MT203 Unit 2 Job Analysis Example

Keep the Pools Clean and the Customers Happy: A Unit 2 Job Analysis of the Pool Service Technician

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT203: Human Resource Management

Unit 2 Job Analysis

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Bluebonnet Pool Care, its technicians, routes and every figure are composite and illustrative; bracketed figures stand where the company's records would supply the numbers; the sources cited are real.

Method

Four sources fed the analysis. I rode along with [four] technicians for a full route day each in June: a newer technician in Arlington, two experienced technicians in Fort Worth and one in Keller who also covers repairs. I interviewed [three] technicians, two route supervisors and the dispatcher. I reviewed a year of customer callbacks, which the company logs when a customer reports a problem after a visit, and the current job posting, which lists a driver's license and "attention to detail" as its only requirements. Sanchez and Levine (2012) argued that the purpose of a job analysis should decide its method, and here the purpose is a description that can support hiring, training and pay decisions later in the course, so observation was weighted most heavily. Morgeson and Campion (1997) also warned that people describing their own jobs can inflate or simplify them for social reasons, such as wanting the job to sound skilled, and a ride-along shows what the technician actually does between pools.

Duty Areas and Share of the Day

The work falls into six duty areas. Driving between pools takes about [30] percent of the day, more on routes with spread-out customers. Water testing and chemical balancing takes about [25] percent: the technician tests chlorine, pH, alkalinity and, every month, stabilizer, then adds chemicals by calculation. Cleaning, which means skimming, brushing walls and vacuuming, takes about [25] percent. Equipment checks, such as emptying pump baskets, backwashing filters and reading pressure gauges, take about [10] percent. Customer communication, including notes left on the door, gate reports and the occasional conversation with a homeowner, takes about [5] percent. Loading and restocking the truck at the shop takes the remainder.

The smallest areas are not the least important. The callback log shows that most complaints trace to two small moments: a gate left unlatched and a note not left when a problem was found. A homeowner who comes home to an open gate does not care how well the walls were brushed.

Physical and Working Conditions

The physical demands were measured, not estimated. A pail of chlorine tablets weighs [50] pounds, and technicians lift it from the truck bed several times a day. A full five-gallon jug of liquid chlorine weighs about [53] pounds. Vacuum poles extend to sixteen feet and are worked overhead and at arm's length for ten to fifteen minutes per pool. Technicians kneel at equipment pads and climb in and out of pools to clear drains. In July the observed technicians worked in air temperatures above 100 degrees for most of the afternoon, with surfaces near the pool deck hotter still.

Chemical exposure is a working condition in its own right. Technicians handle chlorine, muriatic acid and other products that must never be mixed or stored together. One observed technician kept acid and chlorine in separate locked bins, as company policy requires. Another kept them side by side in an open crate, which he said was faster.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Water chemistry is the core knowledge the job requires. A technician must read a test kit accurately and calculate how much of each chemical to add for a pool of a given volume. The experienced technicians did these calculations mentally in seconds; the newer technician used a phone app and still checked twice.

Judgment matters almost as much. On one observed day, a technician found a pump making a grinding noise. He shut it off, left a note explaining why and called the repair line, which prevented a burned motor. A less experienced technician might have let it run.

Two skills appear nowhere in the current posting: time management across a route of about [65] pools a week, and written communication short enough to fit on a door hanger.

The route itself demands planning that the owner's phrase hides. The experienced Fort Worth technician started each morning by reading the weather forecast and the previous week's notes, then reordered his stops so that pools with known algae problems came early, before the afternoon heat. He also kept a running list of customers who wanted a text before arrival. None of this is written anywhere, and the newer technician in Arlington did none of it, so his day ran in the order the dispatcher printed it.

Draft Job Description

The description below follows the format most HR texts recommend: a title and reporting line, a one-sentence summary, essential duties weighted by time, and requirements that can be defended because each one rests on an observation.

Title: Pool Service Technician. Reports to: Route Supervisor.

Summary: Maintains water quality, cleanliness and equipment function at about 60 to 70 residential pools each week on an assigned route, and communicates findings to customers and the office.

Essential duties, with approximate share of time: drives the route safely and on schedule (30 percent); tests water and adds chemicals by calculation (25 percent); skims, brushes and vacuums pools (25 percent); checks and maintains equipment and reports faults (10 percent); leaves written notes and secures gates at every visit (5 percent); loads and restocks the truck and stores chemicals according to policy (5 percent).

Requirements, each traced to the observations: ability to lift 50 pounds repeatedly, from the tablet pails; ability to work outdoors in heat above 100 degrees, from the July observations; working knowledge of pool water chemistry or completion of the company's certification course within [60] days, from the testing duties; a valid driver's license and clean driving record, from the driving share; and the ability to write clear short notes, from the callback log.

Two of the six duty areas fill a third of the day, and they produce most of the callbacks.

Using the Analysis

The analysis already suggests where later units should look. The gate and note duties belong in training and appraisal, since they cause complaints far out of proportion to their time. The chemical storage difference between technicians belongs in safety training. And the physical requirements belong in the posting, so applicants know before they apply what the job asks of their bodies in July. Dessler (2020) notes that job descriptions and specifications built from careful analysis support nearly every other HR activity, from recruiting to compensation, and this one is meant to serve all of them.

References

Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson.

Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (1997). Social and cognitive sources of potential inaccuracy in job analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(5), 627-655. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.5.627

Sanchez, J. I., & Levine, E. L. (2012). The rise and fall of job analysis and the future of work analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 397-425. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100401