Meaning of Job: (2 mark possible question ) 2075
According to McCormick, “a job is a group of position which are identical with respect to their major and significant task and sufficiently alike to justify their being covered by a single analysis. There may be one or more person employed in a job.”
From the above definition, it is clear that job refers to the work content performed by a group of people with similar work, such as title described by the title “section officer” or “police officer” when the job of a section officer is analyzed, it sufficiently represent job of many other section officer too.
Meaning of Task: ( 2 mark possible question)
A task is the collection of activities that are directed towards the achievement of specific objectives. It is considered as to be a describe unit of work performed by an individual. For example, the task of a police officer is to talk with political leaders to settle political disturbance in an area.
Meaning of Position: (2 mark possible question)
According to McCormick, “A position consists of the tasks and duties for any individual. A position exists, whether occupied or vacant.”
It refers to a set of duties, tasks, activities and elements to be performed by a single worker. It means each employed person has a position rather than a job. For example, a position of a police officer is “Ram Sharma, sub-inspector, kaski district police officer.”
Meaning of Occupation: ( 2 mark possible )
According to McCormick, “the term occupation refers to a job of general class, an across the board basis, without organizational line.”
Some examples of occupation categories are accountant, engineer, doctor etc. This occupation also clearly indicate what a person expertise lies on him.
Concept of Job Design: (2072/71/67/65) (5 marks )
Job design specifies the content of job and the method of doing the job. It is the process of determining specific task to be included in a job and the method of performing those tasks.
Job design integrates job content and method of doing the job in a way that meet the need of the employer and employees. The key to successful job design lies in balancing the need of the organization and employees.
>>According to Decenzo and Robbins, “Job design is the way in which, job tasks are organized in to a unique of work.”
According to Byars, and Rue, “Job design is the process of structuring work and designating the specific work activities of an individual or group of individual to achieve certain organizational objectives.”
Similarly, according to Hackman, “Any activity that involves the alteration of specific job (or independent system of job) with the intent of increasing both the quality of the employees’ work experience and their on -the –job productivity.”
From the above definition, it is clear that job design is not just determining the contents and methods, but to make job motivating, interesting and challenging enough so that individuals ability and the degree of their participation will be increased.
Job design involves mainly three steps:-
Ø Specification of individual task.
Ø Combination of task in to jobs that can be assigned to individual or group.
Ø Specification of method of performing each task.
Job design affects productivity, cost, quality and cost-effectiveness of the organization. It also affects the motivation and job satisfaction of employees. Labor relations are affected by job design.
Methods and Approaches of job design: (2062/72) ( 10 marks question)
There are various methods of job design. Some of them are explained below:
1. Scientific Management Approach: This method is suggested by F.W Taylor. Under this method, jobs are narrowly defined. The job is simplified by breaking down the job into tasks. This task specifies not only what is to be done, but how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it. This further helps in work specialization.
Taylor suggested that, job should be designed first and then finding or fitting people to the job should be done next. He further argued that doing so; it not only decreases the cost of training and development but also motivates the people toward work. This approach is job oriented which can be used mostly in assembly line where same job are done repeatedly.
2. Herzberg’s Motivation –Hygiene Theory: This method is suggested by Frederick Herzberg. He and his associates found that people like to work in those organizations where two factors –hygiene and motivator are presents. Hygiene factors are pay, working condition (heating, lighting and ventilation), company policy and quality of supervision. These factor lead to an increase in productivity. Motivators are the feeling of self improvement, recognition, achievement and a desire for an acceptance of a greater responsibility. Presence of motivator factors motivates the employees and leads to job satisfaction. However, presence of hygiene factors in job not necessarily motivates the employees but absence causes dissatisfaction in the ob and lead to low productivity. Since, dissatisfaction can be minimized by providing adequate salary, improving working condition. However, motivate factors are totally related to job itself. Thus job should be designed in following ways.
a. Employees should be made more accountable for his/her job by delegating some authority.
b. Individual are given opportunity to plan and schedule their own jobs.
c. There should be as far as possible direct or face to face communication while working on that job.
d. Work should design in such that the worker can consider doing his/her own things.
e. Reward system should match the work performance.
3. Job Rotation: Job Rotation is the process of motivating employees by moving them from one job to another job for a shorter period of time. It is normally used to train different skills and techniques to the workers, so that one can work in different jobs at the time of urgency and scarcity. It also helps to avoid the boredom and frustration caused by similar and repetitive jobs.
4. Job Enlargement: Job Enlargement is the process of increasing the work load by adding the same nature of jobs or tasks into a job. E.g. the various tasks like operating camera, check sound, prepare lighting and report story can be added to video journalist job.
5. Job Enrichment: Job enrichment is one of the mostly used techniques to motivate the employees at work. Under this technique, employees are free to set their goals, supervise their subordinates and enjoy power over others by planning and controlling their work and work related activities.
This will enhance the employees’ commitment and satisfaction.
Techniques of job enrichment are as follows:
a. Specific task: Assign specific task to the individual to develop expertise.
b. Combine task: Add similar job to one to increase job scope.
c. Self-set standard: Allow the employees to set their own standard and targets.
d. Minimal control: Provide greater autonomy to work and work related activities.
e. Employee accountability: Make employee accountable for their performances.
f. Feedback: Provide feedback to employees about performance result.
6. Job Characteristics Approach: This approach is suggested by Hackman and Oldham. This approach is based on premise (idea) that it is possible to alter a job’s character and create conditions of high work motivation, satisfaction and performance by recognizing that people respond differently to the same job. This method states that specific job characteristics affect job design. They are :-
a. Skill Variety or the degree to which a job requires a job variety of different skills.
b. Task Identity or the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
c. Task significance or degree to which a job provides substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
d. Autonomy or the degree to which job provides substantial freedom, independence and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures used to carry it out.
e. Feedback or the degree to which carrying out the activities required by a job result in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his/her performance.
7. The Open Social –Technical System Approach: This approach is useful to design jobs to satisfy team or group employees. This approach implies that the work setting has to be seen in terms of two interrelated system: a social and technical system. The open system denotes the constant interaction of the organization and the work group as units with a larger environment. The major elements of job designing by using an open social technical system includes:-
a. Variation in the inputs and outputs of departments.
b. Estimates of relative importance of different variations.
c. Description of work roles, status, recruitment and training.
d. Analysis of attitude to work.
e. Analysis of the system of remuneration, wages etc.
f. Analysis of communication network.
8. Autonomous Work Group (Self-Managed Team): Under this method, the group or team is assigned, who has full autonomy to take any decision related to work and work activities. They are free to decide about the working methods, people involvement, people responsibility, leadership etc. This method focused on group achievement rather than individual achievement. Due to freedom and the performance based reward system, employees are more motivated towards works and thus enhance productivity.
9. Modified Work Schedule: Under this method the work time is change according to the necessity of the employees. They may be following types:-
a. Shorter work Week: Worker work 10 hours each day for four days.
b. Flex time: Employees contract to work for specific hours per week but are free to choose their working time within certain limit.
c. Job sharing: Sharing of a job between two or more part-time employees.
d. Homework: Employees do the work at home for the employers. Jobs like designing, software developing etc are done at home for employers.
Benefits of Job Design: (2065/67/71)(6 marks) (2072 – 2 marks)
Followings are the benefits of job design.
1. Determination of organizational structure: Organizational structure is made on the basis of the authority responsibility relationship of the activities that are performed in an organization. Determination of the activities is done under job design. Thus, job design helps in designing the overall organizational structure.
2. Motivating the staffs: Job design not only determines the contents and method of doing job but also focus on determining needs and expectation of employees from the job. Thus, it helps in making a job interesting and challenging which motivates the employees towards work and work activities.
3. Knowledge Upliftment: Job design focuses on building and increasing the abilities of individuals. The tasks are precisely defined and effective methods are specifically determined under job design. This helps to understand about the job and its procedure easily.
4. Person-Job fit: Job design always tries to balance between activities and the skill requires doing those activities. When the employees’ and jobs interest match it helps to improve productivity and ultimately achieve the goals.
5. Better Quality of Work Life: Better job design ensures the fulfillment of both psychological and physical needs. This further enhances degree of motivation and personal development. Thus, quality of work life (QWL) can be achieved through effective job design.
6. Change behavior at work: Job design focuses on reducing the duplication and repetition of work and work activities by an individual. Instead, it tries to make the work interesting and challenging which decreases the monotony and increases the willingness to perform a job. This helps to change the attitude of workers towards the work.
Concept of job analysis (Define job analysis) (2056/57/60/61/62/64/65/66/68/70/73/74/75)
Job Analysis can be defined as a structured, multi-method approach aimed at defining the skills, knowledge and personal attributes necessary for effective performance. It is the systematic process of discovery of the nature of a job by dividing it into small units. The final outcome of job analysis is the preparation of job description and job specification.
According to Gary Dessler, “job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and a kind of person who should be hired for it”
Similarly, according to Decenzo and Robbins, “a job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities with a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of a job.”
Thus, job analysis is just an accurate recording of the activities ,where information are gathered to define the specific job attributes .It produces information used for writing job description( a list of what the job necessities ) and job specification (what kind of people to hire for the job).
Collecting Job Analysis Information (Job Analysis Methods) (How would you collect job analysis information?) (Sources of job analysis information?) (2062/63/66/68)
The methods that managers or HR experts can use to find a job elements and matching knowledge ,skills and abilities necessary for successful performance include the following:-
a. Observation Method: Under this method, the job analyst observes the workers while they are performing their jobs. It helps to collects the first hand information about the activities, equipments, materials, working conditions and job hazards. However, workers in many cases do not function most efficiently when they are watched and thus, may lead to distortion in the job analysis. In addition, this method is not suitable for analyzing most managerial jobs where intellectual abilities are required.
b. Interview Method: Under this method, job incumbents (who are directly responsible for the job in current context) are selected and extensively interviewed. A check list of questions is used for interview purpose. This method is effective for assessing what a job entails (necessities), but is very time consuming.
c. Technical Conference Method: Under this method, the information related to the jobs are collected for the specialist and technicians ( experts).The information of job characteristics like difficulty, variability, significances ,autonomy, need for overtime etc. are collected. Although it is a good method, it often overlook(ignore) the workers perceptions about what they do on their jobs.
d. Dairy Method: This method requires job incumbents to record their daily activities. Comprehensive information is obtained about the job from entries made in the diary for the entire job cycle .However, maintaining a dairy is not possible for every job because it added a workload to the workers and also interfere the regular functioning of the actual work.
e. Structured Questionnaire Method: Using this method, workers are sent a structured questionnaire on which they check or rate items they perform on the job from a long list of possible task items. This is a popular method for gathering the information about jobs. However, sometime questions may be misunderstood and often feedback is lacking in this method.
Purpose of Job Analysis (Uses of Job Analysis Information) (2056/60/61/64/65/66)(6 marks)
Following are the purposes of Job Analysis:
a. Job Description: Job analysis is use in developing job description. A job description is a written statement of what the job holder does, how it is done and how job is done .It accurately portray job contents, environment and conditions of employment. In other words, job description is a list of job duties, responsibilities, reporting relationship, working conditions and supervisory responsibilities. A common format of job description includes:
i. Job title
ii. Level of the job
iii. Job location
iv. Duties and Responsibilities
v. Authority and Accountabilities.
b. Job Specification: Job Analysis is use in developing job specification. A job Specification states the minimum acceptable qualification that the incumbents must have to perform the job successfully. It defines the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job effectively. The important information includes in job specification are:
a. Education and training
b. Experience
c. Physical Health
d. Skills
e. Maturity
c. Job Evaluation: Job Analysis information is crucial (essential) for estimating the value of each job and its appropriate compensation. If an organization is to have an equitable compensation program, job that has similar demand in terms of skills, education, and other personal characteristics should be placed in common compensation groups. Thus, job evaluation contributes toward the end by specifying the relative value of each job in the organization.
d. Recruitment and Selection: Job Analysis provides information about what the job entails and what human characteristics are required to perform these activities. This information in the form of job description and job specification, helps management decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
e. Performance Appraisal: A performance appraisal compares each employee’s actual performance with his/her performance standards. Managers use job analysis to determine the job’s specific activities and performance standards.
f. Training and Development: Job Analysis identifies and suggests individual abilities required for a job. Therefore training and development needs can be ascertained by job analysis.
How does job description differ from job specification? (2062/64/69)
The difference between job description and job specification can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:
i. Job Description is a descriptive statement that describes the role, responsibility, duties, and scope of a particular job. Job Specification states the minimum qualifications required for performing a particular job.
ii. Job Description is the outcome of Job Analysis while Job specification is the result of Job Description.
iii.Job Description describes jobs, but Job Specification describes job holders.
iv.The job description is a summary of what an employee will do after getting selected. Conversely, Job Specification is a statement showing what a person must possess for getting selected.
V. Job Description contains designation, place of work, scope, working hours, responsibilities, reporting authority, salary range, etc On the other hand, Job Specification contains educational qualifications, experience, skills, knowledge, age, abilities, work orientation factors, etc.
