Ch. 2

• Job Analysis


  A thorough job analysis, also called work analysis, is the foundation for almost all human resource activities
• Job Description


  A brief, two-to-five-page summary of tasks and job requirements found in the job analysis
• Job Analysis


  Determining the work activities and requirements
• Job Analysis and Job Description is the basis for many HR activities
• Job Analyses yield lists of job activities that can be systematically used to create training programs
• Worker mobility


  If individuals are hired for a particular job, to what other jobs can they expect to eventually be promoted and become successful
• Peter Principle


  Promoting employees until they eventually reach their highest level of incompetence
• Job Analysis enables a human resources professional to classify jobs into groups based on similarities in requirements and duties
• Job Classification is useful in determining pay levels, transfers, and promotions
• Job Analysis information can also be used to determine the worth of a job
• Job Analysis can be used to determine the optimal way in which job should be performed
• One legally acceptable way to directly determine job relatedness is by job analysis
• Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection (1978) contain several direct references to the necessity of job analysis
• Job Analysts often become aware of certain problems within an organization
• Job Title


  Describes the nature of the job, aids in employee selection and recruitment, provides workers some kind of identity, can affect the perceptions of the status and worth of a job
• Job Context


  The environment in which the employee works, including stress level, work schedule, physical demands, level of responsibility, temperature, number of coworkers, degree of danger, and any other relevant information
• Work Performance


  The job description should outline standards of performance, containing a relatively brief description of how an employee's performance is evaluated and what work standards are expected
• Job Specifications or Competencies


  The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that are necessary to be successful on the job
• Preparing for a Job Analysis

  1. Conducted by a trained individual in the human resources department, job incumbents, supervisors, or outside consultants

  2. College interns can also be used
• The job description should be updated if a job changes significantly
• Job Crafting


  The informal changes that employees make in their job
• All employees should participate in job analysis
• Committee-based job analysis


  A group of subject matter experts meet to generate the tasks performed, the conditions under which they are performed, and the KSAOs needed to perform them
• Field-based job analysis


  The job analyst individually interviews/observes a number of incumbents out in the field
• High-performing employees generated different job analysis outcomes than did low-performing employees
• More experienced employees rated tasks differently than less experienced employees
• There is a small significant difference in the ways in which white and African American incumbents viewed their jobs
• Job analysis ratings were related not only to the race of the incumbent but also to the race of the incumbents' co-workers
• There could be possible differences in how different genders viewed their jobs
• Personality of the incumbent was related to the personality traits rated by the incumbent to be important to the job
• People with different perspectives on the job produce different job analysis results
• For some jobs that involve intricate work, extensive, and expensive efforts have been undertaken to identify the optimal way in which tasks should be performed
• Formal Requirements


  Typing letters or filing memos
• Informal Requirements


  Coffee making or picking up the children from school
• Conducting Job Analysis


  1. Identify the tasks performed

  2. Write Task Statements

  3. Rate Task Statements

  4. Determine Essential KSAOs

  5. Selecting Tests to Tap KSAOs
• Task Statements


  Must contain an action (what is done) and an object (to which the action is done), usually also including where the task is done, how, why, and when
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs)

  Competencies (job specifications) needed to perform the job
• Using Other Job Analysis Methods

  Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) - contains 194 items organized into six main dimensions: information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other job-related variables
• KSAOs


  • Competencies (job specifications)
• Developing KSAOs list


  1. List of essential KSAOs developed

  2. Another group of SMEs rates the extent to which each KSAO is essential for performing the job