Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process

Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process

Lecture Outline:

Where are we now…

The Talent Management Process

The Basics of Job Analysis

The Use of Job Analysis Information

Conducting a Job Analysis

Method for Collecting Job Analysis Information

The Interview

Questionnaires

Observation

Participant Diary/Logs

Quantitative Job Analysis Techniques

Electronic Job Analysis Methods

Writing Job Descriptions

Job Identification

Job Summary

Relationships

Responsibilities and Duties

Standards of Performance and Working Conditions

Social Media and HR 

Writing Job Specifications

Specifications for Train versus Untrained Personnel

Specifications Based on Judgment

Job Specifications Based on Statistical Analysis

The Job Requirements Matrix

Using Models and Profiles of Talent Management

A Closer Look at Competencies

How to Write Competency Statements

In Brief:  

The human resource management process really begins with deciding what the job entails.  The uses of job analysis information and the methods of conducting a job analysis are detailed.  The tasks of writing job descriptions and job specifications are also outlined, and Internet resources are examined. Strategies to make the organization more responsive to competition, including enriching and competency-based job analysis are discussed.  And finally, explaining job analysis in a “worker-empowered” world is covered in this chapter.  

Interesting Issues:  

Technology and the Internet can serve as a resource for companies to streamline their job analysis processes. Some organizations have shifted to HR systems that don’t use job descriptions. Competency-based analysis can support the flexibility needed by high performance organizations.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define talent management and explain why it is important.

2. Discuss the process of job analysis, including why it is important.

3. Explain how to use at least three methods of collecting job analysis information, including interviews, questionnaires and observation. 

4. Explain how you would write a job description. 

5. Explain how to write a job specification.

6. Explain competency-based job analysis, including what it means and how it's done in practice.

Annotated Outline:

I. Where are we now…

II. The Talent Management Process - this process includes recruitment, selection, training,     appraisal, career planning, and compensation. 

III. The Basics of Job Analysis 

A. 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. 

1. Job description – A list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions, and supervisory responsibilities – one product of a job analysis.  

2. Job specification – A list of a job’s “human requirements”: the requisite education, skills, knowledge, and so on – another product of a job analysis.

B. The Use of Job Analysis Information

1. Recruitment and Selection - job descriptions and job specifications are formed from the information gathered from a job analysis and help the management decides what sort of people to recruit and hire.

2. EEOC Compliance - the U.S. federal agencies uniform guidelines on employee selection stipulate that job analysis is a crucial step in validating all major personnel activities.

3. Performance Appraisal - Managers use job analysis to determine a job specific activity and performance standard.

4. Compensation - the estimate of value and the appropriate compensation for each job is determined from the information gathered from a job analysis.

5. Training - based on job analysis the job description should show the jobs required activities and skills.

C.  Conducting a Job Analysis

1. Step One: Decide How You Will Use the Information

2. Step Two: Review Relevant Background Information Such as Organizational Charts and Process Charts

a. Workflow Analysis

b. Business Process Reengineering

c. Job Redesign

3. Step Three: Select Representative Positions

4. Step Four: Actually Analyze the Job

5. Step Five: Verify the Job Analysis Information with the Worker Performing the Job and with His or Her Immediate Supervisor

6. Step Six: Develop a Job Description and Job Specification

IV.  Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information - An HR specialist (an HR specialist, job analyst, or consultant), a worker, and the worker’s supervisor usually work together in conducting the job analysis.  Job analysis data is usually collected from employees and supervisors familiar with the job (subject matter experts) using interviews and questionnaires.  The data is then averaged, taking into account the departmental context of the employees, to determine how much time a typical employee spends on each of several specific tasks.  It is important to make sure that surveys and questions are clear and understandable, and that respondents are observed and questioned early in the process to allow time for adjustments, if needed.

 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/her perspective on the job’s duties and responsibilities).

1. Typical Questions - “What is the job being performed?”  “In what      activities do you participate?” “What are the health and safety conditions?”  

2. Structured Interviews - You can also use a structured or checklist format to guide the interview.

3. Pros and Cons - Interviews are simple, quick, and more comprehensive because the interviewer can unearth activities that may never appear in written form.  The main problem is distortion, which may arise from the jobholder’s need to impress the perceptions of others.

4. Interviewing Guidelines - Several techniques to keep in mind when conducting interviews are discussed.

B. Questionnaires - Structured or unstructured questionnaires may be used to obtain job analysis information.  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.  A potential problem with direct observations is reactivity, which is where workers change what they normally do because they are being watched.  Managers often use direct observation and interviewing together.

 D.    Participant Diary/Logs - In a diary or log, the employee records every activity he/she engages in, along with the amount of time 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 eliminate the challenge of trying to remember at a later time what was done.

E.      Quantitative Job Analysis Techniques

1. Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)  – is a questionnaire used to collect quantifiable data concerning the duties and responsibilities of various jobs, (see Figure 4-5) on five 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. 

2. Department of Labor Procedure (DOL) – is a standardized method for rating, classifying, and comparing virtually every kind of job based on data, people, and things.  

 F.        Electronic Job Analysis Methods - employers increasingly rely on electronic or web-based job analysis methods. Then rather than collecting information about the job though direct interviews and questionnaires the analysts uses online systems to send questionnaires to job experts in remote locations. Of course instruction should be clear and the process should be tested first.

V. Writing Job Descriptions

A. Job Identification - contains the job title, the FLSA status, date, and    possible space to indicate who approved the description, the location of the job, the immediate supervisor’s title, salary, and/or pay scale.

B. Job Summary - contains the job title, the FLSA status, date, and possible space to indicate who approved the description, the location of the job, the immediate supervisor’s title, salary, and/or pay scale.

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. The DOL’s Dictionary of Occupational Titles or other online sources can be used for itemizing the job’s duties and responsibilities.

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.

F. Social Media and HR - sometimes the easiest way to write a job description is just to use social media like LinkedIn to ask others what to put in.

VI. Writing Job Specifications

A. Specifications for Train versus Untrained Personnel - Writing job specifications for trained employees is relatively straightforward because they are likely to focus on traits like 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 - Job specifications may come from educated guesses or judgments, or from competencies listed in Web-based job descriptions like those listed at www.jobdescription.com or O*Net online (http://online.onetcenter.org).  

C. Job Specifications Based on Statistical Analysis

1. Basing job specifications on statistical analysis is more defensible, but it is a more difficult approach than the judgmental approach.

2. The aim of the statistical approach is to determine statistically the relationship between 1) some predictor or human trait, such as height, intelligence, or finger dexterity, and 2) some indicator or criterion of job effectiveness.

3. The five steps in statistical analysis are: a) analyze the job and decide how to measure job performance; b) select personal traits like finger dexterity that you believe should predict successful performance; c) test candidates for these traits; d) measure these candidates’ subsequent job performance; and e) statistically analyze the relationship between the human trait and job performance.

D.  The Job Requirements Matrix - is a popular way to use job descriptions and specifications. The job matrix includes the job's main duties, each duties purpose, and the knowledge skills and abilities and other competencies someone should have to do each task required in a particular job.

VII.     Using Models and Profiles of Talent Management - The aim of creating profiles (or “competency” or “success” profiles) is to create detailed descriptions of what is required for exceptional performance in a given role or job, in terms of required competencies (necessary behaviors), personal attributes (traits, personality, etc.), knowledge (technical and/or professional), and experience (necessary educational and work achievements). Each job’s profile then becomes the anchor for creating recruitment, selection, training, and evaluation and development plans for each job.

A. A Closer Look at Competency – Employers are shifting towards newer approaches for describing the behaviors required for successful completion of the job. Competencies are usually skills that are observable.

B. How to Write Competency Statements – Defining and writing the job’s competencies involves a process similar to traditional job analysis and includes interviewing incumbents and their supervisors, identifying job responsibilities and  activities, accomplish their goals.  This interesting shift should be one that could generate discussion in the class.  Ask class members questions such as: 

• “So how do you know if you are doing your job?”

• “How would performance appraisals be done?”

• “How do you ensure fairness between employees?”

Improving Performance Questions: 

4-1: Based on your experience, what would the workflow look like for the process a dry-cleaning store uses to accept and chronicle a new order of clothes from a customer? How might this process be improved?

4-2: Pick out a job that someone with whom you are familiar is doing, such as a bus driver, mechanic, and so on. Review the O*NET information for that job. To what extent does the person seem to have what it takes to do that job, based on the O*NET information? How does that correspond to how he or she is actually doing?

4-3: Are you surprised that Daimler could implement a team-based production system like this in places where the cultures are as disparate as Alabama, Germany, and Brazil? Why? What inter-country cultural differences would you think might have impeded Daimler’s efforts?

Discussion Questions:

4-4: Why, in summary, should managers think of staffing-training-appraising and paying employees as a talent management process? 

Student answers may vary but all answers should include something related to the importance of maintaining and fostering quality employees. These different HR areas can be used to select employees with high performing potential and continuously grow and develop them. 

4-5: What items are typically included in the job description? 

A job description is a written statement of what the jobholder actually does, how he or she does it, and under what conditions the job is performed.  There is no standard format for writing job descriptions, but most descriptions include sections on:

• job identification

• job summary

• relationships, responsibilities, and duties

• authority of incumbent

• standards of performance

• working conditions

• job specifications

4-6: 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.  

Interviews are probably the most widely used method of collecting information for job analysis.  The interview allows the incumbent to report activities that might not otherwise come to light (mental activities and activities that occur only occasionally).  Observation is useful for jobs that consist mainly of physical activity that is clearly observable.  

Questionnaires are a quick and efficient way of obtaining information from a large number of employees; however, development costs can be high.  Participant diary/logs can provide a comprehensive picture of a job, especially when supplemented with interviews; however, many employees do not respond well to the request to record all their daily activities.  

Quantitative job analysis techniques, such as PAQ, DOL, and Functional Job Analysis, are more appropriate when the aim is to assign a quantitative value to each job so that jobs can be compared for pay purposes. 

4-7: Describe the types of information typically found in a job specification.

It should include a list of the human traits and experience needed to perform the job.  These might include education, skills, behaviors, personality traits, work experience, sensory skills, etc. 

4-8: Explain how you would conduct a job analysis.  

There are six major steps in a well-conducted job analysis:  1) Determine how the job analysis information will be used and how to collect the necessary information; 2) Collect background information such as organization charts, process charts, and job descriptions; 3) Select representative positions to be analyzed; 4) Collect job analysis information; 5) Review the information with the participants; 6) Develop job descriptions and job specifications.

4-9: Do you think companies can really do without detailed job descriptions?  Why or why not?  

Either side is an acceptable position to take.  The key to grading this answer is the quality of the “why or why not” explanations.  Look for students to clearly explain their position in terms of the effects of the lack of job descriptions on the performance, motivation, and capabilities of the people doing the job.  In light of the Americans with Disabilities Act, discussions should also touch upon how an organization can adequately identify the “essential functions” of jobs without job descriptions. 

4-10: Explain how you would create a job requirements matrix for a job. 

The first step in creating the job requirements matrix is to write one task statement for each of the jobs tasks. Each task statement shows what the worker does on a particular job task how the worker does the task, and the knowledge skills and aptitudes required to do the task, and the purpose of the task. Each task should identify the knowledge skills and abilities and other characteristics needed to perform the job.

Second the job analysis takes the resulting task statements for the jobs and groups them into four or five main job duties main duties. Finally the job analyst compiles all this information in a job requirements matrix for a particular job.

The job matrix lists the following information: each of the jobs main duties, tasks statements associated with each job or duty, the relative importance of each main job duty, the time spent on each main job duty, and the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics or competencies related to each main job duty. This type of job matrix provides a more complete picture of what a worker does on the job and how and why he or she does the job more completely than a job description.

4-11: In a company with only 25 employees, is there less need for job descriptions?  Why or why not?  

It is clearly more difficult to write job descriptions for positions that may have broad responsibilities because of the organization’s size.  This does not, however, mean that it is less important.  Look for sound arguments and reasoning. Again, the ADA applies to companies with as few as 15 employees. What other ways can a small employer successfully document the “essential functions” of a job? 

Individual and Group Activities:

4-12: 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 descriptions?  

Based on our experience, it is very likely that at least some of the job descriptions will not contain all the information that is supposed to be there.  Use this as an opportunity to discuss the problems that may be created by the missing information. 

4-13: Working individually or in groups, use O*Net to develop a job description for your professor in this class.  Based on that, use your judgement to develop a job specification.  Compare your conclusions with those of other students or groups.  Were there any significant differences?  What do you think accounted for the differences? 

The students should go to the O*Net Web site at http://online.onetcenter.org to find sample job descriptions in order to create a job description for you.  Once they create a job description, they should develop a job specification. 

4-14: Appendix A, PHR and SPHR Knowledge Base at the end of this book 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).  In groups of 4-5 students, do four things: (1) review appendix A; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required knowledge appendix A 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 on other teams can see exam questions created by the other teams.  

Topics covered in this chapter include job analysis, how to write job descriptions and develop job competencies; identification and documentation of essential job functions for positions; and establishing hiring criteria based on the competencies needed. 

Experiential Exercises: 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 

How to Set up the Exercise/Instructions: Set up each group 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 the groups in the class will develop a job description using the job analysis questionnaire and the other half of the groups will develop it using the job description questionnaire Each student should first review his or her questionnaire (as appropriate) before joining his or her group.

4-15: Each group should do a job analysis of the instructor's job: half of the groups will use the job analysis questionnaire for this purpose, and half will use the job description questionnaire.

4-16: Based on this information, each group will develop its own job description and job specification for the instructor.

4-17: 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 the group that used the job description questionnaire.)

4-18: 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 see more advantageous for some types of jobs than others?

Video Case Appendix:

Video Title: Talent Management (The Weather Channel)

Synopsis: 

This video discusses job analysis in some detail, including how employers use job analysis, it contribution to a job analysis, and writing the job description and job specification.

Discussion Questions:

4-19: What job analysis tools would you suggest The Weather Channel use to supplement what it's doing now to analyze jobs?

4-20: What role do you think job analysis plays in talent management at The Weather Channel? What role should it play?

4-21: How is HR at The Weather Channel involved in job analysis?

4-22: If Taylor asked you what strategies HR is using, what would you tell her? Does the Weather Channel seem to be practicing strategic HR? Why or why not?

4-23: What indications, if any are there that The Weather Channel takes a talent management approach?

Application Case: The Flood 

4-24: Should Phil and Linda ignore the old timers' protests and write up the job descriptions as they see fit?  Why? Why not?  How would you go about resolving the differences?  

In all likelihood, the old timers are accurate in their descriptions.  There are several of them, and it appears that all of their descriptions agree.  Also, since they were the ones actually doing the work, it is likely that they were the only ones who knew what was actually being done.  One way to resolve the differences would be to examine the specific items that Phil and Maybelline feel the old timers are padding their jobs with.  Ask for evidence from the old timers that they did these functions, and ask for evidence from Phil and Maybelline that someone else carried out those tasks. 

4-25: How would you have conducted the job analysis?  What should Phil do now?  

Other options may have been to conduct personal interviews instead of using the questionnaires.  However, it is unlikely that the resulting disagreement would have been avoided by using another method.  The method they used was a good one.  Phil has several courses of action available to him.  The best may be to allow the process to go on with the old timers’ job descriptions. 

Continuing Case:  Carter Cleaning Company - The Job Description

4-26: What should be the format and final form of the store manager’s job description?   

Students may recommend that Jennifer include a standard of performance section in the job description.  This lists the standards the employee is expected to achieve under each of the job description’s main duties and responsibilities, and would address the problem of employees not understanding company policies, procedures, and expectations.  In addition, students may recommend that Jennifer instead take a competency-based approach, which describes the job in terms of the measurable, observable, and behavioral competencies that an employee doing that job must exhibit.  Because competency analysis focuses more on “how” the worker meets the job’s objectives or actually accomplishes the work, it is more worker-focused. 

4-27: Is it practical to specify standards and procedures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separately?  

They do not need to be kept separately, and in fact both Jennifer and the employees would be better served by incorporating standards and procedures into the body of the description.  The exception to this would be if the standards and procedures are so complex or involved that it becomes more pragmatic to maintain a separate procedure manual. 

4-28: How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards,  procedures, and job description?   

She should first conduct the job analysis by collecting information about the work activities, human behaviors, machines, tools, equipment, and work aids, performance standards, job context, and human requirements.  The best methods for collecting this information in this case are through interviews, questionnaires, observations, and employee diaries/logs. In addition, she should ensure that she is identifying the essential functions of the job, and that the descriptions are ADA compliant.

4-29: What, in your opinion, should the store manager’s job description look like and contain?  

The store manager’s job description should include a list of the job’s significant responsibilities and duties.  For example, the following duties should include quality control, store appearance and cleanliness, customer relations, bookkeeping and cash management, cost control and productivity, damage control, pricing, inventory control, etc.  The job description should also include any educational requirements as well as information regarding working conditions. 

Hotel Paris:  Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris – The New Job Descriptions

4-30: Based on the hotel’s stated strategy, list at least four or more important employee behaviors important for Hotel Paris’s staff to exhibit. 

• Student answers will vary. Important employee behaviors might include:

• The ability to project a positive attitude and put the customer’s needs first, even if the customer is curt.

• Showing tact and discretion in responding to personal requests from a hotel guest.

• Being aware of the reactions of others and responding to those reactions in an appropriate way.

• Being able to handle multiple priorities without getting “flustered.”

• The ability to resolve billing issues with discretion and a positive demeanor.

4-31: If time permits, spend some time prior to class observing the front desk clerk at a local hotel. In any case, create a job description for a Hotel Paris front desk clerk. 

Use of O*NET is recommended. A full description of tasks and responsibilities is located under the job title “Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks.”

Key Terms:

Talent Management - The goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and compensating employees.

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.

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.

Process Chart - A work flow 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 responsibilities, thus increasing the number of activities they perform.

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 - A log in which participants record the activities they are engaged in and the time it takes to complete those activities. 

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, which are subdivided into minor groups of jobs and detailed occupations.

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.

Job-requirement Matrix - A more complete description of what the worker does and how and why he or she does it: it clarifies each tasks purpose and each duties required knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.

Competency-Based Job Analysis - Describing the job in terms of the measurable, observable, behavioral competencies (knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors) that an employee’s doing that job must exhibit to do the job well. 

（中国经济管理大学MBA公益课堂---美华管理人才学校---28年知名管理培训机构）

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