Distribute Work and Tasks in a Natural Way

When it comes to creating positions and job descriptions on the job, it is important to consider what work tasks naturally go together. As organizations or companies grow, sometimes the way job tasks are distributed just does not make sense-it might be because certain individuals were better at certain tasks or because there were more or fewer employees to do the work at one time. Whether you are adding employees, reorganizing or downsizing, look at which work tasks naturally go together and create positions to reflect that reality.

For example, it doesn't make sense for several people to do little pieces of one report or sales document. Unless you are creating something large such as a magazine, book or other publication, a small report can be done by one person. He or she may need to gather the information from various sources, but the input, compilation and completion can all be done by one position. This minimizes the number of people who are involved in any significant way and makes for logical efficiency.

Consider an office where one person answers the phones as a receptionist, but another signs for deliveries, another person orders supplies and still another person greets visitors. This arrangement would not make any sense and several individuals would be getting pulled away from other work to take care of all of the tasks that might logically be given to an office manager or receptionist.

Minimize the number of people who touch or work on a particular document. Even in the case of a magazine publication, you would not want to have several people functioning as editor-it would be too redundant and confusing. Instead assign tasks and responsibilities to the job positions where they make the most sense. Even if there is someone else in the organization who might be better suited to a particular task. Each individual worker can then develop his or her skill varieties and will be more likely to take ownership and find satisfaction in a job well done. Additionally, when it comes time to replace a particular job position, it will be easier to find a qualified candidate if the job makes natural and logical sense.