Week 6 Assignment – MidtermInstructions

Determining the Proper Job Classification

Introduction

Assume you are an HR Consultant that has been hired to help Comfort Assisted Living with a recent grievance that was filed by one of its employees. You will not be working on the legal aspects of the case, but you will help the company determine if the employee’s job classification is correct. Comfort Assisted Living has an HR Department but would like to obtain an outside opinion.

The employee, Gregory Williams, is currently working as a Senior HR Specialist for Comfort Assisted Living. His current job duties are provided in the Supplemental Information document posted in our classroom. Mr. Williams has been in the position for 5 years and had consistently received “outstanding” ratings on his performance evaluations until this year when he received a “meets expectations” rating. A month ago, he saw a job announcement that Comfort Assisted Living placed on Monster.com for a Deputy VP of HR. Mr. Williams was angered by the job announcement because he felt he was already performing the duties stated in the announcement. When he asked his supervisor about the job, he was told that the Deputy position was a new one that was being created and that he would have to apply for the job just like everyone else. Mr. Williams disagreed and felt his current position should be reclassified to that of a Deputy VP of HR. He has filed a grievance with Comfort Assisted Living and you have been hired to determine if Mr. William’s current job is equivalent to the new Deputy position. You have been told upfront that it has been years since the company conducted a job analysis for its HR positions so you might have to begin there before making your determination. Also, you have heard from employees that work with Mr. Williams that he has been slacking on the job lately. According to them, he routinely comes in late, takes extra long lunches, and does not submit all of his work on time. At least one of his coworkers said Mr. Williams was having health issues and that he might have to undergo chemotherapy. Another coworker said the health issues weren’t with Mr. Williams, they were with his young daughter, who has a mysterious illness that doctors are having difficulty diagnosing. You’ve checked his leave records and nothing is on file regarding an FMLA request and there is no documentation regarding possible medical issues.

In completing this assignment, you will showcase that you can conduct a job analysis and use the results to develop a job description, which will help address organizational needs/concerns. You will also demonstrate that you have an understanding of the ethical issues involved with job analyses, job evaluation, and job design. Additionally, you will show that you understand the HR context and have mastery of the fundamental student competencies identified by UMUC’s Graduate School including: communication and critical thinking.

Steps to Completion

1. Review the information in the Supplemental Information file and relevant course material regarding the nature of a job analysis and its relationship to job descriptions and job classifications.
2. Determine what additional information you will need in order to determine if Mr. Williams is justified in his claim.
3. Decide which of the four most commonly used methods of job analysis (observation, interviews, questionnaires, functional) you will use and be prepared to defend your choice.
4. Determine how you will overcome some of the most common problems in performing a job analysis. Our course material discusses several of them.
5. Review and understand the key ethical considerations when conducting a job analysis and designing a job description.
6. Conduct an internet search to find job typical job descriptions for Senior HR Specialists. Compare and contrast the components in those descriptions with the information given regarding Mr. Williams’s current job duties.

Resources:

* O*Net – http://www.onetonline.org

* UMUC’s Online Library Databases

* Course material

* YouTube videos on job analysis such as, but not limited to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMThqle0mqY

Deliverables

There are two (2) separate deliverables for this assignment.

1. Prepare a 5-7 page description of how you will conduct the job analysis and include a projected timeline for completion, including all of the interim steps. Assume this report will be given to the Legal Department of Comfort Assisted Living and will be a key piece of evidence if Mr. Williams’s grievance goes to court. With that in mind, your document must include sufficient support for your plan, and include a discussion of the ethical issues that might exist in this case and how you would overcome them. Your write-up must include appropriate references and citations.The final document must be formatted according to APA guidelines.
2. Given the information you have in the supplemental document and from the additional resources you found, develop a possible job description for Mr. Williams. You will have to make some assumptions regarding the nature of his work. That is fine, just be sure to highlight and explain where any major gaps exist.

Written Assignment Rubric.doc

Supplemental Information for Week 6 Assignment.docx

Start DateFeb 28, 2018 12:00 AMDue DateMar 11, 2018 11:59 PMHide Rubrics

Rubric Name: Written Assignment Rubric

CriteriaABCF0Quality50 points

Student directly addresses main question or issue, and adds new insight to the subject not provided in lectures, readings, or class discussions. Student has retained nearly all of the knowledge presented in class, and is able to synthesize this knowledge in new ways and relate to material not covered in the course.

42.5 points

Student competently addresses main question or issue, but does not add much new insight into the subject. That said, it is clear that the student has learned a great deal and is able to communicate this knowledge to others.                  

37.5 points

Student attempts to address main question or issue, but does not quite succeed. The student has retained some information from the course, but does not fully understand its meaning or context and cannot clearly convey it to others.

30 points

Student does not attempt to address main question or issue, and it is obvious that the student has not retained pertinent information from the course or is not able to clearly convey that information to others.

0 points

Criteria is missing from the assignment.

Evidence20 points

Student directly addresses main question or issue, and adds new insight to the subject not provided in lectures, readings, or class discussions. Student has retained nearly all of the knowledge presented in class, and is able to synthesize this knowledge in new ways and relate to material not covered in the course.

17 points

Provides necessary evidence to convince reader of most aspects of the main argument(s) but not all. The importance/ relevance of some evidence presented may not be totally clear. Reader must make a few mental leaps or do some additional research to fully accept all aspects of main argument.

15 points

Not enough evidence is provided to support student’s argument(s), or evidence is incomplete, incorrect, or oversimplified. Information from reference material is not effectively used.

12 points

Minimal evidence is provided, or there are numerous factual mistakes, omissions or oversimplifications. There is little or no mention of information from reference material.

0 points

Criteria is missing from the assignment.

Sources10 points

Evidence is used from a wide range of sources, including scholarly material, appropriate websites, professional articles, etc. not explicitly discussed in class.

8.5 points

Evidence is used from many sources, but student relies heavily on a more limited set of sources. Some effort is made to go beyond material presented in class when required, but not much. If outside sources are used, they are primarily non-scholarly (i.e., intended for a general audience) and/or web-based..

7.5 points

Does not go beyond the material that has been provided in the course.

6 points

Only minimally uses sources provided by instructor, or relies exclusively on non-scholarly outside sources.

0 points

Criteria is missing from the assignment.

Citations10 points

All sources are properly cited according to APA format.

8.5 points

All evidence is cited, but there are some minor problems with completeness or APA format of some citations.

7.5 points

Some pieces of the assignment are unreferenced or inaccurately referenced, and there are problems with completeness and APA format of citations.

6 points

Minimal attempt is made to cite evidence.

0 points

Criteria is missing from the assignment.

Clarity & Style10 points

All sentences are grammatically correct and clearly written. No words are misused or unnecessarily verbose. Technical terms, words from other languages, and words from other historical periods are always explained. All information is accurate and up-to-date.

8.5 points

All sentences are grammatically correct and clearly written. An occasional word is misused or unnecessary. Technical terms, words from other languages, and words from other historical periods are usually, but not always, explained. All information is accurate and up-to-date. Paper contains no more than a few minor errors, which do not adversely affect the reader’s ability to understand the student’s writing.

7.5 points

A few sentences are grammatically incorrect or not clearly written. Several words are misused. Technical terms, words from other languages, and words from other historical periods are rarely explained. Paper contains several errors that impair the reader’s ability to understand what is written.

6 points

Paper is full of grammatical errors and bad writing. Several words are misused. Technical terms, words from other languages, and words from other historical periods are rarely explained. Paper contains numerous errors that make it difficult for the reader to understand the writing.

0 points

Criteria is missing from the assignment.

Overall ScoreA
90 or moreB
80 or moreC
70 or moreF
0 or more

This represents the “A” grade level.

This represents the “B” grade level.

This represents the “C” grade level.

This represents a failing grade.