1. Chapter 04 The Analysis and Design of Work
Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage
Chapter 04
The Analysis and Design of Work
Chapter 4, The Analysis and Design of Work, discusses the analysis and design of work and, in doing so, lays out some considerations that go into making informed decisions about how to create and link jobs. The chapter is divided into three sections, the first of which deals with “big picture” issues related to work-flow analysis and organizational structure. The remaining two sections deal with more specific, lower-level issues related to job analysis and job design.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
Analyze an organization’s structure and work flow process, identifying output, activities and inputs in production of a product or service.
Understand importance of job analysis in strategic HRM.
Choose the right job analysis technique for a variety of HR activities.
Identify tasks performed and skills required in a given job.
Understand different approaches to job design.
Comprehend trade-offs among various approaches to designing jobs.
1.Describe the differences between strategy formulation and strategy implementation.
2. List strategic management process components.
3. Discuss HRM function’s role in strategy formulation.
4. Describe the linkages between HRM and strategy formulation.
5. Discuss typologies of strategies and associated
HRM practices.
6. Describe HR issues and practices associated with various directional strategies.
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3. Work-flow Design
Work-flow design- process of analyzing tasks necessary for production of a product or service, prior to assigning tasks to a particular job category or person.
Organization structure - relatively stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization.
In the past, HR professionals and line managers have tended to analyze or design a particular job in isolation from the larger organizational context. Work-flow design is the process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service, prior to allocating and assigning these tasks to a particular job category or person. Only after we thoroughly understand work-flow design can we make informed decisions regarding how to initially bundle various tasks into discrete jobs that can be executed by a single person. There is no one best way to design jobs and structure organizations.
Organization structure refers to the relatively stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization.
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4. Work-flow Analysis
Work-flow analysis is useful in providing a means for managers to understand all tasks required to produce a high-quality product and the skills necessary to perform those tasks.
Work-flow analysis includes analyzing:
work outputs
work processes
work inputs
The goal of strategic management in an organization is to deploy and allocate resources in a way that gives it a competitive advantage.
Human resource managers should:
have input into the strategic plan,
have specific knowledge of the organization’s strategic goals,
know what types of employee skills, behaviors, and attitudes are needed to support the strategic plan, and
develop programs to ensure that employees have those skills, behaviors, and attitudes.
Organizations need to identify the outputs of work, specify quality and quantity standards for those outputs and analyze the processes and inputs necessary for them. An output is the product of a work unit.
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5. Developing a Work-Unit Activity Analysis U
Figure 4.1.
A theme common to nearly all organizations is the need to identify clearly the outputs of work, to specify the quality and quantity standards for those outputs, and to analyze the processes and inputs necessary for producing outputs that meet the quality standards. This conception of the work-flow process is useful because it provides a means for the manager to understand all the tasks required to produce a number of high-quality products as well as the skills necessary to perform those tasks. This work-flow process is depicted in Figure The final stage in work-flow analysis is to identify the inputs used in the development of the work unit’s product. As shown in Figure 4.1 , these inputs can be broken down into the raw materials, equipment, and human skills needed to perform the tasks. Raw materials consist of the materials that will be converted into the work unit’s product. Equipment refers to the technology and machinery necessary to transform the raw materials into the product. The final inputs in the work-flow process are the human skills and efforts necessary to perform the tasks. Every work unit—whether a department, team, or individual—seeks to produce some output that others can use. An output is the product of a work unit and is often an identifiable thing, such as a completed purchase order, an employment test, or a hamburger. However, an output can also be a service, such as the services provided by an airline or a housecleaning service.
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6. Lean Production vs Batch Work Methods
Lean Production is processes that emphasize manufacturing goods with minimum amount of time, materials, money and people to leverage technology and flexible, well-trained and skilled personnel to produce more custom products for less.
Batch Work Methods use large groups of low skilled employees to churn out long runs of identical mass products stored in inventories for later sale.
Lean Production is processes that emphasize manufacturing goods with minimum amount of time, materials, money and people to leverage technology and flexible, well-trained and skilled personnel to produce more custom products for less.
Batch Work Methods use large groups of low skilled employees to churn out long runs of identical mass products stored in inventories for later sale.
Organizations work hard to minimize overstaffing versus lean production.
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7. Organization Structure
Organization structure provides a cross sectional overview of the static relationship between individuals and units that create outputs.
Two dimensions of structure are:
1. Centralization
2. Departmentalization
Organization Structure whereas work-flow design provides a longitudinal overview of the dynamic relationships by which inputs are converted into outputs, organization structure provides a cross-sectional overview of the static relationships between individuals and units that create the outputs. Organization structure is typically displayed via organizational charts that convey both vertical reporting relationships and horizontal functional responsibilities.
Dimensions of Structure
Two of the most critical dimensions of organization structure are centralization and departmentalization.
Centralization refers to the degree to which decision-making authority resides at the top of the organizational chart as opposed to being distributed throughout lower levels (in which case authority is decentralized ). Departmentalization refers to the degree to which work units are grouped based on functional similarity or similarity of work flow. HR managers should be trained to identify the competitive issues faced by the organization.
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8. Structural Configuration
Functional
functional departmentalization
high level of centralization
high efficiency
inflexible
insensitive to subtle differences across products, regions and clients
Divisional
workflow departmentalization
low level of centralization
semi-autonomous
flexible and innovative
sensitive to subtle differences across products, regions and clients
Two common configurations of organization structure tend to emerge in organizations. The first type, referred to as a functional structure, as the name implies, employs a functional departmentalization scheme with relatively high levels of centralization. High levels of centralization tend to go naturally with functional departmentalization because individual units in the structures are so specialized that members of the unit may have a weak conceptualization of the overall organization mission. Thus, they tend to identify with their department and cannot always be relied on to make decisions that are in the best interests of the organization as a whole. Divisional structures combine a divisional departmentalization scheme with relatively low levels of centralization. Units in these structures act almost like separate, self-sufficient, semi-autonomous organizations. Divisional structures tend to be more flexible and innovative. They can detect and exploit opportunities in their respective consumer base faster than the more centralized functionally structured organizations.
Team-based structures that keep different sub-teams cohesive can also be a powerful means of promoting speed and innovation.
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9. Importance of Job Analysis to HR Managers
Performance Appraisal
Importance of Job Analysis to HR Managers
Work Redesign
Training & Development
HR Planning
Career Planning
Job Analysis
Selection
Job Analysis
Job Evaluation
Job analysis is the process of getting detailed information about jobs. It is important for organizations to match job requirements and people to achieve high quality performance. Job analysis is such an important activity to HR managers that it has been called the building block of everything that personnel does.
Managers must have detailed information to understand the work process flow, make effective hiring decisions, ensure satisfactory or better employee job performance and safety. Almost every HRM program requires some type of information that is gleaned from job analysis: selection, performance appraisal, training and development, job evaluation, career planning, work redesign, and human resource planning.
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10. Job Analysis Information
Job Description- list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities
(TDRs) tasks, duties and responsibilities
Job Specification - list of skills, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics
(KSAOs) knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics
Two types of information are most useful in job analysis: job descriptions and job specifications. A job description is a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a job entails. TDRs are observable actions. For example, a clerical job requires the jobholder to type. If you were to observe someone in that position for a day, you would certainly see some typing. When a manager attempts to evaluate job performance, it is most important to have detailed information about the work performed in the job (that is, the TDRs). This makes it possible to determine how well an individual is meeting each job requirement. It is important to balance breadth and specificity when constructing job descriptions.
A job specification is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform the job. Knowledge refers to factual or procedural information that is necessary for successfully performing a task. A skill is an individual’s level of proficiency at performing a particular task. Ability refers to a more general enduring capability that an individual possesses. Finally, other characteristics might be personality traits such as one’s achievement motivation or persistence.
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11. Sample Job Description
Job Title: Maintenance Mechanic
General Job Description: General maintenance and repair of all equipment used in operations of a particular district. Includes servicing company used vehicles, shop equipment and machinery used on job sites.
1. Essential duty (40%) Maintenance of Equipment
2. Essential duty (40%) Repair of Equipment
3. Essential duty (10%) Testing and Approval
4. Essential duty (10%) Maintain Stock
Nonessential functions: Other duties assigned
This slide, Table 4.1, shows a sample job description. To evaluate job performance, it is most important to have detailed information about the work performed in the job (that is, the TDRs) to determine how well an individual is meeting each job requirement.
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12. Job Analysis Methods (FJAS) (ONET) (PAQ)
Position Analysis Questionnaire
(PAQ)
Fleishman Job Analysis System
(FJAS)
Occupational Information Network
(ONET)
Job Analysis- process of getting detailed information about jobs. There are three job analysis methods described here:
The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a standardized job‑analysis questionnaire containing 194 items representing work behaviors, work conditions, or job characteristics that are generalizable across a wide variety of jobs.
Fleishman Job Analysis System (FJAS) -- This approach defines abilities as enduring attributes of individuals that account for differences in performance. The system is based on taxonomy of 52 cognitive, psychomotor, physical, and sensory abilities that adequately represent all the dimensions relevant to work.
The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) -- Instead of relying on fixed job titles and narrow task descriptions, the O*NET uses a common language that generalizes across jobs to describe the abilities, work styles, work activities, and work context required for various occupations that are more broadly defined.
Job Analysis- process of getting detailed information about jobs.
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13. PAQ’s 6 Sections Information Input Relationships Mental Processes
Job Context
Work Output
Other Characteristics
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14. Position Analysis Questionnaire Dimensions
Decision/communication/general responsibilities
Clerical/related activities
Technical/related activities
Service/related activities
Regular day schedule versus other work schedules
Routine/repetitive work activities
Environmental awareness
General physical activities
Supervising/coordinating other personnel
Public/customer/related contact activities
Unpleasant/hazardous/demanding environment
Non-typical work schedules
Research has indicated that the PAQ measures 32 dimensions and overall dimensions of jobs (listed in Table 4.2 ) and that a given job’s scores on these dimensions can be very useful. The significant database has linked scores on certain dimensions to scores on subtests of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). Thus, knowing the dimension scores provides some guidance regarding the types of abilities that are necessary to perform the job. Obviously, this technique provides information about the work performed in a format that allows for comparisons across jobs, whether those jobs are similar or dissimilar. Another advantage of the PAQ is that it covers the work context as well as inputs, outputs, and processes.
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15. Job Design and Job Redesign
Job design is the process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that
will be required in a given job.
Job redesign refers to changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job.
Job design is the process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given job.
Job redesign refers to changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job. To effectively design jobs, one must thoroughly understand the job as it exists (through job analysis) and its place in the larger work unit’s work-flow process (work-flow analysis). Having a detailed knowledge of the tasks performed in the work unit and in the job, a manager then has many alternative ways to design a job. This can be done most effectively through understanding the trade-offs between certain design approaches.
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16. Four Approaches Used in Job Design
Mechanistic
Motivational
Biological
Job design is the process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given job.
Job redesign refers to changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job.
Four approaches used in job design are:
mechanistic approach
motivational approach
biological approach
perceptual-motor approach
These approaches will be discussed in the following slides.
Perceptual-motor
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17. Mechanistic Approach Specialization Skill Variety
Work Methods Autonomy
The mechanistic approach
Specialization
Skill variety
Work methods autonomy
The mechanistic approach has roots in classical industrial engineering. The focus of the mechanistic approach is identifying the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency. This most often entails reducing the complexity of the work to provide more human resource efficiency—that is, making the work so simple that anyone can be trained quickly and easily to perform it. This approach focuses on designing jobs around the concepts of task specialization, skill simplification, and repetition.
Scientific management is one of the earliest mechanistic approaches that sought to identify the one best way to perform the job through the use of time-and-motion studies.
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18. Motivational Approach
Decision-making autonomy
Task significance
Interdependence
The motivational approach
Decision-making autonomy
Task significance
Interdependence
The motivational approach to job design focuses on the job characteristics that affect the psychological meaning and motivational potential, and it views attitudinal variables as the most important outcomes of job design. The prescriptions of the motivational approach focus on increasing job complexity through job enlargement, job enrichment, and the construction of jobs around sociotechnical systems.
It provides a means for the manager to understand all the tasks required to produce a number of high-quality products as well as the skills necessary to perform those tasks. This work-flow process is depicted in Table 4.3 .
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19. Job Characteristics Model A model of how job design affects employee reaction
Skill Variety
Task Identity
Task Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Work Outcomes
High Quality of Work
High Satisfaction
Low Turnover and Absenteeism
Psychological States
Experienced Meaningfulness
Responsibility for Outcome
Knowledge of Results
According to this model, jobs can be described in terms of five characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
Skill variety is the extent to which the job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks.
a. Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completing a “whole” piece of work from beginning to end. Autonomy is the degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work will be carried out. Feedback is the extent to which a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself. Task significance is the extent to which the job has an important impact on the lives of other people.
b. These five job characteristics determine the motivating potential of a job by affecting three psychological states: experienced meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results.
c. When the core job characteristics are high, individuals will have a high level of internal work motivation, higher quantity and quality of work, and higher levels of job satisfaction.
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20. Biological Approach Physical demands Ergonomics Work conditions
The biological approach
Physical demands
Ergonomics
Work conditions
A theme common to nearly all organizations is the need to identify clearly the outputs of work, to specify the quality and quantity standards for those outputs, and to analyze the processes and inputs necessary for producing outputs that meet the quality standards. This conception of the work-flow process is useful because it provides a means for the manager to understand all the tasks required to produce a number of high-quality products as well as the skills necessary to perform those tasks. This work-flow process is depicted in Figure 4.1.
Ergonomics is concerned with the interface between individuals’ psychological characteristics and the physical work environment.
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21. Perceptual-Motor Approach
Job complexity
Information processing
Equipment use
Perceptual Approach
Job complexity
Information processing
Equipment use
The perceptual-motor approach to job design has its roots in the human‑factors literature and focuses on human mental capabilities and limitations. The goal is to design jobs in a way that ensures that they do not exceed people's mental capabilities.
This approach generally tries to improve reliability, safety, and user reactions by designing jobs in a way that reduces the information processing requirements of the job. This approach, similar to the mechanistic approach, generally has the effect of decreasing the job's cognitive demands.
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22. The Importance of Job Analysis to Line Managers
Managers must have detailed information about all the jobs in their work group to understand work-flow process.
Managers need to understand job requirements to make intelligent hiring decisions.
Managers must clearly understand tasks required in every job.
Job analysis is clearly important to the HR department’s various activities, and to line managers for many reasons. First, managers must have detailed information about all the jobs in their work group to understand the work-flow process. Second, managers need to understand the job requirements to make intelligent hiring decisions. Very seldom do employees get hired by the HR department without a manager’s input. Managers will often interview prospective applicants and recommend who should receive a job offer. Third, a manager is responsible for ensuring that each individual is performing satisfactorily (or better). This requires managers to evaluate how well each person is performing and to provide feedback to those whose performance needs improvement.
This requires that the manager clearly understand the tasks required in every job. Finally, it is also the manager’s responsibility to ensure that the work is being done safely, knowing where potential hazards might manifest themselves and creating a climate where people feel free to interrupt the production process if dangerous conditions exist.
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23. Trade-Offs Among Job Design Approaches
Motivational
Mechanistic
Biological
Perceptual-
Motor
Positive Outcomes
Higher job satisfaction
Higher motivation
Greater job involvement
Lower absenteeism
Decreased training time
Higher utilization levels
Lower likelihood of error
Less chance of mental overload and stress
Less physical effort
Less physical fatigue
Fewer health complaints
Fewer medical incidences
Lower likelihood of accidents
Lower training time
Negative Outcomes
Increased training time
Lower utilization levels
Greater likelihood of error
Greater chance of mental overload and stress
Lower job satisfaction
Lower motivation
Higher absenteeism
Higher financial costs because of changes in equipment or job environment
Not all efficiency-producing changes result in dissatisfying work, and not all changes that promote satisfaction create inevitable inefficiencies. By carefully and simultaneously attending to both efficiency and satisfaction aspects of job redesign, managers can sometimes achieve the best of both worlds.
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24. Summary
Job analysis and design is a key component for a competitive advantage and strategy.
Managers need to understand the entire work-flow process to ensure efficiency and effectiveness and have clear, detailed job information.
Managers can redesign jobs so the work unit is able to achieve its goals while individuals benefit from motivation, satisfaction, safety, health and achievement.
The analysis and design of work is one of the most important components to developing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Strategy implementation is virtually impossible without thorough attention devoted to work-flow analysis, job analysis, and job design. Managers need to understand the entire work-flow process in their work unit to ensure that the process maximizes efficiency and effectiveness. To understand this process, managers also must have clear, detailed information about the jobs that exist in the work unit, and the way to gain this information is through job analysis. Equipped with an understanding of the work-flow process and the existing job, managers can redesign jobs to ensure that the work unit is able to achieve its goals while individuals within the unit benefit from the various work outcome dimensions such as motivation, satisfaction, safety, health, and achievement. This is one key to competitive advantage.
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