Jack McKillip

A job is defined as a collection of duties and responsibilities which are given together to an individual employee. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job.

 Job analysis is widely recognized as a starting point in a needs analysis for training and development activities. Effective training should only have an impact on job tasks significantly related to successful job performance. A job analysis identifies the work behaviors and associated tasks that are required for successful job performance (Harvey, 1990). Once the tasks necessary for a given job are analyzed, personnel selection instruments can be constructed and/or training programs developed.

 The utility of a job analysis does not end with selection and training need assessment, but can be extended to training evaluation. This article illustrates the use of a job analysis for evaluation of training in two settings:
an information technology certification, and a potential library certification.

 It involves 4 steps basically:

1. work activities or operations performed on the job are elicited widely from job occupants and supervisors 2. activities and operations are grouped into tasks or duties to simplify and organize statements and to eliminate overlap 3. the resultant list of job tasks is rated on measures of overall significance to successful performance on the job 4. the knowledge and skills required for successful job performance are identified for development of selection instruments or potential training needs

 Content validity refers to the extent to which a training program covers the knowledge and skills required to successfully perform a job.
CONTENT VALIDITY OF TRAINING TRAINING EMPHASIS HIGH Wasted effort Crucial components

LOW

Trivial components
LOW

Potential need
HIGH

SIGNIFICANCE OF TASKS FROM JOB ANALYSIS

1. An information technology certification, and 2. A potential library certification.

THE SIGNIFICANT RATING SCALE IS ON 5-POINT IMPORTANCE SCALE

LITTLE IMPORTANCE SOME IMPORTANCE MODERATELY IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

 The relevancy of the MCSE (Microsoft Company Systems Engineer) is for professionals who analyze the business requirements and design and implement the infrastructure for business solutions based on the Windows platform and Microsoft server software The certification is awarded after an applicant passes a series of core and elective examinations on Microsoft products concerning technical proficiency and expertise in solution design and implementation One part of the evaluation of this certification examined whether those who received the certification found it useful for their work on 24 job tasks. Usefulness ratings were correlated with importance ratings from a previous and independently conducted job analysis

 The job analysis for the MSCE certification included ratings of the importance of 91 job tasks covering 8 job areas by 415 MSCEs from 20 countries The 5-point scale was used From 91 job tasks 24 was taking as a subset which were mutually exclusive and parallel to the full set of job tasks. During April 1998, 1671 MCSEs responded to the internet survey conducted on how useful the certification process was to there job performance Result was shown in a scattered diagram due to its effectiveness of simplicity and understandability 23 job tasks fell on the important scale(refer figure.2)

 Professional librarians complete a Masters in Library Science (MLS) as a part of their professional preparation Understanding this to be a generalist degree, Professional Association of Librarians evaluated whether further certified trainings have to be provided to meet the challenges of evolving demands of a particular type of library work This need made them evolve a Job analysis that identified job activities and duties and they surveyed it through there members of the Professional association An then an association sponsored certifications might be needed

 With the
Review of Association documents Focus groups with Association members and Leaders let to the development of 31 job tasks The 9-point scale including not at all, -minimally, -somewhat, very and extremely 3 categories of association members were selected by random sampling Employed in private firms or corporations Employed in government and court libraries Employed in university libraries (527 association members responded

 Neither Training needs assessment nor training evaluation are easy The logic and effort used on a job analysis to support valid need assessment can also be used for training evaluation As, through the illustrations, Goldstein suggests that the content validity links between job analysis and training evaluation The requirement would be, a thorough Job Analysis of the position for which the training is conducted The analysis should identify the important and the unimportant tasks too The important ratings can be used for pre-training