Q.9. What are the uses and value of job analysis?
Ans. Uses & Value of Job Analysis: -
Lawshe and Satter propose four major uses of job analysis: the derivation of training content, the setting up of personnel specifications, the improvement of job efficiency, and the establishment of wage structures.
Zegra mentions the following specific uses:
(1) Job grading and classification.
(2) Wage setting and standardization.
(3) Provision of hiring specifications.
(4) Clarification of job duties and responsibilities.
(5) Transfer and promotions
(6) Adjustment of grievances.
(7) Establishment of a common understanding between various levels of workers and management.
(8) Defining and outlining promotional steps.
(9) Investigating accidents
(10) Indicating faulty work procedures or duplication of effort
(11) Maintaining, operating, and adjusting machinery
(12) Time and motion studies
(13) Defining limits of authority
(14) Indicating cases of individual merit
(15) Indicating causes of personal failure
(16) Education and training
(17) Facilitating job placement
(18) Studies of health and fatigue
(19) Scientific guidance
(20) Determining jobs suitable for occupational therapy
A careful examination of this list shows the great importance of having a job analysis made. Furthermore, this technique should not be regarded as being suitable only for large organizations. A good job analysis can be very important in easing much of the friction that often arises in the typical small office employing only a few girls. It is not unusual to find that in such an office the girls continually quarrel as to whose job it is to get the bills ready for mailing; everyone insists that she was not hired for that job and she sees no reason why it should fall on her. A frequent solution is to have the girls take turns, but this hardly ever helps because the girl who has to do this work on a particular day will accuse the other girls of refusing to help her. However, if there were clear-cut statements of specific requirements for the various jobs, such as a job analysis provides, much of this friction would be eliminated.
Another source of friction in offices is the lack of definite limits of authority. Thus a girl with seniority, even if it is only of two weeks, will attempt to assume authority over a new employee; the latter soon discovers that she has far too many bosses. Here again job analysis is valuable.
In many respects a job analysis is a vital part of working efficiency, besides promoting smooth working relationships among the employees. It can be regarded as the foundation upon which a system of efficiency is built. Effective training programs, good personnel policies, attempts to reduce fatigue, and many other measures leading to efficiency cannot be introduced effectively unless the basic and preliminary step of job analysis has been taken. Prior to the development of psychological tests for industrial use, a job analysis must be made.
Q.10. Describe the method of job analysis.
Ans. Job Analysis Methods: -
There are many different methods which may be used to obtain data for a job analysis. Morsh, has listed nine techniques, each with its own special advantages.
Questionnaire Method: -
This method is usually used to obtain information about occupations via a mail survey. The job incumbent is asked to provide data about himself and his job in his own words. The method is good for people who write easily but not so good for collecting data from low-level workers who have little facility for self-expression. Also, it is often a very time-consuming and laborious process to analyze the data obtained in this manner.
Check List Method: -
This technique requires the worker to check the task he performs from a long list of possible task statements. However, in order to prepare the check list, extensive preliminary work is required in collecting appropriate task statements, While check lists are easy for the incumbent to respond to, they do not provide an integrated picture of the job in question. They are easily administered to large groups and easy to tabulate.
Individual Interview Method: -
Here “representative” job incumbents are selected for extensive interviewing - usually outside or the actual job situation. The interview is usually structured, and the results of a number of interviews are combined into a single job analysis. The technique is obviously cumbersome, costly, and time-consuming, but a very complete picture of the job can be obtained with this method.
Observation Interview Method: -
The observation interview actually takes place right on the job. The interviewer collects data from the incumbent, using normal interview methods, as the incumbent performs his work. The interviewer observes and questions the worker in an attempt to get complete job description data. Like the individual interview, it is a slow and costly method which may also interfere with normal work operations, However, it generally produces a good and complete job description.
Group Interview Method: -
The group interview is similar to the individual interview except that a number of job incumbents are interviewed simultaneously. Under the guidance of the interviewer, the interviewer recall and discuss their work activities. The interviewer then combines their comments into a single job description. The advantage over the individual method is the savings in time obtained by the group method.
Technical Conference Method: -
This method uses “experts” rather than actual job incumbents as a source of information. These experts are usually supervisors who have extensive knowledge of the job in question. They meet with the job analyst and attempt to specify all the characteristics of the job. The problem with this method is that the experts may not actually know as much about the job as the analyst would hope, since they do not actually perform the task themselves. Thus, their judgments are only estimates based upon their background experience.
Diary Method: -
Here job incumbents are required to record their daily activities each day using some type of logbook or diary. The method is good in that it systematically gathers a great deal of information, but it can also take a great deal of time on the part of the worker if the recording forms are not kept simple.
Work Participation Method: -
With this procedure the job analyst actually performs the job himself. By doing the work himself he is thus able to obtain firsthand information about what characteristics comprise the job under investigation. The technique is fairly effective for simple jobs, but complex jobs usually require that the job analyst be extensively trained prior to his session of work activity. The method is clearly time-consuming and costly.
Critical Incident method: -
This involves the collection of a series of statements of job behavior, based upon direct observation or memory, about good and poor job performance. In job analysis such incidents can provide information about critical aspects of the job, but the method does not provide an integrated picture of the entire task.
