It’s the same old story. The wrong person in the wrong position. You’ve all come across it before, I’m sure. The real question is what do we do in such a situation.
What often happens is that managers will change the position description to suit the employee. They’ll strip it down and modify it until it doesn’t resemble the original, and doesn’t meet any kind of corporate objective. That’s a bad idea for two reasons. Firstly, the alignment to organisational objectives is reduced. Secondly, it limits your ability to performance manage that employee.
If you “dull down” the position description, you eliminate any chance of that employee coming up to the level of performance that is really required. In fact, it might even result in a lower level of performance.
What needs to happen is that the objectives and key performance indicators for the position need to be confirmed. Check they are valid and measurable. If they are, it’s a (relatively) simple matter to develop training or performance plans to manage the performance of the staff member.
One thing is certain. If you’ve taken the time to develop a working organisational structure, you shouldn’t change it based solely on employee performance or ability.