This article is a report of case study on the design of job/work for professional workers.

1. Career Management for Professional Workers
A Case Study:
Improvement on Job Designs for Professionals
at
PT. Bukit Batubara Tbk, 2012

2. The aim of study is to answer the following research
problems:
What make a company or firm
competitive, specifically related to the needs to
enhance the competitiveness of employee
performances?
How does career management as called "contributor
model " work well for professional
workers, especially in enhancing their
productivity, works quality, and works
commitment?
16 March 2013
2

3. Background of needs assessment
at PTBB Case Study:
• Mostly professional workers at PTBB have suggested the company
management to undertake the improvement on the quality of their
working life (QWL), especially in respects and recognition to
professionalism and daily hard-working of non-managerial workers.
• Specifically, they have requested kind of appreciations, which would
provide increases of remuneration for professional workers at least as
similar with financial rewards as being applied for managerial
workers.
• Most importantly, employees in general have been wandering to look
for better employment opportunity with assurances of better future
career as realized in the establishment of career path and career
development.
16 March 2013
3

4. Literatures Review 1
 Houston, 1999 explained: New changes in relationship
between company management and employees
(professional workers) should provide “exchange
relationship for mutual benefit of both parties.”
 The initial findings of case study at PT. Bukit Batubara
Tbk explained that “the policy to improve the design
of jobs/works for professional workers” has been
coming out from the philosophy of changes in the
relationship between management and employees as
“mutually shared responsibility.” Such discretion
reflects the similar findings of DeSimone (1998: pp
343-344).
16 March 2013
4

5. Literatures Review 2
 The findings of needs assessment at PTBB Case Study
explained that most importantly employees have also
requested the management of PT. Bukit Batubara Tbk to
provide professional workers with improvement of their
job-designs which give more assurances on career paths
and career development.
 It means that PTBB findings (2011/2012) also reflect the
similarity as the notes of Mathis et al (2004) which
explained new outlook of how the changes of career
understanding and its development have influenced today
human resources management.
16 March 2013
5

6. Literatures Review 3
Mathis (2004: 247) noted further explanations about the changes
of today career management with the following understanding:
 “Career ladder” in middle-management has been associated with
horizontal movement of career changes rather than
vertical/structural movement in many companies;
 Many companies prefer to hire employees who support more on
the accomplishment of business objectives, and give more
priorities on recruiting human resources who are professionals
and excellent in their core competencies;
 The growth of many different jobs and occupations in today’s
world reflects more on the kinds of jobs with project bases;
and, such this growth provides career choices for employees with
more on a series of project, not just steps upward in a given
organization.”
16 March 2013
6

7. Literatures Review 4
The best learning experiences from PTBB
Case Study concluded that any similar project
of improvement on the design of jobs/works
for professional workers must pay attention
to varying ways to set up career management
for professional workers (Giovanni, 2010).
16 March 2013
7

8. Literatures Review 5 – Critical Issues
It is important, therefore, to consider the following critical
issues of career management:
1.
Before a company start setting up the new system-design
of career management, it is important to redefine the
concept of career which must satisfy the expectation of
employees, including such a complex problem as
relationship between employees’ career and any activities
outside of daily works (Giovanni, 2010).
2.
Career paths and career ladder for professional workers
must be agreeable for both employees and company
management, because that kind of establishment will
reflect new philosophy of “mutually shared responsibility
in employing people.”
16 March 2013
8

9. Literatures Review 5 – Critical Issues, continued
3. Career planning with organizational-based approach
and/or individual employees-based approach must be
synergistic; it is necessarily important that all those
approaches will give greater respects and appreciation to
the principles of “mutual benefits and exchanges”
between employees and company management
(Walker, 1980).
4. The company must also provide employees with Career
Development Program and Job Matching Program, which
support the process of career management, especially
when the new system-design being implemented is
indicating the needs to improve employees’ work
commitment (Sandra, 2008)
16 March 2013
9

10. Literatures Review 6:
The Synergy of Organization and Individual Perspectives
Organizational
Perspective
Individual Perspective
• Identify future
organizational staffing
needs
• Plan career ladders
• Assess individual
potential and training
needs
• Match organizational
needs with individual
abilities
• Audit and develop a
career system for the
organization
16 March 2013
A
Person’s
Career
• Identify personal
abilities and interests
• Plan life and work
goals
• Assess alternative
paths inside and
outside the
organization
• Note changes in
interests and goals as
career and life stage
changes
10

11. Methodology and Steps of Case Study
•
Triangulation approaches have guided the case study
through: Interview, Survey or Field Observation
(Consulting
Sessions
and/or
Forum
Group
Discussion), and Documents Review.
•
A method of disclosure models from Ian T. Ramsey
(Philosophy of Language Analysis, 1971) has supported
the analysis of qualitative data to make the best
judgment on the meaning of data interpretation.
•
Four steps of case study focused on PTBB Business
Process and Engineering System: (1) Needs
Assessment, (2) Verification of Initial Findings, (3)
Justification of Company Priorities, (4) Development of
System Design in Career Management.
16 March 2013
11

12. Four Steps of Case Study in Details
1. Needs Assessment: (a) Identify the specific designs of
jobs/works for professional workers, (b) The arrangement of
characteristics related to the design of jobs/works, and (c)
The List on the design of jobs/works for professional
workers.
2. Verification of Initial Findings in the Implementation of
Job Evaluation.
3. Justification of Company Priorities through Validation of
Job Descriptions for professional workers.
4. Development of System Design in Career Management:
Assurances in the implementation of new model of career
management with recommendation for future enhancement.
16 March 2013
12

13. Steps of Case Study according to the Context of PTBB
Business Process & Engineering System
16 March 2013
13

14. Results of Case Study – The initial findings
•
The case study have indicated that the project of
improvements have complied with the current human
resources development program that puts employees as a
strategic partner. Based on such this strategic
partnership, the results of improvement have supported the
development level of awareness and commitment of
employees to the organization's Vision-Mission and Business
Strategy prevailing in today’s business operation.
•
Therefore, the company management of PT. Bukit Batubara
Tbk had the opportunity to use the Vision-Mission
formulation, Business Strategy, and organization structure as
standard measurements towards improvement results on the
design of jobs/works for professional workers.
16 March 2013
14

15. Results of Case Study – Further Findings
The standards of business policy play important roles in guiding
and giving references to the governance of PT. Bukit Batubara
Tbk as it is valid as operational policy.
Some business policy at PT Bukit Batubara, being considered
important for reviewing the strategy of human resource
management as follows:
1. Functional job title expected to be carried out as activities of
employees with the level of good independence and critically
accountable.
2. Functional task/jobs should support good corporate
governance.
3. Each employees may work with synergy, that is a spirit to join
forces in achieving company goals.
16 March 2013
15

16. Results of Case Study – Further Findings
4. The elaboration of functional job titles must meet integrity
of the business, satisfying the relationships with
stakeholders, support efficiency in every line of
business, giving good impacts to the work culture
synergy, and give guidance to employees in acting as a
professional with good moral conduct.
5. Each professional worker shall have an attitude and a culture
of love, appreciate, promote and develop the skills to be able
to deliver the best work.
6. Every individual employee must have attitude of
preparedness and readiness in every opportunity to
communicate the ideas, suggestions, always being
updated, and eager to learn technologies that have been
developed outside.
16 March 2013
16

17. Results of Case Study – Team Accomplishments
1. The list of job-designs for professional workers at PT. Bukit
Batubara Tbk has been re-arranged completely, including the
specifications within job families.
2. The new arrangement of those job-designs was verified with
job-grading system using Hay-Methodology to calculate the
match between compensable factors and job values within
each job titles.
3. There are 388 individual job titles covered by 128 Job
Families, which include 48 JD for Professional Generalists, 30
JD for Professional Specialist, and 325 JD for Operational
Workers.
16 March 2013
17

18. Results of Case Study – Company Accomplishments
1. Before the project, there was no Job Family system. All jobs
were distributed into 218 job titles without job classes. Some
600 job titles were in job classes, but with no structured or
systematic job family.
2. After the project, there are more simplified arrangement of
all job titles within better structured and well-systematic job
family.
3. After the project: the improvement of total 403 Individual Job
Titles has been done, however there have been only 388 job
titles being identified completely, the rest of job titles have
not been verified yet.
16 March 2013
18

19. ANALYSIS ON THE RESULTS OF CASE STUDY
Key Issues of Today’s design of jobs for professional workers:
1.
The company management may retain functional positions as
specific design of jobs/works for professional workers in the
organization with clear purposes as follows:
a) in order to maintain the presence of employees’ loyalty,
b) to
motivate
employees
based
quality, performance, and competence, and
on
c) encourage employee commitment to achieve the success
of the organization according to the vision, mission and
strategy of the organization by always taking into account
the most efficient cost .
16 March 2013
19

20. ANALYSIS ……………………..
Key Issues of Today’s design of jobs for professionals
2.
PT. Bukit Batubara Tbk has been in a situation of unsafe
performance when the number of functional positions in
existing condition have grown up uncontrollable and out of
reasonable proportion.
3. Therefore, the project of improvement is expected to
effectively and efficiently support the business needs in the
future with reducing the number of job positions into
proporsional level. Upon completion of the project, it is
expected that PTBB to be able to provide opportunities for
employees with better promotion in future career, which
should be better appreciated with similar rewards as
employees in managerial positions.
16 March 2013
20

21. ANALYSIS ……………………..
Key Issues of Today’s design of jobs for professionals
4. Current situation has been very urgent for PTBB within
which the company management should start reviewing and
balancing all design of job according to good proportion
between the size of job content or job load and the
proportion of job values. The needs for balancing such these
proportion should also bring improvement for all different
jobs, by which each one job may differ among other jobs.
5. Rearrangement of functional job positions must promote the
grouping into two different job family: a) functional job
positions with professional characteristics and b) functional
job positions for operational works.
16 March 2013
21

22. ANALYSIS ……………………
Rearrangement of functional job positions
Specialist
Professional
Generalist
Functional
Job Titles
Operational
Group of
Jobs
Simplify similar
group of jobs
Operator, mekanics,
electrician, surveyor
, quality control
Managerial
16 March 2013
Structural
22

23. ANALYSIS ………………………..
Rearrangement of functional job positions
Initial Titles and Job Level
Functional
Professional
Job Level
Executive
I
Senior
Senior
II
III
……….
Junior
Functional
Operational
IV
………
V
Junior
VI
16 March 2013
23

24. Traditional career path for scientists and managers:
Assistant Director
Assistant Director
Principal Research Scientist
Research Scientist
Manager
Scientist
Assistant Manager
Individual Contributor Career Path
16 March 2013
Department Manager
Management Career Path
24

25. Examples of a Dual Career Path-System
Executives
Fellow
Functional
Management
Senior Technical
Staff Member
Senior
Senior
Development
Advisory
Project
Staff
MANAGEMENT LADDER
TECHNICAL LADDER
Senior Associate
Associate
Engineers, Programmers, S
cientists
16 March 2013
25

26. Recommendation: Implementation of Career Management
A Contributor Model
16 March 2013
26

27. Recommendation: Implementation of Career Management
A Contributor Model
A dual-career-path system
enables employees to
remain in a technical
career path or move into a
management career path.
16 March 2013
27

28. Recommendation: Implementation of Career Management
A Contributor Model
Characteristics of Effective Career Paths
 Salary, status, and incentives for technical
employees compare favorably with those of
managers.
 Individual contributors’ base salary may be
lower than managers’, but they are given
opportunities to increase their total
compensation through bonuses.
 The individual contributor career path is not
used to satisfy poor performers who have no
managerial potential.
16 March 2013
28

29. Recommendation: Implementation of Career Management
A Contributor Model
Characteristics of Effective Career Paths
 The career path is for employees with
outstanding technical skills.
 Individual contributors are given the
opportunity to choose their career path.
 The company provides assessment resources.
 Assessment information enables employees to
make comparisons between their interests
and abilities with those of employees in
technical and managerial positions.
16 March 2013
29