Chapter 2 (Job Analysis)

Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain

Human Resource ManagementChapter 2: Job Analysis and Job Design


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job AnalysisJob Analysis is the process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job

It is the determination of tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities, and responsibilities required of the holder for successful job performance

It is a process of determining through observation and study, the pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job

The job analysis should report the job as it exists at the time of the analysis, not as it should exist, not as it existed in the past, and not as it exists in similar establishments.


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis basis for HR activities

HR activitiesRelationship with Job Analysis1Job Definition Results in a description of duties and responsibilities and helps current job holders and their supervisors as well as prospective employees2Job Design Indicates when a job is to be redesigned3Recruitment Identifies the job requirements and skills needed to perform the job 4Selection & Placement Determines the importance of different skills and abilities, and helps in comparing various candidates objectively 5Orientation Clearly defines duties and responsibilities to a new employee


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis and other HR activities

HR activitiesRelationship with Job Analysis6Training Specific job requirements help analyze the training needs of current and potential employees. Establishment of training objectives depends on Job Analysis. Helps identify whether a problem is occurring due to a training need or some other reason. 7Career Counseling Managers and HR specialists can only provide career counseling when they understand the job. Employees can appreciate their career options when they have better understanding of various jobs8Employee Safety Uncovers unsafe practices and/ or environmental conditions associated with a job.


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis and other HR activities

HR activitiesRelationship with Job Analysis9Performance Appraisal,Career growth Prerequisite for performance appraisal in understanding exactly what the employee is supposed to do, aides in fair evaluation, helps develop career paths.10Compensation Determines relative size/dimensions and worth of a job by identifying its difficulty level, duties and responsibilities, skills and abilities. The worth of a job helps determine its wage.


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Products of Job AnalysisJob Description:

Concentrates on describing the job as it is currently being performed

It explains in written form, what the job is called, what is to be done, where it is to be done, and how it is to be done

Most job descriptions contain sections that include the following: the job name, a brief summary description of the job, a listing of jobs and duties and responsibilities, and explanation of organizational relationships pertinent to the job


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Products of Job AnalysisJob Specification:

Concentrates on characteristics needed to perform the job

It describes the competency, education, and experience qualifications the incumbent must posses to perform the job


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Products of Job AnalysisJob Specification:

A potential problem with all job descriptions is that they become outdated.

Often the job description is not updated to reflect any changes that have occurred in the job

A good practice is to have the job holder and supervisor periodically review the most current job description and determine whether the description needs updating


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis MethodsFour of the most frequently used methods for conducting a job analysis are:

Observation

Interviews

Questionnaires

Functional Job Analyses


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis Methods

Observation

This method is used to analyze jobs that are relatively simple and straight forward

Individual/s performing the job are observed and notes describing the work are taken

This information includes details about what was done, how it was done, how long it took, what the job environment was like, what equipment was used, etc.



Observation

Motion Study:

determining the most efficient way to do a task

identifies the motions or movements necessary for performing a task or job and then design the most efficient ways of putting those motions and movements together



Observation

Time Study:

The objective - to determine how long should it take an average person to perform a particular job

It is the analysis of a job or task to determine the elements of work required to perform it

It also determines the order in which these elements occur, and the times required to perform them effectively



Observation

Work Sampling:

Based on taking statistical samples of job actions throughout the workday, as opposed to continuous observation of all actions

Inferences can be drawn about the requirements and demands of the job



Observation

Observer must be carefully trained to know what to look for and what to record

Application is limited to jobs involving short and repetitive cycles


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis MethodsInterviews

The person conducting the job analysis meets and interviews the jobholder

Interviews can be structured with pre-designed formats or unstructured

Structured interviews ensure that all pertinent aspects of the job are covered

They make it easier to compare information obtained from different people holding the same job

Time consuming method


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis MethodsQuestionnaires

Job analysis questionnaires contain both objective and open-ended questions

For existing jobs, the jobholder completes the questionnaire with feedback from supervisor, and returns to the job analyst

For new jobs, questionnaire is sent to the supervisor of the new job

If the job being analyzed is vacant but duplicated in another department, questionnaire is completed by the incumbent in the duplicate job

One questionnaire method is to have the incumbent write an actual description of the job, subject to the approval of the immediate supervisor. The incumbent is the most knowledgeable person about the job and this method also brings out any difference in perception between the incumbent and the supervisor



This method can obtain information from a large number of people in a short time, is usually used when a large input is need in limited time and cost

Possibility exists that either the respondent or job analyst will misinterpret the information



Position Analysis Question ( PAQ)

It is a highly specialized instrument for analyzing any job in terms of employee capabilities

It uses six major categories of employee activities

194 descriptors, called job elements, describe the six categories in detail

Using a 5-point scale, one can analyze each description for the degree to which it applies to the job

It can be used to analyze almost any kind of job, and is relatively easy to use but very lengthy



Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)

It is a highly structured questionnaire designed for analyzing managerial jobs

It contains 208 items grouped under 13 categories relating to managerial responsibilities, restrictions, demands, and other miscellaneous position characteristics


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Analysis MethodsFunctional Job Analysis

The primary premises of FJA includes the following:

A fundamental distinction must be made between what gets done and what employees do to get things done

Jobs are performed in relation to data, people, and things

In relation to things, employees draw on physical resources; in relation to data, employees draw on mental resources; and in relation to people, employees draw from interpersonal resources

All jobs require employees to related data, things and people to some degree

Although the behavior of employees and their tasks can be described in numerous ways, only a few distinctive features are involved

The levels of difficulty required in dealing with data, people and things are hierarchical and can be represented by a scale


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Problems with Job AnalysisSome of the most frequently problems associated with job analyses are:

Top management support is missing

Only a single means and source are used for gathering data

The supervisor and the job holder do not participate in the design of the job analyses procedure

Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the analyses

Activities may be distorted

There is a failure to critique the job


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job DesignJob design is the process of structuring work and designing the specific work activities of an individual or group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives

It address the basic question of how the job is to be performed, who is to perform it, and where it is to be performed

The overall goal of job design is to develop work assignments that :

Meet the requirements of the organization and the technology

Satisfy the personal and individual requirements of the job holder


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job DesignFollowing have important influences on job design:

Work Flow Analysis: which seeks to ensure that each job in the organization receives work as an input, adds value to that work, and passes it on to another worker

Business Strategy and the organizational structure that fits that strategy


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Design ProcessThe job design process can generally be divided into three phases:

The specification of individual tasks What Tasks

The specification of the method of performing each task How

The combination of individual tasks into specific jobs to be assigned to individuals


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job DesignThe key to successful job design is to balance the requirements of the organization and the job holder


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Scope and Job DepthJob Scope: refers to the number and variety of different tasks performed by the jobholder

In job with narrow scope, the job holder performs a few different and repetitive tasks

Jobs with narrow scope can result in more error and less quality


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Scope and Job DepthJob Depth: refers to the freedom of jobholders to plan and organize their own work, work at their own pace, and move around and communicate.

A lack of job depth can result in job dissatisfaction

It can in turn lead to tardiness, absenteeism, and even sabotage


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Scope and Job DepthJob ScopeJob Depth

Automobile Assembly Line Secretarial WorkNewspaper DeliveryAdvertising


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Six approaches to Job DesignSocio-technical approach

Work Simplification

Job Enlargement

Job Rotation

Job Enrichment

Team-Based Job Designs


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Socio-technical approach to Job DesignAs the name suggests, both the technical system, and the accompanying social system should be considered when designing jobs

According to this approach, employers should design jobs by taking a holistic, or systems, view of the entire job situation

This approach integrates the technical needs of the organization with the social needs of the employees involved in decision making


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Socio-technical approach to Job DesignThe following guidelines use the socio-technical approach to designing jobs

A job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in terms other than sheer endurance, yet provide some variety (not necessarily novelty)

Employees need to be able to learn on the job and continue learning

Employees need some minimum decision area that they call their own

Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition in the workplace

Employees need to be able to relate to what they do, and what they produce to their social lives

Employees need to believe that the job leads to some sort of desirable future


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Work SimplificationThis approach assumes that work can be broken down into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency

Work simplification can utilize labor effectively to produce a large amount of a standardized productExample: The automobile industry


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Enlargement and Job RotationBoth of these approaches are used reduce fatigue and boredom among workers performing simplified and highly specialized work

Job Enlargement is the process of expanding a jobs dutiesExample: Auto workers installing carpets on the car floor also install car seats and instrument panel

Job Rotation is the process of rotating workers among narrowly defined tasks without disrupting the flow of workExample: Same auto workers rotated to install tires


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job EnrichmentJob enrichment is the process of putting specialized tasks back together so that one person is responsible for producing the whole unit or the entire service

This expands both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of a job

It gives employees more opportunities for autonomy and feedback

It gives them responsibilities that require decision making, scheduling work, determining work methods, and judging quality


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Team-Based Job DesignsThis approach focuses on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to do

Team members are empowered to decide how to accomplish the work

Team members are cross-trained in different skills, and then rotated to do different tasks within the team


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Design and the physical work environmentThe physical work environment; temperature, humidity, ventilation, noise, light, color can have an impact on the design of jobs.

Adverse physical conditions have a negative effect on performance. The degree of effect varies from individual to individual

If employees must be exposed to less than ideal conditions, the time of exposure should be minimized


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Job Design and Alternative work schedules

Alternative work schedules are being used by many firms to increase productivity and decrease cost

This does not alter the work to be done, but its allocation

The most common work schedules are:

Flexitime: allows employees to choose, within certain limits, their work hours

Job Sharing: where two or more part-time individuals perform a job that would normally be performed by on full-time employee

Condensed workweek: where the no. of hours per day is increased and no. of days a week is decreased


Human Resource Management by Shah M Saad Husain Relationship between Job Analysis and Job DesignJob Analysis and Job Design are directly linked to one another

In practice, most Job Analyses are performed on existing jobs that have previously been designed

Existing jobs are also redesigned as a result of Job Analyses. Example: A job analysis might reveal that the current method of performing a job (the job design) is inefficient or contains unnecessary tasks.


Chapter 2 (Job Analysis)

Documents

saad husain job analysis

specific jobthe job

current job holders

successful job performanceit

career paths

career options

career counseling managers

hr specialists