Job and Work Analysis

Abstract

AbstractJob analysis a broad term commonly used to describe a wide variety of systematic procedures for examining, documenting, and drawing inferences about work activities, worker attributes, and work context. Following a conceptual overview of the range of choices facing the individual conducting a job analysis, the chapter discusses important changes and challenges to job analysis that have emerged over the last decade. The first is the development of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET); a comprehensive job analysis system designed to replace theDictionary of Occupational Titles. Second, we discuss the growing trend toward the incorporation of personality variables in job analysis, paralleling the growth of interest in personality within the field of I/O psychology overall. Third, we examine the growth of competency modeling, which is often presented as an alternative to or replacement for job analysis. Fourth, we review developments in the field of cognitive task analysis, which involve efforts to understand unobservable cognitive processes. Fifth, we examine the growth of strategic job analysis, which focuses on analysis for changing job situations and projections about work in the future. Sixth, and finally, we discuss recent developments focusing on the topic of sources of inaccuracy in job analysis.