| INSTRUCTIONS Discussion Question–Choose one perspective in which to respond. Non-HR Perspective: You were recently promoted to the manager of your department. One of your first tasks is to hire your replacement. What steps would you take and why? How involved do you believe you should be in the process? Who should make the ultimate hiring decision and why? What interview questions might you ask an applicant? HR Perspective: A manager comes to you wanting to fill a vacancy in their department, what steps would you take and why. Would your approach differ depending upon the position, e.g. clerical, assembly work, supervisor, etc. How involved should you be in making a selection? Please describe. In developing your response, you want to consider some of the following elements: recruiting sources, selection methods, background checks, and other course concepts address up to this point. Instructions: Your initial post should be at least 250 words. LESSON FOR THE WEEK Introduction Topics to be covered: Job analysis Job descriptions and job specifications Recruitment and selection One of the primary responsibilities of HRM is to attract and recruit qualified workers to fill positions within an organization, ensuring the organization is adequately staffed. This begins with conducting a job analysis of each position within an organization. Once the analyses are completed, HRM professionals should prepare job descriptions, including job specifications, which detail each position’s duties and responsibilities, and the minimum qualifications required for an individual to successfully handle those duties and responsibilities. Once HRM professionals understand the jobs they need to fill to adequately staff an organization, they must recruit and select qualified people to work for the organization. The strategies that HRM professionals use for recruitment and selection may vary depending upon factors such as the type of position to be filled, the organization’s environment, the nature of competition from other organizations, and the physical location of the organization. This lesson will review the job analysis, job description, and recruitment and selection processes, explaining how these are used to ensure that organizations have the tools they need to hire qualified employees. Staffing and the Importance of Job Analysis People are the lifeblood of any organization, and organizations cannot function without qualified employees. As such, it is imperative that an organization’s recruitment and selection function is effective and efficient at hiring workers that meet or exceed the job qualifications for which they are hired. If an organization’s recruitment and selection efforts are not successful, that organization will not have the staff it needs, making it likely the organization will end in failure. Job analysis refers to the process of systematically gathering information about a specific job that can be used to prepare a job description, as well as a job specification, for that job. As part of this process, a job analyst gathers information about a job’s essential and nonessential duties and responsibilities; reporting relationships, including supervisors and co-workers; and the environment and working conditions in which the job will be conducted. According to York (2010), job analysis should be the first step in many HRM processes for the following reasons: The job description and job specification cannot be prepared without the information gathered in a job analysis. The job description is vital to explain to potential employees the duties and responsibilities required in a specific job. The job specification is vital to explain to potential employees the qualifications they must have to do a job, including the education, skills, and experience needed. Recruiters need both the job description and job specification information so they will understand the type of applicants they should consider hiring for a specific job. Job descriptions become recruiting tools. Once employees are hired, their supervisors need the job description and job specification to use as benchmarks to establish the standards that employees must meet to successfully accomplish their jobs. The information in job descriptions and job specifications helps determine how much employees should be paid. The information gathered during a job analysis can help identify a specific job’s training and employee development needs once an individual is hired to fill a position. By knowing the qualifications required for specific jobs, current employees can plan their career goals, targeting jobs for which they hope to be promoted by obtaining the training they need to be able to move into those positions. The information provided in a job analysis can help organizations establish reasonable accommodation controls, which can be beneficial as they strive to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Common Techniques for Job Analysis To conduct a job analysis, Cascio (2010) identified five common techniques used by job analysts: job performance, observation, interview, critical incidents, and structured questionnaires. JOB PERFORMANCE A job analyst assumes a position, performing the work required to accomplish a specific job’s duties and responsibilities. This provides the job analyst with firsthand experience in the job’s requirements. OBSERVATION A job analyst personally observes individuals in a specific job as they complete the job’s duties and responsibilities. As an observer, the job analyst records details about the job, including what is done to carry out the job, how the work is conducted, and why it is done. The analyst does this without interfering in the work, which means that conversation with the individual(s) being observed is limited. INTERVIEW A job analyst talks one-on-one with current employees about the duties and responsibilities of their particular jobs. By asking detailed and specific job-related questions, the analyst learns what work is required to carry out a job, how that work is done, and why it is necessary. Interviews are a useful technique for jobs that cannot be analyzed through job performance or observation. For example, as Cascio (2010) points out, job analysts may not have the skills needed to actually work as air traffic controllers or architects, and they may be unable to gather sufficient information through observation to do a thorough job analysis. For such jobs, analysts may find it more conducive to analysis if they interview individuals who hold these positions. CRITICAL INCIDENTS A job analyst gathers reports regarding actual work completed by individuals filling a specific job. These reports document the different types of work handled by a specific job and the effective, as well as ineffective, approaches to handle the work. If analysts gather a sufficient number of these reports, they can create an overall perspective of the job and its requirements. STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRES A job analyst gathers information by administering questionnaires to employees that ask questions intended to provide details about a specific job’s tasks and/or behaviors. Each employee rates each task or behavior, indicating whether it is performed to accomplish a specific job. If a particular task or behavior is part of a job, employees rate its characteristics such as its importance to the job and how difficult it is to accomplish. Structured Questionnaires Let’s take a deeper look at the components of a structured questionnaire. Tasks refer to what is actually done to accomplish a job. When a job is analyzed on the basis of tasks, the job analysis is job-oriented. Behavior refers to how a job is done. When a job is analyzed on the basis of behavior, the job analysis is worker-oriented or ability-requirement. Many HRM professionals use the position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) if they analyze a job with a structured questionnaire. The PAQ, which is behavior-oriented, contains questions that fall into the following categories (Cascio, 2010): Information input analyzes where and how employees obtain the information needed to do a specific job. Mental processes analyze the reasoning, planning, and decision making skills that an employee uses to do a specific job. Work output analyzes the physical activities, as well as the technology and other tools, needed to do a specific job. Relationships analyze which other persons — including supervisors and co-workers — an employee must interact with to do a specific job. Job context analyzes the environment in which a specific job is conducted, including both the physical surroundings as well as the social environment. Other job characteristics analyze the other factors that influence how a specific job is conducted, including the type of clothing an employee should wear to do the work, the hours that must be worked to complete the job, and the licenses and certifications necessary to perform the job. Choosing a Technique To determine which technique to use for a job analysis, HRM professionals must understand the purpose of the job analysis. For example, if they seek to gather information to help develop questions to use during interviews for the job selection process, any of these techniques can be beneficial. But if they seek to gather information needed to perform an evaluation of a job, they may find that interviews and questionnaires are most effective since they use information provided directly by employees who are familiar with the job and more capable of explaining the job’s nuances. Regardless of which technique is used, the job analysis should yield the following information regarding each job that is analyzed (Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 2015): KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED SKILLS REQUIRED ABILITIES REQUIRED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS CREDENTIALS AND EXPERIENCE Job Descriptions and Job Specifications Once the job analysis is done, HRM professionals can use that information to prepare a job description and job specification for each job that was analyzed. A job description is a written explanation of the requirements that must be met to successfully accomplish the job. This includes a listing of the duties and responsibilities of the job, and the tasks that must be completed to fulfill these duties and responsibilities. A job description also includes a job specification, which is a listing of the requirements that employees must meet to be able to successfully handle the job. This includes details about the minimum education that the employee must have, as well as details about the specialized knowledge, skills, and experience the employee should possess. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2015), a job description should be written using the following steps: complete a job analysis, define each job’s essential functions, organize the information, add a disclaimer and a signature line. We will go into some of these steps in detail. The Job Description: The Job’s Essential Functions Define each job’s essential functions, which refers to the primary duties and responsibilities of a job that must be performed to successfully complete the job. This provides the information necessary to evaluate any requests received from employees for reasonable accommodations to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. According to SHRM (2015), HRM professionals should use the following steps to define the essential functions. Ensure that the tasks outlined as part of the job’s duties and responsibilities are actually required to complete the job. Determine how often each task is performed and the amount of time required to complete each task. Determine the consequences that would result if a task is not performed and whether these consequences would mean that the employee could not successfully complete the job. Determine alternative options for completing each task. Determine if each task could be reassigned to another employee. Organize the information obtained from the job analysis and the essential functions definition. The Job Description: Organization Once the information is organized, it should include the following details regarding each job. Job title. Classification, which refers to whether the job is exempt or nonexempt as per guidelines of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Salary range. Title of the position that supervises the job. The level of supervision required for the job. Summary of the job’s overall objectives. List of the job’s essential functions. Competencies required to successfully complete the job, including the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the employee who hold the job. The nature of the environment where the job will be performed. The physical demands of the job, such as sitting for long periods, the need to do manual labor, and the need to be able to operate a motor vehicle. The type of position — such as part-time or full-time — and the typical hours and days of the week when the job will be performed. Travel required for the job, if any. Minimum education and experience required to perform the job. Preferred education and experienced desired for the job. Additional requirements to meet eligibility qualifications, such as special skills and certifications. Statements on the organization’s affirmative action plan and/or equal employer opportunity. Date the job description was developed or last amended. The Job Description: Disclaimer and Signature Lines Add a disclaimer that states the job description is not intended to be comprehensive, and the employee who holds the job may be asked to perform other duties and responsibilities not included in the job description. In addition, the disclaimer should state that the job description is subject to change at any time as necessary to meet the organization’s needs. Add signature lines for the supervisor of the position as well as any employee who works in the job. By signing these lines, the supervisors and employees indicate that they have read and understand the job description and how it pertains to those who hold that position. Recruitment and Selection Once an organization has analyzed its jobs and prepared job descriptions for each position, it must fill these positions with qualified employees. This requires HRM professionals to engage in recruitment and selection processes, which are part of an organization’s staffing function. Staffing refers to “a management function that includes hiring, motivating, and retaining the best people available to accomplish the company’s objectives” (Nickels, McHugh, & McHugh, 2013, p. 190). Since people are an organization’s most important resource, staffing is regarded by many leaders of organizations as the most crucial component in an organization’s success. Often, staffing is the largest expense in an organization’s budget, with more funds expended for personnel costs — including salaries and employee benefits, as well as training — than any other resource in an organization. Depending on the industry, personnel expenditures typically average between 20 and 40 percent of an organization’s total budget (Browne, n.d.) Determining Needs After they complete job analyses and write job descriptions, to recruit and hire staff, an organization’s managers still need to understand their organization’s staffing needs in terms of the number of employees required to accomplish the level and amount of work necessary to complete the organization’s tasks and meet its goals and objectives. To determine their organization’s staffing needs, managers can use several techniques, such as the following (Cardenas, n.d.): The Delphi technique asks different employees to individually review an organization’s staffing history and needs and make recommendations for the future. A facilitator reviews each individual’s recommendations and combines them with the others’ recommendations to create a consolidated report. This report is refined until a consensus is reached regarding the organization’s staffing needs. The staffing ratio method uses an organization’s established structure to predict hiring needs. The ratio of front-line staff, such as office assistants, to managers is used to estimate the number of staff needed in each job classification. The productivity ratio method considers the number of units produced or customers served per employee to determine how many staff are needed. If changes are anticipated, the number of employees needed is increased or decreased accordingly. Statistical regression analysis uses regression analysis of historical data, such as the number of units produced and the number of employees involved in production, to forecast staffing needs. Recruitment Channels Once HRM professionals determine an organization’s staffing needs, they can recruit employees by placing ads in newspapers, trade journals, websites, and other publications that are likely to attract the attention of potential employees. Also, they can consider whether current employees are qualified to move into vacant positions. Once the organization receives applications, HRM professionals review job applicants’ qualifications to determine which ones should be considered for each vacant position. To select those individuals who will be hired, they conduct interviews and perform other activities, such as employment tests, to gather more information about job applicants. This helps determine which ones appear to be capable of handling the jobs for which they are being considered and most likely to fit in with the organization if they are actually hired. Once HRM professionals narrow down the list of job applicants being considered for hire, they can check references and do background checks to make the final decisions regarding which individuals should be hired. To be successful, organizations must use an appropriate strategy to recruit and select staff. Thompson (n.d.) describes some of these strategies as follows: ‹ 1/3 › Academy Strategy Hire employees who are new to the workforce, such as recent college graduates, that have the skills and potential needed to perform the desired work but lack experience that might include undesirable work habits. Train them in-house, teaching them to conduct the work in a way that fits the organization’s needs and culture. Labor Margin Ideally, organizations will hire exactly the number of employees needed to perform the organization’s work, and if they can do this, their personnel expenses generally will be lower. But each day, in most organizations, some employees will miss work because of illness, vacation, or some other reason that renders them unavailable to be at work. As such, many organizations find it necessary to spend additional funds on personnel expenses to create a labor margin, which are the extra employees hired to cover for the employees who miss work (Browne, n.d.). Regardless of which hiring strategy is used or how many employees are hired, it is important to hire individuals who have the skills and attitudes needed to handle their assigned work as well as fit in with an organization’s culture. This helps ensure that an organization has the human capital necessary to enable it to achieve success. Conclusion Ensuring that an organization has the right number of staff with the qualifications necessary to ensure the organization can achieve success can be a complicated process. To provide the process with a solid foundation, HRM professionals must ensure that they conduct thorough and accurate job analyses of every position in an organization. They must use these to prepare job descriptions that specify the requirements for each position, including the minimum qualifications that employees must have to successfully complete each job. Once HRM professionals have this information, they must use it as a tool in the recruitment and selection processes, ensuring that they hire only qualified individuals who have the ability to complete their assigned work while fitting in with an organization’s culture, helping to ensure the organization can achieve success by accomplishing its goals and objectives. |
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