Job Analysis

Job analysis helps in the understanding of a unit of work and its linkage with other units of work. More specifically, the uses of job analysis may be summarized as follow:

1. Manpower planning: Job analysis helps in forecasting human resource requirements in terms of knowledge and skills. By showing lateral and vertical relationships between jobs, it facilitates the formulation of a systematic promotion and transfer policy. It also helps in determining quality of human resources needed in an organization.
2. Recruitment: Job analysis is used to find out how and when to hire people for future job openings. An understanding of the skills needed and the positions that are vacant in future helps managers to plan and hire people in a systematic way. 
3. Selection: Without a proper understanding of what is to be done on a job, it is not possible to select a right person
4. Placement and orientation: After selecting people, we have to place them on jobs best suited to their interests, activities and aptitude. Similarly, effective job orientation program will help the employee in learning the activities and understanding duties that are required to perform a given job more effectively.
5. Training: If there is any confusion about what the job is and what is supposed to be done, proper training efforts cannot be initiated. Whether or not a current or potential job holder requires additional training can be determined only after the specific needs of the jobs have been identified through a job analysis.
6. Counselling: Managers can properly counsel employees about their careers when they understand the different jobs in the organization. Likewise, employees can better appreciate their career options when they understand the specific needs of various other jobs. Job analysis can point out areas that an employee might need to develop to further a career.
7. Employee safety: Job analysis reveals unsafe conditions associated with a job.
8. Performance appraisal: By comparing what an employee is supposed to be doing (based on job analysis) to what the individual has actually done, the worth of that person can be assessed. Ultimately, every organization has to pay a fair remuneration to people based on their performance. To achieve this, it is necessary to compare what individuals should do (as per performance standards) with what they have actually done (as per job analysis).
9. Job design: Once the jobs are understood properly, it is easy to locate weak spots and undertake remedial steps. We can eliminate unnecessary movements, simplify certain steps and improve the existing ones through continuous monitoring. In short, we can redesign jobs to match the mental make-up of employees.
10. Job analysis helps in finding the relative worth of a job, based on criteria such as degree of difficulty, type of work done, skills and knowledge needed, etc. This, in turn, assists in designing proper wage policies, with internal pay equity between jobs.

Power - Sources

Meaning of power

The word ‘power’ is defined differently by different people. In simple words, power is the ability to influence other people. It is an exchange relationship that occurs in transactions between an agent and a target. The agent is the person who uses the power, and target is the receipt of the attempt to use power. White and Bednar have also defined people or things, usually obtained through he control of important resources.

Sometimes, people consider power, influence and authority as synonymous. However, these mean different meanings. We have just defined power as the ability to influence someone else. Power being an ability, individuals can learn to use it effectively. Influence is the process of affecting the thoughts, behaviour, and feelings of another person. Authority is the right to influence another person. In other words, authority is a legitimate right to influence others.

Bases Or Sources Of Power

Where does power come from? French and Raven have answered this question by identifying five sources a manager drives power. They are reward, coercive, legitimate, referent and expert power.

Reward Power: Reward power is based on the agent’s/manager’s ability to control rewards the target/employee wants. The common examples of reward power are managers control rewards of salary increases, bonuses, and promotions. This power is based on old saying that ‘wealth is power’. People comply this power because they get benefits out of its compliance.

Coercive Power :Coercive power is opposite of reward power. Coercive power is based on manager’s ability to cause an unpleasant experience for its people. To cerce someone into doing situation, it may be in the form of action for or threat for dismissal, suspension, demotion, or other method of embarrassment for the people working in organisations.

Legitimate Power : Legitimate power is power that is based on position and mutual agreement. Both the agent and target agree that the agent has the right to influence his employees. In organisational setting, such legitimate power is in the form of authority which is delegate to the positions of organisational members. In our culture, age has still certain premium and the aged people have legitimate power and the members of the society believe in his right to influence the decisions in their lives.

Referent Power : Referent power in an elusive power that is based on interpersonal attraction. The agent has referent power over the target because the target identifies with or wants to be like the agent. Charismatic individuals are often thought to have referent power. Such power may take place without organisational context as most of the people take somebody as ideal and behave accordingly upto a certain stage.

Expert Power: Expert power exists when the agent has information or knowledge that the target needs. It is based on the proverb, ‘knowledge is power’. For expert power to work, three conditions need to be fulfilled. First, the target must trust that the information given by the agent is accurate and correct. Second, the information given should be relevant and useful to the target. Third, the target must consider the agent a an expert. It is important to mention that if an agent considers himself/herself as an expert but not the target, then the expert power will not be effective.