Job Analysis and Job

Design
 Scheme
► Meaning and Definition
► Job analysis and competitive advantage
► Process of job analysis
► Methods of collecting job data
► Potential problems with job analysis
► Job design
► Factors affecting job design
► Job design approaches
► Contemporary issues in job design
 Job Analysis
► Process of collecting, analyzing and setting out
information about the content of jobs in order
to provide the basis for a job description and
data for recruitment, training, job evaluation
and performance management
or
► It is the process which provides information
used for writing job description ( a list of the
job entails) and job specification (what kind of
people to hire for the job)
 Types of information provided by Job
Analysis
► Overall purpose- why the job exist and, in essence, what the
job holder is expected to contribute
► Content- the nature and scope of the job in terms of the
tasks and operations
► Key result area
► Performance criteria
► Responsibilities
► Organizational factors- reporting relationships etc
► Motivating factors
► Development factors- promotion, and career perspectives
► Environmental factors- working condition, unsocial hours,
mental and emotional demands
 PURPOSE
Conducting a job analysis can help identify:
► Selection Procedures:
 job duties that should be included in advertisements of
vacant positions
 minimum requirements (education and/or experience) for
screening applicants
 interview questions
► Compensation:
 skill levels
 responsibilities (e.g., fiscal; supervisory)
 required level of education (indirectly related to salary
level)
► Training/ Needs Assessment:
 training content
 equipment to be used in delivering the training
 methods of training (e.g., small group, computer-
based, video, classroom)
► Performance Review:
 goals and objectives
 performance standards
 evaluation criteria
Process of Job Analysis
 Process of Job Analysis
► Strategic choices
 employee involvement
 levels of details
 timing and frequency of analysis
 sources of data
► Information gathering
► Information processing
► Job description
► Resulting in various outcomes
Methods of Collecting Job Data
 Interview

Job analysis interviews should be conducted as follows:

►Work to a logical sequence of questions that help

interviewees to order their thoughts about the job.
►Probe as necessary to establish what people do -
answers to questions are often vague and information
may be given by means of untypical instances.
► asking leading questions that make the expected
answer obvious
 Allow the job holder ample opportunity to talk by
creating an atmosphere of trust
Pros and cons
 Basic method of analysis and, as such, is the one
most commonly used. Obtain clear statements from
job holders about their authority to make decision
 Requires skills on the part of the analyst and is time
consuming.
 Effectiveness can be increased by the use of a
checklist
 Questionnaires
► They are helpful when a large number of jobs are to be
covered.
► Can save interviewing time by recording purely factual
information and by enabling the analyst to structure
questions in advance to cover areas that need to be
explored in greater depth
► should only be carried out on the basis of some
preliminary field work
► The accuracy of results also depends upon the
willingness and ability of job holders to complete
questionnaires
► Pros and cons
 Can save interviewing time but may fail to
reveal full flavor of the job. if they are over
generalized it will be too easy for job holders to
provide vague or incoherent answers
 Self description
► Job holders can be asked to analyze their
own jobs and prepare job descriptions but
people do not find it easy, perhaps because
what they do is so much part of themselves
that they find it difficult to be detached and
dissect the information into various elements.
► It is advisable to run special training sessions
in which they practice analyzing their own
and other people’s jobs
 Observation
► Observation means studying job holders at work,
noting what they do, how they do it, and how much
time it takes. It is appropriate for situations where a
relatively small number of key jobs need to be
analyzed in depth, but it is time consuming and
difficult to apply in jobs that involve a high proportion
of unobservable mental activities, or in highly skilled
manual jobs
► Pros and cons
 Most accurate but so time consuming that it is seldom used
except when preparing training specifications for manual or
clerical jobs.
 Diaries and Logs
► Job holders requires to analyze their own jobs by
keeping diaries or logs of their activities. These
can be used by the job analyst as the basic
material for a job description
► Best used for managerial jobs which are fairly
complex and where the job holders have the
analytical skills required, as well as the ability to
express.
► Pros and cons
 Make great demand on job holders and can be difficult
to analyze
Job Description and Job Specification
in Job Analysis
 Job Description
► Derived from the job analysis they provide
basic information about the job under the
heading of the job title, reporting
relationships, overall purpose and principle
accountabilities or main tasks or duties.
 Content and format
► Content
 Flexibility: operational flexibility and multi skilling
are becoming increasingly significant. It is
therefore necessary to build flexibility into the job
description. This is achieved by concentrating on
results rather than spelling out what has to be
done
 Team work: flatter organizations rely more on
good team work and this requirement needs to
be stressed
 Format
► Job identification
► Job summary
► Responsibilities and duties
► Authority of incumbent
► Standards of performance
► Working conditions
► Job specifications
 Job Specification
►A list of a job’s “human requirement”, that
is, the requisite education, skills,
personality, and so on – another product of
a job analysis.
 Job design
► Jobdesign has been defined by Davis
(1966) as: “ the specification of the content,
methods and relationships of jobs in order
to satisfy technological and organizational
requirements as well as the social and
personal requirements of the job holder”
Job design is the conscious efforts to organize
tasks, duties and responsibilities into one unit
of work. It involves
 identification of individual tasks
 specification of methods of performing the
tasks
 combination of tasks into specific jobs to be
assigned to individuals
Job Design Factors
 Approaches to job design
► Job rotation
► Job enlargement
► Job enrichment
► Self-managing teams
► High- performance work design
 Job enrichment
► Aimsto maximize the interests and challenges of
work by providing the employee with a job that
has these characteristics
 Complete piece of work in the sense that the worker can
identify a series of tasks or activities that end in a
recognizable and definable product
 It affords the employee as much variety, decision-
making responsibility and control as possible in carrying
out the work
 It provide the direct feedback through the work itself on
how well the employee is doing his work
► Jobenrichment as proposed by
Herzberg(1986) is not just increasing the
number nor variety of tasks. It is claimed by
supporters of job enrichment that these
approaches may relieve boredom, but they
do not result in positive increase in
motivation
 Job rotation
► Means systematically moving workers from one job to
another
► A closer look at some Indian companies shows that
job rotation is becoming an increasingly accepted
practice.
► At McDonald's, cross-functional job rotations are
encouraged, globally and in India. "It is a win-win
situation -- win for the organization, the team and
the employee," says Amit Jatia, joint venture partner
and managing director, McDonald's, Western India
 Job Enlargement
► Job Enlargement is the horizontal expansion
of a job. It involves the addition of tasks at
the same level of skill and responsibility. It
is done to keep workers from getting bored.
It is different than job enrichment
► Thus the worker who previously only bolted
the seat to legs might attach the back as
well
► Examples: Small companies may not have
as many opportunities for promotions, so
they try to motivate employees through job
enlargement.
 Comparison of Five
Job Design Approaches
Contemporary Issues

► Telecommuting

► Alternative work patterns

► Techno stress
► Task revision
► Skill Development
 Principles of Job Design
► To influence skill variety, provide opportunities for
people to do several tasks and combine tasks
► To influence task identity and form natural work
units
► To influence task significance
► To influence autonomy, give people responsibility
for determining their own working system
► To influence feed back, establish good
relationships and open feedback channels