What is Job Analysis?
By Pesync Team | Posted: 28 August 2018 Revised: 20 February 2021
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Job Analysis is the process of understanding a job and presenting this information in a format which will enable others to understand the job. Job Analysis normally comprises the following stages:
Principles of Job Analysis There are four key principles for effective Job Analysis: 1. Analysis NOT Lists In drafting a job description it is important to analyze the job. This means separating the job into its important constituent parts, examining them, and reassembling them in a way which facilitates understanding. Without analysis, the Job Description is likely to become a wearying check-list of small and unrelated tasks. 2. Jobs NOT People Analysis is not concerned with performance, style, character, career history or anything else about the jobholder. It is concerned with the job, and the present jobholder is only involved because he/she usually knows most about it. 3. Facts NOT Judgement It is not the role of the facilitator to make judgement about the job, rather the task is to communicate factual information as clearly as possible. It is for the eventual users of the job description to form whatever kinds of judgement are necessary for their purpose, on the evidence presented. 4. The Job as It Is Now The aim is to capture the job as it is at a particular point in time. The job description should not be clouded by references to historic roles or future aspirations, although information on such aspects may well be gathered during the course of discussions about the job. Only developments which are likely to be realized in 2-3 years at most should be considered.
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Job Understanding
In order to have a thorough understanding of a job it is necessary to know about the context in which the job operates. Many facilitators pay insufficient attention to gathering this contextual information, and during job analysis interviews immediately "plunge" into accountabilities. At the beginning of any job analysis, the facilitator should initially seek to understand the context in which the job operates. This information may come from the jobholder, manager or from additional research. This contextual information will depend on the nature and level of the jobs in question and may include: Organization It is useful to understand from the outset where the particular job fits into the overall organization structure. The facilitator should ask for, or obtain an up-to-date organization chart or, if this is not available, ask the jobholder or manager to draw one. Environment Unless the facilitator is familiar with the company, division or department within which the job works, it will be necessary to find out what this part of the organization delivers and to whom. Job Activities
Although the Job Description does not include tasks, it is important in terms of job understanding to find out what the main activities of the job are, and what takes most of the time?
Subordinate Activities The facilitator should find out which jobs report into the jobholder and their purpose.
Framework & Boundaries This is information about the freedoms available to the job and conversely the constraints in which it operates. It is necessary to find out:
Working Relationships This is information about the key contacts of the job:
Person Specification The facilitator may also derive benefit from asking about the type of person that would be expected to undertake this job in terms of qualifications, experience, skills, etc. It is important that the facilitator understands what the job requires, as opposed to what an existing job holder may have, and for this reason, it is often useful to ask for a typical recruitment specification. If you were recruiting outside for this job, what sort of person would you be looking for? |
What is a job?
JOBS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF AN ORGANIZATION.
Jobs exist because in some way they help the organization to achieve its purpose.
Jobs are the link between the individual as employee and the organization as employer. They provide the bridge between people and the work to be done. A job exists independently of the person undertaking it at any point in time. People can and do shape the way in which jobs evolve over time, but jobs are distinct from their holders.
Style, approach, performance are characteristics of people - purpose and areas of responsibility are characteristics of jobs - they will be fulfilled when the job holder takes action.
Jobs are results oriented
Jobs are created to contribute to the achievement of organizational objectives - they are specified in terms of desired end results.
People see jobs from the inside: they speak of tasks, activities, duties and of the difficulty of doing jobs - but because a ‘job’ is an organizational concept, having no meaning outside the context of an organization of some kind, this view is only half the picture - the other half is to do with the importance of jobs as seen from the outside in terms of how they contribute value to the organization.
Tasks and activities need to be considered because they are the means by which the job holder achieves what has to be done - but it is the ‘why’, the end result, which ties activity together and makes it meaningful to the organization.
Jobs are dynamic
Jobs exist because in some way they help the organization to achieve its purpose.
Jobs are the link between the individual as employee and the organization as employer. They provide the bridge between people and the work to be done. A job exists independently of the person undertaking it at any point in time. People can and do shape the way in which jobs evolve over time, but jobs are distinct from their holders.
Style, approach, performance are characteristics of people - purpose and areas of responsibility are characteristics of jobs - they will be fulfilled when the job holder takes action.
Jobs are results oriented
Jobs are created to contribute to the achievement of organizational objectives - they are specified in terms of desired end results.
People see jobs from the inside: they speak of tasks, activities, duties and of the difficulty of doing jobs - but because a ‘job’ is an organizational concept, having no meaning outside the context of an organization of some kind, this view is only half the picture - the other half is to do with the importance of jobs as seen from the outside in terms of how they contribute value to the organization.
Tasks and activities need to be considered because they are the means by which the job holder achieves what has to be done - but it is the ‘why’, the end result, which ties activity together and makes it meaningful to the organization.
Jobs are dynamic
- As organization strategy and structure change, then jobs will also change
- Many organizations are moving towards less hierarchy, flatter structures and more project-based work meaning that "jobs" have become more fluid and rapidly changing
- This does not invalidate the need to describe jobs because there will be even more of a need for clarity of accountability if the organization is to avoid duplication and wasted resources
- We need to understand the job now and how it will develop in the future
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Exhibit 2: The Organizational Cascade
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How to write a job description?
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Purpose of Job Description
Many people see Job Descriptions as documents for the Human Resources function. There are two key purposes for this document: 1. Communicate Organizational Expectations A key purpose of a Job Description is to identify a jobholder the contribution required by the organization. It is fundamental tools for line managers who can use it to ensure that her/his employees understand what they must achieve and the criteria on which their performance will be assessed. 2. Core Human Resource Processes
Job Description Core Content Job Details Record brief job details of the position at the beginning of the Job description. Job Title, Reports to: (title of immediate line manager), Business Division, Department, etc. Purpose This should provide a short and accurate statement of why the job exists. One sentence is usually quite adequate, unless the job is really two or more different and distinct jobs done by one jobholder; this is very seldom found. The aim is to state the overall significance of the job from the organization’s point of view. The purpose statement is the answer to questions such as:
Key Financial Dimension In this section record, the significant quantities on which the job has some direct or indirect impact. It provides numerical data, which give a feeling for the scope and scale of the job. Financial useful quantities include annual turnover, operating budgets, project costs, purchasing, etc. In stating a dimension, the job analyst does not indicate how the job holder affects that quantity, e.g. it would be appropriate for the total company turnover figure to appear in the Chief Executive's and Finance Director's Job Descriptions because each of them impacts on the total business in a different way. Accuracy of definition is more important than exact in figures. There are some jobs for which no dimensions can be provided, either because the quantities on which the jobholder has some effect seem very distant from the job, or because the figures are just not available. However, this would be unusual in a job of any seniority. Key Accountabilities The purpose of this section is to describe the main responsibilities, the areas in which the job is required to contribute to. The aim should be to describe here the principal outputs required from the job. This should not be a list of tasks. Ideally there should be no more than eight such ‘outputs’ for each job. More than this suggests you are listing tasks. For each of these Areas of Contribution we need to construct a Key Accountabilities statement which summarizes what the job does and why. These are usually constructed in a way that indicates how the activity links to the desired output. Best Practice shows that for most jobs between six and ten Key Accountabilities statements will be sufficient to identify all the key outputs associated with the job. It will be helpful if before embarking on developing these sentences you first list the ‘headings’ for the key outputs and refine these down to a maximum of 8-10 first and then develop the appropriate sentence for each ‘heading’ you have identified. Qualifications, Experience, & Skills In this section information should be provided on the knowledge, Experience & skills normally required for competent performance of the job. The key focus should be on the specification one would look for if recruiting someone newly into the job. The minimum formal education required or equivalent years of experience. The typical years of experience post qualification to reach this level of competence and capability. For lower levels of job, it will be possible to be more precise on this than for higher levels as these are more affected by the increasing differentials in the rates at which people progress over time. Other key skills which are required for effective operation at the level in question. It is very tempting for jobholders merely to write their own qualification and experience in this section, and not consider what might be the ideal specification for someone being newly recruited into the job. The job analyst may need to exercise considerable tact if the present jobholder is over or under qualified versus the ideal recruitment specification. |
