Job Descriptions and Job Specifications… More Information About Job Specifications › Mega RRHH
Administration of Human Resources in Organizations
Administration of Human Resources:
- Job analysis
- Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
- More Information About Job Specifications
- Job Specification Sample: Marketing Manager
- Job Analysis and HR Activities
- Job Analysis Methods - Observation methods -Critical incident technique.
- Stages in the Job Analysis Process
- Job design
- Job Rotation
- Job Enrichment
- Job Enlargement
- Job Evaluation
- Qualitative Methods of Job Evaluation
- Quantitative Methods of Job Evaluation
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Job analysis
Job analysis is a systematic process of collecting all information about the job for preparing of job description and job specification meant to selection of employee, satisfaction in job, and motivation etc.What Is a Job?
A group of homogeneous tasks related by similarity of functions.When performed by an employee in an exchange for pay, a job consists of duties, responsibilities, and tasks (performance elements) that are (1) defined and specific, and (2) can be accomplished, quantified, measured, and rated. From a wider perspective, a job is synonymous with a role and includes the physical and social aspects of a work environment. Often, individuals identify themselves with their job or role (foreman, supervisor, engineer, etc.) and derive motivation from its uniqueness or usefulness.
Job Analysis
Job analysis, contains a simple term called "analysis", which means detailed study or examination of something (job) in order to understand more about it (job). therefore job analysis is to understand more about a specific job in order to optimise it. Job analysis is a systematic process of collecting complete information pertaining to a job. Job analysis is done by job analyst who is an officer have been trained for it.Job analysis is a procedure through which you determine the duties and responsibilities, nature of the jobs and finally to decide qualifications, skills and knowledge to be required for an employee to perform particular job. Job analysis helps to understand what tasks are important and how they are carried on. Job analysis forms basis for later HR activities such as developing effective training program, selection of employees, setting up of performance standards and assessment of employees ( performance appraisal)and employee remuneration system or compensation plan.
The intention behind job analysis is to answer questions such as:
• what is the need of the job to exist?
• What physical and mental activities does the worker undertake?
• When is the job to be performed?
• Where is the job to be performed?
• How does the job performed by an employee?
• What qualities and qualifications are required to perform the job?
Job analysis is a detailed examination of
(1) tasks that make up a job (employee role),
(2) conditions under which an employee performing his/her job, and
(3) what exactly a job requires in terms of aptitudes (potential for achievement), attitudes (behavior characteristics), knowledge, skills, educational qualifications and the physical working condition of the employee.
Its objectives include
(a) to determine most effective methods for performing a job.
(b) to increase employee job satisfaction.
(c) to identify core areas for giving training to employees and to find out best methods of training.
(d) development of performance measurement systems, and
(e) to match job-specifications with employee specifications while selection of an employee.
Definitions of Job Analysis
Some important definitions of job-analysis are as under :Harry L. Wylie. "Job analysis deals with the anatomy of the job.....This is the complete study of the job embodying every known and determinable factor, including the duties and responsibilities involved in its performance; the conditions under which performance is carried on; the nature of the task; the qualifications required in the worker; and the conditions of employment such as pay, hours, opportunities and privileges"
In the words of Dale Yoder. "A Job is a collection of duties, tasks and responsibilities which are assigned to an individual and which is different from other assignment"
According to Michael J. Jucius, "Job analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and organisational aspects of jobs in order to derive specification or, as they are called by some job description"
In the words of Edwin B. Flippo, "Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job "
According to Blum, "A job analysis is an accurate study of the various components of a job. It is concerned not only with an analysis of the duties and conditions of work, but also with the individual qualifications of the worker."
According to John A Shubin "Job analysis is the methodical compilation and study of work data in order to define and characterise each occupation in such a manner as to distinguish it from all others."
In the words of Scott, Clothier and Spriegel, "Job analysis is the process of critically evaluating the operations, duties and relationship of the job."
In simple words Job analysis is a formal programme which examines the tasks, duties and responsibilities contained in an individual unit of work.
Before the recruitment process, job analysis takes place.
Facts
The U.S. Department of Labor publishes The Occupational Outlook Handbook every two years. The handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information for hundreds of various jobs. Information subjects include required job training and education, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.
PROCEDURE FOR JOB ANALYSIS
Job analysis is done by using two approaches one is work oriented approach and second one is employee oriented approach
1. work oriented approach
this approach focus on the actual task involved in a Job. this approach mainly concentrate on duties, functions and responsibilities involved in a job
Example
Job of court manager at Courts (judiciary), task oriented approach of job analysis statement include
• The Court Manager shall function under the control and guidance of the Chief Justice in the High Court, and the District Judge in the respective district Courts.
• He shall work on policies and standards, based on applicable directives of superior Courts, establish the performance standards applicable to the Court (including on timeliness, efficiency; quality of Court performance; infrastructure; and human resources; access to justice; as well as for systems for Court management and case management.
• He will carry out an evaluation of the compliance of the directives of the Court with such standards; identify deficiencies and deviations; identify steps required to achieve compliance, maintain such an evaluation on a current basis through annual updates.
• He will in consonance with the rules and policies of the court and in consultation with the stakeholders of the Court including litigants, the Bar, ministerial staff, Executive Agencies supporting judicial functions such as prosecutors/police/ process service agencies prepare, submit and update annually a 5-year court-wise Court Development Plan (CDP), for approval of the court.
• He will monitor the implementation of the approved CDP and report to the District Judge and the High Court with the progress.
• He will ensure that statistics on all aspects of the functioning of the Court are complied and reported accurately and promptly in accordance with systems established by the High Court.
• He will ensure that reports on statistics are duly completed and provided as required.
• He will ensure that the processes, procedures, policies and standards established by the High Court for Court Management are complied with and that they safeguard quality, ensure efficiency and timeliness and minimize costs to litigants and to the State; and enhance access to justice.
• He will ensure that case management systems are fully compliant with the policies and standards established by the High Court for case management and that they address the legitimate needs of litigants in terms of quality, efficiency and timeliness, costs to litigants and to the State. Standard systems for case management shall be developed by the High Court time to time.
• He will ensure that the Court meets standards established by the High Court on access to justice, legal aid, alternative dispute mechanisms and are user friendly.
• He will ensure that the Court meets quality of adjudication standards established by the High Court.
• He will ensure that Human Resource Management of ministerial staff in the court comply with the Human Resource Management standards established by the High Court.
• He will ensure that the core systems of the court are established and function effectively (documentation management;utilities management; infrastructure and facilities management; financial systems management (audits, accounts, payments);
• He will ensure that the IT systems of the court comply with standards established by the High Court and are fully functional.
• He will feed the proposed National Arrears Grid to be set up to monitor the disposal of cases in all the Courts, as and when it is set up.
• The Court Manager shall be responsible in implementation, managing data entry initiation, services roll-out and monitoring of the e-Court Project in the respective Districts/High Court.
• (xviii) He shall perform all other administrative functions and duties as may be assigned by the Chief Justice in the High Court and the District Judge in the District Court from time to time.
• (xix) He shall report to the Chief Justice/ District Judge or any other Judge/ officer nominated by the Chief Justice/ District Judge and shall perform the duties as assigned to him from time to time.
2. Employee oriented approach
this approach focus on examining of human attributes needed to perform the job perfectly. human attributes have been classified into knowledge, skills, attitude and other characteristics. Knowledge is the information people need in order to perform the job. Skills are the proficiencies needed to perform each task. Abilities are the attributes that are relatively stable over time. Other characteristics are all other attributes, usually personality factors.
Example
• The Court Manager shall have M.B.A. Degree or Advanced Diploma in General Management from a recognised University/institution of India.
• He shall have minimum 10 years experience in the field of management, experience/training in I.T Systems Management, H.R.Management, Financial Systems Management.
• He shall not be more than 40 years of age.
• He should have excellent communication skills.
• He should have excellent Computer application skills.
Importance of Job Analysis
Job analysis helps in analyzing the resources and establishing the strategies to accomplish the business goals and strategic objectives. Effectively developed, employee job descriptions are communication tools that are significant in an organization's success.
The main purpose of conducting job analysis is to prepare job description and job specification which would help to hire skilled workforce. Job description is a statement of information about duties and responsibilities of a particular job. whereas job specifications is a statement of information about qualifications, special qualities, skills and knowledge required for an employee to fit for a job. Therefore job analysis enables recruiter/employer to have a deep insight of a job, with that, recruiter can easily track candidates who have required qualifications and qualities to perform a job.
Job Analysis can be used to identify areas where an employee needs training, since job analysis make it clear to understand about core duties and responsibilities of a job. Besides, it provides information to develop suitable training material for a job to be performed by an employee after completion of his training.
Compensation management/salary administration is one of core HR functions. salary for a job is decided on skill level required, duties and responsibilities, qualification and experience level/seniority, altogether, called as compensable factors, which could be known by job analysis only. But there is a separate method to determine value of job that is called as job evaluation which is part of job analysis. Job evaluation is process of valuing or determining how much is to be paid for a job. Job evaluation is mainly used when a specific job or a single job is to be evaluated or when there are different jobs in same Cader, or when there jobs based on projects or piecework. However job analysis has its own importance in concluding compensation/remuneration/ salary of an employee.
No organisation exists without goals and objectives to achieve, performance standards to be maintained by every employee and reviewing performance of employees. These could be cross checked with outcome of job analysis of a job, whether outcome of job analysis of a job is in tune with goals and objectives of an organisation or not, performance standards are being maintained or not and reviewing employee performance based on performance standards or not.
Job Analysis can be used in performance review to identify or develop goals and objectives, performance standards, evaluation criteria, length of probationary periods, and duties to be evaluated
An ideal job analysis should include
below listed are areas where job analyst should focus to bring out facts about a job.
Duties and Tasks: The basic unit of a job is the performance of specific tasks and duties. This segment should include frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity, equipment, standards, etc.
Environment: This segment identifies the working environment of a particular job. This may have a significant impact on the physical requirements to be able to perform a job.
Tools and Equipment: Some duties and tasks are performed using specific equipment and tools. These items need to be specified in a Job Analysis.
Relationships: The hierarchy of the organization must be clearly laid out. The employees should know who is under them and who they have to report to.
Requirements: The knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the job should be clearly listed.
There are several ways to conduct a job analysis, including: interviews with incumbents and supervisors, questionnaires (structured, open-ended, or both), observation, critical incident investigations, and gathering background information such as duty statements or classification specifications.
The following are the benefits of job analysis.
2. Recruitment and selection :-Job analysis provides information about what the job entails and what human characteristics are required to perform these activities. This information, in the form of job descriptions and specifications, helps management decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
3. Performance appraisal and training/development :- Based on the job requirements identified in the job analysis, the company decides a training program. Training is given in those areas which will help to improve the performance on the job. Similarly when appraisal is conducted we check whether the employee is able to work in a manner in which we require him to do the job.
4. Job evaluation :- Job evaluation refers to studying in detail the job performance by all individual. The difficulty level
5. s, skills required and on that basis the salary is fixed. Information regarding qualities required, skilled levels, difficulty levels are obtained from job analysis.
6. Promotions and transfer :- When we give a promotion to an employee we need to promote him on the basis of the skill and talent required for the future job. Similarly when we transfer an employee to another branch the job must be very similar to what he has done before. To take these decisions we collect information from job analysis.
7. Career path planning :- Many companies have not taken up career planning for their employees. This is done to prevent the employee from leaving the company. When we plan the future career of the employee, information will be collected from job analysis. Hence job analysis becomes important or advantageous.
8. Labour relations :- When companies plan to add extra duties or delete certain duties from a job, they require the help of job analysis, when this activity is systematically done using job analysis the number of problems with union members reduce and labour relations will improve.
9. Health and safety :- Most companies prepare their own health and safety, plans and programs based on job analysis. From the job analysis company identifies the risk factor on the job and based on the risk factor safety equipments are provided.
10. Acceptance of job offer :- When a person is given an offer/appointment letter the duties to be performed by him are clearly mentioned in it, this information is collected from job analysis, which is why job analysis becomes important.
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Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
Job Description is a broad and written statement of a specific job in the organisation, based on the findings of a the job analysis. Job Description generally includes duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope, and working conditions of a job along with the title of the job, and the name or designation of the person to whom the employee will reports. Job description usually forms the basis of job specification.Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
Job DescriptionsJob description -where the details regarding the job are given.
• It is a list of job duties, responsibilities,reporting, relationships, working conditions and supervisory responsibilities - one product of the job analysis --- Gary Dessler
• Job description is a broad, general, and written statement of a specific job, based on the findings of a job analysis. It generally includes duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope, and working conditions of a job along with the job's title, and the name or designation of the person to whom the employee reports. Job description usually forms the basis of job specification.
• Capture all key aspects of your education, work experience and achievements in your profile, says Judhajit Das, chief HR, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. "It helps if you write detailed job descriptions as it makes it that much easier to be spotted by a prospective headhunter," he says.
Job Description practical application and use in legal issues.
Above mentioned notes is one side of the coin. The other side of the coin has to be known that is need to provide job description document to every employee in the organisation.
Every employee must be provided with his job description as to how to perform his duties, limitations or boundaries in his duties, to whom he has to report and answerable, code of conduct, punctuality and discipline and safety procedure that is to be followed in case of Performing hazardous jobs. (This practice is being followed by few organisations in United States ) Having a job description document with employee, helps employer in dealing with employees especially in the circumstances when an employee proceed legally against employer for rejecting his/her claiming of compensation for the accident happened during the course of employment or for taking disciplinary action against employees who committed wrong.
Circumstances could be like; employees especially who does hazardous jobs, must follow safety measures which are framed by the safety officer to avoid accidents. To those employees if any accident happens, he may claim for compensation on the statutory grounds framed by the Legislature. Here it is the task of HR manager to crosscheck with actual safety measures to be followed and safety measures followed at the time of occurrence of accident. If it is found that the victim did not follow actual safety measures to be followed, he may not be eligible to claim the compensation. The victim of accident cannot claim that he was not aware of safety measures to be followed while performing such job, since he was already provided with job description document having all details of his job as to how to be in his job. if it is found that the victim followed actual and safety measures to be followed, the victim has right to claim compensation in accordance with the statutory provisions framed by the Legislature (labour laws). (In India, Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 is the law that deals with claiming of conversation by employees who succumbed to accident during the course of their employment)
likewise; when an employee proceed legally against employer for taking disciplinary action against employee, it is a task of HR manager to crosschecks with predefined in-disciplinary activities mentioned in the job description which was already provided to that employee.
Job Specifications;
John specification is a statement in which we explain the qualities required by people applying for the job.• Job specification as a statement of minimum qualification that person must posses to perform a given job successfully --- Stephen. P . Robbins & Marry Coutler
• Job specification is a statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. Job specification is derived from job analysis.
While the job description describes activities to be done, it is job specifications that list the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual needs to perform a job satisfactorily. Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) include education, experience, work skill requirements, personal abilities, and mental and physical requirements. Job specifications for a data entry operator might include a required educational level, a certain number of months of experience, a typing ability of 60 words per minute, a high degree of visual concentration, and ability to work under time pressure. It is important to note that accurate job specifications identify what KSAs a person needs to do the job, not necessarily what qualifications the current employee possesses.
It can be explained with the help of the following diagram
Components of a Job Specification
Experience: Number of years of experience in the job you are seeking to fill. Number of years of work experience required for the selected candidate. Note whether the position requires progressively more complex and responsible experience, and supervisory or managerial experience.
Education: State what degrees, training, or certifications are required for the position.
Required Skills, Knowledge and Characteristics: State the skills, knowledge, and personal characteristics of individuals who have successfully performed this job. Or, use the job analysis data to determine the attributes you need from your “ideal” candidate. Your recruiting planning meeting or email participants can also help determine these requirements for the job specification.
Facts
Workers holding a bachelor's degree who make less than $19,800 a year are considered "overqualified." Nearly eight percent of U.S. residents are considered overqualified, according to a recent Migration Policy Institute study of Census Bureau data. This compares to nearly 24 percent of foreign-born, non-citizen residents that are considered overqualified.
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More Information About Job Specifications
A person who is going out to find a job will always have in his mind the qualities and set of skills he has, and also the work experience he acquired and the educational background that he has taken on his college years. With this sets of skills, talents, education and experience he has, an applicant will now have a basis for his job search. A company is approached and an application letter is written when he or she is looking only for a job vacancy which is offering to hire a person with the set of skills he already has.Because these sets of skills and experiences are the only tools he has to offer to any company or corporations he or she is willing to apply to.Job specifications are very essential and important to every job applicant and for the hiring company to have. The job's basis which the company will be offering and nothing more will be set by this. Job specifications will set the basis for the career descriptions of an employee or applicant within the company's area of responsibilities or operations. Because of improper notification or advertisement of a job specification, almost the targeted applicants get confused and the company will lose the much needed manpower. And without the proper job specifications, an employee will have no basis for his work and will be unproductive because he is unfocused and have no proper guidelines.
A job's specifications will help the company gain the much needed manpower to boosts the company's productivity. The job responsibilities of every employee or applicant of the company basis will be laid by this.A company will save more time by having to process only those applications from applicants who are only qualified with job specifications given clearly to applicants and job seekers. And saving time will also mean saving the company much needed financial resources which are scarce these days.
Applicants and employees will have insights on their respective job duties with clear job specifications and will never have to overlap each other, which will create chaos within the company and will cause great losses for the company either in company time, or company resources. By clearly laying down the job duties in front of them, applicants and employees will know what they are supposed to do for the company's operation and can set out their plans and goals on how to help the company without overlapping with one another's job. Job specifications are the most important tool for the company to have when it comes to employee or human resource management. The valuables to a company's success and the success of every employee and job seeker are the company time, manpower and other resources which are saved by it.
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Job Specification Sample: Marketing Manager
The marketing manager is responsible for the total management of the marketing department. The following requirements (job specifications) were determined by job analysis and derived from the job description as crucial for success in the marketing manager job. The candidate for the marketing manager position will possess these qualifications.Experience
• 10 years of progressively more responsible positions in marketing, preferably in a similar industry in different firms.• Experience in supervising and managing a professional staff of seven.
Education
• Bachelors Degree in Marketing specialization or a related field required.• Masters of Business Administration, Marketing specialization preferred.
Required Skills, Knowledge and Characteristics
These are the most important qualifications of the individual selected as the marketing manager.• Strong effective communicator.
• Highly developed, demonstrated teamwork skills.
• Ability to coordinate the efforts of a large team of diverse creative employees.
• Demonstrated ability to increase productivity and continuously improve methods, approaches, and departmental contribution. Commitment to continuous learning.
• Expert in Internet and social media strategy with a demonstrated track record.
• Demonstrated effectiveness in holding conversations with customers, customer evangelism, and customer-focused product development and outreach.
• Demonstrated ability to see the big picture and provide useful advice and input across the company.
• Ability to lead in an environment of constant change.
• Experience working in a flexible, employee empowering work environment. Structured or large company experience will not work here.
• Familiarity and skill with the tools of the trade in marketing including PR, written communication, website development, market research, product packaging, Microsoft software suite of products, visal communication software products, and creative services.
• Experience managing external PR and communication consulting firms and contractors.
• Experience in the global marketplace is a plus.
High Level Overview of Job Requirements
The selected marketing manager must be able to perform effectively in each of these areas:• Researching and evaluating new product opportunities, demand for potential products, and customer needs and insights.
• Overall marketing strategy and execution of plans for the existing products.
• Working with product development teams to manage new product development.
• Managing launch campaigns for new products.
• Managing distribution channels for products.
• Ensuring effective, branded marketing communications including the company website, print communication, and advertising.
• Managing media and marketing staff and external PR agencies.
• Analysis of the effectiveness of all marketing efforts.
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Job Analysis and HR Activities
The completion of job descriptions and job specifications, based on job analysis, is at the heart of many other HR activities, as Figure indicates. But even if legal requirements did not force employers to do job analysis, effective HR management would demand it.HR Planning
HR planning requires auditing of current jobs. Current job descriptions provide the basic details necessary for this internal assessment, including such items as the jobs available, current number of jobs and positions, and reporting relationships of the jobs. By identifying the functions currently being performed and calculating the time being spent to perform them, managers and HR specialists can redesign jobs to eliminate unnecessary tasks and combine responsibilities where desirable.When reviewing the information provided by both employees and supervisors, a team composed of the HR Manager, the Director of Administration, and an outside consultant noted that several duties associated with maintaining customer service records were divided among three employees. This often led to delays in recording customer payments and scheduling repair services. The team regrouped the various customer service duties so that two of the employees performed complete but different functions. Filing activities were concentrated with the third employee, who also served as backup for the other two.
Recruiting and Selection
Equal employment opportunity guidelines clearly require a sound and comprehensive job analysis to validate recruiting and selection criteria. Without a systematic investigation of a job, an employer may be using requirements that are not specifically job related. For example, if a medical clinic requires a high school diploma for a medical records clerk job, the firm must be able to justify how such an educational requirement matches up to the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of that job. It must be able to show that the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by the medical records clerk could be obtained only through formal education.Organizations use job analysis to identify job specifications in order to plan how and where to obtain employees for anticipated job openings, whether recruited internally or externally. For example, a job analysis for a small manufacturer of electric equipment showed that the Accountant II job, which traditionally had required a college-trained person, really could be handled by someone with high school training in bookkeeping and several years of experience. As a result, the company could select from within and promote a current accounting clerk. In addition to saving on recruiting costs, promotion can have a positive impact on employee commitment and career-planning efforts.
Compensation
Job analysis information is essential when determining compensation. As part of identifying appropriate compensation, job analysis information is used to determine job content for internal comparisons of responsibilities and external comparisons with the compensation paid by competing employers. Information from job analysis can be used to give more weight, and therefore more pay, to jobs involving more difficult tasks, duties, and responsibilities. Employees’ perceptions of fairness and equity are linked not only to how the extrinsic rewards they receive compare with those given to others both inside and outside the organization but also to those rewards they expect for themselves.Job analysis also can aid in the management of various employee benefits programs. For instance, a job analysis can be used to determine what functions can be performed by workers who have been on workers’ compensation disability leave.
Training and Development
By defining what activities comprise a job, a job analysis helps the supervisor explain that job to a new employee. Information from job descriptions and job specifications can also help in career planning by showing employees what is expected in jobs that they may choose in the future. Job specification information can point out areas in which employees might need to develop in order to further their careers. Employee development efforts by organizations depend on the job descriptions and job specifications generated from job analyses.Job Analysis and Other HR Activities
With performance standards to compare what an employee is supposed to be doing with what the person actually has done, a supervisor can determine the employee’s performance level. The performance appraisal process should then tie to the job description and performance standards. Developing clear, realistic performance standards can also reduce communication problems in performance appraisal feedback among managers, supervisors, and employees.
Safety and Health
Job analysis information is useful in identifying possible job hazards and working conditions associated with jobs. From the information gathered, managers and HR specialists can work together to identify the health and safety equipment needed, specify work methods, and train workers.
Union Relations
Where workers are represented by a labor union, job analysis is used in several ways. First, job analysis information may be needed to determine if the job should be covered by the union agreements. Specifically, management may be able to exclude a supervisory job and its incumbents from the bargaining unit. Second, it is common in unionized environments for job descriptions to be very specific about what tasks are and are not covered in a job. Finally, well-written and specific job descriptions can reduce the number of grievances filed by workers.
In one manufacturing plant, a worker refused to sweep up his work area and was disciplined. He filed a grievance and won, because cleaning his work area was not mentioned in the job description.
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Job Analysis Methods - Observation methods -Critical incident technique.
Job analysis information can be gathered in a variety of ways. One consideration is who is to conduct the job analysis. Most frequently, a member of the HR staff coordinates this effort. Depending on which of the methods discussed next is used, others who often participate are managers, supervisors, and employees doing the jobs. For more complex analyses, industrial engineers may conduct time and motion studies.Another consideration is the method to be used. Common methods are observations, interviews, questionnaires, and specialized methods of analysis. Combinations of these approaches frequently are used, depending on the situation and the organization. Each of these methods is discussed in some detail next.
Observation
When the observation method is used, a manager, job analyst, or industrial engineer observes the individual performing the job and takes notes to describe the tasks and duties performed. Observation may be continuous or based on intermittent sampling.Use of the observation method is limited because many jobs do not have complete and easily observed job duties or complete job cycles. Thus, observation may be more useful for repetitive jobs and in conjunction with other methods. Managers or job analysts using other methods may watch parts of a job being performed to gain a general familiarity with the job and the conditions under which it is performed. Multiple observations on several occasions also will help them use some of the other job analysis methods more effectively.
WORK SAMPLING
As a type of observation, work sampling does not require attention to each detailed action throughout an entire work cycle. Instead, a manager can determine the content and pace of a typical workday through statistical sampling of certain actions rather than through continuous observation and timing of all actions. Work sampling is particularly useful for routine and repetitive jobs.EMPLOYEE DIARY/LOG
Another method requires that employees “observe” their own performances by keeping a diary/log of their job duties, noting how frequently they are performed and the time required for each duty. Although this approach sometimes generates useful information, it may be burdensome for employees to compile an accurate log. Also, employees sometimes perceive this approach as creating needless documentation that detracts from the performance of their work.Interviewing
The interview method of gathering information requires that a manager or HR specialist visit each job site and talk with the employees performing each job. A standardized interview form is used most often to record the information. Frequently, both the employee and the employee’s supervisor must be interviewed to obtain a complete understanding of the job.Some typical interview questions include:
• What is the job being performed?
• What are the major duties of your job position? What exactly do you do?
• What physical locations do you work in?
• What are the education, experience, skill, and (where applicable) certification and
• licensing requirements?
• In what activities do you participate?
• What are the job’s responsibilities and duties?
• What are the basic accountabilities or performance standards that typify your work?
• What are your responsibilities? What are the environmental and working conditions
• involved?
• What are the job’s physical demands? The emotional and mental demands?
• What are the health and safety conditions?
• Are you exposed to any hazards or unusual working conditions?
The interview method can be quite time consuming, especially if the interviewer talks with two or three employees doing each job. Professional and managerial jobs often are more complicated to analyze and usually require longer interviews. For these reasons, combining the interview with one of the other methods is suggested.
Questionnaires
The questionnaire is a widely used method of gathering data on jobs. A survey instrument is developed and given to employees and managers to complete. The typical job questionnaire often covers the areas shown below. The major advantage of the questionnaire method is that information on a large number of jobs can be collected inexpensively in a relatively short period of time. However, the questionnaire method assumes that employees can accurately analyze and communicate information about their jobs. Employees may vary in their perceptions of the jobs, and even in their literacy. For these reasons, the questionnaire method is usually combined with interviews and observations to
clarify and verify the questionnaire information.
One type of questionnaire sometimes used is a checklist. Differing from the open-ended questionnaire, the checklist offers a simplified way for employees to give information. An obvious difficulty with the checklist is constructing it, which can be a complicated and detailed process.
Job Analysis Questionnaire
• Materials and equipment used
• Financial/budgeting input
• External and internal contacts
• Knowledge, skills, and abilities used
• Working conditions
• Special duties performed less frequently
• Duties and percentage of time spent on each
• Work coordination and supervisory responsibilities
• Physical activities and characteristics
• Decisions made and discretion exercised
• Records and reports prepared
• Training needed
Critical incident technique.
The critical incident technique involves observation and recording of examples of particularly effective or ineffective behaviors. Behaviors are judged to be "effective" or "ineffective" in terms of results produced by the behavior.
The following information should be recorded for each "critical incident" of behavior: (1) what led up to the incident and the situation in which it occurred; (2) exactly what the employee did that was particularly effective or ineffective; (3) the perceived consequences or results of the behavior; and (4) a judgment as to the degree of control an employee had over the results his or her behavior produced (to what degree should the employee be held responsible for what resulted?).
The critical incident method differs from direct observation and work methods analysis in that observations of behavior are not recorded as the behavior occurs, but only after the behavior has been judged to be either particularly effective or ineffective in terms of results produced. This means that a person using the critical incident method must describe a behavior in retrospect, or after the fact, rather than as the activity unfolds. Accurate recording of past observations is more difficult than recording the behaviors as they occur.
Job Analysis and the U.S. Department of Labor
A variety of resources related to job analysis are available from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The resources have been developed and used over many years by various entities with the DOL, primarily the Employment and Training Administration.FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYSIS (FJA)
This method is a comprehensive approach to job analysis. FJA considers:
1. goals of the organization,
2. what workers do to achieve those goals in their jobs,
3. level and orientation of what workers do,
4. performance standards, and
5. training content.
A functional definition of what is done in a job can be generated by examining the three components of data, people, and things. The levels of these components are used to identify and compare important elements of jobs given in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), a standardized data source provided by the federal government.
Specialized Job Analysis Methods
Several job analysis methods are built on the questionnaire approach. Some of these methods are described next.POSITION ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (PAQ)
The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) developed by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham (1972) is a structured job analysis instrument to measure job characteristics and relate them to human characteristics.
The PAQ is a specialized questionnaire method incorporating checklists. Each job is analyzed on 27 dimensions composed of 187 “elements.” The PAQ comprises six divisions, with each division containing numerous job elements. The divisions include:
• Information input: Where and how does the worker get information to do the job?
• Mental process: What levels of reasoning are necessary on the job?
• Work output: What physical activities are performed?
• Relationships with others: What relationships are required to perform the job?
• Job context: What working conditions and social contexts are involved?
• Other: What else is relevant to the job?
The PAQ focuses on “worker-oriented” elements that describe behaviors necessary to do the job, rather than on “job-oriented” elements that describe the technical aspects of the work. Although its complexity may deter many potential users, the PAQ is easily quantified and can be used to conduct validity studies on selection tests. It is also useful in helping to ensure internal pay fairness because it considers the varying demands of different jobs.
MANAGERIAL JOB ANALYSIS
Because managerial jobs are different in character from jobs with clearly observable routines and procedures, some specialized methods have evolved for their analysis. One of the most well known and widely used methods was developed at Control Data Corporation and is labeled the Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ). Composed of a listing of over 200 statements, the MPDQ examines a variety of managerial dimensions, including decision making and supervising.
Computerized Job Analysis
As computer technology has expanded, researchers have developed computerized job analysis systems. They all have several common characteristics, including the way they are administered. First, analysts compose task statements that relate to all jobs. They are then distributed as questionnaires that list the task statements. Next, employee responses on computer-scannable documents are fed into computer-based scoring and reporting services capable of recording, analyzing, and reporting thousands of pieces of information about any job.An important feature of computerized job analysis sources is the specificity of data that can be gathered. All of this specific data is compiled into a job analysis database.
A computerized job analysis system often can reduce the time and effort involved in writing job descriptions. These systems have banks of job duty statements that relate to each of the task and scope statements of the questionnaires.
As is evident, the melding of computer technology with job analysis methodology allows firms to develop more accurate and comprehensive job descriptions, linked to compensation programs, and performance appraisal systems. These processes can also provide better data for legal defensibility than was once available.
Combination Methods
There are indeed a number of different ways to obtain and analyze information about a job. No specific job analysis method has received the stamp of approval from the various courts in all situations. Therefore, in dealing with issues that may end up in court, care must be taken by HR specialists and those doing the job analysis to document all of the steps taken. Each of the methods has strengths and weaknesses, and a combination of methods generally is preferred over one method alone.[ Index ▲ ]
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Stages in the Job Analysis Process
Stages in the Job Analysis Process
The process of job analysis must be conducted in a logical manner, following appropriate management and professional psychometric practices. Therefore, a multistage process usually is followed, regardless of the job analysis methods used. The stages for a typical job analysis are outlined here, but they may vary with the methods used and the number of jobs included. Figure illustrates the basic stages of the process.1. Planning the Job Analysis
It is crucial that the job analysis process be planned before beginning the gathering of data from managers and employees. Probably the most important consideration is to identify the objectives of the job analysis. Maybe it is just to update job descriptions. Or, it may include as an outcome revising the compensation programs in the organization. Another objective could be to redesign the jobs in a department or division of the organization. Also, it could be to change the structure in parts of the organization to align it better with business strategies.Whatever the purpose identified, it is vital to obtain top management support. The backing of senior managers is needed as issues arise regarding changes in jobs or the organizational structure. Support from even the highest levels of management helps when managerial and employee anxieties and resistance arise.
2. Preparing and Introducing the Job Analysis
Preparation begins by identifying the jobs under review. For example, are the jobs to be analyzed hourly jobs, clerical jobs, all jobs in one division, or all jobs in the entire organization? In this phase, those who will be involved in conducting the job analysis and the methods to be used are identified.Also specified is how current incumbents and managers will participate in the process and how many employees’ jobs will be considered.
Another task in the identification phase is to review existing documentation.Existing job descriptions, organization charts, previous job analysis information, and other industry-related resources all may be useful to review. Having details from this review may save time and effort later in the process.
A crucial step is to communicate and explain the process to managers, affected employees, and other concerned people, such as union stewards. Explanations should address the natural concerns and anxieties people have when someone puts their jobs under close scrutiny. Items to be covered often include the purpose of the job analysis, the steps involved, the time schedule, how managers and employees will participate, who is doing the analysis, and whom to contact as questions arise. When employees are represented by a union, it is essential that union representatives be included in reviewing the job descriptions and specifications to lessen the possibility of future conflicts.
3. Conducting the Job Analysis
With the preparation completed, the job analysis can be conducted. The methods selected will determine the time line for the project. Sufficient time should be allotted for obtaining the information from employees and managers. If questionnaires are used, it is often helpful to have employees return them to supervisors or managers for review before giving them back to those conducting the job analysis. The questionnaire should be accompanied by a letter explaining the process and instructions for completing and returning the job analysis questionnaires.Once data from job analysis has been compiled, it should be sorted by job, the job family, and organizational unit. This step allows for comparison of data from similar jobs throughout the organization. The data also should be reviewed for completeness, and follow-up may be needed in the form of additional interviews or questions to be answered by managers and employees.
4. Developing Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
At this stage the job analysts will prepare draft job descriptions and job specifications. Later in this chapter is a section discussing details on how to write job descriptions and job specifications. Our purpose here is to emphasize that the drafts should be relatively complete and identify areas where additional clarifications are needed.Generally, organizations have found that having managers and employees write job descriptions is not recommended for several reasons. First, there is no consistency in format and details, both of which are important given the legal consequences of job descriptions. Second, managers and employees vary in their writing skills. Also, they may write the job descriptions and job specifications to reflect what they do and what their personal qualifications are, not what the job requires.
Once the drafts are completed, they should be reviewed by managers. Whether employees review the drafts or wait to receive the final job descriptions is often determined by the managerial style of the supervisors/managers and the culture of the organization regarding employee participation and communication. When finished, job descriptions are distributed by the HR department to managers, supervisors, and employees. It is important that each supervisor or manager review the completed description with individual employees so that there is understanding and agreement on the content that will be linked to performance appraisals, as well as to all other HR activities.
5. Maintaining and Updating Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
Once job descriptions and specifications have been completed and reviewed by all appropriate individuals, a system must be developed for keeping them current. Otherwise, the entire process, beginning with job analysis, may have to be repeated in several years. Because organizations are dynamic and evolving entities, rarely do all jobs stay the same for years.Someone in the HR department usually has responsibility for ensuring that job descriptions and specifications stay current. Employees performing the jobs and their managers play a crucial role because, as those closest to the jobs, they know when changes occur. One effective way to ensure that appropriate reviews occur is to use job descriptions and job specifications in other HR activities.
For example, each time a vacancy occurs, the job description and specifications should be reviewed and revised as appropriate before recruiting and selection efforts begin. Similarly, in some organizations, managers review the job description during each performance appraisal interview. This review enables the job holder and the supervisor to discuss whether the job description still describes the actual job adequately or whether it needs to be revised. In addition, a comprehensive and systematic review may be done during HR planning efforts. For many organizations, a complete review is made once every three years, or as technology shifts occur, and more frequently when major organizational changes are made.
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Job design
In a very simple sense, job design means the ways that decision-makers choose to organize work responsibilities, duties, activities, and tasks. Job Redesign thus involves changing work responsibilities, duties, activities, and tasks.which is also sometimes called work redesign
Job Design
Job design is the process of Work arrangement (or rearrangement) aimed at reducing or overcoming job dissatisfaction and employee alienation arising from repetitive and mechanistic tasks. Through job design, organizations try to raise productivity levels by offering non-monetary rewards such as greater satisfaction from a sense of personal achievement in meeting the increased challenge and responsibility of one's work. Job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation, and job simplification are the various techniques used in a job design exercise.---businessdictionary.com
Although job analysis, as just described, is important for an understanding of existing jobs, organizations also must plan for new jobs and periodically consider whether they should revise existing jobs. When an organization is expanding, supervisors and human resource professionals must help plan for new or growing work units. When an organization is trying to improve quality or efficiency, a review of work units and processes may require a fresh look at how jobs are designed.
These situations call for job design, the process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires, or job redesign, a similar process that involves changing an existing job design. To design jobs effectively, a person must thoroughly understand the job itself (through job analysis) and its place in the larger work unit's work flow process (through work flow analysis). Having a detailed knowledge of the tasks performed in the work unit and in the job, a manager then has many alternative ways to design a job. As shown in Figure , the available approaches emphasize different aspects of the job: the mechanics of doing a job efficiently, the job's impact on motivation, the use of safe work practices, and the mental demands of the job.
Definitions: -
Job design is the process of
a) Deciding the contents of the job.
b) Deciding methods to carry out the job.
c) Deciding the relationship which exists in the organization.
Job analysis helps to develop job design and job design matches the requirements of the job with the human qualities required to do the job.
According to Michael Armstrong, "Job Design is the process of deciding on the contents of a job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superior subordinates and colleagues."
Job analysis helps to develop job design and job design matches the requirements of the job with the human qualities required to do the job.
Nature of Job Design
Identifying the components of a given job is an integral part of job design. Designing or redesigning jobs encompasses many factors, and a number of different techniques are available to the manager. Job design has been equated with job enrichment, a technique developed by Frederick Herzberg, but job design is much broader than job enrichment alone.
Designing Efficient Jobs
If workers perform tasks as efficiently as possible, not only does the organization benefit from lower costs and greater output per worker, but workers should be less fatigued. This point of view has for years formed the basis of classical industrial engineering, which looks for the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency. Typically, applying industrial engineering to a job reduces the complexity of the work, making it so simple that almost anyone can be trained quickly and easily to perform the job. Such jobs tend to be highly specialized and repetitive.
In practice, the scientific method traditionally seeks the "one best way" to perform a job by performing time-and-motion studies to identify the most efficient movements for workers to make. Once the engineers have identified the most efficient sequence of motions, the organization should select workers based on their ability to do the job, then train them in the details of the "one best way" to perform that job. The company also should offer pay structured to motivate workers to do their best.
Despite the logical benefits of industrial engineering, a focus on efficiency alone can create jobs that are so simple and repetitive that workers get bored. Workers performing these jobs may feel their work is meaningless. Hence, most organizations combine industrial engineering with other approaches to job design.
Designing Jobs That Motivate
Especially when organizations have to compete for employees, depend on skilled knowledge workers, or need a workforce that cares about customer satisfaction, a pure focus on efficiency will not achieve human resource objectives. These organizations need jobs that employees find interesting and satisfying, and job design should take into account factors that make jobs motivating to employees.
The quest for meaningful work draws people to such career paths as teaching and public service. For example, when Patrick Bernhardt was laid off from his job as a marketing executive, he seized on the chance to switch fields. Bernhardt became a computer science teacher and enrolled in evening classes. When he switched to this job, Bernhardt took a 50 percent pay cut, but he doesn't mind: "This is the hardest thing I've ever done, but the sense of satisfaction makes it worth it."
Facts
A recent Money Magazine and Salary.com survey of 26,000 workers found that workers who considered themselves extremely satisfied with their jobs were putting in a lot more time at work than others. The most satisfied group in the survey reported eleven more weekly work hours than the least satisfied group. Generally, as satisfaction rose, workers reported longer hours worked.
A job satisfaction study compiled by CareerJournal.com asked satisfied workers to describe their jobs. The study found that highly satisfied employees consistently listed four factors: intellectual stimulation, job security, high levels of control and autonomy, and direct contact with clients and customers.
A model that shows how to make jobs more motivating is the Job Characteristics Model, developed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham. This model describes jobs in terms of five characteristics:
1. Skill variety. The extent to which a job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved.
2. Task identity. The degree to which a job requires completing a "whole" piece of work from beginning to end (e.g., building an entire component or resolving a customer's complaint).
3. Task significance. The extent to which the job has an important impact on the lives of other people.
4. Autonomy. The degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work will be carried out.
5. Feedback. The extent to which a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself.
As shown in Figure , the more of each of these characteristics a job has, the more motivating the job will be, according to the Job Characteristics Model. The model predicts that a person with such a job will be more satisfied and will produce more and better work. This approach to designing jobs includes such techniques as job enlargement, job enrichment, self-managing work teams, flexible work schedules, and telework.
Reference : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Sandra L. Steeh University of Regina Raymond A. Nog Ohio State University John R. Hollenbeck Michigan State University Barry Gerhart University of Wisconsin-Madison Patrick M. Wright Cornel/ University
Facts
Companies introducing creative concepts in naming key roles
2012:Corporate India is tossing out the old, stodgy nomenclature in favour of creative, personalised designations. At Bangalore-based start up Teleradiology Solutions, the CEO is called the 'chief pusher', quite simply because he pushes and nudges employees into delivering the goods.
The organisation also has a chief listening officer (HR head) and chief enabler (technology head). "It creates an environment where designations do not matter," says chief dreamer, Sunita Maheshwari.
Companies like Aegis want to prevent any dilution of ethics. Three months ago, they created the post of a 'chief ethics officer', whose job is to keep a check on any kind of fraudulent behaviour.
Theories of job design
The basis for job design theory is organization theory, which can be classified broadly into three strains of thought: the classical, the behavioral, and the situational.
Classical theory was expounded in early writings of Max Weber and Henri Fayol. For the classicist, any organization achieves efficiency through its division of labor. Managers identify the overall purpose of the organization. They then divide this overall purpose into jobs, each rationally related to the whole. Jobs are, in turn, grouped to create work groups, divisions, and departments. Finally, each group is assigned a supervisor, who is responsible for overseeing the work of subordinates and reporting the results to his or her own superior.
Behavioral theory is quite different. Unlike the classicist, the behavioralist is much less interested in allocating specific tasks to specific jobs, making sure that the authority matches the position, and then trying to attain higher efficiency through specialization of labor. Behavioralists prefer simple organizational structure, decentralized decision-making, and informal departmentalization. In an organic structure, subordinates feel free to discuss their performance problems with superiors and have a positive view of the organization. They participate in decision-making and communicate with those whose views are needed to solve immediate problems. These characteristics are in stark contrast to conditions in a traditional organization, where subordinates are guarded and negative about the organization, do not feel sufficient trust to communicate openly with those of higher status, and are not permitted to participate in decision-making.
Situational theory differs from both classical and behavioral theories. Advocates stress the influence of the external environment on the allocation of responsibilities and tasks within the organization, work groups, and jobs. Allocating responsibilities and tasks means creating a structure. Appropriate structures differ according to technology, markets, production, research, and information.
Techniques Of Job Design
There are various Techniques /methods in which job design can be carried out. These methods help to analysis the job, to design the contents of the and to decide how the job must be carried out these methods are as follows
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Job Rotation
Job designJob rotation is a management technique that assigns trainees to various jobs and departments over a period of a few years.
A job design technique in which employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The objective is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and to cross-train them.
-------BusinessDictionary.com
Job rotation implies systematic movement of employees from one job to the other. Job remains unchanged but employees performing them shift from one job to the other. With job rotation, an employee is given an opportunity to perform different jobs, which enriches his skills, experience and ability to perform different jobs
Facts of Job Rotation
• In some businesses, the object is to educate employees, giving them information about other operations in the company. Not only does this peak the interest of many on the payroll, but it can also allow employees to ask questions and suggest improvements in areas they wouldn’t normally see.
• At another level of a larger company, managers and supervisors are sometimes moved, in a series of planned job rotations. Business owners and operating officers might use a rotation plan so that management personnel are familiar with various sections of the business. Then, when the time comes to fill a vacant position due to retirement, for example, there may be more than one candidate familiar with the duties of that slot.
• In certain industries and with work that involves physical labor, job rotation may be used to avoid over-stressing some workers.
The constant, repetitive use of the same muscles can be one of the hazards of the workplace. Wise use of rotation may help workers stay healthy, and maintain a good work atmosphere as well. Safety is often a key consideration in this situation.
• Job rotation involves shifting a person from one job to another, so that he is able to understand and learn what each job involves. The company tracks his performance on every job and decides whether he can perform the job in an ideal manner. Based on this he is finally given a particular posting.
Job rotation is done to decide the final posting for the employee e.g. Mr. A is assigned to the marketing department whole he learns all the jobs to be performed for marketing at his level in the organization .after this he is shifted to the sales department and to the finance department and so on. He is finally placed in the department in which he shows the best performance
Job rotation gives an idea about the jobs to be performed at every level. Once a person is able to understand this he is in a better understanding of the working of organization
LG Electronics, IBM, TATA STEEL, McDonald's are a few companies which practice Job Rotation.
There are few Drawbacks of Job Rotation -
1. Rigid employees not ready for it quits.
2. Adjustment problem in new job scenario with increased challenges and difficulties.
3. Adjustment problem with the timings if the company works in shifts.
4. Increased stress and peer pressure.
Advantages of job rotation
1. Avoids monopoly :- Job rotation helps to avoid monopoly of job and enable the employee to learn new things and therefore enjoy his job
2. Provides an opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge: - due to job rotation the person is able to learn different job in the organization this broadens his knowledge.
3. Avoiding fraudulent practice: - In an organization like bank jobs rotation is undertaken to prevent employees from doing any kind of fraud i.e. if a person is handling a particular job for a very long time he will be able to find loopholes in the system and use them for his benefit and indulge ( participate ) in fraudulent practices job rotation avoids this.
Disadvantages of Job Rotation
1. Frequent interruption :- Job rotation results in frequent interruption of work .A person who is doing a particular job and get it comfortable suddenly finds himself shifted to another job or department .this interrupts the work in both the departments.
2. Reduces uniformity in quality :- Quality of work done by a trained worker is different from that of a new worker .when a new worker I shifted or rotated in the department, he takes time to learn the new job, makes mistakes in the process and affects the quality of the job.
3. Misunderstanding with the union member :- Sometimes job rotation may lead to misunderstanding with members of the union. The union might think that employees are being harassed and more work is being taken from them. In reality this is not the case.
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Job Enrichment
Job Enrichment, a job design techniquethat varies the concept of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee in organization.While job enlargement is considered as horizontal restructuring method, job enrichment is considered as vertical restructuring method of moral excellence of giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. Also called job enhancement or vertical job expansion.
Job enrichment
is an attempt to motivate employees by giving them the opportunity to use the range of their abilities. It is an idea that was developed by the American psychologist Frederick Hertzberg in the 1950s. It can be contrasted to job enlargement which simply increases the number of tasks without changing the challenge. As such job enrichment has been described as 'vertical loading' of a job, while job enlargement is 'horizontal loading'. An enriched job should ideally contain:• A range of tasks and challenges of varying difficulties (Physical or Mental)
• A complete unit of work - a meaningful task
• Feedback, encouragement and communication
Job enrichment is a type of job redesign intended to reverse the effects of tasks that are repetitive requiring little autonomy. Some of these effects are boredom, lack of flexibility, and employee dissatisfaction (Leach & Wall, 2004). The underlying principle is to expand the scope of the job with a greater variety of tasks, vertical in nature, that require self-sufficiency. Since the goal is to give the individual exposure to tasks normally reserved for differently focused or higher positions, merely adding more of the same responsibilities related to an employee's current position is not considered job enrichment.
Definition: Job Enrichment is the addition to a job of tasks that increase the amount of employee control or responsibility. It is a vertical expansion of the job as opposed to the horizontal expansion of a job, which is called job enlargement.
------About management.com
A job design technique that is a variation on the concept of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee.
While job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, job enrichment is a vertical restructuring method by virtue of giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. Also called job enhancement or vertical job expansion.
-----Business Dictionary.com
Job enrichment is a way to motivate employees by giving them increased responsibility and variety in their jobs. Many employers traditionally believed that money was the only true motivating factor for employees and that if you wanted to get more work out of employees, offering them more money was the only way to do it. While that may be true for a small group of people, the majority of workers today like to work and to be appreciated for the work they do. Job enrichment— allowing the employees to have more control in planning their work and deciding how the work should be accomplished—is one way to tap into the natural desire most employees have to do a good job, to be appreciated for their contributions to the company, and to feel more a part of the company team.
Job enrichment has its roots in Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, according to which two separate dimensions contribute to an employee's behavior at work.
• The first dimension, known as hygiene factors, involves the presence or absence of job dissatisfactors, such as wages, working environment, rules and regulations, and supervisors. When these factors are poor, work is dissatisfying and employees are not motivated. However, having positive hygiene factors does not cause employees to be motivated; it simply keeps them from being dissatisfied.
• The second dimensionof Herzberg's theory refers to motivators, which are factors that satisfy higher-level needs such as recognition for doing a good job, achievement, and the opportunity for growth and responsibility. These motivators are what actually increase job satisfaction and performance. Job enrichment becomes an important strategy at this point because enriching employees' jobs can help meet some of their motivational needs. There are basically five areas that are believed to affect an individual employee's motivation and job performance: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Job enrichment seeks to find positive ways to address each of these areas and therefore improve employee motivation and personal satisfaction.
Skill variety involves the number of different types of skills that are used to do a job. This area is important because using only one skill to do the same task repeatedly can be quite boring, typically causing the employee's productivity to decrease after a period of time. However, using a variety of skills in a job will tend to keep the employee more interested in the job and more motivated.
One way businesses are focusing on this area is through job rotation, that is, moving employees from job to job within the company, thereby allowing employees a variety of tasks in their work and helping prevent boredom. While this process can be costly to the company because employees must be trained in several different areas, the cost tends to be balanced by the increase in morale and productivity. Job rotation also gives each employee the opportunity to see how the different jobs of a company fit together and gives the company more flexibility in covering tasks when workers are absent. However, while job rotation is a good way to enrich employees' jobs, it can also hinder performance: Having to know several different jobs in order to rotate, can prevent employees from becoming proficient at any of the jobs. Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages of job rotation as an enrichment strategy have to be carefully weighed.
Task identity is a matter of realizing a visible outcome from performing a task. Being able to see the end result of the work they do is an important motivator for employees. One way to make task identity clearer is through job enlargement, which means adding more tasks and responsibilities to an existing job. For example, instead of building just one component part of a humidifier, a team of employees builds the entire product from start to finish. When using job enlargement as an enrichment strategy, it is important that enlarging the job gives the employee more responsibility and more variety, not just more work.
Task significance involves how important the task is to others in the company, which is important in showing employees how the work they do fits in with that done in the rest of the organization. If employees can see how their work affects others, it will be a motivator to do the best job they can.
Many companies take new employees on a tour of the company and provide training sessions on how each part of the company works together with the other parts. In order to accept and handle responsibility, it is important that employees know how the various areas of the company work together; without this knowledge, it is very difficult for them to handle decision-making responsibilities. Putting employees from different areas of the company into planning teams can also help them see the significance of the tasks they perform.
Autonomy involves the degree of freedom, independence, and decision-making ability the employee has in completing assigned tasks. Most people like to be given responsibility; it demonstrates trust and helps motivate employees to live up to that trust. Responsibility can also help speed up work processes by enabling the employee to make decisions without having to wait for management approval. Autonomy is a very important part of job enrichment because it gives the employee power and a feeling of importance.
A type of job enrichment that restructures work to best match the employee to the job is job redesign. Job redesign can focus on combining existing jobs, forming work groups, and/or allowing closer contact between employees and individual suppliers or customers. The idea behind job redesign is to match employees with a job they like and are best qualified to perform. Self-managed teams are a type of job design whereby employees are grouped into teams and given certain guidelines to follow as well as goals to accomplish—and then left alone to accomplish those goals. Self-managed teams demonstrate the company's faith in the employees and give employees a feeling of power and pride in the work they accomplish.
Feedback describes how much and what type of information about job performance is received by the employee. It is one of the most important areas for motivation. Without feedback, employees have no way of knowing whether they are doing things correctly or incorrectly. Positive feedback helps to motivate employees by recognizing the efforts they have put into their work. While monetary rewards for doing a good job can be a strong incentive, sometimes saying "you did a really good job on that project" can mean just as much. Corrective feedback is also important because it lets employees know what areas need improvement.
Job Enrichment Options
The central focus of job enrichment is giving people more control over their work (lack of control is a key cause of stress, and therefore of unhappiness.) Where possible, allow them to take on tasks that are typically done by supervisors. This means that they have more influence over planning, executing, and evaluating the jobs they do.In enriched jobs, people complete activities with increased freedom, independence, and responsibility. They also receive plenty of feedback, so that they can assess and correct their own performance.
Here are some strategies you can use to enrich jobs in your workplace:
• Rotate Jobs – Give people the opportunity to use a variety of skills, and perform different kinds of work. The most common way to do this is through job rotation. Move your workers through a variety of jobs that allow them to see different parts of the organization, learn different skills and acquire different experiences. This can be very motivating, especially for people in jobs that are very repetitive or that focus on only one or two skills.
• Combine Tasks – Combine work activities to provide a more challenging and complex work assignment. This can significantly increase "task identity" because people see a job through from start to finish. This allows workers to use a wide variety of skills, which can make the work seem more meaningful and important. For example, you can convert an assembly line process, in which each person does one task, into a process in which one person assembles a whole unit. You can apply this model wherever you have people or groups that typically perform only one part of an overall process. Consider expanding their roles to give them responsibility for the entire process, or for a bigger part of that process.
• Identify Project-Focused Work Units – Break your typical functional lines and form project-focused units. For example, rather than having all of your marketing people in one department, with supervisors directing who works on which project, you could split the department into specialized project units - specific storyboard creators, copywriters, and designers could all work together for one client or one campaign. Allowing employees to build client relationships is an excellent way to increase autonomy, task identity, and feedback.
• Create Autonomous Work Teams – This is job enrichment at the group level. Set a goal for a team, and make team members free to determine work assignments, schedules, rest breaks, evaluation parameters, and the like. You may even give them influence over choosing their own team members. With this method, you'll significantly cut back on supervisory positions, and people will gain leadership and management skills.
• Implement Participative Management – Allow team members to participate in decision making and get involved in strategic planning. This is an excellent way to communicate to members of your team that their input is important. It can work in any organization - from a very small company, with an owner/boss who's used to dictating everything, to a large company with a huge hierarchy. When people realize that what they say is valued and makes a difference, they'll likely be motivated.
• Redistribute Power and Authority – Redistribute control and grant more authority to workers for making job-related decisions. As supervisors delegate more authority and responsibility, team members' autonomy, accountability, and task identity will increase.
• Increase Employee-Directed Feedback – Make sure that people know how well, or poorly, they're performing their jobs. The more control you can give them for evaluating and monitoring their own performance, the more enriched their jobs will be. Rather than have your quality control department go around and point out mistakes, consider giving each team responsibility for their own quality control. Workers will receive immediate feedback, and they'll learn to solve problems, take initiative, and make decisions.
Job enrichment provides many opportunities for people's development. You'll give them lots of opportunity to participate in how their work gets done, and they'll most-likely enjoy an increased sense of personal responsibility for their tasks.
Implementing a Job Enrichment Program
• Step One – Find out where people are dissatisfied with their current work assignments. There's little point to enriching jobs and changing the work environment if you're enriching the wrong jobs and making the wrong changes. Like any motivation initiative, determine what your people want before you begin.• Surveys are a good means of doing this. Don't make the mistake of presuming that you know what people want: Go to the source - and use that information to build your enrichment options.
• Step Two – Consider which job enrichment options you can provide. You don't need to drastically redesign your entire work process. The way that you design the enriched jobs must strike a balance between operational need and job satisfaction. If significant changes are needed, consider establishing a "job enrichment task force" - perhaps use a cross-section of employees, and give them responsibility for deciding which enrichment options make the most sense.
• Step Three – Design and communicate your program. If you're making significant changes, let people know what you're doing and why. Work with your managers to create an enriching work environment that includes lots of employee participation and recognition. Remember to monitor your efforts, and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of what you're providing.
Advantages of job enrichment
1. Interesting and challenging job :- When a certain amount of power is given to employees it makes the job more challenging for them, we can say that job enrichment is a method of employee empowerment.2. Improves decision making :- Through job enrichment we can improve the decision making ability of the employee by asking him to decide
3. vation speaks of these higher order needs e.g. Ego and esteemed needs, self-actualization etc. These needs can be achieved through job enrichment.
4. Reduces work load of superiors :-Job enrichment reduces the work load of senior staff. When decisions are taken by juniors the seniors work load is reduced.
Disadvantages of job enrichment
1. Job enrichment is based on the assumptions that workers have complete knowledge to take decisions and they have the right attitude. In reality this might not be the case due to which there can be problems in working.2. Job enrichment has negative implications ie. Along with usual work decision making work is also given to the employees and not many may be comfortable with this.
3. Superiors may feel that power is being taken away from them and given to the junior’s. This might lead to ego problems.
4. This method will only work in certain situations. Some jobs already give a lot of freedom and responsibility; this me
thod will not work for such jobs.
5. Some people are internally dissatisfied with the organization. For such people no amount of job enrichment can solve the problem.
Key Points:
Job enrichment is a fundamental part of attracting, motivating, and retaining talented people, particularly where work is repetitive or boring. To do it well, you need a great match between the way your jobs are designed and the skills and interests of the employees working for you.When your work assignments reflect a good level of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback, members of your team are likely be much more content, and much less stressed. Enriched jobs lead to more satisfied and motivated workers.
Your responsibility is to figure out which combination of enrichment options will lead to increased performance and productivity.
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Job Enlargement
Definition Job Enlargement
Job Enlargement, a job design technique in which the number of tasks associated with a job is increased (and appropriate training provided) to add greater variety to activities, thus reducing monotony.Job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method in that the job is enlarged by adding related tasks. Job enlargement may also result in greater workforce flexibility.
Job enlargement is another method of job design when any organization wishes to adopt proper job design it can opt for job enlargement. Job enlargement involves combining various activities at the same level in the organization and adding them to the existing job. It increases the scope of the job. It is also called the horizontal expansion of job activities.
Definition: Job Enlargement is the horizontal expansion of a job. It involves the addition of tasks at the same level of skill and responsibility. It is done to keep workers from getting bored. It is different than job enrichment.
Examples: Small companies may not have as many opportunities for promotions, so they try to motivate employees through job enlargement.
Job enlargement can be explained with the help of the following example - If Mr. A is working as an executive with a company and is currently performing 3 activities on his job after job enlargement or through job enlargement we add 4 more activities to the existing job so now Mr. A performs 7 activities on the job.
It must be noted that the new activities which have been added should belong to the same hierarchy level in the organization. By job enlargement we provide a greater variety of activities to the individual so that we are in a position to increase the interest of the job and make maximum use of employee’s skill. Job enlargement is also essential when policies like VRS are implemented in the company.
Job enlargement is doing different tasks and not just the same thing all the time. It may involve taking on more duties and adds variety to a person's job. Horizontal loading is often used which is giving people more jobs to do that require the same level of skill.
Job enlargement contradicts the principles of specialisation and the division of labour whereby work is divided into small units, each of which is performed repetitively by an individual worker. Some motivational theories suggest that the boredom and alienation caused by the division of labour can actually cause efficiency to fall. Thus, job enlargement seeks to motivate workers through reversing the process of specialisation. A typical approach might be to replace assembly lines with modular work; instead of an employee repeating the same step on each product, they perform several tasks on a single item. In order for employees to be provided with Job Enlargement they will need to be retrained in new fields which can prove to be a lengthy process. However results have shown that this process can see its effects diminish after a period of time, as even the enlarged job role become the mundane, this in turn can lead to similar levels of demotivation and job dissatisfaction at the expense of increased training levels and costs. The continual enlargement of a job over time is also known as 'job creep,' which can lead to an unmanageable workload.
Advantages of job enlargement
• Variety of skills :- Job enlargement helps the organization to improve and increase the skills of the employee due to organization as well as the individual benefit.• Improves earning capacity :- Due to job enlargement the person learns many new activities. When such people apply foe jobs to other companies they can bargain for more salary.
• Wide range of activities :- Job enlargement provides wide range of activities for employees. Since a single employee handles multiple activities the company can try and reduce the number of employee’s. This reduces the salary bill for the company.
Disadvantages of job enlargement
• Increases work burden :- Job enlargement increases the work of the employee and not every company provides incentives and extra salary for extra work. Therefore the efforts of the individual may remain unrecognized.• Increasing frustration of the employee :- In many cases employees end up being frustrated because increased activities do not result in increased salaries.
• Problem with union members :- Many union members may misunderstand job enlargement as exploitation of worker and may take objection to it.
Difference Between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment
The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is quality and quantity. Job enrichment means improvement, or an increase with the help of upgrading and development, whereas job enlargement means to add more duties, and an increased workload. By job enrichment, an employee finds satisfaction in respect to their position and personal growth potential, whereas job enlargement refers to having additional duties and responsibilities in a current job description.Job enlargement is a vehicle employers use to put additional workload on employees, perhaps in economical downtime. Due to downsizing, an employee might feel lucky to have a job at all, despite the fact that his duties and responsibilities have increased. Another approach is that by adding more variety and enlarging the responsibilities will provide the chance of enhancement and more productivity. Job enrichment involves organizing and planning in order to gain more control over their duties and work as a manager. The execution of plans and evaluation of results motivates workers and relieves boredom. Job enlargement and job enrichment are both useful for motivating workers to perform their tasks enthusiastically.
Although job enlargement and enrichment have a relationship with each other, they also possess some distinct features that differentiate them, such as area of expansion, mutual reliance, allocation of duties and responsibilities, motivation and profundity. Job enrichment is largely dependent on job enlargement, whereas job enlargement has no such dependency. Job enlargement expands horizontally when compared to job enrichment, which expands vertically. Vertical growth of job or augmentation is helpful to obtain managerial rights.
In spite of mutual dependency, managerial duties are sanctioned, as in the case of enhancement. The employee focuses more on job depth, which does not happen in job enlargement. Job enrichment has a greater motivational impact than job enlargement.
The job enlargement theory involving horizontal expansion to increase job satisfaction and productivity is relatively simple, and applied in numerous situations. Job enrichment, when compared to job enlargement, not only includes more duties and responsibilities, but also gives the right of decision making and control.
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Job Evaluation
Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization.Job evaluation is an assessment of the relative worth of various jobs on the basis of a consistent set of job and personal factors, such as qualifications and skills required.
The objective of job evaluation is to determine which jobs should get more pay than others. Several methods such as job ranking, job grading, and factor comparison are employed in job evaluation. Research indicates, however, that each method is nearly as accurate and reliable as the other in ranking and pricing different jobs. Job evaluation forms the basis for wage and salary negotiations.
--------businessdictionary.com
Background of Job Evaluation
Job evaluation developed out of civil service classification practices and some early employer job and pay classification systems. Whether formal job evaluation began with the United States Civil Service Commission in 1871 or with Frederick W. Taylor in 1881, it is now over 120 years old and still of great value. The first point system was developed in the 1920s. Employer associations have contributed greatly to the adoption of certain plans. The spread of unionism has influenced the installation of job evaluation in that employers gave more attention to rationalized wage structures as unionism advanced. During World War II, the National War Labor Board encouraged the expansion of job evaluation as a method of reducing wage inequities.As organizations became larger and larger and more bureaucratized the need for a rational system of paying employees became evident. Wage structures became more complex and needed some way to bring order to the chaos perpetuated by supervisors setting pay rates for their employees on their own. Job evaluation became a major part of the answer. The techniques and processes of job evaluation were developed and perfected during this time period of the late 1950s.
With the advent of the Civil Rights movement, job evaluation literally got written into the law. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required jobs to be compared on the basis of skill, effort, and responsibility to determine if they were or were not equal. A 1979 study of job evaluation, as a potential source of and/or a potential solution to sex discrimination in pay, was made by the National Research Council under a contract from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The study suggested that jobs held predominantly by women and minorities could be undervalued. Such discrimination resulted from the use of different plans for different employee groups, from the compensable factors employed, from the weights assigned to factors, and from the stereotypes associated with jobs. Although the preliminary report failed to take a position on job evaluation, the final report concluded that job evaluation holds some potential for solving problems of discrimination.
Definitions of Job Evaluation
Below are given some important definitions of job analysis:Job Evaluation involves determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary differentials. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of Job Description and Job Specification only. Job Evaluation helps to determine wages and salary grades for all jobs. Employees need to be compensated depending on the grades of jobs they perform. Remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job. Ignoring this basic principle results in inequitable compensation and attendant ill effects on employees’ morale. A perception of inequity is a sure way of De-motivating an employee.
• In the words of Edwin B. Flippo. "Job evaluation is a systematic and orderly process of determining the worth of a job in relation to other jobs."
• According to Kimball and Kimball Jr., "Job evaluation represents an effort to determine the relative value of every job in a plant and to determine what the fair basic wage for such a job should be."
• According to Bethel, Atwater and Smith et at, "Job evaluation as a personal term has both a specific and genetic meaning specifically, it means job rating or the grading of occupations in terms of duties ; generally it means the entire field of wages and salary administration along modern lines"
• According to International Labour Organisation, "Job evaluation may be defined as an attempt to determine and compare the demands which the normal performance of particular job makes on normal workers without taking account of the individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned."
• In the words of Dale Yoder, "Job evaluation is a practice which seeks to provide a degree of objectivity in measuring the comparative value of jobs within an organisation and among similar organisations."
• According to Bureau of Labour Statistics, "Job evaluation is the evaluation or rating of job to determine their position in job hierarchy. The evaluation may be achievement through asssignment of points or the use of some other systematic rating method for essential job requirements such as skill, experience and responsibility."
Jobs are evaluated on the basis of content and placed in order of importance. This establishes Job Hierarchies, which becomes the basis for satisfactory wage differentials among various jobs. Jobs are ranked (not jobholders)
Facts
A commonly used job evaluation method is the paired comparison evaluation system. The paired comparison system compares each job within a company with every other job within the company. A job's resulting score is determined from the comparisons. The jobs are then ranked by score.
THE JOB EVALUATION PROCESS
Job analysis describes a job. Job evaluation develops a plan for comparing jobs in terms of those things the organization considers important determinants of job worth. This process involves a number of steps that will be briefly stated here and then discussed more fully.
1. Job Analysis. The first step is a study of the jobs in the organization. Through job analysis, information on job content is obtained, together with an appreciation of worker requirements for successful performance of the job. This information is recorded in the precise, consistent language of a job description. This was the topic of chapter 10.
2. Compensable Factors. The next step is deciding what the organization "is paying for" -- that is, what factor or factors place one job at a higher level in the job hierarchy than another. These compensable factors are the yardsticks used to determine the relative position of jobs. In a sense, choosing compensable factors is the heart of job evaluation. Not only do these factors place jobs in the organization's job hierarchy, but they also serve to inform job incumbents which contributions are rewarded.
3. Developing the Method. The third step in job evaluation is to select a method of appraising the organization's jobs according to the factor(s) chosen. The method should permit consistent placement of the organization's jobs containing more of the factors higher in the job hierarchy, than those jobs lower in the hierarchy.
4. Job Structure. The fourth step is comparing jobs to develop a job structure. This involves choosing and assigning decision makers, reaching and recording decisions, and setting up the job hierarchy.
5. Wage Structure. The final step is pricing the job structure to arrive at a wage structure.
Features of Job Evaluation
The primary objective of job evaluation is to find out the value of work, but this is a value which varies from time to time and from place to place under the influence of certain economic pressure, not least of which is the worth of money itself. The main features of job evaluations are:• To supply bases for wage negotiation founded on facts rather than on vague intermediate ideas.
• It attempts to assess jobs, not people.
• Job evaluation is the output provided by job analysis.
• Job evaluation does not design wage structure, it helps in rationalising the system by reducing number of separate and different rates.
• Job evaluation is not made by individuals rather it is done by group of experts.
• Job evaluation determines the value of job. Further the value of each of the aspects such as skill and responsibility levels are also related and studied in connection with the job.
• Job evaluation helps the management to maintain high levels of employee productivity and employee satisfaction.
The objectives of job evaluation
• To establish an orderly, rational, systematic structure of jobs based on their worth to the organization.• To justify an existing pay rate structure or to develop one that provides for internal equity.
• To assist in setting pay rates that are comparable to those of in similar jobs in other organizations to compete in market place for best talent.
• To provide a rational basis for negotiating pay rates when bargaining collectively with a recognized union.
• To ensure the fair and equitable compensation of employees in relation to their duties.
• To ensure equity in pay for jobs of similar skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions by using a system that consistently and accurately assesses differences in relative value among jobs and
• To establish a framework of procedures to determine the grade levels and the consequent salary range for new jobs or jobs which have evolved and changed.
• To identify a ladder of progression for future movement to all employees interested in improving their compensation.
• To comply with equal pay legislation and regulations determining pay differences according to job content.
• To develop a base for merit or pay-for-performance.
Advantages of Job evaluation
Job evaluation is a process of determining the relative worth of a job. It is a process which is helpful even for framing compensation plans by the personnel manager. Job evaluation as a process is advantageous to a company in many ways:1. Reduction in inequalities in salary structure - It is found that people and their motivation is dependent upon how well they are being paid. Therefore the main objective of job evaluation is to have external and internal consistency in salary structure so that inequalities in salaries are reduced.
2. Specialization - Because of division of labour and thereby specialization, a large number of enterprises have got hundred jobs and many employees to perform them. Therefore, an attempt should be made to define a job and thereby fix salaries for it. This is possible only through job evaluation.
3. Helps in selection of employees - The job evaluation information can be helpful at the time of selection of candidates. The factors that are determined for job evaluation can be taken into account while selecting the employees.
4. Harmonious relationship between employees and manager - Through job evaluation, harmonious and congenial relations can be maintained between employees and management, so that all kinds of salaries controversies can be minimized.
5. Standardization - The process of determining the salary differentials for different jobs become standardized through job evaluation. This helps in bringing uniformity into salary structure.
6. Relevance of new jobs - Through job evaluation, one can understand the relative value of new jobs in a concern.
Limitations:
1. Though there are many ways of applying job evaluation in a flexible manner, rapid changes in technology and in the supply of and demand for particular skills, create problems of adjustment that may need further study.2. When job evaluation results in substantial changes in the existing wage structure, the possibility of implementing these changes in a relatively short period may be restricted by the financial limits within which the firm has to operate.
3. When there are a large proportion of incentive workers, it may be difficult to maintain a reasonable and acceptable structure of relative earnings.
4. The process of job rating is, to some extent, inexact because some of the factors and degrees can be measured with accuracy.
5. Job evaluation takes a long time to complete, requires specialized technical personnel and is quite expensive.
JOB EVALUATION METHODS
After job analysis preparations of job descriptions comes the essential stage of job evaluation, namely, the systematic comparison of jobs in order to establish a job hierarchy. The techniques which have been commonly used tend to fall into one of the two main categories:Non-analytical or Non-quantitative or summary methods
Analytical or quantitative methods.
Qualitative methods are:
1. Job Ranking
2. Job Classification or grading
Quantitative methods are:
1. Factor Comparison
2. Point rating or assessment
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[ 13 ]
Qualitative Methods of Job Evaluation
1. Job Ranking Method
This is the oldest and simplest method of job evaluation. This is generally used in smaller units where the job raters know all the jobs quite well. In this method no effort is made to break a job down into its elements or factors, but the aim is to rather judge the job as a whole and determine the relative value by ranking one whole job against another whole job. In this technique ranking is done according to 'whole job' rather than a number of compensable efforts.In it a committee constituted of several executives’ studies job descriptions. Then jobs are arranged from highest to lowest, in order of their value or merit to the organisation. Jobs also can be arranged according to the relative difficulty in performing them. So jobs are ranked in order of importance beginning with the most important to the least important jobs in the organisation. Job at the top of the list has the highest value and obviously the job at the bottom of the list will have the lowest value. This procedure is followed for jobs in each department and an attempt is then made to equate or compare jobs at various levels among the several departments. When this is completed, grade levels are defined and salary groups are formed. Jobs are placed into different salary ranges more or less on a predominated basis in their rank order.
An expert committee consisting of well-informed executives may, in relatively short time, rank several hundred jobs in various departments. In most of the instances, the ranking are not only based on job descriptions but on the raters general knowledge of the position.
According to this method, the following table is a hypothetical example of ranking of jobs having done the above ranking, additional jobs between already ranked may be assigned on appropriate place. This method might serve the purposes of a small organisation with easily defined jobs but would probably be most unsuitable for a large company with a complex organisational structure.
Ranking of office of a company
Rank
Monthly salary range
Manager
8000 - 11000
Assistant Manager
6000 - 8000
Superintendent
5000 - 7000
Assistant
4000 - 6000
Clerk / Typist
3000 - 5000
Peon
2000 - 3000
Advantages:
• Simple: The system is quite simple. A company does not face any difficulty in installing this system.
• Easy: As the workers understand the process there is no problem in administering this system.
• Less time: Less time is taken in evaluating the jobs.
• Suitable for smaller concern: This system is suitable for smaller organisation where the rates are fully aquainted with all the existing jobs in the enterprise.
Disadvantages:
• No scientific approach: As there is no standard for an analysis of the whole job position, different bases of comparison may occur. Importance of the job may be arbitrarily ranked resulting in differences in similar jobs and may be resented by the employees.
• No fair judgement: This method decides the ranks of the jobs on the basis of their importance but does not tell the reasons. So ranks judgements are subjective and the fairness of the judgement cannot be advocated.
• Difficult for large organisation: In a complex industrial organisation, it is not possible to be familiar with all the jobs and thus general description will not enable correct assessment of the relative importance of the jobs
2. Job Classification or Grading method
This method is one step further in the first method. This is similar to ranking method because in both methods neither points nor money values are assigned to classify the jobs. No complicated procedures are followed. It was evolved as an improvement over the ranking method. Job descriptions and job specifications are widely used in it. The committee of executives goes through each job description and carefully weights it in the light of certain factors like skill, responsibilities, experience and type of work etc.The Classification Job Evaluation System is based on pre-established general definitions of the kind of work that would be found at each level, grade or class in an organization. Each job is reviewed, evaluated and placed into a class or grade. The Classification Job Evaluation System is most commonly found in the public sector and heavily unionized industries.
Facts
The Classification Job Evaluation System is based on pre-established general definitions of the kind of work that would be found at each level, grade or class in an organization. Each job is reviewed, evaluated and placed into a class or grade. The Classification Job Evaluation System is most commonly found in the public sector and heavily unionized industries.
"It is almost as difficult to keep a first class person in a fourth class job, as it is to keep a fourth class person in a first class job."
-- Paul H. Dunn
Separate classes may include office, clerical, managerial, personnel etc. In this way, it assigns each job to a particular grade or class. For each grade or class, there are different rates of wage.
Following table is a brief description of such a classification in an office:
Grade
Description of Job-Classification
I. Grade Unskilled
This generally covers the jobs of clerical nature, which requires accuracy, reliability etc. So special training is required.
II. Grade Skilled
This also covers the job with the nature of clerical work. But under this personnel require training programmes. This may include: draftsman, ledger man, laboratory assistant etc.
III.Grade Interpretative
This requires a special skill to perform the jobs. These may be of clerical or non-clerical nature. This includes: foremans, layout draftsman etc. This is also of non-supervisory nature.
IV. Grade Creative
This involves a high degree of creativity and special knowledge. This covers engineers, salesman, staff supervisor, designers etc.
V. Grade Executive
This is related to the supervisory and creative jobs category. This generally covers the managers of all different departments.
VI.Grade Administrative
This is related with a little bit policy formulation and implementation. They have to work with great sense of responsibility. This may include: division manager, district sales managers, works engineers and treasurer etc.
VII.Grade Policy
Their position is of the top in a concern. They have to formulate the policies of a company. This cover the top management posts like directors, managers etc.
Advantages:
1. Easy to understand: The installation of this system is also comparatively easy as there does not arise any difficulty in explaining the system to the employees. It is simple to operate and understand, as it does not take much time or require technical help.
2. Accurate: Under this, it is possible to evaluate more accurately the job descriptions since the analysis is based on job descriptions.
3. Acceptable wage-criteria: This also helps to create an effective wage rate. As grouping of jobs into classification makes pay determination problems administratively easier to handle.
4. New jobs adjustment and their ranking: If a new job is to be introduced in a company, it is easy to associate it with a class or grade which is comparatively a less difficult task.
5. Suitability: It is most suitable to the government departments. It is rarely applied in the industrial groups
Disadvantages:
1. This is also a subjective method. Since personal evaluations by executives establish the major classes and decide into which grade each job shall be placed.
2. This system is not suitable for a large scale company. The jobs are classified by total contents and by a factor that comprise them. Therefore it is difficult to compile any comprehensive class specification for a large scale organisation with a number of complex jobs.
3. If in a concern detailed job analysis is not made, the judgement in respect of a total range of jobs may lead to incorrect results/classification.
4. The existing wage and salary rates affect the grading of jobs. The raters justify the existing salary ranges. If the job description justifies the lowering of the grade of a particular job, it cannot be done because labour normally does not accept any adverse condition of service.
5. Writing of a grade description is also a very difficult task. This system becomes more difficult to operate if the number of jobs increases in a concern.
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[ 14 ]
Quantitative Methods of Job Evaluation
1. The Factor Comparison Method
This method is a combination of the ranking and point system. Thomas E. Hitten was the first to originate factor comparison method of job evaluation. As originally developed this method involves ranking of jobs in respect of certain factors and usually involves the assigning of money wages to the job depending upon the ranking. This is more systematic and scientific method. Under this method, jobs are evaluated by some standards. In this method, instead of ranking complete jobs, each job is ranked according to series of factors. All jobs are compared to each other for the purpose of determining their relative importance by selecting four or five major job elements which are more common or less common to all jobs. These elements are not pre-determined. These are chosen on the basis of job analysis. The five factors which are commonly used are(i) mental requirement
(ii) skill
(iii) physical requirement
(iv) responsibilities and
(v) working conditions.
The number of factors may be more than five. Pay will be assigned in this method by comparing the weights of the factor required for each job, i.e., the present wages paid for key jobs may be divided among the factors weighted by importance. So the wages are assigned to the job in comparison to its ranking on each job factor.
The major steps in this system consist of the following:
Selection of factors: They may be skill, mental and educational requirements, physical requirements and responsibility, working conditions. The persons writing job specifications are generally provided with a set of dimensions within which they have to perform this important work.Selection of key jobs: Key jobs serve as a standard against which all other jobs are compared. Generally a key job is one whose contents has become stabilized over a period of time and whose wage rate is considered to satisfactory and acceptable by the management and union. The key jobs should be a good sample representing the entire range. It is suggested that 15 to 20 jobs should be picked. All of these should be clearly describable and capable of analysis in terms of factors.
Ranking of Key jobs: Rank the selected jobs under each factor (by each and every member of the job evaluation committee) independently. Ranking is made individually and then a meeting is held to develop a consensus.
Assign money value: Money value is assigned to each factor so as to determine the wage rate for each key job. The basic pay for each 'key' job is allocated to each factor. This should reflect a range from the lowest to the highest.
Comparing all jobs with key jobs: All other jobs are compared with the list of key jobs. This is done to know their relative importance and position in the scale of jobs.
For example, if tool making is a benchmark job and its wage rate is 20 money units; it may be decided to assign nine of these to skill, five to mental requirements, two to physical requirements, three to responsibility and one to working conditions. Similarly, if the wage rate for another benchmark job. for example that of a machinist, amounts to 18 money units, eight of these may be allotted to skill, three to working conditions and so on.
Advantages:
1. Factor comparison method permits a more systematic comparison of jobs than the non-analytical methods. It is a systematic, quantifiable method for which detailed step by step instructions are available.
2. The system results in more accurate job evaluation as it is more objective because weights are not selected arbitrarily.
3. It is flexible as it has no upper limit on rating that a job may receive on a factor.
4. The reliability and validity of the system are greater than the same statistical measures obtained from group standardised job analysis plans.
5. The procedure of rating new jobs by comparing with other standards or key job is logical and not too difficult to accomplish.
6. It utilizes few factors and thereby reduces the likelihood of overlapping.
7. t is a scheme that in corporate money value, determination of wage rates is automatic.
Disadvantages:
1. This method is comparatively complicated to apply and it is difficult to explain to workers.
2. It is costly to install, and somewhat difficult to operate for anyone who is not acquainted with the general nature of job-evaluation techniques.
3. The use of present wages for the key jobs may initially create errors into the plan. The contents and the value of these jobs may change over a period of time and they will lead to future errors.
4. It goes against the common belief that the procedure of evaluating jobs and fixing their wages should be kept separate.
5. The use of five factors is a growth of the technique developed by its organisations. And using the same five factors for all organisation and for all jobs in an organisation may not always be appropriate.
6. It is a very expensive method/system of job evaluation because experts have to be appointed particularly in selecting weights which are based in actual analysis.
2. Point Rating Method
This is the most widely used method for job evaluation. It along with factor comparison method, involves a more detailed, quantitative and analytical approach to the measurement of job worth. This method is widely used currently. In this method jobs are expressed in terms of key factors. Then various points are assigned to each factor in order of their importance. Then points are summed up to determine the wage rate for the job. Jobs with similar point totals are placed in similar pay grades. The point rating procedure has to clearly define from very start. By and large, its steps fall into two distinct stages, namely preparing and evaluation plan and schedule (by defining and weighting factors) and grading jobs by reference to this schedule. This involves the following steps:• Listing of Jobs: The jobs have to be determined first which are to be evaluated. They are usually clustered. This should cover all the categories of jobs: skilled, unskilled, semi-skilled, professional, executives etc.
• Selecting and defining factors: Identify the factors common to all the identified jobs such as skill, effort, responsibility, job conditions etc. There should be sufficient number of factors to evaluate all aspects of the jobs. The number of factors will depend upon the nature of the jobs.
• Dividing the factors into degree: Once the factors are selected they must be divided into degrees to make them operational. The point method generally uses from four to six degrees for each factor. It is advisable to an even number of degrees in the development of point method and the same number of degrees should be used for each factor in order to maintain consistency in the job evaluation plan.
• Weighting the factors: The relative importance of each factor selected has to be determined. In other words, the factors must be weighted. There is no scientific or readymade method for weighting factors. It is generally done pragmatically and will depend upon the knowledge of the work of the enterprise. Weighting will also depend on the firm's objectives and policies.
• Allocations points to each degree: Once the relative importance of the factors has been determined in a preliminary way and the factors suitably divided into degrees, each degree must be assigned a numerical value. These are the values that will be used in determining the total point values of jobs.
• Evaluation of Jobs: Once the factor plan is adopted, it is usual to prepare an evaluation hand¬book explaining the procedure to be followed and summarising all the elements required for evaluation.
• Assign money value points: For this purpose points are added to give the total value of a job: its value of a job; its value is then translated into terms of money with a pre-determined formula.
Advantages:
• The point method is a superior and widely used method of evaluating jobs. It gives us a numerical basis for wage differentials. By analysing a job by factors it is usually possible to obtain a high measure of agreements on job value.• Once the scales are developed, they can be used for a long time.
• It accounts for differences in wage rates for various jobs on the strength of job factors. Jobs may change over time, but the rating scale established under the point method remain unaffected.
• It has the ability of handling a large number of jobs and enjoys stability as long as the factor remains relevant.
Disadvantages
• This method is a costly affair. The development and installation of the system calls of heavy expenditure.• This is a complex method. Adoption of the whole procedure is a very difficult and time-consuming process.
• There may be wide fluctuations in the compensable factors with the change in technology, values of employees etc.
• Employees, trade union representatives, management and other interest parties may perceive differently in selecting a compensable factors, in giving weightage etc.
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Source: Human resource management (web). www.whatishumanresource.com (english)