Team Leader Procurement and Acquisitions

¶ … Team Leader Procurement/Acquisitions

The development of a job description that fully details the tasks an individual performs in an organization is an important function of the change process. In the current situation, the incumbent of the job will perform a functional job analysis and from this produce a job description that will be used as a first tool in recruitment and replacement of the individual. Once a replacement is acquired the individual must then supervise and evaluate the job performance of the new employee, now doing the former job of the employee, who has been promoted to a higher level supervisory position. As the incumbent job holder is the principle recruiter and has a vested interest in providing the organization with the highest level candidate for his or her old job the incentive to fully and completely communicate the nature of that job to the organization as well as job candidates and ultimately the replacement job holder makes the task at hand essential to a smooth change process. A job analysis will be the first step in the process. The job analysis will then be used to create a detailed job description, a recruitment strategy, testing methods and questions for an interview and ultimately effective evaluation tools for the performance of the job by the new job holder.

The current job that is being vacated is titled: Team Leader: Acquisitions/Procurement and has changed significantly over the previous five to ten years in focus and responsibility due to the growing emphasis in public administration regarding sustainability. The new job the incumbent job holder will be performing is titled: Sustainability Review Agent. Ultimately the new job is responsible for evaluating the entire procurement team and working as a liaison with the whole organization to ensure that products procured meet stringent requirements of usability, cost and sustainability. The role of the Team Leader in Acquisitions and Procurement is to work within the existing system to find and procure the products needed to manage the agency using existing contracts, new contracts and a substantial amount of research regarding sustainable products as they arrive on the market. The team leader then assigns tasks to the various procurement job functions in the department, including the transportation department, the shipping department and the various work groups that come to the team leader with current procurement needs or concerns. Ultimately the job is defined to a large degree by the budget for the whole organization regarding procurement needs and by the various project budgets that have been approved by upper management, legislators and in some cases the community by various bond elections and tax levies. (Gosling, 2008)

Over the previous ten years it has become increasingly evident that the team leader position requires a view of sustainability that is evident in action but that he or she is also ultimately responsible for procuring materials that fit within the budget and project constraints and he or she therefore must make hard choices about products as a single dollar per unit or percentage point difference in the acquisition of materials, on a large scale can make the difference between a job budget being met or blown, which is not really an option. (Hill & Hupe, 2002) it is for this reason that the department has chosen to create the new position, Sustainability Review Agent to provide the theoretical, i.e. researched-based ideologies regarding products both new and old without the ultimate final say in what products are actually procured and how. In other words the need to maintain overall and project-based budgets overrides the need to procure products based on sustainability and therefore the Team Leader must to some degree be neutral while still making good decisions about materials changes with regard to sustainability. (Kassel, 2010) the Sustainability Review Agent must then supervise decisions that are made regarding the sustainability of materials and then either actively find alternatives that are more sustainable or support the sustainability of materials already in use and ultimately how they might be better used to improve sustainability and possibly even improve costs. (Leuenberger, 2006) (Leuenberger & Bartle, 2009)

Job Analysis

Utilizing Hartwick College Job Analysis Questionnaire job analysis template, see appendix 1, a job description was developed. The following job description will be used to recruit and train the individual applicants for this position and will then be referred to for job evaluation and supervision.

Job Description

Team Leader: Acquisitions/Procurement

SUMMARY

Under the Supervision of the Vice President of Finance, the Team Leader: Acquisitions/Procurement is responsible for managing and coordinating the activities of the Acquisitions/Procurement Department; researching new products, equipment and services for the department with a focus on obtaining the best possible pricing with the fundamental goal of procuring the best possible product for the best price.

Pay Level: starting $38,000-40,000 annually, with initial review and possible pay raise after the completion of 1 year on the job.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Develops policies, procedures, goals and cost savings initiatives in regards to the Procurement/Acquisitions Department.

Utilizes the in-house Materials Management system as a tool for record keeping of all supplies and contract services.

Establishes and maintains par level of stock for all departments.

Continually researches alternate products and services with assistance of appropriate departments to ensure sustainability, quality and cost control.

Responsible for ordering supplies and services, and requesting quotes and consumer information for products and services.

Reviews and renews or recommends the purchase maintenance agreements and service contracts with appropriate departments in the best interest of the organization.

Performs supervision of procurement staff including transportation/shipping and warehousing departments.

Establishes and maintains a process to tag capital equipment.

Maintains good customer service and delivery standards.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Education, Experience, Skills

Minimum requirements for this position are an a.A. degree in a public administration/business related field from an accredited college, university or technical school with 3 years experience. The preference of the job is a related BA/BS degree in public administration with a certificate in sustainability leadership. The ability to read, interpret and develop work level and procurement contracts.

The ability to read and interpret project cost data and project materials lists and requirements.

Ability to read interpret and develop project budget data and workflow orders.

Demonstrated supervisory skills of 5-20 employees in a team environment.

Demonstrated knowledge of Lotus 1-2-3 and Windows-based computer software preferred.

Mathematical skills: Ability to perform simple mathematical computations with high degree of accuracy.

Certificates, Licenses, Registration

Clean driving record and State Drivers license.

Sustainability Leadership Certification within 1 year of employment start date. (UCErvine "Sustainable Leadership" http://unex.uci.edu/certificates/business_mgmt/sustainability/)

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls and talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 100 pounds. (Hartwick College Job Analysis Questionnaire, ND, http://www.hartwick.edu/Documents/HR/jaq%20interactive%20form.pdf)

Recruitment Plan

As the organization requires public posting of this job with an emphasis on hiring from within the job posting for the position will first be emailed to the whole organization three weeks prior to the public posting. The posting will then be available on the City website. The opening date for review will be the close date of application opportunity, six weeks from the open date, as per city requirements. The job description will serve as the basic template for the job announcement, as per organization and city requirements and will be provided to the HR department for posting. The HR department will then do an initial check of requirements to weed out applicants that do not meet basic requirements and provide the applications to the Sustainability Reviewer / Vice President of Finance and the recruitment team, which will consist of three team members of the procurement/acquisition department in addition to the above mentioned supervisors. Applicants will be required, in addition to providing a detailed resume an essay describing what previous experience they have that will aide them in this job and why they believe they would be good at this job. Key word analysis will be conducted on essays and they will be reviewed for basic communication skills.

Testing and Interview

As the work teams approach is the defining organizational development tactic of the department the theories of Total Quality Management and Work Teams will dominate the testing process as much as they do the workflow process in the organization. (Drummond, 2001, p. 107) This emphasis then requires the development of interview questions that determine the ability of the individual to innovate as well as manage team communications and actions.

Interview Questions

1. Are you organized in your daily and occupational life and if so please explain?

2. How many contacts did you maintain in your previous position? For example how many businesses were contracted for supplies and/or individuals did you communicate with on a weekly basis outside of the business.

3. What scale of materials handling do you have experience with in the work setting? For example: number of products procured and warehoused in your previous job.

4. What materials management program did you use in your last position? For example the computer tracking program or if in house developed please describe.

5. If you were given a conflict associated with usability of a product, by a user in the field how would you address that conflict and how would you use the team to help find alternatives?

6. If you were referred to a new "innovative" sustainable product that could ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of a given project but that material was outside the budget of most projects it could be used on how would you follow up to either resolve the conflict or reject the product?

Interviews will be conducted for approximately one hour and will require the interviewee be either present or on the telephone. Favorable answers on these questions will determine the candidate(s) who return for a second round of interviews. Second round interviews will emphasize personality and will include a warehouse, plant and project site visit and will therefore require the interviewee be present.

Performance Evaluation

The performance evaluation will occur at 9 months and be concluded by one year and will consist of a job analysis description reviewed and submitted by the new employee and then a follow up interview that addresses his or her perception of the strengths and weaknesses of the job and self. The individual will be asked to offer a list of job and then self strengths and additionally job and self weaknesses and then these documents will be reviewed collectively with the supervisor i.e. The Sustainability Reviewer. The whole process will be recorded in a follow up report/brief that will then be submitted to the VP of Finance and together the two will determine a merit-based pay increase/if deserved and any additional changes or adjustments that need to be made to the job itself to allow it to be more successful. After the close of the evaluation and its review the employee will be given a copy of the formal review and be offered suggestions and feedback for materials supplied as well as being notified of proposed raise/both incremental cost of living as required by the city and merit raise as denoted by the standard city protocol. (Allender, 1995)