MGMT 343: Exam 2

What is the order of work analysis & design?

1. Work Analysis Flow

2. Job Analysis

3. Job Description

____ is considered the “bedrock” of human resources management, as it lays the groundwork for all other HR activities

* Job Analysis

Job

* Collection of tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs)

Work

* Broad, includes TDRs + **skills & knowledge**

Why is the concept of a job in work design'/analysis up for debate?

* Because of rapid technology, work is becoming more important than jobs

Work Analysis

• Defining & codifying tasks + duties → Job Description

• Includes job analysis + task/skill analysis

One of the give major variables in strategy implementation is

* Job Design

How did companies in the United States shift from a mechanistic approach (assembly lines) to self-directed work teams?

* Volvo
* Charifman of Volvo - “'I want the people in a team to be able to go home at night and really say, 'I built that car,”
* Motivational approach to work design
* **The** ***Volvo*** **Way is based on the conviction that every individual has the capability and the determination to improve our business**

Work-Flow Design

* **process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service**
* **prior** to **allocating and assigning these tasks to a particular job category or person**
* Bundling tasks → jobs

Organization Structure

* Stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization
* Understand how jobs at different levels relate

The picture below is an example of

Work-Unit Activity Analysis

For a Work Unit Activity Analysis, you:

* Start at the Outputs, then end with the input

Raw Materials

• consist of the materials that will be converted into the work unit’s product

• KSAO’s are not raw materials/input

Equipment

* refers to the technology and machinery necessary to transform the raw materials into the product

Human Skills

* Final inputs in the work-flow process

How is the work-unit activity analysis important to HR?

* Must understand the qualifications for the job to recruit & retain talent

\

Work Outputs

• Can be a product/service

• Must also specify standards for quantity or quality of outputs:

• Can create challenges for how to process inputs to generate outputs efficiently.

• Must decided whether to produce whole output or just parts.

Work Processes

• Determine how output is generated (operating procedures).

• Team-based job design.

  • Becoming increasingly popular - back each other up, catch errors, etc.

• Efficiency experts can improve work-flow processes.

• Lean production.

When efficiency experts visit a company, they are looking for 3 different kinds of waste:

(1) movement that creates no value

(2) the overburdening of specific people or machines

(3) inconsistent production that creates excessive inventories

Lean Production

• Developed in Japan

• Leverage technology + skilled personnel

• Emphasizing manufacturing goods with a minimum amount of time, materials, money, and people

What is the downside to “just-in-time” inventory management practices?

* Efficiency gained from maintaining an inventory (measured in days rather than weeks) → creates a lack of flexibility

True or False: Identifying outputs is the final stage of Work-Unit Activity Analysis?

* False
* It is the first step

Job Analysis

• Process of analyzing various aspects of work so as to come about a job description

• Important in design/redesigning work

What are potential uses of job analysis?

1. Organization Deisgn

2. HR managmeent

3. Work design

Organization design

• Smaller companies tend to have more open-ended approaches to job design because they need employees to be more flexible & do more tasks

• Larger organizations, which tend to be more specialized, usually have more formality

Task

* Distinct work activity with a specific purpose

Job

* Collection of tasks

Job Family

* Group of jobs with similar characteristics

Occupation

* Higher level than a job, a profession

True or False: accoutning and laborers are both occupations

* True
* If it can be high-level and include a variety of different types of jobs (ex. auditor, analyst, etc.) it is an occupation

What are the 2 job analysis techniques?

• O*Net

• Position Analysis Questionnaire

Task inventory approach

• Focuses on collecting information about the tasks that need to be done to perform a job

• Subject matter experts generate statements about the tasks needed to perform the job

• Job incumbents put a checkmark next to the statements that they feel describe their job

True or False:

Small companies and startups tend to have more narrow or closed approaches to job design because they have fewer tasks or moving pieces relative to large companies.

* False

True or False: TDRs are observable actions

* True

Job Description

* a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a job entails
* Balance breadth and specificity when constructiong

What elements do job description have? (5)

1. Job Title

2. Job Activities & Procedures

3. Working Conditions & Physical Environment

4. Social Environment

5. Conditions of Employment

Job Specification

* is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform the job

Knowledge

factual (declarative) knowledge or procedural information that is necessary for successfully performing a task

Skill

* individual’s level of proficiency at performing a particular task

Ability

* refers to a more general enduring capability that an individual possesses

True or False:



Under KSOAs - A skill is an individual's level of proficiency when performing a specific task.

* True

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• 194 items about work behaviors, work conditions, job characteristics

• Most commonly used P

• Generalized across variety of jobs

• Fixed job titles, narrow task descriptions

• Difficult to make job description

  • Requires trained employee

Occupational Information Network (O\*NET)

• 1000 - describe the qualifications, work styles, activities and contexts relevant to broadly defined occupations

  • Uses common language, various occupations, broadly defined

• May generalize across countries (developed in the U.S.)

• Transition from DOT

The PAQ has 6 sections:

* i**nformation input, relationships, mental processes, job context, work output and other characteristics**

O-NET is most usefel in:

* A rapidly changing, incrqasingly complex, global economy

Job Design

* Process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given job

Job redesign

* changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job
* one must have a complete understanding of the job – through job analysis – and its relevance for work-flow

Mechanistic Approach

• “identifying the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency”

• Specialization

• Skill variety

• Work methods autonomy

___ is one of the earliest mechanistic approaches that sought to identify the one best way to perform the job through the use of time-and-motion studies.

Scientific management

Motivational Approach

• job characteristics that affect the psychological meaning + motivational potential

  • views attitudinal variables as the most important outcomes of job design

• Decision-making autonomy

• Task significance

• Interdependence

Job Characteristics Model (5)

• Skill variety is the extent to which the job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks.

• Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completing a “whole” piece of work from beginning to end.

• Autonomy is the degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work will be carried out.

• Feedback is the extent to which a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself.

• Task significance is the extent to which the job has an important impact on the lives of other people.

Biological Approach

• identify clearly the outputs of work, to specify the quality and quantity standards for those outputs, and to analyze the processes and inputs necessary for producing outputs that meet the quality standards

• Physical demands

• Ergonomics

• Work conditions

Perceptual Motor Approach

• Roots in the human‑factors literature and focuses on human mental capabilities and limitations

  • The goal is to design jobs in a way that ensures that they do not exceed people's mental capabilities

• Job complexity

• Information processing

• quipment use

Trade Offs Among Job Design Approaches

.

According to the BCG video, What are the key HR issues folks are concerned about?

• Talent Management

• Leaders

• Engagement

• Workforce planning

According to the BCG video, why are workforce planning + recruiting increasingly important to the future?

• Retiring baby boomers

• Growth in employability issues

In the BCG video, what does the speaker mean by “strategic workforce planning”, and how is this relevant to the importance of HR as a business function?

• Labor Supply & Demand

  • shortage/surplus of labor

• Competitive advantage

HR Planning

• Must follow EEO requirements, be effective/efficient, support the KSAs of employees, & within operating budgets

• Processes + practices used to ensure individuals with the KSAOs meet an organization at it’s current & future labor force needs

• including talent inventories, workforce forecasts, action plans and program evaluations

How is HR planning part of the strategic management process?

* Forecasting labor demand (external analysis, which is part of SWOT)

What are the 3 stages in the HR planning process?

1. Forecasting - make useful predictions about where there will be future labor surpluses and shortages

2. Goal Setting & Strategic Planning - set specific, quantitative goals for increasing or decreasing human resource units

3. Program Implementation & Evaluation - expansion into new markets, mergers & acquisitions, industry trends

Determining Labor Demand

•derived from product/service demanded

•***externa****l* in nature

•multiple methods and various levels of sophistication (statistical analysis, judgement)

•indicators

Determining Labor Supply

•***Internal*** movements caused by transfers, promotions, turnover, retirements, etc.

•**transitional matrices** identify employee movements in different job categories over time to chart historical trends in company’s labor supply

•Succession planning

•useful for **AA / EEO** purposes

What is a workforce utilization review?

* comparison of the proportion of a firm’s workers in a particular subgroup within a particular job or occupation with the relevant outside labor market to determine if persons in that subgroup (e.g., Hispanics or Women) are being under-utilized

True or False:

Succession plans with internally sourced candidates are generally cheaper than those with externally sourced candidates?

* True

In the War for Talent video, what is the shift from HR being 1.0 → 3.0?

1.0:

• HR = personnel, transactional

3.0:

• Transofrmational

• CEOs demand HR is good at business

In the War for Talent video. what does Richards mean when he says “The - War for Talent is over and talent won”?

* Employers are facing a shortage for talented workers & have trouble getting large pool of applicants

What is the global average of talent shortage around the world?

* 75%

Job Choice

* An individual’s decision to accept an offer of employment

Personnel Policies

•Organizational decisions that affect the nature of the vacancies for which people are recruited.

•**Personnel Policies vary:**

\

• Internal versus external recruiting

  • Internal Job ladders

• Extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards

• Employment-at-will policies

• Image advertising

Internal Recruitment

• Gives opportunities for promotion to employees

  • Lateral move - try something new/develop new skills

  • Vertical move - promotions

• Word of mouth, employee inventory, previous performance appraisals

• Pros: Most cost-effective, employees already know company, managers have access to past performance

• Cons: Companies want new ideas, difficult for diversity

External Recruitment

• Source should be dictated by nature of the job, location, and skill level needed

• Relevant labor market: location in which one can reasonably expect to find a sufficient supply of qualified applicants

Why are informal sources of external recruiting important?

• Word of mouth, referrals

• Applicant will have a more realistic sense of what it may look like to work at firm

  • Ex. , Sprint saw their proportion of new hires grow from 8% to 34% recently

Advertising

• Newspapers, bulletin boards and the Internet

• Websites can help firms determine the extent to which a individual might actually be a good fit for a position

College Recruiting

•Sending recruiters to college campuses to attract employees right out of college



•Recruiters usually have multiple openings



•May speak to student organizations or alumni groups



•Internships are sometimes offered to evaluate performance and allow student to get to know organization

Employment Agencies & Search Firms

•May benefit small HR departments to make recruiting process more efficient



•Public employment agencies provide career guidance, testing, training, and placement for free



•Private employment agencies provide job search assistance for a fee

True or False: recruiters have a large impact on job choice

* False

What are ways a recruiter is likely to be perceived as more credible?

1. From the same functional area the applicant is being considered for

2. Give a realistic job preview, are warm, informative, & honest

How to enhance a recruiter’s impact?

1\.**Provide timely feedback**



2\.**Include line personnel**



**3.  Recruit in teams**

What are the arugments against using personality yesting in selection? (3)

1. ***people can fake their answers***

***2. tests are inaccurate***

***3. personality changes from situation to situation***

Reliability

* degree to which a measure of physical or cognitive abilities or traits is free from random error. Reliability is “the extent of unsystematic variation of one individual’s scores

What is the test-retest reliability method?

• the degree to which a measure correlates with itself at two different times

• Is a correlation coefficient (perfect = +1.0, negative = -1.0r

Whats is internal consistency reliability?

* the extent to which different items in the same test are consistent with one another

Correlation Coefficient Guide

0\.10 are trivial

0\.10 to 0.29 are small

30 to 0.49 are moderate

0\.50 and above are considered large

Validity

* extent to which a performance measure assesses all the relevant—and only the relevant- aspects of a criterion such as job performance
* Quality & accuracy of inferences made from the test

What kind of correlation is this?

* Positive
* As extraversion goes up, so does sales performance

What kind of correlation is this?

* Negative
* As x goes up, y goes down

What kind of correlation is this?

* Zero
* do not change each other, & cannot be predicted from each other

Content Validation

* a test-validation strategy performed by demonstrating that the items, questions, or problems posed by a test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job

Criterion-Related Validity

• demonstrate the extent to which a given measure (X) is predictive of some criterion (Y)

• Job performance = ultimate criterion in personnel

Concurrent Validation

* Less time consuming + less resource intensive as predictive validation

Predictive validity

* Measuring all applicants, correlating scores on the test pre-hiring with job performance scores post-hiring
* Limitations:
* Needs more time/effort
* Not often done in business organizations

Generalizability

* the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts
* Contexts include:
* different situations (jobs or organizations)
* different samples of people
* different time periods

___ is impacted by reliability, validity, and generalizability

* Utility

Utility

* degree to which information (provided by selection methods) enhances the effectiveness of selecting personnel

Verbal Comprehension

* person’s capacity to understand & use written/spoken language

Quantitative Ability

* Speed & accuracy w/ one can solve arithmetic problems

Reasoning Ability

* Person’s capacity to invent solutions to diverse problems

How does IQ predict/relate job performance?

* Rapid learning & job knowledge when info is complex
* 0.60 - 0.70