Job Analysis and Manpower Planning Notes
2.1 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS
Job Analysis Meaning:
A scientific and systematic analysis to obtain all pertinent facts about a job.
Determining tasks, methods, equipment, skills, and attitudes required for successful job performance through observation and study.
A process of collecting and analysing job-related data.
A part of overall work planning called 'work design'.
Performed on ongoing jobs after they have been designed and are being performed.
Information Provided by Job Analysis:
(i) Identity of the job in terms of its title and code number.
(ii) The operations and tasks involved in the job including their timing, significance, complexity and sequence.
(iii) Location, physical setting, hazards and discomforts, supervision given and received and other significant characteristics of the job.
(iv) Duties involved in the job along with the frequency of occurrence of each duty.
(v) Human resource attributes required for performing the job, e.g., physical strength, education, mental skills, attitudes, experience, training, etc.
Job analysis provides job-related information which helps in the preparation of job description and job specification.
2.1.2 Relevance of Job Analysis
Organisational Design:
Useful in classifying jobs and their interrelationships.
Specifies responsibility, authority, and accountability to minimise duplication or overlapping.
Human Resource Planning:
Provides information for forecasting manpower requirements in terms of knowledge and skills.
Helps in planning promotions and transfers by indicating lateral and vertical relationships between different jobs.
Determines the quality of human resources required.
Facilitates division of work.
Recruitment and Selection:
Information about tasks, responsibilities, knowledge, and skills serves as a realistic basis for hiring.
Job vacancy is advertised based on job description and job specification.
Provides understanding of what an employee is expected to do, serving as the basis for meaningful job performance forecasts.
Selection methods are based upon such forecasts.
Placement and Orientation:
Clear understanding of job requirements helps in matching them with abilities, interests, and aptitudes.
Jobs can be assigned to the most suitable person.
Orientation programs can be geared towards helping employees learn the activities, tasks, and duties required.
Training and Development:
Provides valuable information to identify training needs, design training programs, and evaluate training effectiveness.
A clear idea of job requirements helps in deciding what is to be learned and how.
Employee development programs such as job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment are based on job requirements analysis.
Performance Appraisal: Job analysis helps in determining performance standards in critical parts of a job.
Employee performance can then be evaluated against known standards and critical activities.
The superior can compare actual performance with the standards set with the help of job analysis.
Career Path Planning:
Provides a clear idea of opportunities in terms of career paths and jobs available.
Both employees and the organisation can make efforts for career planning and career development.
Job Design:
Improvements in work design and work methods can be made to improve productivity and job satisfaction.
Industrial Engineering: Measurement, simplification, and improvement of work to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Human Engineering: Redesigning jobs to match the physical and psychological capabilities of employees.
Job Evaluation:
Serves as the basis for determining the relative worth of different jobs.
Helps in developing appropriate wage and salary structures with internal pay equity between jobs.
Labor Relations:
Information is helpful to both management and trade unions for collective bargaining.
Can be used to resolve disputes and grievances relating to workload, work procedures, etc.
Employee Counselling:
Provides information about career choices and personnel limitations.
Helpful in vocational guidance and rehabilitation counselling.
Employees unable to cope with job hazards may be advised to opt for subsidiary jobs or seek premature retirement.
Health and Safety:
Reveals unhealthy and hazardous environmental and operational conditions (e.g., heat, noise, dust, fumes).
Management can develop measures to ensure employee health and safety.
Job analysis provides information useful in almost all the operative functions of Human Resource Management.
2.2 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF JOB DESCRIPTION OR POSITION DESCRIPTION
Definition:
Functional description of what the job entails.
Descriptive in nature and defines the purpose and scope of a job.
A written record of the appropriate and authorised contents of a job.
Describes the job in terms of its title, location, tasks, duties, responsibilities, working conditions, hazards, and relationship with other jobs.
Differentiates it from other jobs and sets out its outer limits.
Gives a clear idea of what the job is.
2.2.2 Relevance of Job Description
Job grading and classification.
Placement of new employees on a job.
Orientation of new employees towards basic duties and responsibilities.
Promotions and transfers.
Defining and outlining career paths.
Work measurement and work improvement.
Developing performance standards.
Some enterprises prepare more than one job description for each job.
A brief version is used in hiring employees while a detailed version is used in training and evaluating a job.
The job analyst first prepares the preliminary draft from the data obtained through job analysis. Comments and suggestions of the jobholder and the superior are obtained after this the final draft is prepared.
A job description is not a perfect reflection of a job. Moreover, jobs are modified when work patterns in the organisation are changed. Jobs tend to be dynamic not static. Therefore, job description can quickly become outdated. It is necessary to make a job description as accurate
as possible. The concerned parties should record appropriate information depending on its uses. They should also agree that a job description fairly reflects the job. Some degree of subjectivity enters into job description. Job description reduces flexibility and it has been criticised on the
ground that a job is largely what the jobholder makes it to be. Job descriptions once prepared are periodically reviewed and updated in the light of changing conditions and shortcomings revealed.
2.3 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF JOB SPECIFICATION OR MAN SPECIFICATION OR EMPLOYEE SPECIFICATION
Job Specification Definition:
A statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities required for the proper performance of a job.
A written record of the physical, mental, social, psychological, and behavioral characteristics a person should possess.
Physical characteristics include height, weight, chest, vision, hearing, health, age, voice, poise, hand and foot coordination, etc.
Mental characteristics consist of general intelligence, memory, judgement, ability to concentrate, foresight, etc.
Social and psychological characteristics comprise emotional stability, flexibility, personal appearance, pleasing manners, initiative drive, conversational ability, etc.
Other personal characteristics include sex, education, family background, job experience, extra-curricular activities, hobbies, etc.
Traits may be classified into:
(a) Essential attributes which a person must possess.
(b) Desirable attributes which a person ought to possess.
(c) Contra-indicators which will become a handicap to successful job performance.
2.3.2 Relevance of Job Specification:
Job specification tells what kind of a person is required for a given job.
It serves as a guide in the recruitment and selection processes.
It is also helpful in training and appraisal of employees.
It helps in selecting the most appropriate candidate for a particular job.
2.4 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF JOB ENLARGEMENT
Job Enlargement Definition:
Increasing the scope of a job by adding more tasks to it.
The related tasks are combined.
The widened and more complex job is expected to satisfy the higher order needs of employees.
Due to variety of tasks, an employee gets the opportunity to make greater use of his mind and skill.
Such changes permits more social contacts and greater control over the work process.
2.4.2 Relevance of Job Enlargement
Job enlargement reduces monotony and boredom by providing the employee a more complete or whole job to do.
It helps to increase interest in work and efficiency.
It is also a method of training and developing more versatile employees.
It reduces absenteeism, labour turnover and grievances.
2.5 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF JOB ENRICHMENT
Process of making the job more challenging or assigning employees additional responsibility normally reserved for a higher level employee.
It is done to ensure employees meaning at work place.
It drives meaning out of them and consequently love to contribute to the organisation.
2.5.2 Relevance of Job Enrichment
Job enrichment provides the following benefits:
(i) It makes the job interesting thereby reducing monotony and boredom for the jobholder.
(ii) It provides job satisfaction to the jobholder by making the job challenging.
(iii) It helps to reduce employee absenteeism and employee turnover.
(iv) It improves motivation of jobholder through opportunity for advancement and growth in career.
(v) It helps to increase quantity and quality of job performance.
Advantages of Job Enrichment
The following are the advantages of job enrichment:
(i) Creation of better work environment.
(ii) Create contribution of the employees.
(iii) Reduction in boredom on account of repeated tasks.
(iv) More learning skills.
(v) More suitable for employees who wants to achieve more.
2.6 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF MANPOWER PLANNING
Manpower planning or human resource planning: consists of putting right number of people, right kind of people at the right place, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited for the achievement of goals of the organisation.
Objective of Manpower Planning
The following are the objectives of manpower planning:
(i) To ensure optimum use of human resources currently employed,
(ii) To ensure that necessary resources are available as and when required,
(iii) To assess future skills requirements,
(iv) To determine requirement level,
2.7 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF MANPOWER ESTIMATION
Manpower Estimation Meaning: Before starting recruiting or hiring employees, a company must estimate the number of employees and the quality of employees, it will need during a future time period.
Two dimensions of manpower estimation:
Quantitative Aspect: This aspect of manpower, estimation involves estimating the number of employees required in a future time period.
Workload Analysis
Work force Analysis.
(a) Workload Analysis: the workload of each department is estimated. The total workload divided by workload per employee will yield the number of employees needed in the department.
(b) Work Force Analysis: All the existing workers in the factory are not likely to be lost due to retirement, resignation, promotion, etc. In order to estimate the loss of current workforce, workforce analysis is done.
The work history of each of the existing workers in the factory is prepared. On the basis of past experience, the loss of manpower is 10 percent every year.Qualitative Aspect. The estimate of the knowledge, skills, experience, etc. of required manpower is the qualitative aspect of manpower estimation. The quality of manpower can be judged on the basis of job analysis and job specification or man specification.
2.7.1 Relevance of Manpower Estimation
Manpower estimation or manpower planning is relevant and helpful in the following ways:
(i) It helps to ensure that the organisation has the required number and required quality of manpower to fill all the job vacancies. Otherwise, it cannot achieve its goals.
(ii) It helps to avoid excess and shortage of employees for various jobs.
(iii) It facilitates expansion and growth of the enterprise.
(iv) It leads to better utilisation of manpower and reduces wastage of manpower.