A Study on Job Evaluation-Point Factor Analysis in Sme's Pandey Jatin, M.B.A., MSc-IT, B.E.(C.S. & Engg.), M.B.A., Leelashree M., B.E.(C.S. & Engg.), M.B.A. S.J.C.E., Mysore Online published on 11 May, 2012. Abstract Job evaluation developed out of civil service classification practices and some early employer job and pay classification systems. Whether formal job evaluation began with the United States Civil Service Commission in 1871 or with Frederick W. Taylor in 1881, it is now over 120 years old and still of great value. The first point system was developed in the 1920s. Employer associations have contributed greatly to the adoption of certain plans. The spread of unionism has influenced the installation of job evaluation in that employers gave more attention to rationalized wage structures as unionism advanced. During World War II, the National War Labour Board encouraged the expansion of job evaluation as a method of reducing wage inequities. As organizations became larger and larger and more bureaucratized the need for a rational system of paying employees became evident. Wage structures became more complex and needed some way to bring order to the chaos perpetuated by supervisors setting pay rates for their employees on their own. Job evaluation became a major part of the answer. The techniques and processes of job evaluation were developed and perfected during this time period of the late 1950s. With the advent of the Civil Rights movement, job evaluation literally got written into the law. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required jobs to be compared on the basis of skill, effort, and responsibility to determine if they were or were not equal. A 1979 study of job evaluation, as a potential source of and/or a potential solution to sex discrimination in pay, was made by the National Research Council under a contract from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The study suggested that jobs held predominantly by women and minorities could be undervalued. Such discrimination resulted from the use of different plans for different employee groups, from the compensable factors employed, from the weights assigned to factors, and from the stereotypes associated with jobs. Although the preliminary report failed to take a position on job evaluation, the final report concluded that job evaluation holds some potential for solving problems of discrimination. Job evaluation is used throughout the world. Although recent evidence is not available, it appears that job evaluation is still more prevalent in the United States than elsewhere. However, a 1982 International Labour Office publication states that in centrally controlled economies or in economies where wage or income controls exist, job evaluation is frequently used. Furthermore, England and Canada are showing increases in the use of job evaluation at a time when there are declines in its usage in the U.S. Holland has had a national job evaluation plan since 1948 as a basis for its national wages and incomes policy. Sweden and Germany have a number of industry-wide plans. Great Britain, like the United States, usually employs job evaluation at the plant or company level. Australia and some Asian countries have installed some forms of job evaluation. Russia and some of the other Eastern European countries make wide use of job classification. Top |