RECRUITMENT, SELECTION,

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Code No.: ELHR403

Module I : Job Analysis

Job Analysis
Writing Job descriptions
Job Specification
Job Analysis in a Jobless World
 Assessments
Assessments will be made on the following
1. Project Report and viva
2. Assignments
3. Psychological Testing Report and Viva
• Including conduction, interpretation and
discussion of the test.
Any other
 Job Analysis
PURPOSE
• how to analyze a job
• write job descriptions.

Analyzing jobs involves determining in detail

what the job entails and what kind of
people the firm should hire for the job.
An organization can be viewed as a pattern of roles and a blueprint for their coordination. The analysis of work
and roles represents such a blueprint, for individual jobs are the basic building blocks necessary to achieve
broader organizational goals. The objective of job analysis is to define each job in terms of behaviors
necessary to perform it.

Job analysis methods assumed that jobs were not changed by the individuals performing them or by time or
situational factors. Thus narrative descriptions of job activities were emphasized. More recent job analysis
techniques recognize job dynamics and attempt to describe jobs in worker-oriented terms. The latter
approach not only provides a basis for establishing common behavioral requirements across jobs, but also
aids in the identification of the personal qualities necessary for success in a given job.
Job analysis provides a deeper understanding of individual jobs and their behavioral requirements and,
therefore, creates a firm basis on which to make employment decisions. It provides the primary basis for
defining the content domain of the job. It provides and understanding of the organization’s needs as they
relate to the selection problem so that the researcher can formulate sound hypotheses about relationships
among predictors and criteria.

• A job analysis is a vital part of working efficiency, besides promoting smooth working relationships among the
employees. It can be regarded as the foundation upon which a system of efficiency is built.

Job analysis- It is the accurate study of the various components of the job. 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.
Job analysis produces information used for writing job descriptions and job specifications

Job Description – a list of job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions and supervisory
responsibilities. It is a product of a job analysis.

Job Specifications – A list of Job’s “human requirements”, that is the requisite education, skills, personality.
 Terminology In Job Analysis
• An element is the smallest unit into which work can be divided without
analyzing separate motions, movements and mental processes involved.
• A task is a distinct work activity carried out for a distinct purpose.
• A duty includes a large segment of the work performed by an individual and
may include any number of tasks. Examples of job duties include
conducting interviews, counselling employees, and providing information to
the public.
• A position consists of one or more duties performed by a given individual in
a given firm at a given time, such as clerk typist- level three. There are as
many positions as there are workers.
• A job is a group of positions that are similar in their significant duties, such
as two or more mechanics. A job may only involve one position, depending
on the size of the organization.
• A job family is a group of two or more jobs that either call for similar work
characteristics or contain parallel work tasks as determined by jobs
analysis.
• An occupation is a group of similar jobs found in different organizations at
different times. A vocation is similar to an occupation, used more by a
worker.
• A career covers a sequence of positions, jobs, or occupations that one
person engages in during his or her working life.
 Information included in Job Analysis
• Work activities – information about the job’s actual work activities,
this list includes the how, why and when the worker performs each
activity
• Human Behaviors- include information like sensing, communication,
deciding, and writing. Including job demands such as lifting weights
or walking long distances.
• Machines, tools, equipment and work aids- information regarding
tools used, material processed, knowledge dealt with or applied and
services rendered such as counseling or repairing.
• Performance standards – in terms of quantity or quality levels for
each job duty
• Job context – information about physical working conditions, work
schedule, and the organizational and social context, eg., the number
of people with whom the employee would normally interact.
Information regarding incentives.
• Human requirements – information regarding the job’s human
requirements such as job-related knowledge or skills (education,
training, work experience) and required personal attributes
(aptitudes, physical characteristics, personality, interests).
Sample Job Analysis
It includes sections on Job ID, Job Requirements (what is done in the positions)
and Employee requirements (what skills are needed by the person who
holds the position).
The example below is for a sales person who is selling financial service
products. About 75% of his/her time is spent in the office and the other 25%
is out on the road making presentations to customers. The job requires a
Certified Financial Planners designation and requires heavy duty lead
generation.
Job Title:                 Financial Planning Sales
Classification:           Full Time Exempt Employee
Department/Division:  Financial Product/ Western Regional
Location:                 Orange County California
Pay Grade:               Level IV (Base + Commission)

Job Requirements
A. Summary of Position
Researches and identifies target client sectors for financial product services.
Develops and implements a sales process to include initial contact, follow
up, presentation and closing procedures. Maintains records of contacts and
sales status including contact reports, sales projections and quota ratios.
B. Job Duties
1) Research and Create targeted new client lists within Orange County
California territory
2) Makes initial contact with potential clients
3) Performs routine and regular follow up with potential clients
4) Performs routine and regular follow up with former clients
5) Visits potential clients and makes sales presentations
6) Closes sales
7) Maintains regular record reporting sales activity
C. Computer Skills and Software Used
1) Windows operating system
2) MS Office including Word, Excel and PowerPoint
3) Constant Contact or other Customer Relations Management
Software
D. Reporting Structure
1) Reports to regional sales manager
2) Has nobody directly reporting to this position
3) Required to participate in Annual Sales Meeting
Employee Requirements
A. Education and Training
1) Bachelor Degree in business, finance or accounting or 5 Years
experience and High School Diploma. Bachelors Degree Preferred
2) ABC Financial Planning - Level 3 or higher (Fictional)
B. Skills and Aptitudes
1) Fearless cold caller, 250+ Outbound calls per week
2) Ability to close a sale
3. Adapt to changing financial conditions and meet customer
expectations
C. Environment and Physical
1) Work in high volume sales office
2) Be able to sit for prolonged periods of time
3) Be able to travel to client locations 25% of time
D. Licenses/Certifications
1) CFP - Certified Financial Planner
2) California Drivers License
Success Factors
A. Grow Sales
1) Increase market channel penetration by 30% in first Year
2) Develop 3 secondary channels in first 180 days
3) Grow referral-based sales from 15% to 20% in first year
B. Develop Sales Department
1) Recruit and train 2 junior sales associates with gross sales of $500K
by 3nd quarter
2) Increase number of sales presentations by 20% within 12 months
3) Implement Web-Meeting presentation System to Reduce travel
costs by 20% per year

Comments____________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
HR Representative___________________________________
Department Manager__________________________________
Date Completed______________________________________
USES OF JOB ANALYSIS INFORMATION

The information produced by job analysis is used extensively in HRM.  It is difficult to

imagine how an organisation could effectively hire, train, appraises, compensate or
utilise its human resources without the kinds of information derived from job analysis”

1. Job Descriptions – job descriptions define what a job is by identifying its content,
requirements and context.  Because job descriptions provide a written summary of the
duties and responsibilities of the job, they help managers and current and prospective
employees understand what the job is and how it is to be performed.

2. Job Specification – job specifications focus on the personal characteristics and

qualifications that an employee must possess to perform the job successfully.

3. Job Design – job design identifies what work must be performed, how it will be
performed, where it is to be performed and who will perform it.  Job analysis
information is invaluable in determining which tasks should be grouped together to
form a job and structuring jobs so that employee satisfaction and performance can be
enhanced.

4. Organisational Structure and Design – job analysis by clarifying job requirements and
the inter relationships among jobs means content and tasks duties and responsibilities
at all levels can be specified, thus promoting efficiency by minimising overlap or
duplication. Job analysis information is invaluable in determining which tasks should
be grouped together to form a job and structuring jobs so that employee satisfaction
and performance can be enhanced.
1. HR Planning – HR or personnel planning involves “getting the right number of
qualified people into the right job at the right time”.  Job analysis information is
essential for this if the number and types of employees to be recruited or exited from
the organisation are to be accurately determined.

2. Recruitment – job analysis information helps the HR Manager attract better qualified
candidates by identifying who to recruit and how and where to recruit them by
establishing the job requirements that must meet.  In addition, job analysis permits
the HR Manager to provide realistic job previews by highlighting irrelevant and or
distorted job information.

3. Selection – job analysis information identifies what the job is by defining what duties
and responsibilities must be performed.  This facilitates the development of job
related selection techniques, and increases proper matching of an applicant with a
job.  Finally, job analysis information can be used to validate the selection techniques
the likelihood of a.

4. Orientation – Effective job orientation requires a clear understanding of the work to

be performed.  A new employee cannot be properly taught how to do a job if job
duties and responsibilities are not clearly defined.

5. Performance Appraisal – Job analysis information is essential to the establishment of

performance standards.  Through job analysis a thorough understanding of what the
employee is supposed to do is obtained.  Without this, acceptable levels of
performance cannot be determined or an accurate measure of actual performance
obtained.
8. Training and Development – Job analysis information is used to design and implement training and
development programs.  The job specification defines the knowledge, skills and abilities required for
successful job performance.  This allows the HR Manager to establish training and development
objectives, design programs and determine whether or not a current or potential employee requires
training.

9. Career planning and Development – HR Managers are better placed to offer career guidance when
they have a good understanding of the types of jobs existing in an organisation.  Similarly, by
identifying jobs and job requirements, employees become aware of their career options and what
constitutes a realistic career objective for them in the organisation.

10. Compensation and Benefits – the job description is the foundation of job evaluation.  It summarises the
nature and requirements of the job and permits its evaluation relative to other jobs.  Once the relative
worth of a job has been determined an equitable level of compensation and benefits can be assigned.
11. Health & Safety – job analysis information helps create a healthy and safe working environment.  Jobs
with hazardous conditions methods or procedures can be identified and redesigned to eliminate or
reduce exposure to health and safety hazards.

12. Industrial Relations – Misunderstandings and disagreement among managers, employees and unions
over job content is a major source of grievance and demarcation disputes.  Job analysis information
can help avoid such disputes by providing a clear description of tasks and responsibilities and
identifying the formal qualifications, skills, abilities, knowledge and experience required to successfully
perform the work.

13. Discovering unassigned duties – job analysis can also help reveal unassigned duties.

14. Vocational rehabilitation - The field of vocational rehabilitation uses 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.
Lawshe and Satter (1944) proposed four major uses of job analysis.
• The derivation of training content
• Setting up of personnel specifications’
• Improvement of job efficiency and
• Establishment of wage structures

Zerga (1943) concludes that there are 20 uses

• Job grading and classification
• Wage setting and standardization
• Provision of hiring specifications
• Clarification of job duties and responsibilities
• Transfers and promotions
• Adjustment of grievances
• Establishment of a common understanding between various levels of workers and management
• Defining and outlining promotional steps
• Investigating accidents
• Indicating faulty work procedures or duplication of effort
• Maintaining, operating and adjusting machinery
• Time and motion studies
• Defining limits of authority
• Indicating cases of individual merit
• Indicating causes of personal failure
• Studies of health and fatigue
• Scientific guidance
• Determining jobs suitable for occupational therapy
STEPS IN JOB ANALYSIS
There are six steps in Job Analysis
• Step number 1: Decide how you will use the data information, since this will determine the data
you collect and how you collect them.
Some data collection techniques, like interviewing the employee and asking what the job entails are
useful for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the job.

• Step number 2: Review relevant background information such as organization charts, job
descriptions and process charts. Organization chart shows the organization wide division of work,
how the job in question relates to other jobs, and where the job fits in the whole organization. The
chart should show the title of each position and by means of interconnecting lines, who reports to
whom and who communicates to whom. A process chart provides more detailed picture of the
work flow. It shows the flow of inputs to and outputs from a particular job.
Finally, the existing job description usually provides a starting point for building the revised job
description.
• Step number 3: Selecting representative positions: Because there may be too many similar jobs to
analyze.
• Step number 4: Actually analyze the job: By collecting data information on job activities, required
employee working conditions, human traits, abilities and employee behaviors.
• Step number 5: Verify the job analysis information with the employee performing the job and with
his/her supervisor. This review can also help gain the employee’s acceptance of the job analysis
data and conclusions, by giving that person a chance to review and modify the description of the
job activities.
• Step number 6: Develop job description and specification. Both of them are two tangible products
of job analysis. Job description is a written statement that describes the activities and
responsibilities of the job and also working conditions and safety hazards. Job specifications
underline the personal qualities, skills, traits, background required for the job needed.

• The above steps might include identifying the job’s broad functional or duty areas, such as
administrative and supervisory and identifying tasks within each duty area
Methods for collecting job analysis information
There are various ways (interviews, or questionnaires, for instance) to collect information on the duties,
responsibilities, and activities of a job. The basic rule is to use those that best fit the purpose. Thus,
an interview might be appropriate for creating a listing of job duties and job description, whereas the
more Quantitative Position Analysis Questionnaire may best be used for quantifying each job’s
relative worth for compensation purposes.

Job analysis Guidelines

• First, conducting the job analysis usually involves a joint effort by a human resources specialist,
the worker, and the worker’s supervisor. The human resources specialist (perhaps a human
resources manager, job analyst, or consultant) might observe and analyze the job and then develop
a job description and specification. Often the supervisor and worker fill out questionnaires listing the
subordinate’s duties and activities. The supervisor and worker may then review and verify the job
analyst’s conclusions regarding the job’s activities and duties.
• Second, job analysis almost always requires collecting job analysis information from several people
familiar with the job (called subject matter experts) such as job incumbents and their supervisors
using questionnaires and interviews. For example the job incumbent or his or her supervisor alone
will not suffice.
• Third, if there are several employees doing the same job (as you might find for instance with the jobs
of programmer assembler or sales clerk), it is typical to collect job analysis information from several
of them from different departments, and then average up your results, to determine how much time a
typical employee on that job spends on each job duty. The caveat is that employees who have the
same job title but work in different departments may experience very different pressures. Therefore,
simply adding up and averaging the amount of time that, say, recruiters in the engineering office and
assembly plant each need to devote to interviewing candidates could end in misleading results. The
point is that you must understand the job’s departmental context: The way someone with a particular
job title sends his or her time is not necessarily the same from department to department.
• Fourth, make sure the questions and surveys are clear and understandable to the respondents.
• Fifth, if possible, observe and question respondents early enough in the job analysis process to catch
any problems while there’s still time to correct the job analysis procedure (such as the questions)
you’re using.
Interviews, questionnaires, observations, and diary/logs are the most popular
methods for gathering job analysis data. They all provide realistic
information about what job incumbents actually do. Managers use them for
developing job descriptions and job specifications.

1. The Interview
Interviews are popular methods for obtaining job related information. They may
range from completely unstructured interviews (Tell me about your job) to
highly structured ones in which job analysts follow detailed questionnaire in
asked their questions.

Managers may conduct individual interviews with each employee, group

interviews with groups of employee who the same job, and / or supervisor
interviews with one or more supervisors who know the job. They use group
interviews when a large number of employees are performing similar or
identical work, since it can be quick and inexpensive way to gather
information. As a rule, the workers immediate supervisor attends the group
session; if not you can interview the supervisor separately to get that
person’s perspective on the job’s duties and responsibilities.

• Which kind of interview you use, you need to be sure that interviewee fully
understands the reason for the interview, because there’s a tendency for
such interviews to be viewed, rightly or wrongly as efficiency evaluations. If
so, interviews may hesitate to describe their jobs accurately.
Advantages and disadvantages of the interview
1. It is a simple and quick way to collect
information, including information that might not
be apparent.
2. As job analysis is often a prelude to a change
in a job’s pay rate, employees may exaggerate
certain responsibilities while minimizing others.
There may be a tendency to inflate their job’s
importance when abilities are involved, so as to
impress the perceptions of others.
Structured interview - Many interviewers follow
structured or checklist formats. It includes a
series of detailed questions regarding matters
like the general purpose of the job, supervisory
responsibilities, job duties, skills required.
2. Questionnaires
Employees fill out questionnaires to describe their job-related duties
and responsibilities. It can be a structured checklist in which the
employee is asked to indicate whether he or she performs each task
and how much time is spent on it. On the other hand, it could be an
open-ended questionnaire that simply asks the employee to
describe what he does.
Questionnaires often is a quick and easy way to obtain information
from a large number of employees. However, developing the
questionnaire can be time consuming.

3. Observation – Direct observation is especially useful when jobs

consist mainly of observable physical activities. On the other hand, it
is not appropriate when the job entails a lot of mental activity.

One approach is to observe the worker on the job during a complete

work cycle. The cycle is the time it takes to complete the job.

4. Participants Diary/Logs – ask the workers to keep a diary/log of what

they do during the day. For every activity he or she engages in, the
employee records the activity, along with the time in a log.
5. Quantitative Job analysis techniques
A– the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a very structured job analysis
questionnaire developed by McMormick, Jeanneret, and Mechem (1972). It
contains 194 items each of which represents a basic element that may or may not
play an important role in the job. The job analyst decides if each item plays a role
and, if so, to what extent. The advantage of PAQ is that it provides a quantitative
score or profile of any job in terms of how that job rates on five basic activities:-
a) Having decision-making/communication/social responsibilities
b) Performing skilled activities
c) Being physically active
d) Operating vehicles/equipment and
e) Processing information

The PAQ’s strength is in classifying jobs. It lets you assign a quantitative score to each
job based on its decision-making, skilled activity, physical activity,
vehicle/equipment operation, and information-processing characteristics. Therefore
jobs can be compared to one another and then assign pay levels for each job.

Research indicates that PAQ is more suited with use with blue-collar manufacturing jobs
than it is for professional, managerial or some technical jobs.
B. Department of Labor Procedure – the U.S. dept of labor provides a
standardized method by which to quantitatively rate, classify and
compare different jobs. The analysis is on data, people and
things rating for each job. It uses a standard set of basic activities
called worker functions to describe what a worker can do
with respect to data, people and things. With respect to data, the
basic functions include synthesizing, coordinating, and copying.
With respect to people, they include mentoring, negotiating, and
supervising. With respect to things, the basic functions include
manipulating, tending and handling. Each worker function gets an
importance level.

C. Functional Job Analysis is similar to the DOL method but rates the
job not just on data, people, and things, but also on the extent to
which performing the task requires specific instructions, reasoning
and judgment, mathematical ability and verbal and language
facilities.
Data People Things

0 synthesize 0 mentor 0 set up

1 Coordinate 1 Negotiate 1 Precision work
2 analyze 2 Instruct 2 operate, control
3 compile 3 supervise 3 drive, operate
4 compute 4 divert 4 Manipulate
5 copy 5 persuade 5 Tend
6 compare 6 speak-signal 6 Feed

7 serve 7 Handle
8 Take instruction
6. Internet- based analysis – useful for internationally dispersed employees via the
company intranet, with instructions to complete the forms and return them by a
particular date. The Human Resource department can distribute standardized job
analysis questionnaires to geographically disbursed employees via their company
intranets.

7. Technical conference method- this method uses “experts” rather than actual job
incumbents as a source of information. These expert are usually supervisors who
have extensive knowledge of the job in question. They meet with the job analyst and
attempt to specify all the characteristics of the job. The problem with this method is
that the experts may not actually know as much about the job as the analyst would
hope, since they do not actually perform the task themselves. Thus, their judgments
are only estimates based upon their background experience.

8. Work participation method – the job analyst actually performs the job himself. By doing
the work himself he is thus able to obtain firsthand information about what
characteristics comprise the job under investigation. The technique is fairly effective
for simple jobs, but complex jobs usually require that the job analyst be extensively
trained prior to his session of work activity.

8. Critical incident method – this involves a collection of a series of statements of job

behavior, based upon direct observation or memory, about good and poor job
performance. In job analysis such incidents can provide information about critical
aspects of the job, but the method does not provide an integrated picture of the entire
task.
O*NET General Work Activities Categories

1. INFORMATION INPUT (5 elements) — Where and how are the information and data
gained that are needed to perform this job?
• Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information
— Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources,
or materials needed to perform a work activity.
• Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information
from all relevant sources.
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing,
estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in
circumstances or events.
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material — Inspecting equipment, structures,
or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing
information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

2. INTERACTING WITH OTHERS (17 elements) — What interactions with other persons
or supervisory activities occur while performing this job?
• Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention,
emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or
patients.
• Coaching and Developing Others — Identifying the developmental needs of others
and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or
skills.
• Communicating with Persons Outside Organization — Communicating with
people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the
public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged
in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing
information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written
form, e-mail, or in person.
• Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others — Getting members of a group to
work together to accomplish tasks.
• Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect,
and cooperation among team members.
• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing
constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them
over time.
• Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates — Providing guidance and
direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring
performance.
• Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining
what information means and how it can be used.
• Monitoring and Controlling Resources — Monitoring and controlling resources and
overseeing the spending of money.
• Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks
such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
• Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or
dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and
stores, and receiving clients or guests.
• Provide Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert
advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related
topics.
• Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling
disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
• Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to
otherwise change their minds or actions.
• Staffing Organizational Units — Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, hiring, and
promoting employees in an organization.
• Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others,
developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or
instructing others.
3. MENTAL PROCESSES (10 elements) — What processing, planning, problem-solving,
decision-making, and innovating activities are performed with job-relevant information?
• Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or
facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
• Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and
specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using
relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or
processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value,
importance, or quality of things or people.
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating
results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans
to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating,
auditing, or verifying information or data.
• Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as
well as the work of others.
• Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas,
relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and
applying new knowledge to your job.
4. WORK OUTPUT (9 elements) — What physical activities are performed, what equipment
and vehicles are operated/controlled, and what complex/technical activities are
accomplished as job outputs?
• Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct
physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or
vehicles).
• Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or
maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
• Drafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and Equipment —
Providing documentation, detailed instructions, drawings, or specifications to tell others
about how devices, parts, equipment, or structures are to be fabricated, constructed,
assembled, modified, maintained, or used.
• Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing,
positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Interacting With Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including
hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or
process information.
• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment — Running, maneuvering,
navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger
vehicles, aircraft, or water craft.
• Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require
considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing,
lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
• Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment — Servicing, repairing,
calibrating, regulating, fine-tuning, or testing machines, devices, and equipment that
operate primarily on the basis of electrical or electronic (not mechanical) principles.
• Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment — Servicing, repairing,
adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate
primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.
 Writing Job Descriptions
A job description is a written statement of what the
worker actually does, how he or she does it, and
what the job’s working conditions are.
Most descriptions cover
• Job identification
• Job summary
• Responsibilities and duties
• Authority of incumbent
• Standards of performance
• working conditions
• Job specification
Job Identification -
Job title specifies the name of the job.
• location of the job in terms of its facility/division and department/section.
• immediate supervisor’s title and information regarding salary, and/or pay scale.
• grade/level of the job

Job Summary
• Summarise the essence of the job and include its major functions or activities.
• Should have specific functions outlined
• Should not include ambiguos statements such as – other duties assigned.

Relationships
Shows the jobholder’s relationships with others inside and outside the organization. Eg.,
Reports to
Supervises
Works with
Outside the company

Responsibilities and duties

List the job’s significant responsibilities and duties. Each of the major duties should be listed
separately and described in a few sentences.
This section would also define the limits of the jobholder’s authority, including his or her decision-
making authority, direct supervision of other personnel, and budgetary authority. The authority
might include approving purchase requests for a certain amount, grant time off, recommend
salary increase, interview and hire new employees
The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) ,
the SOC classifies all workers into one of the 23
major groups of jobs. These in turn contain 96
minor groups of jobs, and these include 821
detailed occupations.

The SOC and O*NET include specific tasks

associated with many occupations. O*NET
includes basic skills.

Standards of performance and working conditions

This lists the standards the employee is expected
to achieve under each of the job description’s
main duties and responsibilities.
• Job specification
• What human traits and experiences are required to do this job well.
It shows what kind of person to recruit and for what qualities that
person should be tested. The job specification may be a section of
the job description, or a separate document entirely.
• One approach is the threshold traits analysis – TTA (Lopez,
Kesselman, and Lopez, 1981).
• The trait-oriented approach seeks to identify the human attributes
that predispose individuals to perform well on various types of jobs.
With this trait-relevant incumbents outperform non trait-relevant
incumbents on standardized measures of ability. The process
begins by describing and illustrating the TTA method to a group of
about 15 immediate supervisors. Working independently, each
supervisor then determines the relevance for effective job
performance of each of 33 carefully-defined traits. If the required
level is zero, then the trait is regarded as irrelevant.
• for traits determined as relevant, each supervisor next determines
the unique level of the trait. Trait level refers to the intensity or
complexity of the trait, and it is rated . Individual ratings are then
averaged to produce a list of relevant traits, along with their levels
and weights in the overall performance mix.
 Work behaviors
industriousness Keeps working even when other employees are
standing around talking; takes the initiative to find
another task when finished with regular work
thoroughness Cleans equipment thoroughly, creating a more attractive
display; notices merchandize out of place and returns it
to the proper area
Schedule flexibility Accepts schedule changes when necessary; offers to
stay late when the store is extremely busy
attendance Arrives at work on time; maintains good attendance

Off- task behavior Uses store phones to make personal unauthorized calls;
(reverse) conducts personal business during work time; lets
friends be a distraction and interruption to work
Unruliness Threatens to bully another employee ; refuses to take
(reverse) routine orders from supervisors; does not cooperate
with other employees
• For untrained personnel, information included would be physical
traits, personality, interests, or sensory skills that imply some
potential for performing or for being trained to do the job.

• In developing a job description and job specification it is important to

understand the reason for the job and therefore the skills a person
actually needs to be competent at.

• Job specification based statistical analysis

• a statistical relationship is made between some predictor or human

trait, such as intelligence, finger dexterity and some indicator or
criterion of job effectiveness such as performance as rated by the
supervisor

• The procedure has five steps

The procedure has five steps:
(1) analyze the job and decide how to measure job performance;
(2) select personal traits like finger dexterity that you believe should predict
successful performance;
(3) test candidates for these traits;
(4) measure these candidates’ subsequent job performances; and
(5) statistically analyze the relationship between the human trait (finger dexterity)
and job performance. Your objective is to determine whether the former
predicts the latter.
Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same-level activities , thus
increasing the number of activities they perform. Job rotation means
systematically moving workers from one job to another to enhance work team
performance and/or broaden his or her experience and identify strong and
weak points to prepare the person for an enhanced role with the company.

Herzberg contended that the best way to motivate workers is to build

oppurtunities for challenge and achievement into their jobs via job enrichment.
Job enrichment means redesigning jobs in a way that increases the
oppurtunities for the worker to experience feelings of responsibility,
achievement, growth and recognition eg., by letting the worker plan and
control his or her own work instead of having it controlled by outsiders.
Employees would do their jobs well because they wanted to, and quality and
productivity would rise.
 Dejobbing
• Moving to simpler, broader descriptions of jobs – dejobbing. It is the broadening of the
responsibilities of the company’s jobs, and encouraging employees not to limit themselves to
what’s on their job descriptions.

In an scenario where companies are grappling with challenges like rapid product and technological
change, global competition, deregulation, political instability, demographic changes and a shift to
a service economy, it is essential for firms to be responsive, flexible and competitive. Employees
are encouraged to broaden their scope of work beyond their job descriptions so that they can be
switched from tasks to task as jobs and team assignments change. Dejobbing becomes relevant
in cases of

• Flatter organizations
• Self-managing work teams
• Reengineering

• Flatter organizations – instead of seven-layered organizations, three levels exist, therefore

managers have subordinates reporting to them less and instead the subordinates have wider
range of responsibilities.

• Self-managing work teams- having multi-skilled, cross-functional and self-directed teams,

employees changes jobs daily, so management intentionally avoids employees viewing their jobs
in a narrow range of responsibility

• Reengineering – involves redesigning a business process so that small self-managing teams of

employees working together get the task done together. This helps in cost, quality, service and
speed. In reengineering situations workers become collectively responsible for overall results
rather than just for their own tasks. They share joint responsibility with their team members for
performing the whole process, not just a small piece of it.
• Competency- based job analysis

• Job descriptions based on lists of job-specific duties may actually

inhibit the flexibility the companies need. Employers are moving away
from traditional job analysis procedures to new approaches

• Competency-based job analysis basically means writing job

descriptions based on competencies rather than job duties. It
emphasizes what the employee must be capable of doing, rather than
on a list of the duties he or she must perform. Competencies are
demonstrable characteristics of the person that enable performance.
Job competencies are always observable and measurable behaviors
comprising part of a job comprising the knowledge, skills and/or
behaviors the employee must exhibit to do the job.

• Comparing the procedures – traditional job analysis focuses on what

is accomplished, competency analysis focuses on how the worker
meets the job’s objectives or actually accomplishes the work.
Traditional job analysis is job focused, competency- based analysis is
worker focused- what is he competent to do.
• Why use Competency Analysis?
• There are three reasons to describe jobs in terms of competencies rather than duties.
First , traditional job descriptions with their lists of specific duties may actually
backfire if a high performance work system is the employer’s goal. The whole thrust
of these systems is to encourage employees to work in a self-motivated way, by
organizing the work around teams, by encouraging team members to rotate freely
among jobs (each with its own skill set) by pushing more responsibility for things like
day-to-day supervision down to the workers and by organizing work around projects
or processes in which jobs may blend or overlap. Employees here must be
enthusiastic about learning and moving among jobs.
• Second, describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge, and competencies the
worker needs to be more strategic.
• Third, measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies support the employer’s
performance management process. Performance management means basing
employee’s training, appraisals, and rewards on fostering and rewarding the skills
and competencies he or she needs to achieve his or her goals. Describing the job in
terms of skills and competencies facilitates this.

• Shift from task-based approach to process-based approach. A process is a collection

of activities (such as procurement, etc.) that takes one or more kinds of input and
creates an output that is of value to a customer. The process cuts across
organizational boundaries and traditional functions, such as engineering, production,
marketing and finance.

• Employees involved in the process are responsible for ensuring that customers’
requirement are met on time and with no defects, and they are empowered
the job’s required competencies might include
• general competencies such as reading, writing, and mathematical reasoning,
• leadership competencies such as leadership, strategic thinking, and teaching others
• technical competencies which focus on the specific technical competencies required
for specific types of job and/or occupations.

• Some technical competencies for the job of systems engineers might include the
following:
• 1. Design complex software applications, establish protocols, and create prototypes.
2. Establish the necessary platform requirements to efficiently and completely
coordinate data transfer.
3. Prepare comprehensive and complete documentation including specifications, flow
diagrams, process patrols, and budgets.

• Similarly, for a corporate treasurer, technical competencies might include:

• 1. Formulate trade recommendation, by studying several computer models for
currency trends, and using various quantitative techniques to determine the financial
impact of certain financial trades.
2. Recommend specific trades and when to make them.
3. Present recommendations and persuade others to follow the recommended course
of action

• Writing job competencies-based job description

• Manager interviews the job incumbents and their supervisors, asks open-ended
questions regarding job responsibilities and activities, and identifying critical incidents
that pinpoint success on the job.
• One option is to build a skills matrix. The matrix might
include 1) the basic skills needed for that job and 2) the
minimum level of each skill required for that job or job
family. ]
• The emphasis has shifted from job duties to the focus on
specifying and developing the new skills (technical
expertise, business awareness) needed for the
employees broader, empowered, and relatively
undefined responsibilities. The matrix gives a notion to
the employees of what skills they must improve.

• Job analysis for managerial work

• There are two approaches to the study of managerial

work: the “behavioral- content” approach and the “work-
activities” approach.
• The behavioral content approach
Tornow and Pinto (1976) developed a 197-item
Management Position Description Questionnaire
(MPDQ) for objectively describing the managerzial
positions in terms of their responsibilities, restrictions,
demands and activities.
• The work activities approach uses diaries, time-
sampling, interviews and observations.