Chapter 3
ANALYZING WORK AND DESIGNING
JOBS
Prepared by: Nicole Vincic, Mohawk College
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Learning Objectives
LO1: Summarize the elements of workflow analysis and how
work relates to an organization’s structure.
LO2: Discuss the significance of job analysis and the elements of
a job analysis.
L03: Explain how to obtain information for a job analysis and the
recent trends in job analysis.
L04: Identify the different approaches to job design.
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Walmart Leading the Way Through Robot
Technology
•Walmart’s automated fulfillment
systems has helped the company stay
competitive
•Collaborative robot technology has
helped improve efficiency of work,
adding new opportunities for
workers
•Some employee jobs now depend on
higher-level skills, including how to
use the computer interface
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Work Flow in Organizations
•Work Flow Design
• The process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a
product or service
•Job
• A set of related duties
•Position
• The set of duties (job) performed by a particular person
Example: A school has many teaching positions; the person filling each
of those positions is performing the job of a teacher
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Work
Flow
Analysis
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Work Flow Design and an Organization’s
Structure
Units and individuals must cooperate to create outputs
•Ideally, the structure brings together people to collaborate and
efficiently produce the outputs
Centralized structure
•Authority is concentrate at the top of the organization
Decentralized structure
•Authority is spread among people
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Job
Analysis
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Outcome of
Job Analysis:
Job
Description
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Outcome of
Job Analysis:
Job
Specification
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Job Description vs. Job Specification
JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB SPECIFICATION
•List of tasks, duties, and
responsibilities (TDRs) that a
particular job entails
•List of knowledge, skills, abilities,
and other characteristics (KSAOs)
a job holder must have
•TDRs are observable actions
•Observable only when TDRs are
being carried out
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Sources of Job Information
Incumbents
•People who currently hold the position in the organization
•Provide accurate estimates on time spent on tasks
Observers
•Supervisors should review the information provided by the incumbents
•Identify importance of job duties
Federal Government
•National Occupational Classification (NOC) provides standardized sources of
information about jobs
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Job Analysis Methods
Position Analysis Questionnaire:
◦ One of the broadest and most researched instruments for analyzing jobs
◦ Information input and mental processes
◦ Work output
◦ Relationship with other persons
◦ Job context and other characteristics relevant to the job
Fleishman Job Analysis System:
◦ Asks SMEs (typically job incumbents) to evaluate a job in terms of the
abilities required to perform the job
◦ 52 categories of abilities
◦ Uses a 7-point scale with phrases
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Trends in Job Analysis
•Analyze jobs in the context of strategy, structure, and performance
•Need to be agile and adaptive – jobs change and evolve
•Downsizing requires changes in the nature of jobs
•Analysis of work flows vs. traditional job analysis due to:
• Changes in nature of work
• Project-based organizational structures
• Shift to on-demand economy (e.g. Uber)
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Job Design
Job Design
• Process of defining the way work will be performed and tasks that
a job requires
Job Redesign
• Similar process that involves changing and existing job design
Effective job design involves:
• Thorough understanding the job (through job analysis) and its
place in the work unit’s work flow process (through work flow
analysis)
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Approaches
to Job
Design
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Designing Efficient Jobs
Industrial Engineering
• Involves the study of jobs to find the simplest way to structure work in
order to maximize efficiency
• Seeks the “one best way” to perform a job
• Benefits include lower costs and greater output per worker
Focus on efficiency alone can create jobs that are boring and feel
meaningless
Most organizations combine industrial engineering with other approaches
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Designing
Jobs that
Motivate
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Application of the Job Characteristics
Approach
Key methods:
1. Job enlargement
•Broadening types of tasks (e.g. job extension and job rotation)
2. Job enrichment
•Adding more decision-making authority
3. Self-managed work teams
•Empowering employees through work team to self-manage an entire work
process or segment
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Application of the Job Characteristics
2
Approach
4. Flexible work arrangements
•Includes flexibility to when work is performed (“time” flexibility) and
where work is performed (“place” flexibility)
•Time flexibility includes flextime, job sharing, and compressed work
week
•Place flexibility includes remote and hybrid work
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Job Design for Physical and Mental
Well-Being
Ergonomics
•The study of the interface between individuals’ physiology and the
characteristics of the physical work environment
Goal is to minimize physical strain on the worker
• Reduce physical demands of certain jobs
• Re-design machines and technology
• Reduce repetitive strain injuries
Concerns about mobile devices, laptops, touchscreens
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Job Design for Physical and Mental
2
Well-Being
Cognitive ergonomics
•Recognizes the mind has capabilities as well as limitations
Design jobs so that they can be preformed given the way the brain
processes information
•Provides valuable information to support employees’ mental health
and well-being
•Consider “recovery time”
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Summary
LO1: Summarize the elements of workflow analysis and how
work relates to an organization’s structure.
LO2: Discuss the significance of job analysis and the elements of
a job analysis.
L03: Explain how to obtain information for a job analysis and the
recent trends in job analysis.
L04: Identify the different approaches to job design.
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