Job Analysis 2

Review: job analysis

• systematic process of defining jobs and identifying the human attributes required to perform

  • job oriented approach - describe work activities performed

  • person oriented approach - describe the KSAOs needed

Knowledge: facts and information
• Skills: competencies or learned capacities
• Abilities: relatively enduring basic capacities
• Other Characteristics: (e.g., personality,
interests, or values)

Job context/environment

• in addition to tasks and KSAOs, job analyses can also focus on the job context and work environment

• This can matter A Lot for understanding the types of jobs you would enjoy the most (and best perform in)

Competency Models (alternative to job analysis/organization level) - worker oriented

• Collections of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that are needed for effective performance in the jobs in question
  • Describe general worker requirements at organization-level
  • Competency Models = Job analysis + Organizational goals
  • Gained popularity in 1990’s
  • Tend to focus more on ‘other’ characteristics (e.g., personality traits/values)

Competency Models

• major appeals compared to job analysis (a) easier to create, (b) more general, written in company language

• Limitations (A) typically don’t identify KSA’s for specific jobs, (B) validity research may be less rigorous

Critical Incidents Approach

• Ask job incumbents to describe behaviors that have been “critical”, examples of either very good or bad job performance - focusing on one critical incident

  • strength: useful for identifying key behaviors that discriminate (in)effective job performance

  • weaknesses: (a) fragmented perspective, (b) doen’t lead to clear identifications of KSAO’s, (C) may overlook important everyday behaviors

(airplane pilot critical incident)

The Occupational Information Network: ONET

• the primary source of occupational information in the united states

The occupational information network:

• ONET is based on four principles:

  • “multiple windows” or descriptor domains

  • common language

  • uses occupational taxonomy from broad to specific

  • comprehensive content model

ONET content model

• they get this info from job incumbent surveys

Challenges of Job analysis: Rater Influences

• 20-30% error variance is KSAO ratings

  • cognitive ability (intellegence) explains some of this variance

• Brainstorm: what other factors might affect how job incumbents or supervisors repsond to job analysis surveys?

  • work performance

  • performance level

  • personality

  • gender/age.other demographics variables

  • social factos (impression management, conformity)

The importance of rater training

1.) provide definitions of rating dimensions

2.) define scale anchors

3.) describe behaviors for each dimension

4.) allow raters to practice

5.) provide feedback on practice

Job Evaluation (how to pay)

• determining value of jobs to organziation, based on their contribution

  • quantitative

  • fairness is key

• point system method

  • subjecr matter expert use job analysis to identitfy org-wide compensable facotrs

  • jobs are assigned points based on above

Point System Method

• common compensable factors:

  • effort and performance

  • skill level/prep

  • responsibility

  • working horus and conditions (Ex, night shift

    • non traditional ones include:

      • stress, conflict or risk exposure

point system visualized

Job evaluation: societal and legal issues

• pay can also depend on other factors, including: external labor markets, union pressures, job tenure, counter-offers, etc

• equal pay act (1963)

  • Equal pay for equal work ( ≈ same skills, effort,
    responsibilities, and/or working conditions)
    • ...however, does not address equal pay for
    dissimilar jobs

    
    

Job analysis and layoffs

• how do companies decide to layoff?

  • often decisions are based on a combination of economic factors, job/organizational analysis, and/or job performance ratings