MPRS NOTES

Unit 1: Overview of Manpower Planning Introduction to Manpower Planning – Meaning, Features, Scope, Approaches,
Levels of Manpower planning, Types, Advantages of Manpower planning, Overview of Manpower planning Process, Overview
of Requirements for Effective Manpower Planning. HR planning as a strategic process, Linkage of Manpower Planning with
Other HR Functions, HRIS, HR Audit, Recent Trends in HR Planning, HRP MODEL, BARRIERS OF HRP.
Unit: 02 Manpower Planning Techniques Quantitative determination of Human Resource requirements: Work Study, Work
Measurement; the Purpose and the Basic Procedure. Qualitative determination of human resource requirements: Job
Analysis. Methods of Job Analysis. Inventorying available talent, Human Resource Demand Forecasting, Techniques of
Demand Forecasting, Human Resource Supply Estimates, Techniques of Supply Forecasting, Career planning and
development, Succession Planning.
Unit: 03 Recruitment Introduction to Recruitment – Meaning, Scope, Objectives, Significance and Relevance of Recruitment.
Job Design – Introduction, Definition, Factors Affecting Job Design, Techniques of Job Design. Sources of Recruitment
-Internal and External, Process of Recruitments, E-Recruitments, Overview of Digital tools and techniques used in
Recruitment, Emerging practices of Recruitment, Ethical Issues in Recruitment
Unit: 04 Selection Introduction to Selection – Meaning, Scope, Objectives, Significance and Relevance of Selection. Selection
Process, Employee Selection Methods, Screening and Testing, Types of Tests, Interviewing, Types of Interviews, Effective
Interviewing Guidelines, Legal Issues in Selection, Background Check, Decision Making, Induction an Orientation- Process,
Ethical Issues in Selection, Recent trends and practices in Selection
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UNIT-1.
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Meaning of Manpower planning-
Manpower planning is the prime function of staffing. It is no doubt, planning is the most essential factors for each and every
organisation. Without planning, no organisation can fulfil its goals. It is an essential requisite for organisational success.
Continued supply of able and quality managers and other subordinates is essential for achieving the pre-determined goals of
the enterprise. It basically deals with coordinating, motivating and controlling of the various activities within the organisation.
Generally, Human Resource planning is also called manpower planning.
Manpower Planning is the development of strategies to match the supply of manpower to the availability of jobs at
organizational, regional or national level. Manpower planning involves reviewing current manpower resources, forecasting
future requirements and availability, and taking steps to ensure that the supply of people and skills meets demand.
Thus, manpower planning is the process of anticipating, identifying, selecting and nurturing what is most useful and
beneficial to the organisation. Manpower planning is, therefore, concerned with the optimum utilization of human resources
in the organisation. The primary objective of manpower planning is related to current manpower position and desired
manpower position and it is related to the quality and quantity of manpower, i.e. to acquire, utilize, improve, and retain
effectively the employees to attain results in the most favourable manner.
According to Bruce P. Coleman, “Manpower planning is the process of determining manpower, requirements and the means
for meeting these requirements in order to carry out the integrated plans of the organisation.”
In the words of Stainer, “manpower planning is the strategy for the acquisition, utilisation, improvement and preservation of
organisation human resources. It is aimed at coordinating the requirements for and the availability of different types of
employees.”
L.R. Sayles & George Strauss have stated, “Manpower Planning means forecasting prediction of the number of the people
whom the organisation will have to hire, train or promote in a given period. Broadly defined, Manpower Planning represents
a systematic approach to personnel in which the emphasis is on the inter-relationship among the various personnel policies
and programmes.”
Features of Manpower planning-
The main features of the Manpower planning are following:
 1. Shaping personal needs–Manpower planning is well related to the personnel needs of an organization. The planning
will have to be making in advance so that the persons are available at that time when they are needed. There are
many processes which must be undertaken by an organization. These are recruitment, selection and training. These
three processes are very important elements for the manpower planning.
2. Manpower stock–Manpower inventory means the persons who can take the responsibilities for the upcoming
working issues in future. Manpower inventory is very important equipment in an organization. The manager should
know the available manpower resources in the organisation who can undertake the higher responsibilities in the
near future.
3. Distinct goals–The objectives of the manpower planning can be created by the objectives of the organization if
organizational objectives are in a considered planning. In addition, manpower planning has its own goals like
mounting up human resource, updating technical capability, ensuring better assurance of the people etc.
4. Providing proper work atmosphere–Besides employing, manpower planning also have to make it sure that the
working conditions should be good. The work places should be neat and clean and ventilated properly. People
should get good job satisfaction and they should like to do job in group. They should feel pleasure in the job which
helps them to do work properly and with free mind. Employees should get job satisfaction only then they will like to
work in the organisation.
5. Demand and supply in Advance-Human resources staffing have to be considered in advance because the suitable
people are not available at a time. So the efforts should be made in advance to the recruit the persons. It means that
the demand and supply should be set up in advance. It is concerned with determining the actions, which can be
taken to make existing manpower suitable for future managerial positions and the gap between the needed and
available manpower can be fulfilled.
Features of effective human resource planning are as follows:
1. It is Future Oriented – Human resource planning is prepared to assess the future requirement of manpower in the
organization. It helps identify the size and composition of resources for future purpose.
2. It is a Continuous Process – Human resource planning is a continuous process. The human resource planning
prepared today may not be applicable for future due to ever changing external forces of the environment.
3. It results in Optimum Utilization of Human Resources – Human resource planning focuses on optimum utilization of
resources in the organization. It checks how the employees are utilized in a productive manner. It also identifies
employees’ existing capabilities and future potentialities to perform the work.
4. It helps in providing the Right employees & accurate Numbers – Human resource planning determines the right
number and kind of people at the right time and right place who are capable of performing the required jobs. It also
assesses the future requirement of manpower for organizational objective.
5. It helps in Determination of Demand and Supply – Human resource planning is a process of determining demand
for and supply of human resources in the organization. Then a match between demand and supply estimates the
optimum level of manpower.
6. Environmental Influence – Human resource planning is influenced by environmental changes; hence, it is to be
updated as per the change occupied in the external environment.
7. It is related to Corporate Plan – Human resource planning is an integral part of overall corporate plan of the
organization. It can be formulated at strategic, tactical and operational levels.
8. It is A Part of Human Resource Management System – As a part of total human resource management system,
human resource planning is regarded as a component or element of HRM which is concerned with acquisition and
assessment of manpower. It serves as a foundation for the management of human resource in an effective and
efficient manner.
9. It is dynamic – It is a highly dynamic function and requires the very capable personnel to carry out planning
efficiently
10. It requires foresight and past experience – Human Resource Planning has to work on foresight and past experience
in order to attain desired results.

Objectives of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:

 To ensure proper utilization of human resources.
 To check the development of the employees for the achievement of the organization goal.
 To ensure proper human resource policies.
 To provide proper control measures whenever required.
 To assess or forecast the future skill requirement of the Organization.

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Scope of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
 To make the list of current manpower.
 To check how much current manpower is being utilized.
 To find out how much manpower is required.
 To make manpower procurement plans.
 To make the training programmes.
 Importance of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
A series of specified reasons are there that attaches importance to manpower planning. They are elaborated below:
 To link manpower planning with the organizational planning
 To determine recruitment levels.
 To anticipate redundancies.
 To determine optimum training levels.
 To provide a basis for management development programs.
 To cost the manpower.
 To assist productivity bargaining.
 To assess future accommodation requirement.
 To study the cost of overheads and value of service functions.
 To decide whether certain activity needs to be subcontracted, etc.
 Human resource planning/ manpower planning is helpful in finding out surplus/ shortage of manpower.
 It is helpful in employee development.
 It is useful in finding out the deficiencies in existing manpower and providing corrective training.
 It is helpful in overall planning process of the organization.
Barriers to HRP:
Human Resource Planners face significant barriers while formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated below:
HR practitioners are perceived as experts in handling personnel matters, but are not experts in managing business. The
personnel plan conceived and formulated by the HR practitioners when enmeshed with organizational plan, might make the
overall strategic plan of the organization ineffective.
HR information often is incompatible with other information used in strategy formulation. Strategic planning efforts have
long been oriented towards financial forecasting, often to the exclusion of other types of information. Financial forecasting
takes precedence over HRP.
Conflict may exist between short term and long term HR needs. For example, there can be a conflict between the pressure to
get the work done on time and long term needs, such as preparing people for assuming greater responsibilities. Many
managers are of the belief that HR needs can be met immediately because skills are available on the market as long as wages
and salaries are competitive. Therefore, long times plans are not required, short planning are only needed.
There is conflict between quantitative and qualitative approaches to HRP. Some people view HRP as a number game
designed to track the flow of people across the department. Others take a qualitative approach and focus on individual
employee concerns such as promotion and career development. Best result can be achieved if there is a balance between the
quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Non-involvement of operating managers renders HRP ineffective. HRP is not strictly an HR department function. Successful
planning needs a co-ordinated effort on the part of operating managers and HR personnel.

Manpower Planning – Top 9 Approaches for Developing Manpower Planning

1. Planning for the Status Quo:
Planning involves steps to replace any employees who are either promoted or who leave the firm. An example is
management succession planning which seeks to ensure that there is at least one qualified manager to replace any higher
level manager in the organization.
2. Thumb Rule:
This is on the basis of firm’s beliefs with regard to forecasting human resource needs. For example, one firm believes that a
ratio of one production supervisor for every 12 workmen in optimal. This firm maintains this 1:12 ratio because it has proved

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successful in the past. Another thumb rule is based on past experience that one person can produce 2000 units of output per
day and accordingly 5 employees needed for 10,000 units as a matter of forecast.
3. Markov Analysis (MA):
Markov chains is a powerful analysis technique which, used in manpower planning, can help it successfully achieve its goal.
Markov chains make it possible to predict the size of manpower per category as well as transitions occurring within a given
time period in the future (resignation, dismissal, retirement, death, etc.). More importantly yet, with a Markov chain, one can
obtain long-term average probabilities or equilibrium probabilities.
However, to predict manpower supply and demand with accuracy using a macroeconomic model, one needs a vast array of
data for each of the many variables used. To collect these data, one must first get hold of sufficiently broad-ranging time
series data for each industry. For this reason, a method of this type proves to be inadaptable for emerging sectors
undergoing fast-paced growth with only small amounts of statistical data on the industry as a whole and manpower available.
4. Unit Forecasting:
This refers to the estimate of supervisors and managers with regard to forecasting Human resource needs for the next year
unit wise – this approach is called “Bottom up approach” for forecasting as the selections are made by lower level
management and added together at a higher level of the organization.
5. Ratio Trend Analysis:
The basic principle here is to say if it takes six people, for example, to perform an existing amount of work, it will take twelve
people to do twice as much. Organizations measure activity levels in a variety of different ways. The ratio between ‘direct’
and ‘indirect’ in manufacturing is a classic one.
Individual departments in an organization will also have their own rule-of thumb measures. A sales department, for instance,
may have an idea of the number of customer calls a salesperson should make in a week, and, indeed, use this as one criterion
for monitoring sales efficiency. If the business plan projects an increase in the number of new customers, this can be
translated into a proportionate increase in the sales force.
6. Delphi Method:
This method relies on expert opinion in making long range forecasts – this involves obtaining independent judgments from a
panel of experts usually through a questionnaire or interview schedule on certain issue affecting the nature and magnitude of
demand for an organization’s products and services.
7. Computer Simulation:
This is one of the most sophisticated methods of forecasting human resource needs – A computer is a mathematical
representation of major organizational processes, policies and human resource movement through organization – computer
simulations are useful in forecasting for human resources by pinpointing any combination of organizational and
environmental variables.
8. Time and Motion Study:
Here the Industrial Engineer observes records and movement of workman and productivity vis-a-vis time required to conduct
specific activities.
9. Most – Maynard Operation Sequence Technique:
This method is well accepted in automobile industries where lots of manual activities are involved. It is based on the walking
and moving of the workmen to conduct the specific activity.
MOST in an acronym for Maynard Operation Sequence Technique. It was developed at H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., USA in
1970’s. It is a revolutionary PMTS System. MOST is an activity based work measurement system that enables us to calculate
the length of time required to perform a task i.e., a system to measure work. This technique is based on fundamental
statistical principles and basic work measurement data complied over many years. MOST concentrates on movement of
objects.
It was noticed that the movement of objects follow certain consistently repeating patterns, such as reach, grasp, move and
position of object. These patterns were identified and arranged as a sequence events followed in moving an object. This
concept provides the basis for the MOST Sequence models.
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UNIT-2.
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Job Analysis
A Job can be described as a group of tasks which is assigned to the individual employees for ensuring achievement of the
organizational goals. When this job is analysed in terms of determination of the skills, duties and knowledge required for
completion of tasks, it is regarded as Job analysis.
Job Analysis involves gathering information and analysis of information of crucial information about a job. In this analysis
judgements are made on the data collected of a job. Job Analysis involves both Job Description and Job Specification, which
includes an assessment of the nature of the job as well as the knowledge, skills and attitude of the jobholder. In other words,
Job Description provides details regarding the content of the job in a written format and Job specification is a written record
of the qualities and qualifications which a Jobholder should be having for handling a job.
According to Michael L. Jucius, “Job analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and organizational
aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they called by some, job descriptions.”
According to Decenzo and P. Robbins, “A job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within the job. It is a basic
procedure, one that is used to define duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of the job.” 
According to Herbert G Herman “A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to contribute to the
production of some product or service provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability requirements (as well as
certain rewards) associated with it. Job analysis process used to identify these requirements.”
Flippo has offered a more comprehensive definition of job analysis as, “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting
information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of the analysis are job
descriptions and job specifications”
Thus, job analysis involves the process of identifying the nature of a job (job description) and the qualities of the likely job
holder (job specification).
The job analysis is useful in developing selection, training, and performance evaluation. Job analysis is the process of studying
and collecting information about the responsibilities and operations of a given job. Specifically, job analysis involves the
steps:
 Analysing the Job interrelationship with the organizational strategies and vision.
 Determining the Uses of Job Analysis like Recruitment & Selection, Compensation, Training & Development, etc.
 Identification of Job which would be analysed
 Collection of Data for Job Analysis through observation, Interviews and Questionnaire Administration.
 Preparing the Job Description which is essentially a written account of the job.
 Preparing the Job Specifications which should essentially provide details regarding the specific skills, qualities and
qualifications which a job holder should possess.
 Reviewing and updating the information ideally in every three years and the interrelationship collecting job
information.
Steps in Job Analysis:
1. Determine the Use of the Job Analysis Information: Start by identifying the use to which the
information will be put, since this will determine the type of data you collect and the technique you use to collect
them.
2. Collection of Background Information:  According to Terry, “The make-up of a job, its relation to other jobs, and its
requirements for competent performance are essential information needed for a job evaluation. This information
can be had by reviewing available background information such as organization charts (which show how the job in
question relates to other jobs and where they fit into the overall organization); class specifications (which describe
the general requirements of the class of job to which the job under analysis belongs); and the existing job
descriptions which provide a starting point from which to build the revised job description”.
3. Selection of Jobs for Analysis: To do job analysis is a costly and time consuming process. It is
hence, necessary to select a representative sample of jobs for purposes of analysis. Priorities of various jobs can also
be determined. A job may be selected because it has undergone undocumented changes in job content. The request
for analysis of a job may originate with the employee, supervisor, or a manager. When the employee requests an
analysis it is usually because new job demands have not been reflected in changes in wages. Employee’s salaries are,
in part, based upon the nature of the work that they perform. Some organizations establish a time cycle for the

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 analysis of each job. For example: A job analysis may be required for all jobs every three years. New jobs must also
be subjected to analysis.
4. Collection of Job Analysis Data: Job data on features of the job, requited employee qualification and requirements,
should be collected either form the employees who actually perform a job; or from other employees (such as
foremen or supervisors) who watch the workers doing a job and there by acquire knowledge about it; or from the
outside persons, known as the trade job analysis who are appointed to watch employees performing a job. The
duties of such a trade job analyst are:
1. To outline the complete scope of a job and to consider all the physical and mental activities involved in
determining what the worker does.
2. Find out why a worker does a job; and for this purpose he studies why each task is essential for the overall
result.
3. The skill factor which may be needed in the worker to differentiate between jobs and establish the extent
of the difficulty of any job.
5. Processing the Information: Once job analysis information has been collected, the next step is to place it in a form
that will make it useful to those charged with the various personnel functions. Several issues arise with respect to
this. First, how much detail is needed? Second, can the job analysis information be expressed in quantitative terms?
These must be considered properly.
6. Preparing Job Descriptions and Job Classifications: Job information which has been collected must be processed to
prepare the job description form. It is a statement showing full details of the activities of the job. Separate job
description forms may be used for various activities in the job and may be compiled later on. The job analysis is
made with the help of these description forms. These forms may be used as reference for the future.
7. Developing Job Specifications: Job specifications are also prepared on the basis of information collected. It is a
statement of minimum acceptable qualities of the person to be placed on the job. It specifies the standard by which
the qualities of the person are measured. Job analyst prepares such statement taking into consideration the skills
required in performing the job properly. Such statement is used in selecting a person matching with the job.
Job Analysis Methods
Though there are several methods of collecting job analysis information yet choosing the one or a combination of more than
one method depends upon the needs and requirements of organization and the objectives of the job analysis process.
Typically, all the methods focus on collecting the basic job-related information but when used in combination may bring out
the hidden or overlooked information and prove to be great tools for creating a perfect job-candidate fit.
The various methods of job analysis are as follows: -
1. Observation Method 16. Competency Profiling Method
2. Interview Method 17. Reference Materials Method
3. Daily Method 18. Critical Incident Method
4. Technical Conference Method 19. Group Interview Method.
5. Functional Job Analysis (FJA)
6. Questionnaire Method
7. Job Inventories or Checklists
8. Job Performance Method
9. Individual Psychographic Method
10. Job Psychographic Method
11. Job Analysis by Test
12. Motion Study Method
13. Employee Job Diary
14. Conference of Experts
15. Combination of Methods

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Observation Method: Three methods of Job Analysis are based on observation. These are- Direct Observation; Work Method
Analysis, including time and motion studies and micro-motion analysis; and critical incident method. It is a job analysis
technique in which employees are directly watched or films of workers on the job are reviewed and the data regarding the
job collected. In this method the supervisors observe and gather information with regard to tasks, working conditions, etc.,
related to a job, while the employees are performing their job. A job analyst observes an employee and records all his
performed and non-performed task, fulfilled and un-fulfilled responsibilities and duties, methods, ways and skills used by him
or her to perform various duties and his or her mental or emotional ability to handle challenges and risks. Here the job
analyst observes the work and worker while the worker is involved with the work. An experienced and expert analyst
combines interviewing and on-the-job observation to provide a more accurate analysis than is usually secured by the use of
either one of the methods. This method is particularly suitable for analysing manual and unskilled jobs. It may not be suitable
for mental, analytical and technical jobs.
Interview Method: It involves discussions between job analysis and job occupants or experts. Under the interview method
questions are asked and replies are recorded for analysis. Questions are structured in such a way that the interviewee
supplies all information about the job activities performed by him, as also characteristics of the job to the job analyst.
Interview method is very easy to use for collection of information. Generally, employees like to respond to questions made
by those people who are very much interested to know their job activities, working conditions, hazards etc. Through well
designed and effective interview job analyst may come to know some new area of activities / behaviour which may help him
to arrive at some conclusion. This method helps interviewer know what exactly an employee thinks about his or her own job
and responsibilities involved in it. It involves analysis of job by employee himself/herself. In order to generate honest and
true feedback or collect genuine data, questions asked during the interview should be carefully decided. And to avoid errors,
it is always good to interview more than one individual to get a pool of responses. Then it can be generalized and used for the
whole group. Job analyst may get complete information at a short time from the employees, as they use this platform to elicit
their difficulties, hardship etc. to others. Interview method is very much expensive. In large organizations it is difficult to use,
to collect information. It is also a time consuming task. Employees may not give actual information/data to job analyst as they
feel these data will be used for determining their pay rates and fringe benefits. Interview results are difficult to analyse as
well. Collecting information through interview method needs extra skill and ability of job analyst.
Daily Method: It requires the job holders to record in details their activities on a daily basis.
Technical Conference Method: In this method, services of the supervisors who possess extensive knowledge about a job are
used with the help of a conference of the supervisors. The analyst initiates discussion which provides details about the job.
This tool is of great usefulness in analysing jobs based on Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). SMEs will implement sessions of
brainstorming to discover elements of jobs. In this method, SMEs can apply a full mix of all methods of job analysis.
Functional Job Analysis: It is a method that uses precise terminology and a structured job analysis “schedule” to record
information regarding the job content. It is especially useful to the recruiting and selection functions. This approach of job
analysis is worker oriented. The functional job analysis approach attempts to describe the whole person on the job. It
examines three fundamental components of ‘data, people, and things’. This method is used frequently for government jobs.
It provides a quantitative score of each as a function of its complexity in relationship with people, data, and things.
The four main dimensions which are rated under this method are:
(a) The language and verbal facilities required to perform the job.
(b) The mathematical ability required to perform the job.
(c) The extent to which specific instructions are necessary to perform the job.
(d) The extent to which judgement and reasoning are required to perform the job.
Questionnaire Method: This is one of the methods used by organization to collect job information. Under this method job
related questions are prepared and employees are asked to reply to the questions. This method is very much popular to
gather information concerning job related duties and responsibilities of employees. Questionnaires are of two types—
structured questionnaire and open ended (unstructured) questionnaire. In case of structured questionnaire, a long list of
possible task items is designed and sent to employees with the request to indicate whether or not they perform the tasks as
mentioned in the questionnaire and if so, how much time is taken to perform each task? Open ended (unstructured)
questionnaire is very simple that asks the employees to describe something in respect of their job related duties,
responsibilities etc. The question may be like ‘state the major duties you perform’. The specially designed questionnaires are
sent to employees who submit them to supervisors after duly completed/filled out. Supervisors after verification,
consultation with concerned employees, if need arises, give those questionnaires to the job analyst. These can be filled out
by the employees on an individual basis or by job analysts for a group of employees.
The questionnaire method is easy to use for collection of job information. Coverage of population under this method is wide.
Questionnaires are sent to a large number of employees. So, it is a speedy and excellent way for gathering information at a

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shorter period of time. Cost wise this method is cheap for collection of information. The method is not free from limitations.
Designing questionnaire (i.e., area coverage, type and number of questions to be asked for etc.) needs special skill.
Employees may take it casually to fill out questionnaires and to return them. Generally, employees avoid to submit
information in writing that may be due to their inability to express or due to their unwillingness to respond to the questions
mentioned in the questionnaire. The preparation of questionnaire is also expensive and time consuming.
Job Inventories or Checklists: These are structured questionnaires that require a respondent to check or rate behaviour
and/or worker character necessary to a particular job or occupation. Job inventories can either be Task/Job Oriented or
Qualifications/Worker oriented. In this method jobs are analysed by using a list keeping track of such job elements. Many
questions can be raised, such as working purposes, key roles and responsibilities, organization; relationships; decision-
making; authority; Skills, knowledge, experience; working conditions. The job is analysed and necessary information
regarding the job is collected by asking the employees some subjective questions in the form of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ objective type
questions. Under this method the worker is required to check the task that he performs from a long list of possible task
statements. However, in order to prepare the checklist, extensive preliminary work is demanded in collecting appropriate
task statements. While checklists are easy for the incumbent to respond to, they do not provide an integrated picture of the
job in question. They are easily administered to large groups and are easy to tabulate.
Job Performance Method: In this method the job analyst actually performs the job in question and thus receives 1st hand
experiences of contextual factors on the job including physical hazards, social demands, and emotional pressures mental
requirements. The approach of this method is like ‘perform job and obtain information’. Job analyst through performance of
job gets understanding of –
 The whole process of activity i.e. job cycle;
 Time taken to complete some activity;
 The hazards and difficulties faced to perform job;
 The working environment, machines, tools used, supervision needed;
 Skill, ability, knowledge required to complete the job;
This method is effective for job analysis when jobs are very simple and are easy to perform. But this method does not yield
results if, the jobs are technical in nature and are difficult to perform without training. The scope of use of this method is
limited.
Individual Psychographic Method: In this method, the mental peculiarities of an individual successful in a particular kind of
job are examined, and a list of these peculiarities is compiled. This list is transcribed in a graph. This provides some standard
of judgement in future recruitments for the same job.
Job Psychographic Method: According to Viteles, the following three things are essential for the job psychographic method:
(i) Accurate classification of mental qualities required for the job.
(ii) Valid method of evaluation.
(iii) Direct examination or analysis by trained examiners.
In this method, some specialist analysts study the work, and they evolve a valid and standard method of evaluation. They
prepare a very accurate list in which the various mental qualities required for the job are properly and reliably classified. A
graph of these qualities is prepared so that selection of candidates for the job may become easier.
Job Analysis by Test: In the test method, some reliable and valid tests are performed on the basis of essential qualities and
abilities; the candidates are tested for selection and suitability on the basis of these tests.
Motion Study Method: Under this method, the speed of an individual worker in performing some job and time consumed
therein are both noted. Similar examinations being performed on other individuals doing the same work, and the results
obtained are compared. Such a study of speed and time helps in job analysis and classification of the workers.
Employee Job Diary: Another technique to collect information on job is to use diary maintained by the employees to record
their day to day activities in their work performance. This method has the following characteristics:
(i) Each employee is given a diary to keep records of his daily activities
(ii) At the end of each work shift, the employee starts writing on the diary –
(a) all the activities he had undertaken that day
(b) the time taken for completion of any process of activity
(c) difficulties, problems if he had faced to perform his job.
(iii) Job diary needs to be maintained for a long period so that all activities are covered.
(iv) Information recorded by the employee in the diary are verified / checked by the concerned supervisor to ensure
that factual data are taken.

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This method is simple to use as it does not need extra skill, ability to record information. Since, employee himself writes diary
it is possible that all job performance information is recorded. Diary method is time consuming as it takes much time to
collect information for job analysis. The employee may not remember the job activities at the end of work shift when he
records in the diary. So, the data is based on assumption the employee holds.
Conference of Experts: This method utilizes senior job holders and supervisors with extensive knowledge of the job. The
interaction with the members during the interview adds insight and details that the analyst might not get from individual job
holders.

Combination of Methods: Generally, an analyst does not use one job analysis method exclusively, rather, a combination is
often used. For instance, in analysing clerical and administrative jobs, the analyst might use questionnaire supported by
interviews and limited observation. On the other hand, for production, jobs interviews supplemented by a greater degree of
work observation may provide the needed data. Combination of methods can ensure high accuracy at minimum costs.
Competency Profiling Method: This form of job analysis is an activity that determines certain capacities which are
characteristics of high levels of performance in a certain job. It includes skills, knowledge, capacities, values, interests,
personalities.
Examining Manuals/Reference Materials Method: In analysing jobs, the analysts use manuals/or materials of reference
including quality manual, human resource manual, procedures, instruction, forms, job description. These documents are
available so that organizations can apply them in accordance with standards of ISO 9000.
Critical Incident Method: This method is used to gather information about a job based on the past experiences and critical
incidents which are frequently or seldom experienced while performing the job. These incidents are analysed in detail by the
brainstorming technique. But, it requires more time and is dependent the analytical skill of the analysts. Under this method,
the supervisor is asked to give instances of on-the-job behaviours of people which he considers to be important. Such
instances can be both of good and bad on-the-job behaviour. The number of such instances can be as many as the supervisor
can recall. These instances can provide information about critical aspects of the job. However, the shortcoming of the
method is that it does not provide an integrated picture of the entire task.
Group Interview Method: It is done like the individual interview method but more people are interviewed simultaneously. It
creates an atmosphere for the interviewees to open up their minds and give information, share ideas, opinions, positive and
negative aspects of the job. Sometimes, group dynamics may hinder its effectiveness.
Problems with Job Analysis:

Career Planning and Development:

Career Planning in HRM: Process, Steps and Stages