Page 77 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes jobs, care must be taken to ensure that they represent the type of work performed in that
department.

Analysing and preparing job description: This requires the preparation of a job description
and also an analysis of job needs for successful performance.
Selecting the method of evaluation: The most important method of evaluating the jobs
must be identified now, keeping the job factors as well as libraries demands in mind.
Classifying jobs: The relative worth of various jobs in an library may be found out after
arranging jobs in order of importance using criteria such as skill requirements, experience
needed, under which conditions job is performed, type of responsibilities to be shouldered,
degree of supervision needed, the amount of stress caused by the job, etc. Weights can be
assigned to each such factor. When we finally add all the weights, the worth of a job is
determined. The points may then be converted into monetary values.

4.4.1 Administration of Job Evaluation

Job evaluation requires commitment in time and effort. The length of time from introduction to
operation will vary depending on the complexity of the scheme and the size of the job population.
It is best to undertake the job evaluation exercise within an agreed time-scale so that:
Wherever practicable it does not interfere with the planned pay negotiations,

There is sufficient time to deal with appeals and where trade unions are recognised, to
establish an agreed pay structure as a basis for subsequent collective bargaining, and
Any additional finance to remedy anomalies in a grading structure can be budgeted for.

Joint Participation: Job evaluation is most effective as a participative exercise and this in itself
can improve employment relations. It is therefore recommended that job evaluation is introduced
or revised jointly by allowing management and employee representatives to discuss relevant
issues initially in a non-negotiating forum. This is because:

A joint approach is more likely to commit both parties to the outcome of the exercise with
jointly recommended proposals more likely to be accepted during the consequent
negotiations.
Employee representatives generally welcome the opportunity to participate jointly at the
formative stages of an important issue.
A joint forum will generate more ideas and recommendations than might be expected in
a more formal negotiating meeting.
A jointly agreed job evaluation scheme can remove emotion from grading queries by
allowing reasoning, rather than confrontation, to prevail, and

In the event of an equal value claim, a jointly agreed analytical scheme is more likely to be
regarded as fair by an employment tribunal.

Job Evaluation Committee: Libraries should be aware that the success of a job evaluation exercise
is dependent primarily on the level of commitment of management and the appropriate trade
union or employee representatives. It is important to establish a job evaluation committee,
agree its terms of reference and to decide whether the scheme will be analytical or non-analytical.
The composition of the joint job evaluation committee should take full account of the interests
of all groups of employees including women and ethnic minorities, covered by the evaluation

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