Chapter 4
Job Analysis and Competency Models
© 2013 by Nelson Education
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The Big Question
How do you analyze and document the core
KSAO’s for each position in your
organization? –
AND then use this information to ensure
that recruitment and selection programs
support the entire business plan?
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What is Work and Job Analysis?


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”: eg. Text p. 110-111
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Work and Job Analysis – Key Terms
Two products of job analysis:


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: eg. Text p. 113 CIBC
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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Job Analysis and Employment Law
– A Reprise

Employment decisions must be based on
job-related information: A good job
analysis ensures that accurate information
on skill, effort, responsibility, and working
conditions is specified, reducing the
likelihood of job analysis impediments to
equitable employment access for all
Canadians.
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Job Analysis and Employment Law
– A Reprise…cont

Job analysis: a legally acceptable way of
determining
job-relatedness:
provides
objective evidence of the skills and abilities
required for effective performance on the
job, involved in the selection of the
candidates.
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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
◦ SEE:
www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOCCNP/app/index.aspx
◦ Explore this site!
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Work- and Worker-Oriented Job
Analysis
All job analysis methods fall into either of two:


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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NB: Survey of Work-Oriented Job
Analysis Methods




Interviews
Direct Observation
Self-Monitoring Data
Rating Task Statements and KSAOs
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Survey of Work-Oriented Job
Analysis Methods (cont)




Structured Job Analysis Questionnaires and
Inventories
Task Inventories
Functional Job Analysis
Critical Incident Technique
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Interviews




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 - text p. 121

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(cont)
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


Knowledge: a body of information, usually
of a factual or procedural nature, that
makes for successful performance of a task
Skill: an individual’s level of proficiency or
competency in performing a specific task.
Level of competency is typically expressed
in numerical terms.
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Employee Specifications for a Job
cont


Ability: a more general, enduring trait or
capability an individual possesses at the
time he first begins to perform a task.
Other Attributes: includes personality traits
and other individual characteristics that are
integral to job performance.
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Rating Task Statements and KSAOs





All tasks are not equal
Some are performed more frequently
Some are more important
Some require a degree of difficulty to
perform
Thus see Table 4.1 text p. 127
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Structured Job Analysis
Questionnaires and Inventories


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



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


Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): :
structured job analysis questionnaire that
focuses on the general behaviours that
make up a job.
Common-Metric Questionnaire (CMQ): :
structured, off-the-shelf job analysis
questionnaire that captures important
context variables.
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Worker-Oriented Job Analysis
Methods continued


Work Profiling System (WPS): a job analysis
method that consists of three versions
applicable to managerial, service, and
technical occupations.
Threshold Traits Analysis System: designed
to identify worker traits that are relevant to
the target job. This method assumes that
work behaviours encompass the position
functions, the worker traits and the
resulting job performance.
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Worker-Oriented Job Analysis
Methods continued


Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS):
developed as a system for identifying
employee characteristics that influence job
performance. It assumes that job tasks
differ with respect to the abilities required
to perform them successfully, and that all
jobs can be classified according to ability
requirements.
Job Element Method (JEM): attempts to
distinguish between superior and inferior
workers on the basis of job-related
abilities.
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Worker-Oriented Job Analysis
Methods continued

Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA): the term is
used in relation to a class of methods that
are
similar
on
their
approach
to
understanding the cognitive processes used
by experts to complete tasks
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Criteria for Choosing a Job
Analysis Method


See Recruitment and Selection Notebook
4.2 text p. 135
See Notebook 4.3, text p. 139: Assessing
the Legal Defensibility of a Job Analysis
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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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Competencies in Recruitment and
Selection
•
Competencies contain three elements:
1. KSAOs that underlie
successful job performance
effective
and
2. KSAOs must be observable or measurable
3. KSAOs must distinguish between superior
and other performers
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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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Three-tiered Competency
Framework


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Core competencies: characteristics that every
member of an organization, regardless of position,
function, job, or level of responsibility within the
organization, is expected to possess.
Functional competencies: characteristics shared by
different positions within an organization. Only
those members of an organization in these
positions are expected to possess these
competencies.
Job-specific competencies: characteristics that
apply only to specific positions within the
organization. Only those people in the position are
expected to possess these competencies.
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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 (cont)
4. Determine the HR functions for which
competencies will be used
5. Determine the architecture of the competency
model
6. Develop the competency dictionary, including
proficiency levels that have been quantified –
see p. 144
7. Define the profiling methodology- based on
quantified scales for proficiency
8. Identify reliable and valid assessment strategies
to determine employee competency profiles –
Notebook 4.5
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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
Consider the example of the generic ‘Great Eight’
framework:
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Summary



An understanding of job analysis and its
relevance to employee recruitment and
selection is crucial
There
are
several
job
analysis
methodologies; make sure you are familiar
with the most effective
Competency-based models are increasing
in importance as they prove defensible and
reliable
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Discussion Questions
1.
2.
What makes job analysis so crucial to
effective recruitment and selection?
Would you want to to fly in an airplane if
the pilot was selected on the basis of core
competencies?
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