Job analysis

Introduction, importance, methods

etc.

 Job: Its a group of positions involving same

duties, responsibility and skills
A group of positions that are similar as to kind and
level of work.
An important part of Human Resources
(HR) planning
Job Analysis: It is a procedure by
which pertinent information is
obtained about a job.

Job Analysis
Job analysis is a systematic investigation of the tasks, duties
and responsibilities necessary to do a job.
Job analysis is the process of determining and recording all
the pertinent information about a specified job
Job analysis is the process of collecting job related
information.
Job
Duties(No of
tasks)
Job Tasks
(Distinct work
activity)

Job
responsibilit
ies

Job
Analys
is

Definition:
A job analysis is the process used to collect information about
the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and
work environment of a particular job.
Possible aspects of work related information to be collected
might include
1. Work activities-what worker does; how, why and when
2. Tools and equipments used in performing work activities
3. Context of work environment such as work schedule,
working conditions
4. Requirements of personnel performing the job, KSA

The job analysis may include these activities:

reviewing the job responsibilities of current employees,

doing Internet research and viewing sample job descriptions
online or offline highlighting similar jobs,
analyzing the work duties, tasks, and responsibilities that need
to be accomplished by the employee filling the position,
researching and sharing with other companies that have
similar jobs, and
articulation of the most important outcomes or contributions
needed from the position.

Uses/benefits of Job Analysis:

1.
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Organizational Design
HR Planning
Recruitment and Selection
Placement and Orientation
Training and Development
Performance Appraisal
Career Path Planning
Job Design
Job Evaluation
Lobour Relation
Employee Counselling
Health and Safety.
Succession Planning

 Job analysis assists HR in

determining:
Necessity of the job
Equipment needed
Skills required
Supervision
Working conditions
Management/employee interaction

 Job analysis can also:

Help the company remain profitable and
competitive
Help the company keep up with
technology
Prevent employees from being
overworked
Help the company stay in compliance
with
government regulations

Outcomes of Job Analysis

The information obtained from job analysis is
classified into three categories.

Job description
Job specification
Job evaluation

Methods of job analysis

Job analysis interview

Job analysis questionnaire
Task analysis inventory
Position analysis questionnaire
Subject expert workshops
Critical incident technique
Fleisclunann job analysis survey
Functional job analysis
Job element method
Repertory grid

The Job Analysis Interview

It is a method to collect a variety of information from an
incumbent by asking the incumbent to describe the tasks and
duties performed, equipment or conditions of employment of
job.
Job analysis interview is performed for the following reasons:
To collect job information
To serve as a means for clarifying or verifying information
collected previously through other job analysis methods
For collecting relevant job data for developing a selection
system
Although the interview method provides opportunities to elicit
information sometimes not available through other methods,

 Job analysis data collected through interviews are

obtained through group or individual interviews with
incumbents or supervisors.
Job analysis interview may be structured or
unstructured.

 Structured interview: A structured interview

may assume a definite format

Unstructured interview:

Here the interview is a

conversation with no prepared questions or predetermined line
of investigation. However, the interviewer should explain:
The purpose of the study is and
The particular focus of this interview
The roles and the purposes give structure.

limitations
First, it is time consuming and hence costly.
Second, the value of data is primarily dependent on the
interviewers skills and may be faulty if they put ambiguous
questions to workers.
Last, interviewees may be suspicious about the motives and
may distort the information they provide.
If seen as an opportunity to improve their positions such as to
increase their wages, workers may exaggerate their job duties
to add greater weightage to their positions.

Interview Outcomes
Interviewing is a flexible method for all levels and types of
job. An interview may focus on what a hypothetical job might
involve.
Interviews generate descriptive data and enable job-holders to
interpret their activities.
A good interviewer can probe sensitive areas in more depth.
Structured questionnaires cannot easily do this.
Jobholders can give overviews of their work and offer their
perceptions and feelings about their job and the environment.
Rigid questionnaires tend to be less effective where the more
affective aspects of work are concerned.

However information from different interviews can be

hard to bring together
there is potential for interviewer bias
certain areas of the work may fail to be picked up
an interview may stress one area and neglect others.
there are problems in interpretation and analysis with the
possibility of distorted impressions
the subjectivity of the data captured needs to be considered

Job analysis questionnaires

It is one way to handle some of the problems of the
job analysis interview.
This method consists of a questionnaire distributed to
respondents who are asked to make some form of
judgments about job information presented on
questionnaire.

Questionnaire method

The questionnaire is a widely used method of analyzing jobs

and work. Here the job holders are given a properly designed
questionnaire aimed at eliciting relevant job-related
information.
After completion, the questionnaires are handed over to
supervisors. The supervisors can seek further clarifications on
various items by talking to the job holders directly. After
everything is finalized, the data is given to the job analyst.

 Numerous forms of questionnaires can be used, but they fall

into two classes:
Tailored questionnaires developed for a specific purpose or a
specific job
Prefabricated or existing questionnaires

 The success of the method depends on various factors. The

structured questionnaire must cover all job related tasks and
behaviors. Each task or behavior should be described in terms
of features such as importance, difficulty, frequency, and
relationship to overall performance.
The job holders should be asked to properly rate the various
job factors and communicate the same on paper. The ratings
thus collected are then put to close examination with a view to
find out the actual job requirements.

Task Analysis
Inventory
Another type of analysis

method, the task analysis

inventory focuses on the
tasks performed in a
particular job.
This method has several
variations.
Task analysis inventories
can be very detailed,
including 100 or more
tasks.

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Task inventory analysis

It primarily aims to identify the essential task of job. By
specifying the task, the method grounds the job analysis in the
realm (area) of observable work behavior. In so doing the
technique makes it possible for a job to be replicated and the
results verified, which is an important feature.
This method was originally developed by the U.S Department
of Labour for studying a single job or job family. In the task
analysis process a complete inventory of all task performed on
the job is developed.


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2.
3.

It contains three major categories of information:

Background information on respondents
A listing of job tasks with associated rating scales
Other information

This method incorporate the following steps

Identifying job task/work behaviors

Rating job task/work behaviors
Specifying KSAs necessary for successful job performance
Rating the importance of identified KSAs
Identifying other employee specifications necessary for
successful job performance
Linking KSAs and other employee specifications to job task
Developing the content areas of selection procedures

 Using this information gained through these methods job

analyst develop task statements to describe the jobs.
Task statement begin with an active verb which expresses the
action taken. However job cannot be fully described unless the
data include some mental or cognitive activities.
Questionnaire development: task inventory analysis provides
the items for a task analysis questionnaire. Rating scales are
constructed according to the kind of information needed. It
contains many task statements most of which are part of the
job.

 Responses to questionnaires can be summarized with some

simple descriptive statistics to show how job incumbents as a
group describe the job.
Ratings can be analyzed by
calculating the mean and standard deviation.
This questionnaires does not ask job incumbents to identify
the knowledge, skill, and ability needed on the job. Rather task
information yielded by the questionnaire provides the basis for
inferring the necessary KSAs.
To accomplish, the analysts assess
The questionnaire data to identify the important tasks.
Then they organized the information into separate groups
showing the different areas of KSA that are needed to perform
job.

Position Analysis Questionaire (PAQ)

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) developed

by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham (1972) is a
structured job analysis instrument to measure job
characteristics and relate them to human characteristics.

One of the broadest and best-researched instruments for

analyzing jobs is the Position Analysis Questionnaire.

This is a standardized job analysis questionnaire
containing 194 items to represent:
Work behaviors
Work conditions
Job characteristics

Position Analysis Questionnaire

The questionnaire organizes these items into six sections

concerning different aspects of the job:
Information input
Mental processes
Work output
Relationships with other persons
Job context
Other characteristics

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 Information input: where and how the worker gets

information,
Mental processes: reasoning and other processes that workers
use,
Work output: physical activities and tools used on the job,
Relationships with other persons, and
Job context : the physical and social contexts in which work is
performed.
Other job characteristics: the activities, conditions &
characteristics other than those already described that are
relevant to job.

 Six different types of scales are used to determine the extent to

which the items are relevant:
Extent of use- the degree to which an item is used by the
worker
Amount of time- the proportion of time spent doing something
Importance to this job- the importance of an activity specified
by the item in performing the job
Possibility of occurrence- the degree to which there is a
possibility of physical hazards
Applicability- whether an item applies to job
Special code- special rating that are used with particular item
on PAQ

Application

Selecting and training agents to analyze jobs

Selecting persons to provide job information
Analyzing the jobs selected
Analyzing PAQ data

Subject Matter Expert (SME) workshop

SME workshops consists of groups or panels of 10 to 20 job
incumbents who work with a group leader to produce job
analysis. Participants are selected for their knowledge of the
job they are referred as SME.
Steps are:
Selecting and preparing SMEs
Identifying and rating job task
Identifying and rating KSA
Judging selection measures-job content relevance

 The Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are employees

who are extremely knowledgeable about the type of
position being filled and can offer additional
recommendations regarding the requirements of the
job.
Typically, the SME is an employee at or above the
grade level of the position being filled within the
organization. The Hiring Manager is typically the
official who decides whether to use an SME for any
given job analysis

Critical incidents:
The critical incident technique (CIT) is a qualitative approach
to job analysis used to obtain specific, behaviorally focused
descriptions of work or other activities. Here the job holders
are asked to describe several incidents based on their past
experience.
It was originally developed to gather information to determine
training needs and develop performance appraisal forms.
The incidents so collected are analyzed and classified
according to the job areas they describe. The job requirements
will become clear once the analyst draws the line between
effective and ineffective behaviors of workers on the job .

 Each critical incident consists of

A description of a situation
The effective or ineffective behavior performed by a job
incumbent
The consequence of that behavior

 For example, if a shoe salesman comments on the size of a

customers feet and the customer leaves the store in a huff, the
behavior of the salesman may be judged as ineffective in terms
of the result it produced.
The critical incidents are recorded after the events have
already taken place both routine and non-routine. The
process of collecting a fairly good number of incidents is a
lengthy one.
Since, incidents of behavior can be quite dissimilar, the
process of classifying data into usable job descriptions can be
difficult. The analysts overseeing the work must have
analytical skills and ability to translate the content of
descriptions into meaningful statements.

CIT is a flexible method that usually relies on five major areas.

The first is determining and reviewing the incident,
then fact-finding, which involves collecting the details of the
incident from the participants. When all of the facts are
collected,
the next step is to identify the issues.
Afterwards a decision can be made on how to resolve the
issues based on various possible solutions.
The final and most important aspect is the evaluation, which
will determine if the solution that was selected will solve the
root cause of the situation and will cause no further problems.

Application

Selecting the method for critical incident collection

Selecting a panel of job experts
Generating critical incidents
Defining job dimensions

Advantages and
disadvantages

Advantages

Flexible method that can be used to improve multi-user

systems.
Data is collected from the respondent's perspective and in his
or her own words.
Does not force the respondents into any given framework.
Identifies even rare events that might be missed by other
methods which only focus on common and everyday events.
Useful when problems occur but the cause and severity are not
known.

 Inexpensive and provides rich information.

Emphasizes the features that will make a system particularly
vulnerable (weak) and can bring major benefits (e.g. safety).
Can be applied using questionnaires or interviews.

Disadvantages
The Critical Incident Technique will rely on events being
remembered by users and will also require the accurate and
truthful reporting of them. Since critical incidents often rely on
memory, incidents may be imprecise or may even go
unreported.
The method has a built-in bias towards incidents that
happened recently, since these are easier to recall.
Respondents may not be accustomed to or willing to take the
time to tell (or write) a complete story when describing a
critical incident.

Fleishman Job Analysis

System
To gather information about worker requirements,

the
Fleishman Job Analysis System asks subject-matter experts,
typically job incumbents, to evaluate a job in terms of the
abilities required to perform the job.
The survey is based on 52 categories of abilities ranging from
written comprehension to deductive reasoning, manual
dexterity, stamina, and originality.
When the survey has been completed in all 52 categories, the
results provide a picture of the ability requirements of a job.
This information is especially important and useful for
employee:
Selection
Training
Career development
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 analyst will list all elements as follows:

Cognitive
* Perceptual Abilities
* Spatial Abilities
* Idea Generation & Reasoning Abilities
* Quantitative Abilities
* Memory
* Attentiveness
* Verbal Abilities

Psycho-motor
* Control Movement Abilities
* Reaction Time and Speed Abilities
* Fine Manipulative Abilities

 Physical
* Endurance
* Flexibility, Balance, and Coordination
* Visual Abilities
* Auditory and Speech Abilities
* Physical Strength Abilities
Sensory
The second step involve a meeting of experts.
The analyst calculates and obtains job
description.

 Advantages :
It is straight forward and easy to adopt
It seems to be an viable option for identifying worker
specifications
It is suitable to suggest possible predictors to be used in
selection

Disadvantage : not appropriate when using a content

validation strategy

Job Element Method

Job element method is a method of job analysis, developed by
Ernest Primoff.
This method, like the critical incident technique, focuses on
satisfactory workers. It attempts to identify the characteristics
of satisfactory workers (job elements).
JEM method focuses on work behaviors and the results of this
behavior rather than more abstract characteristics.

Job Element Analysis

Identifies the characteristics of a superior worker

on the job
Elements consist of:
a knowledge,
a skill, an ability,
a willingness,
an interest and
a personal characteristics
Identify the characteristics that should be
assessed by selection measures
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Process / Application
Selecting a panel of experts/raters
Developing job element and sub
elements
Rating job elements and sub
elements
Analyzing JEM data
Amplifying sub element definitions

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

Quantitative approach to job analysis that utilizes a
compiled inventory of the various functions or work
activities that can make up any job.
Assumes that each job involves three broad worker
functions: (1) data, (2) people, and (3) things.
Rates each job in terms of what an employee does with
respect to data, people, and things.
Ex: A Receptionist may be labelled as 5,6,7 with respect to
data, people and things. i.e. copying data, speakingsignaling people, and handling things.

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 Two types of task information are obtained from FJA

What a worker does-procedure and process engaged
by a worker
How a task is performed mental, physical, and
interpersonal involvement of the worker with the task

 Besides rating a job on these three aspects,

FJA also rates a job on four other dimensions:
the extent to which specific instructions are
necessary
the extent to which reasoning and judgment are
required
the extent to which mathematical ability is
required, and
the extent to which verbal and language facilities
required.
FJA also identifies performance standards and
training requirements. Therefore FJA lets you answer
the question, To do this task and meet the
standards, what training does the worker require ?
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Application

Organizing job incumbents to analyze the job

Identifying job task
Measuring worker function
Measuring worker instructions
Measuring worker qualifications: reasoning, mathematical and
language development scale
Identifying employee specifications
Administering a job task questionnaire

Repertory grid
The repertory grid is a technique for identifying the ways that
a person construes (interprets/ gives meaning to) his or her
experience.
This structured interview technique provides a structure for
eliciting the attributes which distinguish between more
effective and less effective job incumbents.
The Repertory Grid Method was developed by the American
psychologist George Kelly in the early 1950s as a basis for
understanding how people perceive their environment and how
that perception influences behaviour.

 Repertory Grids are typically used with Line Managers /

Supervisors / Team Leaders / Job Incumbents, who are in a
position to make comparisons between a number of job
holders known to them at the target level under job analysis,
half of whom are considered to be very effective performers,
and half less effective.

 A grid consists of four parts:

A Topic: it is about some part of the person's
experience
A set of Elements, which are examples or
instances of the Topic.
For example, to see how I construe the purchase
of a car, a list of vehicles within my price range
could make an excellent set of elements

 A set of Constructs. These are the basic terms that the

client uses to make sense of the elements, and are always
expressed as a contrast.
Thus the meaning of 'Good' depends on whether you intend to
say 'Good versus Poor', as if you were construing a theatrical
performance, or 'Good versus Evil', as if you were construing
the moral or ontological status of some more fundamental
experience.

 A set of ratings of Elements on Constructs. Each

element is positioned between the two extremes of the
construct using a 5- or 7-point rating scale system;
this is done repeatedly for all the constructs that apply; and
thus its meaning to the client is captured, and statistical
analysis varying from simple counting, to more complex
multivariate analysis of meaning, is made possible