4 Job Analysis and the
Talent Management
Human Resource Management
Process
By Gary Dessler
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd. 4-1
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Discuss the nature of job analysis, including what it is
and how it’s used.
2. Use three methods of collecting job analysis
information.
3. Write job descriptions, including summaries and job
functions, using the Internet and traditional methods.
4. Write a job specification.
5. Explain job analysis in a “worker-empowered” world,
including what it means and how it’s done in practice.
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WHERE WE ARE NOW…
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THE WEATHER CHANNEL
4–4
The Basics of Job Analysis: Terms
• Job Analysis
➢ The procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements
of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for it.
• Job Description
➢ A list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships,
working conditions, and supervisory responsibilities—one
product of a job analysis.
• Job Specifications
➢ A list of a job’s “human requirements,” that is, the requisite
education, skills, personality, and so on—another product of a
job analysis.
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• Organizations consist of jobs that have to be staffed
• Job analysis is the procedure through which you
determine the duties of these positions and the
characteristics of the people to hire for them.
• Job analysis produces information for writing job
descriptions (a list of what the job entails) and job
specifications (what kind of people to hire for the job)..
Virtually every personnel-related action you take—
interviewing applicants, and training and appraising
employees, for instance—depends on knowing what the
job entails and what human traits one needs to do the
job well.
• The supervisor or human resources specialist normally
collects one or more of the following types of information
via the job analysis (see next slide):
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Types of Information Collected
Work
activities
Human Human
requirements behaviors
Information
Collected Via
Job Analysis
Machines, tools,
Job
equipment, and
context
work aids
Performance
standards
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• Actual work activities of the job—how, why, and when the worker
performs each activity.
• Human behaviors the job requires: communicating, deciding, and
writing, lifting weights or walking long distances.
• Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids used on the job: tools
used, materials processed, knowledge dealt with or applied, and
services rendered.
• Standards of expected employee job performance: quantity and\or
quality output levels that can be used to appraise employees.
• The organizational and social context in which the job exists:
physical working conditions, work schedules
• The job’s human requirements: job-related knowledge or skills
(education, training, work experience) and required personal
attributes (aptitudes, physical characteristics, personality, interests).
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What are the Uses of Job Analysis
Information?
Recruitment
and selection
EEO
compliance Compensation
Information
Collected via
Job Analysis
Discovering Performance
unassigned duties appraisal
Training
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How to Collect Job Analysis Information?
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
Interviews Questionnaires Observations Diaries/Logs
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What are the guidelines for JA Interviewing?
• The job analyst and supervisor should work together
to identify the workers who know the job best.
• Quickly establish rapport with the interviewee.
• Follow a structured guide or checklist, one that lists
open-ended questions and provides space for answers.
• Ask the worker to list his or her duties in order
of importance and frequency of occurrence.
• After completing the interview, review and verify
the data.
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Writing Job Descriptions
Job
identification
Job Job
specifications summary
Sections of a
Typical Job
Working Description Responsibilities and
conditions duties
Standards of Authority of
performance the incumbent
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The Job Description
• Job Identification
➢ Job title, preparation date, prepared by
• Job Summary
➢ This should provide a short and accurate statement
of why the job exists.
➢ what part of this organisation's total purpose is
accomplished by this job?
➢ what is this job's unique contribution to the
organisation?
➢ what would not get done if this job did not exist?
➢ why do we need this job at all?
• Relationships
➢ Reports to, supervises, works with, outside the company:
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The Job Description – Purpose Statement/Summary
Chief Accountant
• Supervise and oversee the recording of daily
financial transactions to ensure that financial
reports are developed in line with financial
standards.
Administrative Assistant
• Implement the daily administrative activities in
line with company administrative policies and
procedures to ensure the delivery of efficient
and smooth administrative services to the
whole organisation.
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The Job Description
• Responsibilities and Duties
➢ Major responsibilities and duties (essential functions)
➢ Decision-making authority
➢ Direct supervision
➢ Budgetary limitations
• Standards of Performance and Working Conditions
➢ What it takes to do the job successfully
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Translating Strategy into HR Policies &
Practices: Improving Performance at
the Hotel Paris
• You are developing a job description for the
Front Office Manager in Hotel Paris
• Job Purpose
• 2 Duties and Responsibilities (Verb, object,
result)
• Job Context/Working Conditions
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FIGURE 4–9 Marketing Manager Description from
Standard Occupational Classification
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Using O*Net for Writing Job Descriptions (cont’d)
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BEST EXPERIENCE IN A
RESTAURANT - HOW DID
THE WAITER BEHAVE?
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•Defining the job’s competencies and writing
them up involves a process that is similar to
traditional job analysis
•. In other words, you might interview job
incumbents and their supervisors, ask open-
ended questions regarding job
responsibilities and activities, and perhaps
identify critical incidents that pinpoint
success on the job.
•But there the similarity ends. Instead of
compiling lists of job duties, you will ask, “In
order to perform this job competently, the
employee should be able to . . . ?” You can
use your knowledge of the job to answer
this, or use a list like that mentioned at
O*NET.
•There are also off-the-shelf competencies
databanks.
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How to Write Job Competencies-Based Job
Descriptions
• Interview job incumbents(present) and their
supervisors
➢ Ask open-ended questions about job responsibilities
and activities.
➢ Identify critical incidents that pinpoint success on the
job.
• Use off-the-shelf competencies databanks
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FIGURE 4–11 The Skills Matrix for One Job at BP
Note: The color boxes within the individual columns indicate the
minimum level of skill required for the job.
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Printed in the United States of America.
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