What is Job Analysis?

It is a procedure by which pertinent information is obtained about the job.

It is a detailed and systematic study of information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a
specific job.

What the worker does; how he gets it done, why he does it ,skill ,education and training required ,
relationship to other jobs, Physical demands, environmental conditions.

Two uses for job analysis within an organization;

Organization and Manpower Planning—Job analysis is helpful in organizational planning, for it
defines labor needs in clear terms. It coordinates the activities of the work force and facilitates the
division of work, duties and responsibilities. Thus, it is an essential element of manpower planning
because it matches jobs with them.

Recruitment and Selection—Job analysis indicates the specific job requirements of each job i.e. skills
and knowledge. In this way, job analysis provides a realistic basis for hiring, training, placement,
transfer and promotion of personnel. Basically, the goal of job analysis is to match the job
requirements with a worker's aptitude, abilities and interests.

Training and Development—Job analysis determines the levels of standard of job performance. Job
analysis provides the necessary information to the management of training and development
programmers. It helps to determine the content and subject matter of training courses. It also helps
in checking application information, interviewing, and weighing test results and in checking
references.

Wage and Salary Administration—Job analysis is the foundation for job evaluation. By indicating the
qualifications required for doing a specified job and the risks and hazards involved in its
performance, it helps in salary and wage administration.

Performance Appraisal—Job analysis helps in establishing clear cut standards which may be
compared with the actual contribution of each individual. Job analysis data provide a clear cut
performance for every job.

Job Re-engineering—Job analysis provides information which enables the management to change
jobs in order to permit their being manner by personnel with specific characteristics and
qualifications. This takes two forms - industrial engineering activity and human engineering activity.
Industrial engineers may use the job analysis information in designing the job by making the
comprehensive study. It helps in time study and motion study and work measurement Human
engineering activities such as physical, mental and psychological are studied with the help of job
analysis.

Health and Safety-Job analysis provides an opportunity for identifying hazardous and unhealthy
conditions so that corrective measures may be taken to minimize the possibility of accidents and
sickness.
It provides the employees' taste and choice in working.

It provides the solid format for enlisted jobs for employees.

It explores the hidden truth in a job.

It explores the potential importance of a job to the jobholder.

It does ultimate the right value of a job.

Assessment of the actual staff requirement.

Allocation of Duties and responsibilities.

Optimization of Efficiency and Productivity of work-force.

Avoiding conflict among the work force insisting on their allocated duties and enjoy inappropriate
work relaxations which is not conducive for a Team work environment.

Job categorization and Promotion policy requirements

To develop a competitive payment structure.

Agree with all explanations contained in the Expert answers and acknowledge their efforts.

In big Organizations Human Resource Planning is based on Job/Function wise analysis.

Job analysis may be understood as a process of collecting information about a job. The process of job
analysis results in two sets of data:
i) Job description and

ii) Job specification.

These data are recorded separately for references.

Let us summaries the concept of Job Analysis:

A few definitions on job analysis are quoted below

1. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and
responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job
specifications.

2. Job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. It is a basic technical
procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of a job.

3. A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to contribute to the
production of some products or service provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability
recruitments (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. Job analysis is the process used to
identity these requirements.

Job analysis involves the following steps:

1. Collecting and recording job information

2. Checking the job information for accuracy.

3. Writing job description based on the information

4. Using the information to determine the skills, abilities and knowledge that are required on the job.

5. Updating the information from time to time.

Job Analysis, A process of obtaining all pertaining job facts is classified into two i.e. Job Description
and Job specification

Job Description is an important document, which is basically descriptive in nature and contains a
statement of job Analysis. It provides both organizational information’s (like location in structure,
authority etc) and functional information (what the work is).

It gives information about the scope of job activities, major responsibilities and positioning of the job
in the organization. This information gives the worker, analyst, and supervisor with a clear idea of
what the worker must do to meet the demand of the job.

Who can better describe the characteristics of good job description?

Earnest Dale has developed the following hints for writing a good job description: –
1) The job description should indicate the scope and nature of the work including all-important
relationships.

2) The job description should be clear regarding the work of the position, duties etc.

3) More specific words should be selected to show:-

a) The kind of work

b) The degree of complexity

c) The degree of skill required

d) The extent to which problems are standardized

e) The extent of worker’s responsibility for each phase of the work

So we can conclude by saying that Job description provides the information about the type of job
and not jobholders.

USES OF JOB DESCRIPTION: –

Now we will see why job description is necessary in an organization,

There are several uses of job description, like

• Preliminary drafts can be used as a basis for productive group discussion, particularly if the
process starts at the executive level.

• It helps in the development of job specification.

• It acts as a tool during the orientation of new employees, to learn duties & responsibilities. It can
act as a basic document used in developing performance standards.

Contents of Job Description:

Following are the main content of a job description it usually consist of following details or data.,

Job Description: A statement containing items such as

• Job title / Job identification / organization position
• Location

• Job summary

• Duties

• Machines, tools and equipment

• Materials and forms used

• Supervision given or received

• Working conditions

• Hazards

Job identification or Organization Position: – This includes the job title, alternative title, department,
division and plant and code number of the job. The job title identifies and designates the job
properly. The department, division etc., indicate the name of the department where it is situated and
the location give the name of the place.
Job Summary: – This serves two important purposes. First is it gives additional identification
information when a job title is not adequate; and secondly it gives a summary about that particular
job.
Job duties and responsibilities: – This gives a total listing of duties together with some indication of
the frequency of occurrence or percentage of time devoted to each major duty. These two are
regarded as the “Hear of the Job”.
Relation to other jobs: – This gives the particular person to locate job in the organization by indicating
the job immediately below or above in the job hierarchy.
Supervision: – This will give an idea the number of person to be supervised along with their job titles
and the extent of supervision.
Machine: – These will also gives information about the tool, machines and equipment to be used.
Working Conditions: – It gives us information about the environment in which a jobholder must work.
Hazards: – It gives us the nature of risks of life and limb, their possibilities of occurrence etc.
Job Specification:
Job Specification translates the job description into terms of the human qualifications, which are
required for performance of a job. They are intended to serve as a guide in hiring and job evaluation.

Job specification is a written statement of qualifications, traits, physical and mental characteristics
that an individual must possess to perform the job duties and discharge responsibilities effectively.

In this, job specification usually developed with the co-operation of personnel department and
various supervisors in the whole organization.

Job Specification Information: –

The first step in the programmed of job specification is to prepare a list of all jobs in the company
and where they are located. The second step is to secure and write up information about each of the
jobs in a company. Usually, this information about each of the jobs in a company. Usually this
information includes:

1. Physical specifications: – Physical specifications include the physical qualifications or physical

capacities that vary from job to job. Physical qualifications or capacities
2. Include physical features like height, weight, chest, vision, hearing, ability to lift weight, ability to
carry weight, health, age, capacity to use or operate machines, tools, equipment etc.
3. Mental specifications: – Mental specifications include ability to perform, arithmetical calculations, to
interpret data, information blue prints, to read electrical circuits, ability to plan, reading abilities,
scientific abilities, judgment, ability to concentrate, ability to handle variable factors, general
intelligence, memory etc.
4. Emotional and social specifications: – Emotional and social specifications are more important for
the post of managers, supervisors, foremen etc. These include emotional stability, flexibility, social
adaptability in human relationships, personal appearance including dress, posture etc.
5. Behavioral Specifications: – Behavioral specifications play an important role in selecting the
candidates for higher-level jobs in the organizational hierarchy. This specification seeks to describe
the acts of managers rather than the traits that cause the acts. These specifications include
judgments, research, creativity, teaching ability, maturity trial of conciliation, self-reliance, dominance
etc.
Job analysis methods
Observation Method: A job analyst observes an employee and records all his performed and non-
performed task, fulfilled and un-fulfilled responsibilities and duties, methods, ways and skills used by
him or her to perform various duties and his or her mental or emotional ability to handle challenges
and risks. However, it seems one of the easiest methods to analyze a specific job but truth is that it
is the most difficult one.
It is due to the fact that every person has his own way of observing things. Different people think
different and interpret the findings in different ways. Therefore, the process may involve personal
biasness or likes and dislikes and may not produce genuine results. This error can be avoided by
proper training of job analyst or whoever will be conducting the job analysis process.

This particular method includes three techniques: direct observation, Work Methods Analysis and
Critical Incident Technique. The first method includes direct observation and recording of behavior of
an employee in different situations. The second involves the study of time and motion and is
specially used for assembly-line or factory workers. The third one is about identifying the work
behaviors that result in performance.

Questionnaire Method: Another commonly used job analysis method is getting the questionnaires
filled from employees, their superiors and managers. However, this method also suffers from
personal biasness. A great care should be takes while framing questions for different grades of
employees.
In order to get the true job-related info, management should effectively communicate it to the staff
that data collected will be used for their own good. It is very important to ensure them that it won’t be
used against them in anyway. If it is not done properly, it will be a sheer wastage of time, money and
human resources.

Interview Method: In this method, an employee is interviewed so that he or she comes up with their
own working styles, problems faced by them, use of particular skills and techniques while performing
their job and insecurities and fears about their careers.
This method helps interviewer know what exactly an employee thinks about his or her own job and
responsibilities involved in it. It involves analysis of job by employee himself. In order to generate
honest and true feedback or collect genuine data, questions asked during the interview should be
carefully decided. And to avoid errors, it is always good to interview more than one individual to get a
pool of responses. Then it can be generalized and used for the whole group.

Benefits
Workforce planning - An effective job analysis can work in tandem with an organization’s future-
casting. By identifying the duties and KSAPCs for various job titles, HR professionals can match the
needs of their organization with the talent of their current and future workforce.
Succession planning - A strategy of workforce planning, HR professionals can use job analysis results
to help fill key roles within their organization, now and in the future.
Training - By basing training procedures on the findings of a job analysis, organizations are better
equipped to identify the gaps or distances between the current workforce or a newly-hired workforce
and the KSAPCs needed the first day of the job. HR professionals can consequently create job-
specific or group/employee-specific training procedures.
Employee development - Using the results of a job analysis, organizations may identify any gaps on
an individual level and assist employees with their career management.
Compensation - With an effective job analysis, organizations can ensure that job titles requiring
similar duties and KSAPCs are being compensated similarly.
ADA compliance - Biddle Consulting Group’s patented GOJA job analysis (Guidelines-Oriented Job
Analysis) process asks specific questions that are outlined by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) to determine whether or not a duty is considered an essential function. Our GOJA process
gathers information to assist the organization in deciding whether or not each duty is an essential
function. If an employee can perform an essential function with or without reasonable
accommodation, the employer must provide such an accommodation (unless it would incur an
undue hardship, ADA, 1990).
Performance appraisals - The results of a job analysis can allow an organization to develop an
employee according to the specific needs of their job title. Additionally, organizations may also use
the results of a job analysis to groom employees for promotion by training in areas that will
contribute to a future position.
Provides First Hand Job-Related Information- The job analysis process provides with valuable job-
related data that helps managers and job analyst the duties and responsibilities of a particular job,
risks and hazards involved in it, skills and abilities required to perform the job and other related info.
Helps in Creating Right Job-Employee Fit- This is one of the most crucial management activities.
Filling the right person in a right job vacancy is a test of skills, understanding and competencies of
HR managers. Job Analysis helps them understand what type of employee will be suitable to deliver
a specific job successfully.
Helps in Establishing Effective Hiring Practices- Who is to be filled where and when? Who to target
and how for a specific job opening? Job analysis process gives answers to all these questions and
helps managers in creating, establishing and maintaining effective hiring practices.
Guides through Performance Evaluation and Appraisal Processes- Job Analysis helps managers
evaluating the performance of employees by comparing the standard or desired output with
delivered or actual output. On these bases, they appraise their performances. The process helps in
deciding whom to promote and when. It also guides managers in understanding the skill gaps so that
right person can be fit at that particular place in order to get desired output.