These three activities form the foundation of human resource management. They answer: What should each job contain? What does the job actually involve and require? How much is the job worth compared with other jobs?

The logical order is: job analysis comes first (it supplies the facts), job descriptions and specifications are written from it, and job evaluation uses those documents to rank or grade jobs. Whenever a new job is created or an existing job changes substantially (for example, after an electronic health record replaces paper charting), a new job analysis is needed.

Job description vs. job specification

Approaches to job design

Job scope vs. job depth. Scope = the number and variety of tasks (horizontal). Depth = the degree of control, autonomy, and responsibility for planning and evaluating one's own work (vertical). Enlargement raises scope; enrichment raises depth.

Herzberg's two-factor theory underlies enrichment: hygiene factors (pay, policies, working conditions) prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility, the work itself, growth) create satisfaction.

Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model

These states lead to high internal motivation, quality performance, satisfaction, and lower absenteeism and turnover.

Methods of job analysis

Collecting data from several sources (the job holder, supervisor, peers, subordinates) reduces bias and improves the accuracy of the resulting documents.

Methods of job evaluation

Job evaluation rates the job, not the person holding it. Personal characteristics such as age, personality, or years of service are not compensable factors of the job. After point totals are calculated, jobs are grouped into grades and linked to a pay line or salary schedule.

Steps a nurse manager follows when a unit's work changes (for example, a new electronic record system):

1. Conduct a job analysis of the affected positions (observation, interviews, work logs).
2. Revise the job descriptions (new documentation duties, downtime procedures) and job specifications (required computer competency).
3. Plan training for the new requirements.
4. Update performance standards to match the revised description.
5. If duties change the level of responsibility substantially, request a review of the position's classification.

Philippine government context. In government hospitals, positions are classified and assigned a salary grade under the government's position classification and compensation system administered by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), with pay rates set by the Salary Standardization Law. Nursing positions follow a ladder from Nurse I to Nurse VII, each with its own grade — a practical example of the classification method of job evaluation. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) sets qualification standards (the job specification) for each position.

Designing motivating nursing jobs: give nurses ownership of a client group (task identity), involve them in care planning and unit decisions (autonomy), share outcome data such as fall or infection rates (feedback), and connect their work to client stories (task significance).

• Chief nurse / nurse manager: keep job descriptions current; ensure each description matches actual practice and the scope of nursing; take part in job evaluation committees; design jobs that combine efficiency with motivation.
• Head nurse: supply accurate information during job analysis; use job descriptions for orientation and appraisal.
• Staff nurse: participate honestly in job analysis (interviews, work logs); know one's own job description and work within it.
• Job evaluation committee: should include people who understand the jobs (unit managers, representatives of job holders) and human resource specialists, so results are valid and accepted.

• Job specifications must reflect the law. Every registered nurse position requires a valid Philippine nursing license (RA 9173). Supervisory and managerial nursing positions must meet RA 9173 Section 29 qualifications (experience in nursing service administration and graduate units in management; stricter requirements for the chief nurse).
• Salary floor in public institutions. RA 9173 Section 32 sets the minimum base pay of nurses in public health institutions at not lower than Salary Grade 15.
• Equal pay for work of equal value. The Labor Code (Article 133, formerly Article 135) makes it unlawful to pay a woman less than a man for work of equal value — job evaluation that rates the job, not the person, supports this.
• Job descriptions and scope. A job description cannot legally expand a nursing attendant's role into licensed nursing functions, nor require a nurse to act outside the scope of nursing practice.
• Ethics. Fair job evaluation supports distributive justice; hidden or inconsistent grading erodes trust.

Case 1 — Enrichment vs. enlargement. A ward changes from task-based work to having each nurse plan, give, and evaluate total care for five clients. Technique: job enrichment (vertical loading: more autonomy and responsibility). Why not enlargement: enlargement only adds similar tasks.

Case 2 — First step after change. A hospital introduces bar-code medication administration, changing nurses' duties. What comes first? Job analysis — then revise the job description and specification. Why: all later HR steps (training, appraisal, pay) depend on accurate job information.

Case 3 — Choosing a job evaluation method. A private hospital wants a detailed, defensible system to set pay across 40 positions and can afford the time to develop it. Best choice: point method. Why: it rates each compensable factor and is the most objective, though costly to build.

Case 4 — Rating the job, not the person. During job evaluation, a committee member proposes extra points for a position because its current holder is very experienced and well liked. Correct response: exclude personal attributes; experience of the incumbent is addressed through performance appraisal and step increments, not job worth.

• Reversing the order: job evaluation needs job analysis first.
• Mixing up the job description (the job) with the job specification (the qualifications of the person).
• Calling job rotation "enrichment" — rotation moves the person; the job itself is unchanged.
• Calling added similar tasks "enrichment" — that is enlargement.
• Rating the person (age, personality, seniority) during job evaluation.
• Saying the point method is simple — it is the most detailed and costly to develop; ranking is the simplest.
• Forgetting that paired comparison is a type of ranking.
• Forgetting that job evaluation sets internal equity; market pay surveys address external competitiveness.

• Sequence: job analysis → job description + job specification → job evaluation → pay structure.
• Job description = duties and conditions of the job; job specification = minimum qualifications of the person.
• Job analysis methods: observation, interview, questionnaire, work log, critical incident technique.
• Job simplification (Taylor) = efficient but monotonous; rotation = moving between jobs; enlargement = horizontal (scope); enrichment = vertical (depth), most motivating.
• Hackman–Oldham: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback.
• Job evaluation methods: ranking (simplest), classification (grade descriptions; civil service), point (most used, objective, costly), factor comparison (benchmark jobs, factor by factor).
• Evaluate the job, not the person.
• Philippine government nurse positions are classified from Nurse I to Nurse VII with salary grades; RA 9173 Section 32 sets a floor of Salary Grade 15 for nurses in public health institutions.