The Disadvantages of Job Analysis

The previous posting talked about the advantages of job analysis, now let’s discuss the disadvantages of job analysis:

1.            Subjective matters: it is a challenging job for a job analyst to avoid personal biasness when observing a target employee. The feelings of likes and dislikes may interfere with the job analyst when collecting genuine and accurate data.

2.            Lengthy projects: the most frustrating part when a job analyst doing his job is this requires lots of time: this is time consuming to collect the data needed.

3.            Require lots of human efforts: with so many people involved, there’s no wonder that doing job analysis is quite troublesome. The process involves lots of human efforts.

4.            Source of Data is Extremely Small: Because of small sample size, the source of collecting data is extremely small. Therefore, information collected from few individuals needs to be standardized.

5.       Unqualified Job Analyst: the skilled and qualified job analyst is a must. He/she needs to master the appropriate skills to conduct the process. Training for a job analyst has to be completed in order to get authentic data.

6.          Mental Abilities Cannot be Directly Observed: Last but not the least, mental abilities such as intellect, emotional characteristics, knowledge, aptitude, psychic and endurance are intangible things that cannot be observed or measured directly. People act differently in different situations. Therefore, general standards cannot be set for mental abilities.

Though job analysis also has disadvantages, the advantages prove to be superior to the advantages. It is also a fact that job analysis is beneficial to the success of an organization.

The advantages of Job Analysis

Job analysis has advantages that are not only beneficial to the job analysts but also to the organizations in order to create strategic decisions. As we understand, human resource department is currently considered as an important factor in deciding the path of success. With its strategic human resource management, HRD plays an important role in achieving the organization’s vision and mission.

The advantages of job analysis are:

1.      Present immediate information: after the process is finished, we can obtain job-related information such as tasks, responsibilities, duties, risks and hazards and not to mention the skills and abilities needed to perform the job.

2.      Assist in designing the requirements to perform a job: perhaps is the most important result of job analysis. Job description is the result of job analysis which informs us which person qualifies to fill in a certain job, what qualities and requirements needed to work.

3.      Assist in the hiring process: Employer sometimes has difficulties when to recruit the right candidate. Job analysis is the answer. Job analysis process gives answers how employers can create, establish and maintain effective hiring practices.

4.      Helps in performing evaluation and appraisal processes: it is quite a troublesome for managers when performing evaluation and appraisal evaluation. They need to be objective and have to use the right tool. Job Analysis helps managers evaluating the performance of employees by comparing the standard or desired output with delivered or actual output. On these bases, they appraise their performances. The process helps in deciding whom to promote and when. It also guides managers in understanding the skill gaps so that right person can be fit at that particular place in order to get desired output.

5.      Assists in delivering appropriate training: it is one important function of HRD to deliver training for the employees. The suitable training will increase the productivity however how do we know which training is suitable for the employees? Job analysis can answer that question.

6.      Assists in Deciding Compensation Package for a Specific Job: A genuine and unbiased process of job analysis helps managers in determining the appropriate compensation package and benefits and allowances for a particular job. This is done on the basis of responsibilities and hazards involved in a job.

The six points mentioned above inform us the advantages of job analysis. And probably you are wondering, does it have any disadvantages? It does. 

The definition of Job Analysis

Before we go deeper, let’s find out the basic understanding of job analysis. Knowing the definition will help us apply the concept and benefit it.

Okay, let’s get started. Job analysis is a systematic and organized investigation, exploration, study and recording of tasks, responsibilities, duties, skills, accountabilities, competencies, scopes, and work environment of a specific job. Furthermore, job analysis also relates the physical and emotional skills of the job. The entire factors mentioned above further explain what requirements must be met by an employee in order to perform well. Simply put, the idea of putting “the right person in the right job” shall be accomplished by applying the job analysis.

The successful job analysis will clarify information needed both about a job and the personnel. Facts about a job that can be derived are job title, job location, job summary, duties involved, working conditions, possible hazards and machines, tools, equipments and materials to be used by the present or potential employee.

While for the personnel, we will identify information regarding the qualities and competencies of a qualified person handling the job. Such information is the levels of education, competencies, experience, judgment, training, initiative, leadership skills, physical skills, communication skills, responsibility, accountability, and emotional characteristics.

From the definition discussed previously, we understand that job analysis plays an important role in the success of an organization since human resource is the key factor in meeting our vision and missions.

What is job analysis?

Picture this: an organization full of staffs. The so called boss is planning to ask one of them to complete an assignment. He is confused, he has staffs but he doesn’t know which one he can rely on.

Let’s go to another scene: a clueless boss is having nightmare handling her subordinates. They are much cleverer and more skilled than she is. The boss always becomes the laughing stock of her subordinates. And that makes her so ‘popular’ in the organization.

“The right person for the right job’ would be the ideal condition required by any organizations. However, identifying the right person to fill the vacant job is not an easy thing to do.  There are some steps that we have to do in order to fill a job with the suitable candidate and the first step is to create a good job description.

The question is how to create a good job description? Well, job description is the result of job analysis. And it answered the title of this topic: What is job analysis? It is the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. Simply put, a job analysis is a systematic process for collecting and analyzing information about a job.

From the definition, we understand that job analysis involve some activities:

1.      reviewing the job responsibilities of current employees: to know whether the current employees are doing their tasks based on the qualities/competencies, and to know whether the employees are overqualified or underqualified;

2.      benchmarking similar job descriptions: researching and comparing similar jobs in order to know the requirements needed for the same jobs in different organizations.

3.      evaluating the work duties, assignments, tasks, requirements, and responsibilities that need to be accomplished by the employee filling the position,

4.      researching and sharing with other companies that have similar jobs.

Having a good job description is highly required for any organizations wanting to improve the quality of their performances. Job description will tell you what requirements, tasks, and competencies needed for a certain job.  it is the first step in our search of finding the right person for the right place.