Expert answer:Human Resources Management
Solved by verified expert:Unit 2 Discussion Employee referral is a popular method of recruiting candidates. What are its advantages and disadvantages? Requirements: 250 words 2 references and one can be the reading material. APA format Bethel University. (2013). Human Resource Management, An Experimental Approach, Sixth Edition. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net
unit_2_reading.pdf
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Part 2
Acquiring Human
Resource Capability
W
I
L
S
O
N
,
Copyright © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.
J
A
M
I
E
5
0
5
1
B
U
97
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 97
21/02/12 2:44 PM
W
I
L
S
O
N
,
J
A
M
I
E
5
0
5
1
B
U
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 98
21/02/12 2:44 PM
Chapter
4
Work Analysis
and Design
W
I
L
OBJECTIVES
S
After reading this chapter,
you should be able to
O
1. Understand what work
N analysis is and what its major products are.
2. Explain the purposes
, of and uses for work analysis data.
3. Compare and contrast methods for collecting data.
4. Describe commonly used and newer methods for conducting work analysis,
J
including O*NET.
A of competency modeling and compare this method to
5. Describe the process
M analysis.
other forms of work
6. Explain how workI analysis information is applied to job design efforts.
E
Copyright © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.
OVERVIEW
Work analysis for
organizational capability
5
Among the HR prescriptions cited in Chapter 1 as predictive of corporate performance was
0
the use of “validated” selection procedures, the use of formal performance appraisal, and
5
the percentage of the workforce
working in self-managed work teams. These prescriptions
require some form of work
or
job
analysis. An analysis of work is considered a building
1
block for most HR systems in organizations. Corporate restructuring processes, quality imB resource planning, job design, recruitment strategies, training
provement programs, human
programs, succession planning,
and compensation systems are among the other HR activiU
ties that are based on work analysis. Let us not forget the importance of job analysis in the
legal context discussed in Chapter 3.
Work analysis, a term which includes traditional job analysis and job design, provides
the basic information that leads to specific products used or actions taken by management
to create and sustain organizational capability. While sometimes a highly formal system
involving trained analysts and standardized instruments and other times a more informal
process, work analysis should be the first step for actions within most of the functional
areas of HR. Consider the following scenarios:
■
G4S Secure Solutions is interested in the development of a new screening test for armed
security guards. It wants to be certain that the test is legally defensible and “job related”
and emphasizes the most important elements of the job. Having also read the previous
chapter in this book on equal employment opportunity (EEO), the consultant recommends two methods of work analysis to gather information. Why two methods?
99
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 99
21/02/12 2:44 PM
2 / Acquiring Human Resource Capability
■
■
■
■
■
■
The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor recently updated recordkeeping requirements for compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Employers are required to notify workers of their rights under the FLSA and to provide
information regarding hours worked and wage computation. Also, employers that seek
to exclude workers from the FLSA’s overtime provisions are required to perform (and
document) a job analysis and to retain that analysis for possible Department of Labor
scrutiny. Is there a job analysis method that can help an organization comply with the
new FLSA requirements?
At Boeing, the competency models are used for many HR processes and practices, including structured interviews, reductions-in-force, and training and development. For
example, the reduction-in-force process begins by selecting the competencies identified
for any particular job family that are considered most critical for current and future performance. Employees are then appraised on these competencies. Also, Boeing’s training
and development programs are created to align the core and technical competencies that
are needed for current job performance and also to prepare employees for future jobs.
W
Louis Vuitton, maker of many luxurious
items, was concerned about the inefficiencies
in its handbag assembly process. Assembly was made up of about 25 workers who were
I
performing highly specialized tasks. It took about 8 days to produce one bag with this
process. The company thoughtLthat a more team-based approach to assembly would
speed up the process. How did Louis
S Vuitton go about making this change?
Like most U.S. cities, New Haven, Connecticut, must use competitive examinations to
O
fill vacancies for police, fire, and other civil service positions. The exams must consider
character, training, experience, N
and physical and mental fitness. The city may choose
among a variety of testing methods, including written and oral exams or various work
,
samples or performance tests that demonstrate applicants’ skills and abilities to perform
the necessary work. The content of the exams must be job related. How does New Haven establish this job-related exam?
J
The State of Virginia passed a law mandating that state employee pay be based on
A a need for the development of a new performance
performance. However, there was
appraisal system. The first step M
in the development of the appraisal system was the use
of the critical incident method to identify the critical outcomes and behaviors for each
I
position to be evaluated. Why?
Two laboratory technicians haveEsimilar job experience and education but are employed
at different local hospitals. One technician makes $5,000 more per year than the other.
The lower-paid employee asks her HR department to review her pay based on the external compensation market. What5information will the hospital need in order to establish
fair compensation?
0
■
O*NET, the federal government’s
5 online database for work analysis, proves to be very
valuable for military personnel leaving the service and for their families. Veterans
1 relocating or transitioning from military to civilian
are using the O*NET to help with
careers and for vocational guidance.
B Based on the O*NET database, the Military to
Civilian Occupation Translator was developed to help service members match military
skills and experience to civilianUoccupations. The database is also useful for disabled
vets because job requirements and particular disabilities can be matched. The Military Spouse Resource Center, also known as MilSpouse.org (www.careeronestop.org/
militaryspouse/), is designed to help spouses and their families with career and job
decisions. O*NET is a critical component of this comprehensive service. How was the
Military to Civilian Occupation Translator developed?
■
The Monsanto Corporation has many jobs that stipulate specific physical requirements
(e.g., must be able to lift 75 lb.). The company is concerned that some of the requirements are unnecessary and may be in violation of the Civil Rights Act or the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA). Will a work analysis help?
A division of Ford Motor Company decided to adopt autonomous work groups (AWGs)
to reconfigure a factory floor. Teams, rather than individuals, would be assigned specific tasks. The teams would divide up the work, which was as clearly defined and
■
100
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 100
21/02/12 2:44 PM
4 / Work Analysis and Design
■
■
■
■
Copyright © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.
■
Work analysis:
Cornerstone of HR
standardized as in typical American factories, but all team members would be expected
to be able to perform any of the work tasks. What information did the HR department at
Ford need in order to help redesign jobs into these AWGs?
The James River Corporation uses a standardized job analysis questionnaire known as
the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) to identify the best written tests to determine
admission to its pipe fitter and millwright apprenticeship programs. Based on its understanding of Griggs v. Duke Power on the use of tests for hiring purposes, the James
River Corporation attempts to establish the “job relatedness” of the tests based on the
results from the PAQ. Will the PAQ results establish the “job relatedness” and support
the legal defensibility of the test?
Pratt and Whitney, the jet engine division of United Technologies, seeks to improve its
competitiveness through the elimination of activities no longer essential to the business
and the improvement of existing job functions in the context of customer requirements.
Can work analysis help them?
The State of Maryland asked the consulting firm of Booz, Allen, and Hamilton to determine the necessaryW
knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the essential
functions of certain social
I work positions for the state. The study led to the reclassification of some positions, stipulating that only a bachelor’s degree should be required to
L a master’s degree in social work. Could the reclassification save
do the work rather than
the state money?
S
The City of Ft. Lauderdale,
O Florida, updates all of its job descriptions by identifying the
“essential functions” of each job according to the Americans with Disabilities Act and
N into new job descriptions. How does this serve the city?
incorporating this language
The City of Chicago ,loses a lawsuit because it cannot justify a particular passing score
on a test used to screen firefighter applicants. Could it have avoided this?
J is needed for each of these situations to assist organizations
Work analysis information
in achieving certain objectives.
A Job descriptions and job specifications are needed to attract
and select qualified (but not overqualified) employees and evaluate compensation systems.
M criteria are used to evaluate employee and/or unit perforJob standards and performance
mance; job factors are needed
to group jobs to assess wage and salary systems; and tasks
I
and context factors are examined to redesign and evaluate jobs, restructure organizations,
E and stay on the right side of the law. Almost all programs of
develop succession planning,
interest to human resource specialists and other practitioners whose work pertains to organizational personnel depend on work analysis results.1 This chapter describes the impor5 the field of HRM. Discussion centers on the purposes for work
tance of work analysis for
analysis as well as the major
0 approaches for collecting data.
The nature of work is changing, and traditional work arrangements exist alongside con5
tingent workers, independent contractors, outsourced activities, and work teams. But while
the world of work may 1
be changing, the basics of work analysis can (and should) be the
cornerstone of HR activities. Good work analysis increases the probability that the “delivB
erables” from the HR suppliers will meet the requirements of their customers, both internal
Ueven though jobs are becoming more elastic and less static and
and external. This applies
even if we don’t call them jobs anymore but rather projects or roles. Of course, the context
for all work analysis must be legal and regulatory compliance.
WHAT IS WORK ANALYSIS?
Work analysis is a systematic process of gathering information about work, jobs, and the
relationships among jobs.2 Figure 4-1 presents a chronology of the steps to be undertaken
in a comprehensive (and effective) work analysis. This approach should focus first on
outputs with quality and quantity measures of those outputs. The focus is on internal and
especially external customers to identify the critical products, services, or performance
101
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 101
21/02/12 2:44 PM
2 / Acquiring Human Resource Capability
Knowledge, abilities, skills,
and other characteristics
(KASOCs)
outcomes that are required of the supplier. This list of carefully defined outputs should then
be the frame of reference for the rest of the steps in the analysis of that supplier’s job, starting with the major tasks or activities necessary to achieve the required outcomes defined
by the customers. The required outcomes as defined by customers are derived from the
strategic planning of the organization.
G4S Secure System, for example, in one of the scenarios described earlier, required a
cost-effective and job-related test that would help identify persons most likely to be effective guards who were more likely to keep the job. The product to be delivered by HR was
the test, and the internal customers were managers who would have to make the hiring
decisions. Of course, the main frame of reference for these managers must be the external
customers, the many and varied G4S customers who contracted for security guards.
Once the outputs are defined and the tasks and activities have been identified, the relative importance, relative frequency, or essentiality with which the various tasks are performed can be assessed. Remember that word essentiality. Many methods now require the
determination of essential functions for jobs because of the language of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (see Chapter 3 discussion). This step should include work-flow analysis.
W
Next, the critical knowledges, abilities, skills, and other characteristics (or KASOCs)
necessary to perform the tasks mustI be identified. KASOCs are also called “competencies.”
This step is roughly equivalent L
to competency modeling, which is discussed later.
Knowledge refers to an organized body of information, usually of a factual or proceS performance of a function. For example, computer
dural nature applied directly to the
programmers may need knowledgeOof specific languages such as Java. Your instructor in
this class should obviously have knowledge of research and practice in human resource
N
management.
An ability refers to a demonstrated
, competence to perform an observable behavior or a
behavior that results in an observable product. Police officers, for example, are required to
possess the physical ability to apprehend and detain a suspect and the cognitive ability to
understand and complete arrest forms.
J Vigilance also may be such an ability. For example,
while the ability to perform as an airport baggage checker may not require high levels of
A
cognitive ability, the ability to be vigilant
in a fairly boring task is a critical ability. NFL
quarterbacks should possess high M
levels of cognitive ability to be able to read (and react
quickly) to defense formations.
I
A skill is a competence to perform a learned, psychomotor act and may include a
E of data, people, or things. So, in the case of a police
manual, verbal, or mental manipulation
officer, she or he must demonstrate an acceptable level of driving skill and skill in operating and maintaining a weapon, among many others.
5
Finally, other personal characteristics
include various personality characteristics, attitudes, or physical or mental competencies
needed to perform the job. Even something as
0
obvious as being courteous to civilians plays an important role in determining how well
5
officers perform their jobs. When officers
are unable to empathize with crime victims, are
callous in treating witnesses, or are1impulsive and destroy evidence at a crime scene, they
demonstrate some shortcoming on personal characteristics that affects their job perforB
mance. Being able to tolerate the belligerence
of customers and control one’s temper may
U
Figure 4-1
The Chronological Steps
in Effective Work Analysis
Step
1
2
3
4
5
Critical Questions
What are the required outputs (i.e., what is the product, service, or information and how
do we measure it?)
What are the essential tasks, activities, behaviors required to meet or exceed the output
requirements established at step 1? What are the relative importance, frequency, and
essentiality of these tasks for achieving measures at step 1? How do the tasks relate to one
another?
What are the raw inputs that are required for the outputs and what specific equipment is
necessary?
What are the necessary knowledges, skills, abilities, and other characteristics or
competencies required to perform the activities at step 2?
How should jobs/work be defined? Where does the work get done to maximize
efficiency/effectiveness? Do we use individual jobs, work teams, independent contractors,
full-time/part-time? Do we outsource?
102
ber29163_ch04_097-138.indd 102
21/02/12 2:44 PM
4 / Work Analysis and Design
be critical in certain circumstances. Being able to work in teams is another example of a
critical characteristic for many jobs today. An analysis could conclude, for example, that
armed security guards must not have a history indicating psychiatric problems.
As you can tell from these examples, the products of competencies or KASOCs are typically easy to observe and ultimately serve as the basic units of observation for analysis.3
For example, the customer of the computer programmer requires a Java program that meets
certain specifications. Knowledge of a computer language such as Java can be determined
from an interview, responses to a written test, the possession of a certain license or graduation from a certain class, or by observing an individual attempt to program. The knowledge
required to teach a class in human resource management can be determined based on the
possession of certain credentials (e.g., PhD in human resource management or industrial/
organizational psychology) or through an interview or test.
Establishing that someone requires driving skill to perform a job is one thing, and ascertaining that an individual has this skill is another. It would be difficult in an interview
or written test to measure the latter, as they do not afford an opportunity to observe the
series of behaviors that demonstrate the application of this knowledge domain in the job
W
environment. This would seem to require observations of actual motor vehicle operation.
To establish that drivingI skill is a requirement in the first place depends on observation in
the field and a work analysis.
L
S
What Are the Major
Goals for Work
Analysis?
Focus on observables
Copyright © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.
Describe work not persons
doing work
Data must be reliable
Do We Really Need
All the Specificity in
Formal Job Analysis?
As you’ve probably gathered
O by now, much of the success (i.e., validity) of work analysis
efforts is a function of the accuracy of the inferences drawn about the job from observations, interviews, and/orNquestionnaire data gathered through the work analysis. One underlying objective of work
, analysis is to minimize the inferential leaps required to arrive
at a conclusion. The context for work analysis should always be critical outputs that define
strategy. Toward this end, the following are offered as goals that one should strive for in
the course of work analysis:
J
1. Work analysis should
A start with a description of observables. Often the behavior
or competency necessary for performing the job is not observable but the products
M
or outcomes, kinds of materials or work aids used, and the people included in the
decision process can
I be reported. Work analysis should focus on observable behaviors and work outputs. A job description is the usual product of this analysis.
E
2. Work analysis should describe work behavior independent of the personal characteristics of particular people who perform the job. Quite simply, work analysis
describes how a job
5 is performed and focuses on the position, not the person doing the work. Performance appraisal is used to describe how well individuals
perform their jobs.0The actual performance appraisal instrument may have been
developed from work
5 analysis and should be linked to the job description.
3. Work analysis data1must be verifiable and reliable. The organization should
maintain records of the data, document all decisions that are data based, and be
Bjudgment and inference. The data must be reliable, indicating
able to justify every
that different sour …
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
How it works
- Paste your instructions in the instructions box. You can also attach an instructions file
- Select the writer category, deadline, education level and review the instructions
- Make a payment for the order to be assignment to a writer
- Download the paper after the writer uploads it
Will the writer plagiarize my essay?
You will get a plagiarism-free paper and you can get an originality report upon request.
Is this service safe?
All the personal information is confidential and we have 100% safe payment methods. We also guarantee good grades