Chapter- II

Job Analysis and Human Resource

Planning
Job analysis is a systematic analysis of each job
for the purpose of collecting information as to
what the jobholder does, under what
circumstances it is performed and what
qualifications are required for doing the job.
Job analysis deals with complete study
of the job embodying every Known and
determinable factors, including

•The duties and responsibilities involved in its

performance
•The condition under which the work is carried
•The nature of the task
•The qualification required by workers and
•The condition of employment
 Job analysis is the determination of the
task which comprises the job and the skills,
knowledge, abilities, and responsibilities
required of the worker for successful
performance and which differentiates the job
from all other jobs.
The information collected through job
analysis relates to the job and jobholder.

The requirements relating to the job are

termed as job description;
where as the qualities demanded from a
jobholder is known as job specifications.
Steps in Job Analysis
Step 1 Decide the use of job analysis information:

Step2 Review relevant background information such as

organization chart, and job descriptions and process
flow chart.
Step 3- Select representative positions.

Step 4- Actually analyze the job – by collecting data on

job activities, required employees behavior, working
conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to
perform the job. For this step, use one or more of the
methods of collecting job analysis information.
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
Methods of Collecting Job Analysis Information
The interview

Observation
Direct observation is especially use full when jobs consist
mainly of observable physical activities –assembly –
worker and accounting clerk are examples

On the other hand, observation is usually not

appropriate when the job entails a lot of mental activity
(lawyer, design engineer).

By personal observation, the analysts can come to know

about facts relating jobs though materials, equipments,
working condition etc.
 Written narratives or maintenance of record
Under this method, both the employees as well
as his supervisor keep a record of various facts
relating to the job. Since each employee keeps a
full record of her or his daily operations starts
from beginning till end, this method is going to
consume more time than other methods.
Job questionnaires
Under this method, a questionnaire is circulated
among the workers who report the fact about
the job.
This method is highly unsatisfactory as it places
greater faith in the job holder’s ability to
provide information.
Job performance
Under this method, the job analysis actually
performs the job under study to obtain first
hand experience of the actual task, physical,
and social demands and the environment of
the job.

This method can be used only for jobs where

skill requirements are low and can be learnt
quickly and easily. This is time consuming
method and is not appropriate for jobs
requiring extensive training.
Using multiple source of information

There are obviously many ways to obtain job

analysis information.

You can get it from individual workers,

groups, or supervisors; or from the
observations of job analysts, for instance.

You can use interviews, observations, or

questionnaires.
Use of Job Analysis Information

Job related data obtained from a job-analysis

program are useful in HRP, Recruitment and
selection, training and development, job
evaluation, remuneration, performance appraisal,
EEO compliance, job definition, promotion and
transfer, employee safety and health, placement
and orientation, setting wage differentials, and
compensation.
 Job Description
It is factual and organized statement describing the
job in terms of its title, location, duties,
responsibilities, working conditions, hazards, and
relationship with other jobs.

It tells us what is to be done, how it is to be done and

why.

The main object of job description is to differentiate

from other jobs and to set out it outer limits. Job
description is an important document as it helps to
identify the job and give a clear idea of what the job
is.
Job specification
It is a statement of the minimum acceptable human
qualities required for the proper performance of the job. It
is a record of the physical, mental, social and
psychological, and behavioral characteristics which a
person should posses in order to perform the job
effectively.
Physical characteristics include height, weight, vision,
hearing, health, age, hand foot coordination .etc mental
characteristics consist of general intelligence, memory,
judgment, ability to concentrate, foresight etc. Social and
psychological characteristic include emotional stability,
flexibility, personal appearance, pleasing manner,
initiative, drive, conversational ability
Potential Problems with Job Analysis

Top management support is missing

Only a single means and source are used for gathering data.
The supervisor and the job holder do not participate in
the design of the job analysis procedure

No training or motivation exist for job holders

Employees are not allowed sufficient time to complete the

analysis
There is a failure to critique the job
Meaning of Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning involves forecasting the
organization’s future demand for employees,
forecasting the future supply of employees within
the organization, and designing programs to
correct the discrepancy between the two.
Human resource planning is the process by
which an organization ensures that it has the right
number and kind of people , at the right place, at
the right time, capable of effectively and
efficiently completing those tasks that will help
the organization to achieve its over all objectives.
. Importance of Human Resource Planning

Improvement of labour productivity

Recruitment of qualified human Resources
Adjusting with the rapid technological chang
Reducing labour turnovere
Control over recruitment and training Cost.
Mobility of labour
It can facilitate expansion programmes.
To Treat the Manpower like Real Corporate
Assets
Factors Affecting Human Resource Planning
•Type and strategy of the organization
•Organization growth cycle
•Environmental uncertainties
•Type and quality of information used to forecast
HR needs
•Nature of the job being filled
•off-loading the work - Several organizations off-
load part of their work to outside parties either
in the form of sub-contracting
Procedures of Human Resource Planning
The following are the main procedures in HRP:
•Conducting external and internal environmental
scanning.
•Determining future HR requirements.
•Determining future HR availabilities.
•Determining net man power requirement (NMPR)
•Developing action plan.
 If a shortage of employees is
expected………..

 Hire new full-time employees

 Offer incentives for postponing retirement
 Re-hire retired employees on part time base
 Attempt to reduce turnover
 Bring in over time for present workers
 Subcontract work to another company
 Hire temporary employees
 Re-engineer to reduce needs
 If a surplus of employee is expected

Don’t replace the employees who leave (hire freezing)

 Offer incentives for early retirement
 Transfer or re-assign excess employees
 Use slack time for employee training or equipment intenance
 Reducing working hours or job sharing
 Lay off employees
 Pay reduction
Demotion
 Termination
 Voluntary resignation inducement
Meaning and Definition of Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of searching for
prospective employees and stimulating them to
apply for jobs in the organization. Source of
manpower can be internal or external.
Features of Recruitment
•Recruitment is a process or a series of activities
rather than a single act or event.
•Recruitment is linking activity as it brings
together those with job (employer) and those
seeking jobs (employees).
Recruitment is a positive function as it seeks
to develop a pool of eligible person from
which most suitable ones are selected.
•Recruitment is a pervasive function as all
organizations engage in recruitment activity.
But the volume and nature of recruitment
varies with the size, nature and environment of
the particular organization.

•Recruitment is a complex job because too

many factors affect it. E.g., image of the
organization, nature of job offered,
organizational polices, working conditions,
compensation levels in the organization and
rate of growth of the organization etc.
Factors that Affect Recruitment
External factors
•Supply and demand
•Unemployment rate
•Labor market
•Political and legal consideration
•Sons of soil
•Image
Internal forces
•Recruitment policy
•HRP
•Size of the firm
•Cost
•Growth and expansion
Sources and Methods of Recruitment
Internal sources: Internal sources consists of the
following

Present employee-permanent, temporary and

casual employees already on the pay of the
organization are good source.
Vacancies may be filed up from such employees
through promotion, transfers, and upgrading and
even demotion
Retired and retrenched employees who want to
return the company may be rehired.
Methods of internal recruitment

Internal recruitment methods can be closed internal

recruitment or open internal recruitment systems.

Closed internal recruitment system

In this system employees are un aware of job openings and
therefore don’t have the opportunity to formally apply. Most
informal closed system is based on managerial nominations,
where in employees are simply nominated by managers
where there is a job opening.
Disadvantages of closed internal recruitment
system
•Nominations may be based on favoritism towards
specific individuals or biases versus various
protected group.
•Unintentionally, highly qualified candidates will
be over looked.
 Open internal recruitment system -Job
posting and bidding

Job posting and bidding is an open internal

method of recruitment in which notices of
available jobs are posted in central locations
through out the organization and employees
are given a specified length of time to apply
for the available jobs.
Internal sources have the following advantages

•Morale and motivation of employees improved when they are

assured that they will be preferred in filling up vacancies at
higher levels.
•A sense of security is created among employees.
•Suitability of existing employees can be judged better as record
of their qualifications and performance is already available in the
organization. Chances of proper selection is higher
•It promotes loyalty and commitment among employees due to
sense of job security and opportunities for advancement.
•Present employees are already familiar with the organization
and its polices. Therefore, time and cost of orientation and
training are low
The time and cost of recruitment are reduced,
Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment

First, it may lead to inbreeding.

Second, if promotion is based on seniority, really
capable persons may be left out.
Third, the choice of selection is restricted.
More talented outsiders may not be employed.
Mobility of labor is restricted.
Chances of favoritism are higher and the limited
talent of inside restricts growth of business
External sources
Depending on the qualifications desired,
employees may be attracted from a number of
out side sources.
External sources of recruitment lie outside the
organization. These are;
•High school and vocational schools
•Colleges and Universities
•Competitors and other firms
•The unemployed
Methods of External Recruitment

News paper advertisements

Television and Radio advertisements

Campus recruiting

Walk ins/unsolicited applications

Employee referrals
An external source offers the following advantage:
People having the requisite/necessary skill, education
and training can be obtained

as recruitment is done from a wider market, best selection

can be made irrespective of caste, sex, or religion

Expertise and experience from other organization can be

obtained.
This source of recruitment never “dries up”. It is available to
even new enterprises.
It helps to bring new blood and new ideas into the
organization, their orientation and training is necessary
External sources, however, suffer from the
following disadvantages;
•It is more expensive and time-consuming to
recruit people from outside. Detailed screening is
necessary as very little is known about the
candidates
•The employees being un familiar with the
organization, their orientation and training may
not be necessary
- If higher levels are filled from the external
source, motivation and loyalties of existing
staff are affected.
The Meaning of Selection
Definition -1
Selection is the process by which an organization
chooses from a list of applicants the person or persons
who best meet the selection criteria for the position
available, considering current environmental
conditions.
selection is the process of choosing the best out of
those recruited.

Recruitment is positive as it aims at increasing the

number of applicants for wider choice or increase
selection ratio.

Selection is negative as it rejects a large number of

applicants to identify the few who are suitable for
the job.
Environmental Factors Affecting the Selection
Process.

Legal considerations
Speed of Decision Making
Organizational hierarchy
Applicant pool (labor market)
Probationary period
 Selection Process

Completing and screening of the application

form
Preliminary interview

Employment test

Second or follow up or diagnostic interview

Reference cheek

Physical (medical examination

Final decision or final approval

Employment Test
•Aptitude test –means of measuring a person’s capacity
or latent ability to learn and perform the job
•Psychomotor test–test that measures a person’s
strength, dexterity, and Coordination.
•Job knowledge test –Tests used to measure the job
related knowledge of the applicants.
•Proficiency test- tests used to measure how well a job
applicant can do a sample of the work to be
performed in the job.
•Interest test –tests designed to determine how a
person’s interest compared with the interest of
successful people in a specific job.
•Personality test –tests that attempt to measure
personality traits.
Polygraph test –the polygraph, popularly known
as the lie detector, is a device that records
physical changes in the body as the test subject
answers serious of questions

Graphology (hand writing analysis) - use of trained

analysis to examine a person’s hand writing to assess
the personality, emotional problems, and honesty
Orientation

Orientation is a process for introducing new employees

to the organization, its mission, its activities and
programs as well as her/his job. An employee
handbook is often used in an orientation session.
The Purpose of Orientation
•To make the new employee feel welcome
•To reduce the anxiety and hazing of the employee on the
first day
•To socialize the employee to the values, standards and
desirable behaviors of the organization
•To help the new employee be successful in his/her job
•To enable the new employee to quickly become
productive
•To reduce start up costs of new employees
•To develop realistic job expectations, positive attitudes
towards the employer and job satisfaction
•To start building the relationship between the employee
and the supervisor
Performance Appraisal

•Performance Appraisal is a systematic and

objective way of judging the relative worth of
ability of an employee in performing his task.

• Performance appraisal helps to identify those who

are performing their assigned tasks well and those
who are not and the reasons for such performance.
To make effective performance appraisals a reality,
four criteria need to be present. These are:
a) Employees should be actively involved in the
evaluation and development process.
b) Supervisors need to enter performance appraisals
with a constructive and helpful attitude.
c) Realistic goals must be mutually set.
d) Supervisors must be aware, and have knowledge of
the employee’s job and performance.
Performance appraisal serves the following management
objectives:

i) Providing basis for promotion/transfer/termination

ii) Enhancing employees’ effectiveness
iii) Identifying employees’ training and development
needs:
iv) Removing discontent
v) Developing interpersonal relationship
vi) Aiding wage administration
vii) Exercising control
viii) Improving communication
The Performance Appraisal Process
1)The appraisal process begins with the
establishment of performance standards.
2) Once performance standards are established, it is
necessary to communicate these expectations.
3) The third step in an appraisal process is
measurement of performance
4)comparison of actual performance with standards
5)initiation of corrective action when necessary
Performance Appraisal Methods
1)Critical Incident Method
2) Checklist
3) Graphic Rating Scale
4) Forced Choice Method The forced choice
appraisal is a special type of checklist, but the
rater has to choose between two or more
statements, all of which may be favorable or
unfavorable.
Forced Choice Method
The appraiser’s job is to identify which statement is most
(or in some cases least) descriptive of the individual
being evaluated.

To reduce bias, the right answers are not known to the

rater. Someone in the personnel department scores the
answers based on the key.

This key should be validated so management is in a

position to say that individuals with higher scores are
better-performing employees.
The major advantages of the forced choice method
are:
a) Since the appraiser does not know the “right”
answers, it reduces bias.
b) It looks at over all performance.
c) It is based on the behavior of the employees
 Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
These scales combine major elements from the
critical incident and graphic rating scale approaches.

The appraiser rates the employees based on items

along continuum, but the points are examples of
actual behavior on the given job rather than general
descriptions or traits.
Behaviorally anchored rating scales specify
definite, observable, and measurable job
behavior.
Examples of job-related behavior and
performance dimensions are generated by
asking participants to give specific illustrations
on effective and ineffective behavior regarding
each performance dimension.

These behavioral examples are then

retranslated into appropriate performance
dimensions
This method has following advantages:

a) It does tend to reduce rating errors.

b) It assesses behavior over traits.
c) It clarifies to both the employee and rater which
behaviors connote good performance and which
connote bad.
Paired Comparison
The paired comparison method is calculated
by taking the total of [n (n-1)]/2 comparisons.

A score is obtained for each employee by

simply counting the number of pairs in which
the individual is the preferred member. It
ranks each individual in relationship to all
others on a one-on-one basis
If ten people are being evaluated, the first
person is compared, with each of the other
nine, and the number of items this person is
preferred in any of the nine pairs is tabulated.

Each of the remaining nine persons, in turn, is

compared in the same way, and a ranking is
evolved by the greatest number of preferred
“victories”.
This method ensures that each employee is
compared against every other, but the method can
become unwieldy when large numbers of
employees are being compared.
Management by Objectives
Management by objectives (MBO) is a process that
converts organizational objectives into individual
objectives.

It can be thought of as consisting of four steps: goal

setting, action planning, self-control, and periodic
reviews:-
Following are the advantages of MBO:
a) It is result –oriented. It assists the planning and
control functions and provides motivation.
b) Employees know exactly what is expected of
them and how they will be evaluated.
c) Employees have a greater commitment to
objectives that they have participated in developing
than to those unilaterally set by their bosses.
 360 degree appraisal
The 360 degree feedback process involves
collecting perceptions about a person’s
behavior and the impact of that behavior from
the person’s boss or bosses, direct reports,
colleagues, fellow members of project teams,
internal and external customers, and suppliers
Other names for 360 degree feedback are
multi-rater feedback, multi- source feedback,
full-circle appraisal, and group performance
review.
360 degree feedback is a method and a tool
that provides each employee the opportunity to
receive performance feedback from his or her
supervisor and four to eight peers, subordinates
and customers
The feedback provides insight about the skills
and behaviors desired in the organization to
accomplish the mission, vision, goals and values.

People who are chosen as raters are usually

those that interact routinely with the person
receiving feedback.
 Bos
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Team
Peers members

Feedback
once from

Sel Custo
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Problems in Performance Appraisal

1) Leniency Error
When evaluators are positively lenient in their
appraisal, an individual’s performance
becomes overstated; that is rated higher
than it actually should. Similarly, a negative
leniency error understates performance,
giving the individuals as lower appraisal.
One mechanism used to reduce harsh and lenient
rating is to ask raters to distribute ratings- forcing a
normal distribution. For example, 10 percent of
subordinates will be rated as excellent, 20 percent
rated as good, 40 percent rated as fair, 20 percent
rated below fair, and 10 percent rated as poor.
2) Halo Effect
The halo effect or error is a tendency to rate
high or low on all factors due to the impression
of a high or low rating on some specific factor.

For example, if an employee tends to be

conscientious and dependable, the supervisor
might become biased toward that individual to
the extent that he will rate him/her high on
many desirable attributes
3) Similarity Error
When evaluators rate other people in the
same ways that the evaluators perceive
themselves they are making a similarity error.

Based on the perception that evaluators

have of themselves, they project those
perceptions onto others.
For example, the evaluator who perceives him self
or herself as aggressive may evaluate others by
looking for aggressiveness. Those who
demonstrate this characteristic tend to benefit,
while others are penalized.
4) Low Appraiser Motivation
What are the consequences of the appraisal?

If the evaluator knows that a poor appraisal

could significantly hurt the employee’s future
particularly opportunities for promotion or a
salary increase the evaluator may be reluctant to
give a realistic appraisal.

There is evidence that it is more difficult to

obtain accurate appraisals when important
rewards depend on the results.
5) Central Tendency
It is possible that regardless of whom the
appraiser evaluates and what traits are used,
the pattern of evaluation remains the same.

It is also possible that the evaluator’s ability

to appraise objectively and accurately has
been impeded by a failure to use the
extremes of the scale, that is, central
tendency
6) Recency vs. Primacy Effect
Recency refers to the proximity or closeness to
appraisal period.

Generally an employee takes it easy for the

whole year and does little to get the
punishment. However, comes appraisal time,
he becomes very active
The opposite of recency is primacy effect. Here
the initial impression influences the decision on
year end appraisal irrespective of whether the
employee has been able to keep up the initial
impression or not.

First impression is the last impression is perhaps

the most befitting description of this error.
7. Shifting Standards
Performance appraisal should be based on uniform
and fair standards, last employees might get
confused and the organization might not be able to
decide as to who is suitable and therefore should be
promoted.

For example, last year, quality was the criteria for

performance evaluation but the boss decides to
judge them this year on the basis of quantity.
8. Horn effect
Highly critical bosses have a tendency to compare
performance of their subordinates with ‘what they
did’.

This is not correct because the performance also

depends upon the situation. For example, a salesman
now operates in a ‘buyer’s market’ as against the
‘seller’s market’ of last years.
9. Contrast effects
In individual evaluation techniques each
employee is supposed to be rated with out
any regard to another employee’s
performance.

Some evidences however show that

supervisors have very difficult time doing this.
If the supervisor lets an employee’s
performance the ratings that are given to
some one else, it is said that a contrast effect
has occurred
10. Stereotyping (Rater’s Bias)
Some raters have standard mental picture
about a person because of that person’s age,
sex, color, race, religion, style of clothing,
political view, etc. such assessments are
based on false assumptions/feelings, rather
than facts
.
How to minimize Appraisal Problems

1. Improving validity and reliability of

performance criteria
2. Adopting multiple appraisal and different
timing
3. Providing better feedback
4. Training raters