Chapter 4: HR

Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ)

a questionnaire used to collect quantifiable data concering the duties and responsibilities of verious jobs

Competencies

demonstrable characteristics of a person that enable performance on the job

Observations

Watching employees perform their work and recording the frequency of behaviours or the nature of performance.

Occupation

a collection of jobs that share some or all of a set of main duties

Process chart

a diagram showing the flow of input to and output from the job under study

Interview guidelines

1. The job analyst and supervisor should work together to identify the employees who know the job best as well as those who are most objective in describing their duties and responsibilities. 2. Rapport should be established quickly with the interviewee 3. A structured guide or checklist that lists questions and provides spaces for answers should be used. 4. When duties are not performed in a regular manner, the incumbent should be asked to list his or her duties in order of importance and frequency of occurrence. 5. The data should be reviewed and verified by BOTH the interviewee and his or her immediate supervisor

What are some ways to enrich jobs?

1. increasing the level of difficulty and responsibility of the job; 2. assigning workers more authority and control over outcomes; 3. providing feedback about individual or unit job performance directly to employees; 4. adding new tasks requiring training, thereby providing an opportunity for growth; and 5. assigning individuals entire tasks rather than only parts of it, such as conducting an entire background check rather than just checking educational credentials.

What are the six steps in Job Analysis?

1.) Relevant organizational information is reviewed 2.) Jobs are selected to be analyzed 3.) Collect job analysis data 4.) Verify the information/data collected 5.) Job descriptions and specifications are developed based on the verification information 6.) The information is then communicated and updated on an as-needed basis

What are 3 reasons to use competency analysis?

1.) Traditional job descriptions can backfire if a high-performance work system is the goal 2.) Describing the job in terms of the KSAs is more strategic 3.) Measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies support the employer's performance management process.

Organization chart

A "snapshot" of the firm, depicting the organization's strucutre in chart form at a particular point in time. Lines clarify chain of command and show who's accountable to whom. Dotted lines mean possibly reporting.

Job

A group of related activities and duties, held by a single employee or a number of incumbents

What are 3 common types of organizational structures

Bureaucratic, Flat, Matrix

Job analysis in Training, development, and career management

By comparing the KSAs that employees bring to the job with those identified by the job analysis, managers can determine gaps that require training programs.

Job description: Authority

Define the limits of the jobholder's authority, including decision-making authority, direct supervision of other employees, and budget limitations.

Job description: Job Summary:

Describe the general nature of the job, listing out its major functions or activities

Job description: Duties and responsibilities

Detailed list of the job's major duties and responsibilities. Each of the job's major duties should be listed separately and described in a few sentences.

Job analysis in Compensation

Essential for determining the relative value of and appropriate compensation for each job.

True/False: Two jobs with the same title will always be designed in the exactly same way in two different organizations.

False. It depends on the structure of the organization. In bureaucratic organizations, because of the hierarchical division of labour, jobs are generally highly specialized. In flat organizations, there may be more autonomy given to a certain job.

Job description: Relationships

Indicates the jobholder's relationships with others inside and outside the organization

Job analysis in Restructuring

Job analysis is useful for ensuring that all of the duties that need to be done have actually been assigned and for identifying areas of overlap within duties.

Job analysis in Recruitment and selection

Job description and job specification information is used to determine what sort of person to recruit and hire. Legal compliance and bona fide requirements are based on this information.

Job analysis in Labour relations

Job descriptions developed from the job analysis information are generally subject to union approval before being finalized

Job analysis in HR Planning

Knowing the actual requirements of an organization's various jobs is essential for planning future staff needs. Combining this with the existing skill sets in the present employees, it is possible to determine internal supply and whether there is a need for external supply of employees.

Job description: Working Conditions and Physical Environment

Noise level, temperature, lighting, degree of privacy, frequency of interruptions, hours of work, amount of travel, and hazards

Job description: Job Identification

Position, Department, Location etc.

Organizational structure

The formal relationships among jobs in an organization

Job analysis in Performance management

To be legally defensible, the criteria used to assess employee performance must be directly related to the duties and responsibilities identified through job analysis.

What are the two major decisions around questionnaires?

1. Determine how structured the questionnaire should be and what questions to include 2. Determine who will complete the questionnaire

Job analysis is considered to be the cornerstone of HR. What HR activities require job analysis?

1. HR Planning 2. Recruitment and selection 3. Compensation 4. Performance management 5. Labour relations 6. Training, development, and career management 7. Restructuring

What are the three types of interviews that are used to collect job analysis data?

1. Individual interviews with each employee 2. Group interviews with employees who have the same job 3. Supervisory interviews with one or more supervisors who are thoroughly knowledgeable about the job being analyzed.

What are the six basic dimensions on which quantitative scores or profile of the job are rated using PAQ?

1. Information input 2. Mental processes 3. Work output (physical activities and tools) 4. Relationships with others 5. Job context (the physical and social environment) 6. Other job characteristics (such as pace and structure)

Once a system is developed to collect data, what are the 3 paths an organization may take?

1. Regularly update the data collected in a proactive manner 2. Develop systems to collect data on an ongoing basis 3. Adjust job analysis activities in a reactive manner

Job description: Performance Standards/Indicators

Standards the employee is expected to achieve in each of the job description's main duties and responsibilities.

Industrial engineering

a field of study concerned with analyzing work methods; making work cycles more efficient by modifying, combining, rearranging, or eliminating tasks; and establishing time standards. Too much emphasis on industrial engineering may result in human considerations being neglected.

Job specification

a list of the "human requirements", that is, the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job - another product of a job analysis

Job description

a list of the duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, and working condiitons of a job - one product of a job analysis

Functional job analysis (FJA)

a quantitative method for classifying jobs based on types and amounts or responsibility for data, people, and things. Performance standards and training requirements are also identified

National Occupational Classification (NOC)

a reference tool for writing job descriptions and job speifications. Compiled by the federal government, it contains comprehensive, standardized descriptions of about 40,000 occupations and the requirements for each

Team

a small group of people with complementary skills who work toward common goals for which they hold joint responsibility and accountability

Job enlargement (horizontal loading)

a technique to relieve monotony and boredom that involves assigning workers additional tasks at the same level of responsibility to increase the number of tasks they have to perform

Job rotation

a technique to relieve monotony and employee boredom that involves systematically moving employees from one job to another

Work simplification

an approach to job design that involves assigning most of the administrative aspects of work (such as planning and organizing) to supervisors and managers, while giving lower-level employees narrowly defined tasks to perform according to methods established and specified by management. Evolved from scientific management theory

Ergonomics

an interdiciplanary approach that seeks to integrate and accomodate the physical needs of workers into the design of jobs. It aims to adapt the entire job system - the work, environment, machines, equipment, and processes - to match human characteristics

Job enrichment (vertical loading)

any effort that makes an employee's job more rewarding or satisfying by adding more meaningful tasks and duties

Diary/log

daily listings made by employees of every activity in which they engage, along with the time each activity takes

Flat

decentralized mgmt. approach with few levels and multidirectional communication. Broadly defined jobs with general job descriptions. Emphasis on teams and product development.

Competency-based job analysis

describing a job in terms of the measurable, observable behavioural competencies an employee must exhibit to do a job well

Matrix

each job has 2 components: functional and product

Physical demands analysis

identification of the senses used and the type, frequency, and amount of physical effort involved in a job

Team-based job designs

job designs that focus on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful peice of work to do and empowering team members to decide among themselves how to accomplish the work

Position

the collection of tasks and responsibilities performed by one person

Job analysis

the procedure for determining the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of each job, and the human attributes (in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities) required to perform it

Job design

the process of systematically organizing work into tasks that are required to perform a specific job

Bureaucratic

top down mgmt. approach with many levels and hierarchical communication channels & career paths. Highly specialized jobs with narrow job descriptions. Focus on independent performance