Database Administrator

Narrator: You are the head director at Vigo county tax and municipal services office, where new computer systems have created uneven workloads and ambiguous job responsibilities, have become a source of much contention in the office. These are your employees and here are their problems. First up, Janie.Janie: Myra and Johnny have way too much free time to socialize and run personal errands while I do most of their job.Myra: Okay, so maybe we do go out quite a bit. But we also have to complete tasks that should really be left to a data admin.Johnny: That and our paychecks don’t really reflect the added responsibilities of the data admin. The duties we have acquired over the years go way beyond the job descriptions in our employment contractNarrator: Alistair, your database admin, doesn’t seem to be having any problems at all.Alistair: I’m not having any problems at all.Narrator: OOF! It would appear you haven’t updated the job descriptions for these positions in a number of years. Responsibilities have multiplied but the new boundaries of each job have yet to be defined. Judging by the conversations you’ve been having lately, it’s high time you did something about it.************READ THIS***********The workday begins at 8:00 a.m. in the Vigo County Tax & Municipal Services Office. You are the director and have a staff consisting of one receptionist, two information clerks, and one database administrator. Until recently the office operated smoothly with equitable workload distribution and well-defined responsibilities.Over the last year or so, you’ve noticed more disagreements between the receptionist and the information clerks. After discussions with your employees, you determine that the problems stem from misunderstandings regarding responsibilities for particular duties. Strong discontent has developed because the receptionist feels that the information clerks have too much free time to socialize and run personal errands. Often the receptionist is left to do some of the duties of the information clerks. Additionally, the information clerks are occasionally left to work overtime to do some of the work that is in reality the responsibility of the database administrator. The information clerks complain that they should not have to take on these additional duties because it is not in their job descriptions and they are not getting paid the large salary of the database administrator.Each person at the Vigo County Tax & Municipal Services Office has a general job description that was written several years ago. However the nature of their positions has changed over the years, especially with the installation of a new computer system. No attempt has been made to put these changes in writing. While you formerly held staff meetings to discuss problems that arose within the office, you haven’t held meetings for several months.You need to take a look at the job descriptions and make some decisions.Go to the following Bureau of Labor Statistics sites to examine the job descriptions for each staff person. Be sure to explore all areas on the site, especially: (1) “What They Do,” (2) “Duties,” (3) “More Info.” Look for “O*NET” and connect to the job on O*NET.The workday begins at 8:00 a.m. in the Vigo County Tax & Municipal Services Office. You are the director and have a staff consisting of one receptionist, two information clerks, and one database administrator. Until recently the office operated smoothly with equitable workload distribution and well-defined responsibilities.Over the last year or so, you’ve noticed more disagreements between the receptionist and the information clerks. After discussions with your employees, you determine that the problems stem from misunderstandings regarding responsibilities for particular duties. Strong discontent has developed because the receptionist feels that the information clerks have too much free time to socialize and run personal errands. Often the receptionist is left to do some of the duties of the information clerks. Additionally, the information clerks are occasionally left to work overtime to do some of the work that is in reality the responsibility of the database administrator. The information clerks complain that they should not have to take on these additional duties because it is not in their job descriptions and they are not getting paid the large salary of the database administrator.Each person at the Vigo County Tax & Municipal Services Office has a general job description that was written several years ago. However the nature of their positions has changed over the years, especially with the installation of a new computer system. No attempt has been made to put these changes in writing. While you formerly held staff meetings to discuss problems that arose within the office, you haven’t held meetings for several months.You need to take a look at the job descriptions and make some decisions.Go to the following Bureau of Labor Statistics sites to examine the job descriptions for each staff person. Be sure to explore all areas on the site, especially: (1) “What They Do,” (2) “Duties,” (3) “More Info.” Look for “O*NET” and connect to the job on O*NET.