Talent management is a goal oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing,
managing, and compensating employees. In its simplest terms, it is getting the right people in
the right Jobs. In this section, we will discuss the practices and thought processes of human
resource departments when dealing with talent management. One important practice is the job
analysis. A job analysis is the procedure throught which of a company’s Jobs and the
characteristics of people who should perform them are determined. With this information, the
manager can then develop proper job descriptions and specifications. Let’s see how The
Weather Channel, a 24-hour, 7 day televisión network devoted entirely to the weather,
approaches these theories in practice.
My name is Sylvia Taylor and I am the Executive Vice President of Human Resources at The
Weather Channel. I work with the senior leadership team and the entire workforce here at The
Weather Channel to ensure that this is a great place to work. Job analysis is very important
because it’s important to understand what impact the job has on the business’s overall business
objectives. Specifically, when we’re looking at and analyzing a job, we want to understand what
is the critical role of that job? What are the essential functions of the role, what are the outcomes
that are expected and anticipated? What level of experience is needed to perform well in the
role? What’s the scope and magnitude of the role? And that means, what’s the level of
responsibility and the breadth of responsibility that the individual holding the role has?
Specifically, we look at years of experience, the type of experience and training that the
individual has had, the type of judgment that is required in the role, whether there’s a high level
of independent thinking that’s needed in the role, Does the individual supervise or direct
employees? Does the individual interface with other departments or other functions in that role?
And all of those things discern the impact that the role will have on the company’s business
strategy. It’s very important to have a properly prepared job description because that basically
gives the employee guidance on where to focus his or her efforts. Say, for example, an
employee has limited time and limited resources, which we all do. By properly defining the job
description, the manager has given the employee clarity on where he or she should focus his
efforts. Consequently, this tells the employee what he or she can do to have the most impact on
performance to have the most impact on performance and helps the employee be most effective
in the role. In terms of determining how we perform a job analysis, here at The Weather
Channel what we do is have heavy involvement from the hiring manager. We sit down with the
manager and ask important questions like, ‘’What is the role of this position? What impact does
the role have on your department’s results? What are the outcomes that you’re expecting from
the position? What departments or other functions does this position interface with?´´ We also
ask the hiring manager how should this individual ``How should this individual perform the role
in order to be most effective?’’ So we not only look at what but we look at the how. Well, here at
The Weather Channel, we recognize the importance of putting together a sound job importance
of putting together a sound job profile, So we always involve the hiring manager. Oftentimes,
the human resources business partner is also involved in the process, but we have compensation
specialists that take a look both internally and externally to ensure that we are taking into
consideration all relevant criteria. We look at market surveys in the industry and outside of the
industry to tell us what are the key elements of the role and also what is the compensation for
the role? We then take this data and then review with the hiring manager to ensure that the
position is a good match with what we expect of the role internally.
Sylvia Taylor discusses the importance of job analysis. Base don what you saw in the video in
the chapter, what job analysis tolos would you suggest they use to supplement what they’re
currently doing to analyze Jobs? What role do you think job analysis plays in talent
management at The Weather Channel? What role should it play?
