VIII.Your Turn: Job Evaluation at Whole Foods
Summary of Case
Students are expected to design a job structure using information available through job analysis
Learning Objective
Understand the importance of working productively within a team, analyze the processes
involved with coming to a decision about the required job structure, and evaluate job
descriptions.
Teaching Guideline
Use this case to help students understand the complexities in designing a job structure.
Discussion of Case Questions
1. Divide into teams of four to six each. Each team should evaluate the jobs and prepare a
job structure based on its evaluation. Assign titles to each job, and show your structure
by title and job letter. A broad hint: Recall from our discussion of Whole Foods’
business and pay strategy that teams play an important role.
This exercise is mainly directed at encouraging class participation. The instructor can divide
2. Your team should describe the process it went through to arrive at that job structure.
The job evaluation techniques and compensable factors used should be described, and
the reasons for selecting them should be stated.
This exercise is directed to improve any ambiguity in understanding the concept of job
organization, and on the work performed. It should be acceptable to the stakeholders
affected by the resulting pay structure.
Knowledge level required (on finance, store operations, production and preparation,
marketing and merchandising, HR activities)
3. Each team should give each job a title and put its job structure on the board.
Comparisons can then be made among job structures of the various teams. Does the
job evaluation method used appear to affect the results? Do the compensable factors
chosen affect the results? Does the process affect the results?
identify which description suits the title of Store Team Leader.
Job Number Job Title Keywords to identify the job title
Comply with safety procedures
JOB B Cashier Assist and focus on customers
JOB C Team Leader,
Two years relevant experience as a team leader
marketing management
JOB D Team Member,
Assist team leader or associate team leader
Entry-Level Position
JOB H Regional Team
Assist and support the store team leader
Encourage students to notice the similarity in description between JOB A and JOB G, JOB F
Once students have listed their titles you could show them the careers paths available at
Whole Foods to help them understand the job structure and hierarchy currently in place.
group.
4. Evaluate the job descriptions. What parts of them were most useful? How could they
be improved?
also find information relating to relationships: reports to, assists, supervises, mentors very
Answers to Review Questions
1. How does job evaluation translate internal alignment policies (loosely coupled versus
tight fitting) into practice? What does (a) organization strategy and objectives, (b) flow
of work, (c) fairness, and (d) motivating people’s behaviors toward organization
objectives have to do with job evaluation?
Organization strategy and objectives—Job evaluation aligns with the
oBy integrating each job’s pay with its relative contributions to the organization
Motivate people’s behaviors toward organization objectives—Job evaluation calls
out to employees what it is about their work that the organization values, what supports
value may have changed.
2. Why are there different approaches to job evaluation? Think of several employers in
your area (the college, hospital, retailer 7-Eleven, etc.). What approach would you
expect them to use? Why?
Different employers wish to emphasize different aspects of work; the different approaches
should support the organization’s strategy. Consequently, a wide variety of job evaluation
approaches exist. Some organizations desire to be more formalistic, legalistic, and thus use
relatively unskilled labor and pay low wages. It most likely is the first job for employees.
While job duties need to be spelled out, there are typically fewer types of jobs in a retail
employee groups.
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using more than one job evaluation plan
in any single organization?
relevant to other job families, i.e. technical and finance jobs. Multiple plans allow an
risk of undervaluing/overvaluing some job families in comparison to others. In addition,
some employees in one plan may wish to compare their jobs with jobs in another structure;
4. Why bother with job evaluation? Why not simply market-price? How can job
evaluation link internal alignment and external market pressures?
provides a framework for an exchange of views—open discussion and communication.
in the labor market, then the nature of customer contacts becomes a useful criterion for
establishing differences among jobs. If some aspect of job content, such as stressful working
conditions, is not related to wages paid in the external labor market, then that aspect may be
5. Consider your college or school. What are the compensable factors required for your
college to evaluate jobs? How would you go about identifying these factors? Should the
school’s educational mission be reflected in your factors? Or are the more generic
factors used in the Hay plan okay? Discuss.
Colleges need high-quality professors who can “package” the material based on the type of
faculty may want a job evaluation plan that can accommodate a wide variety of types of
knowledge as well as levels of knowledge. Teaching effectiveness has become a more
and professional).
depending on the school) will play a key role in determining if the school’s education
mission is achieved.
generic factors, know-how is the only applicable factor. The other factors would have to be
modified to apply to faculty positions.
6. You are the manager of 10 people in a large organization. All of them become very
suspicious and upset when they receive a memo from the HR department saying their
jobs are going to be evaluated. How do you try to reassure them?
First, find out from the HR department what forums are available for employee participation and the anticipated uses
of the job evaluation information. Ideally, one or more employees should be provided an opportunity to be involved
