Does employees have the knowledge, skills and authority to do their job?
All of us have responsibilities as individuals for the positions we hold in the private or public sector. Many times we are given responsibilities to do a job but the authority and training to perform those duties can sometimes be lacking. With the economy as it is today around the world organizations are asking their employees to do more with less but in imposing this requirement they need to have the training, knowledge and authority to accomplish them.
There is an option in many position descriptions which gives management the authority to assign other tasks in addition to the duties and responsibilities which are part of their everyday activities. This option in plain terms is other duties as assigned. If employees are assigned other duties in relation to their identified responsibilities they should have the training and authority to perform them. This does not mean to imply that such is the case in all instances but it does occur.
We as individuals want to help our organization to succeed and often accept additional duties when asked. There are times when co-workers have situations for which they must leave and it is only right to help an organization to fill the gap of an absent worker. Each of us has specific duties and while there may be times when we are asked to perform something which we have not previously done we expand our knowledge and become more beneficial to the organization.
It is always a good thing to expand our horizons and learn new functions/duties as we grow in being an asset to an organization. All of us or at least most of us want to be an asset wherever we work or whatever we are doing it is human nature. In another instance there are always going to be changes in management and sometimes philosophy and accepting the change is important for us and our future. The key to accepting changes lies with the management of an organization. It is the responsibility of management to inform all employees the need for the change and how it can benefit the organization and us as employees.
Accepting changes in organizations which could involve additional duties and/or responsibilities and as mentioned earlier it is important to have the training, knowledge and authority to implement changes. Changes in structure or personnel in management positions is another aspect which too often takes place in society and government often times the reaction to change can impact the success of changes taking place.
The world of today is much different than in the past as changes around us are constantly occurring. We must put ourselves in a place where we keep up with understanding changes. This includes such things as technological changes and the access to information through the Internet is something that can help keep us informed.
The key to being a success today is embracing change. We as individuals continually develop our expertise through our positions as we perform our daily responsibilities. Sometimes we may not be completely happy with the positions we hold but we are not restricted to those positions. We can take the initiative to get the education/training to get positions we want. Sometimes it is available through our place of work and other times it is available in other places. If we have the training and knowledge the positions and authority will come. Management must make sure any duties we are assigned in an organization that we have the knowledge, training and authority to do the job. If a job is given to us without these three things it is management’s fault if we are not successful.
