[IPAC-List] Job Analysis That Includes Work Setting?

[Dan Putka]

Hi John,

Hope all is well. 

A few things come to mind:

1. The work context chapter from the O*NET "blue book":  Strong et al (1999).  Work context: Taxonomy and measurement of the work environment.  In N.G. Peterson et al.'s An Occupational Information System for the 21st Century:  The Development of O*NET.  Washington D.C.: APA.

2. The work context questionnaire from O*NET:  https://www.onetcenter.org/questionnaires.html

3. The resources above can provide a general taxonomic framework that may be useful to consider as a starting point, but your use case sounds a lot more targeted.   For example, whereas in a typical job analysis, tasks may be rated with respect to their importance, frequency, etc., a more targeted way to address the issue you raise below is to ask SMEs to evaluate each task on a telework-related rating scale (e.g., indicate whether this task... can only be performed effectively in location A, can be performed equally as effectively in locations A or B, etc.).  Obviously, more thought would need to be put into the scale and framing of the rating task, but the notion here is if you're specifically interested in gathering data about the impact of work location or features of work locations on specific tasks, it may suggest alternative task-level rating scales.

4. One other thought....one deficiency of the approach I mention in #3 is that it takes a very task-centric view of job performance.  Thus, it would not allow for insight into the implications of the "in the office" vs. "telework from home" distinction on other performance elements reflected in modern perspectives on job performance (e.g., contextual/OCB, CWB, management/leadership-related performance behavior).  Depending on your particular application, this deficiency may or may not be important,  but it could also lend itself to a similar strategy (e.g., scaling of other, non-task performance behaviors on a telework-related rating scales).

Hope this helps!

Dan

Dan J. Putka, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
HumRRO
66 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 700
Alexandria, Virginia 22314-1578
humrro.org
Named one of "2020 Top Workplaces" by the Washington Post

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Can anyone suggest a good written treatment of how to include analysis of work environment as part of a job analysis?

I'm most interested in methods discussions, but would also benefit from any examples of a job analysis that did a particularly good job of including this consideration.  Part of our interesting is considering the "new reality" of teleworking and how to assess what might be tasks which require an employee to be in the office versus teleworking from home.

Thanks in advance!
John

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