job analysis

the collection and analysis of information about a specific job. Data are obtained through interviews with or written questionnaires from those doing or supervising the job, or through observation or audiovisual recordings of the job in action. Important classes of information include the behaviors, tools, working conditions, and skills involved in the job. Job analysis is the first step in developing effective personnel selection, employee evaluation, job evaluation, and personnel training programs. Once data have been collected, the role of the job analyst is to use statistical techniques and subjective judgment to determine the primary dimensions of a job and to identify those positions that are sufficiently similar to be classified as the same job.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

object constancy

1. in object relations theory, the ability of an infant to maintain an attachment that is relatively independent of gratification or frustration, based on a cognitive capacity to conceive of a mother who exists when she is out of sight and who has positive attributes when she is unsatisfying. Thus, an infant becomes attached to the mother herself rather than to her tension-reducing ministrations; she comes to exist continuously for the infant and not only during instances of need satisfaction. This investment by an infant in a specific libidinal object indicates that he or she no longer finds people to be interchangeable.

2. see perceptual constancy.