Industrial Org Psych; Analyzing a Job and Designing a Selection System Custom Essay

Analyzing a Job and Designing a Selection System

As you have learned in class, job analysis and selection assessment are two key personnel
functions that ensure an organization’s competitive advantage. Job analysis is necessary in order
to identify the critical KSAOs that are needed for a job and to define performance as it pertains
to a particular job. Then selection assessment is critical to ensure that employees hired will not
only have the ability to do the work, but also have the highest potential to adapt to a dynamic
work environment.
Overview
The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to analyze a job of your interest. It
may be a job that you would like to have after graduation. You will be asked to thoroughly
research this job and identify the important aspects of the job by utilizing job analysis methods
(e.g., interview, observation, job shadow, etc.), and/or using any sources available to you, such
as O*NET. In general, I will expect you to either interview someone or observe someone doing
his or her job to conduct your job analysis (such as a doctor or waiter). However, for example, if
you would like to be an astronaut but you cannot find someone to interview or observe, I would
suggest using O*NET, and finding articles and books about the job in order to have a detailed
understanding of the functions of the job. Please talk to me or the TA if you need help
researching your occupation or planning out your job analysis. Next, imagine that you are an HR
manager in the profession and are responsible for recruiting new employees for the job. How
would you design a selection system for the recruitment?
Details
In this assignment, first introduce the work/job that you are interested in (row 2 in the Rubric
Table attached). Then focus on job analysis to identify its critical KSAOs for the job (row 3).
This can include KSAOs that have explicitly been defined in your obtained research and/or
observation, or KSAOs explicated by the subject matter experts that you used in your job
analysis. In addition, if you think that any additional KSAOs are needed (these would be inferred
from job tasks), you can include those as well. If you choose to include your own KSAOs, be
sure to clearly justify and explain why you think they are important.
After identifying the KSAO model that you need to select for, you should develop a selection
system for staffing purposes (row 4). For example, will you use cognitive ability tests,
personality tests, interviews, assessment centers, or situational judgment tests? You could do a
PsycInfo/ Google Scholar search. Next, discuss how you will combine the components of your
selection system. Finally, you need to justify why your selection system is best for selecting the
best candidates (row 5). You need to use information learned in class (e.g., validity). Use
Assignment 1
Psych 245
scientific terminology correctly, as defined in class (e.g., correlation is the index of linear
association two measurable variables, not just any relationship between two things).
You must use at least 3 sources. These can include the course text and lecture notes,
supplemental readings, websites, or other outside material. Document your research with APAstyle
citations, including a separate references page. In addition to your 3 sources, be sure to cite
your sources for your job analysis. At least one source must be outside of PSYC245 course
material and O*NET (the library’s PsycInfo database can be helpful).
To help you organize the paper and ensure fair grading, I have included a table listing the
detailed topics to cover in the paper. This list serves as an outline for your paper and also
reminds you of the important topics that you don’t want to miss. Writing your paper in the
order of the given outline makes grading your paper easier and it assures that you don’t
forget an important point. In order to receive a perfect score your paper must adequately cover
all the topics on the list. Our grading TA will actively search for the topics in your paper to
decide the score; points will be deducted if any topics are missing. The paper should be
approximately 4-page in length excluding references (double-spaced, font size 12, 1-inch
margins).
Rubric Table for Assignment 1
Assignment 1 Topics Points
(1) Overview how job analysis/research was conducted 8
(2) Description of work, including
Work activities
Work environment
Tools and technologies
10
(3) Description of KSAOs
Knowledge
Skills
Abilities
Other characteristics (e.g., personality, vocational interests)
10
(4) Description of the selection system you designed
What are the assessment methods you will use
Which KSAO(s) does each method measure
How will you score each method
How will the information resulted from the multiple methods be
combined
10
(5) Justification & appropriateness
Why the selection system you designed is the best for selecting
job candidates
Why the selection system is effective at tapping the KSAOs
8
(6) Other issues
Grammar
Style
Citations/references
4
Total 50 points