Chap 2 : Job Analysis, Meaning and Procedure

Job Analysis : Is a systematic exploration, study and recording the responsibilities, duties, skills,
accountabilities, work environment and ability requirements of a specific job.
Job Analysis
Job analysis traditionally was done for purposes connected with recruitment, pay, administration, and
supervision. But the increasing complexity of work has made job analysis an important
instrument for developing people in organizations. Job analysis requires a systematic collection, evaluation,
and organization of information about the job. This information is collected through
interviews, mailed questionnaires, observation, study of records, and similar methods. The collected
information becomes a basis for preparing job descriptions and specifications. The job description, or job
profile, is a written statement which includes detailed specifications of duties to be performed,
responsibilities, and working conditions and indicates what is expected of a job holder. A job specification is
a profile of the human characteristics needed for the job, such as education, training, skills, experience, and
physical and mental abilities (Werther & Davis, 1982).
Job Analysis is a systematic exploration, study and recording the responsibilities, duties, skills,
accountabilities, work environment and ability requirements of a specific job. It also involves determining
the relative importance of the duties, responsibilities and physical and emotional skills for a given job. All
these factors identify what a job demands and what an employee must possess to perform a job productively.
The process of job analysis involves in-depth investigation in order to control the output, i.e., get the job
performed successfully. The process helps in finding out what a particular department requires and what a
prospective worker needs to deliver. It also helps in determining particulars about a job including job title,
job location, job summary, duties involved, working conditions, possible hazards and machines, tools,
equipments and materials to be used by the existing or potential
employees. .However, the process is not limited to determination of these factors only. It also extends to
finding out the necessary humanqualifications to perform the job. These include establishing the levels of
education, experience, judgment, training, initiative, leadership skills, physical skills, communication skills,
responsibility, accountability, emotional characteristics and unusual sensory demands. These factors change
according to the type, seniority level, industry and risk involved in a particular job.
Importance of Job Analysis
The details collected by conducting job analysis play an important role in controlling the output of the
particular job. Determining the success of job depends on the unbiased, proper and thorough job analysis. It
also helps in recruiting the right people for a particular job. The main purpose of conducting this whole
process is to create and establish a perfect fit between the job and the employee. Job analysis also helps HR
managers in deciding the compensation package and additional perks and incentives for a particular job
position. It effectively contributes in assessing the training needs and performance of the existing employees.
The process forms the basis to design and establish the strategies and policies to fulfill organizational goals
and objectives. However, analysis of a particular job does not guarantee that themanagers or organization
would get the desired output. Actually collecting and recording information for a specific job involves
several complications. If the job information is not accurate and checked from
time to time, an employee will not be able to perform his duty well. Until and unless he is aware of what he
is supposed to do or what is expected of him, chances are that the time and energy spent on a particular job
analysis is a sheer wastage of human resources. Therefore, proper care should be taken while conducting job
analysis. A thorough and unbiased investigation or study of a specific job is good
for both the managers and the employees. The managers get to know whom to hire and why. They can fill a
place with the right person. On the other hand, existing or potential employee gets to know what and how he
is supposed to perform the job and what is the desired output. Job analysis creates a right fit between the job
and the employee.
Purpose of Job Analysis
Job Analysis plays an important role in recruitment and selection, job evaluation, job designing, deciding
compensation and benefits packages, performance appraisal, analyzing training and development needs,
assessing the worth of a job and increasing personnel as well as organizational productivity.
Recruitment and Selection: Job Analysis helps in determining what kind of person is required to perform a
particular job. It points out the educational qualifications, level of experience and
technical, physical, emotional and personal skills required to carry out a job in desired fashion. The objective
is to fit a right person at a right place.
Performance Analysis: Job analysis is done to check if goals and objectives of a particular job are met
or not. It helps in deciding the performance standards, evaluation criteria and individual‘s output. On this
basis, the overall performance of an employee is measured and he or she is appraised accordingly.
Training and Development: Job Analysis can be used to assess the training and development needs of
employees. The difference between the expected and actual output determines the level of training that need
to be imparted to employees. It also helps in deciding the training content, tools and equipments to be used
toconduct training and methods of training.
Compensation Management: Of course, job analysis plays a vital role in deciding the pay packages and
extra perks and benefits and fixed and variable incentives of employees. After all,
the pay package depends on the position, job title and duties and responsibilities involved in a job. The
process guides HR managers in deciding the worth of an employee for a particularjob opening.
Job Designing and Redesigning: The main purpose of job analysis is to streamline the human efforts
and get the best possible output. It helps in designing, redesigning, enriching, evaluating and also cutting
back and adding the extra responsibilities in a particular job. This is done to enhance the employee
satisfaction while increasing the human output. Therefore, job analysis is one of the most important functions
of an HR manager or department. This helps in fitting the right kind of talent at the
right place and at the right time.

Job Analysis Process

Identification of Job Analysis Purpose: Well any process is futile until its purpose is not identified and
defined. Therefore, the first step in the process is to determine its need and desired output. Spending human
efforts, energy as well as money is useless until HR managers don‘t know why data is to be collected and
what is to be done with it.
Who Will Conduct Job Analysis: The second most important step in the process of job analysis is to
decide who will conduct it. Some companies prefer getting it done by their own HR department while some
hire job analysis consultants. Job analysis consultants may prove to be extremely helpful as they offer
unbiased advice, guidelines and methods. They don‘t have any personal likes and dislikes when it comes to
analyze a job.
How to Conduct the Process: Deciding the way in which job analysis process needs to be conducted is
surely the next step. A planned approach about how to carry the whole process is required in order to
investigate a specific job.
Strategic Decision Making: Now is the time to make strategic decision. It‘s about deciding the extent of
employee involvement in the process, the level of details to be collected and recorded, sources from where
data is to be collected, data collection methods, the processing of information and segregation of
collected data.
Training of Job Analyst: Next is to train the job analyst about how to conduct the process and use the
selected methods for collection and recoding of job data.
Preparation of Job Analysis Process: Communicating it within the organization is the next step. HR
managers need to communicate the whole thing properly so that employees offer their full support to the job
analyst. The stage also involves preparation of documents, questionnaires, interviews and feedback forms.
Data Collection: Next is to collect job-related data including educational qualifications of employees,
skills and abilities required to perform the job, working conditions, job activities, reporting hierarchy,
required human traits, job activities, duties and responsibilities involved and employee behaviour.
Documentation, Verification and Review: Proper documentation is done to verify the authenticity of
collected data and then review it. This is the final information that is used to describe a specific job.
Developing Job Description and Job Specification: Now is the time to segregate the collected data in
to useful information. Job Description describes the roles, activities, duties and responsibilities of the job
while job specification is a statement of educational qualification, experience, personal traits and skills
required to perform the job. Thus, the process of job analysis helps in identifying the worth of specific job,
utilizing the human talent in the best possible manner, eliminatingunneeded jobs and setting realistic
performance measurement standards.
What to Collect ?
Job Content
Job Context
Job Requirements
1. Job Content: It contains information about various job activities included in a specific job. It is a detailed
account of actions which an employee needs to perform during his tenure. The following information needs
to be collected by a job analyst:
Duties of an employee
What actually an employee does
Machines, tools and equipments to be used while performing a specific job
Additional tasks involved in a job
Desired output level (What is expected of an employee?)
Type of training required
Categorization of Job Analysis Information
The content depends upon the type of job in a particular division or department. For example, job content of
a factory-line worker would be entirely different from that of a marketing executive or HR personnel.
2. Job Context: Job context refers to the situation or condition under which an employee performs a
particular job. The information collected will include:
Working Conditions
Risks involved
Whom to report to
Who will report to him or her
Hazards
Physical and mental demands
Judgment
Like job content, data collected under this category are also subject to change according to the type of job in
a specific division or department.
3. Job Requirements: These include basic but specific requirements which make a candidate eligible for a
particular job. The collected data includes:
Knowledge or basic information required to perform a job successfully
Specific skills such as communication skills, IT skills, operational skills, motor skills, processing skills
and so on
Personal ability including aptitude, reasoning, manipulative abilities, handling sudden and unexpected
situations, problem-solving ability, mathematical abilities and so on
Educational Qualifications including degree, diploma, certification or license
Personal Characteristics such as ability to adapt to different environment, endurance, willingness, work
ethic, eagerness to learn and understand things, behaviour towards colleagues, subordinates and seniors,
sense of belongingness to the organization, etc For different jobs, the parameters would be different. They
depend upon the type of job, designation, compensation grade and responsibilities and
risks involved in a job.
Job Analysis Methods
Though there are several methods of collecting job analysis information yet choosing the one or a
combination of more than one method depends upon the needs and requirements of organization and the
objectives of the job analysis process. Typically, all the methods focus on collecting the basic job-related
information but when used in combination may bring out the
hidden or overlooked information and prove to be great tools for creating a perfect job-candidate fit.
Selecting an appropriate job analysis method depends on the structure of the organization, hierarchical levels,
nature of job and responsibilities and duties involved in it. So, before executing any method, all advantages
and disadvantages should be analyzed because the data collected through this process serves a great deal and
helps organizations cope with current market trends, organizational changes, high attrition rate and many
other day-today
problems. Most Common Methods of Job Analysis
Observation Method: A job analyst observes an employee and records all his performed and non-performed
task, fulfilled and unfulfilled responsibilities and duties, methods, ways and skills used by him or her to
perform various duties and his or her mental or emotional ability to handle challenges and risks. However, it
seems one of the easiest methods to analyze a specific job but truth is that it is the most difficult one. Why?
Let‘s Discover. It is due to the fact that every person has his own way of
observing things. Different people think different and interpret the findings in different ways. Therefore, the
process may involve personal biasness or likes and dislikes and may not produce genuine results. This error
can be avoided by proper training of job analyst or whoever will be conducting the job analysis process. This
particular method includes three techniques: direct observation, Work Methods Analysis and Critical
Incident Technique. The first method includes direct observation and recording of behaviour of an employee
in different situations. The second involves the study of time and motion and is specially used for assembly-
line or factory workers. The third one is about identifying the work behaviours that result in performance.
Interview Method: In this method, an employee is interviewed so that he or she comes up with their own
working styles, problems faced by them, use of particular skills and techniques while performing their job
and insecurities and fears about their careers. This method helps interviewer know what exactly an
employee thinks about his or her own job and responsibilities involved in it. It involves analysis of job by
employee himself. In order to generate honest and true feedback or collect genuine data, questions asked
during the interview should be carefully decided. And to avoid errors, it is always good to interview more
than one individual to get a pool of responses. Then it can be generalized and used for the whole group.
Questionnaire Method: Another commonly used job analysis method is getting the questionnaires filled
from employees, their superiors and managers. However, this method also suffers from personal biasness. A
great care should be takes while framing questions for different grades of employees.
Log records: a log record is a record of the daily activities and tasks that a worker carries out in a job. The
job analyst go through this record and gets information about the job.
Actual job performance: the job analyst may actually perform the job. However, this method is quite time
consuming and limited to some specific jobs.
In order to get the true job-related info, management should effectively communicate it to the staff that data
collected will be used for their own good. It is very important to ensure them that it won‘t be used against
them in anyway. If it is not done properly, it will be a sheer wastage of time, money and human
resources. These are some of the most common methods of job analysis. However, there are several other
specialized methods including task inventory, job element method, competency profiling, technical
conference, threshold traits analysis system and a combination of these methods. While choosing a method,
HR managers need to consider time, cost and human efforts included in conducting
Problems with Job Analysis
No process can be entirely accurate and fully serves the purpose. Job analysis is no exception to it. The
process involves a variety of methods, tools, plans and a lot of human effort. And where there people are
involved, nothing can be 100 percent accurate. However, they may be appropriate considering various factors
including organizational requirements, time, effort and financial resources. Since the entire job analysis
processes, methods and tools are designed by humans only, they tend to have practical issues associated with
them. Human brain suffers with some limitations, therefore, everything created, designed or developed by
humans too have some or other constraints. Coming back to the subject, even the process of job analysis
have lot of practical problems associated with it. Though the process can be effective, appropriate, practical,
efficient and focused but it can
be costly, time consuming and disruptive for employees at the same time. It is because there are some typical
problems that are encountered by a job analyst while carrying out the process. Let‘s
discuss them and understand how the process of job analysis can be made more effective by treating them
carefully.
Lack of Management Support: The biggest problem arises when a job analyst does not get proper support
from the management. The top management needs to communicate it to the middle level
managers and employees to enhance the output or productivity of the process. In case of improper
communication, employees may take it in a wrong sense and start looking out for other available options.
They may have a notion that this is being carried out to fire them or take any action against them. In order to
avoid such circumstances, top management must effectively communicate the right message to
their incumbents.
Lack of Co-operation from Employees: If we talk about collecting authentic and accurate job-data, it is
almost impossible to get real and genuine data without the support of employees. If they are not ready
to co-operate, it is a sheer wastage of time, money and human effort to conduct job analysis process. The
need is to take the workers in confidence and communicating that it is being done to solve their problems
only.

Inability to Identify the Need of Job Analysis: If the objectives and needs of job analysis process are not
properly identified, the whole exercise of investigation and carrying out research is futile. Managers
must decide in advance why this process is being carried out, what its objectives are and what is to be done
with the collected and recorded data.
Biasness of Job Analyst: A balanced and unbiased approach is a necessity while carrying out the process of
job analysis. To get real and genuine data, a job analyst must be impartial in his or her approach. If it can‘t be
avoided, it is better to outsource the process or hire a professional job analyst.
Using Single Data Source: A job analyst needs to consider more than one sources of data in order to collect
true information. Collecting data from a single source may result in inaccuracy and it
therefore, defeats the whole purpose of conducting the job analysis process.
However, this is not the end. There may be many other problems involved in a job analysis process such as
insufficient time and resources, distortion from incumbent, lack of proper communication, improper
questionnaires and other forms, absenceof verification and review of job analysis process and lack of reward
or recognition for providing genuine and quality
information. Though job analysis plays a vital role in all other human related activities but every process that
has human interventions also suffers from some limitations. The process of job analysis also has its own
constraints. So, let us discuss the advantages and disadvantages of job analysis process at length.

Advantages of Job Analysis

Provides First Hand Job-Related Information: The job analysis process provides with valuable job-
related data that helps managers and job analyst the duties and responsibilities of a particular job, risks
and hazards involved in it, skills and abilities required to perform the job and other related info.
Helps in Creating Right Job-Employee Fit: This is one of the most crucial management activities. Filling
the right person in a right job vacancy is a test of skills, understanding and competencies of HR
managers. Job Analysis helps them understand what type of employee will be suitable to deliver a specific
job successfully.
Helps in Establishing Effective Hiring Practices: Who is to be filled where and when? Who to target and
how for a specific job opening? Job analysis process gives answers to all these questions and helps managers
in creating, establishing and maintaining effective hiring practices.
Guides through Performance Evaluation and Appraisal
Processes: Job Analysis helps managers evaluating the performance of employees by comparing the
standard or desired output with delivered or actual output. On these bases, they appraise their performances.
The process helps in deciding whom to promote and when. It also guides managers in understanding the skill
gaps so that right person can be fit at that particular place in order to get desired
output.
Helps in Analyzing Training & Development Needs: The process of job analysis gives answer to
following questions:
Who to impart training
When to impart training
What should be the content of training
What should be the type of training: behavioral or technical
Who will conduct training
Helps in Deciding Compensation Package for a Specific Job: A genuine and unbiased process of job
analysis helps managers in determining the appropriate compensation package and benefits and
allowances for a particular job. This is done on the basis of responsibilities and hazards involved in a job.
Disadvantages of Job Analysis
Time Consuming: The biggest disadvantage of Job Analysis process is that it is very time consuming. It is a
major limitation especially when jobs change frequently.
Involves Personal Biasness: If the observer or job analyst is an employee of the same organization, the
process may involve his or her personal likes and dislikes. This is a major hindrance in collecting
genuine and accurate data.
Source of Data is Extremely Small: Because of small sample size, the source of collecting data is
extremely small. Therefore, information collected from few individuals needs to be standardized.
Involves Lots of Human Efforts: The process involves lots of human efforts. As every job carries different
information and there is no set pattern, customized information is to be collected for different
jobs. The process needs to be conducted separately for collecting and recording job-related data.
Job Analyst May Not Possess Appropriate Skills: If job analyst is not aware of the objective of job
analysis process or does not possess appropriate skills to conduct the process, it is a sheer wastage of
company‘s resources. He or she needs to be trained in order to get authentic data.
Mental Abilities Can not be Directly Observed: Last but not the least, mental abilities such as intellect,
emotional characteristics, knowledge, aptitude, psychic and endurance are intangible things that
can not be observed or measured directly. People act differently in different situations. Therefore, general
standards can not be set for mental abilities.
Job Description and Job Specification
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. Though preparing job description and job specification are not legal requirements yet play a vital
role in getting the desired outcome. These data sets help in determining the necessity, worthand scope of a
specific job.
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.
Purpose of Job Description
The main purpose of job description is to collect job-related data in order to advertise for a particular job.
It helps in attracting, targeting, recruiting and selecting the right candidate for the right job.
It is done to determine what needs to be delivered in a particular job. It clarifies what employees are
supposed to do if selected for that particular job opening.
It gives recruiting staff a clear view what kind of candidate is required by a particular department or
division to perform aspecific task or job.
It also clarifies who will report to whom.
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.
Purpose of Job Specification
Described on the basis of job description, job specification helps candidates analyze whether are eligible
to apply for a particular job vacancy or not.
It helps recruiting team of an organization understand what level of qualifications, qualities and set of
characteristics should be present in a candidate to make him or her eligible for the job opening.
Job Specification gives detailed information about any job including job responsibilities, desired
technical and physical skills, conversational ability and much more.
It helps in selecting the most appropriate candidate for a particular job. Job description and job
specification are two integral parts of job analysis. They define a job fully and guide both employer and
employee on how to go about the whole process of recruitment and selection. Both data sets are extremely
relevant for creating a right fit between job and talent, evaluate performance and analyze training needs and
measuring the worth of a particular job.

Job Design - Meaning, Steps and its Benefits

Job design follows job analysis i.e. it is the next step after job analysis. It aims at outlining and organising
tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the achievement of
certain objectives. It also outlines the methods and relationships that are essential for the success of a certain
job. In simpler terms it refers to the what, how much, how many and the order of the tasks for a job/s. Job
design essentially involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain qualifications that are
required to perform the same. It outlines the job responsibilities very clearly and also helps in attracting the
right candidates to the right job. Further it also makes the job look interesting and specialised. There are
various steps involved in job design that follow a logical sequence, those that were mentioned earlier on. The
sequence is as follows:
1. What tasks are required to e done or what tasks is part of the job?
2. How are the tasks performed?
3. What amount are tasks are required to be done?
What is the sequence of performing these tasks?
All these questions are aimed at arriving upon a clear definition of
a specific job and thereby make it less risky for the one performing the same. A well defined job encourages
feeling of achievement among the employees and a sense of high self esteem.
The whole process of job design is aimed to address various problems within the organisational setup, those
that pertain to ones description of a job and the associated relationships. More specifically the following
areas are fine tuned:
Checking the work overload.
Checking upon the work under load.
Ensuring tasks are not repetitive in nature.
Ensuring that employees don not remain isolated.
Defining working hours clearly.
Defining the work processes clearly.
The above mentioned are factors that if not taken care of result into building stress within the employees.

Benefits of Job Design

The following are the benefits of a good job design:
1. Employee Input: A good job design enables a good job feedback. Employees have the option to vary
tasks as per their personal and social needs, habits and circumstances in the workplace.
2. Employee Training: Training is an integral part of job design. Contrary to the philosophy of ―leave
them alone‘ job design lays due emphasis on training people so that are well aware of what their job
demands and how it is to be done.
3. Work / Rest Schedules: Job design offers good work and rest
schedule by clearly defining the number of hours an individual
has to spend in his/her job.
4. Adjustments: A good job designs allows for adjustments for physically demanding jobs by minimising
the energy spent doing the job and by aligning the manpower requirements for the same. Job design is a
continuous and ever evolving process that is aimed at helping employees make adjustments with the changes
in the workplace. The end goal is reducing dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation and employee engagement
at the workplace.
Approaches to Job Design
Human Approach
The human approach of job design laid emphasis on designing a job around the people or employees and not
around the organizational processes. In other words it recognizes the need of
designing jobs that are rewarding (financially and otherwise) and interesting at the same time.
According to this approach jobs should gratify an individual‘s need for recognition, respect, growth and
responsibility. Job enrichment as popularized by Herzberg‘s research is one the ways in human approach of
job design. Herzberg classified these factors into two categories - the hygiene factors and the motivators.
Motivators include factors like achievement, work nature,
responsibility, learning and growth etc that can motivate an individual to perform better at the work place.
Hygiene factor on the other hand include things like working conditions, organizational policies, salary etc
that may not motivate directly but the absence of which can lead to dissatisfaction at the work place.
Engineering Approach
The engineering approach was devised by FW Taylors et al. They introduced the idea of the task that gained
prominence in due course of time. According to this approach the work or task of each employee is planned
by the management a day in advance. The instructions for the same are sent to each employee describing the
tasks to e undertaken in detail. The details include things like what, how and when of the task along with the
time deadlines. The approach is based on the application of scientific principles to job design. Work,
according to this approach should be
scientifically analyzed and fragmented into logical tasks. Due emphasis is then laid on organizing the tasks
so that a certain logical sequence is followed for efficient execution of the same.The approach also lays due
emphasis on compensating employees appropriately and training them continuously for work efficiency.

The Job Characteristics Approach

The job characteristics approach was popularized by Hackman and Oldham. According to this approach there
is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and rewards. They said that employees will be their
productive best and committed when they are rewarded appropriately for their work. They laid down five
core dimensions that can be used to describe any job - skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy
and feedback.
Skill variety: The employees must be able to utilize all their skills and develop new skills while dealing
with a job.
Task Identity: The extent to which an identifiable task or piece or work is required to be done for
completion of the job.
Task Significance: How important is the job to the other people, what impact does it create on their
lives?
Autonomy: Does the job offer freedom and independence to the individual performing the same.
Feedback: Is feedback necessary for improving performance. These are different approaches but all of
them point to more or less the same factors that need to be taken into consideration like
interest, efficiency, productivity, motivation etc. All these are crucial to effective job design
Issues in Job Design
As we know, job design is a systematic organization of job-related tasks, responsibilities, functions and
duties. It is a continuous process of integration of content related to job in order to achieve certain objectives.
The process plays a vital role as it affects the productivity of employees and organizations. However, there
are a number of existing issues emerged recently while designing the jobs in organizations. These are
alternative work patterns that are equally effective in handling organization‘s functions.
Telecommuting / Work from Home: Telecommuting or work from home is considered as the best
alternative of working from the actual office. The concept of virtual office is gaining more and more
popularity because of ease and convenience associated with it. By using computer networks, fax machines,
telephones and internet connection, employees can communicate and perform the job from home. It
eliminates the need of coming to office everyday and offers employees the convenience to work at the
comfort of their home.
Though there are lots of advantages associated with this working style but it suffers from many limitations. It
allows employees to stay at home and manage their job tasks and functions without actually being present in
the office but it doesn‘t allow them to communicate with other employees and establishing relationships with
them. They only deal with machines whole day, thus lose creativity. Moreover, it is a great hindrance in their
way as it does not allow skill
upgradation.
Job Sharing: It is the second most preferable alternative of traditional working styles where two or more
individuals share the responsibilities of a full time job. They divide the tasks, responsibilities and
compensation according to their mutual consent. This option is generally used by women who are on
maternity leave or have family and kids to look after but want to continue their job. These days,
organizations are open to this kind of working style where
two or more individuals can share a job.
Flexi-Working Hours: These days, organizations allow their employees to work according to the
timings that suit them best. There are 3-4 working schedules and individuals can choose any one of them
depending upon their availability. Employees can work in early hours as well as
night hours. This is good for those individuals who have colleges or some other engagements during the day
or specific hours of the day. The best part is that unlike telecommuting, flexi-timings give them chance to
communicate with other employees too.
Alternative Work-Patterns: Companies these days allow their employees to work on alternate months
or seasons. Though the concept is not that common in India but can be
seen in European and American world of work. They also have the option of working two to three full days
and can relax after that. According to the latest concept, employees can work for
fixed number of hours and then can attend to their personal needs during the left days.
Technostress: Technostress is the latest technology to keep a check on employees‘ performance even
when they choose to work from home. Because of the introduction of new
machines, there performance can be electronically monitored even when they are not aware of it.

Task Revision: Task revision is nothing but modification of existing work design by reducing or adding
the new job duties and responsibilities to a specific job.
Factors affecting Job Design
A well defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is increased
performance and productivity. If a job fails to appear compelling or interesting and leads to employee
dissatisfaction, it means the job has to be redesigned based upon the feedback from the employees.
Broadly speaking the various factors that affect a job design can classified under three heads. They are:
Organizational Factors/Environmental Factors/ Behavioural Factors
1. Organizational Factors
Organizational factors that affect job design can be work nature or characteristics, work flow, organizational
practices and ergonomics.
Work Nature: There are various elements of a job and job design is required to classify various tasks into
a job or a coherent set of jobs. The various tasks may be planning, executing, monitoring, controlling etc and
all these are to be taken into consideration while designing a job.
Ergonomics: Ergonomics aims at designing jobs in such a way that the physical abilities and individual
traits of employees are taken into consideration so as to ensure efficiency and productivity.
Workflow: Product and service type often determines the sequence of work flow. A balance is required
between various product or service processes and a job design ensures this.
Culture: Organizational culture determines the way tasks are carried out at the work places. Practices are
methods or standards laid out for carrying out a certain task. These practices often affect the job design
especially when the practices are not aligned to the interests of the unions.
2. Environmental Factors
Environmental factors affect the job design to a considerable extent. These factors include both the internal
as well as external factors. They include factors like employee skills and abilities, their availability, and their
socio economic and cultural prospects.
Employee availability and abilities: Employee skills, abilities and time of availability play a crucial role
while designing of the jobs. The above mentioned factors of employees who will actually perform the job are
taken into consideration. Designing a job that is more demanding and above their skill set will lead to
decreased productivity and employee satisfaction.
Socio economic and cultural expectations: Jobs are nowadays becoming more employee centered rather
than process centered. They are therefore designed keeping the employees into consideration. In addition the
literacy level among the employees is also on the rise. They now demand jobs that are to their liking and
competency and which they can perform the best.
3. Behavioural Factors
Behavioural factors or human factors are those that pertain to the human need and that need to be satisfied
for ensuring productivity at workplace. They include the elements like autonomy, diversity, feedback etc. A
brief explanation of some is given below:
Autonomy: Employees should work in an open environment rather than one that contains fear. It
promotes creativity, independence and leads to increased efficiency.
Feedback: Feedback should be an integral part of work. Each employee should receive proper feedback
about his work performance.
Diversity: Repetitive jobs often make work monotonous which leads to boredom. A job should carry
sufficient diversity and variety so that it remains as interesting with every passing day. Job variety / diversity
should be given due importance while designing a job.
Use of Skills and abilities: Jobs should be employee rather than process centered. Though due emphasis
needs to be given to the latter but jobs should be designed in a manner such that an employee is able to make
full use of his abilities and perform the job effectively
Job Redesign - Meaning, Process and its Advantages
Restructuring the elements including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific job in order to make it
more encouraging and inspiring for the employees or workers is known as job redesigning. The process
includes revising, analyzing, altering, reforming and reshuffling the job-related content and dimensions to
increase the variety of Tasks and functions to motivate employees and make them feel as an important asset
of the organization. The main objective of conducting job redesigning is to place the right person at the right
job and get the maximum
output while increasing their level of satisfaction.
Job Redesign Process
Revising the Job Content: Job redesigning process involves recollecting and revising job-related
information to determine the inconsistency between person and the job.
Analyzing Job-related Information: Once the job analyst is through with recollecting and revising the
job content, analyzing the discrepancies is the next step. It is done to determine the hindrances in performing
job-related tasks and duties and investigate why an employee is not able to deliver the expected output.
Altering the Job Elements: The next step is to amend the job elements. It may include cut back on extra
responsibilities or addition of more functions and a higher degree of accountability. The basic aim of altering
the job content is to design a job in such a manner that encourages employees to work harder and perform
better.
Reformation of Job Description and Specification: After altering the job elements, a job analyst needs
to reform the job description and specification in order to make sure that the worker placed at a particular
place is able to deliver what is expected of him.
Reshuffling the Job-related Tasks and Duties: Next is to reallocation of new or altered tasks and
functions to employees. It may be done by rotating, enriching, enlarging and engineering the job. The idea is
to motivate the performers while increasing their satisfaction level.
Advantages of Job Redesigning
Enhances the Quality of Work-Life: Job redesigning motivates the employees and enhances the quality
of their work life. It increases their on-the-job productivity and encourages them to perform better.
Increases Organization’s and Employees’ Productivity:
Altering their job functions and duties makes employees much comfortable and adds to their satisfaction
level. The unambiguous job responsibilities and tasks motivate them to work harder and give their best
output. Not only this, it also results in increased productivity of an organization.
Brings the Sense of Belongingness in Employees: Redesigning job and allowing employees to do what
they are good at creates a sense of belongingness in them towards the organization. It is an effective strategy
to retain the talent in the organization and encouraging them to carry out their responsibilities in a better
fashion.
Creates a Right Person-Job Fit: Job Redesigning plays an important role in creating a right person-job
fit while harnessing the full potential of employees. It helps organization as well as employees in achieving
their targets or goals. Therefore, the purpose of job redesigning is to identify the task
significance and skill variety available in the organization and reallocating the job-related tasks and
responsibilities according to the specific skills possessed by an employee.
Methods of Job Design
Job Rotation
Job Rotation is a management approach where employees are shifted between two or more Tasks or jobs at
regular intervals of time in order to expose them to all verticals of an organization. It is
a pre-planned approach with an objective to test the employee skills and competencies in order to place him
or her at the right place. In addition to it, it reduces the monotony of the job and
gives them a wider experience and helps them gain more insights. Job rotation is a well-planned practice to
reduce the boredom of doing same type of job everyday and explore the hidden potential of an employee.
The process serves the purpose of both the management and the employees. It helps management in
discovering the talent of employees and determining what he or she is best at. On the other hand, it gives an
individual a chance to explore his or her own interests and gain experience in different fields or operations.
Job Rotation Objectives
Reducing Monotony of the Job: The first and foremost objective of job rotation is to reduce the
monotony and repetitiveness involved in a job. It allows employees to experience different type of jobs and
motivates them to perform well at each stage of job replacement.
Succession Planning: The concept of succession planning is Who will replace whom‘. Its main function
of job rotation is to develop a pool of employees who can be placed at a senior level when someone gets
retired or leaves the organization. The idea is to create an immediate replacement of a high-worth employee
from within the organization.
Creating Right-Employee Job Fit: The success of an organization depends on the on-job productivity
of its employees. If they‘re rightly placed, they will be able to give the maximum
output. In case, they are not assigned the job that they are good at, it creates a real big problem for both
employee as well as organization. Therefore, fitting a right person in right vacancy is one of the main
objectives of job rotation.
Exposing Workers to All Verticals of the Company: Another main function of job rotation process is
to exposing workers to all verticals or operations of the organization in order to make them aware how
company operates and how tasks are performed. It gives them a chance to understand the working of the
organization and different issues that crop up while working.
Testing Employee Skills and Competencies: Testing and analyzing employee skills and competencies
and then assigning them the work that they excel at is one of the major functions of job rotation process. It is
done by moving them to different jobs and Tasks and determining their proficiency and aptitude. Placing
them what they are best at increases their on-job productivity.
Developing a Wider Range of Work Experience: Employees,
usually don‘t want to change their area of operations. Once they start performing a specific task, they don‘t
want to shift from their comfort zone. Through job rotation, managers prepare them in advance to have a
wider range of work experience and develop different skills and competencies. It is necessary for an overall
development of an individual. Along with this, they understand the problems of various departments and try
to adjust or adapt accordingly.Job rotation is a well planned management approach that is beneficial both for
employees and management
Benefits of Job Rotation
Job rotation is considered as an effective tool for successful implementation of HR strategy. It is about
settling employees at the right place where they can deliver the maximum results. In
today‘s highly competitive world, this can be proved as the best strategy to find the immediate replacement
of a high-worth employee from within the organization. Finding the most suitable
people and shifting them to take on the responsibilities of a higher level is a tough task. Job rotation helps
HR managers determine who can be replaced by whom and create a suitable and beneficial fit. A properly
planned and carried job rotation process plays an essential role in strengthening the position of an
organization and helps it deal with uncertain and tentative outer environment. Let‘s discuss the benefits of
job rotation process at length in order to realize its importance and the potential:
Helps Managers Explore the Hidden Talent: Job Rotation is designed to expose employees to a wider
range of operations in order to assist managers in exploring their hidden talent. In the process, they are
moved through a variety of Tasks so that they can gain awareness about the actual working style of the
organization and understand the problems that crop up at every stage. Through this process, managers
identify what a particular employee is good at and accordingly he or she is assigned a specific task.
Helps Individuals Explore Their Interests: Sometimes, employees are not aware of what would like to
do until they have their hands on some specific job. If their job is rotated or they are exposed to different
operations, they can identify what they are good at and what they enjoy doing. They get a chance to explore
their interests and hidden potential.
Identifies Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes: Job Rotation helps managers as well as individuals identify
their KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes). It can be used in determining who needs to
improve or upgrade his or skills in order to perform better. This helps in analyzing training and development
needs of employees so that they can produce more output.
Motivates Employees to Deal with New Challenges: When employees are exposed to different jobs or
assigned new tasks, they try to give their best while effectively dealing with the challenges coming their way.
It encourages them to perform better at every stage and prove that they are no less than others.
This gives rise to a healthy competition within the organization where everyone wants to perform better than
others.
Increases Satisfaction and Decreases Attrition Rate: Exposing employees to different tasks and
functions increase their satisfaction level. Job variation reduces the boredom of doing same task everyday.
Moreover, it decreases attrition rate of the organization. Employees develop a sense of belongingness
towards the organization and stick to it till long.
Helps Align Competencies with Requirements: Alignment of competencies with requirements means
directing the resources when and where they are required. It assesses the employees and
places them at a place where their skills, competencies and caliber are used to the highest possible extent.
Job rotation is an alternative to reduce the boredom caused due to repetitiveness of tasks and revive their
willingness to handle a job and challenges involved in it with same excitement and zeal.
Job Enrichment- Meaning and its Benefits
Organizations are increasingly facing the heat of attrition, which is not good to health of the same. Lots of
time, money and resources are spent into training an individual for a particular job and when he / she leaves
the return on that investment equals null. Often it is not for the money that people leave; that may be the
reason with the frontline staff but as we move towards the upper levels of organisational hierarchy, other
reasons gain prominence. Many of those who quit their jobs complain of their jobs as uninteresting! All this
has compelled organisations to think of ways to make the job they offer interesting. Lots of efforts are made
to keep monotony at bay; job enrichment is one of them. It is the process of making a job more interesting,
challenging and satisfying for the employees. It can either be in the form of up gradation of responsibilities,
increase in the range of influence and the challenges.
How does an Organisation Enrich a Job
Typically job enrichment involves combining various existing and new tasks into one large module of work.
The work is then handed over to an employee, which means there is an increase in responsibilities and scope.
This increase in responsibility is often vertical. The idea is to group various tasks together such that natural
work units are created. In addition expanding jobs vertically also gives employee direct control over works
units and employees that were formerly under the jurisdiction of top management only. While on one hand
this increases the ownership of the employees in their work, it also relieves the unnecessary burden from the
top management.
Job enrichment also opens up a feedback channel for the employees. Employees are frequently apprised of
their performance. This keeps them on track and helps them know their
weak and strong points. Performance standards are set for the employees themselves and future
performances are matched against the benchmarks. All this without any serious intervention or
involvement of the top management! In a certain bank that dealt with commercial credit letters for import
and export trade, the employees processed the documents in a sequence with each employee being
specialised for certain aspect of verification. Often it so happened that a mistake at preceding level lead to a
series of mistakes at succeeding level. Errors accumulated at each level and this result in huge loss of
productivity. The organisation decided to go for job enrichment where each employee or clerk was
specialised in all aspects of processing.
Each employee was now able to handle a client on his own. After some time it was found out that the
transaction volume increased by 100 percent!
Benefits of Job Enrichment
Research studies on job enrichment found out decreased levels of absenteeism among the employees,
reduced employee turnover and a manifold increase in job satisfaction. There are certain cases however
where job enrichment can lead to a decrease in productivity, especially when the employees have not been
trained properly. Even after the training the process may not show results immediately, it takes time to reflect
in the profit line.
Job Enlargement
It is a job design technique wherein there is an increase in the number of tasks associated with a certain
job. In other words, it means increasing the scope of one‘s duties and responsibilities. The increase in
scope is quantitative in nature and not qualitative and at the same level. Job enlargement is a horizontal
restructuring method that aims at increase in the workforce flexibility and at the same time reducing
monotony that may creep up over a period of time. It is also known as horizontal loading in that the
responsibilities increase at the same level and not vertically. Many believe that since the enlargement is
horizontal in nature there is not a great need