CHAPTER 2

• Job description


  A brief summary of the tasks and job requirements found in the job analysis
• Determining the work activities and requirements


  Job analysis
• Peter Principle


  The idea that organizations tend to promote good employees until they reach the level at which they are not competent
• Performance appraisal instrument


  Forms that use vague categories to evaluate employees, such as 'dependability,' 'knowledge,' and 'initiative'
• Job classification


  Useful for determining pay levels, transfers, and promotions
• Job analysis interview


  Obtaining information about a job by talking to a person performing it
• Grade in job classification


  A cluster of jobs of similar worth
• Competencies


  The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics needed to perform a job
• Job description should be updated if a job changes significantly
• Job crafting


  A process in which employees unofficially change their job duties to better fit their interests and skills
• Subject-matter experts (SMEs)


  Sources such as supervisors and incumbents who are knowledgeable about a job
• Job analyst


  The person conducting the job analysis
• SME conference


  A group job analysis interview consisting of subject-matter experts (SMEs)
• Task inventory


  A questionnaire containing a list of tasks each of which the job incumbent rates on a series of scales such as importance and time spent
• A properly written task statement is required to contain an action (what is done) and an object (to which the action is done), where the task is done, how it is done, why it is done, and when it is done
• Competency modeling


  When competencies are tied to an organization's strategic initiatives and plans rather than to specific tasks
• Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)


  A method providing general information about worker activities, organized into six main dimensions: information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other job-related variables
• Advantages of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)


  • Inexpensive, takes relatively little time, results for a particular position can be compared through computer analysis with thousands of other positions, and appears to yield the same results regardless of how familiar the analyst is with a job
• Disadvantages of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

  • Results would be difficult to use for functions such as training or performance appraisal. b) Developers of the PAQ recommend that trained job analysts complete the PAQ rather than the employees themselves. c) Designed to cover all jobs; but limited to 194 questions and six dimensions, it has not proven very sensitive. d) Similar profiles also are obtained regardless of whether an analyst actually observes the job or just looks at a job title or a job description. e) Having a large amount of information about a job yields the same results as having little information.
• Changes made in the revised version of the Job Structure Profile (JSP)


  Include item content and style, new items to increase the discriminatory power of the intellectual and decision-making dimensions
• Job Elements Inventory (JEI)


  Developed by Cornelius and Hakel (1978) and consists of 153 items
• The readability level of the Job Elements Inventory (JEI) is appropriate for an employee with only a tenth-grade education
• Functional Job Analysis


  To analyze and compare thousands of jobs based on the extent to which a job incumbent is involved with functions in the categories of data, people, and things
• First step in many job analysis methods


  A small group of subject matter experts meets to identify the key functions of a job
• Functions for which the incumbent spends time in the FJA method


  • Data
  • People
  • Things
• Points assigned in the FJA method

  In multiples of 5, with each function receiving a minimum of 5 points
• Major categories covered by the Job Components Inventory (JCI)


  • Tools and equipment
  • Perceptual and physical requirements
  • Mathematical requirements
  • Communication requirements
  • Decision making and responsibility
• JCI method


  • It is the only job analysis method containing a detailed section on tools and equipment
• Published research indicates the JCI method is reliable, can differentiate between jobs, and can cluster jobs based on their similarity to one another
• Limitation of the JCI method compared to the PAQ method


  • It is affected by the amount of information available to the analyst
• In the JCI method, the job analyst still needs information about the conditions under which the activities are performed
• AET


  AET stands for 'Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse', which means 'ergonomic job analysis procedure'
• AET method


  Developed in Germany by Rohmert and Landau in 1983
• Dimensions of AET


  • Work system analysis – includes work objects, equipment, work environment
  • Task analysis
  • Demand analysis – demands on perception, decision, response/activity
• Sample AET items


  • Weight of materials
  • Danger of materials
• O*NET


  The job analysis system used by the federal government that has replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)
• Information included in O*NET


  • Occupation (generalized work activities, work context, organizational context)
  • Worker characteristics (ability, work style, occupational values and interests, knowledge, skills, education) needed for success in the occupation
• O*NET includes information about labor demand, labor supply, salaries, and occupational trends
• Critical Incident Technique (CIT)


  A method providing information about competencies
• Critical Incident Technique (CIT)


  Developed by John Flanagan and his students at the University of Pittsburgh in the late 1940s and early 1950s