1. PSYC 306
Lectures 5
Job Analysis

2. What is Job Analysis?
Formal methods for describing jobs and human attributes necessary for jobs.
Process should be systematic
Job is broken into smaller units
Results in some written product: Job Description
Two Major Approaches
Task-oriented (job description)
Person-oriented (job specification)
Unit of analysis is the job not the individual.

4. Purposes of Job Analysis
Selection: What sorts of people should we hire?
Performance appraisal
Training: What knowledge and skills are needed?
Vocational Counseling, Career development
Job classification, description, & design
Job evaluation: valuing a job
Legal defense
Essential functions: What tasks must be done?
Job relevance: Is KSAO necessary to do the job?

5. Figure 3.2 Relationship among tasks, positions, jobs, and job families.
Page 62
Fig. 3.2, p.62

6. Person-Oriented Job Analysis
Provides a description of the characteristics (KSAOs) necessary for a person to be successful in a particular job
KSAOs
Knowledge: Know to do a task
Skill: Can do a task
Ability: Capability to learn to do a task
Other personal characteristics: Other attributes needed

7. Examples Of KSAOs For Different Occupations
Job
Knowledge
Skill
Ability
Other
Lawyer
Constitutional rights
Writing clearly
Communica-tion
Willingness to work long hours
Nurse
Surgical procedures
Drawing blood
Remain calm in a crisis
Lack of squeamishness in the sight of blood
Plumber
Pipe design
Soldering joints
Hand-eye coordination
Willingness to get dirty
Teacher
Learning principles
Relate to children
Commitment to learning

8. How do we know what KSAOs are required for a job?
1. Engaging in a long and deep observation of the job and employee (rarely used technique).
2. Compare employees with very high and mediocre job performance on knowledge, skills, personality characteristics, and competencies.
3. Distribute structured questionnaires to many employees holding the same job and ask them to rate the importance of each KSAO to perform high in their job.
Benchmark with an external source – e.g., ONET.

9. Sources of Job Analysis Information
Who provides information?
Job analysts
Subject Matter Experts: SMEs
Job incumbents
Supervisors
Trained Observers
How to collect information?
Perform job
Observe employees on the job
Interviews SMEs
Survey SMEs
Employee logs

10. Sample Interview Questions
What is the job being performed?
What are the major duties of your position? What exactly do you do?
What physical locations do you work in?
What are the education, experience, skill, and [where applicable] certification and licensing requirements?
In what activities do you participate?
What are the job’s responsibilities and duties?
What are the basic accountabilities or performance standards that typify your work?
What are your responsibilities? What are the environmental and working conditions involved?
What are the job’s physical demands? The emotional and mental demands?
What are the health and safety conditions?
Are you exposed to any hazards or unusual working conditions?

11. Methods of Job Analysis
Job Components Inventory (JCI)
Functional Job Analysis (FJA)
Dictionary of Occupational Titles: DOT
Occupational Information Network: O*NET
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)
Task inventories

12. Position Analysis Questionnaire Sections
Information Input
Mental Processes
Work Output
Relationships with Other Persons
Job Context
Other Job Characteristics
Under Information Input:
Verbal Sources
Verbal instructions, orders, requests, conversations, interviews, discussions, or formal meetings (Consider only verbal communication that is relevant to job performance.)
Under Mental Processes:Decision Making
Indicate the level of decision making typically involved in the job, considering the number and complexity of the factors that must be taken into account, the variety of alternatives available, the consequences and importance of the decisions, the background experience, education, and training required, the precedents available for guidance, and other relevant considerations.
Under Work Output:Precision tools or instruments
Hand-held powered tools or instruments used to perform operations requiring great accuracy or precision, such as small dentist drills or laboratory equipment used for accurate or fine work.
Under Relationships with Other Persons:Advising
Counseling or guiding individuals with regard to problems to be resolved on legal, financial, scientific, technical, clinical, spiritual, or other professional principles.
Under Job Context:Awkward or confining work space
Conditions that are cramped or uncomfortable.
Under Other Job Characteristics:Repetitive Activities
Performance of the same physical or mental activities repeatedly, without interruption, for periods of time.

13. Sample Position Analysis Questionnaire
The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) developed by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham (1972) is a structured job analysis instrument to measure job characteristics and relate them to human characteristics. It consists of 194 job elements that represent in a comprehensive manner the domain of human behavior involved in work activities. The items that fall into five categories:
Information input (where and how the worker gets information),
Mental processes (reasoning and other processes that workers use),
Work output (physical activities and tools used on the job),
Relationships with other persons, and
Job context (the physical and social contexts of work).
Visit: and
Figure 3 - 4

14. Sample O*NET Information

15. What Information does Job Description contain?
Work activities (cleaning, selling, teaching, etc.)
Human behaviors (communicating, deciding, writing, etc. plus job demands such as lifting)
Machines, tools, equipment and work aids (Products made, materials processed, knowledge, services)
Performance standards
Job context (Working conditions, schedule, organizational context, social context)
Human requirements
Job-related knowledge and skills (education, training, work experience)
Personal attributes
(Aptitudes, physical characteristics, personality, interests)

16. Using on-line resources