![]() |
![]() ![]() | |||||
![]() ![]() |
Français | Contact Us | Help | Search | Canada Site |
What's New | About Us | Policies | Site Map | Home |
Alternate Format(s)
|
![]() |
A job description should not become a "straitjacket". Indeed, it is because jobs do change that job descriptions have to be periodically updated. Unfortunately, however, there is no quick or easy route to writing a good job description. Because it demands clear thinking about the job, it is usually difficult to complete. However, once completed, a job description:
A new job description is required when:
For your convenience, a quick checklist of the information your description should cover is included in Appendix A. A sample position description is included in Appendix B. In addition, classification officers can provide clarification or technical advice should you require it. SECTION TWO - WRITING THE JOB DESCRIPTIONSTEP ONE: GATHERING THE JOB INFORMATIONFirst you will need to gather information about:
Then you will need to arrange all this information under the titles of:
Note: Job descriptions which are overly long generally indicate insufficient preparation or organization. Appendix A provides a quick checklist of the questions you should be sure to cover. However, you will need to sift through all your information about the numerous activities, problems and interrelationships of the job to determine what needs to be included. For instance: It would be inappropriate to list all the motivational and leadership techniques used in managing a complex technical team in order to portray the level of managerial skill involved. Also, information which is appropriate for another position in the unit but not for this one should be excluded. GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENTSDirector or Finance:
Director of Personnel:
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy and Co-ordination:
Chief Project Engineer:
Director General, Public Affairs:
STEP TWO: IDENTIFYING THE JOBThe easiest place to begin is by filling in the identification information:
STEP THREE: GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENTIn this section, you give a brief but specific statement of why the position exists. Your statement should give the reader an immediate impression of the primary purpose for including the job in the organization. The statement should be one sentence in length and should clearly distinguish the job from others, in particular the supervisor's and the subordinates' jobs. You can fulfill these requirements if you concentrate on what the job is essentially accountable for. Examples are provided above. Notice how much clearer the shorter statements are in capturing the essential purpose of the job. Careful thought should always be given to the General Accountability statement because it sets the context for the rest of the job description. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
STEP FOUR: ORGANIZATION STRUCTUREThis section identifies the reporting relationships of the position.
STEP FIVE: NATURE AND SCOPEThis section should provide a clear, concise overview of the position:
This is the most difficult part of the job description to complete. The first challenge is in knowing what to include. The sequence of information below is a helpful guide for organizing the information since it works well for most jobs.
NATURE AND SCOPE (for a Chief Design Engineer)When a project is contemplated, the Chief Design Engineer is consulted on the broad aspects of the project and the anticipated costs. After a project is approved in principle and a design requisition prepared, the Chief Design Engineer, working closely with the Project Engineer, assigns appropriate groups to plan and schedule for his or her approval in principle. Major projects include dams, thermal and hydraulic generating stations, and high-voltage transmission lines (both AC and DC, maximum voltage 345 kV). The largest generating station is 1 kmw. All projects are carried out by teams from the Electrical, Mechanical or Civil Engineering groups as required. The Chief Project Engineer co-ordinates the various design and construction activities. However, the Chief Design Engineer decides upon the design criteria and appropriate safety factors. He or she also resolves problems arising in the field which may affect the design parameters (for example: approving or rejecting work which is not to drawing but which may be technically acceptable otherwise). The Department has expanded rapidly and at an increasing pace in recent years. Capital work has risen from $15 million per annum in 1965 to present values. At the same time, there has been a shortage of suitably trained engineers. In order to meet the challenge, the Chief Design Engineer has developed a matrix organization structure, removed administrative duties from technical personnel and conducted a comprehensive training program covering all the people in the Division. Training costs average 10% of the Division's budget. The Chief Design Engineer recommends suitable outside consultants for highly specialized projects (such as experimental pollution control devices). He or she evaluates the consultants' work and advises on contract terms and their fulfillment. He or she also provides specifications for equipment to be purchased and contract services on which tenders are required (for example: generators, transformers and inspection services). Subsequently, he or she evaluates tenders and makes recommendations on their acceptance to the Manager of Design and Construction.
Since this is the narrative portion of the job description, the length will vary. Even with tight, concise writing, it may cover up to a page and a half. Use simple language and the active voice to make the description as clear as possible to the reader, as in the example above. However, as well as having to plan your description according to the specific areas you need to cover, you will need to edit your first draft at least once. It is wise to leave the first draft for a few days before rewriting it, as you will probably think of more/better ways to describe the job after this pause.
STEP SIX: DIMENSIONS OF THE JOBIn this section, you record the measurable areas upon which the position has either direct or indirect impact. A number of items could be included in this area. For instance:
The evaluation method does not put an inordinate emphasis on "numbers". However, you should provide figures for as many items as are appropriate (probably 2 to 4 items), in order to give the most complete picture of the job. Examples of Dimensions figures for four different jobs are provided above. STEP SEVEN: SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIESHaving given an overview of what the job does and what areas it affects, you can now formally define the end results expected of the job holder. The difference between this section and the General Accountability section is that in the latter you described why the job exists in general, while in this section you are specifying the important end results which must be accomplished (and implying how, and how well, those end results are to be achieved). One of the best ways to understand the difference between the two is to study the General and Specific Accountability examples provided for the position of Director of Finance below. Notice that a Specific Accountability statement is not a listing of activities and duties, but rather a broad statement of what the job is actually expected to accomplish. For example: Executive Director - improve operating performance and ensure management succession by training, developing, motivating and effectively utilizing the employees of the Division. SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIESDirector of Finance
Manager, Personnel Development
Notice also that each statement:
Usually it takes a list of four to seven separate statements to cover a single job. Unfortunately, there is no simple rule for deciding how to split the job's accountabilities into separate statements. In the example of the Manager, Registry and Information Retrieval, below, the accountabilities have been separated according to:
In this example, the job description writer has decided that the most important accountability is for production and, therefore, has stated it first. Cost and innovation accountabilities are next in importance, followed by people management responsibilities and, finally, information access and expertise. You should always prioritize the specific accountabilities of the job in the order of their importance, so as to provide a relative degree of emphasis for each. Examples of such prioritized listings for different jobs are provided above. STEP EIGHT: FINALIZATION AND APPROVALYour supervisor may want to discuss some of the points in the position description when you have completed it. Even if you were confident that you had included all necessary material and deleted any unnecessary material before presenting the document for approval, this is a positive development because:
Regional Personnel Officer
Manager, Registry and Information Retrieval
SECTION THREE - REVIEW CHECKSA checklist of questions you should cover in your job description is provided in Appendix A. You should double-check your description after you have written it to make sure all the items have been covered. Another way to check your description is to look for the most common job description errors: General Mistakes
General Accountability Errors
Organizational Structure Errors
Nature and Scope Errors
For example: Information about the unit that is only relevant for the ADM position is quoted in the descriptions for the subordinate positions in the unit. Dimensions Errors
Specific Accountability Errors
APPENDIX A - INFORMATION GATHERING CHECKLISTMajor Responsibilities
Program or Legislative Responsibilities
Authority and Assistance
Relations with Others
Hardest Part of the Job
Statistics on Job Dimensions
Additional Information
APPENDIX B - SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTIONPOSITION TITLE Assistant Deputy Minister GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY Is accountable for ensuring the protection of animal and plant resources from foreign diseases and pests, ensuring the protection and marketability of agricultural products, promoting improved agricultural production practices, assisting the Canadian agriculture and food system, and ensuring a dependable and safe food supply. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE This is one of 13 positions at the second level reporting to the Deputy Minister. The other 12 are: SADM, Agricultural Programs; ADM, Policy; ADM, Agricultural Development; ADM, Research; Director General, PFRA; Executive Director General, International Programs; ADM, Grains and Oilseeds; Director General, Personnel; Director General, Communications; ADM, Corporate Management; Director, Legal Services; and Assistant to the Deputy Minister. Specific functions of the 9 positions reporting directly to the ADM are: Director General, Health of Animals (staff of 445) is accountable for developing policies and programs on animal disease control to increase the efficiency of livestock production and the export potential of Canadian livestock and animal products, and for directing programs of a scientific nature, including diagnostic services and research on animal health and disease. Director General, Veterinary Inspection, Operations (staff of 2,164) is accountable for directing field operational activities of seven regions across the nation for the purpose of enforcing the meat inspection, slaughter of food animals, and animal disease and protection acts and regulations. Director General, Plant Health and Plant Products (staff of 99) is accountable for developing legislation and programs to prevent destructive insects and plant diseases from gaining entry into Canada or from spreading within the country, and to ensure the quality of fertilizers, livestock feeds, seeds and seed potatoes. Director, Management Services (staff of 41) is accountable for providing expertise so that policy, regulatory, planning, expenditure management, statistical functions and secretariat services contribute to the achievement of Branch objectives. Director General, Pesticides (staff of 44) is accountable for developing legislation and programs for the safe use and manufacture of pesticides in Canada, including evaluation, registration and labelling control. Director General, Food Inspection (staff of 252) is accountable for developing programs to ensure that agricultural food products are inspected for safety and graded for quality, for providing analytical services to the Branch, and for gathering and disseminating data within and outside the Department. Director, Compliance (staff of 12) is accountable for providing investigative services for infractions against the acts and regulations administered by the Branch, and investigations and inquiries related to the involvement in criminal actions of an internal nature by Branch employees. Director General, Agriculture Inspection Directorate (staff of 1,147) is accountable for directing field operational activities for the purpose of enforcing the inspection for safety and grading for quality of agricultural products, including dairy, eggs, fruit and vegetables, plants and plant material, feeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Director, Race Tracks (staff of 84) is accountable for protecting the wagering public by directing the supervision of race tracks across Canada. NATURE AND SCOPE Within the Agriculture portfolio, the Branch is responsible for the development and administration of legislation, policies, scientific and regulatory programs aimed at ensuring a safe and dependable food supply, increasing the efficiency of livestock and crop production, assisting industry to fully exploit production and export opportunities, researching, controlling and eradicating plant and animal diseases. The Branch is also responsible for protecting the wagering public through race track supervision. The Branch administers, and ensures compliance to, 15 acts and 46 sets of regulations, and shares responsibility for certain sections of other acts, such as Section 188 of the Criminal Code as it pertains to race track administration. Authorities for legislative planning, evaluation and administration are largely delegated to the various directorates. An active Branch Executive Committee provides the principal tool for direction setting by the ADM for the analysis and review of policies and operational results. The ADM provides the managerial interface, between branch and departmental levels. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Department, the ADM contributes to the development of departmental objectives and priorities as well as more global strategies for the continued development of Canadian agriculture and food. Within this framework, and with knowledge of the political, economic and social trends relevant to the Branch mandates, the ADM must review and decide on recommendations related to: Branch objectives, goals and programs; the preparation of program forecast; the allocation of Branch resources; and the evaluation and control of these programs and resources. The ADM subsequently supports the Minister in his defence of budgetary estimates before the Agriculture Committee of the House of Commons. The ADM is responsible for the co-ordination of Branch programs together with industry, governments and foreign authorities. Differences in the priorities of client groups and foreign governments require innovative mechanisms to develop acceptable regulatory programs that enable the necessary degree of regulatory control, minimize constraints on competitive practices, and ensure the protection of foreign and domestic consumers. Constitutional anomalies related to agriculture require the ADM to meet with provincial ministers and deputy ministers in order to obtain the commitment of provincial resources in support of animal health, plant health and agriculture programs, and to negotiate federal-provincial agreements whereby Canada provides food inspection on behalf of a province on a cost-recovery basis. The ADM Also participates on committees with other federal departments which have regulation-setting or enforcement authority related to food (e.g., Health and Welfare Canada, Consumer and Corporate Affairs, etc.) in order to ensure that regulatory change is orderly, does not create gaps or overlaps in statutes, and does not inundate the industry with excessive or costly regulatory changes. For the Branch to succeed in achieving its objectives, the ADM must respond effectively to several challenging factors, including: developing and maintaining an effective organization structure and management process, responsive to the service requirements of client industries as well as the expectations of professional staff; eradicating certain animal and plant diseases which cause substantial losses to producers; maintaining and improving Canada's image as world supplier of livestock and plant products; maintaining the integrity of the food inspection system in a climate of budgetary constraint; and developing the Branch capacity to respond to consumer demand for food products which are free of adulterants and potential food-borne disease agents. The Branch participates in 43 interdepartmental, intergovernmental and international committees and organizations. Representation is normally delegated to subordinate officers, but the ADM serves as Canada's or the Department's representative on a number of these committees. The incumbent normally discusses with the Deputy Minister or Minister, or submits for their approval, proposals for legislative or policy changes which influence the objectives of the Department or, on occasion, the legislation, policies or programs of other departments or governments. DIMENSIONS (CONSTANT DOLLARS) Number of subordinate staff years 4,292 SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES
|
|
||||
![]() |