McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Job Analysis and Job Design

Chapter 4

Chapter Overview

• Basic Terminology

• Job Analysis

• Job Design

• Summary of Learning Objectives

4-3

Basic Terminology

• Micromotions – Simplest unit of work; involves very elementary movement, such as reaching, grasping, positioning, or releasing an object

• Elements – An aggregation of two or more micromotions; usually thought of as a complete entity, such as picking up or transporting an object

• Tasks – Consists of one or more elements; one of the distinct activities that constitute logical and necessary steps in the performance of work by an employee

• A task is performed whenever human effort, physical or mental, is exerted for a specific purpose

4-4

Basic Terminology

• Duties – One or more tasks performed in carrying out a job responsibility

• Responsibilities – Obligations to perform certain tasks and assume certain duties

• Positions – Collection of tasks and responsibilities constituting the total work assignment of a single employee

• Jobs – Group of positions that are identical with respect to their major or significant tasks and responsibilities and sufficiently alike to justify their being covered by a single analysis

• One or many persons may be employed in the same job

• Occupations – A grouping of similar jobs or job classes

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Relationship among Different Job Components

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Job Analysis

• Process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job • Involves determining the tasks that comprise the job and

the skills, knowledge, abilities, and responsibilities required of the holder for successful job performance

• End product of a job analysis is a written description of actual requirements of job

• When performing a job analysis, the job and its requirements (as opposed to characteristics of person currently holding the job) are studied

• It is the beginning point of many human resource functions • Specifically, data obtained from job analysis form the basis for a

variety of human resource activities

4-7

Job Analysis Influencing Human Resource Activities

• Job definition – Job analysis results in a description of duties and responsibilities of job

• Job redesign – Job analysis often indicates when a job needs to be redesigned

• Recruitment – Process of seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen

• Job analysis not only identifies job requirements but also outlines skills needed to perform job

• Selection and placement – Process of choosing from those available the individuals who are most likely to perform successfully in a job

• Job analysis determines importance of different skills and abilities

4-8

Job Analysis Influencing Human Resource Activities

• Orientation – Introduction of new employees to the organization, work unit, and job

• Effective job orientation cannot be accomplished without clear understanding of job requirements

• Training – Learning process that involves acquisition of skills, concepts, rules, or attitudes to increase employee performance

• Job analysis helps in determining training requirements, establishing training objectives, and helps determine the reason of problem occurrence

• Career counseling – Job analysis provides clarity on variety of jobs in the organization and clarifies exact job requirements

4-9

Job Analysis Influencing Human Resource Activities

• Employee safety – Often uncovers unsafe practices and/or environmental conditions associated with a job

• Performance appraisal – The objective of performance appraisal is to evaluate an individual employee’s performance on a job

• Job analysis helps in understanding exactly what an employee is supposed to do

• Compensation – Job analysis helps ensure that employees receive fair compensation for their jobs

• Once worth of a job has been established relative to other jobs, the employer can determine an equitable wage or salary schedule

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Information Provided by a Job Analysis

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Products of Job Analysis

• Job description – Written synopsis of nature and requirements of a job

• Concentrates on describing the job as it is currently being performed

• Explains, in written form, what the job is called, what it requires to be done, where it is to be done, and how it is to be done

• Job specification – Description of competency, educational, and experience qualifications the incumbent must possess to perform the job

• Knowledge – Identifiable factual information necessary to perform job

• Skills – Specific proficiencies necessary for performing tasks that make up the job

• Abilities – General and enduring capabilities for doing the job

• Other characteristics – Include any other pertinent characteristics not covered under knowledge, skills, and abilities

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Contents of a Job Description

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Job Description

• A potential problem with all job descriptions is that they may become outdated

• Often, it is not periodically updated to reflect any changes that have occurred in the job

• Jobholder and his or her supervisor should review the most current job description annually and determine whether description needs updating

• If updating is required, jobholder should play a central role in revising it

• In the initial development of a job description, jobholder should be involved

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Job Analysis Methods – Observation

• Relatively simple and straightforward method of analyzing jobs; can be used independently or in conjunction with other methods

• Motion study (methods study)

• Determining motions and movements necessary for performing a task or job and designing most efficient methods for putting them together

• Time study

• Determines elements of work required to perform job, order in which those elements occur, and time required to perform them effectively

• Work sampling

• Based on taking statistical samples of job actions throughout the workday and then drawing inferences about requirements and demands of the job

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Drawbacks of the Observation Method

• Observer must be carefully trained to know what to look for and what to record

• Helpful to use a form with standard categories of information to be filled in as job is observed to ensure basic information is not omitted

• Its application is somewhat limited to jobs involving short and repetitive cycles

• Complicated jobs and jobs that do not have repetitive cycles require such lengthy observation periods that it becomes impractical

• Direct observation, can be used to get a feel for a particular job and then combined with other methods to thoroughly analyze

4-16

Job Analysis Methods – Interviews

• Requires that person conducting job analysis meet with and interview jobholder

• Unstructured interviews – Have no definite checklist or preplanned format; format develops as interview unfolds

• Structured interview – Follows a predesigned format

• Ensures that all pertinent aspects of job are covered

• Easier to compare information obtained from different people holding the same job

• Major drawback

• Can be extremely time-consuming; compounded when several people are interviewed about the same job

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Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires

• Typically three to five pages long and contain both objective and open-ended questions

• For existing jobs – Incumbent completes questionnaire, has it checked by immediate manager, and returns it to job analyst

• For new jobs – Questionnaire is normally sent to manager supervising the employee in the new job

• Job being analyzed is vacant but is duplicated in another part of the organization – Questionnaire is completed by incumbent in the duplicate job

• Information can be obtained from large number of employees in a relatively short time period

• Used when large input is needed and time and cost are limiting factors

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Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires

• Major Disadvantages of Questionnaire Method

• Misinterpretation of information by respondent or analyst

• Time-consuming and expensive to develop

• A popular variation is to have incumbent write an actual description of the job, subject to approval of immediate supervisor

• Advantage

• Incumbent is often the person most knowledgeable about the job

• Helps to identify any differences in incumbent’s and manager’s perceptions about job

4-19

Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires

• Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) – Highly specialized instrument for analyzing any job in terms of employee activities

• Uses six major categories of employee activities

• Total of 194 descriptors, called job elements, describe the six categories in detail

• Using a five-point scale, one can analyze each description for the degree to which it applies to the job

• Primary advantage

• Can be used to analyze almost any type of job

• It is relatively easy to use

• Major disadvantage

• The sheer length of questionnaire

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Employee Activity Categories Used in the PAQ

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Sample Page from the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

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Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires

• Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ) – Highly structured questionnaire designed specifically for analyzing managerial jobs

• Contains 208 items relating to managerial responsibilities, restrictions, demands, and other miscellaneous position characteristics

• These items are grouped under the 13 categories

• Requires analyst to check whether each item is appropriate to job being analyzed

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Management Position Description Questionnaire Categories

4-24

Job Analysis Methods – Functional Job Analysis

• Developed by Employment and Training Administration of Department of Labor

• Uses standardized statements and terminology to describe content of jobs

• Collects detailed task statements and rates them according to function level or function orientation

• Function level – Describes how an employee interacts with data, people, and things

• Function orientation – Describes amount of time (in percentages) employees spends on tasks of each functional level

• Each task statement is analyzed and rated to determine skills needed to perform task it describes

• Results in position-specific information about work being performed and standardized information about both work and person performing the work

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Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

• Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), that described over 12,000 jobs became obsolete and inefficient in early 1990s

• Provided very job specific and dated information in many cases

• Did not provide for any type of cross-job comparisons for job similarities and differences

• Did not directly identify what characteristics employees needed to perform the job or under what conditions job was performed

• To overcome these problems, the U.S. Department of Labor developed a new system called the occupational information network (O*NET)

• United States’ primary source of occupational information

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Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

• O*NET database – Comprehensive online database of employee attributes and job characteristics

• Provides definitions and concepts for describing employee attributes and workplace requirements that can be broadly understood

• Using comprehensive terms to describe KSAs, it can accommodate rapidly changing job requirements

• Continually updated by surveying a broad range of employees from each occupation – Done every five years

• Content model – Encapsulates key features of an occupation into a standardized, measurable set of variables called “descriptors”

• O*NET-SOC taxonomy – Identifies existing work occupations

• Includes 949 occupational titles, 812 of which have data collected from job incumbents or occupation experts

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The Content Model Forming the Foundation of O*NET

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The ADA and Job Analysis

• “Qualified individuals with disabilities” – Persons who have a disability and meet the skill, education, experience, and other job-related requirements of position held or desired and can perform essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation

• Requires identification of essential functions of each job and a reasonable accommodation to disabilities of qualified individual

• Essential job function – One that is fundamental to successful performance of the job

• Marginal job functions may be performed at certain times but are incidental to main purpose of the job

• A job function is considered marginal if its performance is a matter of convenience and not a necessity

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The ADA and Job Analysis

• Reasonable accommodation means the employer may be required to alter conditions of a particular job so as to enable the candidate to perform all essential functions

• An employer cannot be required to make an accommodation that causes undue hardship for the employer

• Undue hardship refers to any accommodation that

• Would be unduly costly, substantial or disruptive

• Would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of business

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Questions to Be Addressed to Determine Essential Functions

4-31

Potential Problems with Job Analysis

• Top management support is missing

• Only a single means and source are used for gathering data

• Supervisor and jobholder do not participate in design of job analysis procedure

• No training or motivation exists for jobholders

• Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the analysis

• Activities may be distorted

• Participants fail to critique the job

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Job Design

• Process of structuring work and designating specific work activities of an individual or group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives

• Job design process are divided into these phases

• Specification of individual tasks – What different tasks must be performed?

• Specification of the method of performing each task – Specifically, how will each task be performed?

• Combination of individual tasks into specific jobs to be assigned to individuals – How will the different tasks be grouped to form jobs?

• Phases 1, 3 determine content of job

• Phase 2 indicates precisely how job is to be performed

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Job Design

• Goal of job design – Develop work assignments

that meet requirements of the organization and

technology, and that satisfy personal and

individual requirements of jobholder

• Key to successful job design is to balance requirements

of organization and jobholder

• Prevailing practice in designing jobs was to focus

almost entirely on simplifying tasks to be

undertaken

• Usually resulted in making jobs as specialized as

possible

• Job specialization has its advantages, but can result in

boredom and even degradation of jobholder

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Advantages of Job Specialization

4-35

Job Scope and Job Depth

• Job scope – Number and variety of tasks performed by jobholder

• In a job with narrow scope, jobholder performs a few different task and repeats them frequently

• Can result in more errors and lower quality

• Job depth – Freedom of jobholders to plan and organize their own work, work at their own pace, and move around and communicate

• Its lack can create job dissatisfaction, tardiness, absenteeism, and even sabotage

• A job can be high in job scope and low in job depth, or vice versa

4-36

Sociotechnical Approach to Job Design

• Its thrust is that both the technical system and the accompanying social system should be considered when designing jobs

• Jobs need to be designed by taking a holistic, or systems, view of the entire job situation, including its physical and social environment

• The approach is situational

• Requires job designer to consider role of employees in the sociotechnical system, nature of tasks performed, and autonomy of work group

• Has been applied in many countries under headings such as “autonomous work groups,” “Japanese-style work groups,” or employee involvement (EI) teams

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Using Sociotechnical Approach to Create Guidelines to Designing Jobs • Job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in

terms other than sheer endurance, yet provide some variety (not necessarily novelty)

• Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to continue learning

• Employees need some minimum area of decision making that they can call their own

• Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition in the workplace

• Employees need to be able to relate what they do and what they produce to their social lives

• Employees need to believe that the job leads to some sort of desirable future

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The Physical Work Environment • The physical work environment should allow for normal

lighting, temperature, ventilation, and humidity

• Baffles acoustical wall materials, sound absorbers, soothing colors, limiting exposure to less-than-ideal physical conditions to short periods are measures employers can take

• Mental and psychological impacts of work environment to be considered when designing jobs

• Implementation of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970 magnified safety concerns

• Specifies federal safety guidelines that all organizations in United States must follow

4-39

Flextime • Allows employees to choose, within certain limits, when

they start and end their workday

• Organization defines a core period

• Some allow varied hours worked each day, as long as a specified weekly total is met

• Advantages

• Allows employees to accommodate different lifestyles and schedules

• Allows employees to avoid rush hours, having less absenteeism and tardiness

• Allows employers an edge in recruiting new employees and in retaining hard-to-find qualified employees

• May result in an increase in productivity

• Disadvantages

• Can create communication and coordination problems for supervisors and managers

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Telecommuting • The practice of working at home or while traveling and being able

to interact with the office

• Information technology has aided its spurt

• Advantages

• Less travel time and travel expenses, avoiding rush hour

• Avoiding distractions at office

• Being able to work flexible hours

• Disadvantages

• Insurance concerns relating to health and safety of employees working at home

• Lack of professional and social environment of workplace

• Some state and local laws restrict just what work can be done at home

• Recent evidence shows that when given a choice, employees prefer a mix of working part-time from home and part-time in office

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Job Sharing

• Two or more part-time individuals perform a job that would normally be held by one full-time person

• Can be in the form of equally shared responsibilities, split duties, or a combination of both

• Especially attractive to people who want to work, but not full-time

• From organization’s viewpoint, job sharing aids in retention of valuable employees

• A critical factor is how benefits are handled – Often benefits are prorated between part-time employees

• Some organizations allow job-sharing employees to purchase full health insurance by paying the difference between their prorated benefit and the premium for a full-time employee

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Condensed Workweek

• Number of hours worked per day is increased and number of days in the workweek is decreased

• Typically done by having employees work 10 hours per day for four days per week (known as 4/40)

• Other variations include reducing total hours worked to 36 or 38 hours

• Advantages

• Lower absenteeism and tardiness

• Less start-up time

• More time available for employees to take care of personal business

• Disadvantages

• Fatigue that often accompanies longer hours

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Contingent Workers • The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics

separates contingent workers into

• Independent contractors and on-call workers, who are called to work only when needed

• Temporary or short-term workers

• Reasons that organizations use contingent workers include

• Seasonal fluctuations, and project-based work

• Desire to acquire skill sets not available in the normal employee

• Population, hiring freezes, and rapid growth

• Advantages

• Flexibility for dealing with fluctuating product or service demand

• Increasing workplace diversity

• Determining potential as a future full-time employee

• Providing skills organization doesn’t have in-house

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Contingent Workers – Challenges

• Management issues

• Who manages different contingent workers and what role does HR play?

• Tracking and reporting

• How do contingents fit into different HR system such as payroll?

• Compensation

• How are contingents compensated compared to other employees?

• Retention

• Since most contingents don’t receive benefits they can be hard to retain

• Attitude and work quality

• Most contingents do not share same degree of commitment as other employees

4-45

Contingent Workers – Challenges

• Orientation and training

• Orientation and training can be difficult to schedule because of scheduling conflicts with other jobs

• Legal issues

• Contingent workers must meet legal definition of “independent contractor” under IRS rules

• Use or company resources

• Can include everything from company discounts to participation in company educational programs

• Physical security

• Do contingent workers have same access to company facilities as other employees?

4-46

Summary of Learning Objectives

• Define job analysis and job design

• Distinguish among a position, a job, and an occupation

• Describe several common uses of a job analysis

• Define job description and job specification

• Identify four frequently used methods of job analysis

• Discuss why O*NET was developed and summarize what it is

• Define essential functions and reasonable accommodation as interpreted under the Americans with Disabilities Act

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Summary of Learning Objectives

• Identify several problems frequently

associated with job analysis

• Define job scope and job depth and

explain their relationship to job design

• Explain the sociotechnical approach to

job design

• Distinguish among the following types

of alternative work schedules: flextime,

telecommuting, job sharing, and

condensed workweek

• Define the term contingent worker

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