In the current era people are considered the most important asset to an organization. In today’s highly competitive economy, placing the right people in the right position at the right time is very critical for the success of any organization. Job Analysis is the foundation for every employment decision made in an organization.
Human resource professionals and consultants use job descriptions and job analyses as basic building blocks for many human resource functions, including recruitment and hiring, performance evaluations, and salary ranges (Levine, Sistrunk, McNutt, & Gael, 1988).
Job descriptions and job analyses are essential to businesses. They help to ensure that the correct people are hired for the job (Brannick, Levine, & Morgeson, 2007). Therefore, it is important to see to it that job descriptions and job analyses are done properly and are thorough because the accuracy of these tools will in turn affect the quality of many HR functions (Fleishman & Mumford, 1991).
Because job descriptions and job analyses are so important to HR functions, evaluating the quality of these two tools and how well they fit together is important.
Job descriptions are meant to be developed from job analysis data (Brannick et al., 2007). It is also vital an HR manager focuses on aligning HR activities with the organization’s strategic goals as an organizational structure is developed through the HR planning process by the identification of positions to be staffed to support implementation of the organization’s strategy. This study illustrates the importance of conducting an accurate job analysis, the importance of it and a job description, the relationship between the two, and how it affects all other HR functions in an organization.
According to (Dessler, G. 2009) Job Analysis is the process of identifying the tasks, responsibilities and context of a role and the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform them. It is a systematic exploration study. It is the procedure through which the duties of these positions and the characteristics of the people who should be hired for them are determined. The information gathered through the job analysis process is used to support the full range of HR activities. It involves determining the relative importance of the duties, responsibilities, physical, emotional skills etc. for a given job which then determine what the job demands and the specifications an employee must have to perform a job productively. This is then used for developing job descriptions and job specifications.
According to (Dessler, G. 2009) an organization structure is developed through the HR planning process by the identification of positions to be staffed to support implementation of the organization’s strategy. From this plan, the knowledge, skills and attitudes that employees will require to enable the organization to achieve its objectives can be identified. Job analyses are essential to HR because they are the means for the development of all HR functions (Bowen, 2003; Brannick et al., 2007).
A job analysis can serve as the basis for many HR functions. These HR functions include job descriptions, job classifications, job evaluation, performance appraisal and training, and job specifications (Ash, 1988; Ash & Levine, 1980; Brannick et al., 2007; Levine et al., 1988). The details collected though a job analysis play an important role in controlling the output of a job. The main purpose of this whole process is to create and establish a perfect fit between the employee and the job. Job analysis also helps in the decision making of compensation, perks and incentives for a particular job position. It also helps in evaluating the performance and training needs of existing employees. This process is the basis of achieving organizational goals and objectives.
According to (Dessler, G. 2009) the job analysis process involves 6 steps: Step 1 – Decide how you’ll use the information, since this will determine the data you collect and how you collect them. Some data collection techniques – such as interviewing the employee and asking what the job entails, are good for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the job.
Step 2 – Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process charts and job descriptions. Organization charts show the organization – wide division of work, how the job in question relates to other jobs, and where the job fits in the overall organization. The chart should show the title of each position and, by means of interconnecting lines, who reports to whom and with whom the job incumbent communicates. A process chart provides a more detailed picture of the work flow. In its simplest form a process chart can show the flow of inputs to and outputs from the job you are analyzing. Step 3 – Select representative positions.
There may be too many similar jobs to analyze them all. In such a case use a representative sample. Step 4 – Actually analyze the job, by collecting data on job activities, required employee behaviors, working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job. Step 5 – Verify the job analysis information with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate supervisor. This will help confirm that the information is factually correct and complete. This review can also help gain the employee’s acceptance of the job analysis data and conclusions, by giving that person a chance to review and modify your description of job activities. Step 6 – Develop job description and job specification. These are two tangible products of the job analysis.
(Dessler, G. 2009) states that these are the uses of job analysis information. * Recruitment and selection – Job analysis provides information about what the job entails and what characteristics are required to carry out these activities. Such job specification and job description information is used to decide on the sort of people to recruit, hire, to guide interview questions and choose suitable tests to select the best person for the job.
According to (Dessler, G. 2009) a job description describes the job in terms of the tasks to be performed, equipment used, conditions under which the work is to be carried out and the standard to which tasks are to be performed. It is a written statement of what the job-holder actually does, how he or she does it, and under what conditions the job is performed. This information is in turn used to write a job specification that’s lists the knowledge, abilities and skills needed to perform the job satisfactorily.
There is no standard format for a job description, but according to (Dessler, G. 2009) most descriptions contain sections on:
The uses of a job description are essentially similar to those of a job analysis. However these are a few fundamental areas in which a job description is used for:
A job description is a general overview of what the job analysis found. According to Brannick et al. (2007), a functional job analysis can be used to generate the task and duties statements. Any work-oriented job analysis allows the analyst to discern the most important duties and tasks out of the job analysis to put into a job description. The job analysis allows raters to rank things like the goals of the job as well as the duties and tasks. When developing the job description, only the most important and most frequent of these duties, tasks, and goals are selected, allowing it to be an abbreviated version of what is found in the job analysis.
According to the (Management Study Guide, 2008) , the most common methods of Job Analysis
According to the details gathered through the interview conducted and information gathered through the developed questionnaire, this is the prepared job description for the position of Head of Group Capabilities at Brandix.
The Head of Group Capabilities is accountable for directing and evaluating the implementation of all the activities that come under the Learning and Development function, liaising with business partners for learning solutions, understanding business problems in order to provide appropriate training solutions and leading, coaching and mentoring his/ her team to perform the company’s annual goals.
Job Specification
As a student following the Bachelor of Business at Australian College of Business and Technology (ACBT) it is part of our course structure that we take Human Resource Management as a subject. In this unit it is an absolute requirement for us to conduct a job analysis interview and prepare a job description as an assignment. As a possible HR professional to be in the future, I took this as a challenge to develop a comprehensive HR related assignment to help me in the future. The first was to conduct a job interview analysis. There are many methods to conduct one, through observation, interviews, questionnaires etc. However due to time limitations, my main focus was on the interview and questionnaire method. The first task I had to do was prepare a list of questions that I was going to ask the HR manager I was going to interview. The task proved to be quite challenging as I had never prepared a questionnaire of this nature before. Choosing the right questions to gather the relevant data was the most difficult. However with the help and guidance from my lecturer I was able to design a decent questionnaire.
It consisted of a few multiple choice questions but mostly open ended questions. It was time consuming and at times frustrating but was a great learning opportunity nonetheless. I then made an appointment with the Head of Group Capabilities at Brandix Lanka, through a contact I have, for a job analysis interview. I was nervous at first, having never interviewed someone before but she was very pleasant and put me at ease immediately. She was also very obliging and answered all my questions to detail and further gave me insight to the general HR practices and procedures at Brandix Lanka. Initially when I had to start on this assignment I wasn’t fully aware of the importance of a Job Analysis. I was confused. However after a detailed discussion with the Head of Group Capabilities and being given full insight into how big a role Job Analysis plays into the role of all other activities in her organization, I am now enlightened. This also gave me the opportunity to understand the job analysis process. After gathering the data from the job analysis interview my next task was to prepare a job description.
This wasn’t as difficult to prepare as I thought it would be, as I had gathered the relevant data necessary for it through the interview. Having being briefed about the tasks, duties, and matters concerning their Corporate HR department, this provided me with a better understanding to structure the job description well. I took the answers I was given as well and was able to compile a fitting job description. It took a few hours but in the end the result was satisfactory. A Job description and job analysis are used every day in organizations, and while research provides guidelines for what should be included in each of these and how each should be constructed (Brannick et al., 2007; Cascio, 1998), this is not necessarily what is done in practice. This study found that a typical job description for Brandix contains the components recommended by Dessler, G. (2009). Those components include: Title, location, summary, duties and tasks, etc. Through the interview conducted I could come to the conclusion that there weren’t significant differences between the job description and the job analysis.
I found that the HR professional in charge of conducting the job analysis was thorough in including everything about the job in the job description. There were no gaps to be seen. This indicates that the HR department allows no gaps for mistakes and runs their practices effectively and efficiently. The findings of this research are important because job analyses and job descriptions play such an important role in HR functions. They serve as the foundation for activities such as performance evaluation, recruitment and hiring, and salary determinations (Levine et al., 1988). It is important to get a better understanding of what influences the job analysis process and look at where differences are in the job descriptions and job analyses On completion of this assignment I realized it has helped me achieve a professional knowledge on the major role Job Analysis plays in all HR functions in an organization including, HR planning, Job description, job specification, employee recruitment, employee selection, performance appraisal, HR development, training and development, rewards and remuneration etc.
Furthermore I think it has improved my ability to communicate more effectively than before which is part of the learning outcome of this study, and be a professional in doing so, and it has improved my ability to generate ideas. I think this experience, interviewing a person in an authoritative position, has made me more confident in my communication skills and my understanding about the general HR practices in an organization. In concluding my reflection I would say that this study has shown me that job analysis in an organization is the primary task that sets a baseline enabling HR professionals to manage other job related activities effectively.
The study also demonstrates the need for careful consideration on part of aligning the job description with the job analysis. The information collected by conducting job analysis plays an important role in controlling the output of the particular job which ultimately leads to the overall success of an organization. Employees are key to the success of an organization. Thus hiring the right person with the right skills, knowledge and attitude is vital. This can only be done through developing a suitable job description through conducting a thorough, accurate and effective job analysis.
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