Unit 3: Criteria & Job Analysis

Exam 1

What are “criteria”?

standards used to help make evaluative judgements

• 2 types: conceptual criteria and actual criterion

conceptual criteria vs actual criterion

• Conceptual criteria: theoretical standard that researchers seek to understand

  • Intellectual growth, emotional growth, citizenship

• Actual criterion: operational or actual standards that researchers measure or assess

  • GPA, adviser rating of emotional maturity, number of volunteer organizations joined in college

How do conceptual and actual criteria interact in psychology?

• Most things we study in psychology are abstract (conceptual criterion)

  • Physical qualities such as height, weight, and heart rate can be measured directly

  • Intelligence, job satisfaction, depression, etc need to be measured in a different way

• Thus, we need to use the actual criterion to measure the conceptual criterion

What is included in the criterion space?

• Criterion deficiency: the part of the conceptual criterion that is not measured by the actual criterion

• Criterion relevance: the degree of overlap or similarity between the actual criterion and the conceptual criterion

• Criterion contamination: the part of the actual criterion that is unrelated to the conceptual criterion

What is the goal demonstrated by the criterion space?

The goal is to maximize criterion relevance while minimizing criterion deficiency and criterion contamination

Explain the criterion space using the example of giving a test to determine “math ability”

• Conceptual criterion = math ability

• Actual criterion = score on a math test

• Contamination: Question #4 is unrelated to math

• Deficiency: where are all the questions about geometry, calculus, etc?

What does criteria matter for I-O?

• As I-O psychologists, we are interested in determining what makes a “good worker” and what criteria define “good work performance”

• This is where a job analysis (work analysis) comes in

work analysis (job analysis)

a formal procedure by which the content of work is defined in terms of activities performed and attributes needed to perform the work

What does a thorough job/work analysis capture?

• The tasks that are performed on the job

• The human attributes needed to perform the work (problem solving skills, typing skills, etc)

• The situation in which the work is performed (tools and equipments, working conditions, etc)

Importance of job analysis…

• in general?

• in selection?

• in training and career development?

• in performance appraisals?

• in legal issues?

• The purpose of a job analysis is…identify criteria of effective work performance for a job, so we can make informed decisions

• Selection - what are you looking for when you are hiring people to fill jobs?

• Training, promotion, and career development - what skills are important for employees to know about job positions?

• Performance appraisals - is the employee doing the job well?

• Legal issues - are you selecting, promoting, or firing employees based on non-essential things?

subject matter expert (SME)

a person knowledgeable about the job who can serve as a qualified information source

• SME has direct, up-to-date experience with the job and is familiar with all of its tasks

  • Includes: job incumbents, managers/supervisors, coworkers and colleagues, other job analysts, and customers

Getting information from multiple sources will ensure that you get complete job analysis information - Methods of collecting info for job analysis include…

• Direct observation

• Reading written material from the organization

• Interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs)

• Questionnaires (eg position analysis questionnaire (PAQ), taxonomy of human abilities)

• Occupation databases (O*NET)

O*NET

the primary public database in the United States used to find detailed information on job requirements, worker skills, and labor market characteristics for over 900 occupations

What criteria are used to evaluate job performance?

There is no single criterion applicable to all jobs

2 broad ways of categorizing job performance criteria:

• Objective performance criteria: a set of factors used to assess job performance that are (relatively) objective or factual in character

• Subjective performance criteria: a set of factors used to assess job performance that are the product of someone’s (eg supervisor) subjective rating of these factors

Name the common job criteria

• Production - e.g. how many units does an employee produce a day?

• Sales - eg how many units does an employee sell in a year

• Tenure or turnover - e.g. how long the employee has stayed with the organisation?

• Absenteeism - eg how often does the employee miss work?

• Accidents - e.g. how many safety violations does the employees get into each year?

• Theft - e.g. does the EE steal from the organisation?

• Counterproductive work behavior (CWBs) - eg behaviors that are harmful to the organization or other EEs

• Emotional labor - eg some jobs require that EEs express certain emotions to customers

• Organization citizenship behavior (OCBs) - how quickly the EE reacts to changes in the environment & goes beyond their role to help

For work analytic procedures, we need knowledge of four work-related concepts:

• Tasks: basic units of work that are directed toward meeting specific work objectives

• Position: set of tasks performed by single employee

• Job: set of similar positions in an organization

• Job family: grouping of similar jobs in an organization

There are two types of procedures:

• task-oriented

• worker-oriented procedures

what are task-oriented procedures? what are the types of tasks?

• Seek to understand work by examining tasks performed, usually in terms of what is accomplished

  • Consideration of work duties, responsibilities, or functions

  • Job analysis develop list of task statements

  • Usually SMEs rate each task statement on frequency and importance

• Types of tasks: People, data, things

  • People: interpersonal resources (sensitivity, compassion)

  • Data: mental resources (knowledge, reasoning)

  • Things: physical resources (strength, coordination)

  • Split into a hierarchy: some jobs may need a high level of People tasks, a medium level of Data tasks, and low level of Thing tasks

    • Ex. a teacher

worker-oriented procedures

• Seek to understand work by examining human attributes needed to perform it successfully

• Human attributes are classified into: knowledge (K), skills (S), abilities (A), and other (O) characteristics

linkage analysis

Technique that establishes the connection between the tasks performed and the human attributes needed to perform them

Example of linkage analysis - Task: “Greet and assist customers to determine their questions, needs, and reasons for their patronage”

KSAOs linked to this task:

• Actively listen and facilitate conversations in a professional manner

• Ability to comprehend oral and written information

• Positive, confident, and enthusiastic attitude and demeanor

• Etc

Competency modeling vs job analysis

• Job analysis

  • focuses on specific KSAOs

  • uses technical methods to elicit specific job information

  • does not attempt to link personal characteristics and their fit with the organization

• Competency modeling

  • is applied to a broad range of jobs

  • takes a more informal approach - done in group settings to identify competencies that align with the organization’s vision

  • uses personal characteristics of employees to see how they fit with the organization