Ranking Method is the simplest form of job evaluation method. The method involves ranking each job relative to all other jobs, usually based on some overall factor like ‘job difficulty’. Each job as a whole is compared with other and this comparison of jobs goes on until all the jobs have been evaluated and ranked. All jobs are ranked in the order of their importance from the simplest to the hardest or from the highest the lowest. The importance of order of job is judged in terms of duties, responsibilities sand demands on the job holder. The following steps are involved in ranking jobs.
- Obtain job information – The first step of ranking method of job evaluation is the job analysis. Job descriptions for each job are prepared and these are the basis on which the rankings are made. The job ranking method usually ranks jobs according to ‘the whole job’ rather than a number of compensable factors.
- Select raters and jobs to be rated – Ranking all the jobs, at a time, is usually not possible. The more usual procedure involves ranking jobs by department or in ‘clusters’ i.e. factory workers, clerical workers and so on. This eliminates the need for having to compare directly, say, factory jobs and clerical jobs.
- Select compensable factors — In the ranking method, it is common to use just one factor, for instance job difficulty, and to rank jobs on the basis of ‘the whole job’. Regardless of the number of factors you choose, it is advisable to carefully explain the definition of the factor(s) to the evaluators so that they evaluate the jobs consistently.
- Rank jobs – Next, the jobs are ranked. The simplest way to do this involves giving each rater a set of index cards, each of which contains a brief descript of a job. These cards are then ranked from lowest to highest.
- Combine rating – It is usually to have several raters rank the jobs independently. Finally, divide all the ranked jobs into appropriate groups or classifications by considering the common features of jobs such as similar duties, skills, or knowledge required. All the jobs within a particular group or classification receive the same wage or range of raters. Then, once this is accomplished, the rating committee can simply average the ranking.
Merits — Ranking method of job evaluation has the following merits in terms of its procedure, resources involvement and operational mechanisms.
- It is the simplest method.
- It is quite economical to put it into effect.
- It is less time consuming and involves little paper work.
Demerits — The ranking method of job evaluation has the following demerits in terms of validity and reliability.
- The main demerit of the ranking method is that there are no definite standards of judgement and also there is no way of measuring the differences between jobs.
- It suffers from its sheer un-manageability when there are a large number of jobs.