workflow

Describe the process of workflow analysis. Provide an example of workflow analysis in your organization. Your response should be at least 75 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. 

96 PART 1 The Human Resource Environmen

t

L*’l Summarize the
elements of work flow

analysis.

Wotk Flow 0esign

The process of

analyzing the tasks

necessarY for the

production of a

product or service.

.!ob

A set of related duties

Position
The set of duties
(iob) performed bY a

particular Person.

This cl-ra;.,ter rliscr.rsses the analysis and clesign
of r’vork antf in cloing so’ lays out

some c.nsiclerarions that go into making.rt-fotlri.d
deci’sions about ho*’ to create and

link jobs. The chaprer;'””g;.;trh n lolk atthe big-picrure
issues related to analyz-

;;ffi ii;,; ;.i,.r;;;;;t.;n1 ,trr,.t.,r.. The discussion
rl-ren tllrns to the more

sr.ccific issues ol ,,,.’r’r;;t;;;]..[tit”‘”t ioh”‘ Traditionalll”
job arrallsis ha” ernpha-

:H i;- ,*,’;i.;;:i;;’;jub, ,n o’i., to rnake clecistotis
sttch rs er’plo1’ee selccriorr’

rrainir-rg, and compen;il.;;-rrrasr, job.design has
emphasized rnaking jobs more

e{ficient or rl1ore *”ri.;ri;^Ho.””r,.r, u, d-rl, .hup,.t
sho’uvs, the lrvo aclivities are

interreiated.

W*rk F[*w *r: *ngeffi€sm*t*rts

3
::.

ii
;

:

r ? vq ‘q
Lte co.text of the organization’s o’erall

lnformed decisions about jobs take
place- in t

.–..^-“^ .-.^^l-,..- rhA rcsLs
,li:i?’.L: TiTilf il”‘; ‘”* ;; ; ik’ 1′ ;t de s i g n’ *u’n9′”ll i:::’: :’.* : i:l :
HJIJjT ti;1”,:5.J t..rl.l “‘ ‘*’ ‘..”

ivt’r”‘
‘r”'”t:’r*’li’:::l’

i*”f:::i:i1:’,’#:::
:i il:ff :. i:i:'””a ti”*;;,. ( n i o P is,a se;,or’:111-:1 j::’;:: :^f#: H *n”ito speclllc JoL’)b z’ru PUi t-‘-^t laas rnany teaching posidons; the persotl
of duties performed by one pcrsoll :A

scnool, t , -r—.-^L.– \ R-.i,rrr thoqe r-lecisions
;l’l,TJ’::.T:ilil::: ;H’*f il’il””*n’r'” 1?Tr.l:::::l i,::lX”:*’:,*:::’:;filling eacn oI ttlose P()stltulrr ro l”Lrrvr!rrr-^b ,;;h”” the inore traditio’al practice of
“”

.*tf. florv design car-r lead to better result
looking at jobs inclivicluallY’

Work Ftow AnalYsis r L -.-. -,.
Belore clesiglrilrg its rr,ork fl.lrv, rlre orgatrizatitltr,.

plantrers need ro anaIyze \\,har lVorK

needs ro be done. Fig.,; 4. f ;lro*, ,i-rJ “i”,,’.r-,t,
of

^
ruork flo*’ analysis’ For each type

of u,ork, such as proa..Jr’rg u p.od.,., line
or providing a slrpport set’ice

(accounting’

legal support, and sc.r ;:-rh.’;;;ftoir iJ..rtii., th” o,.,tpr.,t
of the process’ the activi-

ries involr.ecl, ancl three categolies of
inputs: ,u* ir-,ptt” (materials and inforilration)’

“-H[“il.,, lf rl:Tl::T:,”J 1?”””,,r.’u”,0,nir, whe rher a de p ar r mellr, re am’ or ir.rcl i
–

‘idr_ral.
An ourpur .; #’;r’;;i11, id.,’,t f

‘
le as a .o,opitttd purchase order’ an

ernp toy rne’t *, r, :,, -“‘
i;, i” – *-i:’::i*,”

“iL,Tl
:n#Hiirll lT; Jt

i::uil:l::ii’:i:T.T5i:J'”i:ilti:-;’::., s,rch as col”pure'[s,
*u”v

“”’plov”.’
proc]ttceotheroutputs,sl.tchascolllponentsoftlreComputers,marketingplarrs,and
tuilcling sec*riry. \y”;t t1;;; ur’r”iy.l, identifies t6e

outpr-tts r:rf particular rvork *nlts’

The ar-ralysis considers .ot only the a’rount ;L”;”‘
bttt al’o ti.’?lt): sta.dards’ This

arrer-rtion ro ourpurs l;;;i;’t”.entiy gained artenrio’r
among HRM professiouals’

Horr,ever, it gir,es u .t.o'”,. vier,r, of lrow
,o i,’,.,.n,” the e{fectil.erress of each u’ork unit.

For the oLrrpr.lrs i.r”.irri”i, u,ork flo.uv analysis
then. examines the rvork pfocesses

rised to generate ‘1t”;;;;;;’-wo’k
prot;””; ale the activities that meinbers of

a rvot’k rrtrit eLrgage irr ro l’rocluce a
given otrtpttt’ Ever’1′ process consists ol opelar-

irg prucedtrr.cs thar spe.ifi, lr.r’ t6ings ,tto..,iJ’U” J’-‘n”‘oi
eac6 stage of tler,eloping

rhe orrrpr.rt. Th.r. n;::.;lr.r’i;i;;;;ii ;h. rasks
thar r’usr be perfo’rne’1 in pr.-

‘lucing
tl’re output’ i;;;11;’ il^””*’ti’ breaks down the

tasks into those perfor*re’l

b’ eacl-r Lrerson “-,
,i.,” *,.,ri. unir. Ti-,is “‘rfir..h;lps

rvit’ desig. of efficie’t work

sistems bv clarifying ‘uhitl-‘
tasks are,nett”t*’ iit”]tl’ tnhtt o tinit’s work

load

increases’ the unit irdcls people’ and rvhen
ti”” ‘i”t(

f””tl i”ttt^st” some members o{

16c rrrrir .r.^. l.rrs\.,n.,.,-rr.lrf, *’it6 u.r’elar…irrJtl”
an elfort to appeilr hrtsy’ with-

or-rr k.o*,ledse of *,ork processes, it is ,norl J’fft”t’
to iclentify s’hethet rl-re rvork

,lrr

rl

CHAPTER 4 Analyzing Work and Designing Jobs 97

Fig*r* 4″ 1
Developing a Work Flow

Analysis

ra-
)n,

)re

lIe

Raw lnputs

What materials,
data, and
information are
needed?

Equipment

What special
equipment,
facilities, and
systems are
needed?

Oqtp$t.i:”:r’..lt: , .,, :
-.,:..,.. ::..:., .l:. .:,’
What prodgct;, ‘, ,
information,

-1_ _-\)
_t _
) i\:

set

Llll
)11S

r-rf

di-
an

rch
rat
ees

urd
its.
his
als.

elt.
ises

;of
:at-
ing
)ro-

red
ork
:ad
sof
th-
ork

lacrlttres, ano ; ;-
systems are :

I

needed? ; I_***r

I
I

Human Resources i Ill
What knowledge, i I
skills, and abilhies

rrk
‘pe

rlgl
vi-
n),

are needed by t
those performing I
the tasks? :

t

unit is properly staffed. Knowiedge of work p{ocesses also can guide staffing changes
,,,har’, ,”o.k is automated, outsourced, of restrllctured. At some companies, so mttch
effort has gone into analyzing and refining work processes to improve efficiency that
rvhen demand plummeted in the fecent recession, layoffs*as great as they rvere-
were less than rvhat the decline in sales would have predicted. For example, the South

Carolina manufacturing plant of Parker Hannifin Corporation needs so few people to
run rhe facility and each person is so knorvledgeable that the colnpany cannot oper-
are rhe piant if it lays off any workers. In addition, at companies like surgical-device
maker Conmed, rvork processes have become so flexibie that the conpanies adjust to
changes in demand gradually as rhey occur, rather than piling up inrrentory and then
halting and later resuming production.2

The final stage in r.l’ork flow anaiysis is to identify the inputs used in the developrnent

of the rvork unit’s product. As shou,n in Figr:re 4.1 , these inputs can be broken dor’vn
inro the ral,inputs (rnaterials andknowledge), equipment, andhuman skills needed to
perforn-r the tasks. In the mortgage banking industry, the inputs required for servicing
ioans increased drarnatically after the financial crisis and econotnic recession made
repayrnenf impossible for a rvave of borrowers. The federal governfient launched the
Horne Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), ir-r which loan servicers-who
traditionally handled just the routine tlansactions of paying off a home loan*were
expected to work with borrou’ers to arrange ner.v deals they could afford. Loan servicers
sLrddenly needed many more people, and these people needed skills in working rvith
the public as well as technical knor.viedge for determining rvhat borrowers can afford
to pay, u’hat their home is rvorth, and what documents are required to modify a loan

98 PART 1 The Human Resource Environment

under HAMP. The servicers aiso needed colnputer softwale
and hardware for processing ail the data and docurnents’ The
challenge of quickly providing these new inputs is so great that

some servicers are simply outsourcing the whole process to
specialists.3

Work Flow Design and an Organization’s
structure
Besides iooklng at the work florv of each process’ it is important

Firefighters work as a team. They and their to see how the work fits within the context of the organization’s
equipment are the “inputs” (thev do the work), and structure. Within an organization, units and individuals must
the “output” is an extinguished l’::y ]lt]:t” cooperare to create outpurs. Ideally, the organization’s strLrcture

*iff:’::#,:T::::l-ilHil’il:il.:1:i?’l’ brings together the people who must collaborate to erricientlv
to create an elfective leam. lf these firefighters prod,rc. the desired outputs’ The sti’ucture may do this in a way
are rrained to do anypart of the job, theihief can lhat is highiy cenffalized (that is, u,ith authority concentrated
deploy them rapidly as needed. in a few p”ople at the top of the organization) or decentralized

(with auihority spread among many people)’ The organization

LGf Describe how
may group jobs according to functions (ior example’ welding’ painting’ packaging)’ or

work flow is related it may set up divisions
to focus on products or customer groups’

to an organization,s Altho.,gh there are an
infinite number of ways to combine the erements of an

structure. organizationt structure, we can make some
general observations about structure and

*&k d.rig.r. If the strucrure is srrongly based on function, rvorkers tend to have lorv
r.rtho.ity?.rd to work alone at highly specialized jobs’ Jobs that involve tearnwork or

broad responsibiliry ter-rd to ,.q.ilr.
.u

,trrr.,u.” based on divisions other than func’

ii*r. Wh”” the goal is to empolver employees, companies therefore need to set up
,iru.r.,r”, and job] that enableiroad ,erpontibility, such as jobs tha.t i.volve ernploy’

ees i1 serving a particular gtoup of customers or producing a particular product,
rather

than performir-rg a narrowiy d&”.d function- The organizalion’s structure also affects
*urug.rr’ jobs. Managing a diyision responsibie for a product or customer group tends

,o ,”q*ri.. more experie.,”.. ur-rd cognitive (thinking) abiiity than rnanaging a depart-

ment that handles a particular function’4
\york desig., ofte., emphasizes the analysis and design of iobs, as described in the

remainder of Ini, .hupt… Ahhough all of these approaches can zucceed, each focuses

or. or-r. isolated job ai a time. The”se approaches do not necessarily consider how
that

,^gi” i.U fits into the overall *ork flo* or structure of the organization.
To use these

;;;iliU,”., effectively, human resource personnel should also understand their orga-
nizarion as a whole. As rhe “HR Oopsl” emphasizes, without this big’picture appre’

ciation, they mighr redesign a job in u *uy ,hu, makes sense for the particular
job but

l”*3 Define the
elements of a 1ob
analysis, and discuss
their signi{icance
for human resource

management.

Job Analysis
The process of getting

detailed information

about iobs.

is out of line with the organization’s work flow, strllcture, or strategy.

Jsb ,Analysis
To achier,e high-quality performance, organizations have to understand and match

irll”.irir.*.i* u.,d p.opi.. This understanding requires iob analysis, the process
tf;;;rfu Jetailed ir-,formatior-, about jobs. Analyzing jobs and understanding what is
required to carry out a job provide essenrial knowledge for staffing, training,

perfor-

,rl”-a.. Upp.Uisal, and tlrur-ry oth”, HR activities. For iustance, a supervisor’s evaluation

.i”” .*pf”Vee’s rvork should be based on performance relative to job requiremer’lts’
ln very ,*uli orgurlzarions, li’e managers may 1-rerform a job analysis’ but usually the

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