This assignment will require you to consider essentially all aspects of personnel psychology discussed in this class. You may complete it individually or in a group of no more than 3 people. I don’t expect it to be perfect, but whatever you decide for criteria and your selection system should make logical sense.
Step 1. Conduct a small job analysis by interviewing someone you know (e.g., parent, friend, significant other) who has been working the same job for over a year.
- The information obtained during this interview should be used to create a job description
There are 5 parts to a job description (see slides 11 and 12 of the “Job Analysis” powerpoint).
Use these 5 parts as a guide when you are asking questions during your job analysis interview.
You may find O*Net useful for this part of the assignment in particular!
Step 2. Describe the relevant criteria for the job analyzed in Step 1.
- How will you measure performance for the job?
Will you use a single global criterion, a composite criterion, multiple criteria, etc.
If using performance ratings, describe who will be rating.
If using multiple or composite criteria, be sure to list all the different parts being used or factored in. - Are there any other criteria you might look at? (OCBs, CWBs, absenteeism, etc.)
Step 3. Design a selection system for the job analyzed in Step 1.
- What screening and selection tools will you use?
Think carefully here—don’t just list all the tools we went over in class!
Describe how each screening/selection tool is related to the job; be specificFor example, if you’re using a personality inventory as a selection tool, describe which traits will predict which aspects of performance (e.g., “the Agreeableness factor of personality will be related to the individual’s ability to work well with their coworkers”)
How will applicants be processed through the selection system?
Will there be multiple hurdles? If so, what tools will you use at each phase?
Will you combine various predictors (i.e., multiple regression), use cutoffs for each predictor (i.e., multiple cutoff), etc.
See slide 14 of the “Combing Predictors” powerpoint for an example of how a selection system might be laid out
Job Analysis
The future…no jobs?
Some people believe that jobs are an outdated idea
People should be self-employed contract workers who work on specific projects or teams
Companies should organize work into projects rather than specific jobs
Some companies are sort of moving in this direction (e.g., Microsoft)
Work IS changing
Example: librarians used to recommend books, sort them in shelves, and provide research guidance; now they basically show how to run computer searches (internet or digital call catalogs)
But at least for now, jobs are still the basic foundation for organizations
As such, job analysis is still essential in developing I-O interventions
Job analysis
The process of defining a job, specifying the behaviors necessary to perform on it, and then developing hypotheses about the personal characteristics necessary to perform those behaviors
Determine the characteristics required for success in a specific work setting, or the degree to which the work requirements are similar to requirements for work performed elsewhere
Although some courts insist on extensive job analysis (as a basis for providing content-related evidence of validity), certain purposes, such as validity generalization, may not require such detail
If you recall the lecture on criteria, job analysis is the first step in identifying criteria and choosing the individual differences that can predict those criteria
Uses of job analysis
Organizing, workforce planning, role definition
Clarify the roles of each job; avoid duplication of responsibility and confusion between departments
Job evaluation, recruitment, selection, placement, orientation, training and development, performance appraisal, promotions and transfers, career planning
Determine the characteristics of a job or organization and determine the skills, knowledge, or abilities necessary to work in them
Engineering design, job design, safety
Determine the appropriate amount of work for a job and how to avoid accidents in them
Job analysis terminology
Element – The smallest unit into which work can be divided without analyzing the separate motions, movements, and mental processes involved
Example: Removing a saw from a tool chest prior to sawing wood for a project
Task – A distinct work activity carried out for a specific purpose
Example: Running a computer program, typing a letter, and unloading a truckload of freight
Duty – A large segment of the work performed by an individual; may include a number of tasks
Example: Conducting interviews, counseling employees, providing information to the public
Position – A set of tasks performed by a single employee
Job analysis terminology
Job – A group of positions that are similar in their significant duties
Example: Secretary
Job family – A group of two or more jobs that either call for similar worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks as determined by job analysis
Example: Clerical
Occupation/vocation – A group of similar jobs found in different organizations at different times
Example: electricians and machinists
Career – A sequence of positions, jobs, or occupations that one person engages in during his or her working life
Job analysis choices
There are a number of options in conducting a job analysis; the final purpose of the analysis is an essential consideration in making these decisions
1. Activities or attributes?
Some techniques focus solely on activities (tasks) – work oriented
Some focus on how the work gets done (worker attributes) – worker oriented
Others offer a combination of the two, linking tasks and attributes – linkage analysis
2. General or specific?
How much detail is needed in the analysis?
A brief description of a job to make pay comparisons includes much less detail than what is needed to develop selection procedures based on critical KSAOs
Job analysis choices
3. Qualitative or quantitative?
The same job can be described in narrative form or by ratings on a fixed set of scales (e.g., time, frequency, importance, or criticality)
Qualitative methods are fine for applications like career planning, but cross-job comparisons require some type of quantitative method
4. Taxonomy-based or blank slate?
Some general job analysis tools involve taxonomy-based approaches in which statements of general work activities are applied to a broad range of jobs
Alternatively, trained observers or job incumbents may develop lists of job activities or attributes that apply to specific jobs or job families
The “blank-slate” approaches have the potential for a greater detail than do taxonomy approaches
Job analysis choices
5. Observers or incumbents or supervisors?
Trained job analysts sometimes observe work directly and then distill their observations into qualitative descriptions or quantitative evaluations of work activities or attributes
Alternatively, information may come from job incumbents or their direct supervisors, who may be asked to identify activities or attributes and then rate them on numeric scales
6. KSAs or KSAOs?
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities are useful in conducting attribute-oriented job analysis
Adding other personal characteristics (Os) allows a broader range of attributes to be included in the analysis; these might include personality traits, values, and attitudes
Job analysis choices
7. Single job or multiple-job comparison?
Sometimes the focus is on a specific job, as when developing an entry-level test for a bank teller job
In other cases, the focus is on documenting similarities and differences across jobs (e.g., to justify using the same selection system with different jobs)
8. Descriptive or prescriptive?
Job analysis typically describes a job as it currently exists
However, if a job does not yet exist, it is necessary to prescribe activities or attributes for the soon-to-be-created job; this is called strategic job analysis
Job description
A written statement of what a worker actually does, how he or she does it, and why
This information can then be used to determine what KSAOs are required to perform the job
1. Job title – For bookkeeping purposes within the firm, as well as to facilitate reporting to government agencies
2. Job activities and procedures – Descriptions of tasks, materials used, machinery operated, formal interactions with other workers, and the extent of supervision given or received
Job description
3. Working conditions and physical environment – Heat, lighting, noise level, indoor/outdoor setting, physical location, hazardous conditions, etc.
4. Social environment – Information on the number of individuals in the work group and the amount of interpersonal interaction required in order to perform the job
5. Conditions of employment – A description of the hours of work, wage structure, method of payment, benefits, place of the job in the formal organization, and opportunities for promotion
Minimum qualifications
In order to avoid screening out potential employees who would be able to adequately perform a job, the basic personal characteristics required in a job should be specified
1. Working independently, groups of subject matter experts (SMEs) rate tasks and KSAs on a set of scales
2. After completing their ratings, the SMEs provide suggested types or amounts of education, work experience, and other data they view as appropriate for MQs
Minimum qualifications
3. From the task and KSA domains and SME opinions, job analysts prepare a draft set of MQ profiles; each profile is a statement of education, training, or work experience presumably needed to perform a target job at a satisfactory level
4. Finally, a new set of SMEs is convened to do three things:
1. Establish a description of a barely acceptable employee
2. Decide if the list of MQ profiles is complete or if it needs editing
3. Rate the finalized profiles on two scales, appropriateness and clarity
Obtaining job information
Direct observation
An analyst can observe an incumbent and record what he or she does
Observations should include a representative sample of job behaviors
Job analyst should try to be unobtrusive
Inappropriate for jobs that require a lot of mental activity and concentration
Functional job analysis (FJA)
Identifies what a worker does on the job and how a task is performed
Tasks are rated on their involvement with People, Data, or Things
Obtaining job information
Actual performance
Analysts can do the job themselves and record what they do
Interview
Analysts can interview the incumbent or supervisor; this may allow infrequent behaviors to be covered
Worker acts as his or her own observer in the interview
Should follow a structured interview format
Should interview several incumbents and immediate supervisors who know the job well
Obtaining job information
SME panel
Panels of 6 to 10 SMEs convened
To develop information on tasks or KSAOs to be used in constructing job analysis questionnaires
In test development to establish linkages between tasks and KSAOs, KSAOs and test items, and tasks and test items
SMEs should be 10-20% of the total job incumbents or supervisors
SMEs should be representative of the race, gender, location, shift, and assignment composition of all incumbents
Important to have a wide range of work experience in SME panels
Obtaining job information
Questionnaires
Respondents either check items that apply to a job or to rate items in terms of their relevance to the job; greatly facilitates comparisons across jobs
Cheap and quick to administer
Time consuming and expensive to develop
Standardization allows for comparisons across jobs and organizations
The PAQ
Position analysis questionnaire (work-oriented)
Consists of 194 items that asks respondents to rate the importance or difficulty of each job element
More suited for blue-collar manufacturing jobs than it is for professional, managerial, and some technical jobs
No specific work activities are described, so element similarities in jobs may mask genuine differences between them
Need a college-graduate reading level to comprehend items
Job Element Inventory is an alternate version of the PAQ that was developed; it only requires a 10th grade reading level
The PAQ
The F-JAS
Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (worker-oriented)
Provides a taxonomy of ability categories that describe performance in a wide variety of tasks
Objective is to describe jobs in terms of the abilities required to perform them
The ability-requirements taxonomy is intended to reflect the fewest independent ability categories that describe performance in the widest variety of tasks
Covers 21 cognitive abilities, 10 psychomotor abilities, 9 physical abilities, 12 sensory/perceptual abilities, and 21 social/interpersonal abilities
Rating scales define each ability, distinguish it from related abilities, and provide examples of tasks that require different levels of the ability
The F-JAS
Obtaining job information
Critical incidents
The collection of a series of anecdotes of job behavior that describe especially good or bad performance
Yields both static and dynamic dimensions of jobs
Anecdotes describe:
What led up to the incident and the context in which it occurred
Exactly what the individual did that was so effective or ineffective
The perceived consequences of this behavior and whether or not such consequences were actually within the control of the employee
Obtaining job information
Job Analysis Wizard
Based online
Incorporates characteristics such as:
Use of thousands of different elements organized into broader work- and worker-related dimensions
Automation of the job analysis process
Use of electronic surveys
Filtering data
Personality-based Job Analysis
Personality – a set of characteristics or traits that account for the consistent ways a person responds to situations
Personality-based job analysis may be useful for difficult-to-define jobs that cannot be described in terms of tasks or KSAs
Personality-Related Position Requirements Form
Assesses the extent to which the Big Five traits are needed for a particular job
Other measured dimensions include:
Sensitivity to others
Thoroughness/attention to detail
Desire to generate ideas
Other types of job analysis
Strategic or Future Oriented Job Analysis
Information for a job that does not yet exist
Competency Models
Attempts to identify variables related to overall organizational fit and to identify personality characteristics consistent with the organizations vision
Focuses on broader characteristics of individuals
Integrity
Sensitivity/respectfulness
Staying current with technological advances
O*NET
Occupational Information Network
Provides comprehensive descriptions of the attributes of workers and jobs
Based on:
Multiple descriptor domains that provide “multiple windows” into the world of work
A common language of work and worker descriptors that covers all occupations
Description of occupations based on a taxonomy from broad to specific
Comprehensive content model that integrates the previous three principles to include the major types of cross-job descriptors and to provide a general descriptive framework of occupational information
http://www.onetonline.org/
Workforce Planning
What is workforce planning?
Workforce planning (WP)
An effort to anticipate future business and environmental demands on an organization and to meet the HR requirements dictated by these conditions
The objective of WP is to have the wisest, most effective use of talent in the interest of both the individual and the organization
Strategies and plans
Strategies are the means that organizations use to compete (e.g., quality, speed, cost, etc.)
Plans are necessary in order to develop successful strategies
Planning leads to success (not intrinsically, but planners tend to outperform non-planners)
Plans give managers and supervisors a sense of control over the future and helps them cope with change
Plans require managers to define objectives, thus giving meaning and direction to employees’ work
Strategic planning
Strategic planning involves setting organizational objectives and deciding on action programs to achieve these objectives
A strategic plan answers two fundamental questions that are critical for managers:
What business are we in?
How shall we compete?
Strategic planning
Strategic planning typically includes the following processes:
Defining company philosophy by looking at why the company exists, how it is unique, etc.
Creating statements of organizational identity, purpose, and objectives
Evaluating the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in order to identify the factors that may enhance or limit the choice of any future courses of action
Determining the organization design (structure, processes, interrelationships) appropriate for managing the company’s chosen business
Developing appropriate strategies for achieving objectives, including subgoals
Devising programs to implement the strategies
Alternative strategies
Traditionally, organizations create a strategy to develop their identity
Their strategic plan is defined at the outset (“what do we want to be and how do we get there?”)
Example: FIU’s “World’s Ahead” or “Beyond Possible” strategic plans (http://
stratplan.fiu.edu/docs/WorldsAhead_StrategicPlan ) (https://beyondpossible.fiu.edu/_assets/docs/Strategic-Plan )
Other organizations reflect on their own identity and differences from other organizations and then create plans that align with and capitalize on that uniqueness
Their strategic plan comes last, after the core values are determined (“what are we and how do we make the most of that?”)
HR strategies
What we’ve described so far are general business strategies
As fun as those are, we’re more concerned with how these overarching business strategies influence HR strategies and policies
HR strategy is the set of priorities a firm uses to align its resources, policies, and programs with its strategic business plan
The planning is done from the top down (e.g., from “how do we compete?” to “What competencies, incentives and work practices support high performance?”)
The execution proceeds from the bottom up
Workforce planning processes (long-term, middle-term, and short-term) are enacted correspondingly with business planning processes
Talent inventories
A talent inventory is a workforce-wide database of employees’ characteristics
They typically include several of the following for each employee:
Current position information
Previous positions in the company
Other significant work experience (e.g., other companies, military)
Education (including degrees, licenses, certifications)
Language skills and relevant international experience
Training and development programs attended
Community or industry leadership responsibilities
Current and past performance appraisal data
Disciplinary actions
Awards received
Personal information (career goals, hobbies, families, etc.)
Talent inventories
It is important to specify the primary uses of the inventory at the concept-development stage
This provides direction and scope regarding who and what kinds of data should be included
Some common uses of a talent inventory include:
Identification of candidates for promotion
Succession planning
Assignments to special projects
Transfer
Training
Workforce-diversity planning and reporting
Compensation planning
Career planning
Organizational analysis
Talent inventories
Example: IBM uses a staff-deployment tool called “Workforce Management Initiative”
It’s a sort of in-house version of Monster.com
Built on a database of 400,000 résumés
It lets managers search for employees with the precise skills they’ll need for particular projects
The initiative cost $100 million to build, but it has already saved over $500 million, and it has also improved productivity
Its greatest impact is in its ability to help managers analyze what skills staffers possess and how those talents match up to the business outlook, helping them decide whether to “buy,” “make,” or “rent” employees
Workforce forecasts
Workforce forecasts are attempts to estimate future labor requirements, based on:
The supply of human resources, both within the organization and outside
The anticipated organizational demand for various kinds of employees
Internal supply forecasts relate to conditions inside the organization (e.g., the age distribution of the workforce and average turnover, retirement, transfer, and new hires within job classes)
Demand forecasts depend primarily on some business factor (e.g., projected number of retail outlets, sales, and product volume)
Workforce forecasts
Consider some paradoxes of workforce forecasts:
The techniques are basically simple and easy to describe, but applying them successfully may be enormously complex and difficult
After the forecast has been made, it may prove to be most useful when it proves to be least accurate as a vision of the future
Example: a forecast points toward a surplus of middle managers with comparable skills who were hired at the same time to meet a sudden expansion. The forecast may be most useful if it stimulates action (e.g., appropriate training, transfer, promotion) so that the surplus never actually develops. It is useless only if the surplus develops on schedule as projected
Workforce supply
External
Several agencies forecast external supply (e.g., the Bureau of Labor Statistics)
It is important to look at both external supply AND demand
Internal
Leadership succession planning
Identify high-potential individuals, both within functions and corporate-wide
Develop pools of talent for critical positions
Create development plans for key leaders
CEO successions: 50% internal and 50% external
Maintenance of “intellectual capital” and motivate senior-level executives
Vs change and a new, possibly improved perspective on the company
Workforce demand
Demand forecasts are very subjective due to uncertainties regarding trends such as:
Changes in technology
Consumer attitudes and patterns of buying behavior
Local, national, and international economies
Number, size, and types of contracts won or lost
Government regulations that might open new markets or close off old ones
Workforce demand
Pivotal jobs
It is important to first identify the most critical jobs—those that drive the strategy and revenue stream
This categorizations allows an organization to understand how its talent relates to its strategy
To the extent that people are geographically mobile, multiskilled, and easily hired, there is less need for precise demand forecasts
The final product should be an analysis of the demands, supplies, and differences between them for each job
Workforce forecasts
“Making” versus “Buying”
In meeting labor demands there are two options:
Making: training people within the organization
Buying: hiring new people into the organization
In general, it’s more cost-effective to hire
Selecting quality employees can also increase the efficacy of training programs
A third option exists: Renting (contracting)
“Making” versus “Buying”
How accurate is your forecast of demand?
If not accurate, do more buying
Do you have the “scale” to develop?
If not, do more buying
Is there a job ladder to pull talent through?
If not, do more buying
How long will the talent be needed?
If not long, do more buying
Do you want to change culture/direction?
If yes, do more buying
Control and Evaluation
The function of control and evaluation is to guide the WP activities through time, identifying deviations from the plan and their causes
Monitoring performance
It is important to set subgoals to detect if the overall WP strategy is on track
Describe both how much change you expect to see and over how much time
Example: a decrease in absenteeism of 30% over three years
Control and Evaluation
Compare the costs of the WP process to its benefits; estimate the costs and benefits of alternative WP strategies
Evaluations of new WP strategies are likely to be more subjective, whereas older strategies may be examined with real data
It is the responsibility of every manager to make sure that the WP strategy is being enacted in their section of the organization
Recruitment
Why is recruitment important?
Unemployment is generally around 6% or higher, so there must be more people than jobs
If that’s the case, it should be no trouble to find people to fill jobs, right?
It’s easy enough to find people who WANT to work, but it’s much more challenging to find the ideal person for a job
Smart businesses use media such as Linkedin to establish relationships with talented potential employees before they enter the job market
Recruitment planning
Recruitment planning begins with a clear specification of HR needs
This is answered in the process of workforce planning (talent inventories, demand forecasts, etc.)
These questions must be answered in the planning phase:
Whom should an organization recruit?
Where should potential applicants be recruited?
When should recruiting begin?
Who should do the recruiting?
What message should be sent to potential applicants?
Yield ratios
A proportion of potential employees are eliminated moving through the recruitment and selection process
Yield ratios: the ratios of leads to invites, invites to interviews, interviews (etc.) to offers, and offers to hires
These are usually based on past data (if it’s available)
From these, you can start with the number of hires you’ll need and work your way back to how many individuals should be contacted
If your hires to offer ratio is 1:2 and you need 40 hires, you should give 80 offers
If your offers to interview ratio is 2:3, you should give 120 interviews
And so on and so forth, all the way back to the initial number of leads needed
Yield ratios
If no past data on recruitment exists, use educated guesses for yield ratios
Lean towards overestimation
A similar process can be done with time lapse data (the time between each phase of recruitment) to estimate how long it will take from the point an individual is recruited to when he or she begins working
Other considerations
Delays between the phases of recruitment are perceived very negatively by candidates, especially those who are high quality
It is important to factor in costs/benefits of time lost and quality of the new hire
For example: It’s one thing to know that a organization’s sales openings take an average of 75 days to fill
It’s another thing entirely to know that the difference between filling them in 75 versus 50 days costs the company $30 million revenue
Or that a 20 percent improvement in quality of hire will result in an $18 million gain from productivity increases
Other considerations
Technology can greatly decrease time lapses
Posting jobs on the Internet saves an average of 6 days in company’s hiring cycle of 43 days
Another four days are saved if the company takes online applications instead of paper ones
More than a week is saved if the company screens and processes applications electronically
A positive organizational image can greatly increase the number of applicants
Labor markets
Yield ratios and time lapses may vary depending on the job being hired for and the labor market
Labor market
A geographical area within which the forces of supply (people looking for a job) interact with the forces of demand (employers looking for people) and thereby determine the price of labor
Labor markets
Organizations may have to extend searches to other markets if their original market tightens
Internal labor markets
Bringing employees into entry-level positions and then promoting them up to positions with more responsibility (e.g., manager)
These have weakened considerably in recent years
Estimating costs
The costs of recruitment can be very high (up to 18 months’ pay for the position being hired; not including costs from selection and training!)
Different sources have different costs per hire
Private employment and executive search agencies are generally the most expensive
Advertising and Internet responses, write-ins, and internal transfers and promotions are next highest
Employee referrals, direct applications (mail or Web based), and walk-ins are the cheapest sources
Costs of recruiters (i.e., how many are needed) themselves must be determined
Recruiters should be knowledgeable about the position being hired for
Characteristics of recruiters (personable, trustworthy, informative, competent) do affect candidates
Operations
After recruitment needs are defined, recruitment should begin internally
Talent inventories are useful in this phase
Note that some managers may be reluctant to have their subordinates moved
External sources
Advertising—newspapers, the Internet, technical/professional journals, television, radio, etc.
Employment agencies—federal and state agencies, private agencies, executive search firms, management consulting firms, and agencies specializing in temporary help
Educational institutions—technical and trade schools, colleges and universities, co-op work/study programs, and alumni placement offices
Professional organizations—technical society meetings, conventions, and placement services
Military—out-processing centers and retired officer associations’ placement services
Career fairs
Direct application (walk-ins, write-ins, online applicants)
Operations
Diversity
Minority applicants consistently use formal recruitment sources rather than informal ones
Informal sources such as employee referrals can work to the employer’s advantage if the workforce is comprised of members from different gender, racial, and ethnic groups
Traditional text and picture-based messages about diversity have less impact on minority candidates than do video/audio testimonials by present minority employees
Referrals
Many companies offer employees bonuses for successful referrals
Example: GE pays employees $2000 or more if a person they referred is hired
Applicants who were referred are much more likely to complete the selection process than those who discover a job posting elsewhere
Operations
Hiring Management Systems
Several companies offer computerized systems for analyzing applicants
The systems generate reports that help organization make decisions
Using these can cut the cost per hire up to 50% and shortened hiring time by 48%
Evaluation of recruiting
Different phases of recruiting can be evaluated with different metrics
Cost of operations, cost per hire, cost per hire by source, acceptance/offer ratio, offer/interview ratio, etc.
Total résumés received, résumés by source, quality of résumé by source, source yield and source efficiency
Time lapse between recruiting stages by source, time lapse between recruiting stages by acceptance versus rejection
Geographical sources of candidates, individual recruiter activity, individual recruiter efficiency
Biographical data analyses against acceptance/rejection data
Analysis of postvisit and rejection questionnaires, analysis of reasons for acceptance and rejection of job offers
Salary offered—acceptances versus rejections
Placement-test scores of hires versus rejections, placement-test scores versus observed performance
Recruitment should also be tied into future criteria (e.g., performance)
Applicant perspectives
Most applicants:
Have an incomplete and/or inaccurate understanding of what a job opening involves
Are not sure what they want from a position
Do not have much self-insight with regard to their knowledge, skills, and abilities
Cannot accurately predict how they will react to the demands of a new position
A lot of applicants start with the internet
94% of Fortune 500 companies use their corporate sites for recruiting
Websites like Monster.com allow applicants to search for all job openings for a particular job family
Interviews
Some interviews are strictly for recruitment; others serve both recruitment and selection purposes
Applicant perspectives
Work environment and organizational image influence applicants’ attraction to a company
Applicants prefer decentralized organizations
Performance-based pay is preferred over seniority-based pay
Organizational image may be enhanced by simply providing more information (including product or service advertisements)
Realistic job previews (RJPs)
All organizations try to make themselves seem like a good place to work, which inflates expectations
RJPs provide a realistic view of what it is like to work for an organization
Should be conducted to reduce pessimistic expectations and overly optimistic expectations
RJPs are likely to have the greatest impact when the applicant:
Can be selective about accepting a job offer
Has unrealistic job expectations
Would have difficulty coping with job demands without the RJP
Job acceptance rates tend to be lower, but turnover also decreases
RJP Example