3.

UNIT THREE: EMPLOYMENT AND JOB ANALYSIS

3.1. Introduction

Employment or employee resourcing is a major function of human resource management. In order to

produce goods or render services an organization must have the right human resources in the right
positions at the right time — hence the need to employ. The employment function starts with human
resources planning but also embraces such duties as recruitment, selection, promotions, transfers,
layoffs and separations.

3.2. 3.1. Employment policies

Like other areas of HRM the employment function has policies. These policies may be general,
negotiated or public depending on whether they are determined solely by management; negotiated
between management and the union; or determined according to the requirements of legislation.

Employment policies cover the following areas:

Human Resource Planning — a commitment by the organization to planning ahead in order to maximize
the opportunities for employees to develop their careers;

Quality of employees — believes in recruiting people who have the ability and potential to meet the
high standards of performance-

Promotion— to promote from within where possible as a means of satisfying its requirements for high-
quality staff

Equal opportunity – to indicate that the organization is an equal opportunity employer;

Discipline – employees have the right to know what is expected of them and what could happen to
them should they infringe the rules;

Grievances – the policy should state that employees have a right to raise their grievances with their
manager.

Other statements on this could be on smoking, AIDS, sexual harassment, age, redundancy, etc.

Job analysis

The analysis of jobs is the major foundation for the performance of functions of human resource
management

1|Page
What is a job?

Jobs are the basic components of the organisation's structure and are the means by which it achieves its
objectives. It follows therefore that for any organisation to be successful, it must give a great deal of
care and attention to the way in which jobs are designed. A good person-job fit, which is generally
recognized as essential for motivated and high performing staff, can only be achieved if there is
sufficient clarity about the job in question. A person - job fit meaning appropriate qualification and
experienced job characteristics.

3.3. 3.2. Working definitions

Job Analysis

This is a process used to determine and describe the content of jobs in such a way that a clear
understanding of what the job is about is communicated to anyone who might require the information
for management purposes.

Robbins states that JA is a systematic way to gather and analyze information about the content, context
and human requirements of jobs.

Job Description

This is a written statement of the content of any particular job derived from the analysis of that job.

Personnel Specification

Whereas the job description describes the content of a particular job, the personnel required or person
specification describes the attributes required of any employer to carry out the job described to a
satisfactory standards.

Competence

Competence is an underlying characteristic of an individual that is related to effective or superior

performance in a job.

There are a number of important features of job analysis which need to be recognized at the outset.

1. Job analysis attempts to access jobs, not people.

2. The standards of job analysis are relative, not absolute.

3. The basic information on which job evaluations are made is obtained from job analysis.

4. Job analysis is carried out by groups, not individuals.

5. Job analysis committees utilize concepts such as logic, fairness and consistency in their assessment
of jobs. 6. There is always some element of subjective judgment in job analysis.

2|Page
7. Job analysis does not determine pay scales, but merely provides the evidence on which they may be
devised.

Information obtained in a job analysis

On the Job

• Objective/Overall purpose

• Duties and work activities

• Responsibilities/Accountabilities

• Performance Standards

• Level of authority

• Machines and tools used

 On the Job's Place in the Organisation (Organizational factors)

• Job Title

• Section/Department

• Reporting Relationships — supervisor and supervised

• Contacts — external and internal

On the Environment

a. Physical:

b. Location

c. Hazards involved

d. Physical effort applied e. Social Environment f. Isolated job e.g. laboratory work g. Shift job

On the Job Requirements

• Knowledge,

• Skills

• Qualifications requirements

• Education

• Professional qualifications

• Minimum experience

3|Page
Other skills

• Communications skills

• Written presentation

• Computer sills

• Interpersonal skills

Other attributes

1) Honesty

2) Integrity

3) Dependability

4) Motivation

3.4. 3.3. Uses of JA information

There are a number of reasons for analysing jobs. The main uses to the organisation are as follows:

Selection / Recruitment

Before any part can be filled, it is important for the organisation to have a clear idea of the requirement
for the job. Without this information, it would be difficult to know what qualification, experience and
personal attributes to look for or what to pay. By providing a job description and a personnel
specification, the organisation will be better able to decide how and who should take up the job.

Job Evaluation

Job evaluation is the assessment of a particular job to find its value in relation to other jobs in the
organization. Job evaluation creates a ranking or hierarch of jobs in the organization which among other
things, is used for establishing the salary structure. The latter is then used for compensating jobs
according to their value to the organization.

Performance management

This is the process of managing the performance of job holders to ensure achievement of goals. It
involves performance appraisal which is the measurement of job holder's performance levels.
Information on duties and work activities, accountabilities and performance standards is used for this
purpose.

4|Page
Human resource planning

A JA is necessary for human resource planning as it enables an organization to set short term targets or
objectives and it can aid the review of the organizations structure by clarifying the basic needs of the
job.

Training and Development

In order to train, there is need to find the training gap, i.e. the shortfall between the person
requirements of the job and what the job holder has. Information such as knowledge, skills and
qualifications on the job is used to find the training gap

Organization structuring and Job design

The oganization structure is made up of jobs. In turn, jobs have to be designed. To assist in job design
information on work activities, duties, and responsibilities is required. Other types of information
needed include that on the environment of the job.

Induction

Induction is the training process of introducing an employee to the organization and the, job. All the
information collected in the JA is used to induct employees.

Labour Relations

While there is no legal requirement to give an employee a job description, it is sound management to do
so to reduce ambiguity on either side about what the post holder is required to do. Vagueness in this
area could cause problems in any subsequent issue relating to grievances, discipline, redundancy or
termination of employment. In short the content of job description forms part of the terms and
conditions of employment and is part of the contractual relationships between employee and employer.

3.5. 3.4. Stages in conducting a job analysis

As already stated, JA is systematic in nature. It involves the following stages:

1. Planning the Job Analysis

This consists of identifying the objectives of the JA and obtaining top management support.

5|Page
2. Preparing for the JA

This involves identifying the jobs concerned and the methodology, reviewing existing job
documentation and communicating the process to managers and employees.

3. Conducting the JA

This consists of gathering, reviewing and compiling the data.

4. Developing Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

These are the two documents made from the Job Analysis information. A Job Description is a written
statement of what a job holder does, how it is done and why it is done. A Job Specification is statement
of the minimum acceptable qualifications that an employee must possess to perform a given job
successfully. Drafts of the two are made and reviewed with managers and employees.
Recommendations are received from them and incorporated into the final documents.

5. Maintaining and updating the Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

This is done by periodically reviewing the two documents and updating them as changes occur in jobs
and in the structure.

3.6. 3.5. Principles of job analysis

There are a variety of approaches to job analysis. Selecting the right process can be problematic for an
organization. Depending on the purposes for the analysis one I approach may be better than the others.
The following principles identify significant issues to consider when selecting a JA system.

− Job analysis should improve communication

Both managers and employees should have a better understanding of the work performed in a
particular job when the analysis is complete than they did before the analysis

− Job analysis should accommodate change

The system for analysis should be designed to accommodate change. Jobs are dynamic and constantly
undergoing change. The system should allow for easy revision of the data collected.

6|Page
− All jobs can be analysed

Frequently employees express the feeling that their jobs cannot be described. To some degree that is
correct. The critical aspects of all jobs, however, can and should be described in terms of observable
behaviours or work products.

− Employees should understand the process

The job analysis process and the resulting data should be understood by employees at all levels of the
organization. Since the data may be the basis or many personnel decisions employees need to be
confident that it is accurate and timely.

− Knowledge, Skills and Ability should be defined in operational terms

These are terms linked with job analysis. They should be defined to meet the needs of the organization.
Definitions for one organization will most likely differ from those of another organization.

− The job analysis data should be the basis for major personnel decisions

A Job analysis system is most beneficial to an organization when the resulting data can support a wide
variety of personnel decisions.

− Job analysis should identify observable behaviours

The identification of observable data which will be extremely important in managing work.

− Job analysis is a function of organizing information

There is an abundance of information available for every job from the lowest to the highest job. Job
analysis should identify the information which pertains to a job and organize it so it will be useful in
addressing multiple issues such as training, performance evaluation, compensation and conflict
resolution.

7|Page