JOB EVALUATION

CONTENTS
CONCEPT OBJECTIVES PRINCIPLES OF JOB EVALUATION PROCEEDURE TECHNIQUES OF JOB EVALUATION NON - QUANTITATIVE METHODS QUANTITATIVE METHODS

CONCEPT
Job evaluation is a systematic process of analysing jobs to determine the relative worth of a job within the organisation .It helps the management to maintain a high level of employee productivity and satisfaction. According to bureau of labour statistics,USA Job evaluation is the

Contd
Evaluation or rating of jobs to determine their position in the job hierarchy. The evaluation may be achieved through assignment of points or use of some other systematic method for essential job requirements such as skills, experience and responsibility.

OBJECTIVES
Providing a standard proceedure for determination of relative worth of a job Determining hierarchy and place of various jobs in an organisation Obtaining internal and external consistency in wages and salaries in an organisation

Contd

Ensuring employee satisfaction with regard to wages and salaries paid Minimising wage discrimination on the basis of age,sex,relegion etc.

PRINCIPLES OF JOB EVALUATION

Job dimensions have to be rated in accordance with the job demand. The dimensions selected for the purpose of rating should be properly selected and clearly defined. The evaluation program should be clearly explained and illustrated to the employees as well as supervisors and they can be convinced. The employees must be given an opportunity to participate in the evaluation programme.

Procedure for Job Evaluation

The relation trust of Pers. Management, Calcutta has evolved the following steps for evaluating jobs. Analyses and preparation of job description & job specification. Job description means duties & job satisfaction means minimum acceptable qualification. Selection & preparation of job evaluation plan. A job has to be divided into detailed tasks at positions. This step requires

Techniques of Job Evaluation

Non Quantitative Methods a) Ranking In this method the worth of a job is ascertained on the basis of skill, effort and responsibility and working conditions. Ranking involves preparation of brief job descriptions and assigning ranks to the jobs in accordance with their worth in the organization.

i.

ii.

iii.

Ranking the key job In this method relative importance is given to a key or representative jobs in an org. Paired Comparison In this techniques each job is compared with other jobs and ranked accordingly. Single Factor Ranking The single most important task to be performed in a job is identified in this technique and compared with the single most important task to be performed in other jobs.

In ranking methods, the money value of each job is ascertained on the basis of their ranks. The key jobs with known monetary value are used as a basis to determine the money value of other jobs. ADVANTAGES This method is most appropriate for small organizations. This system is simple, quickest and inexpensive system of job measurement.

DISADVANTAGES
This system cannot be administered in an organisation with large no. of jobs. No definite or consistent standard is used for ranking purpose This system doesnt indicate the extent or degree to which one job is more significant than the other.

Ranking method of job evaluation

The simplest job evaluation method ranks each job relative to other jobs,usually based on overall factors like job difficulty. There are several steps: Obtain job information Job analysis is the first step. Job descriptions for each job are prepared. There are basis on which rankings are done.

Select ratios and jobs to be rated It is often not practical to make a single ranking of all jobs in an organisation. The more usual proceedure is to rank jobs by department or in clusters(such as factory workers). This eliminates the need for having to compare directly, say factory jobs and clerical jobs.

Select compensable factors

In the ranking method it is common to use just one factor (such as job difficulty) and to rank jobs on the basis of jobs. The definition of the factors to be explained to the valuator.

Rank jobs

Next the jobs are ranked. The simplest way is to give each rater a set of index cards, each of which contains a brief description of a job. These cards are then ranked from lowest to highest. Some managers use an alternative ranking method for making the procedure more accurate. Here you take the cards first, choosing the highest and lowest, then the next highest and lowest and so on.

Combine ratings

Usually several raters rank the job independently. Then the rating committee can simply average the rankings.

JOB GRADING
Jobs at different levels in an organization are divided into various grades with a clear definition of each grade. A grade is a group of different jobs of similar difficulty or requiring similar knowledge and skill to perform. Grades are formulated on the basis of the nature of tasks, requirement of skill, knowledge and authority of various jobs.

The steps used in this method are:

1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

Determination of the shape and size of the organization. Selection of key jobs and grading them. Establishment of job grades. Classification of jobs in accordance with grade. Discussion & negotiation with trade union representatives.

MERITS
Grading system can be supported by job description & job grade description. Simple to understand & inexpensive. More comprehensive than the ranking method.

DEMERITS
Grading system requires multiple system for different types of jobs. The grades defined must be definite, clear and easy understandable.

QUANTITATIVE METHOD

The Point system :It requires identifying a number of compensable factors like skills and responsibility and then determining the degree to which these factors are present. A different number of points is usually assigned for each degree of each factor. Once the degree to each factor is determined, the corresponding number of points of each factor are added and an overall point value is obtained. The point system is based on the assumption that it is possible to assign points to respective factors which are essential for evaluating an individuals job. The sum of these points gives us an index of the relative

significance of the jobs that are rated. Mechanism

Step 1: The jobs have to be determined first which are to be evaluated. They are usually clustered. The jobs which require : i. similar activities ii. The same worker characteristics or traits. 22 occupations could be placed in 5 groups. For e.g.. Scientific group includes medical lab technician, chemist, physician, engineer, auto mechanic & radio operator.

Step 2: For this purpose, a pre-determined number of factors are arbitrarily selected by raters. The number of factors used varies a great deal from company to company, ranging from as few as 3 to as many as 50, although most companies use less than 15. sometimes, only 3 factors (Job conditions, physical ability and mental requirements) may be used. As far as possible the factors selected are common to all jobs.

Step 3: The next step is to break down each factor into degrees or levels and to assign a point value to each level or degree. For e.g., experience which is one of the most commonly used job factors, may be sub divided into 5 categories. The point to note is that the major factors are assigned total points and then each of these factors are broken up into sub- groups ( with written definition for each ) and these sub groups are assigned points within the total established for the major group.

Generally speaking, the 4 job factors common to the point method of job rating are Skills, Efforts, Responsibility and Job condition. The relative values of these are skill 50%, effort 15%, responsibility 20% and job conditions 15%.

Step 4: Determination of relative values or weight to assign to each factor. For each job, some factors are more important than others. For e.g.. For executives the mental requirement factors would carry more weight than physical requirement.

Step 5: The next step is to assign money values to points. For this purpose, pints are added to give the total value of a job. Its values is then translated into terms of money with a pre determined formula.

FACTOR COMPARISION METHOD.

It entails deciding which jobs have more of certain compensable factors than others. Here, the evaluation committee selects some key or bench mark jobs for which there are clearly understood job descriptions. Under this method each job is ranked several times- once for each compensable factor selected. For eg. Jobs may be ranked first in terms of skill then they are ranked according to their mental requirement.

Step 1: Clear cut job descriptions are written preferably in terms of compensable factors. usually 5 factors are used. 1. Mental Requirements. 2. Physical Requirements 3. Skill Requirements. 4. Responsibility. 5. Working conditions.

Step 2: Selection of key jobs : These key jobs serve as standards against which all other jobs are measured. They are selected in such a way that they cover the range from low to high paid jobs. Usually 10-30 jobs are picked up as key jobs .

Step 3: the key jobs are ranked on the basis of various factors like: 1. Physical Requirements 2. Mental Requirements. 3. Skill 4. Working conditions 5. Responsibility.

Step 4: In this step committees members have to divide up the present wage now being paid for each key job. Distributing it among the 5 compensable factors. They do this acc to their judgments about the importance to the job of each factor. For eg. If the present wage rate for the job of common laborer is $4.26 for evaluation might distribute this wage as follows:

1. Physical requirements: $2.20 2. Mental Requirements: $0.36 3. Skill: $0.42 4. Working conditions: $1 5. Responsibility: $0.28 Total: $4.26

Step 5: Rank key jobs acc to wages assigned to each job. Here you again rank each job, factor by factor, but the ranking is based on the basis assigned to each factor. Each member of the committee first makes this distribution working independently. then the committee and arises at a decision.