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Edward Hay and other associates of the Hay Group, developed the Guide Chart-Profile Method of Job Evaluation in the early 1950's. At the time there were many other job evaluation processes in use, however, the Hay Group's method proved to be very unique and revolutionary. This method was different from other job evaluation processes in that its evaluation criterion was that of factor comparison. The Hay Group (to be referred to as the Group) believed that there were many factors common to all jobs, but there were only a few factors that were significant enough so as to observe differences between different types of jobs. This factor comparison process thus allowed evaluating both non-exempt and exempt types of jobs. The Guide Chart-Profile Method was truly unique because it offered an organisation the capability of evaluating managerial jobs, positions that conventionally were very difficult to describe and evaluate by other evaluation processes.
In the development of this evaluation method, the Group made several observations about organisations and jobs. It noticed that although there were many factors that could be considered in evaluating a job, there were only three that were significant enough to consider for every job. These factors were the knowledge required to do the job, the kind of thinking required to solve problems commonly faced, and the responsibilities assigned (Bellak, 1984). It was also observed that different types of jobs would possess the above factors in different patterns. For example, a chemist might have a high requirement for the ability to problem solve and yet have minimal requirements with respect to the amount of responsibilities assigned. On the other hand, a salesperson would have high requirements in the amount of responsibility assigned, but the knowledge and problem solving factors would be less pronounced in comparison. The Group also believed that jobs could be ranked by their importance to the organisation, and in relation to one another. This ability to scale was not qualitative either; they thought that a numeric scaling could be assigned to every job reflecting its organisational importance. Most importantly, the job itself should be evaluated, not the job holder. The job holder's specific background, characteristics and prior pay should not be considered in the evaluation of the job.
Factors of...