List three methods of job analysis, and discuss the pros and cons of each method.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Five common methods of job analysis and their pros and cons are as follows:

1. Job performance. With this method there is exposure to actual job tasks as well as to the physical, environmental, and social demands of the job. It is appropriate for jobs that can be learned in a relatively short period of time. This method is inappropriate for jobs hazardous to perform.
2. Observation. Direct exposure to jobs can provide a richer, deeper understanding of job requirements than workers' descriptions of what they do. If the work in question is primarily mental, observations alone may reveal little useful information. Critical, yet rare, job requirements simply may not be observed.
3. Interview. This method can provide information about standard as well as nonstandard and mental work. Because the worker is also his or her own observer, he or she can report on activities that would not be observed often. In short, the worker can provide the analyst with information that might not be available from any other source. Workers may be suspicious of interviewers and their motives, or interviewers may ask ambiguous questions. Thus, distortion of information (either as a result of honest misunderstanding or as a result of purposeful misrepresentation) is a real possibility. For this reason, the interview should never be used as the sole job analysis method.
4. Critical incidents. This method focuses directly on what people do in their jobs, and thus it provides insight into job dynamics. Because the behaviors in question are observable and measurable, information derived from this method can be used for most possible applications of job analysis. It takes considerable time to gather, abstract, and categorize incidents. Also, because by definition the incidents describe particularly effective or ineffective behavior, it may be difficult to develop a profile of average job behavior-our main objective in job analysis.
5. Structured questionnaires. This method is generally cheaper and quicker to administer than other methods. Questionnaires can be completed off the job, thus avoiding lost productive time. Web-based questionnaires allow analysts to survey large numbers of geographically dispersed job incumbents, in English as well as in other languages, thus providing a breadth of coverage and a speed of analysis and feedback that are impossible to obtain otherwise. Questionnaires are often time consuming and expensive to develop. Rapport between analyst and respondent is not possible unless the analyst is present to explain items and clarify misunderstandings. Such an impersonal approach may have adverse effects on respondent cooperation and motivation.