2. job design and job analysis

Job Design and Job Analysis

Concept of Job Design

• The manipulation of the content of a job

• The methods or functions used in carrying out

the job

• The relationships that exist among the jobs

Concept of Job Design

Job design answers the questions of

• how the job is to be performed

• who is to perform it

• where it is to be performed

Approaches to Job DesignEngineering Approach

– The most important single element in the

Engineering approaches, proposed by FW Taylor

and others, was the task idea.

– “The work of every workman is fully planned out by

the management at least one day in advance and

each man receives in most cases complete written

instructions, describing in detail the task which he

is to accomplish

Engineering Approach

• The scientific management principle

– Work should be scientifically studied

– Fragmentation and routinization of work will reap the

advantages of specialization

– Work should be arranged so that workers can be

efficient

Engineering Approach

• The scientific management principle

• Employees selected for work should be matched

to the demands of the job

– Employees should be trained to perform the job

– Monetary compensation should be used to reward

successful performance of the job

Problems with Engineering Approach

– Walker and Guest

• Repetition: Performing a few tasks repeatedly

led to boredom

• Mechanical pacing: Assembly line workers were

compelled to maintain a certain regular pace of

work and could not take needed breaks


• No end product: Not turning out any identifiable

end product led to less enthusiasm in work

• Little social interaction: Because the assembly

line demanded constant attention, there was very

little opportunity to interact on a casual basis

and share work experiences


No input: No opportunity to choose the

• methods for performing their jobs

• the tools which they used

• the work procedures

This created little interest in the job because

there was nothing which employees could

improve or change

Human Relations Approach

• This approach recognized the need to design

jobs in an interesting manner

• Herzberg’s research popularized the notion of

enhancing need satisfaction through what is

called job enrichment

Human Relations Approach

• According to Herzberg there are two factors

– Motivators - achievement, recognition

– Hygiene factors - working conditions, organizational

policies, interpersonal relations

• Herzberg emphasized the psychological needs of

employees in designing jobs

The Job Characteristics Approach

Hackman and Oldham -

Employees will work hard when

• they are rewarded for the work they do

• when the work gives them satisfaction


Any job can be described in terms of five core job

dimensions:

– Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires

workers to use a variety of different

– activities

– talents

– skills

in order to successfully complete the job

requirements


– Task identity: The degree to which the job allows

workers to complete whole tasks from start to

finish, rather than disjointed portions of the job

– Task significance: The degree to which the job

significantly impacts the lives of others both

within and outside the workplace


– Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows

workers freedom in planning, scheduling and the

methods used to complete the job

– Feedback: The degree to which the job itself

provides workers with clear, direct and

understandable knowledge of their performance

Job Design Options of Modern Management

• Modern management recognizes the disadvantages

of highly specialized jobs - specialization increases

cost of employee absenteeism and turnover, and

decreases productivity and quality

• HR managers have to balance employees’ human

needs and employers’ economic goals

Job Rotation

• Job rotation - movement of an employee from one

job to another

• The jobs remain the same, the employees are

rotated among various jobs

• This relieves employees from boredom and

monotony, improves their skills on various jobs,

enhances their self - image and provides personal

growth

Job Rotation

• Job rotation helps managers cope with frequent

absenteeism and high turnover of workforce

• It is an effective technique for training new or

inexperienced employees

• It helps in developing managerial generalists at

higher organizational levels by exposing them to

several different operations

Job Enlargement

• Expands job horizontally

• Increases job scope - the number of different operations required in a job and the frequency with which the job cycle is repeated

• Reallocates tasks and responsibilities

• Changes the pace of work and operation

It does not increase the job depth (the extent of planning,

decision - making, and controlling done by the employee

in the total job

Job Enlargement

• Though job enlargement is still considered a valid

means for solving specialization problems, most

modern redesign projects are augmenting it with a

more sophisticated technique known as job

enrichment

Job Enrichment

• Job enrichment is done by redesigning jobs in such

a way as to increase both its scope and depth

• Job enrichment involves adding duties and

responsibilities to a job so that it provides skill

variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy

and feedback on job performance

Job Enrichment

Example:

• Instead of simply machining a piece of job on a

machine, the worker with an enriched job would

perform machine setup, machine the piece, inspect the

output, accept or reject the output, and if necessary,

repair the machine

Techniques of Job Enrichment

• Incorporating more responsibility into the job

• Providing wider scope, greater sequencing and

increased pace of work

• Assigning a natural unit of work, either to an

employee or to a group of employees

• Minimizing controls and providing freedom of work

when the employees are clearly accountable for

attaining defined goals

Allowing the employees to

• set their own standards

• monitor their own performance by providing control

information

Encouraging employees to

• participate in planning and innovating

• introducing new, difficult and creative tasks

• assigning specific projects to individuals or groups to

increase their exposure

Techniques of Job Enrichment

Concept of Job Analysis

• Job analysis is a formal and detailed examination of jobs

This analysis involves

• compiling a detailed description of tasks

• determining the relationship of the job to technology

and to other jobs and

• examining the knowledge, qualifications or employment

standards, accountabilities and other incumbent

requirements

Process of Job Analysis

• Organizational analysis: First of all an overall picture

of various jobs in the organization has to be

obtained. This is required to find the linkages

between jobs and organizational objectives,

interrelationships between jobs and contribution of

various jobs to the efficiency and effectiveness of the

organization


• Selection of representative positions to be analysed:

It is not possible to analyse all the jobs. A

representative sample of jobs to be analysed is

decided keeping the cost and time constraints in

mind

• Collection of job analysis data: This step involves the

collection of data on the characteristics of the job,

the required behavior and personal qualifications

needed to carry out the job effectively


• Preparation of job description: This step involves

describing the contents of the job in terms of

functions, duties, responsibilities, operation, etc

• Preparation of job specification: This step involves

conversion of the job description statements into a

job specification, which is a written statement of

personal attributes in terms of traits, skills, training,

experience needed to carry out the job

Job Analysis Methods

• Observation method: The analyst observes the

workers doing the job. The tasks performed, the

pace at which activities are done, the working

conditions are observed during a complete work

cycle

• Individual interview method: Analysts select some

of the incumbents, interview them extensively and

combine the interview results into a single job

analysis


• Group interview method: Interviews are done

simultaneously for all the selected job

incumbents

• Structural questionnaire method: Analysts send a

structured questionnaire to the workers and ask

them to check and rate items they perform on

their job, from a long list of possible task items


• Technical conference method: Specific characteristics

of a job are obtained from the “experts”, usually

supervisors with extensive knowledge of the job.

Though a good data-gathering method, the workers’

perceptions about what they do on their job are often

overlooked in this method

• Diary method: Job incumbents are asked to record their

daily activities

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

• FJA is a worker-oriented job analysis approach that

attempts to describe the whole person on the job

• There are 5 steps to be followed:

1. identification of organization’s goals for the FJA

analysis

2. identification and description of tasks, wherein tasks

are defined as actions. The task actions may be

physical, mental or interpersonal

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

3. each task is analyzed using 7 scales. These

include, data, people, things, degree of

supervision, reasoning, mathematics and language

4. the analyst develops performance standards to

assess the results of a worker’s tasks

5. the development of training content needed by

the job holder

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• The PAQ is a standardized questionnaire

• The PAQ procedure contains 194 job elements that

fall into 27 job dimensions, which in turn fall into 6

major job categories

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• The 6 major divisions of PAQ are as follows:

– Information input

– Mental process

– Physical activities

– Relationships with other people

– Job context

– Other job characteristics

Critical Incident Technique

• There are two criteria which help to define a job

activity as critical

– First it is complete enough to allow someone to

make an inference about a job incumbent’s

performance and

– Second, it is crucial to either outstanding or poor

job performance

Critical Incident Technique

• The critical incident technique is an appropriate

job analysis technique for purposes like

performance appraisal, training, selection or job

design

Job Analysis Information

• The job analysis provides the following information:

– Job identification: its title, including its code

number

– Important characteristics of a job: its location,

physical settings, supervision, union jurisdiction,

hazards and discomforts


– What the typical worker does: collection of

information on specific operations and tasks to be

performed by the typical worker including their

relative timing and importance, their simplicity,

routine or complexity, the responsibility for others


– Job duties: a detailed list of duties along with the

probable frequency of occurrence of each duty

– What materials and equipments the worker uses:

metals, plastics, grains, yarn or lathes, milling

machines

– How a job is done: nature of operations like lifting,

handling, cleaning, washing, feeding, removing,

drilling


– Required personal attributes: experience, training,

physical strength, coordination or dexterity,

physical demands, mental capabilities, aptitudes,

social skills

– Job relationship: opportunities for advancement,

patterns of promotion, essential cooperation

Job Description

• Job description is a written statement of what the job

holder does, how it is done, under what conditions it

is done and why it is done

• It describes what the job is all about, throwing light

on job content, environment and conditions of

employment

Job Description

• A job description usually covers the following

information:

– Job title

– Job summary

– Job activities (tasks done, facilities used, extent of

supervision required)

– Working conditions

– Social environment

Job Specification

• Job specification summarizes the human

characteristics needed for satisfactory job

completion

• It tries to describe the key qualifications someone

needs to perform the job successfully

Job Specification

• The personal attributes that are described through a job

specification may be classified into three categories:

– Essential attributes: skills, knowledge and abilities a

person must possess

– Desirable attributes: qualifications a person ought to

possess

– Contra-indicators: attributes that will become a

handicap to successful job performance

Employee Specifications

• The job specification information must be converted into

an employee specification information in order to

determine what kind of a person is needed to fill a job

• Employee specification lays down the minimum required

employee qualifications in terms of physical

characteristics, educational background, work experience,

etc and the minimum acceptable human qualities that a

prospective employee must possess to perform the job

Uses of Job Analysis

• Human resource planning: Job Analysis helps in

forecasting human resource requirements in terms

of knowledge and skills

• Recruitment: An understanding of the skills needed

and the positions that are vacant in future helps

managers to plan and 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

• Placement and orientation: After selection, people

have to be placed in jobs suited to their interests,

activities and aptitude. Similarly effective job

orientation cannot be achieved without a proper

understanding of the needs of each job


• Training: Whether or not a current or potential job

holder requires additional training can be

determined only after the specific needs of the

jobs have been identified through a job analysis

• Counselling: Managers can properly counsel

employees about their careers when they

understand the different jobs in the organization


• Employee safety: A thorough job analysis reveals

unsafe conditions associated with a job

• Performance Appraisal: By comparing what an

employee is supposed to be doing to what the

individual has actually done, the worth of that person

can be assessed

• Job evaluation: It assists in designing proper wage

policies, with internal pay equity between jobs

Job Analysis Problems

• In organizations undergoing frequent or continuous

delayering and downsizing, a job analysis is

associated with employee fear

• The second problem associated with job analysis is

the need to update the information gathered. Jobs

change as the organization changes. Thus updating

current information becomes essential.

2. job design and job analysis

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