HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING (HRP) & JOB ANALYSIS

Faculty: Dr. Seeta Gupta

5th Session: 25 January 2008

HRP is the process by which an Organisation ensures that it has the -

right number and kinds of people
at the right places
at the right time and that
these people are capable of performing their tasks effectively and efficiently.
This helps the Organisation to achieve its overall objectives.”
Maintaining a flexible workforce is the major challenge of the HR department and HRP helps it handle
this challenge.

A Human Resource professional would be better equipped for HRP if he has a good
understanding of:
• Market dynamics

• Changes in the economy

• Organisational processes

• Technological developments

HRP involves three key steps:

• Assessing and making an inventory of the current Human Resources

• Forecasting the Organisation’s Human Resource needs

• Matching the demand and supply of Human Resources

Matching of supply and demand can help the HR department to identify areas in which
shortages and surpluses exist. When there is a need for downsizing, Organisations opt for
retrenchment using techniques like lay-offs, leave of absence without pay, work-sharing,
reduced work hours, early retirement, etc. to reduce the number of employees.

Effective HRP reduces the pressures on the management and employees, as both employment
and retrenchment would be well planned and phased out over a comfortable time span,
AVOIDING UNPLEASANT CONSEQUENCES.

HRP in short, estimates the quantity and quality of people that will be required in the future.
How many people will be required depends on the jobs to be staffed. Job related information is
available thru JOB ANALYSIS, hence JOB ANALYSIS is necessary for HRP.

JOB ANALYSIS is the process of determining and recording all the pertinent information
about a specific job, including:

• the tasks involved

• the responsibilities attached to the job

• the knowledge and skill set required to perform the job

 • the abilities required to perform the job successfully

JOB ANALYSIS is about:

• What an employee does

• How he gets it done

• Why he does it

• Skill, education and training required

• Relationship to other jobs

• Physical demands, environmental conditions

Immediate products of this analysis are JOB DESCRIPTION & JOB SPECIFICATION

JOB DESCRIPTION & JOB SPECIFICATION

Duties, responsibilities, working conditions Employee qualifications, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities,

and activities of a particular job. Title of the Personality traits, manual dexterity, etc.

job is descriptive of what the job entails

Complete JD is essential, it is a defence

tool against cases of ‘Discrimination’

USES of JOB DESCRIPTION & JOB SPECIFICATION:

JOB ANALYSIS differentiates one job from the other, in an Organisation, and is based on
OBSERVATION and STUDY.

JOB ANALYSIS provides the basic foundation (directly / indirectly) for most of HR activities, viz;
• Recruitment

• Selection

• Job Design

• Estimating job worth / Compensation

• Training and Appraisal (KRAs)

STEPS in conducting a JOB ANALYSIS :

Step 1: Determine the purpose for conducting a Job Analysis

Step 2: Identify the jobs to be analysed

Step 3: Explain the process to employees and determine their level of involvement

Step 4: Determine the Data collection method and collect job analysis information
• Observation

• Interviewing jobholders / supervisors

• Questionnaires and Checklists (Many pre-fabricated Questionnaires and Checklists are available); viz:

Comprehensive Occupational Data Analysis Program – CODAP, Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), MPDQ, Fynctional Job
Analysis (FJA) & CMQ

Step 5: Process the Job Analysis information

Step 6: Review and update frequently

JOB DESIGN is a logical sequence to job analysis and specifies the contents of the job, the work
methods used and how the job relates to other jobs in the Organisation. It is an attempt to structure
both technical and social aspects of the job to attain a fit between an individual and the job. This
enables employees to have better control over the aspects of their work, enhances QWL, harnesses
potential of the worker and improves his performance.

METHODS of JOB DESIGN :

• Work Simplification – Breaking down into small sub-parts

• Job Rotation – gives relief from boredom

• Job Enlargement – Horizontal expansion of a job – enhances responsibility, personal achievement, recognition

• Job Enrichment – Vertical expansion, wider range of duties added – enhances responsibility, personal achievement, recognition

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