JOB ANALYSIS

Job Analysis - process of collecting all information about a specific job, including skill requirements,
roles, responsibilities and processes in order to create a valid job description. Job analysis also gives an
overview of the physical, emotional & related human qualities required to execute the job successfully.

Job analysis - is an important step in ensuring that the right candidate is selected. Job analysis
helps the employer in recruitment and selection, performance management, choosing
compensation and benefits, etc. It helps the employees to have a clear picture of what is actually
required of them.
*(Alternative notes) Job analysis
Meaning - Job Analysis is a careful study of each and every aspect of a particular job
Objective - To develop the present methods and techniques of doing a job.
Advantage - Recruitment & Selection, Performance Appraisal, Compensation etc.
Techniques - Questionnaire, Checklist,
Interview, Surveys etc.

Knowledge - Knowledge is the degree to

which a job holder must know specific
technical material.
Skill - Skill is defined as adequate
performance on tasks requiring tools,
equipment, and machinery.
Abilities - Abilities refers to the physical
and material capabilities needed to
perform tasks not requiring the use of
tools, equipment, and machinery. Further,
where the job is completed must be
considered.
Relevance of Job analysis in HR
decision making
1. It establishes job-relatedness,
which is crucial for HR decisions
involving recruitment, selection,
compensations, training, health,
and safety.
Manpower Planning - Job analysis is a qualitative aspect of manpower needs, as it determines
job requirements in terms of skills, qualities and other human characteristics. This facilitates the
division of labor into different occupations.
Recruitment, Selection and Placement - In order to hire a good person for the job, it is very
important to know the requirements of the job and the qualities of the person who will be doing
the job. Information on these two elements comes from the job description or job description and
helps management to tailor the job requirements as closely as possible to the attitudes, skills,
interests of employees, etc.
Training and Development - Job analysis determines standard levels for job performance.
Helps manage learning development programs.
Safety and Health - Management can take corrective actions to ensure the safety of workers and
reduce the risk of various hazards to eliminate harmful conditions.
Promotions - The job analysis is mainly based on the effective policies. Effective policies may
be formulated in regard to promotions and transfers.
Employment Guidance - Job description, which is basically carried out on the basis of Job
analysis, helps the aspirates in ascertaining the job, for which they have the necessary ability and
skills.
Job analysis should be conducted as a first step in the recruitment process. Writing an
analysis helps you to clarify your needs and expectations. It also collects the information
you will need to write a job description.
From the definitions in the preceding section, we can list the features of job analysis as follows:
2. Job analysis is gathering relevant information about various aspects of a job and
identifying tasks required to be performed as part of it.
3. It approaches systematically defining the role, context, conditions, human behavior,
performance standards, and responsibilities of a job.
4. It helps in establishing the job’s worth to an organization. In other words, it measures a
job’s value and contribution to the organization’s growth.

JOB FAMILIES
A job family includes roles with similar education, skills, training, or experience. So, what is the
difference between job function and job family? A job family is a group of job functions.
Harvard defines a job family as:
“A group of jobs having the same nature of work (e.g., Accountant or HR Generalist) but
requiring different levels of skill, responsibility, or working conditions (e.g., entry-level versus
senior level). The job family may also be referred to as a specialty area.”
EXAMPLE: Employees working in a specific job family might not have all the same duties, but
they work in the same department. For example, an Accountant and a Financial Auditor are 2
similar (but different) roles in the Finance and Accounting job family.
A job family matrix is a helpful tool to organize information about different roles in a job family.
Items to list in a job family matrix include:
 job title
 job code
 department
 salary/pay grade
 exempt/non-exempt status
 job summary
 core duties
 basic qualifications
 preferred skills or qualifications
 required certifications or licenses
 essential physical requirements
 working conditions
Harvard University’s HR Compensation – Professional job family matrix is in PDF format. But
you can use it as a guide to create your own:
JOB ANALYSIS PROCESS
Job Analysts - work within the HR department of organizations or companies and research
occupations and jobs to focus on classification systems within that field. They focus on the
industry and occupational trends as well as on worker relationships. Job Analysts provide
management with feedback regarding employee descriptions so that recruitment offices know
what to look for in applicants.

Process
Step 1: Decide how we will use the information.
Decide how we will use the information since this will determine the data and how we collect
them. Some data collection techniques – like interviewing the employee and asking what the job
entails – are good for writing job descriptions and selecting an employee for the job. Other
techniques, like the position analysis questionnaire, do not provide qualitative information for a
job description. Instead, they provide numerical ratings for each job: these can be used to
compare jobs for compensation purposes.
Step 2: Review relevant background information
Review relevant background information, such as organization charts, process charts, and job
descriptions. Organization charts show the organization-wide division of work, with titles of
each position and interconnecting lines that report to and communicate with whom. A process
chart provides a more detailed picture of the workflow. A process chart shows the flow of inputs
to and outputs from the job we analyze in its simplest form. Finally, the existing job description
usually provides a starting point for building the revised job description.
Step 3: Select representative positions
Select representative positions. There may be too many similar jobs to analyze them all. For
example, it is usually unnecessary to analyze the jobs of 200 assembly workers when a sample of
10 jobs will do.
Step 4: Analyze the job
Analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, required employee behaviors, working
conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job. For this step, use one or
more of the job analysis methods.
Step 5: Verify the job analysis information.
Verify the job analysis information with the worker performing the job and with his 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 our description of the job activities.
Step 6: Develop a job description and job specification
Develop a job description and job specification. The job description is a written statement
describing the job’s activities and responsibilities and its important features, such as working
conditions and safety hazards.

Method
Observation method -In this method, the observer observes a worker or a group of workers
doing a job. He lists all the duties performed by the worker and the qualities required to perform
those duties. It is a direct method. Direct exposure to jobs can provide a richer and deeper
understanding of job requirements than workers’ descriptions of what they do. Observations
alone may reveal little useful information if the work in question is primarily mental.
Individual interview - A manager or job analyst visits each job site and talks with employees
performing each job. A standardized interview form is used most often to record the information.
Frequently, both the employee and the employee’s supervisor must be interviewed to understand
the job completely. In some cases, a group of experts conducts the interview.
They ask questions about the job, skill levels, and difficulty levels.
They ask questions and collect information, and based on this information, job analysis is
prepared.
This method can provide information about standard and non-standard activities and physical
and mental work.
In short, the worker can provide the analyst with information that might not be available from
any other source. Its main limitation is that workers may be suspicious of interviewers and their
motives.; interviewers may ask ambiguous questions. Thus, the distortion of information is a real
possibility.
Structured questionnaire - A survey instrument is developed and given to employees and
managers to complete.
The main advantage of this method is that information on many jobs can be collected
inexpensively in a relatively short time. This method is usually cheaper and quicker to administer
than other methods.
Questionnaires can be completed off the job, thus avoiding lost productive time. Its main
limitation is that it is time consuming and expensive to develop.
The rapport between analyst and respondent is impossible unless the analyst is present to explain
and clarify misunderstandings.
Such an impersonal approach may have adverse effects on respondent cooperation and
motivation.

Extra Notes:
Recruitment is searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them
to apply for jobs in an organization. Recruitment is a step-by-step process of locating,
identifying, and attracting qualified people to apply for the vacant post in an organization.
Recruitment means announcing job opportunities to the public and stimulating them so that
several suitable people will apply for them. Recruitment is the process of discovering the
potential for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.
The HR department is usually responsible for recruitment. This department works to find and
attract capable applicants.
Job descriptions and specifications provide the needed information upon which the recruitment
process rests.
The HR manager who recruits and initially screens for the vacant job is seldom responsible for
supervising its performance.
So he needs the help of line HR. Both line and HR staff work together.

Training - is an activity leading to skilled behavior, teaching employees the basic skills they
need to perform their jobs. The heart of a continuous effort designed to improve employee
competency and organizational performance.
Training typically focuses on providing employees with specific skills or helping those correct
deficiencies in their performance.
It is a short-term learning process that involves acquiring knowledge, sharpening skills, concepts,
rules, or changing attitudes and behaviors to enhance the performance of employees.
The chief aim of formal education for the manager is to increase his ability to learn from
experience. The second aim is to increase his ability to help his subordinates to learn from
experience.
According to McGregor, there are three different purposes for training.
1. Acquiring Intellectual Knowledge.
2. Acquiring Manual Skills.
3. Acquiring Problem Solving Skills.
Acquiring Intellectual Knowledge - An electrical engineer may need more knowledge than he
now possesses about circuit design. A new employee may require knowledge about company
policies. A supervisor may require information about the new provisions in the labor agreement.
The acquisition of knowledge is a fairly straightforward process, provided the individual wants
the new knowledge. It can be made available to him in several ways.
Acquiring Manual Skills - The acquisition of a manual skill requires practice or experience
accompanied is feedback. Pure trial and error method learning can be speeded up by guidance,
but the individual cannot learn unless he performs and receives cues that tell him about the
success of his efforts. The necessary effort will be expended only if there is a felt need on the
part of the learner.