Chapter 4: Job Analysis
• What is a job analysis (JA)?
“The procedure for determining the
duties and skill requirements of a job
and the kind of person who should be
hired for it”
JA Example
• One way to conduct a JA…
• Tasks - Importance, frequency, time
spent (criticality)
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other
qualifications = “KSAOs”
What is a Job
Description?
• It is one product* of a job analysis
• “A list of a job’s duties,
responsibilities, reporting
relationships, working conditions, and
supervisory responsibilities”
*JA does not ≠ a Job Description*
What Is JA?
• The Process of Defining the Job
– Backbone of HRM practices (e.g., selection,
training, performance appraisals)
• Defining KSAOs Required for the Job
– All About the Job not About the Incumbent
• Identifies Competencies Required for the
Incumbent Holding the Job
– All About the Person-In-Job
Timing of JA
• Continual Process
– Begins With Creation of New Job
• Periodic Updates
– Watch for Job Shift
– Respond to Market Shift
• Keep Old Jobs Off of the Books
– Time Prohibitive Process…Don’t Add to It
“How To” Conduct JA
• Decide on the Use of JA
• Chart the Job
– Organization and Process
• Find Key or Benchmark Jobs
• Collect Data
– Multiple Methods Preferred
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
• Write Job Descriptions/Specifications
• Weigh the
Costs/Benefits
Choosing the Data
Collection Method
– Each Organization
Differs
• Interviews, Employee
Surveys, and Employee
Diaries
– Timely, Relatively
Cheap
– Social Desirability
• Time and Motion
Studies
– Thorough Yet Cost
Prohibitive
• Position Analysis
Questionnaire (PAQ)
– Info-Laden and
Quantifiable
– Copyrighted and
Expensive
• O*Net
– Replaced the Dictionary
of Occupational Titles
– Internet-Ready and
Available
Why Conduct and ReEvaluate JA?
• All HRM Practices
Flow From JA
– Recruiting
• Whom do We Recruit?
– Interviews
• What Questions do
We As?
– Performance
Evaluation
• What Factors are
Relevant?
• Legally Defensible
– Challenges to:
• Discriminatory Hiring
• Compensable Factors of
Pay
• Promotion and Raise
Challenges
• Collective Bargaining
• Choice: Pay Upfront or
Settle Lawsuits
Challenges of JA in the
Modern Workplace
• Does JA Limit Organizations…
–
–
–
–
Job Enlargement?
Job Enrichment?
Job Rotation?
A “Boundaryless” Organization?
• Is JA Feasible in Modern Organizations?
• Should we use competency based JA?