UNIT – I Lesson 1 HRM – AN OVERVIEW Lesson Outline Nature of ...

Once the jobs that are to be evaluated are listed out, the committee sets its tasks
towards analyzing the jobs and preparing job description statements with regard to each of
them. The next activity would be to select the method of evaluation to be adopted, keeping
in mind organizational constraints and the job factors. This activity is followed by the
classification of jobs in order of importance. Once installed, the scheme of job evaluation
should be reviewed periodically. The review should also benchmark at model
organizations emerging out to be the best paymasters in the perception of prospective
employees.
4.9.1. Methods of Job Evaluation:
There are four commonly adopted major methods of job evaluation, each with their own
inherent strengths. They are called ranking method, job classification method, factor
comparison method and point method.
Ranking Method: The raters examine the description of each job being evaluated ad
arrange the job in order according to their value to the company. Thus all jobs are rank
ordered and pairs of jobs could be compared. Prior to this, the organization would have to
conduct job analysis and job description. It is the simplest of all methods and is
inexpensive. A major hurdle in using this method is that it does not measure the
differences between the jobs belonging to two ranks. Thus, the magnitude of the difference
between the jobs ranked first and second, may not be the same as the magnitude of the
difference between jobs ranked third and fourth.
Classification Method (Job Grading Method): This method involves defining a number
of grades or classes to describe a collection of jobs. The team of raters compares the job
description with the class descriptions based on jobs at various difficulty levels. It is
simple to understand and easy to use. But at times, the grade descriptions could be
ambiguous and overlapping.
Factor Comparison Method: The raters make decisions on separate aspects or
factors of the job as they evaluate jobs. The five universal job factors are
• Mental requirements, which reflect traits such as intelligence, reasoning and
imagination.
• Skills pertaining to psychomotor coordination and interpretation of sensory
impressions and the experience, education and training required to acquire them in
requisite levels.
• Physical requirements that involve sitting, standing, walking, lifting etc.
• Responsibilities that cover areas such as handling raw materials, equipments,
machinery, public relations, employees, money, records and supervision.