Discuss the potential sources of inaccuracy for job analysis information/processes.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Many job analysis processes are based on human judgment, and such judgment is often fallible. Potential sources of inaccuracy in work analysis may be due to two primary sources, social and cognitive. Social sources of inaccuracy apply principally in settings where groups, rather than individuals, make judgments about the analysis of work. For example, pressures to conform could be a source of inaccuracy if group consensus is required. Cognitive sources, on the other hand, reflect problems that result primarily from our limited ability to process information. For example, demand for large numbers of ratings or for very fine distinctions among characteristics of work can cause information overload. In all, Morgeson and Campion (1997) identified 16 potential sources of inaccuracy. Such sources are more likely to affect ratings of subjective and diffuse attributes, such as many KSAOs, than they are ratings of discrete and observable tasks. Self-presentation is an attempt by some individuals to control the impressions others form of them. Their research showed that self-presentation may be responsible for inflation in ratings, particularly in the case of ability statements. We also know that the amount of descriptive information about work that is available to raters significantly affects the accuracy of work analysis. Student raters with more detailed work information were consistently more accurate, relative to the averaged ratings of incumbents, than were those given only a job title. Moreover, data provided by raters who were relatively naïve about the work in question showed little agreement with data provided by work-content experts (Harvey & Lozada-Larsen, 1988).