Chapter 4:
Matching Employees
With Jobs
Employee and Job Matching
• Employees matched with the right job
maximize productivity.
• Mismatched workers tend to have lower
job satisfaction, absenteeism, and
turnover.
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Work Flow Analysis
• What Must Be Done to Produce a
Product or Service
– Identify expected result (organizational
outputs)
– Determine steps required to create the
end result
– Spot inputs necessary to carry out and
perform the same tasks (i.e., the 4-Ms:
machines, material, manpower, and
money)
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-1: Work
Flow Analysis
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
Descriptions and
Specifications
• Job Description: Identifies major tasks,
duties, and responsibilities of a job
• Job Specification: Identifies
qualifications in the job description
• Person Specification: Summarizes
characteristics of those who perform
the job well
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Job Analysis
• Why Do We Need to Analyze Jobs?
• Identifies work performance and
working conditions
• Results include duties, responsibilities,
skills, knowledge, outcomes (i.e., job
description and job specification), and
conditions.
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Job Analysis
• Basis for HR
– Human resource planning and training
– Job evaluation for compensation
– Staffing (recruiting and selection)
– Training
– Performance management
– Maintaining a safe work environment
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Databases and Job Analysis
• Free and Continually Updated
– Department of Labor’s Dictionary of
Occupational Titles (DOT)
– O*NET
• Commercial Databases Also Available
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Job Analysis Methods
• Questionnaires: Identify functions of a
particular job
• Verbal Interviews: Answers compiled
into profile of job
• Diaries: Employees’ documentation of
tasks
• Observation: Observers shadow
employees and log tasks
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Outcomes: Job Description
and Job Specification
• The primary outcomes in any job analysis
are the creation of a job description and a
job specification.
• These two outcomes are routinely written
into one document.
• The job description part describes the job
itself, not the person who will do the job.
• The job specification part identifies the
qualifications needed by the person who is
to fill a position.
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Job Design Versus Job
Redesign
• Job Design
– Identifies tasks that employees are
responsible for and how those tasks will
be accomplished
• Job Redesign
– Changes tasks or how they are performed
– Job redesign is about working smarter, not
harder
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Organizational Structure
and Job Design
• Rigid bureaucratic structures with
strong centralized decision-making
need jobs that are controlled by an
authority.
• Relaxed, flatter structures with
autonomy need jobs that take
advantage of autonomy.
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Approaches to Job
Design and Redesign
• Mechanistic Job Design: Task specialization,
skill simplification, and repetition; the traditional
pyramidal pattern of organizing
• Biological Job Design: Structures the
physical work environment around how the
body works to minimize strain
• Perceptual/Motor Job Design: Keeps
employees within their mental capabilities and
limitations
• Motivational Job Design: Focuses on
affecting psychological meaning and
motivational potential
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-3: The Job Characteristics Model (JCM)
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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The Job Characteristics Model
of Job Design
• Five Core Job Characteristics to
Improve Employees’ Productivity and
Quality of Working Life
– Skill variety
– Task identity
– Task significance
– Autonomy
– Feedback
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Designing Motivational Jobs
• Job Simplification
• Job Expansion
– Rotation, enlargement, and enrichment
• Work Teams
– Integrated and self-managed
• Flexible Work
– Flextime, job sharing, telecommuting, and
compressed work weeks
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-4: Job Design Options, Process, and the JCM
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Job Design for Flexibility
• Flextime: Provides workers with a flexible
set of work hours
• Job Sharing: Two (or more) people share
one whole job
• Telecommuting: Allows workers to work
from a location other than the office
• Compressed Workweek: Takes the
normal 5-day, 40-hour workweek and
compresses it to fewer than 5 days
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-5: Sample Flextime Work Schedule
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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HR Forecasting
• Identifies estimated supply and demand
for different types of HR
• Based on analysis of past and present
demand
• Methods can be quantitative or
qualitative
• Measures need reliability and validity
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Quantitative Forecasting
• Trend Analysis: Reviewing historical items
(such as revenues) and relating changes
to business factors to form a predictive
chart
• Ratio Analysis: Reviewing historical data
and calculating proportions between a
business factor (such as production) and
number of employees needed
• Regression Analysis: Identifies
relationship between a series of variable
data points to forecast future variables
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-6: Quantitative Forecasting
Analysis: Trend Analysis
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-6: Quantitative Forecasting
Analysis: Ratio Analysis
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Exhibit 4-6: Quantitative Forecasting Analysis:
Regression Analysis
A regression diagram of
all of the companies in
our industry by year for
the past 10 years,
plotted with the number
of employees on the xaxis and revenues on
the y-axis, might look
like this. Based on this
diagram, if we were
expecting to have
revenues of $29MM
next year, we would
need approximately 254
employees.
Lussier and Hendon, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. © 2017, SAGE Publications.
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Qualitative Forecasting
• Nonquantitative methods are usually
based on knowledge of a pool of
experts in a subject or an industry.
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Reconciling Internal Labor
Supply and Demand
• Employers need the right number of
employees with the right skill sets in the
organization at the right time.
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Reconciling Internal Labor
Supply and Demand
• Options for a Surplus
– Downsizing and layoffs
– Pay reduction
– Work sharing
– Natural attrition
– Hiring freeze
– Retraining and transfers
– Early retirement
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Reconciling Internal Labor
Supply and Demand
• Options for a Shortage
– Overtime
– Temporary/contract employees
– Retrain employees
– Outsourcing
– Turnover reduction
– Hire new employees
– Technological innovation
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Trends and Issues in HRM
• O*Net used as an important tool for job
analysis.
• New trends related to workflows and
job designs for sustainability.
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