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Chapter 4 • Strategic Job Analysis and Competency Modeling

JOB ANALYSIS

the systematic process of identifying and describing the important aspects of a job and the characteristics a worker needs to do it well

JOB FAMILY

a grouping of jobs that either call for similar worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks

When CitiFinancial conducted a job analysis of its loan officer position, it identified three different levels associated with the job as well as the top 10 skills and abilities needed for each of the three. This allowed CitiFinancial to hire based on the specific skills and specific abilities needed for each level.6

Jobs performed in a consistent, predictable manner can be readily analyzed. However, this doesn't work as well for organizations that are structured around networks, teams, and roles rather than around individuals performing well-defined jobs.7 Because the roles in the groups change and are unique to each employee, a job analysis often cannot adequately define them.

Thus, evaluating the broader roles played by people in these positions rather than specific jobs can better capture the responsibilities and requirements of flexible, team-based work.8 One procedure that looks at roles rather than jobs is competency modeling, which analyzes the broader competencies needed to perform well in roles as opposed to jobs. For example, Nordstrom's customer service strategy means that it needs to hire people with the competencies of having a customer focus and good interpersonal skills as well as good sales skills. Walmart's low-cost strategy means that it needs to hire people who are efficiency oriented. It is important to consider how the job can best contribute to strategy execution, not just what tasks need to be done. Because competency modeling identifies these "extra" behaviors and characteristics, it often augments job analysis, even when a job is well defined.

Job analysis can enhance the execution of strategy. General Electric (GE) performed a job analysis on its sales force and found that salespeople were spending 80 percent of their time on bureaucratic duties, not directly toward activities driving sales. This insight allowed GE to reorganize the functions of its sales representatives to better align their activities with the mission of the organization.

In this chapter, you will learn the fundamentals of doing both job analysis and competency modeling. After reading this chapter, you should have a good understanding of how to identify the essential elements of a job and determine what employees need to do to execute the firm's business strategy and to give the company a competitive advantage.

JOB ANALYSIS AND THE STRATEGY BEHIND IT Types of Job Analyses

A job analysis is the systematic process of identifying and describing the important aspects of a job and the characteristics a worker needs to do it well. It identifies the job's important tasks and working conditions as well as the tools and technologies people doing the job use. It also involves making judgments about what an employee needs to do to perform a job well given the specific business strategy and culture of an organization. It does not necessarily mean profiling the job incumbent to hire someone similar. The goal is to define the ideal individual for a job from the perspective of the company, its strategy, and the employees with whom the new hire will work.

Job analyses are used for multiple purposes throughout human resource management, including:

· Determining a job's entry requirements

· Developing a strategic recruiting plan for the firm

· Selecting individuals for employment

· Developing employee training plans

· Designing employee compensation systems

· Developing performance evaluation measures

Doing a job analysis also helps HR professionals categorize jobs into job families, or groupings of jobs that either call for similar worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks. Job families enhance an organization's flexibility by allowing workers to perform more than just one official job. Grouping jobs into families can also help streamline the staffing process by enabling firms to hire people for different jobs from the same pool of candidates, apply the same selection procedures to them, and provide a systematic procedure for promoting employees. Table 4-1 presents an example of grouping jobs into job families.

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Job Family

to Job Families

Examples of Jobs Within Job Family

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Personnel Recruiters

Secretaries

Chemical Engineers

Recruiter

Executive Recruiter

Human Resources Specialist

Employment Coordinator

Secretary

Clerk Typist

Department Secretary

Administrative Support Assistant

Project Engineer

Chemical Engineer

Engineering Scientist

Scientist

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Different purposes require different job analysis techniques. The techniques of interest to us are those used for staffing-related purposes. A staffing-oriented job analysis ultimately aids in the development of valid, or job-related, recruiting plans and selection devices that identify the best candidates for a job. A job analysis that produces a valid selection system identifies characteristics in candidates that

· distinguish superior from average and unacceptable workers;

· are not easily learned on the job; and

· exist to at least a moderate extent in the applicant pool.

There are many ways of conducting ajob analysis, but most involve a job analyst managing the process and collecting information from job experts—typically people who already hold the job and their supervisors—via interviews and written surveys. The job analyst then compiles and summarizes this information, and the job experts check their work for accuracy and thoroughness. Before staffing can be done strategically, it is critical that the contributions of the position to the organization as well as the characteristics and requirements of the job be thoroughly understood. Companies like Oral-B Laboratories and Equistar Chemicals conduct thorough job analyses before deciding how to staff key positions.

Research has shown that firms that engage in effective job analysis financially outperform their competitors in a variety of ways.10 Unless the way a position contributes to the execution of the business strategy is understood, it is impossible to consistently hire people able to do the job in the manner it needs to be done to reinforce the firm's strategy. For example, a manufacturing company pursuing a specialist business strategy is likely to require sales representatives with advanced degrees or with specific educational and experiential backgrounds—backgrounds that make them best suited to contribute to the organization's market niche. But a manufacturing company pursuing a low-cost strategy may focus on hiring efficiency-minded people who can do their jobs well but are willing to work for lower wages to keep the company's costs down.

A future-oriented job analysis11 is a technique for analyzing new jobs or how jobs will look in the future. Whereas a traditional job analysis focuses on describing jobs as they exist today, a future-oriented job analysis focuses on identifying the skills the company also anticipates needing in the future. Think about the typical administrative assistant job in the 1990s as computers began entering the workplace: Administrative assistants were selected based upon their Dictaphone and shorthand skills. The scenario is clearly different today. In future years, with the increasing use of speech recognition technology, the scenario will be different too: firms might need secretaries who can speak rapidly and articulate clearly. Sometimes the speed at

FUTURE-ORIENTED JOB ANALYSIS

a technique for analyzing new jobs or how jobs will look in the future

Current and future job tasks and responsibilities

match

The employee's characteristics, knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies

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Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

match

The employee's needs, motivations, and values

FIGURE 4-1 Components of the Job-Worker Match

which jobs change can make it difficult to maintain current job profiles cost-effectively. In this case, organizations should focus on key jobs or on jobs they need to fill frequently to maximize the return on their investment.

Figure 4-1 illustrates the need for staffing to match the job's current and future tasks and responsibilities with the characteristics and competencies of the worker, and the job's intrinsic and extrinsic rewards with the needs and motivations of the worker. To supplement the job analysis, some organizations also perform an organizational analysis to identify personality attributes that best fit the organizational culture. This approach is best used in organizations that give employees sufficient freedom to use their unique characteristics when performing the job.12

The Legal and Practical Reasons for Doing a Job Analysis

As we have explained, the job analysis process enables firms to hire the people best able to contribute to the company's organizational effectiveness and performance. However, there are legal reasons for conducting a job analysis as well. The legal reasons relate to the organization's ability to show that its hiring methods are job related. A job analysis helps create an accurate and current list of the essential functions of a job and the required and desired qualifications employees that do it should have. Because an applicant must meet the stated job-related requirements, crafting a job description based on objective standards is a critical step for avoiding and defending future failure to hire and wrongful discharge lawsuits.

Companies are not required by law to conduct job analyses, but they do increase a firm's ability to make staffing decisions based solely on job requirements. For example, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as long as disabled applicants can perform the essential functions of a job with reasonable accommodation, they have to be considered for the position.

Doing a job analysis helps staffing specialists systematically identify a position's essential functions, as well as the corresponding knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) an employee needs to perform those functions. For example, if a job requires climbing stairs, stating this in the job description will help protect an employer from a claim from someone confined to a wheelchair that he or she was discriminated against based on his or her

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS inability to do so.13 Essential functions are defined by the ADA as the fundamental duties or

the fundamental duties or tasks of a tasks of a position. According to the ADA, a job function may be deemed essential for a number position of reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:

· Because the reason the position exists is to perform that function.

· Because of the limited number of employees available among whom the performance of that job function can be assigned or distributed.

· Because the function is so highly specialized that the incumbent in the position is hired specifically for his or her expertise or ability to perform the particular function.

· Because of the consequences of not requiring an incumbent to perform the particular function.

· Because of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

Therefore, it is critical to complete a job analysis before a recruiting and selection system is developed. To meet legal requirements, a job analysis must

1. Be valid and identify the worker's knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics necessary to do the job and differentiate superior from barely acceptable workers.

2. Be in writing and relevant to the particular job in question.

3. Be derived from multiple sources.

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4.

The Practical Reasons for Doing a Job Analysis

· It links the staffing process to the firm's business strategy and to what the firm needs in terms of the position in the future.

· It helps HR personnel write an accurate description of the job's requirements and duties for the purposes of advertising and recruiting for an open position.

· It enables HR personnel to write an accurate description of the type of person the organization wants to recruit.

· It aids in the identification of the best selection methods that should be used to fill a position.

· It clarifies how to present the job's rewards to candidates in the most appealing way to match their needs and interests.

· It helps to identify what to change in the current staffing system for a job.

· It provides a foundation to determine the best way to combine a job candidate's scores on multiple assessment methods to compute a total score for comparison with the scores of the other candidates.

· It assists potential recruits when they are making up their minds about whether to apply based on their perceived fit with an interest in the requirements and responsibilities of the position.

There are many practical reasons to do a job analysis. In addition to enhancing the effectiveness of staffing efforts, job analysis procedures are useful for other human resource management activities, such as performance management, compensation, training, development, and succession planning. Table 4-2 summarizes some of the reasons related to staffing.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS AND PERSON SPECIFICATIONS

One of the primary outcomes of a staffing-oriented job analysis is a job description, or a written JOB DESCRIPTION

description of the duties and responsibilities associated with a job itself. Job descriptions usually written description of the duties and

include: responsibilities associated with a job

· The size and type of organization

· The department and job title

· The salary range

· Position grade or level

· To whom the employee reports and for whom the employee is responsible

· Brief summary of the main duties and responsibilities of the job

· Brief summary of the occasional duties and responsibilities of the job

· Any special equipment used on the job

· Any special working conditions (shift or weekend work, foreign travel, etc.)

· Purpose and frequency of contact with others

· The statement, "Other duties as assigned" to accommodate job changes and special projects

Job descriptions are typically part of an organization's recruitment materials to inform potential candidates about the requirements and responsibilities of the job being filled. When writing a job description for a recruiting advertisement, avoid using vague language and try to capture the interest of targeted job seekers. Use language that makes it easy for job seekers to understand what the job is and how to determine whether or not they are qualified for it. Also, communicating information about the company and its culture can be helpful in attracting applicants who possess desired characteristics and qualities. Research has found that recruiting advertisement messages containing information about a company's values14 and work requirements15 increases the attractiveness of the opportunity to individuals who fit those values and organizational needs. To best attract talented job seekers, also include information on how working for your company will benefit them. Providing information about factors including advancement opportunities, work-life balance, and career development can make your company look most attractive.

Restaurant chain Red Lobster believes that although job descriptions need to identify essential job functions to meet federal legislation guidelines, they don't have to be boring. So the company made its description of essential job functions engaging by incorporating the company's principles, values, and mission statement. After doing a job analysis, Red Lobster identified what managers do,

Job Analysis

( FIGURE 4-2 Outcomes of a Job Analysis )

PERSON SPECIFICATION

summarizes the characteristics of someone able to perform the job well

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

job candidate characteristics that are critical to the adequate performance of a new hire

DESIRABLE CRITERIA

job candidate criteria that may enhance the new hire's job success, but that are not essential to adequate job performance

and then developed a competency model to link those activities with its business strategy, values, and vision. Because their revised job descriptions gave applicants a better understanding of the job requirements and how well they fit them, Red Lobster was able to hire one of every six candidates it interviewed rather than only one of nine. Red Lobster estimates that the reduction in managerial turnover due to the improved job descriptions has saved the company about $7 million.16

The other primary outcome of a job analysis is a person specification, also called a "success profile." Person specification summarizes the characteristics of someone able to do the job well. Based on the job description, the person specification profiles the personal skills, qualifications, abilities, and experiences the organization needs to evaluate in job candidates during the recruitment and selection process. These characteristics should relate directly to the duties of the job, contain the minimum requirements essential to do the job effectively, and should be as specific as possible. These characteristics form the basis of the recruiting strategy to attract qualified applicants. Because it describes the type of person best suited for the job, the person specification helps to identify where and how job openings should be communicated, as well as provide assessment and screening criteria for job applicants.

Person specifications often describe the "ideal" candidate, which is usually someone with many years of experience, high past performance, excellent leadership and teamwork skills, and strong technical skills. In reality, the goal of finding the "perfect" candidate who excels at every job requirement is rarely attainable. Prioritizing the characteristics a person most needs to do the job successfully and being willing to accept a slightly lower degree of performance in less important areas can lead to more appropriate person specifications. The job candidate characteristics that are critical can be categorized as essential criteria, and job candidates should be screened for them. Criteria that can enhance the new hire's success on the job but that are not essential can be categorized as desirable criteria. To choose among candidates who all possess the essential criteria, a firm can look at their desirable criteria. Figure 4-2 illustrates the relationship between doing a job analysis and sorting out essential and desirable criteria for the job.

It is worthwhile to give some thought to what the "effective performance" of a new hire means when writing person specifications. Arbitrary criteria unrelated to job success should not be included in person specifications. Many person specifications state a minimum number of years of experience, GPA, specific degrees, and other activities or skills. Sometimes these qualifications are not at all relevant to job success. For example, in some jobs, a person's technical skills might be less important than his or her persistence, cooperativeness, interpersonal skills, and conscientiousness. When degrees are required for hiring but are not really necessary to do the job, the risk of adverse impact also increases. Rather than arbitrarily specifying the requirements a new hire must meet, firms need to evaluate job candidates on those criteria that truly predict whether they will be able to do the job successfully.

COMMON JOB ANALYSIS METHODS

Different job analysis methods vary with regard to how job information is collected, analyzed, and documented. Each method requires different amounts of time, resources, and involvement by job experts. As a result, some methods are better at describing the job and some are better at describing the worker. Job analysts typically use more than one method because collecting all the relevant information about a job is usually impossible to do using just one of the methods. It is best to think of each job analysis method as a distinct tool that leads to different insights and information about a job.

Two of the most important features of any job analysis method are that it be reliable, or replicable, and valid, or accurately measure what it was intended to measure. A reliable job analysis procedure will produce the same results when it (1) is applied to the same job by a different job specialist, (2) when a different group of job experts is used, and (3) when it is done at a different time.

Next, we will discuss five of the most commonly used job analysis methods and then describe a job analysis approach that uses multiple methods and works for many different types of jobs.

The Critical Incidents Technique

The critical incidents technique17 is a job analysis method that identifies extremely effective and ineffective behaviors by documenting critical incidents that have occurred on the job.18 For each incident, the critical incidents job analysis technique identifies

1. the circumstances leading up to the event, or the sequence of events that occurred;

2. the action taken by the worker; and

3. the consequences of the action taken.

Critical incidents can be collected through interviews with incumbents and supervisors or by reviewing logbooks or other written records of job events (these are usually more effective for collecting negative critical incidents). Job experts can discuss any events they feel most clearly illustrate effective or poor job performance.

Alternatively, the duties of the job can be collected first. Job experts can then discuss a work event that is an example of particularly good or poor performance on a particular job duty. If the job duties are not predetermined, after recording the incidents, the job analyst reviews them to identify a set of critical job duties (e.g., problem-solving or customer-relations duties), and then identifies the relevant worker characteristics required for the successful performance of these duties.

The critical incidents technique is a particularly useful method for identifying infrequent or unusual work events that may be missed by other job analysis methods (particularly standardized questionnaires). The technique is also one of the few methods that consider what applicant characteristics should be screened out as well as screened in. Critical incidents that help to explain why employees with the skills and qualifications for the job failed to perform up to expectations can identify personality and other characteristics that should be avoided in new hires.

Collecting critical incidents is relatively inexpensive and is often used in conjunction with other job analysis techniques to capture the "extremes" of job behaviors and, thus, to distinguish superior from average or barely acceptable workers. The critical incidents technique is sometimes used to collect information about "average" job performance as well. Because stories about actual work events are collected, the method is also very good for developing interview questions and other screening types of tests. Doing a critical incidents job analysis can also help a company defend itself against hiring discrimination if it can document that the person ultimately hired demonstrated the capability to do the job under critical circumstances.

CRITICAL INCIDENTS TECHNIQUE

a job analysis method that identifies extremely effective and ineffective behaviors by documenting critical incidents that have occurred on the job

The Job Elements Method

The job elements method19 is used primarily with industrial occupations and lesser-skilled jobs. The job elements method focuses on identifying the characteristics of workers who are able to do the job at a satisfactory level. The process involves:

1. Selecting a group of experts (including incumbents and their supervisors).

2. Conducting brainstorming sessions with them to identify the characteristics successful workers currently have.

3. Assigning weights to each characteristic (element) based on the following criteria:

a. the proportion of barely acceptable workers who have the job element (or characteristic);

b. how effective the element is when it comes to picking a superior worker;

c. the trouble likely to occur if the element is not considered; and

d. practicality, or the effect that using the job element in screening job candidates will have on the organization's ability to fill job openings.

4. Analyzing the job element data.

JOB ELEMENTS METHOD

a job analysis method that uses expert brainstorming sessions to identify the characteristics successful workers currently have

Interview Methods

UNSTRUCTURED JOB ANALYSIS INTERVIEW

a job analysis technique involving an informal conversation with a job expert with no prepared questions

STRUCTURED INTERVIEW METHOD

a job analysis method in which subject matter experts provide information about the job verbally in structured face-to-face interviews

An unstructured job analysis interview is an informal conversation with a job expert, usually a capable job incumbent or the manager of a job incumbent, with no prepared questions. A job expert can be any person who exhibits expertise in a job. The job expert is told the purpose of the job analysis and the focus of the interview, which helps focus the conversation. The interviewer asks questions to create a conversation exploring the job expert's perceptions of the job, and takes detailed notes to enable follow up questions. The interview typically starts by exploring the most important job responsibilities, the key tasks for each, the worker characteristics required to perform these tasks, and the performance criteria for each task and for the job as a whole. Any broader competencies that are important for job performance are also discussed.

The structured job analysis interview technique asks job experts to provide information about the job verbally in structured face-to-face interviews. This method can be a good choice when only a small number of job experts are able to participate in the job analysis effort or if the job analysis must be completed quickly. Because a relatively small amount of data is collected using this technique, a job analysis professional should conduct the interviews to reduce the risk of interviewer bias and ensure participants focus on identifying characteristics that distinguish superior from average or barely acceptable workers. For example, two possible questions that would be asked during a structured job analysis interview for a radio assembler's job are, "What is the sequence of activities you perform in assembling a radio?" and "How much time do you spend on each part of the assembly process?"

Using an interview guide can expedite job analysis interviews and help to standardize the information collected in each interview. Job analysis interview guides are lists of questions to ask different job experts, and sometimes include rating scales of the amount or frequency of a job characteristic. An example of a job analysis interview guide for an administrative position is shown in Table 4-3. Because interviewees will vary in how they perceive and describe the job, it is important to conduct multiple interviews to identify common themes and competencies. Organizations usually verify interview results with a more objective technique such as a checklist or questionnaire.

TASK INVENTORY APPROACH

a job analysis method in which job experts generate a list of 50 to 200 tasks grouped into categories reflecting the job's major functions; the functions are then evaluated on dimensions relevant for selection purposes

TASK

a collection of more elemental activities directed toward the achievement of a specific objective on the job

The Task Inventory Approach

The task inventory approach relies on job experts to generate a list of job relevant tasks (typically 50 to 200). A task is a collection of more elemental activities directed toward the achievement of a specific objective on the job.20 Job incumbents and/or their supervisors typically

Sample Job Analysis Interview Guide for an Administrative Position

1. Describe the most important duties you perform on the job daily, using as much detail as possible. Describe the knowledge, skill, ability, or other characteristic you use in performing each duty.

2. Describe in detail the most important duties you perform on the job less frequently (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.) and explain how frequently you perform them. Describe the knowledge, skill, ability, personality trait, or other characteristic you use in performing each duty.

3. Describe any equipment (computers, machines, etc.) that you regularly use on the job.

4. Describe the working conditions on the job. Please include any objectionable conditions in which you work and how frequently these conditions are encountered.

5. Describe the supervision you receive on the job, including its extent and proximity.

6. How much autonomy do you have in performing your job? Imagine a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 reflecting no autonomy and 10 reflecting complete autonomy. Where would you place your job autonomy on this scale?

7. Describe any supervision you give to others, including the number of employees you supervise and the degree of accountability you have for their job performance and results.

8. Describe the complexity of your job.

9. What type of training or formal education is necessary to perform this job satisfactorily? 10. How much job experience is necessary to perform this job satisfactorily? Where can this

experience be obtained (both inside and outside of this organization)?

complete structured questionnaires rating each task statement using one or more rating scales. Raters' background information including their work experience, tenure with the employer, sex, race, job satisfaction, management level, and other characteristics that might influence their responses and perceptions of the job are also collected. Then the tasks are grouped into categories reflecting the job's major functions. These categories are evaluated on dimensions relevant for selection purposes, including the relative importance of each category of tasks and the relative amount of time a worker spends on each one. Because the focus is on identifying what is typical of the job, this technique might not identify worker characteristics that are important but infrequently displayed or those that distinguish superior from average or barely acceptable workers. The task inventory approach can be combined with other approaches to address these limitations.

The Structured Questionnaire Method

A structured questionnaire method is a job analysis method that involves using a list of preplanned questions designed to analyze a job. The Position Analysis Questionnaire(PAQ)21 is a copyrighted, standardized job analysis questionnaire designed to be used for just about any job. It uses 194 questions to assess the information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other job characteristics associated with a position. Because the PAQ is worker oriented, its questions and results are written in terms of what a successful worker must know or be able to do. The PAQ report outlines the job's requirements for the worker's mental, perceptual, psychomotor, and physical abilities, as well as the desirability of certain personality characteristics and interests. This makes the PAQ very useful for designing selection systems. Because the makers of this questionnaire keep all the results in a comprehensive database, purchasers of this technique can also learn about studies done on similar jobs.