Chapter 4: Job Analysis What is a job analysis (JA)? “The procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for it”

JA Example One way to conduct a JA… Tasks - Importance, frequency, time spent (criticality) Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other qualifications = “KSAOs”

What is a Job Description? It is one product* of a job analysis “A list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions, and supervisory responsibilities” *JA does not ≠ a Job Description*

What Is JA? The Process of Defining the Job –Backbone of HRM practices (e.g., selection, training, performance appraisals) Defining KSAOs Required for the Job –All About the Job not About the Incumbent Identifies Competencies Required for the Incumbent Holding the Job –All About the Person-In-Job

Timing of JA Continual Process –B–Begins With Creation of New Job Periodic Updates –W–Watch for Job Shift –R–Respond to Market Shift Keep Old Jobs Off of the Books –T–Time Prohibitive Process…Don’t Add to It

“How To” Conduct JA Decide on the Use of JA Chart the Job –Organization and Process Find Key or Benchmark Jobs Collect Data –Multiple Methods Preferred Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) Write Job Descriptions/Specifications

Choosing the Data Collection Method Weigh the Costs/Benefits –Each Organization Differs Interviews, Employee Surveys, and Employee Diaries –Timely, Relatively Cheap –Social Desirability Time and Motion Studies –Thorough Yet Cost Prohibitive –Hawthorne Effects Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) –Info-Laden and Quantifiable –Copyrighted and Expensive O*Net –Replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles –Internet-Ready and Available

Why Conduct and Re- Evaluate JA? All HRM Practices Flow From JA –Recruiting Whom do We Recruit? –Interviews What Questions do We As? –Performance Evaluation What Factors are Relevant? Legally Defensible –Challenges to: Discriminatory Hiring Compensable Factors of Pay Promotion and Raise Challenges Collective Bargaining Choice: Pay Upfront or Settle Lawsuits

Challenges of JA in the Modern Workplace Does JA Limit Organizations… –J–Job Enlargement? –J–Job Enrichment? –J–Job Rotation? –A–A “Boundaryless” Organization? Is JA Feasible in Modern Organizations? Should we use competency based JA?