Concept And Definition Of Job Analysis Business Essay

Job analysis refers to the process of examining a job to identify different components of it and circumstances in which it is to be performed. It is a basic human resource tool in the sense, it is imperative on the part of every individual to have an adequate understanding of the jobs assigned to them and also the relative job differentials in terms of their level of difficulty, responsibility, knowledge and skills. Job Analysis study and collect information relating to job operations and responsibilities associated with a specific job. Sufficient information and adequate documentation on job Analysis, job Description and job Evaluation are important prerequisites for effective HRP in an organisation. All these processes help in identifying job requirements by suitably describing the job and job families, skill sets, skill mapping and developing skill inventories in an organization. In HRP, these factors serve as critical determinant factors to decide about manpower requirements to meet present and future needs. Therefore studying and under-standing jobs through job Analysis are vital part of any HRM program. Job Analysis is helpful to put right man on right job. Moreover, Job Analysis information is significant to prepare job descriptions and job specifications that are utilized in designing organisation structure, devise proper recruitment and selection method, compensation administration, better performance appraisal, and adequate training and development facilities, proper career path counselling, maintaining health and safety conditions as well as in improving labour relations in an organisation. It also helps in discovering the unassigned duty if any.

CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF JOB ANALYSIS

According to Harry L. Wylie, “Job Analysis deals with job anatomy. It requires complete study of the job and its embodying and determinable factors, including duties and responsibilities involved in job performance along with the job conditions under which performance is carried on. It also analyses the nature of the task, the qualifications of the workers, and the conditions of employment such as pay, working hours, opportunities and privileges of the job”.

According to C. Harold and William E. Kendall, “Job Analysis is a systematic procedure for securing and reporting information defining a particular job”.

According to Dale Yoder, “A Job is collection of duties, tasks and responsibilities, assigned to an individual and which is different from other assignment”.

Edwin B. Flippo defined “Job Analysis as the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job.”

According to Michael J. Jucius, “Job Analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and organisational aspects of jobs in order to derive specification or job description “.

According to Blum, “A job Analysis is an accurate study of the various job components. It is concerned not only with an analysis of the duties and conditions of work, but also with the individual qualifications of the worker.”

As defined by John A Shubin “Job Analysis is the methodical compilation and study of work data in order to define and characterise each occupation in such a manner so as to distinguish it from all others.”

In the words of Scott, Clothier and Spriegel, “Job Analysis is the process of critically evaluating the operations, duties and relationship of the job.”

Job Analysis is the systematic process of collecting and making judgments about all the important information related to a job. Job Analysis is the procedure through which one determines the duties and nature of the jobs. It also determines the kinds of people who should be hired for those jobs. General purpose of job Analysis is to document the requirements of a job and the work performed. Moreover job Analysis is fundamental to the preparation of job specification and description.

Objectives of job Analysis:

Work simplification: Job Analysis provides the information related to job which can be used to make the job or the process simple. Work simplification refers to fragmenting the job into small parts i.e. different operations in a product line or process with the objective of improving the production or job performance.

For setting standards: Standard refers to minimum acceptable qualities or results or performance or rewards regarding a particular job. Job Analysis provides the information about the job which can be used to set standards for each job category.

Support to personnel activities: Job Analysis information provides support to various personnel activities like recruitment, selection, training and development, wage administration, performance appraisal etc.

Situations under which Job Analysis is conducted: these are the various scenarios in which Job analysis is conducted.

When the organization is founded

When organizations are created complete information about the jobs to be performed

When new jobs are created

When jobs are changed significantly due to adoption of new technologies or change in methods, procedures, or systems.

Steps in Job Analysis

The process of job Analysis is essentially involves collecting job related data then analyzing it. The analyst provide the data related to job identification, nature of the job, materials and equipments to be used in performing the job and job relations with other jobs, time and place of accomplishment and so on and so forth. The steps involved in job Analysis are as follows:

Planning and organizing of Programme: The first step is to plan and organize the Job Analysis programme. A person is designated as in-charge of programme and required degree of authority and responsibility is assigned to him. Schedule of the programme and budget estimation is prepared.

Obtaining current information: Information on current job design is collected with the study of job description, job specification, process used, manuals and organisation flow charts and is reviewed, verified and confirmed with job incumbents.

Conducting research: The analyst determines that which manager or department requires the job Analysis. Purpose of the job Analysis is determined, extent to which job analysis is to be done is decided and how the information will be used concluded.

Establishing priorities: Identification and priorities of the jobs to be analyzed should be established by the executives of human resource department and with the help of various executives of the related departments.

Collecting Job Data: The next step is to collect the data of the selected job for the analysis as they are being performed in the organisation at present. The job is analysed by collecting data on job activities in the context of required employees’ behaviour, required working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job.

Preparing Job Description: job descriptions are prepared by using information obtained from job Analysis. It states the full information of job including working conditions, nature of job, processes used machines and materials used for the job.

Developing Job Specification: Job Specifications are developed using information given in job description. Job specification is statement regarding human qualities that are required for a particular job. Such information is used to select the person matching the requirements of the job. Job Analysis outcomes are as follows:

Job Description

Job description is a broad statement of the purpose, duties and responsibilities of a job or position. A job description is based on a detailed job analysis and usually summarises the essential information gathered through job analysis. It describes the main tasks and responsibilities of the job clearly and concisely in order to facilitate the systematic comparison of jobs for evaluation purposes. The kind of information and amount of details contained in the job descriptions depend on the job evaluation plan to be used. Job Description is “snapshot” of a job. Current and accurate job Descriptions maximizes employee effectiveness and productivity as it outlines the positions’ responsibilities and accountabilities. Job Descriptions clearly and concisely communicate what the job entails. In addition, job Descriptions help in attracting and retaining the best talent as it shows that a company is organized, well-run, and fair. Job Descriptions promote responsibility; improve morale and the corporate image. Job Description is a written statement of what the job holder actually does. It also states how he does it, and the conditions under which the job is performed. To write job description, no standard format is there. The factual statements of job contents are organised to describe the duties and responsibilities of a specific job. Job description depicts the nature and type of job in brief and usually includes:

Title/ Designation of job and job location in the concern

Job summary and achievable results

The nature of duties of job and operations need to be performed

Authority- responsibility relationships of the job

Main tasks of job and standard to be achieved

Terms and conditions of job including salary, hours of work, leave, etc

Limits of discretion i.e budgetary responsibilities

Necessary qualifications required for job.

Combination, co-relation and relationship of that particular job with that of other jobs in a concern.

Specification of machines, tools, materials and their applications.

The provision of physical working conditions and the necessary work environment that is required in performance of that job.

Job Specification

Job specifications usually involve a listing of the personal qualifications regarded as necessary for satisfactory performance. Job specifications are mainly used in selecting and recruiting staff and are accordingly not essential for job evaluations. But certain personal attributes, such as experience, education and aptitude, may occur in both in job description as well as in job specification. Many job evaluation plans accordingly use job specifications to complement job description.

Job Specification describes the desired attributes of the person doing the job. It is a statement which tells minimum acceptable human qualities that helps to perform a job. Such requirements are usually established for individual jobs on the basis of judgments made by staff analysts, but in some instances they are based upon statistical validation procedures. Job Specification translates the job description into required necessary human qualifications that helps in hiring of appropriate persons for appropriate positions to perform the job in optimum way. The contents are:

Necessary educational qualifications and experiences for job title

Necessary physical factors and other related attributes

Physique and mental health of the person

Special characteristics and abilities

Interpersonal skills

Maturity and dependability

Family background

Work-output job context and other job characteristics

Job Specification should be used as a guideline to the knowledge, skills and aptitudes required to perform a specific job. Job Analysis, job Description and job Specification, together form the basis of recruitment, selection and placements of persons in an organisation.

Methods of Job Analysis / Data collection techniques

Different organizations use different methods to collect job information and conduct job Analysis. Some of these methods are as follows:

Personal observation: In this method an observer is very keen to observe the concerned individuals while performing a job and makes an extensive list of the duties performed by the workers and the qualities required to perform those duties. Job analysis is prepared on the basis of the collected information. This method is very useful in some cases, but under certain conditions it does not work or becomes more difficult. In case of jobs in which some elements of the complete job cycle occur at infrequent or unpredictable intervals. For example, by simply observing an assembly line worker may not reveal his monthly inventory duty which is very much integral part of the job.

Actual performance of the job: In this method, the person in charge of preparing the job analysis actually performs the work himself. While performing the job, he gets the clear idea of the required skills, the levelof difficulty associated with the job, the efforts required to complete the job and so on and so forth.

Interview method: In this method an interview is conducted of the employees who are performing the job or the supervisor or both. The interview is conducted by group of experts. They ask questions related to various aspects of job, skill levels required, and difficulty levels associated with the job. They put questions and cross questions to collect job related information. Job analysis is prepared, based on the collected information. This technique may be time consuming, and the performers of the job may exaggerate the importance of their jobs. In addition, certain important elements of the job may be missed both by the interviewer and persons interviewed because of its infrequent occurrence. For example an assembly line worker may also be required to do inventory supplies on a monthly basis. Although this responsibility may be extremely important, it may be overlooked during the interview since it occurs on an infrequent basis.

Critical incident method: In this method of job analysis, the employees are asked to write one or more critical incidents they have encountered while performing the job. These incidents give ideas about the problem associated with the job, the level of difficulty, how to handle it, qualities required to deal with the incidents and so on and so forth. Critical incident method focuses on the importance of job.

Questionnaires method: Questionnaires method is the least costly method of collecting Job analysis data. A well designed set of questionnaires is considered to be the most efficient way of collecting a wide range of job data and information in a short period of time. In this method a set of questionnaire is supplied to the employees and they are asked to put their remark. The questionnaire may be comprised of multiple choice questions or open ended questions or both. The job Analysis is done from the information collected out of it. However, the danger in this method is that, many of the respondents may not complete the questionnaire. They may complete it inaccurately, or may take excessively long time to return it. Although questionnaire is less expensive than interviewing, sometimes questionnaires contain the same problem of providing incomplete information and inaccurate in describing the actual tasks performed. However, it is considered as an effective method because of the simple logic that people generally hesitate to put anything irrelevant in writing and would think twice before doing so.

The Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ): Quantification of the process of job Analysis has gained momentum in recent years. One such technique utilising a structured questionnaire is the position analysis questionnaire (PAQ). It was developed in the early 1970s through the efforts of McCormick and others. It consists of 194 job elements of a work-oriented nature which are divided into six major categories. The job elements are normally rated by the analyst on a scale of 0 to 5. Major drawbacks of the use of the PAQ involve its length and the high level vocabulary and complicated scoring requirements.

Log Records/Daily Diary: Some companies require their employees to prepare and maintain log records or daily diary. A log record is a book in which an employee records and writes all the activities performed by him while performing the job. These records mention the daily activities of job along with the activities that are performed at infrequent intervals. On the basis of the information collected from the record book Job Analysis is done. Since extensive records are maintained, it provides a fair idea about the duties and responsibilities associated with any job.

HRD record: HR department prepare and maintain records of each and every

employee. The records contain details about educational qualification, job title, years of experience, duties handled, any mistakes committed in the past and if any actions taken. It also includes number of promotions received by employees, their area of work and as well as their core competency etc. Based on these records job analysis is done.

Managerial Job Analysis: The nature of managerial job is different from the jobs that are clearly observable and measurable with some routines and procedures. For which some specialized methods have evolved for managerial job analysis. One of the most well known and widely used methods for managerial job analysis is Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ). It was developed at Control Data Corporation. This is composed of a listing of over 200 job statements. The MPDQ incorporates a wide variety of managerial dimensions, including decision making skill and supervising skill.

Computerized Job Analysis: With the growth of the information communication technology, researchers have developed computerized job analysis systems. An important feature of computerized job Analysis is the specificity of data. All of this specific data is compiled together to form a Job analysis database. A computerized job analysis system takes less time and effort in writing job descriptions. Computerised job Analysis methodology helps to develop more accurate and comprehensive job descriptions, linked with compensation programs of the organisation along with performance appraisal systems. It also helps in better compliance of legal requirements.

Combination Methods: There could be a number of different ways to study, analyze and obtain job related information. Each method has its own strength and weaknesses. Therefore, to overcome the weaknesses, generally, a combination of methods is preferred over one method alone.

Benefits of Job Analysis

Organizational structure and design: – Job Analysis data guides in preparing the organization chart and designing the organizational structure. It helps in Job classification and establishes relation of each job with one another. It also determines various positions and hierarchy of the positions to avoid overlapping of authority- responsibility relationship and distortion in chain of command.

Man power planning: – Qualitative dimensions of the jobs are determined by Job Analysis. Job analysis exercise expresses the job demands in terms of duties to be performed along with the qualification and personal skills required in the employees. Therefore, Job analysis as a tool can be used for matching jobs with available personnel.

Recruitment and Selection: – Job Analysis helps in hiring future human resources of an organisation. Job Description and job Specification provides necessary information that helps in recruiting and selecting the right kind of people for the available jobs.

Training and Development: – Based on the requirements of job, training needs identification of the concerned persons can be done easily and training can be provided in those specific areas which will help to improve the job performance.

Job Evaluation: – Job analysis helps in job evaluation. Information regarding the level of difficulty, skills level, qualities required to perform the job are obtained from job analysis data to establish relative worth of different jobs.

Promotions and Transfer: An employee gets promotion, on the basis of the skill and talent he must have to take future job responsibility. Similarly when an employee gets transfer the new job must be very similar to that of his previous job. To take all these decisions the information is collected from job Analysis.

Performance Appraisal: – Actual performance of the employees are measured and compared to the standard set by organisation to take decision on the activities like promotion, increments, incentives or corrective actions to enhance job performance. By using information provided by job analysis, these standards are set.

Career path planning and Employee counselling: – Many companies are not concern for career planning of their employees. The purpose of employee counselling is basically restricted to prevent the employees from leaving the company. Job Analysis data can be used to inform employees about the limitations of jobs in terms of development. Again they can be guided to take required steps for their improvement for future development and better career options.

Health and safety: -Job Analysis points out the risk factor associated with a particular job and thus the action required for the safety of the employees can be taken. Unsafe operations can be eliminated or can be replaced by safe one or the safety equipments can be installed.

Labour relations: When companies plan to add extra duties or remove certain duties from a job, they require the help of job Analysis, when this activity is systematically done using job Analysis, it does not affect adversely to the union members and do not hamper labour relations.

Acceptance of job offer: Appointment letters of the job offer issued by any organisation always mention the duties to be performed. This information is collected from job analysis.

Discovering Unassigned Duties: Proper job analysis may reveal unassigned duties if any. However, the end result of job Analysis is effectiveness and efficiency in term of doing the right thing and doing it rightly and respectively. The underlying motive at the long run is increase in company’s profitability, productivity and sustainability.

Job Evaluation

Job Evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization. Job Evaluation means systematically determining relative worth of jobs to create job structure and to develop job hierarchy. In Job Evaluation process the relative worth of job is identified based upon job comparability. According to relative worth, importance of job and relative value compensation is designed and selected. Hence it involves determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary differentials. Basically, relative worth is determined on the basis of Job Description and Job Specification. Job Evaluation helps to determine wages and salary grades for all jobs. Employees need to be compensated depending on the grades of jobs they perform. Remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job. Ignoring this basic principle arrives at inequitable compensation practice. A perception of inequity is a sure way of de-motivating an employee and a profound ill effect on employees’ morale.

According to Alford and Beatty, “Job Evaluation is the application of the job Analysis technique to the qualitative measurement of relative job worth, for the purpose of establishing consistent wage rate differentials by objective means. It measures the differences between jobs on the job requirements, and establishes the differential numerically (job rating), so that it can be converted to wage rate after the wage level is determined”.

According to Kimball and Kimball Jr., “Job Evaluation represents an effort to determine the relative value of every job in a plant and to determine what the fair basic wage for such a job should be.”

According to Bethel, Atwater and Smith et at, “Job Evaluation as a personal term has both a specific and genetic meaning specifically, it means job rating or the grading of occupations in terms of duties, generally it means the entire field of wages and salary administration along modern lines”.

Edwin B. Flippo defines. “Job Evaluation is a systematic and orderly process of determining the worth of a job in relation to other jobs.”

In the words of Maurice B. Cumming, “Job Evaluation is a technique of assessing the worth of a job in comparison with all other jobs throughout an organisation”.

According to Scott, Clothier and Spriegel, “Job Evaluation or job rating is the operation of evaluating a particular job in relation to other jobs either within or outside the organisation.” According to International Labour Organisation, “Job Evaluation may be defined as an attempt to determine and compare the demands which the normal performance of particular job makes on normal workers without taking into account of the individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned.”

In the words of Dale Yoder, “Job Evaluation is a practice which seeks to provide a degree of objectivity in measuring the comparative value of jobs within an organisation and among similar organisations.”

In the words of John A. Shubin, “Job Evaluation is a systematic procedure for measuring the relative value and importance of an occupation on the basis of their common factor (skill, training, efforts) for the purpose of determining wages and salary differentials.”

According to Bureau of Labour Statistics, “Job Evaluation is the evaluation or rating of job to determine their position in job hierarchy. The evaluation may be achievement through assignment of points or the use of some other systematic rating method for essential job requirements such as skill, experience and responsibility”.

Features of Job Evaluation

The primary objective of job Evaluation is to find out the value of work, but this is a value which varies from time to time and from place to place under the influence of certain economic pressure. The main features of job Evaluations are as follows:

It attempts to assess jobs, not people.

Job Evaluation is the output provided by job Analysis.

It provides bases for wage negotiation founded on facts.

Job Evaluation does not design wage structure, it helps in rationalising the system by reducing number of separate and different rates.

Job Evaluation is done by group of experts.

Job Evaluation determines the value of job and the value of each of the aspects of job such as skill and responsibility levels are also related and studied in connection with the job.

Job Evaluation helps the management to maintain high levels of employee productivity and employee satisfaction.

The objectives of job Evaluation

To provide a standard procedure for fixing salary: job Evaluation aims at providing a standard procedure for fixing salary of employees doing a particular job and belonging to a particular level in the organization. This is required to remunerate the employees according to his capabilities and therefore making them satisfied on the job.

To reconcile the pay in accordance with employees’ efforts: The rate of pay is decided by looking into various factors on the job.

To ensure that wages and salaries are paid according to the qualification and work: Job Evaluation recognizes the importance of qualification of the employees and the efforts put by him on the job and decides the salary based on these factors. This   ensures that the employees are judged on similar factors and there is no bias.

To decide salary using scientific methods of evaluation:  The job Evaluation methods are scientific in nature. It must be decided after looking into the issues concerned with a scientific approach not based on personal bias or personal choice.

To have a fair study of the job factors to avoid ambiguity: Job Evaluation studies the job factors in a fair and just manner and thereby tries to avoid all sorts of ambiguity. When the factors for judging the jobs are very clear and accurate, it assigns more credibility to the entire job evaluation process.

Advantages of job Evaluation

Job Evaluation is advantageous to management, workers, trade unions and organisations as well. Management has the advantage of greater order in its pay arrangement and more stable wage structure. Unions benefit from a greater sense of fairness and reasons in pay matters. Union can play a more important role in determining the relation between different levels of pay and in the joint regulation of work place conditions. Employees benefit because job evaluation provides an agreed framework for setting questions affecting jobs and so helps to prevent arbitrary decisions. It also helps to ensure that differences in skill and responsibility are properly recognised. Everyone benefits from a system which enables the pay for new and revised jobs to be settled in the same way as for existing job by preventing anomalies.

Job Evaluation Methods

The essence of compensation administration and establishment of the pay structure is job Evaluation. It systematically determines the value of each job in relation to all jobs within the organization by using job Analysis information. In short, Job Evaluation seeks to rank all the jobs in the organization and place them in a hierarchy that will reflect the relative worth of each. The techniques which have been commonly used are as follows:

Non-analytical or Non-quantitative or summary methods. Non-analytical methods are:

Job Ranking

Job Classification or grading

Analytical or quantitative methods. Analytical methods are:

Factor Comparison

Point rating or assessment

Job Ranking Method

This is the oldest and simplest method of job Evaluation. This is generally used in smaller units where the job rater is well aware of job. This method does not break a job into its elements or factors. The whole job is judged against another whole job. Then their relative value is fixed then ranking of the jobs. Job at the top of the list obtains the highest value and the job at the bottom of the list gets the lowest value.

Jobs are arranged from highest value to lowest. Jobs also can be arranged according to the relative difficulty in performing them. Jobs can also be arranged with their relative importance in the organisation. Job arrangement can be made starting with the most important and ending at the least important. Each department follow this procedure. Then an attempt is made to equate or compare jobs at various levels among the several departments to define grade levels are and salary groups. Jobs are placed into different salary ranges basically on the basis of their rank order. When there are a large number of jobs, ranking method may not be suitable. Other drawback is the method is subjective. There are no definite or consistent standards to justify the rankings.An example of ranking of jobs where additional jobs between already ranked may be assigned.

Rank

Monthly salary range

Manager

9.000-12.000

Assistant Manager

7.000-9.000

Superintendent

6.000-8.000

Assistant

5,000-7.000

Clerk/typist

4,000-6,000

Peon

3.000-4.000

Advantages:

1.     The system is quite simple to adopt.

2.     It is very easy to administer.

3.     Less time consuming in evaluating the relative value of the jobs.

4.     This is suitable for smaller organisation where the raters are fully aware of the existing jobs in the enterprise.

Disadvantages:

1. Due to lack of scientific approach jobs may be arbitrarily ranked resulting in differences in similar jobs.

2. Since the ranks judgements of the jobs are subjective, the fairness of the judgement is questionable.

3.   In a complex and large organisation, it is not possible to be familiar with all the jobs and thus general description will not enable correct assessment of the relative importance of the jobs.