BUSI 443 Week 7 Job Analysis Project Part 2: Job Description and Job Analysis Example

Job Analysis and Job Description: Fulfillment Center Shift Supervisor

Purpose and Choice of Job

This project analyzes the job of shift supervisor at Riverside Distribution's new fulfillment center, the composite facility planned in Case Study 1. Each supervisor leads about 60 associates and several leads on a ten-hour shift, responsible for meeting picking, packing and shipping targets safely. The job was chosen because the center must fill it with a mix of internal promotions and external hires, and because the automated equipment at the new site changes the work enough that existing descriptions are out of date.

Heneman et al. (2015) define job analysis as a structured examination of the work a job involves and of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other traits it requires, with the job description as one of its outputs. The results of this analysis will support selection, training and pay decisions for the role, so the methods were chosen to produce information accurate enough for those uses.

Methods

Starting Point: The Occupational Database

The analysis began with the Occupational Information Network, or ONET, entry for first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving workers. Peterson et al. (2001) described the development of ONET as a comprehensive database of occupational information organized around worker requirements, experience requirements, occupational requirements and other descriptors. The entry provided a list of generalized tasks and work activities that served as a starting draft. Sanchez and Levine (2012) argue that job analysis is increasingly becoming work analysis, attending to roles and contexts that change quickly, which is why the database was treated as a starting point rather than an answer for a new, automated site.

Observation and Interviews

The analyst observed two full shifts at a client's facility that uses the same sortation equipment and interviewed four experienced supervisors at Riverside's other centers, two operations managers and the equipment vendor's lead trainer. The interviews used a structured guide asking what supervisors do in a typical shift, which tasks are most important and most difficult, and what distinguishes effective supervisors from ineffective ones, including specific critical incidents.

Task Inventory Questionnaire

From these sources, the analyst drafted 26 task statements and asked 11 supervisors and managers to rate each on frequency and importance using five-point scales. Dierdorff and Wilson (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of the reliability of job analysis data and found that ratings of specific tasks tended to be more reliable than ratings of broader work activities, and that reliability varied with the type of rater and the scale used. The project therefore used task-level statements and combined ratings from several raters.

Guarding Against Inaccuracy

Morgeson and Campion (1997) warned that job analysis data can be distorted by social influences, such as conformity and self-presentation, and by cognitive shortcuts, such as careless or incomplete reporting. To reduce these risks, raters completed the questionnaire individually, managers' ratings were compared with supervisors' ratings, and tasks rated very differently by the two groups were discussed with both before the final ratings were set. Observation data were used to check claims made in interviews. Using several methods together also offset each one's weaknesses: observation showed what supervisors actually do but missed rare events, interviews captured rare but critical events, and the questionnaire produced ratings that could be compared across raters.

Results: Task Statements

The table lists the twelve tasks rated highest in combined importance and frequency, with mean ratings on the five-point scales.

Results: Critical Incidents

The interviews produced 31 critical incidents, specific examples of especially effective or ineffective supervisor behavior. Three illustrate the job's demands. In one effective incident, a supervisor noticed that a sorter jam would delay outbound trucks, moved six associates from packing to manual sorting within ten minutes and called the carrier to adjust pickup times, so that every truck left on schedule. In another, a supervisor stopped work in an aisle after seeing an associate climb racking to reach a carton, retrained the team on the spot and reported the near miss the same day. In an ineffective incident, a supervisor responded to falling productivity by announcing that the whole shift would stay late, without identifying the cause, which turned out to be a single mislabeled zone. The incidents confirmed the importance of real-time problem solving, safety leadership and calm communication, and they will supply material for interview questions and training scenarios.

Results: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other Characteristics

Each KSAO was identified from the interviews and critical incidents and linked to the tasks that require it.

Results: Work Design Characteristics

To describe the job beyond its tasks, the analyst used the dimensions of the Work Design Questionnaire. Morgeson and Humphrey (2006) built and tested this questionnaire to capture the task, knowledge, social and contextual sides of work, showing that work design includes not only autonomy and task variety but also social support, interdependence and physical demands. Supervisors rated their job high on decision-making autonomy within the shift, task variety, interdependence with maintenance and other shifts, and interaction outside the organization through the client's representatives; high on physical demands for a supervisory role; and moderate on social support from peers, since each shift has only one supervisor. These ratings suggest that new supervisors will need training in independent decision making and a structured peer network across shifts.

Competency Model

Riverside wants supervisors who can develop into operations managers, so the project also outlines a short competency model. Campion et al. (2011) described best practices in competency modeling, including linking competencies to the organization's goals, defining them with behavioral descriptions at different levels of proficiency and using them across human resource systems. The model includes four competencies: safety leadership, data-driven operations, developing people and calm problem solving. Each is defined with behaviors at the supervisor level and at the next level, so that the same model can guide selection, training and promotion.

Job Description

Job Title and Reporting

Job title: Shift Supervisor, Fulfillment Operations. Reports to: Operations Manager. Supervises: about 60 associates and three to four leads. Schedule: ten-hour shifts, including nights and weekends, with extended hours during the November and December peak. Classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act to be confirmed by human resources against the salary and duties tests.

Job Summary

Leads a shift of fulfillment associates and leads to meet daily picking, packing and shipping targets safely and accurately. Plans staffing for the shift, monitors performance in real time, coordinates equipment recovery, coaches and develops staff, and communicates results to management and the next shift.

Essential Functions

• 1. Assign associates to work areas at the start of each shift based on volume forecasts and skills, and reallocate staff during the shift to resolve bottlenecks.
• 2. Lead safety briefings, enforce safety procedures and investigate and document incidents and near misses.
• 3. Monitor productivity and accuracy against targets using real-time dashboards and take corrective action.
• 4. Coordinate with maintenance to restore automated equipment after stoppages and adjust operations during downtime.
• 5. Coach, train and evaluate associates and leads, and address attendance and conduct issues with human resources.
• 6. Approve time records and manage break and attendance schedules in compliance with company policy and law.
• 7. Communicate shift results, issues and handoff information to the incoming supervisor and operations manager.

Qualifications

Required: a high school diploma or GED; at least two years working in warehouse, distribution or manufacturing operations, including at least one year leading others; working knowledge of productivity measures and safety procedures; ability to use warehouse management software and spreadsheets. Preferred: experience with automated sortation equipment; a forklift certification; an associate's degree or coursework in supply chain or business.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The job requires standing and walking for most of a ten-hour shift, occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds, and working in a warehouse with noise, temperature changes and moving equipment. Reasonable accommodations will be considered for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Legal Considerations

A job description is also a legal document. The Americans with Disabilities Act treats essential functions as a job's fundamental duties, and a description written before a job is advertised counts as evidence of which duties the employer considers essential. The functions listed here were drawn only from tasks rated high in importance, and the physical demands were described in terms of what the work requires rather than how it has always been done, so that reasonable accommodations can be considered. Under equal employment opportunity law, selection criteria must be job-related; linking each KSAO to specific tasks provides that documentation. The description avoids requirements that the analysis did not support, such as a four-year degree, which would narrow the applicant pool without evidence that it predicts performance.

Uses of the Analysis

The analysis serves several staffing decisions. For selection, the KSAOs and competency model will define the structured interview questions and the work sample exercise used for both internal and external candidates. For training, the task ratings identify what new supervisors must learn first, especially equipment recovery and safety investigation. For compensation, the job description and its scope will be used to place the job in Riverside's pay structure. Heneman et al. (2015) emphasize that staffing systems should be managed and evaluated over time, so the analysis will be reviewed after the center's first year of operation, when supervisors' actual work can be compared with these results.

Conclusion

Studying the shift supervisor job with several methods produced a description grounded in what the work requires at an automated site, rather than one copied from older centers. The task ratings identify the essential functions, the KSAOs and competency model set the standards for selection and development, and the work design ratings highlight the support new supervisors will need. The resulting job description gives Riverside a defensible basis for hiring, training and paying the people who will lead its new center.

References

Campion, M. A., Fink, A. A., Ruggeberg, B. J., Carr, L., Phillips, G. M., & Odman, R. B. (2011). Doing competencies well: Best practices in competency modeling. Personnel Psychology, 64(1), 225-262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01207.x

Dierdorff, E. C., & Wilson, M. A. (2003). A meta-analysis of job analysis reliability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 635-646. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.635

Heneman, H. G., III, Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2015). Staffing organizations (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (1997). Social and cognitive sources of potential inaccuracy in job analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(5), 627-655. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.5.627

Morgeson, F. P., & Humphrey, S. E. (2006). The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(6), 1321-1339. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.6.1321

Peterson, N. G., Mumford, M. D., Borman, W. C., Jeanneret, P. R., Fleishman, E. A., Levin, K. Y., Campion, M. A., Mayfield, M. S., Morgeson, F. P., Pearlman, K., Gowing, M. K., Lancaster, A. R., Silver, M. B., & Dye, D. M. (2001). Understanding work using the Occupational Information Network (O*NET): Implications for practice and research. Personnel Psychology, 54(2), 451-492. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2001.tb00100.x

Sanchez, J. I., & Levine, E. L. (2012). The rise and fall of job analysis and the future of work analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 397-425. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100401