978-0134235455 Chapter 4 Lecture Note

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Part Two

Recruitment, Placement, and Talent Management

Chapter 4

Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process

Lecture Outline:

The Talent Management Process

Improving Performance Through HRIS: Talent Management Software

The Basics of Job Analysis

What is Job Analysis?

Use of Job Analysis Information

Conducting a Job Analysis

Improving Performance: HR as a Profit Center

Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information

The Interview

Questionnaires

Observation

Participant Diary/Logs

Quantitative Job Analysis Techniques

Electronic Job Analysis Methods

Writing Job Descriptions

Diversity Counts

Job Identification

Job Summary

Relationships

Responsibilities and Duties

Trends Shaping HR: Digital and Social Media

Know Your Employment Law

Standards of Performance and Working Conditions

Improving Performance: HR Tools for Line Managers and Small Businesses

O*Net

Writing Job Specifications

Specifications for Trained versus Untrained Personnel

Specifications Based on Judgment

Job Specifications Based on Statistical Analysis

The Job Requirements Matrix

Employee Engagement Guide for Managers

Using Competencies Models

Improving Performance: The Strategic Context

How to Write Competencies Statements

Chapter Review

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process 4-2

Where Are We Now…

The main purpose of this chapter is to show you how to analyze jobs and write job descriptions.

We discuss several techniques for analyzing jobs, and explain how to write job descriptions and

job specifications. The main topics we address include the talent management process, the

basics of job analysis, methods of collecting job analysis information, writing job descriptions,

writing job specifications, employee engagement and job analysis, and using models and profiles

in talent management.

Interesting Issues:

When Daimler opened its Mercedes-Benz assembly plant in Alabama, its managers had a

dilemma. Their strategy was to create a high-performance plant, one Daimler could then extend

to its other plants in America, South Africa, Brazil, and Germany. The dilemma was that plant

managers could not hire, train, or pay their employees unless they knew what each employee was

expected to do. But in this plant, self-managing teams would assemble the vehicles, so team-

members’ jobs might change every day. How do you hire-people when their job duties are

always changing? We’ll see what they did.

Learning Objectives:

4-1. Define talent management and explain why it is important.

4-2. Discuss the process of job analysis, including why it is important.

4-3. Explain how to use at least three methods of collecting job analysis information,

including interviews, questionnaires, and observation.

4-4. Explain how you would write a job description.

4-5. Explain how to write a job specification.

4-6. List some human traits and behaviors you would want an employee to bring to

a job if employee engagement is important to doing the job well.

4-7. Explain competency-based job analysis, including what it means and how it’s done in

practice.

Annotated Outline:

I. The Talent Management Process – a holistic, integrated, and results and goal-oriented

process of planning recruiting, selecting, developing, managing, and compensating

employees.

A. Improving Performance Through HRIS: Talent Management Software – because

talent management is holistic and interdependent, many employers use talent

management software systems to coordinate their talent-related activities.

II. The Basics of Job Analysis

A. What is Job Analysis? – it is the procedure through which you determine the duties of

the company’s positions and the characteristics of the people to hire for them.

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process 4-3

B. The Use of Job Analysis Information

1. Recruitment and Selection – information about what duties the job entails and

what human characteristics are required to perform these activities helps

managers to decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.

2. EEO Compliance – job analysis is a crucial step in validating all major human

resources practices.

3. Performance Appraisal – compares each employee’s actual performance with

his or her duties and performance standard. Managers use job analysis to learn

what these duties and standards are.

4. 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.

5. Training – the job description lists the job’s specific duties and requisite

skills—thus pinpointing what training the job requires.

C. Conducting a Job Analysis – There are six steps in doing a job analysis:

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

2. Step Two: Review Relevant Background Information About the Job, Such as

Organizational Charts and Process Charts

a. Workflow Analysis

b. Improving Performance: HR as a Profit Center

c. Business Process Reengineering

d. 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

III. Methods for Collecting Job Analysis Information – there are many ways (interviews or

questionnaires, for instance) to collect job information. The basic rule is to use those that

best fit your purpose.

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 – many managers use questionnaires to guide the

interview. Figure 4-4 presents one example.

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.

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process 4-4

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 needed 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) –a questionnaire containing 194

items used to collect quantifiable data representing, five basic elements:

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) –a standardized method for rating,

classifying, and comparing virtually every kind of job based on data,

people, and things. Table 4-1 shows the DOL method.

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 use online systems to send

questionnaires to job experts in remote locations. Of course instruction should be

clear and the process should be tested first.

IV. Writing Job Descriptions

A. Diversity Counts – Figures 4-7 and 4-8 present two sample forms.

B. Job Identification – contains the job title, the Fair Labor Standards Act

(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. Job Summary – should summarize the essence of the job and include only its major

functions or activities.

D. Relationships – occasionally a relationships statement is included. It shows the

jobholders’ relationships with others inside and outside the organization.

E. Responsibilities and Duties – this is the heart of the job description. It should present

a list of the job’s significant responsibilities and duties.

F. Trends Shaping HR: Digital and Social Media

G. Know Your Employment Law

1. Writing Job Descriptions That Comply with the ADA

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process 4-5

H. 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.

I. Improving Performance: HR Tools for Line Managers and Small Businesses – the

U.S. Department of Labor’s online occupational information network that is free to

use is O*NET (http://online.onecenter.org ) The steps in using O*NET to facilitate

writing a job description is:

1. Review your Plan.

2. Develop an Organization Chart.

3. Use a Job Analysis Questionnaire.

4. Obtain Job Duties from O*NET.

5. List the Job’s Human Requirements from O*NET.

6. Finalize the Job Description.

V. Writing Job Specifications – takes the job description and answers the question, “what

human traits and experience are required to do this job effectively?”

A. Specifications for Trained 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 –a popular way to use job descriptions and

specifications. The job matrix lists the information in five columns: main job duties,

task statements, importance of each main job duty, time spent on each, and the

knowledge skills and abilities and other human characteristics (KSAO) related to

each main job duty.

VI. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and the Talent Management Process 4-6

VII. Using Competencies Models – profiles giving the knowledge, skills, and experience

someone needs to do the job. Such models or profiles (see Figure 4-10) list the

competencies employees must be able to exhibit to get their jobs done.

A. Improving Performance: The Strategic Context

B. How to Write Competency Statements – the idea competency statement

will include three elements: the name of a brief description, description

of the observable behaviors, and proficiency levels.

Chapter Review

Chapter Section Summaries:

4-1: Employers today often view all the staff-train-reward activities as part of a single integrated

talent management process.

4-2: All managers should be familiar with the basics of job analysis.

4-3: There are various methods for collecting job analysis information.

4-4: Managers should know how to write job descriptions.

4–5: In writing job specifications, it’s important to distinguish between specifications for

trained verses untrained personnel.

4-6: There are human traits and behaviors that may predict the job candidate’s likelihood to be

engaged and the manager might therefore want to include these in the job specification.

4-7: Employers are using competencies models and profiles in talent management.

Discussion Questions:

4-1: Why, in summary, should managers think of staffing-training-appraising and paying

employees as a talent management process?

Students’ 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.

4-2: What items are typically included in the job description?

This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student

responses will vary.

4-3: 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.