Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management Review 18 (2008) 87–99

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Human Resource Management Review

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / h u m r e s

Job analysis for a changing workplace

Parbudyal Singh ⁎,1

School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords:

Strategic job analysis

Job analysis

Changing workplace

Competency modelling

a b s t r a c t

Job analysis sits at the heart of all human resource practices, making it a critically important

management activity in every organization. However, with increasing competition, shorter

product life-cycles, rapid technological innovations, and the changing nature of organizational

structures, its underlying assumptions are becoming increasingly questionable in today's

dynamic work environment. Moreover, the methods used by traditional job analysis are simply

not applicable to many new and emerging jobs and some authors feel it may even be an

obstacle to organizational success. This has led to calls for a more proactive and strategic

approach to job analysis so that the procedures will continue to be relevant. In this article, I

emphasize the need for a strategic approach to job analysis, present a strategic job analysis

framework, and discuss implications for organizations.

© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Job analysis may be viewed as the hub of virtually all human resource management activities necessary for the successful

functioning of organizations (Gael, 1988a; Mirabile, 1990; Oswald, 2003; Siddique, 2004). At the heart of almost every human

resources management program or activity is the need for accurate and thorough job information. Job analysis is thus a

prerequisite activity for the effective management of human resources. However, many important assumptions that underlie such

fundamental uses...