chapter 4 Analyzing Work and
Sources of Job Information what are incumbents? what are advantages and disadvantages of incumbents? Information from incumbents should therefore be supplemented with information from who? what is the Dictionary of Occupational Titles ? what is the Occupational Information Network?
Information for analyzing an existing job often comes from incumbents, that is, people who currently hold that position in the organization. They are a logical source of information because they are most acquainted with the details of the job. Incumbents should be able to provide very accurate information. A drawback of relying solely on incumbents' information is that they may have an incentive to exaggerate what they do in order to appear more valuable to the organization. Information from incumbents should therefore be supplemented with information from observers, such as supervisors, who look for a match between what incumbents are doing and what they are supposed to do. Research suggests that supervisors may provide the most accurate estimates of the importance of job duties, while incumbents may be more accurate in reporting information about the actual time spent performing job tasks and safety-related risk factors. For analyzing skill levels, the best source may be external job analysts who have more experience rating a wide range of jobs. Dictionary of Occupational Titles The government also provides background information for analyzing jobs. In the 1930s, the U.S. Department of Labor created the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) as a vehicle for helping the new public employment system link the demand for skills and the supply of skills in the U.S. workforce. The DOT described over 12,000 jobs, as well as some of the requirements of successful job holders. This system served the United States well for over 60 years, but it became clear to Labor Department officials that jobs in the new economy were so different that the DOT no longer served its purpose. Occupational Information Network The Labor Department therefore introduced a new system, called the Occupational Information Network (O * NET). Instead of relying on fixed job titles and narrow task descriptions, the O * NET uses a common language that generalizes across jobs to describe the abilities, work styles, work activities, and work context required for 1,000 broadly defined occupations. Users can visit O * NET OnLine ( http://online.onetcenter.org ) to review jobs' tasks, work styles and context, and requirements including skills, training, and experience. example When Boeing prepared to close its plant in Monrovia, California, it used the O*NET's Skills Survey and database to help employees to be laid off identify jobs where they could use their skills elsewhere. Piedmont Natural Gas uses the O*NET to improve selection of entry-level employees, hoping to reduce turnover by ensuring a better match between candidates' KSAOs and the requirements of open positions at Piedmont. 8 Furthermore, although the O*NET was developed to analyze jobs in the U.S. economy, research suggests that its ratings tend to be the same for jobs located in other countries.
Job Enlargement is what?
Job Enlargement is a broadening the types of tasks performed in a job
what is Job Sharing
Job Sharing A work option in which two part-time employees carry out the tasks associated with a single job.
"Dejobbing
Organizations are being viewed as a field of work needing to be done, rather than as a set series of jobs held by individuals. "Dejobbing" - designing work by project rather than jobs.
what is the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)?
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) A standardized job analysis questionnaire containing 194 questions about work behaviors, work conditions, and job characteristics that apply to a wide variety of jobs.
Job analysis is also important from a legal standpoint. As we saw in Chapter 3, the government imposes requirements related to equal employment opportunity. Detailed, accurate, objective job specifications help decision makers comply with these regulations by keeping the focus on tasks and abilities. These documents also provide evidence of efforts made to engage in fair employment practices describe how?
. For example, to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may look at job descriptions to identify the essential functions of a job and determine whether a disabled person could have performed those functions with reasonable accommodations. Likewise, lists of duties in different jobs could be compared to evaluate claims under the Equal Pay Act. However, job descriptions and job specifications are not a substitute for fair employment practices. Besides helping human resource professionals, job analysis helps supervisors and other managers carry out their duties. Data from job analysis can help managers identify the types of work in their units, as well as provide information about the work flow process, so that managers can evaluate whether work is done in the most efficient way. Job analysis information also supports managers as they make hiring decisions, review performance, and recommend rewards. The "Best Practices" box describes how Frito-Lay used job analysis to help meet the company's productivity goals.
Designing Jobs That Motivate Especially when organizations must compete for employees, depend on skilled knowledge workers, or need a workforce that cares about customer satisfaction, a pure focus on efficiency will not achieve human resource objectives. The "Did You Know " box shows that job satisfaction among U.S. employees is declining. To improve job satisfaction, organizations need to design jobs that take into account factors that make jobs motivating and satisfying for employees. A model that shows how to make jobs more motivating is the Job Characteristics Model, developed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham. This model describes jobs in terms of five characteristics: describe the Job Characteristics Model,
1. Skill variety —The extent to which a job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved. 2. Task identity —The degree to which a job requires completing a "whole" piece of work from beginning to end (for example, building an entire component or resolving a customer's complaint). 3. Task significance —The extent to which the job has an important impact on the lives of other people. 4. Autonomy —The degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work will be carried out. 5. Feedback —The extent to which a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself. As shown in Figure 4.6 , the more of each of these characteristics a job has, the more motivating the job will be, according to the Job Characteristics Model The model predicts that a person with such a job will be more satisfied and will produce more and better work. For example, to increase the meaningfulness of making artery stents (devices that are surgically inserted to promote blood flow), the maker of these products invites its production workers to an annual party, where they meet patients whose lives were saved by the products they helped to manufacture. Applications of the job characteristics approach to job design include job enlargement, job enrichment, self-managing work teams, flexible work schedules, and teamwork.
Job Specification is what?
A list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform a particular job.
Job Description
An essential part of job analysis is the creation of job descriptions. A job description is a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a job entails. TDRs are observable actions. For example, a news photographer's job requires the jobholder to use a camera to take photographs. If you were to observe someone in that position for a day, you would almost certainly see some pictures being taken. When a manager attempts to evaluate job performance, it is most important to have detailed information about the work performed in the job (that is, the TDRs). This information makes it possible to determine how well an individual is meeting each job requirement. A job description typically has the format shown in Figure 4.2 . It includes the job title, a brief description of the TDRs, and a list of the essential duties with detailed specifications of the tasks involved in carrying out each duty. Although organizations may modify this format according to their particular needs, all job descriptions within an organization should follow the same format. This helps the organization make consistent decisions about such matters as pay and promotions. It also helps the organization show that it makes human resource decisions fairly. Whenever the organization creates a new job, it needs to prepare a job description, using a process such as the one detailed in the "HR How To" box on page 101. Job descriptions should then be reviewed periodically (say, once a year) and updated if necessary. Performance appraisals can provide a good opportunity for updating job descriptions, as the employee and supervisor compare what the employee has been doing against the details of the job description.
what can the inputs be broken down into? what are the inputs for mortgage banking industry?
As shown in Figure 4.1 , these inputs can be broken down into the raw inputs (materials and knowledge), equipment, and human skills needed to perform the tasks. In the mortgage banking industry, the inputs required for servicing loans increased dramatically after the financial crisis and economic recession made repayment impossible for a wave of borrowers. The federal government launched the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), in which loan servicers—who traditionally handled just the routine transactions of paying off a home loan—were expected to work with borrowers to arrange new deals they could afford. Loan servicers suddenly needed many more people, and these people needed skills in working with the public as well as technical knowledge for determining what borrowers can afford to pay, what their home is worth, and what documents are required to modify a loan under HAMP. The servicers also needed computer software and hardware for processing all the data and documents. The challenge of quickly providing these new inputs is so great that some servicers are simply outsourcing the whole process to specialists.
Changes in technology sometimes reduce job demands
Changes in technology sometimes reduce job demands and errors, but in some cases, technology has made the problem worse. Some employees try to juggle information from several sources at once—say, talking on a cell phone while typing, surfing the Web for information during a team member's business presentation, or repeatedly stopping work on a project to check e-mail or instant messages. In these cases, the cell phone, handheld computer, and e-mail or instant messages are distracting the employees from their primary task. They may convey important information, but they also break the employee's train of thought, reducing performance and increasing the likelihood of errors. The problem may be aggravated by employees downplaying the significance of these interruptions. For example, in a recent survey of workers, only half said they check their e-mail at work more than once an hour, and more than a third said they check every 15 minutes. However, monitoring software on their computers determined that they were actually changing applications to check e-mail up to 30 or 40 times an hour. The sheer volume of e-mail can be a drain on employee time. On average, a person at work sends and receives more than 150 e-mail messages every day, with the number expected to surpass 200 in the next few years. Reading and responding to these messages takes about one-fourth of the average employee's day, more than the time spent in meetings or on the phone.
Designing Efficient Jobs industrial engineering Typically, applying industrial engineering to a job reduces the complexity of the work, making it so simple that almost anyone can be trained quickly and easily to perform the job. Such jobs tend to be what? describe one best way?
Designing Efficient Jobs If workers perform tasks as efficiently as possible, not only does the organization benefit from lower costs and greater output per worker, but workers should be less fatigued. This point of view has for years formed the basis of classical industrial engineering, which looks for the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency. Typically, applying industrial engineering to a job reduces the complexity of the work, making it so simple that almost anyone can be trained quickly and easily to perform the job. Such jobs tend to be highly specialized and repetitive. In practice, the scientific method traditionally seeks the "one best way" to perform a job by performing time-and-motion studies to identify the most efficient movements for workers to make. Once the engineers have identified the most efficient sequence of motions, the organization should select workers based on their ability to do the job, then train them in the details of the "one best way" to perform that job. The company also should offer pay structured to motivate workers to do their best. Industrial engineering provides measurable and practical benefits. However, a focus on efficiency alone can create jobs that are so simple and repetitive that workers get bored. Workers performing these jobs may feel their work is meaningless. Hence, most organizations combine industrial engineering with other approaches to job design
what is The goal of ergonomics?
Designing Ergonomic Jobs The way people use their bodies when they work—whether toting heavy furniture onto a moving van or sitting quietly before a computer screen—affects their physical well-being and may affect how well and how long they can work. The study of the interface between individuals' physiology and the characteristics of the physical work environment is called ergonomics. The goal of ergonomics is to minimize physical strain on the worker by structuring the physical work environment around the way the human body works. Ergonomics therefore focuses on outcomes such as reducing physical fatigue, aches and pains, and health complaints.
what does Ergonomic research includes?
Ergonomic research includes the context in which work takes place, such as the lighting, space, and hours worked. 23 Ergonomic job design has been applied in redesigning equipment used in jobs that are physically demanding. Such redesign is often aimed at reducing the physical demands of certain jobs so that anyone can perform them. In addition, many interventions focus on redesigning machines and technology— for instance, • adjusting the height of a computer keyboard to minimize occupational illnesses, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. • The design of chairs and desks to fit posture requirements is very important in many office jobs.
Firefighters work as a team.
Firefighters work as a team. They and their equipment are the inputs and the output is an extinguished fire and the rescue of people and pets. In any organization or team, workers need to be cross- trained in several skills to create an effective team. If these firefighters are trained to do any part of the job, the chief can deploy them rapidly as needed
what is the Fleishman Job Analysis System
Fleishman Job Analysis System Job analysis technique that asks subjectmatter experts to evaluate a job in terms of the abilities required to perform the job.
Fleishman Job Analysis System
Fleishman Job Analysis System To gather information about worker requirements, the Fleishman Job Analysis System asks subject-matter experts (typically job incumbents) to evaluate a job in terms of the abilities required to perform the job. The survey is based on 52 categories of abilities, ranging from written comprehension to deductive reasoning, manual dexterity, stamina, and originality. As in the example in Figure 4.4 , the survey items are arranged into a scale for each ability. Each begins with a description of the ability and a comparison to related abilities. Below this is a seven-point scale with phrases describing extemely high and low levels of the ability. The person completing the survey indicates which point on the scale represents the level of the ability required for performing the job being analyzed. When the survey has been completed in all 52 categories, the results provide a picture of the ability requirements of a job. Such information is especially useful for employee selection, training, and career development
Flexible Work Schedules
Flexible Work Schedules One way in which an organization can give employees some say in how their work is structured is to offer flexible work schedules. Depending on the requirements of the organization and the individual jobs, organizations may be able to be flexible in terms of when employees work. As introduced in Chapter 2, types of flexibility include flextime and job sharing. Figure 4.7 illustrates alternatives to the traditional 40-hour workweek. Flextime is a scheduling policy in which full-time employees may choose starting and ending times within guidelines specified by the organization. The flextime policy may require that employees be at work between certain hours, say, 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. Employees work additional hours before or after this period in order to work the full day. One employee might arrive early in the morning in order to leave at 3:00 pm to pick up children after school. Another employee might be a night owl who prefers to arrive at 10:00 am and work until 6:00, 7:00, or even later in the evening. A flextime policy also may enable workers to adjust a particular day's hours in order to make time for doctor's appointments, children's activities, hobbies, or volunteer work. A work schedule that allows time for community and family interests can be extremely motivating for some employees.
what is Flextime
Flextime A scheduling policy in which full-time employees may choose starting and ending times within guidelines specified by the organization.
Although there are an infinite number of ways to combine the elements of an organization's structure, we can make some general observations about structure and work design which are what?
If the structure is strongly based on function, workers tend to have low authority and to work alone at highly specialized jobs. Jobs that involve teamwork or broad responsibility tend to require a structure based on divisions other than functions. When the goal is to empower employees, companies therefore need to set up structures and jobs that enable broad responsibility, such as jobs that involve employees in serving a particular group of customers or producing a particular product, rather than performing a narrowly defined function. The organization's structure also affects managers' jobs. Managing a division responsible for a product or customer group tends to require more experience and cognitive (thinking) ability than managing a department that handles a particular function. Work design often emphasizes the analysis and design of jobs, as described in the remainder of this chapter. Although all of these approaches can succeed, each focuses on one isolated job at a time. These approaches do not necessarily consider how that single job fits into the overall work flow or structure of the organization. To use these techniques effectively, human resource personnel should also understand their organization as a whole. As the "HR Oops!" emphasizes, without this big-picture appreciation, they might redesign a job in a way that makes sense for the particular job but is out of line with the organization's work flow, structure, or strategy
Job Description is what?
Job Description A list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a particular job entails.
Job Design
Job Design Although job analysis, as just described, is important for an understanding of existing jobs, organizations also must plan for new jobs and periodically consider whether they should revise existing jobs. When an organization is expanding, supervisors and human resource professionals must help plan for new or growing work units. When an organization is trying to improve quality or efficiency, a review of work units and processes may require a fresh look at how jobs are designed. These situations call for job design- the process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will be required in a given job, or job redesign, a similar process that involves changing an existing job design. To design jobs effectively, a person must thoroughly understand the job itself (through job analysis) and its place in the larger work unit's work flow process (through work flow analysis). Having a detailed knowledge of the tasks performed in the work unit and in the job, a manager then has many alternative ways to design a job. As shown in Figure 4.5 , the available approaches emphasize different aspects of the job: the mechanics of doing a job efficiently, the job's impact on motivation, the use of safe work practices, and the mental demands of the job
Job Design Job Redesign:
Job Design The process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will be required in a given job. Job Redesign: a similar process that involves changing an existing job design. To design jobs effectively, a person must thoroughly understand: job itself (through job analysis) and its place in the units work flow (work flow analysis
Job Enlargement
Job Enlargement In a job design, job enlargement refers to broadening the types of tasks performed. The objective of job enlargement is to make jobs less repetitive and more interesting. example Spirit AeroSystems improved profitability by enlarging jobs. After the company bought a manufacturing plant for fuselages and nosecones from Boeing, it rewrote the facility's 160 job classifications and job descriptions to create just 13 enlarged jobs. The effort made work more flexible and efficient, as well as potentially more interesting. Methods of job enlargement include job extension and job rotation.
Job Enrichment Herzberg identified five factors he associated with motivating jobs what are they?
Job Enrichment Empowering workers by adding more decision-making authority to jobs. Job Enrichment The idea of job enrichment, or empowering workers by adding more decision-making authority to their jobs, comes from the work of Frederick Herzberg. According to Herzberg's two-factor theory, individuals are motivated more by the intrinsic aspects of work (for example, the meaningfulness of a job) than by extrinsic rewards such as pay. Herzberg identified five factors he associated with motivating jobs they are : achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and performance of the entire job. manufacturing job Thus, ways to enrich a manufacturing job might include giving employees authority to stop production when quality standards are not being met and having each employee perform several tasks to complete a particular stage of the process, rather than dividing up the tasks among the employees. salesperson For a salesperson in a store, job enrichment might involve the authority to resolve customer problems, including the authority to decide whether to issue refunds or replace merchandise. In practice, however, it is important to note that not every worker responds positively to enriched jobs. These jobs are best suited to workers who are flexible and responsive to others; for these workers, enriched jobs can dramatically improve motivation.
Job Extension and Job Rotation
Job Extension Enlarging jobs by combining several relatively simple jobs to form a job with a wider range of tasks. Job Rotation Enlarging jobs by moving employees among several different jobs. Job extension is enlarging jobs by combining several relatively simple jobs to form a job with a wider range of tasks. An example might be combining the jobs of receptionist, typist, and file clerk into jobs containing all three kinds of work. This approach to job enlargement is relatively simple, but if all the tasks are dull, workers will not necessarily be more motivated by the redesigned job. job rotation Job rotation does not actually redesign the jobs themselves, but moves employees among several different jobs. This approach to job enlargement is common among production teams. During the course of a week, a team member may carry out each of the jobs handled by the team. Team members might assemble components one day and pack products into cases another day. As with job extension, the enlarged jobs may still consist of repetitious activities, but with greater variation among those activities.
Job Specifications
Job Specifications Whereas the job description focuses on the activities involved in carrying out a job, a job specification looks at the qualities or requirements the person performing the job must possess. It is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform the job. Knowledge refers to factual or procedural information that is necessary for successfully performing a task. For example, this course is providing you with knowledge in how to manage human resources. A skill is an individual's level of proficiency at performing a particular task— that is, the capability to perform it well. With knowledge and experience, you could acquire skill in the task of preparing job specifications. Ability, in contrast to skill, refers to a more general enduring capability that an individual possesses. A person might have the ability to cooperate with others or to write clearly and precisely . Finally, other characteristics might be personality traits such as someone's persistence or motivation to achieve. Some jobs also have legal requirements, such as licensing or certification. Figure 4.3 is a set of sample job specifications for the job description in Figure 4.2 . In developing job specifications, it is important to consider all of the elements of KSAOs. As with writing a job description, the information can come from a combination of people performing the job, people supervising or planning for the job, and trained job analysts. Most of the jobs in a grocery warehouse are physically taxing, so to describe positions at a Roanoke County, Virginia, distribution center, Atlas Logistics emphasizes KSAOs related to that challenge. Atlas needs employees who are strong enough to lift 80 pounds and who are willing to spend part of the day working in the freezer area. 5 In contrast to tasks, duties, and responsibilities, KSAOs are characteristics of people and are not directly observable. They are observable only when individuals are carrying out the TDRs of the job—and afterward, if they can show the product of their labor. Thus, if someone applied for a job as a news photographer, you could not simply look at the individual to determine whether he or she can spot and take effective photographs. However, you could draw conclusions later about the person's skills by looking at examples of his or her photographs. Accurate information about KSAOs is especially important for making decisions about who will fill a job. A manager attempting to fill a position needs information about the characteristics required and about the characteristics of each applicant. Interviews and selection decisions should therefore focus on KSAOs.
Job sharing
Job sharing is a work option in which two part-time employees carry out the tasks associated with a single job. Such arrangements can enable an organization to attract or retain valued employees who want more time to attend school or to care for family members. The job requirements in such an arrangement include the ability to work cooperatively and coordinate the details of one's job with another person. Although not strictly a form of flexibility on the level of individual employees, another scheduling alternative is the compressed workweek. A compressed workweek is a schedule in which full-time workers complete their weekly hours in fewer than five days. For example, instead of working eight hours a day for five days, the employees could complete 40 hours of work in four 10-hour days. This alternative is most common, but some companies use other alternatives, such as scheduling 80 hours over nine days (with a three-day weekend every other week) or reducing the workweek from 40 to 38 or 36 hours. Employees may appreciate the extra days available for leisure, family, or volunteer activities. An organization might even use this schedule to offer a kind of flexibility—for example, letting workers vote whether they want a compressed workweek during the summer months. This type of schedule has a couple of drawbacks, however. One is that employees may become exhausted on the longer workdays. Another is that if the arrangement involves working more than 40 hours during a week, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires the payment of overtime wages to nonsupervisory employees
Designing Jobs That Meet Mental Capabilities and Limitations There are several ways to simplify a job's mental demands. described them
Just as the human body has capabilities and limitations, addressed by ergonomics, the mind, too, has capabilities and limitations. Besides hiring people with certain mental skills, organizations can design jobs so that they can be accurately and safely performed given the way the brain processes information. Generally, this means reducing the information-processing requirements of a job. In these simpler jobs, workers may be less likely to make mistakes or have accidents. Of course, the simpler jobs also may be less motivating. Research has found that challenging jobs tend to fatigue and dissatisfy workers when they feel little control over their situation, lack social support, and feel motivated mainly to avoid errors. In contrast, they may enjoy the challenges of a difficult job where they have some control and social support, especially if they enjoy learning and are unafraid of making mistakes. Because of this drawback to simplifying jobs, it can be most beneficial to simplify jobs where employees will most appreciate having the mental demands reduced (as in a job that is extremely challenging) or where the costs of errors are severe (as in the job of a surgeon or air-traffic controller). There are several ways to simplify a job's mental demands. 1. One is to limit the amount of information and memorization that the job requires. 2. Organizations can also provide adequate lighting, easy-to-understand gauges and displays, simple-to operate equipment, and clear instructions. Often, employees try to simplify some of the mental demands of their own jobs by creating checklists, charts, or other aids. 3. Finally, every job requires some degree of thinking, remembering, and paying attention, so for every job, organizations need to evaluate whether their employees can handle the job's mental demands.
what is the final stage in work flow analysis ?
Knowledge of work processes also can guide staffing changes when work is automated, outsourced, or restructured. At some companies, so much effort has gone into analyzing and refining work processes to improve efficiency that when demand plummeted in the recent recession, layoffs—as great as they were— were less than what the decline in sales would have predicted. For example , the South Carolina manufacturing plant of Parker Hannifin Corporation needs so few people to run the facility and each person is so knowledgeable that the company cannot operate the plant if it lays off any workers. In addition, at companies like surgical-device maker Conmed, work processes have become so flexible that the companies adjust to changes in demand gradually as they occur, rather than piling up inventory and then halting and later resuming production. The final stage in work flow analysis is to identify the inputs used in the development of the work unit's product.
message see figure 4.2
Organizations should give each newly hired employee a copy of his or her job description. This helps the employee to understand what is expected, but it shouldn't be presented as limiting the employee's commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Ideally, employees will want to go above and beyond the listed duties when the situation and their abilities call for that. Many job descriptions include the phrase and other duties as requested as a way to remind employees not to tell their supervisor, "But that's not part of my job."
Position Analysis Questionnaire After gathering information, the job analyst uses the information to analyze the job . One of the broadest and best-researched instruments for analyzing jobs is what?
Position Analysis Questionnaire After gathering information, the job analyst uses the information to analyze the job . One of the broadest and best-researched instruments for analyzing jobs is the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ). This is a standardized job analysis questionnaire containing 194 items that represent work behaviors, work conditions, and job characteristics that apply to a wide variety of jobs. The questionnaire organizes these items into six sections concerning different aspects of the job: 1. Information input —Where and how a worker gets information needed to perform the job. 2. Mental processes —The reasoning, decision making, planning, and information processing activities involved in performing the job. 3. Work output —The physical activities, tools, and devices used by the worker to perform the job. 4. Relationships with other persons —The relationships with other people required in performing the job. 5. Job context —The physical and social contexts where the work is performed. 6. Other characteristics —The activities, conditions, and characteristics other than those previously described that are relevant to the job. The person analyzing a job determines whether each item on the questionnaire applies to the job being analyzed. The analyst rates each item on six scales: extent of use, amount of time, importance to the job, possibility of occurrence, applicability, and special code (special rating scales used with a particular item). The PAQ headquarters uses a computer to score the questionnaire and generate a report that describes the scores on the job dimensions. Using the PAQ provides an organization with information that helps in comparing jobs, even when they are dissimilar. The PAQ also has the advantage that it considers the whole work process, from inputs through outputs. However, the person who fills out the questionnaire must have college-level reading skills, and the PAQ is meant to be completed only by job analysts trained in this method. In fact, the ratings of job incumbents tend to be less reliable than ratings by supervisors and trained analysts. 10 Also, the descriptions in the PAQ reports are rather abstract, so the reports may not be useful for writing job descriptions or redesigning jobs.
what are Self-Managing Work Teams
Self-Managing Work Teams Instead of merely enriching individual jobs, some organizations empower employees by designing work to be done by self-managing work teams. these teams have authority for an entire work process or segment. Team members typically have authority to • schedule work, • hire team members, • resolve problems related to the team's performance, and perform other duties traditionally handled by management Teamwork can give a job such motivating characteristics as autonomy, skill variety, and task identity. Because team members' responsibilities are great, their jobs usually are defined broadly and include sharing of work assignments. Team members may, at one time or another, perform every duty of the team. The challenge for the organization is to provide enough training so that the team members can learn the necessary skills. Another approach, when teams are responsible for particular work processes or customers, is to assign the team responsibility for the process or customer, then let the team decide which members will carry out which tasks. A study of work teams at a large financial services company found that the right job design was associated with effective teamwork. In particular, when teams are self-managed and team members are highly involved in decision making, teams are more productive, employees more satisfied, and managers more pleased with performance. Teams also tend to do better when each team member performs a variety of tasks and when team members view their effort as significant.
Information-processing errors also are greater in situations in which one person hands off information to another. describe SBAR
Such transmission problems have become a major concern in the field of medicine, because critical information is routinely shared among nurses, doctors, and medical technicians, as well as between hospital employees changing shifts. Problems during shift changes are especially likely as a result of fatigue and burnout among employees with stressful jobs. Some hospitals have coped by introducing a method called SBAR (situation, background, assessment, and recommendation), which standardizes the information delivered at handoff points. In a few seconds, the person handing off the care of a patient gets control of the situation by engaging the listener's attention (situation), relays enough information to establish the context of the problem (background), gives an overall evaluation of the condition (assessment), and makes a specific suggestion about the best action to take next (recommendation). At one hospital that began using the SBAR method, the rate of adverse events (unexpected medical problems causing harm) was reduced by more than half, from 90 to just 40 of every thousand patients treated.
advantages of telework
Telework Flexibility can extend to work locations as well as work schedules. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people worked either close to or inside their own homes. Mass production technologies changed all this, separating work life from home life, as people began to travel to centrally located factories and offices. Today, however, skyrocketing prices for office space, combined with drastically reduced prices for portable communication and computing devices, seem ready to reverse this trend. The broad term for doing one's work away from a centrally located office is telework or telecommuting. For employers, advantages of telework include less need for office space and the ability to offer greater flexibility to employees who are disabled or need to be available for children or elderly relatives. The employees using telework arrangements may have less absences from work than employees with similar demands who must commute to work. Telecommuting can also support a strategy of corporate social responsibility because these employees do not produce the greenhouse gas emissions that result from commuting by car. Telework is easiest to implement for people in managerial, professional, or sales jobs, especially those that involve working and communicating on a computer. A telework arrangement is generally difficult to set up for manufacturing workers. Most of the call center representatives for Stanford Federal Credit Union work off-site, an arrangement that saves the organization money because it needs less office space and experiences less absenteeism. The arrangement also is a money saver for employees, who generally cannot afford to live in the credit union's pricey Silicon Valley locale. To make the arrangement work, Stanford Credit Union requires that the reps be experienced and that they set up a quiet, dedicated space for work in their homes. Given the possible benefits, it is not surprising that telework is a growing trend.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a "four-pronged" strategy describe them
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a "four-pronged" strategy for encouraging ergonomic job design. The first prong is to issue guidelines (rather than regulations) for specific industries. As of 2010, these guidelines have been issued for the nursing home, grocery store, poultry-processing industries, and for shipyards. Second, OSHA enforces violations of its requirement that employers have a general duty to protect workers from hazards, including ergonomic hazards. Third, OSHA works with industry groups to advise employers in those industries. And finally, OSHA established a National Advisory Committee on Ergonomics to define needs for further research
Job Analysis is what? To achieve high-quality performance, organizations have to what?
The process of getting detailed information about jobs. Job Analysis To achieve high-quality performance, organizations have to understand and match job requirements and people. This understanding requires job analysis, the process of getting detailed information about jobs. Analyzing jobs and understanding what is required to carry out a job provide essential knowledge for staffing, training, performance appraisal, and many other HR activities. For instance, a supervisor's evaluation of an employee's work should be based on performance relative to job requirements. In very small organizations, line managers may perform a job analysis, but usually the work is done by a human resource professional. A large company may have a compensation management department that includes job analysts (also called personnel analysts). Organizations may also contract with firms that provide this service.
Work Flow Design and an Organization's Structure Besides looking at the work flow of each process, it is important to see how the work fits within the context of the organization's structure. Within an organization, units and individuals must cooperate to create outputs. Ideally, the organization's structure brings together the people who must collaborate to efficiently produce the desired outputs. they do this in a way that is Centralized Decentralized Functional Product or Customer
The structure may do this in a way that is highly centralized (that is, with authority concentrated in a few people at the top of the organization) or decentralized (with authority spread among many people). The organization may group jobs according to functions (for example, welding, painting, packaging), or it may set up divisions to focus on products or customer groups.
Trends in Job Analysis Trends in Job Analysis As we noted in the earlier discussion of work flow analysis, organizations are beginning to appreciate the need to analyze jobs in the context of the organization's structure and strategy. In addition, organizations are recognizing that today's workplace must be adaptable and is constantly subject to change. Thus, although we tend to think of "jobs" as something stable, they actually tend to change and evolve over time. Those who occupy or manage jobs often make minor adjustments to match personal preferences or changing conditions. Indeed, although errors in job analysis can have many sources, most inaccuracy is likely to result from what? For this reason, job analysis must not only define jobs when they are created, but also what? With global competitive pressure and economic downturns, one corporate change that has affected many organizations is what? what presents one of the major challenges to be faced by HRM department?
Trends in Job Analysis As we noted in the earlier discussion of work flow analysis, organizations are beginning to appreciate the need to analyze jobs in the context of the organization's structure and strategy. In addition, organizations are recognizing that today's workplace must be adaptable and is constantly subject to change. Thus, although we tend to think of "jobs" as something stable, they actually tend to change and evolve over time. Those who occupy or manage jobs often make minor adjustments to match personal preferences or changing conditions. Indeed, although errors in job analysis can have many sources, most inaccuracy is likely to result from job descriptions being outdated. For this reason, job analysis must not only define jobs when they are created, but also detect changes in jobs as time passes. With global competitive pressure and economic downturns, one corporate change that has affected many organizations is downsizing. Research suggests that successful downsizing efforts almost always entail changes in the nature of jobs, not just their number. Jobs that have survived the downsizing of the most recent recession tend to have a broader scope of responsibilities coupled with less supervision. These changes in the nature of work and the expanded use of "project-based" organizational structures require the type of broader understanding that comes from an analysis of work flows. Because the work can change rapidly and it is impossible to rewrite job descriptions every week, job descriptions and specifications need to be flexible. At the same time, legal requirements may discourage organizations from writing flexible job descriptions. This means organizations must balance the need for flexibility with the need for legal documentation. This presents one of the major challenges to be faced by HRM departments in the next decade. Many professionals are meeting this challenge with a greater emphasis on careful job design.
what is Work Flow Design, job and position? Work Flow in Organizations
Work Flow Design The process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service Job A set of related duties. Position The set of duties (job) performed by a particular person. Informed decisions about jobs take place in the context of the organization's overall work flow. Through the process of work flow design, managers analyze the tasks needed to produce a product or service. With this information, they assign these tasks to specific jobs and positions. (A job is a set of related duties. A position is the set of duties performed by one person. A school has many teaching positions; the person filling each of those positions is performing the job of teacher.) Basing these decisions on work flow design can lead to better results than the more traditional practice of looking at jobs individually.
ergonomics
ergonomics The study of the interface between individuals' physiology and the characteristics of the physical work environment.
what is industrial engineering?
industrial engineering is The study of jobs to find the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency.
Work Flow Analysis Before designing its work flow, the organization's planners need to analyze what work needs to be done. Figure 4.1 shows the elements of a work flow analysis. For each type of work, such as producing a product line or providing a support service (accounting, legal support, and so on) what does the analysis identifies? what are outputs? what are Work processes?
the analysis identifies the • output of the process, • the activities involved, • and three categories of inputs: raw inputs (materials and information), • equipment, and human resources. Outputs are • the products of any work unit, whether a department, team, or individual. • An output can be as readily identifiable as a completed purchase order, an • employment test, or a hot, juicy hamburger. An output can also be a service, such as • transportation, cleaning, or answering questions about employee benefits. • Even at an organization that produces tangible goods, such as computers, many employees produce other outputs, such as components of the computers, marketing plans, and building security. Work flow analysis identifies the outputs of particular work units. The analysis considers not only the amount of output but also quality standards. This attention to outputs has only recently gained attention among HRM professionals. However, it gives a clearer view of how to increase the effectiveness of each work unit. For the outputs identified, work flow analysis then examines the work processes used to generate those outputs. Work processes are • the activities that members of a work unit engage in to produce a given output. • Every process consists of operating procedures that specify how things should be done at each stage of developing the output. • These procedures include all the tasks that must be performed in producing the output. Usually, the analysis breaks down the tasks into those performed by each person in the work unit. T his analysis helps with design of efficient work systems by clarifying which tasks are necessary. • Typically, when a unit's work load increases, the unit adds people, and when the work load decreases, some members of the unit may busy themselves with unrelated tasks in an effort to appear busy. Without knowledge of work processes, it is more difficult to identify whether the work unit is properly staffed
Importance of Job Analysis Job analysis is so important to HR managers that it has been called the building block of everything that personnel does. The fact is that almost every human resource management program requires some type of information that is gleaned from job analysis: Work redesign Human resource planning Selection Training Performance appraisal Career planning (see figure 4.4)
• Work redesign —Often an organization seeks to redesign work to make it more efficient or to improve quality. The redesign requires detailed information about the existing job(s). In addition, preparing the redesign is similar to analyzing a job that does not yet exist. • Human resource planning —As planners analyze human resource needs and how to meet those needs, they must have accurate information about the levels of skill required in various jobs, so that they can tell what kinds of human resources will be needed. • Selection —To identify the most qualified applicants for various positions, decision makers need to know what tasks the individuals must perform, as well as the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities. Training —Almost every employee hired by an organization will require training. Any training program requires knowledge of the tasks performed in a job, so that the training is related to the necessary knowledge and skills. • Performance appraisal —An accurate performance appraisal requires information about how well each employee is performing in order to reward employees who perform well and to improve their performance if it is below standard. Job analysis helps in identifying the behaviors and the results associated with effective performance. • Career planning —Matching an individual's skills and aspirations with career opportunities requires that those in charge of career planning know the skill requirements of the various jobs. This allows them to guide individuals into jobs in which they will succeed and be satisfied. • Job evaluation —The process of job evaluation involves assessing the relative dollar value of each job to the organization in order to set up fair pay structures. If employees do not believe pay structures are fair, they will become dissatisfied and may quit, or they will not see much benefit in striving for promotions. To put dollar values on jobs, it is necessary to get information about different jobs and compare them.
