Job Analysis and

Evaluation
A thorough job analysis is the foundation for almost
all human resource (HR) activities. That is, it is
difficult to image how one could write a job
description, select employees, evaluate
performance, or conduct training programs without
knowing the tasks an employee performs, the
conditions under which they are performed, and the
competencies needed to perform the tasks. A
thorough job analysis provides such information.
Writing job description

One of the written products of job analysis is a job

description, a brief, two-to five- page summary of
the tasks and job requirements found in the job
analysis. In other words, the job analysis is the
process of determining the work activities and
requirements, and the job description is the written
result of the job analysis. Job analysis and job
descriptions serve as the basis for many HR
activities, including employee selection, evaluation,
training, and work design (Brannick & Levine, 2002)
Employee Selection

It is difficult to imagine how an employee can be

selected unless there is a clear understanding of the
tasks performed and the competencies needed to
perform those tasks. By identifying such
requirements, it is possible to select tests or develop
interview questions that will determine whether a
particular applicant possesses the necessary
knowledge, skills and abilities to carry out the
requirements of the job.
Training

Again it is difficult to see how employees can be

trained unless the requirements of the job are
known. Job analysis yield lists of job activities that
can be systemically used to create training
programs.
Personpower Planning

One important but seldom employed use if job

analysis is to determine worker mobility within an
organization. That is, if individuals are hired for a
particular job, to what other jobs can they expect to
eventually be promoted and become successful?
Many organizations have a policy of promoting the
person who performs the best in the job immediately
below one in question. Although this approach has
its advantages, it can result in the so-called Peter
Principle: promoting employees until they
eventually reach their highest level of incompetence
(Peter & Hull, 1969)
Performance Appraisal

Another important use of job analysis is the

construction of a performance appraisal instrument.
As in employee selection, the evaluation of
employee performance must be job related.
Employees are often evaluated with forms that use
such vague categories as “dependability”,
“knowledge”, and “initiative.” The use of specific,
job-related categories lead to more accurate
performance appraisals that are better accepted by
employees.
Job Classification

Job analysis enables a HR professional to classify

jobs into groups based on similarities in
requirements and duties. Job classification is useful
for pay levels, transfers, and promotions.
Job Evaluation

Job analysis information can also be used to

determine the worth of a job. Job evaluation will be
discussed in greater detail later
Organizational Analysis

Job analysis often become aware of certain problems

within an organization. For example, during a job
analysis interview, an employee may indicate that
she does not know how she is evaluated or to whom
she is supposed to report. The discovery of such
lapses in organizational communication can then be
used to correct problems and help an organization
function better.
For example, while conducting job analysis interviews
of credit union positions, job analyst Deborah
Peggans discovered that none of the workers knew
how their job performance were evaluated. This let
the organization know it had not done an adequate
job of communicating performance standards to its
employees.
Writing a Good Job Description

One of the most useful results of a job analysis is

the job description. A job description is a relatively
short summary of a job and should be about two to
five pages in length. This suggested length is not
really typical of most job descriptions used in
industry; they tend to be only one page. But for a job
description to be of value, it must describe a job in
enough detail that decisions about activities such as
selection and training can be made.
Job Title

A job title is important for several reasons. An

accurate title describes the nature of the job. When
industrial psychologist David Faloona started a new
job at Washington National Insurance in Chicago,
his official title was “psychometric technician”.
Unfortunately none of the other workers knew what
he did. To correct that problem, his title changed to
“personnel assistant”, and supervisors began
consulting with him on HR-related problems.
An accurate title also ads in employee selection and
recruitment. If the job title indicates the true nature
of the job, potential applicants for a position will be
better able to determine whether their skills and
experience match those required for the job. In the
example given in the previous paragraph, applicants
for a secretary’s job in the usual sense might not
posses the lending and decision-making skills
needed by a loan officer.
Work Activities

The work-activities section lists the tasks and

activities in which the worker is involved. These
tasks and activities should be organized into
meaningful categories to make the job description
easy to read and understand. The category labels
are also convenient to use in the brief summary.
Tools and Equipment Used

A section should be included that lists all tools and

equipment used to perform the work activities in the
previous section. Even though tools and equipment
may have been mentioned in the activities section,
placing them in a separate section makes their
identification simpler. Information in this section is
used primarily for employee section and training.
That is, an applicant can be asked if she can
operate an adding machine, a computer, and a
credit history machine.
Job Context

This section should be the environment in which the

employee works and should mention stress level,
work schedule, physical demands, level of
responsibility, temperature, number of coworkers,
degree of danger, and any other relevant
information. This information is especially important
in providing applicants with disabilities with
information they can use to determine their ability to
perform a job under a particular set of
circumstances.
Work Performance

The job description should outline standards of

performance. This section contains a relatively brief
description of how an employee’s performance is
evaluated and what work standards are expected of
the employee.
Compensation Information

This section of the job description should contain

information on the salary grade, whether the
position is exempt, and the compensable factors
used to determine salary. The employee’s actual
salary or salary range should not be listed on the job
description.
Job Competencies
This section contains what are commonly called job
specifications or competencies. These are the
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics
(KSAOs) (such as interest, personality, and training)
that are necessary to be successful on the job. Job
specifications are determined by deciding what
types of KSAOs are needed to perform the tasks
identified in the job analysis. These KSAOs are
determined through a combination of logic,
research, and use of specific job analysis
techniques
The competencies section should be divided into
two subsections. The first contains KSAOs that an
employee must have at the time of hiring. The
second subsection contains the KSAOs that are an
important part of the job but can be obtained after
being hired. The first set of KSAOs is used for
employee selection and the second for training
purposes (Wooten, 1993).
Who Will Conduct Job Analysis

Typically, a job analysis is conducted by a trained

individual in the HR department, but it can also be
conducted by job incumbents, supervisors, or
outside consultants. If job incumbents or supervisors
are used, it is essential that they be thoroughly
trained in job analysis procedures. The Uniform
Guidelines state that a job analysis must be
“professionally conducted” and a job analyst
certainly cannot be called a professional unless she
has been trained.
Conducting a Job Analysis

Although there are many ways to conduct a job

analysis, the goal of most job analyses is to identify
the tasks performed in a job, the conditions under
which the tasks are performed, and the KSAOs
needed to perform the tasks under the conditions
identified.
Steep-1 Identify Tasks performed

The first step in conducting a job analysis is to

identify the major job dimensions and the tasks
performed for each dimension, the tools and
equipment used to perform the tasks, and the
conditions under which the tasks are performed.
This information is usually gathered by obtaining
previous information on the job, interviewing job
incumbents, observing performance, or actually
performing the job itself.
Gathering Existing Information:

Prior to interviewing incumbents, it is always good

idea to gather information that has already been
obtained. For example, one might gather existing
job descriptions, task inventories, and training
manuals. This information might come from the
organization with which you are working, other
organizations, trade publications, and journal
articles.
Interviewing Subject-Matter Experts:

The most common method of conducting a job

analysis is to interview SMEs. They are people who
are knowledgeable about the job and include job
incumbents, supervisors, customers, and upper-
level management. Job analysis interviews differ
greatly from employment interviews in that the
purpose of the job analysis interview is to obtain
information about the job itself rather than about the
person doing the job. Job analysis interviews come
in two main forms: individual and group. In the
individual interviews only one employee at a time. In
the group interview, or SME conference, a large
number of employees are interviewed together.
Certain guidelines should be followed that
will make the interview go more smoothly.
1. Prepare for the interview by announcing the job
analysis to the employees well in advance and by
selecting a quiet and private interview location.
2. Open the interview by establishing rapport, putting
the work at ease, and explaining the purpose of
the interview.
3. Conduct the interview by asking open-ended
questions, easy –to-understand vocabulary, and
allowing sufficient time for the employee to talk
and answer questions. Avoid being condescending
and disagreeing with the incumbent.
Most workers are proud of their jobs and are willing
to talk about them in great detail. Once the initial
apprehensions and jitters are over, most job
analysis interviews go well. A good way to start the
actual interview is by asking the employee to
describe what she does from the moment she first
enters the parking lot at work to the moment she
arrives back home.
A slightly more formal method for conducting group
interviews is the technique described by Kosidlak
(1987). With this technique a committee of SMEs
meets to brainstorm the major duties involved in a
job. Once this has been done, the committee
identifies the tasks (work-related) that must be
completed for each of the duties. The results are
then summarized in job descriptions or a job
analysis report.
An excellent job analysis technique was developed
by Ammerman (1965) and reported by Robinson
(1981). The basic steps for the Ammerman technique
are:
1. Convene a panel of experts that includes
representatives from all levels of the organization.
2. Have the panel identify the objectives and standards
that are to be met by the ideal incumbent.
3. Have the panel list the specific behaviors necessary
for each objective or standard to be attained
 Have the panel identify which of the behaviors from
step 3 are “critical” to reaching the objective.
 Have the panel rank-order the objectives on the
basis of importance.
Observing Incumbents
Observations are useful job analysis methods, especially
when used in conjunction with other methods such as
interviews. During a job analysis observation, the job
analyst observes incumbents performing their jobs in the
work setting. The advantage to this method is that it lets
the job analyst actually see the worker do her job and
thus obtain information that the worker may have
forgotten to mention during the interview.

The method’s disadvantage is that it is very obtrusive:

observing someone without their knowing is difficult.
Job Participation

One can analyze a job by actually performing it. This

technique, called job participation is especially
effective because it is easier to understand every
aspect of a job once you have done it yourself. This
technique is easily used when the analyst has
previously performed the job. An excellent example
would be a supervisor who has worked her way up
through the ranks.
Step-2 Write Task Statements

Once the tasks have been identified, the next step is

to write the task inventory and included in the job
description. A properly written task statement must
contain an action (what is done) and an object (to
which the action is done). Often, task statements will
also include such components as where the task is
done, how it is done, why it is done and when it is
done.
Step-3 Rate Task Statements

Once the task statements have been written (usually

including some 200 tasks), the next step is to
conduct a task analysis – using a group of SMEs to
rate each task statement and the importance or
criticality of the task being performed. For example,
consider the task accurately shoot a gun. For a
police officer, this task occurs frequently, but when it
does, its importance is paramount.
Step-4 Determine Essentials KSAOs

Once the task analysis is completed and a job

analyst has a list of tasks that are essential for the
proper performance of a job, the next step is to
identify the knowledge, skills, ability, and other
characteristics that are KSAOs needed to perform
the tasks:
 A Knowledge is a body of information needed to
perform a task
 A skill is the proficiency to perform a learned task
 An ability is a basic capacity for performing a wide
range of different tasks, acquiring a knowledge, or
developing skill
 Other characteristics include such personal factors
as personality, willingness, interest, and motivation
and such tangible factors as licenses, degrees, and
years of experience.
Step-5 Selecting Steps to Tap KSAOs

Once the important KSAOs have been identified, the

next step is to determine the best methods to tap
the KSAOs needed at the time of hire. These
methods will be used to select new employees and
include interviews, work samples, ability tests,
personality tests, reference checks, integrity tests,
biodata, and assessment centers.
Position Analysis Questionnaire

The position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a

structured instrument. The PAQ contains items
organized into six main dimensions: information
input, mental process, work output, relationships
with other persons, job context, and other job-
related variables such as work schedule, pay, and
responsibility.
The PAQ offers many advantages. It is inexpensive
and takes relatively little time to use. It is one of the
most standardized job analysis methods, has
acceptable levels of reliability, and its results for a
particular position can be compared through
computer analysis with thousands of other positions.
Job Elements Inventory

Another instrument designed as an alternative to the

PAQ is the Job Elements Inventory (JEI)
Job Components Inventory

To take advantage of the PAQ’s strengths while

avoiding some of its problems, Benks, Jackson,
Stafford, and Warr (1983) developed the Job
Components Inventory for use in England.
Critical Incident Technique

The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was

developed and first used by John Flanagan and his
students at the University of Pittsburgh in the late
1940s and early 1950s. The CIT is first used to
discover actual incidents of job behavior that makes
the difference between a job’s successful or
unsuccessful performance (Flanagan, 1945). This
technique can be conducted in many ways, but the
basic procedure is as follows:
1. Job Incumbents each generate between one and five
incidents of both excellent and poor performance that they
have seen on the job. These incidents can be obtained in
many ways-log books, questionnaires, interviews, and so
on; research has shown that the methods used makes little
difference (Campion, Greener and Wernli, 1973), although
questionnaires are usually used because they are easiest.
A convenient way to word requests for critical incidents is
by asking incumbents to think of times they saw workers
perform in an especially outstanding way and then to write
down exactly what occurred. Incumbents are then asked to
do the same for times they saw workers perform poorly.
This process is repeated as needed.
2. Job experts examine each incident and decide
whether it is an example of excellent or poor
behavior. This step is necessary because
approximately 5% of incidents initially cited as poor
examples by employees are actually good examples
and vice versa
3. The incidents generated in the first stage are then
given to three or four incumbents to start into an
unspecified number of categories. The incidents in
each category are then read by the job analyst, who
combines, names, and defines the categories.
4. To verify the judgments made by the job analyst in procedure 3,
three other incumbents are given the incidents and category
names and are asked to sort the incidents into the newly created
categories. If two of the three incumbents sort an incident into
the same category, the incident is considered part of that
category. Any incident into the same category, the incident is
considered part of that category. Any incident that is not agreed
upon by two sorters is either thrown out or placed in a new
category.
5. The number of both types of incidents are sorted into each
category are then tailed. The categories provide the important
dimensions of a job, and the numbers provide the relative
importance of these dimensions.
 Job Components Inventory

In addition to information about tools and equipment

used on the job, which were discussed earlier, the
JCI also provides information about the perceptual,
physical, mathematical, communication, decision-
making, and responsibility skills needed to perform
the job.
Threshold Traits Analysis

An approach similar to the JCI is the Threshold

Traits Analysis (TTA), which was developed by
Lopez, Kesselman, and Lopez (1981). The TTA
questionnaire’s 33 items identify the traits that are
necessary for the successful performance of a job.
The 33 items cover five traits categories: Physical,
mental, learned, motivational, and social.
Survey research by Levine, Ash, and their colleagues
(Levine, Ash, & Bennet, 1980; Levine, Ash, Hall, &
Sistrunk, 1983) has found the following:
 The PAQ is seen as the most standardized technique, and the
CIT the last standardized.
 The CIT takes the least amount of job analyst training, and task
analysis the most.
 The PAQ takes the least amount of time to complete, and task
analysis the most.
 The PAQ takes the least amount of time to complete, and task
analysis the most.
 Task analysis has the highest-quality results, and TTA the
lowest
 Task analysis reports are longest, and job-element reports
shortest
 The CIT has been rated the most useful and the PAQ the least.
 JOB EVALUATION

Once a job analysis has been completed and a

thorough job description written, it is important to
determine how much employees in a position should
be paid. This process of determining a job’s worth is
called job evaluation. A job evaluation is done in
two stages: determining internal pay equity and
determining external pay equity.
Step 1: Determining Compensable Job
Factors
The first step in evaluating a job is to decide what
factors differentiate the relative worth of jobs.
Possible compensable job factors include:
 Level of responsibility

 Physical demands

 Mental demands

 Education requirements

 Training and experience requirements

 Working conditions
Step 2: Determining the Levels for
Each Compensable Factor
Once the compensable factors have been selected,
the next step is to determine the levels for each
factor. For a factor such as responsibility, a
considerable amount of time and discussion may be
required to determine the levels.
Step 3: Determining the Factor Weights
 Because some factors are more important than others,
weights must be assigned to each factor and to each level
within a factor. Here is the process for doing this:
1. 1. A job evaluating committee determines the total number of
points that will be distributed among the factors. Usually the
number is some multiple of 100 (for example 100, 500, 10000)
and is based on the number of compensable factors. The
greater the number of factors the greater the number of points
2. 2. Each factor is weighted by assigning a number of points.
The more important the factor, the greater the number of
points that will be assigned
3. 3. The number of points assigned to a factor is then divided
into each of the levels. If 100 points have been assigned to
the factor of education, then 20 points (100 points / 5degrees)
would be assigned to each level
Gender and Race Equity

In addition to analysis of internal and external

equity, pay audits should also be conducted to
ensure that employees are not paid differently on
the basis of gender or Race
Conducting a Gender and Race Equity
Study
The first step in conducting a salary equity analysis
or an organization is to see if the average salary for
men differs significantly for the average salary for
women and whether the average salary for an
ethnic group differs from the average salary for
others. This analysis is usually conducted for each
pay grade rather than the organization as a whole.