Assignment No.

18th April 2013

IMPLEMENTATION OF JOB ANALYSIS

Submitted by Sunayana Nath S Section A

Submitted to Dr. B Sudhakar

Department of Management Studies Manipal University Dubai

IMPLEMENTATION OF JOB ANALYSIS

Introduction
Job analysis simply means a purposeful, systematic process for collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job. Types of work-related information to be collected include the following: Work activities What a worker does; how, why, and when these activities are conducted. Tools and equipment used in performing work activities. Context of the work environment, such as work schedule or physical working conditions. Requirements of personnel performing the job, such as knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), or other personnel characteristics (like physical characteristics, interests, or personality).

The information obtained from a job analysis has been found to serve a wide variety of purposes. Job analysis data have used in areas such as compensation, training and performance appraisal among many others. Broadly speaking in the context of HR selection, job analysis data are frequently used to: Identify employee specifications (KSAs) necessary for success on a job Select or develop predictors that can be administered to job applicants and used to forecast who are likely to be successful employees on the job Develop criteria or standards of performance that employees must meet in order to be considered successful on a job.

Job analysis involves in-depth investigation in order to control the output, i.e., get the job performed successfully. The process helps in finding out what a particular department requires and what a prospective worker needs to deliver. It also helps in determining particulars about a job including job title, job location, job summary, duties involved, working conditions, possible hazards and machines, tools, equipments and materials to be used by the existing or potential employee.

Purpose of Job Analysis

Implementation of Job Analysis

Implementation of a job analysis involves a sequence of activities and decision points. At least seven major activities or decision points are typically involved in job analysis for HR selection purposes: (1) Organizing for a job analysis (2) Choosing jobs to be studied (3) Reviewing the relevant literature (4) Selecting job agents (5) Collecting job information (6) Identifying job or employee specifications and Incorporating employee specifications in selection devices

I.

Organizing For Job Analysis

Organizing and managing a job analysis is not an easy assignment. Once an organization has decided to undertake a job analysis, the next question is - How the effort should be organized? Three basic organizational issues that are addressed answering this question: (1) Who should perform the job analysis - The application of a job analysis for the purpose of developing an HR selection system must conform to a number of scientific and legal requirements. Because of these requirements, professionally trained, experienced specialists are necessary to conduct and possible defend in court the methods used. Errors in job analysis, particularly for HR selection applications, can be very costly many organizations will probably need a consultant to conduct the work. (2) How should the project be managed - Regardless of whether a job analysis project is conducted by personnel within an organization or by outside consultants, an administrative organization will be necessary to coordinate the job analysis activities. The individuals responsible for the coordination efforts will depend on a number of factors including the scope of the work, the complexity of the specific job analysis methods used, the resources allocated to the project, and whether the project is conducted by staff members in the organization or by outside consultants. Meetings between participants and representatives of the job analysis staff should be held. These meetings should do the following: Introduce the job analysis staff; describe what a job analysis is and tell participants why they are needed. Explain what information is needed. Establish an open, non threatening climate for gathering job information.

The key purpose of these meetings is to give participants the opportunity to express their feelings and raise questions about the project. (3) What resources will be needed to conduct the project - Several different types of resources needed to complete job analysis successfully are: Staff members are needed to conduct the project and access computers and appropriate software for analyzing job data. How much time is needed for the project depends on many variables such as capabilities of the job analysis staff, the methods used, number of jobs analyzed etc. Finally, any project requires monetary support the price also depends on many factors (the approach used, where the analysis was conducted etc.)

II.

Choosing the Jobs to be Studied

Once job analysis staff has been assembled, the next issue to be addressed is the choice of job(s) on which analysis will be made. An organization will be forced to choose among many job possibilities on which analyses need to be made. Many criteria are used for choosing the initial jobs: Representatives of the job Criticality of the job Number of applicants for the job Stability of job content Evidence of adverse impact in selection Entry-level jobs in an organization Jobs serving as links to higher-level jobs Evidence of performance deficiencies Jobs that are physically demanding There is not one exclusive criterion in choosing specific jobs for analysis. Several of the criterion will need to be applied simultaneously.

For e.g. from legal point of view, following should be emphasized: Jobs showing adverse impact in selection Jobs serving as entry-level positions in an organization Jobs having a large number of applicants Careful attention should be given when using job titles to make the decision.

III.

Reviewing the Relevant Literature

After a job has been selected for analysis, the next task is to conduct a review of job analysis literature for the job in question. The goal of the review is to determine the data collection methods used by others, their analysis, problems and results.

Benefits of reviewing are: It can show how previous investigators have conducted their analysis and enable the researcher to evaluate various approaches for conducting the analysis. It can identify potential problems as well as associated methods and techniques for treating these problems. It can help locate additional sources of data not considered by the analyst. It can serve as a means for comparing the results of the present job analysis with those similar studies. It can suggest the task activities performed on a job and the KSAs as well as other employee characteristics needed to perform the tasks.

A variety of information sources within the organization are available Organization charts, Job descriptions etc. Literature sources outside the organization include Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Other sources include professional associations, labor unions and contracts, educational materials produced by organizations, professional publications and previous job analysis or studies.

IV.

Selecting Job Agents

Job agents are individuals who are responsible for collecting or providing information about jobs. In general, three classes of agents can be employed to collect job data: (1) Job analysts - Job analysts are individuals specially trained to collect and analyze job information systematically. They may be employed within or from outside an organization requiring job analysis. When internal analysts are used, they frequently work as staff specialists. External analysts are private consultants. There are a number of factors that will affect the choice of a consultant: Number of jobs if the number of jobs to be analyzed is small or big. Location of the jobs widely dispersed jobs will require greater expense in travel, time and costs. Complexity of the jobs the less observable and more diverse the tasks, the greater is the need for a skilled agent

Receptiveness of job incumbents to external analysts if incumbents feel threatened by external analysts, the potential costs to the organization will be greater.

(2) Job incumbents - Job incumbents or employee are individuals who describe what is actually done rather than what should be done. Participation of an employee in job analysis should be voluntary. Where motivation and interest are low, quality of participation is likely to be low. Also, employees should possess appropriate oral communicating, reading and writing skills. (3) Job supervisors - Job supervisors also serve as job agents they supervise incumbents performing the job under study, they are in a position to provide objective data on jobs. Because only a few supervisors may be needed to supervise a number of jobs, supervisors will likely be widely dispersed. Thus reliance on a large number of supervisors for job data may substantially increase project costs. Supervisors mainly serve as a means for cross-checking or verifying job data collected elsewhere.

V.

Collecting Job Information

Various systems have been used to classify methods for collecting job information qualitative versus quantitative, structured versus unstructured, subjective versus objective etc. The main distinction is between work-oriented and worker-oriented method which is more useful than other distinction. Work-oriented job analysis deals with a description of the various tasks performed on a job. Emphasis is generally on what is accomplished by the worker. The basis for all work-oriented job analysis techniques is the task and for this reason these techniques tend to be job specific. Worker-oriented job analysis examines broad human behaviors involved in work activities. The focus is not on specific tasks rather, on general aspects of jobs that describe the perceptual, interpersonal, sensory, mental and physical activities. Because of their broad focus, worker-oriented methods are generic in nature and are applied to a wide range of jobs. Job analysis methods for collecting information: (1) Job analysis interviews It is the most frequently used method of job analysis, capable of meeting a wide array of purposes. A job analysis interview consists of a trained analyst asking questions about the duties and responsibilities, KSAs required, and equipment and/or conditions of employment for a job or class of jobs.

(2) Job analysis questionnaires This method consists of a printed questionnaire distributed to respondents who are asked to make some form of judgment about the job information presented on the questionnaire. (3) Subject Matter Expert (SME) Many different job analysis formats and methods, such as task analysis inventories and group interviews, can be used in the context of SME. It consists of a panel of job incumbents who work with a group leader to produce a job analysis. (4) Critical Incidents Technique It can be defines as a set of procedures for systematically identifying behaviors that contribute to success or failure of individuals or organizations in specific situations. It is useful for obtaining in-depth data about a particular role or set of tasks. (5) Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS) It is technique used to analyze jobs in which jobs are described based on opinions of vital capacities. There are 52 cognitive, physical, psycho-motor, and sensory ability, each of them includes two parts a grading scale and an operational and differential definition. (6) Functional Job Analysis (FJA) It is a method of job analysis that identifies performance standards and training requirements and it rates the job on dimensions such as worker instructions, reasoning, mathematics and language. (7) Job Element Method (JEM) It is similar to the Critical Incident Method the method concentrates on behaviors during working and consequences that the behaviors bring about. (8) Competency Profiling It is an activity that determines certain capacities which are characteristics of high levels of performance in a certain job. It includes skills, knowledge, capacities, values, interests, personalities etc.

VI. Identification of Employee Specification and Incorporating employee specifications in selection devices

Job Analysis results are used to determine relevant knowledge, skills, abilities or other employee specifications needed for effective performance on the job. Once identified, these specifications, in turn, serve as basis for constructing or choosing the needed selection measures. The resulting specifications

will be useful only to the extent that the inferences are accurate and complete. If the inferences are wrong, the selection measures will not be useful for predicting job performance. There are unique aspects associated with any one employee specifications development method but most methods incorporate the following steps: Identifying and rating job tasks Specifying KSAs necessary for successful job performance Rating the importance of identified KSAs Identifying other employee specifications necessary for job performance Linking KSAs and other employee specifications to job tasks Developing the content areas of selection measures

Conclusion

To conduct job analysis effectively, managers have the obligation to keep all the job information up to date. It is vital that they report changes in the organization, job assignments, and methods of work to ensure that classifications are kept current. Even when staff specialists evaluate jobs, line managers still have the basic responsibility of reviewing both the job analysis and the results of job evaluation. Decisions must be made within the framework of policies, practices, techniques and controls.

References

Robert Gatewood and Hubert S Field, Human Resource Selection, 5th Edition Gary Dessler, Human Resource Management, 9th Edition, Pearson Education, 2003 http://www.managementstudyguide.com/purpose-of-job-analysis.htm http://www.job-analysis.net/G000.htm http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com I-Wei Chang and Brian H. Kleiner, How to conduct Job analysis effectively, Management Research News, ProQuest Central, 2002