Notes on Job Design and Role Analysis

What is Job?
Job is group of Tasks.


What is Job Design?
Job design defines what work is to be done and how it is organized and performed.


Not understanding  different fundas in HR. There is job description, job analysis, job design, There is role profile, there is position description,. what is the difference and what should you use? and why should you use?






Job Analysis: Iit is process of developing job description and job specification


Job Description
a written statement of job title, purpose of the job,key responsibilities derived  thru job analysis.




Job Specification

A statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. Job specification is derived from job analysis.

Job Design

Arrangement/rearrangement of Work arrangement (or rearrangement) aimed at reducing  job dissatisfaction and employee alienation arising from repetitive and mechanistic tasks. Through job design, organizations try to raise productivity levels by offering non-monetary rewards such as greater satisfaction from a sense of personal achievement in meeting the increased challenge and responsibility of one's work. Job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation, and job simplification are the various techniques used in a job design exercise.

Job design can be done before or after Job analysis to make the job more interesting thru tools such as job enrichment, job enlargement etc..

Now to understand clearly about meaning of Role, Job and Position:


Job is group of positions. For example secretary in an Organization is a Job. Secretary to a Manager in HR Department is position. The expected Functional and Behavioral competencies required to perform the job of secretary is Role.


Therefore Jobs are analyzed. Thereafter, they are designed/redesigned. Then positions are filled. The Job Description and Position description is required to be defined. For example Officer-Information system is Job. The Job description of the same would be

Job Description - XYZ Company Ltd

Title: Officer-Information System

Reports to: Director-Information system.

Job purpose:

To programme various software modules depending on user Requirement. To maintain software packages associated databases and suggest management on section third party softwares after techincal evaluation for purchase.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

Full lifecycle application development
Designing, coding and debugging applications in various software languages.
Software analysis, code analysis, requirements analysis, software review, identification of code metrics, system risk analysis, software reliability analysis
Object-oriented Design and Analysis (OOA and OOD)
Software modeling and simulation
Front end graphical user interface design
Software testing and quality assurance
Performance tuning, improvement, balancing, usability, automation.
Support, maintain and document software functionality
Integrate software with existing systems
Evaluate and identify new technologies for implementation



Job Specification
Education:

Educated to degree level (2.1 from a top university preferred) in Computer Science or Computer Systems Engineering

Excellent knowledge of C and C++ programming, HTML, ASP, JAVA

ASP.Net application software  development experience

Detailed knowledge of modern computer architectures

Ability to learn quickly

Good written and verbal communication skills

Excellent time management skills an

Experience:
Possess 5 years of solid experience in application development and programming using various Microsoft development environments like ASP.NET, VB.NET, ADO.NET, WinForms and WCF.

Position Description/Profile would be similar as above but for particular position. Officer-Database Administration

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Notes on Role:

Role is set of behaviors associated with some one occupying position. Recent trend in HR is to define Role profile instead of Job Description as Role Profile is more flexible than Job Description.

Role Profile starts with Role Analysis. Role Analysis is process of determining role description and role specification

Example of Role Profile:






Role title: Database administrator


Department: Information systems


Purpose of role: Responsible for the development and support of databases and their underlying environment. 

Key result areas

➢ Identify database requirements for all projects that require data management in order to meet the
needs of internal customers.
➢ Develop project plans collaboratively with colleagues to deliver against their database needs.
➢ Support underlying database infrastructure.
➢ Liaise with system and software providers to obtain product information and support.
➢ Manage project resources (people and equipment) within predefined budget and criteria, as agreed
with line manager and originating department.
➢ Allocate work to and supervise contractors on day-to-day basis.
➢ Ensure security of the underlying database infrastructure through adherence to established protocols
and to develop additional security protocols where needed.
Need to know
➢ Oracle database administration.
➢ Operation of Designer 2000 and oracle forms SQL/PLSQL, Unix administration, shell programming.
Able to:
➢ Analyse and choose between options where the solution is not always obvious.
➢ Develop project plans and organize own workload on a timescale of 1–2 months.
➢ Adapt to rapidly changing needs and priorities without losing sight of overall plans and priorities.





Need to know
➢ Oracle database administration.
➢ Operation of Designer 2000 and oracle forms SQL/PLSQL, Unix administration, shell programming.
Able to:
➢ Analyse and choose between options where the solution is not always obvious.
➢ Develop project plans and organize own workload on a timescale of 1–2 months.
➢ Adapt to rapidly changing needs and priorities without losing sight of overall plans and priorities.
➢ Interpret budgets in order to manage resources effectively within them.
➢ Negotiate with suppliers.
➢ Keep abreast of technical developments and trends, bring these into day-to-day work when feasible
and build them into new project developments.


Behavioural competencies
➢ Aim to get things done well and set and meet challenging goals, create own measures of excellence
and constantly seek ways of improving performance.
➢ Analyse information from range of sources and develop effective solutions/recommendations.
➢ Communicate clearly and persuasively, orally or in writing, dealing with technical issues in a nontechnical
manner.
➢ Work participatively on projects with technical and non-technical colleagues.
➢ Develop positive relationships with colleagues as the supplier of an internal service.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Now after busting the jargon now we have to understand what we should use Role Profile or Job Description.


It is suggested to use Role Profiles instead of Job description as Role Profile bring in more clarity on the specif behavioral and technical competencies required by the job holder.