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Job Analysis
Discuss the extent it would be worthwhile performing job analysis on complex and senior job roles.
Assessment of executive leadership capacity and aptitude is not a straightforward practice. An enormous array of assessment instrumentation has been developed over the past several decades. It is big business and a strong pantheon of supporters -- consisting primarily of human resources managers -- fends off attacks on the practice of assessing executives and quantifying complex and senior jobs. The Leadership Practice Inventory, for just one example, has mixed reviews. Zagorsek, et al. (2006) describe the LPI as being a moderately reliable instrument, which is more precise for individuals with low to moderate leadership ability, but not as reliable for high performers, and "better suited for leader development than for leader identification, selection or promotion purposes" (p. 190). Assuming other assessment tools will not fare much better, it is worth exploring the idea of reliably assessing executive talent and matching candidates with jobs that have also been precisely, if not accurately, analyzed.
Introduction
Companies should devote more attention to defining and articulating job requirements when hiring senior level executives. Individuals who are responsible for executive selection do not put enough resources or time into determining what new executives should do in their new positions in order to contribute to organizational success. In fact search committees rarely consider in any depth the strategic position requirements and the performance imperatives that impact a future executive. Beyond the analysis of an executive job, it is important for the search committee or human resources manager to consider the context of the job. Zaccaro (2008) suggests that these individual consider "(a) the unique nature of executive leadership; (b) where the organization is in its...
The last major point I make is that the job analysis exercise only makes sense if one is able to accurately identify executive level capacity in order to match that capacity with a job.
Why is job analysis of senior positions of interest?
In conventional business situations -- corporations, particularly -- leaders are held responsible for the overall performance of the organizations they lead. This convention is upheld even when it is understood that there are a tremendous number of moving pieces, so to speak, in a company, much of which may be completely obscured by those in subordinate roles. Leaders often experience termination when things go awry in their companies. A serious breach can trigger a dismissal, or something as mundane as volatile stock fluctuations in an erratic market. Does this phenomenon reflect honest attempts to improve situations by finding "new blood," or is it more the case that blood must be shed to appease the stockholders?
When looking to fill top executive positions, many companies continue to be overly enamored of external candidates, but-except in response to very specific conditions-most research indicates that internal candidates typically outperform external candidates when they fill an executive position. This research seems to make the case for succession planning that recruits from within. Regardless,…
