Job Analysis: How to Figure Out What the Job Actually Entails Despite What the 30-Year-Old Job Description Says How to Figure Out What the Job Actually Entails Despite What the 30-Year-Old Job Description Says Dale J. Dwyer, Ph.D.

First Things First Tasks are the building blocks of jobs. Jobs are the building blocks of the organization. To understand the requirements to attract, develop and retain employees, we need to understand what the job entails. We do this by looking at job descriptions. But where does this information come from in the first place? All components of a job begin with tasks, and all components of organizations are arranged around jobs. Take, for example, a start-up mom-and-pop grocery store or other concern that splits tasks by who is good at them or who likes them. As the business expands, the tasks are grouped together by similarity of tasks, not by person (e.g., ordering, inventory, stocking). In a much larger corporate grocery store, a manager oversees a department that consists of similar jobs (e.g., warehouse, dairy products, health and beauty, etc.). To make the most efficient and effective decisions about how to structure an organization, we have to know what tasks are required and how those tasks are grouped together into jobs. The best way to do that is to have a good understanding of what each job entails—in essence, by doing a job analysis.

Job Analysis A job analysis is a systematic process to collect data about work activities; equipment; context; and the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) required of the job. It examines a job’s mental and physical requirements; the KSAs necessary for job success; the environment where work is carried out; and the job’s primary and secondary functions. It is a legal safeguard for many HR practices. Job analyses are usually done through interviews and questionnaires. Remind students that the job analysis entails the most essential functions, work context, and skill requirements of the job. Its purpose is to identify the experience, education, training and other qualifying factors, possessed by candidates who have the potential to be the best performers of the job to be filled. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also mandates that essential functions be clearly understood and documented in case an applicant or employee requests a reasonable accommodation. Job analysis provides some legal grounds for candidate selection by establishing what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable selection criteria.

What Jobs Should Be Analyzed? Jobs whose content has changed. Jobs where adverse impact in hiring has occurred. Entry-level jobs. Jobs in which incumbents have poor performance or high turnover. Generally speaking, a job analysis should be conducted about every three years just to make sure any substantive content changes or KSA requirements are captured. However, there are other reasons that would indicate that it may be time for a job analysis. The issues noted on the slide (high turnover, chronic poor performance, adverse impact) may indicate problems in the job requirements, which then likely influence selection and training decisions.

What’s Wrong with this Job Description? Essential Duties and Responsibilities of a RECEPTIONIST: Professionally administer all incoming calls. Ensure phone calls are redirected accordingly. Greet guests in a professional, friendly and hospitable manner. Open and close visitor area (locking doors, closing blinds, turning off lights). Type memos, correspondence, reports and other documents. Perform a variety of clerical duties. Qualifications/Requirements: • Excellent phone etiquette. • Excellent verbal communication skills. • Punctual. • Able to work with minimum supervision. • Should be customer service-driven. • Knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access). • Able to multi-task. • Professional appearance. • High school diploma or GED. • Minimum one year experience. Students should be able to answer this question with some or all of the following observations: Incomplete description of what essential duties and responsibilities are required (e.g., “a variety of clerical duties”). Incomplete description of how essential duties are performed and at what level (e.g., what is involved in “typing memos…and other documents”?). Incomplete description of what is meant by several key words (e.g., excellent, professional, experience).

Job Components Identify job components by answering: What does an incumbent actually do? What are the duties, responsibilities and performance expectations? What KSAs are needed for success? What are the conditions--location, physical and social needs, supervision needs, etc.-- under which the job is performed? The data that is collected has little or no use until it has been properly organized into knowledge, skills, abilities and work environment. Job analysis is concerned with facts about only the job, not the worker.

Job Analysis Process Decide on the job(s) to be analyzed. Decide on the people who will provide job data. Decide on the method to gather job data. Meet with selected employees (manager and incumbents) to explain process and method. Collect data. Prepare final job analysis data form. Send to manager and incumbents for feedback. Revise if needed. Create the job description and send to manager for approval. Decide on job(s) to be analyzed. This decision is usually prompted by one of the conditions listed on slide #4. Decide on persons who will provide job data. Usually the manager and job incumbents are included here. Try to get at least one incumbent, but up to three incumbents can provide different perspectives. Incumbents with varying experience and tenure in the job often provide different insights. Decide on the method to gather job data. There are several methods (interviews, questionnaires, etc.) covered on slides #8-11 with their benefits and limitations. Meet with selected employees (manager and incumbents) to explain process and method. This is crucial. Many people completing job analysis questionnaires or interviews do not give full information unless they are shown the depth of information required. The job analyst (HR professional) should make sure they understand how detailed they should be in their answers. If a checklist is used (for example, the Position Analysis Questionnaire or PAQ), it is important to also get narrative information from the incumbents and managers to get full accounts of how job tasks are done. Collect data. Job analysis data should be checked for completeness and accuracy. Individual interviews can be helpful in filling in any missing pieces. Prepare final job analysis data form. The job analyst (HR professional) should compile all the information onto one form. Send to manager and incumbents for feedback. The people who have provided data should be given a chance to correct and amend what the job analyst (HR professional) has interpreted from the data collection before it becomes official. Revise, if needed. Create the job description and send to manager for approval. The manager generally has the final say on the job description information, so it is important to have the appropriate persons “sign off” on the final job analysis and job description.

Benefits and limitations Job Analysis Interviews and Questionnaires

Job Analysis Interview Most frequently used method. Interviews with incumbents and supervisors. Assumes a thorough familiarity with the job. Best when conducted using a structured format. Used to identify critical job tasks. Task statements are written to describe what the worker does, to what or whom, to produce what outcome, using what tools, equipment, processes, etc. The job analysis interview is the most popular way to collect job analysis information. There are some downsides, however, as indicated on the next slide.

Limitations to Job Analysis Interviews Heavily dependent on interviewing ability. Takes time and may not be cost-efficient if there are a number of jobs to analyze. Incumbent may distort information to reflect a more complex job. It is important to verify information with other incumbents and supervisors. Should not be relied upon as the only source of information.

Job Analysis Questionnaire Task inventories are usually the most widely used. Contains demographic data, listing of job tasks and rating scales, as well as working conditions, equipment used, etc. Can help combat some of the shortcomings of the interview method. Can be bought or designed. Usually specific to one job or job family. HOWEVER -- Still time-consuming and costly. Literacy issues. Usually the best way to accomplish job analysis data gathering is to combine the questionnaire with a follow-up interview. Giving one or more incumbents the questionnaire, followed by an interview that clarifies what they indicated on the questionnaire, provides the benefits of both methods and minimizes the detriments of each.

Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures, 1978 Not a law, but certainly a mandate to validate employment tests. Contains extensive rules and statistical procedures about how an employer may determine if selection criteria are job-related. Job analysis is virtually a requirement to validate employment tests. “Any validity study should be based upon a review of information about the job for which the selection procedure is to be used. The review should include a job analysis except as provided in section 14B(3) of this section with respect to criterion-related validity. Any method of job analysis may be used if it provides the information required for the specific validation strategy used.” From the Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures. NOTE: The Department of Labor web site, http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_41/Part_60-3/toc.htm, provides accurate and complete information regarding the Uniform Guidelines.

Legal Issues For Job Analysis: Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures Must be for a specific job, not merely a generic job category. Should be in writing. Should detail the job analysis procedures used. Data should be collected by a knowledgeable analyst. Sample size should be large and representative. Must include tasks, duties and activities. KSAs must be listed. Competency levels for entry-level jobs must be specified. 80 percent of the required KSAs should be reflected in tests. The legal standards noted have been established by the Uniform Guidelines and by case law. The instructor could find a number of examples that demonstrate the importance of having job analyses adhere to these standards.

Job Analysis and the ADA The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990. The act was designed to aid citizens with disabilities to fully participate in society. Job analysis plays a key role in compliance with this act. Job analysis helps identify the essential functions of the job that the incumbent must be able to perform with or without accommodation. Because the act requires selection based on the essential functions of the job, job analysis is all the more vital. Identifying the essential functions of jobs through job analysis has benefited covered workers by opening up job opportunities to them that were never there before.

Which Approach Should I Use? Is it ready to use? Can it be used for a variety of jobs? Can it be compared across analysts? Is it user-friendly? How large a sample? Will it provide reliable results? Will it support UGESP* requirements for test validation? Is it useful for developing selection tests? How costly is it in terms of both time and money? Decisions to use off-the-shelf questionnaires, organization-specific questionnaires, structured interviews, or a combination of different methods can be made by answering several questions, as indicated on this slide. Smaller organizations usually have a much smaller sample of job incumbents in any one job; therefore, a job analysis technique that can be used for a variety of jobs, that doesn’t require a large sample and that is cost-efficient is generally more attractive for these organizations. * Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 1978

How to Interpret a Job Analysis Refer to the job analysis handout; note the different approaches to job analysis, with benefits and drawbacks. First, look at the job analysis information (key activities) about “WHAT” is accomplished and “HOW” it is accomplished: Knowledge Skills Abilities Work environment Extract the major points from each aspect and decide how to word the dimensions and use the weighting to scale the importance of each. Students should be given a sample job analysis and taken through the process of translating the answers from an interview or a questionnaire into a set of knowledge, skills, abilities and work environment (see job analysis handout). Instruct students to write a brief job description that summarizes the major components of the job. This is not an exact science, and students will need to work through the difficulties of “translation.” The job analysis-performance appraisal exercise takes the next step—creating a performance appraisal that is based on the KSAs and work environment required of the position. Use the job analysis handout for the sample Receptionist position.

Once the Job Analysis is Done Job analysis data can be used to: Create job descriptions. Contribute to the content in recruitment advertising. Determine appropriate selection tests. Assess training needs. Conduct wage and salary evaluation. Determine performance criteria and standards. Provide legal documentation for protection against discrimination lawsuits. Once a job analysis has been performed and the data understood, the information is ready to be used for many different HR tasks. That is why we consider job analysis the “cornerstone” of human resource management—it provides data for many HR functions. EXAMPLES: Use job analysis data to determine which selection tests to use to predict job performance. Create a job evaluation instrument that enables HR to price jobs relative to other jobs in the organization (to ensure internal equity). Create career ladders that highlight the differences between jobs in a hierarchy (e.g., identifying the different KSAs required of a sales representative, a sales manager and a district sales manager).