1. Industrial and Organizational Psychology Job Analysis
Copyright Paul E. Spector, All rights reserved, March 15, 2005

2. What is Job Analysis
JOB ANALYSIS: Family of formal methods for describing jobs and human attributes necessary for jobs.
Answers Two Major Questions
1. What do people in a particular job do? (Task oriented)
2. What human characteristics are necessary for a job? (Person oriented)
 Unit of analysis is the job not the individual.
 Deals with tasks/requirements for all positions within a job classification or title rather than individual people's jobs

3. Major Job Analysis Concepts
KSAO
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
 Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Job incumbents
Supervisors

4. Examples Of KSAOs For Different Occupations
Job
Knowledge
Skill
Ability
Other Personal Characteristics
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

5. Purposes of Job Analysis
Career development
Career ladder: What does it take to move up?
Human resource planning
Project future needs: What kinds of people will we need?
Legal defense
Essential functions: What tasks must be done?
Job relevance: Is KSAO necessary to do the job?
Performance appraisal
Selection: What sorts of people should we hire?
Training: What knowledge and skills are needed?
Research

6. Sources of Job Analysis Information
Sources Of Job Analysis Data
Analyst
Subject Matter Expert: SME
Incumbent
Supervisor
Records
Data base
Dictionary of Occupational Titles: DOT
Occupational Information Network: O*NET

7. Data Collection Approaches
Questionnaire
Interview
Diary
Observation
Doing work

8. Specific Methods of Job Analysis
Critical incidents
 Functional job analysis: O*NET & its predecessor DOT
 Positional Analysis Questionnaire, PAQ
 Task inventory
Choosing a method: Depends on purpose
Job analysis for teams

9. Job Evaluation
Formal, typically mathematical, means of calculating value of job (not individual) to an organization.
Steps:
1. Job analysis to Identify important compensable factors
2. Rate factors on importance (quantitative weights)
3. Rate each job on factors
4. Combine ratings for job
Uses:
Evaluate salary levels to determine equity
Set salary levels for existing jobs
Determine salary levels for new jobs
Comparable worth