What is Job Analysis and Job Design

Introduction

Manpower planning is concerned with the determination of quantitative and qualitative requirements of manpower for the organization. Determination of manpower requirements is one of the most important problems in manpower planning. Job analysis and job design, provide this knowledge. Before going through the mechanism of job analysis and job design, it is relevant to understand the terms which are used in job analysis and job design.

Job: A job may be defined as a “collection or aggregation of tasks, duties, and responsibilities which as a whole, are regarded as a regular assignment to individual employees,” and which is different from other assignments, In other words, when the total work to be done is divided and grouped into packages, we call it a “job.” Each job has a definite title based upon standardized trade specifications within a job; two or more grades may be identified, where the work assignment may be graded according to skill, the difficulty of doing them, or the quality of workmanship.  

Thus, it may be noted that a position is a “collection o tasks and responsibilities regularly assigned to one person;” while a job is a “group of positions, which involve essentially the same duties, responsibilities, skill, and knowledge.” A position consists of a particular set of duties assigned to an individual.

Decenzo and P. Robbins define other terms as follows:

Task:	It is a distinct work activity carried out for a distinct purpose.
Duty:	It is several tasks.
Position:	It refers to one or more duties performed by one person in an organization, There are at least as many positions as there are workers in the organization; vacancies may create more positions than employees.
Job:	It is a type of position within the organization.
Job Family:	It is a group of two or more jobs that either call for similar worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks as determined by the job analysis.
Occupation:	It is a group of similar jobs found across organizations.
Career:	It represents a sequence of positions, jobs, or occupations that a person has over his working life. Job Analysis Information Hierarchy Job Analysis Defined Developing an organizational structure results in jobs that have to be staffed. Job analysis is the procedure through which you determine the duties and nature of the jobs and the kinds of people (in terms of skills and experience) who should be hired for them.’ It provides you with data on job requirements, which are then used for developing job descriptions (what the job entails) and job specifications (what kind of people to hire for the job). Some of the definitions of job analysis ate given as follows, to understand the meaning of the term more clearly: According to Michael L. Julius, “Job analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and organizational aspects of jobs to derive specifications or as they are called by some, job descriptions.” According to DeCenzo and P. Robbins, “A job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities, and accountabilities of a job.” According to Herbert G Herman “A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to contribute to the production of some product or service provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability requirements (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. Job analysis process used to identify these requirements.” Flippo has offered a more comprehensive definition of job analysis, “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of the analysis are job descriptions and job specifications” Thus, job analysis involves the process of identifying the nature of a job (job description) and the qualities of the likely job holder (job specification). Uses of Job Analysis As summarized in Figure 3.2 the information generated by the job analysis is used as a basis for several interrelated personnel management activities: the job analysis Figure 3.2: Uses of Job Analysis 1.            Achievement of Goals: Weather and Davis have stated, “Jobs are at the core of every organization’s productivity, if they are designed well and done right, the organization makes progress towards its objectives. Otherwise, productivity suffers, profits fall, and the organization is less able to meet the demands of society, customers, employees, and others with a stake in its success.” 2.            Organizational Design: Job analysis will be useful in classifying the jobs and the interrelationships among the jobs. Based on information obtained through job analysis, sound decisions regarding hierarchical positions and functional differentiation can be taken and this will improve operational efficiency. 3.            Organization and Manpower Planning:  It is helpful in organization planning, for it defines labor in concrete terms and coordinates the activities of the workforce, and clearly divides duties and responsibilities. 4.            Recruitment and Selection: Job analysis provides you with information on what the job entails and what human requirements are required to carry out these activities. This information is the basis on which you decide what sort of people to recruit and hire. 5.            Placement and Orientation:  Job analysis helps in matching the job requirements with the abilities, interests, and aptitudes of people. Jobs will be assigned to persons based on suitability for the job. The orientation program will help the employee in learning the activities and understanding the duties that are required to perform a given job more effectively. 6.            Employee Training and Management Development: Job analysis provides the necessary information to the management of training and development programs. It helps to determine the content and subject matter of training courses. It also helps in checking application information, interviewing test results, and checking references. 7.            Job Evaluation and Compensation: Job evaluation is the process of determining the relative worth of different jobs in an organization with a view to link compensation, both basic and supplementary, with the worth of the jobs. The worth of a job is determined based on job characteristics and job holder characteristics. Job analysis provides both in the form of job descriptions and job specifications. 8.            Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal involves comparing each employee’s actual performance with his or her desired performance. Through job analysis industrial engineers and other experts determine standards to be achieved and specific activities to be performed. 9.            Health and Safety: It provides an opportunity for identifying hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that corrective measures may be taken to minimize and avoid the possibility of accidents. 10.        Employee Counselling:  Job analysis provides information about career choices and personal limitations. Such information is helpful in vocational guidance and rehabilitation counseling. Employees who are unable to cope with the hazards and demands of given jobs may be advised to opt for subsidiary jobs or to seek premature retirement.