Job Analysis and Competency Models
© 2013 by Nelson Education
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Chapter Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter you should:
◦ Understand the importance of job analysis and
the role it plays in recruitment and selection
◦ Be able to describe guidelines for conducting
analyses employing a variety of job analysis
techniques
◦ Be able to use standard tools and techniques to
conduct a job analysis
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Chapter Learning Outcomes
(continued)
◦ Recognize processes for identifying job
specifications to be used in recruitment and
selection of human resources
◦ Understand what competencies are
◦ Understand the role competencies play in
recruitment and selection
◦ Know how to identify competencies
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Chapter Learning Outcomes
(continued)
◦ Understand the need to validate competencybased systems
◦ Be able to distinguish competency-based HR
models from those based on job analysis
◦ Recognize best practices in competency
modelling
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What is Work and Job Analysis?
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Work analysis: any systematic gathering,
documenting, and analyzing of information
about the content of work performed
Job analysis: the process of collecting
information about jobs “by any method for
any purpose”
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Work and Job Analysis – Key Terms
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Job description: a written description of
what job occupants are required to do; how
they are supposed to do it; and the
rationale for any required job procedures
Job specification: the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other attributes or
competences that are needed by a job
incumbent to perform well on the job
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Work and Job Analysis – Key Terms

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Job: a collection of positions that are similar
in their significant duties
Position: a collection of duties assigned to
individuals in an organization at a given
time
Job family: a set of different, but related
jobs that rely on the same set of KSAOs
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Class Activity
1.
2.
Do you have a current job description in
your full-time, part-time or contract
position?
Why are job descriptions important in the
recruiting process?
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Subject-Matter Experts

Subject-matter experts (SMEs): people who
are most knowledgeable about a job and
how it is currently performed
◦ Data collected from job incumbents and their
immediate supervisors
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Job Analysis and Employment Law
– A Reprise


Employment decisions must be based on
job-related information
Job analysis: a legally acceptable way of
determining job-relatedness
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Job Analysis Methods

Three criteria in choosing a method:
1. Goal of job analysis includes the description of
observable work behaviours and analysis of
their products
2. Results of a job analysis should describe the
work behaviour, not the personal
characteristics of the individual
3. Any job analysis must produce outcomes that
are verifiable and replicable
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KSAOs

KSAOs: the knowledge, skills, abilities, and
other attributes necessary for a new
incumbent to do well on the job
◦ Also referred to as a job, employment, or worker
specifications
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National Occupational Classification
(NOC) System

National Occupational Classification System:
systematically describes occupations in the
Canadian labour market based on extensive
occupational research
◦ A NOC profile presents both a description and
specification of the job or occupation
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Work- and Worker-Oriented Job
Analysis

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Work-oriented job analysis: techniques that
emphasize work outcomes and descriptions
of tasks performed to accomplish those
outcomes
Worker-oriented job analysis: techniques
that emphasize general aspects of jobs;
describes perceptual, interpersonal,
sensory, cognitive, and physical activities
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Survey of Work-Oriented Job
Analysis Methods
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Interviews
Direct Observation
Self-Monitoring Data
Rating Task Statements and KSAOs
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Survey of Work-Oriented Job
Analysis Methods (continued)
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Structured Job Analysis Questionnaires and
Inventories
Task Inventories
Functional Job Analysis
Critical Incident Technique
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Interviews

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Interview: involves questioning individuals,
small groups, and/or supervisors; designed
to ask all interviewees the same job-related
questions
Most common technique used
May be structured or unstructured
Should be well planned and carefully
conducted
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Recruitment and Selection
Notebook 4.1

Guidelines for a Job Analysis Interview
1. Announce the job analysis well ahead of the
interview date
2. Participation in interviews should be voluntary,
and job incumbents should be interviewed only
with the permission of their supervisors
3. Interviews should be conducted in a private
location free from the trappings of status
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Recruitment and Selection
Notebook 4.1(continued)
4. Open the interview by establishing rapport and
explaining the purpose of the interview
5. Ask open-ended questions, using language that
is easy to understand, and allow ample time for
the employee’s responses
6. Guide the session without being authoritative or
overbearing
7. Explain that records of the interviews will
identify them only by confidential codes
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Direct Observation

Direct observation: a job analyst watches
employees as they carry out their job
activities (or job shadowing)
◦ This method is most useful when the job
analysis involves easily observable activities
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Self-Monitoring

Self-monitoring: a job analyst may ask
incumbents to monitor their own work
behaviour
◦ Advantages:
 Less time consuming and less expensive
 Can be used when the conditions of work do not
easily facilitate direct observation by another
person
 Can provide information on otherwise
unobservable cognitive and intellectual processes
involved in the job
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Employee Specifications for a Job
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Knowledge
Skill
Ability
Other Attributes
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Rating Task Statements and KSAOs
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All tasks are not equal
Some are performed more frequently
Some are more important
Some require a degree of difficulty to
perform
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Structured Job Analysis
Questionnaires and Inventories
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Require workers and other SMEs to respond
to written questions about their jobs
Respondents are asked to make judgments
(e.g., activities, tasks, tools, equipment,
working conditions)
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Task Inventories
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Work-oriented surveys: break down jobs
into their component tasks
Inventory: comprises task statements that
are objectively based descriptions of what
gets done on a job
Tasks: worker activities that result in an
outcome that serves some specified
purpose
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Functional Job Analysis

Functional job analysis: defines task
statements as verbal descriptions of
activities that workers do; it is what gets
done on the job to facilitate recruitment,
selection, and compensation
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Critical Incident Technique

Critical incident technique: highlights
examples of effective and ineffective work
behaviours
◦ Related to superior or inferior performance
◦ Generates behaviourally focused descriptions of
work activities
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Worker-Oriented Job Analysis
Methods
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Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)
Common-Metric Questionnaire (CMQ)
Work Profiling System (WPS)
Threshold Traits Analysis System
Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS)
Job Element Method (JEM)
Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA)
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Part II: The Role of Competencies
in Recruitment and Selection

Competencies: groups of related behaviours
that are needed for successful job
performance in an organization; measurable
attributes that distinguish outstanding
performers from others
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Competency Model

Competency model: a collection of
competencies that are relevant to
performance in a particular job, job family,
or functional area
◦ Usually developed as a three-tiered competency
framework based on an organization’s strategy
and vision
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Competency Profile

Competency profile: a set of proficiency
ratings related to a function, job, or
employee
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Recruitment and Selection
Notebook 4.4

Steps in Developing a Competency-Based
Management Framework
1. Obtain executive-level support, including
sufficient human and financial resources
2. Review the organization’s mission, vision, and
values statements
3. Adopt a competency definition that meets the
needs of the organization
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Recruitment and Selection
Notebook 4.4 (continued)
4. Determine the HR functions for which
competencies will be used
5. Determine the architecture of the competency
model
6. Develop the competency dictionary
7. Define the profiling methodology
8. Identify reliable and valid assessment strategies
to determine employee competency profiles
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Recruitment and Selection
Notebook 4.4 (continued)
9. Document all steps in the development and
implementation of the system
10.Evaluate the system on an ongoing basis to
ensure that the competency profiles continue to
predict successful job performance
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Great Eight Competencies and Their
Definitions and Likely Predictors (continued)
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Great Eight Competencies and Their
Definitions and Likely Predictors (continued)
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Summary

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An understanding of job analysis and its
relevance to employee recruitment and
selection is crucial
There are several job analysis
methodologies
Competency-based models are increasing
in importance
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Discussion Questions
1.
2.
What are the major differences between a
competency-based selection system and
one developed through job analysis?
What is a competency? Defend your
answer.
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Discussion Questions (continued)
3.
4.
Discuss why you might not wish to fly in
an airplane if the pilot was selected on the
basis of only core competencies.
What is the difference, or similarity,
between a proficiency level and a skill?
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