Chapter 4

Job Analysis
and Job Design

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 Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
1. Explain what a job analysis is and how it is used in
conjunction with a firm’s HRM functions.
2. Explain how the information for a job analysis typically is
collected and incorporated into various sections of a
job’s description.
3. Provide examples illustrating the various factors that
must be taken into account when designing a job,
including what motivates employees.
4. Describe the different group techniques and types of
work schedules used to broaden a firm’s job functions
and maximize the contributions of employees.
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 Discussion Starter #1
Online services such as Skype and iMeet allow virtual workers to get better
acquainted with one another and have face-to-face conversations across any
distance.

 What are some advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams?

 Have you ever been part of a virtual team? If so, describe your experience.
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 Introduction
Job – An activity people do for which they get
paid, particularly as part of the trade or
occupation they occupy
Workflow analysis – Helps a firm determine the
best processes, types, and mix of jobs, and how
they should ideally be organized to execute the
firm’s mission

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4.1 What Is a Job Analysis and How Does
It Affect Human Resources Management?
 Job analysis – The process of obtaining information
about a job by determining its duties, tasks, or activities
 Its basic responsibilities
 The behaviors of the people who do it
 The skills of the people who do it
 The physical and mental requirements of the people who do it
 A job analysis should also outline:
 The tools needed to do the job
 The environment and times at which it needs to be done
 With whom it needs to be done
 The outcome or performance level it should produce

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 Figure 4.1: Job Analysis: The
Cornerstone of HRM Functions

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4.1a Major Parts of the Job Analysis
Job description – A statement of the tasks,
duties, and responsibilities of a job to be
performed
Job specifications – A statement of the specific
knowledge, skills, and abilities of a person who
is to perform a job needs
 Knowledge – What you know
 Skills – Things you have learned to do
 Abilities – Your innate aptitudes
 Other attributes – Your personality, values, and so on

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 4.2 Sources of
Job Analysis Information
Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
Diaries

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Figure 4.2: The Job Analysis Process

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 4.2a Controlling the Accuracy
of the Job Data Collected
 When interviewing employees or reviewing their
questionnaires, a job analyst should look for any
responses that contradict other facts or impressions he
or she has received about the job.
 Job analysts should collect information from a
representative sample of individuals doing the same job,
not just one or two jobholders.
 Once a job analysis is done, it should be checked for
accuracy by the jobholders and their managers.

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 4.2b Other Sources of
Job Analysis Information (slide 1 of 2)
Functional Job Analysis System
 Functional job analysis (FJA) – A job analysis approach that utilizes an
inventory of the various types of work activities that can constitute any job

The Position Analysis Questionnaire System

 Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) – A questionnaire that identifies
approximately 300 different tasks to determine the degree to which each is
involved in doing a job

The Critical Incident Method

 Critical incident method – A job analysis method used to identify both
desirable and undesirable behaviors that resulted in either a very good
outcome or a very bad outcome on the job

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 Figure 4.3: The Critical
Incident Method Illustrated

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 4.2b Other Sources of
Job Analysis Information (slide 2 of 2)
Task Inventory Analysis
 Task inventory analysis – An organization-specific list of tasks and
their descriptions used as a basis to identify components of jobs

Competency-Based Approach
 Competency-based approach – A job analysis method that relies on
building job profiles that look at not only the responsibilities and
activities of jobs a worker does currently but the competencies or
capabilities he or she needs to do them well and to adapt to new job
challenges

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Figure 4.4: Form Used to Gather Information
for a Competency-Based Job Analysis

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 Discussion Starter #2
Discuss the various ways in which a job analysis
can be completed. Compare and contrast these
methods, noting the pros or cons of each.

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 4.2c Parts of a Job Description
(slide 1 of 2)

 Most job descriptions contain at least three parts:

1. Job title
 Provides status to the employee
 Provides an indication of what the duties of the job entail
 Indicates the level of the job in the organization

2. Job identification section

 Contains administration information such as a numerical code for the
job, to whom the jobholder reports, and wage information
 Contains a “Purpose” statement which distinguishes the job from

other jobs in the organization

3. Job duties section
 Typically arranged in order of their importance and sometimes
indicate the percentage of time devoted to each duty

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 4.2c Parts of a Job Description
(slide 2 of 2)

If the job specification is not prepared as a

separate document, it is usually stated in the
concluding section of the job description.
 Covers two areas of qualifications:
1. The skills required to perform the job
 Include the education, experience, and specialized training the job
requires, and the personal traits or abilities and manual dexterities it
requires
2. The job’s physical demands
 Refer to how much walking, standing, reaching, lifting, bending, or
talking must be done on the job

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 4.2d Writing Clear and
Specific Job Descriptions
 Several problems are frequently associated with job descriptions.
 If they are poorly written, using vague rather than specific terms, they
provide little guidance to the jobholder.
 They are sometimes not updated as job duties or specifications change.
 They may violate the law or union agreements and lead to employee
grievances.
 They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing an
organization’s flexibility.
 When writing a job description, managers should:
 Keep the items on it direct and simply worded
 Eliminate unnecessary words or phrases
 Include language stating that the jobholder will perform “other duties” as
needed to help alleviate the problem of employees claiming that a task
“is not my job”

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 Group Activity
Step 1: Divide into groups of two. Find two articles related to job
analysis and summarize your findings based on the following
questions:  
 Describe the major parts of the job analysis process.
 What is the difference between a job description and job
specifications? Cite examples.
 Why is information collected during a job analysis important for
strategic HR planning?
 What are the sources of job analysis information? How can the
accuracy of data be controlled?
 Why is it important to have clear and specific job descriptions?
Step 2: To initiate discussion, share your findings with the rest of the
class.

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 4.3 Job Design (slide 1 of 2)
Job design – An outgrowth of job analysis that
improves jobs through technological and human
considerations in order to enhance organization
efficiency and employee job satisfaction

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Figure 4.5: Top-Down versus Bottom-
Up Job Design Approaches

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 4.3 Job Design (slide 2 of 2)
Industrial engineering – A field of study
concerned with analyzing work methods and
establishing time standards
 Determines which, if any, elements of work can be
modified, combined, rearranged, or eliminated to
reduce the time needed to complete the work cycle
 Time standards are then established by recording the
time required to complete each element in the work
cycle, using a stopwatch or work-sampling technique.

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 4.3a Ergonomics
Ergonomics – The process of studying and
designing easy-to-use equipment and systems
so the physical well-being of employees isn’t
compromised and work gets done more
efficiently

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 Video Highlight #1
A recent study found that sitting for more than three hours a
day takes years off your life expectancy. To promote better
health, many companies are now using standing desks.
Forbes is one of those companies. View this video to see
the various types of standing desks employees at Forbes
are using.

“Stand for Your Life!”

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 4.3b Enrichment (slide 1 of 5)
Job enrichment – Enhancing a job by adding
more meaningful tasks and duties to make the
work more rewarding or satisfying
 Goal:
 Toenrich a job so that it is intrinsically motivating to employees
versus extrinsically motivating
 Extrinsic motivators are external rewards such as money and
bonuses.

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 4.3b Enrichment (slide 2 of 5)
Job characteristics model – A job design
theory that purports that three psychological
states (experiencing meaningfulness of the work
performed, responsibility for work outcomes, and
knowing the results of the work performed) result
in a jobholder’s improved work performance,
internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and
turnover

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 4.3b Enrichment (slide 3 of 5)
 Five core job dimensions produce the three psychological states:
1. Skill variety – The degree to which a job includes a variety of
activities, which demand the use of a number of different skills and
talents by the jobholder
2. Task identity – The degree to which a jobholder is able to complete a
whole and identifiable piece of work—that is, do a job from beginning
to end with a visible outcome
3. Task significance – The degree to which a job has a substantial
impact on the lives or work of other people in one’s organization or
elsewhere
4. Autonomy – The degree to which the job provides a person the
freedom and discretion to schedule his or her work and determine
how to do it
5. Feedback – The degree to which a person is given direct and clear
information about the effectiveness of his or her job performance

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Figure 4.6: Job Characteristics Model

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 4.3b Enrichment (slide 4 of 5)
Other techniques to enrich jobs include job
enlargement and job rotation.
 Job enlargement – The process of adding a greater
variety of tasks to a job
 Job rotation – The process whereby employees
rotate in and out of different jobs

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 4.3b Enrichment (slide 5 of 5)
Empowerment
 Employee empowerment – Giving employees the power to initiate
change, thereby encouraging them to take charge of what they do
 Succeeds when organization’s culture is open and receptive to change
 Must have the support of an organization’s senior managers
 Workplace democracy – The utilization of democratic principles
such as voting and debate to give employees more say on how an
organization is run and the direction it will take
 Job crafting – A naturally occurring phenomenon whereby
employees mold their tasks to fit their individual strengths, passions,
and motives better
 Employee engagement – A situation in which workers are
enthusiastic and immersed in their work to the degree that it
improves the performance of their companies
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 4.4 Employee Teams and
Flexible Work Schedules
Increasingly, teams are how work gets done in
organizations.
Companies are seeing advantages of tinkering
with and redesigning work schedules to make
them more flexible, and adding flexibility to
where employees can work.

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 4.4a Employee Teams (slide 1 of 3)
 Employee team – A group of employees working
together toward a common purpose, in which members
have complementary skills, members’ work is mutually
dependent, and the group has discretion over tasks
performed
 Employees are closest to the work that’s actually being
done in an organization.
 Thus, they are often in a better position to see how the work can
be done better.
 Teamwork can result in synergy.
 Synergy occurs when the interaction and outcome of team
members is greater than the sum of their individual efforts.
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Figure 4.7: Synergistic
Team Characteristics

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Figure 4.8: Forms of Employee Teams

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 Discussion Starter #3
Figure 4.8 shows the different forms of employee
teams.
Provide an example of where each type of team
can be used.
How do teams create synergy?

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 4.4a Employee Teams (slide 2 of 3)
 Typical team functions:
 Setting work schedules
 Dealing directly with external customers
 Training team members
 Setting performance targets
 Budgeting
 Inventory management
 Purchasing equipment or services
 Dejobbing – Refers to a process of structuring
organizations not around jobs but around projects that
are constantly changing

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 4.4a Employee Teams (slide 3 of 3)
Facilitating Teams
 The following characteristics have been identified with
successful teams:
 A commitment to shared goals and objectives
 Motivated and energetic team members
 Open and honest communication
 Shared leadership
 Clear role assignments
 A climate of cooperation, collaboration, trust, and accountability
 The recognition of conflict and its positive resolution

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 4.4b Flexible Work Schedules
 The more common flexible work schedules are flextime, the
compressed workweek, job sharing, and telecommuting.
 Flextime – Flexible working hours that give employees the option of
choosing daily starting and quitting times, provided that they work a set
number of hours per day or week
 A compressed workweek is one in which the number of days in the
workweek is shortened by lengthening the number of hours worked per
day (e.g., 10 hours a day for 4 days a week).
 Job sharing – An arrangement whereby two part-time employees do a
job normally held by one full-time employee
 Telecommuting – The use of personal computers, networks, and
other communications technology to do work in the home that is
traditionally done in the workplace

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 Figure 4.9: Keys for
Successful Telecommuting

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 Video Highlight #2
A new study says a flexible work schedule can lead to more
sleep and better health. In this video, Dr. Carol Ash,
Director of Sleep Medicine at New Jersey's Meridian
Health, joins CBS This Morning to discuss the results of
this study and the correlation between work and sleep.

“Flexible Work Schedule Could Improve Health, Study Sho

ws
”

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