Learning Objectives

2. Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Define job analysis and job design. Distinguish among a position, a job, and an occupation. Describe several common uses of a job analysis. Define job description and job specification. Identify four frequently used methods of job analysis. Discuss why O*NET was developed and summarize what it is.

3. Learning Objectives (cont.) Define essential functions and reasonable accommodation as interpreted under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Identify several problems frequently associated with job analysis. Define job scope and job depth and explain their relationship to job design. Explain the sociotechnical approach to job design. Distinguish among the following types of alternative work schedules: flextime, telecommuting, job sharing, and condensed workweek. Define the term contingent worker

4. Job Analysis and Job Design • Job analysis • Process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job.

5. Job Analysis and Job Design • Job design • Process of structuring work and designating the specific work activities of an individual or group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives.

6. Basic Terminology • Micromotions • Simplest unit of work; involves very elementary movement, such as reaching, grasping, positioning, or releasing an object • Elements • An aggregation of two or more micromotions; usually thought of as a complete entity, such as picking up or transporting an object

7. Basic Terminology • Tasks • one of the distinct activities that constitute logical and necessary steps in the performance of work by an employee • A task is performed whenever human effort, physical or mental, is exerted for a specific purpose

8. Basic Terminology • Duties • One or more tasks performed in carrying out a job responsibility • Responsibilities • Obligations to perform certain tasks and assume certain duties • Positions • Collection of tasks and responsibilities constituting the total work assignment of a single employee

9. Basic Terminology • Jobs • Group of positions that are identical with respect to their major or significant tasks and responsibilities and sufficiently alike to justify their being covered by a single analysis • Occupations • A grouping of similar jobs or job classes

10. Relationship among Different Job Components Figure 4.1

11. Job Analysis Activities

12. Job Analysis • Recruitment • Process of seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen. • Selection • Process of choosing from those available the individuals who are most likely to perform successfully in a job.

13. Job Analysis • Orientation • Introduction of new employees to the organization, work unit, and job. • Training • Learning process that involves the acquisition of skills, concepts, rules, or attitudes to increase employee performance.

14. Information Provided by aJob Analysis Table 4.1

15. Products of Job Analysis • Job description • Written synopsis of the nature and requirements of a job • explains, in written form, what the job is called, what it requires to be done, where it is to be done, and how it is to be done

16. Products of Job Analysis • Job specification • Description of the competency, educational, and experience qualifications the incumbent must possess to perform the job.

17. Contents of a Job Description Table 4.2

18. Job Analysis Methods

19. Job Analysis Methods • Observation • person making the analysis observes the individual or individuals performing the job and takes pertinent notes describing the work. • includes such things as what was done, how it was done, how long it took, what the job environment was like, and what equipment was used.

20. Job Analysis Methods • Motion study • involves determining the motions and movements necessary for performing a task or job and then designing the most efficient methods for putting those motions and movements together. • Time study • determines the elements of work required to perform the job, the order in which those elements occur, and the times required to perform them effectively.

21. Job Analysis Methods • Work sampling • method based on taking statistical samples of job actions throughout the workday and then drawing inferences about the requirements and demands of the job.

22. Drawbacks of the Observation Method Observer must be carefully trained to know what to look for and what to record Its application is somewhat limited to jobs involving short and repetitive cycles Direct observation, can be used to get a feel for a particular job and then combined with other methods to thoroughly analyze

23. Job Analysis Methods – Interviews • Requires that person conducting job analysis meet with and interview jobholder • Unstructured interviews – Have no definite checklist or preplanned format; format develops as interview unfolds • Structured interview – Follows a predesigned format • Major drawback • Can be extremely time-consuming; compounded when several people are interviewed about the same job

24. Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires Typically three to five pages long and contain both objective and open-ended questions Information can be obtained from large number of employees in a relatively short time period

25. Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires • Major Disadvantages of Questionnaire Method • Misinterpretation of information by respondent or analyst • Time-consuming and expensive to develop

26. Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires • Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) • Highly specialized instrument for analyzing any job in terms of employee activities • Primary advantage • Can be used to analyze almost any type of job • It is relatively easy to use • Major disadvantage • The sheer length of questionnaire

27. Employee Activity Categories Used in the PAQ Table 4.3

28. Job Analysis Methods – Questionnaires • Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ) • Highly structured questionnaire designed specifically for analyzing managerial jobs • Requires analyst to check whether each item is appropriate to job being analyzed

29. Management Position Description Questionnaire Categories Table 4.4

30. Job Analysis Methods – Functional Job Analysis • Functional job analysis • Uses standardized statements and terminology to describe content of jobs • Collects detailed task statements and rates them according to function level or function orientation

31. Occupational Information Network (O*NET) • Occupational Information Network (O*NET) • The United States’ primary source of occupational information • Comprehensive online database of employee attributes and job characteristics. • www.onet.center.org

32. The Content Model Forming the Foundation of O*NET Figure 4.2

33. The ADA and Job Analysis • Requires identification of essential functions of each job and a reasonable accommodation to disabilities of qualified individual • Essential job function • One that is fundamental to successful performance of the job • Marginal job function • may be performed at certain times but are incidental to main purpose of the job

34. The ADA and Job Analysis • Reasonable accommodation • employer may be required to alter conditions of a particular job so as to enable the candidate to perform all essential functions • An employer cannot be required to make an accommodation that causes undue hardship for the employer

35. The ADA and Job Analysis • Undue hardship refers to any accommodation that • Would be unduly costly, substantial or disruptive • Would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of business

36. Questions to Be Addressed to Determine Essential Functions Table 4.5

37. Potential Problems with Job Analysis • Top management support is missing • Only a single means and source are used for gathering data • Supervisor and jobholder do not participate in design of job analysis procedure 4-37

38. Potential Problems with Job Analysis (cont.) No training or motivation exists for jobholders Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the analysis Activities may be distorted Participants fail to critique the job

39. Job Design – Three Phases What different tasks must be performed? How will each task be performed? How will the different tasks be grouped to form jobs?

40. Job Design • Goal of job design • Develop work assignments that meet requirements of the organization and technology, and that satisfy personal and individual requirements of jobholder • Key is to balance requirements of organization and jobholder

41. Job Design Prevailing practice in designing jobs was to focus almost entirely on simplifying tasks to be undertaken Usually resulted in making jobs as specialized as possible Job specialization can result in boredom and even degradation of jobholder

42. Advantages of JobSpecialization Table 4.6

43. Job Scope and Job Depth • Job scope • Number and variety of tasks performed by the jobholder • Job depth • Freedom of jobholders to plan and organize their own work, work at their own pace, and move around and communicate.

44. Sociotechnical Approach to Job Design A job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in terms other than sheer endurance, yet provide some variety Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to continue learning. Employees need some minimum area of decision making that they can call their own.

45. Sociotechnical Approach to Job Design Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition in the workplace. Employees need to be able to relate what they do and what they produce to their social lives. Employees need to believe that the job leads to some sort of desirable future.

46. The Physical Work Environment • The physical work environment should allow for normal lighting, temperature, ventilation, and humidity • Baffles acoustical wall materials, sound absorbers, soothing colors, limiting exposure to less-than-ideal physical conditions to short periods are measures employers can take

47. Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) • Flexible Work Arrangements • refers to alternative work schedules and arrangements. • allow an employee to alter the time and/or place when/where work is conducted on a regular basis, consistent and predictable with the employer’s operations

48. Flexible Work Arrangements

49. Flextime • Flextime • Allows employees to choose, within certain limits, when they start and end their workday • Allows employees to accommodate different lifestyles and schedules, avoid rush hours • Can create communication and coordination problems

50. Telecommuting • Telecommuting • The practice of working at home or while traveling and being able to interact with the office • Less travel time and travel expenses, avoiding rush hour • Lack of professional and social environment of workplace