Hrm Cases: Incidents Analysis

HRM Incident 3: The Controversial Job David Rhine, compensation manager for Farrington Lingerie Company, was generally relaxed and good-natured. Although he was a no-nonsense, competent executive, David was one of the most popular managers in the company. This Friday morning, however, David was not his usual self. As chairperson of the company’s job evaluation committee, he had called a late morning meeting at which several jobs were to be considered for reevaluation. The jobs had already been rated and assigned to pay grade 3.

But the office manager, Ben Butler, was upset that one was not rated higher.

To press the issue, Ben had taken his case to two executives who were also members of the job evaluation committee. The two executives (production manager Bill Nelson and general marketing manager Betty Anderson) then requested that the job ratings be reviewed. Bill and Betty supported Ben’s side of the dispute, and David was not looking forward to the confrontation that was almost certain to occur.

The controversial job was that of receptionist. Only one receptionist position existed in the company, and Marianne Sanders held it. Marianne had been with the firm 12 years—longer than any of the committee members.

Hrm Cases

She was extremely efficient, and virtually all the executives in the company, including the president, had noticed and commented on her outstanding work. Bill Nelson and Betty Anderson were particularly pleased with Marianne because of the cordial manner in which she greeted and accommodated Farrington’s customers and vendors, who frequently visited the plant.

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They felt that Marianne projected a positive image of the company. When the meeting began, David said, “Good morning. I know that you’re busy, so let’s get the show on the road. We have several jobs to evaluate this morning and I suggest we begin… Before he could finish his sentence, Bill interrupted, “I suggest we start with Marianne. ” Betty nodded in agreement. When David regained his composure, he quietly but firmly asserted, “Bill, we are not here today to evaluate Marianne. Her supervisor does that at performance appraisal time. We’re meeting to evaluate jobs based on job content. In order to do this fairly, with regard to other jobs in the company, we must leave personalities out of our evaluation. ” David then proceeded to pass out copies of the receptionist job description to Bill and Betty, who were obviously very irritated. See questions below. ob can be reclassified / re-evaluated if the duties or responsibilities of an employee have significantly changed or expanded over time, and the expanded duties have remained in place for at least six months. In these cases, the same review criteria are used as with new positions. Based on the rating system, the employee may be moved to a higher pay band, and may receive retroactive pay. QUESTIONS 1. Do you feel that David was justified in insisting that the job, not the person, be evaluated? Discuss. Job evaluation is a technique used to determine the value of each job in relation to all jobs within the organization.

The job evaluation and the employee evaluation are based on two entirely different scales. The job evaluation clearly identifies and describes the task, creates the basis for the job description and relates to the tasks involved with the position itself The basic purpose of job evaluation is to eliminate pay inequities which may exist because of illogical pay structures, such as might develop over time if care is not taken in how compensation is determined. Job evaluation programs are generally administered by the human resource department and are usually conducted by a committee.

The jobs people have are major determinants of the amount of financial compensation they will receive, and organizations pay for the value attached to certain duties, responsibilities, and other job-related factors, such as working conditions. The relative worth of jobs is usually determined through a combination of job analysis, job descriptions, and job evaluation. The employee evaluation measures the employees overall performance of their tasks as it relates to the overall success of the company. David was asked to evaluate the job for compensation purposes, which involves the job function, not the person who is performing the job.

I do feel that David was justified in insisting that the job, not the person be evaluated. 2. Do you believe that there is a maximum rate of pay for every job in an organization, regardless of how well the job is being performed? Justify your position. Employers use pay scales to calculate salaries. The rate range for a job grade consists of a minimum, midpoint, and maximum rate of pay unrelatedly to how well a job is performed. Many employers use a system job evaluation tool to rank jobs based on skill, education, experience, and duties to assess the job description.

There should be a maximum rate of pay, which should be based on the individual’s job performance. The starting rate and maximum rates should be the same for all employees in the same position but, their individual rates may be different depending on their performance. However, once an employee has reached the maximum rate of pay for the position the employee should not receive any more pay raises. A job should have its maximum pay rate depending on many factors. In most cases jobs that do not require high level of education are the jobs that do not lead to a life long career.

In this case, there is a limit of value that a receptionist like Beth could bring to the company. It wouldn’t make much financial sense to pay a receptionist equal to an operations manager. Even in this example where the receptionist has elevated value due to her interpersonal skills, ultimately she does not provide attainable financial betterment to the company outside of her job description. Therefore, the employee should be paid based on their quantified value as an asset to the company; and a job should have a maximum rate of pay.