USE YOUR HR SKILLS

USE YOUR HR SKILLS!

Typhoon Alice
The recent typhoon had affected several cities along the coast of the South China Sea. Many homes in Hong Kong were seriously damaged and needed urgent repairs. The Kwik Home Repairs Company found that it had to hire three completely new crews, one for each of its shifts. The problem was that the "old-timers" knew their jobs so well that no one had ever bothered to draw up job descriptions for them. When about 30 new employees began to work, there was confusion about what they should do and how they should do it. Phil Mun, the company's general manager, was desperate. He had 30 new employees, 10 old-timers, and his original factory supervisor, May Lin. He decided to meet Linda Lo, a consultant from the local university's business school. She immediately had the old-timers fill out a job questionnaire that listed all their duties. Arquments ensued almost at once: Both Phil Mun and May Lin thought the old-timers were exaggerating to make themselves look more important, and the old-timers insisted that the lists faithfuly refilected their duties Meanwhile, the customers wanted their homes to be repaired quickly.

Questions
1. Should Phil and May Lin ignore the old-timers' protests and write up the job descriptions as they see fit?Why? Why not? How would you go about resolving the differences?

2. How would you have conducted the job analysis? What should Phil Mun do now?