The interview results indicate, that the main problem with the case com- pany’s human resource practices is that they are not systematically docu- mented, and therefore not clear for all employees. Many practises, instruc- tions and processes are based on verbal agreement. The owner states that human resource management is the most challenging part of managing a small business.
4.2.1 Job analysis, job descriptions and job design
The current job descriptions are created by the owner by himself after a situation where an effort to conduct job analysis process with the employ- ees had not been successful. The job analysis is based mostly on the own- er’s reflection and the employees have not been involved in the process.
There are some shortcomings and problems in the current job descriptions.
According to the owner, the written job description documents are not used for anything at the moment. The employees are also not very aware of their job descriptions. According to the interviews only two employees, plus the writer of this thesis know that they have a written job description, and none of the employees know what job descriptions are used for. Based on the research, it can be said that the employees not involved in the pro- cess of creating and updating the job descriptions.
The current job descriptions are not up to date, and there is no information on the job description documents about when they were updated or creat- ed. According to the research, they have not been updated since 2013, and there is no written job description for warehouse coordinator, e-commerce and marketing manager or suspension mechanic. Some of the warehouse coordinators and e-commerce managers tasks and duties are listed on the outdated sales person job description. It is also a problem that there are two different versions of the generic sales person job description existing at the same time.
The main task or tasks are mentioned for bicycle mechanic and sales per- son. The frequency of occurrence or time that should be devoted to a task are not mentioned. For the sales person there is no performance standards on the job description. On the other hand, for the bicycle mechanics’ main task there is performance standard that says: services to be made in time, carefully and that all bicycles are test ridden and inspected before giving them back to the customer. There is no job specification listing human traits or qualifications needed to perform the job effectively as a part of job description or as a separate document. Overall it can be concluded from the research, that the case company’s’ job descriptions are not sys- tematically documented, updated or developed.
A problem with the job design in this case is, that in order for it to be ex- amined or developed further, an up to date and systematically documented job descriptions would be needed.
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Challenge with the job analysis and job descriptions in the case company is how to involve the employees in the process? The owner says in the in- terview that a job description should not be dictated by the employer, and that the employees should be involved in developing them. The previous attempt to involve the employees in job analysis process had not been a success.
Another challenge is, how the job descriptions could be developed in small and flexible company like this without creating more restrictions or making them too vague to deliver any value.
4.2.2 Performance appraisal and development discussions
According to the interviews, the employees do not know how their per- formance in work is appraised. The owner however, states that perfor- mance appraising is an ongoing process that is happening all the time. The performance appraisal is based on the success of the company, and the owners’ own perception of the work quality and customer satisfaction.
Since the employees say that they are not aware of the performance ap- praisal, it can be concluded that performance appraisal criteria is not doc- umented or communicated clear enough.
The feedback that employees get about work their performance from the employer is somewhat lacking. Official development discussions are not held. There is no consistent, structured way to receive feedback for the employees. The feedback that the employees get, is mostly limited to short comments and discussions about daily issues.
According to the interviews there is also a problem with the owner not getting enough information from employees regarding their work beyond the daily issues. The owner has challenges to get information about long term changes, challenges and developments from the employees. There is a clear statement from the owner that better communication about these is- sues is needed between him and the employees.
The research indicates that there is a challenge to develop ways of com- munication to both directions between the owner and employees, to in- crease employee awareness on how their work performance is appraised and to create systematic practises on giving structured feedback.
4.2.3 Workflow
Both the employees and the owner mention in the interviews that there are some problems with the workflow. According to the owner, communica- tion problems between employees about the timetables of the customer or- ders is the biggest factor influencing customer satisfaction negatively. It can be concluded from the employee interviews, that there is a problem with the customer orders and other work processes where several employ- ees work on the same process at different stages without knowing clearly
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enough what the situation is , what the previous employee has done and what has been communicated with the customer.
The owner says in the interview that matters related to workflow are often discussed with the employees in effort to improve communication and customer satisfaction. The variety of different ways the work can flow through this organization, and the experienced problems indicate that workflow is a challenging issue to understand and improve. The fact that there is no systematic documentation of workflow analysis is a problem for developing it.
4.2.4 Recruiting
According to the owner, recruiting is somewhat based on networking and personal relationships with the applicants. Recently an outside recruiting firm has been used for the recruiting process as well. Since there is no up to date and systematically documented job descriptions, the information that a recruiting company needs for the process is challenging to provide.
Also, in the cases where the recruiting is conducted by the owner based on personal relationship or networks, it is challenging to provide accurate in- formation about the job based on the current job descriptions. On the other hand, all of the current employees said in the interview that the image that they had about the job before hiring has matched the reality well or quite well.
4.2.5 Employees responsibility for developing professional competencies
The employee interview answers indicate that there is not much training offered. Some of the employees say that they are able to do training if they are active and demand it.
On the other hand, the owner says there is great value in employees wid- ening their skills and knowledge, and that the employees’ training needs are decided together with the employer. The owner is also worried that employees too often see their only development option being searching work from elsewhere instead of developing their competencies in their current jobs.
The seasonal nature of bicycle business creates a challenge where it is dif- ficult to provide motivating tasks for all the sales persons in winter time.
According to the owner, the winter-season should be about development of the company and training the employees. The employees’ responsibility to develop professional skills and knowledge is also written on both cur- rent job descriptions that are used.
According to the interviews, orientation is mostly done by co-workers when needed. Because the skill and knowledge needed for performing a job are not clearly documented anywhere, the orientation of new employ- ees must be based on verbal agreements and assumptions.
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A problem is that any of those skills or knowledge are not specified on the job descriptions, and that only some of the employees are aware of the job descriptions in the first place. There is a challenge on how the employees and employer can decide on the training and development needs together, when the skills and knowledge needed for the jobs are not documented ac- curately.
5 RECOMMENDATIONS
In this chapter the writer provides recommendations for the case company based on the research of theory, and the research of case company situa- tion. The writer concludes that Rtech would benefit from developing the company’s human resource management practises and processes to be somewhat more systematic and effective, since a company that wants to be successful has no other options but to make sure that the employees are willing and able to perform well on their job and commit to the company (Viitala 2007, 10). Small companies that use effective human resource practices perform better that those companies that do not, and especially companies that aim for growth benefit from some level of systematic hu- man resource management. However, too rigid practices may be a threat for flexibility and creativity in a small organization. (Viitala 2016, 16-17;
Dessler 2015, 593.)
For systematic conducting and developing and developing of human re- source management practices, there has to be some level of formality and documentation (Viitala 2016, 14). The writer suggests that developing the job descriptions is an appropriate place to begin developing the case com- pany’s human resource management practices and processes since it is a tool that serves as the base for most human resource practices, and the re- search indicates that there are many areas that can be improved on Rtech’s job descriptions.
The writer recommends that Rtech should develop their job descriptions, because there is a long list of benefits accurate, well-structured and sys- tematically documented job descriptions can provide for a company. A job description can provide an organization with competitive advantage when used strategically. (Samuel 2016, 8; Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy 2007, 65.) An accurate job description is a useful management tool that can sig- nificantly simplify an organizations human resource management, as well as help the employees understand their jobs better. (Chow & Kleiner 2002, 124.) A job description also clarifies what the employee is expected to ac- complish. It is used as a groundwork for agreement between the employer and the employee about the expected job performance results. (Arthur 2005, 83-84.) A job description can be used for:
• Clarifying relationships between jobs
• Interviewing
• Job posting
• Outplacement
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• Performance appraisals
• Promotions
• Grievance proceedings
• Salary structuring
• Selection
• Training
• Transfers
• Work flow analyses
• Recruitment
• Demotions
• Disciplinary actions
• Employee orientations
• Exit interviews
(Arthur 2005, 83-84.)
Since a written job description document is the outcome of a job analysis, it needs to be conducted first. (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy 2007, 65.)