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Smaller A/E firms tend to spurn job descriptions, figuring that most of their technical employees will have to take on several tasks and that even those firms must be flexible to change duties as needs arise.
Larger firms don't have this luxury. If you are to have any kind of order, consistency, and measurable productivity in the way you run your operations, then each person's responsibilities, whom they report to, and who reports to them are among the points you had better spell out on paper.
To simplify your task, PSMJ Resources, Inc. recently published a compendium of model job descriptions, 201 Position Descriptions for AlE Firms(617-965-0055; e-mail [email protected]; cost: $201). Why 201 ? There's no answer. You could ask John Ruskin, who produced Seven Lamps of Architecture; Palladio, who wrote his Four Books on Architecture; and, if you dare, the Almighty, who dictated the Ten Commandments.
The authors of the book (actually a fat ring binder) collected job descriptions from some two dozen A/E firms in all regions of the U.S.-sometimes more than one job description per positionand organized them into eleven categories (see the sidebar at right).
"Clearly defined position descriptions," says the book's publisher Frank Stasiowski, "help firms conduct accurate and valid performance evaluations, establish proper wage ranges, more efficiently manage productivity, and focus on the purpose and end results to achieve in a position."
More specifically, according to Stasiowski, a good set of descriptions:
* Identifies and ranks your key responsibilities to help you, for example, make viable decisions and allocate resources.
Organizes (and re-organizes) and delegates various activities involving those who report to you.
* Develops primary criteria for evaluating performance, whether you assess others' or others assess yours.
* Makes for a clear "contract" of expectations about duties for which you are responsible and accountable.
Gives your subordinates, peers, and anyone else who needs to know a clear picture of what you do.
Presents detailed extensions of your firm's organizational chart and chain of command.
(For a widely applicable, yet concise job description...