Industrial Psychology: Job Analysis and Evaluation

Job Analysis and Evaluation

• Job analysis is the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about the job's responsibilities, duties, tasks, and skills required to perform the job.

Task Inventory

• A task inventory is a list of tasks that an employee performs on the job.
• Task statements should include an action and an object.
• Optional elements of a task statement include where the task is done, how it is done, why it is done, and when it is done.

Writing Task Statements

• A well-written task statement includes all required elements and is concise and clear.
• Poorly written task statements can be improved by adding specific details about the task.

Task Analysis

• Task analysis involves rating each task statement based on frequency and importance.
• Tasks must exceed a critical threshold to be included in the analysis.
• Ratings include frequency, importance, complexity, time spent, and criticality.

Rating Task Statements

• Frequency ratings:
  • 0: Task is not performed as part of the job
  • 1: Task is seldom performed
  • 2: Task is occasionally performed
  • 3: Task is frequently performed
• Importance ratings:
  • 0: Unimportant; no negative consequences if not performed
  • 1: Important; job performance would be diminished if not completed
  • 2: Essential; job could not be performed effectively if not completed properly

Job Competencies or Job Specifications

• Job competencies include:
  • Knowledge: a body of information needed to perform a task
  • Skill: proficiency in performing a learned task
  • Ability: basic capacity for performing a wide range of different tasks, acquiring knowledge, and developing skills
  • Other characteristics: personal factors like personality, willingness, interest, and motivation, and tangible factors like licenses and degrees

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• A structured job analysis method developed by McCormick.
• Contains 194 items organized into six main dimensions:
  • Information input
  • Mental processes
  • Work output
  • Relationships with other persons
  • Job context
  • Other job-related variables

Job Structure Profile (JSP)

• A revised version of the PAQ developed by Patrick and Moore.
• Includes item content and style, new items to increase discriminatory power of intellectual and decision-making dimensions, and an emphasis on having a job analyst.

Job Elements Inventory (JEI)

• Developed by Cornelius and Hakel (1978).
• Contains 153 items and has a readability level appropriate for an employee with a tenth-grade education.

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

• Designed by Fine (1955) as a quick method for analyzing and comparing thousands of jobs.
• Jobs are broken down into the percentage of time spent on three functions: data, people, and things.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)

• A directory published by the federal government that supplied information for almost 30,000 jobs.

Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

• A job analysis system used by the federal government that replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).

Critical Incident Technique (CIT)

• Developed by John Flanagan to identify critical behaviors on the job.
• Supervisor records employee behaviors that were observed on the job and rates the employee based on that record.

Threshold Traits Analysis (TTA)

• A 33-item questionnaire developed by Lopez to identify traits necessary to successfully perform a job.

Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS)

• A job analysis method in which jobs are rated on the basis of the abilities needed to perform them.

Job Adaptability Inventory (JAI)

• A job analysis method that taps the extent to which a job involves eight types of adaptability.