10 October 2013

Academic role description pro-forma

The form should be completed:

  • for the role, not the role-holder;
  • Refer to the generic job descriptions and tailor the relevant one to the job

Post number
Post title
Name of role-holder
College
School/Department
Proposed grade/level in academic job family framework
Role summary
1 or 2 sentences summarising the unique contribution the role makes to the University. You might find it easier to write this statement by answering the following questions (possibly after you have completed the rest of the role description).
­Why the role exists?
­What is it intended to achieve?
Organisation chart
This should include the role titles of:
­the person to whom the role-holder reports, and other roles reporting to that person ;
­all roles reporting to the role-holder.
Main duties and responsibilities
You might find it easiest to describe the accountabilities by outlining what is done, to what or with whom, to achieve what end result.
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications and Experience Required
What knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience must the role-holder have to make possible the achievement of a high (fully acceptable) performance? If the post was vacant, what would the specification be for filling the post?
Focus on the requirements for the role, not the qualities possessed by the current role-holder.
Dimensions
List of significant factual quantities on which the job has an impact.
Use dimensions that best describe the requirements of the role, including the part of the University over which the role has direct accountability.
Typical dimensions include:
Staffing / Number, job titles and grades of roles supervised
Financial / Recurrent budget
Monies that the role-holder should typically be generating
Customer / Number and type of internal and external customers
Operational / Range and type of activities and services provided, including number of courses that should be taught; number of students your role affects; number of research grants/projects that the role-holder should typically be running
Number of customers/people affected by the role-holder’s work
Administrative / Specify contribution to management of research and teaching within the School, or College or University
Planning and organising
Describe the job requirements for planning and organising. This may be the requirement to plan and organise your own work, that of other people, or the allocation and use of resources.
Some points to include are:
How should work come to the role-holder
To what extend does the job require the role-holder to plan ahead, and to what extent is the role reactive?
How far does the role-holder have to plan ahead (minimum, maximum, typical)?
How does the planning influence the direction of the University?
For what part of the University is the role responsible?
Decision-making
Provide examples of typical decisions that the role-holder should make, or have a significant influence on through advising or making recommendations.
For each example, describe whether the decision making role is either advisory or the role-holder is directly responsible for the decision.
What guidelines are in place to support the role-holder’s decision making or alternatively constraints on the role-holder’s freedom to make a decision (e.g. policies, procedures, protocols, legislation)?
Internal and external relationships
Identify the most significant relationships inside the University and outside the University that should play an important part in getting the role done successfully?
­Who?
­What (nature of relationship)?
­When (frequency)?
­Why (what key output of the role is dependent on this relationship)?
Head of School (or nominee) verification of role description as an accurate record of the requirements of the role
Name:
Signature:
Date:
Head of College/Corporate Service (or nominee) authorisation of grading (*delete as applicable)
College/Corporate ServicesPost Approval Group has agreed the role / Yes*/No*
College Head of HR agrees the tailored job description matches the relevant generic job description, and proposed grade in the academic job family framework / Yes*/No*
College Head of HR name:
Signature:
Date:
Head of College/Corporate Service (or nominee)
Name:
Signature:
Date:

Next steps: the Head of School/Budget Centre should pass this form to the Head of College/Corporate Service (or nominee) who should then complete the grade proposal rationale form, and pass both forms to the Head of HR for grading.

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