Organizations are growing in size each and every day, which in turn creates a high demand for employees. This outcome, however, needs a systematic approach to determine the right employee for the right position. The process has become so large that organizations need specialized help from Human Resource Management (HRM) departments to ensure that the requirements of the position are met. Therefore, the HRM department provides the function of job analysis in order to select the right individual for the position. "Job analysis is a complex and vital part of every HRM program, as well as an important systematic process used within an organization to determine future members of the workforce." Job analysis contributes to many important Human Resource Management functions as it identifies and analyzes the relation between the job and what is required.
According to the "Job Analysis: Overview," Job analysis is a process used to identify and determine in detail the particular job duties, requirements, and the relative importance of these duties for a given position or a particular job. A job analysis defines the work, activities, tasks, objectives, products, services, or processes required to perform a particular job. It collects details about work activities, human behaviors, machine, tools, equipment and work aids, performance standards, job context, and human requirements. These in turn help to identify the knowledges, skills and abilities required to perform a job. An important factor to note is that in this process, analysis is conducted on the job, not the person, which also results in a description of the job and not the person (Job Analysis: Overview).
Information for a job analysis can be collected in various ways. Some of these ways include observation, an interview, questionnaire, diary or log kept by the job holder, multiple sources of information or other quantitative techniques (Dressler, Gary).
Cited: Dressler, Gary. Human Resource Management. 10th ed. Prentice Hall. 2005. "Human Resource Mananagement." . "Job Analysis Informaiton." . "Job Analysis: Overview." .