Job Analysis For Laboratory Manager In Biochess Research Facility

The theoretical learning to practical, real world situations. This is a great opportunity for the students to develop a proposal to demonstrate their awareness of:  

• the complexity of the managerial role;
• the reliance of a manager on other people, both inside and outside the organization, and
• The necessary interaction of both informal/interpersonal factors and formal/organizational factors in fulfilling organizational purposes.

Instructions “The manager’s job in context” is an individual assignment. You are to propose your own job analysis based on the following:  

• Undertake an analysis of your own job and its context.
• If you do not have managerial (or similar) experience, or if for some other reason it is not appropriate to analyze your own job, you may choose instead the job of another individual who agrees to be the focus of this assignment (current job). Your lecturer must approve your choice.  
• Alternatively, you may discuss with your lecturer/tutor the possibility of analyzing a position you have held in the past.
• You may change (or withhold) the names of people or organizations, if you believe anonymity is required.

Complete the following requirements:

1. Briefly describe the actual requirements of the job. Include formal requirements (such as those that may be detailed in a position/job description), and less formal requirements (for example, particular personality characteristics you think are important).
2. Identify (list) other individuals or groups from inside and/or outside the organization with whom you interact who are important to your job. These could include your staff (perhaps of various categories), your supervisor, peers, clients/customers, suppliers, regulators and so on. Specify THE PEOPLE, not just the organization or department, for example, ‘Sonia Mirza, Finance Manager’, ‘Type-setters in the Printing Department’ or ‘Receptionists, Department of Foreign Affairs’ (not just ‘Printing Department’ or ‘Department of Foreign Affairs’).
3. Describe the principle characteristics of these individuals or groups, particularly those characteristics that impact on their interaction with you. If your list is lengthy, select those five or six individuals or groups who are the most important, who are critical to your ability to fulfill the requirements of your job (this description should include such things as formal organizational position, demographics such as age or gender, personality, or pattern of interaction with you).If you have only identified people inside your own organization, you should briefly explain why people outside your organization have not been considered.
4. Describe the nature of the interdependency that exists between you and these critical groups or individuals. That is: in what way do you rely on each other? What do you expect from these groups and individuals? What do they expect from you? You may wish to include formal concepts of interdependence (e.g. pooled/sequential/reciprocal) in your analysis, but only do so if it enhances your analysis.
5. Include a diagrammatic representation of these interdependencies. Note this should not be presented as an organizational chart. A typical format for this diagram would consist of you as the focus or centre with the groups and individuals with whom you interact arranged around you. You are welcome to supply an organizational chart in addition as an attachment.
6. Evaluate the interdependent group (that is, the virtual network your diagram represents: yourself and the groups or individuals with whom you must interact) in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency and the satisfaction of those concerned.
7. Make recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of the interdependent group. These recommendations could include such things as the redesign of the structure and work routines of your department or organization, or preferred changes in the external environment, such as government regulation or changes in other organizations. Please note: you are not being asked to simply evaluate your managerial style or the effectiveness of your department or organization.

Requirements for a laboratory manager at Biochess

The current assignment has been undertaken in order to provide an overview demonstrating the various complexities of managerial roles andthe importance of interactions with various people within an organization in order to fulfil the organizational roles. The current assignment has been composed of the viewpoint of a lab manager working in Biochess research facility. In order to succeed as well as safely run the laboratories, this kind of organizationshires lab managers who are required to use their managerial knowledge for efficiently running these facilities. The current context will help in understanding the solutions to the real-world problems.

The essential requirement of laboratory manager is to bring together the managerial skills as well as technical knowledge in order to enhance the safety of a lab and ensure that the laboratory procedures to be undertaken does not hamper the flow of operations. The managerial duties that are prerequisites for this job are scheduling, maintenance of safety, security and operational standards as well as procurement of necessary reagents, Chemicals and apparatuses that are necessary for the day to day operation in any laboratory. Any individual with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science is a perfect candidate for this role (De Clercq, Dimov & Thongpapanl 2015). However,the experience is valued while selecting an individual for the position of lab manager.

As a lab manager, I am supposed to be familiar with the regulatory requirements that are specific to a lab and ensure compliance by reviewing the protocols. I am also responsible for updating and maintaining the lab safety manual and periodic inspections of the laboratory. I am also required to maintain compliance with the several local as well as Federal regulations and in extension is responsible for enforcing and communicating the safety guidelines to the internal as well as external visitors. At times I have been involved in training individuals to appropriately operate lab equipment and also looked after the hygiene and sanitization of the facility (Clegg, Kornberger & Pitsis, 2015).

I am responsible for managing a specific laboratory run by Dr Paine, in the Department of Biological Sciences of Biochess. He is assisted by four research scholar who basically utilises all the facilities in the laboratory. They have chosen a fellow scholar as their representatives namely Mr Miles who makes a list of the necessary reagents and apparatuses. In case there is a slip up, the other scholars can also approach and add to the list. I am in contact with various suppliers and distributors and most frequently contact Ms Elena, customer representative, sales at Sigma Aldrich for necessary reagents and MrBala at Tarsons for the desired apparatuses. The bill of procurement is signed by me, followed by Dr Paine. It is then signed by Professor N’golo, Head of Department, Department of Biological Sciences and finally countersigned by Mr Raghavan, an accountant in the finance department of Biochess which is then forwarded to Pyro Blaine in the records section.

Interactions with stakeholders

                                   Table 1: Principle characteristics of interactions

                                                       (Source:Self)

The three types of interdependencies are:

                                      Table 2: Concept of interdependencies

                                                           (Source: )

In the current context, Dr Paine is the heart and soul of the lab as he is responsible for developing projects that can receive monetary funding from an external source. As he is the boss, all his wishes are commands and this is a type of sequential interdependence as he needs my skills to keep the lab running efficiently and safely and I need his support to maintain the lab. My relationship with Mr Miles is reciprocal in nature as he is responsible for informing about the lab stocks and procurement requirements and I’m responsible for restocking and ordering (Dusseau 2016). On the other hand, the rest of the research scholars pool their requests to Mr Miles who forwards it me, which means that it is a type of pooled interdependence between them and me. After understanding the needs, I place the orders with Ms Elena and MrBala which is reciprocal in nature. This followed by signing and forwarding the bill of receipt from Dr Paine to Prof. N’golo to Mr Raghavan is again sequential in nature.

                                                          Figure 1: Type of interdependencies

                                                                           (Source: Self)

In the current context, we have been able to identify four different interdependent groups namely the student coordinators, the suppliers, a labincharge, the head of the department and finally Administration and accounts (Koppal, 2012). When considered the interdependence between the student coordinator and myself as well as with lab incharge, the effectiveness is very high as the research scholar are able to put forward the list of requirements to me and Dr Paine who then carefully goes through the entire list before approving it or removing any unnecessary requirements which help in maintaining the budget limit of the research facility (Lane, Owen-Smith, Rosen & Weinberg 2015). The interaction with the students is necessary as it helps in effectively determining the stock of various reagents, chemicals, glassware and apparatuses. As soon as the approved list is forwarded to me, eye contacts the necessary individuals who can provide the requirements in a timely fashion and at the same time be cost effective (Leminen, Nyström, Westerlund & Kortelainen, 2016). Once the order has been completed, the bill of the transaction needs to be filed into the recording system present in the organization and it moves in a sequential manner wherein the bill is countersigned by the lab incharge, Department Head and accounts department respectively. This maintains a system of checks and balances in order to monitor and resolve any discrepancies (Lowman, 2016).

Types of interdependencies

While the lab manager is a vital part of the research lab, in case of absence of the lab manager will cause disruption in work which is why it is necessary to have a bypass through the research Scholars can order the various requirements. Once they have pooled their request, they need to identify and prioritize the requirements and get them approved by the student coordinator and the lab incharge before they can place the order themselves (Mom, Fourné & Jansen, 2015). The lab can maintain a filing system which will be useful for preserving the transcripts of the transaction while the original copies can be forwarded Administrative Services. Another recommendation for improving the effectiveness of the process is that the students can themselves contact the department held for countersignature before submitting the same to the accounts department.

Conclusion:

The current assignment highlights only one of the many roles that are played by the lab manager. We have been mainly discussing the procurement of chemicals and Apparatus fora research facility and in some way have been able to highlight the theoretical knowledge that can be applied in a practical and real-world situation.

References:

Clegg, S. R., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. (2015). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. Sage. California, USA

De Clercq, D., Dimov, D., &Thongpapanl, N. (2015). Structural and relational interdependence and entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium-sized enterprises: The mediating role of internal knowledge-sharing. International Small Business Journal, 33(5), 514-536. Doi: 10.1177/0266242613502801

Dressler, M. (2016). Aligning Service to Mission: Managing Technology in the Language Center and Across Campus. IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies, 37(1). Retrieved from https://ialltjournal.org

Fischer, J. (2016). Managing Research Environments: Heterarchies in Academia. A Response to Cumming. Trends in ecology & evolution, 31(12), 900-902. Doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.09.010

Jimenez, I., Sevilla, M., Watkins, N., Maltzahn, C., Lofstead, J., Mohror, K., ... &Arpaci-Dusseau, R. (2016). Standing on the Shoulders of Giants by Managing Scientific Experiments Like Software. USENIX; login, 41 .Retrieved from  https://www.usenix.org

Koppal, T. (2012). Ask The Expert: Trends in Laboratory QA/QC. Lab Manager Magazine, 7(2), 50.

Lane, J. I., Owen-Smith, J., Rosen, R. F., & Weinberg, B. A. (2015). New linked data on research investments: Scientific workforce, productivity, and public value. Research policy, 44(9), 1659-1671. Doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2014.12.013

Leminen, S., Nyström, A. G., Westerlund, M., &Kortelainen, M. J. (2016). The effect of network structure on radical innovation in living labs. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 31(6), 743-757. Doi: 10.1108/JBIM-10-2012-0179

Lowman, M. (2016). Life in the lab.

Mom, T. J., Fourné, S. P., & Jansen, J. J. (2015). Managers’ work experience, ambidexterity, and performance: The contingency role of the work context. Human Resource Management, 54(S1), s133-s153. Doi: 10.1002/hrm.21663

Park, J. J., Choe, N. H., Schallert, D. L., & Forbis, A. K. (2017). The chemical engineering research laboratory as context for graduate students' training: The role of lab structure and cultural climate in collaborative work. Learning, culture and social interaction, 13, 113-122. 10.1016/j.lcsi.2017.04.001