Increasingly, commentators and writers are discussing the idea that the nature of jobs and work is changing so much that the concept of a “job” may be obsolete for many people. For instance, in some high-technology industries employees work in cross-functional project teams and shift from project to project. The focus in these industries is less on performing specific tasks and duties and more on fulfilling responsibilities and attaining results. For example, a project team of eight employees developing software to allow various credit cards to be used with
ATMs worldwide will work on many different tasks, some individually and some with other team members. When that project is finished those employees will move to other projects, possibly with other employers. Such shifts may happen several times per year. Therefore, the basis for recruiting, selecting, and compensating these individuals is their competence and skills, not what they do. Even the job of managers changes in such situations, for they must serve their project teams as facilitators, gatherers of resources, and removers of roadblocks.
However, in many industries that use lower-skilled workers, traditional jobs continue to exist. Studying these jobs and their work consequences is relatively easy because of the repetitiveness of the work and the limited number of tasks each worker performs.
Clearly, studying the two different types of jobs—the lower-skilled ones and highly technical ones—requires different approaches. Many of the typical processes associated with identifying job descriptions are still relevant with the lower-skilled, task-based jobs. However, for fast-moving organizations in hightechnology industries, a job description is becoming an obsolete concept. Employees in these “virtual jobs” must be able to function without job descriptions and without the traditional parameters that are still useful with less changeable jobs.
Work analysis studies the workflow, activities, context, and output of a job.
This analysis can be conducted on a department, business process, or individual level.
Work analysis = Studying the workflow, activities, context, and output of a job.
At one level, the industrial engineering approach of time and motion studies is useful in work analysis. At another level the linkage of what is done in one department may be looked at in relation to work activities performed in another area. For instance, in an electric utility if a customer calls with a service outage problem, it is typical for a customer service representative to take the information and enter it into a database. Then in the operations department, a dispatcher may access the database to schedule a line technician to repair the problem. The customer would be called back and notified about the timing of the repair. The line technician also must receive instructions from a supervisor, who gets the information on workload and locations from the dispatcher.
A work analysis identified that there were too many steps involving too many different jobs in this process. Therefore, the utility implemented a new customer information system and combined the dispatching function with customer service.
The redesign permitted the customer service representatives to access workload information and schedule the line technicians as part of the initial consumer phone calls, except in unusual situations. The redesign of jobs required redefining the jobs, tasks, duties, and responsibilities of several jobs. To implement the new jobs required training the customer service representatives in dispatching and moving dispatchers into the customer service department and training them in all facets of customer service. The result was a more responsive workflow, more efficient scheduling of line technicians, and broadening of the jobs of the customer service representatives.
This example illustrates that analyzing work activities and processes may require looking at what capabilities individuals need as well as what they do. That certainly would be true as office support jobs, such as the secretarial job, are examined.
Increasingly, it is being recognized that jobs can be analyzed on the basis of both tasks and competencies.
2. TASK-BASED JOB ANALYSIS
Analyzing jobs based upon what is done on the job focuses on the tasks, duties, and responsibilities performed in a job. A task is a distinct, identifiable work activity composed of motions, whereas a duty is a larger work segment composed of several tasks that are performed by an individual. Because both tasks and duties describe activities, it is not always easy or necessary to distinguish between the two. For example, if one of the employment supervisor’s duties is to interview applicants, one task associated with that duty would be asking questions. Job responsibilities are obligations to perform certain tasks and duties.
For jobs that remain task-based, many standard phases of the job analysis process can continue. As indicated in the phases of traditional job analysis that are outlined later in the chapter, extensive effort is made to clarify what specifically is done on a job. Development of job descriptions identifies what is done and lists job functions.
Task=A distinct, identifiable work activity composed of motions.
Duty=A larger work segment composed of several tasks that are performed by an individual.
Job responsibilities= Obligations to perform certain tasks and duties
3. COMPETENCY APPROACH TO JOB ANALYSIS
There is a growing interest in focusing on the competencies that individuals need in order to perform jobs, rather than on the tasks, duties, and responsibilities composing a job. This shift emphasizes that it is the capabilities that people have that truly influence organizational performance. Instead of thinking of individuals having jobs that are relatively stable and can be written up into typical job descriptions, it may be more relevant to focus on the competencies used.
Competencies are basic characteristics that can be linked to enhanced performance by individuals or teams of individuals. The groupings of competencies, as figure indicates, may include knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Competencies = Basic characteristics that can be linked to enhanced performance by individuals or teams.
Conceptual Model of
Competencies
VISIBLE AND HIDDEN COMPETENCIES
Figure above illustrates that there are both hidden and visible competencies. Knowledge, being more visible, is recognized by many employers in matching individuals to jobs. With skills, although some are evident such as skill in constructing financial spreadsheets, others such as negotiating skills, may be less identifiable. But it is the “hidden” competencies of abilities, which may be more valuable, that can enhance performance. For example, the abilities to conceptualize strategic relationships and to resolve interpersonal conflicts are more difficult to identify and assess.
A growing number of organizations are using some facets of competency analysis. A survey of over 200 organizations sponsored by the American Compensation Association (ACA) asked about the major reasons that firms have used the competency approach. The three primary reasons given were (1) communicating valued behaviors throughout the organization; (2) raising the competency levels of the organization; and (3) emphasizing the capabilities of people to enhance organizational competitive advantage.
Many earlier efforts to use competencies have been job-based, meaning that competencies are identified in the context of specific jobs. In this way the competency approach is a logical extension of traditional job analysis activities. However, some organizations are taking the competency approach to another level by focusing on role-based competencies. This shift has been accentuated by the growing use of work teams, whereby individuals move among tasks and jobs. Some of the roles might be leader, supporter, tactician, technical expert, administrator, or others. Through competency analysis, the competencies needed for individuals playing different roles in work teams can be identified. Then selection criteria, development activities, and other HR efforts must be revised to focus on the different sets of competencies needed for the various roles.
COMPETENCY ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY
Unlike the traditional approach to analyzing jobs, which identifies the tasks, duties, knowledge, and skills associated with a job, the competency approach considers how the knowledge and skills are used. The competency approach also attempts to identify the hidden factors that are often critical to superior performance. For instance, many supervisors talk about employees’ attitudes, but they have difficulty identifying what they mean by attitude. The competency approach uses some methodologies to help supervisors identify examples of what they mean by attitude and how those factors affect performance.
Several methodologies are available and being used to determine competencies, with behavioral event interviews being commonly found.
This process involves the following steps:
1. A team of senior managers identifies future performance results areas critical to the business and strategic plans of the organization. These concepts may be broader than those used in the past
2. Panel groups are assembled, composed of individuals knowledgeable about the jobs in the company. This group can include both high- and low-performing employees, supervisors, managers, trainers, and others.
3. A facilitator from HR or an outside consultant interviews the panel members to get specific examples of job behaviors and actual occurrences on the jobs. During the interview the individuals are also asked about their thoughts and feelings during each of the described events.
4. Using the behavioral events, the facilitator develops detailed descriptions of each of the competencies. This descriptive phase provides clarity and specifics so that employees, supervisors, managers, and others in the organization have a clearer understanding of the competencies associated with jobs.
5. The competencies are rated and levels needed to meet them are identified. Then the competencies are specified for each of the jobs.
6. Finally, standards of performance are identified and tied to the jobs. Appropriate selection screening, training, and compensation processes focusing on competencies must be developed and implemented.
Examples of the competencies used in organizations vary widely. In one survey of 10 companies, the following were most common.
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Customer focus
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Leadership
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Team orientation
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Innovation
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Technical expertise
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Adaptability
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Results
orientation
4. HR ACTIVITIES AND COMPETENCY ANALYSIS
The competency approach focuses on linking business strategies to individual performance efforts. It also encourages employees to develop competencies that may be used in diverse work situations, rather than being boxed into a job. Development of employees focuses on enhancing their competencies, rather than preparing them for moving to jobs. In this way they can develop capabilities useful throughout the organization as it changes and evolves. The competency approach affects HR activities, particularly those following.
· Selection and placement: Once the competencies needed in jobs have been identified, selection and placement activities must be revised to focus on assessing the competencies of individuals.
· HR development: Training and development efforts must be revised to stress a full range of competencies, rather than being narrowly focused on job skills and knowledge. The hidden competencies are more behaviorally based and require more varied approaches than have been common in many training efforts. Also, in assessing training needs and evaluating the meeting of those needs, the focus must be on abilities, not just knowledge and skills. Career development also must focus on competency growth and opportunities both within and outside the organization.
· Compensation and performance management: Shifting from a task-based pay system to a competency-based pay system requires significant efforts. Assessing performance by measuring results and competencies, especially if work teams are used, is a daunting challenge—especially if the organization is highly structured. Rewarding individuals for demonstrating competencies, particularly those that are less evident and more behavioral, leads to significantly different compensation structures.The ACA survey mentioned earlier found that competency-based compensation is the least common use of competency approaches in organizations. The difficulties with competency analysis are centered around the major shift in focus from tasks and duties to competencies. Shifting to competencies may lead to broadening jobs to allow more flexibility, greater cross-training, introduction and use of work teams, revising individually focused performance management and pay systems, and changing training efforts to focus on competency development. Yet, this shift to broaden jobs and competencies may not be compatible with the typical formal structures and job-focused activities in many organizations.
Ultimately, it may be that job analysis will shift in order to address the changing nature of broader and looser jobs in some areas, while continuing to be relevant in those areas where jobs remain task-based. Because the task-based approach is much more common, the remainder of this chapter concentrates on the traditional job analysis process.
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