This is the systematic way of determining the qualifications of a particular job. A job is a group of tasks that must be perfomed by an employee tasked to perfom them, so that an organization achieves its goals. A job analysis therefore involves such issues as determining the skills, duties and knowledge required to successfully perfom the given job. A job analysis gives answers to questions such as where, how, why and what physical location the job will take place.
Importance of job analysis
There are several reasons as to why job analysis is conducted by organizations. They are;
Staffing
A job analysis is carried out to establish the staffing requirements of an organization. Specifically, whether the organization is under, over or correctly staffed
Training and development
Job analysis establishes areas where employees need more training in order to give optimal performance.
Performance appraisal
Performance appraisal is the monitoring and evaluation of employee performance.
Other purposes of job analysis include; to determine the compensation level of a particular job, to establish the safety and health levels of a job, legal requirement of a job analysis as well as for employee and labour relation purposes.
Job analysis methods & job descriptions
These are the methods used to conduct job analysis. They are; questionnaires, observation, interviews, employee recording and at some organizations, a combination of the mentioned methods is employed. A job description document concisely shows what employees are expected to do, how they do it and the conditions under which they will do it. The contents of a job description are; the job identification, job analysis date, job summary, duties performed and the job specification.
Importance of strategic planning
Strategic planning is the process by which the top management of an organization establishes the longterm goals of the organization and device ways of how to achieve these goals. Strategic planning is important to an organization because of the following reasons; it creates a sense of direction and unity in the organization because all employees and management work towards a common goal. Strategic planning can be used to attract potential investors, when they identify with the long term goal of the organization. It also improves communication within the organization as employees are informed of what is required of them.
Strategic planning and human resource planning
Strategic planning and human resource planning are heavily linked. Strategic planning determines the direction, destination and the means to get there, while human resource planning provides the means to get there. For the long term goals set by the organization to be achieved, the human resource planning must provide enough human resources. The human resources department does this by establishing the future requirements of the organization and matching them with the expected supply. This department then makes sure that it attracts qualified and competent personnel who will serve the organization as it seeks to attain its objectives.
Human resource planning process
The human resource planning process involves the following steps. Firstly the human resource department does a forecast of future human resource requirement. Secondly, It does an availability forecast, which is the capacity of the market to supply qualified and competent persons. The third step is to match the requirement obtained in step one with the availability in step two. Three possible results will be obtained. The requirement equaling the availability, the availability exceeding the requirement and the requirement exceeding the availability. In the case of the first result, no action is taken. In the case of the second result, measures such as restricted hiring of workers and early retirement are taken. For the third result, recruitment and selection of workers is done.
Recruitment process
This is the process of attracting qualified workers in a timely and in sufficient quantities to serve the organization.
Legal considerations
There are several legal considerations an organization has to comply with; organizations must totally avoid discriminatory tendencies of any nature. These may be gender, racial, age or even sexist discrimination. Organizations with over 100 employees are required to keep staffing records for atleast two years. They must then compile demographic data on from the application pool, which will be used to establish whether or not they had discriminatory tendency of any kind.
Recruitment process
The recruitment process involves identification of qualified personnel from either within the organization itself, or from the external environment. Internal recruitment will mainly be to fill the higher level positions whereas external recruitment will be for filling entry level positions
Recruitment sources used
Recruitment sources refer to the place where qualified persons can be got. The recruitment source used will depend on the job analysis of the position to be filled. If it is a position above the entry level, then internal sources will be used. The source used here will therefore be the organization itself. If the position requires someone from outside the organization, maybe because it is an entry- level position or someone with new skills not found within, then external sources will be used. they include; high schools, community colleges, colleges and universities, competitors in the labour market as well as former employees
Recruitment methods
Recruitment methods refer to the means by which potential employees can be attracted to the organization. Both internal and external recruitment methods will be used, depending on the type of employee needed. Internal recruitment methods include; intranet, job posting and company’s online newsletter. External recruitment methods include; media advertising, internships, public and private employment agencies, job fairs, recruiters, unsolicited applicants and professional associations.
