Human Resource Planning and Job Analysis

Fundamentals of Human
Resource Management
Eighth Edition
DeCenzo and Robbins
Chapter 5
Human Resource Planning and Job Analysis
Fundamentals of Human Resource

Introduction
• Human resource planning
is a process by which an
organization ensures that
– it has the right number and
kinds of people
– at the right place
– at the right time
– capable of effectively and
efficiently completing those
tasks that will help the
organization achieve its overall
strategic objectives.

Introduction
• Linked to the organization’s
overall strategy and planning to
compete domestically and
globally.
• Overall plans and objectives must
be translated into the number and
types of workers needed.
• Senior HRM staff need to lead top
management in planning for HRM
issues.

An Organizational Framework
• A mission statement defines what
business the organization is in,
including why it exists and who its
customers are.
• Strategic goals
– Set by senior management to establish
targets for the organization to achieve.
– Generally defined for the next 5-20 years.

Linking Employer’s Strategy to
Plans
Figure 5–2

• Corporate assessment
– Gap or SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-
Opportunities-Threats) analysis determines
what is needed to meet objectives.
– Strengths and weaknesses and core
competencies are identified.
– HRM determines what knowledge, skills
and abilities are needed by the
organization’s human resources.

Linking Organizational Strategy to
Human Resource Planning
• Ensures that people are available
to meet the requirements set
during strategic planning.
• Assessing current human
resources
– A human resources inventory report
summarizes information on current
workers and their skills.

–Human Resource Information
Systems (HRIS) are
increasingly popular
computerized databases that
contain important information
about employees.

Using Computers to Forecast
Personnel Requirements
• Computerized forecasts
– The use software packages to determine of future staff needs by
projecting sales, volume of production, and personnel required to
maintain a volume of output.
• Generates figures on average staff levels required to meet
product demands, as well as forecasts for direct labor, indirect
staff, and exempt staff.
• Typical metrics: direct labor hours required to produce one
unit of product (a measure of productivity), and three sales
projections—minimum, maximum, and probable.

Forecasting the Supply of
Inside Candidates
• Qualifications inventories
– Manual or computerized records listing
employees’ education, career and development
interests, languages, special skills, and so on, to
be used in selecting inside candidates for
promotion.

Forecasting Personnel Needs
• Trend analysis
– The study of a firm’s past employment needs
over a period of years to predict future needs.
• Ratio analysis
– A forecasting technique for determining future
staff needs by using ratios between a causal
factor and the number of employees needed.
– Assumes that the relationship between the
causal factor and staffing needs is constant

The Scatter Plot
• Scatter plot
– A graphical method used to help identify the
relationship between two variables.
Size of Hospital Number of
(Number of Beds) Registered Nurses
200 240
300 260
400 470
500 500
600 620
700 660
800 820
900 860

Determining the Relationship
Between
Hospital Size and Number of
Nurses
Figure 5–3

Drawbacks to Scatter Plots
1. They focus on projections and historical relationships, and assume
that the firm’s existing structure and activities will continue into the
future.
2. They generally do not consider the impact the company’s strategic
initiatives may have on future staffing levels.
3. They tend to support compensation plans that reward managers for
managing ever-larger staffs, and will not uncover managers who
expand their staffs irrespective of strategic needs.
4. They tend to “bake in” the nonproductive idea that increases in staffs
are inevitable.
5. They tend to validate and institutionalize existing planning processes
and ways of doing things, even in the face of rapid change.

• Assessing current human resources
– Succession planning
• includes the development of replacement
charts
• portray middle-to-upper level management
positions that may become vacant in the near
future
• lists information about individuals who might
qualify to fill the positions

Manual Systems and
Replacement Charts
• Personnel replacement charts
– Company records showing present performance
and promotability of inside candidates for the
most important positions.
• Position replacement card
– A card prepared for each position in a company
to show possible replacement candidates and
their qualifications.

Management
Replacement Chart
Showing Development
Needs of Future
Divisional Vice
President
Figure 5–4

The Matter of Privacy of HR
Information
• The need to ensure the security of HR
information
– There is a lot of HR information to keep secure.
– Control of HR information can be established
through the use of access matrices that limit
users.
– Legal considerations: The Federal Privacy Act
of 1974 gives employees rights regarding who
has access to information about their work
history and job performance.

Forecasting the Supply of Outside
Candidates
• Factors impacting the supply of outside
candidates
– General economic conditions
– Expected unemployment rate
• Sources of information
– Periodic forecasts in business publications

• Determining the Demand for Labor
– A human resource inventory can be
developed to project year-by-year
estimates of future HRM needs for every
significant job level and type.
– Forecasts must be made of the need for
specific knowledges, skills and abilities. ?

• Predicting the Future Labor Supply
– A unit’s supply of human resources comes
from:
• new hires
• contingent workers
• transfers-in
• individuals returning from leaves
– Predicting these can range from simple to
complex.
– Transfers are more difficult to predict since
they depend on actions in other units.

• Predicting the Future Labor Supply
– Decreases in internal supply come about
through:
• Retirements
• Dismissals
• Transfers-out
• Lay-offs
• Voluntary quits
• Sabbaticals
• Prolonged illnesses
• Deaths

– Retirements are the easiest to forecast.
– Other factors are much more difficult to
project.
– Dismissals, transfers, lay-offs, and
sabbaticals are more easily controlled by
management.

• Where Will We Find Workers
– migration into a community
– recent graduates
– individuals returning from military service
– increases in the number of unemployed
and employed individuals seeking other
opportunities, either part-time or full-time
• The potential labor supply can be
expanded by formal or on-the-job
training.

• Matching Labor Demand and Supply
– Employment planning compares forecasts
for demand and supply of workers.
– Special attention should be paid to current
and future shortages and overstaffing.
– Decruitment or downsizing may be used
to reduce supply and balance demand.
– Rightsizing involves linking staffing levels
to organizational goals.

Employment Planning and
The Strategic Planning Process

Job Analysis in a “Jobless”
World
• Job
– Generally defined as “a set of closely related
activities carried out for pay.”

Job Analysis
• Job Analysis is a systematic
exploration of the activities within a job.
• It defines and documents the duties,
responsibilities and accountabilities of a
job and the conditions under which a
job is performed. ?

Job Analysis
• Job Analysis Methods
– Observation method – job analyst
watches employees directly or reviews film
of workers on the job.
– Individual interview method – a team of
job incumbents is selected and extensively
interviewed.
– Group interview method – a number of
job incumbents are interviewed
simultaneously.

Job Analysis
• Job Analysis Methods
– Structured questionnaire method –
workers complete a specifically designed
questionnaire.
– Technical conference method – uses
supervisors with an extensive knowledge of
the job.
– Diary method – job incumbents record
their daily activities.
• The best results are usually achieved
with some combination of methods.

Job Analysis

Job Analysis
• Structured Job Analysis Techniques
– Department of Labor’s Job Analysis
Process:
• Information from observations and interviews is
used to classify jobs by their involvement with
data, people and things.
• Information on thousands of titles available on
O*Net OnLine which is the Department of
Labor’s replacement for the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles.

Job Analysis
• Position Analysis Questionnaire
(PAQ)(developed at Purdue
University)
– Jobs are rated on 194 elements, grouped
in six major divisions and 28 sections.
– The elements represent requirements
that are applicable to all types of jobs.
– This type of quantitative questionnaire
allows many different jobs to be
compared with each other, however, it
appears to be more applicable to higher-level
professional jobs.

Job Analysis
• Job Descriptions
– Written statement of what jobholder does, how it is
done, under what conditions and why.
– Common format: title; duties; distinguishing
characteristics; environmental conditions; authority
and responsibilities.
– Used to describe the job to applicants, to guide
new employees, and to evaluate employees.
– Identification of essential job functions is needed
to assure compliance with Americans with
Disabilities Act.

Source: Courtesy of HR Department,
Pearson Education.
Figure 4–7a

Source: Courtesy of HR
Department, Pearson
Education.
Figure 4–7b

Job Analysis
• Job Specifications
– States minimum acceptable qualifications.
– Used to select employees who have the
essential qualifications.

Job Analysis
• Job Evaluations
– Specify relative value of each job in the
organization.
– Used to design equitable compensation
program.

Job Analysis
• The Multi-faceted Nature of Job
Analysis
– Almost all HRM activities are tied to job
analysis.
– Job analysis is the starting point for sound
HRM.

Job Analysis
• Job Analysis and the Changing World of
Work
– Globalization, quality initiatives,
telecommuting, and teams require
adjustments to the components of a job.
– Today’s jobs often require not only
technical skills but interpersonal skills and
communication skills as well.

Human Resource Planning and Job Analysis

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