|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Job and work evaluation: A literature review
Robert L Heneman. ... 47, 25 pgs
摘要 (文章汇总)
Classification and job evaluation systems have come under attack in the public sector. A literature review was conducted to help public sector human resource professionals make informed decisions about whether or not to change or even abandon traditional classification and job evaluation systems for compensation purposes. It is concluded that traditional classification and job evaluation procedures continue to have relevance in public sector settings. However, current classification and job evaluation systems need to be broadened to adapt to the changing nature of work in public sector organizations. Recommendations to shift the focus from "Job" to "work" evaluation are offered. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
文本全文 (8271 个单词)
Copyright International Personnel Management Association Spring 2003
[眉批]
Classification and job evaluation systems have come under attack in the public sector. A literature review was conducted to help public sector human resource professionals make Informed decisions about whether or not to change or even abandon traditional classification and job evaluation systems for compensation purposes. It is concluded that traditional classification and job evaluation procedures continue to have relevance In public sector settings. However, current classification and job evaluation systems need to be broadened to adapt to the changing nature of work In public sector organizations. Recommendations to shift the focus from "Job" to "work" evaluation are offered.
Classification and job evaluation procedures have come under attack in the public sector in recent years. Criticisms range from charges of favoritism and politics being used to make job value decisions to the reinforcement of bureaucratic thinking.2 Arguments have been made that market pricing and skill and competency pay are needed to assess job worth rather than traditional classification and job evaluation practices.3
While the debates concerning classification and job evaluation systems are informative, they may be misleading. Often missing from those debates is reference to the voluminous body of scientific and practical literature that has been amassed on classification and job evaluation systems. The purpose of this review is to help public sector human resource professionals make informed decisions about whether to change or even abandon traditional classification and other job evaluation systems for compensation purposes. In order to accomplish this objective, a literature review is conducted on job evaluation over the years, and more recently, the literature that has been conducted more broadly on work evaluation. Work evaluation is a broader concept than job evaluation and allows for the evaluation of roles, competencies, and teams as well as the evaluation of tasks and duties associated with traditional job evaluation systems.4 As will be shown in this review, job evaluation is most certainly not gone nor should it be forgotten. However, current job evaluation approaches need to be broadened to adapt to the changing nature of work in public sector organizations. ... Second, major methods of work evaluation identified in the literature will be briefly described. Third, the major perspectives that emerge from debates regarding the usefulness of job evaluation will be summarized and discussed. Fourth, a framework to categorize the literature will be set forth. Fifth, the literature will be reviewed using this framework. ...
Literature Selection
The starting point to identify job and work evaluation articles was the reference lists in popular compensation texts. ... A comprehensive search was made of articles from the World at Work (formerly the American Compensation Association) and building block series, research reports, and World at Work Journal. ... Lastly, emphasis in the selection of articles and the literature review is more heavily weighted toward empirical than conceptual articles.
Work Evaluation Methods
Although some methods of job evaluation are commonly known (e. ... Hence, a brief review of job and work evaluation methods is needed prior to the rest of the review. The most common approaches to work evaluation reported in the literature can be categorized by two dimensions as shown in Table 1. ... The most common methods of work evaluation will now be described along with a listing of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Ranking
Ranking is the most straightforward method of work evaluation. ... For example, members of self-directed work teams perform different functions than do members of teams guided by a supervisor or team leader. ... Market value appears to be more objective than other work evaluation approaches
3. ... Each classification level may be defined by a number of factors that need to be present for a job, person, or team to be slotted into a particular classification level. ... One of the following standards is selected to differentiate work: ability, (e. ... , maturity curve), or job characteristic (e. ... Using these standards as examples, a pay system can be constructed such that there are different pay ranges based on whether the job or person is characterized as high ability/skill or low ability/skill. ... Allows for more flexible definitions of work
Disadvantages
1. ... , motivation) needed to perform the work. For example, teamwork is a competency increasingly required by work. ... In fact, some organizations use competencies as performance appraisal standards while other organizations treat competencies as work evaluation standards. ... Allows for very flexible definitions of work
2. ... Extensive administration required
Point-factor System
While competencies tend to focus on the jobholder rather than the job, point-factor systems tend to focus on the job rather than the jobholder. ... Rather than having a scale to rate each job relative to each factor, however, each job is instead rank ordered from highest to lowest for each factor. ... Associated with inflexible work
2. ... Difficult to explain rankings to employees
Major Perspectives
Major perspectives on job and work evaluation presented in the literature are summarized in Figure 1. ...
Traditionalists
Traditionalists believe that the basic methods of work analysis just reviewed can be adapted to organizations and people as they change over time. In addition, traditionalists believe that while work has indeed changed dramatically in recent times, it has not eliminated jobs as the basic building block of work. ... " According to traditionalists, while job evaluation does have its problems as a method of work evaluation, these problems stem from poor implementation rather than poor conception.
Realists
Realists point to the problems of both job and person evaluation as methods of work evaluation. In particular, attention is focused on the limited circumstances that exist in organizations where job evaluation can be used (i. ... They also point to the politics involved in the process of determining work hierarchies. Similarly, they point to the very limited circumstances where competencies work (e. ...
Market Advocates
According to this approach, job evaluation is a poor substitute for the market value of jobs. Job evaluation systems are either explicitly designed or implicitly designed to measure segments of work having market value (e. ...
Strategists
Strategists are like realists in that they believe that common work evaluation systems can be adapted to the changing nature of people and organizations. To do so requires that the work evaluation factors used be based directly on the business strategy, which is internally focused rather than externally focused. ... While competitors can match pay survey amount strategies, it is very difficult for competitors to develop work evaluation factors that reinforce the goals of the business. ...
The position of strategists is well stated by Murlis and Fitt,7 "Job evaluation, properly implemented, remains the way that organizations place value on parts of their structure through which employees carry out their business strategies and purpose. However flexible and fast-moving an organization may be, job evaluation provides the essential link between business direction and individual rate value, p. ... "
Organizational Development
The organizational development perspective focuses in on the process whereby work evaluations are conducted. ... Effectiveness is increased as a result of the common mutual expectations developed for people and jobs by discussing the nature and value of work. ... All three of these perspectives focus on the process used to develop work evaluations. Unlike the realist and organizational development perspectives, however, the social reality perspective believes that work evaluation is a socially constructed phenomenon. That is, it is more a symbol of the organization than it is an actual measurable value of work to the organization. The attention paid to the symbolism of work evaluation is similar to the strategic perspective.
Contingency Theory
According to the contingency perspective, the type of work evaluation approach used must be carefully matched to the organization and to the business environment faced by the organization. As such, there is no one "best" way to conduct work evaluation. ... As such, work evaluation is a neutral procedure until it is designed. In contrast to traditionalists views, contingency theorists focus in on the importance of design more than implementation for the effective use of work evaluation.
Competencies
Most job evaluation methods focus on the job rather than the person (ACA, 1989). People in the contingency school of thought reject the notion of the job for reasons set forth by some realists. Unlike realists that often advocate a market-based perspective as well, advocates of competencies instead argue that the person makes the job and that the focus should be on people rather than jobs or markets. ...
Cognitive Decision Making
The cognitive decision-making perspective views work evaluation as a series of judgments made by evaluators about work. ... The cognitive approach is similar to the social reality approach in that it views job evaluation decisions as being embedded in the social milieu of organizations. Unlike the social reality approach, however, the cognitive perspective does consider work independent of the social situation as well. ... No one perspective is sufficient to explain the outcomes of work evaluation in and of itself. By comparing these various perspectives, several important themes emerge:
* Work evaluation is an ongoing rather than static process
* Both perceived and actual evaluations of work are important
* Work evaluation sends a very important message to employees
* Successful work evaluation processes are both difficult to design and difficult to implement
* Work evaluation can be a source of competitive advantage for work organizations
* There is no one best way to conduct work evaluation
* Jobs still exist
* People make the place
Work Evaluation Framework
A work evaluation framework that emerges from the literature is shown in Figure 2. ... It depicts the dynamic process known as work evaluation. In turn, work evaluation is a function of four sets of variables: evaluator characteristics, evaluatee characteristics, environmental conditions, and organizational conditions. ... The end outcomes that emerge from the work evaluation process include the measurement properties of the system and the behavioral and attitudinal reactions of those parties involved in decision-making and affected by the work evaluation process.
Work Evaluation Process
The work evaluation process mentioned in the work evaluation framework is depicted in Figure 3. It begins with the work being performed and ends with a work hierarchy that is an array of work (e. ... 8 It is this work hierarchy that is eventually priced by the organization to determine pay rates.
The first step in the translation of work to a work hierarchy is to conduct a work analysis. This analysis provides a detailed assessment of the person performing the work, the nature of the work, and/or the context in which work is performed. ... Several constituencies may be consulted including the job incumbents, superiors, and job analysts. ...
The next step is to summarize the job analysis information into a work description. The work description may take the form of a job description, role profile, and/or competency model.
Once the work data have been summarized, the next step shown in Figure 3 is to evaluate work descriptions in order to attach an assessment of value to the organization for each work description. ...
With the direct approach, each work description is evaluated against the criteria included in the work evaluation. These criteria may be grouped by single or multiple standards and a job-to-job or job-to written-standard comparison can be made. 10 The grouping of criteria yields the following job evaluation methods that may be used to assess the value of each work description: ranking, market pricing, banding, classification, single-factor plans, factor comparisons, point-factor systems, and competencies.
With the indirect approach, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 3, work descriptions may be aggregated to a higher level (e. ... , job to an occupation), as indicated by the box labeled classification of work. Alternately, or in addition to the classification of work, some representative work descriptions, rather than all work descriptions, may be evaluated as indicated by the benchmark work box. In either event, work descriptions receive these treatments (i. ... , classification or benchmarks) prior to being assessed for value with the work evaluation procedures.
Because of the complex process associated with work evaluation, difficulties can arise at each stage due to the judgments required. ... For example, difficult statistical techniques used to determine the similarity of jobs for purposes of classification yield different classifications of work."
Evaluator Characteristics
Many different evaluators may be involved in the work evaluation process, including job incumbents, superiors, and analysts. Although participation by all of these sources is recommended by several authors in the literature,12 most of the research to date has focused on superiors and analysts as evaluators. ... Well-designed empirical studies find no impact of evaluator sex on job evaluation ratings.13 However, when another facet of the work evaluation process is considered, job analysis, there is at least one study that shows the sex of the evaluator has an effect on work analysis ratings with females giving lower scores than males.14 Also, at least one qualitative study has provided evidence of the impact of the evaluators sex on job evaluation ratings with raters, especially males, having deep-seated feelings about the value of so-called "mens" versus so-called "womens" work.15
As to the background of the evaluator, an early study by Lawshe and Farbo16 found that the reliability of job evaluation scores was higher for management than union evaluators. ... According to Schwab and Grams,17 there can be either a direct or indirect effect of sex of the evaluatee on work evaluation ratings. A direct effect means that men systematically undervalue the work of women. An indirect effect means that man under-value the work of women because women have on average lower salaries and less experience and education than do men. As with the sex of the evaluator, the sex of the evaluatee appears to have little impact on the work evaluation ratings in well-designed studies. ... When job analysis was considered as a part of the evaluation process, in at least one study, the indirect impact of sex on job analysis ratings by way of experience was reported.19
In one study, the race of the job incumbent affected job evaluation scores, with blacks receiving lower scores than whites. ... If the salary level is free from bias, then these two studies show that the job evaluation systems used are valid. ...
Environmental Conditions
Very little research has been conducted on the impact of environmental conditions on work evaluation. Hence, we know virtually nothing about union reactions to job evaluation in contemporary times. Also, we have little systematic knowledge as to employer practices in regards to work evaluation in response to government regulations (e. ... One notable exception is the review of court decisions by Cooper and Barrett.22 In this review they found that many organizations had no job evaluation system and, when this was the case, the court had to infer the value of jobs. Also, as would be expected given the equal pay act, job evaluation systems that measured factors related to skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions fared better as a business defense to discriminating pay practices.
Another area that yields very little research is the impact of labor markets on work evaluation decisions. Back in 1926, Lott recognized the importance of labor markets to job evaluation decision-making by suggesting that scarcity of labor should be a job evaluation factor. ...
Organizational Conditions
Of all the determents of the work evaluation process shown in Figure 2, the one most studied is organizational conditions. Variables studied can be clustered into the following categories: support systems, work evaluation design, power and politics, organization and job design, and business strategy.
Support Systems
Given the elaborate nature of work evaluation shown in Figure 3, it is no surprise that a considerable number of support systems need to be in place for the system to function effectively. ... Hahn and Dipboye25 found that the reliability and validity of job evaluation ratings generated by undergraduate subjects was increased with a one-hour training session devoted to defining the job evaluation factors and giving to student examples of work at various factor levels. ... A procedure to resolve disputes is needed when multiple evaluators are used and they cannot reach a consensus on evaluation values. ... Risher and Wise27 present a case study of an automated job evaluation system being used in Dade County, Florida. Pearlman and Barney28 describe an automated job analysis system being used at Lucent. ... A similar system could be created for job evaluation whereby the operating system would look for key words in job descriptions to match the job to the appropriate job evaluation level. ... 29 Under this approach, each part of the organization would select those standards to be used to assess work value (e. ... As such, it may help overcome the resistance common to changes in work evaluation practices that have been in place for many years, such as in the U. ... First, it would develop work evaluation processes (e. ... Second, it would store work evaluation processes in a central location. Third, it would distribute work evaluation knowledge (e. ... , 360 degree review) are not needed for reliable ratings,32 that a large number of items for each factor may not be needed,33 that the rational weights for factors developed by subject matter experts are sometimes just as good as statistical weights,34 that bias can be partially controlled for using statistical analyses,35 that jobs grouped into higher aggregates (e. ... 37
Power and Politics
Two interesting studies have been conducted on the role of power and politics in job evaluation settings. Benson and Hornsby38 reported on the influence tactics used by evaluators in the job evaluation process: "Rationality (the use of reason, logic, and facts to persuade others), Integration (the use of flattery and the enhancement of others self-esteem to persuade others), Blocking (the use of stubborn behavior to convince others that it is not worth the effort to change the influences position), Expertise (the appeal to expert knowledge, especially that of the external consultant, to convince others to change their positions). ... " The use of these tactics was shown to be related to self-esteem, need for dominance, and need for affiliation of 44 job evaluation committee members using the FES in city and county governments in the southeastern United States. Welbourne and Trevor39 examined departmental and position power is job evaluation in a university setting. ...
Business Strategy
The linking of work evaluation standards is critical to the effectiveness of work evaluation systems. ... Weinberger42 developed an interesting method of job evaluation based on the concept of the "strategic centrality" of jobs to the organization. ... It has been clearly demonstrated in the literature of competencies case studies that person-based work evaluation systems work best in organizations that are flat rather than hierarchical, static rather than stable, and organized by teams rather than individuals.
Approximate Word count = 15990
Approximate Pages = 64
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|