Human Resources

Lecture 6
Work and jobs
Recruiting people to the organisation
 Organising work and designing jobs

Work is what people are employed to do, and jobs are the units or structures
used to organise that work.

Work organisation and job design balance the search for operational efficiency
and organisational effectiveness with considerations of personal satisfaction
and motivation.

Job analysis is an important part of the job design process. While job analysis
has many uses, it most commonly leads to the preparation of job descriptions
(which set the roles and responsibilities of a job) and person profiles (which
describe the skills and other characteristics a person needs to carry out the
job’s requirements successfully).

But job description are critised because corporate change makes them obsolete
very quickly.
Approaches to job design

According to F.Taylor (1911) scientific management it is necessary to:

-Break down complex jobs into their component parts and decide the optimum

degree of task fragmentation;

-Carry out studies to find the one best way to do each part of the job;

-Design the workplace so that unnecessary movements are eliminated;

-Select and train employees to carry out the fragmented tasks in the one best

way, and reward them for better-than-average performance.

-In 1920-ies studies showed that Taylorism could adversely affect labour
productivity and costs. Workers engaged on simple, repetitive tasks found
their work boring – and their productivity could be increased by 20% simply
by shifting them to different tasks every half hour. Job rotation this became
the first antidote to fragmentation and specialisation.
JOB ROTATION
JOB ENLARGEMENT
JOB ENRICHMENT
WORK REFORM
Job design in theory
The most complete job description theory was developed by Hackman and
Oldham (1980). It sets out five core dimensions which contribute to a job’s
motivating potential.
-Skill variety. Does the job have a variety of activities which use the different skills
and talents of the job holder?
-Task identity. Does the job require the completion of a whole task or unit of work?
-Task significance. Does the job have a significant impact on the life and work of
other people?
-Autonomy. Does the job provide the job holder with freedom and discretion in the
organisation of the work?
-Task feedback. Does the job holder receive direct and helpful feedback while
working, or from performing the range of tasks in the job?
 JOB ANALYSIS
It is a process of gathering, assessing and recording information.
It provides a foundation for many HR activities, including:
-Writing job descriptions and person profiles for recruitment and selection;

-Defining job responsibilities and performance criteria for performance

planning and reviews;

-Designing training and development programmes to meet individual and

organisational needs;
-Assessing organisational and individual needs, abilities and potential for HR

planning;
-Gathering data for job evaluation and remuneration management;

-Analysing work and structural relationships for job design and organisational

reviews.
Job analysis methods
-Interviews

-Questionnaires

-Position Analysis Questionnaire (see next page)

- Information input. Where and how does the worker get the
information he or she uses in performing the job?
- Mental process;
- Work output (physical activities);
- Relationships with other people;
- Job context (physical and socials contexts)
- Other job characteristics.

- Discuss the Position Analysis for a position of:

i. a bus driver;
j. a teacher of English as the second language;
k. a pilot of Boing – 747.

Functional job analysis

- Data
- People
- Things
What would be the functions of the position of a Mayor’s personal assistant?
 JOB DESCRIPTION

Job description is an integral part of most HR systems.

Developing a job description, HR manager should remember that jobs and
positions are different.

Job. Generic term for a set of activities or tasks.

Position. Job role held by a particular individual.

Characteristics of effective job descriptions

-Job descriptions should be simple;

-Job description should not overstate or exaggerate;

-Job descriptions should not be confused with person profiles;

-Job descriptions should be produced jointly and agreed.

Contents of job descriptions
-Job title

-Purpose of the job

-Reporting relationships

-Administrative information

-Authorities

-Key results areas.

 PERSON PROFILES
Person profile sets out skills, knowledge and other personal characteristics
required for acceptable job performance.

Rodger’s seven-point plan: Person profile for HR

Education officer:
Training
Skills and experience
Features sought Essential Desirable
Personality and intelligence
Physical make-up
Environment
Physical demands. Attainments
Intelligence
Aptitudes
Interests
Disposition
Circumstances
 Fraser’s fivefold framework: Person profile for
HR officer

Aspects of Essential Desirable

individual
to consider

Impact of others
Acquired knowledge
or qualifications
Innate abilities
Motivation
Adjustment
Why recruitment is important?
HR practitioners have always known how important it is to attract and choose
people who can do their jobs well and be good organisational citizens. Which
is why recruitment and selection have traditionally been central HR activities.
However, changes in the organisation’s external and internal environments,
and different work force expectations and aspirations, and making effective
recruitment even more important and challenging.

Recruitment’s aims
The general aim of recruitment is to provide the organisation with a pool of
aspirants from which to select people to fill specific positions. But in reality
the situation is more complex. Effective recruitment is essential if the
organisation is to attract and engage the people it needs to achieve its
objectives.
Also, recruitment plays a significant part in shaping, maintaining or changing
the organisation’s culture – since culture is very much the product of the
people the organisation employs.
HR managers are:
Gatekeepers;
First people in a company future employees interact with;

Recruitment issues and policies

‘Organisations must be sure that their recruitment efforts are consistent with
their other HR strategies’.

Internal appointment or external recruitment

Looking for employees in the company Looking for new employees from
the outside
As organisations continue to change these possible changes should be taken
care of while recruiting new staff:
-Job descriptions and person profiles will need to take a wider, organisational

view. In other words, a narrow focus on the activities and skills of a specific
job should give way to a broader statement of functional activities and
competencies.
-Recruitment and selection interviews will need to be conducted with the new

goal of hiring for the organisation rather than just for a specific job vacancy.
-Selection procedures and instruments will need to assess how well individuals

match the characteristics of the organisations, not just the recruitments of a

particular job.
 The recruitment process
The set of activities and process used to legally obtain a sufficient number of
the right people at the right place and time so that the people and the
organisation can select each other in their own best short and long term
interests.

Key assumptions
- Recruitment is primarily job-centred
- Recruitment to fill a vacancy is not automatic
- Recruitment and selection procedures must be monitored.

Preparing to recruit
Attracting potential recruits
in-house advertising recruitment agencies
employee referrals executive search consultants
educational institutions
Media advertising
- What is the objective? What are the recruitment goals?
- Who are the people you want to reach? Who are the likely
applicants? What are their characteristics and motivations?
- What is the appropriate advertising message? What information
about the job and the organisation will persuade suitably qualified
people to apply?
- How should the message be presented? What media should be
used?

Successful recruitment advertising should:

-Tell people about the job, describe its main roles and responsibilities, and say

how it fits into the organisation;

-Encourage interest in the job and the organisation;

-Be clear and accurate in its descriptions, so that unsuitable or unqualified

people are deterred from applying;

-Encourage people with the desired attributes to respond because they see the

advertised job as an improvement on their present situation.

Selecting media
Recruitment literature
E-recruitment (internet job advertising)

Home work: find 10 different recruitments agencies in Auckland which

advertise their services on –line and offer vacancies. Find out the names of
those companies and their specialisation

Candidates and applications

Application forms
-Allows you to assess how well an applicant meets a job’s knowledge and

skills requirements;
-Helps you draw conclusions about an applicant’s personal and professional

development and progress;

-Offers tentative clues about the individuals’ stability, based on the previous

employment record;
-Might be useful in predicting how well the individual will perform in the job.
Written applications
The limitations of the information:
Personal information – surname or family name, given names and preferred
title, contact address and telephone number.
Education and training – secondary and/ or tertiary institutions and
programmes attended; qualifications gained; trade and / or professional
qualifications; special training or skills; other on-job or off-job education
and training;
Employment history – present and previous employers, dates employed, brief
descriptions of jobs, reasons for leaving, and current remuneration; other
work experience.
Discrimination and other legal issues
Medical conditions
Privacy