Job Analysis, HR Planning

Job Analysis

A job may be defined as a collection or aggression of tasks, duties and responsibilities, which as whole, is regarded as a regular assignment, to individual employees.
Job can be described as a pocket containing a differentiated set of total workload in an organization.
Position is collection of tasks and responsibilities regularly assigned to a person.
Job is impersonal and position is personal.


Job analysis is a systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job.

Purpose and uses of job analysis

1. Job Description & Job Specification
They act as basic inputs for diverse human resource function they provide concrete information regarding the job, it indicates the labour needs and clearly charts out duties and responsibilities of total work force

2. Job Evaluation
On the basis of duties, responsibilities, difficulty levels and skills requirements the managements prepare an equitable wage and salary schedule.

3. Recruitment, Selection, And Placement
JA provides a realistic basic for hiring, training, placement, transfer and promotion of personnel or external sources.

4. Employee Orientation
The duties and responsibilities of a job must be clearly defined before a new employee can be taught how to perform the job.

5. Utilizing Personnel
Job analysis information can help both employees and managers, pinpoint the root of a problem if the employee functions are not adequate. This can be done matching job expectation and job performance.

6. Training And Development
It not only guides the managers about current training needs but also helps in determining whether a problem is recurring because of training needs or some other requirements.

7. Job Re-Designing
Information procured from job analysis can be used for redesigning jobs from human and industrial engineering activities point of view.

Job Analysis Methods

Data Collection Methods: -

1) Observation Method
An analyst watches employees directly or review films of workers on the job, it provides 1st hand information but workers do not work (function) most efficiently when they are being watched thus distortion in the job analysis can occur. It requires that the entire range of activities be observable. This is possible with some jobs but impossible for many (only visible jobs).

2) Individual Interview Method
Consists of team of job incumbents is selected and extensively interviewed.
Results of these interviews are combined into job analysis. It is effective for assessing what a job entails and involving employees in the job analysis is essential.

3) Group Interview Method
Similar to the individual interview method except that a number of job incumbents are interviewed simultaneously. Accuracy is increased in assessing jobs but group dynamics may hinder effectiveness.

4) Structured Questionnaire Method
Workers are sent a specifically designed questionnaire on which they check or rate items they perform on their jobs from a long list of possible task items. This technique is excellent for gathering information about jobs. Exception may be overlooked and follow-up questions or information clarification cannot be sought.
5) Technical Conference Method
Here data is obtained from the experts. It often overlooks the incumbent workers perceptions about what they do in their job.

6) Diary Method Or Log Book Method
It requires job in numbers to record their daily activities. It is most time consuming of the job analysis method and may have to extend over long periods of time-all adding to its cost.

These six methods are not meant to be viewed as mutually exclusive, no one method is universally superior. Even obtaining job information from the incumbents can create a problem, especially if these individuals describe what they think they should be doing rather than what they actually do, best results can be obtained by using combination of methods.


Conducting the job analysis (Flippo)

1. Understand the purpose of conducting job analysis-
Job analysts serves a vital purpose in such HRM activities as recruiting, training, setting performance standards, evaluating performance etc. Hence nature and purpose of investigation must be understood.

2. Understand the role of jobs & values in orgn. – Every job has a purpose. Before conducting job analysis one must understand the linkage that job has to the strategic direction of the orgn. In essence one must answer why job is needed.

3. Benchmark Positions – In large organizations it would be impossible to evaluate every job at one time. By involving employees and seeking their inputs, selected jobs can be chosen based on how well they represent other, similar jobs in the orgn.

4. Determine how you want to collect the job analysis information- proper planning at this stage permits one to collect the data desired in the most effective and efficient manner. For this, several methods can be combined like structured questionnaires, group interviews, technical conferences etc.

5. Seek clarification wherever necessary- some of the information collected may not be entirely understood by job analyst then he must seek clarification from those who possess the critical information like the employee or supervisor as failure to understand and comprehend the information will make the next step i.e. writing job description difficult. These nos. and levels can also be compared to the job elements reported in dictionary of occupational Titles (DOT) – The method yields positions all related information about job.

6.Develop the first draft of job description – Job description contains job title, summary sentence of the job’s main activities, and the level of authority and accountability of the position, performance requirements and working conditions. It also includes job specification.

7. Review draft with job supervisor – Ultimately supervisor of the position being analyzed should approve job description. Review comments can assist in determining final job description documents.



Functional job analysis –
It aims to provide the standardized method by which different jobs can be quantitatively rated classified and compared. It is rating of each job in terms of what an employee does with respect to data, people and things. For each class there are degrees of levels with corresponding nos. The lower the no. More the job is involved with the particular function. Specific information about the job and the standardized information about the workers and the job level of difficulty of worker function FJA






HR Planning

Employment planning cannot exist in isolation .It must be link to the organizational overall strategy.

HR planning is getting the right no. of qualified people into the right job at right time. It is the process of matching internal & external supply of people with job openings anticipated in the organization over a specified period of time.

-HR provides a mechanism to climate any gap that might exist b/w Demand & Supply.

-Involves projecting and forecasting present personnel functions into the future.

Corporate strategy and HR planning are critically linked processes; one cannot survive without the other.

Need For HRP

Manpower planning is carried in order to achieve
Recruitment plans to avoid unexpected shortages.
Identification of training need to avoid skill shortage
More effective & efficient use of HR for increased productivity
More efficient & better developed employees



HR Planning Process

It involves four distinct phases-
1. Situation analysis, environment scanning and strategic planning
2. Forecasting HR demands
3. HR supply forecasting
4. Action decisions in HRP


I. Situational Analysis, Environmental Scanning

HRM & strategic planning initially interact in this stage. It requires consideration of both external & internal environment .SP is the determination of overall organizational purposes & objectives and how they arte to be achieved. Without an effective HR plan to support the recruitment & selection functions in the organization it will be impossible to stay competitive. Organizations are becoming more & more dependent on an ability to gather information from environment and to react to this information.


II. Forecasting Human Resources Demand

The next phase of effective HR planning processes is estimating how many and what kinds of employees will be needed. Forecasting yield advanced estimates or calculations of the organizations staffing requirements.

Basic Terms Used In Forecasting

Long Term Trend- It is a projection of demand for firm’s product, typically 5 years or more into future, as proper estimation is essential for organizational success.

Cyclical Variations-they is reasonably predictable movements about the trend line that occur over a period of more then a year. Cyclical variations may be cause by election, changes in economic conditions etc. Anticipating is important.

Seasonal Variations -Reasonably predictable changes that occur over a period of a year. They follow cyclical variations and may fluctuate drastically.

Random Variations- they are changes without pattern. Even the most sophisticated forecasting techniques cannot anticipate such changes and hence organizations must be ready to deal with such variations. Several quantitative qualitative techniques are used in forecasting. They are-

1) Expert Estimate- This is the least mathematically sophisticated approach, yet frequently used one. It involves expert forecasting the employment needs on the basis of-experience, intuition and guess. This method works in small and medium sized enterprises in stable environments. In larger and more volatile organization individually seeking information from experts and then using these avgas as forecasts obtain a technique used in which a most reliable condenses of pinion of a group of experts.

Another technique can be used where individual experts estimates may not be satisfactory in the NGT. Here several experts opinions could with a group brainstorm to generate decisions better than individual exerts could have generated. A silent generation of ideas by individual experts followed by an open discussion of those ideas. Group tries to create best solutions based on their discussions.

2) Trend Projection- In this technique a forecast is developed based on past relationships b/w a factor related to employment and the employment itself. Trend projection is used out not as widely as expert estimate or unit demand. It is an inexpensive method.

3) Modeling and The Multiple Predictive Techniques
It uses sophisticated and modeling technique. Trend projections relate to single factor while more advanced approaches relate many factors to employment.

Mackov chain analysis involves developing a matrix to show the probability of an employee moving from one positing to another. It begins with an analysis of staffing levels in various levels from one period to another. Then it analysis the human resource shifts followed by transition probabilities for relating staffs.

Regression analysis predicts the dependent variable on the basis of knowledge of factors known as independent variables. When only one dependent and one independent variable are studied the process is known as SIMPLE LINEAR REGRESSIO. When there is more then one independent variable being considered it is known as MULTIPLE REGRESSION.

4) Unit Demand Forecasting- The unit could be department, a project team or some other group of employees. The unit manager analysis the person-by-person & job-by-job need in the present as well as the future managers lists the job in the unit, record the no. of jobs holders, evaluates both the no. And skills of present personnel giving considerations to expected losses due to promotions, retirements etc. hence net employee need are calculated.

5) Work Study Technique Or Workload Forecasting- It can be used when it is possible to apply work measurement to know how long operations should take and the amount of labour required. This is known as workload analysis. On the basis of work load of each plant during the forthcoming years work force analysis is done considering the rates of absenteeism and labour turnover.

a) Work Load Analysis- Manpower planning experts need to find out sales forecasts, work schedule and thus determine the manpower requirement per unit of product sales forecasts are translated into work performance. Departmental workloads are converted into man-hours in terms of different skills required. Work load analysis is use to achieve total production targets similarly plans are made concerning amount of work that all other departments of org. are expected to accomplish during the coming year. Past experience can be utilized to translate workloads into man hours required.

Example-
Annual production budget -180000 units
Standard man-hour required per unit - 2hrs
Planned man-hours per year - 360000hrs
Annual contribution of workers - 2000hrs
Number of workers required - 180

But the actual production is influenced by many other factors such as availability of inputs and power, breakdowns of machinery, strike. Lockout etc. it is suitable for short-term projections. Long term projections based on work force analysis.

b) Work Force Analysis- Two factors taken into considerations are

1-Absenteeism
2-labour Turnover
Both these operate to reduce the no. of workers available. Therefore to do work force analysis is light of these problems and hence sufficient margin of absenteeism, labour turnover & idle time based on past experience should be considered and a margin kept.


III. Human Resource Supply Forecasting

1) Internal Sources Of Supply-many of the workers needed for future positions may be already working for the firm in the case of small firms identification becomes easy, while in large firm both mgt & skill inventories are required.

Management Inventories- org maintain better data on managers a mgt inventory contained detailed information about each manager & is used to identify individual who have the potential to move into higher level positions. This provides info. For replacement & promotion decisions. Includes data such as history, experience, educational background, assessment of strength & weakness, developmental needs, promotion potential at present & future development, current job performance, field of specialization, job preferences etc.

Succession Planning-organizations are confronted with tremendous changes and hence they need to develop a profile of the type of the individuals who can effectively lead the org. both & now in future. One form of succession plan is “The Carrier Planning Inventory Organization Review Chart.” It gives information regarding people who will retire in a span of 5yrs., indicates positions unfilled and anticipated in future. Also provides information regarding long run career potential, current level, priority development needs, potential positions & possible replacements etc.

Skills Inventories-Maintain information regarding the preparedness and availability of non-managerial employee to move into higher level positions or laterally in the org. It includes background work experience, specific skills, knowledge, licenses or certificates held, in-house training programmes completed, previous performance appraisal evaluations, carrier goals. It permits mgt to readily identify employees with particular skills & match them to the changing needs of the company.

2) External Supplying-sometimes organizations might recruit people from outside. The best source of supply varies as for some it might be colleges & universities while others may find vocational schools, competitions or unsolicited applications. If the co. has information revealing where to present employees were recruited, it can develop statistics and project the best sources.

Actions Decisions In HRP

After HRP has analyzed both supply & demand for future workers, these two forecasts are compared & required action taken. No matter how good the HRP is an expert match is rare. Actions decisions for shortage of employees are many as if the shortages small & employee swilling to work overtime, it can be filled with the present employees. If there is shortage of highly skilled employees, training & promotion of present employees together with recruitment of lower skilled employees are possible.
Intense global competition, rapid technological change & apprehensions caused by recent work force reduction have also led to org. increasing there use of part-time, sub contractors & independent professionals in response to changing demands using the kind of employers given an org. for more flexibility in dealing with temporary shortage or surplus of labour then does maintaining more traditional full time employees for all jobs. Actions decisions in surplus conditions when comparison of employee demand & supply indicates surplus, the alternative solution include attrition, early retirement, demotions, lay-off & terminations. In managing a surplus through lay-offs & employee take the surplus employees off the payroll temporarily to reduce the surplus. Managers may use two criteria to decide who to lay off, merit & seniority.

Benefits Of Human Resource Planning

1) It results in reduced labour costs as it helps might to anticipates shortages or surpluses & correct the imbalances before they become unmanageable.
2) Better basis for planning employee development.
3) To impost effective training programmers.
4) To improve the overall business planning process
5) Helps in formulating managerial succession plan
6) Serves as tool to evaluate the effect of alternative manpower actions & policies

Problems In HRP

1) Support of top mgmt
2) Size of initial effort
3) Coordination with other mgmt functions
4) Integration wit organizational plans

Manpower Planning At Different Level

Corporate
Divisional
Plant levels
Purpose of carrying out at various levels is the systematic projection of manpower requirements for the future. If personnel lower down take part in the planning process they are more willing partners in the implementation.
Manpower planning at the plant level can be conducted by operating committee on the basis of the past data & future projections; then it submit to the next organization level, there the divisional committee reviews & integrates plans of all plants into a comprehensive divisional manpower planning report & submit to the top level mgmt. The committee of the top executives review all the plans submitted by divisional committees and take the final decisions.