Job Analysis and The Talent
Management Process
Chapter 4, Gary Dessler
Instructor: Saptarshi Dhar
HRM 201: Human Resource Management
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Talent Management
• The goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing,
and compensating employees.
• The manager who takes a talent management approach tends to take actions such as the
following:
1. He or she starts with the results and asks, “What recruiting, testing, training, or pay
action should I take to produce the employee competencies we need to achieve our
company’s goals?”
2. He or she treats activities such as recruiting and training as interrelated. For example,
the manager knows that having employees with the right skills depends as much on
recruiting and training as on applicant testing.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Talent Management
3. Because talent management is holistic and integrated, he or she will probably
use the same “profile” of required human skills, knowledge, and behaviors
(“competencies”) for formulating a job’s recruitment plans as for making
selection, training, appraisal, and compensation decisions for it.
4. To ensure the activities are all focused on the same ends, the manager will take
steps to coordinate the talent management functions (recruiting and training,
for example). Doing so often involves using talent management software.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Basics of Job Analysis
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What is 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.
• Produces information for job description and job specification.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What is Job Description?
• One product of job analysis – a list of a job’s
▪ Duties
▪ Responsibilities
▪ Reporting relationships
▪ Working conditions
▪ Supervisory responsibilities
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What is Job Specification?
• A list of a job’s “human requirements,”
that is, the requisite education, skills,
personality, and so on—another product
of job analysis.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What Information is Collected in Job Analysis?
• Work activities.
▪ Information about the job’s actual work activities, such as leaning,
selling, teaching, or painting.
▪ This list may also include how, why, and when the worker performs
each activity.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What Information is Collected in Job Analysis?
• Human behaviors.
▪ Information about human behaviors the job requires, like sensing, communicating,
lifting weights, or walking long distances.
• Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids.
▪ Information regarding tools used, materials processed, knowledge dealt with or
applied (such as finance or law), and services rendered (such as counseling or
repairing).
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What Information is Collected in Job Analysis?
• Human requirements.
▪ Information such as knowledge or skills (education, training, work experience) and
required personal attributes (aptitudes, personality, interests).
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Uses of Job Analysis Information
• Recruitment And Selection
▪ Information about what duties the job entails and what human characteristics are
required to perform these duties helps managers decide what sort of people to
recruit and hire.
• Performance Appraisal
▪ A performance appraisal compares each employee’s actual performance with his or
her duties and performance standards.
▪ Managers use job analysis to learn what these duties and standards are.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Uses of Job Analysis Information
• Compensation
▪ Compensation (such as salary and bonus) usually depends on the job’s required
skill and education level, safety hazards, degree of responsibility, and so on—all
factors you assess through job analysis.
• Training
▪ The job description lists the job’s specific duties and requisite skills—thus
pinpointing what training the job requires.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Uses of Job Analysis Information
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Steps in Job Analysis
• Step 1: How will information be used?
• Step 2: Review background information on the job.
• Step 3: Select representative positions.
• Step 4: Analyze the job - by collecting data on job activities, required employee
behaviors, working conditions and human traits and abilities required to perform the
job.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Steps in Job Analysis
• Step 5: Verify the job analysis information - with the employee performing the job
and with his/her immediate supervisor.
• Step 6: Develop a job description and job specification.
▪ Job description is a written statement that describes the activities and
responsibilities of the job.
▪ Job specification summarizes personal qualities, traits, skills, and background
required for getting the job done.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Steps in Job Analysis
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Interview
▪ Range from highly structured to unstructured format.
▪ Managers may conduct individual interviews with each employee, group interviews
with groups of employees who have the same job, and/or supervisor interviews with
one or more supervisors who know the job.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
▪ Interview
▪ Use group interviews when a large number of employees are performing similar or
identical work.
▪ As a rule, the workers’ immediate supervisor attends the group session; if not, you
can interview the supervisor separately.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Typical interview questions include the following:
▪ What is the job being performed?
▪ What exactly are the major duties of your position?
▪ What physical locations do you work in?
▪ What are the education, experience, skill, and certification requirements?
▪ In what activities do you participate?
▪ What are the job’s responsibilities and duties?
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Typical interview questions include the following:
▪ What are the basic accountabilities or performance standards that typify your work?
▪ What are your responsibilities? What are the environmental and working conditions
involved?
▪ What are the job’s physical demands? The emotional and mental demands?
▪ What are the health and safety conditions?
▪ Are you exposed to any hazards or unusual working conditions?
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Structured Interviews
▪ Includes questions regarding matters like the general purpose of the job;
supervisory responsibilities; job duties; and education, experience, and
skills required.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Pros and Cons
▪ Simple and quick way to collect information.
▪ Skilled interviewers can also unearth important activities that occur only
occasionally.
▪ The employee can also vent frustrations that might otherwise go
unnoticed.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Pros and Cons
▪ Distortion of information is the main problem.
▪ There may be a tendency for people to inflate their job’s importance
when abilities are involved, to impress the perceptions of others.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Questionnaires
▪ Having employees fill out questionnaires to describe their job duties and
responsibilities.
▪ Structured Checklists: Each employee gets an inventory of perhaps hundreds of
specific duties or tasks.
▪ He or she must indicate if he or she performs each task and, if so, how much time is
normally spent on each.
▪ At the other extreme, the questionnaire may simply ask, “describe the major duties of
your job.”
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Questionnaires
▪ Typical job analysis questionnaire might include several open ended questions.
▪ “Give a brief description of the main function/purpose of your job?”
▪ Listing of job duties.
▪ Required training, education etc.
▪ Supervisory responsibilities.
▪ Health hazards and physical demands.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Pros and Cons
▪ Quick and efficient way to obtain information.
▪ Less costly than interviewing.
▪ However, developing questionnaire and testing is time consuming.
▪ Employees may distort answers.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Observation
– Useful when jobs consist mainly of observable physical activities—
assembly-line worker and accounting executives.
– Usually not appropriate when the job entails a lot of mental activity
(lawyer, design engineer).
– Not useful if the employee only occasionally engages in important
activities, such as a nurse who handles emergencies.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Participant Diary/Logs
– Managers ask workers to keep a diary/log; here for every activity
engaged in, the employee records the activity (along with the time) in a
log.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Position Analysis Questionnaire
– A questionnaire used to collect quantifiable data concerning the duties
and responsibilities of various jobs.
– Consists of a questionnaire with 194 items.
– The 194 items (such as “written materials”) each represent a basic
element that may play a role in the job.
– The items each belong to one of five PAQ basic activities.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information
• Position Analysis Questionnaire
(1) Having Decision-Making/Communication/Social Responsibilities,
(2) Performing Skilled Activities,
(3) Being Physically Active,
(4) Operating Vehicles/Equipment, and
(5) Processing Information.
– The final PAQ “score” reflects the job’s rating on each of these five
activities on a scale of 1 to 5.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
How to Write A Job Description
• Job descriptions cover
(1) Job Identification
(2) Job Summary
(3) Responsibilities and Duties
(4) Authority of Incumbent
(5) Working Conditions
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Job Identification
• Job identification section contains several types of information.
• The job title specifies the name of the job, such as supervisor of data
processing operations, or inventory control.
• Date is the date the job description was actually approved.
• May also include location of the job, department, salary, paygrade,
immediate supervisor’s title, grade/level of the job.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Job Identification
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Job Summary
• Summarizes the essence of the job, and include only its major functions or
activities.
“The person in this position is responsible for selling college textbooks, software, and multimedia
products to professors, via incoming and outgoing telephone calls, and to carry out selling
strategies to meet sales goals in assigned territories of smaller colleges and universities. In
addition, the individual in this position will be responsible for generating a designated amount of
editorial leads and communicating to the publishing groups product feedback and market trends
observed in the assigned territory.”
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Responsibilities and Duties
• Present a list of the job’s significant responsibilities and duties.
• List each of the job’s major duties separately, and describe it in a few
sentences.
• This section may also define the jobholder’s authority limits.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Writing Job Specifications
• The job specification takes the job description and answers the question,
“What human traits and experience are required to do this job effectively?”
• It shows what kind of person to recruit and for what qualities you should test
that person.
• It may be a section of the job description, or a separate document.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Writing Job Specifications
1. Job specifications for trained vs untrained individual.
2. Specification based on judgment.
3. Job specification based on statistical analysis.
4. The Job-requirements matrix.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Specifications For Trained Vs Untrained Individual
• Writing job specifications for trained and experienced employees is
relatively straightforward.
• Here job specifications tend to focus on factors such as length of previous
service, quality of relevant training, and previous job performance.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Specifications For Trained Vs Untrained Individual
• Writing job specifications are more complex when you’re filling jobs with
untrained people (with the intention of training them on the job).
• You must specify qualities such as physical traits, personality, interests, or
sensory skills that imply some potential for performing the job or for
trainability.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Specifications Based on Judgment
• Most job specifications simply reflect the educated guesses of people like
supervisors and human resource managers.
• The basic procedure here is to ask, “What does it take in terms of education,
intelligence, training to do this job well?”
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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)
2. Some indicator or criterion of job effectiveness, such as performance as
rated by the supervisor.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Thank You
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved