Reference no: EM132209849

It is not always easy to analyze someone's work. Perhaps we, as humans, tend to either over justify or under justify other people's jobs. Somehow things often seem greener on the other side of the fence, as the saying goes. Then again, how can we design a job we know little or nothing about?

Read the "HR Oops!" on page 100 and discuss how these findings could complicate performing a job analysis. What might happen if recent trends in job analysis are included in these findings? How do you design and analyze jobs given flextime, job sharing, and teleworkers?

HR OPPS:

Workers Often Lack Resources to Do Their Jobs

Work flow analysis spells out the human and other resources needed for carrying out well-defined tasks that will meet objectives. Success requires the right people with access to resources including equipment and information. However, research suggests that some of these inputs may be missing at many organizations.

In a survey of more than 500 U.S. workers in different industries, AtTask, a maker of project management software, found that large numbers of workers are struggling to meet objectives on time—if they even know what their objectives are. According to AtTask, 60% of the workers said they are completely overwhelmed or barely meeting deadlines.

Responses to other questions in the survey point to some possible causes. One-third of the workers said they are unable to turn in assignments on time because some resources they need are not available. Even more (about 50%) say their organizations do not have enough people to get all the necessary tasks finished unless people work overtime. More than a third of them say they are only somewhat, a little, or not clear about desired outputs—how their work is measured or how their supervisor defines success.

Questions

What consequences might an organization expect to result from the conditions described by the AtTask survey?

How might an organization use work flow analysis to prevent some of these problems?