Job, Task, Content Analysis

In the job analysis phase instructional designers should be able to gather, analyze and synthesize description of what people do in their jobs. Without the results of job analysis, it would not be clear what activities employees should be held accountable for doing, what results they should be achieving, or how their work activities contribute to achieving organizational objectives. The importance of this job analysis is that it place employees in jobs that use their skills effectively, determine needs for new and experienced employees, plan for future human resource requirements.
Reality: What do people do in their jobs?
Perceptions: What do people believe people do in thier jobs?
Norms: What do people believe should be done in the job?
Future Changes or plans: What should people be able to do in the future?

A task analysis takes the job analysis to a deeper level by further analyzing a task. A task analysis provides additional information about the task associated with job duties. During task analysis, each task is carefully analyzed to identify component elements and determine performance requirements. A task analysis involves breaking a task down to identify the following:
• Subtasks (also called performance steps)
• Sequence of steps
• Conditions or limits under which the task will be performed
• Standard of performance that must be achieved

Breaking tasks down into subtasks, conditions, and standards provides a focus for training. This breakdown enables the Instructional Development Team to better understand the tasks and enables them to develop more accurate learning objectives and more effective instructional materials that are supportive of the tasks. Content analysis provides detailed information about the content to be presented in a course. A careful analysis enables the Instructional Development Team to break the content down into smaller chunks of related information.
These chunks of information are then organized into a logical