Benefits of Job Analysis Business Essay
Benefits of Job Analysis Business Essay
Essay
Edwin B. Flippo defined Job Analysis as the process of studying and collecting
information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job.
According to Michael J. Jucius, "Job Analysis refers to the process of studying the
operations, duties and organisational aspects of jobs in order to derive
specification or job description ".
According to Blum, "A job Analysis is an accurate study of the various job
components. It is concerned not only with an analysis of the duties and conditions
of work, but also with the individual qualifications of the worker."
As defined by John A Shubin "Job Analysis is the methodical compilation and
study of work data in order to define and characterise each occupation in such a
manner so as to distinguish it from all others."
In the words of Scott, Clothier and Spriegel, "Job Analysis is the process of
critically evaluating the operations, duties and relationship of the job."
Job Analysis is the systematic process of collecting and making judgments about
all the important information related to a job. Job Analysis is the procedure
through which one determines the duties and nature of the jobs. It also
determines the kinds of people who should be hired for those jobs. General
purpose of job Analysis is to document the requirements of a job and the work
performed. Moreover job Analysis is fundamental to the preparation of job
specification and description.
Collecting Job Data: The next step is to collect the data related to the job selected
for the analysis as they are being performed in the organisation at present. The
job is analysed by collecting data on job activities, required employee behaviours,
working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job.
Preparing Job Description: job descriptions are prepared by using information
obtained from job Analysis. It states the full information of job including working
conditions, nature of job, processes used machines and materials used for the
job.
Developing Job Specification: Job Specifications are developed using information
given in job description. Job specification is statement regarding human qualities
that are required for a particular job. Such information is used to select the person
matching the requirements of the job. Job Analysis outcomes are as follows:
Job Description
Job description is a broad statement of the purpose, duties and responsibilities of
a job or position. A job description is based on a detailed job analysis and usually
summarises the essential information gathered through job analysis. It describes
the main tasks and responsibilities of the job clearly and concisely in order to
facilitate the systematic comparison of jobs for evaluation purposes. The kind of
information and amount of details contained in the job descriptions depend on the
job evaluation plan to be used. Job Description is "snapshot" of a job. Current and
accurate job Descriptions maximizes employee effectiveness and productivity as
it outlines the positions' responsibilities and accountabilities. Job Descriptions
clearly and concisely communicate what the job entails. In addition, job
Descriptions help in attracting and retaining the best talent as it shows that a
company is organized, well-run, and fair. Job Descriptions promote responsibility;
improve morale and the corporate image. Job Description is a written statement
of what the job holder actually does, how he or she does it, and under what
conditions the job is performed. There is no standard format for writing job
Description. It is an organized factual statement of job contents in the form of
duties and responsibilities of a specific job. The preparation of job Description is
very important before a vacancy is advertised. It tells in brief the nature and type
of job and usually includes:
Title/ Designation of job and location in the concern
Job summary and achievable results
The nature of duties and operations to be performed in that job
Job Specification
Job specifications usually involve a listing of the personal qualifications regarded
as necessary for satisfactory performance. Job specifications are mainly used in
selecting and recruiting staff and are accordingly not essential for job evaluations.
But certain personal attributes, such as experience, education and aptitude, may
occur in both in job description as well as in job specification. Many job evaluation
plans accordingly use job specifications to complement job description.
Job Specification describes the desired attributes of the person doing the job. It is
a statement which tells minimum acceptable human qualities that helps to
perform a job. Such requirements are usually established for individual jobs on
the basis of judgments made by staff analysts, but in some instances they are
based upon statistical validation procedures. Job Specification translates the job
description into human qualifications so that a job can be performed in a better
manner. Job Specification helps in hiring an appropriate person for an appropriate
position. The contents are:
Educational qualifications and experiences for job title
Physical and other related attributes
Physique and mental health
Special attributes and abilities
Interpersonal skills
Maturity and dependability
Family background
Work-output job context and other job characteristics
Job Specification should be used as a guideline to the knowledge, skills and
aptitudes required to perform a specific job. Job Analysis, job Description and job
Specification, together form the basis of recruitment, selection and placements of
persons in an organisation.
Man power planning: - Job Analysis data provides the qualitative aspects of the
jobs in an organisation. It determines the demands of job in terms of duties to be
performed, qualification and personal skills required in the employees. It is a tool
which is used for matching job with men.
Recruitment and Selection: - Job Analysis helps in hiring future human resources
of an organisation. Job Description and job Specification provides necessary
information that helps to recruit and select the right kind of people for the
available jobs.
Training and Development: - Based on the job requirements identification of the
training needs of the persons can be done easily. Training can be provided in
those specific areas which will help to improve the job performance.
Job Evaluation: - Job evaluation refers to studying in detail the job performance
by all individual. Information regarding the level of difficulty, skills level, qualities
required to perform the job are obtained from job analysis to establish relative
worth of different jobs. Promotions and Transfer: - promotion is given to an
employee on the basis of the skill and talent required for the future job. Similarly
when an employee gets transfer to another branch the job must be very similar to
that of his previous job. To take these decisions the information is collected from
job Analysis.
Performance Appraisal: - By comparing actual performance of the employees to
the standard set by organisation, the personnel activities like promotion,
increments, incentives or corrective actions to enhance job performance is
decided. These standards are established using information provided by job
Analysis.
Career path planning and Employee counselling: - Many companies have not
taken up career planning for their employees. Employee counselling is done to
prevent the employee from leaving the company. Employees are informed about
the limitations of jobs in terms of development and are guided to take required
steps for their future development. Job Analysis provides such information
regarding the areas in which a person requires modification for better career
options.
Health and safety: -Job Analysis points out the risk factor associated with a
particular job and thus the action required for the safety of the employees can be
taken. Unsafe operations can be eliminated or can be replaced by safe one or the
safety equipments can be installed.
Labour relations: When companies plan to add extra duties or remove certain
duties from a job, they require the help of job Analysis, when this activity is
systematically done using job Analysis, it does not affect adversely to the union
members and do not hamper labour relations.
Acceptance of job offer: Appointment letter issued by an organisation always
mention the duties to be performed by him. This information is collected from job
Analysis, which is why job Analysis becomes important.
Discovering Unassigned Duties: Job Analysis can help to reveal unassigned
duties if any. However, the end result of job Analysis is effectiveness and
efficiency i.e. doing the right thing and doing it rightly and respectively. The
underlying motive at the long run is increase in company's profitability, productivity
and sustainability.
Job Evaluation
Job Evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing various jobs
systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization. Job Evaluation
means systematically determining relative worth of jobs to create job structure
and to develop job hierarchy. In Job Evaluation process the relative worth of job is
identified based upon job comparability. According to relative worth, importance of
job and relative value compensation is designed and selected. Hence it involves
determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage
and salary differentials. Basically, relative worth is determined on the basis of Job
Description and Job Specification. Job Evaluation helps to determine wages and
salary grades for all jobs. Employees need to be compensated depending on the
grades of jobs they perform. Remuneration must be based on the relative worth of
each job. Ignoring this basic principle arrives at inequitable compensation
practice. A perception of inequity is a sure way of de-motivating an employee and
a profound ill effect on employees' morale.
According to Alford and Beatty, "Job Evaluation is the application of the job
Analysis technique to the qualitative measurement of relative job worth, for the
purpose of establishing consistent wage rate differentials by objective means. It
measures the differences between jobs on the job requirements, and establishes
the differential numerically (job rating), so that it can be converted to wage rate
after the wage level is determined".
Jobs are arranged from highest to lowest, in order of their value or merit to the
organisation. Jobs also can be arranged according to the relative difficulty in
performing them, in order of importance beginning with the most important to the
least important jobs in the organisation. This procedure is followed for jobs in
each department and an attempt is then made to equate or compare jobs at
various levels among the several departments. When this is completed, grade
levels are defined and salary groups are formed. Jobs are placed into different
salary ranges more or less on a predominated basis in their rank order. The most
obvious limitation to the ranking method is its sheer inability to be managed when
there are a large number of jobs. Other drawbacks to be considered are the
subjectivity of the method. There are no definite or consistent standards by which
to justify the rankings.
An example of ranking of jobs where additional jobs between already ranked may
be assigned.
Rank
Monthly salary range
Advantages:
1. The system is quite simple to adopt.
2. Once the workers understand the process, it is very easy to administer.
3. Less time consuming in evaluating the jobs.
4. This system is suitable for smaller organisation where the raters are fully
acquainted with all the existing jobs in the enterprise.
Disadvantages:
1. Due to lack of scientific approach jobs may be arbitrarily ranked resulting in
differences in similar jobs.
2. Since the ranks judgements of the jobs are subjective, the fairness of the
judgement is questionable.
3. In a complex and large organisation, it is not possible to be familiar with all the
jobs and thus general description will not enable correct assessment of the
relative importance of the jobs.