Jaques' Levels of Work Theory - Do Employee Personal Values Matter?: Applying Jaques' Levels of Work Theory by Taking into Account Personal Values Held by Employees and Job Applicants

Many Organisations grapple with the challenges of making correct placement decisions - be it selection, promotion, secondment or transfer decisions, as witnessed by numerous probation and post-promotion failures, all with notable cost implications. One conceptual framework which has been widely used in industry across the globe as an aide to mitigate such challenges is Jaques' Levels of Work Theory. This theory categorises all work into 7 hierarchical levels, with each level demanding different competences and capabilities. This publication does not seek to review Jaques' theory per se, but its application. In using Jaques' theory to decide whether an employee or job applicant is suitable for a given level of work, there has been a tendency to consider only the hard capabilities i.e qualifications, experience and past performance. The publication will focus on the role of personal values in facilitaing a perfect person-level of work match, which is a critical pre- condition for sucessful on-the-job performance.