Job Analysis Meaning, Feature, Purpose and Process

Meaning of Job Analysis

Job Analysis Meaning: Job Analysis (JA) refers to a complete and organised study of jobs to understand the characteristics of people to be hired for vacant positions in an organisation. It is a process of gathering essential job-related information and its analysis. It gives the basis to determine the kind of information to be extracted from the applicant. past employers, and from various other sources. It is the main element of whole human resource practices; so it is very crucial in every organisation. It helps the organisation in transforming the functional goals being developed into some specific human activity.

What is job analysis?

Definition of Job Analysis

According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job.”

According to Donald, “Job analysis is a method of scientifically dissecting a job to determine the component elements and their influence upon the length of learning period of the worker, production and labour turnover.”

According to Dale Yoder, “Job analysis is the procedure by which the facts concerning each job are systematical, discovered and noted. It is sometimes called a job study suggesting the care with which tasks, processes, responsibilities and personnel requirements are investigated”.

Features of Job Analysis

It has the following features:

1) Organised Way of Collecting and Analysing Information about a Job

The fundamental element of human resource management is job analysis, which is an organised manner of collecting and analysing information about job content, context, etc.

2) Job Creation

It aims to create jobs that are aligned with the organisation’s workflow that is required to be completed. Job analysis is focused on using a proper system to collect information about the performance of the people in their jobs. This information is used for creating job descriptions and job specifications.

3) Linked to HR Activities

There are a variety of methods and sources of data that can be utilised in executing job analysis. The actual assessment of job analysis begins with the gathering of information in the job description and job specifications for the use of HR activities. Proper information regarding the job requirement is necessary to validate HR actions for the job. To be effective, in HR planning, recruitment and selection, everything must be aligned with the job requirements and the ability of every individual.

Other aspects of HR like compensation, training, and employee performance appraisals must be based on the requirements of the job. It can be used to identify various job factors and duties that contribute to health and safety issues at work. Therefore, JA is a critical factor that affects Labour-management relations.

4) Re-Designs Jobs

It gathers information on those specific features of the job that make it unique. Re-designing jobs is another function that can be performed with the help of the information gathered through job analysis. However, the basic objective of JA is to know the tasks that are needed to be performed on the job and the individual capabilities that are required.

Purpose and Use of Job Analysis

The purpose and use of job analysis are as follows:

1) Human Resource Planning

It is used for determining knowledgeable and skilful human resource requirements in an organisation. It helps in making systematic promotion and transfer policies by displaying lateral and vertical links between different jobs.

2) Recruitment

It helps in identifying the right method and the right time to recruit people for future vacancies in the organisation. It is necessary to recognise the skills and positions required for future vacancies to allow managers to plan for recruiting manpower in an organised way. For example, an organisation that recruits MBA students for equity research realises with the help of job analysis that these vacant positions can be filled by graduates who have an aptitude for analysis. This information can be used by organisations in recruiting graduates who are available in large numbers as equity analysts and offer them a comparatively lower salary.

3) Selection

It is very difficult to choose a suitable person without having a definite idea about what is supposed to be done in a job. For example, if a Mega bazaar manager has not identified distinctly the job responsibilities of a clerk, then it is not easy to find whether the person who has been selected can place store items, maintain a cash register, or keep up-to-date accounts.

4) Placement and Orientation

When selection is complete, the fresh recruits have to be placed in a job that best suits their interest, behaviour and actions. When we are not assured about the job duties, it is impossible to analyse the most suitable candidate for the job. In addition, without an appropriate understanding of job requirements, effective job orientation is not easy to achieve. Fresh recruits should be given clear training about the job tasks and duties.

5) Training

Appropriate training cannot be imparted until we do not clearly state what the job is and what is required to do on the job. A current recruit or potential candidate may not require extra training, but one can be sure about the job when he is aware of the job requirements identified by the job analysis.

6) Counselling

Managers offer good career guidance to employees when they have a better understanding of the types of jobs existing in the company. Similarly, by identifying job requirements, employees become easily aware of their career options. Job analysis also helps employees know the areas that they need to develop to move forward in their careers.

7) Employee Safety

It helps managers in analysing hazardous conditions after studying various operations to be performed in a job. It helps in creating a healthy and safe working environment by easily improving work situations.

8) Performance Appraisal

Job analysis information is essential for the establishment of performance standards. The value of employees can be evaluated by a thorough understanding of what the employee is meant to do and what is his or her actual performance. Therefore, based on an employee’s performance, the organisation should pay him fair remuneration.

9) Job Design and Re-Design

The process of integrating different tasks to make a complete job is called job design. Once the jobs are thoroughly studied, it is easier to take corrective measures by analysing their weak points. Thorough and continuous monitoring can be done to remove unnecessary movements, simplify some steps and improve existing ones. Thus, jobs can be re-designed to test the intellectual standards of employees.

10) Job Evaluation

Job analysis helps in identifying the value of a job based on the level of difficulty, type of work done, knowledge, skill and abilities required. Thus, it helps in the effective designing of an equitable level of wage and salary structure for the jobs.

11) Discipline

Job analysis identifies the reason behind the inability of the workers to meet necessary performance standards. Remedial actions may be taken in due time to averse the difficult situations. In this manner, it helps in maintaining discipline in the organisation.

12) Industrial Relations

Industrial relations among managers, employees and unions can be improvised by proper job analysis and thus disputes and grievances associated with tasks and responsibilities can be settled easily.

13) Compensation and Benefits

In compensation, it is profitable to determine the relative worth of a job to the organisation before valuing the job in terms of salary. According to internal context, the worth of a job increases as the tasks and responsibilities become important. A job with a higher KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) adds higher worth to the company.

14) Support the Legality of Employment Practices

To support the legality of employment practices, a well-arranged job analysis is necessary. The importance of job analysis is noted in employee selection method guidelines. Several times decisions of demotions, transfer and promotion are safeguarded by job analysis information. For example, job analysis forms a base for combining the functional areas and infrastructure in developing a good human resource programme.