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JOB ANALYSIS
JOB:
“Job is a ‘group of tasks to be performed everyday.”
Definition 1: (Process of Collecting Information)
“Job Analysis is a process of studying and collecting information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are ‘Job Description’ and ‘Job Specifications’.”
Definition 2: (Systematic Exploration of Activities)
“Job Analysis is a systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure that is used to define duties and responsibilities and accountabilities of the job.”
Definition 3: (Identifying Job Requirements)
“Job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to contribute to the production of some product or service, provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability requirements (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. Job Analysis is a process used to identify these requirements.”
MEANING OF JOB ANALYSIS
Job Analysis is a process of collecting information about a job. The process of job analysis results into two sets of data.
· Job Description
· Job Specification
As a result Job analysis involves the following steps in a logical order.
Steps of Job Analysis
1. Collecting and recording job information
2. Checking the job information for accuracy
3. Writing job description based on information collected to determine the skills, knowledge, abilities and activities required
4. Updating and upgrading this information
PURPOSE OF JOB ANALYSIS: -
· Human Resource Planning (HRP): - The numbers and types of personnel are determined by the jobs, which need to be staffed. Job related information in the form of Job Analysis serves this purpose or use.
· Recruitment & Selection: - Recruitment precedes job analysis. It helps HR to locate places to obtain employees. It also helps in better continuity and planning in staffing in the organization. Also selecting a good candidate also requires detailed job information. Because the objective of hiring is to match the right candidate for right job
· Training & Development: Training and development programs can be designed depending upon job requirement and analysis. Selection of trainees is also facilitated by job analysis.
· Job Evaluation: Job evaluation means determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary credentials. This is possible with the help of job description and specifications; i.e. Job Analysis.
· Remuneration: Job analysis also helps in determining wage and salary for all jobs.
· Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal, assessments, rewards, promotions, is facilitated by job analysis by way of fixing standards of job performance.
· Personnel Information: Job analysis is vital for building personnel information systems and processes for improving administrative efficiency and providing decision support.
· Safety & Health: Job Analysis helps to uncover hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that corrective measures can be taken to minimize and avoid possibility of human injury.
PROCESS OF JOB ANALYSIS
Process 1: Strategic Choices
Process 2: Collecting Information
Process 3: Processing Information
Process 4: Job Description
Process 5: Job Specification
Strategic Choices: -
Extent of involvement of employees: Extent of employee involvement is a debatable point. Too much involvement may result in bias in favor of a job in terms of inflating duties and responsibilities. Too less involvement leads to suspicion about the motives behind the job. Besides it may also lead to inaccurate information. Hence extent of involvement depends on the needs of the organization and employee.
Level of details of job analysis: The nature of jobs being analyzed determines the level of details in job analysis. If the purpose were for training programs or assessing the worth of job, levels of details required would be great. If the purpose is just clarification the details required would be less.
Timing and frequency of Job Analysis: When do you do Job Analysis?
· Initial stage, for new organization
· New Job is created
· Changes in Job, Technology and Processes
· Deficiencies and Disparities in Job
· New compensation plan is introduced
· Updating and upgrading is required.
Past-oriented and future-oriented Job Analysis: For rapidly changing organization more future oriented approach would be desired. For traditional organizations past oriented analysis would be required. However more future oriented analysis may be derived based on past data.
Sources of Job Data: For job analysis number of human and non-human sources is available besides jobholder himself. Following can be sources of data available for job analysis.
| Non-Human Sources | Human Sources |
| Existing job descriptions and specifications Equipment maintenance records Equipment design blueprints Architectural blueprints of work area Films of employee working Training manuals and materials Magazines, newspapers, literatures | Job Analysis Job Incumbents Supervisors Job Experts |
Collecting Information: -
Information collection is done on the basis of following 3 parameters
Types of Data for Job Analysis:
· Work Activities (Tasks details)
· Interface with other jobs and equipments (Procedures, Behaviors, Movements)
· Machines, Tools, Equipments and Work Aids (List, Materials, Products, Services)
· Job Context (Physical, Social, Organizational, Work schedule)
· Personal Requirement (Skills, Education, Training, Experience)
Methods of Data Collection:
· Observation
· Interview
· Questionnaires
· Checklists
· Technical Conference
· Diary Methods
Who to Collect Data?
· Trained Job Analysts
· Supervisors
· Job Incumbents
Processing Information: -
Once the job information is collected it needs to be processed, so that it would be useful in various personnel functions. Specifically job related data would be useful to prepare job description and specifications, which form the next two processes of job analysis.
METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION:
Observation: Job Analyst carefully observes the jobholder and records the information in terms of what, how the job is done and how much time is taken. It is a simple and accurate method, but is also time consuming and inapplicable to jobs involving mental activities and unobservable job cycles. The analysts must be fully trained observers.
Interview: In this analyst interviews the jobholders, his supervisors to elicit information. It can be Structured or Unstructured Interview. Again this is also a time consuming method in case of large organizations. Plus there is also a problem of bias.
Questionnaires: A standard questionnaire is given to jobholder about his job, which can be filled and given back to supervisors or job analysts. The questionnaire may contain job title, jobholder’s name, managers name, reporting staff, description of job, list of main duties and responsibilities etc. It is useful in large number of staffs and less time consuming. However the accuracy of information leaves much to be desired.
Checklists: It is more similar to questionnaire but the response sheet contains fewer subjective judgments and tends to be either yes or no variety. Preparation of checklist is a challenging job itself.
Technical Conference: Here a conference of supervisors is used. The analysts initiate the discussions providing job details. However this method lacks accuracy.
Diary Methods: In this method jobholder is required to note down their activities day by day in their diary. If done faithfully this technique is accurate and eliminates errors caused by memory lapses etc.
Quantitative Methods of Job Data Collection: -
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): -
PAQ is a highly specialized instrument for analyzing any job in terms of employee activities. The PAQ contains 194 job elements on which job is created depending on the degree to which an element is present. These elements are grouped together into 6 categories.
1. U – Usability / Use of Job
2. I – Importance of Job
3. T – Time
4. P – Possibility of Occurrence of Job
5. A – Applicability of Job
6. S – Specialty Tasks of Job
The primary advantage of PAQ is that it can be used to analyze almost every job. This analysis provides a comparison of a specific job with other job classifications, particularly for selection and remuneration purposes. However PAQ needs to be completed by trained job analysts only rather than incumbents.
Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ): -
Highly structured questionnaire, containing 208 elements relating to managerial responsibilities, demand, restrictions and other position characteristics These 208 elements are grouped under 13 categories.
PAQ and MPDQ yield standardized information about the worker and the job.
Functional Job Analysis: -
It is a worker oriented job analytical approach, which attempts to describe the whole person on the job.
BARRIERS OF JOB ANALYSIS
· Support from Top Management
· Single means and source, reliance on single method rather than combination
· No Training or Motivation to Jobholders
· Activities and Data may be Distorted
JOB DESCRIPTION
“Job Description implies objective listing of the job title, tasks, and responsibilities involved in a job.”
Job description is a word picture in writing of the duties, responsibilities and organizational relationships that constitutes a given job or position. It defines continuing work assignment and a scope of responsibility that are sufficiently different from those of the other jobs to warrant a specific title. Job description is a broad statement of purpose, scope, duties and responsibilities of a particular job.
Contents of Job Description
1. Job Identification
2. Job Summary
3. Job Duties and Responsibilities
4. Supervision specification
5. Machines, tools and materials
6. Work conditions
7. Work hazards
8. Definition of unusual terms
Format of Job Description
· Job Title
· Region/Location
· Department
· Reporting to (Operational and Managerial)
· Objective
· Principal duties and responsibilities
Features of Good Job Description
1. Up to date
2. Proper Job Title
3. Comprehensive Job Summary
4. Clear duties and responsibilities
5. Easily understandable
6. State job requirements
7. Specify reporting relationships
8. Showcase degrees of difficulties
9. Indicates opportunities for career development
10. Offer bird’s-eye-view of primary responsibilities
JOB SPECIFICATIONS
“Job Specification involves listing of employee qualifications, skills and abilities required to meet the job description. These specifications are needed to do job satisfactorily.”
In other words it is a statement of minimum and acceptable human qualities necessary to perform job properly. Job specifications seeks to indicate what kind of persons may be expected to most closely approximate the role requirements and thus it is basically concerned with matters of selection, screening and placement and is intended to serve as a guide in hiring.
Contents of Job Specifications
1. Physical Characteristics
2. Psychological characteristics
3. Personal characteristics
4. Responsibilities
5. Demographic features
Further the job specifications can be divided into three broad categories
Essential Attributes
Desirable Attributes
Contra-Indicators – indicators hampering the success of job
JOB EVALUATION
Job Evaluation involves determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary differentials. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of job description and job specification only. Job Evaluation helps to determine wages and salary grades for all jobs. Employees need to be compensated depending on the grades of jobs which they occupy. Remuneration also involves fringe benefits, bonus and other benefits. Clearly remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job. Ignoring this basic principle results in inequitable compensation. A perception of inequity is a sure way of de-motivating an employee.
Job evaluation is a process of analyzing and assessing the various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization.
Jobs are evaluated on the basis of content, placed in order of importance. This establishes Job Hierarchies, which is a purpose of fixation of satisfactory wage differentials among various jobs.
Jobs are ranked (not jobholders)
Scope of Job Evaluation
The job evaluation is done for the purpose of wage and salary differentials, demand for and supply of labor, ability to pay, industrial parity, collective bargaining and the like.
Process of Job Evaluation:
1. Defining objectives of job evaluation
a. Identify jobs to be evaluated (Benchmark jobs or all jobs)
b. Who should evaluate job?
c. What training do the evaluators need?
d. How much time involved?
e. What are the criteria for evaluation?
f. Methods of evaluation to be used
2. Wage Survey
3. Employee Classification
4. Establishing wage and salary differentials.
Methods of Job Evaluation
Analytical Methods
· Point Ranking Methods: Different factors are selected for different jobs with accompanying differences in degrees and points.
· Factor Comparison Method: The important factors are selected which can be assumed to be common to all jobs. Each of these factors are then ranked with other jobs. The worth of the job is then taken by adding together all the point values.
Non-Analytical Methods
· Ranking Method: Jobs are ranked on the basis of its title or contents. Job is not broken down into factors etc.
· Job Grading Method: It is based on the job as a whole and the differentiation is made on the basis of job classes and grades. In this method it is important to form a grade description to cover discernible differences in skills, responsibilities and other characteristics.
Pitfalls of Job Evaluation:
· Encourages employees on how to advance in position when there may be limited opportunities for enhancement as a result of downsizing.
· It promotes internal focus instead of customer orientation
· Not suitable for forward looking organizations, which has trimmed multiple job titles into two or three broad jobs.
JOB DESIGN
The Logical Sequence to Job Analysis is Job Design.
Definition 1: Integration of work, rewards and qualification
“Job Design integrates work content (tasks, functions, relationships), the rewards and qualifications required including skills, knowledge and abilities for each job in a way that meets the needs of employees and the organization.”
Steps in Job Design: -
1. Specification of Individual Tasks
2. Specification of Methods of Tasks Performance
3. Combination of Tasks into Specific Jobs to be assigned to individuals
Factors affecting Job Design: -
Organizational factors:
· Characteristics of Tasks (Planning, Execution and Controlling of Task)
· Work Flow (Process Sequences)
· Ergonomics (Time & Motion Study)
· Work Practices (Set of ways of performing tasks)
Environmental Factors:
· Employee Abilities and Availability
· Social and Cultural Expectations
Behavioral Elements:
· Feedback
· Autonomy
· Use of Abilities
· Variety
TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN: -
Work Simplification: Job is simplified or specialized. The job is broken down into small parts and each part is assigned to an individual. To be more specific, work simplification is mechanical pacing of work, repetitive work processes, working only on one part of a product, predetermining tools and techniques, restricting interaction amongst employees, few skills requirement. Work simplification is used when jobs are not specialized.
Job Rotation: When incumbents become bore of routine jobs, job rotation is an answer to it. Here jobs remain unchanged, but the incumbents shift from one job to another. On the positive side, it increases the intrinsic reward potential of a job because of different skills and abilities needed to perform it. Workers become more competent in several jobs, know variety of jobs and improve the self-image, personal growth. Further the worker becomes more valuable to the organization. Periodic job changes can improve interdepartmental cooperation. On the negative side, it may not be much enthusiastic or efficiency may not be more. Besides jobs may not improve the relationships between task, while activities and objectives remain unchanged. Further training costs also rise and it can also de-motivate intelligent and ambitious trainees who seek specific responsibilities in their chosen specialties.
Job Enlargement: It means expanding the number of tasks, or duties assigned to a given job. Job enlargement is naturally opposite to work simplification. Adding more tasks or duties to a job does not mean that new skills and abilities are needed. There is only horizontal expansion. It is with same skills taking additional responsibilities like extending working hours etc. Job enlargement may involve breaking up of the existing work system and redesigning a new work system. For this employees also need to be trained to adjust to the new system. Job enlargement is said to contribute to employee motivation but the claim is not validated in practice.
Benefits of Job Enlargement:
1. Task Variety
2. Meaningful Work Modules
3. Full Ability Utilization
4. Worker Paced Control
5. Meaningful Performance Feedback
Disadvantages of Job Enlargement
1. High Training Costs
2. Redesigning existing work system required
3. Productivity may not increase necessarily
4. Workload increases
5. Unions demand pay–hike
6. Jobs may still remain boring and routine
Job Enrichment: Job enrichment is improvisation of both tasks efficiency and human satisfaction by building into people’s jobs, quite specifically, greater scope for personal achievement and recognition, more challenging and responsible work and more opportunity for individual advancement and growth. An enriched job will have more responsibility, more autonomy (vertical enrichment), more variety of tasks (horizontal enrichment) and more growth opportunities. The employee does more planning and controlling with less supervision but more self-evaluation. In other words, transferring some of the supervisor’s tasks to the employee and making his job enriched.
Benefits of Job enrichment
1. It benefits employee and organization in terms of increased motivation, performance, satisfaction, job involvement and reduced absenteeism.
2. Additional features in job meet certain psychological needs of jobholders due to skill variety, identity, significance of job etc.
3. It also adds to employee self-esteem and self-control.
4. Job enrichment gives status to jobholder and acts as a strong satisfier in one’s life.
5. Job enrichment stimulates improvements in other areas of organization.
6. Empowerment is a by-product of job enrichment. It means passing on more authority and responsibility.
Demerits of Job Enrichment
1. Lazy employees may not be able to take additional responsibilities and power. It won’t fetch the desired results for an employee who is not attentive towards his job.
2. Unions resistance, increased cost of design and implementation and limited research on long term effect of job enrichment are some of the other demerits.
3. Job enrichment itself might not be a great motivator since it is job-intrinsic factor. As per the two-factor motivation theory, job enrichment is not enough. It should be preceded by hygienic factors etc.
4. Job enrichment assumes that workers want more responsibilities and those workers who are motivated by less responsibility, job enrichment surely de-motivates them
5. Workers participation may affect the enrichment process itself.
6. Change is difficult to implement and is always resisted as job enrichment brings in a changes the responsibility.
Autonomous of Self-Directed Teams: Empowerment results in self-directed work teams. A self –directed team is an intact group of employees responsible for whole work segment, they work together, handle day-to-day problems, plan and control, and are highly effective teams.
High Performance Work Design: Improving performance in an environment where positive and demanding goals are set leads to high performance work design. It starts from the principle of autonomous groups working and developing an approach, which enables group to work effectively together in situations where the rate of innovation is very high. Operational flexibility is important and there is the need for employees to gain and apply new skills quickly with minimum supervision. However due to bureaucracy high performance work design does not work.
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