Job Analysis,

UNIT 5 JOB ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND Design and

Evaluation
EVALUATION
Objectives
After studying this chapter, you will be able to understand:

 the nature, process and methods of job analysis;

 concept and uses of job design; and
 need of job evaluation

Structure
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Concept of Job Analysis
5.3 Objectives of Job Analysis
5.4 Importance of Job Analysis
5.5 Aspects of job to be analysed
5.6 Methods of Job Analysis
5.7 Techniques to obtain data for Job Analysis
5.8 Job Description and Job Specification
5.9 Job Design
5.10 Job Evaluation
5.11 Summary
5.12 Self Assessment Questions
5.13 Further Readings and References

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Job analysis is a systematic process of gathering information about work,
jobs and relationships between jobs. Corporate restructuring process, quality
improvement programmes, human resource planning, job design, recruitment
strategies, training programmes, and succession planning are among the other
HR activities that are based on job analysis.

Job analysis provides some basic information about the various jobs and
skills required to perform the job effectively so that it creates and sustains
organisational capability. Job descriptions and job specifications are needed
to attract and select qualified employees and evaluate compensation systems
and particular compensation decisions.

Apart from job analysis, this unit will focus on the concepts of job design and
job evaluation.

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Sourcing of
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5.2 CONCEPT OF JOB ANALYSIS
Resources
Job analysis is the fundamental process that forms the basis of all human
resource activities. The importance of job analysis has been well-established
for years, dating back to at least the First World War. The United States
government‟s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978)
and the American Psychological Association‟s Principles for the Validation
and use of Personnel Selection Procedures stipulate that job analysis is
essential to the valediction of any and all major human resources activities.

In its simplest terms, a job analysis is a systematic process for gathering,

documenting and analyzing date about the work required for a job. The data
collected in a job analysis, and reflected through a job description, includes a
description of the context and principal duties of the job, and information
about the skills, responsibilities, mental models and techniques for job
analysis. These include the Position Analysis Questionnaire, which focuses
on generalized human behaviors and interviews, task inventories, functional
job analysis and the job element method.

A job analysis provides an objective picture of the job, not the person
performing the job, and as such, provides fundamental information to support
all subsequent and related HR activities, such as recruitment, training,
development, performance management and succession planning. Job
analysis serves two critical functions with respect to these processes. Job
analysis helps ensure that decisions made with respect to HR processes are
good decisions i.e., fair and accurate (e.g., selection of the right person for the
job, appropriate decisions about training, performance management,
development, etc.) and its helps ensure the defensibility of decisions made to
employee (resulting in good HR management) and to the courts (resulting in
saving of costs, time and reputation).

The unit of study in job analysis may be position or a job. A “position” is the
most basic structural entity in the organization, representing the collection of
duties assigned to a single person. One or more similar positions, each of
which is interchangeable with the others in terms of work activities, makes up
a “job.” In fact, a “job” has been defined (Henderson, 1979) as “work
consisting of responsibilities and duties that are sufficiently a like to justify
being covered by a single job analysis.” It has also been defined as “a
collection of position similar enough to one another in terms of their work
behaviors to share a common job title “(Harvey, 1991). The linkage positions
in an organization provides a roadmap and tool for translating the
organization‟s mission, values and business priorities into results.

Why is there a need to talk in terms of positions or jobs? It is because it is

necessary to identify the results individual will be accountable for when they
are hired, how their work fits in or relates to other work performed in the
organization, how their work should be compensated for in relation to that of
others, on what basis recruitment and training should be carried out, and so
on.

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5.3 OBJECTIVES OF JOB ANALYSIS Job Analysis,
Design and
Evaluation
The purpose of job analysis is to establish and document the „job-relatedness‟
of employment procedures such as training, selection, compensation and
performance appraisal.

Other important uses that job analysis can be put to are:

 indicate training needs

 put together work groups or teams
 provide information to conduct salary surveys
 provide a basis for determining a selection plan
 provide a basis for putting together recruitment
 describe the physical needs of various positions to determine the
validity of discrimination complaints
 as input for organisational analysis
 as input for strategic planning
 as input for any human relations needs assessment
 as basis for coordinating safety concerns

5.4 IMPORTANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS

According to scientific management, the key to productivity is a precise
understanding of the tasks that constitute a job. If the motions of workers are
to become standardized and machine-like, then it is necessary to be certain
about what is to be accomplished, as well as what abilities and materials are
necessary to do the job. For many years, job analysis was considered the
backbone of the scientific clipboards and stopwatches, was the method used
to determine the most efficient way to perform specific jobs.

As the popularity of scientific management declined after World War II,

however, so did the popularity of job analysis. With the new emphasis on
human relations as the key to productivity job analysis was used primarily to
set salary scales. But in the modern times workers and employers began to
take renewed interest in this area because of concerns about two issues:
unfair discrimination and comparable worth.

There are two areas where unfair discrimination in hiring can occur: in the
standards set for being hired; and in the procedures used to assess the
applicant‟s ability to meet those standards. Job analysis addresses the
question of what tasks, taken together actually constitute a job. Without this
information, standards for hiring may appear to be arbitrary – or worse,
designed to exclude certain individual or groups from the workplace.
More recently, the issue of comparable worth has also contributed to a new
interest in job analysis. Comparable worth refers to equal pay for individuals
who hold different jobs but perform work that is comparable in terms of
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Sourcing of knowledge required or level of responsibility. The major issue of the
Human comparable worth controversy is that women who are employed in jobs that
Resources
are comparable to those held by men are paid, on the average, about 65
percent of what a man would earn. In order to determine the comparability of
job tasks so that salaries can also be compared, a proper job analysis is
necessary. Comparable work is an issue of considerable interest to many
people.

5.5 ASPECTS OF A JOB TO BE ANALYSED

Job analysis should collect information on the following areas:

 Duties and tasks: Information on performance of specific tasks and

duties includes frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity,
equipment, standards, etc.
 Environment: Environment has a significant impact on physical
requirements to be able to perform job that may include unpleasant
conditions like extreme temperatures; some may also pose a definite
risk to the personnel.
 Tools and equipment: These items are mentioned job analysis which
are required to perform certain tasks and duties such as protective
clothing
 Relationships: Supervision given and received, relationships with
internal or external people, etc. have to be specified in job analysis
 Requirements: The knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) required to
perform the job must be clearly defined. While an incumbent may
have higher KSA than those required for the job, a job analysis
typically only states the minimum requirements to perform the job.

5.6 METHODS OF JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis is the procedure for identifying those duties or behaviors that
define a job. Aside from verifying the fairness of selection procedures, job
analysis is the foundation of virtually every other area of industrial
psychology, including performance appraisal, training and human factors.
Additionally, job analysis is the basis of job evaluation, the procedure for
setting salary scales. Figure 1 suggests some of the many uses of job analysis.
Information about jobs can be collected in a number of ways. McCormick
(1976) lists the following as potential sources: observation, individual
interview, group interview, technical conference, questionnaire, diary, critical
incidents, equipment design information, recording of job activities, or
employee records. Possible agents to do the collecting are professional job
analysis, supervisors, job incumbents, or even a camera in the work-place.
Inspite of both its importance and the availability of data, however, the area
of job analysis has not been studies in details. One reason for the lack of
research is the nature of the data: Although qualitative information about
jobs, collected through observations, is plentiful, translating this data into a
quantitative form amenable to statistical analysis is often difficult.
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Over time, different approaches to dealing with data of job description have Job Analysis,
been developed. Some method designed to study jobs include functional job Design and
Evaluation
analysis (Fine, 1974), critical incidents (Flanagan, 1954), job elements
(Primoff, 1975) the Position Analysis Questionnaire (McCormick, Jeanneret,
& Mecham, 1972), and the physical abilities requirement approach
(Fleishman, 1975).

DESIGNING THE JOB

 Meet production goals
 Promote job mobility / career ladders
 Create entry level jobs
 Remove artificial barriers to
 employment of special groups

CLASSIFYING / EVALUATING l
MANAGING PERFORMANCE  Written description of job content,
requirements, and context l
 Promote, award, increase  Identification of critical job
salary requirements
 Discipline, terminate  Assessment of job in relation to
 Provide additional training others to determine pay
 Restructure job

APPRAISING PERFORMANCE
RECRUITING
 Identification of critical job
 Clear statement of job content,
elements
requirements, and context
 Development of performance
 Identification of appropriate
 standards
recruiting sources
 Identification of performance
 indicators

TRAINING STAFFING
 Identification of competencies  Identification of minimum
 needed for successful job qualifications
performance  Identification of special
 Identification for organization-based selection factors.
competencies  Development of valid selection
 Development of relevant curricula instruments and procedures
for classroom and on-the-job training

Figure 1. Human Resource Management Cycle: Application of Job Analysis Data.

Source: Bemis, S.E. Belenky, A.H, Soder, D.A. (1983).

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Sourcing of
Human
5.7 TECHNIQUES TO OBTAIN DATA FOR JOB
Resources ANALYSIS
Information about jobs can be collected by means of questionnaire and/or
interviews.

a) Questionnaires
Questionnaires, to be completed by job-holders and approved by job-
holder‟s superiors, are useful when a large number of jobs are to be
covered. They can also save interviewing time by recording purely
factual information and by helping the analyst to structure his or her
questions in advance to cover areas which need to be explored in greater
depth.

Questionnaire should provide the following basic information:

 The job title of the job-holder.

 The title of the job-holder‟s superior.
 The job titles and numbers of staff reporting to the job-holder (best
recorded by means of an organization chart).
 A brief description (one or two sentences) of the overall role or
purpose of the job.
 A list of the main tasks or duties that the job-holder has to carry out.
As appropriate, these should specify the resources controlled, the
equipment used, the contacts made and the frequency with which the
tasks are carried out.
b) Interview
To obtain the full flavour of a job it is usually necessary to interview job-
holders and to check the findings with their superiors. The aim of the
interview is to obtain all the relevant facts about the job, covering the
areas listed above in the section on questionnaires.
To achieve this aim job analysts should:
1) work to a logical sequence of questions which help the interviewee
to order his or her thoughts about the job;
2) pin people down on what they actually do;
3) ensure that the job-holder is not allowed to get away with vague or
inflated descriptions of his or her work; and
4) obtain a clear statement from the job-holder about his or her
authority to make decisions and the amount of guidance received
from his or her superior.

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5.8 JOB DESCRIPTION AND JOB Job Analysis,
Design and
SPECIFICATION Evaluation

Job analysis is the examination of a job, its component parts and the
circumstances in which it is performed. It leads to a job description which
sets out the purpose, scope, duties and responsibilities of a job. From the job
analysis and job description, a job specification may be derived, which is a
statement of the skills, knowledge and other personal attributes required to
carry out the job. Some of the uses are:

1) Recruitment and selection: where it is provided a basis for a

specification of what the company is looking for.
2) Training: where by means of skills and task analysis it produces training
specifications which set out training needs and are used to prepare
training programmes.
3) Job evaluation: where by means of whole job or factor comparison, job
descriptions can be compared and decisions made on the relative position
of a job in the hierarchy.
4) Performance appraisal: where the job description resulting from job
analysis is used to decide on the objectives and standards the job holder
should reach against which his or her performance will be measured.
5) Organization Planning: as part of the process of activity

5.9 JOB DESIGN

Job design has emerged as an important area of work analysis. It is based on
growing conceptual and empirical base and has commanded research
attention and is being widely applied to actual practice of management.

Job design concern and approaches are considered to have begun with the
scientific management movement. Pioneering scientific managers like Taylor
and Gilbreth examined jobs with techniques such as time and motion
analysis. Their goal was to maximize human efficiency on the job. Taylor
suggested that task design might be the most important single element in
scientific management.

Job designing evolved into what is popularly known as job engineering. The
industrial engineering approach is basically concerned with products,
process, tool design, plant layout, operating procedures, work measurement,
standards, and human-machine interactions. It has also been closely
associated with sophisticated computer applications involving Computer
Assisted Design (CAD). These computer systems had a positive impact by
reducing task and workflow uncertainty. Top management could readily
perceive the immediate cost savings form job engineering, but certain
behavioural aspects like quality absenteeism, and turnover were generally
ignored.

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Sourcing of In the 1950s, different methods were being adopted by practicing managers.
Human For example, IBM job rotation and job enlargement programmes were
Resources
introduced. Job enlargement programmes essentially loaded the jobs
horizontally, and expanded the number of operations performed by the
worker and made the job less specialized.

Job rotation programmes reduced boredom by switching people around to

various jobs. Although boredom at work is still a significant problem in the
last several years, attention has shifted to new demanding challenges facing
employees on the job. For example, because of downsizing of organizations
and increasingly advanced technology, jobs have suddenly become much
more demanding and employees must differently adapt to unpredictable
changes. For example, in manufacturing assembly line methods are being
replaced by flexible, customized production and computer-integrated
manufacturing. This new manufacturing approach requires workers to deal
with an ever-increasing line of product and sophisticated technology.

In this context, job design takes on special importance in today‟s human

resource management. It is essential to design jobs so that stress can be
reduced, motivation can be enhanced, and satisfaction of employees and their
performance can be improved so that organizations can effectively compete
in the global market place.

Job Rotation
An alternative to boredom in work place is job rotation. Job rotation implies
moving of employees form one job to another without any fundamental
change in the nature of the job. The employee may be performing different
jobs that are of similar nature. The advantages of job rotation may be reduced
boredom, broadening of employees‟ knowledge and skills, and making them
competent in several jobs rather than only one. However, caution needs to be
exercised while shifting people frequently form one job to another, as it may
cause interruption or the employee may feel alienated in a new job. Another
factor is job rotation does not provide the employee any challenge on the job
and, hence, those employees who are seeking challenge may feel frustrated.

Job Enlargement
Job enlargement involves adding more tasks to a job. It is a horizontal
expansion and increases jobs scope and gives a variety of tasks to the
jobholder. It is essentially adding more tasks to a single job. It definitely
reduces boredom and monotony by providing the employee more variety of
tasks in the job. Thus, it helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. In
one study it was found that by expanding the scope of job, workers got more
satisfaction, committed less errors, and customer service improved. However,
research has provided contrary evidence also in that enlargement sometimes
may not motivate an individual in the desired direction.
Job Enrichment

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Job Enrichment Job Analysis,
Design and
Another approach to designing jobs in job enrichment. In the earlier two Evaluation

methods, human capabilities are not being utilized to a maximum and

employees are feeling frustrated. Job enrichment involves a vertical
expansion of a job by adding more responsibilities and freedom to it.
According to Herzberg, job enrichment is the type of expansion of a job that
gives employees more challenge, more responsibility, more opportunity to
grow and contribute his or her ideas to the organization‟s success. In other
words, job enrichment increases job depth that refers to the degree of control
employees have over their work.

Job enrichment basically provides autonomy while retaining accountability. It

generates feeling of personal responsibility and achievement. Job enrichment
certainly improves the quality of work output, employee motivation, and
satisfaction.

Every organization follows specific procedures for job designing. Each

procedure may be different for different jobs. Certain aspects may be kept in
mind while following the job enrichment procedure.

 Increasing the responsibilities of the employees by adding a variety of

tasks
 Allowing employees to set their own standards of performance.
 Providing autonomy for the employee to execute the job
 Encouraging the employees to innovate new techniques and review
results
 Empowering the individual to make critical decisions in problem
situations while on the job.

5.10 JOB EVALUATION

Job evaluation basically specifies the relative value of each job in an
organization. It basically serves the purpose of compensation procedures. Job
evaluation is a useful tool for making decisions about the compensation to be
attached with a particular position. There are several systematic methods
involved in the job evaluation process. These methods are discussed later in
the course. What is clear is job evaluation is facilitated because of the data
generated from job analysis.

5.11 SUMMARY
To sum up, this unit provided a clear understanding of the process of job
analysis and the methods involved in it. All the methods discussed have some
advantages and disadvantages. Keeping these in view, an efficient Job
Analyst uses the required job analysis technique. Also, the concept of job
design and its associated techniques have been discussed so as to improve
your ability to design jobs more effectively.
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Sourcing of
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5.12 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
Resources
1) What is the relevance of job analysis in the modern times?
2) Discuss the methods used job analysis.
3) Discuss the salient features of job analysis
4) How relevant is the understanding of job design for developing
organizational effectiveness.

5.13 FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES

 Ash, R.A. & Levine E.L. (1985) Job applicant training and work
experience evaluation: An empirical comparison of four methods. Tour
of Applied Psychology., 70, 572-576
 Bemis, S.E., Belenky, A.H. & Soder, D.A. (1983) Job analysis: An
effectiveness management tool, Washington DC: Bureau of National
Affairs.
 Denis, D.L. (1984) Are recruitment efforts designed to fail? Personnel
Tour, 63, 60-67.
 Dunnelte, M.D. (1966) Personal selection and placement. Belmont, C.A.
Brooks/Cole.
 Fleishman, E.A., & Quaintaner, M.K. (1984) Taxonomics of human
performance: The description of human tasks. New York, Academic
Press.
 Jyothi, P. and Venkatesh, D.N. (2006) Human Resource management,
Oxford University Press

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