JOB ANALYSIS

After having decided on the primary objectives of an organization, it is necessary to think

of various activities that must be carried out to enable the organization to achieve its overall
objectives. This breaking down of the objectives into manageable operations needs to be done in
a manner that will ensure efficient utilization of resources – men, materials, machines and money –
towards manufacturing goods or providing services of high quality. This calls for a scientific and
systematic analysis of various jobs that must be performed according to the laid down criteria and
with maximum efficiency. These jobs must fit together, coordinate and be directed towards the
objectives of the organization. It was immediately after the Industrial Revolution around 1900 that
approaches to scientific analysis of jobs were developed by Frederick W Taylor and Gilbert, which
have been widely used since then by manufacturing, commercial and service organizations
throughout the world. Thus the study and understanding of jobs is an important part of any
personnel program

Job analysis involves formal study of jobs. It attempts to provide information on both the
requirements of a job in terms of time for completion, necessary activities and the expected
performance standards on the one hand, and also the specific technical and behavioral knowledge,
skill and attitudes needed among the personnel to meet those job requirements on the other.

Uses of Job Analysis

Job analysis, through clearly defined and written job description and job specification,
provides the basic information around which personnel functions can be carried out. It provides a
fuller understanding of the specific requirements of jobs and personal attributes needed and thus
helps in taking job-related personnel decisions.
Organization structure and Design:- Job analysis helps in classifying job requirements and
interrelationships among jobs. Responsibility, authority and accountability for various jobs can be
specified so as to minimize duplication or overlap
Manpower planning:- Job analysis provides useful information for forecasting manpower
requirements in terms of skills and expertise and in planning for transfers and promotion.
Recruitment:- Information regarding the job is a prerequisite for recruitment decisions.
Selection:- Methods of selection must be based on meaningful forecast of job performance. An
understanding of what an employee is expected to do on the job is necessary for such a meaningful
forecast.
Placement:- A clear understanding of the requirements of a job and the abilities of a person to
meet those requirements can help in taking placement decisions to ensure that specific jobs are
assigned to those people who will be most productive.
Orientation:- The orientation program could be geared towards helping the employee learn those
tasks, activities and duties that are essential for doing a given job more effectively. A clear idea of
what is required on a job provides clarity as to what is to be learnt.
Performance Appraisal:- Job analysis provides understanding of critical parts of a job as well as
what is expected of the job holder in those critical areas. Employee performance can thus be
evaluated against known critical activities and standards.
Career path Planning:- Effective career path planning becomes possible only when employees
have a clear idea of various opportunities in terms of career paths and jobs available to them. For
both the organization and the individual, job analysis provides basic information necessary for
career planning and development efforts.
Training and Development:- Job analysis provides useful information for identification of
training needs, design of training program and the evaluation of training effectiveness. All training
activities are based on analysis of job requirements and personal skill requirements. Likewise
employee development strategies like job rotation, transfers, higher responsibilities, can be based
on these data.
Job Evaluation:- Job analysis is a prerequisite for ranking of jobs in terms of their relative worth
to the organization, to enable organizations to take decisions on salary structures.

Labor Relations:- The information provided by job analysis is essential for both the management
and the union before entering into negotiated agreements as well as for resolving grievances and
jurisdictional disputes.
Job Design:- Knowledge of job requirements, people requirements and individual capabilities
obtained through job analysis provides basic information on which such job design decisions can
be taken. This optimally meets the requirements of the technical efficiency with that of the social
and personal requirements of the job holders.
Engineering Design and Methods of Improvement:- Job analysis can also provide useful data to
bring about improvements in the engineering design and work methods for higher efficiency and
productivity.
Safety:- In the course of carrying out job analysis, certain unsafe environmental and operational
conditions or individual habits, if any, are discovered and thus may lead to safety improvements.
Counseling:- Vocational guidance and rehabilitation counseling is facilitated by the information
available on career choices and personal limitations.

The Job Analysis Process

Steps in the Job Analysis Process:- The major steps to be followed in carrying out job analysis in
an on-going organization are:

1. Organization Analysis:- The first step is to get an overall view of various jobs in the
organization with a view to examining the linkages between jobs and the organizational
objectives, interrelationships among jobs, and the contribution of various jobs towards
achieving organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The organization chart and work flow or
process charts constitute an important source of information for the purpose.

2. Selection of Jobs for Analysis:- Carrying out job analysis is a time-consuming and costly
process. It is, therefore, desirable to select a representative sample of jobs for purposes of
analysis.

3. Collection of Data:- Data will have to be collected on the characteristics of job, the required
behavior and personal attributes needed to do the job effectively.

4. Preparation of Job Description:- The information collected in the previous step is used in
preparing a job description for the job highlighting major tasks, duties and responsibilities for
effective job performance.

5. Preparation of Job Specification:- Likewise, the information gathered in Step (4) is used to
prepare the job specification for a job highlighting the personal attributes required in terms of
education, training, aptitude and experience to fulfill the job description.

Job analysis thus carried out provides basic inputs to the design of jobs so that it is able to
meet the requirements of both the organization (in terms of efficiency and productivity) as well as
the employees (in terms of job satisfaction and need fulfillment). Developing appropriate job
design is then the outcome of the job analysis process.

Following the steps outlined above provides the basis for carrying out job analysis exercise.
It requires careful planning, and it is necessary for those having responsibility for job analysis to
explain the rationale to affected employees as well as the management so that the necessary
approval and cooperation can be obtained.
METHODS USED IN JOB ANALYSIS
Many methods are used to collect information and important among them are Questionnaire, job
performance, observation, interview, technical conference, dairy and personnel records..

1. Questionnaire:- This method involves developing structured questionnaires on different

aspects of job-related tasks and behavior such as coordinating, negotiating, manual and
mental processes. The questionnaires are administered to relevant employees and they are
asked to give their ratings of these job dimensions.

The questionnaire method enables the analyst to cover a large number of respondents in the
shortest possible time.
The disadvantages of the questionnaire method are:

(i) Developing standardized questionnaire is time-consuming and expensive.

(ii) Direct rapport between analyst and respondent is not possible
(iii) Respondent’s cooperation and motivation are not guaranteed due to impersonal approach.

Job Performance:- This method involves the analyst actually doing the job under study to get first
hand exposure to actual tasks, and physical, environmental and social demands of the job. This
method can be used only in jobs where skill requirements are not high and, therefore, can be learnt
quickly and easily. This method is not appropriate for jobs requiring extensive training.

Observation:-The analyst observes, without getting directly involved in the job, the worker or a
group engaged in doing the job. Observations are made on various tasks, activities, the pace at
which tasks are carried out, and the way different activities are performed. This method is
appropriate for jobs that involve manual, standardized, and short job cycle activities. The
information thus obtained is recorded in a standard format.

Interview:- The workers are interviewed to collect data on various requirements of the job. It
is desirable to use a standard format so as to focus the interview to the purpose of the analyst.
Standardized interview schedule with job-related questions needs to be prepared carefully to
enable the interviewer to be in control of the situation. .

On major problem with interviewing is that inaccurate information may be collected. If the
purpose of interview is not clear, the worker may provide information to protect his own interest
establishing rapport between analyst and workers is a prerequisite for effective use of this method.

Technical conference:- As per this method, information is collected from experts directly about
the traits of the job

Dairy:- The job incumbent is asked to record his daily activities in a diary. So the analysts can
collect information about nature of the job and time spent on various activities by the worker. It is
a time consuming process.
Records:- The personnel department maintains the record of job and job doers. The job analysts
collect information from these records.