Job descriptions can no longer capture the essence of what people do at work. The job description is an hangover from Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management devised over 100 years ago. If job descriptions could capture what people do at work, why is there a legal disclaimed at the bottom of most job descriptions that goes something like, "... and any other duties deemed relevant by your manager"?

1. The End of the Job
Description:
Changing Job Descriptions to
Role Descriptions
Dr Tim Baker FAHRI
www.winnersatwork.com.au

2. Understand the value and importance of the non-job roles
employees' play
Aims &
Objectives
Learn the process for converting job descriptions to role
descriptions
Develop KPIs for the increasingly important roles employees
play in the workplace

4. Legal disclaimer
You are required to complete any other duties deemed relevant by
your manager ....

5. Performance Management Framework
(Baker, 2009)

6. PPssyycchhoollooggiiccaall CCoonnttrraacctt
Individual Organisation
I offer
I expect
The
organisation
expects
The
organisation
offers

7. New Employment Relationship Model
Shifting from a
Job focus to a
Performance
focus

8. Roles people play in
organisations are
more important than
the jobs they do...

9. The Work People Do
Job Tasks Non-job Tasks
Technical skills
Team role
Skill development role
Innovation &
Continuous
Improvement role
SOURCE: Baker, T. B. (2013) The End of the Performance Review: A New Approach to Appraising
Employee Performance

11. Job description v Role description
Job descriptions usually define a set of
specific tasks and responsibilities that are
performed by a particular job-holder.
Role descriptions define the tasks and non-job
roles that employees are expected to play
at work

12. Team Role
Leadership
The ability to influence others within the team
& organization in a positive way.
Accountability
The degree to which employees accept
responsibility for their own work and the work
of others they work with.

13. Team Role
Collaboration
The ability to produce successful outcomes by
working cooperatively with others.
Communication
Refers to the ability to effectively interact and
exchange information with other members of
the organization and external stakeholders,
such as suppliers.

14. Innovation and Continuous Improvement Role
Problem solving and critical thinking
Continuously seeking to identify, define, critically
analyze, and resolve work problems through
researching and testing alternative ideas and
approaches.
Customer responsiveness
Involves the ability to identify, understand, build
relationships with, and adapt to the requirements of
external and internal customers in an appropriate
manner.

15. Innovation &
Continuous
Improvement
opportunities

16. Career Role
Self-development
Developing oneself is associated with the
commitment to help in carrying out employment
duties now and in the future.
Technical development
Involves individuals planning and making decisions
about education, training, and career choices as well
as developing the right skills and knowledge to do so.

17. Ways to Formulate Role Descriptions
Dynamic duo method
The manager or supervisor chooses two individuals
who perform the same role—for example, two
accounts receivable clerks—to consider the non-job
elements associated with their role.
Team method
The manager or supervisor chooses three or four
individuals, all of whom perform the same role, to
complete the document.

18. Which approaches are available to formulate role
descriptions?
Supervisor–incumbent method
The supervisor or manager works with a single
employee to complete the role documentation.
Single-employee method
The employee completes the document him/herself.
For roles with only one employee, or for a
vacant/new position, this may be the only method
available, but it is not collaborative, and therefore is
the least preferred method.

19. SOURCE: Baker, T. B.
(2013) The End of the
Performance Review:
A New Approach to
Appraising
Employee
Performance

20. 20% off the price
Normally $35 plus postage
You get my new book signed
for $28 signed plus postage!!
Send me an email
tim@winnersatwork.com.au by
12 midnight tonight
Tim Baker’s latest book, Attracting and
Retaining Talent: Becoming an Employer of
Choice, provides just the ticket for turning your
organization into a great place to work.
Professor Marshall Goldsmith I author or
editor of 34 books including the global
bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here
Won’t Get You There