Fundamentals of Human Resource Management：Job Analysis and Talent Management
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management：
Job Analysis and Talent Management
中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學
ANNOTATED OUTLINE |
INTRODUCTION
I. The Talent Management Process
The traditional way to view talent management activities is a linear set of steps:
1. Decide what positions to fill, through job analysis, personnel planning, and forecasting.
2. Build a pool of job candidates, by recruiting internal or external candidates.
3. Have candidates complete application forms.
4. Use selection tools.
5. Decide to whom to make an offer.
6. Orient, train, and develop employees.
7. Appraise employees.
8. Reward and compensate.
A. What Is Talent Management? — The goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and compensating employees. When a manager takes a talent management perspective, he or she:
1. Understands that the talent management tasks are parts of a single interrelated talent management process.
2. Makes sure talent management decisions such as staffing, training, and pay are goal-directed.
3. Consistently uses the same “profile” of competencies, traits, knowledge, and experience for formulating recruitment plans for a job as for making selection, training, appraisal, and payment decisions for it.
4. Actively segments and manages employees.
5. Integrates/coordinates all the talent management functions.
II. The Basics of Job Analysis
Talent management begins with understanding what jobs need to be filled, and the human traits and competencies employees need to do those jobs effectively.
A. What is Job Analysis? — A job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for the job by collecting the following types of information: work activities; human behaviors; machines, tools, equipment, and work aids; performance standards; job context; and human requirements.
A job description is a list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions, and supervisory responsibilities—one product of a job analysis.
A job specification is a list of a job’s “human requirements”: the requisite education, skills, knowledge, and so on—another product of a job analysis.
The type of information collected for a job analysis includes:
1. Work activities
2. Human behaviors
3. Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids
4. Performance standards
5. Job context
6. Human requirements
B. Uses of Job Analysis Information — Job analysis is the basis of several interrelated HR activities such as:
1. Recruitment and selection
2. EEO Compliance
3. Training
4. Performance appraisal
5. Compensation
C. Steps in Job Analysis
The six steps in the process are:
Step 1: Decide how you’ll use the information
Step 2: Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process charts, and job descriptions
a. Workflow Analysis and Job Redesign — Job analysis does not answer questions such as “Should this job even exist?” Workflow analysis is a detailed study of the flow of work from job to job in a work process to answer such questions.
b. Business Process Reengineering — Means redesigning business processes, usually by combining steps, so that small multifunction teams using information technology do the jobs formerly done by a sequence of departments.
— Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same-level activities.
— Job rotation means systematically moving workers from one job to another to broaden their experience and competencies.
— Job enrichment means redesigning jobs in a way that increases the opportunities for the worker to experience feelings of responsibility, achievement, growth, and recognition.
Step 3: Select representative positions
Step 4: Actually analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job
Step 5: Verify the job analysis information with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate supervisor
Step 6: Develop a job description and job specification
III. Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
Figure 4.4 presents a sample job analysis questionnaire for developing job descriptions.
A. The Interview
· The three types of interviews managers use to collect job analysis data are: individual (to get the employee’s perspective on the job’s duties and responsibilities), group (when large numbers of employees perform the same job), and supervisor (to get his or her perspective on the job’s duties and responsibilities).
· Typical questions — “What is the job being performed?” “In what activities do you participate?” “What are the health and safety conditions?” Figure 4.4 gives an example of a job analysis questionnaire.
· Structured interviews — Include questions regarding matters like the general purpose of the job; supervisory responsibilities; job duties; and education, experience, and skills required.
B. Questionnaires
Structured or unstructured questionnaires may be used to obtain job analysis information (see Figure 4.4). Questionnaires can be a quick, efficient way of gathering information from a large number of employees. But, developing and testing a questionnaire can be expensive and time consuming.
C. Observation
Direct observations are useful when jobs consist of mainly observable physical activity as opposed to mental activity. Reactivity can be a problem with direct observations, which is where the worker changes what he or she normally does because he or she is being watched. Managers often use direct observation and interviewing together.
D. Participant Diary/Log
The employee records every activity he or she engages in, in a diary or log, along with the amount of time needed to perform each activity in order to produce a complete picture of the job. Pocket dictating machines can help remind the worker to enter data at specific times, and eliminates the challenge of trying to remember at a later time what was done.
E. Quantitative Job Analysis Techniques
Position Analysis Questionnaire — The position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) is a very popular quantitative job analysis tool, consisting of a questionnaire containing 194 items. The items each belong to one of five PAQ basic activities: (1) having decision-making/communication/social responsibilities, (2) performing skilled activities, (3) being physically active, (4) operating vehicles/equipment, and (5) processing Information. The PAQ’s strength is in helping to assign jobs to job classes for pay purposes.
F. Electronic Job Analysis Methods
Face-to-face interviews and observations can be time consuming. Collecting information from internationally dispersed employees is particularly challenging. To help with this challenge, HR departments distribute the job analysis questionnaire to be dispersed to employees via the company intranet.
IV. Writing Job Descriptions
The most important product of job analysis is the job description. A job description is a written statement of what the worker actually does, how he or she does it, and what the job’s working conditions are.
A. Job Identification — Contains the job title, date, and possible space to indicate who approved the description, the location of the job, the immediate supervisor’s title, salary, or pay scale.
B. Job Summary — Should describe the general nature of the job, and include only its major functions or activities.
C. Relationships — Occasionally, a relationships statement is included. It shows the jobholders’ relationships with others inside and outside the organization.
D. Responsibilities and Duties — The job analysis itself will provide information about what employees are doing on the job.
E. Standards of Performance and Working Conditions — States the standards the employee is expected to achieve under each of the job description’s main duties and responsibilities. It includes working conditions and physical environment of general working conditions involved in the job such as noise level, hazardous conditions, or heat.
F. HR Tools for Line Managers and Small Businesses — Internet sites such as http://www.jobdescription.com and O*NET found at http://online.onetcenter.org/ are useful Web tools for developing job descriptions.
How to use O*Net
Step 1: Decide on a plan.
Step 2: Develop an organization chart.
Step 3: Use a job analysis questionnaire.
Step 4: Obtain job duties from O*NET.
Step 5: List the job’s human requirements from O*NET.
Step 6: Finalize the job description.
V. Writing Job Specifications
A. Specifications for Trained vs. Untrained Personnel — Writing job specifications for trained employees is relatively straightforward because they are likely to focus on traits such as length of previous service, quality of relevant training, and previous job performance. Writing job specifications for untrained employees is more complex because they are more likely to specify qualities such as physical traits, personality, interests, or sensory skills that imply some potential for performing or being trained to perform on the job.
B. Specifications Based on Judgment — Most job specifications come from the educated guesses of people like supervisors and human resource managers. You could review the job’s duties, and deduce from those what human traits and skills the job requires. You can also choose them from the competencies listed in Web-based job descriptions. Use common sense when compiling your list. Don’t ignore the behaviors that may apply to almost any job but that might not normally surface through a job analysis.
C. Job Specifications Based on Statistical Analysis — The aim here is to determine statistically the relationship between (1) some predictor (human trait, such as height, intelligence, or finger dexterity), and (2) some indicator or criterion of job effectiveness, such as performance as rated by the supervisor.
The procedure has five steps: (1) analyze the job and decide how to measure job performance; (2) select personal traits like finger dexterity that you believe should predict successful performance; (3) test candidates for these traits; (4) measure these candidates’ subsequent job performance; and (5) statistically analyze the relationship between the human trait (finger dexterity) and job performance.
D. The Job Requirements Matrix — A more complete description of what the worker does and how and why she does it. It clarifies each task’s purpose and each duty’s required knowledge, skills, and other characteristics.
VI. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers
A. Employee engagement is a behavior that should be included in a job specification.
B. Job Specifications and Employee Engagement — What traits should someone possess to make them an engaged employee? Some traits might include adaptability, passion for work, emotional maturity, postive disposition, self-advocacy, and acheivement orientation.
C. The Employee Engagement Manager’s Job Description — Many employers are appointitng special employee engagement managers. The engagement strategy should support the company’s overall strategic plans and should be measurable.
VII. Using Competencies Models
Most people still think of a “job” as a set of specific duties someone carries out for pay, but the concept of job is changing. Therefore, relying on a list of static job duties that itemizes specific things you expect the worker to do can be meaningless. In such situations, the better option to using a job description may be to use what managers call competency models or job profiles.
A. How to Write Competencies Statements — Uncovering the job’s required competencies and writing them up is similar in most respects to tra-ditional job analysis. However, instead of compiling lists of job duties, your aim is to finish the statement, “In order to perform this job competently, the employee should be able to. . .”
In practice, a useful competency statement for each of a job’s competencies includes three elements:
· The name and a brief description of the competency
· A description of the observable behaviors
· Proficiency levels
KEY TERMS |
Talent management The goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and compensating employees.
Organization chart A chart that shows the organization-wide distribution of work, with titles of each position and interconnecting lines that show who reports to and communicates with whom.
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 descriptions 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.
Process chart A workflow chart that shows the flow of inputs to and outputs from a particular job.
Workflow analysis A detailed study of the flow of work from job to job in a work process.
Business process
reengineering Redesigning business processes, usually by combining steps, so that small multifunction process teams using information technology do the jobs formerly done by a sequence of departments.
Job enlargement Assigning workers additional same-level activities.
Job rotation Systematically moving workers from one job to another.
Job enrichment Redesigning jobs in a way that increases the opportunities for the worker to experience feelings of responsibility, achievement, growth, and recognition.
Diary/log Daily listings made by workers of every activity in which they engage along with the time each activity takes.
Position analysis
questionnaire (PAQ) A questionnaire used to collect quantifiable data concerning the duties and responsibilities of various jobs.
Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC) Classifies all workers into one of 23 major groups of jobs that are subdivided into minor groups of jobs and detailed occupations.
Job-requirements matrix A more completed description of what the worker does and how and why he or she does it; it clarifies each task’s purpose and each duty’s required knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.
Task statement Written item that shows what the worker does on one particular job task; how the worker does it; the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes required to do it; and the purpose of the task.
Competency-based Job
Analysis Describing the job in terms of measurable, observable, behavioral competencies (knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors) that an employee doing the job must exhibit to do the job well.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
4-1. Why, in summary, should managers think of staffing, training, appraising, and paying employees as a talent management process? It is important to think of these HR practices as a talent management process instead of isolated activities because they aren’t considered in a stepwise view in actual practice. For example, staffing practices affect the type of hire you make, which affects the training needed. Considering these activities together allows a manager to focus on achieving a specific result.
4.2. What terms are typically included in the job description?
This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.
4-3. We discussed several methods for collecting job analysis data—questionnaires, the position analysis questionnaire, and so on. Compare and contrast these methods, explaining what each is useful for and listing the pros and cons of each.
Uses | Pros | Cons | |
Interviews | Individual, groups of employees, or groups of supervisors who know the job; may be structured or unstructured | Can be inexpensive if groups are used, flexibility, able to ask follow-up questions for clarification | Some workers view negatively as efficiency evaluations |
Questionnaires | Structured checklist (inventory) or broad (e.g., describe the major duties of your job) | Quick, efficient, less costly | Developing and testing is time-consuming; employees may distort answers to ensure they look good |
Observation | Useful when job consists mostly of physical activities (e.g., assembly-line worker, accounting clerk) | Easy to do | Not useful when mental activity is primary job duty (e.g., lawyer, engineer); observer not doing his/her job while observing |
Diary/logs | Daily data gathering; current information | Can be compared to others doing same job | If not completed in timely manner, memory may be faulty |
Quantitative techniques (PAQ) | 194-item standardized questionnaire; very popular; each item represents element that may play a role in job; five categories | Helps assign jobs to classes for pay purposes; can quantitatively compare jobs to one another | Time-consuming; taxonomic approach; its language is not specific to particular jobs |
Internet-based | Especially useful for geographically dispersed employees | Distribute standardized questionnaires easily and inexpensively | Instructions must be highly specific, clear, and detailed; always test the process first; job analyst not readily available for questions; employees may miss important points; clouded judgment |
4-4. Describe the types of information typically found in a job specification. Job specifications summarize the personal qualities, traits, skills, and background workers require for getting the job done.
4-5. Explain how you would conduct a job analysis.
This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.
4-6. Do you think all companies can really do without detailed job descriptions? Why or why not? Job descriptions are important for all companies. They are the foundation of all HR practices including staffing, training, appraisal, and compensation. Further, job descriptions are needed to defend a company against legal challenges based on job requirements.
4-7. Explain how you would create a job requirements matrix for a job.
A typical matrix includes the following information in five columns:
Column 1: Each of the job’s four or five main job duties.
Column 2: The task statements for the main tasks associated with each main job duty.
Column 3: The relative importance of each main job duty.
Column 4: The time spent on each main job duty.
Column 5: The knowledge, skills, ability, and other human characteristics needed for each main job duty.
4-8. In a company with only 25 employees, is there less of a need for job descriptions? Why or why not? Small businesses face some challenges in writing job descriptions, as many of the jobs may change or have a broad scope. However, job descriptions are important for all companies. They are the foundation of all HR practices including staffing, training, appraisal, and compensation. Further, job descriptions are needed to defend a company against legal challenges based on job requirements.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES |
4-9. Working individually or in groups, obtain copies of job descriptions for clerical positions at the college or university where you study, or the firm where you work. What types of information do they contain? Do they give you enough information to explain what the job involves and how to do it? How would you improve on the description? Depending on the university, college, or organization from where the job descriptions originated, student answers will vary. Some follow-up questions to consider include: Do you believe a thorough job analysis was conducted prior to writing the job description? How long ago was the job description created? Revised? Improving the job description will depend on the answers to the questions.
4-10. Working individually or in groups, use O*NET to develop a job description for a position of your choosing—perhaps an accounting clerk, or your professor in this class. Based on that, use your judgment to develop a job specification. Compare your conclusions with those of other students or groups. Were there any significant differences? What were they? What do you think accounted for the differences? Using O*NET, students should produce a job description (for example, a professor) and list core and supplemental job duties, KSAOs, work context elements, job zone information, education, interests, and work styles. As of this writing, the URL for this information is http://www.onetonline.org/link/details/25-1011.00,
4-11. The PHR and SPHR Knowledge Base, found in Appendix A, lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of human resource management (such as in strategic management, workforce planning, and human resource development). For this chapter, those include, for instance, knowledge listed under Workforce Planning and Employment. Individually or in groups of four to five students, do four things: (1) review that appendix now; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required knowledge in the appendix lists; (3) write four multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so the students in other teams can take each other’s exam questions. The answers to these will vary greatly by student. The material in this chapter that relates to the HRCI certification exam includes: strategic planning, human resource strategies and policies, and HR metrics and benchmarking. A sample question, answer, and explanation is available from http://www.certgear.com/products/preview/sphr_certification/index.html. Multiple-choice questions should reflect material in this chapter and should have answer choices, which could appear plausible.
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com:
4-12. Why, in summary, should managers think of staffing, training, appraising, and paying employees as a talent management process?
4-13. Do you think companies can really do without detailed job descriptions? Why or why not?
APPLICATION EXERCISES |
HR in Action Case Incident 1: Optima Air Filter Company: The Flood
4-15. Should Phil and Linda ignore the old-timers’ protests and write the job descriptions as they see fit? Why? Why not? How would you go about resolving the differences? Students should address the issue by suggesting that other methods are available, including interviewing managers or former employees who are also familiar with the jobs.
4-16. How would you have conducted the job analysis? What should Phil do now? The approach should include: a) the job analyst and supervisor should identify the workers who know the job best and would be objective; b) establish a rapport with the interviewee; c) follow a structured guide or checklist; d) ask workers to list duties in order of importance and frequency of occurrence; and e) review and verify the data. Phil should revisit the workers and former managers and find comparable companies who would be willing to share their job descriptions with him. O*Net and www.jobdescriptions.com may also help.
HR in Action Case Incident 2: Carter Cleaning Company: The Job Description
4-16. What should be the format and final form of the store manager’s job description?
A list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions, and supervisory responsibilities—one product of a job analysis. It should also include responsibilities for record keeping, performance appraisals, and specific tasks to be accomplished. The format and language should be simple, complete, straightforward, and easy to understand. What constitutes acceptable performance also should be suggested for purposes of later performance appraisal.
4-17. Is it practical to specify standards and procedures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separate? Generally, it’s a good idea to include it in the body of the job description so that it doesn’t become detached. The standards and procedures should specify what is to be done and how to do it.
4-18. How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards, procedures, and job description? Starting by interviewing the most experienced managers, Jennifer should also include information from her father as well as her own observations.
4-19. What, in your opinion, should the store manager’s job description look like and contain? The job description describes a job’s duties, activities, and responsibilities, as well as its important features, such as working conditions. The job specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, and background workers require for getting the job done.
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE |
Experiential Exercise: The Instructor’s Job Description
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you experience in developing a job description, by developing one for your instructor.
Required Understanding: You should understand the mechanics of job analysis and be thoroughly familiar with the job analysis questionnaires. (See Figures 4.4 and 4.8.)
How to Set Up the Exercise/Instructions: Set up groups of four to six students for this exercise. As in all exercises in this book, the groups should be separated and should not converse with each other. Half of the groups in the class will develop the job description using the job analysis questionnaire (Figure 4.4), and the other half of the groups will develop it using the job description questionnaire (Figure 4.8). Each student should review his or her questionnaire (as appropriate) before joining his or her group.
4-20. Each group should do a job analysis of the instructor’s job: Half of the groups will use the Figure 4.4 job analysis questionnaire for this purpose, and half will use the Figure 4.8 job description questionnaire.
4-21. Based on this information, each group will develop its own job description and job specification for the instructor.
4-22. Next, each group should choose a partner group, one that developed the job description and job specification using the alternate method. (A group that used the job analysis questionnaire should be paired with a group that used the job description questionnaire.)
4-23. Finally, within each of these new combined groups, compare and critique each of the two sets of job descriptions and job specifications. Did each job analysis method provide different types of information? Which seems superior? Does one seem more advantageous for some types of jobs than others?
Students may want to interview the instructor or use O*Net for help in writing the job description. Ultimately the job descriptions should be fairly similar to each other, identifying the key duties and specifications for the job. However, those using the job analysis questionnaire should provide a more detailed description than those using the job description questionnaire. The activity could conclude with a discussion about where each questionnaire would be more appropriately used.
WEB-e’s Exercises (WEB EXERCISES) |
1. What can you tell from Web sites such as http://www.cakecareers.com about how Cheesecake Factory recruits and selects employees? The Cheesecake Factory utilizes a variety of recruitment strategies to fill its many varied openings. The Web site highlights the need for skilled workers who enjoy working in a fast-paced, yet friendly environment. The Web site also indicates the opportunity for advancement for staff who would like to make a career at the Cheesecake Factory.
2. Use http://online.onetcenter.org to answer the question, “How I can use http://online.onetcenter.org to do a better job of selecting employees for my department?” Students should elaborate on the importance of outlining the important and critical skills for successful job performance for each job.
3. Your boss has asked you to find an executive recruiter who can help your company hire a sales manager for a chemical engineering company. Use sites such as http://www.onlinerecruitersdirectory.com/ to suggest three such recruiters. Students should identify any three recruiters listed on the Directory.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS |
1. How, specifically, do equal employment laws apply to personnel planning and recruiting activities? The students should be able to discuss the areas in which the laws and regulations covered in Chapter 2 apply to the issues of planning and recruiting. This would include constraints on sources used for candidates (i.e., not excessive reliance on referrals), the wording of questions asked on application forms or in interviews, and planning decisions that must not be overly detrimental to a protected group.
2. What are five things employers should keep in mind when using Internet sites to find job candidates? Keyword searches, don’t recycle your newspaper ads, give quick feedback, ensure privacy, applicant tracking, and so on.
3. What are the five main things you would do to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce? The students should first be able to identify groups that would create a diverse workforce. Examples found in the text are: single parents, older workers, minorities and women, welfare recipients, and global candidates. In order to retain these employees, students would first need to understand the needs of each group, and then create plans and programs that accommodate these specific needs. For example, to attract and keep single mothers, employers could give employees schedule flexibility, and train the supervisors to have an increased awareness of and sensitivity to the challenges single parents face.
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