Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Managing Work Analysis

Projects and Development Directorate, Ministry for Gozo

The Projects and Development Department includes the Construction and Maintenance
Unit, Architectural and Engineering Services, Works Branch, the Cleansing Services
Branch and the Agriculture and Fisheries Branch in Gozo.

The department’s objectives are to ensure that “Gozo has the proper infrastructure
required for the island’s development; protect, manage and enhance the natural
heritage of Gozo; provide the proper environment and extend the necessary services in
the agricultural and fisheries; support investment; provide professional and technical
support to the other directorates within the Ministry for Gozo”. (Gov.mt, 2014)

The benefits of work analysis within my organization.

According to Dierdoff and Morgeson (2011), work analysis is the “systematic

investigation of (a) work role requirements and (b) the broader context within which
work roles are enacted”(p.4). Work analysis is a very useful human resource tool to
drive performance.

The challenge for the Projects and Development Direcorate is to undertake small,
manageable and achievable changes to continuously innovate, evolve and reach its
objectives. Work analysis will help us understand what is happening inside the
organization to support performance.

A trend which is becoming visibly apparent within the department is that lower grade
workers such as general hand workers, cleaners and beach cleaners are decreasing
their absence from work. Consequently, since employee productivity depends on the
amount of time an individual is physically present at the workplace, the departments
efficiency has dropped. Work analysis will benefit my organization by improving
employee satisfaction by focusing on what is happening with employees, more
specifically their knowledge, skills, capacity, motivation and expectations. Work analysis
discovers what employees know or don’t know, their physical or mental powers to
function in a job, their motivation for doing the job and their expectations about
performing the job (Van Tiem et al. 2004). Employee satisfaction has proven to
increase work performance and productivity. In fact, a popular saying maintains that ‘a
happy worker is a productive worker. As a result, increased productivity will lead to less
complaints from the general public. All this will contribute to continuous improvement

1
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

within my organization by “forming and empowering teams of people to deal with

existing problems and opportunities at work.” (ibid. p 305).

In a nutshell, work analysis will improve our ability to drive performance by improving
efficiency and the effective delivery of results in order to achieve the organization’s
objectives.

Conducting work analysis in my area of responsability for the

achievement of the organization’s strategic objectives.

My role within the department is to act as the personal assistant to the Director and
Assistant Director of the Projects and Development Directorate who are responsabile
for all the planning, implementation and management of all the sections that fall under
the Directorate. In order to carry out the Directorate’s purpose (as outlined in the
introduction), apart from the skills of professionals such as architects and engineers, we
are very much dependendent upon the output of industrial grade workers such as
construction drivers, Handymen, General Hand workers and labourers.

I believe that the current situation in my work area is not contributing to the
department’s objectives. The reasons are various, but mainly because industrial grade
workers seem to have an apathatic attitude at the workplace which is resulting in higher
absenteeism, less productivity and more complaints. Conducting work analysis within
this area, will elucidate significant patterns and variations in the workers’ behavior and
work performance.

The Department’s objectives are to:

 Reduce absenteeism and increase work productivity by 20% by 2020

 To reduce customer complaints by 30% by 2020

In terms of work analysis, this objective can be achieved by recruiting more industrial
grade workers as many are retiring, train existing staff to improve skills and knowledge
to improve productivity or measure employee productivity through an employee
performance metrics and give effective rewards to drive performance. Additionally,
work analysis will determine the department’s efficiency and achievement which will
manifest itself in tangible results for the organization, as well as rewarding for the
employee.

I carried out work analysis in my work area by employing the Critical Incident technique
to collect data. I chose this qualitative method as it will enable me to analyse and collect

2
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

information about human behavior and their activities. I conducted this method by
employing unstructured observation which provides direct access to the social
phenomena under consideration. I preferred to use this method instead of interviews or
questionnaires because considering the topic was on work performance, there was a
risk of respondents giving inaccurate or incomplate information or being biased by
social desirability bias or social approval.

The aim of using critical incident technique is to help me determine the critical
requirements of a specific worker group within an organization, (in this case, industrial
grade workers) by identifying similarities, differences and patterns and to explore how
and why people engage in the activity. (Lipu et al, 2007). These reports were conducted
during the month of December 2014 and January 2015. The first two reports (Appendix
1) were transcribed during the event while the third report was transcribed immediately
after the incident due to the situation which did not permit me to write. Notes were taken
as soon as possible to avoid loss or inaccurate data. I planned to chose two negative
critical incidents and one positive critical incident of work performance and employee’s
attitudes to elucidate what factors contribute to their attitude and behavior

Analysis of reports: See Appendix 1

From the first two critical incident reports, what strikes out is the employees’ reluctant
behavior when they leave work without permission or not attending at all. In my opinion,
this sounds like a workplace deviance because they know what the procedures are. It is
also evident the inappropriate verbal and non verbal behavior on the workplace such as
‘slouching on the chair’, ‘mumbling’, replying in a ‘load voice’ and ‘slamming the door’.
Such behavior is manifested in their lack of emotional control as per report 1, when the
watchman bursted out shouting and replied back, showing no respect for authority. This
lack of respect for authority is also seen in Report 2, when the officer in charge reported
to the Assistant Director that when he brought to the attention their inappropriate
behavior, they would snap at him. Their behavior could also be considered challenging
because they are challenging their superiors and even when warned as per report 2,
employees still persisted in being dismissive.

Analysing the reports, it also transpired their attitude of negligence and irresponsibility
for the safety of the general public. In report 1, apart from the statue being vandalized,
people were at risk of falling off the scaffolding while in report 2, people could have
suffered serious injuries. It is also evident the lack of organizational commitment where
employees are more focused and interested in their personal commitments such as
conducting outside business during working hours. Worst still, is their nonchalant
apathetic attitude of the employees which in both reports not only led to blown project
deadlines and incomplete fulfillment of orders, but affected productivity of employees

3
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

around them. Their poor performance and lack of obedience to organizational policies,
indicates that employees have no affective attachment to the goals and values of the
organization.

In report 3, however, I observed something different and positive. I noticed that when
employees where offered an incentive either financial or as time-off in lieu (since, time
off can be accumulated year after year and they can use it to retire early), they worked
with more enthusiasm. Moreover, they worked in less time, did a good job and were in a
good mood (‘joking’, ‘laughing’, ‘picking on each other’ ) eventhough it was New Year’s
Day. Moreover, I think that the fact that the Assistant Director was present, helped to
motivate them. The Assistant Director has a certain charisma and workers seem to
have a great respect for him and I got this feeling by the tone of their voice and their
replies as well as the commitment they gave when carrying out the job.

From the reports, it can be deducted that employees are influenced by both extrinsic
(overtime and time off in lieu) and intrinsic (the Assistant Director influence) rewards.
Work analysis has elucidated the areas that need improvement and hence we can
anticipate and react quickly to the current situation and make adjustments so as reach
the organization’s objectives and increase the organizational performance which
depends on the efficient and effective performance of individual employees within the
organization. Moreover, it is clearly evident that in order to reach the organization’s
objective we need to increase employee satisfaction

Recommendations

It would be easy to just fire employees rather than dealing with such dismissive attitudes
and behaviors. However, firing an employee isn’t just embarrasing to the employee but
it is also an embarassment to the art and science of managing. As a leader or a
director, one essential role is to help employees become succesful in their jobs and see
that employees derive satisfaction from their job.

After analyzing the Critical Incident Reports, I looked up the salary that came with
industrial grade workers because I believe that pay is influencing employee
performance and satisfaction. All government workers are based on a table known as
salary scales, and Industrial workers fall under salary scale 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 (which
are considered the lowest in the scales). Each scale has a salary per annum as per
figure below.

4
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Figure 1 - (Collective Agreement for Employees in the Public

Service, 2012)

My recommendations therefore are:

1. Incentive Wage Plan: To develop an ‘Employee Performance Appraisal’ where

satisfactory performance would be rewarded by an additional bonus. The
maximum amount would be of €500 per year and the minimum would be €50 per
year. Workers would be motivated to perform more so as to get the maximum
amount. Additionally, this ‘Employee Performance Appraisal’ would be inserted in
their personal file for promotion prospects. Furthermore, the ‘Employee
Performance appraisal’ will have a section on how employees can improve. A
copy of this appraisal would be given to the employee.

2. Train the Supervisors: Train exisiting supervisors in leadership and management

so as to acquire more skills and knowledge in dealing and managing the
employees under his responsability. Such skills would include: to be an effective
spokesperson for the workers, to make things happen by being resourceful and
innovative, to be committed and responsible, to be a good communicator and to
insist on accountability. Having the required skills, supervisors can motivate
employee to achieve the organization’s objectives.

3. Training for Skills and Allowance: Some of these industrial grade workers have
been working with the government for many years and eversince then, the
majority of them did not take up any training. The majority do not know how to
read and write because at that time (over 30 years ago) it was not a necessity for
industrial grade workers. Moreover, the majority of them do not know how to use
a computer. It is true that a watchman or a labourer may not need a computer,
but I believe that in today’s age it is essential to train employees in order to
contribute to the continuous improvement of the organization. Training would

5
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

include basic skills such as training to improve basic communication skills both
oral and written, computer fundamentals, basic arithmetic, problem solving and
teamwork. For each training course employees would be given an allowance.

4. Redeployment: Since many technical workers have been working under the
same section, redeployment could drive engagement. However, they would need
training and orientation to be succesful in their new location. This could involve
additional costs while there is also a risk that employees would resist this change
which could result in decreased engagement and productivity.

5. Combining recommendation 1 and 2: Employees would increase their

performance upon incentive and their supervisors would be better equipped with
training to manage these employees.

Choosing the best decision / outcome.

There are several decision making techniques, however, I decided to use the Decision
Matrix so as to help me to evaluate and prioritize all the options and finally to chose to
best outcome.

Factor Score
1=Lowest, 5=Highest
Factor Incentive Training Training Redeployment Both 1
Weight Wage Supervisors and and 2
Plan Allowance
Employee 30 4 3 4 2 5
Satisfaction
Pecuniary 25 5 3 3 2 5
Benefit for
Employees
Cost 15 4 3 4 5 5
Opportunity 30 4 4 4 3 5
for Career
Development
Total 100 425 330 375 275 500

6
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

According to the Decision Matrix, the best outcome is recommendation 5 which is the
combination of both the Incentive Wage Plans and Supervisors training. As can be seen
above, recommendation number 5 scored high on all factors. Employees’ satisfaction
would increase with a performance bonus as well as having a trained/equipped
supervisor. To train supervisors as well as giving performance bonuses, will increase
the department’s expenditure. On the other hand, this recommendation will give
employees the opportunity for career development.

This outcome is the most suitable to reach the organization’s objections which are to:

a. Reduce absenteeism and increase work productivity by 20% by 2020

b. Reduce customer complaints by 30% by 2020

Employees, with special reference to technical grade employees, would have a trained
supervisior who could manage them in an efficient and effective manner and act as the
middle person between his employees and top management. Also, employees would
work harder to have a good performance report so that they can get the maximum
bonus. Employees would increase their work performance, work productivity as well as
reduce absenteeism which would contribute in less customer complaint.

Possible consequence of the decision.

For every action there is a reaction and so, in one way or another, whether positively or
negatively the selected outcome will have some sort of consequences for the
organization.

As previously stated, the best outcome is that upon satisfactory performance,

employees will be given an incentive of a maximum €500 per year and supervisors will
be given training during working hours. So, one of the obvious consequences, is that of
the increase in costs which will incurred on the department. Given that we currently
have 95 industrial grade workers and assuming that each will receive the maximum
amount, the cost will be of an additional €9500 per year. This is excluding the time-off
work that supervisors need to take to attend for training as well the payment for the
tutor. However, if the department includes these funds in the Business Plan for the
following year and gets the approval from the Ministry of Finance, the issue would be
resolved.

Additionally, there is the possibility that supervisors may not be interested in attending
training or would be irritated at having to deal with accumulated work after training.
Nonetheless, if the Director and Assistant Director hold a meeting and explain to them
that training would be held only two times a week for twenty weeks, and therefore

7
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

temporary, and the advantages that they would retrieve for promotion prospects, the
supervisors would have a different attitude towards training. However, they need to be
motivated of why training is essential for them and what is expected of them once
training is finished.

To conclude, I envisage that the best decision, when implemented, would have more
benefits than disadvantages. I am a firm believer that job satisfaction will increase as
well as motivation, increased work performance and lower levels of absenteeism

8
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

References

Collective Agreement for Employees in the Public Service. (2012). [online] Available at:
http://www.ansek.org.mt/resources/files/collective-agreement_1373813632.pdf
[Accessed 19 Jan. 2015].
Gov.mt, (2014). Directorate General (Operations). [online] Available at:
https://www.gov.mt/en/Government/Publications/Documents/Annual%20Reports/201
3/MGOZ.pdf [Accessed 24 Dec. 2014].

Morgeson, F. and Dierdoff, E. (2011). Work analysis: From technique to theory. In: S.
Zedeck, ed., APA Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology., 1st ed.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp.3-41.

Van Tiem, D., Moseley, J. and Dessinger, J. (2004). Fundamentals of performance

technology. Silver Spring, MD: International Society for Performance Improvement.

9
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Appendix 1

Critical Incident Report 1

Date: 8th December, 2014 Time: 9.00am

Persons involved: Director, Assistant Director, Watchman who was on duty on 7 th

December 2014

Place: Office of the Director

Description: Local NGO Wirt Ghawdex secretary called the office informing the
Assistant Director that on Sunday 7th December 2014, someone went on
the scaffolding and removed the nose of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ statue
situated on Merzuq Hill, Marsalforn. The Assistant Director called the
Officer in Charge of watchmen section to call in the watchmen who was on
duty yesterday to come to the office. After thirty minutes, the watchman
came in the office. He was wearing dirty clothes and mumbled what the
emergency was to make him come at such a short notice and sat down
slouching on the chair. The Assistant Director in a calm tone of voice
asked him if he was on duty yesterday and the watchman confirmed. He
asked him whether he was physically present on site and without
hesitation the watchman replied, “Le, ta’, ma mortx ghax xoghol” (No, I did
not go to work. In a matter of fact tone). The Assistant Director asked him
whether he had any permission for not going and he answered that he did
not. The Assistant Director explained to him that because he did not go to
work, someone went on the scaffolding and removed ‘Christ the
Redeemer’s’ nose. He replied, “Heq, jien x’tort ghandi.” (What fault do I
have). The Director replied, “Iva, ghandek tort, ghax xogholok kien li tiehu
hsieb li hadd ma jitla’ sakemm jitlestew ix-xogholijiet. Issa, kieku l –
persuna jew persuni li telghu waqghu minn fuq l-iscaffolding?” (Yes, it is
your fault, because your duty was to ensure that no one goes up till works
are finished. Now what if the person or persons who went on the
scaffolding fell?). The watchman nodded.

He informed him that for this time he will not be issuing any charges but
Sunday’s pay will be deducted from his salary. The watchman bursted out
at this last phrase and in a loud voice replied that it was not fair because
he did not go to work because he was not feeling well. His voice became

10
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

extremely red. The Director replied by telling him that if that was the case,
he should have informed his superiors so that a replacement would have
been found and the damage would not have been caused. The watchman
left the office, slamming the door behind him.

Behavior: The watchman was not prepared to accept responsability or showed any
interest for the damage caused to the statue. In fact, he reacted in a
defensive way and demonstrated lack of emotional control when he was
criticised and when he was told that the day’s pay would be deducted from
his salary for not attending that day’s work. Rather than understanding the
Director and Assistant Director’s views he confronted them by replying
back in an inappropriate manner.

Consequences: The watchman’s behavior and lack of commitment led to a delay in

the project as the nose had to be redone . As a result, there was waste of
time and resources as restoration workers had to put in more time and
additional materials had to procured.

11
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Critical Incident Report 2

Date: 10th January 2015 Time: 10:30

People involved: Director, Assistant Director, Officer in Charge of Roads Section and 5
labourers

Place: Assistant Director’s Office

Description: The Assistant Director received a call from the Minister of Gozo to assign
workers to patch holes at Mgarr Road infront of the Grand Hotel as many
complaints were arriving at his office. Immediately, the Assistant Director
called the supervisor in charge of roads section and asked him to urgently
get workers to patch four holes in that road. At 12:30pm the Assistant
Director received a call that the workers had only patched one hole and
left the site, and that a car which was passing on that road suffered
damages on wishbones, shock absorbers and tyres. He called the Officer
in Charge to investigate the reason why the orders were not followed.

At 2:00pm, the Officer in Charge came to the office and started

complaining that he had enough of this situation. He said that when he
called the workers, two of them told him that they had to go to their part-
time job, while the other three did not even reply. He said that when he
confronted the two workers who answered the phone, they started to
“jirribelaw u’ jghiduli ‘issa mieghi ha taqbad’?” (get defensive and tell
me’Now you will be pick on me?’). He said that this situation has been
happening for too long and that he is getting tired to work with inflexible
people. He said, “Ma jaghtux kazi u jaghmlu li jridu, umbaghad jigri xi haga
u rrid nirrispondi jien ghaliha” (They do not take note of me u they do what
they want and then something happens and I am answerable to it). The
Director replied, that if this was an ongoing problem he should have
spoken to them. The Assistant Director suggested a meeting to be held to
discuss this matter.

Behavior: The behavior of the employees showed irrisponsability for the safety of
the general public. They showed an attitude of negligence and their focus
was more on personal interest rather than the organization’s objectives.
Their behavior was confrontational to their superior and had a defensive
attitude as if they were the victims.

12
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Consequence: The Ministry for Gozo and the Department received several complaints.
Moreover, the damages that the car suffered will have to be payed by the
department

13
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

14
Managing Work Analysis Gozo Cohort ILM Dorianne Borg

Critical Incident Report 3

Date: 1st January, 2014 Time: 7:30am

Persons involved: Director, Assistant Director, Secretary, Principal Technical Officer at

the Cleansing Section and 8 labourers

Place: Indepence Square Victoria, Gozo

Description: The Assistant Director had been contacted by the Victoria Mayor, who had
requested to have the paper strewn during the New Year’s Eve duly
collected, that the mechanical sweeper used to clean and sweep the
streets was discharging dust profusely from the machine on being
operated. As a result, the street was littered with dust apart from beer
cans and plastic bottles. The Assistant Director told me to contact at least
eight labourers who were willing to come to sweep the street leading to
and Independence Square. He told me to tell them that whoever would be
willing to come and help, would be given double the overtime and 10
hours time off in lieu. So in less than thirty minutes, I manged to gather a
group of ten labourers at Independence Square. The Assistant Director
instructed them to collect cans and bottles and sweep the dust emitted by
the sweeper manually. He told them that if they work collectively, they
would finish in less than three hours. The Assistant Director and I
remained there to monitor and gave out a hand. In two hours and a half
the workers had finished the job.

Behavior: The workers showed a positive attitude and worked with enthusiasm
eventhough it was New Year’s Day. Moreover, they were very productive
in this stressful situation and carried out the job efficiently and effectively,
producing high quality results in a short time.

Consequence: The street and the square of Indepence Square were cleared and
cleaned for the event that was going to take place. Additionally, the
department received postive feedback from the Permanent Secretary and
the Victoria Local Council.

15