Real-Life Communication
Job analysts are in the business of communicating. They have to
interview employees at length, make contacts and push for survey responses.
Most of all, they have to be versatile enough to relate to all kinds of different
fields and people.
"Communication skills are very important because
we have to have a vocabulary that allows us to communicate with all levels
of occupations and all kinds of people, from laborers to business professionals,"
says Clara Hamory. She is a job and occupational analyst.
"We have
to have a really well-rounded vocabulary to be able to converse with different
levels," says Hamory.
Analyst Travis McCavour says job analysis is
all about giving management a meaningful picture of their employees. That,
he says, takes effective communication.
"We're in the business
of communicating ideas," says McCavour. "Whether it's a new way of looking
at how work is performed, or how we value it, it's important to share
those ideas effectively, to see them through."
Another important asset
is good writing and grammar skills. Analysts put their communication skills
to practical use in writing job descriptions, surveys and reports.
They
also have to assist employees in their own communication skills, showing them
how to write a task statement (a list of the tasks they do in their job) using
proper active language. Analyst Johnny Weismuller says this coaching often
presents challenges.
"Putting an inventory together, talking to the
people in the field, trying to get a task statement out of them -- that's
one thing," says Weismuller.
"It's quite another to work with
someone who has limited literacy skills and try to get them to write a task
statement which has action verb first, subject and object after, or to rephrase
poor sentences. These are people who know the technical content of the job,
but aren't used to describing it."
You are a job analyst giving
a workshop on writing task statements to the employees of a car assembly plant.
The following exercise is an example of how you would teach them how to use
active, accurate language to describe their jobs. Study and complete the exercise
for yourself.
Writing task statements
Task statements
are used in occupational surveys to find out what each person does in his
or her job. Because the worker fills out the survey, task statements must
be written in the language of the worker (not the psychologist or occupational
analyst creating the survey booklet).
The format for a "task statement"
is:
"I" [Action Verb] [Direct Object]
However, the "I" portion
is assumed, and therefore dropped from each task.
Good examples: ...adjust
carburetors
...align antennas
...calibrate electronic equipment
...troubleshoot
targeting systems
Exercise: For each task below, select
the proper task statement from the list provided.
In this painter's
job, a person must calculate the area of wall space to determine the amount
of paint required for applying two coats of paint.
1. The task involved
in the above statement was suggested by the employee as: "Know how to multiply
two numbers." The following alternatives were made in active language. Check
the one that relates best to the task.
- "Apply two coats of paint"
- "Create the cross-product of two integers"
- "Summate two logarithms and take the anti-log of the result"
- "Compute area to be painted"
- "Convert area measurement to amount of paint needed for two coats"
2. Another task involved in the painter's statement was suggested
by the employee as: "Avoid getting paint on the trim." The following alternatives
were made in active language. Check the three that relate best to the task.
- "Apply due diligence while painting"
- "Apply covering and masking to trim before painting"
- "Cut in around trim while painting"
- "Remove covering and masking carefully from trim"
- "Wipe up splashed paint with gasoline"