into the expectations of the job? Can it be done through the job description document? Comments? -TF
I tell my employees what the job requirements are to be a “satisfactory” employee. But to stay with the company and advance they have to be an “excellent” or “superior” employee and the way to achieve that is to think about what the company needs and how to provide it. Since we are in marketing and advertising it is usually thinking about how to improve the service we give our clients or the creative we provide our clients.
But, I want to hear what you recommend.
This question comes up a lot in the computer-programming world.
In “the olden days” (the 1980s?), they used to pay programmers based on how many lines of code they wrote. But most programmers today (even the mediocre ones) know that fewer lines of code means better code.
A simplified example: When someone is writing a computer program, they’ll often have to repeat some small-scale tasks over and over again. Smart programmers group those common tasks into “functions”. So from then on, instead of repeating those same lines over and over, they’ll just execute the functions.
By doing this, the programmer increases their productivity. More is accomplished per time spent. This small example should be applied to the whole of their job, wherever possible. “Work smarter, not harder” to the Nth degree.
But how do you put that into a job description? Measure long-term results?
Can’t it be included in the job description? In a resume, I don’t think anything is too trivial as long as you know how to phrase things creatively and correctly of course! But I’ve never really thought of it until now. Sometimes, employees are really made to do things that are not exactly in their job description.
Well I agree, as what I understand, you mean a person in a job should also have an initiative right? A lot of jobs now needs critical thinking. And also, I agree to Jay, most of the employees who got their job doesn’t really fit with their job description, so an employee should have initiative and common sense in every task given and not just based on what you call as “Prescribed duties”.
Great Post!