Sources of Job Analysis Information

In performing the job analysis, one question that often arises is who should make up the group of incumbents that are responsible of providing the job analysis information? Whatever job analysis method you choose, the process of job analysis entails obtaining information from people familiar with the job. We refer to these people as subject-matter experts because they are experts in their knowledge of the job. In general, it will be useful to go to the job incumbent to get the most accurate information about what is actually done on the job. This is especially the case when it is difficult to monitor the person who does the job. However, particularly when the job analysis will be used for compensation purpose, incumbents might have an incentive to exaggerate their duties. Thus, you will also want to ask others familiar with the job, such as supervisors, to look over the information generated by the job incumbent. This serves as a check to determine whether what is being done is congruent with what is supposed to be done in the job. One conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that incumbents may provide the most accurate estimates of the actual time spent performing job tasks. However, supervisors may be a more accurate in terms of assessing safety-related risk factors associated with various aspects of work, and in general the further one moves up the organizational hierarchy, the less accurate the risk assessments. Although job incumbents and supervisors are the most obvious and frequently used sources of job analysis information, other sources, such as customers, can be helpful, particularly for service jobs. Finally, when it comes to analyzing skill levels, external job analysis that have more experience rating a wide range of jobs may be the best source.
Job Analysis Methods
There are various methods for analyzing jobs and no “one best way.” In this section, we discuss two methods for analyzing jobs: the position analysis questionnaire and the