Mrs. Zhang is the newly hired human resource (HR) director for an engineering consulting firm that is expanding its operations to Chattanooga, Tenn. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind. Based on the organizations mission statement, she know the firm strives to create customized and technically proficient electrical engineering plans for regional clients. She can see from the list that there are several job families, including operations, HR, engineering, information systems and office support. She can now begin the process of designing a pay structure for the organization. To design a pay structure, there must be a formal way to value the work inside the organization so that pay is awarded fairly. The job evaluation process will help develop this internal work hierarchy.

Exercise tasks:

i. Describe various methods for developing a line of best fit. Which method would be best for the aforesaid engineering consulting firm and Why?

ii. Why would an organization use more than one pay structure? If you were in the position of Mrs. Zhang would you use more than one pay structure for the engineering consulting firm?