Lecture Notes 4 - How To Write A Good Job Analysis And Description PDF

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LECTURE NOTE OF SOMYA MAM...

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Job Analysis A job is defined as a collection of duties and responsibilities which are given together to an individual employee. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job. Job analysis is pre-requisite to manpower planning. It helps to understand the nature of jobs. Different jobs are performed in the organisation and, therefore, different kinds of people are to be selected, trained, compensated and placed at those jobs. Job analysis means to analyse the requirement of the job and match it with the requirement of the person who will work on that job. It, thus, matches the jobs with the job holders. Job analysis is “identification of the specific activities performed in a job and the characteristics of the person, the work situation, and the materials or equipment necessary for performing the job effectively.” It is the “systematic collection and recording of information concerning the purpose of a job, its major duties, the conditions under which it is performed, the contact with others that performance of the job requires, and the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for performing the job effectively.” It, thus, identifies contents of the job (job description) and characteristics of the persons (job specifications) who will perform those jobs, Why job analysis

Elements of Job Analysis

A job is defined as a collection of duties and responsibilities which are given together to an individual employee. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job. It can be explained with the help of the following diagram: There are two elements of job analysis: Job description and job specification. These are the important documents that managers prepare before recruitment and selection. a) Job description It describes the duties, responsibilities and working conditions of a specific job. It specifies requirements of the job so that standards of performance can be developed and actual performance can be measured against these standards. It also helps in job grading, recruitment and selection parameters, training and development needs, developing career paths and providing standards for performance appraisal. It provides details of the job like name, code number, tools and equipment’s, location, duties, working conditions, working hours and relationship with other jobs etc. “It is a written statement of what a job holder does, how it is done and why it is done. It typically describes job content, environment, and conditions of employment. Contents of Job Description Statement 1. Job Title: It explains the title of the job. It means, what the particular job is all about is identified under this content 2. Job Location: It refers to the name of the department where the job under consideration exists in the organization.

3. Job Summary: Job summary tells about a brief history of job. It is a short paragraph which explains the tasks and activities to be performed by an incumbent. It is a statement which explains what the job entails. 4. Duties: Duties refer to the task performed by an employee. It is necessary to mention the task of the employee because it helps him to estimate the percentage of time that is devoted to the performance 5. Machines, Tools And Equipments: The machines, tools and equipments used by an incumbent for the performance of tasks are included under this head. 6. Materials And Form Used: It includes all input requirements and the method of application in the production process. 7. Working Environment: The working environment is concerned with the actual work place. It defines working condition in terms of heat, light, noise level etc. 8. Job Hazards: Job hazards are obstacles and obstructions that may arise during actual performance of the task Specimen of job description: Job Title: Sales Girls. Job Number: MK/ 2. Job Department: Marketing. Job Summary: Promote sales in rural areas. Job Duties: 1. Sell in rural areas. 2. Train people to sell goods in rural areas. 3. Impart knowledge to field workers to convince consumers. 4. Acquire knowledge of operating computers. 5. 10 days touring every month anywhere in India. Working Hours: 8 hours every day. b) Job specification

It describes the knowledge and skills of people who perform the job. Job specification enables to select individuals with skills to perform the job. If people are not competent to do the job, managers provide them training facilities. Selection, training and placement programmes largely depend upon job specification, ie., knowledge possessed by individuals and knowledge required to be possessed by them. “Job specification states the minimum qualifications that a person must possess to perform a given job successfully.” It identifies the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by job holders to perform their jobs effectively. Its basic contents are: 1. Personal characteristics (age, gender, education, extracurricular activities etc.). 2. Physical characteristics (height, weight, health, skin, hearing etc.). 3. Mental characteristic (intelligence, memory, farsightedness, judgment etc.). 4. Social and psychological characteristics (emotions, creativity, initiative, flexibility etc.). Specimen of job specification: Job Title: Sales Girls. Job Number: MK/2. Job Department: Marketing. Experience: Applicant must have 2 years’ experience in sales. Qualification: Diploma in sales management and a graduate degree in any course. Personality: Pleasing personality with good communication skills. Age: Between 18 to 25 years. After identifying job description and job specification, the jobs are evaluated. Job evaluation means rating the jobs on the basis of their importance in the organisation. The importance of a job can be judged on the basis of skills required to do that job, complexities of the job and difficulties and stress to be faced while performing that job. The jobs are arranged in the descending or ascending order of their importance and rewards and compensation are fixed for each job. It helps in fixing equal pay for equal jobs.

Need/importance/purpose/benefits of job analysis The following are the benefits of job analysis: 1. Organizational structure and design With the help of job analysis, an organization is able make some key changes in its structure in order to achieve some specific requirements. It can be done with the help of addition and deletion of some tasks from various jobs. 2. Recruitment and selection Planning of the future human resource can be easily done by organizations with the help of better job analysis. It provides necessary data required for the selection and recruitment of right persons for the right jobs. 3. Performance appraisal and training/development With the help of job requirements that are identified in job analysis, companies can easily prepare a training program for their employees. Training program is conducted in those fields which might employees to improve their overall performance during the operation of their duties. Similarly, performance appraisal checks whether the employee is capable of doing certain tasks in a given environment or not, this helps organizations to track their employees' performance over a period of time. 4. Job evaluation Job evaluation is the study of individual performance of all the employees during their jobs. Salaries of employees are determined on the basis of difficulty levels and skills required for each job. Things like quality of skills required and difficulty levels of different can be obtained from job analysis. 5. Promotions and transfer Employees are promoted on the basis of qualities and skills required for the future job. Similarly, employees can be transfer from one branch to another, keeping in mind that the employee is capable of doing tasks in that new branch where the transfer will be made. Management can get useful data from job analysis in order to take these important actions.

6. Career path planning Organizations want to retain their valuable employees for a longer period of time. For the achievement of these objectives they prepare future planning for their employees, which contains promotions, salaries and other benefits. Again, to prepare career planning, they collect information from job analysis.

7. Labor relations Labor relations improves a lot when organizations delete or add some activities into jobs by acquiring the help of job analysis, thus it helps to remove certain problems among union members. 8. Health and safety Organizations can easily prepare health and safety plans with the help of job analysis. They identify problems and risks in a job and prepare safety plans accordingly. 9. Acceptance of job offer When an appointment letter is issued to a successful candidate, it contains all the necessary information like duties, responsibilities and timings of the job, this useful information is collected from the job analysis.

Process of Job Analysis

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Identification of Job Analysis Purpose: Well any process is futile until its purpose is not identified and defined. Therefore, the first step in the process is to determine its need and desired output. Spending human efforts, energy as well as money is useless

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until HR managers don’t know why data is to be collected and what is to be done with it. Who Will Conduct Job Analysis: The second most important step in the process of job analysis is to decide who will conduct it. Some companies prefer getting it done by their own HR department while some hire job analysis consultants. Job analysis consultants may prove to be extremely helpful as they offer unbiased advice, guidelines and methods. They don’t have any personal likes and dislikes when it comes to analyze a job. How to Conduct the Process: Deciding the way in which job analysis process needs to be conducted is surely the next step. A planned approach about how to carry the whole process is required in order to investigate a specific job. Strategic Decision Making: Now is the time to make strategic decision. It’s about deciding the extent of employee involvement in the process, the level of details to be collected and recorded, sources from where data is to be collected, data collection methods, the processing of information and segregation of collected data. Training of Job Analyst: Next is to train the job analyst about how to conduct the process and use the selected methods for collection and recoding of job data. Preparation of Job Analysis Process: Communicating it within the organization is the next step. HR managers need to communicate the whole thing properly so that employees offer their full support to the job analyst. The stage also involves preparation of documents, questionnaires, interviews and feedback forms. Data Collection: Next is to collect job-related data including educational qualifications of employees, skills and abilities required to perform the job, working conditions, job activities, reporting hierarchy, required human traits, job activities, duties and responsibilities involved and employee behaviour. Documentation, Verification and Review: Proper documentation is done to verify the authenticity of collected data and then review it. This is the final information that is used to describe a specific job. Developing Job Description and Job Specification: Now is the time to segregate the collected data in to useful information. Job Description describes the roles, activities, duties and responsibilities of the job while job specification is a statement of educational qualification, experience, personal traits and skills required to perform the job.

Thus, the process of job analysis helps in identifying the worth of specific job, utilizing the human talent in the best possible manner, eliminating unneeded jobs and setting realistic performance measurement standards.

Methods of Job Analysis Organizations use various methods for conducting job analysis of their employees, 1. Personal observation Personal observation is done by an observer keeping an eye on the activities of a specific employee. The observer then prepares job analysis on the basis of tasks performed by that employee; he then matches the performance of employee with the skills and qualities required for particular job.

2. Actual performance of the job In this method, the observer who is preparing the job analysis performs a specific job by himself in order to check the difficulty level, skills required and amount of time required to complete that job. Thus, he gets a clear idea about everything. 3. Interview method In this method, the job analysis is prepared by conducting interview with the employee by asking questions related to skills required and difficulty levels of the job. A panel of highly expert professionals conducts this kind of interview. 4. Critical incident method In this method, the management tells the employee to write down any critical incident or problem that he has faced during the operation of his job. The purpose of writing critical incident is to collect valuable information like the difficulty level of problem, skills required and how the problem was solved. This gives a clear idea for the preparation of job analysis.

5. Questionnaire method In this method, the employee is given a questionnaire and asked to answer all the questions in that. Most of the questions are related to the job of that employee, which provides great information for the preparation of job analysis. These questions can be multiple choice or theoretical, depending upon the nature of job. 6. Log records In this method, employees are required to maintain a proper record of responsibilities and activities which they perform during the operation of their jobs. These kinds of records help organizations to prepare job analysis.

7. HRD records Organizations can also prepare job analysis with the help of HR department by collecting valuable data. HRD is responsible for maintaining records of all the employees, which includes things like name of the job, name of the employee, education qualifications, tasks performed, promotions, mistakes committed etc.

Job design Definitions: Job design is the process of: a) Deciding the contents of the job. b) Deciding methods to carry out the job.

c) Deciding the relationship which exists in the organization. Job analysis helps to develop job design and job design matches the requirements of the job with the human qualities required to do the job. Factors Affecting Job Design There are various factors which affect job design in the company. They can be explained with the help of diagram.

1. Organizational factors Organizational factors to refer to factors inside the organization which affect job design they are the following: a) Task characteristics Task characteristics refer to features of the job that is depending on the type of job and the duties involved in it the organization will decide, how the job design must be done. Incase the company is not in a position to appoint many people; a single job may have many duties and vice versa. b) The process or flow of work in organization There is a certain order in which jobs are performed in the company. Incase the company wishes it could combine similar job and give it to one person this can be done if all the jobs come one after the other in a sequence. c) Ergonomics Ergonomics refers to matching the job with physical ability and characteristics of the individual and in providing an office environment which will help the person to complete the jobs faster and in a comfortable manner. d) Work practices Every organization has different work practices. Although the job may be the same the

method of doing the job differs from company to company. This is called work practice and it affects job design. 2. Environmental factors Environmental factors which affect job design are as follows: a) Employee availability and ability Certain countries face the problem of lack of skilled labour. They are not able to get employees with specific education levels for jobs and have to depend on other countries due to this job design gets affected. b) Social and cultural expectations The social and cultural conditions of every country is different so when an MNC appoints an Indian it has to take into account like festivals, auspicious time, inauspicious time, etc. to suit the Indian conditions. This applies to every country and therefore job design will change accordingly. 3. Behavioral factors Design is affected by behavioral factors also. These factors are:

a) Feedback Job design is normally prepared on the basis of job analysis and job analysis requires employee feedback based on this employee feedback all other activities take place. Many employees are however not interested in providing a true feedback because of fear and insecurity. This in turn affects job deign. b) Autonomy Every worker desires a certain level of freedom to his job effectively. This is called autonomy. Thus when we prepare a job design we must see to it that certain amount of autonomy is provided to the worker so that he carries his job effectively. c) Variety When the same job is repeated again and again it leads to burden and monotony. This leads to lack of interest and carelessness on the job. Therefore, while preparing job design certain amount of variety must be provided to keep the person interested in the job. Methods of Job Design There are various methods in which job design can be carried out. These methods help to analysis the job, to design the contents of the job and to decide how the job must be carried out. These methods are as follows:

1. Job rotation 2. Job enlargement 3. Job enrichment

Job rotation definition Job rotation is the process of shifting an employee from one job to another. Management gives different kinds of jobs to an employee in order to check which job is best suitable for that employee. They evaluate the performance of employee in each job, after evaluating the performance; they finally give a best suitable job to that employee. Job rotation example: An employee is given a job in marketing department, finance department and sales department, but his performance was best in finance department, so he was given the duties of finance department. Job rotation helps organizations to achieve certain objectives with minimum resources.

Advantages of Job Rotation 1. Avoids monopoly Job rotation helps to avoid monopoly of job and enable the employee to learn new things and therefore enjoy his job. 2. Provides an opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge Due to job rotation the person is able to learn different job in the organization this broadens his knowledge. 3. Avoiding fraudulent practice In an organization like bank jobs rotation is undertaken to prevent employees from doing any kind of fraud i.e. if a person is handling a particular job for a very long time he will be able to find loopholes in th system and use them for his benefit and indulge ( participate ) in fraudulent practices job rotation avoids this.

Disadvantages of Job Rotation 1. Frequent interruption Job rotation results in frequent interruption of work. A person who is doing a particular job and get it comfortable suddenly finds himself shifted to another job or department. This interrupts the work in both the departments 2. Reduces uniformity in quality Quality of work done by a trained worker is different from that of a new worker .when a new worker I shifted or rotated in the department, he takes time to learn the new job, makes mistakes in the process and affects the quality of the job.

3. Misunderstanding with the union member Sometimes job rotation may lead to misunderstanding with members of the union. The union might think that employees are being harassed and more work is being taken from them. In reality this is not the case.

Job enrichment definition Job enrichment is a term given by Fedr...