MOS 1021 Unit 2: Job Analysis & Design

Unit 2: Job Analysis & Design

• Unit covers job analysis and design as part of MOS 1021, Introduction to Consumer Behaviour and Human Resources.

This Week in the Course...

• Course content includes job analysis, workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training & development, performance management, compensation & rewards, and employee & labour relations.

Textbook Readings

• Textbook readings focus on Chapter 3 (pages 51-74).
• Topics covered include job analysis, competency modeling, and job design.

Understanding Jobs

• A job is a collection of related tasks, duties, and responsibilities performed within an organization to achieve specific work goals.
• Example job tasks: taking customer orders, preparing beverages, processing payment, and cleaning workstations.

Job Analysis: What Is It?

• A systematic process of gathering detailed information about a job.
• This includes tasks, duties, responsibilities, and human attributes associated with a job.

Job Analysis: Why Is It Important?

• Improves training by clarifying knowledge, skills, and abilities required for jobs and identifying skill gaps.
• Enhances performance management by using job analysis criteria to evaluate employee performance and ensures legal defensibility.
• Aids compensation and benefits by determining the relative value of different jobs based on skills, responsibilities, work conditions, and physical/mental demands.
• Improves recruitment and selection by ensuring effective hiring and greater employee retention.

Job Analysis: Steps

• Step 1: Review background information.
  • Sources include organizational charts (which may be bureaucratic, flat, or matrix), and digital databases (like the National Occupational Classification (NOC)).
• Step 2: Choose sources of job information.
  • Subject matter experts (SMEs) include incumbents (current job holders), supervisors, and job analysts.
• Step 3: Gather job information.
  • Methods include questionnaires (e.g., Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)), which may be structured (pre-defined questions and answers) or open-ended (questions with free-form answers).
  • Other methods include interviews (incumbent alone, or in groups), direct observations of staff performing their jobs.
• Step 4: Develop key documents.
  • Documents like job descriptions (listing tasks, duties, responsibilities) and job specifications (listing characteristics needed to perform the job, such as knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics—often abbreviated as KSAOs).

Competency Analysis

• An alternative approach to traditional job analysis focused on the capabilities of people rather than the tasks.
• It promotes a more flexible workplace with fluid roles and empowered employees.

Competency Categories

• Core: Characteristics applying to all organizational members, e.g., time management.
• Cross-functional: Characteristics common to a group of jobs, e.g., conflict resolution.
• Functional: Characteristics and key skills specific to a job, e.g., culinary expertise.

Competency Modeling Methods

• Critical Incident Technique (CIT):
  • Identify critical incidents in the workplace.
  • Sort incidents into themes or dimensions.
  • Define each competency and pair it with behavioural indicators.
  • Examples may include handling sensitive information, articulating complex issues, and asking clarifying questions.

Job Design

• The process of establishing the roles and responsibilities for jobs, potentially including designing new jobs or redesigning existing ones to maximise:
  • job performance
  • efficiency
  • job satisfaction.

Indicators of Job Satisfaction

• Satisfaction with pay
• Satisfaction with promotion policies
• Satisfaction with supervisor
• Satisfaction with coworkers
• Satisfaction with work

Factors Affecting Satisfaction with Work

• Meaningfulness of work (e.g., value, purpose, and impact).
• Responsibility for outcomes (e.g., influence, autonomy).
• Knowledge of results (e.g., awareness of performance and impact).

Job Design Strategies

• Job Rotation: Temporarily moving employees between jobs/departments.
• Job Enlargement: Adding activities within the same level of an existing role.
• Job Enrichment: Increasing job depth and complexity.