Try looking at Department of Labor (www.dol.gov) job descriptions.

Also check for those jobs on the Monster board or some other job sites.

Or just make up what you want them to do.

There may also be some Human Resources sites that may have information.

I agree, try making some up. You know best what your objective is, and what the positions/titles will do. Get input from the people in those positions. At one job I was at, we had all employees write their own job descriptions, then write a co-workers job description. That was a fascinating exercise. Not only did we get some great ideas but we also learned how employees viewed their positions.
One thought is to check the ASQ website and links to local chapters. www.asq.org (http://www.asq.org) i believe is the url.

I am trying to find examples of job descriptions for the following titles:

ISO COORDINATOR
QA Inspector
Quality Engineer
QA Technician
QA Lead

If anyone has any examples that you would't mind sharing, please let me know. Thanks!!!!

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I agree with everyone else. I personally intensely dislike JD's because i believe its impossible to write down on a piece a paper what somebody should do. The inevitable result is that it is either too detailed or too vague.

In one particular company where i am now, i am using them extensively because the organisation is so bad the Arse doesnt know what the elbow is doing. Even here i empahsize what the employee objectives and targets are, and deemphasize the job description (To a certain degree i actually dont care HOW they achieve it).

Having said all that, it is true that to satisfy ISO 9000 i have two JD's that i consistenly use, and are basically not changed from company to company; A Systems Manager and a Quality Assurance Manager.

Regards


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Andy B

[This message has been edited by Andy Bassett (edited 18 July 2000).]

Susannah,

Like you I am in Ca. The lack of a job description in this state, as well as others, may be disaster for any organization. You need to have them to comply with ADA, Cal/OSHA, EEO, and other things.

When writing your descriptions remember to include what the physical requirements are for the position and the phrase "any other duties as assigned from time to time".

The US Office of personnel management (www.opm.gov) also has listings of job descriptions.

Randy - Just 2 cents worth

My wife works in the "getting a job industry" and according to her (& of course I'd never attempt to argue with her (grin))

- you need to write it as "other JOB RELATED duties" - Although the old reliable "any/all other duties as assigned" is probably still used in many places -

According to my "fairlly reliable" source -- EEO currrent viewpoint is that "ANY/ALL other duties" is too generic.

Regards
Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim Biz (edited 18 July 2000).]

I usually write all/most of the job descriptions for companies I've worked for. I make an absolute point of not having "any other duties" in MY job description.

"Any other duties" gives your employer a licence to screw you and dump the body. I advise staff that I will delete this clause from their JD as well, provided they put in the yards to make the JD accurately reflect their duties, and their boss must sign off on it. This is an enormous benefit come performance assessment time.

As a corporate services manager, if something doesn't fit neatly into one work area category or another, it gets flung my way. I get out my JD and my pay slip and explain that to make these balance either: 1. they delete something else from the JD (after all, this is the contractually agreed Statement Of Work); 2. They increase the pay slip; or 3. I go.

Mostly they pay, sometimes I go, but they never decrease the JD.

SUMMARY: NEVER put "Any other duties" in your job description, and encourage others to also develop meaningful JDs.



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Susannah,

We are about to embark on the "job descriptions" section of our manual. Upper management sevely dislike the term "job description", as do I. I have yet to find in the standard where is specifically states you must have "job descriptions". More appropriately, we are defining these as "job responsibilities". Perhaps approaching this requirment in this way will be easier, and more effective for you. Good Luck!

Carol

Thanks everyone for your responses. I have been monitoring the writing of our job descriptions and I agree with those of you who recommend the phrase "and any other duties as assigned..." be eliminated. Excellent points. Thanks to all of you for your help!

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Carol-the nearest wording I have found which can be "interpreted" as everyone needs a written Job Descript.....

4.1.2.1 Responsibility,authority,interrelation of all personnel who manage,preform,verify work affecting quality shall be documented.

There are "other ways" to satisfy this "shall" but we used our JD's to link system documented responsibilities to Job titles.

Suppose one could just go ahead & apply Names directly to system documentation but.. linking responsibility to Titles we don't need to go in & do a lot of doc "change-up" IF/When there are personnel promotions or reductions or responsibility changes.

p.s. the only "any other duties tie-in statement" we put on our JD's was "Follows relevant documented system procedures & work instructions.

Regards
Jim

Eliminating the phrase "any other duties assigned" may sound good, but the 1st time that someone comes back with "it's not in my job description" there will be hell to pay.

"Any other duties assigned" is meant to be on a temporary basis only ( just review some old litigation). Once someone starts doing the extra duty all the time the JD must be modified to support the tasks being performed.

There will always be circumstances that cannot or will not be covered by a formal JD, the inclusion of the above phrase is meant to provide an employer to continue business during those periods.

As a police officer my job description did not say anything about performing 1st aid on traffic accident victims or other people. But had I not done so there are folks breathing today that would have never made it to the hospital.

Think about where you work and about things that have popped up that were critical to the business operation there, that were taken care of someone even though it wasn't their job desription to do so. I'll bet there was a clause "any other duties assigned".

Randy - I certainly don't disagree with your concept at all - you are right in the "how it actually works" viewpoint.... many times we do more that what is "written" .. Would you agree that it may be possible the results of historical "litigation" has driven or proven a need for upgrade & clarification?

A policeman - giving aid to the injured certainly is "job relevant" temorary duty - but taken to an "extreame" if a policeman were ever actually "assigned" to preform an illegal act of any nature and/or loose his job because of an any/other duties as assigned clause.. it would be another matter altogether.

Regards
Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim Biz (edited 19 July 2000).]

Randy,

Without a doubt, eliminating "other duties as assigned" is asking for trouble. This is one reason we dislike job descriptions, becuase they can be too narrowing. We are a small job shop (< 50 ppl), and without "other duties as assigned" we would be constantly updating our JD's to include every scenario we have. And if we didn't, we would be exposing ourselves to some liability issues.

Regards, Carol

1. CarolX. Don't be hung up on the name, it could be position description, duty statement, whatever. An easier way out may be an authorities matrix, with all levels/positions versus specific activities. (I'll e-mail an example). Personally I'd go for both. If a company needs the "and any other duties" statement, they either have an immature system, OR no intention of controlling the drain on resources, effectiveness of personnel, outcomes of "product" quality.

As for being too limited, what about saying something like "support the implementation and maintenance of improvement activities", surely you could cover ANYTHING with a statement like that.

2. Jim is right on the money for generic statements of complying with management system processes and procedures (for quality, safety, environment & risk (for Allan)).

3. Randy. Your JD? None of the training guidelines you had through Academy, etc., said anything about "rendering aid to victims that is within the capability, skills and experience of the Officer, when the safety and health of the Officer is not unacceptably compromised." or something to that effect? I've had paramedics dis-arm knife wielding loonies, and receive a public citation for bravery and a private dressing down for unacceptably risking their own health and safety.

Say you got a speck of blood in your eye, which you easily might not even notice, while performing first aid. Three months later you discover you've been infected with HIV. Now what? I'll say 2 words and wait for Allan C to dive in, RISK ASSESSMENT. Do we teach it, and do it, enough given the potential exposures that could occur in work that has varying and unusual workplaces?

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Well guys, im still not to sure about all this JD nonesense, i still try to avoid them if i can. ISO asks for

4.1.2.1 Responsibility,authority,interrelation of all personnel who manage,preform,verify work affecting quality shall be documented.

As a matter of course whenever i write a procedure i take care to ensure that the responsible person is named, either next to the flowchart or in bold text.ie

...the job card is then checked by the PRODUCTION MANAGER before passing...etc.

I back this up with a clear organisations chart, also a necessity, but apart from this i dont think it is necessary, and i dont beleive that ISO is really asking for JD'S.

I do however encourage organisations to define an employees objectives/targets and review them regularly, (even if they dont relate to ISO).

Care to argue

Regards



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Andy B

My copper days started 28 years ago in central Arkansas, which was not in the mainstream of anywhere.....If it wasn't your job you weren't supposed to do it.
We did it anyway.
It wasn't in my JD to take a bullet or get stabbed either. Wanna see the scars?

I don't mean to sound abrupt, but my point is...some type of catch all phrase has to be in a JD to allow for un-anticipated or infrequent occurances. Management has to maintain some flexability in order to react.



[This message has been edited by Randy (edited 20 July 2000).]

Randy – My thoughts exactly – a catchall phrase is mandatory!

Andy – I concur about this JD nonsense. But all the “experts” and “consultants” I have spoken with state this is the only way to satisfy this requirement. I think it is bunk!!!!

David – Thanks for the input. Here in the states we get hung-up on wording and semantics.

Just to restate the requirement:

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ISO 9001:1994

4.1.2.1 Responsibility and authority

The responsibility, authority and the interrelation of personnel who manage, perform and verify work affecting quality shall be defined and documented, particularly for personnel who need the organizational freedom and authority to:

a) initiate action to prevent the occurrence of any nonconformities relating to the product, process and quality system;

b) identify and record any problems relating to the product, process and quality system;

c) initiate, recommend or provide solutions through designated channels;

d) verify the implementation of solutions;

e) control further processing, delivery or installation of nonconforming product until the deficiency or unsatisfactory condition has been corrected.

<font COLOR="#DF0218"><BLOCKQUOTE>But all the "experts" and "consultants" I have spoken with state this is the only way to satisfy this requirement.</BLOCKQUOTE></font>

Personally, I find all this JD nonsense gives me a headache. Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, is a written job description required. Those <font COLOR=RED>experts</FONT> and <font COLOR=RED>consultants</FONT> are flat out wrong.

Don

Don,

Certain EPA Regulations, like those found for hazardous waste operations (40 CFR 260-266) require written and specific job descriptions.

There are also other regulations found in 29CFR (OSHA) and 10CFR (specifically Radioactive materials management, which I do daily) that also have JD requirements.

So for processes that may be subject to the above, and possibly other regs not mentioned a JD is a must.

I'm also a licensed A&P Mechanic, and my JD is very specific as to what I can and cannot do.

Don't look past governmental requirements especially when dealing with ADA (American Disability Act) and EEOC issues. A good JD is a very important thing to have.

[This message has been edited by Randy (edited 24 July 2000).]

<font COLOR=GREEN><BLOCKQUOTE> Certain EPA Regulations, like those found for hazardous waste operations (40 CFR 260-266) require written and specific job descriptions.</BLOCKQUOTE></font>

Etc, Etc, Etc. I agree. I was speaking from strictly an ISO 900x perspective. Apologies for any confusion.

Regards,

Don

Three things occurred to me when I came back to this thread:

1.If ISO 9001:2000 was really interested in best practice, it would state what the best practice requirement was in definitive terms.

2. How come they modelled 9001:2000 on ISO 14001, which has the popularity of haemorrhoids because of its structure?

3. Andy - so if you set up a QMS the PRODUCTION MANAGER has to fish and weave his way through the manual, procedures and instructions to know what his responsibilities are. I suppose if you followed everyone's line of thought you'd have to say "AND ANY OTHER DUTIES" in your procedures!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doesn't sound too best practice.

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The following is a thread starter that just surfaced on another forum. I thought it rather underlined how job descriptions are a particularly useful thing. May be the auditors should have asked this guy for info on quality plans for his future. Here it is:

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Posted by Kenji Shibata on August 21, 2000 at 18:02:50:

Hello,
I am a quality coordinator for telecomm. company based in oklahoma. We are recommended to ISO 9001 registration
last month. Now my question is the role of quality coordinator/manager after becoming iso certified. I donot have a job
description. I asked GM what he wants me to do in daily operation... but he said " maintain procedures....". I donot think
that is only responsibility of QC. So I need someone to advise me what the role of quality coordinator and what kind of
factors should be included in maintaining quality system and continuous improvement. I really really appriciate.

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