Explain in detail the processes of a job analysis then explain why this process is important to human resources management as well as corporate effeciency and profitability

Job Analysis and job design

A major purpose of this chapter is to impress on students the importance of job design and job descriptions in providing a foundation for an effective HR program. Emphasized in the chapter is the necessity for basing decisions involving the various HR functions on the requirements of the job. The contributions that accurate job descriptions can render to more effective employee perfor​mance and to an equal employment opportunity program are also emphasized. In the chapter the reader is made aware of the principal approaches to job analysis and the techniques to be used in preparing job descriptions and specifications.

Employees make important contributions to the organization through the design of their jobs and the freedom they are given to perform their work. This chapter concludes by discussing important concerns regarding how jobs are designed, including ergonomics, employee empowerment, and various employee involvement techniques. Special emphasis is given to employee teams and the characteristics of all successful teams.

Chapter Learning Outcomes

Lecture Outline

A job can be defined as an activity people do for which they get paid, particularly as part of the trade or occupation they occupy.

I. What Is a Job Analysis and How Does It Affect Human Resources Management?

Figure 4.1 will be useful in the discussion on job analysis. Ask students to name job requirements that have the potential to negatively affect protected class members (for example, height or weight requirements).

A job analysis is the systematic process of collecting information about all of the parameters of a job—its basic responsibilities, the behaviors, skills, and the physical and mental requirements of the people who do it.

A. Major Parts of the Job Analysis

The two major pieces of information that come out of a job analysis:

· A job description is a written document that describes the overall purpose of the job, and tasks, duties, and responsibilities, or what human resources personnel refer to as TDRs, and the qualifications needed to do it.

· Job specifications, or qualifications, are a part of the written job description and outline in detail the specific knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes (often referred to as KSAOs) required of the person performing the job.

The information in a job analysis is crucial to a number of HRM functions, including the following.

· Strategic HR planning—a job analysis is used to examine a company’s organizational structure and strategically position it for the future.

· Workflow analysis and job design—the information generated by a job analysis can also be used to analyze a company’s work processes—that is, how work is done.

· Recruitment and selection—the information provided via a job analysis are contained in job advertisements, whether they are posted on organizational bulletin boards, Internet sites, the help-wanted sections of publications, or employment-agency listings.

· Training and development—any discrepancies between the abilities of jobholders and a firm’s job descriptions provide clues about the training jobholders need to succeed and advance into different jobs as well as the training the firm needs to provide.

· Performance appraisal and compensation—a job analysis provides the criteria for evaluating what constitutes a good performance versus a poor performance, the firm can then take steps to improve the latter.

· Compensation management—conducting a job analysis helps HR managers figure out the relative worth of positions so the compensation for them is fair and equitable, and employees want to remain with the firm rather than search for other jobs.

· Legal compliance—if the criteria used to hire and evaluate employees are not job-related, employers are more likely to find themselves being accused of discrimination.

II. Sources of Job Analysis Information

Explain that job analysis consists of a number of logical steps that must be performed in order. This will ensure that the activity will be concluded successfully.

A job analysis is an important HR building block. Students should fully understand the process of job analysis and how it influences the other HR functions. Go over the definition of job analysis provided in the textbook. Ensure that students understand the relationship between the collection of job analysis information and the development of job descriptions and job specifications from these data. The first step is to collect information needed to analyze jobs. The most common methods of collecting this information are interviews, questionnaires, observation, and diaries.

· Interviews—a job analyst or supervisor interviews individual employees and their managers about the parameters of the job.

· Questionnaires—the job analyst or supervisor circulates standard questionnaires to be filled out individually by jobholders.

· Observation—the job analyst or supervisor learns about the job by observing and recording the activities associated with it on a standardized form.

· Diaries—jobholders are asked to keep diaries of their work activities for an entire work cycle.

A. Controlling the Accuracy of the Job Data Collected

When interviewing employees or reviewing their questionnaires, a job analyst should look for any responses that do not agree with other facts or impressions he or she has received about the job. Sometimes employees exaggerate the difficulty of their positions in order to inflate their egos and their paychecks.

B. Other Sources of Job Analysis Information

After reviewing the different methods of conducting the job analysis, ask the class to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each method and list these on the board. If possible, have a job analyst from an organization serve as a guest speaker.

There are several different quantitative job analysis approaches that already exist. Five of the more popular methods are the functional job analysis, the position analysis system, the critical incident method, a task inventory analysis, and a competency-based job analysis. Stress to students that a goal of job analysis is to determine the job relatedness of selection requirements. The Uniform Guidelines requires a job analysis.

1. Functional Job Analysis System

The functional job analysis (FJA) approach utilizes an inventory of the various types of work activities that can constitute any job. Basic activities called worker functions are used to describe what workers do with regard to “information, people, and things” as part of this system. Each job function is assigned a percentage in terms of its importance to the job.

2. The Position Analysis Questionnaire System

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), which identifies approximately 200 different worker tasks, has been used to collect and analyze job information since the 1970s. Using a five-point scale, the PAQ seeks to determine the degree, if any, to which the different tasks, or job elements, are involved in performing a particular job.

3. The Critical Incident Method

The objective of the critical incident method is to identify critical job tasks. Critical job tasks are important duties, responsibilities, and behaviors performed by the jobholder that lead to job success. Information about critical incidents can be collected through interviews with employees or managers or through self-report statements written by employees. Review the example of the reference librarian provided in the textbook.

After the job information is collected, the analyst then writes separate TDR statements that represent important job activities. The job analyst writes 5 to 10 important TDR statements for each job under study. The critical incident method is an important job analysis method because it teaches the analyst to focus on employee behaviors critical to job success.

4. Task Inventory Analysis

The task inventory analysis method was pioneered by the U.S. Air Force. With the help of employees and their managers, a list of tasks and their descriptions for different jobs are developed and then rated based on how important they are. The goal is to produce a comprehensive list of task statements applicable to all jobs. The job analysis would also note the importance of the task, frequency of occurrence, and time spent on the task to the successful completion of the job.

5. Competency-Based Approach

Job analysis looks at how a job is currently done. But the ever-changing business market makes it difficult to keep a job analysis up-to-date. Also, companies are asking employees to do more, so there is a question of whether ‘jobs’ are obsolete. The risk is that in a dynamic environment where job demands rapidly change, obsolete job analysis information will hinder an organization’s ability to adapt to change.

When organizations operate in a fast-moving environment, managers often adopt a competency-based approach to job analysis. This job analysis method relies on building job profiles that look at not only the responsibilities and activities of jobs a worker does currently but the competencies or capabilities he or she needs to do them well and to adapt to new job challenges.

The objective is to identify key competencies for the organization’s success. Competencies can be identified through focus groups, surveys, or interviews and might include such things as interpersonal communication skills, decision-making ability, conflict resolution skills, adaptability, or self-motivation.

C. Parts of a Job Description

Obtain samples of different job descriptions prepared by organizations in an area. Use it as an introduction to this section. Have students discuss the job descriptions under which they work. Ask students if the descriptions accurately reflect the responsibilities and the duties they perform.

Have students, in groups, prepare a job description for the job of college instructor. Have them present the results orally in class. This is an exercise students enjoy, and it provides them an opportunity to write a job description. Explain that there is no standard format for job descriptions. Organizations will write job descriptions based on their particular needs.

However, as a minimum, most job descriptions will contain three parts: the job’s title and location; a job identification section, which contains administration information such a numerical code for the job, to whom the jobholder reports, and wage information; and a job duties section (e.g., essential functions). The other important outcome of the job analysis is the job specifications, or the description of KSAOs. If the job specification is not prepared as a separate document, it is usually stated in the concluding section of the job description. Refer students to Highlights in HRM 2 in the textbook for an example of a job description.

1. Job Title

Selecting a job’s title serves several purposes:

· The job title is psychologically important because it provides status to the employee.

· If possible, the title provides an indication of what the duties of the job entail.

2. Job Identification Section

The job identification section of a job description usually follows the job title. It includes such items as the departmental location of the job, the person to whom the jobholder reports, and the date the job description was last revised.

3. Tasks, Duties, and Responsibilities Section

Explain to students that this is the heart of any job description. Statements covering job duties are typically arranged in their order of importance. These statements should indicate the weight, or value, of each duty. As a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), and landmark court rulings, employers need to be able to show that the job criteria they use to select employees for a particular position relate specifically to the duties for that job

4. Job Specifications Section

A job specification section covers two areas of qualifications: (i) the skills required to perform the job (ii) and the physical demands on the job places on the employee doing it. Skills relevant to the job include the education, experience, and specialized training it requires, and the personal traits or abilities and manual dexterities it requires.

The job specifications section should also include interpersonal skills if a competency-based job analysis approach is used. Ask students for examples of interpersonal skills needed for different jobs and how those skills might be assessed in a job interview.

D. Writing Clear and Specific Job Descriptions

As an in-class project, have students brainstorm what they consider to be problems associated with job descriptions. Refer to the textbook for a list of frequently identified problems with job descriptions.

When writing a job description, keep the items on it direct and simply worded. Federal guidelines and court decisions now require that the specific performance requirements of a job be based on valid job-related criteria.

Most job descriptions end with a statement such as, “The employee shall perform other duties as may be necessary.” Ask students how they feel about this umbrella statement. Point out to students that a statement like this could lead to legal problems.

III. Job Design

Job design, which is an outgrowth of job analysis, focuses on restructuring jobs to capture the talents of employees, improve their work satisfaction, and enhance an organization’s performance. Motivating people is especially important when you consider the fact that people—not machines—are the most strategic asset companies have today.

Industrial engineering, a top-down job design approach, is the study of work to determine which, if any, elements of work can be modified, combined, rearranged, or eliminated to reduce the time needed to complete the work cycle.

A. Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the process of studying and designing equipment and systems that are easy and efficient for employees to use so that their physical well-being isn’t compromised and work gets done more efficiently in the organization. Factors such as the climate employees work in, the temperatures of facilities, noise and lighting conditions, and the length of schedules and fatigue factors are examined.

B. Enrichment

Any effort that makes work more rewarding or satisfying by adding more variety and meaning to a job is called job enrichment. Job enrichment programs are designed to fulfill the high motivational needs of employees, such as self-fulfillment and self-esteem, while achieving long-term job satisfaction and performance goals.

Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham proposed a job enrichment theory called the job characteristics model. The job characteristics model proposes that three psychological states of a jobholder result in improved work performance, internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and turnover. A motivated, satisfied, and productive employee:

· Experiences meaningfulness of the work performed

· Experience responsibility for work outcomes

· Has knowledge of the results of the work performed

Hackman and Oldham believe that five core job dimensions produce the three psychological states. Refer to the textbook for the five core job dimensions. Explain that it is important to build all five core dimensions into a job because each of these dimensions affects employee performance differently.

Job enrichment can be accomplished by increasing the autonomy and responsibility of employees. A number of job design techniques are being used today in an effort to enrich jobs. The techniques include job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. Job enlargement is the process of adding a greater variety of tasks to a job. Additionally, job rotation is a process whereby employees rotate in and out of different jobs. Both job enlargement and job rotation help alleviate the boredom people experience where they perform narrow, specialized jobs.

1. Empowerment

Employee empowerment encourages workers to become innovators and managers of their own work, and it involves them in their jobs in ways that give them more control and autonomous decision-making capabilities. Employee empowerment succeeds when the culture of an organization is open and receptive to change.

The following are additional tips for managers who want to empower their employees:

· Participation—employees should be encouraged to take control of their work tasks.

· Innovation—the work environment should be receptive to people with innovative ideas and encourage people to explore new paths and to take reasonable risks at reasonable costs.

· Access to information—employees must have access to a wide range of information.

· Accountability—empowered employees should be held accountable for producing agreed-upon results.

Another type of empowerment technique getting attention is job crafting. Job crafting is a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby employees mold their tasks to fit their individual strengths, passions, and motives better. Employees often reshape their jobs whether managers want them to or not, and that in many cases, job crafting results in significantly more employee engagement, a situation in which workers are enthusiastic and immersed in their work to the degree that it improves the performance of their companies.

IV. Employee Teams and Flexible Work Schedules

Increasingly, teams are how work gets done in organizations. In addition, companies are seeing advantages of tinkering with and redesigning work schedules to make them more flexible, adding flexibility to where employees can work.

A. Employee Teams

Organizations of all types are using employee teams to solve unique and complex problems and improve the collaboration among workers and their morale. Ask students to identify organizations they know about that employ teams to achieve organizational improvement.

An employee team can be defined as a group of individuals working together toward a common purpose, in which members have complementary skills, members’ work is mutually dependent, and the group has discretion over tasks performed.

Teams seek to make members of the work group share responsibility and accountability for their group’s performance. Part of the reason why employee teams exist is that employees, not managers, are closest to the work that’s actually being done in an organization. Thus, they are often in a better position to see how the work can be done better.

Ask students what they think is meant by team synergy. Teamwork embraces the concept of synergy. Synergy occurs when the interaction and outcome of team members is greater than the sum of their individual efforts.

Teams can operate in a variety of structures, each with different strategic purposes or functional activities. They include:

· Cross-functional teams

· Project teams

· Self-directed teams

· Task-force teams

· Process-improvement teams

· Virtual teams

Closely associated with teams is dejobbing. Dejobbing refers to a process of structuring organizations not around jobs but around projects that are constantly changing and have different team members.

1. Virtual Teams

Companies are recognizing that the best people for projects are often in different locations. Virtual teams utilize telecommunications technology to link team members who are geographically dispersed—often worldwide across cultures and across time zones.

2. Facilitating Teams

Regardless of the structure or purpose of the team, the following characteristics have been identified with successful teams:

· A commitment to shared goals and objectives

· Motivated and energetic team members

· Open and honest communication

· Shared leadership

· Clear role assignments

· A climate of cooperation, collaboration, trust, and accountability

· The recognition of conflict and its positive resolution

Unfortunately, not all teams succeed or operate at their full potential. Power struggles, uncertainty about the roles members should play, a lack of resources, conflicts of interest, and personality differences are common team problems. Organizations can help prevent some of the problems a team experiences. First the firm should determine when and when not a team is needed. Once it’s been determined a team is a needed, a company can help it succeed by designing the compensation so that the team’s members individually and jointly work for its achievements and have the members undergo team training.

B. Flexible Work Schedules

Employers sometimes depart from the traditional workday or workweek to improve their productivity and the morale of their employees by giving them more control over the hours they work. The more common flexible work schedules are the compressed workweek, flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting. Ask students if they work, or know of anyone working, under one of these work schedules. Have them describe the schedule.

1. Flextime

Flextime , or flexible working hours, give employees the option of choosing daily starting and quitting times, provided they work a certain number of hours per day or week. With flextime, employees are given considerable latitude in scheduling their work.

Flextime provides both employees and employers with several advantages. For instance, by allowing employees greater flexibility in work scheduling, employers can reduce some of the traditional causes of tardiness and absenteeism. Employees can adjust their work to accommodate their particular lifestyles and, in doing so, gain greater job satisfaction.

However, there are several disadvantages to flextime. First, it is not suited to some jobs. It is not feasible, for example, when specific workstations must be staffed at all times. Second, it can create problems for managers in communicating with and instructing employees.

2. Compressed Workweek

Under the compressed workweek, the number of days in the workweek is shortened by lengthening the number of hours worked per day. Managers cite the following reasons for implementing compressed workweek schedules:

· Recruitment and retention of employees

· Coordinating employee work schedules with production schedules

· Accommodating the leisure time activities of employees while facilitating employee personal appointments—medical, dental, financial

· Improvements in employee job satisfaction and morale

The major disadvantage of the compressed workweek involves federal laws regarding overtime. The Fair Labor Standards Act has stringent rules requiring the payment of overtime to nonsupervisory employees who work more than 40 hours a week.

3. Job Sharing

The arrangement whereby two part-time employees perform a job that otherwise would be held by one full-time employee is called job sharing. Job sharers usually work three days a week, “creating an overlap day for extended face-to-face conferencing.”

Job sharing is suited to the needs of families in which one or both spouses desire to work only part-time. It is suited also to the needs of older workers who want to phase into retirement by shortening their workweek.

Job sharing does have several problems. For instance, employers may not want to employ two people to do the work of one because the time required to orient and train a second employee constitutes an added burden. Additionally, managers may find it more difficult to supervise two employees, particularly when one job sharer is not dependable, job sharers cannot effectively work together, or they simply distrust one another.

4. Telecommuting

Telecommuting is the use of smart phones, tablets, personal computers, and other communications technology to do work traditionally done in the workplace. Ask students to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting to the individual employee and to the organization. Also, ask them to think about the additional burdens that are placed on supervisors.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions

1. Formally written job requirements aid managers in almost all aspects of managing employees. By knowing the requirements of the job, managers can select, orient, and train employees for job success. Job requirements that are accurate descriptors of job success comply with EEOC requirements for valid job-related criteria. When managers know the requirements of jobs, they are in a defensible position to evaluate employees during performance appraisal periods.

2. The textbook discusses the common approaches to performing job analysis. These include interviews, questionnaires, observations, diaries, functional job analysis, the position analysis questionnaire, and the critical incident method. While all job analysis techniques are subjective to some degree, those using quantitative approaches (FJA and PAQ) are often viewed as more valid by the EEOC and the courts. Techniques such as personal questionnaires, interviews, and observations are highly subject to bias and subjectivity.

3. Your students should not have any difficulty responding to this question. Clearly, if there are at least two alternative ways to design a job with one that is demotivational (with one resulting in low productivity and employee turnover) and another that will produce the opposite result, the choice is obvious. Ask students if they have ever had a job that they really disliked and how it could have been designed better.

4. Figure 4.7 describes common team forms. They include cross-functional teams, project teams, self-directed teams, task-force teams, process-improvement teams, and virtual teams.

Cross-functional teams are a group staffed with a mix of employees from an organization’s marketing, production, engineering departments, and so forth, and is formed to accomplish a specific objective.

Project teams are a group formed specifically to design a new product or service. The members are assigned by their managers on the basis of their ability to contribute to the team’s success. The group normally disbands after the task is completed.

Self-directed teams are groups of highly trained individuals performing a set of interdependent job tasks within a natural work unit. The team members rely on consensus-type decision-making to perform their work duties, solve problems, or deal with internal or external customers.

Task force teams are a task force formed by management to immediately resolve a major problem.

Process-improvement teams are a group made up of experienced people from different departments or functions. The group is charged with improving quality, decreasing waste, or enhancing the productivity of processes that affect all departments or functions. The members are normally appointed by management.

Synergy occurs when the interaction and outcome of team members is greater than the sum of their individual efforts. However, synergy in teams does not automatically happen, rather, it must be nurtured within the team environment. Team synergy is heightened when team members engage in the following behaviors:

· Support

· Listening and Clarification

· Disagreement

· Consensus

· Acceptance

· Quality

Nontraditional work schedules facilitate recruitment by helping employees balance work and personal demands. Part-time work, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting allow employees to meet family, educational, or recreational needs while fulfilling the work requirements of employers.

Establishing Ground Rules for Team Success

The experience of working with teams is that team member’s conduct and performance is enhanced when teams formally adopt team norms prior to working on their assigned task. This exercise takes about 30-45 minutes to complete. Once the teams have selected 10 norms and have written down the norms on a sheet of paper, each team member signs the paper as a sign of commitment to the selected norms. Having teams present their norms in a class presentation also builds commitment while allowing the class to hear the norms that each team has selected.

Notes for End-of-Chapter Case Studies

Case Study 1: Yahoo Cuts the Cord on Telecommuting

1. Students’ answers may vary. Some may say that the best way that a firm can find out whether telecommuting would work out as a good option would be to try it out. The firm would have to monitor the quality of work and the level of productivity of workers to determine whether it will work out in the long term or not. Some jobs require the physical presence of an employee at all times. Communication may also require that presence. Customers may need the employee to be on hand to perform some task. Additionally, if an employee’s work requires brainstorming then telecommuting wouldn’t be an ideal option.

2. Students’ answers may vary. Some may say that one major plus point of using telecommuting, as the text points out, is that employees can adjust their work to accommodate their particular lifestyles and, in doing so, gain greater job satisfaction. Employees can also schedule their working hours for the time of day when they are most productive. In addition, variations in arrival and departure times can help reduce traffic congestion at the peak commuting hours, so employees spend less time on the road. However, the less time in the office also means less time in the physical presence of the boss which may mean that others who have greater visibility may get promoted instead.

Case Study 2: Virtual Teams in Action: Building the F-35 Fighter

1. Virtual teams allow employees to work interdependently across large or short geographical areas. They reduce costs through reductions in travel time and commuting costs. Virtual teams increase organizational efficiency through cross-functional coordination of projects, product design requirements, manufacturing capabilities or marketing opportunities. An important advantage of virtual teams is that they permit organizations to tap the potential skills and expertise of a multitalented workforce that is geographically dispersed.

2. Virtual teams working internationally can experience language and cultural barriers as well as logistical problems related to different time zones. Network connections aren’t always reliable, so real-time collaboration sessions sometimes cut off suddenly in midstream. With the lack of face-to-face contact, virtual team members may encounter behavioral problems such as differences in values, beliefs, or disagreements over how work is to be done. Conflict between team members separated geographically is harder to resolve. One major problem often identified with virtual teams is their inability to establish clear objectives, goals, or performance standards prior to starting a project or task.

3. Researchers do not agree on one specific list of favorable characteristics that virtual team members should possess. However, the literature on teams often focuses on the following factors as contributing to virtual team success:

· Having a collaborative mindset rather than an individualistic mindset

· Open to new ideas and receptive to change

· Good communication and problem-solving skills

· Acceptance of a multicultural workforce

· Ability to meet deadlines

· Ability to clarify role expectations and foster a team culture

· ; (7) Ability to identify and resolve conflict

· Having high personal energy (i.e., be a self-starter)

4. Because of their geographical separation, virtual team members need training in goal setting or task objectives. Where culturally diverse teams interact, training in cultural differences such as reporting arrangements, work attitudes, beliefs, or attitude toward time need to be explored. Training in the technologies used virtually will be needed for those unfamiliar with various technologies used. Finally, virtual teams may need specific training in conflict resolution to iron out differences between team members.

Flip Tips

Activity 1:

Divide students into groups of two. Ask them to find two articles related to job analysis and summarize their findings based on the following questions. To initiate discussions students can share their findings with the rest of the class.

Questions:

· Describe the major parts of the job analysis process.

· What is the difference between job description and job specification? Cite examples.

· Why is information collected during job analysis important for strategic HR planning?

· What are the sources for job analysis? How can the accuracy of data be controlled?

· Why is it important to have clear and specific job descriptions?

These discussion questions will help students understand the importance of the job analysis process. It will also help students select an appropriate job position when they are applying for a job.

Activity 2:

Ask students to watch the following videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVk912qxIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSkM63KtQ6o

After watching the videos, ask students to divide themselves into groups and conduct a debate on whether they are for flexible work schedules or against it. Students need to address the following questions:

· Does a flexible work schedule help maximize employee contribution? Why or why not?

· Cite examples of successful companies and the type of work schedules that they have (Yahoo vs. eBay).

· Will broadening job functions help increase/decrease employee productivity? Explain.

This activity will help students evaluate the pros and cons of having flexible work schedules. Additionally, on a more practical note it would help them identify the type of work schedules that students would be comfortable with while seeking employment.

4

chapter

Explain what a job analysis is and how the information it generates is

used in conjunction with a firm’s HRM functions.

Explain how the information for a job analysis typically is collected

and incorporated into various sections of a job’s description.

Provide examples illustrating the various factors that must be taken

into account when designing a job, including what motivates

employees.

Describe the different group techniques and types of work schedules

used to broaden a firm’s job functions and maximize the

contributions of employees.

LEARNING OUTCOME 1

LEARNING OUTCOME 2

LEARNING OUTCOME 3

LEARNING OUTCOME 4

HRM EXPERIENCE