Job Analysis – Definition, Uses, Process, Techniques

Job Analysis

Meaning, Definitions, Important terms, Features, Objectives, Uses, Process and Techniques

 

 

Meaning

Job analysis is a formal and detailed examination of jobs. It is a systematic investigation of the tasks, duties and responsibilities necessary to do a job.

Definitions

According to US Labour

 Job analysis is the process of determining, by observation and study, and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. It is the determination of the tasks which comprise the job and the skills, abilities and responsibilities required of the worker for a successful performance and which differentiates one job from all others.

According to Flippo

Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job specifications.

According to  R.J.Harvey

Job analysis involves gathering data about observable job behaviours, and delineating the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics needed to perform the job.

According to R. Wayne Mondy et el.

Job analysis is the systematic process of determining the skills, duties and knowledge required for performing jobs in an organization.

According to Michael Armstrong

Job analysis is the process of collecting, analyzing, and setting out information about the content of jobs in order to provide the basis for a job description and data for the recruitment, training, job evaluation and performance management.

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).In every organization, different types of personnel are required to perform different types of jobs. Job analysis provides the knowledge of nature and requirement of different jobs so that the suitable candidate can be found out.

Job analysis is a process of understanding, collecting and analyzing relevant facts of a job and the characteristics of the person who is likely to perform the job.

Job Analysis = Job Description + Job Specification

The Workman Power Commission in U.S.A has suggested a four point job analysis  formula to be used in making an accurate and useful job analysis.The points include in the formula are:

  1. What the worker does?
  2. How he does it ?
  3. Why he does it ?
  4. How much of skill is required for doing it ?

Important terms in Job Analysis

Job

It is group of tasks positions involving same duties, responsibilities, knowledge and skills. Each job has definite title and is different from other jobs. For example peon, typist, mail clerk, salesman, nurses, accountants etc.

Task

A task is an act which is performed as part of job. It refers to a distinct work activity with an identifiable beginning and end. For instance, planning is one of the tasks of the manager.

Duty

It is an obligation for a worker to do a job as part of a legal or moral reason. It means a related sequence of tasks. For example pickup, sort and deliver incoming mail.

Position

It implies a collection of tasks and duties regularly assigned to one person. Several persons may be classified under the same job but each may perform different work.  For instance, a cash clerk might deal with the receipt and disbursement of cash, a bill clerk deal with bills and an accounts clerk might be in charge of accounts keeping and maintenance.

Occupation

An occupation implies a group of jobs which are similar as to the type of work and which contain common characteristics. For example business is an occupation consisting of several types of jobs like production, sales etc.

Career

It broadly refers to an employee’s progression in his or work life. It indicates the chronological sequence of positions occupied by an individual in his or her profession.

Objectives of Job Analysis

The major objectives of job analysis are as follows:

  • To clarify the methods and operations involved in a job.
  • To determine the minimum acceptable qualities of personnel required.
  • To provide information for other HRM functions like recruitment, selection, training and development etc.
  • To simplify the processes involved by providing information for each and every aspect of the job.

 

Features of Job Analysis

  • Job analysis is a process of gathering relevant information about various aspects of a job and is concerned with the identification of tasks required to be performed as part of it.
  • It approaches the task of defining the role, context, conditions, human behavior, performance standards and responsibilities of a job systematically.
  • It helps in establishing the job’s worth to an organization. In other words, it measures the value and contribution of a job to the growth of the organization.
  • It establishes job relatedness, which is a crucial input for HR decisions involving recruitment, selection, compensation, training, health and safety.
  • It facilitates the process of understanding the impact of environmental changes on individual jobs.

Uses of Job Analysis

(i) Provide Base for different jobs Job analysis provides the base for identifying the contents of different jobs, their interrelationship and interdependence, responsibility involved in a job, and authority that may be required to perform the job.

(ii) Helps in organisational design Job analysis provides all the required information to get the framework of organisational design. Organisational design    is building a network of relationships  among various functions and positions. In organisational design various jobs to be perform are identified and grouped together on the basis of similarity. This process can only be done with the help of job analysis.

(iii) Human resource planning Job analysis proves to be of great help in case of Human Resource Planning by providing information for forecasting human resource needs in terms of knowledge, skills and experience. Job analysis also helps in planning for promotions and transfers by showing relationships among different jobs laterally as well as vertically.

(iv) Recruitment and selection Job analysis provides the basic ingredient required for recruitment and selection. It is well understood that recruitment and selection, taken together, is a process of identifying the source from where the personnel can be hired, motivating them, analysing them and selecting the ones who match the concerned job. We can say that matching jobs and individuals is the whole process of recruitment and selection. And both the types of information in the form of job description and job specification are provided through job analysis.

(v) Orientation and placement job analysis also helps in orientation and placement by providing complete information about job requirements. It further helps when an individual is selected to perform number of jobs and not a specific job.

(vi) Career planning Job analysis helps in career planning by providing information about the opportunities in terms of career paths and jobs availability in the organisation with the help of this information, both individuals and organisation are able to chart out their plan for career planning and development.

(vii) Training Job analysis provides valuable information to identify training and development needs of various individuals. It is obvious that training and development needs can only be determined by job analysis. It is very important for every organisation to put its endeavour in the form of training and development so that the individuals are equipped to meet the requirements of their jobs.

(viii) Job evaluation Job analysis plays an important role in evaluating the job and compensating it according to its worth in comparison to other jobs in an organisation. The worth of a job is determined on the basis of job characteristics and job-holder characteristics. Job analysis provides both in the forms of job description and job specification.

(ix) Performance appraisal Job analysis helps in evaluating the performance of any individual in the organisation. Performance appraisal is done by comparing the individual’s actual job performance with what is expected of him and job analysis decides what is expected of an employee and hence, it helps in determining performance standards against which the actual job performance is measured.

(x) Employee safety Job analysis helps in taking precautions to save the employees from the hazardous environmental and operational conditions in various jobs. It is obvious that all such kind of information related to a particular job will be provided by job analysis.

(xi) Counselling Job analysis also helps in providing counselling to employees in different areas. Sometimes, employees are unable to bear the stress of a particular job, then they are advised to opt for another job, but this is only possible with the information provided by job analysis.

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