JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. It is a technical

procedure, one that is used to define the job’s duties, responsibilities, and accountabilities
of a job. This analysis “involves the identification and description of what is happening
on the job …… accurately and precisely identifying the required tasks, the knowledge,
and the skills necessary for performing them, and the conditions under which they must
be performed. In job analysis we attempt to gather the following hierarchy of
information:
Task: A task is a distinct work activity carried out for a distinct purpose. Examples
would include typing a letter, preparing a lecture, or unloading a mail truck.
Duty: A duty is a number of tasks. Counseling students is a duty of a college instructor.
A general accounting clerk’s duties might include preparing the monthly income
statement and distributing the weekly payroll checks.
Position: A position refers to one or more duties performed by one person in an
organization. There are at least as many positions as there are workers in the
organization; vacancies may create more positions than employees. Examples of
positions include Supervisor – Grade IV; Accounts Payable Clerk I; and Assistant
Professor, Level 2.
Job: A job is a type of position within the organization. If a large company employs sixty
mechanical engineers, then there are sixty positions, but just one mechanical engineer
job.
Job family: 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. At the
previously mentioned company, service clerks and policy correspondents represent two
jobs that frequently are placed in a common job family because they have many similar
worker characteristics.
Occupation: an occupation is a group of similar jobs found across organizations.
Electrician, accountant, and service maintenance engineer are examples of occupations.
Career: A career represents a sequence of positions, jobs, or occupations that a person
has over his or her working life.
Steps in Job Analysis
There are six steps in doing a job analysis. Let’s look at each of them.
1. Decide how you’ll use the 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 good for writing
job descriptions and selecting employees for the job. Other techniques like the
position analysis questionnaire do not provide qualitative information for job
descriptions. Instead, they provide numerical ratings for each job; these can be
used to compare jobs for compensation purposes.
2. Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process
charts, and job descriptions. Organization charts show the organization wide
division of work, how the job in question relates to other jobs, and where the job
fits in the overall organization. The chart should show the title of each position
and, by means of interconnecting lines, who reports to whom and with whom the
incumbent communicates. A process chart provides a more detailed picture of the
work flow. In its simplest form a process chart show the flow to inputs to and
outputs from the job you’re analyzing. Finally, the existing job description, if
there is one, usually provides a starting point for building the revised job
description.
3. Select representative positions. There may be too many similar jobs to analyze.
For example, it is usually unnecessary to analyze the jobs of 200 assembly
workers when a sample of 10 jobs will do.
4. Actually analyze the job – by collecting data on job activities, required employee
behaviors, working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform
the job. For this step, use one or more of the job analysis methods.
5. Verify the job analysis information with the worker performing the job and with
his or her immediate supervisor. This will help confirm that the information is
factually correct and complete. 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 your description of the job activities.
6. Develop a job description and job specification. These are two tangible products
of the job analysis. The job description is a written statement that describes the
activities and responsibilities of the job, as well as its important features, such as
working conditions and safety hazards. The job specification summarizes the
 personal qualities, traits, skills, and background required for getting the job done.
It may be a separate document or in the same document as the job description.
Methods of Collecting Job Analysis Information
The basic methods by which HRM can determine job elements and the essential
knowledge, skills, and abilities for successful performance include the following:
1. Observation Method: Using the observation method, a job analyst watches
employees directly or reviews films of workers on the job. Although the
observation method provides first hand information, workers rarely function most
efficiently when they are being watched, and thus distortion in the job analysis
can occur. This method also requires that the entire range of activities be
observable, which is possible with some jobs, but impossible for many for
example, most managerial jobs.
2. Individual Interview Method: The individual interview method assembles a team
of job incumbents for extensive individual interviews. The results of these
interviews are combined into a single job analysis. This method is effective for
assessing what a job entails. Involving employees in the job analysis is essential.
3. Group Interview Method: Group interview method is similar to the individual
interview method except that job incumbents are interviewed simultaneously.
Accuracy is increased in assessing jobs, but group dynamics may hinder its
effectiveness.
4. Structured Questionnaire Method: The structured questionnaire method gives
workers a specific designed questionnaire on which they check or rate items they
perform in their job from a long list of possible task items. This technique is
excellent for gathering information about jobs. However, exceptions to a job may
be overlooked and opportunity may be lacking to ask follow-up questions or to
clarify the information received.
5. Technical Conference Method: The technical conference method uses
supervisors with extensive knowledge of the job. Here, specifies job
characteristics are obtained from the experts. Although a good data-gathering
method, it often overlooks the incumbent workers’ perceptions about what they
do on their job.
 6. Diary Method: The diary method requires job incumbents to record their daily
activities. This is the most time consuming of the job analysis methods and may
extend over long periods of time – all adding to its cost.
These six methods are not mutually exclusive; nor is one method universally superior.
Even obtaining job information from incumbents can create a problem, especially if these
individuals describe what they think they should be doing rather than what they actually
do. The best results then are usually achieved with some combination of methods – with
information provided by individual employees, their immediate supervisors, a
professional analyst, or an unobtrusive source such as filmed observations.
Purposes of Job Analysis
Job analysis serves the following purposes:
1. Job Descriptions: A job description is a written statement that describes the
activities and responsibilities of the job, as well as its important features, such as
working conditions and safety hazards. A common format for a job description
includes the job title, the duties to be performed, the distinguishing characteristic
of the job and the authority and responsibilities of the jobholder. When we discuss
employee recruitment, selection, and appraisal we will find that the job
description acts as an important resource for (i) describing the job (either verbally
by recruiters and interviewers or in written advertisements) to potential
candidates, (2) guiding newly hired employees in what they are specifically
expected to do, ad providing a point of comparison in appraising whether the
actual activities of a job incumbent align with the stated duties.
2. Job Specifications: The job specification states the minimum acceptable
qualifications that the incumbent must possess to perform the job successfully.
Based on the information acquired through job analysis, the job specification
identifies the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to do the job effectively. The
job specification is an important tool in the selection process, for it keeps the
selector’s attention on the list of qualifications necessary for an incumbent to
perform the job and assists in determining whether candidates are qualified.
3. Job Evaluations: In addition to providing data for job descriptions and
specifications, job analysis is also valuable in providing the information that
makes comparison of job possible. If an organization is to have an equitable
compensation program, jobs that have similar demands in terms of skills,
education, and other personal characteristics should be placed in common
 compensation groups. Job evaluation contributes toward that end by specifying
the relative value of each job in the organization. Job evaluation is made possible
by the data generated from job analysis.
Example of a Job Description
JOB TITLE: Record Clerk Occupational Code No. 3221
REPORTS TO: Record Supervisor Job No. 01
SUPERVISES: None Grade Level 20
Date: 5/6/2010
FUNCTIONS: Originate, process, and maintain comprehensive records; implement
required controls; collect and summarize data as requested.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBLITIES:
Review a variety of documents, listings, summaries, etc., for completeness and accuracy.
Check records against other current sources such as reports or summaries; investigate
differences and take required action to ensure that records are accurate and up to date;
compile and summarize data into report format as required.
Implement controls for obtaining, preserving, and supplying a variety of information.
Prepare simple requisitions, forms, and other routine memoranda.
Furnish information upon request to interested personnel by selecting required data from
records, reports, source documents, and similar papers.
Provide functional guidance to lower-level personnel as required.
May use a calculating machine, typewriter, or key punch machine to compile, type, or
key punch information.
JOB CHARACTERISTIES: Skilled operation of typewriter, calculating machine, or key
punch machine is not necessarily a requirement of this job.

Example of a Job Specification

JOB TITLE: Record Clerk

EDUCATION: Minimum number of years of formal schooling: 12. Type of education:

General with emphasis on business. Special subjects required: Some background and
familiarity with accounting, office procedures, office machines, and the
telecommunications industry.
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH: Good health; emotional stability.
APPEARANCE: Neat and clean.
MENTAL ABILITIES: Good with figures.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Ability to work with others, manual dexterity.
PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE: Minimum of one year, preferably in an industrial
organization.
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE OR SKILLS: Skilled in filing documents, checking records,
compiling data, and initiating reports.
MATURITY: Must be capable of assuming increased responsibility within two years.
OTHER: Expect that incumbent would be ready for promotion (normally to the position
of record supervisor or analyst) within 24 months.
Judging Job Analysis
For satisfying both employees and employers, there are several ways to judge job
analysis:
Reliability: If you measure something tomorrow and get the same results you got today,
or if I measure and get the same result you did, the measurement is considered to be
reliable. This doesn’t mean it is right – only that repeated reassures give the same result.
Reliability is a measure of the consistency of results among various annalists, various
methods, and various sources of date, or over time.
Validity: Does the analysis create an accurate portrait of the work? There is almost no
way of showing statistically the extent to which an analysis is accurate, particularly for
complex jobs. No gold standard exists; how can we know? Consequently, validity
examines the convergence of results among sources of date and methods. If several job
incumbents, supervisors, and peers respond in similar ways to questionnaires, then it
more likely that the information is valid.
Acceptability:
If jobholders and managers are dissatisfied with the initial data collected and the process,
they are not likely to buy into the resulting job structure or the pay rates attached to that
structure. An analyst collecting information through one-on-one interviews or
observation is not always accepted because of the potential for subjectivity and
favoritism.
Usefulness:
Usefulness refers to the practicality of the information collected. For pay purposes, job
analysis provides work-related information to help determine how much to pay for a job
– it helps determine whether the job is similar to or different from other jobs. If job
analysis does this in a reliable, valid, and acceptable way and can be used to make pay
decisions, then it is useful.