HR Word of the Day
BUMPING
Bumping maybe considered appropriate when an employer intends to make a senior role
redundant but retain a more junior role, and especially if the senior level employee has
more experience of service and better qualifications. In such instances, it is obviously
prudent to ask the senior employee if he would consider working in a junior position at
a reduced salary. In most cases, the employee would refuse to accept such a position. But
the employee maybe inclined to accept the position in certain circumstances, when losing
a job would affect him more adversely than accepting a relatively junior position. The
bumped off junior employee may also opt for the same option, thus creating a cascade of
uncertainty in the business as each displaced employee looks to bump out his
subordinate in turn. Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB ANALYSIS
Job analysis is a procedure to determine the duties & responsibilities, nature of
the jobs and finally to decide qualifications, skills & knowledge required for an
employee to perform a particular job.
It involves three questions :
What is a job?
It is a group of tasks, duties & responsibilities that constitute the work
assignment of an employee.
What should be analyzed?
What methods of analysis should be used?
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB ANALYSIS – an overview
JOB ANALYSIS
Methods Sources of Data Conducted By
Questionnaires Employees Job Analyst (Cons.)
Interviews Supervisors Consultant
Observations Managers Supervisor / Mgr.
Logs / Diaries Job Analyst (Int.)
Used For
Job Description Job Specification
Used For
HR Planning Performance Management
Recruitment Health, Safety & Security
Selection Employee / Labor Relations
Compensation Training
Dr. Isa Mishra
What should be analyzed?
1. Fundamental purpose of the job.
2. Work elements in the job – specific tasks and areas of responsibility.
3. General importance of each job element and relationship to the total
operation.
4. Approximate time spent on each task.
5. Scope of the job and its impact on the operation.
6. Inherent authority associated with the job
7. Working relationships including supervision
8. Specific methods, equipment or techniques that are required for the job.
9. Job climate including objectives & work environment
10. Job conditions like physical effort, hazards, discomfort, chasing of deadlines,
travel requirement, creativity & innovation required, etc.
Dr. Isa Mishra
Job Analysis - Steps
1. Collection of background information
2. Selection of representative job to be analyzed
3. Collection of job analysis data
4. Job Description
5. Developing job specification
Dr. Isa Mishra
Job Analysis – Components
1. JOB DESCRIPTION (JD)
Edwin Flippo: “Job Description is an organized factual statement of the
duties and responsibilities of a specific job. It should tell what is to be done, how
it is done and why.” JD is prepared before a vacancy is advertised. It emphasizes
the job requirements.
2. JOB SPECIFICATION (JS)
Edwin Flippo: “Job Specification is a statement of minimum acceptable
human qualities necessary to perform a job properly”. It is based on job
description. It is a written statement of qualifications, traits, physical and mental
characteristics that an individual must possess to perform the job duties and
discharge responsibilities effectively.
Dr. Isa Mishra
Details Covered in JD
Job title
Organizational location of the job
Supervision given and received
Designation of the immediate superiors and subordinates
Primary & Secondary Responsibilities
Competencies required
Salary levels
Hours of work, shift, etc.
Dr. Isa Mishra
Details Covered in JS
Educational and professional qualifications
Skills – behavioral & functional
Practical experience
Physical fitness
Special qualities / competencies required for performing the job
Sample JD format 1
Sample JD format 2
Dr. Isa Mishra
Methods of Job Analysis
Observation
Direct or through video / camera
Useful in routine jobs
Through work sampling by observing few workers randomly
Interview
Individual – for routine jobs
Group / Panel – for highly technical & complex jobs; however, group conflict may
cause this method to be ineffective
Questionnaires
PAQ – Position Analysis Questionnaire – concentrates on work oriented elements
that describe behaviors necessary to do a job, rather than the job oriented technical
competencies.
MPDQ – Management Position Description Questionnaire – concentrates on
managerial dimensions like decision making, supervising.
Diary - By mandating employee logs / diary which is cumbersome
Critical Incident Technique - Takes past incidents of good and bad behavior, organizes
incidents into categories that match the job they are related to
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB DESIGN
Job Design is the process of deciding on the contents of a job in terms of its
duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in
term of techniques, systems and procedures and on the relationships that should
exist between the jobholder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.
Proper Job Design aims :
To meet the organizational requirements such as higher productivity,
operational efficiency, quality of product/service etc. and
To satisfy the needs of the individual employees like interests, challenges,
achievement or accomplishment, etc.
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB DESIGN – Approaches / Techniques
A. Job Simplification
This requires that jobs be broken down into their smallest units and then
analyzed. Each resulting subunit typically consists of relatively few operations.
These subunits are then assigned to workers as their total job. This is done so
that employees can do these jobs without much specialized training. Many small
jobs can also be performed simultaneously, so that the complete operation can
be done more quickly. Time and motion studies are often used for work
simplification.
- Requires less training
- Less costly unskilled labour
- Increase in speed
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB DESIGN – Approaches / Techniques
B. Job Enlargement
It involves the addition to or expansion of tasks in the job.
It is the strategy adopted by many organizations to combat the ill-effects of
division of labour.
Its focus is on enlarging the contents of jobs by adding tasks and
responsibilities.
It involves expansion of the scope and width of the job by means of assigning
certain closely related operations. E.g. a clerk in an office doing typing work
may be also assigned tasks of drafting simple letters, sorting mail and filling of
papers.
- Reduces boredom, monotony
- Increases efficiency
- Employee develops more no. of skills in a particular job
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB DESIGN – Approaches / Techniques
C. Job Enrichment
It is based on the assumption that in order to motivate personnel, the job
itself must provide opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility,
advancement and growth.
It involves the vertical expansion of jobs by increasing the amount of worker
responsibilities associated with the positions. E.g. a worker who previously
only loaded boxes for delivery into a trailer may be given the responsibility of
verifying that the customer order is correct.
Through job enrichment, autonomy, responsibility and control becomes part
of a worker’s job.
This leads to greater feelings of satisfaction, higher motivation and increased
productivity.
Dr. Isa Mishra
JOB DESIGN – Approaches / Techniques
D. Job Rotation
This refers to the movement of an employee from one job to another over a
designated period of time.
Jobs themselves are not actually changed, only the employees are rotated
among various jobs.
This would relieve the employee from boredom and monotony, improves the
employee’s skills regarding various jobs and prepares the employee to meet
the contingencies.
This is also intended to improve worker’s self-image and provides personal
growth.
Frequent rotation of employees may cause interruptions in the work routine
of the organization.
Dr. Isa Mishra
