Chapter 4 · © 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. ... behavior 4-16 © 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. ... • The cost of a thorough job analysis

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Chapter 4

Job Analysis





Learning Objectives

• Structures based on jobs, people, or both

• Job-based approach: most common

• Job analysis procedures

• What information should be collected?

• How can the information be collected?

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Learning Objectives

• Job descriptions summarize the data

• Job analysis: bedrock or bureaucracy?

• Judging job analysis

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Job Analysis

• Systematic method to discover and describe:

• The differences and similarities amongst various jobs

• Constitutes of:

• Job description - Tasks, duties and responsibilities that make up a job

• Job specification - Knowledge, skills, and abilities, necessary to perform the job

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Structures Based on Jobs, People, or Both

• Job-based structures

• Look at what people are doing and the expected outcomes

• Skill- and competency-based structures

• Look at the person

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Exhibit 4.1 - Many Ways to Create Internal Structure

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Job-Based Approach: Most Common

• Job analysis

• Systematic process of collecting information that:

• Identifies similarities and differences in the work

• Is critical for determining compensation

• Helps establish an internally fair and aligned job structure

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Exhibit 4.3- Determining theInternal Job Structure

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Job Analysis Procedures

• Collect information about specific tasks or behaviors

• Position- Group of tasks performed by one person

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Exhibit 4.4 - Job Analysis Terminology

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Conventional Job Analysis Procedures

• Include:

• Developing preliminary information

• Conducting initial tour of work site

• Conducting interviews

• Conducting second tour of work site

• Consolidating job information

• Verifying job description

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Exhibit 4.6 - Typical Data Collected for Job Analysis

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What Information Should be Collected?

• Job data: Identification

• Job titles, departments, number of people who hold the job

• Job data: Content

• Elemental tasks or units of work, with emphasis on the purpose of each task

• Employee data

• Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• McFry Nine Step Program

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Exhibit 4.9 - The McFry Nine Step Program

Source: Jerry Newman, My Secret Life on the McJob, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007).

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• Essential elements and the Americans with Disabilities Act

• Elements of a job that cannot be reassigned to other workers must be specified

• Essential functions- Fundamental job duties of the employment position

• Does not provide any special benefits for people with disabilities

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• Level of analysis• Influences whether work is similar or dissimilar

• Microscopic approach

• Broad, generic descriptions

• Countervailing view

• Promotion to a new job title is part of the organization's network of returns

• Reducing the number of titles may reduce opportunities to reinforce positive employee behavior

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How can the Information be Collected?

• Conventional methods

• Questionnaires and interviews

• Advantage• Involvement increases understanding of process

• Disadvantage• Open to bias and favoritism

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• Quantitative methods

• Facilitate statistical analysis of results and allow more data to be collected faster

• Advantage

• Practical and cost-effective

• Disadvantages

• Important aspects of a job may be omitted

• Resulting job descriptions can be faulty

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• Who collects the information?

• Human resource generalists and supervisors

• Someone thoroughly familiar with the organization and its job

• Who provides the information?

• Principal sources: Jobholders and supervisors

• Subordinates and employees in other jobs that interface with the job under study

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• Number of incumbents from which to collect data varies with:

• Stability of the job

• Ease of collecting the information

• What About Discrepancies?

• Collect more data to ensure consistency and accuracy

• Discuss discrepancies

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• Disagreements can be an opportunity to:

• Clarify expectations

• Learn about better ways to do the job

• Document how the job is actually performed

• Top management (and union) support is critical

• Must know what is strategically relevant

• Must be alerted to:• The cost of a thorough job analysis

• Its time-consuming nature

• The fact that changes will be involved

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Job Descriptions Summarize the Data

• Job description: Summary of the job

• Job specifications: Knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the tasks

• Using generic job descriptions

• To avoid starting from scratch

• A way to cross-check externally

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Job Descriptions Summarize the Data

• Describing managerial/professional jobs

• Detailed information on the nature of the job, its scope, and accountability

• Verify the description

• Determine whether job description is accurate and complete

• Make notes of any omissions, ambiguities, or needed clarifications

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Job Analysis: Bedrock or Bureaucracy

• Reducing number of different jobs and cross-training employees

• Makes work content more fluid and employees more flexible

• Generic job descriptions

• Provide flexibility in moving people among tasks without adjusting pay

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Job Analysis: Bedrock or Bureaucracy

• Traditional job analysis

• Makes distinctions among levels of jobs

• Could reinforce rigidity

• Analyzing work content

• Conducted as part of work flow and supply chain analysis

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Job Analysis and Globalization

• Job analysis and susceptibility to offshoring

• Offshoring

• Movement of jobs to locations beyond a country’s borders

• Includes both low-skill and white-collar jobs

• Managerial jobs and positions where local knowledge is required are less susceptible

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Job Analysis and Globalization

• Job analysis information and comparability across borders

• Global firms should analyze jobs to:

• Maintain consistency in job content

• Be able to measure ways in which jobs are similar and different

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Judging Job Analysis

• Reliability

• Measure of consistency of results among various:

• Analysts, methods, sources of data, or over time

• Validity

• Examines the convergence of results among sources of data and methods

• Acceptability

• Potential for subjectivity and favoritism

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Judging Job Analysis

• Currency

• Job information must be up to date

• Usefulness

• Practicality of information collected

• Can be used for multiple purposes

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A Judgment Call

• Work-related information is needed to determine pay

• Differences in work determine pay differences

• Real issue should be:

• How much detail is needed to make these pay decisions?

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Documents

Chapter 4 · © 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. ... behavior 4-16 © 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. ... • The cost of a thorough job analysis