152 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
the job. When used as the basis for personnel
decisions such as promotions or pay increases,
performance evaluations are also considered to
be examinations and fall under the same rigor-
ous scrutiny as employment tests. Furthermore,
the Americans with Disabilities Act defi nes a
qualifi ed applicant as one who can perform the
essential functions of the job. Essential func-
tions are the primary job duties intrinsic to
the position; they do not include marginal or
peripheral tasks that are not critical to the performance of the primary
job functions. It is important that positions be analyzed to identify these
functions. The applicant must then satisfy the prerequisites for the position
and be able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without
reasonable accommodation.
The most common reasons for conducting a job analysis are to gather
information so that a job description can be written, job specifi cations can
be identifi ed, and the job can be placed within a job family classifi cation.
A job family is a collection of jobs that require common skills, occupa-
tional qualifi cations, technology, licensing, and working conditions. A job
description is a summary of the most important features of a job. It states
the nature of the work and provides information about tasks, responsibili-
ties, and context. Information typically found in job descriptions includes
job title, job family, job summary, task statements, reporting relationships,
and job context indicators.
The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require employers to
develop written job descriptions. However, a written job description that
is prepared before advertising or interviewing applicants for the job should
be reviewed to make sure that it accurately refl ects the actual functions of
the job. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil
Rights Division of the Department of Justice recommend that job descrip-
tions focus on the results or outcomes of a job function, not solely on the
way it is customarily performed. This is because a person with a disability
may be able to accomplish a job function, with or without a reasonable
accommodation, in a manner that is different from the way an employee
who is not disabled may accomplish the same function.
Job specifi cations contain information about the KSAOCs of the posi-
tion. Whereas each job description is specifi c to a particular job, job speci-
fi cations may be more general. They contain the minimum qualifi cations
that a person should possess in order to perform the job.To demonstrate the validity
and job relatedness of
an employment test,
the Uniform Guidelines
on Employee Selection
Procedures (1978) require
that a job analysis be
conducted.