PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY

JOB ANALYSIS

By; Ibrahim Abdulkerim

 Personnel psychology
•Personnel psychology is concerned with the creation,
care, and maintenance of a workforce, which includes the
recruitment, placement, training, and development of
workers; the measurement and evaluation of their
performance; and the concern with worker productivity
and well-being.
 Personnel psychology
• Job analysis is the foundation of nearly all personnel (HR)
activities.
• We need to know exactly what the job is;
• To hire the right person for a job,
• To evaluate and/or appraise employee performance,
• To train someone to perform a job,
• To write a job description, or
• To change or redesign a job,
• For example, when we discuss the recruitment, screening,
testing, and selection of applicants for a job we determine what
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs)
are required to perform the job before we hire someone.
• When we discuss evaluating job performance, we need to know
what the job consists of before we can tell if someone is doing
it well or poorly.
 Job Analysis
• Job analysis is the process of gathering, analyzing, and
organizing detailed information about various job’s
components, characteristics, and requirements within the
organization so that managers can better understand the
process through which they are performed most effectively.
(Sanchez & Levine, 2000).
• Job analysis: a formal and detailed description and analysis of
a job that results in a complete list of what needs to be done,
the conditions under which the work must be performed, and
the knowledge, skills, and abilities that an employee needs to
perform the work successfully.
• Job analysis includes;
• job description
• job specification
• job evaluation. and
• performance criteria
Job Description Job Specification and
Job evaluation
• Job description is a detailed description of tasks and
responsibilities of a job, Job title, duties, machines, tools
and equipment, procedures, working conditions, hazards
and the end product or service.
• Job Specification a statement of the human
characteristics and capabilities required to perform a job
such as physical and personal traits, skills, work
experience, training, and education.
• Usually, job specifications give the minimum acceptable
qualifications that an employee needs to perform a given job.
• Job evaluation is the assessment of the relative value or
worth of a job to an organization to determine appropriate
compensation, or wages.
 Job Description Job Specification
Job Analysis

Job Description Job Specification

A statement containing items such as; A statement of human qualification
• Job Title necessary to do the job. Contain items
• Location such as;
• Job Summary • Education
• Duties • Experience
• Machines, Tools and Equipment • Training
• Materials • Judgment
• Supervision given or received • Initiative
• Working Condition • Physical effort
• Hazards • Physical skills
• Responsibilities
• Communication skills
• Unusual sensory demands such as
sight, smell, hearing
 Uses of Job Analysis Products

Job Analysis

job description
job specification
job evaluation.
performance criteria

Job Personnel Personnel Compens Employee Equal

Design Planning Recruitment ation Training and Employment
and Selection Development Opportunity

Performance
Appraisal
 Methods of Job Analysis
There are many different methods which may be used
to obtain data for a job analysis. Some of them are:
1. Checklist method
2. Observation method
3. Individual interview method
4. Group interview method
5. Work participation method
6. Diary method
7. Technical conference method
8. Questionnaire method
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Checklist method
Under this technique of collecting data for job analysis,
workers’ check the task that he performs from a long list
of possible task statements.

It requires lots of preliminary work to prepare the check

list for collecting appropriate task statements.

Check list method are easily administered to large group

and easy to tabulate.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Observation method
Observation method actually conducted at the place of job
or work.
The observers examine the task which was performed by
worker through simple observation without interrupting
work, and made their conclusion.
The analyst remains unnoticeable so that the worker's
performance is not influence by his/her presence.
The observation can be done through electronic monitoring.
The advantage of this method is the production process
never stopped.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Individual Interview method
In this method worker, the supervisor and the trainer are
selected and interviewed usually outside or the actual job
situation.

The interview is structured and should be done with the

help of experienced and qualified interviewers. It has not
been done by the single interview, but a series of individual
interview provide accurate data for job analysis.

This technique is costly and time consuming but if done

with care it provides complete picture of the job.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Group Interview method
Group interview method is an extension of individual
interview method. The advantage over the individual
interview method is the savings in time obtained by the
group method.

Under this technique interviewer interviews the group of

respondents simultaneously. With the instruction of
interviewer respondents recall and discuss their work
activity.

The interviewer collects and combines all the comments

into a single job description.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Work Participation method
In this technique the job analyst performs the job himself.

He/she learn by doing work himself and obtain firsthand

information about all the characteristics for job investigation.

This technique is good for simple job but as the job becomes
complex it will not suggested.

Because before doing that particular complex task prior

training is required for analysts which leads into costly and
time consuming method of data collection.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Diary method

Workers’ are instructed to record their daily job activities

using some type of logbook or diary.

This method is useful in gathering data systematically

which give valuable information for job analysis.

But it is also time consuming, and data are not satisfactory

when recording form are not kept simple for workers’.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Technical Conference method
Under this method job analyst get information from expert
rather than actual job performer.

These experts are basically the supervisors who have

extensive knowledge of job. The analyst discusses all the
characteristics of job with experts.

The main drawback of this method is the experts are not

actually perform the task themselves.

They give information to analyst on the basis of their own

previous experience.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Questionnaire method
Job performer gives the detailed information about the job
via survey method.

Under this technique a well prepared questionnaire related

to job activity is imposed to workers’ and the job analyst
examines the responses.

The method is useful for people who write easily but not
so good for collecting data from low-level workers’ who
have little facility for self-expression.

It is also time consuming and lengthy process to analyze

the data obtained.
 Methods of Job Analysis;
Questionnaire method
Two types of questionnaires are used in job analysis.

1. Unstructured Questionnaire: This is an open-ended

questionnaire where the subject matter experts describe
the component of job in their own words.

2. Structured Questionnaire: In structured questionnaire

people are provided with description of tasks,
procedures and working conditions. They are asked to
rate the item or select the items that are related to the
jobs.
The limitation of this method is that people can be careless in
providing rating.