JOB ANALYSIS

After having decided on the primary objectives of an organization, it is necessary to think of various activities that must be carried out to enable the organization to achieve its overall objectives. This breaking down of the objectives into manageable operations needs to be done in a manner that will ensure efficient utilization of resources – men, materials, machines and money – towards manufacturing goods or providing services of high quality. This calls for a scientific and systematic analysis of various jobs that must be performed according to the laid down criteria and with maximum efficiency. These jobs must fit together, coordinate and be directed towards the objectives of the organization. It was immediately after the Industrial Revolution around 1900 that approaches to scientific analysis of jobs were developed by Frederick W Taylor and Gilbert, which have been widely used since then by manufacturing, commercial and service organizations throughout the world. Thus the study and understanding of jobs is an important part of any personnel program

Job analysis involves formal study of jobs. It attempts to provide information on both the requirements of a job in terms of time for completion, necessary activities and the expected performance standards on the one hand, and also the specific technical and behavioral knowledge, skill and attitudes needed among the personnel to meet those job requirements on the other.

Uses of Job Analysis

Job analysis, through clearly defined and written job description and job specification, provides the basic information around which personnel functions can be carried out. It provides a fuller understanding of the specific requirements of jobs and personal attributes needed and thus helps in taking job-related personnel decisions. Organization structure and Design:- Job analysis helps in classifying job requirements and interrelationships among jobs. Responsibility, authority and accountability for various jobs can be specified so as to minimize duplication or overlapManpower planning:- Job analysis provides useful information for forecasting manpower requirements in terms of skills and expertise and in planning for transfers and promotion.Recruitment:- Information regarding the job is a prerequisite for recruitment decisions. Selection:- Methods of selection must be based on meaningful forecast of job performance. An understanding of what an employee is expected to do on the job is necessary for such a meaningful forecast.Placement:- A clear understanding of the requirements of a job and the abilities of a person to meet those requirements can help in taking placement decisions to ensure that specific jobs are assigned to those people who will be most productive. Orientation:- The orientation program could be geared towards helping the employee learn those tasks, activities and duties that are essential for doing a given job more effectively. A clear idea of what is required on a job provides clarity as to what is to be learnt.Performance Appraisal:- Job analysis provides understanding of critical parts of a job as well as what is expected of the job holder in those critical areas. Employee performance can thus be evaluated against known critical activities and standards.Career path Planning:- Effective career path planning becomes possible only when employees have a clear idea of various opportunities in terms of career paths and jobs available to them. For both the organization and the individual, job analysis provides basic information necessary for career planning and development efforts.Training and Development:- Job analysis provides useful information for identification of training needs, design of training program and the evaluation of training effectiveness. All training activities are based on analysis of job requirements and personal skill requirements. Likewise

employee development strategies like job rotation, transfers, higher responsibilities, can be based on these data.Job Evaluation:- Job analysis is a prerequisite for ranking of jobs in terms of their relative worth to the organization, to enable organizations to take decisions on salary structures.

Labor Relations:- The information provided by job analysis is essential for both the management and the union before entering into negotiated agreements as well as for resolving grievances and jurisdictional disputes. Job Design:- Knowledge of job requirements, people requirements and individual capabilities obtained through job analysis provides basic information on which such job design decisions can be taken. This optimally meets the requirements of the technical efficiency with that of the social and personal requirements of the job holders.Engineering Design and Methods of Improvement:- Job analysis can also provide useful data to bring about improvements in the engineering design and work methods for higher efficiency and productivity. Safety:- In the course of carrying out job analysis, certain unsafe environmental and operational conditions or individual habits, if any, are discovered and thus may lead to safety improvements.Counseling:- Vocational guidance and rehabilitation counseling is facilitated by the information available on career choices and personal limitations.

The Job Analysis Process

Steps in the Job Analysis Process:- The major steps to be followed in carrying out job analysis in an on-going organization are:

1. Organization Analysis:- The first step is to get an overall view of various jobs in the organization with a view to examining the linkages between jobs and the organizational objectives, interrelationships among jobs, and the contribution of various jobs towards achieving organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The organization chart and work flow or process charts constitute an important source of information for the purpose.

2. Selection of Jobs for Analysis:- Carrying out job analysis is a time-consuming and costly process. It is, therefore, desirable to select a representative sample of jobs for purposes of analysis.

3. Collection of Data:- Data will have to be collected on the characteristics of job, the required behavior and personal attributes needed to do the job effectively.

4. Preparation of Job Description:- The information collected in the previous step is used in preparing a job description for the job highlighting major tasks, duties and responsibilities for effective job performance.

5. Preparation of Job Specification:- Likewise, the information gathered in Step (4) is used to prepare the job specification for a job highlighting the personal attributes required in terms of education, training, aptitude and experience to fulfill the job description.

Job analysis thus carried out provides basic inputs to the design of jobs so that it is able to meet the requirements of both the organization (in terms of efficiency and productivity) as well as the employees (in terms of job satisfaction and need fulfillment). Developing appropriate job design is then the outcome of the job analysis process.

Following the steps outlined above provides the basis for carrying out job analysis exercise. It requires careful planning, and it is necessary for those having responsibility for job analysis to explain the rationale to affected employees as well as the management so that the necessary approval and cooperation can be obtained.

METHODS USED IN JOB ANALYSISMany methods are used to collect information and important among them are Questionnaire, job performance, observation, interview, technical conference, dairy and personnel records..

1. Questionnaire:- This method involves developing structured questionnaires on different aspects of job-related tasks and behavior such as coordinating, negotiating, manual and mental processes. The questionnaires are administered to relevant employees and they are asked to give their ratings of these job dimensions.

The questionnaire method enables the analyst to cover a large number of respondents in the shortest possible time.

The disadvantages of the questionnaire method are:

(i) Developing standardized questionnaire is time-consuming and expensive.(ii) Direct rapport between analyst and respondent is not possible(iii) Respondent’s cooperation and motivation are not guaranteed due to impersonal

approach.

Job Performance:- This method involves the analyst actually doing the job under study to get first hand exposure to actual tasks, and physical, environmental and social demands of the job. This method can be used only in jobs where skill requirements are not high and, therefore, can be learnt quickly and easily. This method is not appropriate for jobs requiring extensive training.

Observation:-The analyst observes, without getting directly involved in the job, the worker or a group engaged in doing the job. Observations are made on various tasks, activities, the pace at which tasks are carried out, and the way different activities are performed. This method is appropriate for jobs that involve manual, standardized, and short job cycle activities. The information thus obtained is recorded in a standard format.

Interview:- The workers are interviewed to collect data on various requirements of the job. It is desirable to use a standard format so as to focus the interview to the purpose of the analyst. Standardized interview schedule with job-related questions needs to be prepared carefully to enable the interviewer to be in control of the situation. .

On major problem with interviewing is that inaccurate information may be collected. If the purpose of interview is not clear, the worker may provide information to protect his own interest establishing rapport between analyst and workers is a prerequisite for effective use of this method.

Technical conference:- As per this method, information is collected from experts directly about the traits of the job

Dairy:- The job incumbent is asked to record his daily activities in a diary. So the analysts can collect information about nature of the job and time spent on various activities by the worker. It is a time consuming process.Records:- The personnel department maintains the record of job and job doers. The job analysts collect information from these records.

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