Step 1–– Logistics & Preparation
Each student will interpret the data on his/her own and submit an individual write-up.
Review information about job analysis:
the textbook
hr-guide.com/data/G000.htmLinks to an external site. or www.job-analysis.net/ Links to an external site.
Also do some preliminary research using the O*NET database (http://online.onetcenter.org/Links to an external site.) to understand basic elements of the job (or whichever job you can find that is most closely related).
Step 2 –– Identify Job and Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Identify and contact one “subject matter expert,” someone who has held his/her current position for at least 6 months. (The person should not be an immediate family member or employee of Florida International University, unless the instructor grants special permission.)
Schedule a time to interview the SME. Because people often enjoy sharing their perspective and talking about their job, reserve at least 90 minutes for the interview (though it may run much shorter) and 30-minutes for a follow-up call, in case you have additional questions or need clarification. Also, request official materials from your SME if possible, such as his/her job application, job description, or a performance evaluation form.
Step 3 –– Conduct the Interview
Always treat your SME respectfully as he/she/they shares expertise and privileged information. Whenever appropriate, provide assurance that the entire interview is for class purposes only; all comments will be kept confidential, and no specific information will be shared outside of our class.
Develop your own interview questions to obtain information about the elements of a job analysis listed below:
1) Background information about the SME: tenure in the job, how knowledgeable the person is about the job (based on experience, training, etc.). You do NOT need to record the person’s name, to maintain confidentiality. (In your write-up, feel free to use a fake name if necessary.)
Basic job description: a short, formal explanation of the job (much like you would find when job searching), based on the interview and materials obtained from SME.
Job tasks: list of core tasks that the SME typically performs on the job. These statements should be written in the same form as the tasks on O*NET (i.e., statements of specific behaviors). Through the SME’s responses, you should be able to understand which tasks are critical vs. supplemental to the job.
Critical incidents (CIs): situations that distinguish markedly good or bad levels of performance (behaviors) from typical or average levels of performance (also refer to the textbook). They should be written as specific behaviors in response to a specific problem / situation. They are often used to create selection and performance assessments, training materials, and more. In essence, CIs should reveal how an employee handles a situation well or poorly. A good CI should be the same situation (i.e., monitoring inventory) with an example of good performance of monitoring inventory, and an example of bad performance monitoring inventory. I expect three situations, with a good and bad example of each.
You will write two types: especially effective responses to a situation and especially ineffective responses. Ask your SME for 3 specific examples of important tasks on their job, and for each situation ask them to provide 1. an example of good performance and 2. an example of what bad performance would be.
Examples of appropriate critical incidents are:
Incident: Patient needs medication
Good Performance: “when a patient needed immediate care, the nurse made a rush order for a medication to help a patient in need instead of waiting to ask the doctor”
Poor Performance: “the nurse did not have knowledge about how to administer medication to the patient during the physical and called other nurses who were busy instead of referring to the manual”
Often, SMEs will be less comfortable sharing examples of poor responses to a work problem – their mistakes, but you may press them politely. They may feel more comfortable giving an example of a co-worker or “somebody else”. Ask them for an example of a time that a co-worker messed up. If they continue to resist, continue the interview and just explain the SME’s resistance in your write-up. Also, SMEs tend to provide generic statements (e.g., I’ll sometimes show up late to work). Ask them to provide an actual instance of that behavior/situation, during the interview or the follow-up conversation.
KSAOs: For the task statements and critical incidents you created in steps 3 and 4, ask your SME about the knowledge knowledge and skills that a person must have to perform those job tasks. (Use O*NET as a reference for the format.) KSAOs are sometimes listed in job application and job description forms.
Work context: Ask your SME about contextual factors that currently affect his/her/their level of performance. Find out which aspects of the situation hinder or enhance the employee’s ability to complete work, such as lack of immediate supervision, dysfunctional equipment, or bureaucratic rules/procedures. (See O*NET for additional examples, but you do not need to write these up in the same way). Then ask your SME about why the organization has not resolved problematic issues, from his/her perspective?
Selection: What is your SME’s opinion about the process used to select and hire people for his/her/their job? Do most employees in the SME’s position have adequate KSAOs? If not, what does your SME suspect is the reason? You might also ask about the effectiveness of recruiting efforts, in addition to the selection process itself.
Training (formal): Was your SME given an orientation and initial job training? What kinds of training are provided or are available to the SME on a regular basis? (You only need to learn about training resources provided for employees within that job; don’t worry about training provided to people who are promoted to a new job.)
In your write-up, consider whether the training mentioned is intended to influence motivation, knowledge, job skills, or affect (e.g., feelings about stress and pressure from the job, feelings about coworkers / social bonds, and just positive feelings about the organization and job).
Training (informal): Are there informal ways for your SME to develop job-relevant KSAOs on the job? Did your SME have a mentor or confidant?
Change: What are the two or three biggest changes that your SME would make to enhance his/her job AND the larger organization? Try to obtain ideas that are mutually beneficial and feasible, even if they are focused on making the job more comfortable, rewarding, or fun.
Write-Up
Create a report that organizes the information above. There is NO official format for writing a job analysis in the real world, so I am not expecting a particular structure for this write-up. Your main goal is to present clear and organized information about the job, for parts 1-6 of your interview. For parts 7-10, write your findings as they apply generally to organizational practices rather than just referring to your SME’s individual experience.
Attempt to retain the original meaning of the SME’s comments, but also interpret those comments based on your knowledge (Do not write this in first person, “I think…” Write it in third person “It appears,” “SME said”.). You may recognize an underlying issue that the SME does not understand or does not want to discuss (e.g., to protect a supervisor, to protect one’s ego, the SME speculated on decisions that he/she was not a part of, etc.).
An example of how the paper could be structured is to begin with a brief narrative about your SME’s background and basic qualifications, justifying why this person is an “expert.” For parts 1-6 of your interview, describe the job through narratives and lists of information (similar to O*NET). For parts 7-10, use an essay-style to address those issues. You may choose to separate sections based on the categories above or choose to integrate information that overlaps.
