How Are Jobs Grouped Together in Job Families?

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Job families are a group of jobs that have similar characteristics and responsibilities. Jobs that fall under the umbrella of the same job family require similar skills, knowledge, and abilities. Typically, job families are created to support the development of training, succession plans, and career growth. In this article, we will discuss how are jobs grouped together in job families and the advantages and disadvantages of this practice.

The Importance of Job Families

Job families are vital for organizations because they help with identifying specific career paths for employees. By grouping jobs with similar requirements, organizations can develop competencies and knowledge required to carry out particular jobs. Having job families also provides a framework to create career growth opportunities for employees.

Furthermore, identifying job families can ensure that employees’ skills are suitably utilized to provide excellent service to both internal and external customers. When workers are better at their jobs, the company benefits and gets a competitive edge.

Overall, job families create a consistent pattern for a company’s organizational structure which can also help the organization to handle change management easily.

The Process of Grouping Jobs Together

The process of grouping jobs together in job families involves considering factors such as job duties, tasks, responsibilities, and skills of each employee.

The following is the steps involved in creating job families:

Steps in Creating a Job Family
Determine the job titles to be grouped together.
Identify the common characteristics of the jobs.
Determine the skills, knowledge, and abilities required for the job.
Create a job family structure.
Assign job codes to create a logical and consistent system.

Strengths of Job Families

1. Promotes Consistency

Job families promote consistency in the organizational structure and work expectations for employees in similar positions. Each job family has specific education, training, skills, and knowledge required.

2. Streamlines Career Development

Job families support employee career development by creating distinct career paths within the organization. Each employee has an idea of the skills, education, and training required for a promotion.

3. Encourages Job Satisfaction

Job families encourage job satisfaction by creating specific career paths, which makes it easier for employees to achieve their career objectives. They are more likely to feel satisfied with their jobs if they see opportunities for career growth.

4. Provides Relevant Training

Job families provide better information about training when employees are in specific job positions. It enables the organization’s management to make informed decisions concerning training resources for specific job families.

5. Creates Job Clarity

Job clarity enables employees to understand what is expected from them based on specific job requirements. This clarity improves communication between employees and management, which leads to increased work efficiency.

6. Simplifies Performance Management

Performance management becomes more straightforward because of the job family concept. The employee’s job requirements determine their performance expectations, which align to the job family. The employee’s performance is then evaluated based on the job expectations.

7. Enhances Strategic Management

Job families support the organization’s strategic goals by providing a robust system for selecting and developing employees that align with the organization’s goals. The system streamlines employee promotions and ensures that employees are prepared with the right skills and knowledge to enhance organizational competitiveness.

Weaknesses of Job Families

1. Limits Flexibility

Job families can limit employees’ flexibility to cross over to other departments and similar positions outside of their job family. This rigidity can limit employees’ abilities to gain vast work experiences which can affect their career growth potential.

2. Promotes Inequality

Creating job families results in a clear outline of what is expected from employees, including salary expectations. Sometimes, employees who perform better in a particular job family may not get the same pay as those from a different job family but performing at a lower standard.

3. Lack of Incentives

If promotions are based only on education, skills, and knowledge instead of performance, many employees may feel their efforts are underappreciated, leading to lower morale.

4. Weak Identification of Employees’ Transferable Skills

Job families can impact employees’ growth potential if their skillset is not completely within their job family. It may prevent these employees from being considered for promotions in other areas of the organization.

5. Creates Resistance to Changes

Some employees tend to seek resistance when job families are created, leading to debates, undermining the structural system.

6. Limitations in Specific Job Families

There may be limitations to job families where industries require specialized skills and knowledge which may not be part of a job family’s core skills and knowledge requirements.

7. Creation of Bureaucracies

Organizations’ management might make job family policies quite rigid, which may build bureaucracies that inhibit employee growth and creativity.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are job families essential?

Job families help organizations develop competencies and knowledge required to provide excellent service, create career growth opportunities for employees, and help with identifying specific career paths for employees.

2. How are jobs grouped together in job families?

Jobs are grouped together based on similar duties, tasks, responsibilities, and employee skills.

3. What are the advantages of grouping jobs together in job families?

The benefits of job families include promoting consistency in the organizational structure, developing streamlined career paths, encouraging job satisfaction, providing relevant training, creating job clarity, simplifying performance management, and enhancing strategic management.

4. Are there any disadvantages to job families?

The disadvantages of job families include limiting flexibility, promoting inequality, a lack of incentives, weak identification of transferable skills, creating resistance to changes, limitations in specific job families, and creating bureaucracies.

5. What factors are considered when creating job families?

Factors that are considered include job duties, tasks, responsibilities, and employee skills.

6. What is job clarity?

Job clarity helps employees to understand what is expected from them based on specific job requirements.

7. What is the process of grouping jobs together in job families?

The process of grouping jobs together in job families involves considering factors such as job duties, tasks, responsibilities, and skills of each employee.

8. Are job families prevalent in organizations today?

Yes, they are prevalent in organizations today as a part of their organizational structure.

9. Do job families limit employees’ growth potential?

It depends on how rigid the organization’s management makes the job family policies. Some limitations exist to job families in specialized industries requiring specialized skills and knowledge. Hence, employees’ growth potential depends on their skillsets and core skills and knowledge requirements as well as organizational policies.

10. When should organizations consider job families?

Organizations should consider job families to create consistent patterns for their organizational structure, develop competencies and knowledge required to carry specific jobs, and train, retain, and develop employees for critical positions.

11. What is the downside of creating bureaucracies through job families?

Creating bureaucracies through job families can inhibit employee growth and creativity.

12. Do job families benefit employees?

Yes, job families benefit employees by providing clear career paths, skillsets requirements necessary for promotions and service standard requirements.

13. What is the downside of a lack of incentives with job families?

A lack of incentives can lead to lower morale amongst employees, which can reduce performance efficiency.

Conclusion

Job families are an essential part of an organization’s organizational structure, and it helps to develop specific skill sets to improve the quality of service to internal and external customers. However, there are instances when job families can limit employee flexibility, promote inequality, and create bureaucracies, among others.

It’s important to promote a balance between rigid job family policies and the need for employee growth and creativity. When creating job families, considering factors such as job duties, tasks, responsibilities, and skills of each employee would guarantee a healthy system that encourages employee satisfaction, aggrandized organizational brand, and organizational productivity.

Thank you for reading!

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