fundamentals of

Human Resource Management 4th edition

by R.A. Noe, J.R. Hollenbeck, B. Gerhart, and P.M. Wright

CHAPTER 4
Analyzing Work and Designing
Jobs

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 What Do I Need to Know?

1. Summarize the elements of work flow analysis.

2. Describe how work flow is related to an
organization’s structure.
3. Define the elements of a job analysis, and
discuss their significance in human resource
management.
4. Tell how to obtain information for a job
analysis.

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 What Do I Need to Know? (continued)

5. Summarize recent trends in job analysis.

6. Describe methods for designing a job so that it
can be done efficiently.
7. Identify approaches to designing a job to make
it motivating.
8. Explain how organizations apply ergonomics to
design safe jobs.
9. Discuss how organizations can plan for the
mental demands of a job.
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 Work Flow In Organizations

Work Flow
Position Job
Design
• The process • The set of • A set of
of analyzing duties (job) related
tasks performed by duties.
necessary for a particular
the person.
production of
a product or
service.

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Figure 4.1:
Developing a Work Flow Analysis

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 Work Flow Design and
Organization’s Structure
• Within an organization, units and individuals
must cooperate to create outputs.
• The organization’s structure brings together
the people who must collaborate to efficiently
produce the desired outputs.
– Centralized
– Decentralized
– Functional
– Product or Customer

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• Firefighters work as a team.
• They and their equipment
are the inputs and the
output is an extinguished
fire and the rescue of
people and pets.
• In any organization or team,
workers need to be cross-
trained in several skills to
create an effective team.

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 Job
Job Analysis
The process of Analysis
getting detailed
information about
jobs. Job
Descriptions

Job
Specifications

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 Job Descriptions

• Job Description: a list of tasks, duties, and

responsibilities (TDRs) that a particular job
entails.
• Key components:
– Job Title
– Brief description of the TDRs
– List of the essential duties with detailed
specifications of the tasks involved in carrying out
each duty

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Figure 4.2: Sample Job Description

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 Job Specifications
• Job Specification: a list of the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an
individual must have to perform a particular job.
– Knowledge: factual or procedural information necessary
for successfully performing a task.
– Skill: an individual’s level of proficiency at performing a
particular task.
– Ability: a more general enduring capability that an
individual possesses.
– Other Characteristics: job-related licensing, certifications,
or personality traits.

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Figure 4.3: Sample Job Specifications

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 Sources of Job Information

The incumbents – people who currently hold the

position in the organization.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) – published by

the U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Information Network (O*NET) – an online

job description database developed by the Labor
Department

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 Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

What is it? Key sections:

• A standardized job 1. Information input
analysis questionnaire 2. Mental processes
containing 194 questions 3. Work output
about work behaviors,
work conditions, and job 4. Relationships with other
characteristics that apply persons
to a wide variety of jobs. 5. Job context
6. Other characteristics

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 Fleishman Job Analysis System

What is it? Categories of abilities:

• Job analysis technique • Written comprehension
that asks subject-matter • Deductive reasoning
experts to evaluate a job • Manual dexterity
in terms of the abilities
required to perform the • Stamina
job. • Originality

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Figure 4.4:
Example of an
Ability from the
Fleishman Job
Analysis System

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 Test Your Knowledge

• Which of the following jobs would lend

themselves the best to the observation
method of collecting job information.
A. Financial analyst
B. Bakery chef
C. Administrative assistant
D. CEO

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 Importance of Job Analysis
• Job analysis is so • Work redesign
important to HR • Human resource
managers that it has
been called the building planning
block of all HRM • Selection
functions. • Training
• Almost every HRM • Performance appraisal
program requires some
type of information • Career planning
determined by job • Job evaluation
analysis:

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 Trends in Job Analysis

• Organizations are being viewed as a field of

work needing to be done, rather than as a set
series of jobs held by individuals.
• “Dejobbing” – designing work by project
rather than jobs.

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 Job Design

• Job Design: the process of defining how work

will be performed and what tasks will be
required in a given job.
• Job Redesign: a similar process that involves
changing an existing job design.
• To design jobs effectively, a person must
thoroughly understand:
– the job itself (through job analysis) and
– its place in the units work flow (work flow analysis)

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Figure 4.5: Approaches to Job Design

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 Designing Efficient Jobs

• Industrial Engineering: the study of jobs to

find the simplest way to structure work in
order to maximize efficiency.
– Reduces the complexity of work.
– Allows almost anyone to be trained quickly and
easily perform the job.
– Used for highly specialized and repetitive jobs.

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Designing Jobs That Motivate: The Job
Characteristics Model
1. Skill variety – the extent to which a job
requires a variety of skills to carry out the
tasks involved.
2. Task identity – the degree to which a job
requires completing a “whole” piece of work
from beginning to end.
3. Task significance – the extent to which the
job has an important impact on the lives of
other people.
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Designing Jobs that Motivate: The Job
Characteristics Model (continued)
4. Autonomy – the degree to which the job
allows an individual to make decisions about
the way work will be carried out.
5. Feedback - the extent to which a person
receives clear information about
performance effectiveness from the work
itself.

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Figure 4.6:
Characteristics of a Motivating Job

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Designing Jobs That Motivate (continued):
Job Enlargement

Job Enlargement - Broadening the types of tasks

performed in a job.

Job Extension - Enlarging Job Rotation - Enlarging jobs

jobs by combining several
by moving employees among
relatively simple jobs to form a
several different jobs.
job with a wider range of tasks.

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 Designing Jobs That Motivate (continued)

Job Enrichment Self-Managing Work Teams

• Empowering workers by • Have authority for an entire
adding more decision- work process or segment:
making authority to jobs. – schedule work
– hire team members
• Based on Herzberg’s theory – resolve team performance
of motivation. problems
– perform other duties
• Individuals are motivated traditionally handled by
more by the intrinsic management
aspects of work. • Team members motivated
by autonomy, skill variety,
and task identity.

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 Test Your Knowledge

• Adding more tasks to an existing job is called

____________, while adding more decision-
making authority to jobs is called _________.
A. Job extension; job rotation
B. Job rotation; job enrichment
C. Job enlargement; job enrichment
D. Job enlargement; job rotation

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Job Satisfaction is Slipping

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Designing Jobs That Motivate (continued):
Flexible Work Schedules
Flextime
• A scheduling policy in which
full-time employees may
choose starting and ending
times within guidelines
specified by the
organization.
• A work schedule that allows
time for community and
family interests can be
extremely motivating.
Job Sharing
• A work option in which two
part-time employees carry
out the tasks associated
with a single job.
• Enables an organization to
attract or retain valued
employees who want more
time to attend school or
take care of family matters.
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Figure 4.7:
Alternatives to
the 8-to-5 Job

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Designing Jobs That Motivate (continued):
Telework
• Telework – the broad term for doing one’s
work away from a centrally located office.
• Advantages to employers include:
– less need for office space
– greater flexibility to employees with special needs
• Easiest to implement for managerial,
professional, or sales jobs.
• Difficult to set up for manufacturing workers.

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 Designing Ergonomic Jobs

• Ergonomics – the study of the interface between

individuals’ physiology and the characteristics of
the physical work environment.
• The goal is to minimize physical strain on the
worker by structuring the physical work
environment around the way the human body
works.
• Redesigning work to make it more worker-
friendly can lead to increased efficiencies.

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• Although employers in all
industries are supposed to
protect workers under the
OSHA “general duty” clause,
nursing homes, grocery
stores, and poultry-
processing plants are the
only three industries for
which OSHA has published
ergonomic standards.

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 Designing Jobs That Meet Mental
Capabilities and Limitations
• Work is designed to reduce the information-
processing requirements of the job.
• Workers may be less likely to make mistakes or
have accidents.
• Simpler jobs may be less motivating.
• Technology tools may be distracting
employees from their primary task resulting in
increased mistakes and accidents.

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 Ways to Simplify a Job’s Mental Demands

• Limit the amount of information and

memorization that the job requires.
• Organizations can provide:
– adequate lighting
– easy-to-read gauges and displays
– simple-to-operate equipment
– clear instructions

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 Summary
• Work flow analysis identifies:
– the amount and quality of a work unit’s outputs
– the work processes required to produce these outputs
– the inputs used to carry out the processes and produce the
outputs
• Within an organization, units and individuals must
cooperate to create outputs, and the organization’s
structure brings people together for this purpose.
• Job analysis is the process of getting detailed
information about jobs.

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 Summary (continued)

• Job analysis includes preparation of :

– Job descriptions
– Job specifications
• Information for analyzing an existing job often comes
from incumbents and their supervisors.
• The U.S. Department of Labor provides information:
– Dictionary of Occupational Titles
– Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

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 Summary (continued)

• The nature of work and job design is changing.

– Viewing organizations in terms of a field of work needing
to be done instead of specific job descriptions
– Organizations are adopting project-based structures and
teamwork, which also require flexibility and the ability to
handle broad responsibilities.

• The basic technique for designing efficient jobs is

industrial engineering.

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 Summary (continued)
• According to the Job Characteristics Model, jobs are
more motivating if they have greater skill variety, task
identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
• Ways to create such jobs include:
– Job Enlargement
– Job Rotation
– Job Enrichment
– Self-managing work teams offer greater skill variety and task
identity
– Flexible work schedules and telework offer greater autonomy

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 Summary (continued)

• The goal of ergonomics is to minimize physical strain

on the worker by structuring the physical work
environment around the way the human body works.
• Employers may seek to reduce the mental as well as
physical strain.
– The job design may limit the amount of information and
memorization involved.
– The goal is to reduce errors and accidents.
– Technology tools may actually cause more distractions,
errors, and accidents.

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