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Executive Summary
Pages 1-12

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From page 1...
... One source of important data used by these decision makers comes from occupational analysis and classification systems. Traditionally, occupational analysis provided a picture of the structure of work, the characteristics of jobs, and the skills and knowledge generally associated with effective job performance.
From page 2...
... Although these forces sometimes affect the content and structure of work directly, they also have indirect effects insofar as they create pressures for organizational restructuring and change in employment relationships. The content and structure of work, in turn, both dictate the kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities that employees are likely to require and also affect important outcomes, such as the quantity, quality, and efficiency of work; the performance of organizations; and the psychological, social, and economic rewards people achieve through work.
From page 3...
... The notion that decision makers' responses to changing markets, demographics, and technologies, the human resource policies and systems employed in organizations, and the work structures and outcomes they produce for organizations are interrelated leads to the need for an integrated, systematic approach to understanding how the context of work is changing and the implications of these changes.
From page 4...
... These findings suggest that the future of jobs will not be determined solely by the forces of technology, demographics, or markets but by the interaction of these forces with the strategies, missions, organizational structures, and employment policies that decision makers implement in specific settings. Thus, choice remains important even when options are constrained by external events and when consequences for organizations, individuals, and society are imperfectly predictable.
From page 5...
... We believe that the social and organizational implications of the combination of changes that we identified need to be examined more fully and systematically by decision makers in both the civilian and military sectors. By explicitly taking into account the full range of factors that shape how work is done, we believe that decision makers have the opportunity to develop more effective alternative work structures that could potentially meet a broad range of needs and interests.
From page 6...
... NET_ offers several important advances over prior systems in its organization of job description variables and associated data collection instruments, in its electronic databases with job incumbent and occupational analyst ratings, and in the initial technical evaluations. If fully developed and widely used by practitioners who add their own features to the system, we anticipate that it can serve the functions called for here.
From page 7...
... NET_ system allows mapping to other major category and enumerative systems, including military occupational specialties and the Standard Occupational Category system. Based on these advances, the committee recommends that O*
From page 8...
... Army decision makers need to see the design of jobs, work structures, and occupations as tightly linked to their changing missions, technologies, workforce demographics and family structures, and employment practices. The committee therefore recommends that Army decision makers think about the interconnections among these factors and take them into account in structuring work to meet the mission requirements and the needs of those who will be part of the Army of the future.
From page 9...
... NET_ proposed for the Army, has several useful features, including linked readiness, occupations, and training databases that allow easy access to descriptions of training courses that teach a particular skill, to lists of soldiers who have skills and abilities relevant to a particular type of mission, and to Army jobs that have similar requirements.
From page 10...
... Thus the sociological and anthropological traditions of observing and participating in real work settings and producing detailed narratives describing the actual experiences of workers need to be encouraged, with the objective of updating perspectives on work. But to be representative, these studies must examine the full array of occupations and workers found in the labor force today.
From page 11...
... Need to Study Occupational Analysis Tools as Aids to Decision Makers The committee's vision is of a forward-Iooking occupational analysis system that can be used by decision makers to monitor changes in work, design new jobs, formulate effective human resources policies, and provide timely career counseling. Advances in technology that allow for the consideration of large numbers of variables in a relational database have made it possible to include information not only about jobs and skills, knowledge and abilities, but also about the organizational and environmental forces that influence work.


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