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
