CHAPTER 5
Job design and job
analysis
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Chapter outcomes
• Discuss issues impacting on the design of jobs.
• Understand how the design of a job affects employee motivation and
performance.
• Show various methods of designing motivating jobs.
• Understand how motivating jobs can be created by building work
teams.
• Become aware of radically new organisational programmes such as
TQM.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Chapter outcomes (continued)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Understand the basic elements of a job analysis programme.
Describe the end products of job analysis.
Identify the major methods of job analysis.
Discuss the future use and updating of job analysis information.
Cite techniques useful in writing job descriptions.
Recognise the major elements of job descriptions and job
specifications.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Dividing work into jobs
• Work –
• Job –
• As organisations change, these tasks, duties & responsibilities
may also change over time
• When all jobs are added together they should = the amount of
“work” that is to be completed
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Dividing work into jobs (continued)
• Workflow analysis – studies the way work moves through the
organisation
– desired & actual outputs
– activities
– inputs
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Dividing work into jobs (continued)
• Re-engineering – generates the needed changes in the
business processes
– Purpose of business process re-engineering  improve
such activities as product development, customer service &
service delivery
– Require the use of work teams, training employees to do
more than one job and reorganising operations, workflow
and offices to simplify and speed up the work
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Designing jobs
• Major HR concerns:
– Employee productivity
– Job satisfaction
• Job design (JD) –
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
A framework for job design
Job content
Task variety, autonomy,
complexity, difficulty, identity
Feedback
Task
Accomplishment
Job functions
Productivity
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Responsibility, authority,
information flow, work
methods, co-ordination
requirements
Worker reaction
Satisfaction
Absenteeism
Turnover
Relationships
Dealing with others,
friendship opportunities,
teamwork requirements
Feedback
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Major approaches to job design
• Specialisation-intensive jobs
– Job simplification (job specialisation)
• Motivation intensive jobs
– Job rotation
– Job enlargement
– Job enrichment
– Work teams
• Sociotechnical approach
– Self-managed work teams
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
New organisational approaches
• Total quality management (TQM)
– Focuses on the quality of all the processes that lead to the
final product or service
– To be successful it requires support of top management &
the belief that quality is a key part of every employee’s job
– Customer focus in the process of designing and improving
quality
– Proper implementation requires a clear vision & support of
top management and a focus on results NOT the process
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
The office environment
• Work environment (space, workstations, light etc) affects employee
morale, productivity and quality, absenteeism & turnover
• Creativity can happen anywhere
• Retain the services of an architect or design consultant
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Robotics
• The use of robots to perform routine tasks
• Industrial robots:
– Anthropomorphic
– Nonanthropomorphic
• First-generation robots –
• Second-generation robots –
• New robots –
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Ergonomics
• Taking into account the human factor in designing the
employee’s workstation
• Relationship between the employees and their
workstations – machines used, lighting, noise, chairs
etc, these can affect productivity
• IBM Employee handbook identifies the following:
– Posture
– Back
– Hand
– Environment
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Productivity measures
• Quantity or volume produced
• Accurate measure of productivity is vital to organisational
improvement effort
• Gain competitive advantage
• Strategies to improve productivity & quality
– Depends on employee seeing a link between what they
produce & what the company is attempting to achieve
– What will work for one company may not for another
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Productivity measures (continued)
• Organisations must be careful not to measure the wrong things
or overlook those that are critical to success
• Merely implementing quality techniques, including employee
empowerment and benchmarking will not produce benefits
• Productivity is the relationship between what is put into a piece
of work (input) and what is yielded (output)
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Three major components of productivity
Effectiveness
“Doing the right things”
The production process
Resource
market
Labour,
materials
and capital
Conversion
Inputs
Goods
and
services
Outputs
Utilisation & efficiency
“Doing things right”
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Market
needs
Three major components of
productivity
• Utilisation –
• Efficiency –
• Effectiveness –
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Other JD issues
• Work schedules
– Flexitime
– Compressed workweeks
• Alternative physical work locations
– Telecommuting
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
The nature of job analysis (JA)
• Job analysis –
• Investigates:
– Levels of decision-making
– Skills employees need to do a job adequately
– Autonomy of the job
– Mental effort required to perform the job
– Machines operated, reports completed & special
financial/other responsibilities
– Working conditions (levels of temperature, light etc)
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
The importance of JA
• New realities:
– Organisational restructuring due to downsizing
– The need to motivate and reward people
– The impact of technology on jobs throughout the
organisation
– Labour legislation pertaining to employment equity and
general discriminatory practices
– The implementation of teams
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Components of a job
• To understand a specific job and to be able to make comparisons
among or between jobs, it is important that anyone analysing a job
should know that it can be broken down into several components
and arranged into a hierarchy of work activities
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Hierarchy of work activities
Job family
Occupation
Job
Position
Duty
Task
Element
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Programme implementation
1.
2.
Committee review
Information collection
– General methods
• Site observations
• Work sampling
• Interviews
• Diaries
• Questionnaires
– Specific methods
• PAQ
• FJA
• CMQ
• WPS
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Programme implementation
3.
4.
Information review
Product completion
• Job description (JD)
 Uses of a JD:
 Recruitment
 Interviewing
 Orientation
 Training
 Job evaluation
 Wage/salary surveys
 Performance appraisal
 Outplacement
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Programme implementation
4. Product completion (continued)
•
Job description (JD) (continued)

Elements of a JD:



•
Job identification
Job summary
Job duties & responsibilities
Job specification (JS)



Skills
Knowledge
Abilities
5. Future use & updating
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
JA problems
• Employee fear
• Need to update information regularly
• Job is held by only one or two employees
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Summary
•
•
•
•
Understanding how people are motivated, that is, their needs
and goals, is critical to modern job design.
The task employees perform on the job and the variety,
difficulty level and autonomy of the job greatly affect job
satisfaction and productivity.
Employees, individually or in work teams, are being asked to
take on greater responsibility for the design and control of
their jobs. Simple, repetitious tasks are eliminated whenever
possible, generally resulting in jobs that are more motivating
and challenging. At the same time, some degree of job
specialisation is necessary so that new employees can learn
their jobs quickly and make fewer errors.
Programmes such as job enrichment, self-managed work
groups, TQM and re-engineering have resulted in redesigned
jobs that were previously highly specialised and boring.
There is also a trend toward multiskilling, whereby team
members learn multiple tasks. Organisations are adopting
work teams and giving them more freedom and
responsibilities.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Summary
•
•
•
Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the fastest-growing productivity
improvement programmes in the world. It is based on the principle of
commitment to continuous improvement and meeting customers' needs. It is
largely a bottom-up change effort.
Re-engineering is more radical. It involves more than tweaking old
procedures; it is the redesign of business processes to achieve major gains
in cost, service or time. The process begins with the simple but powerful
question: If we could start from scratch, how would we do this? It is different
from TQM because it comes from the top down.
Technology plays an important role in modern job design. Robotics,
ergonomics and the office environment can improve employee creativity,
productivity and quality.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Summary
•
•
•
In addition to job design, organisations may choose to implement
programmes that increase workplace flexibility. These
programmes tend to adopt a scheduling mix between employees'
needs and the organisation's staffing requirements in ways that
are consistent with the company's culture. Compressed work
weeks, flexitime programmes and telecommuting are the most
common approaches. Employees who desire greater control over
work hours, who would like easier commuting or want a different
lifestyle will be attracted to organisations that offer these types of
programmes.
A sound JA programme produces many benefits for an
organisation. Information critical to employment and compensation
is collected on a systematic basis. JDs, JSs and JEs can easily be
produced from the JA data. Thus, critical HR practices such as
hiring, wage determination and administrative record-keeping are
assisted by job analysis.
Information collection should always begin by conducting a
background search. Internal sources can include previous job
analyses, interviews with job incumbents and job supervisors, site
observations by the analyst, questionnaires and diaries.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning
Summary
•
•
•
There is a variety of job analysis methods, with each having
certain advantages, depending on the purpose, cost and time.
The most popular method is the PAQ. A more complex method
that demands computer analysis and that can handle thousands
of jobs and people is the FJA.
Job analysis is necessary to comply with the primary employment
provisions. The process helps to determine essential functions
and whether an individual can carry out the essential functions
with or without reasonable accommodation.
Job descriptions generally should contain a complete
identification of the job and its location within the organisation.
The section on duties and responsibilities should group all tasks
into major functional categories, and each entry should begin with
verbs. Job specifications should include all SKAs needed to
perform the job, as well as other minimum qualifications.
For use with Human Resource Management in South Africa 4e
by Grobler, Wärnich et al
ISBN: 1408019515 © 2010 Cengage Learning