The time-span of discretion model provides a measure of the complexity involved in a job role. In managing the talent within an organisation, judgements need to be made about the different levels of complexity individuals will be able to handle.
Jaques and Clement (1) discuss competence in work in terms of cognitive processing, the mental processing that enables an individual to deal with complexity. They explain how task complexity is determined by the quality and quantity of information that must be processed during the course of the task. Different problems will contain different numbers of variables which change and interact in unique ways and involve zvarying degrees of ambiguity.
In relation to time-span of discretion measures, administrative roles will be made up of tasks with a maximum completion time of one hour, for example. The amount of information and different variables will be fairly limited within this kind of time-span, and complexity will be low. At the other end of the scale, a company director role may need to facilitate strategies that last ten years or more. It is clear that the amount of variables associated with such a time-span will be very high, with a large number of potential outcomes to consider. Overall complexity will therefore be high.
The ability to handle such complexity will be determined by how an individual organises and manipulates the variables, and affect the way they perform at work. If an individual’s cognitive processing is able to match the level of information complexity they are comfortable. If the information becomes too complex, overload occurs and the individual is not able to carry out the task. At the opposite end, when the individual’s cognitive processing can deal with greater levels of complexity, there is potential for them to become bored and frustrated.
Jaques and Clement therefore describe how employees will have a maximum potential capability that needs to be identified. This potential, or cognitive power, will determine the maximum level of complexity they can cope with, irrespective of knowledge, skill and work experience.
1. Jaques, E. & Clement, D.C. (1991) Executive Leadership- A Practical Guide to Managing Complexity
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