Job Analysis

Work, Job, Task

A job is an activity that an individual performs in exchange for payment while work is an activity that an individual performs
in order to produce or accomplish something.

Individuals perform their jobs in order to get monetary compensation while people work on something not only to earn but
also as part of their responsibility towards others which does not involve any compensation.

“Work” is a general term that refers to all activities that one does while “job” is more specific.

Task is a smaller part of a job that has to be performed within specific time, circumstances, and / or place.

Job Analysis

 The procedure through which you determine the duties of positions in the organization and the characteristics of
the people to hire for them.
 Job analysis is a systematic investigation of the tasks, duties and responsibilities necessary to do a job.
 A process where judgments are made about data collected on a job

Defining Job Analysis

It involves studying jobs to determine:

 tasks and responsibilities they include,

 their relationships to other jobs,
 the conditions under which work is performed, tools and equipment used,
 The personal capabilities required for satisfactory performance.

Job analysis produces information for writing job descriptions ( a list of what the job entails) and job specification ( what
kind of people to hire for that job)

• Job description –the principal product of a job analysis. It represents a written summary of the job as an
identifiable organization unit.

• Job specification – a written explanation of the knowledge, skills, abilities, traits and other characteristics (KSAOs)
necessary for effective performance on a given job.

When is Job Analysis carried out in an Organisation

1. When an organization is started

2. When changes occur which require new methods and procedures in performing the job e.g. introduction of new
technology
3. When a new job is created.

Uses of Job Analysis Information

Purpose of JOB ANALYSIS
1. Determining qualifications required of jobholders

2. Providing guidance in recruitment and selection:

– Job analysis information helps recruiters seek and find the right person for the organization.

– And to hire the right person, the selection test must access the most critical skills and abilities needed to
perform a job. This information comes from a job analysis

3. Evaluating current employees for transfer or promotion

4. Provide a basis for determining training

– Knowing the skills necessary for jobs is essential to building effective training programmes.

– Moreover, helping people to move efficiently form one career stage to another can only be accomplished
with information from job analysis

5. Providing clues for work methods simplification and improvement

6. Setting compensation and maintaining fairness in wage and salary administration:

– Compensation is usually tied to the duties and responsibilities of a job.

– Proper compensation demands accurate assessment of what various jobs entails

7. Judging the merits of grievances that question assignments and compensation

8. Establishing responsibility, accountability, and authority.

9. Providing essential guidance for performance management - in the establishment of standards of performance and
hence performance appraisal

10. Strategic planning

– Effective job analysis can help organizations to change, eliminate or otherwise restructure work or work
flow process to meet the changing demands of uncertain environments

In conclusion, it should be noted that job analysis covers the entire domain of HRM as it would be difficult to be effective
in hiring, training, appraising , compensation or utilize HR without the information derived from job analysis

Steps in doing Job Analysis

1. Information Collection

 First step of job analysis under which required information related to various aspects of jobs are collected.
  Information is obtained through different methods such as interview, observation, questionnaire, critical incidents
etc.
It is associated with preparation of plans and programs and assignment of responsibilities to the concerned person.

2. Review Background Information

 The previously collected information is reviewed to design organizational charts, current position descriptions and
specifications, procedures, manuals and process charts.
 These help in detailed assessment of job.

3. Selection Of Representative Position To Be Analyzed

 Analyzing all jobs at a time is complex and costly affair.

 So, only a representative sample of jobs is selected for the purpose of detailed analysis.
 Under it, the job analyst investigates to determine which organization managers or employees require job
analysis.
 He should also determine for what purpose the job must be analyzed.

4 Analysis Of Job By Collecting Data

 Under this step of job analysis process, a job analyst obtains the data and information related to the selected jobs.
 The information is collected on the job activities, required employee behaviors, working conditions, human traits
and qualities, abilities of performing the job and other various dimension of the job.
 Data can be collected either through questionnaire, observation or interviews.

5 Develop Job Description

 In this step of job analysis, a job description schedule is developed through the information collected in the above
step.
 This is the written statement which describes the prominent characteristics of job along with duties, location and
degree of risk involved in each job.

6. Develop Job Specification

 Developing the job specification is the last step of job analysis process under which a detailed specification
statement is prepared showing minimum requirement of each job.
 A job specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, knowledge, and background required to perform
specific task. It also involves the physical and psychological attributes of the incumbent.

Job Analysis: Interview Guidelines

 The job analyst and supervisor should work together to identify the workers who know the job best.
 Quickly establish rapport with the interviewee.
 Follow a structured guide or checklist, one that lists open-ended questions and provides space for answers.
 Ask the worker to list his or her duties in order of importance and frequency of occurrence.
 After completing the interview, review and verify the data.

Methods of Collecting Information

 Information Sources
o Individual employees
o Groups of employees
o Supervisors with knowledge of the job
 Advantages
o Quick, direct way to find overlooked information
 Disadvantage
o Distorted information
 Interview Formats
o Structured (Checklist)
o Unstructured
 Information Source
o Have employees fill out questionnaires to describe their job-related duties and responsibilities
 Questionnaire Formats
o Structured checklists
o Open-ended questions
 Advantages
o Quick and efficient way
to gather information
from large numbers of employees
 Disadvantages
o Expense and time consumed in preparing and testing the questionnaire
Observation
• Information Source
– Observing and noting the physical activities of employees as they go about their jobs by managers.
• Advantages
– Provides first-hand information
– Reduces distortion
of information
• Disadvantages
– Time consuming
– Reactivity response distorts employee behavior
– Difficulty in capturing
entire job cycle
– Of little use if job involves a high level of mental activity
Participant Diaries/Logs
• Information Source
– Workers keep a chronological diary or log of what they do and the time spent on each activity
• Advantages
– Produces a more complete picture of the job
– Employee participation
• Disadvantages
– Distortion of information
– Depends upon employees to accurately recall their activities
Quantitative Job Analysis Techniques

Position Analysis Questionnaire

 The PAQ is a structured, standardized job analysis

questionnaire that can be used to analyze virtually
any job except managerial and professional
positions.

 There is no other job analysis procedure that has

been researched more extensively

 Research started in 1974, over 30 years ago

These elements are classified as worker’s behaviors.
The items are organized into six divisions:
(1) information input
(2) mental processes
(3) work output (physical activities and tools)
(4) relationships with others
(5) job context (the physical and social environment)
(6) other job characteristics (such as pace and structure)
 Over 330,000 different jobs have been
analyzed in the past 30 years.
 Can also be used for job evaluation (salary
determination) and development of competencies.
 PAQ contains 194 items called job elements. These
elements are worker-oriented

Each job element is rated on six scales:

• A specific 6 point rating scale designated to be used with each job element.

Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)

 The Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ) is a questionnaire used for the purpose of analyzing
management positions.
 Used to establish training requirements, salary bands and job groupings for new posts.
 It has 208 items grouped in 13 categories.
 These categories also include 197 performance elements.
 Due to its narrative format, the MPDQ generally requires some degree of training before it can be properly used.
 The questionnaire was created by Walter W. Tornow and Patrick R. Pinto in 1976

MPDQ categories
 1. Product, Marketing and financial strategy planning
2. Co-ordination of other organizational units and personnel
3. Internal business control
4. Products and services responsibility
5. Public& customer relations
6. Advanced consulting
7. Autonomy of actions
8. Approval of financial commitments
9. Staff service
10. Supervision
11. Complexity & Stress
12. Advanced financial responsibility
13. Broad Personnel responsibility

Functional Job Analysis

Quantitative approach to job analysis that uses a compiled inventory of the various functions or work activities
that can make up any job. FJA assumes that each job involves three broad worker functions:
 data,
 people,
 things

Writing Job Descriptions

Job Description

 Job Identification
o Job title
o Preparation date
o Preparer
 Job Summary
o General nature of the job
o Major functions/activities
 Relationships
o Reports to:
o Supervises:
o Works with:
o Outside the company:
Responsibilities and Duties

1. Major responsibilities and duties (essential functions)

2. Decision-making authority
3. Direct supervision
4. Budgetary limitations

• Standards of Performance and Working Conditions

– What it takes to do the job successfully

Writing Job Description

Job Analysis in a Worker – Job Empowerment

Competency based job Analysis

• Competencies

– Demonstrable characteristics of a person that enable performance of a job.

Reasons for Competency-Based Job Analysis

• To support a high-performance work system (HPWS).

• To create strategically-focused job descriptions.
• To support the performance management process in fostering, measuring, and rewarding:
– General competencies
– Leadership competencies
– Technical competencies
• Many employers and job analysis experts say traditional job analysis procedures cannot go on playing a central
role in HR management.

• Basic concern : in high performance work environment in which employers need workers to seamlessly move
from job to job and exercise self-control, job description based on lists of job-specific duties may actually inhibit
(or fail to encourage) the flexible behavior companies need.

• Employers are therefore shifting toward newer approaches for describing jobs, one of which, competency-based
analysis.

• Competencies can be simply defined as demonstrable characteristics of the person that enable performance.

• Job competencies are always observable and measurable behaviors comprising part of a job.
 • Competency-based job analysis means describing the job in terms of the measurable, observable, behavioral
competencies (Knowledge, skills and/or behaviors) that an employee doing that job must exhibit to do the job well.

• This contrasts with the traditional way of describing the job in terms of job duties and responsibilities.

• Traditional job analysis is thus more Job focused.

• Competency-based analysis is more worker focused specifically, what must he or she be competent to do?

Why use Competency Analysis?

Three reasons to describe jobs in terms of competencies rather than duties.

I High-performance Work Systems

• Traditional job descriptions with their lists of specific duties may actually backfire if a high performance work
system is the goal.

• The whole thrust of these systems is to encourage employees to work in a self-motivated way, by organizing the
work around teams, by encouraging team members to rotate freely among jobs (each with its own skill set) by
pushing more responsibility for things like day-to-day supervision down to the workers and by organizing work
around projects or processes in which jobs may blend or overlap.

• Employees here must be enthusiastic about learning and moving among jobs.

Giving someone a job description with a list of specific duties may simply breed a not my ob attitude, by
compartmentalizing workers too narrowly.

II Strategic Need

• Describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge, and competencies the worker needs to be more strategic. Jobs
are changing so rapidly, Notion of jobs is replaced by roles and competencies.

• For example, Canon’s strategic emphasis on miniaturization and precision manufacturing means it should
encourage some employees to develop their expertise in these two strategically crucial areas.

III Performance Management System

• Measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies are the heart of any company’s performance management
process.

• As at Canon, achieving a firm’s strategic goals means that employees must exhibit certain skills and
competencies.

• Performance management means basing employee's training, appraisals, and rewards on fostering and rewarding
the skills and competencies he or she needs to achieve his or her goals.

• Companies are now identifying , communicating and rewarding a variety of broad based competencies that
successful employees must possess

• Describing the job in terms of skills and competencies facilitates this.

Competency mapping

Job Design
Outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs through technological and human considerations in order to enhance
organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction.

Job Enrichment
Enhancing a job by adding more meaningful tasks and duties to make the work more rewarding or satisfying

Principles of Vertically Loading Job

PRINCIPLE MOTIVATORS INVOLVED

A. Removing some controls while Responsibility and personal achievement
retaining accountability
B. Increasing the accountability of Responsibility and recognition
individuals for their own work
C. Giving a person a complete natural Responsibility, achievement, and
unit of work recognition
D. Granting additional authority to Responsibility, achievement, and
employees in their activities recognition
E. Making periodic reports directly Internal recognition
available to workers rather than to the
supervisor
F. Introducing new and more difficult Growth and learning
tasks not previously handled
G. Assigning individuals specific or Responsibility, growth, and advancement
specialized tasks, enabling them to
become experts.
Job Characteristics Model

Job design that purports that three psychological states

1. Experiencing meaningfulness of the work performed,

2. Responsibility for work outcomes,
3. Knowledge of the results of the work performed -- of a jobholder

Result in improved work performance, internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and turnover

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Granting employee’s power to initiate

change, thereby encouraging them to
take charge of what they do

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

A field of study concerned with analyzing work methods and establishing time standards.

ERGONOMICS

An interdisciplinary approach to designing equipment and systems that can be easily and efficiently used by human beings.
EMPLOYEE TEAMS

An employee contributions technique whereby work functions are structured for groups rather than for individuals. Team
members are given discretion in matters traditionally considered management prerogatives, such as process
improvements, product or service development, and work assignments

VIRTUAL TEAMS

A team with widely dispersed members who are linked together through computer and telecommunications technology.

FLEXITIME

Flexible working hours that permit employees the option of choosing daily starting and quitting times, provided that they

Work a set number of hours per day or week

TELECOMMUTING

Use of microcomputers, networks, and other communications technology to do work in the home that is traditionally done
in the workplace.