NETA PowerPoint® Slides

to accompany

Adapted by
Ann Hrabok,
Northern Alberta
Institute of Technology

Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Education Ltd. 1

CHAPTER 4

Job Analysis
and Work Design

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 Learning Outcomes
Explain job analysis and how it is used in
conjunction with a firm’s HRM functions.

Explain how the information for a job analysis is

typically collected and incorporated into various
sections of a job’s description.

Provide examples illustrating the various factors

that must be taken into account in designing a job,
including what motivates employees.

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 Learning Outcomes
Describe the different group techniques and
types of work schedules used to broaden a
firm’s job functions and maximize employee
contributions.

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 Relationship of Job Requirements
and HRM Functions

Job
• A group of related activities and duties

Position
• The different duties and responsibilities performed by
only one employee
Job Family
• A group of individual jobs with similar characteristics

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 Relationship of Job Requirements
and HRM Functions

Job specification
• A statement of the needed knowledge, skills, and abilities
of the person who is to perform the job

Job description
• A statement of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of
a job to be performed

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 Relationship of Job Requirements
and HRM Functions
• Strategic HR planning
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Training and development
• Performance appraisal
• Compensation management
• Legal compliance

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Relationship of Job Requirements
and HRM Functions

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 Job Analysis
• A job analysis is the process of obtaining information
about jobs by determining the duties, tasks, or activities
of jobs.

• A job analysis should also outline the tools needed to

do the job, the environment and times at which it needs
to done, the people with whom it needs to be done, and
the outcome or performance level it should produce.

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 Job Analysis

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 Gathering Job Information
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Observation
• Diaries

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 Approaches to Job Analysis
Popular methods:
• Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) System
• The Critical Incident Method
• Task Inventory Analysis
• Functional Job Analysis (FJA)
• Competency-Based Analysis

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 Job Descriptions
Job Title
• Indicates job duties and organizational level

Job Identification Section

• Distinguishes job from all other jobs

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 Job Descriptions
Job Duties, or Essential Functions, Section
• Indicate responsibilities entailed and results to be
accomplished

Job Specification Section

• Skills required to perform the job and physical demands
of the job

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 Problems with Job Descriptions
1. If they are poorly written, using vague rather than
specific terms, they provide little guidance to the
jobholder.
2. They are sometimes not updated as job duties or
specifications change.
3. They may violate the law by containing specifications
not related to job success.
4. They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder,
reducing organizational flexibility.

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 Job Design
Job Design
• An outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs through
technological and human considerations to enhance
organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction

Behavioural Concerns
• The job enrichment model and the job characteristics
model: two methods designed to increase the job
satisfaction of employees.

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 Job Design

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 Job Enrichment
• Increasing the level of difficulty and responsibility of
the job
• Allowing employees to retain more authority and control
over work outcomes
• Providing unit or individual job performance reports
directly to employees
• Adding new tasks to the job that require training and
growth
• Assigning individuals specific tasks, enabling them to
use their particular competencies or skills

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 Job Characteristics Model:
Designing Jobs to Motivate Employees
Job Psychological Job
Characteristics States Outcomes

 Skill variety  Meaningfulness of  Improved work

the work performed performance
 Task identity
 Responsibility for  Increased Internal
 Task significance motivation
work outcomes
 Autonomy  Lower absenteeism
 Knowledge of the
 Feedback and turnover
results of the work
performed

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 Job Design
Industrial Engineering Considerations
• A field of study concerned with analyzing work methods
and establishing time standards

Ergonomic Considerations
• An interdisciplinary approach to designing equipment
and systems that can be easily and efficiently used by
human beings

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 Job Design

Many companies willingly

invest in ergonomically
designed workstations
because they protect
the health and productivity
of employees.

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 Designing Work for Groups
and Teams
• An outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs through
technological and human considerations to enhance
organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction

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Designing Work for Groups
and Teams

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 Designing Work for Groups
and Teams
Employee Involvement Groups (EIGs)
• Groups of employees who meet to resolve problems or
offer suggestions for organizational improvement
• Also known as quality circles (QCs)
• Success with EIGs requires:
– Comprehensive training for group members
– Recognition of the group’s contributions
– Continuing input and encouragement by management
– Use of a participative/democratic leadership style

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Employee Teams

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Employee Teams

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 Virtual Team
• A team with widely
dispersed members linked
together through
computer and
telecommunications
technology

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 Characteristics of Successful Teams
• Commitment to shared goals and objectives
• Motivated and energetic team members
• Open and honest communication
• Shared leadership
• Clear role assignments
• A climate of cooperation, collaboration, trust, and
accountability
• The recognition of conflict and its positive resolution

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 Benefits of Employee Teams
• Increased integration of
individual skills
• Better performance (quality
and quantity) solutions to
unique and complex problems
• Reduced delivery time
• Reduced turnover and
absenteeism
• Accomplishments among
team members

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 Flexible Work Schedules
Compressed Workweek
• Shortening the number of days in the workweek by
lengthening the number of hours worked per day

Flextime
• Working hours that permit employees the option of
choosing daily starting and quitting times, provided
that they work a set number of hours per day or week

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 Flexible Work Schedules
Job Sharing
• The arrangement whereby two part-time employees
perform a job that otherwise would be held by one
full-time employee

Telecommuting
• The use of personal computers, networks, and other
communications technology to do work in the home
that is traditionally done in the workplace

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 Activity #1
Using the job description found in Highlights in HRM 4.1 as
an example, prepare a job description for a job that a friend
or colleague holds. Ask questions about each of the specific
areas covered in the job description.

Research what “job” you do as a post-secondary student;

prepare a student job description.

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 Activity #2
Using a job that you know well (or the job that you have
described in Activity #1), use one of these job design
techniques to make the job more rewarding:
 Job enlargement
 Job rotation
 Job enrichment

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