Developing Task and KSAO Inventories

© 2002 Juan I. Sanchez, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved

Table 7-1

Units of Analysis in the Job Analysis Process (1 of 3)

1. An element is the smallest step into which it is practical to subdivide any work activity without analyzing separate motions, movements, and mental processes involved. Inserting a diskette into floppy disk drive is an example of a job element.

2. A task is one or more elements and is one of the distinct activities that constitute logical and necessary steps in the performance of work by the worker. A task is created whenever human effort, physical or mental, is exerted to accomplish a specific purpose. Keyboarding text into memo format represents a job task.

Table 7-1

Units of Analysis in the Job Analysis Process (2 of 3)

3. A position is a collection of tasks constituting the total work assignment of a single worker. There are as many positions as there are workers. John Smith’s position in the company is clerk typist. His tasks, which include keyboarding text into memo format, running a spell check on the text, and printing the text on company letterhead, combine to represent John Smith’s position.

4. A job is a group of positions within a company that are identical with respect to their major or significant tasks and sufficiently alike to justify their being covered by a single analysis. There may be one or many persons employed in the same job. For example, Bob Arnold, John Smith, and Jason Colbert are clerk typists. With minor variations, they essentially perform the same tasks.

Table 7-1

Units of Analysis in the Job Analysis Process (3 of 3)

5. A job family is a group of two or more jobs that call for either similar worker characteristics or similar work tasks. File clerk, clerk typist, and administrative clerk represent a clerical job family because each job mainly requires employees to perform clerical tasks.

6. An occupation is a group of jobs, found at more than one establishment, in which a common set of tasks are performed or are related in terms of similar objectives, methodologies, materials, products, worker actions, or worker characteristics. File clerk, clerk typist, administrative clerk, staff secretary, and administrative secretary represent an office support occupation. Compensation analyst, training and development specialist, recruiter, and benefits counselor represent jobs from the human resources management occupation.

Source: US Dept. of Labor, The revised handbook for analyzing jobs (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1991).

CHOOSE A JOB-ANALYTIC METHODOLOGY

Type of data: work vs. worker

Method of data collection: interview, survey, observation

Level of detail

Source of data: incumbents, supervisor, prior job description

Your choices depend on the nature of the job & resource availability!

Testing your applied knowledge:Method of Data Collection

Scenario: You need to analyze the three jobs listed below. Due to budget constraints, you can only use one method of data collection for each job analysis: interview, survey, or observation. Take the nature of each job into account and match them to their most suitable method of data collection.

Roofer Interview

Chief Financial Officer Survey

Senior R&D Scientist Observation

Testing your applied knowledge:Method of Data Collection

Answer: The physical nature of the roofer job lends itself to observation; the intangible nature of the CFO, together with his/her scarce time available, lend themselves to an interview; the Senior Scientist is used to describe complex issues in writing, works with lots of complex documents, and therefore should be able to describe his/her job through a survey.

Roofer Interview

Chief Financial Officer Survey

Senior R&D Scientist Observation

THE TASK INVENTORYDEFINITION: A LIST OF ACTIVITIES OR TASKS CARRIED OUT

ON THE JOB

EACH TASK MUST HAVE THREE BASIC ELEMENTS:

 VERB, OBJECT, PURPOSE UPDATES TRANSFERS MASTER FILE TO

FACILITATE THE PRODUCTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE REPORTS AT THE PLANT.

 ASSIGNS PERSONNEL TO THE DIFFERENT WORK SHIFTS TO MAINTAIN A WORK FORCE THAT SUITS PRODUCTION LEVELS.

HOW MANY TASKS SHOULD A TASK INVENTORY HAVE?

THE ANSWER DEPENDS ON THE KIND OF JOB UNDER CONSIDERATION.

 NORMALLY, EVERY JOB CAN BE DESCRIBED WITHIN A RANGE OF 30 TO 100 TASKS.

 IN MILITARY OCCUPATIONS OR UNIFORMED JOBS (FIREFIGHTERS, POLICE), INVENTORIES HAVE HUNDREDS OF TASKS.

 IN GENERAL, EXTREMELY LONG INVENTORIES ARE TEDIOUS AND CAN PROVOKE DISTORTED RESPONSES DUE TO FATIGUE. 

Testing your applied knowledge: Writing Task statements

1. Prepares architectural plans for all types of buildings and City projects.

2. Extends blueprint on desk to study its content3. Writes electrical work specifications to prepare

architectural projects.

Scenario: You are putting together a job description based on a number of interviews, observations, and surveys. You are wondering about the level of detail at which you should write the task statements for this job description. Which one of the following statements provides the most practical level of detail for job evaluation purposes?

Answer: It is at times difficult to distinguish between tasks and more general activities such as responsibilities, and also between tasks and simpler activities such as elemental movements.. Tasks are written at an intermediate level of detail; enough to make a valid judgment about the job, but at the same time broad enough not to become obsolete quickly.

1. Prepares architectural plans for all types of buildings and City projects. [this is too broad & does not convey the true nature of the job]

2. Extends blueprint on desk to study its content [this is too specific & it will be a very long and tedious job description]

3. Writes electrical work specifications to prepare architectural projects [this intermediate level is most practical]

PHASES OF TASK ANALYSIS

INTERVIEW WITH SMEs. REVIEW OF NOTES AND PREPARATION OF TASK

INVENTORY DRAFT. VERIFICATION OF INVENTORY WITH SMEs. SCALE SELECTION. CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURED INVENTORY. GATHER RATINGS. COMPUTE MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS

FOR EACH TASK. IDENTIFICATION OF MOST IMPORTANT TASKS.

THE JOB ANALYSIS INTERVIEWPresentation

INTRODUCE YOURSELF SPECIFYING THE DEPARTMENT OR CORPORATION THAT YOU ARE REPRESENTING.

CLARIFY THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW; REMEMBER THAT THE INTERVIEWEE IS PROBABLY FEELING THREATENED.

GIVE EXAMPLES OF APLICATIONS OF THE INFORMATION TO BE GATHERED. THESE EXAMPLES WILL HELP REDUCE RUMORS ABOUT THE JOB ANALYSIS PROJECT.

GIVE EXAMPLES OF THINGS THAT WILL NOT BE DONE WITH THIS INFORMATION.

EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF OBTAINING ACCURATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOB.

INDICATE THAT THE INFORMATION GATHERED WILL BE SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION BY OTHER SOURCES AND INFORMANTS.

THE JOB ANALYSIS INTERVIEWCore Interview

ASK THE INTERVIEWEE TO DESCRIBE HIS/HER ACTIVITIES ON A TYPICAL DAY AT WORK, FROM BEGINNING TO END.

INSIST ON A SEQUENTIAL DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES SO THAT THE ORDER OF TASKS IS CLEAR.

LET THE INTERVIEWEE KNOW THAT YOU WILL KINDLY INTERRUPT HIM/HER WHEN S/HE DESCRIBES ACTIVITIES THAT ARE NOT CLEAR TO YOU. INTERRUPT ONLY WHEN NECESSARY.

DO NOT LET THE INTERVIEWEE TALK FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME; ASK QUESTIONS SO THAT THE INTERVIEWEE UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU WISH TO OBTAIN AN OBJECTIVE AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE JOB.

THE JOB ANALYSIS INTERVIEWCore Interview

REMEMBER THAT THE GOAL OF THE INTERVIEWEE IS TO GENERATE A LIST OF JOB TASKS; THUS, ASK FOR CLARIFICATION WHEN THE ACTION (VERB), OBJECT , OR PURPOSE OF THE ACTION ARE UNCLEAR.

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE USE OF VERBS THAT INDICATE A HIGH LEVEL OF MENTAL ACTIVITY (E.G., COORDINATE, DIRECT, RATIONALIZE); IT IS OFTEN EASY TO FIND A SIMPLER VERB THAT BETTER REFLECTS THE TRUE NATURE OF THE TASK.

INVENTORY VALIDATION

NORMALLY, A MEETING IS HELD WITH A GROUP OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS (SMEs).

EACH EXPERT RECEIVES A COPY OF THE PRELIMINARY INVENTORY AND IS ASKED TO (a) ADD NEW TASKS OR TASKS THAT ARE NOT PRESENT IN THE INVENTORY, (b) ELIMINATE OBSOLETE OR INACCURATE TASKS, (c) CHANGE TASKS THAT HAVE CHANGED.

THE GOAL IS TO REACH AN AGREEMENT AMONG THE EXPERTS REGARDING THE FINAL

INVENTORY.

DEVELOPMENT OF A STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE

ONCE THE INVENTORY IS DEVELOPED, IT IS NECESSARY TO OBTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS, THE MOST DIFFICULT TO LEARN TASKS, ETC. THIS INFORMATION IS OBTAINED THROUGH THE RATINGS PRODUCED BY THE SMEs ON A STRUCTURED INVENTORYTHE STRUCTURED INVENTORY SHOULD BE DEVELOPED SO THAT IT IS EASY TO COMPLETE. THE PROCESS OF RATING FORMATION MUST BE CLEARLY DEFINED, AND AT LEAST AN EXAMPLE SHOULD BE PROVIDED.

Now, please rate the following tasks using the time spent and importance scales previously described by circling the appropriate number. Leave tasks that you do not perform blank:

Example:

Review newspapers to identify 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

business communications and events.

TASKS Time spent Importance

________________________________________________________________

 ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS

1. Plan calls to key accounts. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. Document daily sales information on

computer system. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

 

SAMPLE OF STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE

IDENTIFICATION OF TASKS OF INTEREST

IT IS NECESSARY TO COMPUTE THE MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR THE RATINGS

ACROSS ALL THE INVENTORY RESPONDENTS:

The mean helps us identify the tasks with the highest scores (most important, most difficult to learn, etc.)

The standard deviation helps us evaluate to what extent there is an agreement on the importance or

difficulty of learning the task.

WHICH ONES OF THE FOLLOWING TASKS WOULD YOU CONSIDER MOST IMPORTANT?

task mean Std. deviation

Decide on the kind of strategy most likely to result in the client’s absolution.

6.5 2.5

Review witnesses’ depositions and police reports to determine inconsistencies.

3.5 3.0

Present witness and evidence on behalf of the client.

6.5 .5

Testing your applied knowledge: Task inventory

Answer: The first task is important on the average, but its large standard deviation indicates that SMEs do not agree on how important it really is. In contrast, the third task is important and every SME agrees that is the case (see its small standard deviation):

task mean Std. deviation

Decide on the kind of strategy most likely to result in the client’s absolution.

6.5 2.5

Review witnesses’ depositions and police reports to determine inconsistencies.

3.5 3.0

Present witness and evidence on behalf of the client.

6.5 .5

GROUPING TASKS   AFTER DEVELOPING A TASK INVENTORY, AND TO FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LIST OF JOB REQUIREMENTS, IT IS ADVISABLE TO GROUP THE TASKS. THE PROCESS OF GROUPING TASKS IS NORMALLY DONE ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS: DEFINE TASK GROUPS BELONGING TO THE SAME FUNCTION. FOR INSTANCE, “INTERACTING WITH CLIENTS,” AND “MAINTAIN CLIENT RECORDS.”

ONCE THE TASK GROUPS HAVE BEEN DEFINED, THE NEXT STEP IS TO HAVE A PANEL OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS ASSIGN TASKS TO GROUPS.

ESTABLISH A RULE TO DETERMINE WHEN IS THERE ENOUGH AGREEMENT AMONG THE PANEL MEMBERS TO CONSIDER THAT THE TASK HAS BEEN CORRECTLY CLASSIFIED. FOR INSTANCE, IF THE PANEL HAS 10 MEMBERS, AT LEAST 7 MUST AGREE.

ONE MUST EXPECT THE REDEFINITON OF THE TASK GROUPS BECAUSE IT IS LIKELY THAT THE PANEL MEMBERS WILL DISAGREE ON THE GROUP TO WHICH SOME TASKS SHOULD BE ASSIGNED.

1.

KSAO

Knowledge, Skill, Ability, Other Characteristic.

Every KSAO should have three basic elements:

1. What is it? (K, S, A, O)2. In what context is it needed?3. At what level or degree of precision is it

needed?

Scenario: During a job analysis interview, a job incumbent tells you that his job requires a great deal of “writing ability” and of “communication skills.” Would you use these terms in the list of KSAOs required for this job?

Testing your applied knowledge: Good KSAO Writing

Did I already mention that my job requires the ability to walk on water?

Answer: Terms such as “writing ability” and “communication ability”are too broad and misleading; they are missing the basic KSAO elements: “what is it, in what context, and to what level/degree/precision.” They should be specified in more concrete terms such as for instance:

Ability to register information in a standardized manner so that it can be understood by others.  Ability to put together clear and concise sentences and paragraphs when preparing a written report.

Ability to take notes describing an event so that others are able to interpret them later.

Ability to transcribe alphanumeric information in an accurate manner.

Testing your applied knowledge: Good KSAO Writing

KSAO Inventory

To identify KSAO requirements, try to answer the following questions:

1. Describe the characteristics of the good and the bad performers.

2. Identify someone who is clearly superior to the other workers. What characteristics explain this superiority?

3. Think about examples of good and bad performance; what determined them?

4. If you were hiring for this job, what kind of characteristics would you look for?

5. What kinds of things would you expect that those being trained for this job should learn?