Chapter 5

Analysing Work
and
Designing Jobs

Human Resource Management, 5E 1

Learning Objectives

• Understand the nature of job analysis and

describe the process of conducting job
analysis
• Understand job design and describe how
it is done
• Identify techniques of job design with
explanation of each

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Job Description and Job Specification in
Job Analysis
Job Analysis
A process of obtaining all pertinent job facts

Job Description Job specification

A statement containing items A statement of human qualifications
such as necessary to do the job. Usually
• Job title contains such items as
• Location • Education
• Job summary • Experience
• Duties • Training
• Machines, tools, and • Judgement
equipment • Initiative
• Materials and forms used • Physical efforts
• Supervision given or received • Physical skills
• Working conditions • Responsibilities
• hazards • Communication skills
• Emotional characteristics
• Unusual sensory demands such as
sight, smell, hearing

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Job Analysis offers Competitive
Advantage to a Firm

• is a foundation for HRP

• foundation for employee hiring
• foundation for t & d
• foundation for performance appraisal
• foundation for wage and relay fixation
• foundation for safety and health

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Process of Job Analysis

Strategic Choices

Gather Information

Uses of Job Description and Job

Process Information Specification
• Personnel Planning
• Performance Appraisal
• Hiring
Job Description • Training and Development
• Job Evaluation and Compensation
• Health and Safety
• Employee Discipline
• Work Scheduling
Job Specification
• Career Planning

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Process of Job Analysis

• Strategic choices
– employee involvement
– levels of details
– timing and frequency of analysis
– past or future
– sources of data
• Information gathering
• Information processing
• Job description
• Resulting in various outcomes

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Methods of Collecting Job Data

Interviews

Observation Questionnaire

Job Data

Checklists Diary

Technical
Conference

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Job Enlargement

Employee 1 Employee 2 Employee 3

Tasks Tasks Tasks

Drill holes Drill holes Drill holes
Assemble Assemble Assemble
Parts Parts Parts
Test Test Test

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Uses of Jobs Analysis
HRP

Recruitment and Selection

Training and Development

Job
Description
Job Evaluation

Job Analysis
Remuneration
Job
Specification
Performance Appraisal

Personnel Information

Safety and Healthy

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Job Rotation

Tasks Tasks
Tasks
Assemble Test
Drill holes
Parts Component

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

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Nature of Job Design

• 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

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Job Design Factors

Feedback

Organisational
Factors

Environmental Productive and

Job Design
Factors Satisfying Job

Behavioural Factors

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Comparison of Five Design Approaches

High
Socio-technical Systems

Job Enrichment

Job Enlargement
Medium
Impact

Job Engineering

Job Rotation
Low

Low Medium High

Complexity

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Contemporary Issues

• Telecommuting
• Alternative work patterns
• Technostress
• Task revision
• Skill Development

Human Resource Management, 5E 14

Reality Check

• Why do people like jobs but hate work?

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Reality Check

• Amazon.com is one company that has

de-jobbing practice. Here a worker is
switching from a job to job three months’
intervals. The .com puts more emphasis
on broader worker specification than on
detailed job description. Do you find any
other organisation (s) practising de-
jobbing?

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Reality Check

List the expectation of each of the following

jobs:
• A programmer
• Receptionist
• Executive assistance
• Sales Rep

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