158 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
interview also allows the incumbent to add information that she or he may
have forgotten when completing the questionnaire.
In large organizations with many incumbents in the same position or
in state or federal organizations with geographically dispersed locations,
the analyst may want to meet with a small number of incumbents and
supervisors and ask them questions or have them fi ll out an unstructured
questionnaire. The analyst may then develop a structured questionnaire
based on the information provided, distribute it to all of the incumbents
who hold that position, and then analyze the data for common work activi-
ties and responsibilities.Designing a Job Analysis Program
Why are you collecting job information? For what purpose will the data
be used? The answers to these questions are important because different
purposes require different information. For example, if the job analysis
is to serve as the basis for determining compensation, the analyst would
need to obtain information about educational requirements and level of
experience and training. However, if the analysis is to serve as the basis for
developing performance appraisal instruments, the job analyst will need
to identify levels of task profi ciency.
Another consideration is that employees may be sensitive to some of
the purposes behind the job analysis. For example, employees are more
likely to be more concerned about a job analysis when it will be used to
develop a compensation system than when the information will be used
to develop training and orientation material for new employees. Employ-
ees are thus likely to emphasize different information depending on the
purpose of the analysis.
The analyst should work with representatives of the organization to
determine the most effective method and procedures for collecting infor-
mation. It is important for the analyst to understand how the organization
operates and the best time to obtain information from incumbents and
supervisors because not all jobs or tasks require the same intensity at the
same time or for forty hours a week. Different tasks are likely to be per-
formed on different days or at different times of the month or year. Also,
some jobs have busy cycles during which the incumbents cannot be inter-
rupted to visit with an analyst or take the time to complete an extensive
questionnaire.