Organizational Potential
3.60
Assessment Processes
Types of Career Management Interventions
Forecasting and Scenario Modeling Talk 4: Job Analysis and Job Description
Based on multiple assumptions about the Speaker: Stephanie France Nodado
future Activity/s: Human Bingo & Job Description Making
If an organization is faced with the prospect
Job Analysis
of multiple scenarios, the organization
is the formal process of understanding a job
should select the staffing requirement that is According to Prier, Goodstein, Goodstein,
common to all scenarios. and Gamble, Jr. (2009), job analysis is “a
systematic process for collecting and the necessary information before hiring
analyzing information about a job.” (employers) or before applying
Data for job analysis are usually collected on the (applicants) to a certain job position.
following aspects: 2. Training and Development
1. Tasks or work activity - the basic format Job analysis will show information about
of a task statement should indicate the the necessary knowledge, skills,
action to be performed and the result abilities, and experience needed for a
expected from the action (Fine and Wiley, particular job. It may be used to provide
1971) and conduct seminars and trainings that
2. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) may help to enhance the performance of
Knowledge is an organized body of their employees and therefore, promote
information, usually of a factual or growth.
procedural nature 3. Performance Management and
Skill – proficiency in the manual, Compensation
verbal, or mental manipulation of Data gathered for job analysis explain
people, ideas, or things the expected level or range performance
Ability – the present capacity to for a job and the corresponding pay or
execute a job action, to perform a compensation for it.
job function by applying an 4. Organizational Management and Planning
underlying knowledge base and the Changes in the organization affect the
necessary skill simultaneously. job description; thus, it needs to be
3. Levels of Performance – refers for the constantly updated to cater to the need
expected range of performance required for of both the employees and the
the job (Prier, Goodstein, Goodstein, and employers. To update this, a job
Gamble, Jr. 2009) analysis is required.
4. Workplace Characteristics – pertains to 5. Litigation Protection
the characteristics of the work environment Job analysis is used to ensure all HR
that may have a bearing on job decisions are free from discrimination
performance. and are purely based on job
Example: specifications (Prier, Goodstein,
Positive Values Goodstein, and Gamble, Jr. 2009)
Relaxed and Productive
Atmosphere Job Analysis Methodologies
Commitment to Excellence 1. Self-report
Open and honest Through self-report, the employees
communication
describe and give information about
Cooperation, support, &
empowerment their job and duties performed. The
Sense of humor disadvantage seen is that they might
Compassion, respect, & give exaggerated statements that might
understanding make the job more important than it
Flexibility really is.
Positive Reinforcement 2. Observation
Emphasis on health, family, In this method, the data is gathered
and environment through observing the incumbent while
he performs his job. This may be backed
Uses of Job Analysis
by documenting the observation through
Here are five uses of Job Analysis results: capturing photos or taking videos.
1. Recruitment and Selection 3. Interview
A job analysis is useful for both the It overcome both the weakness of self-
recruiters and the applicants. One of the report and observation. Interviews are
outputs of job analysis is the job conducted in two rounds. The first round
description. It would help both the
employers and employees to know is individual interviews with the
about a job position. It would give them incumbent to learn about the job and the
second round is a group interview which
is done by pooling employees of the 2. Reporting Line
same job position or those related to it to This refers to the position to which the
learn about the job with more depth. job reports to.
4. Document Review 3. Organization Structure
It pertains to documents that the This clarifies the position of the job in the
organization keeps that could shed light company’s organizational structure and if
on the job being analyzed. Examples there are jobs that will report to the
are time and attendance records, position.
previous job descriptions, and 4. Main Purpose of the Job
performance appraisals. This is a one or two-sentence statement
5. Questionnaires and Surveys that explains the primary purpose of the
These have pre-determined lists and job and its difference from other jobs.
categories that ask about tasks and job 5. Principal Accountabilities and
requirements. It has the tendency to be Responsibilities
long but may be custom-designed or Usually ten in number, this refers to the
commercially available. key activities performed by the position.
6. Performance Measures and Standards
Strategic Job Analysis This pertains to the targets and/or Key
The organization has its goals in order for Results Areas of the position in the
them to develop and still be in the long run. context of Performance Management.
Moreover, to achieve these goals, they seek 7. Constraints
to comply with the needs and demands of This part pertains to the limitations of the
the environment and the people position in terms of authority or decision-
(employees). As the company keeps on making.
growing and developing, its job analysis 8. Statistics
needs to be updated and relevant for the This part is optional. It shows the exact
entire organization. numerical and financial scope of certain
Being strategic means that: job activities to facilitate the job
o Information about jobs is evaluation process.
continuously gathered for the future. 9. Nature and Scope
o Tasks and KSAs are revised in the This refers to information that would
light of future changes. describe the context of the job, e.g.,
types of problems or decision involved in
Job Description the position.
It is a document that shows the data 10. Contacts
gathered in the job analysis. This part shows the line of
Is an internal document that clearly states communications of the job to other jobs
the essential job requirements, job duties, within or outside the organization.
job responsibilities, and skills required to 11. Working Condition
perform a specific role. This explains the physical environment
where the work will be performed.
Parts of a Job Description Example: in a building or a field work.
Cushway (2003) proposed 15 parts of a job 12. Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
description This refers to the knowledge, skills,
abilities (KSA), and experiences of the
1. Job Identification incumbent that are needed to perform the
This identifies the title or name of the job required duties of the job.
and the department it belongs to.
13. Competencies 2. The recipient of the action
This refers to the observable behaviors 3. The end-result of the action
and skills necessary to be successful in
the job. Plachy and Plachy (1998) recommend the following
14. Other Information when writing accountability statements:
This section is for other important 1. Limit statement of results to 2-5 words per
information that needs to be stated in the sentence
job description, e.g., trainings or 2. Use the appropriate action verbs
seminars 3. Avoid the use of evaluative words
15. Signature and Date
The signature of the employee is Talk 5: Competency Modeling
attached on his job description in order to Speaker: Christine Edora
Activity/s: Competenscramble & Word Hunt
testify that he agrees to comply with its
contents. The date is also included to set Competency Modeling
as a reference if there is a need to Competencies refer to clusters of
update it in the near future. knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs)
needed for performing the jobs effectively
Results-oriented Job Description Competency Modeling is the process of
analyzing and describing types and range of
There are two existing ways to choose abilities, knowledge, and skills present in an
whether where to focus in making a job description. organization to acquire or to gain a
These are: competitive advantage.
1. Plachy and Plachy (2009)
Two Types of Competencies
Emphasizes the results expected from
the job Foundational Competencies apply to all
2. Traditional Job Description jobs/roles in an organization, and are
Emphasizes the duties to be performed in commonly known as core competencies.
a job Job-specific Competencies are specific to
a particular job or job family.
According to Plachy and Plachy (2009), a o Technical/Functional
results-oriented job description would describe how o Leadership
the job contributes to the mission of the
organization; in contrast, a traditional job Comparison of Competencies
description is more short-sighted as it only focuses
on the task at hand.
In writing the principal accountabilities, both
the results and duties are included in the statement.
The duty section answers the question “why” does
the action need to be done while the responsibility
would state the action needed to accomplish the
result. The duty and results are connected by the
word “by”. (I.e. maintains company telephone
directory (result) by updating files with addition,
deletions, and changes (duty).)