Job description: what it is, how to structure it and why it is a corporate governance tool

A job description is the document that defines the purpose of a position, the results it is accountable for, its main responsibilities, its decision-making scope, its organisational relationships and the criteria by which its contribution is assessed.

In recruitment it is often used to describe a role to candidates. Within the company organisational structure it can do a broader job: clarifying who owns a responsibility, which decisions can be taken without escalation and which results must be governed. This matters particularly as the company grows.

Research offers a useful pointer on the question of clarity. A meta-analysis by Tubre and Collins, based on 74 independent correlations and 11,698 participants, found a negative relationship between role ambiguity and job performance of ρ = -0.21. The study is published in the Journal of Management.

A 2021 meta-analysis of 60 studies and 99 effect sizes also showed that role clarity mediates the relationship between certain planning systems and managerial performance. Williams and colleagues analysed the role of clarity and job-relevant information. These findings do not prove that a job description, on its own, improves performance. They do, however, make clear the organisational value of understandable expectations, roles and information.

A useful job description needs at least five elements: the role’s purpose, expected results, responsibilities, decision-making authority and KPIs. To these are added the reporting line, critical relationships, competencies and review criteria.

The job description describes the role, not the person

A job description should start from the contribution the position is expected to make. If it is written by copying what the current incumbent does out of habit, the company risks documenting a person rather than designing a role.

This point is particularly important in roles that concentrate knowledge, relationships or decisions. Key Person Risk increases when a process exists only because a single person knows how to make it work. A good job description helps separate what belongs to the role from what belongs to the individual history of whoever holds it.

Job descriptions, organisation charts, task lists and job profiles

These tools describe different levels of the organisation. In practice the terms can overlap; keeping them distinct helps clarify which question we are trying to answer.
Specifically, the company organisation chart represents the overall structure, the company job manual goes into operational detail, while the job profile is useful above all for recruitment, development and assessing the fit between person and role.

How to structure an effective job description

A job description geared to managing the organisation can be built in eight blocks.

1. Job purpose. Why the position exists and what contribution it must make.
2. Expected results. The outcomes the role must deliver within a defined period.
3. Key responsibilities. Which areas it must oversee on an ongoing basis.
4. Decision-making autonomy. Which decisions the role can take, within what thresholds, and when it must involve other roles.
5. KPIs. Which indicators make it possible to assess results the position can genuinely influence.
6. Reporting line and relationships. Who the role reports to and which functions it must coordinate with.
7. Competencies. What knowledge and experience are needed to perform the role well.
8. Review. When the document should be updated and who is responsible for it.

The distinction between activities, responsibilities and results is useful. “Preparing the monthly report” describes an activity. “Ensuring the reliability of sales reporting” assigns a responsibility. “Providing complete data by the fifth working day so that variances can be corrected” defines an expected result.

In managerial roles the document should leave room for judgement. A very long list of tasks tends to date quickly when processes, technologies and tools change.

Decision-making autonomy and KPIs: where the job description becomes governance

ISO 37000:2021 treats accountability as one of the principles of good governance and highlights the need to define roles and responsibilities, including when authority is delegated. The official summary of the standard emphasises precisely the role of reporting and accountability. A job description can translate this principle to an operational level, making it clear who decides what, and up to which threshold.

For every significant decision it is worth clarifying three elements: scope, threshold and escalation. A purchasing manager, for example, can negotiate independently within a budget and with qualified suppliers; beyond a given financial or risk threshold, they involve the CFO or senior management.

KPIs must follow the same logic. A manager can be genuinely accountable for an indicator only when they control at least a significant share of the levers that influence it. Our guide to business KPIs explores the relationship between objective, metric, target, threshold and accountability.

Assigning margin to a role that does not control pricing, mix, costs or commercial terms creates a responsibility that is only apparent. The job description should make clear the consistency between the expected result and the room for action.

Decision clarity also affects speed. McKinsey observes that many organisations try to fix slowdowns by redrawing boxes and reporting lines, while part of the problem stems from the quality of interactions and the difficulty of understanding who should actually decide. The analysis “If we’re all so busy, why isn’t anything getting done?” explores exactly this theme.

The risks of a poorly written or outdated job description

Three mistakes quickly erode its value: copying generic templates, describing the role in a level of detail that freezes it, and leaving the document unchanged after reorganisations, new technologies or new delegations.

The first produces interchangeable texts. The second turns the document into a list that is hard to maintain. The third creates a growing gap between formal responsibilities and actual work.

Job descriptions and Italian law

In Italy there is no general obligation to prepare a standalone document called a “job description”. The employer must, however, provide the employee with various information about the employment relationship, including classification, grade and job title, or the characteristics or a brief description of the work. The Ministry of Labour summarises the information obligations set out in the legislation.

The rules on job duties are also linked to Article 2103 of the Italian Civil Code, as amended by Article 3 of Legislative Decree 81/2015. The current text of Article 3 is available on Normattiva.

This is why the job description, letter of appointment, applicable national collective agreement (CCNL), job grading and actual duties must remain consistent. The job description is an organisational tool and must also be built with the applicable contractual and employment-law framework in mind.

How to build and maintain a job description

The process can be organised in seven steps: define the purpose; map processes and decisions; separate activities, responsibilities and results; assign autonomy and escalation; choose controllable KPIs; validate the document with the functions involved; approve a version with a date, an owner and update triggers.

A review should be triggered when the organisation chart, strategy, processes, technologies, incentives or level of delegation change. In critical roles it is also worth checking whether knowledge and responsibilities are genuinely transferable.

What CEOs and Boards should check

The CEO and the Board do not need to approve every position description. They do, however, need to know whether key roles have responsibilities, autonomy and metrics consistent with the strategy.

This review becomes most useful at moments of growth, reorganisation, M&A, generational succession and major changes to the operating model. In these phases a role audit can reveal overlaps, decisions that keep escalating to the CEO, KPIs without a clear owner and dependencies on key people.

This is where the job description meets the broader theme of corporate governance: creating consistency between strategy, structure, responsibilities, delegations and control systems.

A good job description reduces the number of responsibilities the organisation has to reinvent every time a decision comes up.