Human resource management. Session 3. Designing jobs and conducting job analysis

1. Human Resource Management

Session 3
“DESIGNING JOBS AND
CONDUCTING JOB ANALYSIS.”

2. Job Design.

Job design is the process of organizing work
into the tasks required to perform a specific job.
Five approaches to job design:
Work simplification.
Job enlargement.
Job rotation.
Job enrichment.
Team-based job design.

3. Five approaches to job design:

Work simplification assumes that work can be broken
down into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency.
Job enlargement - the process of expending a job’s duties.
Job rotation – the process of rotating workers among
different narrowly defined tasks without disruption the flow
of work.
Job enrichment - the process of putting specialized tasks
back together so that one person is responsible for
producing a whole product or an entire service.
Team-based job design focus on giving a team, rather than
an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to do.

4. JOB ANALYSIS.

Job analysis- the systematic process of collecting
information used to make decisions about jobs. Job
analysis identifies the tasks, duties and responsibilities of
particular job.
A task is basic element of work that is a logical and
necessary step in performing and job duty.
A duty consists of one or more tasks that constitute a
significant activity performed in a job.
A responsibility is one or several duties that identify and
describe the major purpose or reason for job’s existence.

5. Methods of gathering job information.

Interviews. The interviewer (usually member of HR department)
interviews a representative sample of job incumbents using a structured
interview.
Observation. An individual observes the job incumbent actually
performing the job and records the core job characteristics from
observation.
Diaries. Several incumbents may be asked to keep diaries or logs of their
daily job activities and record the amount of time spent on each activity.
Questionnaires. The job incumbent fills out a questionnaire that asks a
series of questions about the job’s duties, responsibilities, and
knowledge, skill, and ability requirements.

6. Methods of Job Analysis. Interview

The Job Analysis Interview: method to collect a variety of
information from an incumbent by asking the incumbent to describe
the tasks and duties performed.
•Advantages
Allows the incumbent to
describe tasks and duties
that are not observable.
•Disadvantages
The incumbent may
exaggerate or omit tasks and
duties.

7. Interview Methods

• Unstructured Interviews:
Here the interview is a
conversation with no prepared
questions or predetermined
line of investigation. However,
the interviewer should explain:
– the purpose of the study is
and
– the particular focus of this
interview
•Structured Interviews:
A structured interview may
assume a definite format
involving:
–charting a job-holder's
sequence of activities in
performance
–an inventory or
questionnaire may be
used

8. Interview Outcomes

Interviewing is a flexible method for all levels and types of
job. An interview may focus on what a hypothetical job might
involve.
However information from different interviews can be:
hard to bring together
there is potential for interviewer bias
certain areas of the work may fail to be picked up
an interview may stress one area and neglect others
there are problems in interpretation and analysis with the
possibility of distorted impressions
the subjectivity of the data captured needs to be considered

9. The uses of Job Analyses.

Job analysis measures job content and the relative importance of
different job duties and responsibilities.
For instance:
A company may be able to defend its policy of requiring sales
representatives to have a valid driver’s license if it can show via
job analysis that driving is an essential activity in the sales rep’s
job.
The owner of a fast-food restaurant who pays an assistant
manager a weekly salary (without any overtime pay) may be able
to defend herself from charges of an overtime pay violation with
a job analysis proving that the assistant manager job is exempt
from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

10. Job analysis is useful for the following HR activities:

Recruitment. Job analysis can help the HR department generate a higherquality pool of job applications by making it easy to describe a job in
newspaper ads that can be targeted to qualified job applicants.
Selection. Job analysis can be used to determine whether an applicant for a
specific job should be required to take a personality test or some other kind of
test.
Performance appraisal. The performance standards used to judge employee
performance for purposes of promotion, rewards, discipline, or layoff should
be job related.
Compensation. Job analysis information can be used to compare the relative
worth of each job’s contribution to the company’s overall performance.
Training and career development. Job analysis is an important input for
determining training needs.

11. The Techniques of Job Analysis.

Task Inventory Analysis - is actually a collection of
methods that are offshoots of the U.S. Air Force task
inventory method. The technique is used to determine the
knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform a
job successfully.
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is used to develop
behavioral descriptions of a job.The technique involves the
following four steps: (1) generate dimensions, (2) generate
incidents, (3) retranslate, and (4) assign effectiveness values.

12. The Techniques of Job Analysis (continue):

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is job
analysis questionnaire that contains 194 different
items. The 194 items are organized into six
sections:
Information input.
Mental processes.
Work output..
Relationships with other persons.
Job context.
Other characteristics.

13. The Techniques of Job Analysis (continue):

Functional Job Analysis, a technique used in the public
sector , can be done by either interview or questionnaire.
This technique collects information on the following
aspects of the job:
1. What the job incumbent does to people, data, and things.
2. The methods and techniques the job incumbent uses to
perform the job.
3. The machines, tools, and equipment used by the job
incumbent.
4. The materials, projects, or services produced by the job
incumbent.

14. JOB DESCRIPTION.

• Job description – a written document that
identifies, describes, and defines a job in terms of
its duties, responsibilities, working conditions,
and specifications.
• Two types of a job descriptions:
1. Specific job descriptions.
2. General job descriptions

15. Problems with current job descriptions

Too many jobs don’t even have a job description.
Many of the thousands of job descriptions suffer from a variety
of ailments: inconsistency, jargon-laden writing, lack of appropriate
information, lack of plain language and inadequate detail.
Job descriptions often include credentials and years of
experience which can be considered a barrier.
Another significant problem is that many job descriptions are out
of date because jobs change or evolve even if the job title has not
changed (e.g., mergers, process improvements, reorganizations, job
redesigns, technological changes, organizational changes, etc.)

16. Problems with current job descriptions (continue).

Managers perceive that writing a job description for a
new job is too difficult, cumbersome and timeconsuming (this is often the case when there is no
consistent format to follow or when line staff get too
caught up in wordsmithing to ensure the job is evaluated
at the desired level).Too many managers try to reinvent
the wheel when they set out to update a job description.
Many job descriptions are created by compensation staff
and are useful for job evaluation purposes but not as
useful for other areas in human resources

17. How to Write a Job Description

There are as many different formats for job descriptions as there are
jobs, but there are some basic pieces of information that most job
descriptions have. Include them in yours, if you feel they are appropriate.
Job descriptions can include any or all of the following elements:
The date the job description was written. The job description should
always be up to date. Rewrite it to reflect changes as often as needed.
Job status. Salaried or hourly? Full-time or part-time? Temporary or
permanent?
Position title. Make sure your position titles reasonably and accurately
reflect the actual title of the job.

18. Choosing the Correct Job Title

Make the title descriptive
Consider the standards of your industry
Think of your company hierarchy
Stay away from company jargon

19. How to Write a Job Description (continue)

Job summary. This section should contain a brief summary
of the information found in more detail elsewhere in the
description.
Detailed duties and responsibilities. This is a more detailed
description of the duties involved and separates the essential
functions of the job from the incidental job functions.
Skills required to perform the job. This can include
compensable factors such as education, experience, and
abilities.

20. How to Write a Job Description (continue)

Importance of job duties and tasks. Ranking the duties
from most important to least important is a good way to
convey this information since the task that consumes the
most time is not necessarily the most important task.
When and how often the tasks are performed. You
might want to mention that certain tasks are only done
once a month, quarter, year etc.
Job environment. Job environments can impact
significantly on workers' motivation and job satisfaction.

21. Elements of a Job Description.

•Job descriptions have four key elements:
Identification Information.
Job Summary.
Job Duties and Responsibilities.
Job Specifications and Minimum Qualifications.

22. Conducting the Interview

Help the employee feel welcome and at ease.
Break the ice by being warm and welcoming. Offer coffee or water, offer
to take their coat, ask if they had any trouble finding your office. A few
minutes of pleasant general talk will set a positive tone for the interview.
Arrange a private place for the interview, and make arrangements so that
you are not interrupted and so the employee may speak candidly about
their job.
Give the employee an overview of the interview procedure. Take a few
minutes to recap the essential functions of the job, and to explain why this
analysis is important.
Let the employee know that you may need a few minutes every now and
then to jot down their comments or your thoughts -- explain that your notes
will be helpful later as you prepare the description of the job.

23. Carefully Construct Interview Questions

In developing interview questions, it is
important to ensure that questions are:
Realistic given the requirements of the job
Complex enough to allow adequate
demonstration of the KSAs being assessed
Stated in a straightforward unambiguous
manner