Job analysis is a procedure that is part of the administrative tasks of a company and that consists of determining the responsibilities and obligations of job positions.
From this analysis, it is possible to decide what types of people should be hired to fill the positions according to their ability and experience. Job analysis, in short, is nothing more than the collection, organization and evaluation of information regarding a job.
The founding of a company or organization, the creation of new job positions, the modification of a structure and the updating of salaries are situations that lead to the development of job analysis.
On other occasions, the need to carry out a job analysis arises from statements made by the workers themselves, when they are not clear about what specific tasks correspond to them or when conflicts of competence and authority arise between employees.
By conducting an accurate job analysis, management is able to improve its human resource management by recruiting or appointing the appropriate workers for each position and setting the compensation they deserve.
Among the data to be collected during job analysis are job activities and processes; the responsibilities; physical actions; the communication; the machines and tools used; the necessary knowledge; the rules; and the context.
In a company dedicated to software development, for example, to define the necessary programmer profiles, it is ideal to consult with someone who has very advanced knowledge in this field, especially if they are part of the staff, since in that case they can provide relevant opinions at the personal level of the work groups, which also plays an important role when defining profiles.
Along with the advances that have occurred and that continue to take place at a technological level, the expected competencies of each worker within a given industry have changed in recent decades. On the one hand, it should be mentioned that until the mid-1990s, in certain areas it was very common for the same person to carry out a poorly defined series of tasks, for which many different skills were necessary.
This was true, for example, in the world of computer animation and continues to be true in the video game industry, although to a lesser extent than a few years ago. The lack of human experience in fields of this nature forced the pioneers to take their first steps without knowing for sure in which direction they were moving. And it was thanks to the unconditional effort of a few, who were willing to sacrifice nights of sleep and rest weekends, that little by little the manuals on which today's workers rely were drawn up.
When the needs of a market are not known, accurate job analysis is impossible, and a lack of clarity in a company's vision can be fatal. Only in rare cases can the intuition and determination of employees compensate for the failures of an inadequate selection process.