Unit 3

Job Analysis and Design

“Choose a job you love, and you will never

have to work a day in your life”
Contents
• Concept of job design
• Impact of job design on motivation, satisfaction, productivity and
quality of work life,
• Concept of job analysis,
• Importance of job analysis in human resource management,
• Job analysis techniques,
• Writing job descriptions and specification.
Concept of job design
• Job design is the process of
• organizing the flow of work, task, duties and responsibilities into a
wholesome unit of work.
• Process of providing structure to job by assigning the task, duties and
responsibility on it.
• It describes:
• what tasks are included;
• how and when the tasks are done; and
• any factors that affect the work
• “The process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will
be required in a given job.” -Raymond A. Noe
Concept of job design
• Job design receives attention for three major reasons
(Mathis, 2012):
• influence performance
• affect job satisfaction
• impact both physical and mental health
Factor to be consider for job designing
• Motivation
• Mental capacity
• Health and safety
• Efficiency of doing work
Approaches of Job Design (MEMS)
Job engineering
• Designing the job based on amount of time and motion studies and focuses on
efficiency of doing work
• Work specialization to get short work cycle and reduce supervision (FW Taylor)
• Focuses on technical part of job; method, tools, layout etc.
Design for mental capacity
• This approach assumes that the design of job should be based on mental or
intellectual capability.
• Clear instruction, memory aids, filtering information etc.
Job Characteristic Model
• Developed By Hackman and Oldham
• This model says that job should have following core features to become functional or
advantageous;
• Skill variety: job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved.
• Task identity: degree to which a job requires completing a “whole” piece of work
from beginning to end, with identifiable outcome.
• Task significance: importance of job, extent to which the job has an important
impact on the lives of other people.
• Autonomy: degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about
the way the work will be carried out.
• Feedback: extent to which a person receives clear information about performance
effectiveness from the work itself.
Job Characteristic Model
B. Critical psychological states

The three psychological states are defined in the following terms:

• Experienced meaningfulness: The degree to which employees perceive the work as

being meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile. First three dimension stimulates
meaningfulness.

• Responsibility: The degree to which employees feel accountable and responsible for
the outcomes of their work. Autonomy, 4rth dimension, accelerates feel of
responsibility.

• Knowledge of result: The degree to which employees know and understand how well
they are performing on the job. Feedback mechanism helps to increase it.
Job Characteristic Model

Personal and work outcome:

Form types of personal and work related outcomes may be achieved on the basis
of job characteristics and psychological supports. These are as follows:

• High internal motivation: Employees work more and with joy.

• High satisfaction: They get satisfied with their jobs following the fulfillment of
needs.

• High work quality: Employees perform their duties for producing high quality
goods and service.
• Low absenteeism and turnover: If core job features and psychological states
behave positively, workers show low absenteeism and turnover also.
Job Characteristic Model
Core Job Critical Personal
Dimensions Psychological and Work
States Outcomes
Skill variety
Experienced
meaningfulness High internal
Task identity work motivation
of the work
Task significance High quality work
Experienced performance
responsibility for
Authonomy
outcomes of the High satisfaction
work with work
Experienced Low
Feedback responsibility for absenteeism and
outcomes of the turnover
work

Individual's
Need for
Growth
Impact of Job Design on Motivation, Satisfaction, Productivity and Quality of Work Life

• Motivation
• activates this behaviour or drive in employees to a goal to achieve
• defining nature, content, functions and relationship with other employees
• supports the dimensions of importance of work carried out by an employee,
and it motivates the employee having clear roles and responsibilities and
autonomy.
• Satisfaction
• designing a job effectively it provides satisfactions of higher order needs.
• personal achievement & recognition, more challenging & responsible work,
and more opportunity for individual advancement & growth.
Impact of Job Design on Motivation, Satisfaction, Productivity
and Quality of Work Life

• Productivity
• autonomy, opportunities for interactions for feedback, utilization of the skills
and competencies will make the employee more productive in any work
• implicates the employee to put effort and performance that leads to the
productivity
• Quality of work life
• feel that their work fulfils all the organizational obligations
• employment security, health and well-being, work-life-balance and job
satisfaction result in quality of work life.
Concept of job analysis
• It is the process of gathering detail information about the specific job i.e. nature of job, task
to be performed with in job, method of job performance etc. to decide what duties and
responsibilities have to preform, what kinds of skill, knowledge and abilities are required for
the job etc.
• “Job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and
the kind of person who should be hired for. – Garry Dessler
• Base of preparing Job Description, Job Specification and job evaluation too.
Process of job analysis
1. Organizational analysis
• Decide how to use the information since this will determine the data to collect and how to
collect it.
• Some data collection techniques such as interviewing the employee and asking what the job
entails are good for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the job. Other
techniques like the position analysis questionnaire do not provide qualitative information for
job descriptions. Rather, they provide numerical ratings for each job and can be used to
compare jobs for compensation purposes.
• Review appropriate background information like organization charts, process charts, and job descriptions. Organization
charts show the organization-wide work division, how the job in question relates to other jobs, and where the job fits in
the overall organization. The chart should show the title of each position and, through connecting lines, show reports to
whom and with whom the job incumbent communicates. A process chart provides a more detailed picture of the work
flow. In its simplest, most organic form, a process chart shows the flow of inputs to and outputs from the job being
analyzed. Finally, the existing job description (if there is one) usually provides a starting point for building the revised
job description.
2. Select representative positions
• This is because there may be too many similar jobs to analyze. For example, it is usually unnecessary to analyze jobs of
200 assembly workers when a sample of 10 jobs will be sufficient.
3. Method applied
• Actually analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, necessary employee behaviors and actions, working
conditions, and human traits and abilities required to perform the job. For this step, one or more than one methods of
job analysis may be needed
• Verify the job analysis information with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate supervisor. This
will help confirm that the information is factually correct and complete. This review can also help gain the employee's
acceptance of the job analysis data and conclusions by giving that person a chance to review and modify descriptions of
the job activities.
4. Develop a job description and job specification
These are two tangible products of the job analysis process. The job description is a written statement that describes the
activities and responsibilities of the job as well as its important features such as working conditions and safety hazards.
The job specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, and background required for completing a certain
job. These two may be completely separate or in the same document. [18]
Importance of job analysis
taking information from job analysis for planning for-
• Work design
• Strategic human resource planning
• Recruitment and selection
• Training
• Performance appraisal
• Career planning
• Job evaluation & compensation management
• Legal compliance
Methods of Data Collection for Job Analysis
Observations
• the action or process of observing/perceiving/seeing something or someone carefully or in order to gain
information
• The process involves simply watching incumbents perform their jobs and taking notes. Sometimes they ask
questions while watching, and commonly they even perform job tasks themselves. Near the end of World
War II, Morris Viteles studied the job of navigator on a submarine. He attempted to steer the submarine
toward Bermuda. After multiple misses by over 100 miles in one direction or another, one officer suggested
that Viteles raise the periscope, look for clouds, and steer toward them since clouds tend to form above or
near land masses. The vessel reached Bermuda shortly after that suggestion. The more jobs one seriously
observes, the better one's understanding becomes of both the jobs in question and work in general.
Interviews
• These interviews are most effective when structured with a specific set of questions based on observations,
other analyses of the types of jobs in question, or prior discussions with human resources representatives,
trainers, or managers knowledgeable about jobs.
• Structured questionnaire
• Checklists
• Technical conferences
• Diary
Job analysis techniques
Task-based Job Analysis [job-based]
Functional job analysis
• It is the worker-oriented job analytical technique, which attempts to describe the whole person on the job.
• Functional job analysis (FJA) is a method of job analysis that was developed by the Employment and
Training Administration of the United States Department of Labor. FJA produces standardized occupational
information specific to the performance of the work and the performer.
• Quantitative approach to job analysis that utilizes a compiled inventory of the various functions or work
activities that can make up any job and that assumes that each job involves three broad worker functions:
1) data 2) people 3) things.
• The most recent version of FJA uses seven scales to describe what workers do in jobs: (1) Things, (2) Data,
(3) People, (4) Worker Instructions, (5) Reasoning, (6) Math, and (7) Language. [2]
Task inventory analysis
• A task inventory job analysis method is a relatively new method of job analysis. The method was devised
for job analysis of the army and was later adapted for other civilian use in the industries.
• Here, information collected form the various method are analyzed for identification of task to be perform
for the specific job.
• Analyst prepares a comprehensive list of tasks involved into the typical performance of a specific job;
practical tasks and typical activities.
Management position description questionnaire
• It is applied specifically for analyzing managerial jobs; focuses on requirements of the job, rather than
employee performance.
• The questionnaire was created by Walter W. Tornow and Patrick R. Pinto in 1976 having 208 item grouped
in 13 category.
Method analysis; [focused on how can we develop the effective method of performing the particular job]
Hay plan; [focused on enhancing managerial efficiency by the analyst through conducting interview with the
subordinates]
B. Competency-based Job Analysis [person-based]
Competency-based job analysis means describing the job in terms of the measurable, observable,
behavioral competencies (Knowledge, skills and/or behaviors) that an employee doing that job must exhibit to
do the job well.
Fleishman job analysis system
• asks subject matter experts to evaluate a job in terms of the abilities required performing the job, 52
categories of abilities]
• The Fleishman Job Analysis System (F-JAS) developed by Edwin A. Fleishman represents a worker-oriented
approach.
• Fleishman factor-analyzed large data sets to discover a common, minimum set of KSAOs across different
jobs. His system of 73 specific scales measure three broad areas: Cognitive (Verbal Abilities; Idea
Generation & Reasoning Abilities; Quantitative Abilities; Memory; Perceptual Abilities; Spatial Abilities;
and Attentiveness), Psychomotor (Fine Manipulative Abilities; Control Movement Abilities; and Reaction
Time and Speed Abilities), and Physical (Physical Strength Abilities; Endurance; Flexibility, Balance, and
Coordination; Visual Abilities; and Auditory and Speech Abilities).
Conti..
Position analysis questionnaire system
• Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) is a job analysis questionnaire that evaluates job skill level
and basic characteristics of applicants for a set match of employment opportunity. PAQ was
developed at Purdue University by McCormick, E.J., & Jeanneret, and Mecham in 1972.
• This method is widely used within industrial and organizational psychology, individual
psychological assessment and human resource departments, and can be easily administered by
any individual trained in job analysis. The three basic steps to conduct a position analysis
questionnaire are:
1. Human resources and other staff attend a PAQ job analysis training course. PAQ
questionnaires are filled out by trained professionals, not job incumbents.
2. Trained PAQ job analysts then use the position analysis questionnaire to analyze selected
jobs.
3. The PAQ questionnaires are submitted to PAQ for scoring, with the results then used to
analyze by human resource or other trained managers

• Critical incident method [critical job tasks]

Writing job descriptions and specification
Job Description
• It is the written document that contains detail like major duties, responsibilities
and skills required to preform specific job.
• According to Torrington, a job description is usually developed by conducting a job
analysis, which includes examining the tasks and sequences of tasks necessary to
perform the job.
• Job description is the identification of tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job.
– Robert L Mathis and John H Jackson
• “Job description is a written statement of what the worker actually does, how he or
she does it, and what the job’s working conditions are.” – Garry Dessler
Components of Job Description
• Job identification; title, code, department, location etc.
• Job summary; major activities
• Relationships; job holders with other inside and outside;
supervised by, responsible with etc.
• Responsibilities and duties
• Standards of performance; expect to execute from job holder
• Working condition; noise level, hazardous condition, heat level etc
Writing job descriptions and specification.
Job Specification
• Statements indicating the minimal acceptable qualifications
incumbents must possess to successfully perform the essential
elements of their jobs.
– David A. DeCenzo and Stephen P. Robbins
• Job specification is the knowledge, skills and abilities as individual
needs to perform a job satisfaction.
– Robert L Mathis and John H Jackson
Importance of job description
• Described on the basis of job description, job specification helps candidates
analyze whether are eligible to apply for a particular job vacancy or not.
• It helps recruiting team of an organization understand what level of qualifications,
qualities and set of characteristics should be present in a candidate to make him
or her eligible for the job opening.
• Job Specification gives detailed information about any job including job
responsibilities, desired technical and physical skills, conversational ability and
much more.
• It helps in selecting the most appropriate candidate for a particular job.
Writing job descriptions and specification.
Job Specification components:
• Desirable attributes; health and fine, with in the age, educational
qualification etc. Directly not related but helpful
• Essential attributes; KSA, have to for preforming job
• Contra-indicators [hurdle], not having.., Unmarried- air hostage