PSYCH-105 Industrial Psychology
Chapter 14: Job Analysis
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Appendix
A job analysis is an accurate study of the various components of a job. It is concerned not only with an analysis of the duties and conditions of work but also with the individual qualifications of the worker.
JOB: Job or work is a physical and/or mental activity that is carried out at a particular place and time according to a particular instruction, in return for money.
The term JOB is sometimes confused with ‘position’ and ‘occupation’. But there are some differences between these.
POSITION: A position is a group of task assigned to an individual
OCCUPATION: An occupation refers to a group of jobs that are similar as to kind of work or that possess common characteristics.
JOB ANALYSIS
Job analysis is the systematic process of collecting information about various components of a job. Job analysis is a detailed and systematic study of jobs to know the nature and characteristics of people to be employed for each job.
A job analysis is a process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, knowledge, degree of risk, outcomes and work environment of a particular job. We need as much data as possible to put together a job description, which is outcome of job analysis. Additional outcomes of job analysis include recruiting plans, position postings and advertisements and performance development planning within our performance management system.
The information required is collected by a job analyst, who is trained in information gathering techniques. It provides the analyst the basic data of specific job such as:
- Job identification
- Nature of Job
- Operations involved in doing the job.
- Material and equipment to be used in doing the job.
- Personal attributes required to do the job. Example: education, training, physical strength, mental capabilities etc.
- Relation with the other jobs.
An important concept of job analysis is that a job analysis is NOT an evaluation of the person currently performing the job. The analysis is conducted of the job, not the person, while job analysis data may be collected from incumbents through interviews or questionnaires. The product of the analysis is a job description or job specifications of the job, rather a description of the person.
Fig.: Job Analysis - A Basic Human Resource Management Tool
Objective of Job Analysis
- Work simplification (Job redesign)
- Establishment of standards of work
- Support of other personnel activities
