Differentiation between job description and job analysis

Job description and job specificationBy: Naseer AhmedUniversity of Balochistan ,Quetta.

Job Description:Job description is a written record of the duties, responsibilities and requirements of a particular job. It is concerned with the job itself and not with the job holders. It is a statement describing the job in such terms as its title, location, duties, working conditions and hazards.Job description is the immediate product of job analysis process; the data collected through job analysis provides a basis for job description and job specification.

Writing Job Description:

A Job description is a written statement of what the job holder actually does, how he or she does it, and under what conditions the job is performed. This information is in turn used to write a job specification. This lists the knowledge, abilities, and skills needed to perform the job satisfactorily. While there is no standard format you must use in writing a job description, most descriptions contain at least sections on

Contents of Job Description: Job Identification: It includes the job title, alterative title, department, division, and plant and code number of the job. The job title identifies and designates the job properly, the department, division, etc., indicate the name of the department where it is situated - whether it is the maintenance department, mechanical shop etc. Location gives the name of the place. This portion of job description gives answer to two important questions: to what higher level job is this job accountable. And who is supervised directly? Job Summary: Job summary describes the contents of the jobs in terms of activities or tasks performed. Job summary should clear the nature of the job. Primary, secondary and other duties to be performed on the job should clearly be indicated separately.

Duties and Responsibilities: This is the most important phase of job description and should be prepared very carefully. It describes the duties to be performed along with frequency of each Major duty. Responsibilities concerning custody of money, supervision and training of staff etc. are also described Supervision: Under it is given number of persons to be supervised along with their job titles, and the extent of supervision involved -general, intermediate or close supervision. Relation to Other Jobs: It describes the vertical and horizontal relationships f work flow. It also indicates to whom the jobholder will report and who will report to him. It gives an idea of channels of promotion.

Working Conditions: The working environment in terms of heat, light, noise, dust and fumes etc., the job hazards and possibility of their occurrence and working conditions should also be described. It will be helpful in job evaluation. Social Environment: It specifies the social conditions under which the work will be performed. In this part the size of work group, interpersonal interactions required to perform the job and development facilities are mentioned

A Job Specification should include:

Physical characteristics, which include health, strength, endurance, age, height, weight, vision, voice, eye, hand and foot co-ordination, motor co-ordination, and color discrimination. Psychological and social characteristics such as emotional stability, flexibility, decision making ability, analytical view, mental ability, pleasing manners, initiative, conversational ability etc. Mental Characteristics such as general intelligence, memory, judgment, ability to concentrate, foresight etc. (iv)Personal Characteristics such as sex, education, family background, job experience, hobbies, extracurricular activities etc.Job Specification:Job specification is a statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly.The job specification states the minimum acceptable qualifications that the incumbent must possess to perform the job successfully. Based on the information acquired through job analysis, the job specification identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job effectively. Individuals possessing the personal characteristics identified in the job specification should perform the job more effectively than individuals lacking these personal characteristics. The job specification, therefore, is a important tool in the selection process, for it keeps the selectors attention on the list of qualifications necessary for an incumbent to perform the job and assists in determining whether candidates are qualified.

Difference between Job Description and Job Specification:Job description, job specification and job analysis are some of the phrases that confuse many students of management. These phrases are very important in the subject of human resource management. It is the job of a personnel manager or HR manager to see that the right person gets the right job to further the goals of an organization. It is through job analysis that he gets the tools of job description and job specification to fulfill his tasks. There is a subtle but very critical difference between these two tools that look very similar, forcing many make the mistake of using them interchangeably.Job description and job specification are two integral parts of job analysis. They are the written documents helps both employer & employee to understand the job requirement. These documents are very important to find the best fit for the available job.Hope these will help you clear the doubt on Job Analysis, job Description & Job specification.9