Job Analysis & Human Resource Planning PDF

**CHAPTER THREE** **JOB ANALYSIS & HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING** 1. **JOB ANALYSIS** 1. **Meaning and definition of job analysis** A job in organization is created when tasks, duties and responsibilities justify hiring of one or more people for accomplishing the organizational purpose. **A job...

**CHAPTER THREE** **JOB ANALYSIS & HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING** 1. **JOB ANALYSIS** 1. **Meaning and definition of job analysis** A job in organization is created when tasks, duties and responsibilities justify hiring of one or more people for accomplishing the organizational purpose. **A job** consists of a group of tasks that must be performed for an organization to achieve its goals. A job may need a service of one individual, such as that of the prime minister or the services of ten or more, as might be the case with ministers in the country. In a work group consisting of an auditor, two chief accountants, and three accounting clerks, there are a total of three jobs and six positions. **A position** is the collection of tasks and responsibilities performed by one person. There is a position for every individual in an organization. **Job analysis** is the systematic process of determining the skills, duties and knowledge required for performing jobs in an organization. It is an important human resource technique and is also a method that enables to obtain information regarding jobs available in the organization. **Job analysis** is a procedure used to determine: - tasks, duties and responsibilities - the relationship of one job to another - the working conditions - the qualification needed for each job 2. **The steps in job analysis** - **The employees** who actually perform a job or - **Supervisors** - **Job analyst** who is appointed to watch employees performing the job. 3. **Job description** A job description identifies the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job. It describes what is done, why it is done, where it is done, and briefly, how it is done. A typical job description contains several major parts. Overviews of the most common components are presented as follows: 1. Identification: The first part of the job description is the identification section, in which the job title, reporting relationships, department, location, and the like may be given. 2. Reporting to: The job title of the manager or team leader to whom the job holder is directly responsible should be given under this heading 3. Reporting for: The job titles of all the posts directly reporting to the job holder should be given under this heading. 4. Overall purpose: The general summary is a concise statement of the general responsibilities and components that make the job different from others. 5. Main activities, tasks or duties: Group the various activities identified by the job analysis together so that no more than seven or eight areas remain. Define each activity in one sentence which starts with a verb in the active voice in order to provide a positive indication of what has to be done. **Job description example** **Job title:** HR adviser; recruitment **Reports to:** HR Manager **Reports for:** none **Job purpose:** To provide recruitment services to line managers **Main duties:** 1. Respond promptly to requests from line managers to assist in recruiting staff. 2. Produce person specifications. 3. Agree on the use of recruitment agencies and/or media advertisements or internet notifications of vacancies. 4. Liaise with agencies and/or draft advertisements for jobs for approval by line managers and place advertisements or information on vacancies using the media and/or the internet. 5. Process replies and draws up short lists. 6. Conduct preliminary interviews independently or conduct short-list interviews with line managers. 7. Review and evaluate sources of candidates and analyzes recruitment costs. 4. **Job Specification** Completion of job description task leads to the job specifications. It lists the Knowledge, personal abilities, work skill requirements, education, experience, and mental and physical requirements an individual needs to possess to perform a job satisfactorily. It is important to note that accurate job specifications identify what KSAs (knowledge, ability & skills) a person needs to do the job, not necessarily what qualifications the current employee possesses. For example, job specifications for a data entry operator might include a required educational level, a certain number of months of experience, a typing ability of 60 words per minute, a high degree of visual concentration, and ability to work under time pressure. **Knowledge:** what the individual needs to know to carry out the job. **Skills and abilities:** what the individual has to be able to do to carry out the job. **Experience:** the types of achievements and activities that would be likely to predict success. **Qualifications and training:** the professional, technical or academic qualification required or the training that the candidate should have undertaken. **Specific demands:** anything that the job holder will be expected to achieve in specified areas, e.g., develop new markets or products, improve sales, productivity or levels of customer service, introduce new systems or processes. 5. **Methods of collecting job analysis information** Some of the most common methods of obtaining information for job analysis are: - Questionnaire - Interview - Observation - Combination of methods 6. **Importance of job analysis information** A comprehensive job analysis program is an essential ingredient of sound HRM. Job analysis is the major input for forecasting future HR requirements, job modifications, job evaluation, determination of proper compensation and the writing of job descriptions. The following are some of the purposes of job analysis: i. **Organization and manpower planning**: it is helpful in organizational planning, for it defines labor requirement and coordinates the activities of the workforce, and clearly divides duties and responsibilities. ii. **Recruitment, selection**: by indicating the specific requirements of each job (i.e. skills and knowledge), job analysis provides a realistic basis for the recruitment and selection. iii. **Wage and salary administration**: by indicating the qualifications required for doing specific job and the risks and hazards involved in its performance, it helps in salary and wage administration, job analysis is used as foundation for job evaluation which in turn helps to determine relative worth of the job. iv. **Job reengineering**: job analysis provides; information which enables us to change jobs in order to permit their being manner by personnel with specific characteristics and qualifications. v. **Employee training and management development**: job analysis provides the necessary information to the management of training and development of programs. It helps it to determine the content and subject matter of in training courses. vi. **Performance appraisal**: it helps in establishing clear-cut standards which may be compared with actual contribution of each individual. vii. **Health and safety**: it provides an opportunity for identifying hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that creative measures may be taken to minimize and avoid the possibility of accidents. 7. **Potential problems with job analysis** In analyzing jobs, certain problems can occur. Some of these problems result from natural human behavior; others stem from the nature of the job analysis process. Some of the most frequently encountered problems associated with job analyses are the following. - ***Top management support is missing**.* Top management should at least make it clear to all employees that their full and honest participation is extremely important to the process. Unfortunately, the message is often not communicated. - ***Only a single means and source are used for gathering data**.* As discussed in this chapter, there are many proven methods for gathering job data. All too often, a job analysis relies on only one of these methods when a combination of methods might provide better data. - ***The supervisor and the jobholder do not participate in the design of the job analysis procedure.*** Too many analyses are planned and implemented by one person who assumes exclusive responsibility for the project. The jobholder and his or her supervisor should be involved in the planning of the project. - ***No training or motivation exists for jobholders**.* Job incumbents are potentially a great source of information about the job. Unfortunately, they are seldom trained or prepared to generate quality data for a job analysis. Also, jobholders are rarely made aware of the importance of the data and almost never rewarded for providing good data. - ***Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the analysis**.* Usually a job analysis is conducted as though it were a crash program, and employees are not given sufficient time to do a thorough job analysis. - ***Activities may be distorted**.* Without proper training and preparation, employees may submit distorted data, either intentionally or not. For example, employees are likely to speed up if they know they are being watched. Employee involvement from the beginning of the project is a good way to minimize this problem. - ***Participants fail to critique the job**.* Many job analyses do not go beyond the initial phase of reporting what the jobholder currently does. These data are extremely valuable, but the analysis should not stop here. The job should be critiqued to determine whether it is being done correctly or whether improvements can be made. 2. **HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING (HRP)** 8. **Meaning and definition of human resource planning (HRP)** To look into human resource planning more closely, it helps to go through the various definitions describing its meaning as indicated below: - HRP is the process of translating the overall organizational objectives, plans and programs in to an effective workforce to achieve specific performance. - HRP is the process by which an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning, management strives to have the right number and kind of people at the right places, at the right time, doing things, which result in both the organization and individual receiving maximum long run benefits. - HRP is the system of matching the supply of people internally (existing employees) and externally (those to be hired or searched for) with openings the organization expected to have over a given time period. - HRP is the process that helps to provide adequate HRs to achieve future organizational objectives. It includes forecasting future needs for employees of various types, comparing these needs with the present workforce, and determining the numbers and types of employees to be recruited or phased out of the organization's employment group. 9. **Importance of HRP** - **Effective utilization of human resources:** The data base will provide the useful information in identifying surplus and deficiency in human resources. If used properly, it also leads to the maximum utilization of human resources, reduces excessive labor turnover and high absenteeism; improves productivity and aids in achieving the objectives of an organization. - **Realizing the organizational goals:** In order to meet the expansion and other organizational activities the organizational HR planning is essential. - **Forecasting human resources requirements:** HRP is essential to determine the future needs of HR in an organization. In the absence of this plan it is very difficult to provide the right kind of people at the right time. - **Develop a well-trained and flexible workforce:** Thus contributing to the organization's ability to adapt to an uncertain and changing environment. - **Reduce dependence on external recruitment:** When key skills are in short supply by formulating retention, as well as employee development strategies. 10. **Steps ( procedures) in HRP** i. **Deciding objectives.** Human resource planning should start from the analysis of organizational long term & short term goals & plan. The goals and plans of an organization indicate whether to add or decrease, or nothing to do or replace or train or the like with HRs the organization. ii. **Conducting external and internal environmental scanning** Before involving forecasting, assessing the environment is necessary, because determination of HRs requirement and availability cannot be done without the examination of environmental factors impacting the demand and supply of HRs in an organization. iii. **Determining future human resource requirements (HR DD forecasting)** In accordance with environmental analysis results, objectives analyzed in the first step should be translated in to human resource needs- specific skills needed, number of workers, managerial capabilities, etc. iv. **Determining future HRs availability (Supply)** This process involves a thorough analysis of presently employed personnel and a forecast of expected changes in the supply of internal and external personnel. Developing a profile of an organization's current employees provides information on the skill, ability, training, qualification, etc. of presently available employees to fulfill the forecasted human resource requirement. Such information is obtained from skill inventory, management inventory, and succession planning, and replacement charts. The skills inventory is one of the frequently used Human Resource Planning tool, a skill inventory consolidates information about the organizations human resources. It provides basic information on all employees, including in its simplest form, a list of names, certain characteristics, skill, knowledge, capabilities, qualifications, experience, and promotional potential of employees. Skills inventory is a record of the jobs performed by each employee before and after joining the organization. Replacement charts are prepared department wise and give the name and age of each present job holder and of another person whom can be immediately available for replacement. They may also name a second candidate and specify a date when he is likely to be ready for the position. Fig. 3-1: Example of replacement Chart v. **Reconciling requirements and availability (identified anticipated gaps -- shortage or surplus)** In this step the information concerning future HR requirements and availability as well as external and internal environmental conditions must be brought together to identify potential gaps. - Shortages of manpower both in number and kind - Overstaff exist (now or in the near future). - Neither of the two Table 3.1: Reconciliation: Matching HR requirements with HR availabilities Job category HR requirements Beginning inventory HR availability (after adjustments) Gap -------------- ----------------- --------------------- ------------------------------------- ------ 1 140 136 137 (3) 2 200 255 251 51 3 300 291 282 (18) 4 357 375 264 (93) Gap (63) vi. **Developing action plan to close the anticipated gap** If the net requirements indicate a need for additions, plans must be made to recruit, select, orient, and train the specific numbers and types of personnel required. If a reduction in labor is necessary plans must be made to realize the necessary adjustments through layoffs, terminations, early retirements, voluntary resignations, etc. vii. **Controlling and evaluating the plan** The final element in any HRP process is to provide a means for management to monitor results of the overall program. This step should address such questions as: - How well is the plan working? - Is it cost effective? - What is the actual versus planned impact on the workforce? - Where are the plan's weaknesses?  11. **Factors affecting HRP** Factors affecting HRP can be categorized as external and internal. I. **External factors affecting HRP** - **Labor market analysis:** the labor market involves the job opportunities and compensation offered to employees**.** Success in finding new employees depends on the labor market and on the skills of the employment specialists in the HR department. The scope of the labor market is influenced by the following factors: - Occupation - Geography - Industry - Community attitudes - Demographic - **Political and legal** - **Technology changes** - **Competitors** II. **Internal factors affecting HRP** Besides external factors, human resources planners find current challenges within the organization they serve. Some of these challenges include: - Organizational decisions: major organizational decisions affecting the demand for HRs are: - Strategies and operational objectives - Sales and production forecasts - New ventures also mean changing HR demands - Workforce factors - Financial condition and flexibility - Nature of the tasks - Integration with organization plans, etc.