Human Resource Management Job analysis

Job Design and considerations

Job design is the arrangement of work in organizations. The arrangement assist employees as well as the organization meet objectives. An effective job design satisfies employees in organizations since it prevents dissatisfaction arising from repetitive work. It also assists organizations by preventing employees from alienation.

Additionally, job designs improve on the productivity of an organization. Job designs, however, need to consider the following aspects in order to meet organizations goals: job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation, as well as job simplification. Job enrichment is a way in which organizations motivate their employees by giving them diverse varieties in their job as well as additional responsibilities.

Job enlargement refers to increasing the scope of employees work by extending their responsibilities, and job duties at the same level of employment. Job rotation, on the other hand, is a management technique for training employees, where employees get a chance to work in various departments within an organization. At designated times, employees work at various departments applying their abilities, interest, and knowledge. Further, job simplification as a job design consideration, job enrichment implies to a technique of breaking job tasks into simple units for maximum organizational productivity and a reduction in physical and mental efforts by employees (Lussier & Hendon, 2012).

Five Design Characteristics Identified by Hackman and Oldham

Understanding the five characteristics of jobs by Hachman and Oldham is important for human resource managers. It is important for managers to study these characteristics since it assists them in evaluating employees' behaviors and attitudes. Application of virtues from these characteristics, improves job satisfaction, prevents absenteeism, and improves motivation levels of employees. Hackman and Oldham 2010 suggest a variety of skills, job identity, autonomy, feedback and task significance as core aspects in management of jobs. Managers should can manage employees of various skills, identify job activities that best suits different employees, identify and communicate to employees the importance of different tasks (Oldham & Hackman, 2010). Organizations should have a system where managers get feedback from employees and jobs need to have aspects of autonomy to prevent confusion.

Job Analysis Importance

Job analysis is an important aspect for human resource practitioners. Its importance relates to the identification of the content of jobs by human resource personnel. Some of these contents are activities of jobs, attributes of employees performing the job, and other requirement for a particular job. Job analysis, therefore, assists recruiting personnel and other practitioners, prepare jobs' description and specification, which is important in hiring high quality employees in organizations.

Recruiting

Just like a goods and service market, a labor market represents a place where employees offer their services while employers recruit employees. Labor markets are prone to demand and supply forces. It is a market place where employers and employees interact at various capacities. Additionally, labor force population refers to a population of individuals available for work. The population includes both employed individuals and the unemployed. Employers may choose their preferred employees from these pools (Lussier & Hendon, 2012). Applicant population refers to groups of Unemployed individuals seeking employment. Employers while competing for employees refer to this population to acquire highly skilled employees.

When recruiting, organizations need to make diverse decisions. Important decisions made by the organization constitute strategic decisions. The following are some of the strategic decisions that an organization may use to meet its goal. Human resource managers need to develop decisions that assist employees align to organizations culture, norms, and values of the organization. This strategic decision assist organizations improve their productivity. It also improves an employee's commitment, understanding of the organization as well as in assimilating. Another important strategic recruiting decision is the aligning of employee's competencies to those of the organization. These decisions lead to successful hiring, improve the performance of the organization, as well as improve employees' retention rates (Berger, & Berger, 2011).

Promotion of high levels of awareness and openness by an organization assist organizations' public image. Openness also assist new employees understand various aspects of an organization and systems. Improving organizations' awareness and openness assist employees develop, improves their commitment and thus their retention rate. Support of employee's welfare is another important strategic decision. Support of welfare includes providing adequate salaries, allowance appreciation, and other rewards. In return, organization benefit from improved productivity and improved retention level of employees. Other important strategic decisions include supporting employee's skill development and recruiting at a global level. These strategic decisions improve the performance of organizations as well as satisfy employees. When recruiting, managers need to consider all relevant skills...

Job analysis is a yardstick for better selection process. Through job analysis, human resource practitioners identify right individuals for the job, which is crucial during selection. Job analysis provides an understanding of tasks performed, and competencies necessary for a particular job. During the selection process, employees undergo various tests. The methods employed in these tests include validity and reliability methods of testing. Reliability method of testing during the selection process refers to precession as well as consistency in assessment of employees qualities. Validity refers to the use of personality questionnaires, ability assessments tests, interviews and other methods.
Organizations use either a multiple hurdle or a compensatory approach in predicting the qualities of employees. The Multiple hurdle approach subjects applicants in multiple tests. An applicant is required to go through various tests before proceeding to the next step. A compensatory approach, however, does not require an applicant to accomplish one-step before proceeding. With the compensatory approach, an applicant undergoes the entire process before appointment. Requirements for applicants in the selection process vary from one organization to the next. Background information of these applicants is important to the organization during the selection process (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2010). Background screening assists in evaluating performance, as well as behavior.

A human resource practitioner during the selection process ascertains requirements of the job in terms of education, experience and other skills. Applicants need to tender application letters with resume. These two documents are essential in the selection process. Application letters provides an employer the intentions of the applicant while resume assist in evaluating qualities and competencies of the applicant. It is during the selection process that applicants undergo interviews. Types of interviews include, telephone interviews conducted by use of telephone, one on one interview where an applicant answers questions physically, video conferencing or attending panel interviews. Panel interviews consist of a panel of individuals who interview applicants (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2010).

Training

Organizations that value employees through offering training programs benefit a lot. Therefore, organizations need to approach training as a strategic function. According to Aguinis & Kraiger (2009), Training programs as a strategic function for organizations, ensures organization maintain a competitive edge. When developing training programs for organizations, management teams have to undergo various phases. Training programs start with the planning phase. At this phase, the designing team evaluates training needs for the organization. The team analyses all gaps in terms of skills and knowledge. The team also develops a blueprint for the program. The next step involves implementation. During this phase, all that was in the plan is put into practical application.

After implementing the plans of a training program, the team evaluates the performance of the training program during implementation. This is the last phase in the development of a training program. In cases where the training programs fail to meet the needs of the organization, a repeat of the process is essential. Training program designs are important in ensuring learning, filling of knowledge and skill gap and in motivating employees. However, training activities need to be evaluated to understand the effectiveness of the program. Evaluation relates to employees reaction, change in behavior and learning. During training discrimination, occur in some instances. However, employees should not be discriminated based on their ethnicity, color, sex, age, language, or level of authority.

Development

For decades, there have been various issues in relation to the development of employees in organizations. Some of these critical issues include the following: employee engagement, critical of employees, leadership skills, talent retention, competency development and personal accountability and professionalism. Development of employees entails the development of their critical thinking abilities. Employees need to develop their leadership skills, their competency, as well as their engagement in organizations. Training refers to learning activities aimed at achieving specific knowledge in undertaking specific tasks. Development is a continuous process, dynamic whose aim is to expand personal skills (Kuvaas, & Dysvik, 2009).

Development differs from training with the later aimed at developing long-term skills rather than skills for immediate performance. Organizations hire employees from within the organization, and from outside sources. Outside employees provide diverse skills and competency, but are expensive to acquire. Internal employees development will, however, consume time but will be cheap in the end in relation to culture and norm congruence of employees (Kuvaas, & Dysvik, 2009). Before ascertaining employees for future engagements in an organization, various techniques assist human resource personnel select employees. An Assessment centre is a technique for selecting candidates, where observers in a closed…