Job Design and Analysis

The fundamental importance of job design and job analysis cannot be overestimated. Together, job design (creating balanced jobs in the context of the organizational environment, technology, and resource demands) and job analysis (ensuring that the functions of jobs are rationally presented for internal and external uses) form the basis of most human resource functions.

Job design is the specification of job features, primarily the duties, the quantity of work expected, and the level of responsibility. The duties include major work functions to be accomplished; a key issue is the breadth of those duties. The quantity of work aspect determines the balance of those duties. The level of responsibility of the job relates to the independence of the incumbent and where the position will be placed in the organizational hierarchy.

Job enlargement increases the scope of a job by extending the range of duties and responsibilities. Job rotation is a means of developing employees at all levels so that they understand the “big picture” and become cross-trained. Job analysis encompasses a systematic process of collecting data for determining the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required to perform a job successfully and to make numerous judgments about it.

Job analyses rely on a combination of four information collection methods: (1) archival data, (2) questionnaires, (3) interviews, and (4) observation. Formal job analysis also may be used as a preliminary step in an evaluation study in which the positions of a division or entire organization are being recalibrated. Such studies normally are subcontracted to consulting firms, if only for the neutrality that external assessors are perceived to possess.