Friday, August 16, 2013

Human Resource Management: Job Analysis And Job Description

DEFINITIONS:

JOB - Collection of tasks, duties, responsibilities, which as a whole comprise the established assignment to an individual employee.

PURPOSE OF JOB ANALYSIS:
Job Analysis (a.k.a Job Study) - Determination through observation and study of comprehensive information regarding a job with a view to specifying tasks and necessary abilities, knowledge and skills required to perform it. It is carried out by the HR Department and aided by the respective departments of the organization.

METHODS EMPLOYED FOR JOB ANALYSIS/JOB STUDY:
1. Interview and Questionnaire with the incumbents, department Managers and other higher officials directly and indirectly related to that particular Job.

2. Observation and Collection of Data regarding the Job.

3. Participation by the HR official directly/indirectly in the Job activity till analysis period and gain information regarding the same first hand.

4. Technical Conference - Here the information regarding the Job is collected from experts, usually supervisors and not procured directly from actual Job incumbents. The drawback of this method is that at time experts might give answers based on past or outdated experiences or abstract perception since they are not in tune with the current and first hand scenario.

5. Self Recording or Diary maintained y the Job Analyst.

6. Positive Analysis Questionnaire - The HR Manager rates a Job on 194 parameters/descriptions by judging the degree to which each count is present in the Job.

7. Management Position Analysis Questionnaire

ADVANTAGES OF JOB ANALYSIS:
1.Provides with First Hand Job Related Information

2.Helps in creating right Job-Employee fit.

3.Helps in establishing effective hiring strategies.

4.Guides through performance evaluation and Appraisal Process.

5.Helps in analysing Training and Development Needs.

6.Helps in deciding compensation and benefits.



LIMITATIONS OF JOB ANALYSIS:
1. It provides only a snapshot of a particular job.
2. Since Jobs change over a period time due to internal and external factors affecting the organisation therefore, Job analysis to be effective and changes accordingly should have an in-built mechanism for periodically assessing jobs via observations, interviews or brief questionnaire/checklist. This will be much more less expensive and time consuming as compared to starting from scratch every time there is a contingency.

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PURPOSE OF JOB DESCRIPTION:
Job Description - Well written duty statements which accurately describe what is being done on a job as well as work functions and reporting relationships helping recruitment policies as well as employees understand their jobs better and approximate performance to desired levels.

Point wise:
1. Recruiting, interviewing and selection
2. Orientation and training
3. Setting performance standards and or goal statements
4. Designing performance appraisal forms
5. Jo evaluation
6. Clarification and renegotiation of roles
7. Career progression ladders

METHOD OF JOB DESCRIPTION:
On the basis of Job Analysis a specific and taut Job Description is prepared.

ADVANTAGES OF JOB DESCRIPTION:
1.It helps specify and clearly cut out roles and performance levels for all that leads to total efficiency in the organization.
2.It helps cost effectiveness and time management and accountability and responsibility fixing in the organisation's employees.
3.Aids maintenance a consistent and rightful salary structure.

LIMITATIONS OF JOB DESCRIPTION:
Prescriptive job descriptions may be seen as a hindrance in certain circumstances:
  • Job descriptions may not be suitable for some senior managers as they should have the freedom to take the initiative and find fruitful new directions;
  • Job descriptions may be too inflexible in a rapidly-changing organization, for instance in an area subject to rapid technological change;
  • Other changes in job content may lead to the job description being out of date;
  • The process that an organization uses to create job descriptions may not be optimal.

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