Applied Psychology in

Human Resource
Management
seventh edition
Cascio & Aguinis

PowerPoint Slides developed by

Ms. Elizabeth Freeman
University of South Carolina Upstate

9-1
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 Chapter 9

Analyzing Jobs
and
Work
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 Chapter 9

Analyzing Jobs
and
Work
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 What does it mean
to analyze a job?

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 Job Descriptions
(work to be done)

+ Job Specifications
(necessary personal
characteristics)
_______________________________________________________

= JOB ANALYSIS
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 Job Analysis Issues

• Is the concept of “Job” a

social artifact?
• Will all employed workers be
self-employed?
• Just what is the impact of the
Internet on human resources?
• Do we continue to need
traditional job analyses?
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 How do you use
job analysis
information?

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Job Analysis Uses

1. Organizational Design
2. Human Resource
Management
3. Work & Equipment Design
4. Additional Uses

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1. Organization Design
Organizing work flow
Human resource
planning
Role definitions

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 2. HR Management
* Job evaluation
* Recruitment
* Selection
* Placement
* Orientation
* Training & Development
* Appraisals
* Promotions
* Career Planning
* Labor Relations
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 3. Work & Equipment
Design

* Engineering design
* Job design
* Methods improvement
* Safety

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4. Additional Uses

* Vocational guidance
* Rehabilitation counseling
* Job classification systems
* HR research

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 What is the language
of job analysts?

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 Element – smallest unit of
observable work

Task – distinct activity for

specific purpose

Duty – large segment of work

Position – one or more duties

for 1 person
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 Job – group of positions w/
similar duties
Job Family – group of jobs w/
similar worker characteristics
Occupation/vocation – similar
jobs, different organizations,
different times
Career – sequence of positions,
jobs, occupations of 1 person
during working life
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 How do you complete
a job analysis?

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 There are many ways to analyze
jobs.

The purpose of the analysis will

influence the type of job analysis to
be completed.

Examples include:
determination of competitive salary
or
determination of equipment needs
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 Job Analysis Techniques
1. Activities / attributes
2. General / specific
3. Qualitative / quantitative
4. Taxonomy-based / blank slate
5. Observers / incumbents or
supervisors
6. KSAs / KSAOs
7. Single job / multiple jobs
comparisons
8. Descriptive / prescriptive
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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

1. Activities / attributes:
what gets done =
activities (work, tasks)
how it gets done =
attributes (worker)

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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

2. General / specific:
brief descriptions for
comparisons between jobs
detailed as in individual
assessments for employment

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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

3. Qualitative / quantitative:

narrative – career planning

numeric scales – job
comparisons

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Job Analysis Techniques Explained

4. Taxonomy-based / blank slate:

Position Analysis Questionnaire
(PAQ)
Fleishman Ability Requirements
Scales (FJAS)
General work activities, broad range
of jobs
Specific tasks lists for unique jobs

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Job Analysis Techniques Explained

5. Observers / incumbents or
supervisors:
trained job analysts
people in the jobs
(incumbents)
supervisors of those in the
jobs

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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

6. KSAs / KSAOs

Knowledge Skills Abilities (KSA)

Knowledge Skills Abilities &
Other Characteristics (KSAO)
Attribute-oriented analysis limited
versus necessary attributes plus
personality traits, values, and
attitudes

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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

7. Single job / multiple jobs

comparisons:

defining an entry level position

defining a career path within an
organization

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 Job Analysis Techniques Explained

8. Descriptive / prescriptive:

typical to describe existing job

may be defining future jobs or
may reflect strategic job changes

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 Job analyses result in
job descriptions
&/or
job specifications

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 What does it mean
to describe a job?

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To describe a job is to determine

1. Job Title
2. Job Activities & Procedures
3. Working Conditions &
Physical Environment
4. Social Environment
5. Conditions of Employment

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 1. Job Title – for reporting purposes

2. Job Activities & Procedures –

tasks, materials, machinery,
interactions, supervision

3. Working Conditions &

Physical Environment –
heat, lighting, noise,
indoor/outdoor, hazards,
office space
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 4. Social Environment – work group,
interactions

5. Conditions of employment –
hours, wages, benefits, opportunities
for promotion

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 With the job analysis completed
& the job description developed,
what about job specifications?

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JOB SPECIFICATIONS may or may not =
JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Job Specifications define the

minimums necessary to perform job

(Minimum qualifications: MQs)

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 Job Specifications –
May be used as guidelines for
recruitment, selection, placement,
development

May be included in Job Descriptions

May be separate documents

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 Remember:

when developing minimum

qualifications (MQ’s),
the MQs must be fair,
equitable, valid, and reliable

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 MQ’s legally accepted Methodology:

1. Develop tasks list & KSAs for job

2. Identify group of Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs)
3. Separate groups of SMEs
4. SME groups rate the tasks & KSAs
5. SMEs meet to give opinions
6. Job Analysts produce MQ profiles
7. SMEs describe barely acceptable
employee & revise MQ profile as
needed

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With regard to MQs reliability & validity

Reliability = consistency
Task data shows higher reliability
than work data
Analysts show higher reliability
ratings than incumbents
Validity = performance accuracy
Validity ratings harder to quantify
The greater the descriptive data,
the higher the validity

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 How do you collect the job
observation data to produce
the analyses’ descriptions
and specifications?

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 1. Direct observations of job
incumbents by analysts
2. Performing & documenting the
job by analysts
Both assume:
job is stable over time & situation
observations do not distort the job
Neither appropriate for analytical jobs
Functional Job Analyses (FJA) useful
what worker does
what gets done
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FJA – functional job analysis
Position – job title
Duty: general responsibility
Task: exactly what gets done
What – to/for whom, to/for what
Why – purpose of action
How – tools, instructions
Worker Functions –
Data
People
Things
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 More about FJA
Worker functions
0 Synthesize
1 Coordinate
2 Analyze
3 Compile
4 Compute
5 Copy
6 Compare
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 More about FJA
People functions
0 Mentor
1 Negotiate
2 Instruct
3 Supervise
4 Divert
5 Persuade
6 Speak-signal
7 Serve
8 Take instruction
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 More about FJA
Things
0 Set up
1 Precision
2 Operate, control
3 Drive
4 Manipulate
5 Tend
6 Feed
7 Handle
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 FJAs result in coded jobs

can be tracked for changes over time

can be valued for compensation
can be evaluated for training needs
can determine education levels
can be objective rather than biased

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 How do you make sure
that FJA interviews
produce necessary
information?

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 Questions should:

• be related to purpose of analysis.

• be clear & specific.
• not lead to implied answers.
• not indicate socially acceptable
answers.
• not ask for information that
interviewee would not logically
have.
• not ask for intimate information.
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FJA interviews improve when:

Interview several job incumbents

Have several interviewers conduct
same interview with same
interviewees
Have several interviewers interview
different incumbents
Conduct interviews over time
Conduct interviews over varying
situations

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OTHER FJA INTERVIEW IMPROVEMENTS

1. Subject Matter Expert (SME) Panels

2. Questionnaires

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1. SME Panels:
May include up to 10 – 20 % of job
incumbents, supervisors
Should represent race, gender, age,
location, culture, shift, & situations
Openly discuss – best, good, & worst
per position
- training needs
- necessary KSAOs

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2. Questionnaires
(task inventories &
checklists):
Can be administered to large
groups
Can collect quantifiable data
May be expensive to develop
May be subject to
misunderstandings

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Another important
job analysis tool

Position Analysis Questionnaire

(PAQ)

more behavior oriented than task

oriented
uses statistical analyses for
objectivity

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More PAQ information
194 job items or job elements
5 categories

* information input
* mental processes
* work output
* relationships with other people
* job context

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PAQ limitations

better suited to blue-collar

manufacturing jobs

behavioral similarities may mask

task differences

requires college-level reading ability

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Other job analysis tools
1. Job Element Inventory (JEI)
2. Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS)
3. Critical Incidents
4. Job Analysis Wizard
5. Personality Dimensions
a. NEO Job Profiler
b. Personality-related Position
Requirements Form (PPRF)
6. Strategic Job Analyses
7. Competency Modeling

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1. Job Element Inventory (JEI)

developed to address reading level

153 items
structured questionnaire
10th grade reading level

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Fleishman Job Analysis Survey
known as the F-JAS
describes jobs by minimum abilities
cognitive
psychomotor
physical abilities
sensory / perceptual
interactions / social
knowledge/skills/abilities
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 Critical Incidents

anecdotes from incumbents,

supervisors, observers
particularly good performances
particularly bad performances
indicates both static & dynamic
aspects of jobs

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 Job Analysis Wizard (JAW)

thousands of different work

elements
broad work- and worker-related
dimensions
fuzzy logic to determine how new
knowledge fits with existing job
knowledge
automation of entire job analysis
process
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 Personality Dimensions
& Job Analysis

Interest is in personality as an
indicator of job performance
NEO Job Profiler based on the Big 5
PPRF (personality-related position
requirements form)

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Competency Modeling
Job Analyses

Worker oriented rather than

job focused
Relates worker characteristics to
organizational goals

17 comparison areas
10 areas of evaluative criteria
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A final source for
job analysis information

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Occupational Information – from
the Dictionary of Occupational
Titles to the O*Net
first published in U. S. 1930s
last published 1991 > 12,000 jobs

O*Net is job specific

does not allow comparisons for
similarities & differences

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O*Net Information Categories

Experience
Worker requirements
Occupational requirements
Occupation-specific requirements
Worker characteristics
Occupational characteristics

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 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United
States of America.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

publishing as Prentice Hall
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