Job analysis is the basis on which all the HR activities are based.
Job analysis provides information about the job and the characteristics required in an employee to carry out these activities.
The information, in the form of job descriptions and job specifications, helps managers decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
“Job analysis is the process of studying the operations, duties, organisational aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they are called by some, job descriptions.” — Michael J. Jucius.
What is Job Analysis?
What is Job Analysis – Definitions by Eminent Authors Like Edwin Flippo, S.P.Robbins and D.A.Decanzo (With Types and Concept of Job Analysis)
Job analysis is a formal and detailed study of Jobs. It is a systematic process of gathering information about work, jobs and relationship between jobs. Understanding and being able to perform good job analysis is an essential human resource function, forming the basis of selection, promotion, training etc. It is the best way to establish what exists, what is good, and what should be changed.
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According to Edwin Flippo —”Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job.”
According to Richard Henderson — Job analysis involves the identification and precisely identifying the required tasks, the knowledge and skills necessary for performing them and the conditions under which they must be performed.”
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According to S.P. Robbins and D.A. Decanzo — “Job Analysis is the systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure. One that is used to define responsibilities and accountabilities of a job.”
It is the process of “determining by observation arid studies the tasks, which comprises the job, the methods and equipment used and the skills and attitudes required for successful performance of the job.”
It provides the following information about a job:
(a) Identification of job in terms of its title and code number.
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(b) Duties involved in the job along with the frequency of occurrence of each duty.
(c) Operations involved in doing the job.
(d) Materials and equipment required for doing the job.
(e) Relationship of the job with other jobs in the organization.
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(f) Personal qualities required to do the job.
Job analysis is the process by which data in regard to each job is systematically observed and noted. It provides information about the nature of the job and the characteristics or qualifications that are desirable in a job holder.
Dale Yadar says that job analysis con be helpful in getting information regarding the following matters:
1. The requirements of the job. For example, the job requires polishing semi-finished goods.
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2. The method of doing the job. The machines and instruments used for the job and the order of doing the work.
3. What types and amount of skill is required to perform the job effectively, can also be known by job analysis. For example, a typing speed of 50 w.p.m. is one of the requirements for the job of a clerk.
4. The amount of experience necessary for the job, the opportunities for promotion, etc.
Moreover, matters like the information of raw materials used, the amount of risk involved in the job, geographical atmosphere of the working place, hygiene conditions, etc., are also studied under job analysis.
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The above discussion clarifies one point that in job analysis two factors are observed:
(i) To get the detailed information about the job itself; and
(ii) To get information about the employees, i.e., what should be skills, abilities and qualifications of the employees who is supposed to perform the job?
Here one point should be clearly noted. In job analysis qualities of an individual employee are not studied. In fact, no employee is considered as or as job analysis is concerned. Job analysis is solely concerned with the job and the personnel requirements of the job. The necessary physical, mental and intellectual qualities expected of the employee who is to be assigned the job are enlisted,
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In the “Guide for Analysing Jobs” prepared by War-Man-Power Commission of United States, a four-point formula is given to get information of job analysis.
The four points are in the following question form:
1. What is done by the employee?
2. How does the employee perform the job?
3. Why does he perform the job?
4. What skills are necessary for performance of the job?
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After understanding the meaning of the job analysis, let us see the types of job analysis:
Two types of job analysis can be found considering the objective of the job analysis. They are-
1. Single-purpose job analysis; and
2. Multipurpose job analysis
1. Single-purpose Job Analysis- If the job analysis is meant to fulfil one single purpose, then the job analysis will be known as single-purpose job analysis. Such job analysis is done to assist in solving some particular problem.
2. Multipurpose Job Analysis- As the name itself indicates, such job analysis is meant to serve a number of purposes. The objective may be better selection of employees, better training programme, better control, etc. Obviously, multipurpose job analysis is of far more importance than the single-purpose analysis.
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Job analysis is the formal and detailed examination of jobs. It is a systematic investigation of the tasks, duties and responsibilities necessary to do a job. Job analysis is a process by which jobs are subdivided into elements, such as tasks, through the application of a formalized, systematic procedure for data collection, analysis, and synthesis.
Research on job analysis focused on methodological aspects of the concept of job analysis. These research efforts made an important contribution to the field of HRM by developing techniques and procedures to generate accurate and practically useful job-related data.
A task is an identifiable work activity carried out for a specific purpose, for example, typing a letter. A duty is a larger work segment consisting of several tasks (which are related by some sequence of events) that are performed by an individual, for example, pick up, sort out and deliver incoming mail. Job responsibilities are obligation to perform certain tasks and duties.
Job Analysis is Something More than a Checklist:
More than just a checklist of requirements (such as the ability to type a certain number of words per minute) or physical demands (for example, lifting 50 pounds or standing for a certain number of hours), a true job analysis can breakdown and catalog the movements, motions, and aptitudes of the tasks that make up a job.
Everything from the purpose of the job to the physical environment is noted. With complete information and understanding of what a job entails, employers like that of Manjunath’s can have a powerful tool for assisting and placing their workers.
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At the shop-floor where Manjunath worked, employees were later videotaped as they performed their duties, which yielded a wealth of detail about the kinds of tasks, the physical postures, and other demands of their jobs. This case, in fact became the eye opener for the entire organization where a simple job analysis became the basis of a plan for Manjunath’s return to work.
With input from his physician, transitional duties were assigned to Manjunath, who performed his regular job for the first few hours of the day and then worked as a stores data operator.
The job analysis showed that the skills-set of the stores data operator matched many of the functions that Manjunath performed as a team leader while recording the activities and events done by his team. The stores data operator job, however, was far less physically demanding for Manjunath, which gave him sufficient time for recovery.
What is Job Analysis
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”. Thus each job has a definite title based upon standardized trade specifications within a job; two or more grades may be identified, where the work assignments may be graded according to skill, the difficulty in doing them, or the quality of workmanship. Further, a job may include many positions, for a position is a job performed by, related to, a particular employee.
Definition:
Job analysis can be described as the process involving formal and detailed examination of the jobs, which involves the identification of the required tasks, knowledge and the skills necessary for performing them and the conditions under which they should be performed.
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Edwin Flippo has described “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibility of a specific job”.
Harry Wylie has described “Job analysis deals with the anatomy of the job. This is the complete study of the job embodying every known and determinable factor, including the duties and responsibilities involved in its performance; the conditions under which performance is carried on; the nature of the task; the qualifications required in the worker; and the conditions of employment, such as pay hours, opportunities and privileges”.
The 3 basic parts of Job analysis are- (a) Identifying the job (b) obtaining information about the tasks, duties, responsibilities and working conditions of the job and (c) determining the worker characteristics needed for successful performance of the job.
Job analysis can be written as:
Job Analysis = Job Description + Job Specification + Job Performance Standards
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Job Evaluation is the process of analysing and assessing the various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organisation. Jobs are evaluated on the basis of their content and are placed in the order of their importance. In this way, a job hierarchy is established in the organisation, which enables fixation of wage differential among various jobs. Job Evaluation ranks jobs and not jobholders.
In theory, application of job evaluation is universal. However, in practice, only a few companies utilise this technique, that too for hourly rated jobs only. The job evaluation process starts with defining the jobs and ends with establishing wage and salary differentials. Job Analysis should precede actual programme of evaluation.
A Job Evaluation programme answers several questions:
(a) Which jobs are to be evaluated?
(b) Who should evaluate the job?
(c) What training do the evaluators need?
(d) How much time is involved?
(e) What should be the criteria of evaluation?
(f) What methods of evaluation are to be employed.
Job is a regular assignment to employees, consist of task, duties and responsibilities. It may also include many positions. Otis and Leukart defined, job as ‘a group of position involving substantially the same duties, skills, knowledge and responsibility.’ In simple words the job is impersonal but the position is personnel. Every job has a title based on standardized Trades specification.
What is Job Analysis
In simple words job analysis means determining the activities to be carried out in the job and the circumstances under which it is to be performed. According to Harry L. Whlie, Job analysis deals with the anatomy of the job. This is the complete study of the job (or position) embodying every known and determinable factor including the duties and responsibilities involved in its performance the conditions under which performance is carried on, the nature of the task, the qualifications required in the worker and the conditions of employment, such as pay, bonus, opportunities, and privileges.
According to National Personnel Association, “Job analysis is a process which results in establishing the component elements of a job and ascertaining the human qualifications necessary for its useful performance.”
Job analysis is in fact a procedure by which the facts with respect to each job are secured, organized and combined.
On the basis of above definitions it becomes clear that, basically there are three parts of job analysis given below:
(1) The job must be completely and accurately identified.
(2) The task of the job must be precisely described.
(3) The requirements of the job which makes the worker successful on it, must be indicated as accurately as possible.
On the basis of these three parts we can conclude that job analysis has two aspects one is job description and another is job specification. Job description describes the features of the work and job specifications indicate the necessary physical, mental and personal characteristics of the worker. In all job analysis involves the study of the duties on the job and obtaining facts about the qualifications required for the job.
Concept of Job Analysis:
Job analysis is a systematic process of collecting complete information pertaining to a job. According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job”. Job analysis helps in preparing job description and job specification. As said by Edwin B. Flippo, “the immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job specifications”.
Job description describes duties and responsibilities associated with a particular job whereas job specifications specifies the qualifications, special qualities, skills and knowledge required for an employee to perform the job. Job analysis involves collection of all relevant information about the job.
Job analysis provides information regarding the nature of job, how the job is to be performed, the machines; tools and equipments used, the relationship of the job with others jobs in the organization, chances of any job hazards, role and function of the employees towards the job, the duties and responsibilities of the personnel performing the job, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the personnel required to perform the job.
According to Jones and Decothis, “Job analysis is the process of getting information about jobs: specially, what the worker does; how he gets it done; why he does it; skill, education and training required; relationship to other jobs, physical demands; environmental conditions”. Each job has a specific requirement and job analysis is the process used to identify these requirements. Job analysis involves collecting and recording of information about the job and requires continuous update of information about the job.
What is Job Analysis
Job analysis is the basis on which all the HR activities are based. Job analysis, job description, and job specification play dominant roles in the recruitment process. There are a number of steps, which are generally used to define and set out the nature of particular jobs for recruitment purposes.
Job description provides a clear idea about the activities and job specification underlines the mental and physical attributes required. Job description and job specification will be discussed after discussing job analysis.
Job analysis provides information about the job and the characteristics required in an employee to carry out these activities. The information, in the form of job descriptions and job specifications, helps managers decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
Job analysis, also referred to as work analysis, is the process of examining the jobs to identify the key requirements of each job. In simpler terms, it is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for it. Before beginning the process of recruitment through job analysis, a number of important questions are explored and need to be answered.
These include the following:
1. Title of the job
2. Whom the employee is supposed to report to
3. What the employee is responsible for
4. Simple description of the role and duties of the employee within the organization.
In simple words, job analysis can be referred to as a systematic approach that helps to describe and clearly identify the job role, description, requirements, and responsibilities. It also aids in identifying the level of qualifications, skills, knowledge, training, etc. required for any individual to successfully accomplish a task or a job.
It helps in understanding the worth of a job on the basis of which compensation packages and related fields can easily be decided upon. The information can be either gathered through direct observation of the workers working or through interviews, records etc.
To be able to do the job analysis well, a lot of organizations employ ‘job analysts’. In many companies, job analysis is expected to be a part of the general skills of a training or personnel officer. Job analysis for two positions—purchase manager and training and development manager respectively.
Job analysis deals with the contents and characteristics of each job. Job analysis points out the duties and responsibilities involved in each job. Pay is fixed on the basis of job analysis. It determines the degree of skills necessary to perform each job. Job analysis discloses the conditions under which each job is performed and the element of risk involved in them. Job analysis helps the management to fix the qualification required for each job and choose the methods or techniques to perform each job.
What is Job Analysis
Job analysis is the process of careful observation of a job and collecting, recording and analysis of all pertinent information to make the management enable to use the information effectively. So, job analysis relates to systematically study of job to provide data/information to the management to use for different purposes.
It is the process of determining, by observation and study, and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job (U.S. Department of Labour, Employment Service, Training and Reference Manual for Job Analysis, Washington, 1944, PI). It is a systematic study of information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job.
Job analysis activities include the following:
i. Observation of a job
ii. Collection and recording of information particularly in the area of work performance, behaviour dimension, work schedule, incentive, personal qualitative attributes, job related knowledge, skill, performance standard in terms of quality and quantity level for each job duty, material processed, products made, service rendered etc.
iii. Analysis of information
iv. Providing information to the higher management.
What is Job Analysis – Definitions According to Edwin B. Flippo, Mamoria, R. Viswanathan, H. L. Wylie and Dale Yoder
The term ‘job analysis’ is a combination of two words ‘job’ and ‘analysis’, that is, to analyse the job. Therefore, before we may study the process of job analysis, it is essential to understand the meaning of the term ‘job’ and some other related terms. First, we take up the term ‘task’.
Tasks are coordinated and aggregated series of work elements used to produce an output such as a unit of production. A ‘position’ consists of responsibilities and duties performed by an individual. A ‘job’, on the other hand, is a collection or aggregation of tasks, duties and responsibilities that, as a whole, is regarded as reasonable assignment to an individual employee.
A job has to be distinguished from a position. A ‘position’ is a group of tasks assigned to one individual. A job, however, may include many positions, for a position is a job performed by an employee and hence related to a particular employee.
According to Dale Yoder, an employee has his/her position, but many positions may involve the same assignment of duties and constitute a single job. It is perhaps for this reason that a job has also been defined by Mamoria as ‘when the total work to be done is divided and grouped into packages, we call it a job’.
As a matter of fact, a job is an assignment of work calling for a set of duties, responsibilities and conditions that are different from those for other work assignments.
Another related term is ‘occupation’. An occupation is a group of jobs that are similar to the kind of work and are found throughout an industry or an entire country. Thus, an occupation is a category of work found in many firms. According to Michael J. Jucius, the term ‘occupation’ refers to a group of jobs with common characteristics.
For example, a group of closely related selling jobs may be considered as an occupation. In other words, an occupation is a generalised job.
‘Job families’ is another term used to cover the idea of groupings of similar jobs. According to Dale Yoder, job families or occupational families are groups of jobs or occupations having similar personnel requirements.
Job analysis is the procedure by which the facts with respect to each job are systematically discovered and noted. It is sometimes called job study, suggesting the care with which tasks, processes responsibilities and personal requirements are investigated.
Job analysis provides information about the nature of the job and the characteristics or qualifications that are desirable in the job holder. It refers to the anatomy of the job. According to Edwin B. Flippo, ‘Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job’.
Some other definitions of job analysis are as follows:
Job analysis refers to the process of gathering information about the operations, duties, and organisational aspects of jobs in order to write up specifications or, as they are called by some, job descriptions.
Job analysis is the process of critically evaluating the operations, duties and relationships of the jobs.
According to Mamoria, Job analysis is a procedure and a tool for determining the specified tasks, operations and requirements of each job.
According to R. Viswanathan, Job analysis is the process of determining and recording all the pertinent information about a specific job, including the tasks involved, the knowledge and skill set required to perform the job, the responsibilities attached to the job and the abilities required to perform the job successfully.
According to H. L. Wylie, Job analysis is a complete study of a job, embodying every known and determinable factor, including the duties and responsibilities involved in its performance, the conditions under which the performance is carried on, the nature of the task, the qualities required in the worker, and such conditions of employment as pay, hours, opportunities and privileges.
In other words, job analysis is usually a complete and detailed account of job description and job specification. Thus, job analysis is basically a process of data collection.
According to Dale Yoder, job analysis provides information in seven basic areas:
1. Job identification, that is, its title and code number, if thereby any.
2. Distinctive characteristics of the job, that is, details regarding its location, physical setting, discomforts, union jurisdiction, supervision and hazards.
3. What the typical worker does, that is, specific operation and tasks that make up an assignment, their relative timing and importance, the simplicity, routine complexity and the responsibility for others, for property and for funds.
4. What materials and equipment will be used by the worker that is, whether plastics, yarns, metals, milling machines, lathes or cornhuskers and so on.
5. How the job is performed, that is, what are the operations involved in the performance of the job, for example, handling, lifting, feeding, cleaning, removing, drilling and so on. In other words, it refers to the nature of job.
6. Required personal attributes that is, apprenticeship, training, experience, coordination, physical strength, physical demands, mental capabilities, aptitudes, social skills and so on.
7. Job relationships, that is, in its simplest form, such information indicates experience required, opportunities for advancement, and patterns of promotion, essential cooperation, directions or leadership from and for other jobs.
What is Job Analysis
Job Analysis is a process to identify and determine in detail the particular job duties and requirements and the relative importance of these duties for a given job. Job Analysis is a process where judgments are made about data collected on a job.
One of the main purposes of conducting job analysis is to prepare job descriptions and job specifications which in turn help hire the right quality of workforce into an organization. The general purpose of job analysis is to document the requirements of a job and the work performed.
Job and task analysis is performed as a basis for later improvements, including – definition of a job domain; description of a job; development of performance appraisals, personnel selection, selection systems, promotion criteria, training needs assessment, legal defence of selection processes, and compensation plans.
Industrial psychologists use job analysis to determine the physical requirements of a job to determine whether an individual who has suffered some diminished capacity is capable of performing the job with, or without, some accommodation.
When a job analysis is conducted for the purpose of valuing the job, it is known as “job evaluation.”
Job analysis aims to answer questions such as:
i. Why does the job exist?
ii. What physical and mental activities does the worker undertake?
iii. When is the job to be performed?
iv. Where is the job to be performed?
v. How does the worker do the job?
vi. What qualifications are needed to perform the job?
Job Analysis is one of the most important functions of a human resource manager. Performance appraisal, job design, personnel selection, employee training, career development and planning are among the many activities that depend upon the information gathered in the job analysis.
A job may be defined as – “a collection or aggregation of tasks, duties and responsibilities which as a whole, is regarded as a regular assignment to individual employees” Yodder (1972).
Putting in different words the meaning of a job can be described as a pocket containing a differentiated set of total workload in an organization. In contrast, the position is “a collection of tasks and responsibilities regularly assigned to a person”. It is to be noted that a job is impersonal and the position is personal.
Today, however, the word job has many mutations depending upon how, when or by whom it is used. It is often used interchangeably with the terms like position and task. Before proceeding with a detailed discussion on job analysis it would be fruitful to familiarize ourselves with terms that form specific job attributes.
Different works performed in an organization can be traced from a micro-motion to an occupation. The simplest unit of work is the micro-motion. A micro-motion involves a very elementary movement such as – reaching for a hammer while crafting a wooden chair. Grasping, positioning or releasing an object are all micro-motions.
It is the most elementary unit into which a job can be broken down. An element is alignment of two or more micro-motions to make a basic movement like picking up an object. A task is a congregation of elements to constitute an activity for a specific purpose like preparing a lecture. Two or more related tasks performed in carrying out specific job responsibility is referred to as Duty.
A position constitutes specific duties and tasks grouped together. In an organization there may be one or more persons assigned to a position. A position constitutes the whole unit of a work assignment. When positions are combined they create a job. A job family is a group of two or more jobs that either call for similar worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks as determined by job analysis.
A grouping of similar jobs or job families across organizations is termed as occupation. A career represents a sequence of positions, jobs or occupations that a person has over his or her working life.
Having familiarized oneself with the basic terms which act as a foundation stone for the knowledge on job analysis, we shall now proceed with a step by step discussion of the main topics.
What is Job Analysis
Before undertaking most of the human resource functions in an organization it is imperative that a systematic exploration of the activities within a job be taken up. Job Analysis is “the process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. It is the determination of tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities and responsibilities required of the holder for the successful job performance.”
“Job analysis is a process used to determine and describe the contents of the job in such a way that a clear understanding of what the job is about is communicated to anyone who might require the information for management purposes” Cushway (2001).
Job analysis is a systematic process of gathering information about work, jobs and the relationships among the jobs. Putting it in other words, it is the process of getting information about the job incumbent’s skill, education and training to carry out the job effectively and terms on time for completion, performance standard.
It may also talk about the relation of one job to others in the organization. The resultant of the job analysis process is a written record of actual requirements of the job activities. A job analysis results in two important documents: Job description and job specification.
At this juncture it will be worthwhile to describe the related terms:
i. Job Analysis – It is a procedure by which pertinent information is obtained about a job i.e., a detailed study and systematic collection of information about a specific job.
ii. Job Description – It is a written record of the duties, responsibilities and requirements of a particular job itself and not the work.
iii. Job Specification – It is a statement on minimal acceptable human qualities necessary for proper performance on a job.
iv. Job Design – Job design is the process of structuring work and designating the specific work activities of an individual or group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives.
v. Job Evaluation – As a corollary to job analysis, job evaluation determines the monetary worth of a particular job to the organization.
Job Analysis and job design are two human resource functions that go hand in hand in an organization. Both the activities are taken upon jobs already existing in the set-up, however, job analysis usually precedes job design.
What is Job Analysis – Definitions Propounded by Some Eminent Thinkers: Michael J. Jucius, Edwin B. Flippo, Dale Yoder, Shbim, Scott, Clothier, Spriegal,Robbins & De Canzo
Job Analysis is a process by which minute details of a job are accurately collected. It includes the functions and conditions of the job as well as personnel requirements of the job. In words of Mr. Milton Blum, “Job analysis is an accurate study of the various components of a job”. Job study is another name of job analysis.
“Job analysis is the process of studying the operations, duties, organisational aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they are called by some, job descriptions.” — Michael J. Jucius
“Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of the specific job.” — Edwin B. Flippo
“A job is a collection of duties, tasks and responsibilities which are assigned to an individual and which is different from other assignment.” — Dale Yoder
“Job analysis is the process of critically evaluating the operations, duties and relationship of the job.” — Scott, Clothier, and Spriegal
“Job analysis is the methodical compilation and study of work data in order to define, characterize each occupation in such a manner as to distinguish it from all others.” — Shbim
“Job analysis is the systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountability of the job.” — Robbins & De Canzo