Job Analysis Process: Steps, Techniques, and Results

Steps in the Job Analysis Process

1. Determine who will do the analysis and get top management buy-in the process.

2. Choose jobs that are critical to the success of the company and have a sufficient number of employees in them.

3. Review what has already been written about the job. One important source of information is the Occupational Information Network.

4. Select job agents, people who will provide job information, such as incumbents (people currently doing the job), supervisors, or job analysts (experts).

5. Collect job information through interviews, questionnaires, and observations.

Job Analysis Techniques

Job analysis interview: Face-to-face meeting with the purpose of learning about a worker’s duties and responsibilities.

Job analysis questionnaire: A series of written questions that seeks information about a worker’s duties and responsibilities.

Job analysis observation: The process of watching workers perform tasks to learn about duties and responsibilities.

Task Analysis Inventory: The job agents provide ratings concerning a large number of tasks.

• Most analyses require responses for at least 100 different task statements.

• These task statements usually begin with an action verb that describes a specific activity.

• Ratings for frequency of performing the task range from “never performed” to “performed most of the time.” Ratings might also be made for time spent on the task.

• Ratings for task importance usually range from “not important” to “extremely important.”

Job Analysis Results

Critical-incidents technique: Identifies good and bad on-the-job behaviors. Job agents are asked to generate a number of statements that describe behaviors they consider particularly helpful or harmful for accomplishing work. Each statement includes a description of the situation and the actions that determined whether the outcome was desirable or undesirable.

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): Is a structured questionnaire that assesses the work behaviors required for a job. Such as:

• Information input: where and how a worker obtains needed information such as education and/or experience.

• Mental processes: reasoning and decision-making activities.

• Work output: physical actions required for the job, as well as tools or devices used.

• Relationships with other persons: the interactions and social connections that a worker forms with others.

• Job context: the physical and social surroundings where work activities are performed.

Job Description and Specification

6. Create a job description that identifies tasks, responsibilities, and working conditions of the job.

7. Add a job specification to the job description, that identifies the knowledge and skills, experiences, and abilities that workers need to perform the tasks listed in the job description.

Explain how to translate job analysis results into knowledge, skill, and ability lists.

• Job descriptions: describes what is to be done.

• Job specifications: describes the knowledge, skills, abilities needed to perform the duties.