ADVANCED HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

By Dr. Ovia kyatuha Mwisaka

Introduction.
Human Resource management is the most happening function as of now. This is so
because people offer competitive advantage to a firm and managing people is the
domain of HRM. An organization enjoys competitive advantage when it is the only
one which can offer a product at a price and at the best quality while its competitors
cannot do so.

Fast changes are taking place in the business environment. An organization must
have the ability to absorb these changes at a fast rate than in the past, not simply
to prove its competency alone but to justify its existence in the dynamic business
world as well. All organizations, whether large or small must ensure themselves that
they have the competent people capable of accepting this challenge.

Human resource management (HRM) is a relatively modern concept, which involves

a range of ideas and practices in managing people. Human resource is the most
valuable resource in any organization because it can function only through people.

HRM is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people. It is
an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and
their relationships within the enterprise. HRM helps in attaining maximum individual
development, desirable working relationship between employees and employers,
employees and employees, and effective modelling of human resources as
contrasted with physical resources. It is the recruitment, selection, development,
utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization.

People are most important resource an organization has. People always have
reserved energy, which if tapped well can be used to promote the organization’s
competitive advantage. To harness their contribution, there is need to manage
them well.

HRM is the philosophy of people management based on the belief that human
resources are extremely important for sustained business success. An organization
acquires competitive advantage by using its people effectively and utilizing their
expertise to meet clearly defined objectives. HRM is aimed at recruiting capable,
flexible and committed people. Managing and rewarding their performance and
developing key competencies.

HRM is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve

competitive advantage through strategic deployment of highly committed and
capable workforce using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel
techniques (Storey2001:6)

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HRM is “…. a strategic and coherent approach to management of an organization’s
most valued assets: the people working there who individually and collectively
contribute to the achievement of its objectives” (Armstrong 2001:4)

Edwin Flippo defines- HRM as “planning, organizing, directing, controlling of

procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and
separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social
objectives are achieved.”

Scope of Human Resource Management

1. Personnel Aspect

Human Resource Planning – It is the process by which the organization identifies the
number of jobs vacant.

Job Analysis and Job Design – Job analysis is the systematic process for gathering,
documenting, and analysing data about the work required for a job. Job analysis is
the procedure for identifying those duties or behaviour that defines a job.

Recruitment and Selection – Recruitment is the process of preparing advertisements

on the basis of information collected from job analysis and publishing it in
newspaper. Selection is the process of choosing the best candidate among the
candidates applied for the job.

Orientation and Induction – Making the selected candidate informed about the
organization’s background, culture, values, and work ethics.

Training and Development – Training is provided to both new and existing employees
to improve their performance.

Performance Appraisal – Performance check is done of every employee by Human

Resource Management. Promotions, transfers, incentives, and salary increments are
decided on the basis of employee performance appraisal.

Compensation Planning and Remuneration – It is the job of Human Resource

Management to plan compensation and remunerate.
Motivation – Human Resource Management tries to keep employees motivated so
that employees put their maximum efforts in work.
2. Welfare Aspect – Human Resource Management have to follow certain health
and safety regulations for the benefit of employees. It deals with working
conditions, and amenities like - canteens, crèches, rest and lunch rooms, housing,
transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities,
etc.

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3. Industrial Relation Aspect – HRM works to maintain co-ordinal relation with
the union members to avoid strikes or lockouts to ensure smooth functioning of the
organisation. It also covers - joint consultation, collective bargaining, grievance and
disciplinary procedures, and dispute settlement.

Approaches to the development of HR strategies

1. Best practice: This approach is based on the belief that there is a set of best
HRM practices and that adopting them will lead to superior organizational
performance. These include:
• Sophisticated selection and recruitment processes.
• Training and recognition that training is an on-going activity.
• Job design to ensure flexibility commitment and motivation.
• Communication to ensure that the two-way process keeps every one fully
informed.
• Use of incentives.
• Employment security.
• High compensation contingent on performance.
• A proper functioning grievance procedure.

2. Best fit
• The approach is based on the belief that there can be no universal prescription
for HRM policies and practices. It is all contingent on the organization’s context and
culture and its business strategy.
NB: Many commentators say that ‘best fit’ is more important than ‘best practice’
• Best Fit looks at alignment and integration of the HR to decisions of an
organization and what the organization is trying to obtain.
• Integrating HR into the organization’s planning process, emphasizing HR
activities (HRP, designing of the organization & job, Selection and staffing, Training
& Development, Compensation & Benefits, Employee assistance, Union/Labor
Relations, Personnel Research etc.) that support broad agency mission, goals and
building a strong relationship between HR and management agencies.
• Ensure that the management of human resources contributes to mission
accomplishment and that managers are held accountable for their HRM decisions.
• Measuring progress toward those goals. (Setting targets).
• Integrate human resources management goals, objectives, and strategies into
agency.
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• Strategic plan though most agencies/organizations are still struggling in this
area.
• Therefore, agency executives and HR leaders need to work together to fully
integrate HRM into the planning process so that it will become a fundamental,
contributing factor to agency planning and success.
• Examine the “big picture” and find ways to impact the success of the agency
as a whole.
Introduction to role of HR Department
• People are most important resource an organization has.
• People always have reserved energy, which if tapped well can be used to
promote the organization’s competitive advantage.
• To harness their contribution, there is need to manage them well.

GROUPED ROLES OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICER

• HR / Personnel department plays a critical role in organization.
Broadly these roles can be categorized into five:
• Acquisition
• Development
• Motivation
• Maintenance
• Managing exit processes
Role 1: Acquisition
• Human Resource Planning
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Employee socialization, induction

Role 2: Development
Employee training
• Managing development
• Career planning
• Delegation
• Induction
• Succession planning

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Role 3: Motivation
• Job design
• Performance management
• Job evaluation
• Reward management
• Discipline and grievance handling
Role 4: Maintenance
• Employee labor relations
• Health and safety
• Participation and involvement
• Employee counseling
Role 5: Managing exits
• Retirement
• Redundancies
• Voluntary exits
• Handling restructuring phases
• Managing smooth transaction for individual and organization.
Changing roles and expectation from the HR Manager
Strategic role
• Involvement in the strategic direction of the company.
• They ensure that managers focus on the human resource implications on plans
• Too often organizations craft their strategy in a vacuum. Some organizations
don’t even include key people during strategy formulation resulting in lacunae
between the actual problems and the solutions implemented- as critical inputs are
not sought from those individuals who are supposed to implement the new
strategies.
•
Business partner role
• HR practitioners as business partners share responsibility with their line
management colleagues for the success of the enterprise, and get involved with
them in running the business.
• They must have the capacity to identify business opportunities, to see the
broad picture and to understand how their human resource role can help to achieve
the business objectives.

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Monitoring role
• Reviewing the actual situation against the strategic plan and deciding on
corrective actions.
• Monitoring the application of HR policies and procedures and the extent to
which organizational values relating to people management are upheld.
• Act as guardians of the organization’s values regarding people. They point out
what behavior conflicts with those values or where proposed actions will be
inconsistent with them.
• They also have to ensure that employment policies and procedures comply
with the legislations.
Interventionist / Innovator role
• Developing innovative approaches and solutions to improve productivity and
the quality of work. HR Managers recommend new approaches to solving HRM
related problems e.g productivity or a certain increase in absenteeism due to illness
or challenge in catching up with a new technology.
• HR professionals must master benchmarking, which is a tool for continuous
improvement- directing the human side associated with the strategic path adopted
by the organization.
Change and knowledge facilitator role
• Managing the change processes at both the individual and organizational level,
and very often in relation to strategy implementation.
• Enabling line managers to make things happen.
• The new HR must become a change agent in-order to build the organization’s
capacity to embrace and capitalize on change. Even though they are not primarily
responsible for executing change it is the duty of the HR manager to make sure that
the organization carries out the changes framed for implementation.

Technical expert
• This function encompasses a number of highly specific HRM-related skills such
as remuneration and management development.
• A key element of human resource planning should be well designed to ensure
that the supply of appropriate employees with the right skill is on board when
needed.
• Employee champion involvement in their day-to-day problems concerns and
needs.

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Advisors / internal consultancy role

• They act as internal consultants in HRM matters. If employees are expected

to contribute to the attainment of the organization’s strategic objectives, they
must understand what their role is. This can be achieved partly by clearly
communicating the mission and vision statements of the firm or organization.

GOALS (AIMS) OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

HRM aims at helping the organization achieve success through people. HRM
endeavors to process capabilities in order to get things done effectively.
The specific aims (goals) of HRM are:
1.ACHIEVING HIGH PERFORMANCE THROUGH PEOPLE
The overriding objective of HRM is to contribute to the achievement of high levels
of organizational performance. A mixture of culture, skill and competence,
motivation and social interaction between people, teams and business units are key
sources to achieving high performance through people.
An organization will achieve high performance levels through rigorous recruitment
and selection procedures, performance-contingent incentives, compensation
systems and management development and training activities linked to the needs
of the business.
People will be in position to perform exceptionally well when:
a) They are able to do so (they can do the job because they have the necessary
abilities, competencies and skills).
b) They have the motivation to do so (They will do the job because they want to
and there are incentives put in place for them).
c) Their work environment provides the necessary support and avenues for
expression e.g functioning technology and the opportunity to be heard when
problems occur.
2.ENHANCING MOTIVATION, COMMITMENT AND JOB ENGAGEMENT
i.This goal is geared at improving performance and retaining talented people.
Motivation is the process of encouraging people to apply their efforts and abilities
in ways that will lead to the attainment of the organization’s goals and satisfaction
of the employees’ needs.
ii.Commitment is about identification with the goals and values of the
organization, a feeling that one is part and parcel of the organization and can go

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the extra mile for its sake (one is not a target worker who is only interested in the
salary and benefits that accrue from his/her job).
iii.Job engagement takes place when people are interested in and are enthusiastic
about their work.
Precisely, people at the work place put in extra effort, care and innovation to see
to it that the organization succeeds.

3. ACHIEVING HUMAN CAPITAL ADVANTAGE

The goal is to achieve human capital advantage, resulting from employing people
with competitively valuable knowledge and skills.
It means enhancement of knowledge, skills and abilities that individuals possess and
putting it to the best use. This goal is attained through knowledge management,
resourcing and human resource development processes.
4.KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
This goal is concerned with influencing the ways in which people store and share
the wisdom and understanding the knowledge accumulated in an organization about
its processes, techniques and operations.
5.RESOURCING
The major aim here is to attract and retain the most skilled, competent, committed
and motivated workforce and organization needs to achieve its goals.
An organization’s success depends on the talents of employees including superior
performance, productivity, flexibility, innovation and the ability to deliver high
levels of customer service.
For an organization to excel, it must take steps to assess future people
requirements, develop recruitment strategies, selection methods and talent
management processes which will ensure that the right quality of people join and
remain in the organization.
6.HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The aim is to enhance the capabilities and potentiality of people by providing
learning and continuous development opportunities.
This can be attained by making sure that every person in the organization has the
necessary knowledge and skills and reaches the required level of competence to
carry out his/her work effectively.
Also, that performance of individuals and teams improves continuously and that
people are developed in a way, which maximizes their potential for growth and
promotion.
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 7.VALUING EMPLOYEES
The goal here is to enhance motivation and commitment by introducing policies and
processes which ensure that people are recognized, valued and rewarded for their
contribution and for the levels of skill and competence they reach.

8.EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Here, the goal is to create an enabling environment that would promote harmonious
relationships between the employees and employees, and employees and
management.
This can be achieved when employers:
a) Create a climate in which productive and harmonious relationships can be
maintained i.e.between management and employees in which feelings of mutual
trust can be developed.
b) Enhance and develop the inherent capacities people by providing learning and
continuous development opportunities.
c) Provide a range of services, which support the achievement of corporate
objectives as part of the process of running the organization.
d) Develop an environment in which teamwork and flexibility can flourish.
e) Ensure that people are valued and rewarded for what they do and achieve.
f) Ensure that equal opportunities are available to all not for a chosen few.
g) Adopt an ethical approach to managing employees, which is based on concern
for people, fairness and transparency.
h) Maintain and improve the physical and mental well-being of employees.
i) Provide employees with ‘a voice’ (clear communication channels) which
enables employees to have a say therefore an influence over decisions.’

KEY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES/FUNCTIONS

1) ORGANISATION
a. Organizational design: developing an organization, which caters for all the
activities required, group them together in a way, which encourages integration
and cooperation, operates flexibly in response to change and provides for effective
communication and decision-making.
b. Organization development: stimulating, planning and implementing
programmes designed to improve the effectiveness with which the organization
functions and adapts change; helping with the processes of managing change
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(strategies and mission), achieving organizational transformation (activities to be
done) and advising on work processes that will promote motivation and
commitment.
c. Job design and role building: deciding on the content of jobs (duties and
responsibilities) and the relationships that exist between jobholders and other
people in the organization.
d. Building roles by clarifying accountabilities and competence requirements and
empowering people so that they have more scope to play their part and to develop
their contribution (performance management, development and reward).
Maximizing intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction.

2) THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

a. Improving the quality of employment relationship between employees and
management in general.
creating a climate of trust i.e developing confidence, being transparent etc
Relationship between organizational goals and individual goals.
Developing a more positive psychological contract (Psychological contract is the set
of reciprocals but unarticulated expectations that exist between individual
employees and their employers).
Achieving a high commitment organization.
3) RESOURCING
a. Human Resource Planning-assessing future people requirements in terms both
of numbers and of levels of skills and competence, formulating and implementing
plans to meet those requirements through recruitment, training, development or if
necessary, downsizing (reducing the number of employees), taking steps to improve
productivity and retention levels and promoting flexibility in the employment of
people.
b. Talent management: providing for the attraction, retention, development and
reward of high-quality people.
c. Recruitment and selection: obtaining the number and type of people the
organization needs.
4) PERFOMANCE MANAGEMENT
a. Getting better results from the organization (Do you get value of and from the
people?), teams and individuals by measuring and managing performance within
agreed frameworks of objectives and competence requirements (see that people

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are doing what you want them to do i.e., doing things in line with the organizational
goals).
b. Assessing and improving performance-if some employees are not performing up
to expectations, what is the organization going to do to make them perform?
c. Identifying and satisfying learning and development needs in order to assist the
human resources to develop their skills and competencies and as such perform
better at their jobs. They should be developed in those areas that make them better
performers at the job and marketable at the same time.
5) HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
a. Organizational and individual learning: systematical developing the business as
a learning organization by providing employees with learning opportunities to
develop their capacities (staff development) and potential. Such provide avenues
for career growth and advancement and thus enhance employability.
b. Management development: providing development opportunities that will
increase the capacity of managers to make a significant contribution to achieving
organizational goals (taking decisions at the most appropriate time and decisions
that enhance the development of the organization).
c. Career management: planning and developing the careers of people with
potential (management takes decisions to train people for specific work and work
roles that they are exceptionally good at).
6) REWARD MANAGEMENT
a. Pay systems: determining and administering pay systems, which are equitable,
fair and transparent.

b. Paying for contribution (contingent pay)-relating rewards to effort, results,

competence, contribution and skill. S/he who puts in extra effort deserves
something extra.

c. Non-financial rewards-Providing employees with non-financial rewards such as

recognition (certificate of appreciation etc), increased responsibility and
opportunity to achieve and grow (incentives).

d. Employment benefits-providing benefits in addition to pay which caters for

security and personal needs (e.g. food basket, transport etc).

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 e. Job evaluation –assessing the relative size of jobs as a basis for determining
internal relativities for purposes of rewarding human resources basing on the size
and complexity of the job that they do.

7) EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS

a. Industrial relations: managing and maintaining formal relationships with

trade unions and their members.

b. Employee involvement and participation: sharing information (data) with

employees and consulting them on matters of mutual interest.

c. Employee voice: giving employees the opportunity to have a say in management

decision that affect them.

d. Communications: creating and transmitting information of interest to

employees-there should be transparency and feedback.

8) EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY

Developing and administering a healthy and safety programmes i.e ensuring that a
healthy and safe working environment is provided and protecting employees from
health hazards and accidents.

9) EMPLOYEE SERVICES (WELFARE SERVICES)

Providing welfare services concerning problems like prolonged illness; helping with
personal problems like depression, marital problems, addiction to substances
(drugs, alcohol, cigarette smoking), timidity/lack of self-confidence etc.

10) EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCE ADMINISTRATION

a. Employment practices and procedures: conditions of service, dealing with

promotions, transfers, discipline, capacity problems, grievances and redundancy.

b. Implementing policies on such matters as equal opportunity, the management

of diversity, sexual harassment (gender sensitivity), racial relations (including
ethnic monitoring), age, substance e.g. drug abuse, alcoholism, smoking and AIDS;
generally ensuring that the legal and social obligations of the organization are
fulfilled.

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11) CAREER COUNSELLING, STRESS MANAGEMENT AND CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT/RESOLUTION

a. Counseling is intended to give employees the opportunity to discuss their

aspirations and the manager’s comment on them helpfully and also put forward
proposals that would assist in employees’ career development. Career counseling
can be accompanied by mentoring.

b. Stress management: organizations have the responsibility of providing a good

quality of working life and can only do so by taking account of stress. This is so
because stress causes/illness, results in inability to cope with the demands of the
job and also reduces employee effectiveness, which affects organizational
performance.

c. Human Resource information system –setting up and managing computerized

Human Resource information systems and other records to provide a database and
to assist in decision making.

d. Conflict management: conflict is inevitable organizations because they

function by means of adjustments and compromises.

Conflict between individuals and groups needs to be managed properly so that it

does not go out of hand and affect organizational performance.
Challenges to HRM
• Different business priorities
• Short-termism among managers
• Lack of support from line managers.
• Inadequate infrastructure of supporting processes
• Lack of resources
• Resistance to change
• Lack of mutual trust (employer-employee) etc

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VS PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.

Personnel Management is thus basically an administrative record-keeping function,
at the operational level. Personnel Management attempts to maintain fair terms
and conditions of employment, while at the same time, efficiently managing
personnel activities for individual departments etc. It is assumed that the outcomes

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from providing justice and achieving efficiency in the management of personnel
activities will result ultimately in achieving organizational success

Human resource management is the new version of personnel management. There

is no any watertight difference between human resource management and
personnel management. However, there are some differences in the following
matters.

1. Personnel management is a traditional approach of managing people in the

organization. Human resource management is a modern approach of managing
people and their strengths in the organization.

2. Personnel management focuses on personnel administration, employee welfare

and labour relation. Human resource management focuses on acquisition,
development, motivation and maintenance of human resources in the organization.

3. Personnel management assumes people as an input for achieving desired

output. Human resource management assumes people as an important and valuable
resource for achieving desired output.

4. Under personnel management, personnel function is undertaken for

employee's satisfaction. Under human resource management, administrative
function is undertaken for goal achievement.

5. Under personnel management, job design is done on the basis of division of

labor. Under human resource management, job design function is done on the basis
of group work/team work.

6. Under personnel management, employees are provided with less training and
development opportunities. Under human resource management, employees are
provided with more training and development opportunities.

7. HRM is proactive in nature while PM is reactive.

8.HRM is a resource-cantered activity whereas PM is an employee-cantered activity.

9.HRM emphasizes on flexible, open-ended contracts but PM emphasizes the strict

observance of defined rules, procedures and contracts.

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

What is Human Resource Planning (HRP)?
• Human Resource Planning (HRP) is the systematic and continuing process of
analyzing an organization’s human resource needs under changing conditions and
integrating this analysis with the development of personnel policies appropriate to
meeting those needs (Amstrong, 2003).

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It goes beyond the development of policies on individual basis by embracing as many
aspects of managing people as possible with a key emphasis on planning to meet
the skill and development needs of the future.
• HRP is the process of determining the human resource needs of an organization
and ensuring that the organization has the right number of qualified people in the
right jobs at the right time.
Precisely, HRP is the process of getting the right number of qualified people into
the right job at the right time (McGraw, 1948).
• HRP is the system of matching the supply of people internally (existing
employees) and externally (those to be hired or searched for)- with the openings
the organization expects to have over a given time frame.
• HRP is the systematic assessment of future Human Resource needs and the
determination of the actions required to meet those needs.
HRP specifies future job requirements, which form the basis for workplace training
and development. HRP affects rewards through the type and quality of employees
required.
HRP is concerned with the development and provision of a frame work that allows
an organization to integrate key human resource activities so that it may meet the
needs of the employees and enhance their potential and meet the performance
needs of business strategy.
HRP is the process of ensuring that human resource requirements of an organization
are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements (Bulla and Scott
1994)
HRP is premised on the belief that people are an organization’s most important
resource.
It is mainly concerned with matching resources to business needs in the longer term.
It serves as the integrating link between strategic business planning and strategic
HRM.
It specifies recruiting and selection goals; the number and type of individuals to be
employed i.e. addressing the Human Resource needs both in quantitative and
qualitative terms (how many people and what sort of people does the organization
need?).
HRP also gives information on performance and productivity (through appraisal)
which can determine the number and type of employees needed to achieve strategic
goals.

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HRP also specifies future job requirements, which form the basis for workplace
training and development.
HRP also looks at broader issues relating to the ways in which people are employed
and developed in order to improve organizational effectiveness, thus playing a big
role in strategic HRM.
HRP is a decision-making process that combines three important activities:
-Identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills;
-Motivating people (employees) to achieve high performance;
-Creating interactive links between business objectives and people – planning
activities.

HRP aims to answer the following questions:

What kind of personnel does the organization require and in what numbers?
Over what time-span are these personnel required?
How many of them are employed by the organization currently?
What changes are taking place in the external labor market, which might affect the
supply of manpower?

AIMS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human Resource Planning has a number of aims, the following being the most
prominent:
• To ensure that the organization obtains / attracts and retains the number of
people it needs with the appropriate skills, expertise and competencies;
• Anticipating the problems of potential surpluses or deficits of the required
people with the required expertise;
• Making the best use of the organization’s available Human Resources;
• Developing a well-trained and flexible workforce, thus contributing
organization’s ability to adapt to an uncertain and changing environment;
• Reducing dependence on external recruitment when key skills are in short
supply by formulating retention as well as employee development strategies;
• Improving the utilization of people by introducing more flexible work systems.
The above aims can be achieved by:
(a) Forecasting future needs;
(b) Analyzing the availability of supply;
(c) Drawing up plans to match supply and demand;

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(d) Monitoring the implementation of the plan.

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING CONSISTS OF FOUR BASIC STEPS

(i) Determining the impact of the organization’s objectives on specific
organization units,
(ii) Defining the skills, expertise and total number of employees (demand for
human resources) required in order to achieve the organizational and departmental
objectives,
(iii) Determining the additional (net) human resource requirements in light of the
organization’s current resources,
(iv) Developing action plans to meet the anticipated human resource needs.

Step.1. Determining the impact of organization’s objectives

Organizational objectives are statements of anticipated or expected results that
are designed to give the organization and its member’s direction and purpose.
Human resource plans must always be based on organizational strategic plans. What
this means is that the objective of the Human Resource Plan must be derived from
organizational objective.
Specific human resource requirement in terms of number and characteristics of
employees should be derived from the objectives of the entire organization.
Organization objectives, which give the organization and its members’ direction and
purpose, should be stated in terms of expected results.
The objectives-setting process begins at the top most level of the organization with
a statement of mission (mission statement), which clearly defines the organization’s
current and future business.
Long-range objectives and strategies are formulated based on the organization’s
mission statement. These long-range objectives and strategies can be used to
establish short-term performance objectives.
Short-term performance objectives generally have a time schedule (they are
supposed to be achieved with a specific period of time) and the expressed
quantitatively.
Divisional and departmental objectives are then derived from the organizations
Establishing organizational divisional and departmental objectives in the manner is
termed as Cascade approach to objective setting.

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 Cascade approach is the objective setting process designed to involve all levels of
management in the organizational planning process.
The main idea behind cascade approach is to involve all levels of management in
the planning process.
Such an approach leads to an upward and downward flow of information during
planning.
This also ensures that the objectives are communicated and coordinated through
all levels of the organization.
If used appropriately, the cascade involves both operating and human resource
personnel in the planning process.
During the early stages (HRP), human resource personnel can influence can
influence objective setting by providing information about the organization’s human
resource.
For instance, if human resource personnel have identified particular strength and
the overall direction of the organization.
Cascade approach to setting objectives

Statement of Top management

Organization’s mission

Long-range objectives Top management

and strategic plans

Short-range Middle management

Performance objectives

Division or Supervision
Department objectives

Sub unit objectives

Source: Byars 2004

Step.2. Determining the skills and Expertise required (demand)

After establishing organizational, divisional and departmental objectives, operating
managers should determine the skills and expertise required to meet their
respective objectives.
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The key here is to determine the skills required to meet the objectives. When an
objective has been clearly established, the line manager must determine precisely
and concisely how this translates into human resource needs.
A good starting point is to review current job descriptions. The moment this has
been accomplished, managers are in a better position to determine the skills and
expertise necessary to meet their objectives.
The final step in this phase is to translate the needed skills and abilities into types
and numbers of employees (Byars and Rue, 2004)
3.3.1 Methods of forecasting Human Resource needs
The organization’s future human needs can be forecasted using varying methods,
some of which are simple while others are complex. Regardless of the method used,
forecasts represent approximations and should not be viewed as absolute. Methods
for forecasting human resource needs can be either judgmentally or mathematically
done.

Judgemental methods include:

a. Managerial estimates:
This is a judgemental method of forecasting that calls on managers to make
estimates of future staffing needs.
The future staff needs are based primarily on past experience.
These estimates can be made:
- By top level managers and passed down,
- By lower-level managers and passed up for further managers.
b. Delphi technique
This is a judgmental method of forecasting that uses a panel of experts to make
initially independent estimates of future demand.
An intermediary then presents each expert’s forecast and assumptions to the other
members of the panel.
Each expert is then allowed to revise his/her forecast as desired.
This process continues until some consensus emerges.
c. Scenario analysis
Scenario analysis involves using workforce environmental scanning data to develop
alternative workforce scenarios.
These scenarios are developed by having brainstorming sessions with the managers
and human resource managers, who forecast what they think their workforce, will
look like five or more years into the future.
19
Once these forecasts have been crystallized, the managers then work backwards to
identify key change points.
-The biggest advantage with scenario planning is that it encourages open out-of-
the-box thinking.
3.3.2 Benchmarking
In addition to judgmental and mathematical forecasting techniques, some
organizations help forecast human resource needs by benchmarking what other
successful organizations are doing.
Benchmarking involves thoroughly examining internal practices and procedures and
measuring them against the ways other successful organizations operate.
Benchmarking involves learning what other successful organizations in the industry
are forecasting and how they are arriving at their forecasts. The organization, which
is benchmarking compares its forecasts with those of the other successful
organizations.
Consultants and professional organizations such as industry associations can be
employed to help with the benchmarking process.
-Benchmarking is advantageous in that it forces the organization to look at other
ways of doing things.

Step.3. Determining additional (net) Human resource requirements

Once a manager has determined the types and numbers of employees required,
he/she analyses these estimates in light of:
(i) The current human resources of the organization,
(ii) The anticipated human resources of the organization.
The process involves a thorough analysis of presently employed human resources
(personnel) and a forecast of expected changes.
SKILLS INVENTORY
This is a consolidated list of biographical and other information on all employees in
the organization.
A skills inventory provides basic information on all employees including:
- A list of the names (of employees),
- Certain characteristics of each employee,
- Skills of employees
As information from a skills inventory is usually used as input into promotion and
transfer decisions, it should contain information about each employee’s portfolio of
skills including those not relevant to the employee’s current job.
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SEVEN Broad categories of information that should be included in skills inventory
(as propose by Thomas H. Pattern)
a. Personal data; age, sex, marital status.
b. Skills; education, job experience, training.
c. Special qualifications; membership in professional groups, special achievements.
d. Salary and job history; present and past salary, dates of raises, various jobs held.
e. Company data; benefit plan data, retirement information, and seniority.
f. Capacity of individual; test scores on psychological and other tests, health
information.
g. Special preferences of individual; geographic location, type of job.

The skills inventory is advantageous in that;

a. It furnishes a means to quickly and accurately evaluate the skills within the
organization.
b. It helps in determining promotion and transfer decisions.
c. The information is necessary for making decisions such as bidding on a new
contract or introducing a new product.
d. It aids/helps in planning future employee training and management.
e. It helps in recruiting and selecting new employees (Byars and Rue, 2004)
Management inventory
This is a specialized, expanded form of skills inventory for an organization’s current
management team.
In addition to basic types of information, a management inventory usually includes
a brief assessment of past performance, strengths, weaknesses and potential for
advancement.

In essence, a management inventory is a specialized type of skills inventory just for

management.
Anticipating changes in personnel
In addition to appraising present human resources through a skills inventory,
managers must take future changes into account.
Managers can accurately and easily estimate certain changes, but cannot easily
forecast other changes.
Nevertheless, information is almost always available to help make these forecasts.
21
 Changes such as retirements can be forecasted with reasonable accuracy from
information available in the skills inventory.
Changes, such as transfers and promotions, can be estimated by taking into account
such factors as the ages of individuals in specific jobs and requirements of the
organization.
Individuals with potential for promotion can (and should) be identified factors, such
as deaths, resignations and discharges, are extremely difficult to predict. However,
past experience and historical records can provide useful information in these
areas.
Estimating future Human Resource Requirements
Feasible and appropriate scenario planning can be used to produce demand and
supply forecasts and determine the action to be taken in case of human resource
deficit surplus.
Demand forecasting is the process of estimating the future numbers of people
required and the likely skills and competencies they will need.
The ideal basis of the forecast is an annual budget and longer-term business plan,
translated into activity levels for each function and department, or decisions on
reducing the workforce (downsizing).
-Details must be availed concerning additional employees or different skills e.g.
-Setting up a new regional organization,
-Creating a new sales department,
-Carrying out a major project or developing new products or services,
-A business process re-engineering exercise,
-New technology leading to increased productivity,
-A merger (of departments or organizations) or acquisition (of an organization),
-Remuneration costs including the pay e.g. employee benefits, recruitment cost,
training costs, replacement costs, relocation costs, opportunity cost.
Supply forecasting measures the number of people likely to be available form
within and outside the organization after accounting for labour wastage and
retirement (attrition), absenteeism, internal movements and promotions, changes
in hours and other conditions of work.
The supply forecast will be based on:
-Analysis of existing human resources in terms of numbers in each occupation,
skills and potentials;

22
 -Forecast losses to existing resource through attrition (labour wastage and
retirements). This is a very important aspect of HRP because it provides the basis to
improve retention rates;
-Forecasting changes to existing resources through internal promotions;
-Effect of changing conditions of work and absenteeism; sources of supply within
the organization;
-Sources of supply from outside the organization in the local and national or even
international labor market;
Information necessary for assessing supply or labor i.e.
(i) Local labor market,
(ii) National labor market,
(iii) International labor market
(i) Local labor market if an organization, say is in Kween or Koboko, assessing
the labor needs, has to look at the local market first:

Points to consider
 Population density within the reach of the organization. Relationship existing
depends on the type of labour required.
 The current and future competition for employees from other employers.
 The local unemployment levels.
 The traditional pattern of employment locally and the availability of people
with the required qualifications and skills.
 The pattern of immigration / emigration within the area.
 The attractiveness of the company as a place of work.
 The availability local housing, shopping and transport facilities.
 Availability of local training, education systems and training institutions.
 The negative spill overs /externalities of the company (organization) including
factors that affect people e.g. cement production or oil drilling which lead to
pollution resulting into change of lifestyle, displacement etc. the people affected
must be compensated.

(ii) National labour market

This one looks at the whole country
 Look at the demographic trends i.e. the number of school leavers and the size
of the working population. The higher the number of school leavers, the higher the

23
level of unemployment; the bigger the size of the working population, the higher
the chances of getting skilled manpower.
 Look at the national demand of special categories of employees e.g.
graduates, professionals, skilled workers etc.
 The national unemployment levels.
 The government employment policies and regulations.
 The budget of the organization in the situation where there is competition for
certain categories of employees.
(iii) International levels
Having failed to get the required human resources at the national, what step does
the organization take?
The organization has one option i.e. turning to the international labour market for
the human resources it need to operate competitively.
It has to:
 Look at the immigration laws e.g. work permits for employees from outside of
the country of operation.
 Policies of employing non-citizens e.g. laws barring those already in a country
from applying.
How does the organization advertise? Some organizations make arrangements with
partner organizations in foreign countries.
Other use: Embassies,
Newsletters,
Websites,
Partners
Analyzing demand and supply forecasts
The demand and supply forecasts can then be analyzed to determine whether there
are any deficits or surpluses. This provides the basis for recruitment, retention and
downsizing plans.
Computerized planning models or spreadsheets can be used to calculate the number
of people required for each occupation.
3.4 What are the factors affecting demand for labour?
The following are some of the factors that affect the demand for labour:
 Changes in the market especially if there are changes in tastes and
preferences. If more customers require more products there will be more
production and the organization will be forced to employ more people.

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 Changes in the availability of raw materials e.g. lack of raw materials may
result into laying off of workers because the firm will be producing below capacity.
 Technological advancement may affect the demand for labour e.g. computers
have a displacement (replacement) effect (they are replacing people).
 Government intervention / Government policy e.g. ban on recruitment of
teachers and medical workers by the Uganda Government.
 Mergers of companies affect labour demand in that, either workers are
dismissed or more are recruited.
 Internal problems like work overload will result in low productivity and this
may force an organization to employ more people.
 Change in the cost of labour in relation to other resources. This may either
lead to reduction or increment of labour.
3.5 LABOUR TURNOVER
Labour turnover refers to the number of people leaving an organization.
The analysis of labour turnover:
 Provides data for use in supply forecasting, in order to know the exact number
of people lost who have to be replaced.
 Provided information required to improve retention rates.
 It can prompt further investigations to establish underlying causes of labour
turnover;
 It prompts the identification of remedies to the problem of labour turnover.
Reasons for turnover
Human resources leave organizations due to different reasons, some of which are;
 More pay (search for bearer prospects or greater pastures). If the employees
is not satisfied with what s/he gets and envisages no prospect of an increment in
pay s/he leaves the job.
 Better prospects (career move), an employee feels the current job offers little
prospects and hopes for better career prospects somewhere else e.g. further
training, promotion etc.
 More opportunity to develop skills (through available of work support schemes
e.g. computers, creativity is welcomed, chance to express oneself freely (in case
such are lacking in an organization the employee leaves and goes where s/he thinks
they are available).
 Better working conditions such as specious office; payment on time; teamwork
and sharing; flexible in work (n rigid following of routines or timetables; open

25
communication channels; minimum or no rumour mongering. In case such are not
provided the employee moves to an organization s/he expects them to be available.
 Poor relationship with manager / team leader, one leaves to save
himself/herself from him/her (one leaves in order to find peace), manager
discourages creativity, is confrontational, overbearing and too demanding (points
out only the negative aspects of one’s performance) not appreciative etc.
 Poor relationship with colleagues; the concerned is uncooperative or the
colleagues are uncooperative, colleagues do not appreciate his/her contribution,
make him/her a scape goat whenever there is failure to accomplish tasks.
 Bullying / harassment (sexual harassment, belittlement).
 Personal reasons such as pregnancy, illness, moving away from area of work,
loss of interest, dissatisfaction or unhappiness at place of work, contracting an
incurable disease etc.
 Location or organization (geographically). If it is remote, someone leaves and
goes to a “strategically” located area.
THE COST OF LABOUR TURNOVER
Labour turnover can be costly in the following ways:
 Leaving costs – payroll costs and personnel administration of the person who
is leaving/has left.
 Direct cost of recruiting replacements (advertising, interviewing, testing,
training etc)
 Opportunity cost of time spent by Human Resource and line managers in the
recruitment exercise (time lost by Human resource and line managers in the
recruitment exercise).
 Direct cost of introducing replacements (induction course, cost of induction
manuals, hours lost by those in charge of induction of new employees etc).
 Direct cost of training replacements in the necessary skills.
 Opportunity cost of time spent by line managers and other staff in providing
training.
 Loss of input from those leaving before they are replaced in terms of
contribution, output, sales, customer satisfaction and support etc.
 Loss arising from reduced input from new starters until they are fully trained
and have fully acclimatized.

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Step.4. Developing action plans to meet the anticipated Human
Resource Needs (Action Planning)
Once the net human resource requirements have been determined, manager must
develop action plans for achieving the desired results.
If the net requirements indicate a need for additions, decisions must be made
whether to make permanent hires, temporary hires, or to outsource the work.

If the decision is to make permanent or temporary hires, plans must be made to

recruit, select, orient and train the specific numbers and types of personnel
needed.

(i) OVERALL PLAN

Organization always – look for ways of reducing costs and end up pursuing
downsizing policies. In spite of this, cases of skill shortages still exist and
organizations are thus advised to take a selection of different steps as part of the
overall plan:
 Improving methods of identifying the sort of young people the organization
wants to recruit;
 Establishing links with schools and colleges to gain their interest in the
organization;
 Developing career programs and training packages to attract young people;
 Widening the recruitment to include, for example, more women re-entering
the labour market (from/after additional training);
 Finding ways of tapping alternative pools of suitable workers e.g. part time
workers;
 Adapting working hour and arrangements to the needs of new employee and
those with domestic responsibilities ;
 Providing more attractive benefit packages e.g. child-care facilities,
maternity leave, paternity leave etc.
 Developing the talents of existing staff and making better use of existing
employees;
 Providing retraining for existing and new employees to develop different skills;
 Making an extra effort to retain existing staff and new recruits.
(ii) THE RESOURCING PLAN

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This needs to consider approaches to obtaining people from within the organization,
to recruiting them externally and to attracting high quality candidates (becoming
‘the employer of choice’).
Internal resourcing
The first step is to analyze the availability of suitable people from within the
organization, by reference to assessment of potential and a skills database.
 The data should contain a regularly updated list of employees with the sort of
skills needed by the organization (skills inventory).
 Decisions are then made on what steps should be taken to promote, redeploy
or provide additional experience and training to eligible staff.
 Plans can also be made to make use of existing employees, which may include
flexibility arrangements or home working.
The recruitment plan
This will incorporate:
 The numbers and types of employees required to make up any deficits, when
they are needed;
 They likely sources of candidates; schools, tertiary institutions, universities,
advertising, the internet etc.
 Plans for tapping alternative source, such as part-timers, or widening the
recruitment net to include, for example, more women re-entering the labour
market.
Employer of choice plans
The recruitment plan should include plans for attracting good candidates by
ensuring that the organization becomes the first choice for and employee
(‘employer of choice’)
This is achievable through improvement of the image of the company as an employer
and by offering:
 Better remuneration packages;
 More opportunities for development, training and careers;
 Enhanced future employability because of the reputation of the organization
as one that employs and develops high quality people, as well as the learning
opportunities it provides;
 Employment conditions which address work-life balance issues by for example,
adapting working hours and arrangement and leave policies and providing child care
facilities or vouchers to meet the needs of those with domestic responsibilities;

28
 Better facilities and scope for knowledge workers, such as research and
development scientists or engineers or Information Technology specialists;
 Golden hellos (sums of money paid upfront to recruits);
 Generous relocation payments.
(iii) THE FLEXIBILITY PLAN
The aims of the flexibility plan should be to:
 Provide for greater operational flexibility;
 Improve the utilization of employees’ skills and practices;
 Reduce employment costs;
 Help to achieve downsizing (reduction of workforce) smoothly and in a way
which avoid the need for compulsory redundancies;
 Increase productivity.
The flexibility plan can be based on:
A radical look at traditional employment patterns i.e. identifying the scope for using
alternatives to full-time permanent staff.
This may include:
 Increasing the number of part-timers;
 Job sharing (two employees share the work of one full position, divide the
salary and benefits between them);
 The expansion of home working or teleworking;
 Employing more temporary workers.
Temporary working is aimed at:
 Establishing permanent staffing levels to meet minimum or normal levels of
demand and rely on temporary staff to cover peaks.
 Developing a ‘two-tier’ workforce in order to provide greater job security for
the core workers, by employing a certain percentage of temporary staff at
periphery.
 Flexibility should also put into consideration making more use of sub-
contractors or outsourcing work.
 Introducing more flexible working arrangements.
USES OF PART-TIME WORKERS
The advantages of this are:
 More scope for flexing hours worked.
 Better utilization of plant and equipment by, for example, the introduction of
shifts (‘twilight shift’).

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 Lower unit labour costs because overtime levels workers are reduced.
 Higher productivity on repetitive work because part-time workers can give
more attention to their work during their shorter day.
The disadvantages are:
 Part-timers are more often than not, less willing to work in the afternoon or
evening, it might be difficult to vary their hours of work and might be less mobile.
 Rates of labour turnover may be higher among part-timers.
 Part-timers may be less committed than full-timers (although the reverse
might also be true).
JOB SHARING
This is an arrangement whereby:
 Two employees share the work of one full-time position.
 Dividing pay and benefits between them according to the time each works.
 The employees split days or weeks or working alternate weeks.
Advantages
 Reduced employee turnover.
 Reduced absenteeism because it suits the needs of individuals.
 Greater continuity results because if one-half of the job sharing is ill or leaves,
the other half (sharer) continues working for at least half the time.
 A wider employment pool can be trapped, of those who cannot work full time
but want permanent employment.
Disadvantages
 Higher administrative costs are involved (administering two people is not the
same as administering one).
 The risk of responsibility being divided – one party might not do the work as
well as the other party in terms of quality, speed etc.
HOMEWORKING
Home working means that home based employees can be employed in such jobs as
consultants, analysts, designers, programmers or various kinds of administrative
work.
Advantages:
 Flexibility to respond rapidly to fluctuations demand;
 Reduced overheads;
 Lower employment costs if the home workers are self-employed.

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TELEWORKING
Tele-working involves people working at home with a terminal, which is linked to
the main company or networked with other outworkers.
Aims:
 To achieve greater flexibility.
 Rapid access to skills.
 Retention of skilled employees who would otherwise be lost to the company.
Tele-working can be used in functions like marketing, finance and information
technology.
Tele-working can only succeed if:
 The employees involved are highly educated (full-time tele-workers) to handle
the challenges of tele-working.
 There is careful selection and training of tele-workers.
 Teleworkers are allocated adequate resources.
 There is meticulous monitoring of the operation system.
(iv) THE DOWNSIZING PLAN
If all the other arrangements and plans fail, then dealing with unacceptable
employment costs or surplus numbers of employees may necessitate downsizing.
The downsizing plan should be based on the timing of reduction and forecasts of
the extent to which these can be achieved by the natural wastage or voluntary
redundancy.
(Natural wastage is the process of reducing the number of workers in a company by
not replacing people who leave).
There are four basic ways to downsize:
 Layoffs,
 Terminations,
 Early retirement inducements,
 Voluntary resignation inducements.
The plan should set out:
 The total number of people who have to be laid off, when and where this
needs to take place.
 Arrangements for informing and consulting with employees and their trade
unions.
 A forecast of the number of losses that can be taken up by natural wastage.
 Any financial or other inducements to encourage voluntary redundancy.

31
 A forecast of the balance of employees, it any, who will have to be made
redundant (the plan should aim at avoiding this through natural wastage and
voluntary redundancy).
 The redundancy terms.
 Any financial inducements to be offered to key employees whom the company
wishes to retain.
 Any arrangements for retraining employees and finding them work elsewhere
in the organization.
 The steps to be taken to help redundant employees find new jobs by
counseling, contacting other employers or offering the service of outplacement.
 The arrangements for telling individual employees about redundancies and
how they are affected and for keeping the trade unions informed.
Approaches that do not result in employees leaving the organization include:
(i) Reclassification,
(ii) Transfer,
(iii) Work sharing
 Reclassification involves a demotion of an employees or the downgrading of
job responsibilities, or a combination of the two. Usually reclassification is
accompanied by a reduction in pay.
 A transfer involves moving the employee to another part of the organization.
 Work sharing seeks to limit lay-offs and terminations through the proportional
reduction of hours among employees say from 35 hours a week to 30 hours. The
reduction in the number of hours worked is accompanied with a reduction in pay.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Many tools are available to assist in the HRP process:
 Skills inventory is one of the most frequently used HRP tools.
 Succession planning: identifies specific people to fill key positions throughout
the organization.
Succession planning almost always involves the use of a replacement chart. A basic
organization replacement chart shows both incumbents and potential replacements
for given positions within the organization.
To be effective, replacement charts must be periodically updated to reflect changes
in scenarios and potential requirements.

32
Under an optional succession planning system, individuals are initially identified as
candidate to move up after being nominated by management.
Then performance appraisal is reviewed, potential is assessed, developmental
programmes are formulated and career paths are mapped out.
Sophisticated succession planning helps ensure that qualified internal candidates
are not overlooked.
The major drawback of succession plans especially informal succession plans and
those for large organization are:
 The “crowned prince” syndrome. This occurs when management considers
for advancement only those who have managed to become visible to senior
management.
 So much information must be tracked that it is very difficult to do it manually.

COMMON PITFALLS IN HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

The most consistently encountered stumbling blocks in HRP include:
a. The identity crisis: Human Resource planners work in an environment
characterized by ambiguous regulations, company politics and diverse management
styles. Unless human resource planner develop, a strong sense of mission/direction,
they often spend much of their time looking for something meaningful to do while
the organization questions the reason for their existence.
b. Sponsorship of Top management: For HRP to be viable in the long run, it must
have the full support of at least one influential senior executive. Such high-ranking
support can ensure the necessary resources, visibility and cooperation necessary for
the success of an HRP program. Where it is lacking, expect failure of HRP program
plans.

c. Size of the initial effort: Many HRP programs fail because of an overcomplicated
initial effort. Successful HRP programs that start slowly and gradually expand as
they meet with success. Developing an accurate skills inventory and a replacement
chart is a good place to start.
d. Coordination with other management and Human Resource functions:
HRP must be coordinated with the other management and human resource
functions. Unfortunately, HRP specialists tend to become absorbed in their own
function and fail to interact with others.

33
 e. Integration with organization plans: Human Resource plans must be derived
from organization plans. The key here is to develop good communication channels
between the organization planners and the human resource planners.
Where good communication between organization planners and Human Resource
planners is lacking, no success will be registered.
f. Quantitative versus qualitative approaches: Some people view HRP as a number
game designed to track the flow of people in, out, up, down and across the different
organizational units. These people take a strictly quantitative approach to HRP.
Others take a strictly qualitative approach and focus on individual employee
concerns such as individual promotions and career development. As is so often the
case, a balanced approach employing both quantitative and qualitative methods,
usually yields the best results.

f. Non-involvement of operating managers: HRP is not strictly a human resource

department function. Successful HRP requires a coordinated effort on the parts of
operating managers and human resource personnel. Where coordination is lacking,
nothing much can be achieved.
g. The Technique Trap: As HRP has become more and more popular, new and
sophisticated techniques have been developed to assist in HRP. Sometimes, there
is a tendency of inappropriate use of certain techniques not because of what they
can do but just because everyone is using them. HRP personnel should avoid using
a technique because it is the most commonly used by other Human Resource
Planners and organizations.

JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis is the process of collecting, analyzing and setting out information about
the content of jobs in order to provide the basis for a job description and data for
recruitment, training, job evaluation and performance management.

Job analysis is the process of determining and reporting, pertinent information relating
to the nature of a specific job.

It’s the determination of the tasks, which comprise the job, and of the skills,
knowledge, abilities and responsibilities required of the job holder for successful job
performance. In other words, job analysis is the process of determining through

34
observation and study, the pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific
job.

Job analysis serves as the cornerstone of all human resource functions. Jobs must be
analyzed before many of the other human resource functions can be performed e.g.
recruitment, reward management etc.

There are two major components of job analysis i.e job specification and job
description.

-Job specification concentrates on the characteristics needed to perform (to do) the
job e.g the education, qualifications, training, experience, personal attitudes and job
competencies a jobholder requires to perform his/her job to his/her level best.

-Job description explains what the job is called, the purpose of the job, what is to be
done, where is it to be done, how is it to be done, where it fits in the organization
structure, the context within which the job holder functions and the principal
accountabilities/main tasks the job holder have to carry out.

Precisely, a job description concentrates on describing the job as it is currently being

performed i.e the job name, a brief summary description of the job, a listing of job
duties and responsibilities and an explanation of organizational relationships pertinent
to the job.

2.1 JOB DESIGN

This is the process of structuring work and designating the specific work activities of
an individual or a group of individuals to achieve certain organizational objectives.

Job design addresses the basic question of how the job is to be performed, who is
performed it and where it is to be performed.

Job design is the specification of the contents, methods and relationships in order to
satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well the social and personal
requirements of the jobholder.

Job design results into a set of tasks and activities, which try to answer the following
questions:

i. Who does the job?

35
 What are the mental and physical characteristics of the job?

ii. What should be done? i.e what is the task to be performed?

iii. Where will the work be done? i.e the locality of the job within the
organization.

iv. When will the work be done? Here, we are dealing with the time frame within
which the job is to be accomplished. Does the job involve shits or working from
morning to evening or even working at night?

v. Why should the work be done? Here we are dealing with the rationale (reasons)
of doing the work or the motivational aspects of doing the work.

vi. How should the work be done? i.e what are the procedures of doing the work?

There are two important dimensions of job design;

2.2 JOB SCOPE AND JOB DEPTH

a. JOB SCOPE: This is the number and variety of different tasks performed by the
jobholder. For example, a university teacher teaches (lectures, sets examinations,
marks course work and examinations, counsels students, supervises students’
research, attends workshops, carries out research etc
In a job with a narrow scope, the jobholder performs a few different tasks and repeats
those tasks frequently (Byars and Rue, 2004).
b. JOB DEPTH: refers to the freedom of jobholders to plan and organize their own
work, work at their own pace and also move around and communicate as desired. A
lack of job depth usually results into job dissatisfaction, which in turn lead to
tardiness, absenteeism and even sabotage.
2.3 JOB REDESIGN: This is the overhauling (changing) of a job structure after job
analysis.
TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN
a. Job rotation (cross training): This comprises the movement of employees from one
task to another in order to minimize monotony by maximizing (increasing) variety i.e. it
is the practice of periodically rotating job assignments. Here, the job holder is being
trained to handle a variety of tasks.
b. Job enlargement: means combining previously fragmented tasks into one job that is,
giving a job holder more tasks of more or less similar nature to perform.

36
 c. Job enrichment: It adds greater autonomy and responsibility to a job, that is, it
involves upgrading the job by increasing both the job scope (job scope is the number
and variety of different tasks performed by the jobholder) and the job depth (job depth
is the freedom of job holders to plan and organize their own work, to work at their own
pace and also move around to communicate as desired).
Job enrichment aims at maximizing the interest and challenge of work by providing
the employee with:
-A complete piece of work in the sense that the worker can identify a series of tasks or
activities that ends in a recognizable definable product;
-The job affords the employee as much variety decision-making, responsibility and
control as possible in carrying out work;
-The job provides direct feedback through the work itself on how well the employee is
doing his/her job.
(i) Self-managing teams (autonomous work groups) these are self-regulating
teams who work largely without direct supervision. A self-managing team is allocated
on an overall task and is given discretion over how the work is done. Here, workers
are given independence or freedom to control their work and given channels of
feedback too.
The basis of the self-managing teams work approach to job design is social-technical
systems theory, which suggests that the best results are obtained in grouping workers
in such a way that, they are primarily related to each other by way of task performance
and task independence.
A self-managing team:
-Enlarges individual jobs to include a wider range of operative skills (multi-skilling);
- Decides on the methods of work and the planning, scheduling and control of work;
-Distributes tasks itself among its members.
A self-managing team is guided by the following in the social technical approach
for designing jobs:
-Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to continue learning;
-Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition at the work
place;
-Employees need some minimum levels of decision making that they can call their own;
-Employees need to feel/believe that the job leads some sort of desirable future.
-Employees need to be able to relate to what they do and what they produce to their
social lives.
(ii) The physical work environment
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 It includes factors such as; temperature, humidity, ventilation, noise, security all of
which can have an impact on the designs of jobs. However, much as studies show that
adverse physical conditions to have a negative impact on performance; the degree of
influence varies from individual to individual. Generally, the work environment should
allow for normal lighting, temperature, ventilation and humidity. If employees must
be exposed to less-than-ideal conditions, it is wise to limit these exposures to short
periods of time to minimize the probability that the employee will suffer any
permanent physical and psychological damage.

JOB ANALYSIS produces the following information about a job:

-Overall purpose-reasons as to why the job exists and what the jobholder is expected
to contribute.
-Content-the nature and scope of the job in terms of the tasks and operations to be
performed and duties to be carried out i.e. the processes of converting inputs (knowledge,
skills and abilities) into outputs (results);
-Accountabilities- the results (outputs) for which the holder is accountable.
-Performance criteria- the criteria, measures or indicators that enable an assessment
to be carried out to ascertain the degree to which the job is being performed satisfactorily;
-Responsibilities- the level of responsibility the job holder has to exercise by reference
to the scope and input of the job; the level of freedom given to make decisions; the
difficulty, scale, variety and complexity of the problems to be solved; the quantity and
value of the resources controlled; and the type and importance of interpersonal relations;
-Organizational factors-the channels of communication of the job holder, that is, to
whom s/he reports either directly (the line manager) or functionally (on matters concerning
specialist areas, such as finance or personnel management); the people reporting directly
or indirectly to the jobholder; and the extent to which the job holder is involved in team
work;
-Motivating factors-the particular features of the job that are likely to motivate the
jobholders; if they are demotivating, then something be done about them;
-Development factors-promotion and career prospect and the opportunity to acquire
new skills or expertise;
-Environment factors-working conditions, health and safety considerations, unsocial
hours, mobility and ergonomic factors relating yo the design and use of equipment or work
stations.

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 2.4 JOB ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES (METHODS)
2.4.1 INTERVIEWS
This is where an interviewer holds an interview with the jobholder at the job site. The
aim of the interview is to obtain the relevant facts about the job like;
The job title of the jobholder;
-The job title of the jobholder’s manager and team leader;
-The job titles and numbers of people reporting to the jobholder;
-A brief description of the overall purpose of the job;
-A list of the main tasks or duties that the jobholder has to carryout, the expected
results, resources controlled, the equipment used and the frequency with which the
tasks are carried out.
Questions are designed to carry out the above exercise. They can either be structured
(follow a pre-destined format) where almost all the aspects required are covered
and/or unstructured questions (not pre-destined and are asked basing on the way the
interview is processing.
Advantages
-It is very flexible in that the interviewer is able to gauge the direction of the interview
and make the necessary adjustments in order to obtain the information he/she needs;
-It can provide in depth information. The interview is at liberty to probe in order to get
deeper information about the particular areas he/she is interested in;
-It is easy to organize and prepare as one just meets the interviewee at his/her
convenient time and place.
-Where structured questions are used, it is easy to compare information.
Disadvantages
-it can be time consuming-if the people to be interviewed are many and when the
interview covers a wide scope;
-There is a problem of scheduling time especially in cases where people work in shifts;
-The problem of language-people understanding things differently, failure to express
one’s views due to problems with the language used;
-Results not always easy to analyze.
2.4.2 QUESTIONNAIRES
These contain several questions, which are both objective and open ended. Here, the
jobholder completes the questionnaire and either has it checked by the immediate
supervisor or just return it to the job analyst after filling it.
Advantages

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-They are very helpful when a large number of jobs are to be covered. Here, the
information is obtained from a large number of employees in a relatively short time;
-They save interviewing time;
-They provide accurate information, if they are well constructed;
-They are a cheap method of obtaining information-no need to pay interviewers.
Disadvantages
-There is likelihood of misinterpreting the questions. Many people find it difficult to
express themselves in writing;
-Questionnaires are not easy to construct. They might not put across the required
information clearly;
-Questionnaires are time consuming and difficult to develop;
-There is always a possibility of vague or incoherent answers. And yet there is no chance
of asking for clarification.
2.4.3 OBSERVATION
This is considered to be the most accurate technique for analyzing what people
actually do (job content).
An observer observing the individual performing a job does the analysis and takes
pertinent notes describing the job.
The observer notes down what is done by the jobholder, how it is done, how much
time is taken in doing it, the work environment and the equipment used.
It is problematic in that:
-It is time consuming and only succeeds where the number of people to be observed is
small;
-It’s limited to jobs involving repetitive cycles;
-It is difficult to apply in highly skilled manual jobs where the actions are too fast to
observe accurately;
-An observer who is not well trained might fail to observe and record anything.
2.4.4 SELF-OBSERVATION
Here, jobholders can be asked to analyze their own jobs and prepare job descriptions,
the equipment used and the conditions under which the job is done.
Advantages
-It saves considerable time that would have been spent interviewing, observing or
answering questionnaires;
-The jobholder is often the most knowledgeable person about the job;
-This method serves as a means of identifying any differences in perceptions about the
job between the jobholder and the manager.
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 Disadvantages
-It is not easy to define or describe in words a job one is closely attached to, which
means that wrong information can easily be given out;
-It is too taxing to describe or give an hour-by-hour account of one’s job.
2.4.6 DIARES AND LOGS
This approach to job analysis requires the jobholders to analyze their own jobs by
keeping diaries or logs for their activities.
It can be done on an hour-by-hour basis recording activities in a narrative form at the
end of a give period e.g. a day or a week.
Such a method works well for managerial jobs which are possibly complex and were
jobholders have the analytical skills required and the ability to express themselves on
paper.
2.4.6 HIERARCHICAL TASKS ANALYSIS
This approach breaks down jobs or areas of work into a hierarchical set of tasks, sub-
tasks and plans. Tasks are defined in terms of objectives or end products and the plan
needed to achieve the objectives is also analyzed.
The overall task is analyzed first. It is re-analyzed and a hierarchy of sub-tasks is
developed together with their inputs and then definitions needed to achieve the sub-
tasks are produced.
The methods involved are:
-Using descriptive words (action verbs e.g. performing, accomplishing), which clearly
spell out what has to be done;
-Defining performance standards, i.e. the level of the performance that has to be
achieved in carrying out a task or operation satisfactorily;
-Listing the conditions associated with task performance, which might include factors
such as working in areas of high noise, high temperatures, insufficient light, etc

IMPORTANCE (USE) OF JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis is important because of the following reasons:
a. Job analysis results into description of the duties and responsibilities of the job so
that the jobholder clearly understands the tasks that he/she has carry out;
b. Job analysis is good for job redesigning i.e making slight changes or a complete
overhaul of a job with the intention of producing better results.
c. Job analysis is useful in recruitment because it identifies job requirements, outlines
the skills required to perform who should be recruited.

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d. It is also useful for purposes of selection and placement i.e matching the individual
with the job (identify the most suitable person for a particular job with specific skills,
competencies etc)
e. Specific requirements from job analysis will help to achieve training objectives. The
organization gets to know the particular form of training (filling the missing link) in order
to perform to expected levels.
f. Job analysis helps management and human resource specialists to be in an
advantageous position to counsel employees about their careers (career counseling).
Why? Through job analysis they get a complete understanding of the different jobs in an
organization and their specific requirements. Similarly, employees are in a better
position to accept counseling when they understand the exact requirements of the jobs.
g. Sometimes a thorough job analysis, uncovers unsafe practices and environmental
conditions associated with the job. And these unsafe practices and produces are dealt
with to make the working conditions conducive.
h. Performance appraisal (PA). The objective of performance appraisal is to evaluate an
individual employee’s performance on the job and one of the prerequisites for this is
thorough understanding of what the employee is supposed to do exactly. It is only when
an employee thoroughly understands his/her job that a fair evaluation can be made of
how he/she is performing.
i. A proper job analysis helps to ensure that employees are fairly compensated for their
jobs. Job analysis is the first step in determining the relative worthy of a job. How? By
identifying its level of difficulty, its duties and responsibilities and the skills and abilities
required to perform the job. Once the worth of the job has been established (relative
to other jobs) then the employer can establish equitable.

POTENTIAL PROBLEEMS IN JOB ANALYSIS

a. Distorted information: with proper training and preparation, employees may submit
distorted data. For example, employees may not take enough time to analyze the
questions or employees may give partial information by not fully completing the
questionnaire.
b. There is likely to be a failure to criticize the job. How? Because many job analysts do
not go beyond the initial phase of reporting what the job holder currently does. There
is need for a job to be criticized where necessary, to determine if it is being done
correctly or if improvement can be made.
c. The manager or the jobholder may not participate actively in the design of the job
analysis exercises. This means that job analysis is planned and implemented by a person
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who assumes exclusive responsibility for the exercise i.e. the job holder and his/her
supervisor should be involved early enough in the planning of the job analysis exercise.
d. Jobholders are sometimes not made aware of the importance of the data and almost
never rewarded for providing good data.

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