Job Definition Research Articles

Syllabus Evaluation by the Job-analysis Technique

SUMMARY The survey reported in the present article demonstrates the job-analysis technique for evaluating and updating syllabuses. The survey examined the correspondence between the training syllabus of BTech and practical engineers in the area of biotechnology and the demands of industrial plants and the economy, similarities and dissimilarities in job definition and assignments, and job demands in the present and future and their implications for training syllabuses. The survey findings are based on 37 questionnaires completed by directors and engineers in 13 industrial plants. In general, the job of the practical engineer was perceived in terms of the production-floor level with importance attached to skills such as competence in running and maintaining equipment, conducting experiments according to a preset protocol, and personal characteristics such as technical skill and precision. The main expectations of BTech engineers were the capacity for originality and initiative, comprehension and analysis, precision, oral and written articulacy, and teamwork. The findings also suggest that most of the subject areas in the syllabuses evaluated are important both for the practical and for the BTech engineers.

Identifying New Roles and Responsibilities for the Inspector within a Provincial Constabulary: Results of a Job Analysis

With the advent of structural and organisational changes within the police forces of England and Wales, the role of Inspector has been the subject of critical rethinking. In order to review this police rank within one provincial police force, a job analysis was conducted into the present and desired future role and responsibilities of the uniformed Inspector. Methods used included interviews, task activity analyses, role repertory grids and content analyses of existing job descriptions. Results revealed a lack of clear role definition as presently conceived and differences between senior and more junior officers in their assessments of appropriate levels of functioning for the Inspector. Differences also emerged in views about the deployment of Inspectors as generalists based on territorial deployment or as functional specialists. Some resolution of these differences was attempted and formalised into a proposed new job definition.

Occupational and Internal Labor Markets in Japan

The distinction between internal and occupational labor markets requires the development of informative indicators that go beyond standard measures such as firm size, which are too vague. This article develops an alternative measure, based on the comparison between firm‐specific and occupation‐specific tenure, and applies it to Japanese occupational data. We believe that the proposed measure is useful not only in classifying different occupations according to the degree of labor market internalization but also in documenting changes over time in job definition, “reengineering” of the corporation, and the like.

Defining community policing: practice versus paradigm

While many believe that community policing has advanced beyond the defining stage, conflict still exists between community policing as envisioned by academics and theorists and community policing as interpreted and practiced by police organizations. Why is there so much disparity between the theory and application of community policing? Part of the answer lies in the differing utility the concept holds for practitioners and researchers. Analyzed within the precepts of the Trojanowicz Paradigm, content analyses of community policing job descriptions and definitions were performed on data obtained during a 1994 national survey of police departments conducted by Trojanowicz, Woods, et al. Results were surprising, yet consistent with many case studies which trace implementation problems to the failure of the larger organization to incorporate the community policing philosophy.

Deskilling Revisited: Continuity and Change in Craft Work and Apprenticeship in Late Nineteenth Century New South Wales

Twenty years have now passed since the publication of the late Harry Braverman's seminal study of the historical transformation of work under industrial capitalism2 and the beginnings of the post-Braverman debate on the nature and dynamics of the capitalist 'labour process'. Braverman's central thesis, of course, was that the 'major tendential presence' within the capitalist workplace since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has been the progressive degradation by industrial employers of traditional craft skills and craft institutions through a pervasive and premeditated process of workforce 'deskilling7. According to Braverman, this has embraced three interrelated elements: firstly, the subdivision of craft work into an ever-simpler series of tasks; second, the mechanisation of an increasing number of craft tasks; and, third, the application by employers in the early decades of the twentieth century of F.W Taylor's theories of 'scientific management'. The Taylorization of craft work is said to have involved the systematic appropriation by management of all traditional craftworker knowledge, autonomy and job control and the replacement of customary payment methods by piece-rate systems determined 'scientifically' by means of time-and-motion studies. In the two decades since its publication, Braverman's deskilling thesis has remained one of the most pivotal and contentious elements in the international debate on the nature of the capitalist labour process. The literature in the antiand post-Braverman mould is now of such daunting magnitude and diversity as to defy ready summation.3 However, some criticisms levelled at the deskilling thesis have enjoyed particularly wide acceptance and would seem to warrant brief enumeration. Six criticisms are particularly worthy of mention. Firstly, Braverman's emphasis on unilateral employer agency and control is said to ignore both worker resistance to work reorganization and the possibility of worker compliance and consent.4 Second, this unilateralism is seen as overlooking interventions and mediations by the state, a point of obvious relevance to the Australian scene, particularly in the twentieth century. Third, the assumption of universal, unilinear skill degradation is said to ignore important differences in structural, technological, and product and labour market possibilities and outcomes between and within industries. The same teleology is also seen as increasing the likelihood of temporary, cyclical phenomena being mistaken for immanent secular trends. Four, Braverman's hypothesis of increasing workforce homogeneity has been criticised for overlooking the importance of labour market segmentation, the growth of internal labour markets, and associated divisions within the working class. Fifth, the deskilling paradigm draws on an objectivist conception of 'skill' which is said to overlook the social, cultural, ideological and, in particular, patriarchal dimensions of job definition and the division of labour. Finally,

A Comparison of the Policy, Social, and Cultural Contexts for Telecommuting in Japan and the United States

Active experimentation with telecommuting in both the United States and Japan is among the most extensive in the world. However, policy, social, and cultural distinctions result in some important differences in the way telecommuting is adopted by each country. This paper presents a comparison of the policy, social, and cultural contexts for telecommuting in Japan and the United States. An overview of various types of telecommuting and remote office arrangements is provided, illustrating the diversity of Japanese experimentation with the remote-work concept. Reasons for interest in telecommuting are compared, including commute stress, urban growth management, air quality and energy concerns, employee recruitment and retention, savings on office-space costs, and disaster response. Cultural barriers to the adoption of telecommuting in Japan are discussed, including the lack of formal job definition, the preference for face-to-face communication, the importance of the group, limitations of home-based telecommuting, and others. Operational issues potentially supporting or inhibiting the adoption of telecommuting are also described, including technology, marketing, and training. Keywords: telecommuting, teleworking, comparative studies (U.S. / Japan).

Appraising the Performance of "Street-Level Bureaucrats": The Case of Police Patrol Officers

This study focuses on how patrol officers define their jobs differently from how their supervisors do in a single law enforcement agency. I identify the source, substance, and degree of these differences, and I explore the relationships between definitional differences and performance appraisal outcomes-perception of fairness and average appraisal scores. The job definitions are based on a factor analysis of the ratings of the importance of generally used performance appraisal categories. The ratings of the relative importance of the performance categories indicate that job definitions are generally idiosyncratic, although some consensus exists between the officers and supervisors on those dimensions of the job identified through the factor analysis procedure.

Making it work: preventive mental health care for disadvantaged preschoolers.

Combining education and mental health services in a preschool setting for disadvantaged children can produce significant benefits for these children and their parents. At a time of fiscal constraints, partnerships between the education and mental health sectors can amplify both systems' achievements in a time-efficient manner. Such partnerships recognize and use each profession's expertise to create a more balanced, efficient, and realistic approach to serving children. This article looks at the technical, interpersonal, theoretical, and philosophical aspects of developing mental health-education partnerships in community preschool programs for disadvantaged children and their families. Issues to be addressed in establishing such partnerships include the referral process and tracking of client status, roles and job definition, communication, mutual respect, space and territory issues, and confidentiality. Family outreach, the parent-therapist partnership, professional boundaries, and benefits of partnership are also discussed.

Hobby or job? Mexican female health workers.

A critical analysis of the role and status of female health workers in the primary health care service (PHC) of the Secretary of Health in the Federal District of Mexico is presented. Women are key workers in the health service; however, since the creation of the PHC service, women appear to have been kept in low-pay, low-status jobs. Data from questionnaires and in-depth interviews with female health workers in the Federal District illustrate the situation. Female health workers' status is determined by the structure and operation of the PHC system; by family and personal needs; by the cultural context of Mexican society; and by the fact that some female health workers view their job as a hobby, placing family considerations above career enhancement.

STRATEGIES FOR RETAINING FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL HEAD COACHES: A SURVEY OF ADMINISTRATORS AND COACHES

This study was undertaken to understand the strategies used to retain female high school head coaches. A sample consisting of 354 interscholastic athletic administrators and coaches of women's teams responded to a questionnaire consisting of 37 retention strategies (under the categories of developmental opportunities, program support, financial incentives, job definition, and communication) which elicited the extent that each strategy was used. To verify the subscale structure of the questionnaire, item-to-total correlations and internal consistency estimates (Cronbach's alpha) were carried out. After four iterations, 20 items were retained to measure five dimensions of retention strategies: developmental opportunities, financial incentives, program support, job expectations, and communication. The results of the 2 (Gender) × 2 (Position) × 5 (Dimension) repeated measures ANOVA showed significant two-way interaction effects for both gender and position. Tukey's post hoc analyses indicated that all subgroups rated communication as the most used dimension for retaining female high school coaches and rated developmental opportunities as the least used.

Health effects of gasoline exposure. I. Exposure assessment for U.S. distribution workers.

Personal exposures were estimated for a large cohort of workers in the U.S. domestic system for distributing gasoline by trucks and marine vessels. This assessment included development of a rationale and methodology for extrapolating vapor exposures prior to the availability of measurement data, analysis of existing measurement data to estimate task and job exposures during 1975-1985, and extrapolation of truck and marine job exposures before 1975. A worker's vapor exposure was extrapolated from three sets of factors: the tasks in his or her job associated with vapor sources, the characteristics of vapor sources (equipment and other facilities) at the work site, and the composition of petroleum products producing vapors. Historical data were collected on the tasks in job definitions, on work-site facilities, and on product composition. These data were used in a model to estimate the overall time-weighted-average vapor exposure for jobs based on estimates of task exposures and their duration. Task exposures were highest during tank filling in trucks and marine vessels. Measured average annual, full-shift exposures during 1975-1985 ranged from 9 to 14 ppm of total hydrocarbon vapor for truck drivers and 2 to 35 ppm for marine workers on inland waterways. Extrapolated past average exposures in truck operations were highest for truck drivers before 1965 (range 140-220 ppm). Other jobs in truck operations resulted in much lower exposures. Because there were few changes in marine operations before 1979, exposures were assumed to be the same as those measured during 1975-1985. Well-defined exposure gradients were found across jobs within time periods, which were suitable for epidemiologic analyses.

Treading the path of interdisciplinary boundaries: A community health care approach to rehabilitation services in the home

The author explores role definitions of the rehabilitation service providers in the home health care setting and shares the experience of one agency in the development and implementation of a rehabilitation nursing program. Included is an RN job definition, direct service responsibilities of the rehab role, and criteria for patient admission.

Optimizing the Job‐person Match with Computerized Human Resource Information Systems

On the basis of a review of the literature in human resource information systems (HRIS) and a diagnosis of some computerized placement systems used by large US corporations, identifies major problems in using computerized HRIS for internal staffing. Proposes a self‐balancing staffing system, built around a rational screening procedure. This system, although it may be altered to fit various circumstances, can serve at least three purposes: (1) to fill an opening resulting from termination of the incumbent; (2) to update the candidate search criteria on the basis of changes in job definitions; and (3) to pursue system‐wide optimization by periodically checking the fit between jobs and persons. Finally, explores some practical issues about how to integrate such an automated staffing system with manual ones and discusses the implications for future research.

The organization and management of ministries of education in small states

AbstractUntil recently, the literature on public administration has been almost exclusively based on the concerns and features of medium‐sized and large states. Few studies have addressed the special features of public administration in small states. This paper helps to redress this situation by focusing on Ministries of Education in small states. It is mainly based on a Commonwealth survey of 15 countries in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Indian Ocean, Asia and the South Pacific. Among the questions addressed in the paper are ones on the range of functions undertaken by Ministries of Education and on such personnel matters as job definition and recruitment. The paper also examines issues of management in the highly personalized environment found in small states.

Categorical Imperatives: The Structure of Job Titles in California State Agencies

The division of labor in formal organizations has important consequences for the distribution of opportunities and rewards. This paper examines variations in job title structures across work roles. Analyzing 3,173 job titles in the California civil service system in 1985, we investigate how and why lines of work vary in the proliferation of job categories that differentiate ranks, functions, or particular organizational locations. The statistical analysis underscores the importance of three socialforces shaping the division of labor: ascription by race and sex; the power and social standing of occupational groups, especially the professions; and organizational processes of rationalization. Some implications of these results for studies of organizations and social inequality are discussed. Remarkably little attention has been paid to the structure of job titles, despite the sociological importance of the topic. Distinctions among job titles are clearly relevant to social stratification, since wages, promotion opportunities, and other perquisites are often attached to jobs. From an organizational perspective, job definitions are central to the study of organizational structure. We examine the structure of job titles within a contemporary bureaucratic setting: California state government. In particular, we investigate variations in the proliferation of job titles across different kinds of work, asking why some work roles are subdivided into many job titles and others into very few.

Job Definitions and Inequality: the ‘unskilled’ Women Workers of the West Riding Textile Industry, 1850–1914

(1988). Job Definitions and Inequality: the ‘unskilled’ Women Workers of the West Riding Textile Industry, 1850–1914. Textile History: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 61-82.

Job Definitions and Inequality: the ‘unskilled’ Women Workers of the West Riding Textile Industry, 1850–1914

Job Definitions and Inequality: the ‘unskilled’ Women Workers of the West Riding Textile Industry, 1850–1914

In just the last 10 years

Let us, the Communication Technology editors, take this opportunity to introduce one of the new departments that will be appearing in the Transactions. Beginning with the June issue, you can expect either a full-scale article or at least a column on the technologies that are changing the way professional communicators do their work. These technologies include text processing systems, electronic and desktop publishing systems, communication networks, online help facilities, and tools to improve user interfaces. We want to discuss the practical impact of these technologies on job definitions, work flow, shop organization, project management, and the internal and external flow of information.

Capitalist Restructuring and Labour Strategies

One of the most important developments currently taking place in capitalist societies is a restructuring of work, whereby changing processes of production, changing locations of production, changing job definitions and requirements, and changing relations between workers and managers at the point of production are all issuing a profound challenge to long-established patterns of working class organization and representation. In this presentation I shall to try to place this development in a general context and to contribute to a discussion of appropriate labour strategies in the face of it.

Integrating human resource planning with strategic planning

Abstract: Human resource management, directly linked to operational and environmental forecasts, is a critical tool for public administrators as they respond to current difficult economic conditions. This paper describes new developments within the public service of Canada to improve the quality of human resource planning and to ensure its complete integration into the corporate planning system.Planning for human resources must start at the top when the major objectives of the organization are set. These objectives establish the framework within which the strategic plan and the operational plans must fit. The author describes the factors which contribute to the complexity of developing and administering human resource planning in the public service and the principal elements of the Policy and Expenditure Management System (PEMS). Then, a new system is described which is proposed to be introduced in the federal public service in 1985. Its purpose is the integration of human resource planning, including career planning, training and development, hiring and action to redress under‐representation, with operational and strategic planning. Its tools include attrition forecasting, environmental scanning, models of the organization under varying circumstances, occupational analysis and job definition, and it must be supported by data bases of considerable quality.In the Canadian public service it has become evident that the roles of the manager and personnel specialist must change if human resource planning is to work. Managers must be trained and able to foresee the human resource implications of their strategic and operational plans. The specialist must be able to provide information and analytical support needed to turn implications into valid, realistic long‐ and short‐term plans for the achievement of corporate goals through development and appointment of appropriate resources. Human resource plans must emanate from the basic objective of the organization set by the Chief Executive Officer and the executive team; they will succeed in direct proportion to the level of commitment and support awarded to them by Chief Executive Officers and the extent to which managers are held accountable for them.