A workday begins each morning at 8 A.M. in the tax assessor's office. The staff is composed of the director, two secretaries, two data entry clerks, and three file clerks. Until last year, the office operated smoothly, with even workloads and well-defined responsibilities.

Over the past year or so, the director has noticed more and more disagreements among the data entry clerks and the file clerks. When they approached the director to discuss their disagreements, it was determined that problems had arisen from misunderstandings concerning responsibilities for particular duties. There is a strong undercurrent of discontent because the data entry clerks feel the file clerks have too much free time to spend running personal errands and socializing. On the other hand, the secretaries and data entry clerks frequently have to work overtime doing work they believe could easily be picked up by the file clerks. The file clerks claim they should not have to take on any additional duties, since their paychecks would not reflect the extra responsibilities.

Each person in the office has a general job description that was written several years ago. However, the nature of most positions has changed considerably since then because of the implementation of a new computer system. No attempt has been made to put these changes in writing. The director formerly held staff meetings to discuss problems that arose within the office; however, no meetings have been held in several months.

1. What actions would you recommend to the director?
2. Why do you think job descriptions are not updated in many organizations?
3. How often do you think job descriptions should be updated?
4. Considering the frequent changes in jobs at most organizations, do you think job descriptions are necessary?

Source: Human Resource Management, 5^th Edition. Lloyd L. Byars and Leslie W. Rue. 1997. Irwin McGraw-Hill Publishing.