An appropriate job analysis will provide the dimensions on which a selection system can be built, the rationale for each of the assessment center exercises, and the rationales for other components. (Author/IRT)

Reports on observations of school superintendents conducted to see what they actually do on the job. Found that a superintendent's work is not as planned and organized as it is sometimes said to be because superintendents can't control the use of their own time and are frequently interrupted. (Author/IRT)

Anyone with a flair for business, product development, or promotion might consider a manufacturing or merchandising occupation. The music industry offers many career opportunities for administrators, salespersons, marketing specialists--the record industry offers positions from promotion manager to rack jobber. Describes instrument company…

A county personnel department undertook reclassification of all positions by collecting and using job analysis data to rewrite job descriptions. External pay equity and validated selection procedures resulted with only a modest increase in payroll costs. (SK)

Describes advantages and disadvantages of work evaluation methods: ranking, market pricing, banding, classification, single-factor, competency, point-factor, and factor comparison. Compares work evaluation perspectives: traditional, realist, market advocate, strategist, organizational development, social reality, contingency theory, competency,…

Content analysis of 1,000 job ads in marketing, management, finance, and human resource management showed that ads were significantly more likely to ask for specific personal skills relevant to the job category. A survey of 170 companies that placed the ads indicated their motives for stipulating personal skills; two-thirds conducted formal job…

A total of 204 business students organized in committees evaluated jobs for accountability, knowledge and skills, and mental demands. The same position was rated more highly when held by a male rather than a female, regardless of whether the committee was predominantly male or female. The importance of anonymity of job holders when conducting job…

Presents fundamental principles of job analysis and a model approach for analyzing a job based on interviews with incumbents and identification of critical work behaviors, knowledge, skill, and abilities. The usefulness of job analysis in recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, and workforce planning is highlighted. (SK)

Describes how job analysis was used to create a job-specific skills assessment, how the skills assessment is used to determine the appropriateness of a candidate's skills and work style, and how the skills assessment informs an applicant about job tasks and expectations. (JOW)

Describes a seven-step model which illustrates a procedure for developing performance criteria that are specific to individual jobs. Discusses how it can be applied to the performance of teachers and other school personnel. (SR)

An electronic performance support system (EPSS) was tested by 14 instructional designers, compared with 12 controls working with traditional methods. The EPSS group produced a significantly better end product, but the control group scored significantly higher on a knowledge test. (SK)

The terms roles, functions, and skills are based on different views of expertise. Functional analysis is normative and behaviorist. Skill analysis concentrates on interpersonal skills and the person in the role. Role analysis is the study of more than the job; it encompasses the human interactions involved in its performance. (SK)

Explores two cases of the use of the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process in the transfer of technology from Canada to China. Describes the DACUM process and the Transport Systems Training Project that used it, illustrated with three DACUM charts. (JOW)

Identifies problems in codifying vocational knowledge, including inappropriate dualisms such as theoretical versus practical and omission of important tacit knowledge. Outlines Polanyi's ideas about tacit knowledge and presents a knowledge taxonomy as a possible strategy for codification and advocates a holistic teaching approach. (Contains 52…

This article describes how job analysis, a method commonly used in personnel research and organizational psychology, provides a systematic method for documenting program staffing and service delivery that can improve evaluators' knowledge about program operations. Job analysis data can be used to increase evaluators' insight into how staffs…