Performance Assessment for the Workplace Volume I (1991) / Chapter Skim
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4. The Development of Job Performance Measures
4. The Development of Job Performance Measures
Pages 73-102
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From page 73... ...
The JPM Project made no such assumption. Rather, it focused on the construction of criterion measures that capture job performance in order to validate already available predictors and to justify selective entrance standards.
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From page 74... ...
Some critical job tasks may be difficult to observe directly complex troubleshooting tasks, for example, are performed largely within the mind. Furthermore, the outcomes of an individual's task performance may depend on a wide variety of environmental factors, such as the state of repair of the equipment used, the actions of coworkers, or, as every sales representative and military recruiter knows, the state of the economy.
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From page 75... ...
THE JOB CONTENT UNIVERSE A job may be described by a set of tasks and the behavior needed to perform them, including the knowledge and skills underlying that behavior. These tasks and behaviors in the job content universe are enumerated through a job analysis.
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From page 76... ...
The third method, task-by-trait analysis, embodies both of these (Guion, 1975; Wigdor and Green, 1986~. The fourth approach, cognitive task analysis, goes beyond specifying abstract traits to identify the cognitive components involved in successfully performing a task in a conceptual and procedural system.
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From page 77... ...
The Marine Corps' use of task analysis illustrates one approach taken in the JPM Project. The Marine Corps found its task analysis ready-made in training doctrine (Mayberry, 1987~.
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From page 78... ...
were themselves further defined by the steps required to carry them out (Figure 4-31. Taken together, then, the tasks and subtasks defined by the ITS and their behavioral elements and steps defined by a detailed task analysis constituted the job content universe for each of the Marine Corps jobs.
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From page 79... ...
SOURCE: Mayberry ( 1 987: 1 8~. Visual inspection Basic infantry MOS M203 grenade launcher Inspect grenade launcher Operation inspection 1.
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From page 80... ...
Bearing Cleaners, ..., Carbon Seal Testers, ..., Freon Testers, ..., Variable Vane Pumps, ..., "Yellow Box" Testers) Task Information: Check Tasks Performed and Fill in Time Spent When Requested A
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From page 81... ...
In practice, task analysis usually precedes trait analysis. Critical tasks or broader task groups are identified so that the job analyst can then apply trait analysis either to all tasks or only a subset of the most important of them.
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Language ability Executive 22. t t t TIC X ~ t FIGURE 4-4 An early example of job analysis.
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From page 83... ...
THE DEVELOPMENT OF JOB PERFORMANCE MEASURES TABLE 4-2 Ability Requirement Scales: Tasks Representing Different Ability Categories 83 1. Written Comprehension Understand an instruction book on repairing a missile guidance system.
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From page 84... ...
Examples of local trait-by-task analysis can be found in the JPM Project. In their analysis of jobs, the Army research team developed a list of attributes considered important to job performance (Figure 4-5~.
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From page 85... ...
Like task analysis, cognitive task analysis segments jobs into tasks; like trait analysis, it examines the human abilities underlying performance. Where it differs from the traditional task-by-trait analysis is that the giant leap from observed behavior to psychological traits/abilities underlying job performance is replaced by a careful analysis and empirical testing of the procedural and contextual knowledge used by an individual in performing job tasks.
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From page 86... ...
As a result, cognitive task analysis is likely to play a significant role in future research on job analysis. Current procedures for performing cognitive task analysis are time-consuming and expensive.
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From page 87... ...
THE DEVELOPMENT OF JOB PERFORMANCE MEASURES What do you think could have caused this problem? Set up the Problem What are you looking for?
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From page 88... ...
Similarly, for the job of firefighter, the attribute known as stamina or cardiovascular endurance is more important than the attribute known as finger dexterity. In the military setting, a task involving the repair of an electronic circuit controlling fuel flow to a jet engine would probably be more important than a task related to cleaning repair equipment alter every use.
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From page 89... ...
Similarly, the job analyst might be interested in knowing if an attribute is likely to be modifiable through training or if the skill in question will be part of a training program. Those attributes least modifiable might be more central to the job analysis than those easily changed, particularly when those attributes are also central to job success.
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From page 90... ...
The question of tasks and attributes that become more or less important under hostile conditions was a central issue in the planning for the JPM Project, since the purpose of the armed forces is to be prepared to fight a war, not simply to maintain equipment during peacetime conditions. The ,IPM Definition of the Job Content Universe The JPM Project did not break new ground in identifying and analyzing tasks that comprise a job content universe.
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From page 91... ...
In general, the most informative job analysis will embrace both facets of performance: the tasks inherent in jobs and the enabling human traits or attributes that produce successful performance of those tasks. DEFINING THE DOMAIN OF INTEREST The job content universe is likely to contain more tasks than can or should be incorporated into a job performance measure.
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From page 92... ...
The Navy's approach to task selection depended heavily on the use of experts to reduce the initial task universe. As an example, for the Navy rating of radioman, the job analysis began with a list of 500 tasks that defined the job content universe.
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From page 93... ...
in a way that satisfies the goals of the JPM Project. To put the question more directly: Did the method of task selection for hands-on development create a definition of job performance that would permit one to conclude reasonably from a significant ASVAB validity demonstration that someone who did better on the ASVAB would do better on the job?
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From page 94... ...
Task Editing Inevitably the domain of testable tasks contains a number of tasks that are trivial or repetitive that would, if included, provide little information about job performance and take up precious testing time. For example, the total time required for the Marine Corps to test the tactical measures duty area was estimated at 368 minutes.
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From page 95... ...
provides a good summary of the entire process beginning with job universe specification and ending with the development of a job performance measure for the infantryman occupation. The job content universe is specified by Marine Corps doctrine through its Individual Training Standards (ITS)
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From page 96... ...
. From the job content domain, a set of tasks/behavioral elements was sampled with the constraint that "Total testing time for the .
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First, it was clear that for administrative reasons they had limited time available for testing. For the grenade launcher duty area, task analysis indicated that the subtask of "maintaining the grenade launcher" was estimated at 32 minutes.
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From page 98... ...
The difference was in the amount of time allocated to the duty area in the hands-on test and the percentage of subtasks in the duty area sampled. SCORING HANDS-ON TESTS Test items in the JPM Project were designed to be scorable using a go/no go format.
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From page 99... ...
It has the benefit of expressing task performance on a standard scale even though tasks vary greatly in the number of steps they include. Within this framework it would also be possible to weight steps differentially on the grounds that some steps are more critical than others, although this was not typically done in the JPM Project.
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From page 100... ...
Traditional task analysis from documents and task inventories was used to identify job tasks, break them down into subtasks, and specify the individual steps required to accomplish the task. The individual steps in the task constituted the units that were scored, typically as go or no go.
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From page 101... ...
Variations in job definition reemphasize the point made earlier that the essence of a job is in some sense a negotiated essence, and that great care is needed in defining the construct and testing it against alternative interpretations. With some exceptions, the JPM Project is characterized by a purposive sampling approach to task selection, which on at least one occasion deteriorated into ad hoc selection by policy makers.
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From page 102... ...
military accession community. The JPM Project is not alone in depending on task analysis as the major component of job analysis.
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