The Organizational Purposes - Essay Example

?Running Head: essay Critically discuss the organizational purposes that job analysis can serve of the of the of the Professor] [Course] Human resource management is considered to be multi-dimensional in nature because it defines the skills, knowledge, abilities, aptitudes and talents of human assets used within an organization. It encompasses a 360 degree view of the inter-related and inter-dependent factors which help plan the capacity requirement of people, their optimum use, avoiding mismatch between demands and supply, monitor the cost element of managing human resources and facilitate planning the future directions of organizational policies and human skills. Job analysis in the words of Armstrong (2006, p.446) is “the process of collecting, analyzing and setting out information about the content of jobs in order to provide the basis for a job description and data for recruitment, training, job evaluation and performance management. Job analysis concentrates on what job holders are expected to do.” The data collected in this practice pertains to the identification of job, its nature, involved operations, type and use of materials and equipments, inter-relation with other jobs and also the attributes of the person who will be handling the job- capabilities, training, educational level, competencies, knowledge, et cetera. Job analysis thus aims at planning for and analyzing the external environment factors or task and role components on which people have to be fit in according to their suitability and relevance. Successful human resources entail properly defined and prior settings of parameters related to worker’s abilities, job activities and environmental components. Job analysis serves as the pre-requisite in inter-linking these three types of analyses namely- worker, job and environmental; and account for overall designing of jobs, role and tasks and respective skills and talents demanded to fill those jobs (Pilbeam & Corbridge 2010). The US Department of Labor (2004) devised the Occupational Information Network database for categorized information on different occupations. Better known as O*NET, the classification diagram (Figure 1) depicts all broad and specific descriptors required to analyze a job. Jonassen et al. (1999, p.64) present a comprehensive view of the O*NET whereby the work descriptors are segregated into experience, worker and occupation requirements, characteristics regarding worker and occupation and other specifications. Figure 1 demonstrates the specific components covered under the three analyses heads which make up the sections for data collection in job analysis. In the concerned figure, the data heads pertaining to the job make up the Job Description while those related to the individual are known as Job Specification. Thus, these two are the outputs of job analysis function (IRS 2003). Figure 1: Occupational Network Diagram Source: Jonassen et al. (1999, p.64) Organizational structure is comprised of occupations which are characterized by jobs possessing similar characteristics- for example; the occupation of marketing involves closely related marketing activities but come under the commonality of marketing occupation. Every occupation in turn is made up of different positions whereby tasks assigned to people are different based on their competencies and abilities. This is where the role of job analysis emerges. Job analysis serves as the building block of organizational structure because it differentiates the position of individuals from that of their actual assigned tasks and roles. Such minute details establish processes, work methods, performance standards, training and development needs, incentives and compensation and promotion and appraisal plans for each job, position and occupation, based on the three analyses conducted. Job analysis assumes important place in human resources management because of its significance and implications in both strategic and operational issues of an organization. Job analysis when broken down into smaller specifications drives job descriptions, job priorities and job classifications (Marchington & Wilkinson 2005, p.167). With the help of job design, competent and skilled employees can be recruited (Elearn 2009, p. 2013), job activities can be redesigned, modified or simplified and job activities also serve as the basis for setting compliance, safety, compensation, performance, training and development and other managerial standards. Figure 2: Purposes of job analysis Source: Jackson, Schuler & Werner 2009, p.154 Figure 2 depicts the variety and plethora of activities where job analysis serves as the fundamental activity in providing important and relevant information, aiding in job design and simplification, planning processes, procedures and methods and designing appropriate training programmes suited to the specific job and worker needs. Initiating from the planning phase of human resources, job analysis assumes qualitative role and assesses the requirements of a job in terms of duties and responsibilities. This job profile gets translated into role profile where duties and responsibilities are defined in terms of what job holders should possess to deliver the defined outcomes and identifies the accountabilities and competencies. It is more of person-oriented than job-oriented and hence is defined in behavioral components of job expectations. Job analysis thus discloses the routine tasks and activities which are required by an individual to finish within a day, number of such jobs and division of the entire work into numerous yet distinct jobs. This is one of the major factors behind planning manpower requirements (Chmiel 2000, p.47). Next comes the most critical activity of recruitment and selection within the employment programme which seeks to strike a balance and match between job and candidate profile. Data analyzed from the two outputs- Job Description and Job Specification has to be aligned and combined well to arrive at clear job statements and skills and potentials of individuals who are supposed to work on these jobs. Ployhart et al. (2006, p.101) assert that job analysis facilitates acquiring valuable information about the purpose of the job in the organization, the content of the job and individual competency and accountability profile. Without prior information on these aspects of job, either wrong candidate can hold a job or an individual would fail performing his job duties well in the absence of clearly laid down job requirements (Taylor 2008). Job analysis here serves as the binding link which closely matches the work requirements with that of individual competencies so that ambiguities and non-specified actions do not crop up later. Even if there are some gaps between actual and expected job filings, job analysis serves the purpose of providing for, designing and administering training and development programmes. Task analysis sets the requisite competencies which the job holder should possess. An individual showcasing exceptional performance but lacking in one or the other skills can be put to effective use by imparting training in the specified domain which is based on job description. It is especially useful in case of promotions where new roles are just an extension of previous ones and job holders need a push in terms of latest knowledge, skills and abilities. Based on job description and job specification, the organization can provide for specialized training modules and save on costs incurred in mass training programmes (Siddique 2004). Because job description in a way sets the standards of the job in terms of duties, accountabilities and competencies, it also serves as a yardstick to evaluate the performance of the job holder. Technical, managerial and psychological- all task components are clearly defined in job description which makes the job holder familiar with what is expected out of him. Data collected from job analysis techniques enables supervisors and appraisers to measure the actual performance against pre-defined roles and standards which provide for organization’s compensation, equity, appraisal and incentive plans. Job holders demonstrating excellent performance than expected are rewarded while those who lack on any of the individual attributes can be counseled on the basis of shortcomings found. As such, job analysis data also allows both organization and employees to see whether job holders are able to cope up with the demands and hazards of the job. For individuals seeking new dimensions in their job profile, they can be provided suitable guidance and training in related job areas. For low performers, this job analysis data can help put them on subsidiary jobs with lesser duties and demands (Guion 2011). Job analysis is specifically important in industrial jobs where use of machinery, equipments and other hazardous elements is frequent. Job analysis here identifies and sets the criteria for usage of these elements in tasks, their impact and other environmental factors which might pose a threat to the well being of employees. Thus, from organizational point of view, job analysis is a safety and labor standard implementation tool whereby based on task profiles, corrective measures can be taken to avoid the possibility of any risk and offer a healthy and secure working environment to its workers (Parker & Wall 1998). Thus, job analysis serves as a strong information base for an organization to base its resources and policies on. It is both operational and strategic in nature- the latter role spanning more because of its function as an interface between people and jobs (Singh 2008). All the basic functions and activities that come under the aegis of human resources management- planning, staffing, training, development, job redesign, compensation, performance measurement and appraisals; depend upon a single business practice of job analysis. However, with fast paced environmental changes taking place in the business settings, the significance of traditional job analysis is fading away. The underlying assumptions of job analysis seem inadequate in today’s world of flexible, dynamic and knowledge oriented work places. According to the earlier job analysis assumptions, the roles and tasks of individuals remain static over time. As such, the documents produced by job analysis- job description and job specification are also static in nature. While modernized scenario calls for more flexibility, innovation and creativity from job holders, traditional job analysis builds upon its activities on mass production and stable environment practices. As such, job analysis today seems unfit for the team, alliance and cross-functional based job profiles of post-industrial era (Robert & Brady 2003, p.57). Job analysis lays down concrete duties which are no longer applicable in present situation which is marked by less hierarchical and more self-managed organizational structures. Because of increased competition and need to sustain the growth, organizations often rotate their employees on different tasks and project based activities. Job roles are now identified based on specific need of the hour which cannot be predicted in advance. Hence, job analysis falls short of identifying and outlining the dynamic nature of jobs changing according to the demands of market and organization (Fisher et al. 2007, p.162). Precisely, in the words of Maryann (2001, p.136) job analysis is work-oriented rather worker-oriented which limits the flexibility of the organization in times when jobs are turning boundary less. Mathis and Jackson (2008, p.182) further highlight the behavioral shortcomings of job analysis- inflating or puffing up the significance and relative importance of the job by managers and employees with a view to get more compensation, promotion opportunities and enhanced status. Job analysis is also observed to have infused fear and anxieties in the minds of employees because of the scope and expectations of duties set by their job profiles. Though such fear is only short-lived and develops in the initial stages of job analysis, yet can hamper the maximum output realization and development of an individual if persists for long. This is because prolonged fear and anxiety might make the employee limit his creative instincts on the grounds that some specific activity is not given in his job description and what would be its result. Job analysis process commences with collection of data on various aspects of job, individuals and other organizational constraints like time and budget. The job analysis ratings are provided by people from the organization like supervisors and job incumbents and sometimes from trained job analysts too. Many a times, flaws in the job analysis technique creep in because of faulty data collection and rating system devoid of accuracy, validity and reliability. Some instances of discrepancies creeping in job analysis data collection emanate when managers and employees exaggerate some of the job characteristic ratings or omit one or the other essential information for personal biases or gains (Anderson 2005, p.72). Issues also arise when factors such as non-familiarity with job details, lack of access to job location, continuous changes in job roles or job period exceeding observation time exceeds; persists. Limitations exist with all three kinds of people collecting data- with trained analysts, process becomes expensive and non-familiarity with both tangible and intangible aspects of job are more frequent, leading to incorrect job ratings. Noe (2007, p.151) highlight that disagreement between job ratings by supervisors and incumbents exists more for specific job characteristics than for general job attributes. Also, job analysis does not ensure whether inferences have been drawn from individual samples or a large sample of data and generalized for all related job categories. Such issues raise question on the accuracy of data collection and analysis methods deployed under job analysis process. Harvey & Wilson (2000) specifically raise the concern of assessing the accuracy of job analysis data and inferences drawn from that data. They raise questions on consequential validity of job analysis data put forth by Levin and argue that individual position ratings and cross-position reliability matters exist with job analysis data which fail to provide a true aggregate view of the job. With supervisors, problems of time constraint, exercising objectivity while rating jobs and individuals and proper training for that matter could exist reducing the effectiveness of job analysis data collection. Even with job holders, if they are ambiguous of their roles, restrictive job samples and lack of standardization can mar the overall usefulness of this business practice. Immediate repercussions are seen in the form of incorrect or inadequate job descriptions which either present a mismatch between roles and duties or are incapable of incorporating changed roles into new job profiles. While the job holder gets very little guidance from the job description, sometimes even labor or other relevant laws might get violated if job and role changes are not properly dealt with. The ‘specificity-generality-dilemma’ was also presented (Evers et al. 2005, p.31; Koppes 2007, p.235) wherein it becomes ambiguous to determine whether broad or specific personality traits should be judged for personnel selection. Job analysis does provide specific worker aspects to handle the job but omits the marginal duties that are to be shared along with the core tasks. Bernardin (2007, p.83) here assert that even individual team members’ roles and duties should be specified clearly because many a times, team members have to swap their roles and in the absence of a detailed and dynamic job description, the team effectiveness is hampered. Some legal repercussions are also attached to generalist job descriptions which often result in lawsuits and prove detrimental to the overall purpose of job analysis. One stark limitation of job analysis data revealed by Drenth et al. (1998, p.157) is the discriminatory setting of job requirements due to incorrect inferences drawn from job analysis data. They cite the example of a policeman where ‘physical strength’ is a critical job aspect. Though this is not an essential requirement for the job, yet direct discrimination can be exercised on the basis of this single attribute and its wrong interpretation in the context of job analysis. Some other criticism of job analysis as summarized by Baker & McKenzie (2009, p.201) include its relevance and suitability for repetitive jobs only because of its limitation to incorporate dynamic changes, vague and blurred specifications of jobs defined under the phrase- ‘other tasks as needed and required’ and promoting a scapegoat and inflexible attitude in employees whereby they try to stay aloof of their accountability saying that this or that was not specified in their job description. Aswathappa (2007, p.112) consider the approach of traditional job analysis to be not in synch with the total quality management approach which is the hot cake in business market nowadays. TQM philosophy places impetus on continuous improvement, improved communications and reassessments of purpose and every single aspect of a job. On the contrary, job analysis does not leave any scope for the introduction of additional duties that might be added on to the job profile of incumbents and thus defies the continuous improvement premise of TQM. Maintaining quality at every level of job and activities is also not stated in black and white in job descriptions which is inconsistent with the quality goals of TQM Charter. All in all, after having looked upon the pros and cons of job analysis, one this is clear that job analysis technique is turning obsolete because of its failure to incorporate the changes taking place every day. While jobs and duties are getting boundary less, job analysis still places a binding on the work profile of employees. As such, many of the scholars and authors are of the view to change its name from job analysis to work analysis. This is because work involves everything- from core to supplementary duties and even cross-functional tasks. In its basic implications, it does provide valuable information about jobs, environment and job holders which can be used as pre-requisite to the designing and modifications of jobs. Yet for strategic and functional purposes, traditional job analysis now demands to be transformed into strategic and functional job analysis (Fine & Cronshaw 1999) whereby competency modeling (Wood & Payne 1998) will take greater attention than mere job profiling. No doubt job analysis will remain a useful tool in the hands of organizations to design their organizational structure and chalk out plans regarding basic human resource functions like staffing, training, compensation and appraisals, yet its significance can increase manifold if constraints of validity, reliability and rating disagreements are done away with. At the end, it can be said that job analysis can lead an organization to increased revenues, productivity and better working conditions for employees if it is able to change with time. If not, it can place heavy burdens on organization in terms of wasteful resources, mismatch between employee demand and supply and static work environment. References Anderson, N. (2005). Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology. Volume 1. London: Sage Publications. Armstrong, M. (2006). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management. 11th Ed. London: Kogan Page. Aswathappa, K. (2007). Human Resource and Personnel Management. 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