Byars 10e Ch04

Job Analysis and Job Design

Chapter 4

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define job analysis and job design.

2. Distinguish among a position, a job, and an occupation.

3. Describe several common uses of a job analysis.

4. Define job description and job specification.

5. Identify four frequently used methods of job analysis.

6. Discuss why O*NET was developed and summarize what it is.

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Learning Objectives (cont.)

7. Define essential functions and reasonable accommodation as interpreted under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

8. Identify several problems frequently associated with job analysis.

9. Define job scope and job depth and explain their relationship to job design.

10. Explain the sociotechnical approach to job design.

11. Distinguish among the following types of alternative work schedules: flextime, telecommuting, job sharing, and condensed workweek.

12. Define the term contingent worker

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Job analysis

└ Process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job.

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Job design

└ Process of structuring work and designating the specific work activities of an individual or group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives.

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Basic Terminology

Micromotions

└ Simplest unit of work; involves very elementary movement, such as reaching, grasping, positioning, or releasing an object

Elements

└An aggregation of two or more micromotions; usually thought of as a complete entity, such as picking up or transporting an object

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Basic Terminology

Tasks

└ one of the distinct activities that constitute logical and necessary steps in the performance of work by an employee

└ A task is performed whenever human effort, physical or mental, is exerted for a specific purpose

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Basic Terminology

Duties

└ One or more tasks performed in carrying out a job responsibility

Responsibilities

└ Obligations to perform certain tasks and assume certain duties

Positions

└ Collection of tasks and responsibilities constituting the total work assignment of a single employee

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Basic Terminology

Jobs

└ Group of positions that are identical with respect to their major or significant tasks and responsibilities and sufficiently alike to justify their being covered by a single analysis

Occupations

└ A grouping of similar jobs or job classes

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Relationship among Different Job Components

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Figure 4.1

Job Analysis Activities

Job definition

Job redesign

Recruitment

Selection Orientation

Training

Career counseling

Employee safety

Performance appraisal

Compensation

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Job Analysis

Recruitment

└ Process of seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen.

Selection

└ Process of choosing from those available the individuals who are most likely to perform successfully in a job.

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Job Analysis

Orientation

└ Introduction of new employees to the organization, work unit, and job.

Training

└ Learning process that involves the acquisition of skills, concepts, rules, or attitudes to increase employee performance.

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Information Provided by a Job Analysis

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Table 4.1

Products of Job Analysis

Job description

└ Written synopsis of the nature and requirements of a job

└ explains, in written form, what the job is called, what it requires to be done, where it is to be done, and how it is to be done

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Products of Job Analysis

Job specification

└ Description of the competency, educational, and experience qualifications the incumbent must possess to perform the job.

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Contents of a Job Description

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Table 4.2

Job Analysis Methods

Observation Interviews

Questionnaires Functional job

analysis

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Observation

└ person making the analysis observes the individual or individuals performing the job and takes pertinent notes describing the work.

└ includes such things as what was done, how it was done, how long it took, what the job environment was like, and what equipment was used.

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Motion study

└ involves determining the motions and movements necessary for performing a task or job and then designing the most efficient methods for putting those motions and movements together.

Time study

└ determines the elements of work required to perform the job, the order in which those elements occur, and the times required to perform them effectively.

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Work sampling

└ method based on taking statistical samples of job actions throughout the workday and then drawing inferences about the requirements and demands of the job.

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Drawbacks of the Observation Method

Observer must be carefully trained to know what to look for and what to record

Its application is somewhat limited to jobs involving short and repetitive cycles

Direct observation, can be used to get a feel for a particular job and then combined with other methods to thoroughly analyze

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Job Analysis Methods – Interviews

Requires that person conducting job analysis meet with and interview jobholder

└ Unstructured interviews – Have no definite checklist or preplanned format; format develops as interview unfolds

└ Structured interview – Follows a predesigned format

Major drawback

└ Can be extremely time-consuming; compounded when several people are interviewed about the same job

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Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires

Typically three to five pages long and contain both objective and open-ended questions

Information can be obtained from large number of employees in a relatively short time period

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Major Disadvantages of Questionnaire Method

└ Misinterpretation of information by respondent or analyst

└ Time-consuming and expensive to develop

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Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

└ Highly specialized instrument for analyzing any job in terms of employee activities

Primary advantage

└ Can be used to analyze almost any type of job

└ It is relatively easy to use

Major disadvantage

└ The sheer length of questionnaire

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Employee Activity Categories Used in the PAQ

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Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)

└ Highly structured questionnaire designed specifically for analyzing managerial jobs

└ Requires analyst to check whether each item is appropriate to job being analyzed

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Management Position Description Questionnaire Categories

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Table 4.4

Job Analysis Methods – Functional Job Analysis

Functional job analysis

└ Uses standardized statements and terminology to describe content of jobs

└ Collects detailed task statements and rates them according to function level or function orientation

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Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

└ The United States’ primary source of occupational information

└ Comprehensive online database of employee attributes and job characteristics.

└ www.onet.center.org

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The Content Model Forming the Foundation of O*NET

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The ADA and Job Analysis

Requires identification of essential functions of each job and a reasonable accommodation to disabilities of qualified individual

Essential job function

└ One that is fundamental to successful performance of the job

Marginal job function

└ may be performed at certain times but are incidental to main purpose of the job

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Reasonable accommodation

└ employer may be required to alter conditions of a particular job so as to enable the candidate to perform all essential functions

An employer cannot be required to make an accommodation that causes undue hardship for the employer

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Undue hardship refers to any accommodation that

└ Would be unduly costly, substantial or disruptive

└ Would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of business

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Questions to Be Addressed to Determine Essential Functions

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Table 4.5

Potential Problems with Job Analysis

Top management support is missing

Only a single means and source are used for gathering data

Supervisor and jobholder do not participate in design of job analysis procedure

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Potential Problems with Job Analysis (cont.)

No training or motivation exists for jobholders

Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the analysis

Activities may be distorted

Participants fail to critique the job

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Job Design – Three Phases

What different tasks must be performed?

How will each task be performed?

How will the different tasks be grouped to form jobs?

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Job Design

Goal of job design

└ Develop work assignments that meet requirements of the organization and technology, and that satisfy personal and individual requirements of jobholder

└ Key is to balance requirements of organization and jobholder

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Job Design

Prevailing practice in designing jobs was to focus almost entirely on simplifying tasks to be undertaken

Usually resulted in making jobs as specialized as possible

Job specialization can result in boredom and even degradation of jobholder

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Advantages of Job Specialization

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Table 4.6

Job Scope and Job Depth

Job scope

└Number and variety of tasks performed by the jobholder

Job depth

└ Freedom of jobholders to plan and organize their own work, work at their own pace, and move around and communicate.

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Sociotechnical Approach to Job Design

1. A job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in terms other than sheer endurance, yet provide some variety

2. Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to continue learning.

3. Employees need some minimum area of decision making that they can call their own.

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Sociotechnical Approach to Job Design

4. Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition in the workplace.

5. Employees need to be able to relate what they do and what they produce to their social lives.

6. Employees need to believe that the job leads to some sort of desirable future.

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The Physical Work Environment

The physical work environment should allow for normal lighting, temperature, ventilation, and humidity

Baffles acoustical wall materials, sound absorbers, soothing colors, limiting exposure to less-than-ideal physical conditions to short periods are measures employers can take

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Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)

Flexible Work Arrangements

└ refers to alternative work schedules and arrangements.

└ allow an employee to alter the time and/or place when/where work is conducted on a regular basis, consistent and predictable with the employer’s operations

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Flexible Work Arrangements

Flextime

Telecommuting

Job sharing

Condensed work week

Contingent workers

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Flextime

Flextime

└ Allows employees to choose, within certain limits, when they start and end their workday

└ Allows employees to accommodate different lifestyles and schedules, avoid rush hours

└ Can create communication and coordination problems

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Telecommuting

Telecommuting

└ The practice of working at home or while traveling and being able to interact with the office

└ Less travel time and travel expenses, avoiding rush hour

└ Lack of professional and social environment of workplace

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Job Sharing

Job sharing

└ Two or more part-time individuals perform a job that would normally be held by one full-time person

└ Can be in the form of equally shared responsibilities, split duties, or a combination of both

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Condensed Workweek

Condensed work week

└ Number of hours worked per day is increased and number of days in the workweek is decreased

└ Typically done by having employees work 10 hours per day for four days per week

└ Fatigue that often accompanies longer hours

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Contingent Workers

Contingent workers

└ Employees who are independent contractors and on-call workers or temporary short-term workers.

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Contingent Workers

Reasons that organizations use contingent workers include

└ Seasonal fluctuations, and project-based work

└ Desire to acquire skill sets not available in the normal employee

└ Population, hiring freezes, and rapid growth

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Contingent Workers

Advantages

└ Flexibility for dealing with fluctuating product or service demand

└ Increasing workplace diversity

└ Determining potential as a future full-time employee

└ Providing skills organization doesn’t have in-house

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Contingent Workers – Challenges

Who manages different contingent workers and what role does HR play?

How do contingents fit into different HR system such as payroll?

How are contingents compensated compared to other employees?

Since most contingents don’t receive benefits they can be hard to retain

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Most contingents do not share same degree of commitment as other employees

Orientation and training can be difficult to schedule because of scheduling conflicts with other jobs

Contingent workers must meet legal definition of “independent contractor” under IRS rules

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Can include everything from company discounts to participation in company educational programs

Do contingent workers have same access to company facilities as other employees?

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Byars 10e Ch04

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Transcript of Byars 10e Ch04