Work simplification assumes that work can be broken down into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency. This approach to job design assigns most of the thinking aspects of work (such as planning and organizing) to managers and supervisors, while giving the employee a narrowly defined task to perform. Work simplification can utilize labor effectively to produce a large amount of a standardized product. The classic twentieth century automobile assembly line, where workers engaged in highly mechanical and repetitive tasks, exemplifies the work simplification approach.

Although work simplification can be efficient in a stable environment, it is less effective in a changing environment where customers demand custom-built products of high quality. Moreover, work simplification often leads to high levels of employee turnover and low levels of employee satisfaction. (In fact, where work simplification is used, employees may feel the need to form unions to gain some control over their work.) Finally, higher-level professionals subjected to work simplification may become so specialized in what they do that they cannot see how their job affects the organization’s overall product or service. The result can be employees doing work that has no value to the customer. Over the last decade, many professional employees in highly specialized jobs became casualties of corporate restructurings, because organizations discovered that such work did not provide value to consumers.

Work simplification is not to be confused with work elimination. Companies trying to eliminate work challenge every task and every step within a task to see if there is a better way to get the work done. Even if parts of the work cannot be eliminated, some aspect of the job may be simplified or combined with another job. Oryx, a Dallas, Texas–based oil and gas producer, saved $70 million in operating costs in one year after it set up teams to take a fresh look at its operations. The teams discovered many procedures, reviews, reports, and approvals that had little to do with Oryx’s business and could easily be eliminated. Work elimination is similar to BPR, though it differs in that work elimination typically focuses on particular jobs and processes rather than on overhauling the entire company.48

Job enlargement and job rotation are used to redesign jobs to reduce fatigue and boredom among workers performing simplified and highly specialized work. Job enlargement expands a job’s duties. For example, auto workers whose specialized job is to install carpets on the car floor may have their job enlarged to include the extra duties of installing the car’s seats and instrument panel.49

Job rotation rotates workers among different narrowly defined tasks without disrupting the flow of work. On an auto assembly line, for example, a worker whose job is installing carpets would be rotated periodically to a second workstation where he or she would install only seats in the car. At a later time period the worker might be rotated to a third workstation, where the job would be to install only the car’s instrument panels. During the course of a day on the assembly line, the worker might be shifted at two-hour intervals among all three workstations.

Both job enlargement and job rotation have limitations because these approaches focus mainly on eliminating the demotivating aspects of work and, thus, improve only one of the five core job characteristics that motivate workers (skill variety).

Job enrichment is an approach to job design that directly applies job characteristics theory (see Figure 2.3) to make jobs more interesting and to improve employee motivation. Job enrichment puts specialized tasks back together so that one person is responsible for producing a whole product or an entire service.50

Job enrichment expands both the horizontal and the vertical dimensions of a job. Instead of people working on an assembly line at one or more stations, the entire assembly line process is abandoned to enable each worker to assemble an entire product, such as a kitchen appliance or radio.51 For example, at Motorola’s Communications Division, individual employees are now responsible for assembling, testing, and packaging the company’s pocket radio-paging devices. Previously, these products were made on an assembly line that broke the work down into 100 different steps and used as many workers.52

Job enrichment gives employees more opportunities for autonomy and feedback. It also gives them more responsibilities that require decision making, such as scheduling work, determining work methods, and judging quality.53 However, the successful implementation of job enrichment is limited by the production technology available and the capabilities of the employees who produce the product or service. Some products are highly complex and require too many steps for one individual to produce them efficiently. Other products require the application of so many different skills that it is not feasible to train employees in all of them. For example, it could take an employee a lifetime to master all the skills necessary to assemble a Boeing 777 aircraft.

Job enrichment can provide opportunities for increased interactions with customers and others who are affected by the results of the work. A job design that has provisions for contact with customers is likely to increase the meaningfulness of an employee’s work when he or she learns in the customer’s own voice how the customer uses the product and how it affects him or her.54 For example, putting software engineers in contact with groups of customers on a frequent basis to see how they use the software can motivate the software engineers to create a future version of the software that is easier to use and that has more applications that customers want. Another way to enrich a job is for a company to sponsor an employee in a routine job with the opportunity to do volunteer work in the local community while on the company payroll. The Limited, a women’s clothing retailer, has sponsored its employees to provide kindergarten tutoring to local schools.

Team-based job designs focus on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to do.55 Team members are empowered to decide among themselves how to accomplish the work.56 They are cross-trained in different skills, then rotated to do different tasks within the team. Team-based job designs match best with flat and boundaryless organizational structures.

McDonald’s uses team-based job designs in the operations of a fast-food restaurant. A team of McDonald’s employees performs various functions such as food preparation; order taking; operating the cash register; keeping the kitchen and customer areas of the restaurant clean; taking out the trash; and refilling dispensers with napkins, straws, and utensils for the customers to use. Team members are cross-trained on different functions and participate in determining the allocation of work responsibilities for each work shift.

Depending on the technique selected, job analysis is performed either by a member of the HR department or by the job incumbent (the person who is currently assigned to the job in question). In some businesses a manager may perform the job analysis.

Companies use several methods to gather job information: interviews, observation, diaries, and questionnaires. Factors such as cost and job complexity will influence the choice of method.

• ▪ Interviews The interviewer (usually a member of the HR department) interviews a representative sample of job incumbents using a structured interview. The structured interview includes a series of job-related questions that is presented to each interviewee in the same order.

• ▪ Observation An individual observes the job incumbent actually performing the job and records the core job characteristics from observation. This method is used in cases where the job is fairly routine and the observer can identify the job essentials in a reasonable amount of time. The job analyst may videotape the job incumbent in order to study the job in greater detail.

• ▪ Diaries Several job incumbents may be asked to keep diaries or logs of their daily job activities and record the amount of time spent on each activity. By analyzing these diaries over a representative period of time (perhaps several weeks), a job analyst is able to capture the job’s essential characteristics.

• ▪ Questionnaires The job incumbent fills out a questionnaire that asks a series of questions about the job’s knowledge, skill, and ability requirements; duties; and responsibilities. Each question is associated with a quantitative scale that measures the importance of the job factor or the frequency with which it occurs. A computer can then tally the scores on the questionnaires and create a printout summarizing the job’s characteristics.

• ▪ Internet-based data collection The human resource department puts a job analysis questionnaire on an intranet Web site and instructs employees to complete the questionnaire by a certain date. A software program evaluates the responses and summarizes the job characteristics using standardized descriptors that can be generalized across many different job categories. The Internet-based collection of job data takes less time than many of the other methods, such as face-to-face interviews and direct observation. The U.S. Department of Labor developed the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) as an Internet-based data collection method for collecting job information for over 800 occupations.57 O*NET provides information on tasks; job-related behaviors; and knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job.

Job analysis measures job content and the relative importance of different job duties and responsibilities. Having this information helps companies comply with government regulations and defend their actions from legal challenges that allege unfairness or discrimination. As we will see in Chapter 3, the generic defense against a charge of discrimination is that the contested decision (to hire, to give a raise, to terminate) was made for job-related reasons. Job analysis provides the documentation for such a defense. For instance:

• ▪ A company may be able to defend its policy of requiring sales representatives to have a valid driver’s license if it can show via job analysis that driving is an essential activity in the sales rep’s job. Otherwise, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (see Chapter 3), the employer may be asked to make a reasonable accommodation for a blind job applicant who asserts his rights to be considered for the job.

• ▪ The owner of a fast-food restaurant who pays an assistant manager a weekly salary (without any overtime pay) may be able to defend herself from charges of an overtime pay violation with a job analysis proving that the assistant manager job is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (see Chapter 10). The owner can prove this by showing that most of the job duties and responsibilities entail supervising and directing others rather than preparing food and providing service to customers.

In addition to establishing job relatedness for legal purposes, job analysis is also useful for the following HR activities:

• ▪ Recruitment Job analysis can help the HR department generate a higher-quality pool of job applicants by making it easy to describe a job in newspaper ads that can be targeted to qualified job applicants. Job analysis also helps recruiters screen college-student job applicants because it tells them what tasks, duties, and responsibilities the job entails.

• ▪ Selection Job analysis can be used to determine whether an applicant for a specific job should be required to take a personality test or some other kind of test. For example, a personality test that measures extroversion (the degree to which someone is talkative, sociable, active, aggressive, or excitable) may be justified for selecting a life insurance sales representative. (Such a job is likely to emphasize customer contact, which includes making “cold calls” on potential new accounts.) Job analysis may also reveal that the personality test measuring extroversion has a weak relationship to the job content of other jobs (for example, lab technician) and should not be used as part of the selection process for those jobs.

• ▪ Performance appraisal The performance standards used to judge employee performance for purposes of promotion, rewards, discipline, or layoff should be job related. Under federal law, a company is required to defend its appraisal system against lawsuits and prove the job relatedness of the performance criteria used in the appraisal.

• ▪ Compensation Job analysis information can be used to compare the relative worth of each job’s contributions to the company’s overall performance. The value of each job’s contribution is an important determinant of the job’s pay level. In a typical pay structure, jobs that require mastery of more complex skills or jobs that have greater levels of responsibility pay more than jobs that require only basic skills or have low amounts of responsibility.

• ▪ Training and career development Job analysis is an important input for determining training needs. By comparing the knowledge, skills, and abilities that employees bring to the job with those that are identified by job analysis, managers can identify their employees’ skill gaps. Training programs can then be put in place to improve job performance.

Figure 2.4 lists eight major techniques of job analysis. Detailed descriptions of these techniques are beyond the scope of this book . However, we briefly describe four of them—task inventory analysis, the critical incident technique, the position analysis questionnaire, and functional job analysis—to give you a sense of what job analysis entails. For a set of general guidelines on conducting a job analysis effectively, see the Manager’s Notebook titled “ Guidelines for Conducting a Job Analysis.”

Critical Incident Technique

The critical incident technique (CIT) is used to develop behavioral descriptions of a job.59 In CIT, supervisors and workers generate behavioral incidents of job performance. The technique uses the following four steps: (1) generate dimensions, (2) generate incidents, (3) retranslate, and (4) assign effectiveness values. In the generating dimensions step, supervisors and workers identify the major dimensions of a job. “Dimensions” are simply aspects of performance. For example, interacting with customers, ordering stock, and balancing the cash drawer are the major dimensions of a retail job. Once they have agreed on the job’s major dimensions, supervisors and workers generate “critical incidents” of behavior that represent high, moderate, and low levels of performance on each dimension. An example of a critical incident of high performance on the dimension “interacting with customers” might be:

When a customer complained to the clerk that she could not find a particular item, seeing no one else was in line, this clerk walked with the customer back to the shelves to find the item.

Technique	Employee Group Focused on	Data Collection Method	Analysis Results	Description
1. Task Inventory Analysis	Any—large number of workers needed	Questionnaire	Rating of tasks	Tasks are rated by job incumbent,* supervisor, or job analyst. Ratings may be on characteristics such as importance of task and time spent doing it.
2. Critical Incident Technique	Any	Interview	Behavioral description	Behavioral incidents representing poor through excellent performance are generated for each dimension of the job.
3. Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)	Any	Questionnaire	Rating of 194 job elements	Elements are rated on six scales (for example, extent of use, importance to job). Ratings are analyzed by computer.
4. Functional Job Analysis (FJA)	Any	Group interview/questionnaire	Rating of how job incumbent relates to people, data, and things	Originally designed to improve counseling and placement of people registered at local state employment offices. Task statements are generated and then presented to job incumbents to rate on such dimensions as frequency and importance.
5. Methods Analysis (Motion Study)	Manufacturing	Observation	Time per unit of work	Systematic means for determining the standard time for various tasks. Based on observation and timing of work tasks.
6. Guidelines-Oriented Job Analysis	Any	Interview	Skills and knowledge required	Job incumbents identify duties as well as knowledge, skills, physical abilities, and other characteristics needed to perform the job.
7. Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)	Managerial	Questionnaire	Checklist of 197 items	Managers check items descriptive of their responsibilities.
8. Hay Plan	Managerial	Interview	Impact of job on organization	Managers are interviewed regarding such issues as their responsibilities and accountabilities. Responses are analyzed according to four dimensions: objectives, dimensions, nature and scope, accountability.
*The term job incumbent refers to the person currently filling a particular job.

An example of low performance on the same dimension might be:

When a customer handed the clerk a large number of coupons, the clerk complained out loud to the bagger that he hated dealing with coupons.

The last two steps, retranslation and assigning effectiveness values, involve making sure that the critical incidents generated in the first two steps are commonly viewed the same way by other employees.

The CIT provides a detailed behavioral description of jobs. It is often used as a basis for performance appraisal systems and training programs, as well as to develop behaviorally based selection interview questions. The appendix to Chapter 7 gives you the opportunity to develop critical incidents.

Because job analysis can be the basis on which a firm wins or loses a lawsuit over how it selects or appraises employees, it is important that organizations carefully document their job-analysis efforts.

There are two important questions regarding job analysis. The first of these questions is: Which job analysis method is best? Although there are many job-analysis techniques, there is no clear choice as to which is best. Some, like task inventory analysis and Guidelines-Oriented Job Analysis, were developed to satisfy legal requirements, but there is no legal basis to prefer one to another. The Uniform Guidelines published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission state that a job analysis should be done, but do not specify a preferred technique.

As a general rule, the more concrete and observable the job-analysis information, the better. Thus, job-analysis approaches that provide specific task or behavioral statements, such as task inventory analysis or CIT, may be preferable. CIT can be very expensive because of the time commitment required of supervisors and workers.

Given the lack of a single best technique, the choice of job-analysis technique should, within economic constraints, be guided by the purpose of the analysis. For example, if the major purpose for the analysis is the redesign of jobs, then an analysis focusing on tasks would probably be best. But if the major purpose is the development of a training program, a behaviorally focused technique would probably be best.

The second question regarding job analysis is: How does detailed job-analysis information fit into today’s organizations, which need to be flexible and innovative to remain competitive?

Whatever technique is used, job analysis is a static view of the job as it currently exists, and a static view of jobs is at odds with current organizational trends emphasizing flexibility and innovativeness.64 For instance, US Airways attempts to keep labor costs down by having employees do a variety of tasks. The same person may be a flight attendant, ticket agent, and baggage handler, all in the same week. And almost all jobs today are affected by the constant advances in information and communication technologies. Such factors can render even the most thorough job analysis virtually useless after a very short time.

In an organizational environment of change and innovation, it is better to focus job analyses on worker characteristics than on job characteristics. The required tasks in jobs may change, but such employee characteristics as innovativeness, team orientation, interpersonal skills, and communication skills will likely remain critical to organizational success. Unfortunately, most job-analysis techniques are not focused on discovering worker characteristics unless the characteristics are directly related to the immediate tasks. But, because the importance of fit with the organization is being increasingly recognized as a factor that should be considered in selection,65 job analysis may become more focused on underlying employee factors.66 Toyota (USA) and AFG Industries are organizations that have expanded job analysis to emphasize fit between prospective employees and the organization.

Job descriptions have four key elements: identification information, job summary, job duties and responsibilities, and job specifications and minimum qualifications.72 Figures 2.6 and 2.7 show how this information is organized on the job description.

To comply with federal law, it is important that job descriptions document only the essential aspects of a job. Otherwise, qualified women, minorities, and persons with disabilities may be unintentionally discriminated against for not meeting specified job requirements. For example, a valid driver’s license should not be put in the job description if the job can be modified so that it can be performed by a person with physical disabilities without a driver’s license.

In this chapter, we saw that in some situations it is more accurate to focus on the work that an employee performs rather than the job, because some jobs lack clearly defined boundaries due to rapidly changing work responsibilities and duties.75

Some companies deal with this dynamic environment by letting teams be responsible for a larger unit of work so that a team member can be deployed on different tasks that the team decides need to be performed, depending on the demands on a given day. Other companies use a general job description—for example, a job with the all-purpose title of “associate”—to provide employees flexibility in interpreting their roles based on the best way to serve a particular customer. For instance, bus drivers serving some of the dangerous neighborhoods of Paris, France, found that their job involved managing hostile customers or ending fights between bus passengers. However, these conflict management skills were not included in the job description of a bus driver. Bus drivers learned to interpret their work role broadly in order to provide a safe environment for their passengers. Thus, although in some cases it may be more accurate to describe what an employee does for an employer as work rather than a job, we expect that the need to assign employees to perform jobs is going to remain an important feature of the work environment into the foreseeable future. This means that translating the duties and responsibilities of employees’ work into job descriptions will continue to be useful and beneficial to both managers and employees.