Job Analysis: A valuable tool for an organization

 

Clearly identified job responsibilities and duties are not just essential but important ingredient in order to lure employee contributions. Employees, the essential resource for any organization and their effort, motivation and contribution is connected to how and the way they perceive their job. (Ilgen & Hollenbeck, 1991) defines a job as a set of task elements grouped under a specific job title is designated to be performed by a specific individual.

At the heart of every HRM activity is the need for accurate job information. However, in recent years the fundamental uses of a job analysis have become blurred. According to (Palmer & Valet, 2001) and (Schneider & Konz, 1989) job analysis is focused on the collection of work-related information for the specific job as it has existed in the past or currently does exist. Furthermore, (Oswald, 2003) and (Siddique, 2004) states that a job analysis “can be viewed as the hub of virtually all human resource management activities necessary for the success of the organization.”

The history of job analysis has been traced back to Socrates in the fifth century B.C. (Primoff & Fine, 1988). However, the terms job analysis has not appeared in the managerial literature until the early years of the 20th century. Over the recent years, attention has been increased on focusing on changing the nature of job concept and thus, job boundaries are becoming blurred and inter-job activities are the new norm (Shippmann, et al., 2000). As such, scholars are beginning to re-examine jobs can be defined, terms such as role and work are used as alternatives to the word jobs (Sanchez, 1994).

According to (Henderson, 2004) labor intensive, consuming large amount of time of incumbent and job analyst is a successful completion of a job analysis. By conduction a job analysis, the data can be used in several ways such as recruitment and selection, developing and appraising employees, job and organizational design and compensation (Fisher, et al., 2004). According to (Dessler, 2000), there are six steps in conducting a job analysis:

1.      Identify the use to which the information will be put

2.      Review relevant background information

3.      Select representative positions to be analyzed

4.      Analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, required employee behavior, working condition etc.

5.      Review information with job incumbent

6.      Develop a job description and job specification

Job analysis has been proven to improve communication, accommodate change and contribute to improve HRM and be cost effective for an organization (Prien, et al., 2003). It has grown considerable over the recent year and has become an influential tool in business as well as growing industries (Gatewood & Feild, 1994). The importance of job analysis has been evident in the following elements:

a)      Organization and managerial functions (Wilde, 1993)

b)      Training and development (Campbell, 1989)

c)      Performance appraisal (Latham & Fry, 1988)

d)      Compensation and benefits (Taber & Peters, 1991)

e)      Job design and description (Konczak, 2007)

f)       Employment equity and action (Simola, et al., 2007)

The fundamental purpose of a job analysis is to improve organizational performance and productivity. Job analysis will continue to be in the foreseeable future as a valued tool in HRM. Furthermore, job analysis helps in clarifying job descriptions, creating awareness in career development etc. (Sharif & Karim, 2017).

References

Campbell, C., 1989. job analysis for industrial training. journal o/European Industrial Training, 13(2), pp. 1-58.

Dessler, G., 2000. Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Prentice Hall .

Fisher, S., Schoenfeldt, D., Lyle, F. & Shaw, J. B., 2004. Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Houghton Mifflin.

Gatewood, R. & Feild, H., 1994. Human resource selection. Orlando: The Dryden Press.

Henderson, R. I., 2004. Compensation Management in A Knowledge Based World. Delhi: Pearson Education.

Ilgen, D. & Hollenbeck, J., 1991. The structure of work: job design & roles. In: M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough, eds. Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. s.l.:s.n., pp. 165-208.

Konczak, L. J., 2007. Using individual assessments in the workplace: A practical guide for HR professionals. trainers. and managers.. Personnel Pyschology, 60(3), pp. 793-796.

Latham, G. & Fry, L., 1988. Measuring and appraising employee performance. In: S. Gael, ed. The job analysis handbookfor business. industry. and government. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Oswald, F. L., 2003. job analysis: Methods. research. and applications for human resource management in the new millennium. Personnel Psychology, 56(3), pp. 800-802.

Palmer, H. & Valet, W., 2001. Job Analysis: Targeting Needed Skills. Employment Relations Today, 28(3), pp. 85-92.

Prien, K. O., Prien, E. P. & Wooten, W., 2003. Interrater reliability injob analysis: Differences in strategy and perspective. Public Personnel Management, 32(1), pp. 125-141.

Primoff, E. & Fine, S., 1988. A history of job analysis.. In: S. Gael, ed. The job analysis handbook/or business. industry and government. New York : Wiley and Sons.

Sanchez, J., 1994. From documentation to innovation: Reshaping job analysis to meet emerging business needs.. Human Resource Management Review, 4(1), pp. 51-74.

Schneider, B. & Konz, A. M., 1989. Strategic job analysis. Human Resource Management , 28(1), pp. 51-63.

Sharif, A. M. & Karim, M., 2017. Influence of Job Analysis Program on Employees: A Study on Selected Companies of Bangladesh. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 8(5), pp. 1221-1225.

Shippmann, J. et al., 2000. The practice of competency modelling. Personnel Psychology, Volume 53, pp. 703-740.

Siddique, C. M., 2004. job analysis: A strategic human resource management practice. International journal 0/ Human Resource Management. , 15(1), pp. 219-244.

Simola, S. K., Taggar, S. & Smith, G. W., 2007. The employment selection interview: Disparity among research-based recommendations. current practices and what matters to human rights tribunals. Canadian journal 0/ Administrative Sciences, 24(1), pp. 30-44.

Taber, T. & Peters, T., 1991. Assessing the completeness ofajob analysis procedure. journal of Organizational Behaviour, 12(7), pp. 581-593.

Wilde, E., 1993. Finding the right person for the job.. Management Services, 37(3), pp. 24-26.

 

 

Comments

  1. Derrick WilliamDecember 4, 2022 at 12:03 AM

    Hi Onita, Interesting topic. Further Anthenyet (2002) and Desslar, (2003) recommended that with the recognition of the Human Resource–Performance linkage, organizations vigorously adopting job analysis as a human resource strategy were likely to grow more and put on aggressive benefits. Gatewood & Feild, (1994) illustrated that extent to which tasks and employee attributes for an assigned job was termed as job analysis hence, job analysis techniques can also be termed as worker-oriented or work oriented Work or worker-oriented technique what so ever be, job analysis methods allow the assumption of employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) characteristics. Davis (1995), Gatewood & Feild, (1994) studied the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) characteristics included in job-related information and the necessary human abilities to perform certain job activities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Onita JayawardenaDecember 9, 2022 at 5:19 AM

      Agreed. Job analysis organizes the information for the position such as knowledge, tasks, skills, and abilities and it is the basis of human resource planning and providing important information (Stoilkovska & Serafimovic, 2017).

      Delete
  2. Jeyarajasingam IyngararajDecember 4, 2022 at 5:04 AM

    Hi Onita,
    The drive of job analysis, defined broadly, is to collect information about the work performed within an organization, and this purpose remains unchanged. Positive and negative information collected need to be analyzed to regulate the future of the organization. The uses of job analysis information, however, are different today. Beyond the creation of job descriptions and job specifications, job analysis information will be used to identify future staffing needs (Morgan & Smith, 1996) and enable teams to maximize their work process efficiencies (Sanchez, 1994)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anuradha SamaranayakeDecember 5, 2022 at 7:59 AM

    Agreed and O*Net Model: The beauty of this model is that it helps managers or job analysts in listing job-related data for a very large number of jobs simultaneously. It helps in collecting and recording basic and initial data including educational requirements, physical requirements and mental and emotional requirements to some extent. It also links the level of compensation and benefits, perks and advantages to be offered to a prospective candidate for a specific job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Onita JayawardenaDecember 9, 2022 at 5:08 AM

      Thank you for the comment. Drucker (2002) suggested that the success of companies in such a competitive environment depends of the quality of their human resources and innovative employment management practices and practices.

      Delete
  4. Romeda WijewardeneDecember 5, 2022 at 10:22 PM

    Agreed Onita. Furthermore, the most recent job analysis and constantly updated job descriptions and performance criteria may greatly assist HR professionals in locating and removing pointless job requirements, areas of conflict, or sources of unhappiness (Gomez et al., 2000; Mondy et al.,2002). In general, job analysis appears to have a favorable influence on administrative effectiveness and cost savings, improved organizational environment, and enhanced productivity as measured by growth in sales and profits (Anthony et al., 2002)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Onita JayawardenaDecember 9, 2022 at 5:10 AM

      Thank you for the comment Romeda. Agreed. Furthermore, it has been suggested by Dessler (2003) that organizations who actively pursue job analysis in HR planning strategies are likely to gain competitive advantage.

      Delete
  5. Yohan FernandoDecember 9, 2022 at 2:37 AM

    Totally agreed! Accurate information about open positions is essential to the success of any HRM activity. In spite of this, the core purposes of a job analysis have grown less clear over the last several years (Schneider & Konz, 1989). According to and, job analysis focuses on the collecting of work-related information for the particular employment in question, either as it was in the past or as it exists at the present time (Palmer & Valet, 2001). In addition, "a job analysis may be considered as the core of nearly all operations related to human resource management that are important for the success of the firm." (Siddique, 2004).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Onita JayawardenaDecember 9, 2022 at 5:19 AM

      Agreed. However, job analysis provides a rich source of information about jobs and jobholders where HR professionals can use such information to develop documents such as job descriptions, performance standards and job specifications (Siddique, 2004).

      Delete
  6. Onita JayawardenaDecember 9, 2022 at 5:13 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dulakshi PereraDecember 10, 2022 at 8:39 AM

    Your post is very helpful Onita. Especially for HR professionals. Doing Job Analysis there are two main outcomes. One is the Job description and the other one is the job specification. While the job description describes the job duties and responsibilities, Job specifications specify the job holder's features in terms of academic, exposure and capabilities. (Siddique, 2004).

    The process is discussed and its use by line management in developing job evaluation dimensions, selection criteria, performance appraisal and identifying training needs is described.Neumann, D.F. (1988).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The relationship between recruitment and selection and organization performance

  Over the years, there has been an upward trend in globalization where economies around the world are interlinking to promote foreign trade through connectivity and technological advances (Carnevale & Hatak, 2020) . Therefore, organizations rely on their employees to gain a competitive advantage in the industry and market. According to (Collins, 2021) , this is strongly related to the efficiency of an organization’s human resources and human resource management which includes tasks such as strategic recruiting, employee training, worker relations, employee satisfaction and many more. These practices or policies are set to improve work quality, engagement of employees and organizational efficiency (Khan & Abdullah, 2019) . Organizational performance according to (Anwar & Balcioglu, 2016)   is the degree of achievement of the mission at an organization that builds up an employee job. Organizational is challenging due to its many standards such as sustainability, ...
Read more