FACULTY:

FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

PROGRAM:
DIPLOMA IN ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT
(MAM100)

COURSE:
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION
(DAM1043)

TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT:
COMPARISON BETWEEN JOB DESCRIPTION AND JOB SPECIFICATION

PREPARED BY:
NURUL HIDAYATUL HIKMAH BT AB GARIB (MAM22060107)
DAYANG SITI NORSHAMIRAH BINTI MOHD.AMIN (MAM22060073)
NUR EMYLIA SORFINA BINTI ABDUL RAHMAN (MAM22060120)
SHIRLEY KIUN (MAM22060147)

PREPARED FOR:
IZZYAN MOHD IDRIS

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
10 FEBRUARI 2023
TABLES OF CONTENT

Content Pages
1 Introduction 2
2 Definition 3
3 Discussion 5
4 Conclusion 13
5 References 14
6 Appendices 15

1
INTRODUCTION

Job analysis sits at the heart of all human resource practices, making it a critically
important management activity in every organization. However, with increasing competition,
shorter product life-cycles, rapid technological innovations, and the changing nature of
organizational structures, its underlying assumptions are becoming increasingly questionable in
today's dynamic work environment. Moreover, the methods used by traditional job analysis are
simply not applicable to many new and emerging jobs and some authors feel it may even be an
obstacle to organizational success.

This has led to calls for a more proactive and strategic approach to job analysis so that the
procedures will continue to be relevant. Job analysis produces information used for writing job
description and job specification. Job analysis used to prepare job description and job
specification. Job analysis ensures that the selection of employees is directly related to job duties,
responsibilities and qualifications required to perform the job.

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DEFINITION

Job Description

Job description is about a list of job duties, reporting relationships, working conditions
and supervisory responsibilities, identification of the tasks, duties and responsibilities of a job
and also a document that provides information regarding the tasks, duties and responsibilities of
a job.

Next, the purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between job description,
career prospect and job satisfaction. Motivation for the study: It has been noticed that employees
are dissatisfied when they perform duties outside their job description and also when they see
that they do not have a good career prospect. Despite the existence of several researches, the
outcome will provide significant relevance to existing knowledge. Research approach/design and
method: A quantitative approach was adopted and a survey was conducted. Main findings: This
research unravelled significant negative relationships between job description, career prospect
and job satisfaction. The results revealed that, when duties are not well described or when duties
are not in line with current responsibilities, the employees are dissatisfied. Similarly, the greater
the chances that employees are not given the opportunity to get promoted, the more they are
dissatisfied. Practical/managerial implications: Human resource practitioners, managers and team
leaders need to recognize that employee’s moods influence the work pattern in the organization
and a clear job description and an appropriate career plan should exist.

Besides, the Job description also is a It is important for everybody who takes part in life
of companies in order to accomplish organizational goals to know the documents and the
characteristics of the job description. Job descriptions are well characterized by the aims they
tend to reach, by the conditions, criterions of job descriptions and by content elements of the
main groups. The purpose of this study is to introduce the possibilities of the document through
the determined content of job descriptions; and to point out that not exploiting the possibilities
(missed possibility) is really very costly in creating harmonized cooperation between companies
or even within the company. The study also points out, who or what can be the aspects in job

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descriptions, namely which features does human capital need to possess and which conditions do
the documents of job descriptions need to correspond to.

Job Specification

A list of human requirements that is the required education, skills, personality and so on.
The knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) an individual need to perform a job satisfactorily. Also
known as employee specifications, a job specification is a written statement of educational
qualifications, specific qualities, level of experience, physical, emotional, technical and
communication skills required to perform a job, responsibilities involved in a job and other
unusual sensory demands. It also includes general health, mental health, intelligence, aptitude,
memory, judgment, leadership skills, emotional ability, adaptability, flexibility, values and
ethics, manners and creativity.

Job Specification escribed on the basis of job description, job specification helps
candidates analyze whether are eligible to apply for a particular job vacancy or not. It helps
recruiting team of an organization understand what level of qualifications, qualities and set of
characteristics should be present in a candidate to make him or her eligible for the job opening.
Job Specification gives detailed information about any job including job responsibilities, desired
technical and physical skills, conversational ability and much more. It helps in selecting the most
appropriate candidate for a particular work.

Job specification is defined as a statement about the qualification and characteristics of an

employee required to perform the job task in a satisfactory manner. It is derived from job
analysis and acts as an important tool for the recruitment and selection of employees. Besides,
Job Specification is describing the skills, knowledge, and abilities required to perform a
particular job is all articulated in the job specification. “Job spec” is an abbreviated form of job
specification it consists of information about requirements such as experience, education, and
attributes that will help the employee to reach the set goals of the job.

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DISCUSSION

Writing Job Description

The job description is the most essential outcome of job analysis. A job description is a
written statement that describes what the worker does, how he or she performs it, and the
working circumstances of the employment. According to Kathryn Tyler (2013), you utilize this
information to create a job specification, which defines the knowledge, abilities, and skills
needed to do the job well. A well-thought-out job description may benefit all parties concerned.
Knowing how vital it is to assist early childhood learning, the parent may put greater effort into
locating and educating the child's carer. The job analysis should serve as the foundation for
creating a job description. A job description is a written statement that describes what the job
holder does, how he or she does it, and the conditions under which the job is performed. This
information is then used by the manager to create a job specification that defines the knowledge,
abilities, and skills required to execute the job. In writing a job description, it provides a variety
of facts, as is customary. It’s contained, job identification, job summary, relationships, authority,
standards of performance, working conditions, and job specification.

a) Job Identification

According to Henderson (1998), the job identification section contains a variety of data.
The job title gives the job's name, such as inventory control clerk. The status section of the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states whether the work is exempt or non-exempt. The FLSA
exempts some occupations, principally administrative and professional, from overtime and
minimum pay restrictions. The job description was approved on the date specified. There may
also be a section where you can identify who authorized the job description, as well as one where
you may state where the position is in terms of facility/division and department. This part may
additionally include the supervisor's title and salary and/or pay scale details. There may also be
room for the job's pay grade/level if one exists. For example, a company may categorize
programmers as programmer II, programmer III, and so on. According to Ashley Ross (2013),
some job descriptions are pretty inventive. Pinterest, for example, refers to its designers as Pixel

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Pushers and its interns as Pinterns. According to one study, employees who engage in job
renaming and have more descriptive job titles are more pleased and feel more valued. The United
States Navy learned this the hard way. From the beginning of the Navy, sailors were given
specific occupational names like "electrician's mate first class." According to Ben Kesling and
Gordon (2016), to avoid gender-specific terminology such as "man" or "men," the Navy opted to
put all sailors with the same pay rate under the same bland job title such as "petty officer first
class." There was an outcry. The White House received a petition with almost 100,000
signatures.

b) Job Summary

The job overview should highlight the core of the work and include only its primary
functions or operations are mentioned. "According to James Evered (1981), the mailroom
supervisor receives, sorts, and delivers all incoming mail properly, and he or she manages all
outgoing mail, including the appropriate and timely posting of such mail," according to the job
description. On the report of Evered, "one thing usually discovered that should never be included
in a job description is a 'cop-out clause' like 'additional responsibilities, as allocated,'" because it
leaves the essence of the work up to interpretation. Finally, the summary, indicates that the
employee is expected to do his or her job effectively, carefully, and conscientiously.

c) Relationships

on the report of Ibid, a relationships statement may show the jobholder’s relationships
with others inside and outside the organization and might look like this for a human resource
manager:

Reports to: Vice president of employee relations

Supervises: Human resource clerk, test administrator, labor relations director, and one secretary
Works with: All department managers and executive management
Outside the company: Employment agencies, executive recruiting firms, union representatives,
state and federal employment offices, and various vendors

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d) Responsibilities and Duties

Duties and Responsibilities This is the most important part of the job description. List
and describe each of the job's primary responsibilities in several sentences. For example, replace
"selects, trains, and develops subordinate employees" with "creates a spirit of collaboration and
understanding."

Human resource managers are used to searching and enumerate a job's functions and
responsibilities using the Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The
Dictionary of Occupational Titles lists a human resource manager's specific duties and
responsibilities as "plans and carries out policies relating to all phases of personnel activity,"
"recruits, interviews, and selects employees to fill vacant positions," and "conducts wage survey
within labor market to determine competitive wage rate" as examples of the information
managers could glean from it. Today, the Occupational Information Network, or O*NET, and its
Standard Occupational Classification, of the United States Department of Labor has fully
supplanted the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. According to Richard Osborne (200), the
O*NET website (http://online.onetcenter.org/) allows visitors to view the most significant
aspects of employment, as well as the training, education, and experience required. In the report
of Gary Weaver and Linda Trevino (2001), O*NET also covers the occupation's talents, which
include fundamental skills like reading, process skills like critical thinking, and transferable
skills like persuasion. According to Michelle Donovan (1998), the Department of Labor updated
its standard occupational categorization system once per decade in 2010, changing job
descriptions for around 800 jobs approximately 20% of the total.

e) Authority and Incumbent

According to Bennett (2000), the jobholder's authority is defined in this section. For
example, the jobholder may have the ability to approve up to $5,000 in purchase requests,
reprimand department staff, and suggest compensation raises.

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f) Standards of performance and Working Conditions.

A "standards of performance" section outlines the expectations the organization has for
each of the job description's primary functions and responsibilities. To set standards, conclude
the sentence, "I will be entirely happy with your job when......" When completed for each duty,
this phrase should result in a workable set of performance requirements. As an example:

Duty: Accurately Posting Accounts Payable

1. Send out all invoices received on the same business day.

2. Send all bills to the appropriate department managers for approval no later than the
next business day after receipt.

3. Make no more than three posting mistakes every month on average.

Finally, the job description may include information on the job's working circumstances,
such as the noise level or any dangerous conditions.

h) Internet-Based Job description

More and more firms are using the Internet to develop job descriptions. One website,
www.jobdescription.com, exemplifies why. To discover the appropriate job title, search by
alphabetical title, keyword, category, or industry. This takes you to a general job description for
that position, such as "Sales representative for computers and EDP systems." The wizard will
then allow you to customize the general description for this role. You can, for example, provide
information about your company such as job title, job codes, department, and preparation date.
You may also specify whether the position requires supervisory skills and select from a list of
probable ideal competencies. 16 Others write job descriptions using O*NET (see the chapter
appendix).

i) Writing a Job Description That Complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The work tasks list is essential in firms' efforts to comply with the ADA. The worker
must have the necessary abilities, educational background, and experience to execute the

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essential duties of the job, according to the ADA. "Essential functions are the core work
activities that an employee must be able to do, with or without reasonable accommodation,"
according to the EEOC. Consider the following factors:

-Whether a post exists to carry out that role

-The number of other personnel who can execute the role.

-The level of competence or ability necessary to carry out the duty.

-Whether or whether personnel in the job are obliged to do the function.

-What level of experience or competence is necessary to accomplish the duty.

A receptionist's duties may include answering phones and sending guests to the
appropriate offices, for example. The EEOC states that as proof of necessary duties, it will
examine both the employer's opinion regarding which functions are important and a written job
description created before advertising or interviewing for a job. Other evidence includes current
or previous workers' real work experience on the job, the time spent executing a function, and the
repercussions of not requiring that activity.

If the handicapped employee is unable to execute the work as it is now constituted, the
employer must offer a "reasonable accommodation," unless doing so would cause "undue
hardship." According to the EEOC, reasonable accommodations may include obtaining or
altering equipment or devices, part-time or modified work schedules, changing or modifying
tests, training materials, or rules, providing readers and interpreters, and making the workplace
accessible and useable for individuals with disabilities.

b) Writing Job Specification

The job specification builds on the job description by answering the question, "What
human characteristics and experience are necessary to accomplish this work effectively?" It
demonstrates the type of person to hire and the attributes to look for in that individual. It might

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be part of the job description or a distinct document. According to McCormick and Joseph Tiffin
(1974), it is frequently part of the job description, as seen in Figure 4-7 "REQUIRED
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE"

a) Specifications for Trained versus Untrained Personnel

It is extremely simple to write work criteria for skilled and experienced staff. In this case,
job criteria tend to emphasize characteristics such as prior service duration, quality of relevant
training, and previous work performance. When hiring inexperienced workers, the difficulties get
more complicated with the intention of training them on the job. Here, you must mention
features such as physical characteristics, personality, hobbies, or sensory abilities that indicate
some possibility for work performance or trainability. Thus, for a position that needs precise
manipulation, you might prefer someone who does well on a finger dexterity exam. Employers
determine the job's human needs using either a subjective, judgment method or statistical
analysis, or both.

b) Specifications Based on Judgement

Most job specifications are essentially informed estimates made by individuals like
supervisors and human resource managers. The basic method here is to question, "What does it
take to accomplish this job properly in terms of education, intellect, training, and so on?" How
can such "informed assumptions" come about? Simply study the work tasks and conclude what
human characteristics and abilities are required. You may also choose human qualities and
talents from Web-based job descriptions such as those found at www.jobdescription.com. (For
example, one job description includes phrases like "generates new solutions" and "manages
challenging or emotional client situations.") Another approach is to use O*NET online. There are
lists of needed education, experience, and abilities in the job advertisements.

In any scenario, exercise common sense. Don't dismiss habits that may apply to
practically any work but might not come to light during a job study. One example is tenacity.
Who wants an employee who does not put in the effort? According to Steven Hunt (1996),
gathered data from 18,000 individuals in 42 different hourly entry-level occupations.
Thoroughness, attendance, unruliness [lack thereof], and schedule flexibility were examples of

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generic work characteristics that he discovered to be relevant in all occupations for instance,
offers to stay late when the store is busy. Another research of nearly 7,000 CEOs discovered that
critical top-leader traits were taking initiative, practicing self-development, displaying high
integrity, driving for outcomes, and developing others.

c) Job Specifications Based on Statistical Analysis

It is more justified to base job requirements on statistical analysis rather than sole
judgment, but it is also more challenging. The goal is to statistically identify the association
between (1) some predictor (human attribute such as height, intellect, or finger dexterity) and (2)
some indication or criteria of work efficacy, such as supervisor-rated performance. Predictive
validation is the fundamental method.

This process consists of five steps. The first step is to analyze the job and decide how to
measure job performance, secondly, choose personal traits, such as finger dexterity, that you
believe should predict performance, next is, test candidates for these traits, after that, assess these
candidates' subsequent job performance, and the last one is, statistically analyze the relationship
between the human trait (finger dexterity) and job performance. Your goal is to see if the
attribute predicts performance.

Why is this better than the judgemental approach? First, why utilize the characteristic if it
does not predict performance? Second, equal rights rules prohibit utilizing characteristics that
cannot be shown to differentiate between good and low job achievers. In practice, however, most
companies rely on judging techniques.

d) The Job-Requirements Matrix

According to Jean Philips and Stanley (2012), Matrix of Job Requirements Although
most organizations use job descriptions and specifications to define the activities and
responsibilities of their employees, the job-requirements matrix is equally common. In five
columns, a typical matrix contains the following information:

Column 1: Each of the job's four or five primary responsibilities (for example, posting
accounts payable).

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 Column 2: Contains task statements for the primary tasks associated with each primary
job assignment.

Column 3: The importance of each major job task.

Column 4: The amount of time spent on each major work task.

Column 5: The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other human qualities (KSAO) associated
with each primary work responsibility.

The task statements are the most important part of developing a job-requirements matrix.
Each task statement specifies what the worker performs and how the worker accomplishes it on
each of a core job duty's different job task.

e) Employee Engagement Guide for Managers

As previously said, the manager should not overlook acceptable on-the-job behaviors that
apply to practically any work but may not generally surface through a job analysis while
developing the job definition. One example is employee engagement. Development Dimensions
International, a human resource consulting firm, performed a survey of 3,800 workers and
discovered numerous personal qualities that tended to indicate the chance of someone becoming
engaged. These characteristics were flexibility, job enthusiasm, emotional maturity, a positive
attitude, self-advocacy, and accomplishment oriented. A wise recommendation is to look for
folks who have a track record of becoming engaged workers. According to Paul Marciano
(2015), because previous conduct is frequently the strongest predictor of future behavior, one
option is to seek for instances of involvement in other areas of life if you want to select people
who are more likely to become engaged workers. Seek people that have shown a dedication to
serving others, such as nurses, veterans, and volunteer first responders.

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CONCLUSION

Job description typically includes the job title, summary, working conditions, job responsibilities
and duties, salary, reporting authority. Job specification usually includes the criteria for selecting
employees for a certain job, for example, qualifications, age, experience, training, mental
abilities. Conducting an analysis is to prepare job description and job specification which in turn
helps to hire the write quality workforce in to the organization at right place and with right skills.
Next keep balance between efficiency and behavior element and finally the experience is needed
for analysis job. However, job responsibility assigned to each member in a team is different. It is
important to aware about the job responsibility.

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REFERENCES

BOOK
Dessler, G. (2011). A Framework for Human Resource Management . New Year: Florida International
University.

Dessler, G. (2018). Human Resource Management. New York: Pearson Education.

Hendon, R. N. (2018). Human Resource Management - Functions, Applications and Skill Development.
Sage Publication, 3rd Edition.

Kandula, S. R. (2018). International Human Resource Management. sage Publication.

WEBSITE
4 differences between a job description and a job specification. (June, 2022). Retrieved from Cpl:
https://www.cpl.com/blog/2018/03/4-differences-between-a-job-description-and-a-job-
specification

Job Description and job Specification. (2022). Retrieved from Management Study Guide:
https://www.hrhelpboard.com/performance-management/job-specification.htm

Job Specification. (n.d.). Retrieved from Vermont: https://humanresources.vermont.gov/classification-

position-management/classification/job-specifications

What is a Job Description? (n.d.). Retrieved from Betterteam: https://www.betterteam.com/job-

description

What is Job Specification? Job Specification Meaning Definition & its importance in HRM. (n.d.).
Retrieved from HRHelpBoard: https://www.hrhelpboard.com/performance-management/job-
specification.htm

JOURNAL
Pato, B. S. (2013). The 7 Most Important Criterions of Job Descriptions. EBSCO, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p68-73. 6p.

Ramhit, K. S. (2019). The impact of job description and career prospect on job satisfaction: a quantitative
study in Mauritius. Sabinet, Vol. 17, No. 1. Retrieved from Sabinet.

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APPENDICES

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