JOB ANALYSIS
Paul Alukal
JOB ANALYSIS
Formal & detailed examination of jobs
Systematic investigation of the tasks, duties & responsibilities necessary to
do a job
Job analysis is an important personnel activity because it identifies what
people do in their jobs & what they require to do the job satisfactorily
USES OF JOB ANALYSIS
Human Resource Planning – Job analysis helps in forecasting human
resource requirements in terms of knowledge & skills. It also helps in
determining quality of human resources needed in an organization
Recruitment – Job analysis is used to find out how & when to hire people for
future job openings. An understanding of the skills needed & the positions
that are vacant in future helps managers to plan & hire people in a systematic
way
Selection – Without a proper understanding of what is to be done on a job, it
is not possible to select the right person
USES OF JOB ANALYSIS
Placement & orientation – After selecting people, we have to place them on
the jobs best suited to their interests, activities & aptitude. Also, effective job
orientation cannot be achieved without a proper understanding of the needs of
each job
Training – If there is any confusion about what the job is & what is supposed
to be done, proper training efforts cannot be initiated. This can be identified
only through job analysis
Counselling – Managers can properly counsel the employees about their
careers when they understand the different jobs in the organization. Job
analysis can point out areas that an employee might need to develop to further
a career
USES OF JOB ANALYSIS
Employee safety – Thorough job analysis reveals unsafe conditions
associated with a job. Managers can find unsafe practices which helps in
rectifying things easily
Performance appraisal – By comparing what an employee is supposed to be
doing to what the individual has actually done, the worth of the person can
be assessed. To pay a fair remuneration based on performance, it is necessary
to compare performance standards with the job analysis
Job evaluation – Job analysis helps in finding the relative worth of a job,
based on degree of difficulty, type of work done, skills & knowledge needed.
This, in turn, assists in designing proper wage policies
PROCESS OF JOB ANALYSIS
Organisational analysis – Overall picture of various jobs in the organisation
has to be obtained. This is required to find linkages between jobs &
organisational objectives, interrelationships between jobs & contribution of
various jobs to efficiency & effectiveness of the organisation
Selection of representative positions to be analysed – Impossible to analyse
all jobs. Representative sample of jobs to be analysed is decided keeping cost
& time constraints in mind
Collection of job analysis data – Collection of data on characteristics of the
job, required behaviour & personal qualifications needed
PROCESS OF JOB ANALYSIS
Preparation of job description – Involves describing the contents of the job in
terms of functions, duties, responsibilities, operations etc. Job holder is
required to perform the operations listed in job description
Preparation of job specification – Involves conversion of job description
statements into job specification. It is a written statement of personal
attributes in terms of traits, skills, training etc.
METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB ANALYSIS
DATA
Job performance – Job analyst actually performs the job in question. The
analyst thus receives first-hand experience of the physical hazards, social
demands, emotional pressure & mental requirements. This method is useful
for jobs that can be learned easily. Not suitable for hazardous jobs or jobs that
require extensive training
Personal observation – Analyst observes the workers doing the job. Tasks
performed, pace of carrying out activities, working conditions are observed. It
is appropriate for manual, short period job activities. The method fails to take
note of the mental aspects of the job
METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB ANALYSIS
DATA
Critical incidents – Job holders are asked to describe several incidents based
on their past experience. Incidents so collected are analysed & classified
according to the job areas they describe. The analysts must have analytical
skills & ability to translate the content of descriptions into meaningful
statements
Interview – Asking questions to both incumbents & supervisors in either an
individual or group setting. Workers know the specific duties of the job &
supervisors are aware of the job’s relationship to the rest of the organisation.
Interviewer must be trained in interviewing techniques. It is time consuming &
hence costly. It is dependent on the interviewer’s skills. Also, workers may
exaggerate their job duties to add greater weightage to their positions
METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB ANALYSIS
DATA
Panel of experts – Utilises senior job incumbents & supervisors with
extensive knowledge of the job. Analyst conducts an interview with the
group
Diary method – Job incumbents are asked to keep diary or log of their daily
job activities & record the amount of time spent on each activity. By
analysing these activities over time, the analyst can record the job’s essential
characteristics. It is time consuming
Questionnaire method – Job holders are given properly designed
questionnaires to get relevant job information. After completion, the
questionnaires are handed over to the supervisors who can seek further
clarifications from the job holders. After this, it is given to the job analyst
POSITION ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (PAQ)
It contains 194 items divided into six major divisions
PAQ permits management to scientifically & quantitatively group
interrelated job elements into job dimensions
This type of questionnaire allows many different jobs to be compared with
each other
POSITION ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (PAQ)
JOB ANALYSIS
JOB DESCRIPTION
Written statement of what the job holder does, how it is done, under what
conditions it is done & why it is done
Describes what the job is all about throwing light on job content,
environment & conditions of employment
Defines the purpose & scope of a job
Contents
Job title
Job summary
Job activities
Working conditions
Social environment
JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB SPECIFICATION
Summarises the human characteristics needed for satisfactory job completion
Describes the key qualifications someone needs to perform the job successfully
It helps organisations determine what kind of persons are needed to take up
specific jobs
Attributes mentioned can be classified into 3 categories:
Essential attributes – Knowledge, Skills, Abilities (KSA)
Desirable attributes – Qualifications a person should possess
Contra-indicators – Attributes that will become handicap to successful job performance
JOB SPECIFICATION
ROLE ANALYSIS
At middle & higher management levels, a clear definition of expected job-
related behaviour is not possible
Role analysis provides satisfactory answer to this problem
Role is a set of expectations people have about the behaviour of a person in
a position
Expected role
Perceived role
Actual role
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