# A Method for Identifying and Designing Role Responsibilities

- Author: Andrew David W.Y.
- Source: https://yutengfei.com/en/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/
- Version: 2024-11-14
- Published: 2023-04-10
- Revised: 2024-11-14
- Content status: Full text published
- Content type: Methods (methods)
- Research topics: Stakeholder Capital Governance (stakeholder-governance)
- Ecosystem perspectives: Operations & Management Ecosystem (operations) · Resource Ecosystem (resource)

## Use this resource

**Purpose**: Work from company strategy and tactics through departmental and implementation plans to connect critical processes with roles, work activities, plans and performance assessment.

**Conditions for use**: Check that the subject, objective and constraints fit the task. Confirm any conditions that the article does not specify.

**Methods · Steps, inputs and completion criteria**

**Evidence and validation limits**: The first version was created on April 10, 2023. This archival article preserves the revision history through November 14, 2024. No separate external-validation result is recorded for this article. Publication does not establish effectiveness; check the evidence, assumptions and limits in the text.

This is a readable, citable knowledge resource, not an installed Skill. When using it with AI, retain its sources and limits and review the output.

## Full article

## 1\. Overview

This method starts with the company's performance SOP, or standard operating procedure, to identify and design role responsibilities. Find the critical handoff points on the way to the business objective, identify the work required at each point, and group that work into role responsibilities. Use a noun and a verb to describe the work so each responsibility connects to an objective.

[![Responsibilities, work activities, plans, and performance assessment](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-01.svg)](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-01.svg)

Figure 1　Responsibilities, work activities, plans, and performance assessment · Redrawn from the source diagram

[Open at full size ↗](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-01.svg)

Design roles on the basis of company strategy, tactics, departmental planning and implementation plans. Clarifying all four before creating or adjusting responsibilities shows how the work of each role contributes to the organization and its overall performance.

## 2\. Understand the strategy and tactics

[![From strategy to action](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-02.svg)](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-02.svg)

Figure 2　From strategy to action · Redrawn from the source diagram

[Open at full size ↗](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-02.svg)

Role design depends on understanding the company's strategy and tactics. They set its objectives, market position and competitive advantages and give each department direction. Departments then set their own objectives, development priorities and operating measures, putting company strategy into terms that fit their work.

Break the departmental plan into tasks, milestones and resource allocations. At each step, identify what each role is responsible for, what it has to deliver and where it fits into the overall plan.

1.  **Understand the company strategy and tactics.** Clarify the long-term vision, mission and strategic objectives, then understand the medium-term approach to achieving them.
2.  **Set departmental plans.** Translate company objectives into departmental objectives and clarify each department's part in the strategy and its core functions.
3.  **Define role responsibilities.** Identify the part each role plays in meeting departmental objectives and make its key tasks part of its responsibilities.
4.  **Break responsibilities down into work plans.** Set out time and resources so the work can be performed, measured and carried out in daily operations.
5.  **Check strategic alignment.** Verify that responsibilities, objectives and evaluation standards directly support company strategy and tactics.

## 3\. Work activities

Review what each person in the same role actually does. Remove work that is ineffective or creates no value. Describe the useful activities clearly, list them and group them into responsibilities. Identify whether the work is managerial or operational and whether it follows a regular schedule.

A noun and a verb identify the object and the action. “Workspace + clean” becomes workspace cleaning for the person on duty. “Policy + design” describes a management responsibility for designing policies. “Copy + edit” identifies the work of editing copy.

### 3.1 Role responsibilities

Work activities make up role responsibilities. Each responsibility corresponds to the value the role is expected to provide. Related responsibilities serve the purpose of a process. When those processes achieve their purposes and link together, they support a shared outcome.

### 3.2 Processes within a workflow

Individual processes make up the workflow. One role can complete a process, although most processes need several roles to work together.

### 3.3 Workflow

Work backwards from the intended outcome to identify the critical success factors. Map those factors to processes and assign the roles that can carry them out.

### 3.4 Management capabilities

| Management level | Capability | What it involves |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Senior management | Organizing | Marshal resources, design organizational and management models, and set rules |
| Senior management | Planning | Analyze work and design management strategies, methods and policies |
| Middle management | Execution | Carry out management activities under the applicable systems and rules |
| Frontline management | Coordination | Coordinate and arrange the work on the ground |

## 4\. Types of work

[![Role responsibilities and four types of work](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-03.svg)](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-03.svg)

Figure 3　Role responsibilities and four types of work · Redrawn from the source diagram

[Open at full size ↗](https://yutengfei.com/journal/role-responsibility-design-method/materials/en/figure-03.svg)

-   **Routine work.** Ongoing, repeated tasks that keep day-to-day operations running.
-   **Recurring work.** Tasks done at fixed intervals. Regular checks and adjustments support longer-term objectives or plans.
-   **Triggered work.** Work prompted by a specific event or condition, requiring a response in that situation.
-   **Assigned work.** Specific tasks assigned by a supervisor or project lead, often for a project, meeting or temporary need.

## 5\. Execution capability

-   Understand the final objective and the workflow and stages needed to achieve it.
-   Know where your work fits and what result you need to deliver.
-   Confirm what the next stage requires from that result.
-   Look for ways to improve efficiency and complete the work sooner.

## 6\. Review the work

Use the data to see how the work fits together, use that understanding to locate the problem, and find a way to address it. Internally, consider what staff and management should each do. Externally, check what upstream and downstream partners need to do.

## Version history

| Date | Change | Contributor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2024-11-14 | Added the overview | @David(尉迟) (Andrew David W.Y.) |
| 2024-09-07 | Added four types of work: routine, recurring, triggered and assigned | @David(尉迟) (Andrew David W.Y.) |
| 2023-08-10 | Updated “Execution capability” | @谢雅东 (Xie Yadong) |
| 2023-04-10 | Created the first version | — |

**Latest version** · [Role Responsibilities, Processes, and Human–AI Collaboration](https://yutengfei.com/en/journal/role-process-performance-model/)

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