5 What is job analysis?

Why is it important in the human resource Management

functions? Then discuss four major elements in job design.

Job analysis defines a job in terms of specific tasks and responsibilities and
identifies the abilities, skills and qualifications

It is important in the human resource Management functions because it can improve

the productive contribution of people in meeting the organisation's strategic business
objectives. Inability to do so means that the organisation will ultimately stagnate and
fail.

The four major elements in job design are job simplification, job rotation,
job enlargement and job enrichment.

In the job simplification technique, the job is simplified or specialized. A given job is
divided into small sub-parts and each part is assigned to one individual employee. Job
simplification is introduced when job designers feel that the jobs are not specialized
enough.

Job rotation implies systematic movement of employees from one job to the other.
Job remains unchanged but employees performing them shift from one job to the
other. With job rotation, an employee is given an opportunity to perform different
jobs, which enriches his skills, experience and ability to perform different jobs.

Job enlargement means expanding the scope of the job. Many tasks and duties are
aggregated and assigned to a single job. It is opposite to job simplification.

Job enrichment means making the job rich in its contents so that an employee will get
more satisfaction while performing that job. Job enrichment means upgrading of
responsibility, scope and challenge.

6 Critically explain the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external

recruitment, and provide examples in which circumstances they should be used.

The first replacement source to consider is within the organisation. Advantages of

internal promotion include improved morale, reduced orientation and training
requirements and management’s perceptions of an employee are likely to be more
accurate. The disadvantages include employees who apply for jobs and are rejected
can become discontented; the pool of candidates may be restricted; creativity can be
stifled as a result of inbreeding; and management’s time involvement and expense
may be excessive.

External sources
Advantages
 The pool of talent is bigger.
New insights skills and know-how can be introduced into the organisation.
It is often cheaper and easier to hire employees from outside the organisation.
Outside employees are not members of existing cliques.

Disadvantages
Attracting and selecting a new employee is more difficult.
New employee adjustment and orientation takes longer.
Morale may suffer among existing employees who have been passed over.
An employee may be selected whose performance is below the standard required or
whose personality does not match with the organisation's culture.

An organisation's approach to recruitment is determined by human resource planning.

Internal recruitment methods
Methods to locate qualified internal candidates and to inform their existing employees
about job vacancies include computerised record systems and job posting.

External recruitment methods

HR departments can use various approaches to locate and attract external candidates,
often looking to more than one source. Government employment agencies, private
employment agencies, recruiting consultants, executive search firms, educational
institutions and professional organisations are popular sources, as are advertisements,
employee referrals and unsolicited applications. To choose an approach, the HR
manager must know which recruitment channel is likely to be most successful in
targeting a particular labour group.

7 Suppose you were a HR manager and were about to start a recruitment and
selection process.
a) What would you do demonstrate an effective equal employment
opportunity to all applicants?
b) How can you demonstrate effective and successful interviews?

a.
The employment advertisement must only state job related criteria. Equal
employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation requires equal
treatment for all members of the community and the elimination of discrimination.
EEO/AA is about merit. It means selecting the best person for the job in terms of their
job-related skills. Candidates are thus treated equally irrespective of differences in
race, sex, religion, nationality or other factors.

Good human resource management demands that organisations have well-defined

EEO/AA objectives and policies. In turn, these must be communicated to all
 employees and be seen as having top management support.

To promote the recruiting of disadvantaged groups an affirmative action program is

essential. The basic steps involved are:

8 A statement is made to all employees by the employer, through a senior manager,

that an affirmative action program has been initiated.
9 One or more persons with 'sufficient authority and status’ are given responsibility
for the program.
10 Any trade unions whose members are affected by the program are consulted.
11 Employees themselves, especially female ones, are also consulted.
12 There is a systematic collection of job statistics, covering the types of work done
and the seniority of classification levels of employees, and including information
about gender.
13 Current work practices are brought up for review to reveal any lack of
opportunity, based on discrimination.
14 New affirmative action objectives are set, including the formulation of forward
staffing estimates.
Finally the whole program is monitored so that it can be assessed, evaluated and modified
as necessary

b. Important activities the human resource manager must undertake if recruiting is to

be effective include:
15 determining and categorising the organisation's long-range and short-range
human resource needs
16 keeping alert to changing conditions in the labour market
17 developing appropriate recruitment advertisements and literature
18 recording the number and quality of applicants from each recruiting source
19 following up on applicants to evaluate the effectiveness of the recruiting effort.

As there is often pressure to promote both the job and the organisation in the most
favourable light, the human resource manager must ensure that misleading or
inaccurate information is not used. Failure to do so can create unrealistic expectations
among candidates. In turn, this produces dissatisfaction and high turnover.

The HR manager works closely with line management at the stages of job analysis, job
description, and job specification. If this is done satisfactorily, the HR manager can
continue with the recruiting process without too much contact with line management.