[Original]: Why can't job analysis solve the problem of unclear responsibilities (Author: Zhang Tiejun)

When communicating with customers, consultants will repeatedly emphasize the view that through in-depth investigation of enterprises, problems existing in enterprises can be found, and only when problems are found and the causes of problems are accurately analyzed can solutions be put forward in the future. Every enterprise has some problems at any stage of its development. It is easy to understand that different enterprises have different solutions because of different problems. But many times, different enterprises have similar problems, at least in similar or even identical forms. For example, many enterprises have unclear responsibilities. In this case, do they all have the same solution? Many consultants in consulting projects, although he may not admit it, actually prescribe the same prescription: through position analysis, clarify the responsibilities of each position. So this prescription is right? For enterprises, right and wrong cannot be analyzed theoretically, and ultimately it depends on the actual implementation effect. What about reality? Based on the author's years of consulting practice, it can be said responsibly that most of the results are not ideal. So, why is this happening? Theoretically, job analysis is to solve the problem of unclear responsibilities. Through post analysis, the responsibilities of each post are clarified, and everyone performs their duties. How can it not solve the problem? Is there a problem with the theory? Actually, it is not. The fundamental reason why job analysis does not really solve the problem of unclear responsibilities is that although the appearance of the problem is unclear responsibilities, the deep-seated reasons leading to unclear responsibilities are quite different. In reality, there are usually the following reasons for unclear responsibilities: First, the boss's work habits. Most bosses of small and medium-sized private enterprises do a lot of things by themselves at the beginning of their business, because the number is small. For a long time, they have developed the habit of doing things by themselves. Even if enterprises grow bigger, it is difficult to get rid of the habits they have developed for many years. Although with the expansion of enterprise scale, corresponding functional departments have been set up gradually, department heads have been appointed, and the responsibilities of various departments and posts have been clarified in various forms (not necessarily in written form), in practice, because of the boss's work habits, many things often go beyond the department heads to ask questions in person. Over time, these department heads will feel that their responsibilities are not clear, and subordinate employees will feel that it is better to ask the boss directly than to ask the department head. The boss will make the final decision anyway. Second, the lack of employees' ability. In the teaching materials of human resource management, it has always been emphasized that posts are set up because of posts. However, in practice, most small and medium-sized private enterprises can't carry out a lot of work because of insufficient human resources, so they often set up posts for different people, and the responsibilities of the same post may vary greatly due to different incumbents. The result of this arrangement can ensure the normal development of business, but in the long run, it will make employees feel unclear, especially in the case of frequent employee turnover. The same thing is done today by Zhang San and tomorrow by Li Si, and the result is unclear responsibility. Third, key functions are missing. In some enterprises, on the surface, people in every department are very busy, but the boss always feels that some things are not done, and there are often temporary and unexpected things that need the boss to temporarily appoint the person in charge. For similar things, Zhang San in department A may be appointed today and Li Si in department B tomorrow. There are many such things, and Zhang San and Li Si will complain about their unclear responsibilities. In fact, when companies define the responsibilities of departments and posts, they often describe the current situation and do whatever they do now. However, with the development of enterprises, new responsibilities will appear constantly, but these new responsibilities do not clearly stipulate the subject of responsibility. Once they meet, they need to be assigned by the boss, giving employees a feeling of unclear responsibilities. Fourth, corporate culture. Although many enterprises emphasize team culture and team cooperation, because this cultural concept has not been implemented in the specific system, culture only stays at the slogan level. Some consultants or human resources professionals in enterprises often have a wrong idea, that is, they try to clearly divide the responsibility boundaries of different positions through position analysis, just like railway police, but in practice, it is difficult to achieve this seamless and non-overlapping docking. This situation only exists in theory, but it is actually impossible. In reality, there is often a certain degree of overlap or gap in the responsibility interface, which requires corporate culture to make up for it. Fifth, the system process is not standardized. Job responsibilities are static, and any job responsibilities performed by employees are in a specific process. If it is an internal process, it is relatively easy to coordinate, but many processes are cross-departmental and relatively complicated to coordinate. If the system process is not standardized, doing it today and doing it tomorrow will also make employees feel unclear. Sixth, the division of responsibilities is not clear. Enterprises have not defined the responsibilities of various departments and positions in a formal form, and employees in different positions basically perform their duties according to the usual practice. If the workforce is stable, it will generally not lead to confusion, but once employees frequently flow or supervisors frequently change, it will lead to unclear responsibilities. Only in this case can we solve the problem of unclear responsibilities through job analysis. Seventh, the description of responsibilities is too detailed. In reality, many people often say that due to the change of internal and external environment, the responsibilities of the post are constantly changing, and the job descriptions that have paid great efforts and consumed a lot of manpower and material resources may be out of date from the date of approval, which is why many job descriptions compiled by enterprises have finally been shelved. Is that really the case? Not really. The reason for this illusion is often because the description of responsibilities is too detailed. This job description made a mistake in principle, confusing the two different concepts of responsibility and task. Indeed, in the rapidly changing business environment, job responsibilities are constantly changing, but the responsibilities of most positions in most enterprises have not changed much, only the job tasks have changed. For example, the recruitment specialist in the human resources department is responsible for the release of recruitment information. In the early days, newspapers and advertisements may be published in the talent agency market. With the popularity of online recruitment, more recruitment information is released through the Internet. In the process of this change, only the channels for publishing recruitment information have changed, that is, their tasks have changed, but their responsibilities for publishing recruitment information have not changed. Therefore, if the job description is too detailed, the prepared job description will be meaningless when the environment changes. Eighth, the responsibility mechanism is absent. Because many enterprises have not established a sound assessment and incentive system, employees are all the same, which will also lead to unclear responsibilities. To sum up, there are many reasons for unclear responsibilities. For the unclear responsibilities caused by different reasons, different solutions should be formulated. No matter what the reason, if you want to solve them simply through position analysis, obviously you can't achieve the expected effect. As the author said earlier, only when the responsibilities are unclear due to the lack of formal job descriptions can we solve the problem through job analysis and clear job responsibilities, and the responsibilities caused by other reasons are unclear, and the purpose of improvement can hardly be achieved through single means such as job analysis.