Job Analysis Methods: PAQ, JSP, and JEI

Using Other Job Analysis Methods

• Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a structured instrument developed at Purdue University by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham (1972).
• The PAQ contains 194 items organized into six main dimensions, including information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other job-related variables like work schedule, pay, and responsibility.
• Job Structure Profile (JSP)is a revised version of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)
• Job Structure Profile (JSP) is designed to be used more by the job analyst than by the job incumbent and includes new items to increase the discriminatory power of the intellectual and decision-making dimensions
• Job Elements Inventory (JEI) is a structured job analysis technique developed by Cornelius and Hakel similar to the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) but easier to read
• The JEI contains 153 items and has a readability level appropriate for an employee with only a tenth-grade education and may be a better replacement for the difficult-to-read PAQ.
• Functional Job Analysis (FJA) is a job analysis method developed by Fine.
• Functional Job Analysis (FJA) rates the extent to which a job incumbent is involved with three functions: data (information and ideas), people (clients, customers, and coworkers), and things (machines, tools, and equipment).

Methods Providing Information About Tools and Equipment

• Job Components Inventory (JCI) was developed by Banks, Jackson, Stafford, and Warr (1983).
• Job Components Inventory (JCI)consists of more than 400 questions covering five major categories, with a focus on worker requirements rather than specific tasks: tools and equipment, perceptual and physical requirements, mathematical requirements, communication requirements, and decision making and responsibility.

Methods Providing Information About the Work Environment

• "Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse" (AET) is German for “ergonomic job analysis procedure."
• "Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse" (AET) is considered ergonomic, and is concerned with the relationship between the worker and work objects.
• "Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse" (AET) was developed in Germany by Rohmert and Landau (1983)
• "Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse" (AET) is a 216-item, standardized questionnaire.
• A job analyst might us AET to obtain information about the work environment.

Methods Providing Information About Competencies

• The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a national job analysis system created by the federal government to replace the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).
• O*NET includes information about the occupation (generalized work activities, work context, organizational context) and the worker characteristics (ability, work style, occupational values and interests, knowledge, skills, education) needed for success in the occupation..
• O*NET also includes information about economic factors like labor demand, labor supply, salaries, and occupational trends.

Other Job Analysis Techniques

• Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is the job analysis method developed by John Flanagan that uses written reports of good and bad employee behavior.
• The Job Components Inventory (JCI) provides information about the perceptual, physical, mathematical, communication, decision making, and responsibility skills needed to perform the job.
• Threshold Traits Analysis (TTA) is a 33-items questionnaire developed by Lopez that identifies traits necessary to successfully perform a job.
• The 33 items in the TTA cover five trait categories: physical, mental, learned, motivational, and social.
• TTA’s main uses are in the development of an employee selection system or a career plan.
• The Personality-Related Position Requirements Form (PPRF) was developed by Raymark, Schmit, and Guion (1997) to identify the personality types needed to perform job-related tasks.
• The PPRF consists of 107 items tapping 12 personality dimensions that fall under the "Big 5" personality dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability).
• The PPRF is reliable, shows promise, and could be a useful job analysis instrument for identifying the personality traits necessary to perform a job.

Job Evaluation

• Job evaluation is the process of determining the monetary worth of a job, typically done in two stages: determining internal pay equity and determining external pay equity.
• Internal pay equity involves comparing jobs within an organization to ensure that the people in jobs worth the most money are paid accordingly.

Determining Compensable Job Factors

• The first step in evaluating a job is to decide what factors differentiate the relative worth of jobs.
• Possible compensable job factors include level of responsibility, physical demands, mental demands, education requirements, training and experience requirements, and working conditions.
• Once the compensable factors are selected, the next step is to determine the levels for each factor.
• For a factor like education, the levels are easy to determine (e.g., high school diploma, associate's degree, bachelor's degree).
• For factors such as responsibility, a considerable amount of time and discussion may be required to determine the levels.

Determining External Pay Equity

• With external equity, the worth of a job is determined by comparing the job to the external market (other organizations).
• External equity is important if an organization is to attract and retain employees.
• Organizations use salary surveys to determine external equity.
• Salary surveys are a questionnaire sent to other organizations to see how much they are paying their employees in positions similar to those in the organization sending the survey.
• Direct compensation is the amount of money paid to an employee (does not count benefits, time off, and so forth).
• Employees are also compensated via pay for time not worked, deferred income, health protection, and perquisites (“perks”).
• Pay audits should be conducted to ensure that employees are not paid differently on the basis of gender or race, in addition to analyses of internal and external equity.
• Two types of audits should be conducted: one that looks at pay rates of employees within positions with identical duties (equal pay for equal work) and a second that looks at pay rates of employees in jobs of similar worth and responsibility (comparable worth).
• Identical Duties (Equal Pay for Equal Work) ensures all employees performing the same job, with the same duties, receive the same compensation, regardless of factors like gender, race, or other personal characteristics.
• Similar Worth and Responsibility (Comparable Worth ensures jobs of equal value to an organization are compensated equally, even if jobs are different in terms of duties or responsibilities.
• Jobs requiring similar skills levels, efforts, and working conditions, should receive similar pay, regardless of gender or other personality discriminatory factors

Legal Issues in Employee Selection

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a branch of the Department of Labor that investigates and prosecutes complaints of employment discrimination.
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ensures that employers provide fair and equal treatment to employees and job applicants, regardless of factors such as race, gender, religion, disability, age, or national origin.

Legal Process

• A grievance system is a process in which an employee files a complaint within the organization, and a person or committee within the organization makes a decision regarding the complaint.
• If employees don't like the decision from the grievance system, they can then take their complaints to the EEOC.
• Employees can formally submit complaints about discrimination, harassment, unfair treatment, wage disputes, or violation of workplace rules.
• Mediation is a method of resolving conflict in which a neutral third party is asked to help the two parties reach an agreement.
• The mediator does not make decisions or impose outcomes but helps guide the process to a resolution
• If a the parties cannot reach a solution via mediation, the complaint can be taken to arbitration or to the EEOC.
• Arbitration is a method of resolving conflicts in which a neutral third party makes a decision as to which side is right.
• Binding arbitration is a method of resolving conflicts in which a neutral third party is asked to choose which side is correct, and neither party is allowed to appeal the decision.
• Nonbinding arbitration is a method of resolving conflicts in which a neutral third party is asked to choose which side is correct, either party may appeal the decision.

Determining Whether an Employment Decision Is Legal

• A protected class is a group of people who are legally protected from discrimination based on specific characteristics or attributes.
• Protected class attributes often include race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, and sexual orientation or gender identity
• A federally protected class is any group of individuals specifically protected by federal law.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) is a federal law that, with its amendments, forbids discrimination against an individual who is over the age of 40.
• Discrimination against people with disabilities by the federal government or by federal contractors is forbidden by the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Discrimination against the disabled by any other employer with 15 or more employees is forbidden by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits federal government contractors or subcontractors from discriminating against the physically or mentally handicapped.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law passed in 1990 that forbids discrimination against the physically and mentally disabled.
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978 is a federal law protecting the rights of pregnant women.
• Adverse impact is when a particular employment decision results in negative consequences more often for members of one race, sex, or national origin than for members of another race, sex, or national origin.
• Adverse impact is usually determined by the four fifths rule.
• With the four-fifths rule, the percentage of applicants hired from one group is compared to the percentage of applicants hired in the most favored group, and if it is less than 80% adverse impact is said to exist.
• Job relatedness is the extent to which a test or measure taps a knowledge, skill, ability, behavior, or other characteristic needed to successfully perform a job.

Harassment Prevention

• Quid pro quo is when the granting of sexual favors is tied to an employment decision, such a promotion or salary increase.
• Hostile environment is a pattern of unwanted conduct related to gender that interferes with an individual's work performance.
• Courts have ruled that comments, unwanted sexual or romantic advances, or the display of demeaning posters, signs, or cartoons can be considered harassment, even though men and women differ in their perceptions of what constitutes harassment.
• To avoid liability, an organization must have a well-conceived policy regarding sexual harassment.
• The organization must communicate it’s sexual harassment policy to its employees, and must enforce that policy.
• A sexual harassment policy must explain the types of harassment
• The policy should list the names of the company officials to whom an employee should report any harassment
• Organizations are also responsible for harassment committed by vendors, customers, and other third parties.

Privacy Issues in the Workplace

• The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable search or seizure by the government.
• The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment is important to I/O psychology in the area of drug testing and locker searches.
• Several courts have ruled that drug testing is considered a “search” and that, therefore, drug testing programs must be reasonable and with cause to be legal in the public sector,
• The Fourth Amendment is limited to public agencies, such as state and local governments.
• Government regulation may require drug testing, but private industry is not restricted by the Fourth Amendment unless required by regulation.
• The Drug-Free Workplace Act requires federal contractors to maintain a drug-free workplace.
• Drug testing of current employees by a public agency must be based on "reasonable suspicion" and with "just cause."
• Reasonable suspicion means there is a reason to suspect that employees are using drugs at work, based on prior cases.
• Such suspicion can be produced from a variety of sources, including "tips" that employees are using drugs, accidents or discipline problems, actual observation of drug usage, or physical symptoms of being under the influence.
• Office and locker searches are allowed under the law as long as they are reasonable and with cause.
• Allowing employees to place their own locks on lockers, however, removes the right of the organization to search the locker.