Group members:

Chia Pei Xuan IBU1904084

Edde Lo Ming Sheng IBU1904090
Florence Ling Ker Xin IBU1904091
Josephine Jong Chia Yee IBU1904094
Low Wai Lin IBU1904098
Soh Shi Huang IBU1904104
Thong Jin Wei IBU1904112
Syeba Santania IBU1809923

Tutorial 4

Question 1 Do you believe that human resource planning is important? Why or why not?

Human resource planning supports achieving organization goals and objective. It helps to
analyze the current position of organization, its achievements and targets. Human resource
planning also helps in knowing current need of an organization and select the right way for fulfil
the organizational need with the help of outsourcing. It helps for getting awareness of
organization and management of employees in order to help management achieve its aims and
objectives. Human resource planning ensures the right people recruited and working on the right
job and right place. It also helps in hiring skillful and talented staff for organization. Human
resource managers usually ensure that the right persons are hired for job, having ability to
complete their job and behave well at workplace.

Question 2 What do you know about the steps involved in the human resource planning
process?
There are 6 steps in the human resources planning process:
1. Define Organization Mission
- The mission statement defines what business the organization is in, including why
it exists, who its customers are, and the strategy goals set by senior management
to establish a target for the organization to achieve.
- The mission statement clarifies for all organizational members exactly what the
company is about.
2. Establish Corporate goals and Objectives
- In this process, the objective to be achieved in future in various fields such as
production, marketing, finance, expansion and sales gives the idea about the work
to be done in the organization.

3. Access Current Human Resources (HRMS: job analysis)

- During a corporate assessment, The SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats) determines what is needed to meet objectives.
- Human resources management determines what knowledge, skills and abilities are
needed by the organization’s HR through a job analysis.
- From the updated human resource information storage system, the current number
of employees, their capacity, performance and potential can be analysed. To fill
the various job requirements, the internal sources (i.e., employees from within the
organization) and external sources (i.e., candidates from various placement
agencies) can be estimated.

4. Compare Demand for and Supply of Human Resources

- The human resources required at different positions according to their job profile
are to be estimated. The available internal and external sources to fulfil those
requirements are also measured. There should be proper matching of job
description and job specification of one particular work, and the profile of the
person should be suitable to it.
- If the demand for human resources is greater than supply, that means the
corporate needs to hire more employees or internal person transfer to solve the
problem of manpower shortage.
 5. Estimating Manpower Gaps
- Comparison of human resource demand and human resource supply will provide
with the surplus or deficit of human resource. Deficit represents the number of
people to be employed, whereas surplus represents termination. Extensive use of
proper training and development programmes can be done to upgrade the skills of
employees.

6. Formulating the Human Resource Action Plan

- The human resources plan depends on whether there is deficit or surplus in the
organization. Accordingly, the plan may be finalized either for new recruitment,
training, interdepartmental transfer in case of deficit of termination, or voluntary
retirement schemes and redeployment in case of surplus.

After human resources planning, the corporation has to monitor, control and get the feedback. It
mainly involves implementation of the human resource action plan. Human resources are
allocated according to the requirements, and inventories are updated over a period. The plan is
monitored strictly to identify the deficiencies and remove it. Comparison between the human
resource plan and its actual implementation is done to ensure the appropriate action and the
availability of the required number of employees for various jobs.

Question 3 Explain the job analysis in detail.

Job analysis is the process of gathering and analyzing information about the content and the
human requirements of jobs, as well as, the context in which jobs are performed. This process is
used to determine placement of jobs. Job analysis defines the organization of jobs within a job
family. It allows units to identify paths of job progression for employees interested in improving
their opportunities for career advancement and increasing compensation. A relative value is
placed on the differing factors described in the Zone Placement Matrix. All new and existing
positions will be assigned to a job family and zone using the job analysis process. This process is
designed to place positions into families and zones based upon assigned duties, qualifications
and competencies as measured by the five criteria found in the Zone Placement Matrix. Job
analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job, it defines and documents the
duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of a job and the conditions under which a job is
performed. Moreover, organizations need to know what every employee’s job entails (what they
do, how they do it…) and involves gathering data about the job and interpreting what it means
about the tasks and responsibilities of the positions.

Question 4 Briefly explain the six general techniques for obtaining job analysis
information.
● Observation
A job analyst watches the person doing the work when the observation method is
used and takes notes to explain the tasks and duties performed. Observation can be
ongoing or dependent on sampling intermittently.
The use of the observation method is restricted since many workers do not have
job duties or full work cycles that are full and easily observed. Thus, for routine jobs and
in combination with other approaches, observation can be more useful. Using other
techniques, managers or job analysts can watch parts of a job being performed to gain a
general knowledge of the job and the conditions under which it is performed. In many
occasions, several observations can also allow them to more efficiently use some of the
other methods of job analysis.
● Individual Interview
The employees may attend individual interviews and answers to the relevant
questions may be registered. But this strategy is relatively time-consuming and
expensive. This approach is a prime tool used for data collection by the job analyst. The
work analyst contacts the employees and the managers involved and asks questions about
the different roles they do to gather the relevant data.
● Group Interview
A group interview is when several employees are interviewed at the same time by
an employee or team of employees, or when a team of employees forms a panel to
interview one candidate. Generally, in conference rooms, employers administer all forms
of group interviews to mimic a meeting or team project.
● Structured questionnaire
 A structured questionnaire is administered by the job analyst to employees who
then identify the tasks they perform in accomplishing the job. After completion, the
questionnaire is handed over to supervisors. The supervisor is supposed to discuss any
errors in the employee’s response with him make corrections and then the questionnaire
is given to the job analyst.
All work-related aspects, such as tasks and behaviours, must be covered by the
structured questionnaire. This approach is less time-consuming and economical to use,
but it is not an easy job to frame the questionnaires.
● Technical conference
This method utilizes senior job holders and supervisors with extensive knowledge
of the job. The interaction with the members during the interview adds insight and details
that the analyst might not get from individual jobholders.
● Diary
In this method, the employee outlines their daily work operations in a diary or log.
A job analyst is able to record the important features of work after reviewing the diary or
logging over a given period of time. This technique does not include any favourable data
on the relationship between the supervisor, the equipment used, and the working
conditions. It is time-consuming and expensive to manage logs.

Question 5 Describe the steps involved in conducting a job analysis.

Step 1
Identify the use to which the information will be put, since this will determine the types of data
you collect and how you collect them. Some data collection techniques like interviewing the
employee and asking what the job entails and what his responsibilities are. For example, some
people are good for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the job.
Step 2
Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process charts, and job
descriptions. Organization charts show how the job in question relates to other jobs and where it
fits in the overall organization. The chart should identify the title of each position and, by means
of its interconnecting lines, show who reports to whom and with whom the job incumbent is
expected to communicate.

Step 3
Select representative positions to be analyzed. This is done because it is important to evaluate
several related jobs and it is too time-consuming to analyze, say, all assembly workers' jobs.
Step 4
Next actually analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, required employee behaviors,
working conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job. For this, you would
use one or more of the job analysis techniques explained in this lesson.
Step 5
Review the information with job incumbents. The job analysis information should be verified
with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate supervisor. This will help to
confirm that the information is factually correct and complete. This "review" step can also help
gain the employee's acceptance of the job analysis data and conclusions by giving that person a
chance to review and modify your description of his or her job activities.
Step 6
Develop a job description and job specification. A job description and a job specification are
usually two concrete products of the job analysis. The job description is a written statement that
describes the activities and responsibilities of the job, as well as important features of the job
such as working conditions and safety hazards.
The job specification summarizes the personal qualities, skills, and background required for
getting the job done; it may be either a separate document or on the same document as the job
description.

Question 6 What is the difference between job descriptions and job specifications?

Job description is the written document that systematically summarizes all the details about a
particular job, including position, responsibilities and duties. For human resources managers, the
ample information as to what the job entails
gives recruiters a very good idea of what sort of person they should be looking for when
conducting interviews. It can also later be used by management to figure out what sort of training
will need to be given to the employee, as well as evaluating their performance further down the
road;
For candidates, the job description helps target the right people for the job because it clarifies the
responsibilities they would have if they were hired. For any potential employees job-hunting, the
description here is enough to let them know if they would be a good fit for the job and therefore,
decide if they want to pursue the position or not.

Job specification refers to the requirements of specific attributes, knowledge and experience that
a person must possess in order to perform a specific job. This is helpful not only to the person
applying, but to whomever is doing the hiring as well, since it clearly outlines eligibility
requirements.
For human resources managers, it enables them to understand the knowledge or experience the
candidate required;
For candidates, they can know about what’s the requirement to apply for the position.

In general, the job description tells the candidate what to do after applying, and explains all the
tasks and responsibilities expected to be performed for the job position; the job specification tells
the candidate what abilities they should have, and explains what experience and knowledge
should have to apply for the position. When posting a job opening, you will inevitably get many
applications that don’t fit the criteria. Some people will only read the job description and proceed
to apply. Using the job specification, you’ll quickly be able to see if they’re qualified or not. You
also may have people who read just the job specification and see they meet that criteria applying.
If you interview them, it’s important to reference the job description because, although they may
be qualified, they still may not be the best fit for the job based on other aspects.