Job Analysis process in HRM is the procedure for determining the duties

and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be
hired for it. It is a process of collecting information related to various
aspects of the job. The main purposes of conducting job analysis are to
prepare a job description and job specification which in turn helps to
hire the right quality of workforce into the organization.
In other words, job analysis refers to the anatomy of the job. It is a
complete study of job, embodying every known and determinable
factor, including the duties and responsibilities involved in its
performance, the conditions under which the performance is carried
on, the nature of the task, the qualities required in the worker, and
such conditions of employment as pay hour, opportunities and
privileges. It also emphasises the relation of one job to others in the
organisation.analysis is a formal and detailed examination of jobs. It is
a systematic investigation of the task, duties and responsibilities
necessary to do a job.

https://www.hrhelpboard.com/performance-management/job-
analysis.htm

It collects and analyses the information associated with job description

and specifications. Following steps are involved in job analysis:

1. Information Collection

This is the first step of job analysis under which required information
related to various aspects of jobs are collected. Probably the most
important consideration is to identify the objectives of the job analysis.
Information is obtained through different methods such as interview,
observation, questionnaire, critical incidents etc. It is associated with the
preparation of plans and programs and assignment of responsibilities to
the concerned person.

Observe and interview employees currently in the job position. Ask

employees to describe the tasks they perform and encourage them to be as
specific as possible when defining their responsibilities. Read through any
manuals or written documents that currently define the position. Compare
current job descriptions to what employees are actually saying and doing.
Record your results by departments or individual positions. Generate an
account of all the tasks and skills a job includes.

2. Review Background Information

This is the second step of job analysis process under which the
previously collected information is reviewed to design organizational
charts, current position descriptions and specifications, procedures,
manuals and process charts. These help in the detailed assessment of job.

Review relevant background information such as organization charts,

process charts, and job descriptions. Organization charts show the
organization wide division of work, how the job in question rates to
other job and where the job fits in the overall organization. The chart
should show the title of each position and, by means of interconnecting
lines, who reports to whom and with whom the job incumbent
communicates.

3. Selection of Representative Position to be Analyzed

Analyzing all jobs at a time is a complex and costly affair. So, only a
representative sample of jobs is selected for the purpose of detailed
analysis. Under it, the job analyst investigates to determine which
organization managers or employees require job analysis. He should also
determine for what purpose the job must be analyzed. Be careful that the
representative jobs reflect all the duties and characteristics of related
jobs..

4. Analysis of Job by Collecting Data

Under this step of job analysis process, a job analyst obtains the data and
information related to the selected jobs. The information is collected on
the job activities, required employee behaviors, working conditions,
human traits and qualities, abilities to perform the job and other various
dimensions of the job. Data can be collected either through
questionnaire, observation or interviews.

You can visit the job site and interview employees performing the job.
Interview, if possible, the immediate incumbent or supervisor of the
employee to obtain a different perspective of duties and responsibilities
vested in the job

5. Develop Job Description

In this step of job analysis, a job description schedule is developed

through the information collected in the above step. This is the written
statement which describes the prominent characteristics of the job along
with duties, location, and degree of risk involved in each job.

You are almost done! The final step involved in job analysis is to write
the job description and job specifications, which are used as input for
several HR activities.

6. Develop Job Specification

Developing the job specification is the last step of job analysis process
under which a detailed specification statement is prepared showing the
minimum requirement of each job. It consists of a requirement of the job
holder for successfully performing the job. A job specification
summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, knowledge, and
background required to perform the specific task. It also involves the
physical and psychological attributes of the incumbent.

After the job description and job specifications have been applied, the
results are compared with the purpose of job analysis (determined at the
first step) to assess the degree to which objectives have been
accomplished
The job analysis results in the job description and the job specification.
The Job description comprises of job duties, the level of responsibilities,
working conditions, etc. and whereas the job specification tells about the
skills, education, background, qualification, training, communication
skills required to perform a specific job.

Conclusion
Job analysis is an important function of human resource management, human resource
managers can fully understand the various important business links and business
processes of organization and management, it contributing to human resource
management functions to truly rise to strategic position. It can better understand the
importance of job analysis through analysis of the role of enterprises. It describes the
process of job analysis which enables enterprises better application of the results of job
analysis.

https://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/human-resource-
management/steps-involved-in-job-analysis.html
variety of methods are available for collecting job data.The method
that was historically linked to the concept of job analysis was
observation supplemented by the interview.

In recent years, questionnaires, check lists, critical incidents, diaries,

personnel records and technical conference method have also been
experimented for collecting job-related data. A brief description of
each method is in order.

Observation:
Under this method, data is collected through observing an employee
while at work. The job analyst on the basis of observation carefully
records what the worker does, how he/she does, and how much time is
needed for completion of a given task. This is the most reliable method
of seeking first hand information relating to a job.

This method is suitable for jobs that consist primarily of observable

physical ability, short job cycle activities. The jobs of draftsman,
mechanic, spinner or weaver are the examples of such jobs.

That it is time consuming is it’s yet another handicap. Given these, the
job analyst needs to be quite skillful in collecting data about jobs with
a high degree of discretion or decision content. Training can make the
job analyst skillful.

Interview:
In this method, the job analyst directly interviews the job holder
through a structured interview form to elicit information about the
job. This method is found suitable particularly for jobs wherein direct
observation is not feasible. By way of directly talking to the job holder,
the interviewer job analyst may extract meaningful information from
the job holder about his/her job.

However the interview method is both time consuming and costly.

Particularly, the professional and managerial jobs due to their
complicated nature of job, require a longer interview’ This may also be
a possibility that bias on the part of the analyst and the job holder i.e.,
the respondent may cloud the accuracy and objectivity of the
information gathered through interview. Nonetheless, the
effectiveness of the interview method will depend on the ability of both
interviewer and respondent in asking questions and responding them
respectively.

Questionnaire:
In this method, the employee is given structured questionnaire to fill
in, which are then returned to the supervisors. The supervisor, after
making the required and necessary corrections in the information
contained in the questionnaire, submits the corrected information to
the job analyst. Questionnaire provides comprehensive information
about the job.

Information so obtained can be quantified and processed in the

computer. The greatest advantage of the questionnaire method is that
it enables the analyst to cover a large number of job holders in the
shortest possible time. However, the method suffers from certain
shortcomings as well.
In the absence of direct rapport between the job analyst and the
employee, both cooperation and motivation on the part of the
employee tends to be at low level. Often employee due to lack of
training and skill, do not express the job related information in a
meaningful and clear fashion. As such, job related data tends to be
inaccurate. Moreover, the method is time-consuming and costly.

Checklists:
The checklist method of job data collection differs from the
questionnaire method in the sense that it contains a few subjective
questions in the form of yes or no. The job holder is asked to tick the
questions that are related to his/her job. Checklist can be prepared on
the basis of job information obtained from various sources such as
supervisors, industrial engineers, and other people who are familiar
with the particular job.

Once the checklist is prepared, it is then sent, to the job holder to

check all the tasks listed in the list he/she performs. He/she is also
asked to mention the amount of time spent on each task by him/her
and the type of training and experience required to do each task.

Like questionnaire method, the checklist method is suitable in the

large organisations wherein a large number of workers are assigned
one particular job. Since the method is costly and, therefore, is not
suitable for small organisations.

Critical Incidents:
This method is based on the job holder’s past experiences on the job.
They are asked to recapitulate and describe the past incidents related
to their jobs. The incidents so reported by the job holders are, then,
classified into various categories and analysed in detail. Yes, the job
analyst requires a high degree of skill to analyse the incidents
appropriately described by the job holders. However, this method is
also time-consuming one.

Diaries or Log Records:

In this method, the job holder is asked to maintain a diary recording in
detail the job-related activities each day. If done judiciously, this
method provides accurate and comprehensive information about the
job. This overcomes memory lapses on the part of the job holder. As
recording of activities may spread over several days, the method, thus,
becomes time-consuming one.

The disadvantage associated with this method is that it remains

incomplete because it does not give desirable data on supervisor
relationship, the equipment used and working conditions prevalent at
the work place.

Technical Conference Method:

In this method, a conference is organised for the supervisors who
possess extensive knowledge about job. They deliberate on various
aspects of the job. The job analyst obtains job information from the
discussion held among these experts/supervisors. The method
consumes less amount of time. However, the main drawback of this
method is that it lacks accuracy and authenticity as the actual job
holders are not involved in collecting job information.
It is seen from the preceding description that no single method is
complete and superior. In fact, none of the method is to be considered
as mutually exclusive. The best data related to a job can be obtained by
a combination of all methods described above.

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/hrm/job-analysis-methods-methods-
of-data-collection-for-job-analysis/35245
3.

Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and

the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected
through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-
existing statistical data using computational techniques. 
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)
 refers to a job analysis questionnaire evaluating basic characteristics
and job skill levels of candidates for different types of employment
opportunities. It was developed by McCormick, E.J., & Jeanneret, and
Mecham at Purdue University in 1972. This method includes a series of
comprehensive questioning to generate several analyzing reports. It is
vastly used in individual psychological assessment, human resource
departments, and industrial and organizational psychology, and can be
easily managed by any person trained in job analysis.
It was developed with this hope that it could be managed with minimum
training to the person involved in job analysis. PAQ is considered to be
easy, effective, and inexpensive to use for human resources and trainees
compared to other methods used in job analysis. Its motive is defining a
position’s duties and responsibilities for determining the position
classification’s appropriateness, necessary functions, and whether or not
overtime will be considered for the position. PAQ includes 6 different
divisions:

 Information input
 Work Output
 Mental processes
 Job context
 Relationship with other people
 Job-related variables

https://the-definition.com/term/position-analysis-questionnaire-paq
Management Position Description Questionnaire

MPDQ is a standardized instrument designed specifically for use in

analysing managerial jobs.

The Position Description Questionnaire is to be completed once a formal

request for a job description review is in progress OR in the creation of a
new position. The purpose of the questionnaire is to gather detailed
information about the duties and responsibilities performed, especially
within the context of the factors used to evaluate and classify positions,
so that all positions can be accurately reviewed by the Job Classification
Audit Committee (JCAC). The questionnaire may also be used by
supervisors and managers and to describe a new job. All information
will be kept confidential and will be used only to evaluate the job or to
develop a job description. This questionnaire is not about job
performance, and job performance has no impact on the evaluation of
this position

In order to classify positions properly, it is necessary to obtain complete

information about the duties and responsibilities involved in each
position. The information is obtained in several ways. Employees are
provided Position Description Questionnaires (PDQ) in which they
describe their jobs in their own words. The statements of employees are
reviewed by their immediate supervisors, who indicate whether the
employees’ statements are accurate and complete and also add
information required for the position. The original statements of
employees, however, are not changed. The questionnaires are then
submitted to the Human Resources Analyst who reviews them carefully,
noting any questions or further data required. After this preliminary
analysis, department heads, supervisors, and individual employees may
be interviewed concerning the duties and responsibilities not clearly
understood. Based on the information obtained, the following actions
may be taken:  No change  Position may be reallocated to an
appropriate classification  Job specification may be revised  Positions
which are not comparable to an existing position may be allocated to a
new classification

https://www.fortlauderdale.gov/home/showdocument?id=4043
Functional Job Analysis

Functional Job Analysis is the practice of examining either a job’s

requirements and assigning the right candidate for that job or examining
the candidate’s qualifications and skills and assigning the right job to
that candidate. It also functions in reverse by not matching the wrong
candidate to a job or vice versa. An obvious example would be not
hiring someone with no arms to do any job requiring lifting things. In a
small business with only a couple of job types, this is not a difficult
proposition. In a major company with thousands of people doing
hundreds of different jobs, it can become a Gordian Knot. It’s up to the
functional job analyst to be Alexander with the sword.

Functional job analysis (FJA) is a method used by human resources and

industrial-organizational (I/O) psychologists to assess occupational roles
within an organization. This method is characterized by a detailed
examination of an individual’s abilities and overall qualification
compared to the demands and expectations of their specific position
within a larger structure. This type of job analysis is used in both private
and public sectors to ensure that applicants or current employees are able
to fill their occupational roles and responsibilities in a safe, productive
manner.

The Purpose of Functional Analysis

Employees are typically the most valuable and important resource in any
company. Successful business leaders know that placing the right people
in jobs that are suited to them is critical to long-term success.
Ultimately, the purpose of any kind of job analysis is to ensure that
employers invest in workers that can provide overall value to their
organization. This includes a thorough investigation of an individual’s
ability to perform their job as well as the ways their performance could
impact the work of other team members.

It is a scientific method to define the duties, responsibilities, and

accountabilities of a job. It involves the identification and description of
what is happening on the job and also of the skills and qualifications of
personnel needed for the job.
4.

most of these job analysis methods suffer from one or more of several
problems. Face to face interviews and observations can be low and time
consuming. The information (usually collected orally or in writing) is
difficulty to update quickly. Collecting the information from
internationally dispersed employees is challenging.

Internet based job analysis is an obvious solution: The use of online

methodologies for surveys, including job analysis surveys, has increased
dramatically in recent years and most companies choose to use the
Internet or intranet to collect this type of data. Thus the human resource
department may distribute standardized job analysis questionnaires to
geographically disbursed employees via their company intranet, with
instructions to complete the forms and return them by a particular date.

Although widely used, this practice creates its own problems. Most
importantly, without job analyst / facilitator actually sitting there and
interacting with the employee or supervisor there’s always a chance that
important points won’t be uncovered or that misunderstandings will
cloud the results.

The US Navy Project: A recent report describes how a new web based
job analysis procedure for the US navy helps overcome this problem.
The challenge was to develop a system that would allow the collection
of job related information with minimal intervention and guidance, so
that system could be used in a distributed manner using the World Wide
Web to access the system. The basic aim was to reduce ambiguities by
having respondents complete step by step structured forms.

In this procedure the system doesn’t ask the subject matter experts (the
job incumbents, supervisors, or others who know the jobs) about the jobs
in question as a whole. Instead, the process is as follows:
1) It presents them with a set of general work activities obtained from
the Department of Labor online job analysis systems O*NET work
activities list. Figure lists some of these activities such as Information
Input category and Interacting with Others Category.
2) It directs them to select those work activities that are relevant to their
job.
3) It asks them to list specific duties of their jobs that fit each of those
selected standard work activities (For instance, if any employee chose
getting information as a work activity that was relevant to his o her job,
he might here list one or more specific job duties from the job are
relevant to getting information perhaps such as watch for new orders
from our customers an bring them to the boss’s attention.

The method proved to be a reliable and valid way to collect job related
information online.

A Final Point: Use Multiple Sources to collect the data

We’ve seen that there are many ways to obtain job analysis information,
including from individual workers groups, or supervisors; or from the
observation of job analysts. You can use interviews, observations, or
questionnaires.

Some firms use a single approach, like having the job analysts do
interviews with current job incumbents. Yet one study suggests that
using just one source is not wise. The problem is that any single
approach has potential drawbacks. For example in a group interview,
some group members may feel pressure to go along with the group’s
consensus, or an employee may be careless about how he or she
completes a questionnaire. Collecting job analysis data from just
interviews or just observation, may thus lead to inaccurate conclusions.
It’s better to use several sources. For example, where possible collect job
analysis data from several types of respondents – groups, individuals,
observers, supervisors, and analysts.
https://www.organizationalpsychologydegrees.com/faq/functional-job-
analysis/
5.
Job Analysis is a primary tool to collect job-related data. The process
results in collecting and recording two data sets including job
description and job specification. Any job vacancy can not be filled until
and unless HR manager has these two sets of data. It is necessary to
define them accurately in order to fit the right person at the right place
and at the right time. This helps both employer and employee understand
what exactly needs to be delivered and how.
Both job description and job specification are essential parts of job
analysis information. Writing them clearly and accurately helps
organization and workers cope with many challenges while onboard.
Job Description

Job description includes basic job-related data that is useful to advertise

a specific job and attract a pool of talent. It includes information such as
job title, job location, reporting to and of employees, job summary,
nature and objectives of a job, tasks and duties to be performed, working
conditions, machines, tools and equipments to be used by a prospective
worker and hazards involved in it.
The key to writing effective job descriptions is to find the perfect
balance between providing enough detail so candidates understand the
role and your company while keeping your description concise.

Use 100 % free Illustrations of Job Descriptions. Not everyone feels safe
in writing job descriptions. Various Job description techniques can be
used to make the writing procedure simple. It’s readily available online
on any well-known job portal. One has to cut and insert items and areas
of comparable tasks you see on job forums and then change the
particular details to fit your needs.

Firstly, before writing a job description you must analyse the role on
offer, particularly if it's a new role. A job description should be
rewritten each time the role is advertised to reflect any changes in
your business requirements. Use this as an opportunity to review the
role and its responsibilities. A recruitment professional will be able to
help or even write a job description for you, provided you are able to
furnish them with the required details for the position.

After the job description details are designed, we need to look at it again.
Does it perfectly indicate what the job is? If so, we are almost done! We
can now decide on the position and pay structure.

An excellent, efficient job description should clearly and basically

explain what the job is in-depth. Composing a job description that
conveys this well can be challenging, especially if we have never
designed one before. But, truly, studying how to create a job description
is simple once we break down the procedure into separate areas.

Job Specification

Also known as employee specifications, a job specification is a written

statement of educational qualifications, specific qualities, level of
experience, physical, emotional, technical and communication skills
required to perform a job, responsibilities involved in a job and other
unusual sensory demands. It also includes general health, mental health,
intelligence, aptitude, memory, judgment, leadership skills, emotional
ability, adaptability, flexibility, values and ethics, manners and
creativity, etc.
A job specification is a detailed description of the role, including all
responsibilities, objectives and requirements. A person specification is a
profile of your ideal new employee, including skills, experience and
personality type
Writing a detailed specification forces you to think about exactly what
skills and experience is required for your role and the type of person you
want for the team. Giving your recruitment consultant a comprehensive
brief will allow them to work more effectively and quickly in finding
you the perfect candidate.
Specifications also give candidates a better idea of exactly what you are
looking for. This can help to weed out inappropriate applications from
people who might be suitable on paper, but not actually that interested in
the role. They also help to manage the expectations of successful new
employees and to avoid situations where they feel they have been misled
about the exact nature of the role.
You can use the specifications as a checklist for evaluating CVs and in
interviews, which will save you preparation time and make sure you
don’t miss anything.
Writing specification can make you think about how your department
works and provide you with an opportunity to shift responsibilities
around to maximise efficiency.
Specifications are also useful after the vacancy has been filled, as they
can help to assess a new recruit's performance and to determine their
future training needs.
Be as specific as possible about the responsibilities of the job, including
A job specification should include:

 the job title the position in the company, including their line
manager and any other members of staff reporting to them

 the location of the job

 a summary of the general nature, main purpose, and objectives of
the job
 a list of the main duties or tasks of the employee
 which skills/qualifications are essential, and which are desirable?
 any equipment or software requirements, eg “knowledge of
Raiser’s Edge”
 salary and benefits
 examples of typical projects help to illustrate the requirements
A good job specification is key to attracting and evaluating the best
candidates for your organisation. Investing time in writing a job
description will save you time later and can benefit your business in
the long run. A bad specification can mislead candidates, and at worst
case scenario, result in the need to start the recruitment process all
over again.

A good job description is much more than a list of responsibilities

and tasks. If well written it is a marketing document that sells your
company to the best talent on the market. It is also a tool for
performance measuring of the employee and shapes the perception
of the role in the candidate’s mind.

https://www.reed.com/articles/how-to-write-a-job-spec

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-description-
specification.htm