Human resource management. Session 3. Designing jobs and conducting job analysis презентация

Job Design.
Job design is the process of organizing work into the tasks required to perform a specific job.
Five approaches to job design:
Work simplification.
Job enlargement.
Job rotation.
Job enrichment.
Team-based job design.

Five approaches to job design:
Work simplification assumes that work can be broken down into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency.
Job enlargement - the process of expending a job’s duties.
Job rotation – the process of rotating workers among different narrowly defined tasks without disruption the flow of work.
Job enrichment - the process of putting specialized tasks back together so that one person is responsible for producing a whole product or an entire service.
Team-based job design focus on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to do.

JOB ANALYSIS.
Job analysis- the systematic process of collecting information used to make decisions about jobs. Job analysis identifies the tasks, duties and responsibilities of particular job.
A task is basic element of work that is a logical and necessary step in performing and job duty.
A duty consists of one or more tasks that constitute a significant activity performed in a job.
A responsibility is one or several duties that identify and describe the major purpose or reason for job’s existence.

Methods of gathering job information.
Interviews. The interviewer (usually member of HR department) interviews a representative sample of job incumbents using a structured interview.
Observation. An individual observes the job incumbent actually performing the job and records the core job characteristics from observation.
Diaries. Several incumbents may be asked to keep diaries or logs of their daily job activities and record the amount of time spent on each activity.
Questionnaires. The job incumbent fills out a questionnaire that asks a series of questions about the job’s duties, responsibilities, and knowledge, skill, and ability requirements.

Methods of Job Analysis.
Interview
Advantages
Allows the incumbent to describe tasks and duties that are not observable.
Disadvantages
The incumbent may exaggerate or omit tasks and duties.
The Job Analysis Interview: method to collect a variety of information from an incumbent by asking the incumbent to describe the tasks and duties performed.

Interview Methods
Unstructured Interviews: Here the interview is a conversation with no prepared questions or predetermined line of investigation. However, the interviewer should explain:
the purpose of the study is and
the particular focus of this interview
Structured Interviews: A structured interview may assume a definite format involving:
charting a job-holder's sequence of activities in performance
an inventory or questionnaire may be used

Interview Outcomes
However information from different interviews can be:
hard to bring together
there is potential for interviewer bias
certain areas of the work may fail to be picked up
an interview may stress one area and neglect others
there are problems in interpretation and analysis with the possibility of distorted impressions
the subjectivity of the data captured needs to be considered
Interviewing is a flexible method for all levels and types of job. An interview may focus on what a hypothetical job might involve.

The uses of Job Analyses.
Job analysis measures job content and the relative importance of different job duties and responsibilities.
For instance:
A company may be able to defend its policy of requiring sales representatives to have a valid driver’s license if it can show via job analysis that driving is an essential activity in the sales rep’s job.
The owner of a fast-food restaurant who pays an assistant manager a weekly salary (without any overtime pay) may be able to defend herself from charges of an overtime pay violation with a job analysis proving that the assistant manager job is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Job analysis is useful for the following HR activities:
Recruitment. Job analysis can help the HR department generate a higher-quality pool of job applications by making it easy to describe a job in newspaper ads that can be targeted to qualified job applicants.
Selection. Job analysis can be used to determine whether an applicant for a specific job should be required to take a personality test or some other kind of test.
Performance appraisal. The performance standards used to judge employee performance for purposes of promotion, rewards, discipline, or layoff should be job related.
Compensation. Job analysis information can be used to compare the relative worth of each job’s contribution to the company’s overall performance.
Training and career development. Job analysis is an important input for determining training needs.

The Techniques of Job Analysis.
Task Inventory Analysis - is actually a collection of methods that are offshoots of the U.S. Air Force task inventory method. The technique is used to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform a job successfully.
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is used to develop behavioral descriptions of a job.The technique involves the following four steps: (1) generate dimensions, (2) generate incidents, (3) retranslate, and (4) assign effectiveness values.

The Techniques of Job Analysis (continue):
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is job analysis questionnaire that contains 194 different items. The 194 items are organized into six sections:
Information input.
Mental processes.
Work output..
Relationships with other persons.
Job context.
Other characteristics.

The Techniques of Job Analysis (continue):
Functional Job Analysis, a technique used in the public sector , can be done by either interview or questionnaire. This technique collects information on the following aspects of the job:
1. What the job incumbent does to people, data, and things.
2. The methods and techniques the job incumbent uses to perform the job.
3. The machines, tools, and equipment used by the job incumbent.
4. The materials, projects, or services produced by the job incumbent.

JOB DESCRIPTION.
Job description – a written document that identifies, describes, and defines a job in terms of its duties, responsibilities, working conditions, and specifications.
Two types of a job descriptions:
1. Specific job descriptions.
2. General job descriptions

Problems with current job descriptions
Too many jobs don’t even have a job description.
Many of the thousands of job descriptions suffer from a variety of ailments: inconsistency, jargon-laden writing, lack of appropriate information, lack of plain language and inadequate detail.
Job descriptions often include credentials and years of experience which can be considered a barrier.
Another significant problem is that many job descriptions are out of date because jobs change or evolve even if the job title has not changed (e.g., mergers, process improvements, reorganizations, job redesigns, technological changes, organizational changes, etc.)

Problems with current job descriptions (continue).
Managers perceive that writing a job description for a new job is too difficult, cumbersome and time-consuming (this is often the case when there is no consistent format to follow or when line staff get too caught up in wordsmithing to ensure the job is evaluated at the desired level).Too many managers try to reinvent the wheel when they set out to update a job description.
Many job descriptions are created by compensation staff and are useful for job evaluation purposes but not as useful for other areas in human resources

How to Write a Job Description
There are as many different formats for job descriptions as there are jobs, but there are some basic pieces of information that most job descriptions have. Include them in yours, if you feel they are appropriate.
Job descriptions can include any or all of the following elements:
The date the job description was written. The job description should always be up to date. Rewrite it to reflect changes as often as needed.
Job status. Salaried or hourly? Full-time or part-time? Temporary or permanent?
Position title. Make sure your position titles reasonably and accurately reflect the actual title of the job.

Choosing the Correct Job Title
Make the title descriptive
Consider the standards of your industry
Think of your company hierarchy
Stay away from company jargon

How to Write a Job Description (continue)
Job summary. This section should contain a brief summary of the information found in more detail elsewhere in the description.
Detailed duties and responsibilities. This is a more detailed description of the duties involved and separates the essential functions of the job from the incidental job functions.
Skills required to perform the job. This can include compensable factors such as education, experience, and abilities.

How to Write a Job Description (continue)
Importance of job duties and tasks. Ranking the duties from most important to least important is a good way to convey this information since the task that consumes the most time is not necessarily the most important task.
When and how often the tasks are performed. You might want to mention that certain tasks are only done once a month, quarter, year etc.
Job environment. Job environments can impact significantly on workers' motivation and job satisfaction.

Elements of a Job Description.
Job descriptions have four key elements:
Identification Information.
Job Summary.
Job Duties and Responsibilities.
Job Specifications and Minimum Qualifications.

Conducting the Interview
Help the employee feel welcome and at ease.
Break the ice by being warm and welcoming. Offer coffee or water, offer to take their coat, ask if they had any trouble finding your office. A few minutes of pleasant general talk will set a positive tone for the interview.
Arrange a private place for the interview, and make arrangements so that you are not interrupted and so the employee may speak candidly about their job.
Give the employee an overview of the interview procedure. Take a few minutes to recap the essential functions of the job, and to explain why this analysis is important.
Let the employee know that you may need a few minutes every now and then to jot down their comments or your thoughts -- explain that your notes will be helpful later as you prepare the description of the job.