Benchmark Tasks for Job Analysis

A Guide for Functional Job

Analysis (FJA) Scales
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Benchmark Tasks for Job Analysis
A Guide for Functional Job
Analysis (FJA) Scales

Sidney A. Fine
Sidney A. Fine Associates
Maury Getkate
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

\TJ Psychology Press

A Taylor & Francis Group
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published 1995 by
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Published 2014 by Psychology Press

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Psychology Press

27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA

Psychology Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,

an informa business

Copyright © 1995 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced

or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.

Cover design by Cheryl Minden

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fine, Sidney A., 1915-

Benchmark tasks for job analysis: a guide for functional job
analysis (FJA) scales / by Sidney A. Fine and Maury Getkate.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Job analysis. I. Getkate, Maury. H Title.
HF5549.5.J6F56 1995
658.3'06— dc20 95-20248
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-805-81813-0 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-805-81814-7 (pbk)

Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.
 To Marilyn

and

To Lilian, Dara, and Kevin

This page intentionally left blank
Contents

Foreword

Preface
Disk ordering information xii

1 Job Analysis and Benchmarks

2 Background and Overview

3 Communicating Job Information

4 Enabling Factors: Scales of Worker Instructions and

General Educational Development

5 The Structure of an FJA Task Statement

6 Writing Task Statements: Style Guidelines

7 Generating Benchmarks

8 The Benchmark Tasks for the Seven Scales

Things Functions Scale 49
Data Functions Scale 75
People Functions Scale 95
Worker Instructions Scale 129
viii CONTENTS

Reasoning Development Scale 149

Mathematical Development Scale 165
Language Development Scale 177

Appendix A: Complete Listing of FJA Scales 192

Appendix B: Comparison of Worker Function Scales 207

Appendix C: Task Bank for Functional Job Analyst (KSAs, Task 211
Statements, and FJA Ratings Only)

Appendix D: The Origin and Nature of Functional Job Analysis 219

Appendix E: Application of FJA to Job Evaluation 232

Selected Bibliography 247

Index 249
Foreword

Edwin A. Fleishman
George Mason University

There is a compelling need for innovative approaches to the solution of

many pressing problems involving human relationships in today's society.
Such approaches are more likely to be successful when they are based on
sound research and applications. The Series in Applied Psychology offers
publications that emphasize state-of-the-art research and its application to
important issues of human behavior in a variety of social settings. The
objective is to bridge both academic and applied interests.
Sidney Fine has been one of the pioneers in the field of industrial/organ­
izational psychology concerned with conceptualizing and describing the
tasks that people perform in the workplace. In this book, Fine and Getkate
are making a very strong assertion—namely that a primary objective of
industrial/organizational psychology needs to be the comprehensive de­
scription of work tasks in ways that satisfy the needs of the organization
for staffing, training, compensation, career planning, and job design. In my
earlier book, Taxonomies of Human Performance: The Description of Human
Tasks (with Marilyn Quaintance), I tried to show the centrality of human
tasks to our understanding of human behavior and the need for gener-
alizable constructs in this domain of study. In our book, Quaintance and I
compared alternative ways of describing human tasks and stressed how
the purpose of the task analysis shapes the kinds of constructs and descrip­
tions that are most appropriate. Prominent among the job analysis systems
discussed in our book was the Functional Job Analysis (FJA) system devel­
oped by Fine.
Fine has been one of our most persistent investigators concerned with
the language of job analysis. He has pointed out that the level of analysis is
crucial, and that jobs can be studied at the occupation, job, duty, task
X FOREWORD

element, or critical incident level. In this book, Fine and Getkate make the
case for the use of tasks as the appropriate level of analysis of work
requirements. Because tasks are not natural isolates that stand alone ("like
organisms"), they need to be captured by analysis. The conceptual frame­
work and method of analysis advocated is that of FJA, a methodology that
Fine first conceived and developed in the 1960s. In this book, Fine and
Getkate have described the method in great detail and have provided
benchmark tasks from a wide array of occupations to aid practitioners in
using it.
FJA has been the basis of the national occupational classification systems
in the United States and Canada for a generation. It is also in use in many
industries and by governments in Europe and Asia. It is our belief that this
book and its periodic updating can serve as a basic reference for commu­
nication and research among human resource practitioners and indus­
trial/organizational psychologists. This book fills the need for a practical
guide to the use of this important approach to job analysis.
Preface

This book is the product of a lifetime of study, work, and collaboration with
colleagues, clients, and workers. As an avid student, I have been nurtured
on the literature of industrial and organizational psychology, the sociology
of work, and on systems theory and thinking.
However, since I ventured to explore work as a manifestation of human
functional behavior almost a half century ago, I had to break new ground.
The literature of job analysis hardly existed. The functional concepts I was
proposing had some analogues in other fields such as biology but were only
a glimmer in psychology. There was not even a proper vocabulary to draw
on. On the whole, it was a lonely undertaking.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support and encouragement for my exploration came from my mentor at

George Washington University, James C. Mosel, whose brilliance illumi­
nated my path. Two of my colleagues at the U.S. Employment Service were
also especially supportive and helpful, A. Bennett Eckerson and Jewell
Boling.
More recently, my thinking has been sharpened, refined, and enriched
by interaction with Professor Steven Cronshaw of the University of Guelph,
Ontario, Canada, and my co-author, Maury Getkate. Over the years, I have
been extraordinarily fortunate in my professional associations, among
them Edwin A. Fleishman and Richard C. Bolles, gaining many insights
from my conversations with them. I am extremely grateful to those whom
Xii PREFACE

I have named as well as the dozens of unnamed persons who have enriched
my professional life and helped me grow.
Sidney A. Fine

—DISK ORDERING INFORMATION—

The benchmark tasks are available on a 3V£" DOS computer disk for speedier
reference and for entering and comparing your own tasks for a particular
scale and level. To order the disk, send your name, address, and phone
number to Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah,
New Jersey 07430, attention Order Department. Please enclose a check for
$1.00, including postage and handling, and allow 4 weeks for receipt of disk.
 Chapter 1
Job Analysis and Benchmarks

JOB ANALYSIS IS ESSENTIAL TO FULFILL MANY

ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Human resource management is currently the stylish label attached to what

has formerly been known as "personnel" or "personnel operations." What
it refers to is an organization's activities, among others, to select, hire,
appraise performance, pay, promote, and transfer workers.
These activities have two primary purposes. The organization wants to
secure an efficient and effective (productive) workforce—the best it can get
for what it wants to spend, and it wants to deal with its workforce in a fair
and equitable manner for both morale and legal reasons. What is good for
morale is believed to contribute to being productive. And certainly staying
within the law is a good way to keep out of trouble. All of these activities
and their worthy objectives involve a lot of technical work, the
underpinning for all of them being objective, detailed descriptions about
the work that needs to get done. Obtaining the information for these
descriptions is job analysis.
This volume deals with a method of job analysis especially designed to
obtain and communicate information about jobs. Specifically, we describe
the procedures involved in developing information about job tasks,
evaluating their relevance to job performance, and utilizing this
information in job evaluation.

LANGUAGE: A FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM

IN JOB ANALYSIS

Gathering job analysis information that is detailed, objective, reliable, and

valid (these are the holy cows of the art and science of industrial
psychology) might seem to be simple, but it is not. Regardless of the method
used to convey job analysis information, it is still descriptive information
1
2 CHAPTER 1

conveyed by means of language. Verbs are used to denote actions; nouns

to denote material, products, subject matter, and services, as well as
machines, tools, equipment, and work aids. Sometimes adverbs and
adjectives slip in to emphasize one or another action, material, or tool to
indicate standards or to suggest degrees of efficiency and effectiveness.
Left to their own devices, respondents, whether incumbents or analysts,
introduce subjective elements into the descriptive material. They have a
world of words to choose from, and one observer's choice may not be that
of another. This calls the reliability and validity of the observations into
question. It is inherently very difficult to choose words that reflect the
relative differences in complexity among the work requirements of various
jobs. Yet this is what needs to be done if the objectives of fairness and
equality are to be realized in carrying out the activities previously listed.
Because we are dealing with words that have a strong subjective element,
human resource personnel are driven to make assumptions and inferences
that weaken the validity of the data. Functional Job Analysis (FJA) has been
designed to deal directly with this problem and thus produce more
objective descriptive data. How it does this is described in what follows.
Benchmarks are the capstone of this effort.

FJA CONTROLS THE LANGUAGE OF JOB ANALYSIS

The main thrust of FJA is to tackle the language of job description and to
control its use so various observers can produce data about jobs all can
agree on. The following are some of the ways in which FJA controls the use
of language:

• FJA uses the natural dimensionality inherent in the English language

as a point of departure. All this means is that by studying how words
have been commonly used descriptively one finds some words have
been naturally clustered to express a hierarchy of complexity or skill,
for example, feed, tend, operate, and setup machines imply a
successively greater degree of involvement and hence skill on the
part of the worker.
• FJA draws a sharp distinction between the verbs used to describe
what workers do and what gets done. For example, a verb such as
welding tells what is getting done. It can be done by a worker
"operating" a machine or "manipulating" welding tools. Similarly,
a verb such as reporting tells what is being accomplished, but it is
important to distinguish whether the worker is "compiling" data for
the report, "analyzing" the data for optional interpretations, or
"coordinating" the data to make recommendations. These different
JOB ANALYSIS AND BENCHMARKS 3

ways of functioning with regard to an output can have important

implications for personnel operations.
• FJA recognizes that the objects of worker behaviors can be Things,
Data, or People and there needs to be a coherence, a matching,
between the action verbs used and the results of those actions. For
example, verbs associated with Thing actions need to have Thing
outputs.
• FJA insists that describing the work that gets done and what workers
do needs to avoid the use of qualifying adjectives and adverbs.
Adverbs and adjectives need to be restricted to describe performance
standards.
• FJA uses a basic English sentence to describe tasks. A task performed
by a worker must include an action verb and an indication of the
object of the action (Thing, Data, or People); using what Tools,
Machines, Equipment, or Work Aids; drawing on what knowledge
and instructions; relying on what skills and abilities; in order to
achieve/produce what.

These considerations and specific limitations serve as controls in the use

of language to describe work and serve to clarify the language of
description and the elements linking job requirements and worker
qualifications.

THE ROLE OF FJA SCALES

The language controls are made possible through the use of seven scales,
each of which is a channel for the language customarily used to describe
what workers do in jobs. For example, workers physically relate to things,
mentally relate to data, interpersonally relate to people. Three scales take
the behavioral terms used to express these relationships, define them, and
organize them from lowest to highest complexity as shown in Fig. 1.1.
These scales plus four others are ordinal, meaning the levels of the scales
go from low to high with the higher including the lower levels. They are
used to evaluate and rate the specific descriptive material of jobs and
produce comparative ratings on each of 10 components—three for levels of
difficulty and three for orientation to Things, Data, and People— and four
for levels of Worker Instructions, Reasoning, Math, and Language (see
Appendix A).
The result is a conceptual framework that anyone, but especially the job
analyst, can consult to understand and establish the level of complexity that
may be associated with a task. An effect of language control is to generate
a terminology for "what workers do" and a terminology for "what gets
 THINGS DATA PEOPLE
/ ..T ” ' ------ r- y i .........
I \
4a. Precision Working / 7. Mentoring
6. Synthesizing '
b. Setting Up 1 X 6. Negotiating

132
c. Operating-Controlling II1! X 5a. Innovating
High '
i b. Coordinating j \ 5. Supervising
I 1
1 ' \ l /
\\
3a.Manlpulatlng \ 4a. Consulting /
b. Oparating’ControllingItI \ b. Instructing /
c. Driving*Controlling \ ’ \ c. Treating /
\ 4. Analyzing I
d. Starting Up
\ 3a. Computing / \ 3a. Soureing Information
Medium \ b. Compiling / \ b. Persuading /
\ c. Coaching /
\ 1 \ d . Diverting /

\ 1
. 4 - V - w
2a. Machine Tending I 1 / 2. Exchanging Information
b. Machine Tending II
\2. Copying
\ I / \ I /
\ « / 1a. Taking Instructions*
Low 1a. Handling 1. Comparing Helping '
b. Feeding-Offbearing b. Serving

V V
NOTES:
1. Each hierarchy is independent of the other. It would be incorrect to read the functions across the three hierarchies as related because
they appear to be on the same level. The definitive relationship among functions is within each hierarchy, not across hierarchies.
Some broad exceptions are made in the next note.
2. Data is central since a worker can be assigned even higher data functions although Things and People functions remain at the lowest
level of their respective scales. This is not so for Things and People functions. When a Things function is at the third level (e.g.,
Precision Working), the Data function is likely to be at least Compiling or Computing. When a People function is at the fourth level
(e.g., Consulting, the Data function is likely to be at least Analyzing and possibly Innovating or Coordinating. Similarly for
Supervising and Negotiating. Mentoring in some instances can call for Synthesizing.
3. Each function in its hierarchy is defined to include the lower numbered functions. This is more or less the way it was found to occur
in reality. It was most clear-cut for Things and Data and only a rough approximation in the case of People.
4. The lettered functions are separate functions on the same level, separately defined. The empirical evidence did not support a
hierarchical distinction.
5. The hyphenated functions, Taking Instructions-Helping, Operating-Controlling, and so on, are single functions.

6. The Things hierarchy consists of two intertwined scales: Handling, Manipulating, Precision working is a scale for tasks involving
hands and hand tools; the remainder of the functions apply to tasks involving machines, equipment, vehicles.

FIG. 1.1. Summary chart of worker function scales.

JOB ANALYSIS AND BENCHMARKS 5

done/' thus resulting in a more sharply focused picture of a job-worker

situation, the place where behavior and technology interact.
An analyst needs these reference points because embedded in the language
of description are the analyst's perceptions of the difficulty/complexity levels
of the work being performed. These perceptions may be based on what an
incumbent or supervisor tells the analyst and/or what the analyst judges
from personal experience. By consulting the scales, the analyst can
determine the levels attached to the behaviors implicit in the language used
to describe the job.
The Things, Data, and People functional scales define functional/
behavioral levels that are, in effect, skill levels. The Worker Instructions
scale defines the mix of levels of prescription and discretion the job requires.
The Reasoning, Math, and Language scales define the general educational
development levels required to do the work. Thus, a job analyst is provided
with reference points to evaluate the language he or she uses to describe a
job and to determine whether the complexity levels implicit in that
language are the ones intended.

THE ROLE OF BENCHMARKS

Experience has shown that the definitions of scale levels, although helpful,
are not enough of a guideline, the vagaries of language being what they are.
Practitioners want benchmarks, which are simply examples from jobs that
have been rated at various levels of the aforementioned scales. Actually,
when raters do their work, they generate personal benchmarks to achieve
consistency, drawing on their personal experience and memory. However,
the rating process can be better served by having common benchmarks that
all raters can refer to as needed. The benchmarks in this volume are
intended to serve this need.
Benchmarks are more concrete than generalized definitions of levels,
which border on the abstract. An example of both a generalized definition
of a level from the FJA scale for Data—Analyzing— and two benchmarks
that illustrate it demonstrates the difference and the value of both:

Analyzing: At this level, the individual examines and evaluates data

(about things, data, or people) with reference to the criteria, standards,
and/or requirements of a particular discipline, art, technique, or craft to
determine interaction effects (consequences) and to consider
alternatives.
Task 1: Review/evaluate resumes and/or applications received for a
current job opening and prepare a summary report of qualifications of
6 CHAPTER I

applicants, drawing on knowledge of job requirements and allowable

equivalencies and relying on writing, analytical, and computer skills in
order to determine which applicants meet the minimum requirements
of the position and can be sent to the hiring supervisor for review.
Task 2: Consider/evaluate work instructions, site, and climatic
conditions, nature of load, capacity of equipment, other crafts engaged
in the vicinity, drawing on work order and experience and relying on
analytical skill in order to situate (spot) crane to best advantage.

These two benchmark tasks not only manifest the worker action
language for analyzing but also the knowledge, skill, and ability (KSA)
supporting the behavior.
Benchmarks are tasks taken from FJA task banks. A task bank, an example
of which can be found in Appendix C, is an inventory of the tasks that
incumbents in a particular job have indicated they perform to turn out the
outputs that they were hired to produce. The tasks are stated in the words
of the incumbents.
Why tasks and not jobs for benchmarks? As is described in chapter 3, the
simple reason is that jobs are much too vague an entity on which to hang
an objective value. Tasks are much more stable units of work. In fact, quite
a range of scale values can apply to the various tasks of a job.

ADDING BENCHMARKS

Ultimately, users will want to develop their own benchmarks using tasks
drawn from job analyses and consensus ratings carried out in their own
organization. Information on ordering a computer disk from the publisher
is available at the end of the Preface of this book so that human resource
specialists can more easily compare tasks from a variety of jobs in their
organization with those included here. In this way the tasks will be
constantly available for review and amendment if necessary. The authors
hope this activity will inspire human resource specialists in these
organizations to communicate with them. Constant updating of experience
in using the benchmarks may thereby result in revision where necessary.
Comparing the benchmarks against the level definitions of the scales may
result in improvements of these definitions as well. As is evident, none of
this material should be regarded as written in stone.

SUMMARY

Organizations, to achieve the essential objectives of fairness and equality

in their human resource management activities, must do so on the basis of
JOB ANALYSIS AND BENCHMARKS 7

objective, reliable, and valid information about their job requirements. To

obtain such information they carry out job analyses. The job analyses
present serious problems mostly having to do with the language in which
they are written. FJA is a method of job analysis that advocates the use of
language in a specific and precise manner and makes use of scales as a
referent framework within which to comprehend the job information
collected. It is in this sense that the language of job description is controlled.
Defining scale levels for functional skills, worker instructions, reasoning,
math, and language has proven to be quite helpful. However, practitioners
have expressed a need for benchmarks both to facilitate the use of the scales
and to increase the reliability and validity of the data.

OUTLINE OF THIS BOOK

Chapter 2, "Background and Overview," provides a brief historical review

of the 45-year history of FJA, as well as a contemporary context for the
importance of job analysis. It also briefly describes current FJA practice in
producing a job analysis database.
Chapter 3, "Communicating Job Information," discusses in detail the
problems of communicating about work, including the subtle differences
involved in the choice of words. It also explores the reason for focusing on
tasks rather than jobs and the crucial role of level and orientation measures
(Worker Function scales) in defining a task.
Chapter 4, "Enabling Factors: Scales of Worker Instructions and General
Educational Development," provides a detailed description of the scales
and their role in enabling behavior. These scales help define the KSAs
involved in tasks. It also includes a discussion of the meaning of experience.
Chapter 5, "The Structure of an FJA Task Statement," describes how a
standard English sentence is used as a framework for systematically
incorporating all the essential information needed for human resource
management including the enablers, knowledge, and instructions.
Chapter 6, "Writing Task Statements: Style Guidelines," explores the
practical procedures and the pitfalls to be avoided when constructing task
statements using FJA concepts.
Chapter 7, "Generating Benchmarks," describes the methods used to
develop the benchmark tasks as reliable and valid indicators of scale values.
Chapter 8, "The Benchmark Tasks for the Seven Scales," also includes a
list of jobs from which the benchmarks were selected: 49 task banks, 22 job
definitions in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and selected tasks from
the Upjohn Institute Task Bank. The appendices are as follows:

• Appendix A is a complete version of FJA scales with definitions of

the levels.
8 CHAPTER 1

• Appendix B is a chart comparing the Worker Function scales used

herein with those in use in the U.S. and Canadian Occupational
Classification Systems. A brief note is provided to explain the
difference.
• Appendix C provides a sample list of tasks for a functional job
analyst. It shows a product of an FJA workshop, namely, a task bank;
it indicates the source of benchmark tasks; and it illustrates the range
of ratings for each task and the interplay of function and KSAs in a
job assignment.
• Appendix D is a presentation of Nature and Origins of Functional
Job Analysis given at the 100th anniversary convention of the
American Psychological Association.
• Appendix E is an application of FJA and the rating process to job
evaluation demonstrating how every bit of information—including
that of a few additional simple scales such as Strength and the
Consequences of Error—converts to useful data for wage and salary
administration.
• Appendix F is a bibliography. Although it includes sources referred
to in the text, it is mainly a way of tracking the growth, development,
and applications of FJA over the past 45 years. Critiques of FJA are
included. It is not an exhaustive bibliography.
 Chapter 2
Background and Overview

This chapter provides a brief historical review of the 45-year history of FJA,
as well as a contemporary context for the importance of job analysis. It also
briefly describes current FJA practice in producing a job analysis database.

HISTORICAL NOTE FOR FJA

FJA is a major approach designed to achieve objective, reliable, and valid

job descriptions. It was conceived in the late 1940s by Fine in response to
the need for improvements in the Dictionary o f Occupational Titles, the basic
informational source book of the U.S. Employment Service, used to classify
workers registering for unemployment insurance and applying for work.
The existing second edition that had served so well to place civilians in
military positions during World War II and then return soldiers to civilian
life had manifested many flaws that cried out for correction. As a result,
research was undertaken by the U.S. Department of Labor in the 1950s to
achieve a sounder instrument. This research, known as the Functional
Occupational Classification Project, resulted in the revision of the
classification system and format of the Dictionary, starting in 1965. The
results of the research were also adopted by the Canadian Classification and
Dictionary o f Occupations.

BACKGROUND FOR THE PRESENT MANUAL

The original publication of the FJA scales by the W. E. Upjohn Institute for
Employment Research (Fine & Wiley, 1971)1 contained some benchmark
tasks drawn from extensive job analyses in the social services field, but only
for the worker function scales. These job analyses had been sponsored by

1Fine, S. A., & Wiley, W. W. (1971). An introduction to functional analysis. Kalamazoo, MI:
D.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

9
10 CHAPTER 2

the Rehabilitation and Social Service Agency, a major division of the U.S.
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,2 with the consultative
assistance of the Upjohn Institute. The product of that work was a national
task bank of about 1,100 tasks (ERIC), which served as a source for the
benchmarks.
The publication of the revised scales (Fine, 1989)3 did not include
benchmarks. Its primary purpose was to provide users with an updated
version of the scales. This publication was both a revision and an expansion
of the 1971 document. Like the original manual, it focused on the problems
associated with communicating job information and the means for dealing
with those problems—a means embodied in the practice of FJA.4 Six
functional levels had been added to the Worker Function scales and some
definitions adjusted accordingly.

THE PRACTICE OF FJA

During the 1970s and 1980s, interest in and use of FJA had increased
considerably, stimulated, no doubt, by legal imperatives and as the result
of training workshops given during this time.
Since the 1970s, Fine has conducted 3- to 5-day workshops for human
resource management specialists to introduce them to the principles and
procedures of Functional Job Analysis. More recently, for those interested
in practicing the craft, this introduction has been followed by a two-stage
procedure: (a) observation by a candidate of a certified analyst conducting
an FJA focus group, and (b) a performance evaluation of the candidate
conducting an FJA focus group by the certified analyst. Certification
usually follows this process.
The focus group is the centerpiece of FJA technique, the primary
data-gathering technology. Six subject-matter experts (SMEs), representing
the range of expertise in a particular job in a work organization, are invited
to participate as a group for 2 days in an off-the-job environment to describe
the work they do and how they do it. The invitation indicates that they will
be creating their own job description with the guidance of an FJA facilitator
(analyst). The workshop itself centers around the SMEs' answers to five
questions:
1. What do you get paid for (outputs)?
2. What knowledge do you need to produce the outputs?
3. What skills and abilities do you need to apply the knowledge?
4. What specifically do you do to accomplish each output (tasks)?
5. What performance standards, both those of management and your
own, do you strive to achieve in your work?

2N o w the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

3Fine, S. A. (1989). Functional job analysis scales. Milwaukee, WI: Sidney A. Fine Associates.
4A book on the theory and applications of FJA is now in preparation.
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW 11

Their answers to these questions are noted on flip charts—large pads on

easels from which pages can be tom off—and taped to the wall. They can
go back to any page at any time to change what they will. The skill of the
analyst includes achieving participation from all participants, organizing
what they say into FJA format using their words, and obtaining their
approval. Following a simple edit of the material they have produced, it is
sent back to them for their final edit, approval, and sign off affirming that
the task bank covers 95% of what they do.

THE NEED FOR JOB ANALYSIS

The current need for job analysis came up in the congressional hearings
conducted in May 1993 in support of legislation that would develop
national occupational skills standards and assessments. At those hearings,
Paul Sackett, PhD and president of the Society for Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, testifying on behalf of the American
Psychological Association, stated that the legislation needs guarantees that
the assessments will be technically valid and reliable. The bill being
considered, he pointed out, did not adequately recognize the importance
of job analysis. "If skill standards are the foundation of a high-performance
work force, then job analysis is the cornerstone on which this initiative, and
similar efforts, must rest," he said.
Sackett was contributing to the deliberations of the Goals 2000: Educate
America Act, an education reform bill. In effect, he was saying that
standards set for students must be fully cognizant of standards set for
employment, and job analysis is the fundamental base for these standards.
Such standards would contribute to the decisions made with regard to
curricula and training materials and would be a link to the everyday
decisions made in human resource management.
These decisions included determining:

• The worth of a job in relation to other jobs, usually on the basis of its
relative difficulty and or complexity.
• The level and amount of training required by incumbents to reach
normal production.
• The standards by which performance on the job is evaluated.
• The qualifications (KSA requirements) needed to select applicants.
• The design of jobs so that tasks contribute to a smooth work flow at
a productive pace.

An additional powerful incentive for objective job analysis has been civil
rights legislation (e.g., Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With
Disabilities Act of 1992). This legislation seeks to forestall discrimination in
12 CHAPTER 2

employment by requiring a clear indication of the job relatedness of a

variety of qualifications.
Whether educational standards, personnel operations, or civil rights
legislation, the need exists for clear, concrete, definitive, dependable,
insightful, and objective information.

OVERVIEW OF FJA BENCHMARKS AS A COMMON

METRIC OF WORK PERFORMANCE

As indicated in chapter 1, FJA seeks to achieve quality information through

language controls. The language controls contribute to both the vehicle for
communicating work performance (the task statement), and the nature of
work performance—the elements represented by the FJA scales that link
worker requirements and worker qualifications (scale ratings). This
conceptualization is represented in Fig. 2.1.
The model presented in Fig. 2.1 indicates the interdependence of the
descriptive and analytical facets of FJA.

1. The analyst organizes task information collected from SMEs

according to the English sentence model. This structured model ensures
that the information collected is a clear, consistent, and reliable description
of the work performed according to SME's experience.
2. While documenting the task information, the analyst mentally draws
on the common metric for understanding work that is provided by the FJA
Worker Functions scales and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Worker

Descriptive FJA Facilitator Analytic

Work
(SMEs-Data Source)

FJA scales
FJA task statement ^ ____ Common metric for ^
(English sentence understanding work " (Things, Data,
model) People, Worker
Instruc tions, GED)

'r \ 1f
Task bank Task ratings

FIG. 2.1. A c o n c e p tu a l m o d e l o f th e FJA process.

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW 13

Instructions and General Education Development (GED) scales. This

common metric guides the analyst in asking further questions, if necessary,
to clarify the nature of the work and more precisely state the action(s)
performed in each task.
3. The collected task statements that describe the work are assembled
into a task bank.
4. The Task Bank, which documents the work performed in the job, can
then be analyzed according to the FJA scales. The result of the analysis
process are FJA scale ratings of each task, which provide a common metric
for comparing all tasks.

Chapters 3 and 4 elaborate on the task ratings, whereas chapters 5 and 6

deal with the structure of the task statement. The back-and-forth aspect of
the thought processes indicated here is dealt with in detail in chapter 6.
 Chapter 3
Communicating Job
Information

This chapter discusses the problems of communicating about work,

including the subtleties involved in the choice of words. It also explores the
reason for focusing on tasks, rather than on jobs and the crucial role of Level
and Orientation measures in defining a task.

OVERCOMING THE DIFFERENT PERCEPTION OF

COMMON TERMS

One of the questions asked of participants in an FJA training workshop is:

"What do you do in your job?" For example, in a workshop conducted for
personnel workers in the social welfare field that included some social
workers, the question was: "What do social welfare workers do?"
In their answers, most participants made very similar statements. These
statements included interviewing clients to determine their problems and
counseling and guiding clients on problems of personal and social
adjustment. When participants were questioned further as to what
specifically they did when they interviewed or counseled clients,
similarities tended to fade. Some said that when they interview and counsel
they talk with the client to obtain certain kinds of information about him
or her, giving pertinent information in return, following a standard format
and established procedures.
Others said they give encouragement, advice, and suggestions to the
client on a personal basis—much like a peer or family worker—on how to
use community institutions or services appropriate to the client's situation.
Still others said they serve as a source of technical information and help the
client to define, clarify, or increase his or her understanding of stated
problems and personal capacities for dealing with them. A few described

14
COMMUNICATING JOB INFORMATION 15

what they do as working with the client on problems of overall life

adjustment, following clinical, therapeutic, or professional principles.
Although the language used initially was almost identical, it soon
became clear that words such as interview and counsel had quite different
meanings for different workers. In most cases, the different meanings
suggested differences in the nature and level of the skills and knowledge
required of the workers. What appeared initially to be a common ground
of understanding among participants quickly evaporated when they
expanded on their understanding of the descriptive terms they commonly
used. This was frustrating and confusing to participants. Especially
troublesome was the apparent lack of any kind of framework within which
the participants could reasonably discuss, understand, and, to some
degree, resolve their differences and disagreements.
On a casual, conversational level, the various individuals could more or
less agree on the work of social welfare workers, despite the fact that they
may have come from different places in the organization, for example,
selection, training, supervision, or classification. However, a problem
developed when they had to agree on firm criteria defining the level of the
job for training, performance appraisal, or job evaluation purposes. At this
point, they drew on their different points of view and came up with
disparate conclusions. Often, many of the participants lacked significant
contact with workers in their actual positions that would allow them to test
their assumptions about what workers were doing and what they needed
to qualify. In effect, they were like the six blind men and the elephant, each
touching the creature in a different place and feeling or reporting a different
configuration. They were all correct. What was needed was a
conceptualization of the situation that would provide the participants with
a common reference point for their observations whereby they could
achieve a common understanding.
Part of this conceptualization was the realization that the "job" was too
fluid, too amorphous, too unstable, to focus on. It was not necessarily the
same in any two organizations despite a core of things that might be the
same. This core consisted of quite stable elements, namely, tasks. What was
needed was a way of filtering the casual use of language in job descriptions
so that the confusion could be seen for what it was— differing perceptions
of the same basic "creature." What was also needed was a way of
standardizing the formulation of tasks so that their stability could be firmly
established.
This conceptualization now permitted a restatement of the problem of
communicating about work, namely, that tasks needed to be understood
as fundamental units of work, and that jobs were made up of a variety of
tasks. Job titles were nothing more than broad, even casual indicators of an
area of work. Recruitment, selection, training, supervision, and
16 CHAPTER 3

classification required focusing on tasks to carry out their missions and to

fulfill their objectives.

THE “TASK” AS FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF WORK

The definition of a task in the original edition of Introduction to Functional

Job Analysis (Fine & Wiley, 1971)5 has held up quite well.6 It is as follows:

A task is an action or action sequence, grouped through time, designed to

contribute a specified end result to the accomplishment of an objective and
for which functional levels and orientation can be reliably assigned. The task
action or action sequence may be primarily physical, such as operating an
electric typewriter; or primarily mental such as analyzing data; and/or
primarily interpersonal such as consulting with another person, (pp. 9-10,
emphasis in original)

The only changes made in this definition for the present volume are a
matter of style. It now reads:

A task is an action or action sequence, carried out over time, designed to

contribute a specified end result to the accomplishment of an objective and
for which functional levels and orientation can be reliably assigned.
Functional level refers to level of difficulty of the action or action sequence
and orientation to the extent the action or action sequence draws on physical
potential as in operating an electric typewriter; mental potential as in analyzing
data; and/or interpersonal potential as in consulting with another person.

“WHAT WORKERS DO”: FUNCTIONAL LEVEL AND

ORIENTATION DEFINED

What does "And for which functional levels and orientation can be reliably
assigned" mean in the definition just given?
Functional level and orientation became the means for focusing on what
workers do, the neglected part of job analysis, and the conceptual basis for
developing a tool to control the language of job description and measure
the complexity of tasks.
The following principles guided the development of this tool:

5Fine, S. A., &, Wiley, W. W. (1971). An introduction to functional job analysis. Kalamazoo,
MI: Upjohn Institute for Emplyment Research.
6This definition grew out of and was consistent with a systems approach that was used to
define the context in which tasks and work were performed. Briefly, the context described
work-doing systems as consisting of three components: Worker, Work Organization, and
Work. The master purpose of the work-doing system was to achieve Productivity, but along
with it were the subsidiary purposes of Efficiency/Effectiveness and Worker Growth. Tasks
were described as the fundamental unit of the work component (see Fine, S. A., & Wiley, W.
W. [1969]. A systems approach to new careers. Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn Institute for Emplyment
Research.).
COMMUNICATING JOB INFORMATION 17

1. What workers do as they perform the tasks that make up their jobs,
they do in relation to Things, Data, and People—the objects of their actions.
All jobs involve the worker, to some extent, with machines, tools,
equipment, and/or work aids (Things); with information or ideas (Data);
and with customers, clients, or coworkers (People).
Workers function in unique ways in each of these areas. For example,
when workers' tasks involve machines or equipment (Things), workers
draw on their physical resources (strength, dexterity, motor coordination);
when the tasks involve information and ideas, mental resources are
brought into play (knowledge, thought, intuition, insight); when the tasks
involve clients, customers, patients, interpersonal resources are employed
(empathy, courtesy, warmth, openness, guile). Typically, workers are
involved unevenly with these three primitives in any given task. The
degree to which they are involved depends on the emphasis on the
performance standards for one or another.
2. Although there may be an infinite number of ways of describing tasks
in the context of their unique content and conditions, there is only a handful
of significant patterns of behavior (functions) that describe how workers
use themselves in relation to Things, Data, and People. Those patterns of
behavior that can be articulated reliably have been defined in the Worker
Function scales (see Fig. 1.1 and Appendix A), the primary tools of FJA.
They provide a standardized, controlled vocabulary to describe what
workers do in the entire universe of work.
For example, in using machines and equipment, workers feed, tend,
operate, and set up machines or drive/control vehicles; or they handle,
manipulate, or precision-work tools or portable power equipment.
In relation to information and ideas, a worker may compare, compile,
compute, or analyze data.
In interacting with clients, customers, and co-workers, workers serve,
exchange information, coach, or consult with people.
Although each of these worker functions is performed under widely
varying conditions and involves a myriad of specific contents, each, within
its scope and level of difficulty, calls for similar kinds and degrees of worker
characteristics to achieve effective performance.
3. The functions in each of the three areas—Things, Data, and
People— can be defined by a Worker Function scale (see Fig. 1.1) in which
the performance requirements range from the simple to the complex in the
manner of an ordinal scale. Because the scale is ordinal, the selection of a
specific function to reflect the requirements of a particular task indicates
that the task includes the lower functions and excludes the higher ones. For
example, on scanning the Worker Function Scale for Data, when one selects
the compiling function as the appropriate worker behavior to describe the
way a worker must relate to information in a given task, two things are
18 CHAPTER 3

decided: (a) the worker's performance is more complex than copying and
less complex than analyzing; and (b) the worker must be able to perform all
or at least comprehend all the data functions below compiling, but does not
have to perform or comprehend higher functions, such as analyzing or
coordinating.
4. The three hierarchies of Things, Data, and People functions provide
two ways of systematically comparing and measuring the requirements of
any task in any job. These two measures are level and orientation.
The level measure indicates the relative complexity or simplicity of a task
when it is compared to other tasks. The level is expressed by selecting the
function that best describes the pattern of behavior in which the worker
engages to perform a given task effectively. The ordinal position of the
function is the level measure.
The orientation measure provided by FJA indicates the relative
involvement of the worker with Things, Data, and People in performing a
task. A basic principle of FJA is that the worker is unevenly involved with
the three primitives in any task. For example, in performing one task of a
job, a worker may be involved almost exclusively with Data (e.g., 75%) for
compiling; but to accomplish the task, the worker must also be involved
interpersonally in exchanging information with co-workers (e.g., 15%), and
with physical resources in handling various documents, paper, and pen
(e.g., 10%). The lower percentages for the latter two functions indicate that
they are not as demanding. The worker's total involvement with the task
in question is, of course, 100%.
The orientation measure is expressed by assigning a percentage, in units
of 5, to each of the three functions so the total adds to 100%. These
percentages are estimates. The reliability sought is in the pattern of the
three estimates, not in their absolute amount.
The orientation measure is a reflection of the performance requirements
of a task, as noted earlier. In the example, the estimates assigned must be
in accord with the independent judgment that this task will be evaluated
overwhelmingly on its Data performance standards and quite lightly with
regard to its People and Things performance standards. The training the
worker must have to perform the task should emphasize and build on the
mental skills required. The supervisor's instructions to the worker should
emphasize and reflect the nature of the mental performance expected and
the Data-oriented performance standards by which the worker's results
will be judged.

RATING TASKS FOR FUNCTIONAL LEVEL

AND ORIENTATION
The FJA analyst is trained to think in functional terms, that is, to translate
the information obtained from SMEs in a focus group, or even when just
COMMUNICATING JOB INFORMATION 19

hearing workers talk about what they do, into functional levels and
orientation. Part of the discipline of getting specific information from
incumbents is to gently press for specificity in what they do. Analysts know
they have the information needed when they can mentally assign scale
values with some assurance. In addition, when the task bank is completely
edited and validated by the SMEs, the analyst may want to check the
reliability and validity of each task (see Fig. 2.1). If they find they have
trouble in making a rating they must rethink the information obtained and,
if need be, return to the incumbents for clarification. It is desirable, if
possible, to have a colleague independently rate the tasks for scale values,
compare ratings, and arrive at a consensus.
The rating of the following task illustrates standing operating procedure
(SOP):

Ask client questions, listen to responses, and write answers on standard

intake form, following an SOP with some leeway as to sequence of questions,
drawing on knowledge of organization's procedure and relying on brief
training in conducting a structured interview in order to record basic
identifying information.

Simultaneous with receiving and organizing the information just given, the
analyst judges this task as primarily a Data/People task, with emphasis on
the former, and negligibly a Things task. In addition, the information is
specific enough to satisfy the functional definitions for copying and exchanging
information. The level and orientation for this task is then rated as:

Area Functional Level Orientation (%)

Things Handling (1A) 10
Data Copying (2) 50
People Exchanging information (2) 40

Because the level and orientation measures can be applied to all tasks and
to all jobs, the Worker Function scales provide a means for comparing all
tasks and all jobs on a common basis. This is what was meant in the
previous chapter by referring to FJA as a common metric. It should be
anticipated that the ratings for the various tasks of a job can be quite varied.
Jobs that have highly complex tasks can also have quite simple tasks as well.
The question then is, "How can they be integrated to produce a single
overall rating for a job?" The process is essentially a review process that
notes and selects the highest ratings in the three functional areas. There
might not be a single task that has the three highest ratings. It is necessary
to emphasize that it is not an averaging process. The overall orientation
rating would be a reconsideration of the relative emphasis to place on the
Things, Data, and People standards for the entire job.
20 CHAPTER 3

SUMMARY: FJA IS A MEANS FOR DEFINING/ANALYZING

JOBS

FJA provides human resource specialists with a means to design viable jobs
for their organizations from entry to professional levels. Applied to the jobs
in the organization, FJA provides a base of accurate and comparable
information of what workers do. Such information is essential for
day-to-day personnel operations such as recruitment, selection, training,
assignment, and supervision in order to maximize the use of the human
resources in the organization. To develop such information, FJA provides
the following two fundamental techniques:

1. A means for getting control of the language of description using the

Worker Function scales and orientation estimates. The three hierarchies of
worker functions, which define worker behavior from the simplest to the
most complex levels, are a common language that makes it possible to
reduce misunderstanding and inconsistency of interpretation among the
many users of task information. In addition to controlling the language and
meaning of what workers do, the Worker Function scales allow for
comparison of what all workers do in terms of the level and orientation of
their respective tasks on a common metric. This is a vital consideration in
job evaluation and job design.
2. A means for getting to know the fundamental units of work in the
organization, the tasks. The guidelines for writing task statements
proposed in chapter 6 follow a specific form and structure and express what
workers do to get work done. The task statements answer specific questions
by expressing explicit worker actions and their expected results along with
an indication of work aids, instructions, and sources of information. When
written in this manner, objective information becomes available for
generating performance standards and training needs.
 Chapter 4
Enabling Factors: Scales of
Worker Instructions and
General Educational
Development

This chapter provides a detailed description of the Worker Instructions,

Reasoning, Math, and Language scales and their role in enabling worker
behaviors (functions). These scales help define the knowledge, skill, and
ability (KSAs) involved in tasks. It also includes a discussion of the meaning
of experience.

KSAs: ENABLERS OF BEHAVIOR

Behaviors draw on KSAs, enablers of behavior. The full scope of a behavior is

not clear until we know the KSAs it draws on. The KSAs include the nature of
instruction (the balance between prescription and discretion) and the levels of
reasoning, math, and language involved. (When the latter—reasoning, math,
and language—are referred to collectively, GED is used.) The same behavior
(e.g., "read/review") can involve some variation in the levels of instruction,
reasoning, math, and language, depending on the content of the work. FJA
provides scales for estimating the levels of instruction, reasoning, math, and
language required to carry out the behavior that produces the end result. Each
of the scales is discussed separately.

WORKER INSTRUCTIONS

All job assignments have instructions. They are infrequently mentioned as

such in job descriptions. Instead, there is usually a statement concerning
the degree of supervision from "close" to "general." There may also be a

21
22 CHAPTER 4

statement that employees need to "work independently," presumably

meaning they need to instruct themselves.
This is unfortunate. Nearly all jobs have varying sources of instruction.
Some of the instructions are built into the training and orientation workers
receive for their assignments; some are issued periodically or intermittently
by supervision; and in still others, workers formulate for themselves.
Jaques (1956)7 provided terminology to describe the nature of these
instructions, namely, prescription and discretion. Prescription refers to that
aspect of an instruction that is specified and involves definite limits and/or
procedures. Discretion refers to the use of judgment and allowed leeway
in following procedures, guidelines, and specifications. All jobs involve
both. Even simple production jobs involve small amounts of discretion, if
only to judge when to stop a process in an emergency. Even the highest
level jobs, such as president or chief executive officer, involve some
prescription such as defined limits to their authority and the need to obtain
sanction from a board of directors for certain actions. The instructions for
any job can have a range of prescription and description. In the task
example used earlier, the worker behavior and results as well as the work
aid (which defines the kind of information to be obtained) are prescribed:

Ask client questions, listen to responses, and write answers on standard

intake form, following SOP with some leeway as to sequence of questions,
drawing on organization's procedures and training and relying on skill in
conducting a structured interview in order to record basic identifying
information.

However, the worker is expected to use his or her own judgment

(discretion) in determining the order in which the questions may be asked.
The task statement, nevertheless, clearly describes behavior that involves
more prescription than discretion. A more controlled assessment of the
prescription/discretion mix can be obtained by using the tool designed
expressly for that purpose— the Scale of Worker Instructions.

SCALE OF WORKER INSTRUCTIONS

The Scale of Worker Instructions (see Appendix A) provides a measure of

the proportions of prescription/discretion that occur in task performance.
The scale is an ordinal scale similar in construction and use to the Worker
Function scales. It has eight levels. The lower levels of the scale involve task
instructions that have higher prescription in proportion to the amount of
discretion a worker is expected to use, whereas the higher levels represent
task instructions containing less prescription and proportionately more
discretion.

7Jaques, E. (1956). The measurement of responsibility. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Press.
ENABLING FACTORS 23

In applying it to the example task, one would read the definitions in the
scale of the various levels to find which one most accurately reflects the mix
of prescription/ discretion indicated in the task statement. Level 1 is too low
and Level 3 is too high, whereas Level 2 seems to fit the task best. Therefore,
the task statement should be assigned a Level 2 worker instruction. This
information brings into sharper focus the functional level of the behavior
involved in the task, namely, handling, copying, and exchanging information.
This clarity should make it evident why explicitness in writing task
statements includes information indicative of the level of instruction
involved in the task.
Once prescriptive instructions are learned and understood, following
them requires very little judgment by the worker. That part of instructions
represents areas where the worker is not required or expected to use
personal discretion; in fact, if indicated prescription is not followed, it is
likely to be considered either negligence or insubordination. Following
prescribed instructions consistently is usually occasion for reward.
Discretion requires considerably more mental effort. When a worker
exercises discretion, much more ability, skill, experience, and training must
be drawn on and focused on the task at hand. Decisions in this situation
are more complex and have important consequences for the end result. On
the one hand, the continual exercise of good discretion calls for special
acknowledgment and recognition. On the other hand, the exercise of poor
or inadequate discretion usually calls for a change of assignment or
dismissal. It is especially important to note that the exercise of discretion
usually involves prescribing instructions for oneself.
Jaques (1956) maintained that a worker's sense of responsibility is based
on the amount of discretion exercised in the tasks that make up an
assignment or job. By varying the prescribed and discretionary balance of
the tasks of a job, the job's level of responsibility can be changed. This has
profound implications for career development and employee involvement
because the leading edge of growth in one's career is having the
opportunity to undertake tasks involving increased discretion and hence
increased responsibility.

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A problem cited frequently by personnel specialists is that of determining

worker qualifications for jobs. How does one determine the education and
experience required to perform the tasks that make up a job? This is all the
more crucial today when the qualifications need to be shown as job related
in order to satisfy civil rights legislation. In this section we discuss the
education requirements. Experience is dealt with following a discussion of
the GED scales.
24 CHAPTER 4

Educational requirements are generally concerned with the basic skills

of reading, writing, and arithmetic as well as common sense or reasoning.
Commonly, such requirements were set in terms of years of schooling, such
as high school graduation. The assumption represented by such a
requirement was that anyone who had completed high school would have
mastered the basic skills and, in addition, would have acquired the
self-discipline associated with regular attendance, following instructions,
and getting along with peers and superiors. However true this may have
once been, it cannot be relied on today. Furthermore, such a requirement
is often irrelevant and certainly not job related. Diploma and degree
requirements tended to screen out capable and motivated applicants from
minority and disadvantaged groups, hence, the need for a more accurate
measure— an operational measure—of educational requirements. This is
the purpose of the GED scales.

THE SCALES OF REASONING, MATH, AND LANGUAGE

The GED scales for Reasoning, Math, and Language are independent of
years of schooling. They are scales of functional performance, whereby
each level of each scale is stated in terms of on-the-job type of behaviors. A
person may have actually acquired the ability for such functional behaviors
in work activities or through self-learning. Thus, the questions asked of
applicants hinge on "what have you done?" rather than on "how many
years of schooling have you completed?" Similarly, when analyzing task
requirements, the concern is with the specific basic skills required, as
represented by the levels in the scales, rather than time spent in schooling.
The GED scales embrace only those aspects of education that contribute
to a worker's reasoning development and acquisition of functional
knowledge of language and mathematics. Because the levels of the scales
are functionally defined, they have a constant meaning independent of
school grade attainment that, as noted, can have a variable meaning.
Although in FJA the scales are used to indicate a job's requirements, they
may also be used to express an individual's level of achievement.
The Reasoning scale relates to concepts, problem-solving, making
judgments, and carrying out instructions. The Math scale relates to
arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric operations with numbers and
associated symbols. The Language scale relates to understanding, reading,
writing, and speaking the words, expressions, idioms, and ideas of a
specific language. Like the Things, Data, People and Worker Instructions
scales, they are ordinal hierarchies.
The scales are used in the same manner as the Worker Instructions scale,
namely, by comparing what is described in a task with the appropriate
levels in each scale and selecting the number of the level that fits best.
ENABLING FACTORS 25

In the task we have been using as an example, the selection would be as

follows:

• Reasoning: The task would seem to require common-sense

reasoning, which involves Levels 1 to 3; the number of different
things to consider are more than Level 1 and do not appear to
involve as many as Level 3. Therefore the selection is Level 2.
• Math: There is very little indication of math involvement, which
prompts a selection of Level 1.
• Language: The task involves a good use of language, particularly to
adapt to anyone who might come in seeking social service help. The
purpose of the leeway in asking questions is to be able to make such
an adaptation. The benchmarks in the scale to which the task more
or less corresponds is "copy written material . . ." and "conduct
house-to-house surveys__ " It involves more language ability than
speaking to service personnel, yet does not require as much
language ability as the interviewing task in Level 4. Thus, Level 3 is
selected.

To summarize, the FJA ratings for the example task suggest that its
satisfactory performance requires the ability to follow instructions in which
the inputs and outputs are specified, but in which the worker needs to be
able to use some judgment in following SOP. The worker needs to have
common sense in dealing with a few variables. No significant math ability
is required, but language ability is necessary to conduct a formal interview
guided by an intake form and to adapt to the language level of the clients.

EXPERIENCE

Few words in the employment vocabulary are more overused, misused,

and misunderstood than experience. Sometimes experience is used in the
sense that a worker has "been around" and is "wised up" to an
environment. Sometimes it is used to suggest that an individual knows how
to get things done by using informal channels. Still another meaning is that
a person has spent many years at what he or she is doing (which does not
necessarily mean the person is any the wiser).
On the basis of discussions with hundreds of experienced workers, we
have arrived at the following definition:

Experience: Skill and or wisdom attained through observation and

participation in a particular activity (Webster's Dictionary). To be
experienced is to have a personal database consisting of: (a) the
performance of assignments according to procedures in which trained,
26 CHAPTER 4

and (b) knowing that actual assignments/events typically present

unique aspects that require the stretching and bending of rules/
procedures through the use of judgment to get work done. The database
supplies the worker with clues for dealing with unique events that are
not yet ready for generalizing into new rules.

This definition reflects certain realities: No two "experienced workers"

in the same occupation are necessarily experienced in the same way, and
experience is highly individualized. This is the fundamental reason why
management never knows exactly what its workers are doing and how the
work actually gets done.
In the next chapter we turn our attention from the use of scales to assign
relative values to job information (analysis), to organizing the job
information into the structure of a basic English sentence (holistic). The
focus is more on description than on scale values.
 Chapter 5
The Structure of an FJA Task
Statement

This chapter describes how a standard English sentence is used as a

framework for systematically integrating all the essential information
needed for human resource management applications.

THE STRUCTURE OF A TASK STATEMENT

The structure of a task statement is represented in Fig. 5.1. The two most
important components of the task statement are the behavior (action) and
the result. They are not clear-cut or obvious. They are part of the flow of
what a worker is doing.
Both mind and eye, as well as other senses, tend to focus on the result
and take the behavior (action) that led to the result for granted. When we
listen to a virtuoso violinist perform, we respond primarily to the
execution/interpretation of a passage, rarely giving thought to the study
and practice that went into that execution. Yet it is in that study and practice

BEHAVIOR (ACTION) OBJECT OF ACTION

SOURCE OF INFORMATION
NATURE OF INSTRUCTION
TOOLS, MACHINES, EQUIPMENT, WORK AIDS

RESULT

FIG. 5.1. The structure o f a task statem ent.

27
28 CHAPTER 5

that the knowledge, skill, and ability resides. The musician is likely to have
abstracted passage after passage during study and practice in order to give
the notes the appropriate emphasis for the effect he or she seeks to achieve.
Just as a passage in a musical composition can be selected for practice to
achieve excellence in performance, similarly a task can be abstracted from
the flow of work in a job assignment to comprehend the skills involved.
Sometimes it is easy to separate the behavior from the result; sometimes it
is quite complex, requiring considerable reflection. A major reason for this
difficulty, in addition to the perceptual one, is that our language is very rich
in the vocabulary of results and quite poor in the vocabulary of behaviors
specific to work.
In Fig. 5.1, the behavior is the action the worker is expected to perform on,
to, or with the object of behavior. The action can be represented by one
predominant verb or several linked together as they might naturally occur
in task performance as illustrated here:

Ask client questions, listen to responses, and write answers on standard intake
form...

Prepare/write a course description...

Drive/control van...

The result is the outcome of the behavior (action) as enabled by the sources
of information, the nature of the instruction, and the tools, machines,
equipment, and work aids:

.. .IOT (in order to) record basic identifying information.

.. .IOT informfield service personnel of course content, requirements and availability.

.. .IOT deliver children safely to a day care center.

Although these two components enclose the task statement by defining

what the worker does and what gets done, additional information is
needed to help understand how the two are linked at the particular level
represented by the choice of verbs for the behavior. This is the information
represented by the enablers.
The enablers are the instructions and KSA elements that influence how
the action/behavior is performed. They are the major source of information
for the selection of level ratings from the Instructions and the Reasoning,
Math, and Language scales described in the previous chapter.

• Sources o f Information need to reflect the training, experience, and

knowledge drawn on (which maybe an area of scientific knowledge
or specifications in a work order). This can be indicated generically
STRUCTURE OF AN FJA TASK STATEMENT 29

(e.g., electronics) and then made more explicit within parentheses

(e.g., basic theory including analog and digital, transistors,
semi-conductors, silicon control rectifiers).
• Nature o f Instruction needs to suggest the extent to which the worker
is following a prescribed procedure and the extent to which
discretion (judgment) is allowed. The more the task is discretionary,
the more one can expect the choice of action verbs to reflect this. This
cannot always be explicit as to level, but some information as to the
specificity of the SOPs, or the guidelines, or the manuals, or the
blueprints, or the schematics should be obtained. It should be
expected that the incumbent SMEs are likely to be vague about this.
Often they are using more judgment and experience than they care
to admit or even know that they are using.
• Tools, Machines, Equipment, Work Aids are explicitly stated, naming
them generically (e.g., test equipment) and explicitly in parentheses
if several or many are involved (e.g., oscilloscope, meter, electronics
tool kit).

The enablers link the behavior and result and help in understanding the
choice of particular verbs selected to represent the behavior. A lofty result
would need to have action verbs and moderators of equal status. This is an
intangible that is hard to describe, but one immediately evident when not
in sync. For example, action verbs used to describe the interview carried
out to obtain identifying information (asks, listens, records) are quite
different from those used to provide a technical explanation (consulting)
of policy guidelines (queries, listens, explains, discusses). Along with the
enabler information, this is one of the ways that internal validity becomes
manifest in FJA.

HOW TO WRITE A TASK STATEMENT

The schematic shown at the beginning of this chapter is recast here with
appropriate questions, the answers to which result in putting together the
elements of a task statement. The questions are, in effect, a checklist of the
information needed to serve a variety of personnel operations.

Who? (Subject). The subject of a task statement is understood to be

simply worker. The task statement does not in any way define what kind of
a worker. As a result the task statement begins with the action or verb.

Performs What Action? (Action Verb). A task statement requires a

concrete, explicit action verb. Verbs which point to a process (such as develop,
prepare, interview, counsel, evaluate, and assess) should be avoided. However,
30 CHAPTER 5

due to the shortage of explicit verbs to describe work behavior, there is a

strong tendency to use them. At this point the analyst should ask: "What
is actually going on? Is there more than one task involved?" If this
questioning does not solve the problem, and using a broad verb still seems
desirable, it should be accompanied by some qualifying verbs. In the
example here, the analyst might have preferred to use interview in which
case this verb would have been followed by verbs such as query, listen,
explain, and discuss in the text of the task statement.

To Whom or on Whot? This refers to the Things, Data, or People

objects of the actions. In the first example the objects are a Person (client)
and Data (answers to questions). In the second example the object is Data
(course description); in the third example it is a Thing (van).

Using What? A task statement should identify the tangible

instruments, extensions of self, a worker uses to perform the task, such as
Tools, Machines, Equipment, Work Aids. The self, which is, of course, the
primary tool, is not mentioned because it is implicit in the subject. In the
first two examples here the tool or extension of self is a writing instrument.
If the instrument used is a stenotype machine or typewriter, it should be
noted because that involves special skills. Since they are not mentioned, we
can safely assume a pen and pencil, which, of course, are associated with
writing skill. In the last example, the equipment is a van.

Drawing on What KSAs and Instructions? A task statement needs

to identify in some way the nature of the instructions the worker follows
and the sources of information. The phrase(s) relating to instructions
should suggest what is prescribed and what is discretionary. This statement
need not be in minute detail because some of this detail is initially obtained
at the beginning of a FJA. However, it needs to be sufficient to illuminate
the actions (verbs). We should be able to make a reliable judgment of the
level on the Scale of Worker Instructions. Similarly, the sources of
information noted should enable reliable judgments about the levels on the
Reasoning, Math, and Language scales. For example:

...following standing operating procedure (SOP) with some leeway in the

order with which questions are asked, drawing on organizational procedure
and relying on brief training in conducting a structured interview....

...drawing on general background as instructor, the course materials and

objectives, and relying on writing skill and ability to follow standard guidelines....

... drawing on knowledge of route and schedule, familiarity with the children,
special considerations in driving young children and relying on ability to
drive....
STRUCTURE OF AN FJA TASK STATEMENT 31

To Produce/Achieve What (Result)? The purpose of the action

performed must be explicit so that its relation to the objective is clear and,
performance standards for the task can later be set. For example:

.. .in order to (IOT) record basic identifying information.

...IOT inform field service personnel of course content, requirements, and

availability.
.. .IOT deliver children safely to school.

The standards will flow from the fact that the results part of the task
statements must contribute to the organization objectives. (If it does not,
then a reasonable question is: Why is it being performed?) In the first
instance the objective is: To establish a client information system that
enables workers to locate clients quickly and efficiently. In the second
instance the objective is: To develop training programs that train field
service engineers to fix equipment and keep customers happy. In the final
instance the task result and the objective are identical.

COMPLETE FJA TASK STATEMENTS AND THEIR

USEFULNESS

The complete FJA task statements will look like this:

Ask client questions, listen to responses, write answers on a standard intake

form following SOP with some leeway in the order in which questions are
asked, drawing on organization's procedure training and relying on skill in
conducting a structured interview IOT record basic identifying information.
Prepare/write a course description following standard guidelines drawing
on general background as an instructor, course materials, and objectives and
relying on writing skill IOT inform field service personnel of course content,
requirements, and availability.
Drive-control a van drawing on knowledge of route and schedule, familiarity
with the children, and special considerations in driving young children and
relying on driving skill IOT deliver children safely to school.

A well-written task statement provides a clear and concise picture of the

task. When it is written in this way, it becomes operationally useful, that is,
it provides clear information that:

• Managers can use to assess the level of complexity of the task and
compare its performance requirements with other tasks. They can
also use it to determine whether the task is contributing to the
objectives of the organizational unit.
32 CHAPTER 5

• Supervisors can use to give clear, accurate instructions to workers

and develop criteria for assessing whether the worker's
performance is satisfactory.
• Selection personnel can use to specify worker qualifications (KSAs)
needed to perform the task.
• Trainers can use to determine both classroom and on-the-job
training for the worker assigned the task.

The next chapter essentially describes the experience of integrating the

concepts of the previous three chapters in well-written task statements. In
addition to rules, structure, and dynamics, some style guidelines are still
necessary to achieve a degree of elegance in communicating task
information.
 Chapter 6
Writing Task Statements:
Style Guidelines

A written task statement records what a worker does, what is required to

enable that action, and the result that occurs from such an action. The
structure of a task statement, as presented in chapter 5, provides the
conceptual framework needed to understand the nature of the work being
performed and to capture it in writing. The purpose of this chapter is to
describe how to write good task statements.
What appears simple in theory, however, is often not easy in practice.
Writing clear and concise task statements requires effort. Poorly written
tasks are often a confusing blur of work action and results, mingled with
skills and knowledge. In contrast, a well-written task statement evokes a
clear picture of what is going on in a job-worker situation. A good task
statement reads smoothly and is neither too vague nor too detailed. The
insights, explanations, comments, and tips that follow for writing effective
task statements have grown out of the discussions among raters concerning
the ambiguities and vaguenesses they encountered in rating benchmark
tasks using the FJA scales. They are presented according to the three main
components that comprise the FJA task statement model.

THE ACTION VERB

A concrete, specific, and explicit action verb at the beginning of a task

statement is essential. A specific verb makes it easy to picture the work
behavior being described. The action verb provides the primary focus for
the task. Additional verbs describing additional behaviors may augment
the primary verb if necessary. The following comments are directed toward
beginning a task statement properly.
The active voice is used in task statements. We have adopted the
convention of using verbs such as a supervisor or trainer might use to direct

33
34 CHAPTER 6

a worker or trainee. This avoids adding an "s" to the verbs and gives the
task statement more directness and immediacy. (Verbs ending with an "s"
are used in the function definition to suggest their generality).

Remove laundry from washing machine...

Write contracts for all departments...

Action verbs can be combined with a slash so that a specific action can be
represented. This helps convey the specific meaning of the action. Up to
three can be so combined, although combining only two verbs is much
preferred. For example:

Meet/confer with legislators...

Monitor/coach youngsters placed under supervision...

The specificity of the verb used can often pose a problem when writing a
task statement. In part, this is due to the limited domain of explicit verbs
available with which to describe what workers do. This problem usually
becomes evident when verbs that are identical to those listed in the Worker
Function scales for Things, Data, or People are used. When this occurs, it
indicates that a category of action is being referred to, rather than a specific
action. For example:

Coordinate efforts of rescue team...

Schedule/plan rescue team activities...

The first verb in actuality refers to the class of worker behaviors identified
in the Data Worker Function scale as Coordinating (Level 5B). A more
specific form is presented in the second example. Schedule/plan would be
a specific task that belongs to the Coordinating level of the Data Worker
Function. The key distinction is that the first verb is more abstract and
difficult to envision, whereas the second is more specific and easier to
visualize.
It should be noted that it may not be possible to avoid the use of Worker
Function level verbs in all situations. For example, the verb set up may be
entirely appropriate for a task statement, with little in the way of alternative
action verbs available to describe this behavior. The scarcity of good action
verbs may necessitate the use of Worker Function terms in special cases.
Whenever possible, however, the avoidance of Worker Function terms
usually results in sharper task statements. When they are used they should
be accompanied by descriptive data confirming their appropriateness.
The problem is also evident when verbs that refer to processes, rather
than specific action, are used. Verbs such as assess, fabricate, or develop are
WRITING TASK STATEMENTS 35

examples of verbs that are more descriptive of a process than a specific

action. There are generally two ways to handle this situation. The first is to
replace the process verb with a specific verb that answers the question:
"What is the worker doing when engaged in this process?" The second is
to qualify or clarify the verb by combining with another verb. The following
provide some typical examples:

Prepare an integrated report.. .versus

Prepare/write an integrated report...
Develop a teaching plan.. .versus
Develop/draft a teaching plan...

Some verbs are too vague to be useful as action verbs. Complete, perform, or
make, for example, are not clear ways to begin a task statement. Replace
with a more specific verb if possible, or ask yourself what the real action in
the task statement is. This may require extra effort, but the clarity that is
brought to the task statement is well worth it.
A common problem encountered in FJA is to confuse what a worker does
with what gets done. It is relatively easy to start task statements with what
is really the result of the task. There are a couple of ways this confusion can
occur in a task statement. One way is to start a task statement with the term
provide. The use of such a term is in essence presenting the results before
the action by informing the reader of the task's purpose first. The following
example illustrates a task statement that originally started with provide but
was edited to capture the real action occurring in the task:

Provide volunteers with overview of agency services, informing them of

policies, procedures, and funding sources, drawing on agency experience,
and relying on interpersonal skills in order to have trained volunteers for
agency operation.
Train/inform volunteers about agency policies, procedures, and funding
sources, drawing on agency experience, and relying on interpersonal skills
in order to provide volunteers with overview of agency resources and services.

The second example clearly portrays the primary action occurring in the
task. Another hint that a task statement is confusing what a worker does
with what gets done is when the word by followed by a verb is used in the
task statement. The use of by usually indicates the key action in the task
statement. The following example illustrates a task statement that was
rewritten to focus on the primary action:

Respond to requests from state and county governments regarding the

implementation of affirmative action by accessing applicant data records,
36 CHAPTER 6

compiling data specifics manually (e.g., race, gender, age, veteran status)
using computer in order to meet the governmental report requirements.
Access applicant data records in computer, manually compiling data specifics
relevant to requests from state and county governments regarding the
implementation of affirmative action (e.g., race, gender, age, veteran status)
in order to meet the governmental report requirements.

A task does not necessarily consist of only one action verb. However,
stringing together several actions can sometimes resulting in a loss of focus
and produce a job rather than a task description. As defined previously, "A
task is an action or action sequence, grouped through time." An action
sequence is represented in the task statement by using several action verbs
to fully describe the task at hand. It is at this point that the skill and
judgment of the analyst are especially challenged. The danger lies in
attempting to capture a picture that has too much detail. This is illustrated
in the following action sequence in a task statement:

Review/monitor the selection process, answer questions of hiring

supervisor, advise on interviewing procedures, review documentation
provided by supervisors in support of their recommendation for hire, and
compare applicant to current staff in similar positions for equity in salary
requested, drawing on knowledge of agency policies and procedures,
relevant labor laws/regulations, internal managerial styles and preferences,
and relying on verbal/written communication skills in order to ensure filling
of vacancies with qualified applicants on a consistent basis.

As written, the task statement can be considered a first draft of what the
analyst is trying to capture. The fact that there is too much here— although
the actions strung together more or less go together—emerges when the
analyst tries to rate the task. Although the task clearly involves "analyzing"
and "consulting," it is very difficult to assign reliable orientation weights
between Data and People. Too many performance standards come to mind.
What becomes apparent is that practically a whole job is described. Here
is a point where FJA can be especially helpful—namely, to reexamine the
task from the standpoint of scope. It is possible that more than one task
has been written. This is suggested particularly by the variety of
performance standards that came up for consideration. With this in mind,
two separate tasks, bringing the separate functions clearly into focus, are
written as follows:

Review /monitor the selection process including documentation provided by

supervisors in support of their recommendations for hire, drawing on agency
policies and procedures, relevant labor laws/regulations, and relying on
written communication skills in order to insure filling vacancies with qualified
applicants on a consistent basis.
WRITING TASK STATEMENTS 37

Advise hiring supervisors on interviewing procedures, answering their

questions, drawing on agency policies and procedures, relevant labor
laws/regulations and internal management styles and preferences and
relying on verbal and interpersonal skills in order to support the supervisors
in their recruiting of qualified applicants.

The advantage of this latter approach is that it separates the behaviors

requiring data skills from those that focus on people skills. This can be
especially useful in both job and curriculum design.
A couple of points are worth noting concerning the use of more than one
action verb in a task statement. The first concerns writing task statements
that focus on action sequences as in time and motion analysis. Such tasks
can often sound like rigid mechanical procedures, with little apparent
discretion on the part of the worker. SMEs sometimes unknowingly
contribute to this formulation because it is relatively easy for them to relate
their work in terms of sequences or procedures. Where possible, task
statements that have such a microfocus on elemental action steps should
be avoided. An exception might be the physical action sequences
frequently associated with the operation of some machines, equipment, or
vehicles.
The second point is mostly a matter of writing style. It is suggested that
the follow-on actions in a task statement avoid the repetitive use of verbs
with an "-ing" ending. The overuse of such verbs can be tedious and induce
a ringing in the readers mind. Occasional use of verbs ending in "-ing" can
help the flow of the task statement.

ADDITIONAL CLUES IN SELECTING ACTION VERBS

In general, some actions should be considered to involve repetitions and

reactions without explicit statement (e.g., start/restart, align/realign,
calculate/recalculate, call/recall, visit/revisit). However, in instances
stating converse of the action (e.g., load/unload), it seems best to be explicit
as it more fully describes the action.
Verbs that also serve as adjectives present special problems. In FJA,
distinguishing between action, performance standard, and result is
important, thus the indiscriminate use of such verbs is confusing (e.g.,
"clean"). We therefore suggest that such words be consistently used in one
sense or another in a task statement.
The action sequences and procedures in jobs relating primarily to the
processing of Things are very similar. This applies particularly to machine
operations. Variety enters into Thing-oriented jobs when workers become
involved with multiple materials and functions (e.g., planning, inspection,
quality control).
38 CHAPTER 6

ACTION ENABLERS

The middle of an FJA task statement describes how an action is enabled so

the result can be achieved. Action can involve the use of specific equipment,
require particular instructions, draw on certain knowledge domains,
and/or rely on distinct skills and abilities in order for the result to be
accomplished. Although there may be a wide variety of enablers that might
be applicable to a task, only those that are primary to the achievement of
the results should be included in the task statement.
The middle component can be thought of as having three subsections.
The first section documents those factors external to the worker, such as
equipment and instructions, which are required in the performance of a
task. This section is introduced after the initial action phrase by terms such
as using...or referring to...The second section details the knowledge
required to perform the task and is introduced by the phrase drawing
on....The last section describes the skills and abilities required to perform
the task and is introduced by the phrase relying on... .An examination of any
of the task statements provided as benchmarks in this document reveals
this skeletal structure.
Sometimes this structure is implicit rather than explicit. In tasks at the
lowest levels of difficulty or complexity, the knowledge and skills are
represented largely by the instruction and by the obvious use to which
certain tools and equipment could be put. Similarly, tasks of a high worker
function level may focus on KSAs with little, if any, work aids required.
Nevertheless, the sections described serve as a conceptual outline that aids
in the construction of a comprehensive task statement.
This approach to the presentation of the benchmarks is consistent with
the manner in which the information was obtained from the SMEs. The
reader will recall that the information for the middle component was
elicited systematically in two ways. The first way followed the indication
of outputs at the start of an FJA workshop. The SMEs were asked "What
knowledge do you need to produce the outputs?" and then "What skills
and abilities do you need to apply the knowledge?" These were separately
listed and posted as a constant reminder and reference for comprehending
the underlying resources involved in the tasks.
The second way was to obtain the task information from the SMEs
according to the conceptual outline of a task statement. This conceptual
outline is used in an accommodating manner rather than imposed as a
rigid, mechanical procedure. The SMEs are guided initially to provide the
action and whatever tools, machines, and/or equipment used to affect the
action. Then the analyst will write on the flip chart drawing on to indicate
the place for the primary knowledge, instruction, and education or training
specifically relevant to the action. Following this, the analyst will write
WRITING TASK STATEMENTS 39

down relying on to indicate the place for primary skills, abilities, and
experience essential for applying the knowledge and/or carrying out the
task. Finally, toward the bottom of the flip chart, the analyst, will make a
place for the result.
Typically, the three sections concerning the action enablers prove most
useful for the more difficult and complex tasks. The effective description
of more complex action requires the clear communication of how action
enablers are involved. The skills and abilities required in tasks associated
with lower levels of the worker functions, in contrast, are usually obvious
and need not be overstated (e.g., requires literacy, common sense). Just as
the composition of a picture requires focal elements, so too does the
creation of a task statement require the proper use of action enablers. To
include too many action enablers is to overpaint a picture of the task action.
The write-up of the benchmark tasks, therefore, attempts to follow this
concept, portraying action enablers appropriate to the task.
The diversity of information that could be included in the middle
component of a task statement prevents a complete and comprehensive
discussion. Instead, some general comments are provided to assist in
writing this portion of the task statement:
• Be specific. The phrases and terms should be as precise as possible so
the meaning is clear. For example, communication skills is a bit broad
when persuasion skills is meant in a sales-oriented task statement.
• Focus on the important action enablers, the ones likely to be
involved in the performance standards of the task. A tendency to
include KSAs for the sake of completeness rather than for how
important they are to the performance of the task can easily occur.
Focusing primarily on the importance of action enablers, rather than
on their relevance, helps keep task statements shorter, more
readable, and easier to rate on FJA scales.
• Use consistent terms and structure. The phrases using..., drawing
on..., and relying on ...provide consistent terms within a natural
structure that contribute to the overall quality of task statements.
The use of alternative terms such as utilizing instead of using, and
based on instead of drawing on are a bit more ambiguous, and should
be avoided. Similarly, the three sections outlined here seem to work
best in that order. That is, the tangibles required to perform an
action, aided by a knowledge base, and facilitated by skills and
abilities seem to form a natural progression from action to result.

THE RESULTS OF AN ACTION

The last component of a task statement describes the results of an action, the
purpose or objective for which an action is engaged. This component is always
40 CHAPTER 6

introduced by the underlined phrase in order to (IOT). Writing the results of

a task statement is relatively easy, given the natural bias people have to think
about work more in terms of what gets done rather than what one does. A few
comments, however, concerning the results section should be noted.
The results of the task should correspond to the primary orientation of
the action. More specifically, the results of an action should mirror the
orientation of the action toward Things, Data, or People functions. A task
highly oriented toward People, for example, should not have a result that
is highly Things-oriented. The more the main action and results agree in
Worker Function orientation, the easier the task is to understand.
The results should be closely and clearly related to the action. The more
distant the result is from the action, the less understandable the task
becomes because the relation between the action and the result requires
additional inference. Results distal to the action can also blur the conceptual
boundary between results and organizational objectives. The results of
several tasks are usually required to achieve an organizational objective. In
fact, one way for an organization to review its operations is to check if the
results of task actions associated with an output cumulate in an
organizational objective. In the following example, the first phrase in the
results section is proximal to the action in the task, whereas the second
phrase is more distal and related to general organizational objectives.
Additional tasks are required to achieve the more distal part of the result.
Removing the second phrase in the results portion of the task statement
here creates a sharper task:

Counsel/advise clients having personal problems, drawing on knowledge of

counseling methods, theory and guidelines, and relying on interpersonal and
communication skills and ability to establish rapport in order to help client gain
insight into personal problems, and improve the quality of community living.

Alternative phrases or words may imply an IOT relation when not intended
or needed. Phrases such as so as, so as to, to, and in order that are synonyms
for IOT, and should be avoided. The use of such terms within the body of
the task statement is essentially redundant with the use of IOT, and makes
the task less understandable. As a point of style it should be mentioned that
no comma is needed before IOT because it is implied by the phrase.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

A few additional suggestions are provided here to assist in writing clear,

concise, and complete task statements.
Adverbs and adjectives imply performance standards and should be
avoided whenever possible. The use of adverbs and adjectives in a task
statement shifts the focus away from describing the tasks to that of the
WRITING TASK STATEMENTS 41

proficiency or standards required in task performance or task results. This

tendency can most easily occur in the results component of the task
statement. The first example below illustrates a task that implies several
performance standards, whereas the second task is an edited version of the
first:

Train/instruct program personnel in the proper use of a computer, using

relevant hands-on demonstration, drawing on personal knowledge and
experience with the computer system, and relying on well-developed
instructional skills in order to enable program personnel to independently
maintain financial records.

Train/instruct program personnel in the use of a computer, using hands-on

demonstration, drawing on personal knowledge and experience with the
computer system, and relying on instructional skills in order to enable
program personnel to maintain financial records.

Use parentheses sparingly. They are helpful when used to amplify an

unfamiliar term, for example, running board (the day's instructions) for bus
operators, or to illuminate a general term, for example, respond to messages
(electronic mail, fax, telephone), or to clarify jargon, for example, FMIs
(field modification instructions). However, the overuse of parentheses can
be an irritant to the smooth reading of a task statement. Although the use
of parentheses is a matter of individual judgment, each use should be
carefully scrutinized. They should be avoided if they distract more than
they inform, or if the task can be rewritten to avoid them. The terms such
as or including can often be used in place of parentheses.
The degree of discretion a worker has in performing a task is reflected
in the language used in a task statement. The phrases, as appropriate, as
necessary, and as required can reflect a degree or range of discretion,
depending on the context in which they are used.
Writing effective task statements is a skill, and like all skills it is
developed with practice. Although it is recognized that task statements can
get rather long and appear unwieldy at times, there is nevertheless an
elegant quality that is radiated from a well written task statement. An
effective task statement portrays in words a sharply focused picture of
work action.
When task statements are prepared in the manner described here,
according to FJA procedures and with the FJA scales in mind, it is then
possible to use the information with confidence for such human resource
applications as job evaluation as shown in Appendix E. The same
information can also be used effectively for job design, developing
performance standards, and designing training curricula, applications
dealt with in detail in the forthcoming book mentioned earlier.
 Chapter 7
Generating Benchmarks

THE BENCHMARKING PROCESS

The process of developing benchmarks for FJA scales consisted of two

major stages: (a) the rating of task statements from a wide variety of task
banks on all FJA scales, and (b) the selection of task statements rated in
Stage 1 to serve as illustrative task statements for each of the FJA scale
levels. The entire benchmarking process emphasized consensus, in both
ratings made and tasks selected. The use of consensus ensured a common
understanding of the FJA scales and task statements developed, and that
the benchmarks ultimately selected were thoroughly understood and
considered. It is this common understanding of the task statements, and
their relation to each of the FJA scales, that underlies the benchmarks for
FJA scales.

Rating FJA Task Statements to Serve as Benchmarks

Graduate students in industrial/organizational psychology who had

previously attended a 3-day workshop in the theory and practice of FJA
served as the raters on the FJA benchmark project. As part of the FJA
workshop, raters had participated in task rating exercises with the Things,
Data, or People function scales. Before rating task statements for the FJA
benchmark project, the trained raters engaged in an additional task-rating
exercise to become familiar with all the FJA scales and to have the
opportunity to address any possible ambiguities or concerns in their use.
FJA task banks from more than 40 jobs, mostly from the social services
area, were reviewed by the trained raters, resulting in the consensus rating
of more than 650 task statements. Pairs of trained raters were assigned to
each task bank. Each rater individually rated each task statement of a task
bank on all the FJA scales. Raters were encouraged to limit rating activity
to 2 hours or less to maintain interest and alertness in the rating process.
42
GENERATING BENCHMARKS 43

The raters then met to discuss their task ratings and to reach a consensus
rating for each task statement.

Attaining Consensus Among Raters

The consensus process for achieving reliable and consistent ratings was
explicit. In no case were raters allowed to average ratings to achieve
consensus. When there was a difference between raters in a task rating (in
the majority of cases, initial ratings were within one level of each other),
each rater was to describe the phrasing and data in the task statement that
led him or her to make the particular rating. In addition, raters were
encouraged to refer to the scale-level definitions to anchor their ratings. In
the overwhelming majority of cases, the differences in ratings were
resolved by simply listening to each other's rationale. The differential
appropriateness of their task ratings quickly emerged in discussions
between raters and in this manner raters often readily reached consensus.
When differences in ratings could not be resolved by the process just
discussed, the raters were required to examine what changes in the
wording of the task statement were required to achieve consensus. Such a
change in wording would usually reflect a salient feature of the scale
definition that had been selected. In some instances, the point of view of a
third rater was requested and reflected on before a final rating was made.
At no time was a final rating arrived at by pressure of authority or by
majority vote.

Selecting FJA Benchmarks

Once a large selection of task statements had been rated, raters were asked
to select examples of task statements that they thought best conveyed the
definition and nature of each level of the FJA scales. Three raters met to
review and nominate task statements to serve as illustrative benchmarks.
No rankings or other quantitative method was used for selecting the final
benchmarks used in the benchmark reference guide. Rather, only those task
statements that the raters agreed best conveyed the definition and intent of
each scale level were selected. When possible, benchmarks were chosen to
provide a range of illustrative tasks to represent a scale definition. In
addition, benchmarks for the Things, Data, and People function scales were
chosen whenever possible to represent tasks wherein the orientation to the
particular scale and level was considered high (65%-90%), medium
(35%-60%), or low (5%-30%) based on the performance standards that were
salient.
The goal of the task nomination process was to have between 5 and 10
task statements for each level of each FJA scale. In most cases, there were
44 CHAPTER 7

many task statements to choose from. For some scale levels, however, the
variety of task statements available was limited. In some cases, this was due
to some FJA scale levels not occurring widely in many jobs. For example,
the new People scale level Leading has not been used extensively, nor does
it seem to be a function widely represented, and examples of this scale level
are therefore hard to acquire. In other cases, the scale level simply did not
occur often in the sample of jobs rated.
The usefulness of the FJA benchmark reference guide is determined to
a great extent by how well illustrated each scale level is. To augment those
scale levels that had fewer than five benchmarks, specific task statements
were selected from a sample of jobs that appeared to represent those
desired characteristics. These individual task statements were then
submitted to the rating process previously described. For example, selected
task statements from several high-level professional jobs were rated, and
task statements that were applicable to scales not yet adequately illustrated
were considered for nomination. Through this process many of the more
difficult to find benchmarks were included in the process.
The final assembly of the benchmarks for FJA scales was made by both
authors. When making the final review, some tasks were judged to be a
poor fit with the body of tasks selected for a particular level. Because the
original raters had dispersed by this time, these tasks were either discarded
(a handful of tasks) or moved. Moving tasks was a consensus judgment of
the authors; the movement was always to an adjacent level, up or down.
For a few scales, there was still an inadequate sample of benchmark
tasks. Likely job definition sources in the Dictionary o f Occupational Titles
were resorted to and tasks formulated from them that met the criteria of
the definitional level of the scale. In this instance, the authors were
essentially acting like users of this document, in effect matching task data
to scale definitions and available benchmarks.

THE FJA BENCHMARKS: THE FINAL PRODUCT

Although there were more than 650 tasks to choose from, not all task
statements had the necessary qualities to serve as good benchmarks for FJA
scale-level definitions. Conversely, there were numerous times that a good
example for one scale might be a good example for several FJA scales. Of
the more than 450 task statements that served as the benchmarks in the
finished FJA reference guide, approximately 100 were used twice, with one
of these uses occurring in either a Things, Data, or People function scale.
This was considered an acceptable tradeoff to the insight gained from
using a task statement twice.
GENERATING BENCHMARKS 45

The consensus process used does not mean that all benchmarks are of
equal quality. The task statements used as benchmarks were written by
various job analysts, all of whom have their own styles when it comes to
writing task statements. The major difference, aside from the natural
variance in the use of words, is in the amount of detail. The use of task
statements selected from a variety of jobs, and written in different styles,
however, helps illustrate the concept underlying the definition of each scale
level. To some extent the style differences have been neutralized by editing
the tasks to conform to the basic structure of task statements.

Using the FJA Benchmarks

The final product of this comprehensive process is found in the indexed

section for each FJA scale. The user can easily flip to the FJA scale desired
and consult the level that is felt to be appropriate for the task statement
under consideration. The definition of each scale level is provided on the
left-hand page, along with additional comments and helpful hints, where
applicable, for effectively using that particular scale level. The page on the
right contains the selected benchmark task statements that illustrate each
scale-level definition. For some scale-level definitions there are several
associated illustrative tasks, requiring the use of more than one page of
example tasks. Users can consult the example tasks given to see if the task
being rated is similar in nature to the examples provided. Users should not
be surprised to find their tasks similar to those under consideration because
the language available to describe worker behavior, as represented by the
action verb in a task statement, is extremely limited.
The authors' practice in arriving at a decison about the scale level of a
particular task is to verify the decision, once it is made, by comparing it
with the tasks in the scale level below and above the level decided on. This
is good practice in using ordinal scales because, as pointed out earlier, scale
levels blend into one another.

Adding Local Data

This document and the available computer disk are designed to be

user-friendly and cumulatively useful. Users are encouraged to append
comments and considerations related to their use of the definition of scale
levels directly in the book. They can also add their comments and task
examples to the information on the computer disk. This will, of course,
make the benchmarks more particular to their experience and more
relevant to their needs. Over time, they will be able to track their ratings
for consistency and have available documentation of their thinking relative
46 CHAPTER 7

to the rating process. It is the authors' hope that users will communicate
their experiences, including questions, concerns, and practical decisions, so
we can improve the benchmark information in future editions of this
document.
Chapter 8 contains the selected benchmarks for each of the scales in the
following order: Things, Data, People, Worker Instructions, Reasoning,
Math, Language. Each of the scales has a brief introduction. The scale-level
definition precedes the benchmarks for that definition. Wherever the
authors' accumulated experience in formulating and rating tasks was
thought to be helpful, that information is associated with the level
definition as Comments and Helpful Hints. Where none appears it simply
means that the scales and the rating procedure were sufficient to make
reliable ratings.
 Chapter 8
The Benchmark Tasks
for the Seven Scales

TASK DEFINITION SOURCES FOR BENCHMARK TASKS BY

CODE AND TITLE

ARP Academic Research Psychologist

ACT Accountant
APS Accounts Payable Specialist/Technician
ANI Antenna Installer
ADD Auto Design Detailer
BHO Backhoe Operator
BUO Bulldozer Operator
CTD Center Director
CAT Chief Accountant
CPM Clothes Pin Machine Operator
CRS Community Relations Specialist
CTR Controller
COP Counseling Psychologist
CRO Crane Operator
DBA Database Administrator
EXD Executive Director
EXM Executive Manager
FAM Family Advocate
FCA Food Counter Attendant, Meat Market
FRM Framemaker
GED GED Teacher
GRA Grader Operator
GRM Grinding Machine Operator
HSA Head Start Administrator
HSN Head Start Nutritionist

47
48 CHAPTER 8

HST Head Start Teacher/Assistant

HSV Head Start Van Driver
HOT Home Security Technician
HFC Human Factors Specialist—Consumer Products
HFI Human Factors Specialist—Information Display
ILL Illustrator
IOP Industrial/Organizational Psychologist
IRS Information and Referral Specialist
INW Insulation Worker
JAN Janitor
JNP Janitor, Nuclear Plant
LYR Lawyer
LAT Lathe Operator, Metal
MAT Mathematical Technician
MIN Minister/Clergyman
MMO Manufacturing Machine Operator
NUR Nurse
PSS Payroll Supervisor Specialist
PSU Personnel Supervisor
PHT Physical Therapist
PIP Pipefitter
PSC Planning Supervisor—Commodities
PSR Policy Service Representative
PPR Power Press Operator
PRA Program Analyst
PIS Public Information Specialist
PPO Punch Press Operator
PUA Purchasing Agent
SHM Shaping Machine Tender
SID Siding Installer
SFM Slip Form Machine Operator
SWF Social Worker/Family Specialist
STW Street Worker
SAC Supervisor—AODA Counselling
SUR Surveyor Assistant
SWB Switchboard, Office Supply, Mail and Files Personnel
SYA Systems Administrator
TLD Team Leader
TRS Training Specialist
TBE Benchmarks in 1971 edition of Scales
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 49

THINGS FUNCTIONS SCALE

Working with Things literally means the physical interaction with

tangibles, including taken-for-granted items such as desktop equipment
(pencils, paper clips, telephone, handstamps, etc.). blackboards and chalk,
and cars. Physical involvement with tangibles such as desktop equipment,
and so on, may not seem very important in tasks primarily concerned with
Data or People, but their importance is quickly apparent when handicap
or ineptness occurs. An involvement with Things can be manifested in
requirements for neatness, arrangements, and/or security of the
workplace. Workers who make decisions or take actions concerning the
disposition of Things (tools, materials, or machines) are considered to be
working mainly with Data, although they physically handle Things (e.g.,
records, telephone, and catalogs).
The Things Functions scale includes: physical interaction with and
response to tangibles—touched, felt, observed, and related to in space;
images visualized spatially.
The arabic number assigned to definitions represents the successive
levels of this ordinal scale. The A, B, C, and D definitions are variations on
the same level.
50 CHAPTER 8

Things Benchmarks

Level 1A: Handling

Definition. Works (cuts, shapes, assembles, etc.) digs, moves, or

carries objects or materials where objects, materials, tools, and so on, are
one or few in number and are the primary involvement of the worker.
Precision requirements are relatively gross. Includes the use of dollies,
handtrucks, and the like; writing tools, telephones, and other desktop
equipment; and the casual or optional use of tools and other tangibles.

Comments. This is the basic tool-using function. This function is an

obvious one for simple tool-handling tasks. In addition, it will frequently
be used for tasks that are predominately Data- and People-oriented and
have no significant involvement with tools or where tools (e.g., pencils,
telephones, staplers, erasers) are incidentally and casually used and for
which performance standards are not paramount. It is rated because the
physical involvement is nevertheless there as part of the total involvement
of the worker in the work getting done.
Please note that for low functional levels of the Things scale explicit
reference to knowledge and skills is not always made as they can be readily
inferred from the tasks. Explicit statement of knowledge and skills in this
instance would be more of a hindrance than an aid to understanding the
work performed.

Helpful Hints. First, the words clean and polish are difficult in verb form
because they can embrace several meanings; for example, action verbs,
performance standards, and results. Because in FJA distinguishing
between action (behavior), performance standard, and result is important
for clarity, the indiscriminate use of such words can be confusing.
Therefore, we propose that these words be used in one sense or another
consistently in a task statement.
Second, when using verbs that are closely associated or identical with
tools used, it is redundant to refer to them explicitly. For example, it is not
necessary to specify "using a mop" when the action is "mops floor."
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 51

Level 1A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Mop floor, immersing mop into bucket of polishing

solution, removing excess with bucket squeegie, and using side to side
overlapping strokes over entire floor, repeating the process after the floor
has dried, following SOP in order to polish the floor. (JAN)

Medium (35%-60%). Pick up newspapers at newsstand and mail at

U.S. Postal Station in building, carry or drag (if very heavy) to mailroom,
relying on physical strength and following SOP in order to have mail
available for sorting and papers ready for delivery to persons designated.
(SWB)
Seal funds of Crisis Center clients in an envelope while they are in the
Crisis Center, place it in a locked box in a locked file, following SOP in order
to provide safe-keeping service for client's money and food stamps. (FAM)

Low (5%-30%). Train selected volunteers and/or work placements

one-on-one on the job, informing them of funding sources, documented
policies, practices, and procedures; demonstrating phone system operation
and telephone etiquette; and showing how to use resource files and
complete forms, drawing on experience and knowledge of the project and
relying on interpersonal skill in order to break in the new people and
provide them with the information needed to perform their job. (IRS)
(See page 72 for additional Handling tasks)
52 CHAPTER 8

Things Level IB: Feeding-Offbearing

Definition. Inserts, throws, dumps, or places materials into, or

removes them from, machines, equipment, or measuring devices that are
automatic or tended/operated by other workers. Precision requirements
are built in, largely out of control of worker.

Comments. This is the simplest of the machine functions and is often

an entry job to more involved machine functions. As technology has
become computerized, this function has been integrated with more
complicated functions.
Minor levels of feeding-offbearing are included in higher machine
functions such as tending, operating, and setting up. Therefore, there are
no examples of medium- or low-orientation feeding-offbearing tasks.

Helpful Hints. The distinctions between Handling and Feeding-

Offbearing can occasionally be quite marginal—both involve relatively
simple handling. In the case of Handling, tools are usually used to process
materials. In the case of Feeding-Offbearing, materials are typically fed into
machines. There will be borderline situations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 53

Level IB: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Remove hospital laundry from dryer at end of

drying cycle and place in laundry bag, following SOP in order to ready
laundry for pressing room pickup. (TBE)
Load/place paper into feeding rack of duplicating machine, drawing on
awareness of safety guidelines, following SOP in order to prepare machine
for operation. (TBE)
Load/place dirty dishes, pots, pans, and other cooking and eating
utensils into automatic dishwasher, following SOP in order to prepare
machine for wash cycle. (TBE)
Place meat or fish on electronic weigh scale, drawing on knowledge of
health guidelines for the handling of food, following SOP in order to weigh
product and obtain weight/price label. (FCA)
Feed wooden clothespin blanks into machine that picks up, saws, and
flares end of block, removing defective stock as necessary, drawing on
knowledge of safe work procedures and following SOP in order to make
parts for clothespins. (CPM)

Medium (35%-60%).

Low (5%-30%).
54 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 2A: Machine Tending I—Material

Products and Processing

Definition. Starts, stops, and monitors the functioning of machines

and equipment set up by other workers where the precision of output
depends on keeping one to several controls in adjustment in response to
automatic signals according to specifications. Includes all machine
situations where there is no significant setup or change of setup, where
cycles are very short, alternatives to nonstandard performance are few, and
adjustments are highly prescribed.

Helpful Hints. There are few synonyms for Tending. The analyst needs
to expect, in many instances, to use tend as the operative verb in describing
what the worker does.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 55

Level 2A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Check condensate pump and water glass on water

column several times daily, listen for unusual noise indicating a problem,
drawing on knowledge of and experience with boiler system in order to
ensure boiler is operating properly. (JAN)
Remove/unlock part of stamp machine when the setting for specified
amounts of money is low, bringing part to Post Office for resetting and
returning it to machine in order to have adequate stamping resources. (SWB)
Remove laundry from washing machines at end of cycle for placement
in dryer, remove accumulated lint from collecting screen in dryer, set time
and temperature appropriate to laundry being dried, following SOP in
order to dry laundry. (JNP)
Check boiler water level daily, adding water if low according to
specifications in order to insure boiler is operating properly. (JAN)

Medium (35%-60%). Tape interview, adjust tone and volume

controls as necessary, stop recording, and label tapes at completion of
session in order to record client interview. (TBE)

Low (5%-30%).
56 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 2B: Machine Tending //—Data

Processing and Duplication

Definition. Starts, stops, and monitors the functioning of machines

and equipment that are preprogramed to perform the basic functions
involved in data processing, document copying, and printing.
Machines/equipment are activated at keyboard terminals or touch-control
panels and can accomplish special effects for particular activities through
the input of special codes. Nonproductive use of calculators, typewriters,
and similar office equipment is included here.

Helpful Hints. Sometimes a borderline decision relative to two

adjacent functions is influenced by the amount of judgment involved in the
task. Tasks that require more involved judgment will tip the decision in
favor of a higher level function. This will also be reflected in the Instructions
rating of the tasks.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 57

Level 2B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Tend copier machine; place material on screen; add

paper if necessary; rotate dials and/or press buttons for number of copies,
collation, and/or reduction functions; check quality of copy; and pick up
copies from bin, following SOP in order to produce duplicated materials.
(SWB)
Tend a folding machine that folds flyers and similar material for
insertion into mailers and adjusts machine as necessary, following SOP in
order to produce large quantities of inserts for distribution. (SWB)
Oversee the production of mailing labels for different departments,
filling in for absent operators if necessary; monitor the operation of
computers; and check that printer is loaded with the proper material,
following SOP in order to produce requested mailing labels. (SVA)

Medium (35%-60%). Put the mail through the stamp machine after
setting the machine for the appropriate stamp price, weighing letters that
seem to call for more than the basic rate, following SOP in order to mail out
items. (SWB)
Key into computer on monthly basis the amounts of office supplies used
during the month, recording information on special disk containing office
supply inventory data, following SOP in order to have an up-to-date
inventory and source for what needs to be ordered. (SWB)

Low (5%-30%). Write checks manually, enter into computer data

relating to in-house payments that are circumstantial (e.g., travel advances)
or that have not been generated by the normal routine, first checking by
phone whether "emergency" is real and manual issuance is necessary,
relying on experience in order to issue checks for emergency and normal
operations. (APS)
58 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 3A: Manipulating

Definition. Works (cuts, shapes, assembles, etc.), digs, moves, guides,

or places objects or materials where objects, tools, controls, and so on, are
several in number. Precision requirements range from gross to fine.
Includes waiting on tables and the use of ordinary portable power tools
with interchangeable parts and ordinary tools around the home such as
kitchen and garden tools used for food preparation, installation, and minor
repairs.

Comments. There are some cases in which a miscellany of simple

actions can be grouped under a single collective task. For tasks that involve
service and maintenance (e.g., handyman, secretarial, janitorial), it is
possible to break out each action as a separate task, but such a degree of
description needs to be balanced against the practical purpose for which
the analysis is conducted. This judgment is similar to the admonition that
time and motion type of analyses should be avoided.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 59

Level 3A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Arrange office furniture such as desks, tables, and

chairs; hang bulletin boards; paint walls as requested, relying on lifting
ability and cooperativeness in order to have offices set up and ready for use.
(HVD)
Drill/dig out holes for lock, throw, and strike plate, on both door and
jamb, using portable power drill, drilling jig, and hand tools such as chisel
and hammer, following SOP in order to prepare for lock assembly. (HST)
Install 14" plywood panels over window or door areas where glass has
been broken, observe condition of wood, cut to size with 1" overlap
completely around space being covered, and fasten with screws, using
electric screw shooter and hand tools, following SOP in order to prevent
breaking of glass and unlocking doors and windows from inside. (HST)
Clean/adjust and carry out specified preventative maintenance of
computer hardware, using cleaning fluid and cans of compressed air to
blow out dust accumulations, drawing on knowledge of computer
equipment and understanding of maintenance requirements in order to
maintain the equipment in working order. (SYA)
Service center van: check oil, transmission fluid, and air in tires, clean
inside and outside of vehicle; and keep mileage records, following SOP in
order to insure van is in operating condition. (HVD)

Medium (35%-60%). Inventory classroom supplies and materials,

using special inventory forms; order new materials as needed for upcoming
semester; clean materials before packing, label major equipment and
furniture; and store materials over school breaks, following SOP in order to
have materials and supplies available for following school year. (HST)

Low (5%-30%). Package/box requisitioned supplies, with assistance

of youth worker, selecting items from shelves as called for, relying on
attention to detail, and following SOP in order to deliver supplies requested.
(SWB)
(See page 72 for additional Manipulating tasks)
60 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 3B: Operating-Controlling I

Definition. Starts, stops, controls, and adjusts a machine or equipment

designed to fabricate and/or process things, data, or people. The worker
may be involved in activating the machine, as in word processing or
turning wood, or the involvement may occur primarily at startup and stop
as with a semi-automatic machine. Operating a machine involves readying
and adjusting the machine and/or material as work progresses.
Controlling equipment involves monitoring gauges, dials, and so on, and
turning valves and other devices to control such items as temperature,
pressure, flow of liquids, speed of pumps, and reaction of materials. (This
rating is applied only to operators of one machine or one unit of equipment)

Comments. Jobs rated for this function will often involve enough
Data for them be rated almost as high for Data as for Things. As a result,
there will not be many examples of Operating-Controlling benchmarks
with a high orientation rating. The same will be true for Set-up.
The same phenomenon will be observed in the People scale. As the
functions ascend the scale they involve more and more Data.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 61

Level 3B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65-90%).

Medium(35%-60%). Operate/check agency computer system each

day, keying in codes to access specific screens that display disk capacity,
memory usage, printer usage, and security violations, drawing on
knowledge of computer system and relying on keyboard skills in order to
check for violations or signs of usage danger (e.g., approach to
overcapacity). (SYA)
Generate a computer printout of accounts payable for all accounts, check
with Accounts Payable Clerk as to why certain items are still on the list,
and contact relevant program individuals for clearance as appropriate,
drawing on knowledge of agency accounting system and following SOP in
order to reconcile accounts payable. (ACT)
Oversee the production of computer copies of payroll, accounts payable,
and purchase orders on a weekly and bi-weekly basis, libraries (directories)
on a daily basis, and entire system on a weekly basis, using both reels and
disks and assisting in computer operation as necessary, drawing on
knowledge of agency accounting system and relying on computer skills,
following SOP in order to produce back up copies of vital data. (SYA)
Turn/open gate valves on boiler to release water, sediments, and steam
at water column at front of boiler daily for 3 seconds and at back of boiler
3 times weekly for 10 seconds, drawing on knowledge and experience with
boiler system and relying on attention to detail following SOP in order to
clear out sediments from boiler. (JAN)
Position/adjust dies in power press, using wrench, clamping sheet of
material onto machine bed; turn on power and depress pedal that forces
cutting die through sheet, drawing on knowledge of machine and job
orders and relying on attention to detail in order to obtain article of specified
size and shape. (PPR)

Low (5%-30%).
62 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 3C: Driving—Controlling

Definition. Starts, stops, and controls (steers, guides) the actions of

machines in two-dimensional space for which a course must be followed
to move things or people. Actions regulating controls require continuous
attention and readiness of response to surface traffic conditions.

Comments. Safety is particularly vital to this function because others

beside the operator or driver can be endangered. Safety rules and
regulations are intertwined throughout the knowledge and abilities
associated with this function.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 63

Level 3C: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Drive van to work site in sequence determined by

supervisor on basis of convenience to clients, drawing on experience as
vehicle operator and knowledge of city traffic patterns in order to reach
destination on schedule. (HST)
Drive van to stores (hardware, grocery) loading pre-ordered supplies
(e.g., cakes, helium tanks) into van in order to deliver supplies to appropriate
site when needed. (HVD)
Drive small battery-operated delivery van through hallways and
between buildings of a hospital, stopping at designated locations, drawing
on knowledge of safe van-operating guidelines in order to pick up and load
containers of dirty laundry into van for delivery to washing room. (TBE)
Drive bus along prescribed route, stopping at designated addresses at
scheduled times, calling on clients, and assisting them to the bus if
necessary in order to bring clients to center for treatment. (TBE)

Medium (35%-60%). Drive automatic shift van between the

Community Center and the Family Crisis Shelter; wait for staff and parents
to bring the children to the van, going into the center to inform receptionist
that the Head Start Van has arrived for pick-up as necessary; assist the
children into the van; buckle their seat belts; lock the doors, check off names
on attendance sheet, adding names and starting dates of new students as
appropriate, following SOP in order to safely transport children to the Head
Start site from the Family Crisis Center. (HVD)

Low (5%-30%). Seek out/contact particular gang or individuals who

have been reported as making trouble or on the verge of trouble, while
cruising neighbourhood by car or on foot in order to explore with them the
opportunities for diversion. (STW)
64 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 3D: Starting Up

Definition. Prepares/readies powered mobile equipment for operation,

typically following standard procedures. Manipulates controls to start up
engines, allows for warm-up and pressure build-up as necessary, checks
mobility where movement is involved and working parts such as brakes,
and gauges indicating serviceability (fuel, pressure, temperature, battery
output, etc.), and visually checks for leaks and other unusual conditions.
Includes reverse shut-down procedures.

Comments. Start-up procedures tend to be standardized routines

that are basically the same regardless of equipment used.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 65

Level 3D: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Start and warm up dozer upon receipt of work

order, test raising and lowering of blade, check gauges, followed by final
visual check of entire machine for fluid leaks or damaged or worn parts,
drawing on experience and following SOP in order to have equipment ready
to begin work. (BUO)
Prepare/adjust assembly machine, aligning parts, guides, and actuators;
adjusting air pressure and sensors as required; drawing on knowledge of
assembly process, machine operation, maintenance and set-up procedures,
safety procedures and guidelines; and relying on mechanical and
problem-solving ability, discretion, and attention to detail in order to have
assembly machine ready for production. (MFM)
Start and warm up grader upon receipt of work order, placing controls
in neutral; apply parking brake; move throttle to V* speed; check gauges;
test controls; and conduct final equipment check, drawing on experience
and following SOP in order to have equipment ready for work. (GRA)
Start and warm up backhoe upon assignment in accordance with
manufacturer's specifications, check gauges and tests controls as necessary,
followed by a final visual check of entire machine for problems that have
developed since start up, drawing on experience in order to ensure that
equipment is ready for operation. (BHO)

Medium (35%-60%).

Low (5%-30%).
66 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 4A: Precision Working

Definition. Works, moves, guides, or places objects or materials

according to standard practical procedures where the number of objects,
materials, tools, and so on, embraces an entire craft and accuracy expected
is within final finished tolerances established for the craft. (Use this rating
where work primarily involves manual or power hand tools.)

Comments. Tasks at the Precision Working level typically require an

orientation to Data almost or equal to the Things orientation.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 67

Level 4A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Cut/mitre framing material in mitre jig, using

either manual or powered saw, drawing on specifications of work order,
knowledge of angle required for cut, characteristics of assorted framing
materials (e.g., hardwood, plastic, metal) and relying on ability to use hand
and power tools, patience, and attention to detail in order to ready materials
for frame assembly. (FRM)

Medium (35%-60%). Manipulate/arrange broken bones in damaged

limb, applying splints and wrappings; drawing on medical knowledge,
training, and experience; and relying on interpersonal and kinesthetic skill
in order to set bones in natural position for healing. (TBE)
Draft full-size or scale detail drawings of either autobody or chassis parts
and assemblies, using drafting instruments and work aids; drawing on
specifications, master drawings, layouts, models, prototypes, sketches
and/or verbal instructions, methods of manufacture; and relying on spatial
relations and drawing skills and attention to detail in order to prepare
drawings for engineering and manufacturing purposes. (ADD)
Draw/paint commercial illustrations, using assorted paints, brushes,
media materials, lettering devices, drawing on layouts, sketches of
proposed illustrations, and related materials and relying on personal
aesthetics, styles, and techniques in order to produce illustrations for use by
various media to explain or adorn printed or spoken word. (ILL)

Low (5%-30%). Test water from boiler system for temporary

hardness, permanent hardness, total hardness, pH-Hydrogen Ion, Sulfite
M6-L, "p", alkalinity, chlorides, condensate, and total dissolved solids,
using chemistry set, treating boiler with chemicals to bring solvent levels
up to specifications, drawing on knowledge of chemistry involved and
boiler system, and relying on attention to detail in order to maintain water
solvent levels. QAN)
68 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 4B: Setting Up

Definition. Installs machines or equipment; inserts tools; alters jigs,

fixtures, and attachments and/or repairs machines or equipment to ready
and/or restore them to their proper functioning according to job order or
blueprint specifications. Involves primary responsibility for accuracy. May
involve one or a number of machines for other workers or worker's own
operations.

Comments. There is a wide range of job-worker situations in

industry in regard to Operating-Controlling and Setting Up machines. This
range relates to the level of difficulty and consequent need for training and
experience. On the most complex level is the need to set up multiple
machines that are similar or of varying type. This fulfills the definition for
Setting Up. At a simpler level are the job-worker situations where workers
set up and operate one machine. This meets the definition for
Operating-Controlling. On a still simpler level are machine-tending,
job-worker situations where workers tend the machines readied by those
rated for setting up. Within each of these three categorized levels there is
also a range of difficulty that does not lend itself to reliable discrimination.
Most setting-up tasks involve an equally high involvement with data.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 69

Level 4B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Install new PC equipment at remote sites, using

basic tools as needed; connecting network server, monitor keyboard,
modems, printer, and surge protector; and introducing related software,
sometimes setting up a separate directory for a major application, checking
out the installation on a test case to see if it works, drawing on experience
and knowledge of computer operations, and relying on attention to detail
in order to provide client with necessary data processing equipment. (SYA)

Medium (35%-60%). Design a computer program from scratch (e.g.,

food service program), where the existing data are not well organized in
manual files; write a program that processes the data as requested; test the
program on a sample problem; review results with end user and modify as
necessary, drawing on programming experience and knowledge of content
area communicated by department SMEs, relying on analytical skill and
persistence in order to produce a program that meets the needs of the end
user. (SYA)
Adjust/install dies in punch presses, using wrench and press gauge to
adjust guide stops as required, drawing on knowledge of punch press
operation, maintenance and adjustment procedures, plant safety
requirements, production tolerances, and statistical process control (SPC)
targets and relying on individual discretion in order to have machine set up
for production of parts within quality tolerance standards. (PPO)

Low (5%-30%). Oversee installation of mainframe computer system

units, deciding on and supervising the positioning of units by other
personnel, and making trial computer runs to sort out start-up problems
with reference to blueprints and layout specifications, drawing on personal
experience in order to ensure operation of new computer center. (TBE)
(See pages 72-73for additional Setting Up tasks)
70 CHAPTER 8

Things Level 4C: Operating—Controlling II

Definition. Starts, stops, controls, and continuously modifies set-up of

equipment designed to hoist and move materials or transport persons
and/or materials in multidimensional space; includes the operation of
heavy equipment to reshape and/or pave the earth's surface. Manipulation
of controls requires continuous attention to changing conditions and
readiness of response to activate the equipment in lateral, vertical, and/or
angular operations.

Comments. Tasks at the Operating-Controlling II level typically

involve the continuous processing of information based on experience, as
much as on physical handling of control devices. The analyst should be
careful not to overrate the percentage orientation to Things.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 71

Level 4C: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).

Medium (35%-60%). Operate a backhoe, manipulating controls to

move forward/back, turn/swing, boom up/down, telescope and move
bucket; monitor the performance of the equipment and adapt to changing
work conditions; alert to presence and safety of other workers/equipment,
following work orders, specifications, stakes, hand signals, laser beam, or
string line; drawing on personal knowledge of and experience with various
makes/models of backhoe, job situations, and work requirements and
relying on personal judgment in order to carry out precision excavation,
place riprap, or pipe. (BHO)
Operate a crane, manipulating controls to travel forward/backward,
swing, boom up/down, telescope in/out (if hydraulic), or trolley in/out
(if lower type); monitor the performance of the equipment and adapt to
changing work conditions; alert to presence and safety of people and
equipment, following work orders and/or hand/radio signals; drawing on
knowledge of proper crane operation, safety requirements, and experience
with specific make and type of crane and relying on own judgment in
determining maneuvers appropriate to load, size, and weight in order to
hoist material, erect steel, or pour concrete. (CRO)
Operate a crane with a clamshell attachment, manipulating controls to
travel forward/backward, swing, boom up/down, raise, lower, and
open/close bucket; monitor equipment performance and adapt to
changing work conditions; alert to the presence and safety of people and
equipment, drawing on knowledge of and experience with equipment and
type of work in order to stack or pile earth, brush, or trees. (CRO)

Low (5%-30%).
(See page 73 for additional Operating—Controlling II tasks)
72 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Things Functions

Level 1A: Handling

High. Vacuum/mop carpeted areas and floors, using vacuum cleaner

and w et/dry mop, wiping desks, tables, counters, blackboards, front door
windows, and walls as needed, and emptying waste baskets and ash trays
into trash containers, following SOP in order to clean rooms in building on
a daily basis. (JAN)

Load/unload donations (mattresses, clothes) from trucks, vans, or cars,

carrying them to designated areas such as clients' homes, crisis centers, and
homeless housing programs, drawing on knowledge of safe lifting
procedures and relying on physical strength, following SOP in order to
deliver donations to appropriate place. (JAN)

Remove basket strainers from accumulator tank on a weekly basis, dump

strained solids into barrel, and then brush, clean, and rinse strainer, relying on
experience and following SOP in order to clean baskets. (JNP)

Arrange/place office supplies in designated places in storage cabinet,

relying on attention to detail and following SOP in order to make supplies
available to staff. (SWB)

Low. Visit employers, referring to newspaper want ads and cold

phone calls and posting located job openings, drawing on reading, verbal,
and interpersonal skills, as well as personal initiative in order to open up job
and training opportunities for unemployed youth and youth at risk. (STW)

Level 3A: Manipulating

High. Oversee/supervise children in walking down stairs, holding

onto rails, getting to gym or outside play yard, engaging them in structured
(walking balance beam, tumbling, bouncing and catching ball) and
free-choice (run, ride bikes, play basketball, climbing) physical activities,
drawing on knowledge of gross motor skills and their role in childhood
growth in order to promote gross motor development and cooperative play.
(HST)

Prepare/decorate classroom setting with colored construction paper,

picture cutouts, corrugated paper, thematic materials relating to learning
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 73

areas specified in federal guidelines (e.g., nutrition, science, health,

emergency procedures, music, multiculture), bulletin boards (library,
parent news), and learning materials, drawing on federal guidelines and
aesthetic interests and relying on personal initiative and decorative ability
in order to design a colorful, stimulating, well-balanced environment.
(HDT)

Level 4B: Setting Up

Medium. Repair/recondition control valves, using hand tools and

appropriate solvents, cleaning valve parts of all residue, and replacing
gaskets/seals and parts as necessary, drawing on knowledge of valve types
and operation, manufacturers' specifications, and dismantle/assembly
procedures and relying on mechanical aptitude, problem-solving ability,
and attention to detail in order to prepare valves for pressure testing and
return to operation. (PIP)

Adjust/align grinding wheel of automated parts grinder, moving

spindle assembly as necessary to obtain proper tracking, dressing grind
stone with diamond wheel for fit to grind template, drawing on knowledge
of grinder operation and adjustment procedures, safety procedures and
regulations, parts specifications, and experience of self and coworkers and
relying on attention to detail and individual discretion in order to return
grinding machine to specifications for production of quality parts. (GRM)

Set up an experimental situation (laboratory or field), using existing

supplies and modifying them as necessary, requisitioning equipment
needed to simulate a computer display, collecting the performance
measures with or without the aid of technicians, drawing on technical
knowledge of the equipment and the particular type of display being
researched, and relying on management skills in order to have an
experimental situation that allows for an assessment of the various options
being explored. (HFI)

Level 4 C Operating: Controlling II

Medium. Operate bulldozer, manipulating controls to crawl

forward/back, raise/lower/tilt/angle blade; monitor the performance of
equipment and adapt to changing work conditions; alert to the presence
and safety of other workers/equipment, following work orders, grade,
stakes or other work specifications; drawing on personal knowledge,
experience, and own assessment of best method to get the job done in order
74 CHAPTER 8

to carry out critical, hazardous work such as clearing, pioneering,

demolition, winching, or finish work such as ditching, sloping, or
building/cutting trenches. (DUO)

Operate grader, manipulating controls to travel forward/back, turn,

raise/lower blade, position wheels and blade at correct angles; monitor the
performance of the equipment and adapt to changing work conditions;
alert to presence and safety of other workers/equipment, following work
orders, grade stakes or other work specifications; drawing on knowledge
and experience in order to blend materials, spread, and do rough crowning,
ditching, grading, and road shoulder maintenance (GRA)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 75

DATA FUNCTIONS SCALE

Data should be understood to mean information, ideas, facts, and statistics.

Involvement with Data is inherent in the simplest job instruction in the
form of recognizing the relationship of a tool to its function or the
significance of a pointing instruction. Data are always present in a task,
even though the major emphasis of the task might be dealing with Things
and/or People. Where Things are primarily involved, Data tend to show
up as specifications. Where People are primarily involved, Data tend to
show up as information about objective events or conditions, information
about feelings, or ideas that could be tinged with objective information
and/or feeling. The Data Scale measures the degree to which workers
might be expected to become involved with Data in the tasks they are asked
to perform, from simple recognition through degrees of arranging,
executing, and modifying to reconceptualizing Data.
The data functions in work and learning are the same, but there is an
important difference. In work situations the functions tend to be
demarcated and allocated to specific assignments reflecting organization
structure and production flow. In the learning situation, functions know
no bounds. Every new learning can be a challenge involving aspects of
creativity (synthesizing) and, hence, all subsidiary functions in the Data
scale—either slowly or quickly. Thus, the Data scale basically reflects the
cognitive development that occurs in human learning.
Data are information, ideas, facts, statistics, specification of output,
knowledge of conditions, techniques, and mental operations.
The arabic number assigned to definitions represents the successive
levels of this ordinal scale. The A, B, C, and D definitions are variations on
the same level.
76 CHAPTER 8

Data Benchmarks

Level 1: Comparing

Definition. Selects, sorts, or arranges data, people, or things, judging

whether their readily observable functional, structural, or compositional
characteristics are similar to or different from prescribed standards.
Examples: checks oil level, tire pressure, worn cables; observes and
responds to hand signal of worker indicating movement of load; sizes,
sorts, and culls tangibles being conveyed to workers; compares lists of
names and numbers for similarity.

Comments. In FJA, the Things, Data, and People functions are

conceived as emerging from the two basic, across-the-board functions,
Observing and Learning. Comparing emerges as the initial Data function
from this base. It is closely associated with the cognitive process of
establishing identities and naming things, perceiving similarities and
differences. When the similarities and differences pertain to names and
numbers it is called clerical perception; when it pertains to tangibles/things
it is called form perception; when it pertains to mechanical devices it is called
spatial perception. All other Data functions build on this foundation.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 77

Level I: llustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Match/compare routine and blanket invoices/bills

with receiving reports and purchase orders (e.g., fuel for vehicles,
hardware), following SOP in order to insure that payment is made in
agreement with vendor invoices and/or statements. (APS)
Check computer printout of purchase requisition against original
information, following SOP in order to insure that information entered into
computer is as originally approved and to initiate purchase order. (PUA)
Retrieve purchase orders produced by Data Department, sorts for
amount, giving special attention to orders that require dual signatures,
following SOP in order to sign off on purchase orders. (PUA)
Check time cards for completeness and for approvals of overtime by
executive director, relying on attention to detail and following SOP in order
to insure that they are signed by both employee and supervisor. (PSS)
Review/scan a computer printout of payroll hours entries for details
such as no more than 80 hours per person per pay period, correctness of
account numbers assigned for time worked, and improper rates of pay,
drawing on experience with and knowledge of agency payroll
classifications and program allocations and relying on sense of how the
printout should look in order to insure that payroll is correct and to identify
items requiring further analysis. (CAT)

Medium (35%-60%). Collate selected documents by hand that

cannot be handled by machine, following specifications and relying on
manual skills in order to produce an assembled product. (SWB)
Sort mail into mail boxes, reading the names off envelopes, speeding the
sort by recognition of the types of envelopes (i.e., bills, bank statements,
announcements), separating out mail that needs to be returned to postal
station because of wrong address in order to have mail ready for pick up by
addressees. (SWB)
Check tires, turn on headlights, signals, wipers, and warning lights
daily, drawing on knowledge of vehicle operation in order to make sure van
is in safe working condition. (HVD)

Low (5%-30%). Review/scan room set-up with reference to the day's

lesson plan for furniture arrangement, materials, and supplies, removing
chairs from tables and wiping tables down in order to insure that equipment
and materials are available for day's planned activities. (HST)
78 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 2: Copying

Definition. Transcribes, enters, and/or posts data, following a schema

or plan to assemble or make things, using a variety of work aids. Transfers
information mentally from plans, diagrams, instructions to work piece or
work site. Examples: attends to stakes showing a grade line to be followed
while operating equipment.

Comments. Copying can be either mental, physical, or interpersonal

as in mimicking. However, it starts as a mental perception and depends on
the aptitude for matching names and numbers (clerical perception) for
much of its effectiveness.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 79

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Log/note on form provided data relating to long

distance calls (e.g., caller, party called, number), following SOP in order to
insure that calls will be charged to appropriate budget. (SWB)
Complete a receiving report when requisitioned material arrives, note
requested information such as quantity and condition, attach report to
invoice, and forward it to accounts payable, following SOP in order to have
supplies/materials paid for. (SWB)
Note reservations and changes on yearly calendar regarding availability
of conference rooms, drawing on changes called in by manager of
administration and staff and relying on attention to detail, following SOP
in order to inform people of changes in meeting time and place. (SWB)
Add/remove names on committee membership files when informed by
supervisor, relying on attention to detail in order to keep files current and
to insure proper distribution of files to committee. (SWB)

Medium (35%-60%). Assign a serial number for new vendors when

informed of their selection by a program area, keying number,
identification, and conditions of payment into computer, following SOP in
order to facilitate payments. (APS)
Post accounting transactions into accounting system daily, drawing on
knowledge of agency system, computer software, and relying on attention
to detail in order to update system and keep information current. (CAT)
Key the data obtained on medical social work and diagnostic medical
screening interview forms into computer, copying the data according to an
established program in order to establish a central data bank for clients.
(SWF)

Low (5%-30%). Install metal burglar bars, conduit (telescoped 3A" to

1" pipe), or angle aluminum on windows to meet different situations (e.g.,
burglar bars on first floor windows or windows that are nailed down),
drilling holes according to template and driving screws to secure bars or
using rivet in case of conduit, drawing on work order specifications and
experience and following SOP in order to burglar proof the residence. (HST)
Clear paper jam in copying machine following specified procedure built
into machine, adding toner, staple wire, and paper when called for, and
cleaning the feeder with cotton dipped in alcohol in order to return machine
to running order. (SWB)
(See page 92 for additional Copying tasks)
80 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 3A: Computing

Definition. Performs arithmetic operations and makes reports and / or

carries out a prescribed action in relation to them. Interprets mathematical
data on plans, specifications, diagrams, or blueprints, transferring them to
workpiece; for example, reads and follows specifications on stakes.

Comments. Computing became a designated function before (1950)

computers were in wide use. The definition has not changed and applies
strictly to the processing of numbers and mathematical symbols. Computer
operation as such is a machine function and accounted for by functions in
the Things hierarchy. The level of difficulty of the numbers and symbols
processed is accounted for in the Math hierarchy of the GED scales.

Helpful Hints. It is not necessary to indicate "relying on basic

arithmetic skills" where basic arithmetic is obvious in the task. The
appropriate mathematical skill should be indicated when more complex
mathematical skills are involved, such as basic statistics, algebra, and
trigonometry.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 81

Level 3A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Calculate advanced earned income payments

(taxes) for qualified employees who complete form W-5, drawing on
knowledge of mandated federal tax guidelines and following SOP in order
to fulfill requests of employees. (PSS)
Calculate/compute client billing, using standard formula and calculator
as necessary, drawing on administration manual in order to bill client and
avoid financial errors. (PSR)
Multiply estimated daily travel by number of working/training days in
month, using calculator as necessary, drawing on knowledge of
transportation systems and local geography in order to record monthly
travel allowance of client in training program. (TBE)
Add/total figures in income categories on public assistance application
form, drawing on knowledge of agency SOP in order to record gross family
income. (TBE)
Calculate percentages of grant allocated for rent, utilities, food, and
clothing, using calculator as necessary, drawing on prescribed budget
formula, and relying on basic statistical skill in order to check/record
distribution of money among budget categories. (TBE)

Medium (35%-60%).

Low (5%-30%).
82 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 3B: Compiling

Definition. Gathers, collates, or classifies information about things,

data, or people, following schema or system, but using discretion in
application. Examples: considers wind, weather (rain or shine), shape,
weight and type of load, height, and capacity of boom in making lift using
a crane; converts information in a book (title, author, subject, etc.) into a
standard library code.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 83

Level 3B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Fill in/complete forms and assign voucher number

for approved bills and invoices (e.g., lease payments, consultant fees,
utilities, travel advances), following agency accounting procedure and SOP
in order to enter information into computer for issuance of checks. (APS)
Prepare/list a monthly accounts payable exception list (problem
accounts), noting outstanding accounts and missing paper for forwarding
to agency administrators, relying on attention to detail and following SOP
in order to keep administrators updated on programs that are not on track.
(APS)
Access applicant data records, manually compiling data specifics
relevant to requests from state and county governments regarding the
implementation of affirmative action (e.g., race, sex, age, veteran status) in
order to fulfill the report requirements of state and county governments.
(PSU)
Accumulate/compile data on needs of low-income energy assistance
applicants, including energy costs and population characteristics, drawing
on previous proposals, recently developed data in government reports and
case files in order to bring the grant proposal up to date. (PIS)

Medium (35%-60%). Attend staff and seminar meetings, sharing

information and experience as well as absorbing material presented in order
to stay informed about what is going on in agency and to acquire new skills
and knowledge. (PSS)
Attend courses, workshops, and other educational activities dealing
with legal services, youth and community resources, drawing on
educational background and agency support and relying on personal
initiative in order to acquire additional information on current theory and
practice that could be useful. (IRS)

Low (5%-30%). Present/talk to groups of students or individuals in

high schools, middle schools, and/or alternative schools on request from
human relations personnel in school, sorting and gathering material
designed to motivate students to stay in school and to avoid potentially
criminal situations, drawing on materials and training provided by agency
and relying on personal style, initiative, life experience, and rapport with
students in order to make an impression and to describe personal
availability to give help. (STW)
(See page 92 for additional Compiling tasks)
84 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 4: Analyzing

Definition. Examines and evaluates data (about things, data, or

people) with reference to the criteria, standards, and/or requirements of a
particular discipline, art, technique, or craft to determine interaction effects
(consequences) and to consider alternatives. Examples: considers/
evaluates instructions, site and climatic conditions, nature of load, capacity
of equipment, other crafts engaged with in order to situate (spot) a crane
to best advantage; researches a problem in a particular subject matter area
to consider and enumerate the options available in dealing with it.

Comments. This function reflects a major objective of the

educational process—the ability to evaluate accumulated data about a
subject or issue in terms of the options offered and the consequences of
actions taken in relation to those options. The education can, of course, be
acquired in schools as well as from experience or both. Learning to analyze
is at the heart of the mastery of a craft or profession.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 85

Level 4: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Examine/evaluate employment data obtained

from protected groups, using statistical programs on computer, drawing
on the standard procedures outlined in Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) guidelines for assessing differential validity and test
bias, psychometrics, statistics, and relying on mathematical and analytical
skills in order to determine whether selection instruments demonstrate
adverse impact. (IOP)
Read/evaluate various methods of conducting research of a problem,
drawing on the statistical, theoretical, and methodological literature
related to problem, personal knowledge and experience, and/or advice of
colleagues and relying on problem-solving ability in order to choose a
methodology that is practical, feasible, and appropriate. (ARP)
Evaluate training, drawing on ratings obtained from trainees on special
forms prepared for the purpose, including such factors as trainer
preparation and skill, coverage of content, special materials, learning
facilities, and trainee's perceived level of achievement, relying on basic
statistical skills in order to determine the effectiveness of the training and
accomplishment of objectives. (TRS)
Read/review monthly reports sent by directors of delegate agency,
checking their compliance on such matters as enrollment, waiting lists,
health and dental information, drawing on the requirements of the federal
guidelines and relying on reading comprehension skills in order to insure
that they are meeting funded enrollment and providing required services.
(HSA)

Medium (35%-60%). Take pictures, mainly black and white, on own

initiative or on request from program people, using either a 35mm camera
or a second camera containing color film, framing, and focusing pictures
with attention to aesthetic and interest characteristics, and with relevance
to the particular story being covered, relying on experience and artistic
skills in order to illustrate articles, brochures, and special events. (PIS)

Low (5%-30%). Assess/screen children entering Head Start program,

using test kits that measure motor abilities (large and small), cognition, and
language abilities, drawing on special training in test administration and
relying on interpersonal skills with children in order to identify child's
special needs (visual, speech, motor) and to provide baseline assessment
information for each child's Individual Education Plan (IEP). (HST)
(See page 92 for additional Analyzing tasks)
86 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 5A: Innovating

Definition. Modifes, alters, and/or adapts existing designs, procedures,

or methods to meet unique specifications, unusual conditions, or specific
standards of effectiveness within the overall framework of operating
theories, principles, and/or organizational contexts; for example,
improvises, using existing attachments, or modifies customary equipment
to meet unusual conditions and fulfill specifications.

Comments. Innovating is the function that business and industry are

mostly seeking when they talk about "creativity." Innovating can be
effectively managed within the customary structure of organizations. It is
possible to order, direct, specify, and manage innovation—unlike true
creativity.

Helpful Hint. Tasks concerned with creativity are associated with the
synthesizing, rather than the innovating, function of the Data scale.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 87

Level 5A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Document/report dysfunctions or new financial

requirements, modify procedures to overcome short-term dysfunctions
and meet new requirements, drawing on the assistance of chief
accountants, knowledge of computerized accounting system, software
specifications, and the new requirements, and relying on personal
ingenuity in order to maintain integrity of the system until correction or
redesign is available. (CTR)
Develop/design user interface, including the selection and arrangement
of controls/displays, messages, workplace layout, colors, warnings, and
labeling, using and/or adapting existing designs; drawing on databases,
legal requirements, national/international standards, and related
resources; and relying on computer design skills in order to meet product
requirements and to produce a user-friendly product. (HFC)
Review/rewrite refunding proposals for community programs,
drawing on preexisting proposals, projected changes in the program, and
funding service specifications and relying on writing skills and experience
in preparing proposals in order to secure continued funding for the specified
program. (PSC)
Develop training needs questionnaire for distribution to agency staff
using existing questionnaires, adapting them to particular considerations
such as how the questionnaire will be understood by respondents and the
manner in which the data will be compiled, drawing on knowledge of
agency and relying on training experience in order to generate data for an
agencywide training plan. (TRS)

Medium (35%-60%). Meet with personnel concerned about policy

and procedural issues, including financial operations, and conduct a
brain-storming session on proposed revisions, drawing on knowledge of
issue and relying on communication skills and sensitivity to proposals
made in order to develop revised recommendations on policy, procedure,
or methods of operation. (CTR)
Conduct workshops for parents and staff, using previous lesson plans,
adapting material to the needs of the participants, drawing on knowledge
of nutrition and relying on instructional skills in order to insure that staff
and parents are equipped to make informed food choices. (HSN)

Low (5%-30%).
(See page 93 for additional Innovating tasks)
88 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 5B: Coordinating

Definition. Decides times, place, and sequence of operations of a

process, system, or organization, and/or the need for revision of goals,
policies (boundary conditions), or procedures on the basis of analysis of
data and of performance review of pertinent objectives and requirements.
Includes overseeing and/or executing decisions and/or reporting on
events; for example, selects/proposes equipment best suited to achieve an
output considering resources (equipment, costs, personnel) available to get
the job done.

Comments. Coordinating is the quintessential management function.

It is the function that represents management decision making and
balancing with reference to the Data (Information and Ideas) that it has to
work with. The decisions are implemented in the areas of Things and
People as well as Data.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 89

Level 5B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Plan/schedule a series of group sessions of
substance abuse counsellors to work with shelter clients, drawing on social
work background, professional status, and relying on personal initiative
and management skills in order to have counselors teach shelter clients how
to deal with substance abuse as a family problem. (SWF)
Prepare/write an integrated report for the regional office of Head Start,
reading, summarizing, and highlighting activities and developments, and
indicating plans for resolving problems; drawing on the monthly and
quarterly reports and progress indicators of both agency and delegate
Head Start programs and relying on writing and organization skills in order
to keep the funding source up to date and informed. (HSA)
Medium (35%-60%). Meet/discuss performance with top subordinate
staff, one-on-one, reviewing with them progress made in achieving
personal goals for the year, problems encountered if any (e.g., with
subordinate personnel, or with equipment), training and/or
self-development undertaken, innovations introduced, and goals for the
coming year, drawing on mutual experience, documentation of recorded
incidents, and agency evaluation procedures and relying on interpersonal
skills and sensitivity in order to carry out an annual performance appraisal.
(CTR)
Conduct bimonthly Health and Nutrition committee meetings with
Health Coordinator, set agenda, arrange for space and for speakers,
prepare materials, disseminate information, and network with community
resources, drawing on knowledge of the organization and relying on
communication and management skills in order to exchange information
and keep up to date. (HSN)
Schedule and conduct an interview in response to a call from within
agency about an ongoing program or event, obtaining the facts, drawing
on personal knowledge of relevant people, and understanding of the
situation, and relying on an awareness of which media should be used to
promote the story, as well as writing and interviewing skills in order to
prepare a written article describing the program or event. (PIS)

Low (5%-30%).
(See pages 93-94for additional Coordinating tasks)
90 CHAPTER 8

Data Level 6: Synthesizing

Definition. Takes off in new directions on the basis of personal

intuitions, feelings, and ideas (with or without regard for tradition,
experience, and existing parameters) to conceive new approaches to or
statements of problems and the development of system, operational or
aesthetic solutions, or resolutions of them, typically outside of existing
theoretical, stylistic, or organizational context.

Comments. Synthesizing is the "creativity" function, intensely

personal and individual. It is a Data function not easily understood,
managed, or tolerated in many organizational contexts.
The tasks that follow are not likely to appear in job analysis inventories
of organizations in the same way as tasks for all other functions. They are
more or less descriptions by creative people of what they do in the creative
process. However, they are not prescriptive. There is no inevitable logic or
rationale that leads to creativity. The creative act has defied analysis and
predictability.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 91

Level 6: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Conceive/intuit/explore relationships among selected

theories and techniques from outside social work discipline, and integrate
them with accepted social work practice, relying on research and writing
skills and previous social work experience in order to develop/test a new
problem-solving process for multiproblem family. (TBE)
Conceptualize/intuit new relationships between existing and evolving
analytic theories and techniques without documented precedents, relating
them to organizational problems, drawing on an understanding of theory
and conceptual models, and relying on personal insights, experience, and
analytical and writing skills in order to develop an approach and
methodology for a demonstration project or for a research model. (TBE)
Conceive/create an original hypothesis about the nature of
social-psychological problems of an ethnic or socioeconomic group,
drawing on an understanding of theory and conceptual models and relying
on analytical and writing skills in order to explain factors and phenomena
previously unrecognized or unaccounted for. (TBE)
Read/review articles, reports, papers, and statistical data relevant to
agency, whether referred to by staff or discovered on own, taking notes as
necessary, drawing on personal background and understanding, and
relying on reading comprehension skill in order to enhance understanding,
discover relationships, and develop materials that contribute to vision
and/or provide information for speeches, presentations, or discussions
with staff. (EXD)

Medium (35%-60%). Discuss/consult with professional colleagues,

students, practitioners, and/or clients about research articles, theoretical
literature, and/or ideas derived from professional journals, conference
proceedings, books, relying on personal experience and interpersonal and
communication skills in order to determine areas for research among
competing/different theoretical positions. (ARP)

Low (5%-3Q%).
92 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Data Functions

Level 2: Copying

High. Visit each agency location, recording serial and property

numbers for property valued at $300 or greater onto an inventory form,
issuing a property number to those items without one, drawing on
knowledge of inventory system in order to assist facilities administration in
complete annual agencywide inventory. (JAN)

Medium. Prepare/fill out a form for voiding checks issued that have
been cancelled or not fulfilled and enter data into computer, drawing on
information supplied by vendors or program personnel or when noted as
issued incorrectly and following SOP in order to cancel invalid
disbursements. (APS)

Level 3B: Compiling

High. Compare/compile checks issued (bank statements) versus

checks authorized (accounting records) monthly, searching out
discrepancies until complete matching is effected, drawing on knowledge
of agency accounting system, and relying on attention to detail in order to
reconcile issued and authorized checks. (CAT)

Low. Meet weekly one-on-one with lead staff, encouraging their

expression of needs, drawing on knowledge of programs and relying on
interpersonal skills in order to stay informed about what is going on in their
programs. (CTD)

Level 4: Analyzing

High. Review/evaluate resumes and/or applications received for a

current job opening and prepare a summary report of qualifications of all
applicants, drawing on knowledge of job requirements, allowable
equivalencies, and relying on writing and computer skills in order to
determine which applicants meet minimum requirements for the position
and can be sent to the hiring supervisor for review. (PSU)
Review applications submitted through the Human Resources
Development Office for a staff vacancy, drawing on knowledge of position
to be interviewed and agency criteria, following SOP in order to select
candidates to be interviewed for vacancy and to notify Human Resources
Development Office of need to check references. (CAT)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 93

Level 5A: Innovating

High. Develop a course and/or seminar on human factors, including

sections on safety, liability, and displays, dividing it into units and adapting
it to the requirements of a particular modality (e.g., videotapes, in-person
lectures), drawing on existing materials and relying on teaching experience
and skills in order to educate the professional and technical staff about
human factors. (HFI)

Prepare/write a plan (terms of reference, proposal), integrating the

results of discussions and decisions about overall approach to be taken,
including identification of problem and users, methodology to be used,
resources to be drawn on, time frames, critical paths, and sequence of
events, and relying on experience and writing skills in order to initiate
suggested approach. (DBA)

Medium. Modify existing vendor programs, working with

department head and/or SME to explore special needs, reviewing the
particular files in question, writing, testing, and modifying the revised
program as appropriate, relying on programming experience and
analytical skills in order to meet a special agency need. (SYA)

Level 5B: Coordinating

High. Schedule/oversee the preparation of the programmatic part of

a refunding proposal involving the integration of delegate agency
proposals and the primary agency portion, drawing on the revised goals
and objectives derived from self-assessment validation instruments,
progress evaluation and related reports, updated statistical data, a training
calendar, and an updated community needs assessment, and relying on
planning skills in order to justify the attached budget and refunding for the
following year. (HSA)

Develop/draft specific plans to address training needs such as

information sharing, workshop development, and curriculum
development, selecting training resources as appropriate; drawing on
knowledge of adult education, nutrition, and community resources; and
relying on conceptual and writing skills in order to respond to the training
requests/needs of parents. (HSN)

Medium. Phone/contact site coordinators and responsible facility

contacts (neighborhood centers, schools, churches), arranging specific
times and dates for the use of facilities as distribution sites and determining
94 CHAPTER 8

volunteer availability, drawing on long-term relationships and experience

with sites and coordinators and relying on communication and
management skills in order to develop an annual calendar for distributions.
(PSC)
Contact site coordinators prior to each food distribution, reviewing
issuance rates for households, volunteers, security, forms, supplies, and
equipment needed, arranging for visits by census workers and nutrition
educators, drawing on knowledge of community resources, site
requirements, and needs; relying on interpersonal and management skills
in order to insure orderly distribution of commodities at all sites. (PSC)
Plan an integrated series of talks by specialists in human services,
inviting them to make presentations to assembled clients, drawing on an
understanding of client problems and needs and contacts made in the
community and relying on personal initiative and communication skills in
order to inform clients of community facilities and support available to
them. (SWF)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 95

PEOPLE FUNCTIONS SCALE

The substance of the live interaction between people (and animals) is

communication. In the broadest sense, the communication can be verbal or
nonverbal. What makes communication complex is the heavy load that
messages carry, for example, Data in their objective and subjective
forms—the way in which they are delivered (volume, tone, accompanying
gesture, and the formal rules and informal customs that govern the context
of the communication). Because there is a large subjective element on the
part of both the sender and the receiver of a communication, it is very
difficult to measure or to assign absolute values or primary importance to
one or another type of information in the interaction.
What further complicates pinning down the nature of specific
interpersonal behavior is that affect can serve as a tool for managing oneself
in the interaction as well as the informational substance of the interaction.
Affect, as information and as tool, can occur in the simplest as well as the
most complex interaction. For example, affect expressed in a sulky manner,
perhaps to gain attention or perhaps to express resentment on the part of
a worker, can quickly become the informational substance of the interaction
when the supervisor asks nonreactively, "Don't you feel well?" and gets
the answer "No, I don't. My child is ill. I should be home."
The functions in the People scale deal only indirectly with these complex
questions. The assumption of ordinality is more tenuous than in the Things
and Data scales and depends more heavily on role, status, and authority,
which are often associated with, but not necessarily a part of, skill. In effect,
the functions try to capture the variety of interpersonal behavior assigned
in various work situations and are more or less arranged, as in the other
scales, according to the need, in general, to deal with increasing numbers
of variables and with greater degrees of discretion. (The function least
likely to fit this pattern is Supervising, which probably could have a scale
of its own.)
Skill in dealing with people is undoubtedly as much an art as a
methodology. Although measurement in this area is in a primitive state, it
is essential to delineate descriptive and numerical standards by which a
function can be appraised in the task in which it occurs. One should
especially note cultural boundary conditions in matters of courtesy,
diplomatic protocol, and "rule" of behavior in patient-doctor relationships.
The People scale measures live interaction between people, and people
and animals.
96 CHAPTER 8

People Benchmarks

Level 1A: Taking Instructions—Helping

Definition. Attends to the work assignment, instructions, or orders of

supervisor. No immediate response or verbal exchange is required unless
clarification of instruction is needed.

Comments. Several categories of skills are listed as required by the

SMEs where there is interpersonal action. On the lower levels they are as
follows:

• Listening: paying attention to instructions.

• Practicing courtesy: showing consideration to people dealt with.
• Acknowledging: showing respect for where people are coming from.
• Communicating orally: speaking to people clearly.

In the benchmarks that follow, Taking Instructions is largely implicit.

Where there is no mention of interpersonal action in a task statement, it is
assumed at a minimum, the worker is taking an instruction. It may be that
Taking Instructions would only show up as a major interpersonal function
in highly structured, military-type situations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 97

Level 1A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).

Medium (35%-60%).

Low (5%-30%). Move furniture into configurations appropriate for

type of meeting (e.g., lecture, seminar), following oral instructions in order
to have room set up. (JAN)
Approve expenditures up to $300 and countersign expenditures over
$300 for accounting department, drawing on authority granted by agency
procedures in order to comply with agency policies. (CTR)
Rearrange supplies, throwing out unusable items, taking items needing
repair to center, and sweeping floors, following oral instructions in order to
insure supply/storage rooms are orderly. (HVD)
Select final candidate from the joint recommendations of self, deputy
director, and Personnel committee, following SOP in order to fill the job
vacancy. (HSA)
Allocate available foods to participating shelters, feeding sites and
pantries, drawing on knowledge of available inventory, number of meals
served at each facility, utilization rates, and following SOP in order to insure
foods are allocated equitably to participating groups. (PSC)
Supply auditors with final printouts and supplementary documentation
(e.g., contracts, voucher packages) of financial activities of all programs for
calendar year, including special detailed supporting documentation and
existing reports (e.g., cash confirmations), drawing on an overall
knowledge of accounting system, programs, and customary needs of
auditors and relying on cooperativeness in order to facilitate the auditing of
agency accounts. (CAT)
Review all accounts payable checks for exceptional and unusual
payments, drawing on an awareness of agencies with whom agency
contracts and relying on attention to detail and experience in order to insure
that all accounts payable are legitimate. (CTR)
98 CHAPTER 8

People Level IB: Serving

Definition.
Attends to the needs or requests of people or animals, or
to the expressed or implicit wishes of people. Immediate response is
involved.

Comments. An additional skill mentioned in this context is:

Empathy—showing compassion. This skill will continue to show up on
higher levels along with increased Data and Interpersonal skills. Analysts
should be alert to tasks that require considerable amounts of sensitivity and
an awareness of client needs.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 99

Level IB: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Assist children in getting out of van, walk them to

their classroom, give the teacher a copy of any new student forms, and
introduce parent(s) of new student to teacher if present, following SOP in
order to insure children are in their assigned classrooms. (HVD)

Medium (35%-60%). Attend to requests of aged residents for

assistance in seating or rising from dining table, drawing on knowledge of
client assistance methods and relying on sensitivity to individual's needs
in order to facilitate movement of residents. (TBE)
Observe and respond to gestured request from physically challenged
patient for adjustment of body/bed position, drawing on knowledge of
client assistance methods and relying on awareness of nonverbal
communication and sensitivity to patient's needs in order to make the
patient comfortable. (TBE)

Low (5%-30%). Drive parents back to the Family Crisis Center as

requested after they have talked to teacher, relying on courtesy and driving
skills in order to return them to the shelter. (HVD)
Unload boxes of supplies from van, carrying boxes to the supply room;
open boxes and place them on shelf, distributing requested amounts of
supplies to secretary at her desk or placing supplies in cabinets at copier,
relying on lifting ability and following SOP in order to have supplies
available for staff. (HVD)
100 CHAPTER 8

People Level 2: Exchanging Information

Definition. Talks to, converses with, and/or signals people to convey

or obtain information, or to clarify and work out details of an assignment,
within the framework of well-established procedure; for example, requests
clarification of a verbal signal (in person or on radio) or hand signal.

Comments. This is the most common form of interpersonal behavior.

It should be noted that a reliable vocabulary to describe skills related to this
function is lacking.
Communication skills begin to show up as a requirement more
frequently starting with this function. These skills include, in addition to
the skills already mentioned, conversing openly—answering questions
directly, straightforwardness; and speaking at level of person addressed.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 101

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).
Medium (35%-60%). Meet/talk with vendors who have contacted
agency or with whom there is an ongoing relationship, either in office or
on site, drawing on agency requirements for vendors and available time
and relying on experience in order to review new product, obtain pricing
information, and look over quality of vendor's operation. (PUA)
Review/backtrack the inputs that produced an apparent error on printout
(e.g., accounts payable, payroll), discussing matter with appropriate
subordinates such as payroll clerk and program supervisor; drawing on
knowledge of agency organization, programs, and financial procedures; and
relying on skill in working with people in order to correct the error. (CAT)
Phone or write, as appropriate, accounting department, purchasing
department, and/or program agency about inconsistent or incompatible
commercial paper (numbers do not match, using a desk calculator; drawing
on requisitions, bills, and invoices submitted for payment as necessary; and
relying on experience in order to clear up inconsistencies and obtain
legitimate paper. (APS)
Call computer center when own computer is not functioning normally
(e.g., input is continuously rejected as invalid for some reason), explaining
the problem, following SOP in order to obtain help. (APS)
Answer phones, take messages concerning absent child, transfer calls to
requested person, answer general information questions about Head Start,
push door opener button to allow entrance into locked building, relying on
telephone skills in order to have site phones and entrance covered during
secretary's lunch and break periods. (HVD)
Coordinate/plan logistics for training sessions, conferences, and retreats,
arranging for facilities, travel, food, and overnight accommodation as
necessary; ordering supplies and audiovisual equipment; confirming
participation of clients by letter or phone; and relying on communication
and management skills in order to insure a physical environment that
facilitates learning. (TRS)
Low (5%-30%). Drive to/visit stores, inquiring about needed parts
and price, referring to type and quantity information supplied by secretary,
giving information to the secretary for preparation of purchase order form,
picking up supplies when paperwork has been processed, relying on oral
communication skills, and following SOP in order to get parts needed to
make repairs. (HVD)
(See page 124 for additional Exchanging Information tasks)
102 CHAPTER 8

People Level 3A: Sourcing Information

Definition. Serves as a primary and central source to external public

or internal workforce of system information that is crucial in directing/
routing people or workers to their destination or areas of concern and make
it possible for system/organization to function. Examples: information
personnel in stores and terminals; reception/routing person in large office;
inventory and/or stock clerk.

Comments The communication skills manifested at this level reflect

not only sensitivity and awareness, but also technical training and
experience directed at dealing with specific problems in a particular
context.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 103

Level 3S: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Assist parents and staff at Head Start display booth,
set up at various locations (e.g., food stores, welfare offices), distribute
brochures, answer questions, and tell parents about the Head Start
program, drawing on knowledge of Head Start program and relying on
oral communication skills in order to recruit children for the program.
(HVD)
Answer telephone, responding with courtesy; announce agency and
desire to help; listen for name of person requested by caller and in the event
the caller needs help encourage him or her to express the particular need,
drawing on knowledge of agency and community resources and relying
on telephone skills in order to make appropriate connection and to refer to
"First Call for Help" service if required. (SWB)
Medium (35%-60%). Refer clients to community resources for
substance abuse counseling, energy assistance, family crisis intervention,
food bank, housing, and other related services designed to ease hardship,
drawing on knowledge of community resources and relying on
interpersonal skills and sensitivity in order to inform clients of social services
available. (STW)
Refer clients needing direction to transitional housing program,
drawing on knowledge of community resources and relying on oral
communication skills in order to provide client time to settle on a direction
and accumulate money for a security payment on an apartment. (FAM)
Present agency Board Committees (e.g., budget and finance, audit) at
periodic meetings with up-to-date information on the financial status and
practices associated with agency, drawing on knowledge and experience
with agency programs and accounting practices and relying on
presentation skills in order to keep them informed and obtain their
recommendations or directives. (CTR)
Communicate information about agency programs or structure to the
media, or to certain sections of the public, in response to calls referred by
the switchboard, either having the information available or indicating that
the information will be obtained and a call-back made or referral made to
program or executive source, drawing on knowledge of agency programs
and structure and established relations with the media and relying on oral
communication skills in order to satisfy the information needs of the caller.
(PIS)
Low (5%-30%).
(See page 124 for additional Sourcing Information tasks)
104 CHAPTER 8

People Level 3B: Persuading

Definition. Influences others in favor of a product, service, or point of

view by talks or demonstration. Examples: demonstrates safety procedures
required on a piece of equipment for compliance with new regulations;
sales personnel in hardware and furniture stores, boutiques.

Comments. Communication and interpersonal skills take on a

special character for this functional level, namely, Persuading. This calls for
knowing the product or subject matter well enough to be convincing as to
how it will meet the client's/customer's need. It also calls for sensitivity
concerning the customer's readiness threshold for receiving the message.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 105

Level 3B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Defuse/dissuade individuals in threatening
situations in response to calls on beeper or office from school authorities,
acting as a first resort, proceeding directly to neighborhood or school,
drawing on knowledge of neighborhood or experience with gang and its
member, and relying on skill in establishing rapport and persuading
individuals to pursue constructive directions in order to avoid the need to
caU police. (STW)
Present information on community and "First Call for Help" program
needs to public bodies such as city council, state legislature, and county
committees, drawing on experience with the program and statistical
information and relying on presentation skills in order to influence public
thinking and increase funding for services administered. (IRS)
Medium (35%-65%). Write content for training brochures directed at
specific market for training programs, distribute brochures, and make
follow-up calls, drawing on knowledge of needs of the agency and relying
on written communication skills in order to market training programs. (TRS)
Communicate with sources of volunteers and/or work placements (e.g.,
volunteer centers, religious groups, universities), making phone calls and
writing letters, drawing on knowledge of community, and relying on
communication skills in order to obtain volunteers and work placements to
cover the phones. (IRS)
Lobby (talk persuasively) to representatives of state, county, and
municipal legislative bodies about budget cuts or program issues,
promoting the agency position on these issues; drawing on knowledge of
agency, its programs, and needs; and relying on presentation skills and
verbal ability in order to convince legislators of the correctness of agency
positions. (CRS)
Act as an advocate for client before a judge in court, pleading
tolerance/leniency for the client and requesting he or she be assessed
community service units under supervision in lieu of fine and jail sentence,
drawing on a trusting relationship with client and the court, and relying
on verbal skills and self-confidence in order to give client the opportunity
to redeem him- or herself and prevent client from being labeled a criminal.
(STW)

Low (5%-30%).
(See page 124 for additional Persuading tasks)
106 CHAPTER 8

People Level 3C: Coaching

Definition. Befriends and encourages individuals on a personal,

caring basis by approximating a peer- or family-type relationship either in
a one-on-one or small group situation; gives instruction, advice, and
personal assistance concerning activities of daily living, the use of various
institutional services, and participation in groups. Examples: gives support
or encouragement to apprentice or joumeyperson on unfamiliar piece of
equipment; coaches students on school athletic team or sponsors new
employees in a training situation.

Comments. Coaching reflects that aspect of People skills where

feelings and sensitivities count for as much or more than information. This
explains why these tasks are typically given a high People orientation.
In some cases, the synonyms for coaching are less than amenable to the
effect desired. This can leave no choice but to use the verb coach. In these
instances, it is doubly important that the verb is used according to the
definition for this function.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 107

Level 3C: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Accompany client in applying for services from

welfare department or other community service when the client has a
reading or shyness problem, drawing on familiarity with the system and
relying on reading and interpersonal skills in order to serve as advocate and
to represent the client in obtaining services. (FAM)
Establish rapport with client on first visit and orient client as to how the
agency operates, expectations of client (e.g., attendance, fees, behavior as
to substance abuse and confidentiality rights), and services provided by
agency; obtain demographic and other data on administrative forms,
drawing on counseling and agency practice and relying on interpersonal
skills, following SOP in order to admit client to treatment. (SAC)
Coach unemployed youth and youth at risk on how to present
themselves to employers and school authorities when completing
applications for employment and/or training and on the importance of
self-confidence, drawing on personal experience of disability (e.g., prison
record or minority status) and knowledge of opportunities existing in the
community to overcome disability and relying on interpersonal skills and
personal self-confidence in order to increase an individual's chance in
obtaining a job or training. (STW)
Discuss with client and family members the need for further
involvement of family members in therapeutic sessions with the client or
for their participation in other counseling groups, drawing on knowledge
of community resources and the counseling process and relying on oral
communication skills and sensitivity in order to secure the continuing
supportive involvement of the family for themselves and the client. (SAC)
Comfort/nurture disturbed, frightened, and crying children who have
trouble separating from parents and adjusting to the school situation,
drawing on training in child development and relying on experience as
parents and teachers, patience, and nonverbal (body language)
communication skills in order to quiet, calm, and reassure child to take part
in activities of the classroom setting. (HST)

Medium (35%-65%).

Low (5%-30%).
(See pages 124-125for additional Coaching tasks)
108 CHAPTER 8

People Level 3D: Diverting

Definition. Amuses/performs to entertain or distract individuals

and/or audience or to lighten a situation. Examples: day care teaching,
storytelling, street entertaining.

Comments. For the function of Diverting, particular talents need to

be manifested such as dramatizing, miming, juggling, dancing,
storytelling, singing—although not necessarily on a level required for
public/commercial performance.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 109

Level 3D: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Talk to/play games with young children in

recreation area while parent(s) attend conference, drawing on knowledge
of games and activities and relying on ability to establish rapport,
communication skills, and special talents in order to divert children's
attention from absence of parent(s). (TBE)
Talk/chat with client while en route to employment center or
prospective employer for interview, selecting and narrating anecdotes and
humorous incidents of self or others in similar situations, relying on
communication and interpersonal skills and past experience in order to
reduce nervous tension of client. (TBE)
Talk/chat with patient prior to physical therapy treatment, relating
stories and/or humorous anecdotes about patients in similar situations,
drawing on past experience with patients and relying on communication
and interpersonal skills in order to reduce patient's fears and anxieties about
treatment. (TBE)

Medium (35%-60%). Organize/conduct diversionary recreational

activities at monthly meetings for an explorers' unit of young clients, some
of whom have already had trouble with the law (intensive) and some who
have not (nonintensive), drawing on knowledge of clients and community
resources and relying on skill in winning confidence of clients in order to
engage clients in constructive activities. (STW)
Entertain sick children through reading stories, playing games, or
talking, drawing on knowledge of resources available locally (e.g., toys,
games, children's books) and relying on communication skills and
sensitivity to child's illness in order to provide diversion and lessen
boredom due to confinement. (TBE)

Low (5%-30%).
no CHAPTER 8

People Level 4A: Consulting

Definition. Serves as a source of technical knowledge and provides

such knowledge as well as related ideas to define, clarify, enlarge on, or
sharpen procedures, capabilities, or product specifications. Examples:
informs project managers of effective and appropriate use of equipment to
achieve output within constraints (time, money, etc.); presents options to
solve particular problems.

Comments. Although various degrees of subtlety are required in

communication and interpersonal skills, it reaches its highest form in
Consulting. Consulting frequently involves relating a body of technical
data to a relatively complex, probably systematic, problem. It therefore
involves understanding as much, if not more, than the client about the
situation and conveying options or particular solutions in terms of their
advantages and disadvantages in a manner acceptable to the client. The
subtlety is called for in dealing with the interests of individual stakeholders
who may prefer things as they are and are interested only in small,
immediate solutions to existing problems. If they are to be won over to
cooperate on more sweeping changes, the consultant must find ways to
relate the changes to their needs so they are seen as advantageous to them.
Subtlety, tact, patience, rapport, as well as basic honesty, are at a premium
in these situations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 111

Level 4A: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).

Medium (35%-60%). Present results of research to area council on

priority issues such as housing and drug-related crime, including resources
and funding available in the community, explaining and clarifying as
necessary, drawing on knowledge of agency, community, funding sources,
and projects in force and relying on presentation skills in order to enable
council to make informed decisions on priority issues. (CRS)
Communicate with law enforcement officers, the courts, and other
community agencies on the phone or in writing concerning the treatment
progress of specific current clients, giving information on request or
testifying in court, drawing on client files and awareness of the role of these
agencies in achieving successful outcomes and ethical and confidentiality
guidelines, and relying on communication and interpersonal skills in order
to fulfill legal requirements and achieve a team approach toward helping
the client. (SAC)
Discuss/consider ongoing problems and possible solutions and
approaches with users (e.g., data automation or system enhancement),
drawing on knowledge and experience with the processes of strategic
planning and relying on problem-solving skills in order to decide on a
particular approach suitable to the user. (DBA)
Contribute information where possible at a variety of meetings called
by the director of programs, including such themes as database for
computerization, energy assistance, administrative functions, and
accounting procedures, drawing on experience and knowledge of special
field and relying on communication skills in order to provide support and
assist administrators. (CTD)

Low (5%-30%). Present information about services offered by agency

to a group (e.g., senior citizens, youth services, energy assistance) in
response to direct requests or requests made to administrative heads of
agency, by phone or letter, drawing on knowledge of the agency, its
personnel and programs, assembled materials (brochures and the like), and
assistance from supervisors or specialists of particular programs, and
relying on communication and presentation skills in order to inform
requesting group. (CRS)
(See pages 125-126for additional Consulting tasks)
112 CHAPTER 8

People Level 4B: Instructing

Definition. Teaches subject matter to others or trains others, including

animals, through explanation, demonstration, and test, bringing them to a
desired level of performance.

Comments. Instructing involves highly sophisticated communication

and interpersonal skills in the form of presentation (including the use of
audiovisual technology) and motivation skills, inspiring students to learn
a particular subject matter. This includes sensitivity to and awareness of
student readiness and self-esteem because learning either involves giving
up something in order to make room for new information or experiencing
a shift in the previous pattern of knowledge and understanding.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 113

Level 4B: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).

Medium (35%-60%). Train program personnel in the use of a

computer to enter and access data, using hands-on demonstration,
including the use of a variety of function codes, accounting codes, and
procedures, drawing on personal knowledge and experience with the
computer system and relying on instructional skills in order to enable
program personel to maintain financial records and to hook into master
file. (ACT)
Conduct training sessions, using lesson plans previously designed,
adapting the material to the learning rate of the participants and the
questions that they raise, drawing on knowledge of content area,
experience, and training as an instructor and relying on communication
and presentation skills in order to facilitate the learning of the content by the
participants. (TRS)
Instruct/train individuals in computer operation, in groups or
one-on-one, taking them through procedures step-by-step, using prepared
manual to answer questions, giving and reviewing exercises, and
encouraging participants to apply training and use system as often as
possible, drawing on knowledge of field and training experience and
relying on communication and instructional skills in order to provide
individuals with computer skills and knowledge. (SA)
Train youth and general assistance workers in janitorial services,
demonstrating operation of scrubbing machine, mixing of cleaning
solutions, and how to make minor repairs, drawing on experience and
training and relying on communication and interpersonal skills in order to
provide on-the-job training. (JAN)
Train school staff and civic officials concerned with discipline and
security in the methods of identifying gang members and determining
their needs and motivations, drawing on personal experience and
knowledge of area and relying on presentation skills in order to assist
participants in recognizing gang members and directing them into
constructive activities. (STW)

Low (5%-30%).
(See page 126 for additional Instructing tasks)
114 CHAPTER 8

People Level 4C: Treating

Definition. Acts on or interacts with individuals or small groups of

people or animals who need help (as in sickness) to carry out specialized
therapeutic or adjustment procedures. Systematically observes results of
treatment within the framework of total personal behavior because unique
individual reactions to prescriptions (chemical, physical, or behavioral)
may not fall within the range of expectation/prediction. Motivates,
supports, and instructs individuals to accept or cooperate with therapeutic
adjustment procedures when necessary.

Comments. Treating skills probably involve the most developed

form of empathizing because the learning required by the patient is
frequently associated with pain. It further involves a great deal of patience
and flexibility to deal with unique, individual responses to treatment.
Although treatment is prescribed and more or less controlled, considering
the nature of individual responses to treatment, there is space for
innovativeness.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 115

Level 4C: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Listen to/observe patterns of interaction among

client and family members or significant others, asking family members to
describe directly to client the effect of client's behavior on the family,
drawing on counseling techniques, understanding of group dynamics, and
observed family dynamics and relying on sensitivity, awareness, and
listening skills in order to identify and clarify those attitudinal,
communication, and behavior patterns that support or are detrimental to
the client's treatment. (SAC)
Conduct/facilitate group sessions of 6 to 12 clients around topics that
emerge from their interaction in the group or around specific suggested
themes, encouraging clients to identify with others having similar
problems and to obtain their feedback, drawing on knowlege of group
dynamics and relying on group counseling techniques, sensitivity,
empathy, and verbal communication skills in order to break down denial,
build self-esteem, and practice new behaviors in a safe environment. (SAC)

Medium (35%-60%). Query client or family in scheduled therapeutic

sessions about experiences, feelings, and events during the interim
between sessions, listening to and observing client and/or family
member(s), confronting denial as appropriate, responding with empathy,
and praising positive steps taken toward goals, drawing on therapeutic
training and understanding of particular client and relying on counseling
techniques, sensitivity, empathy, and verbal communication skills in order
to carry out the therapeutic process and implement the treatment plan.
(SAC)
Follow prescribed treatment plan with patient, give patient prescribed
medications, assist patient as necessary, take reading of patient's
tempature, blood pressure, and respiration, noting changes outside of
acceptable limits, drawing on nurses' training, treatment plan, medical file,
and familiarity with patient and relying on nursing skills and ability to
establish rapport with patient in order to carry out physician's treatment
plan. (NUR)

Low (5%-30%).
(See page 127 for additional Treating tasks)
116 CHAPTER 8

People Level 5: Supervising

Definition. Determines and/or interprets work procedure for a group

of workers, assigns specific duties to them delineating prescribed and
discretionary content, maintains harmonious relations among them,
evaluates performance (both prescribed and discretionary) and promotes
efficiency and other organizational values; makes decisions on procedural
and technical levels.

Comments. The description of tasks does not fully communicate the

nuances that are associated with supervision. Supervisory behavior
subsumes a wide variety of styles. Supervision, in many ways, reflects a
culture. For example, authoritarian, consultative, or participative
supervision reflects different cultural norms. The standards implicit in the
various supervisory tasks described will vary with the norms of the cultural
context in which they occur. The way in which a performance evaluation
is conducted will depend on "where the supervisor is coming from"
culturally and the expectations of the organization. Another important
variable is the type of workers supervised, that is, their educational and
cultural orientation. These orientations affect how they respond to an
organization's environment, how they use their Adaptive Skills—skills
concerned with management of self in relation to conformity and change,
the context of jobs rather than their content.

Helpful Hints. This function requires an almost equal measure of Data

as well as People skills.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 117

Level 5: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Listen to staff complaints about working

conditions, scheduling case loads, agency performance requirements, or
interpersonal conflict, examining facts, obtaining staff suggestions for
remedies, and considering options, drawing on understanding of the
individual staff members and program needs and relying on interpersonal
conflict resolution skills in order to resolve problems, boost staff morale, and
maintain services. (SAC)
Conduct periodic staff meetings, sharing information about new
policies, procedures, and resources; answering questions; and discussing
project developments and problems, drawing on knowledge of program
and relying on group dynamics skills in order to provide guidance and
disseminate information. (IRS)

Medium (35%-60%). Talk with coordinators by phone daily, logging

developments (e.g., absences, sickness, personal time off, cancelation of
meetings, unusual happenings), drawing on knowledge of agency
personnel policies, and relying on interpersonal skills and SOP in order to
insure attendance, coverage in case of absences, and documentation of
personnel procedures. (HSA)
Conduct performance appraisals in one-on-one meetings with
individual staff, discussing performance as appropriate, drawing on
agency guidelines, and relying on interpersonal skills in order to fulfill
agency guidelines, provide feedback, and determine whether annual
increase is merited. (CTD)
Evaluate performance of regular staff, selected student volunteers, and
work placements periodically on basis of selection criteria, discussing
evaluation on one-to-one basis and completing the necessary forms,
drawing on knowledge of assignments and relying on interpersonal skills
in order to provide feedback, acknowledgment, indication of need for
further training, and fulfillment of agreement with various agencies that
supply volunteers and work placements. (IRS)

Low (5%-30%). Assign staff therapists to client groups according to

clients' insight into their problem and commitment to abstinence and
recovery (12 distinct groups), drawing on training and program orientation
and relying on experience and supervisory skills in order to maximize the
recovery of the clients and broaden the experience of the therapists. (SAC)
(See pages 127-128for additional Supervising tasks)
118 CHAPTER 8

People Level 6: Negotiating

Definition. Bargains and discusses on a formal basis, as a

representative of one side of a transaction, for advantages in resources,
rights, privileges, and/or contractual obligations, giving and taking within
the limits provided by authority or within the framework of the perceived
requirements and integrity of a problem.

Comments. The interpersonal skills involved in this function require

practitioners to seek advantages without feeling any compunction because
opponents in the negotiation are seeking similar outcomes for themselves.
However, it is believed by some that more successful and lasting outcomes
are win-win rather than win-lose. Again, the Data skills are as significant
as the People skills in either case.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 119

Level 6: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%).

Medium (35%-60%). Meet with financial officers, directors, contract

monitors, and/or grant officers, alone or accompanied by other agency
executives, regarding contract financial problems and/or misunder­
standings, drawing on knowledge of particular contract or agency
experience and relying on negotiating skills in order to clarify problems
and/or obtain payments. (CTR)
Develop contracts with participating feeding sites, shelters, and
pantries, specifying terms and conditions of participation in the program,
conditions of storage, inventory control, and recordkeeping requirements
and agency's contractual requirements and relying on negotiating skills in
order to insure that the Soup Kitchen/Food Bank program operates in
compliance with state and federal requirements. (PSC)
Contract with a variety of maintenance service and safety vendors (e.g.,
trash pick-up, fire inspection, elevator service) for particular services,
inviting and selecting from among bids if required, drawing on
specifications of services required, and relying on experience and
negotiating skills in order to obtain services needed to maintain the integrity
of the building. (CTD)
Meet/confer with legislators (local, state, federal) concerning needed or
pending legislation affecting minorities and/or the poor, advising them
about relevant agency experiences, understandings, and the probable
effectiveness of the legislation under consideration, drawing on knowledge
of agency and the community it serves or consultation with agency's
executive staff and relying on interpersonal communication skills in order
to influence legislation in favor of the needs being served by agency. (EXD)
Present annual nutrition plan to the citywide policy council, explaining
information, allowing for input, and incorporating recommendations,
drawing on knowledge of nutrition needs of the poor in the community
and relying on presentation skills in order to obtain approval of plan. (HSN)

Low (5%-30%).
120 CHAPTER 8

People Level 7: Mentoring

Definition. Works with individuals having problems affecting their

life adjustment in order to advise, counsel, and/or guide them according
to legal, scientific, clinical, spiritual, and/or other professional principles.
Advises clients on implications of analyses or diagnoses made of problems,
courses of action open to deal with them, and merits of one strategy over
another.

Comments. As in Negotiating and Supervising, the Data skills are as

significant as People skills in the practice of this function. Experience is
crucial because skills must focus on individuation of therapeutic
approaches. The Data skills come into focus in a diagnosis; the People skills
come into focus in establishing rapport and a working relationship with
the client based on confidence and trust.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 121

Level 7: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Counsel church members in spiritual and/or

emotional distress, drawing on knowledge of pastoral care, counseling
methods, and relevant spiritual doctrine and relying on communication
skills and ability to relate to people from diverse backgrounds in order to
attend to members' spiritual and emotional needs and provide spiritual
guidance. (MIN)

Medium (35%-60%). Counsel client in development of coping skills,

using prioritization for decision making; teaching and encouraging client
to practice a variety of skills through use of such exercises as writing down
unresolved painful experiences, progressive relaxation, subvocalizing
(saying no repeatedly to negative thoughts), drawing on training and
experience with psychodrama, role playing, and cognitive restructuring
(looking at positive aspects of negative patterns) and relying on ability to
establish rapport with client, empathy, and sensitivity in order to help client
sort out problems and gain control. (SWF)
Counsel/advise client having personal and/or emotional problems,
drawing on knowledge of counseling methods, theory, professional
principles and guidelines, and relying on interpersonal and communi­
cation skills and ability to establish rapport in order to help client gain
insight into personal problems and plan therapeutic action. (COP)
Conduct therapeutic interviews on a frequency schedule related to the
length of time client remains in shelter (ranging from a few days to several
weeks), checking off services provided on specific form, drawing on
confidence gained with client assessment made in initial interview and the
therapeutic technique that appears most appropriate, and relying on
counseling techniques in order to relieve clients' pain/stress, develop a
treatment plan, and enable them to take advantage of referral services.
(SWF)
Discuss legal problems with client, determining legal facts of case and
exploring legal options and constraints, drawing on knowledge of legal
rights, practice, law, and professional guidelines and relying on
interpersonal and communication skills and candor in order to advise
client of legal options and possible courses of action. (LYR)

Low (5%-30%).
122 CHAPTER 8

People Level 8: Leading

Definition. Sets forth/asserts a vision that has an impact on and

defines the mission, culture, and values of an organization; sets direction,
time perspective, and organizational structure for achievement of goals
and objectives; models behavior that inspires and motivates achievement
(distinct from management).

Comments. Leadership is unique to leaders, often associated with

charisma. Leadership is often time-bound, that is, associated with an
individual "seizing the moment." The particulars of individual and time
make it difficult to specify particular skills. Common to many leaders is a
personal epiphany, determination, and persistence of a very high order and
single-mindedness. Experience does not seem to play the same role for this
function as it does for those immediately preceding. Neither do Data skills.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 123

Level 8: Illustrative Tasks

High (65%-90%). Facilitate strategic planning sessions/meetings

with managers and/or employees, drawing on knowledge of strategic
planning process, principles and guidelines, current corporate direction
and goals, and challenges facing corporation in future and relying on
communication and facilitation skills, active listening, organizational skills,
and an ability to establish and maintain rapport in order to elicit
participant's view, determine future goals, and coalesce organization
around shared organizatoinal vision. (EXM)
Brainstorm/discuss problems affecting the entire agency at retreats and
general conferences convened for administrative and executive staff, ask
questions, probe for possible approaches to problems such as agency
identity and problem definition, drawing on understanding of the needs
of the agency and relying on leadership skills and ability to instill
confidence and trust in order to establish priorities, explore feasible
solutions, and develop team approaches. (EXD)

Medium (35%-60%). Develop/define organizational change strategy,

with assistance and support of relevant parties as required (e.g.,
management departments, employee representatives), drawing on
knowledge of organizational change process, organizational climate,
relevant stakeholders, marketplace factors, and corporate strategy and
mission and relying on patience, communication, persuasion, and
presentation skills in order to acquire buy-in for change from relevant
parties and to create an organizational change strategy. (EXM)

Low (5%-30%). Develop/create a corporate mission statement, with

assistance of external/internal facilitator if necessary, drawing on
knowledge of strategic management procedures and process, corporate
challenges and constraints, the current organizational culture, and
previous experience and relying on communication and listening skills in
order to acquire and define a mission statement that reflects the goals and
aspirations of the corporation. (EXM)
124 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: People Functions

Level 2: Exchanging Information

Low. Visit sites of Head Start programs, talk to appropriate personnel

as required, examine attendance records, do head counts, and verify the
acquisition of equipment (capital expenditures), drawing on agency
guidelines and budgets and relying on experience in order to insure delegate
agencies are performing in accordance with regulations. (PRA)

Review new and revised software, such as operating systems, word

processing, and networking programs, routinely received from
computer vendors; read through accompanying questionnnaires,
concerned with their practicality, obtaining clarification from vendor by
phone as necessary, drawing on experience with existing software and
met and unmet needs in order to decide whether to install new software.
(SYA)

Level 3A: Sourcing Information

Medium. Inform employees, their supervisors, delegate agencies,

and outside agencies (e.g., loan companies, welfare department) about
payroll and/or benefits, accessing the computer for information, drawing
on knowledge of agency personnel policies, and relying on communication
skills in order to provide information reqested. (PSS)

Level 3B: Pursuading

Medium. Talk to/discuss with parents their involvement in the Head

Start program, encouraging participation in their children's education,
taking into account their availability as well as classroom needs, drawing
on knowledge of Head Start program, and relying on communication
and interpersonal skills in order to recruit volunteers for classrooms.
(HSN)

Level 3C: Coaching

High. Model eating behavior and manners for children; serve

family-style breakfast; eat with children; encourage children to serve
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 125

themselves as food is passed from one to the other; commend proper eating
manners and sanitary behavior in handling utensils, silverware, and food;
describe nutritional value of food in language children can understand;
observe and listen to children's comments about their experiences at home
and at play, drawing on training and relying on sensitivity to each child's
moods in order to teach appropriate eating habits and cooperative
behaviors. (HST)

Participate/interact with clients in group attending such special events

as professional ball games, bowling, training classes, and picnics, modeling
and monitoring positive social behaviors, drawing on knowledge and
interests of clients, and relying on awareness of group interactions in order
to promote relationship with clients and share a reward for cooperation in
program(s). (STW)

Counsel one-on-one with each client who is registered for various

services in Youth Development Plan program, discussing activity in school,
job, and family situations, drawing on understanding of the degree of
at-risk seriousness of client's situation, and relying on interpersonal and
communication skills in order to monitor progress and establish the need
for additional or augmented services. (STW)

Level 4A: Consulting

Medium. Listen to presentations made by staff members and

graduate and undergraduate student interns of their current cases, read
and review their documentation, discuss with them the rationale of their
proposed and utilized interventions, drawing on personal clinical training
and role as supervisor of center and relying on experience and
interpersonal skills in order to assess information-gathering process and
make recommendations concerning diagnostic thinking, treatment
planning, and use and effectiveness of treatment interventions. (SAC)

Obtain data about family history, presenting problem and client goals,
discussing with client the treatment plan to be followed, which could
include a combination of individual, group, and family therapy sessions
and substance abuse group education, drawing on the policies of the
agency and background training in counseling techniques and relying on
communication skills in order to prepare clients for the treatment process in
which they will be involved. (SAC)
126 CHAPTER 8

Review/monitor the selection process, answering questions of hiring

supervisor, advising on interviewing procedures, reviewing documentation
provided by supervisors in support of their recommendation for hire,
comparing applicant to current staff in similar positions for equity in salary
requested, drawing on knowledge of agency policies and procedures,
relevant labor laws/regulations, internal managerial styles and
preferences, and relying on verbal and written communication skills in
order to insure vacancies are filled with qualified applicants. (PSU)

Low. Conduct a needs assessment for a specific training program or

for an agencywide training plan, either interviewing staff and supervisors,
in group or individual sessions, or distributing questionnaires to relevant
staff, drawing on experience in conducting needs assessments and
knowledge of particular group and relying on analytical skills in order to
generate the content base for a specific training curriculum or an
agencywide training plan. (TRS)

Level 4B: Instructing

Medium. Oversee and evaluate student work on curriculum outline

sheets that lay out developmental exercises for each subject, walking
around the class and checking each student's work, stopping activity when
a common problem arises for class discussion, drawing on lesson plans and
relying on instructional skills in order to observe and check each student's
progress. (GED)

Train accounting staff in accounting methodology appropriate to the

agency, using classroom sessions, drawing on prepared lesson plans,
audiovisual presentations, specially prepared exercises designed to
reinforce learning, knowledge of training techniques and relying on
instructional skills in order to prepare accountants to undertake
responsibilities and insure uniform processing of data. (CAT)

Oversee/guide children aged 3 to 5 in clean up and wash up, including

disposing of dishes, washing space at table, washing hands and face,
brushing teeth, and personal toileting, with assistance as necessary,
drawing on knowledge and understanding of early child development and
relying on skill in guiding young children in order to model and teach
cleanliness, responsibility, and personal hygiene. (HST)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 127

Level 4C: Treating

Medium. Describe/demonstrate prescribed exercises to patient with

"severe low back condition," guide and encourage patient in performing
exercises, observing and judging patient's movement in relation to norms
and indications of pain, drawing on physical therapy training, prescribed
treatment plan, and familiarity with patient and relying on interpersonal
skills, ability to establish rapport with patient, and awareness of patient's
tolerance of pain in order to relieve pain, increase relaxation, and restore
mobility. (PHT)

Level 5: Supervising

Medium. Observe teaching staff in classroom situations, noting

teacher/assistant relationship, teacher/child interaction, unrest in
classroom and evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching team, drawing
on observations, teaching criteria, and knowledge of child development
and relying on observation and writing skills in order to provide
education supervisor with written information about teaching staff at
site. (HSN)

Oversee outreach workers, giving and monitoring assignments,

assisting them in initiating assignments, giving training on the job in the
community, drawing on knowledge and experience as an outreach worker,
and relying on supervisory and interpersonal skills in order to conduct the
activities of the outreach program. (STW)

Low. Oversee the preparation of financial reports, or prepare them

using computer, in response to management requirments and/or special
requirements (e.g., of funding agency, executives, program directors),
providing technical assistance to the staff in the preparation of data,
drawing on knowledge of accounting and computer software, and relying
on attention to detail in order to meet requirements and provide general
management information. (CTR)

Dispatch crew of laborers to monitor the fair, secure fair, and

systematically unload and distribute commodities to eligible households,
giving precise instructions about the type of food, the size of crowds, and
scheduling requirements, relying on experience in order to prevent theft,
128 CHAPTER 8

minimize crowding, and insure order is maintained and undistributed

food returned to warehouse. (PSC)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 129

WORKER INSTRUCTIONS SCALE

The premise of this scale is based on the fact that everything workers do on
the job involves an instruction, either given by management or by the
worker to him- or herself. The instruction has two elements: prescription and
discretion. The prescribed part of an instruction contains what is known and
is generally proceduralized and, if at all possible, standardized. It appears
as specifications, work orders, blueprints, exploded drawings, plans and
assignments. A worker will receive them at the start of a job of work, as an
integral part of training, or both.
The discretionary part of instructions, the part left to the worker's
judgment, is typically not specified. However, the greater the duration of
job training, for example, college and beyond, the more the worker is
expected to use discretion and depend on guidelines rather than specific
proceduralized instructions. This is generally referred to as using one's
initiative, being a self-starter, and the like.
Assembly-line work and work involved with tending highly automated
equipment is highly prescribed work leaving little to the judgment of the
worker. Professional work is highly discretionary, although there are
specified aspects to this work as well, more where there is hardware
involved and less where the work deals with people and with the arts.
Together, the prescribed and discretionary instructions can be considered
to be 100% of the instructions a worker must follow. In this context, it is
possible to say for a particular job that 75% of the instructions are prescribed
and therefore 25% discretionary, or vice versa.
It is useful to think of this conceptualization of worker instructions in
connection with understanding the meaning of experience. In the early
stages of a job or career, an individual needs to learn that which is
prescribed and already standardized. As time goes on the worker
inevitably encounters situations that are not prescribed and therefore
require discretion, either for working out personal solutions or seeking
help. Where the work is proceduralized, this is indicated in task statements
by the phrase "following SOP (standing operating procedures)". Where a
significant amount of discretion is required, this is indicated by "relying on
experience." It is possible for both to occur in the same task statement,
reflecting the fact that there is a mixture of specification and discretion
involved.
130 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Benchmarks

Level 1

Definition. Inputs, outputs, tools, equipment, and procedures are all

specified. Almost everything the worker needs to know is contained in the
assignment. The worker usually turns out a specified amount of work or a
standard number of units per hour or day.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 131

Level 1: Illustrative Tasks

Separate the three copies of a computer printed check for signatures and
mailing, compare the commercial paper to one copy as a final check for
possible corrections, forward original copy for signature, and place the
third copy in book of issued checks, following SOP in order to effect
payments and maintain record of payments made. (APS)
Mix cleaning solution(s) in bucket, drawing on knowledge of cleaning
agents and methods, following SOP in order to clean floors. (JAN)
Sort/distribute incoming mail, drawing on familiarity with established
distribution route within department, following SOP in order to have mail
reach appropriate person. (JAN)
Retrieve purchase orders produced by Data Department, sort for
amount, giving special attention to orders that require dual signatures,
following SOP in order to sign off on purchase orders. (PUA)
Remove filter from window air conditioner, clean with mild detergent,
replace with new filter if necessary, and vacuum inside the housing of the
conditioner, following SOP in order to maintain upkeep of air conditioners.
(JAN)
Distribute four copies of purchase orders by mail and internal messenger
to vendors, accounting, and originating project, following SOP in order to
activate the purchase and keep the systems informed. (PUA)
Fit lock assembly over predrilled holes and screw into door and jamb,
following SOP in order to complete the lock installation. (HST)
Punch collated materials with a three-hole punch when specified,
following SOP in order to ready paper for insertion into three-ring binders.
(SWB)
Turn/open gate valves on boiler to release water, sediments, and steam
at water column at front of boiler daily for 3 seconds and at back of boiler
3 times weekly for 10 seconds, drawing on knowledge and experience with
boiler system, following SOP in order to clear out sediments from boiler.
(JAN)
132 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 2

Definition. Inputs, outputs, tools, and equipment are all specified, but
the worker has some leeway in the procedures and methods used to get the
job done. Almost all the information needed is in the assignment
instructions. Production is measured on a daily or weekly basis.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 133

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

Review/scan room set-up with reference to the day's lesson plan for
furniture arrangement, materials, and supplies, removing chairs from
tables and wiping tables down in order to insure that equipment and
materials are available for day's planned activities. (HST)
Move furniture into configurations appropriate for type of meeting (e.g.,
lecture, seminar), following oral instructions in order to have room set up.
(JAN)
Assist children in getting out of van, walk them to their classroom, give
the teacher a copy of any new student forms, and introduce parent(s) of
new student to teacher if present, following SOP in order to insure children
are in their assigned classrooms. (HVD)
Inventory classroom supplies and materials using special inventory
forms; order new materials as needed for upcoming semester; clean
materials before packing, labeling major equipment and furniture; and
store materials over school breaks, following SOP in order to have materials
and supplies available for following school year. (HST)
Drive van to downtown offices when directed by site supervisors or
agency transportation coordinator, pick up mail or previously ordered
supplies and completed duplication orders, load them onto the van, and
drop them off at the appropriate sites, drawing on knowledge of location
of agency administrative services and relying on driving and lifting ability
in order to insure sites receive their requested materials. (HVD)
Post accounting transactions into accounting system daily, drawing on
knowledge of agency system, computer software, and relying on attention
to detail in order to update system and keep information current. (CAT)
134 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 3

Definition. Inputs and outputs are specified, but the worker has
considerable freedom as to procedure and timing, including the use of tools
and/or equipment. The worker may have to refer to several standard
sources for information (handbooks, catalogs, wall charts). Time to
complete a particular product or service is specified, but this varies up to
several hours.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 135

Level 3: Illustrative Tasks

Review paperwork for projects being audited, such as purchase

requisitions, payment authorizations, check requests, consultant contracts
and payments, travel reimbursements; sign off and forward for disposition,
following agency accounting practices in order to approve or reject
disbursements. (ACT)
Compile/examine composite printouts of data on particular programs
(e.g., child care, substance abuse, aid to the elderly) for currency and
accuracy, comparing printout with commercial paper (e.g., invoices,
accounts payable), entering data on formats provided or prepared within
agency in order to provide financial reports required by granting agencies.
(ACT)
Repair/replace broken equipment such as door handles, locks,
splintered wooden toys, and knocking radiators, or assemble new
prefabricated equipment upon request from site supervisor, drawing on
knowledge of general repair and relying on skill in handling tools in order
to insure equipment at sites is in working order. (HVD)
Set up/maintain file for each client consisting of the forms completed on
intake, progress notes after each individual or family session, notes
received from group facilitator, and correspondence received from referral
agencies and originating therapist, relying on self-management and
clericial skills in order to meet requirements of contract supporting the
agency, which includes legal and ethical requirements of the counseling
profession. (SAC)
Review computer printouts showing state taxes deducted from
individual salaries for all agency and delegate agencies within a tax
payment period, compare it with checks for taxes accumulated and issued
by accounts payable, and complete and mail checks and state tax forms by
deadline, drawing on knowledge of tax regulations and following SOP in
order to insure that taxes are paid and penalties avoided. (PSS)
Schedule/evaluate monthly fire drills and intermittent tornado drills for
Head Start sites; provide dates and times to maintenance staff and teaching
staff; conduct on-site evaluations including bathroom, classroom, and
office checks; and monitor time and attendance factors, drawing on
knowledge of safety procedures, relying on attention to detail and
observation skills, and following SOP in order to insure that staff and
children are prepared for disaster and sites comply with state licensing
regulations. (HSN)
(See page 146 for additional Level 3 tasks)
136 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 4

Definition. Output (product or service) is specified in the assignment,

which may be in the form of a memorandum or of a schematic (sketch or
blueprint). The worker must work out own way of getting the job done,
including selection and use of tools and/or equipment, sequence of
operations (tasks), and obtaining important information (handbooks, etc.).
Worker may either do the work or set up standards and procedures for
others to do it.

Comments. The work of most joumeypersons tends to be organized

around this level of instructions.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 137

Level 4: Illustrative Tasks

Prepare/write article for newsletter, home visit report, parent-teacher

conference, and progress report on child, drawing on professional training
and special workshop education, relying on writing skills, and following
SOP in order to promote communication with parents about their children
and parent involvement with Head Start activity. (HST)
Inspect client's home, usually in response to a call immediately
following a break-in; install locks on front and rear doors as necessary;
check residence for other needs such as barring windows, replacing
window panes, installing window pins; and measure for materials,
drawing on experience and relying on ability to use measuring tools in order
to prepare a work order for completion at a later date. (HST)
Assign and delegate work assignments to staff members consistent with
level of training and ability; coach and train staff member on the job;
approve time cards, vacation, and personal time; and carry out
performance appraisal annually in order to get work out and encourage and
support staff. (APS)
Inform/describe to auditors (e.g., outside auditor, funding source) the
various formats and data sources, files, printouts, relevant to agency
accounting system, responding to their inquiries as requested, drawing on
knowledge of and experience with agency system and agency accounting
practices, and relying on interpersonal skills in order to assist auditors. (ACT)
Train program personnel in the use of a computer to enter and access
data, using hands-on demonstration, including the use of a variety of
function codes, accounting codes, and procedures, drawing on personal
knowledge and experience with the computer system and relying on
instructional skills in order to enable program personnel to maintain
financial records and to access master file. (ACT)
Delegate to staff or undertake on own the gathering of data relevant to
an upcoming meeting or written appeal concerning a contract problem or
misunderstanding, drawing on knowledge of particular issue/contract
and agency operations, and relying on personal judgment in order to be
prepared to explain or defend agency position. (CTR)
Share/communicate and absorb information and experience presented
during staff and seminar meetings in order to stay informed about what is
going on in agency and acquire new skills and knowledge. (PSS)
(See pages 146-147for additional Level 4 tasks)
138 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 5

Definition. Same as Level 4, but in addition the workers are expected

to know and employ theory so they understand the whys and wherefores
of the various options that are available for dealing with a problem and can
independently select from among them. Workers may have to do some
reading in the professional and/or trade literature in order to gain this
understanding and/or seek assistance from a technical "expert."

Com men ts. The work of most entering professionals tends to assume
the ability to follow this level of instructions.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 139

Level 5: Illustrative Tasks

Meet with department head and listen to statement of need and required
output (e.g., accounting), review the existing computer files that will be an
input source, write an appropriate program that processes the data as
requested, test the program on a sample problem, review results with end
user, modify as necessary, drawing on knowledge of content area and
relying on programming experience and problem-solving skills in order to
prepare a program that meets specifications of end user. (SYA)
Present on-the-job, hands-on orientation to program directors and
supervisors, using the existing policies and procedures on purchasing as a
point of departure, describing and explaining the highlights of procedures
such as forms to be completed, channels to be followed, and limitations to
be observed, relying on communication skills in order to inform those with
purchasing authority of correct procedures. (PUA)
Attend special courses dealing with purchasing at university and/or
professional organization, drawing on personal needs or knowledge and
relying on experience, initiative, and awareness of the need of the agency
to attain a high degree of effectiveness in order to keep up to date, enhance
knowledge of field, and acquire special skills. (PUA)
Estimate/formulate annual budgets for each of the grant areas, using a
computer, making tradeoffs as necessary to stay within the guidelines for
the specified programs, drawing on anticipated costs and income,
projected salary increases, vendor costs, utilities, insurance, and the ceiling
placed on the probable amount to be granted, and relying on analytical
skills in order to develop the optimum spending plan for the year. (CTD)
Review vendors' newly developed software that appears practical for
agency operations, requesting copies for tryout, testing, and evaluation of
problems that agency is experiencing (e.g., archiving, tutoring operators
for word processing), drawing on knowledge of agency needs and relying
on experience with computer operations and analytical skills in order to
decide whether to requisition new programs. (SYA)
Develop training needs questionnaire for distribution to agency staff
using existing questionnaires, adapting them to particular considerations
such as how the questionnaire will be understood by respondents and the
manner in which the data will be compiled, drawing on knowledge of
agency and relying on training experience in order to generate data for an
agency-wide training plan. (TRS)
(See page 147 for additional Level 5 tasks)
140 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 6

Definition. Various possible outputs are described that can meet

stated technical or administrative needs. The worker must investigate the
various possible outputs and evaluate them in regard to performance
characteristics and input demands. This usually requires creative use of
theory well beyond referring to standard sources. There is no specification
of inputs, methods, sequences, sources, or the like.

Comments. The work of contractors, especially where estimating is

involved and a standardized solution is not available, tends to involve this
level of instruction.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 141

Level 6: Illustrative Tasks

Review applications submitted through the Human Resources

Development Office for a staff vacancy, drawing on knowledge of position
and agency criteria, following SOP in order to select candidates to be
interviewed for vacancy and to notify Human Resources Development
Office of need to check references. (CAT)
Read/review articles, reports, papers, and statistical data relevant to
agency, whether referred to by staff or discovered on own, taking notes as
necessary, drawing on personal background and understanding, and
relying on reading comprehension in order to enhance understanding, discover
relationships, and develop materials that contribute to vision and/or provide
information for speeches, presentations, or discussions with staff. (EXD)
Read/review/comment on requests for proposals (RFPs) and associated
budgets, particularly objectives and scope of work, evaluating them in
terms of agency's capabilities and facilities, drawing on knowledge and
understanding of agency and relying on reading and conceptual skills in
order to insure the proposals are consistent with agency vision and its
capacity to deliver a result. (EXD)
Discuss with coordinators the training needs indicated in their
individual task banks, reviewing with them the specifics implicit in their
expressed needs and the circumstances in which the training might best
occur (e.g., on-the-job vs. formal class, visiting specialist), drawing on the
needs analysis, federal guidelines, and consultation with deputy director
and relying on analytical and interpersonal skills in order to arrive at
curricular and training decisions. (HSA)
Review/examine database packages on the market (e.g., Paradox,
Oracle) that are capable of providing the increased data processing capacity
required by agency's developing needs (e.g., the need to cross-reference
the clients' database for various services they are receiving in different
agency programs), drawing on understanding of current agency system,
attendance at seminars, and comments of visiting current users and relying
on experience in order to recommend a possible changeover. (SYA)
Discuss with clients their perception of training needs (e.g.,content, time,
money, type of, and number of participants, methods), indicating various
approaches and possibilities including customized needs assessment,
drawing on knowledge of the agency, and relying on training experience and
interpersonal skills in order to determine what will be delivered and the cost
for such services incorporated in a letter of agreement by the agency. (TRS)
(See pages 147-148for additional Level 6 tasks)
142 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 7

Definition. There is some question as to what the need or problem

really is or what directions should be pursued in dealing with it. In order
to define the problem, to control and explore the behavior of the variables,
and to formulate possible outputs and their performance characteristics,
the worker must consult largely unspecified sources of information and
devise investigations, surveys, or data analysis studies (strategies).

Comments. This level of instruction typically characterizes scientific

research and independent artistic endeavor. It relates to amorphous
situations that sometimes lead to creative solutions.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 143

Level 7: Illustrative Tasks

Meet with client in scheduled therapeutic sessions—individual or

family—inquiring about experiences, feelings, and events during the
interim between sessions; listening to and observing client and/or family
member(s); confronting denial as appropriate; responding with empathy;
and praising positive steps taken toward goals, drawing on therapeutic
training and understanding of particular client and relying on counselling
techniques, sensitivity, empathy, and verbal communication skills in order
to carry out the therapeutic process and to implement the treatment plan.
(SAC)
Consult/define organization development issues in response to
requests from managers and program administrators, meeting with them
in brainstorming sessions (e.g., 5-year strategic plan), drawing on
knowledge of organization development, and relying on facilitative skills
and experience in agency in order to define and clarify the problem. (TRS)
Conceive/intuit/explore relationships among selected theories and
techniques from outside social work discipline and integrate them with
accepted social work practice, relying on research and writing skills and
previous social work experience in order to develop /test a new
problem-solving process for multiproblem family. (TBE)
Conceive/create an original hypothesis about the nature of
social-psychological problems of an ethnic or socioeconomic group,
drawing on an understanding of theory and conceptual models and relying
on analytical and writing skills in order to explain factors and phenomena
previously unrecognized or unaccounted for. (TBE)
144 CHAPTER 8

Worker Instructions Level 8

Definition. Information and/or direction comes to the worker in

terms of needs (tactical, organizational, strategic, financial). Workers must
call for staff reports and recommendations concerning methods of dealing
with them. They coordinate both organizational and technical data in order
to make decisions and determinations regarding courses of action (outputs)
for major sections (divisions, groups) of the organization.

Comments. This level of instruction tends to describe how it is for

top executives, in short, top-level responsibility for executing plans,
programs, missions.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 145

Level 8: Illustrative Tasks

Review/identify needs for additional community services and

programs based on a variety of inputs (e.g., staff working in area, tenants),
drawing on knowledge of center facilities and possible alliances with other
agencies and available funding and relying on personal judgment and
conceptualization skills in order to explore the feasibility of program
expansion or development of a new program. (CTD)
Explore with heads of other community agencies (e.g., schools, welfare,
employment) areas of mutual interest affecting the poor and minorities and
considering projects warranting mutual cooperation and possible shared
funding (e.g., providing services to "latch key" children), drawing on
knowledge of agency and its potential, community needs and
understanding of functions performed by the other agencies and relying
on interpersonal and communication skills in order to develop specific
cooperative programs and/or support for ongoing programs. (EXD)
Brainstorm/discuss problems affecting the entire agency at retreats and
general conferences convened for administrative and executive staff, ask
questions, probe for possible approaches to problems such as agency
identity and problem definition, drawing on understanding of the needs
of the agency and relying on leadership skills and ability to instill
confidence and trust in order to establish priorities, explore feasible
solutions, and develop team approaches. (EXD)
Facilitate strategic planning sessions/meetings with managers and/or
employees, drawing on knowledge of strategic planning process,
principles, and guidelines, current corporate direction and goals, and
challenges facing corporation in the future and relying on communication
and facilitation skills, active listening, organizational skills, and an ability
to establish and maintain rapport in order to elicit participants' views,
determine future goals, and coalesce organization around shared
organizational vision. (EXM)
Develop/define organizational change strategy with assistance and
support of relevant parties as required (e.g., management departments,
employee representatives), drawing on knowledge of organizational
change process, organizational climate, relevant stakeholders, marketplace
factors, and corporate strategy and mission and relying on patience,
communication, persuasion, and presentation skills in order to acquire
buy-in for change from relevant parties and create an organizational
change strategy. (EXM)
(See page 148 for additional Level 8 tasks)
146 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Worker Instructions

Level 3
Model eating behavior and manners for children; serve family-style
breakfast; eat with children; encourage children to serve themselves as food
is passed from one to the other; commend proper eating manners and
sanitary behavior in handling utensils, silverware, and food; describe
nutritional value of food in language children can understand; observe and
listen to children's comments about their experiences at home and at play,
drawing on training and relying on sensitivity to each child's moods in order
to teach appropriate eating habits and cooperative behaviors. (HST)
Review physical nutrition assessment form of each child completed by
parent and doctor, noting poor eating habits, blood pressure, and blood
test results (e.g., high lead, low hematocrit or hemoglobin), drawing on
knowledge of interpreting blood tests and level of nutrition and relying on
attention to detail in order to assess the nutritional status of each child.
(HSN)
Prepare/ write and issue media notices monthly and every three months
to community at large, notifying them of scheduled distributions, drawing
on program schedules and requirements and relying on writing skills in
order to inform the public of food distribution schedule. (PSC)
Check equipment (e.g, file cabinets, desks, chairs) for state of usefulness
and need for additional equipment, completing purchase requisitions
when necessary, drawing on furnishing standards in regulations, relying
on observation skills, and following SOP in order to insure that site is
furnished and safe. (HSN)
Level 4
Prepare/decorate classroom setting with colored construction paper,
picture cutouts, corrugated paper, thematic materials relating to specified
learning areas (e.g., nutrition, science, health, emergency procedures,
music, multiculture); post library and parent news on bulletin boards,
drawing on federal guidelines and aesthetic interests and relying on
personal initiative and decorative ability in order to design a colorful,
stimulating, well-balanced environment. (HST)
Inspect delegate agency sites according to a schedule set up by Head
Start Administrator; talk with appropriate staff (e.g., cook, program
assistant, teacher); review agency nutrition plan, lesson plans, menus,
records, nutrition assessments for nutritional content; inspect kitchens for
sanitation practices; observe the atmosphere of the eating experience
(family-style eating, socialization); note use of appropriate-sized utensils,
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 147

chairs, and tables, drawing on knowledge of Head Start guidelines and

relying on communication and observation skills in order to insure that
guidelines are being followed. (HSN)
Interview qualified candidates jointly with deputy director, using a list
submitted by HRD for a particular vacancy, drawing on knowledge of
position and prepared screening questions and relying on interpersonal
skills in order to select the top three for recommendation to City Personnel
Committee. (HSA)

Level 5
Write nutrition information packets/booklets, illustrate concepts using
everyday terminology, drawing on knowledge of nutrition, technical
information, and needs of parents and relying on writing skills and ability
to adapt materials to specific target populations in order to provide parents
with tools for understanding nutritional concepts. (HSN)
Interview staff members using FJA technique, describe the method to
the individual, proceed systematically drawing on FJA training and the
responses to five basic questions, relying on listening and writing skills in
order to organize participants' input into standard FJA task structure and
produce task statements. (TRS)
Prepare and conduct a citywide orientation for new staff in the delegate
agency on the goals, objectives, mission, structure, and federal
requirements of the Head Start program, drawing on knowledge of
program and relying on experience and presentation skills in order to enable
everyone in the Head Start program to see the "big picture" and operate
according to the same basic philosophy. (HSA)
Prepare/write lesson plans once a week for entire following week,
developing curriculum items that will be covered in class, specifying
exercises/activities to be accomplished, drawing on textbook materials and
teacher training and relying on experience and instructional skills in order
to outline classwork for students for entire week. (GED)

Level 6
Counsel client in development of coping skills, using prioritization for
decision making, teaching, and encouraging client to practice a variety of
skills through use of such exercises as writing down unresolved painful
experiences, progressive relaxation, subvocalizing (saying no repeatedly
to negative thoughts), drawing on training and experience with
psychodrama, role playing, and cognitive restructuring (looking at positive
aspects of negative patterns) and relying on ability to establish rapport with
148 CHAPTER 8

client, empathy, and sensitivity in order to help clients sort out their
problems and gain control. (SWF)
Discuss/explore individuality with staff members, work-related
problems, or problems dealing with their "future" in the agency, listen to
their statement of the problem; inquire about the actions and outcomes they
have undertaken on their own, retying on experience and communication
and interpersonal skills in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable course of
action. (EXD)

Level 8
Develop/create a corporate mission statement, with assistance of
external/internal facilitator if necessary, drawing on knowledge of
strategic management procedures and process, corporate challenges and
constraints, the current organizational culture, and previous experience
and retying on communication and listening skills in order to acquire and
define a mission statement that reflects the goals and aspirations of the
corporation. (EXM)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 149

REASONING DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Reasoning Development Scale is concerned with knowledge and

ability to deal with theory versus practice, abstract versus concrete, and
many versus few variables.
150 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Benchmarks

Level 1

Definition. Have the common-sense understanding to carry out

simple one- or two-step instructions in the context of highly standardized
situations.
Recognizes unacceptable variations from the standard and takes
emergency action to reject inputs or stop operations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 151

Level 1: Illustrative Tasks

Sort/distribute incoming mail, drawing on familiarity with established

distribution route within department, following SOP in order to have mail
reach appropriate person. (APS)
Match approved requisition with numbers on computer-generated
purchase order, relying on attention to detail and following agency
accounting procedure in order to insure that they are accurate and exact.
(APS)
Phone director of the Family Crisis Center daily, asking if there will be
any children attending either the morning or afternoon Head Start session,
relying on courtesy skills and following SOP in order to determine if a pick
up is necessary and insure that new children that day will be accompanied
by parent. (HVD)
Fit lock assembly over predrilled holes and screw into door and jamb,
following SOP in order to complete the lock installation. (HST)
Check boiler water level daily according to specifications, adding water
if low in order to insure boiler is operating properly. (JAN)
Type labels for individual folders for incoming material, relying on
clerical skills and following SOP in order to prepare files for new material.
(SWB)
Punch collated materials with a three-hole punch when specified,
following SOP in order to ready paper for insertion into three-ring binders.
(SWB)
Open gate valve on water column of boiler system once every three
years, drawing on SOP in order to to drain and clean boiler system, and
insure proper maintenance. (JAN)
Enter/key-in gross amounts granted by funding sources into
computerized accounting system when funds are initially made available,
drawing on agency accounting practices and relying on computer skills in
order to record a receivable. (ACT)
152 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Level 2

Definition. Have the common-sense understanding to carry out

detailed but uninvolved instructions where the work involves a few
concrete/specific variables in or from standard/typical situations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 153

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

Drive automatic shift van between the Community Center and the
Family Crisis Shelter; wait for staff and parents to bring the children to the
van, going into the center to inform receptionist that the Head Start Van
has arrived for pick-up as necessary; assist the children into the van; buckle
their seat belts; lock the doors; checks off names on attendance sheet,
adding names and starting dates of new students as appropriate and
following SOP in order to safely transport children to the Head Start site
from the Family Crisis Center. (HVD)
Seal gym floor from moisture, pour sealer solvent solution into bucket
in which two regular-size bath towels have been immersed, remove a towel
and wrap around mop, mop floor following length of floor grain with
wrapped mop, redip and alternate towels, and overlap areas mopped until
entire floor is treated with sealer solvent solution, drawing on cleaning
techniques and SOP in order to prepare gym floor for polishing. (JAN)
Arrange tables and chairs as requested by Community Center
coordinator, make coffee, set up sign on desk with sign-in sheets, and place
signs on appropriate tables, drawing on directions of coordinator and
following SOP in order to have room ready for meetings. (HVD)
Watch/monitor boiler central panel, which indicates outside
temperature and water temperature inside the boiler, adjusting thermal
control for water temperature when necessary, drawing on knowledge of
gas-operated boiler system, and following SOP in order to maintain heat in
the building. (JAN)
Answer telephone, responding with courtesy; announce agency and
desire to help; listen for name of person requested by caller; and in the event
the caller needs help encourage him or her to express a particular need,
drawing on knowledge of agency and community resources and relying
on telephone skills in order to make appropriate connection and to refer to
"First Call for Help" service if required. (SWB)
Remove filter from window air conditioner, clean with mild detergent,
replace with new filter if necessary, and vacuum inside the housing of the
conditioner, following SOP in order to maintain upkeep of air conditioners.
(JAN)
Complete a receiving report when requisitioned material arrives, note
requested information such as quantity and condition, attach report to
invoice, and forward it to accounts payable, following SOP in order to have
supplies/materials paid for. (SWB)
(See page 162 for additional Level 2 tasks)
154 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Level 3

Definition. Have the common-sense understanding to carry out

instruction where the work involves several concrete/specific variables in
or from standard/typical situations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 155

Level 3: Illustrative Tasks

Phone or write, as appropriate, accounting department, purchasing

department, and/or program agency about inconsistent or incompatible
commercial paper (numbers do not match), using a desk calculator,
drawing on requisitions, bills, and invoices submitted for payment as
necessary and relying on experience in order to clear up inconsistencies and
obtain legitimate paper. (APS)
Alert/notify computer users to log off the computer and key in entry
codes for the computer to accept the journal, accounts payable, and payroll
entries made since the previous update, drawing on agency accounting
practices and following SOP in order to update the master file. (ACT)
Vacuum/mop carpeted areas and floors, using vacuum cleaner and
w et/dry mop, wiping desks, tables, counters, blackboards, front door
windows, and walls as needed, and emptying waste baskets and ash trays
into trash containers, following SOP in order to clean rooms in building on
a daily basis. (JAN)
Prepare/fill out report form for items requisitioned that have a useful
life of more than 1 year and cost over $300 (fixed assests), key information
into computer, drawing on agency policy to account for fixed assets and
following SOP in order to inform accounting and fulfill requirements for
designation and tracking of such assets. (PUA)
Model eating behavior and manners for children; serve family-style
breakfast; eat with children; encourage children to serve themselves as food
is passed from one to the other; commend proper eating manners and
sanitary behavior in handling utensils, silverware, and food; describe
nutritional value of food in language children can understand; observe and
listen to children's comments about their experiences at home and at play,
drawing on training and relying on sensitivity to each child's moods in order
to teach appropriate eating habits and cooperative behaviors. (HST)
Repair/replace broken equipment such as door handles, locks,
splintered wooden toys, and knocking radiators, or assemble new
prefabricated equipment upon request from site supervisor, drawing on
knowledge of general repair and relying on skill in handling tools in order
to insure equipment at sites is in working order. (HVD)
Fill out/check off various forms such as field trip, maintenance checklist,
food service checklist, attendance records, and state public school referrals,
relying on experience and following agency procedures in order to
document events for administrative purposes. (HST)
(See page 162 for additional Level 3 tasks)
156 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Level 4

Definition. Have knowledge of a system of interrelated procedures,

such as bookkeeping, internal combustion engines, electric wiring systems,
nursing, farm management, ship sailing, or machining, and the ability to
access optional solutions to ordinary problems.
Applies principles to solve practical everyday problems and deal with
a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited
standardization exists.
Interprets a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral,
diagrammatic, or schedule form.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 157

Level 4: Illustrative Tasks

Review purchase requisition of services and goods for description and

dollar amount, adherence to funding source procurement and agency
approval policies, phoning calls to vendors for current information and
price as necessary, drawing on catalog resources, agency policies, and
procedures and relying on attention to detail in order to insure accuracy and
legitimacy of purchase requisition and approve it for entry into computer.
(PUA)
Train youth and general assistance workers in janitorial services,
demonstrating operation of scrubbing machine, mixing of cleaning
solutions, and how to make minor repairs, drawing on experience and
training and relying on communication and interpersonal skills in order to
provide on-the-job training. (JAN)
Inspect client's home, usually in response to a call immediately
following a break-in; install locks on front and rear doors as necessary;
check residence for other needs such as barring windows, replacing
window panes, installing window pins; and measure for materials,
drawing on experience and relying on ability to use measuring tools in order
to prepare a work order for completion at a later date. (HST)
Review expenditures such as invoices, vouchers, and receiving reports,
either periodically or when problems occur, using computer to access
account information and files if original documents need to be checked,
drawing on knowledge of program and relying on own initiative and
experience in order to insure accuracy of data and conformity with the
conditions of grant. (ACT)
Present on-the-job, hands-on orientation to program directors and
supervisors, using the existing policies and procedures on purchasing as a
point of departure; describing and explaining the highlights of procedures
such as forms to be completed, channels to be followed, and limitations to
be observed, relying on communication skills in order to inform those with
purchasing authority of correct procedures. (PUA)
Respond to phone calls and personal visits by vendors or agency
personnel when something requested has not been received or when
changes in pricing or routine have occurred without explanation, drawing
on purchasing practices and relying on communication skills and
experience in order to resolve problems of delivery and pricing. (PUA)
(See page 163 for additional Level 4 tasks)
158 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Level 5

Definition. Have knowledge of a field of study (engineering,

literature, history, business adminstration) having immediate applicability
to the affairs of the world.
Defines problems, collects data, establishes facts, and draws valid
conclusions in controlled situations.
Interprets an extensive variety of technical material in books, manuals,
texts, and so on.
Deals with some abstract but mostly concrete variables.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 159

Level 5: Illustrative Tasks

Access federal and FICA general ledger accounts, compare them with
payroll reports looking for adjustments to tax liability for the period, based
on voided manual refund checks and/or advanced earned income credit
payments, drawing on knowledge of federal regulations and accounting
practices, relying on detail, and following SOP in order to make adjustments
in general ledger that affect tax liability. (PSS)
Discuss questions and issues affecting the health and future of the
agency periodically with executive staff, including funding sources,
policies, procedures, new programs, and obtaining of grants, drawing on
knowledge of agency and its history and relying on experience,
communication, and interpersonal skills in order to review ongoing
activities of the agency and to contribute to decisions affecting operations.
(CTR)
Train/orient new and existing staff on the job, focusing on policies,
procedures, and practices as they apply to the accounting department,
drawing on management knowledge of the department and computer
technology developments and relying on communication skills in order to
insure that staff is trained to do the work expected and meet the goals
established. (CTR)
Oversee/supervise children in walking down stairs, holding onto rails,
getting to gym or outside play yard, engaging them in structured (walking
balance beam, tumbling, bouncing and catching ball) and free-choice (run,
ride bikes, play basketball, climbing) physical activities, drawing on
knowledge of gross motor skills and their role in childhood growth in order
to promote gross motor development and cooperative play. (HST)
Prepare/write lesson plans once a week for entire following week,
developing curriculum items that will be covered in class, specifying
exercises/activities to be accomplished, drawing on textbook materials and
teacher training and relying on experience and instructional skills in order
to outline classwork for students for entire week. (GED)
Develop/write an instructional manual for new computer installation,
including screen images illustrating the various utilities that the client
needs and can refer to as models, drawing on an understanding of client
needs and computer technology and relying on writing skills and
experience in order to facilitate the client's learning of the computer
operation. (SYA)
(See pages 163-164for additional Level 5 tasks)
160 CHAPTER 8

Reasoning Development Level 6

Definition. Have knowledge of a field of study of the highest

abstractive order (e.g., mathematics, physics, chemistry, logic, philosophy,
art criticism).
Deals with nonverbal symbols in formulas, equations, or graphs.
Understands the most difficult classes of concepts.
Deals with a large number of variables and determines a specific course
of action (e.g., research, production) on the basis of need.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 161

Level 6: Illustrative Tasks

Counsel church members in spiritual and/or emotional distress,

drawing on knowledge of pastoral care, counseling methods, and relevant
spiritual doctrine and relying on communication skills and ability to relate
to people from diverse backgrounds in order to attend to members7spiritual
and emotional needs and to provide spiritual guidance. (MIN)
Read/evaluate various methods of conducting research of a problem,
drawing on the statistical, theoretical, and methodological literature
related to problem, personal knowledge and experience, and/or advice of
colleagues and relying on problem-solving ability in order to choose a
methodology that is practical, feasible, and appropriate. (ARP)
Discuss/consult with professional colleagues, students, practitioners,
and/or clients about research articles, theoretical literature, and/or ideas
derived from professional journals, conference proceedings, books, relying
on personal experience and interpersonal and communication skills in order
to determine areas for research among competing/different theoretical
positions. (ARP)
Plan and implement a construct validation study, calculate and interpret
results using a computer, drawing on theoretical relationships among
variables, intuited constructs, and standard research methodologies and
statistical procedures and relying on analytical and management skills in
order to determine what characteristics the test measures. (IOP)
Select/apply statistical techniques to measure the relationship between
test results and job performance criteria, drawing on knowledge of
statistics and tests and measures and relying on analytical and computer
skills in order to determine whether the test(s) predict(s) job performance.
(IOP)
Conceptualize/intuit new relationships between existing and evolving
analytic theories and techniques without documented precedents, relating
them to organizational problems, drawing on an understanding of theory
and conceptual models and relying on personal insights, experience, and
analytical and writing skills in order to develop an approach and
methodology for a demonstration project or for a research model. (TBE)
Conceive/create an original hypothesis about the nature of social-
psychological problems of an ethnic or socio-economic group, drawing on
an understanding of theory and conceptual models and relying on
analytical and writing skills in order to explain factors and phenomena
previously unrecognized or unaccounted for. (TBE)
162 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Reasoning Development

Level 2
Announce presence to client, introducing self and purpose of visit;
request dogs be removed; check scope of work with client; and unload
materials needed, drawing on work-order information, relying on
experience and interpersonal skills, and following SOP in order to install
locks at site. (HST)
Drill/dig out holes for lock, throw, and strike plate, on both door and
jamb, using portable power drill, drilling jig, and hand tools such as chisel
and hammer, following SOP in order to prepare for lock assembly. (HST)
Note/record training received during employment that could apply
toward mandatory state alcohol and drug abuse counselor certification,
drawing on counselor files in order to have the data available to complete
the application for certification when counselor meets eligibility
requirements. (SAC)
Check tires; turn on headlights, signals, wipers, and warning lights
daily, drawing on knowledge of vehicle operation in order to make sure van
is in safe working condition. (HVD)

Level 3
Cut materials such as lexan, plywood, and burglar bars to size as
specified in job order, using a power chop or band saw, and load materials
and tools into van, drawing on knowledge of tools and materials and
relying on experience in order to have materials on hand for various jobs of
the day. (HST)
Oversee the production of computer copies of payroll, accounts payable,
and purchase orders on a weekly and biweekly basis, libraries (directories)
on a daily basis, and entire system on a weekly basis, using both reels and
disks, and assist in computer operation as necessary, drawing on
knowledge of agency accounting system and relying on computer skills,
following SOP in order to produce back up copies of vital data. (SYA)
Participate/interact with clients in group attending such special events
as professional ball games, bowling, training classes, and picnics, modeling
and monitoring positive social behaviors, drawing on knowledge and
interests of clients, and relying on awareness of group interactions in order
to promote relationship with clients and share a reward for cooperation in
program(s). (STW)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 163

Level 4

Review proposed budgets for grant proposals with project director or

program analyst, prepare a spreadsheet showing anticipated costs for
various categories of expenses (e.g., salaries, fringe benefits, consultants,
equipment, supplies, travel, rent, utilities), referring to available reference
points and guidelines including previous grants, for each category, and
drawing on rules and regulations governing contracts and relying on
analytical skills in order to compile an estimated budget for submission to
granting agency. (ACT)
Test students referred by delegate agencies on their achievement in
reading, math, and language skills, using standardized tests, drawing on
knowledge of assessment, and relying on test administration skills and
experience in order to determine whether their grade level has improved.
(GED)
Schedule/evaluate monthly fire drills and intermittent tornado drills for
Head Start sites; provide dates and times to maintenance staff and teaching
staff; conduct on-site evaluations including bathroom, classroom, and
office checks; and monitor time and attendance factors, drawing on
knowledge of safety procedures, relying on attention to detail and
observation skills, and following SOP in order to insure that staff and
children are prepared for disaster and sites comply with state licensing
regulations. (HSN)
Assist agency Head Start director in orienting parents and staff in the
use of self-assessment validation instrument (SAVI), clarifying interview,
observation, and documention techniques and drawing on knowledge of
Head Start guidelines and SAVI procedures in order to insure that parents
and staff are familiar with the use of the self-assessment tool. (HSN)
Arrange time and place of committee meeting on phone, prepare/write
agenda, keep minutes, generate special information as requested, arrange
for the copy and flow of informational materials, drawing on knowledge
of committee, personal interests and requirements, sources of information
and relying on written and oral communication skills in order to have
committee meetings proceed without difficulty. (PSU)

Level 5
Conduct performance appraisals in one-on-one meetings with
individual staff, discussing performance as appropriate, drawing on
agency guidelines and relying on interpersonal skills in order to fulfill
agency guidelines, provide feedback, and determine whether annual
increase is merited. (CTD)
164 CHAPTER 8

Review/backtrack the inputs that produced an apparent error on

printout (e.g., accounts payable, payroll), discussing matter with
appropriate subordinates such as payroll clerk and program supervisor;
drawing on knowledge of agency organization, programs, and financial
procedures and relying on skill in working with people in order to correct
the error. (CAT)
Negotiate leases with building tenants and other program contractors
that deliver social services, drawing on agency policies and procedures and
relying on experience and negotiating skills in order to arrive at a financial
arrangement that produces an income to run the building and insure
additional services for the local population. (CTD)
Evaluate/respond to request of advocate group or coalition of groups
for active participation and lobbying assistance, ask for clarification of the
political or legislative issue, and attend meeting if necessary, drawing on
knowledge of enabling legislation and legal limitations for political action
imposed on agency and relying on political awareness and communication
and interpersonal skills in order to determine what agency can do as an
organization and what can be done by individuals. (CRS)
Present results of research to area council on priority issues such as
housing and drug-related crime, including resources and funding available
in the community, explaining and clarifying as necessary, drawing on
knowledge of agency and community and funding sources and projects in
force and relying on presentation skills in order to enable council to make
informed decisions on priority issues. (CRS)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 165

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Mathematical Development scale is concerned with knowledge and

ability to deal with mathematical problems and operations from counting
and simple addition to higher mathematics.
166 CHAPTER 8

Mathematical Development Benchmarks

Level 1

Definition. Counts/performs simple addition and subtraction; reads,

copies, and/or records figures.

Helpful Hints. Where math is not involved or suggested in a task

statement, it should nevertheless receive the Level 1 rating. The rationale
is that basic counting could likely be a requirement to negotiate the
environment of a job.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 167

Level 1: Illustrative Tasks

Install door pins where existing door hinges are exposed on the outside,
opening door, driving pin above each of the three hinges, closing door to
get impression, reopening door and drilling 1" hole into impression, relying
on experience and following SOP in order to secure door and prevent
removal of door, even if hinge pins are removed. (HST)
Service center van: check oil, transmission fluid, and air in tires; clean
inside and outside of vehicle; and keep mileage records, following SOP in
order to insure van is in operating condition. (JAN)
Match approved requisition with numbers on computer-generated
purchase order, relying on attention to detail and following agency
accounting procedure in order to insure that they are accurate and exact.
(APS)
Talk with coordinators by phone daily, logging developments (e.g.,
absences, sickness, personal time off, cancelation of meetings, unusual
happenings), drawing on knowledge of agency personnel policies, and
following SOP in order to insure attendance, coverage in case of absences,
and documentation for personnel procedures. (HSA)
Distribute a nutrition needs questionnaire to parents upon enrollment,
tally results, following SOP in order to determine nutrition training needs
of parents. (HSN)
168 CHAPTER 8

Mathematical Dvelopment Level 2

Definition. Uses arithmetic to add, subtract, multiply, and divide

whole numbers.
Reads scales and gauges as in powered equipment, where reading and
signals are indicative of conditions and actions to be taken.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 169

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

Cut materials such as lexan, plywood, and burglar bars to size as

specified in job order, using a power chop or band saw, load materials and
tools into van, drawing on knowledge of tools and materials and relying
on experience in order to have materials on hand for various jobs of the day.
(HOT)
Watch/monitor boiler central panel, which indicates outside
temperature and water temperature inside the boiler, adjusting thermal
control for water temperature when necessary, drawing on knowledge of
gas-operated boiler system, and following SOP in order to maintain heat in
the building. (JAN)
Take inventory of supply room, counting and making note of shortages,
informing center coordinator of needed supplies in order to have secretary
prepare purchase requisition. (HVD)
Review physical nutrition assessment form of each child completed by
parent and doctor, noting poor eating habits, blood pressure, and blood test
results (e.g., high lead, low hematocrit or hemoglobin), drawing on
knowledge of interpreting blood tests and level of nutrition and relying on
attention to detail in order to assess the nutritional status of each child. (HSN)
Write/fill out monthly report forms (nutrition component and site
summary), detailing component progress, financial data, number and type
of meetings and training, upcoming plans, noting any special problems and
relying on writing skills and SOP in order to keep administrators informed
and up-to-date. (HSN)
Tabulate advocacy activities and services rendered at the crisis center,
drawing from the intake and status reports prepared for clients and the
daily log of inquiries in order to meet the agency's monthly report. (FAM)
Prepare/draft a radio, TV, and newspaper advertising plan that includes
costs, specific media, schedules, and rationale for placement of ads,
focusing on energy assistance, drawing on the guidelines of the ad
assignment and relying on experience in dealing with the media in order to
insure that the service reaches the appropriate audience. (CTD)
Obtain cost estimates from typesetting and printing vendors; arrange for
type font, paper, ink, photoscreening, binding if needed, drawing on
lmowledge of cost limits and relying on an awareness of quality that can be
expected for price and negogiating skills in order to prepare the purchase
requisitions containing the specifications agreed on. (PIS)
170 CHAPTER 8

Mathematical Development Level 3

Definition. Makes arithmetic calculations involving fractions, decimals,

and percentages.
Mentally acts on dimensional specifications marked on material or
stakes.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 171

Level 3: Illustrative Tasks

Test water from boiler system for temporary hardness, permanent

hardness, total hardness, pH-Hydrogen Ion, sulfite M6-L, "p", alkalinity,
chlorides, condensate, and total dissolved solids, using chemistry set,
treating boiler with chemicals to bring solvent levels up to specifications,
drawing on knowledge of chemistry involved and boiler system and
relying on attention to detail in order to maintain water solvent levels. (JAN)
Install metal burglar bars, conduit (telescoped 3A" to 1" pipe), or angle
aluminum on windows to meet different situations (e.g., burglar bars on
first floor windows or windows that are nailed down), drilling holes
according to template and driving screws to secure bars or using rivet in
case of conduit, drawing on work-order specifications and experience and
following SOP in order to burglar proof the residence. (HST)
Write up purchase requisitions for maintenance materials such as
cleaning and bathroom supplies and replacement parts, drawing on
inventory information and special requests, relying on attention to detail,
and following SOP in order to stock necessary supplies. (JAN)
Review proposed budgets for grant proposals with project director or
program analyst, prepare a spreadsheet showing anticipated costs for
various categories of expenses (e.g., salaries, fringe benefits, consultants,
equipment, supplies, travel, rent, utilities), referring to available reference
points and guidelines including previous grants for each category, drawing
on rules and regulations governing contracts and relying on analytical
skills in order to compile an estimated budget for submission to granting
agency. (APS)
Train program personnel in the use of a computer to enter and access
data, using hands-on demonstration, including the use of a variety of
function codes, accounting codes, and procedures, drawing on personal
knowledge and experience with the computer system and relying on
instructional skills in order to enable program personnel to maintain
financial records and access master file. (ACT)
Estimate/formulate annual budgets for each of the grant areas, using a
computer, making tradeoffs as necessary to stay within the guidelines for
the specified programs, drawing on anticipated costs and income,
projected salary increases, vendor costs, utilities, insurance, and the ceiling
placed on the probable amount to be granted and relying on analytical skills
in order to develop the optimum spending plan for the year. (CTD)
(See page 176 for additional Level 3 tasks)
172 CHAPTER 8

Mathematical Development Level 4

Definition. Performs arithmetic and algebraic and/or geometric

procedures in standard practical applications.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 173

Level 4: Illustrative Tasks

Review existing computer files that will be an input source with

department head and listen to statement of need and required output (e.g.,
accounting), write an appropriate program that processes the data as
requested, test the program on a sample problem, review results with end
user, modify as necessary, drawing on knowledge of content area and
relying on programming experience and problem solving skills in order to
prepare a program that meets specifications of end user. (SYA)
Formulate/develop simulations of computer generated data based on
existing databases (e.g., anthropometric, human performance,) drawing on
programming, drafting, and computer graphic techniques and relying on
analytical skills in order to specify human factors design criteria for product
being developed. (HFC)
Evaluate summary statistics in relation to trends and developments in
the community, drawing on knowledge of the community and basic
statistical measures and relying on analytical skills in order to be able to see
how well community goals and objectives are being met. (IRS)
Design a computer program from scratch (e.g., food service program),
where the existing data are not well organized in manual files; write a
program that processes the data as requested; test the program on a sample
problem; review results with end user and modify as necessary, drawing
on programming experience and knowledge of content area
communicated by department SMEs and relying on analytical skill and
persistence in order to produce a program that meets the needs of the end
user. (SYA)
Obtain data pertaining to angles, elevations, points, and contours, using
alidade, level, transit, plane table, theodilite, electronic distance measuring
equipment, and other surveying instruments, drawing on technical
training, notes, sketches, and related records and relying on skill in
operating measuring instruments and spatial relations ability in order to
collect information for construction, map making, mining, and other
purposes. (SUR)
174 CHAPTER 8

Mathematical Development Level 5

Definition. Have knowledge of advanced mathematical and statistical

techniques such as differential and integral calculus, factor analysis, and
probability determination.
Works with a wide variety of theoretical mathematical concepts.
Makes original applications of mathematical procedures, as in empirical
and differential equations.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 175

Level 5: Illustrative Tasks

Evaluate/analyze emergency shelter data on quarterly basis, including

cross-tabulation with other factors (e.g., sex, source of income,
employment, size of family), using computer and statistical software, enter
and compile data monthly, drawing on knowledge of computer and
statistical analysis and relying on experience and analytical skills in order
to provide trend data to administrators and funding sources. (IRS)
Compile/evaluate the data of a needs assessment, both descriptive and
statistical, using computer and advanced statistical software packages as
needed, summarizing and categorizing the data, and noting specific
emphasis and individual needs, drawing on knowledge of training and
statistics and relying on analytical skills in order to design curriculum
oriented to meet the specific needs of intended training groups.(TRS)
Examine/evaluate employment data obtained from protected groups,
using statistical programs on computer, drawing on the standard
procedures outlined in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) guidelines for assessing differential validity and test bias,
psychometrics, statistics and relying on mathematical and analytical skills
in order to determine whether selection instruments demonstrate adverse
impact (IOP)
Design a pilot study, drawing on knowledge of industrial and
organizational psychology, the organization, and psychometric
considerations (e.g., reliability and validity) and relying on experience and
conceptualization skills in order to evaluate the potential success of a specific
organzational intervention. (IOP)
Analyze/evaluate completed questionnaires used in research (e.g.,
surveys), drawing on knowledge of the content area and statistical
methodology and relying on experience and analytical skills in order to
determine consumer preferences and attitudes toward client's product or
service. (IOP)
Apply standardized mathematical formulas, principles, and
methodology to technical problems in engineering and physical sciences,
using a combination and sequence of computational methods including
algebra, triginometry, geometry, vector analysis, and calculus, analyzing
data using computer software, drawing on advanced training in
mathematics and knowledge of computing equipment and relying on
analytical and problem-solving skills and spatial relations ability in order to
develop solutions to specific issues in industry and research. (MAT)
176 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Mathematical

Development

Level 3
Present information, as requested, to accounting department personnel
concerning agency purchasing policies and procedures, paying special
attention to how procedural elements fit into the agency's computerized
accounting system, drawing on knowledge of agency and relying on
experience and presentation skills in order to share information concerning
the joint responsibility of purchasing and accounting. (PUA)
Draw/construct charts that display the advantages, disadvantages,
coverage, and cost of pension plans, including investment returns and their
impact on present financial situation of the agency, using computer
programs, drawing on knowledge of pension plans and relying on
presentation and computer skills in order to assist office heads in making
decisions. (PSU)
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 177

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Language Development scale is concerned with knowledge and ability

to speak, read, or write language materials from simple verbal instructions
to complex sources of written information and ideas.
178 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Benchmarks

Level 7

Definition. Cannot read or write, but can follow simple oral,

pointing-out instructions.
Signs name and understands ordinary, routine agreements when
explained, such as those relevant to leasing a house, employment (hours,
wages, etc.), procuring a driver's license.
Reads lists, addresses, traffic signs, safety warnings.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 179

Level 1: Illustrative Tasks

Drive van to work site in sequence determined by supervisor on basis

of convenience to clients, drawing on experience as vehicle operator and
knowledge of city traffic patterns in order to reach destination on schedule.
(HST)
Install "door guard" and "jamb" (prefabricated metal devices) or repair
doors and jambs that are too damaged to take a lock with new woodwork,
using hand tools as required, relying on on-the-job experience, and
following SOP in order to have a proper base for lock installation. (HST)
Unload boxes of supplies from van, carrying boxes to the supply room;
open boxes and place them on shelf, distributing requested amounts of
supplies to secretary at her desk or placing supplies in cabinets at copier,
relying on lifting ability and following SOP in order to have supplies
available for staff. (HVD)
Collate by hand selected documents that cannot be handled by machine,
following specifications and relying on manual skills in order to produce an
assembled product. (SWB)
Pick up newspapers at newsstand and mail at U.S. Postal Station in
building, carry or drag (if very heavy) to mailroom, relying on physical
strength and following SOP in order to have mail available for sorting and
papers ready for delivery to persons designated. (SWB)
Hand deliver packages of correspondence or other material from
headquarters to downtown installations on request, either by walking or
using bus in order to expedite transmission of materials. (SWB)
Load /unload donations (mattresses, clothes) from trucks, vans, or cars,
carrying to designated areas such as clients' homes, crisis centers, and
homeless housing programs, drawing on knowledge of safe lifting
procedures and relying on physical strength, following SOP in order to
deliver donations to appropriate place. QAN)
180 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Level 2

Definition. Reads material containing short sentences, simple

concrete vocabulary, words that avoid complex Latin derivatives (comic
books, popular tabloids, "westerns").
Converses with service personnel (waitpersons, ushers, cashiers).
Copies ordinary, everyday written records or business letter precisely
without error.
Keeps taxi driver's trip record or service maintenance record.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 181

Level 2: Illustrative Tasks

Respond to phone call request to check possible malfunctions in heating

or security systems at building at odd hours of the day or night, including
weekends, drawing on familiarity with the systems and relying on
attention to detail, following SOP in order to insure systems are functioning
properly or emergency repairs are needed. (JAN)
Phone director of the Family Crisis Center daily, asking if there will be
any children attending either the morning or afternoon Head Start session,
relying on courtesy skills and following SOP in order to determine if a pick
up is necessary and to insure that new children that day will be
accompanied by parent. (HVD)
Announce presence to client, introducing self and purpose of visit;
request dogs be removed, review scope of work with client and unload
materials needed, drawing on work order information, relying on
experience and interpersonal skills, and following SOP in order to install
locks at site. (HST)
Call/visit stores, inquiring about needed parts and price, referring to
type and quantity information supplied by secretary, giving information
to the secretary for preparation of purchase order form, picking up supplies
when paperwork has been processed, relying on oral communication skills,
and following SOP in order to get parts needed to make repairs. (HVD)
Assign a serial number for new vendors when informed of their selection
by a program area, keying number, identification, and conditions of
payment into computer and following SOP in order to facilitate payments.
(APS)
Take inventory of supply room, counting and making note of shortages
and informing center coordinator of needed supplies in order to have
secretary prepare purchase requisition. (HVD)
Type labels for individual folders for incoming material, relying on
clerical skills and following SOP in order to prepare files for new material.
(SWB)
182 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Level 3

Definition. Comprehends orally expressed trade terminology (jargon)

of a specific technical nature.
Reads material on level of the Reader's Digest and straight news reporting
in popular mass newspapers.
Comprehends ordinary newscasting (uninvolved sentences and
vocabulary with focus on events rather than on their analysis).
Copies written material from one record to another, catching gross
errors in grammar.
Fills in report forms, such as Medicare forms, employment applications,
and card form for income tax.
Conducts house-to-house surveys to obtain common census-type
information or market data, such as preferences for commercial products
in everyday life.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 183

Level 3: Illustrative Tasks

Write up purchase requisitions for maintenance materials such as

cleaning and bathroom supplies and replacement parts, drawing on
inventory information and special requests, relying on attention to detail,
and following SOP in order to stock necessary supplies. (JAN)
Inform new parents riding in van about Head Start, telling them about
various agency programs available to them (e.g., Basic Skills, Head Start),
drawing on knowledge of agency and relying on courtesy and
communication skills in order to give new parents at the Family Crisis
Center general information on agency. (HVD)
Evaluate training, drawing on ratings obtained from trainees on special
forms prepared for the purpose, including such factors as trainer
preparation and skill, coverage of content, special materials, learning
facilities, and trainee's perceived level of achievement, relying on basic
statistical skills in order to determine the effectiveness of the training and
accomplishment of objectives. (TRS)
Calculate/project on a monthly basis the kinds and amounts of food
items and household issuance rates for each distribution site, drawing on
knowledge of inventory on hand, projected amounts and dates of food
deliveries, and projected utilization/demand at site, relying on arithmetic
skills in order to insure all sites receive comparable food and allocations.
(PSC)
Fill-in/complete forms and assign voucher number for approved bills
and invoices (e.g., lease payments, consultant fees, utilities, travel
advances), following agency accounting procedure and SOP in order to
enter information into computer for issuance of checks. (APS)
Prepare/list a monthly accounts payable exception list (problem
accounts), noting outstanding accounts and missing paper for forwarding
to agency administrators, relying on attention to detail, and following SOP
in order to keep administrators updated on programs that are not on track.
(APS)
Sort forms monthly according to type of service rendered, drawing on
the data describing the program and needs of callers, following SOP in order
to facilitate the process of data tabulation (age of caller, zip code, type of
service) for use by agency administrators and planners. (IRS)
(See page 190 for additional Level 3 tasks)
184 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Level 4

Definition. Writes routine business correspondence reflecting stan­

dard procedures.
Interviews job applicants to determine work best suited for their abilities
and experience; contacts employers to interest them in services of agency.
Reads and comprehends technical manuals and written instructions as
well as drawings associated with practicing a craft.
Conducts opinion research surveys involving stratified samples of the
population.
Guides people on tours through historical or public buildings and relates
relevant anecdotes and historical material.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 185

Level 4: Illustrative Tasks

Explain/describe agency practices and reports as necessary, using

phone or letter, conveying payroll files, reports, and/or documents to
outside auditors as requested, drawing on knowledge of agency and
relying on communication skills in order to facilitate their audit. (PSS)
Contact vendors by phone or in writing concerning inconsistent or
incompatible commercial paper calling for payment, using form letters
where available, drawing on agency accounting manual and relying on
communication and writing skills in order to straighten out discrepancies
and obtain paper that legitimizes payments. (APS)
Develop/draft monthly summary reports, using computer software
(e.g., Lotus 1-2-3) showing administrative costs for the period and financial
status of all agency programs, drawing on knowledge of accounting system
and spreadsheet software and relying on attention to detail in order to
submit reports to controller for approval prior to informing budget/
finance committee. (CAT)
Review educational materials and supplies described and displayed in
catalogs, drawing on observed special classroom needs and relying on
reading skills and experience in order to recommend materials for
requisitioning by lead teacher. (HST)
Administer Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) to candidates referred
by various social service programs, courts, and walk-ins, drawing on
knowledge of assessment, relying on experience in test administration in
order to diagnose grade level and educational needs of individuals for
placement in appropriate classes. (GED)
Prepare/write teaching sheets, daily lesson plans, and monthly reports,
drawing on professional training and observed progress of class and
special workshops and relying on writing skills in order to guide each day's
work and to keep a record of teaching progress. (HST)
Participate as a member in coalitions of community groups assembled
to help the poor and disadvantaged populations, drawing on knowledge
of the problems of the poor and relying on communication and
interpersonal skills and experience in order to influence the legislative
process and delivery of government services. (IRS)
Review paperwork for projects being accounted for such as purchase
requisitions, payment authorizations, check requests, consultant contracts
and payments, travel, reimbursements; sign off and forward for
disposition, following agency accounting practices in order to approve or
reject disbursements. (ACT)
186 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Level 5

Definition. Writes instructions for assembly of prefabricated parts

into units.
Writes instructions and specifications concerning proper use of
machinery.
Writes copy for advertising.
Reports news for the newspapers, radio, or television.
Prepares and delivers lectures for audiences that seek information about
the arts, sciences, and humanities in an informal way.
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 187

Level 5: Illustrative Tasks

Prepare/write an integrated report for the regional office of Head Start,

reading reports, summarizing, and highlighting activities and
developments, indicating plans for resolving problems, drawing on the
monthly and quarterly reports and progress indicators of both agency and
delegate Head Start programs, relying on writing and organization skills
in order to keep the funding source up-to-date and informed. (HSA)
Present a verbal report on Head Start activities at monthly meeting of
Child and Youth committee, and at the appropriate time of year present a
briefing paper of the refunding proposal, drawing on knowledge of
program and agency structure and relying on communication skills in
order to keep colleagues mutually informed about developments in the
child and youth area. (HSA)
Prepare/write article for newsletter and reports on home visits,
parent-teacher conference, and progress of child, drawing on professional
training and special workshop education, relying on writing skills, and
following SOP in order to promote communication with parents about their
children and parent involvement with Head Start activity. (HST)
Make presentations, as requested, to accounting department personnel
concerning agency purchasing policies and procedures, paying special
attention to how procedural elements fit into the agency computerized
accounting system, drawing on knowledge and experience and relying on
presentation skills in order to share information concerning the joint
responsibility of purchasing and accounting and the effectiveness of the
system. (PUA)
Confer with the leaders of government (e.g., the mayor), business, and
industry (e.g., CEOs of local corporations), making presentations at formal
meetings about specific needs in the community (e.g., efforts to overcome
substance abuse), particularly the need for funding and/or support for
community and government efforts, stressing the positive effect that a
particular program can have for the community as well as recipients,
drawing on knowledge and understanding of agency programs and
relying on interpersonal and communication skills in order to obtain funds
and support for agency efforts on behalf of the poor and minorities. (EXD)
Write nutrition information packets/booklets, illustrate concepts using
everyday terminology, drawing on knowledge of nutrition, technical
information, and needs of parents, relying on writing skills and ability to
adapt materials to specific target populations in order to provide parents
with tools for understanding nutritional concepts. (HSN)
(See pages 190-191 for additional Level 5 tasks)
188 CHAPTER 8

Language Development Level 6

Definition. Reports, writes, edits article for technical and scientific

journal (e.g., Journal o f Educational Sociology, Science, Physical Review,
Daedalus) or journals specializing in advanced literary criticism, (e.g., The
New Yorker, New York Review o f Books).
Prepares and draws up deeds, leases, wills, mortgages, and contracts.
Prepares and delivers lectures on politics, economics, education, or
science to specialized students and/or professional societies.
Comprehends and applies technical engineering data for designing
buildings and bridges.
Comprehends and discusses works of a highly symbolic nature, such as
works in logic and philosophy (e.g., Kant, Whitehead, Russell).
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 189

Level 6: Illustrative Tasks

Develop contracts with participating feeding sites, shelters, and

pantries, specifying terms and conditions of participation in the program,
conditions of storage, inventory control, and recordkeeping requirements;
drawing on knowledge of program requirements and agency's contractual
requirements and relying on negotiating skills in order to insure that the
Soup Kitchen/Food Bank program operates in compliance with state and
federal requirements. (PSC)
Prepare/write new proposals for new programs for agency and/or
delegate agencies, drawing on statement of conceptualized objectives,
needs and feasibilities, funding source requirements, and relationships
with cooperating agencies, relying on writing skills in order to obtain money
for needed services. (PSC)
Meet with financial officers, directors, contract monitors, and/or grant
officers, alone or accompanied by other agency executives, regarding
contract financial problems and or misunderstandings, drawing on
knowledge of particular contract or agency experience and relying on
negotiating skills in order to clarify problems and/or obtain payments.
(CTR)
Meet with personnel concerned about policy and procedural issues,
including financial operations, and conduct a brain-storming session on
proposed revisions, drawing on knowledge of issue and relying on
communication skills and sensitivity to proposals made in order to develop
revised recommendations on policy, procedure, or methods of operation.
(CTR)
Meet periodically with agency Board Committees (e.g., budget and
finance, audit), presenting them with up-to-date information on the
financial status and practices associated with agency, drawing on
knowledge and experience with agency programs and accounting practices
and relying on presentation skills in order to keep them informed and to
obtain their recommendations or directives. (CTR)
190 CHAPTER 8

Additional Illustrative Tasks: Language Development

Level 3
Review purchase requisition of services and goods for description and
dollar amount, adherence to funding source procurement and agency
approval policies, phoning vendors for current information and price as
necessary; drawing on catalog resources, agency policies, and procedures
and relying on attention to detail in order to insure accuracy and legitimacy
of purchase requisition and approve it for entry into computer. (PUA)
Note/record training received during employment that could apply
toward mandatory state alcohol and drug abuse counselor certification,
drawing on counselor files in order to have the data available to complete
the application for certification when counselor meets eligibility require­
ments. (SAC)

Level 5
Prepare/write a variety of reports, such as monthly progress reports
containing budget, statistical and narrative material, quarterly reports on
achievement of goals and objectives of the center, and ad-hoc reports
documenting long distance calls, drawing on the center's regular
documentation and required formats and funding procedures and relying
on writing skills in order to keep agency and funding sources informed on
a regular basis. (CTD)
Develop/write an instructional manual for new computer installation,
including screen images illustrating the various utilities that the client
needs and can refer to as models, drawing on an understanding of client
needs and computer technology and relying on writing skills and
experience in order to facilitate the client's learning of the computer
operation. (SYA)
Instruct/train individuals in computer operation, in groups or one-on-
one, taking them through procedures step-by-step, using prepared manual
to answer questions, giving and reviewing exercises, and encouraging
participants to apply training and use system as often as possible, drawing
on knowledge of field and training experience and relying on
communication and instructional skills in order to provide individuals with
computer skills and knowledge. (SYA)
Conduct training sessions, using lesson plans previously designed,
adapting the material to the learning rate of the participants and the
questions that they raise, drawing on knowledge of content area,
experience, and training as an instructor and relying on communication
THE BENCHMARK TASKS 191

and presentation skills in order to facilitate the learning of the content by the
participants. (TRS)
Delegate to staff or undertake on own the gathering of data relevant to
an upcoming meeting or written appeal concerning a contract problem or
misunderstanding, drawing on knowledge of particular issue/contract
and agency operations and relying on personal judgment in order to be
prepared to explain or defend agency position. (CTR)
Negotiate leases with building tenants and other program contractors
that deliver social services, drawing on agency policies and procedures and
relying on experience and negotiating skills in order to arrive at a financial
arrangement that produces an income to run the building. (CTD)
APPENDIX A: COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA
SCALES
THINGS FUNCTIONS SCALE

Working with Things literally means the physical interaction with

tangibles, including taken-for-granted items such as desktop equipment
(pencils, paper clips, telephone, handstamps, etc.), blackboards and chalk,
and cars. Physical involvement with tangibles such as desktop equipment,
and so on, may not seem very important in tasks primarily concerned with
Data or People, but their importance is quickly apparent when handicap
or ineptness occurs. An involvement with Things can be manifested in
requirements for neatness, arrangements, and/or security of the
workplace. Workers who make decisions or take actions concerning the
disposition of Things (tools, materials, or machines) are considered to be
working mainly with Data, although they physically handle Things (e.g.,
records, telephone, and catalogs).

The Things Functions scale includes: physical interaction with and

response to tangibles—touched, felt, observed, and related to in space;
images visualized spatially.

The arabic number assigned to definitions represents the successive

levels of this ordinal scale. The A, B, C, and D definitions are variations on
the same level.

Level 1A: Handling

Works (cuts, shapes, assembles, etc.) digs, moves, or carries objects or

materials where objects, materials, tools, and so on, are one or few in
number and are the primary involvement of the worker. Precision

192
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 193

requirements are relatively gross. Includes the use of dollies, handtrucks,

and the like; writing tools, telephones, and other desktop equipment; and
the casual or optional use of tools and other tangibles.

Level 1B: Feeding-Offbearing

Inserts, throws, dumps, or places materials into, or removes them from,

machines, equipment, or measuring devices that are automatic or
tended/operated by other workers. Precision requirements are built in,
largely out of control of worker.

Level 2A: Machine Tending I—Material Products and

Processing

Starts, stops, and monitors the functioning of machines and equipment set
up by other workers, where the precision of output depends on keeping
one to several controls in adjustment in response to automatic signals
according to specifications. Includes all machine situations where there is
no significant set-up or change of set-up, where cycles are very short,
alternatives to nonstandard performance are few, and adjustments are
highly prescribed.

Level 2B: Machine Tending II—Data Processing and

Duplication

Starts, stops, monitors the functioning of machines and equipment that are
preprogrammed to perform the basic functions involved in data
processing, document copying, and printing. Machines/equipment are
activated at keyboard terminals or touch control panels and can accomplish
special effects for particular activities through the input of special codes.
Nonproductive use of calculators, typewriters, and similar office
equipment is included here.

Level 3A: Manipulating

Works (cuts, shapes, assembles, etc.), digs, moves, guides, or places objects
or materials where objects, tools, controls, and so on, are several in number.
Precision requirements range from gross to fine. Includes waiting on tables
and the use of ordinary portable power tools with interchangeable parts
and ordinary tools around the home such as kitchen and garden tools used
for food preparation, installation, and minor repairs.
194 APPENDIX A

Level 3B: Operating-Controlling I

Starts, stops, controls, and adjusts a machine or equipment designed to

fabricate and/or process things, data, or people. The worker may be
involved in activating the machine, as in word processing or turning wood,
or the involvement may occur primarily at start-up and stop, as with a
semi-automatic machine. Operating a machine involves readying and
adjusting the machine and/or material as work progresses. Controlling
equipment involves monitoring gauges, dials, and so on, and turning
valves and other devices to control such items as temperature, pressure,
flow of liquids, speed of pumps, and reaction of materials. (This rating is
applied only to operators of one machine or one unit of equipment).

Level 3C: Driving-Controlling

Starts, stops, and controls (steers, guides) the actions of machines in
two-dimensional space for which a course must be followed to move things
or people. Actions regulating controls require continuous attention and
readiness of response to surface traffic conditions.

Level 3D: Starting Up

Readies powered mobile equipment for operation, typically following
standard procedures. Manipulates controls to start up engines, allows for
warm-up and pressure build-up as necessary, checks mobility where
movement is involved and working parts (as in construction equipment),
brakes, gauges indicating serviceability (fuel, pressure, temperature,
battery output, etc.), and visually checks for leaks and other unusual
conditions. Includes reverse shut-down procedures.

Level 4A: Precision Working

Works, moves, guides, or places objects or materials according to standard
practical procedures, where the number of objects, materials, tools, and so
on, embraces an entire craft and accuracy expected is within final finished
tolerances established for the craft. (Use this rating where work primarily
involves manual or power hand tools.)

Level 4B: Setting Up

Installs machines or equipment; inserts tools; alters jigs, fixtures, and
attachments and/or repairs machines or equipment to ready and/or
restore them to their proper function according to job order or blueprint
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 195

specifications. Involves primary responsibility for accuracy. May involve

one or a number of machines for other workers or worker's own operations.

Level 4C: Operating-Controlling II

Starts, stops, controls, and continuously modifies set-up of equipment
designed to hoist and move materials or transport persons and/or
materials in multidimensional space. Includes the operation of heavy
equipment to reshape and/or pave the earth's surface. Manipulation of
controls requires continuous attention to changing conditions and
readiness of response to activate the equipment in lateral, vertical, and/or
angular operations.

DATA FUNCTIONS SCALE

Data should be understood to mean information, ideas, facts, and statistics.

Involvement with Data is inherent in the simplest job instruction in the
form of recognizing the relationship of a tool to its function or the
significance of a pointing instruction. Data are always present in a task,
even though the major emphasis of the task might be dealing with Things
and/or People. Where Things are primarily involved, Data tend to show
up as specifications. Where People are primarily involved, Data tend to
show up as information about objective events or conditions, information
about feelings, or ideas that could be tinged with objective information
and/or feeling. The Data Scale measures the degree to which workers
might be expected to become involved with Data in the tasks they are asked
to perform, from simple recognition through degrees of arranging,
executing, and modifying to reconceptualizing Data.
The data functions in work and learning are the same, but there is an
important difference. In work situations, the functions tend to be
demarcated and allocated to specific assignments reflecting organization
structure and production flow. In the learning situation, functions know
no bounds. Every new learning can be a challenge involving aspects of
creativity (synthesizing), hence, all subsidiary functions in the Data
scale— either slowly or quickly. Thus, the Data scale basically reflects the
cognitive development that occurs in human learning.

Data are information, ideas, facts, statistics, specification of output,

knowledge of conditions, techniques; mental operations.

The arabic number assigned to definitions represents the successive

levels of this ordinal scale. The A, B, C, and D definitions are variations on
the same level.
196 APPENDIX A

Level 1: Comparing

Selects, sorts, or arranges data, people, or things, judging whether their

readily observable functional, structural, or compositional characteristics
are similar to or different from prescribed standards. Examples: checks oil
level, tire pressure, worn cables; observes and responds to hand signal of
worker indicating movement of load; sizes, sorts, and culls tangibles being
conveyed to workers; compares lists of names and numbers for similarity.

Level 2: Copying

Transcribes, enters, and/or posts data, following a schema or plan to

assemble or make things and using a variety of work aids. Transfers
information mentally from plans, diagrams, instructions to workpiece or
work site. Examples: attends to stakes showing a grade line to be followed
while operating equipment.

Level 3A: Computing

Performs arithmetic operations and makes reports and/or carries out a

prescribed action in relation to them. Interprets mathematical data on
plans, specifications, diagrams, or blueprints, transferring them to
workpiece; for example, reads and follows specifications on stakes.

Level 3B: Compiling

Gathers, collates, or classifies information about things, data, or people,

following schema or system but using discretion in application. Examples:
considers wind, weather (rain or shine), shape, weight and type of load,
height, and capacity of boom in making lift using a crane; converts
information in a book (title, author, subject, etc.) into a standard library
code.

Level 4: Analyzing

Examines and evaluates data (about things, data, or people) with reference
to the criteria, standards, and/or requirements of a particular discipline,
art, technique, or craft to determine interaction effects (consequences) and
to consider alternatives. Examples: considers/evaluates instructions, site
and climatic conditions, nature of load, capacity of equipment, other crafts
engaged with in order to situate (spot) a crane to best advantage; researches
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 197

a problem in a particular subject matter area to consider and to enumerate

the options available in dealing with it.

Level 5A: Innovating

Modifies, alters, and/or adapts existing designs, procedures, or methods

to meet unique specifications, unusual conditions, or specific standards of
effectiveness within the overall framework of operating theories,
principles, and/or organizational contexts; for example, improvises, using
existing attachments, or modifies customary equipment to meet unusual
conditions and fulfill specifications.

Level 5B: Coordinating

Decides times, place, and sequence of operations of a process, system, or

organization, and/or the need for revision of goals, policies (boundary
conditions), or procedures on the basis of analysis of data and of
performance review of pertinent objectives and requirements. Includes
overseeing and/or executing decisions and/or reporting on events; for
example, selects/proposes equipment best suited to achieve an output
considering resources (equipment, costs, personnel) available to get the job
done.

Level 6: Synthesizing

Takes off in new directions on the basis of personal intuitions, feelings, and
ideas (with or without regard for tradition, experience, and existing
parameters) to conceive new approaches to or statements of problems and
the development of system, operational or aesthetic solutions or
resolutions of them, typically outside of existing theoretical, stylistic, or
organizational context.

PEOPLE FUNCTIONS SCALE

The substance of the live interaction between people (and animals) is

communication. In the broadest sense, the communication can be verbal or
nonverbal. What makes communication complex is the heavy load that
messages carry, for example, Data in their objective and subjective
forms—the way in which they are delivered (volume, tone, accompanying
gesture, and the formal rules and informal customs that govern the context
of the communication). Because there is a large subjective element on the
198 APPENDIX A

part of both the sender and the receiver of a communication, it is very

difficult to measure or to assign absolute values or primary importance to
one or another type of information in the interaction.
What further complicates pinning down the nature of specific
interpersonal behavior is that affect can serve as a tool for managing oneself
in the interaction as well as the informational substance of the interaction.
Affect, as information and as tool, can occur in the simplest as well as the
most complex interaction. For example, affect expressed in a sulky manner,
perhaps to gain attention or perhaps to express resentment on the part of
a worker, can quickly become the informational substance of the interaction
when the supervisor asks nonreactively, "Don't you feel well?" and gets
the answer "No, I don't. My child is ill. I should be home."
The functions in the People scale deal with these complex questions only
indirectly. The assumption of ordinality is more tenuous than in the Things
and Data scales and depends more heavily on role, status, and authority,
which are often associated with, but not necessarily a part of, skill. In effect,
the functions try to capture the variety of interpersonal behavior assigned
in various work situations and are more or less arranged, as in the other
scales, according to the need, in general, to deal with increasing numbers
of variables and with greater degrees of discretion. (The function least
likely to fit this pattern is Supervising, which probably could have a scale
of its own.)
Skill in dealing with people is undoubtedly as much an art as a
methodology. Although measurement in this area is in a primitive state, it
is essential to delineate descriptive and numerical standards by which a
function can be appraised in the task in which it occurs. One should
especially note cultural boundary conditions in matters of courtesy,
diplomatic protocol, and "rule" of behavior in patient-doctor relationships.

The People scale measures live interaction between people, and people
and animals.

Level 1A: Taking Instructions—Helping

Attends to the work assignment, instructions, or orders of supervisor. No

immediate response or verbal exchange is required unless clarification of
instruction is needed.

Level 1B: Serving

Attends to the needs or requests of people or animals or to the expressed

or implicit wishes of people. Immediate response is involved.
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 199

Level 2: Exchanging Information

Talks to, converses with, and/or signals people to convey or obtain
information or to clarify and work out details of an assignment, within the
framework of well-established procedure; for example, requests
clarification of a verbal signal (in person or on radio) or hand signal.

Level 3A: Sourcing Information

Serves as a primary and central source to external public or internal
workforce of system information that is crucial in directing/routing people
or workers to their destination or areas of concern, which makes it possible
for system/organization to function. Examples: information personnel in
stores and terminals; reception/routing person in large office; inventory
and/or stock clerk.

Level 3B: Persuading

Influences others in favor of a product, service, or point of view by talks or
demonstration. Examples: demonstrates safety procedures required on a
piece of equipment for compliance with new regulations; sales personnel
in hardware and furniture stores or boutiques.

Level 3C: Coaching

Befriends and encourages individuals on a personal, caring basis by
approximating a peer- or family-type relationship either in a one-on-one
or small group situation; gives instruction, advice, and personal assistance
concerning activities of daily living, the use of various institutional services,
and participation in groups. Examples: gives support or encouragement to
apprentice or joumeyperson on unfamiliar piece of equipment; coaches
students on school athletic team or sponsors new employees in a training
situation.

Level 3D: Diverting

Amuses/performs to entertain or distract individuals and/or audience or
to lighten a situation. Examples: daycare teaching, storytelling, street
entertaining.

Level 4A: Consulting

Serves as a source of technical knowledge and provides such knowledge
as well as related ideas to define, clarify, enlarge on, or sharpen procedures,
200 APPENDIX A

capabilities, or product specifications. Examples: informs project managers

of effective and appropriate use of equipment to achieve output within
constraints (time, money, etc.); presents options to solve particular problems.

Level 4B: Instructing

Teaches subject matter to others or trains others, including animals,
through explanation, demonstration, and test, bringing them to a desired
level of performance.

Level 4C: Treating

Acts on or interacts with individuals or small groups of people or animals
who need help (as in sickness) to carry out specialized therapeutic or
adjustment procedures. Systematically observes results of treatment
within the framework of total personal behavior because unique individual
reactions to prescriptions (chemical, physical, or behavioral) may not fall
within the range of expectation/prediction. Motivates, supports, and
instructs individuals to accept or cooperate with therapeutic adjustment
procedures when necessary.

Level 5: Supervising
Determines and/or interprets work procedure for a group of workers,
assigns specific duties to them delineating prescribed and discretionary
content, maintains harmonious relations among them, evaluates
performance (both prescribed and discretionary) and promotes efficiency
and other organizational values; makes decisions on procedural and
technical levels.

Level 6: Negotiating
Bargains and discusses on a formal basis, as a representative of one side of
a transaction, for advantages in resources, rights, privileges, and/or
contractual obligations, giving and taking within the limits provided by
authority or within the framework of the perceived requirements and
integrity of a problem.

Level 7: Mentoring
Works with individuals having problems affecting their life adjustment in
order to advise, counsel, and/or guide them according to legal, scientific,
clinical, spiritual, and/or other professional principles. Advises clients on
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 201

implications of analyses or diagnoses made of problems, courses of action

open to deal with them, and merits of one strategy over another.

Level 8: Leading

Sets forth/asserts a vision that has an impact on and defines the mission,
culture, and values of an organization; sets direction, time perspective, and
organizational structure for achievement of goals and objectives; models
behavior that inspires and motivates achievement (distinct from
management).

WORKER INSTRUCTIONS SCALE

Level 1

Inputs, outputs, tools, equipment, and procedures are all specified. Almost
everything the worker needs to know is contained in the assignment. The
worker usually turns out a specified amount of work or a standard number
of units per hour or day.

Level 2

Inputs, outputs, tools, and equipment are all specified, but the worker has
some leeway in the procedures and methods used to get the job done.
Almost all the information needed is in the assignment instructions.
Production is measured on a daily or weekly basis.

Level 3

Inputs and outputs are specified, but the worker has considerable freedom
as to procedure and timing, including the use of tools and/or equipment.
The worker may have to refer to several standard sources for information
(handbooks, catalogues, wall charts). Time to complete a particular product
or service is specified, but this varies up to several hours.

Level 4

Output (product or service) is specified in the assignment, which may be

in the form of a memorandum or of a schematic (sketch or blueprint). The
worker must work out own way of getting the job done, including selection
and use of tools and/or equipment, sequence of operations (tasks), and
202 APPENDIX A

obtaining important information (handbooks, etc.). Worker may either do

the work or set up standards and procedures for others to do it.

Level 5
Same as Level 4, but in addition the workers are expected to know and
employ theory so that they understand the "why's" and "wherefore's" of
the various options that are available for dealing with a problem and can
independently select from among them. Workers may have to do some
reading in the professional and/or trade literature in order to gain this
understanding and/or seek assistance from a technical "expert."

Level 6
Various possible outputs are described that can meet stated technical or
administrative needs. The worker must investigate the various possible
outputs and evaluate them in regard to performance characteristics and
input demands. This usually requires creative use of theory well beyond
referring to standard sources. There is no specification of inputs, methods,
sequences, sources, or the like.

Level 7
There is some question as to what the need or problem really is or what
directions should be pursued in dealing with it. In order to define the
problem, to control and explore the behavior of the variables, and to
formulate possible outputs and their performance characteristics, the
worker must consult largely unspecified sources of information and devise
investigations, surveys, or data analysis studies (strategies).

Level 8
Information and/or direction comes to the worker in terms of needs
(tactical, organizational, strategic, financial). Worker must call for staff
reports and recommendations concerning methods of dealing with them.
He/she coordinates both organizational and technical data in order to
make decisions and determinations regarding courses of action (outputs)
for major sections (divisions, groups) of the organization.

REASONING DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Reasoning Development scale is concerned with knowledge and

ability to deal with theory versus practice, abstract versus concrete, and
many versus few variables.
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 203

Level 1
Have the common-sense understanding to carry out simple one-or
two-step instructions in the context of highly standardized situations.
Recognize unacceptable variations from the standard and take
emergency action to reject inputs or stop operations.

Level 2
Have the common-sense understanding to carry out detailed but
uninvolved instructions where the work involves a few concrete /specific
variables in or from standard/typical situations.

Level 3
Have the common-sense understanding to carry out instruction where the
work involves several concrete/specific variables in or from
standard/typical situations.

Level 4
Have knowledge of a system of interrelated procedures, such as
bookkeeping, internal combustion engines, electric wiring systems,
nursing, farm management, ship sailing, or machining, and the ability to
access optional solutions to ordinary problems.
Apply principles to solve practical everyday problems and deal with a
variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited
standardization exists.
Interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral,
diagrammatic, or schedule form.

Level 5
Have knowledge of a field of study (engineering, literature, history,
business adminstration) having immediate applicability to the affairs of the
world.
Define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
in controlled situations.
Interpret an extensive variety of technical material in books, manuals,
texts, and so on.
Deal with some abstract but mostly concrete variables.
204 APPENDIX A

Level 6
Have knowledge of a field of study of the highest abstractive order (e.g.,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, logic, philosophy, art criticism).
Deal with nonverbal symbols in formulas, equations, or graphs.
Understand the most difficult classes of concepts.
Deal with a large number of variables and determine a specific course
of action (e.g., research, production) on the basis of need.

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Mathematical Development scale is concerned with knowledge and

ability to deal with mathematical problems and operations from counting
and simple addition to higher mathematics.

Level 1
Counting to simple addition and subtraction, reading, copying, and/or
recording of figures.

Level 2
Use arithmetic to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers.
Reading scales and gauges as in powered equipment where reading and
signals are indicative of conditions and actions to be taken.

Level 3
Make arithmetic calculations involving fractions, decimals, and
percentages. Mentally act on dimensional specifications marked on
material or stakes.

Level 4
Perform arithmetic and algebraic and/or geometric procedures in standard
practical applications.

Level 5
Have knowledge of advanced mathematical and statistical techniques such
as differential and integral calculus, factor analysis, and probability
determination.
COMPLETE LISTING OF FJA SCALES 205

Work with a wide variety of theoretical mathematical concepts.

Make original applications of mathematical procedures, as in empirical
and differential equations.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT SCALE

The Language Development scale is concerned with knowledge and ability

to speak, read, or write language materials from simple verbal instructions
to complex sources of written information and ideas.

Level 1
Cannot read or write but can follow simple oral, pointing-out instructions.
Sign name and understand ordinary, routine agreements when
explained, such as those relevant to leasing a house, employment (hours,
wages, etc.), or procuring a driver's license.
Read lists, addresses, traffic signs, safety warnings.

Level 2
Read material containing short sentences, simple concrete vocabulary,
words that avoid complex Latin derivatives (comic books, popular
tabloids, "westerns").
Converse with service personnel (waitpersons, ushers, cashiers).
Copy ordinary, everyday written records or business letter precisely
without error. Keep taxi driver's trip record or service maintenance record.

Level 3
Comprehend orally expressed trade terminology (jargon) of a specific
technical nature.
Read material on level of the Reader's Digest and straight news reporting
in popular mass newspapers.
Comprehend ordinary newscasting (uninvolved sentences and
vocabulary with focus on events rather than on their analysis).
Copy written material from one record to another, catching gross errors
in grammar.
Fill in report forms, such as Medicare forms, employment applications,
and card form for income tax.
206 APPENDIX A

Conduct house-to-house surveys to obtain common census-type

information or market data, such as preferences for commercial products
in everyday life.

Level 4
Write routine business correspondence reflecting standard procedures.
Interview job applicants to determine work best suited for their abilities
and experience; contact employers to interest them in services of agency.
Read and comprehend technical manuals and written instructions as
well as drawings associated with practicing a craft.
Conduct opinion research surveys involving stratified samples of the
population.
Guide people on tours through historical or public buildings and relate
relevant anecdotes and historical material.

Level 5
Write instructions for assembly of prefabricated parts into units.
Write instructions and specifications concerning proper use of
machinery.
Write copy for advertising.
Report news for the newspapers, radio, or television.
Prepare and deliver lectures for audiences that seek information about
the arts, sciences, and humanities in an informal way.

Level 6
Report, write, edit article for technical and scientific journal (e.g., Journal of
Educational Sociology, Science, Physical Review, Daedalus) or journals
specializing in advanced literary criticism (e.g., The New Yorker, New York
Review of Books).
Prepare and draw up deeds, leases, wills, mortgages, and contracts.
Prepare and deliver lectures on politics, economics, education, or science
to specialized students and/or professional societies.
Comprehend and apply technical engineering data for designing
buildings and bridges.
Comprehend and discuss works of a highly symbolic nature, such as
works in logic and philosophy (e.g., Kant, Whitehead, Russell).
Appendix B: Comparison of
Worker Function Scales
FJA and DOT,1 CCDO,2 and NOC3

FJA DOT, CCDO, NOC

Code Function Code Function

Things

4 a Precision Working 0 Setting Up

b Setting Up 1 Precision Working
c Operating Controlling II 2 Operating-Controlling
3 a Manipulating 3 Driving-Operating
b Operating Controlling I (Driving-Controlling—U.S.A.)
c Driving-Controlling 4 Manipulating-Operating
d Starting Up (Manipulating—U.S.A.)
2 a Machine Tending I 5 Tending
b Machine Tending II 6 Feeding-Offbearing
1 a Handling 7 Handling
b Feeding-Offbearing 8 No Significant Relationship
Data

6 Synthesizing 0 Synthesizing
5 a Innovating 1 Coordinating
b Coordinating 2 Analyzing
4 Analyzing 3 Compiling
3 a Computing 4 Computing
b Compiling 5 Copying
2 Copying 6 Comparing
1 Comparing 7 —

8 No Significant Relationship

(Continued)

207
208 APPENDIX B

FJA and DOT,1 CCDO,2 and NOC3

(Continued)

FJA DOT, CCDO, NOC

Code Function Code Function

People

8 Leading 0 Mentoring
7 Mentoring 1 Negotiating
6 Negotiating 2 Instructing—Consulting
5 Supervising (Instructing —U.S.A.)
4 a Consulting 3 Supervising
b Instructing 4 Diverting
c Treating 5 Persuading
3 a Sourcing Information 6 Speaking-Signalling
b Persuading 7 Serving
c Coaching 8 No Significant Relationship
d Diverting
2 Exchanging Information
1 a Taking Instructions—Helping
b Serving

1Dictionary of Occupational Titles—U.S.A.

2Canadian Classification and Dictionary of Occupations.
3National Occupational Classification (Canada).

Explanatory Notes for Table

1. The reason the scales are similar is that they originated with the same
person, namely myself, the senior author of this document. I conceived
and directed the research on the Functional Occupational Classification
Project from 1950-1959 and received the Merit Award from the Department
of Labor for this work in 1959 shortly before taking leave to matriculate for
my doctorate.
2. The reasons for the differences are as follows: (a) FJA has grown over
the years and (b) the government classifications have remained where I left
them 35 years ago.
Eight additional functions (italicized in the table) have been added to the
FJA Scales. Operating-Controlling II and Starting Up emerged from 10 years
of consulting and development work with the International Union of
Operating Engineers. Machine Tending II emerged as the result of
technological developments in offices 1965-1985 and extensive consulting
with telephone companies among others. Sourcing Information had similar
origins.
Innovating emerged from consulting and developmental work at
research laboratories and engineering companies during the early 1960s
COMPARISON OF WORKER FUNCTION SCALES 209

when the search became intense for creative people. Treating and Coaching
emerged from work with social service agencies with treatment facilities.
Leading emerged from intensive study of the leaders/executives of a social
service agency (1990) and extensive studies on leadership in the literature.
In every instance the additional functions had to be defined to fill a
distinct niche in the ordinal scales for Things, Data, and People. They also
had to prove themselves useful in classifying what workers did. In a few
instances adjustments had to be made to existing definitions.
3. Another difference is the placement of the scales with relation to each
other. In FJA the placement is Things, Data, People not Data, People,
Things as in the government classifications.
The reason for the FJA placement is the observation made very early that
functioning with regard to Data is central to human functioning. Thus, it
was observed that as functional complexity increased for Things and
People, functional complexity increased for Data as well. However,
increases in functional complexity for Data were not necessarily
accompanied by parallel increases in Things and People. This observation
strengthened understanding as to why people were classified as homo
sapiens.
The explanation given to me in the early 1960s as to why the Data,
People, Things arrangement was preferred and why the functions were
coded in inverse order to their complexity was that it was necessary to keep
the occupational codes in the revised DOT as close to the codes in the old
DOT as possible. By assigning low numbers for high-level functions, the
first digit of the second part of the code could correspond closely to the
original coding system of the DOT (which was not really much of a system
in the first place). This, it was felt, would make it unnecessary to effect
tremendous anticipated changes in the coding structure. At the time I was
about to publish the FJA version of the scales through the W.E. Upjohn
Institute for Employment Research where I was employed. I was requested
to keep the same order as the DOT to avoid confusion. I agreed. This was
a regrettable mistake because the FJA arrangement and coding had a sound
theoretical and empirical basis unlike the government rationale. Actually,
changes had to be made in the coding of jobs in the DOT anyway.
4. It will be noted that the government coding is in a linear sequence as
though all the functions fell into a true ordinal scale. Work with the scales
during the decade of the 1960s did not support this total ordinality. Thus,
in FJA, the functions are grouped according to what was empirically
determined to be their ordinality. For example, the reason there are four
functions on the third level and three on the fourth level of the Things Scale
is that those grouped functions were more or less homogeneous as far as
degree of complexity was concerned (training time, aptitude, experience).
The same is true for the grouped functions in the other scales.
210 APPENDIX B

5. "No significant relationship." This concept does not occur in FJA for
a very good reason. FJA is a holistic concept. It is assumed that a person
is totally involved, 100%—physically, mentally, and interpersonally—in all
tasks although in varying degrees. A lesser involvement is indicated by a
lower percentage, the lowest being 5%. FJA regards it as significant if some
part of the person, let us say mental, is involved in a very low amount. This
is an imbalance that has consequences. In fact, the origins of the gathering
movement of employee involvement and worker participation in
management, using the whole person on the job, may in part be due to this
concept in FJA which was asserted 45 years ago. A perusal of some of the
jobs in the DOT that are coded as having "no significant relationship" will
reveal the questionable tenability of this classification.
Appendix C: Task Bank for
Functional Job Analyst
(KSAs, Task Statements,
and FJA Ratings Only)
KNOWLEDGES

• FJA model/method: training and certification

• FJA scales
• Group dynamics
• Job analysis: purpose and applications in human resource
management, for example, selection, training, job design
• Role of job analyst/consultant
• Human rights legislation
• Professional/ethical guidelines
• Validation methodolgy for selection instruments

SKILLS/ABILITIES

• Listening skills
• Facilitation skills (engaging SMEs in a creative endeavor); develop
rapport, handle group dynamics with sensitivity to individual
feelings
• Writing skills: grammar and verbal proficiency
• Organization skills: time management
• Presentation skills
• Memory
• Word processing skill
• Cognitive agility: thinking quickly on one's feet
• Attention to detail
• Initiative, flexibility, adaptability
211
212 APPENDIX C

FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYST TASK BANK

1.0. Planning

1.1. Contact/write workshop participants (SMEs) with invitational

letter, drawing on list of employees provided by management, knowledge
of job analyst's role, and the need for a representative sample of SMEs,
relying on written communication skills IOT* provide SMEs with
preliminary information about FJA, encourage their attendance, and
inform them of their expected active role in the workshop.

T DD P P T TD DP P
W WI
I R R M M L L
2 33B
B 2 20
20 50
50 30
30 33 3 33 44

7.2. Schedule time, location, and facility arrangements or review client

arrangements of same, using discretion, drawing on knowledge of group
dynamics, organization's needs and preferences (e.g., on- or off-site
location, work scheduling demands), awareness of special needs of
workshop participants (e.g., handicaps), and physical layout of workshop
facility, relying on time management and interpersonal skills IOT insure
suitable time, location, and arrangements for the FJA workshop.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 5b
5b 2 10
10 60
60 30
30 44 4 11 44

1.3. Gather/review informational materials such as the organ­

ization's job descriptions, technical training manuals, policies/procedures,
drawing on training in job analyst's role and FJA model and relying on
attention to detail IOT prepare for FJA workshop with SMEs.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 2 10
10 80
80 10
10 44 3 11 44

7.4. Prepare/construct several flip charts prior to workshop session,

including name of workshop and job analyst, the five (5) questions that
serve as agenda for workshop and the FJA model of a task statement,
drawing on FJA model and training and relying on writing (legibility) and
presentation skills IOT to have materials ready for introductory
presentation to SMEs.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 22 lla
a 40
40 40
40 20
20 33 2 11 33

*An alternative way of expressing in order to.

TASK LIST FOR FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYST 213

2.0. Facilitation
2.1. Introduce self to SMEs, asking SMEs to introduce themselves and
whether they have questions about invitational letter, informing them of
breaks and workshop duration, drawing on training in FJA model and
relying on ability to establish rapport, presentation, and interpersonal skills
IOT provide basic information about the FJA workshop and establish an
atmosphere conducive to working together.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 55 30
30 65
65 44 4 1 44

2.2. Present charts to SMEs prepared in 1.4, noting that five (5)
questions will serve as the agenda for the workshop, and that the task
statement model will serve as the basis for organizing the information they
provide in response to the question "What Do You Do?", drawing on
training in FJA model and experience and relying on presentation skills
IOT provide information to SMEs about the objectives, expectations, and
structure of the workshop.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 55 30
30 65
65 44 4 1 44

2.3. Ask first question, "What Do You Get Paid For?", listen to
responses and write responses as given on flip chart, using SMEs words;
avoid being critical or judgmental; ask for clarification where there seems
to be overlap, and continue until the SMEs indicate they have run out of
ideas, drawing on FJA model, experience, and previous review of
background material and relying on language, writing, and facilitation
skills IOT obtain a list of Outputs to serve as an agenda for workshop and
a basis for tracking 95% of work performed by SMEs.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 44 4a
4a 15
15 35
35 50
50 5 44 1 44

2.4. Ask next two questions, repeating them as listed on prepared

chart, writing Knowledges and Skills/Abilities on two separate charts,
again listening to and listing responses without criticism, asking for
specificity and clarification when generalities, acronyms, and abbreviations
are offered, and continuing until there is a lull, drawing on FJA model and
relying on language, writing, and facilitation skills IOT obtain a list of the
Knowledges, Skills/Abilities essential to produce the Outputs listed in 2.3.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 15
15 35
35 50
50 44 4 1 44
214 APPENDIX C

2.5. Review/remind the SMEs of the structure and content of a task

statement, referring to the chart used at the start, and that the list of Outputs
will serve as the agenda, present a sample task statement if available
(optional), and note that the knowledges drawn on to effect an action will
be preceded by d.o. (drawing on) and the skills by r.o. (relying on), drawing
on FJA model and relying on facilitation skills IOT alert the SMEs how the
information they provide will be written up on the charts.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 55 30
30 65 65 4 3 1 4

2.6. Ask SMEs which Output they would like to start with (reinforcing
their ownership of the data developed), listen for a consensus, feed back
what consensus appears to be, and proceed to note it on the chart, drawing
on the FJA model and awareness of group dynamics and relying on
facilitation skills IOT get the group started in producing task data.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 55 30
30 65 65 4 4 1 4

2.7. Ask SMEs togive a brief outline of the Output, making notes to
self on a flip chart, taking time and not pushing for closure so that SMEs
can work out together the order and/or sequence of behaviors and
intermediate results that are involved in producing the Output, drawing
on the FJA model and relying on facilitation skills IOT get a preliminary
idea of the number of tasks involved in the output and the work that needs
to be done to get the tasks down in detail. (This procedure tends to reinforce
the validity of the Output.)

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 3b 4a 5 30 65
65 44 44 1 44

2.8. Listen actively, ask questions to distinguish worker behaviors

from results, probe for indicators (procedures, guidelines, self-instruction)
of instructional level, recording information expressed by SMEs in
appropriate sections of the task statement and reading back task
information to SMEs for approval, drawing on the FJA training, experience,
and relying on analytical and facilitation skills IOT to produce complete
task statements acceptable to the SMEs.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 4 4a 5 40 55
55 55 55 1 44
TASK LIST FOR FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYST 215

2.9. Review/check task information as it is gathered, requesting

additional information from SMEs as necessary, drawing on FJA model and
relying on analytical skill IOT produce a task statement in which behavior
is translatable to a worker function and has a result related to the
orientation of the task (e.g., a primarily thing behavior has a thing
result).

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 44 4a
4a 5 40
40 55
55 5 55 1 44

2 . 10. Request examples of specific content illustrating connection

between behaviors and results and recording differences among SMEs to
show range functional performances can have, drawing on the FJA model,
training, and experience and relying on facilitation skills IOT produce a
database for rating tasks on all the FJA scales and to have SMEs note the
broad applicability of the Task Bank.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 5 30
30 65
65 4 44 1 44

2.11. Describe/introduce the Performance Standards segment of FJA

workshop when the SMEs indicate that they have no more task data to
provide for the Outputs, calling attention to the standards they may have
already mentioned, stating that what is wanted here are both the standards
they expect of themselves and those of management, drawing on the FJA
model, training, and experience and relying on facilitation skills IOT obtain
data indicating the standards SMEs work to.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M ML L
1 3b
3b 4a
4a 5 30
30 65
65 4 44 1 44

2 .12. Note/record obstacles encountered and adaptations made by

the SMEs in their work, using a separate flip chart, presenting them at the
conclusion of the collection of performance standards, and asking whether
there are any additional obstacles they would care to add, that they need
to overcome to achieve the standards nevertheless, drawing on the FJA
model, training, and experience and relying on facilitation skills IOT obtain
data for an adjunct report concerning adaptations and adjustments SMEs
make to get work done.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 44 4a
4a 5 30
30 65
65 5 55 11 44
216 APPENDIX C

2. 73. Monitor/respond to group processes, for example, conversation

and laughter among SMEs, differences of opinion on how things are done,
questions about the FJA process, active participation by some individuals
and relatively little by others, drawing on active listening, training, and
experience and relying on group process skills such as eye contact, smiling,
directly addressing individuals, acceptance and acknowledgment of
contributions, asking for clarifications or expansion of contributions,
avoiding put-downs for any reason IOT sustain rapport, ensure the
workshop stays on track, and provide motivational feedback to SMEs.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 44 4a 55 15
15 80 55 55 11 4

2.14. Debrief SMEs (e.g., inform them of upcoming stages in the FJA
process, repeat as requested the purpose of the job analysis) drawing on
knowledge of the FJA model, conversations with management and relying
on sensitivity to individual concerns and group process skills IOT insure
SMEs are satisfied with their participation in the workshop and that the job
analysis could not have been produced without their input.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
1 44 4a 55 15
15 80 44 4 11 44

3.0. Editing

3.1. Transcribe FJA using word processing equipment as available,

drawing on knowledge of FJA format and relying on word processing skills
IOT produce FJA document (Task Bank) including Outputs, Knowledges,
Skills/Abilities, Task Statements, and Performance Standards for editing.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
2b 22 la 55
55 35
35 10 33 2 11 22

3.2. Edit/revise document as necessary, avoiding any major changes

to language produced in conjunction with SMEs, transcribe changes using
word processing, drawing on knowledge of English language and
grammar, FJA style, and method and relying on writing, word processing,
time management, and occupational classification skills IOT produce
preliminary FJA Task Bank for SME validation.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
2b 44 la 20
20 65
65 15 55 44 22 55
TASK LIST FOR FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYST 217

4.0. Validating Task Bank

4.7. Prepare FJA document for validation; add Table of Contents,

Notes Section, Instructions for editing and modifications, organize KSA
sections to serve as Training Needs Survey, using word processing
equipment, drawing on knowledge of Task Bank format and procedure,
relevant professional guidelines, and procedures (e.g., Code of Ethics,
human rights legislation, confidentiality) and relying on word processing
and sensitivity to group IOT produce a preliminary copy of the FJA
document for SME validation, sign-off, and acquisition of additional
information useful to management.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
2b 3b 3a 20 65 15 4 3 1 4

4.2. Send/deliver FJA validation document to SMEs using available

delivery methods, requesting direct return to FJA Analyst, drawing on
knowledge of organization's policies and procedures and job analyst's role
and relying on communication and interpersonal skills IOT fulfill the
commitment to SMEs for their validation and final editing of the document
and help insure the document's legal defensibility.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P I
WI R R M M L L
1 2 lb 60
60 20 20
20 22 2 11 22

4.3. Edit/rewrite FJA task bank, integrating SMEs feedback (written

comments on their edited copies), checking back with SMEs as necessary
by phone or in writing, drawing on knowledge of human rights legislation,
job analyst's role, and validation methods and relying on word processing
and writing skills IOT produce a final, validated, and legally defensible
document.

T DD P P T TD DP W
P WI
I R R M M L L
2b 4 2 20
20 65
65 15
15 55 4 11 55

5.0. Reporting

5.7. Write report including purpose of job analysis, FJA methodology,

legal defensibility, validation findings, as appropriate, using word
processing equipment, drawing on knowledge of job analyst's job, purpose
of job analysis with the organization, human rights legislation, relevant
professional guidelines, and human resource management principles and
relying on writing and analytical skills IOT to fulfill contractual
218 APPENDIX C

requirements and needs of the organization and provide a basis for

applications of the job analysis data (e.g., performance appraisal, personnel
selection, employment equity, training, and job design).

T DD P P T TD DP P
W WI
I R R M M L L
2b 5b
5b 4a
4a 20
20 65
65 15
15 55 55 22 55

Profile (see Appendix E, pp. 234--235)

Summary 1
Profile 234-235)

T DD P p T TD DP P
W I
WI R R M M L L
2b 5b
5b 4a
4a 10
10 30
30 60
60 55 55 33 55
Appendix D: The Origin and
Nature of Functional Job
Analysis*

The idea of "origins" intrigued me and has been the trigger for this paper.
I wondered whether I really knew the origins of Functional Job Analysis
(FJA). In any case I decided to give it a try and attempt to provide
background for some of the core concepts of FJA that seem to have made
an impression on industrial and counseling psychology. The core concepts
tell a great deal about its nature.
First, what are the core concepts? In the time allotted I shall dwell on
seven, which is, as you know, a rather magic number. They are listed as
follows:

SEVEN CORE CONCEPTS OF FJA

1. What workers do (behaviors) versus what gets done (results).
2. Things, Data, People (the objects of work).
3. Worker instructions (prescription vs. discretion).
4. Adaptive skills as driver for functional and specific content skills.
5. FJA as a systems approach (linking behavior, KSAs, results).
6. The FJA focus group interview.
7. FJA, a holistic concept.

Origins, after all, have both proximal and distal aspects. Surely who I
am and where I came from have something to do with my more than
40-year exploration of FJA. It has been a labor of love, an edifice that I have

*This is a reprint of a paper by Sidney A. Fine presented at the centennial convention of

the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, August 15,1992, at the Washington
Hilton Hotel.

219
220 APPENDIX D

enjoyed building, an activity that has absorbed both my intellectual and

aesthetic abilities.
I am a child of the 20th century, a first generation American of an
idealistic Jewish family that began its life in America in New York's East
Side ghetto and worked its way up to slightly less ghettoized circumstances
in the East Bronx. The idealism included a strong belief in education and
socialism as a means for achieving a better life for working people. My
parents encouraged me to obtain a good education, stressing that this was
one of the wonderful things about America, and nurtured me through
public school.
I was fortunate to be admitted to Stuyvesant High School, where I
obtained a grounding in engineering, science, architecture, and ultimately
admission to the City College of New York. There I received a wonderful
education primarily in logic, scientific method, and philosophy. I attended
City College during the height of the depression and was advised to drop
engineering because the field offered few opportunities to Jews, and there
were no job openings anyway.
I chose philosophy, in my father's view a useless, impractical pursuit,
because I could study with Morris Raphael Cohen, one of the outstanding
philosophers of his day. Actually, my work with Professor Cohen was
probably the most practical training I ever received for the work I was to
do, but I did not know it at the time. I also developed an active interest in
labor unions and liberal causes that seemed to be contributing to a better
world. Despite Professor Cohen's questioning the idea of progress as a
reality, I believed in it passionately.
At City College I also obtained a master's degree in clinical psychology
and did a 1-year internship at a psychiatric clinic in a prison environment.
At the conclusion of that stint I decided I was quite unsuited for probing
other people's psyches.
When the opportunity presented itself to obtain a professional position
in occupational research at the Department of Labor, I jumped at it. That
was in 1940 and the beginning of my career as an industrial psychologist.
That is when Ernie1 and I met and started doing research together. We
researched the reliability of estimates of job characteristic requirements
used to develop job families.
As I said, I was a child of my times. Bom during World War I, I was
destined to be a soldier in World War II. During my service I applied my
job-family experience to develop a classification system for military
occupational specialties. I also earned my battle stars in the South Pacific
Theatre of Operations and came home to resume my career. Shortly after,
in 1948, drawing on the whole range of my life experience, including my

Reference is to Ernest Primoff, my co-presenter.

ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 221

job-family work in the armed forces, I prepared a proposal within the

Department of Labor to undertake research into a Functional Occupational
Classification Project (FOCP)—the purpose being to develop a
classification system for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles on a scientific
basis. It was accepted and modestly financed. I was first assistant director
and then director of the project from 1950 to 1959.
My grounding in science and engineering predisposed me to theory and
measurement and probably had something to do with my distaste for the
speculative world of clinical psychology. My study of architecture, logic,
and scientific method had a lot to do with my interest and pursuit of a
scientific basis for occupational classification. My interest in labor unions
and the working class from which I sprang oriented me to the study of
work. As you can see I was grounded for the work I ultimately did in
occupational classification and FJA. Nothing seems to have been wasted.
It was meant to be. Lucky me.
We now turn to the seven core concepts of FJA.

What Workers Do Versus What Gets Done

Job families were constructed on the basis of common characteristics

between jobs. There were the obvious content similarities involving
machines, tools, work aids and materials, services, products, and subject
matter. But this was not enough. We wanted them to be related on the basis
of common worker characteristics because this would provide a much
broader basis for suggesting transfers. Although some jobs might vary in
content, they nevertheless might require similar worker characteristics and
thereby make for effective transfers. This idea was strongly promoted by
William Stead, one of the original directors of the occupational research
project in the U.S. Employment Service. He used as an example of what he
meant the likelihood of an effective transfer of textile winders who were
being laid off to armature winders in an electrical plant where
opportunities were cropping up. The relationship here would be on the
basis of finger dexterity, eye-hand coordination, and experience with
repetitive, short-cycle work.
To assist in this job-family endeavor, we had a limited number of
Worker Characteristic Checklists that had been completed by job analysts
in the field. These checklists were an adaptation of Viteles Psychograph and
provided measures on 47 traits. Both the job content and the worker
characteristic information was punched on the edges of speed sort cards,
thus providing a means to sort for common characteristics among jobs.
During the job-family work we had used the gerund verb form—verbs
ending in ing such as feeding, tending, operating, or setting-up—to indicate
different levels of worker relationships to machines. These verbs tended to
222 APPENDIX D

represent stable patterns of worker characteristics. I referred to such

gerunds as "what workers do" verbs in contrast to similar verb forms such
as machining, typing, and selling, which were used as descriptors of work
performed on the job. These latter gerunds I called "what got done verbs."
Although the former were available in the job descriptive material for
machine operating jobs in the DOT, they were not available for any other
jobs in an equally systematic manner.
Their value and simplicity was so great for establishing relationships
that I set about looking for similar verbs among clerical jobs. I did a massive
study in this area and found what I was looking for. (This was the study
that led to the FOCP proposal.) At the same time I also found verbs that
applied to jobs primarily involved with people. What was amazing to me
was that although we had hundreds of verbs to describe the nature of work
done, there were only a handful available to describe what workers do. But
this handful performed the same function as those describing a relationship
to machines—namely, they clued you in to the pattern of worker
characteristics likely to obtain for those jobs. The current version has 32
verbs. The original version had 26. This is remarkable stability over a period
of more than 40 years.
A major breakthrough had been achieved. The language of job analysis
would never be the same again. All subsequent writing and research would
refer to "worker-oriented variables" and "work-content variables" with or
without appropriate credit to this work at the U.S. Employment Service.

Things—Data—People (The Objects of Work)

There are two more things we need to note on this transparency that
originated at the same time: The verbs are organized in ordinal hierarchies
and related to Things-Data-People. These two characteristics of what
workers do emerged naturally along with the discovery of the verbs
themselves.
That they should be arranged in ordinal hierarchies was evident from
the patterns of characteristics that the verbs related to. The higher on the
scale, the more training and education was indicated as well as higher
cognitive requirements. In addition, the higher on the scale, the more work
design shifted from repetitive-short cycle to variety and change, from
primarily following specific instructions to increased use of judgment.
Could we define these verbs so they would clearly and realistically
reflect these findings? This was not as easy as it seemed. We started with
the regular dictionary definitions of these verbs and then shaped them to
fit our conviction that we were on the right track. Each definition was
formulated to include the lower function conceptually but exclude the
higher function. In some cases we had to invent verbs to express the
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 223

functions we had in mind such as precision working and exchanging

information. In other cases we selected relatively obscure verbs such as
mentoring and defined them to suit our function. (It is interesting that over
the years mentoring has become a much more widely used verb especially
in discussions of educational reform.)
How come the verbs related only to Things, Data, and People?
Apparently because the job definitions that we were working with had as
their objects Things, Data, and People. Please note that at the same time we
were listing the Materials, Products, Services, and Subject Matters with
which the jobs were involved. These, in one form or another, were the
objects of the actions involved in the functions. I latched onto this discovery
with enthusiasm because it appeared to embrace a universe and had
overtones of that wonderful game of our childhood, namely, animal,
vegetable, or mineral. More than that, I felt I was in the shoes of that famous
chemist, Mendeleyev, who had discovered the Periodic Table of Elements,
whereby you could predict the characteristics of still undiscovered
elements. (Indeed, in the early 1960s, I gave a paper at the APA describing
the use of the Structure of Worker Functions to predict where automation
would strike, and I may add that I predicted correctly.)
The power of this discovery and the structure was enormous. Ultimately
it meant that by selecting the appropriate function from each of the three
hierarchies to describe what was getting done in a job, you were describing
the relation of that job to all possible human functions in all jobs. By saying
that a job involved the worker in operating controlling, computing, and
exchanging information, you said that it involved all the lower functions
and excluded all the higher functions. Thus, functional analysis opened up
the possibility of measurement—of determining the validity and reliability
of job analysis observations. In addition, because our estimates of worker
characteristics dealt with physical, mental, and interpersonal potentialities,
it was evident that these requirements corresponded to their Things, Data,
and People objects.
Recently I had the experience of reading an interview with Isaiah Berlin,
one of the outstanding philosophers of our time. Perhaps you can imagine
how I felt when I read the following:

I think that self-understanding is one of the main purposes of philosophy.

One of the aims of philosophy is to understand the relationships of people,
things, and words to one another.... I cannot sum up all of my beliefs in two
words, but I think that all there is in the world is persons and things and ideas
in people's heads— goals, emotions, hopes, fears, choices, imaginative
visions, and all other forms of human experience. That is all I am acquainted
with. ("Interview," 1992)

(Berlin expressed this view speaking as an empiricist and as one who rejected
the idea of a world of absolute values, of good and evil, right and wrong.)
224 APPENDIX D

Worker Instructions (Prescription vs. Discretion)

The Scale of Worker Instructions emerged as a response to an inadequacy

of the functional analysis I was doing of electronic technicians, engineers,
and physicists at a major research laboratory 33 years ago. After
determining the functions involved in these jobs, it was clear I was missing
something that was part of the jobs in that environment—something crucial
to understanding them. This was the differential allocation of
responsibility. When I pursued this with management and the
incumbents it turned out that the different levels of responsibility
inhered in the instructions they were given and the expectations that
followed. I devised the Scale of Worker Instructions to reflect these
varying instructions.
Shortly after, I came across the work of Eliot Jaques and Wilfred Brown
in England and their concept of Prescription/Discretion as it figured into
instructions given to workers. I saw in their work a more sophisticated
version of what I was trying to express and immediately merged the two,
recasting my scale to reflect this new information.
This scale has turned out to be a sort of bellwether for the other scales.
It has also provided enormous insight into the ways in which supervision
and management operates to maintain control, often adversely affecting
their own interests. For example, they will assign high level data and people
functions such as analyzing and innovating, consulting, treating, and
teaching—all of which require relatively high levels of discretion—but
nevertheless seek to control functioning through high degrees of
prescription as well as non-acknowledgment or appreciation of the
discretion (judgment) exercised. This results in supervisors and workers
being at cross purposes with one another.
It is worthy of note that the movement toward worker participation in
management, allowing more discretion to workers on the line, and about
which you have heard so much in the past 20 years, is basically a movement
to correct this anomaly. In a small way, the understanding provided by the
Scale of Worker Instructions in the organizations where I have worked has
contributed to this movement.

Adaptive Skills as Driver for Functional and Specific

Content Skills

The idea of Adaptive Skills came to me in a flash of understanding while

riding on a bus to work early one morning in the summer of 1970. At the
time I was employed as a research scientist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for
Employment Research. I had written a brochure entitled "Guidelines for
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 225

the Employment of the Culturally Disadvantaged/7 an awful title using

jargon left over from the War on Poverty. Essentially this document was
an extension of an earlier brochure entitled "Guidelines for the Design of
New Careers.77 It described, among other things, how the functional
concepts of FJA could be used to break down complex jobs into simpler
components, for example, in the service professions, to design entry jobs
for persons with relatively little work experience.
It also suggested that the redesign process would provide new insights
into the work itself, possibly even from the entry-level applicants who
would be employed in the new jobs. On the strength of these writings,
which I may add, priced at 25 cents each, were best sellers at the Upjohn
Institute, Dr. Herbert Striner, my boss, suggested I meet with the Reverend
Leon Sullivan, the originator of the Opportunities Industrialization
Centers, whom he knew well. 7/He is having some problems placing his
trainees. Perhaps you can be of help,77he said. I went to Philadelphia, met
with Rev. Sullivan, a giant of a man not only in stature but in presence and
ideas, and visited a couple of the centers with him. They were excellent
training institutes.
During the visits he told me that despite the excellent training provided
in mechanics, office work, food services, and the like, the trainees had
difficulty in adjusting to actual jobs.
Specific problems included getting to work on time, regular attendance,
dress, responding to authority, and getting along with white co-workers.
Simply lecturing about these matters to the trainees did not solve the
problem. Rev. Sullivan was clearly frustrated. Could I help? At that point
I could not. I too felt frustrated because the conventional understanding
that the problem with the disadvantaged was lack of skills had here been
remedied. What was wrong? I left saying that I would think it over and get
in touch as soon as I had something to recommend.
The answer came to me a short time later, back in Washington, while on
the aforementioned bus ride. Workers on jobs were not just instruments
using functional and specific content skills, but also people using adaptive
skills. Adaptive skills were those competencies they needed to manage
themselves in relation to conformity and change. And how did workers
acquire these skills? They were acquired starting at the mother's breast and
absorbed in the cultural context of growing up.
Working in white employment environments meant learning new ways
of getting along other than the adaptive street smarts that worked in a
different environment. This required a sensitive, tolerant environment that
accepted you for who you were. That simply did not exist in most situations
where Rev. Sullivan's trainees were placed. What was needed was
sensitivity training both for whites and blacks so that adaptive skills could
emerge and be reenforced. Adaptive skills involved a two-way street.
226 APPENDIX D

What are some of the Adaptive Skills? They include behavioral styles as
they relate to, for example:

• Time, Space, Geography (getting to and from work).

• Moving toward, away from, or against people.
• Preferred Instructions (prescription/discretion mix).
• Impulse Control, control of self-gratification, expectations.
• Initiative, resourcefulness, direction of ambition.
• Dealing with authority.

Reviewing these, and the many more that could be added, it quickly
becomes apparent that Adaptive Skills define who a person is, the kinds of
things that a person has in mind when he or she says, "This is who I am!"
Consciously or subconsciously a person looks over a specific employment
situation and decides, "yes" or "no," whether it is suitable. They are not in
the first instance thinking, "I am a machinist, a typist, a welder, or
whatever." They are in the first instance thinking, "This is who I am! I think
this situation I'm looking at will suit me. I'll do my machining, or typing,
or welding here and give it a try." In short, Adaptive Skills are basic to an
individual's choice process.

Systems Approach: Linking Behavior—Knowledges,

Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)—Results

FJA is a systems approach. Systems involve a master purpose. All of the

components of the system must be evaluated for their contribution to the
master purpose. In FJA, the fundamental unit is the task, and it is expressed
as a statement embodying a behavior moderated by KSAs leading to a
result. The result is the purpose of the task. The result provides feedback
to the behavior as to whether or not the performance standards are being
achieved. Thus, a task statement is the fundamental unit of a work system.
The purpose of a work system is achieved by clusters of tasks embodying
technologies designed to achieve objectives and goals that add up to the
purpose. In this sense the task is like a cell (a building block) in the human
body.
What was the origin of this idea? It occurred to me when I was working
at the aforementioned scientific research laboratory, which was a
development center for missiles and satellites and was system driven.
There my first approach to FJA data gathering had been self-reports
consisting of functionally oriented checklist items along with lists of
knowledge and special skills. These were quite long, consisting of several
hundred items. When they were completed I was faced with a problem
analogous to that confronting all checklist developers. I did not have a
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 227

coherent, integrated picture of the job. I had to piece such a picture together
from the bits and pieces of my self-report.
My clue for doing so was a brief open ended description the incumbent
was asked to write at the beginning of the self-report. Essentially what
everyone wrote was the driving purpose of their job, which was achieved
by a whole series of results in turn achieved through the performance of
individual tasks.
I pursued this observation through analysis of the self-reports and the
marginal notes and comments of the incumbents. This made it possible to
reconstruct the tasks, linking results to behaviors and specific KSAs. It was
at that time the checklist was laid to rest and the system module was bom.
The consequences of this change in approach were enormous. To begin
with, I had found a way to establish the intrinsic validity of the tasks and
thus the job analysis information. Behaviors, KSAs, and Results had to fit
together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Furthermore, the results had to add
up, belong to the technology, and contribute to objectives in the form of
tangible or intended outputs. The task bank had to make sense to
incumbent and supervisor. It was now a picture in focus.
Incumbents could now use their own terms/jargon to describe what
they were doing, but I could ask them to explain what they meant in
relation to one or another part of the system module. It became almost
impossible to pull the wool over my eyes. The fact that I could follow up
what I was being told with pointed questions led some of the incumbents
to believe I was really one of them, a ringer, in other words.

The FJA Focus Group Interview

The focus group interview grew out of observations that I am sure many
of you have also made when doing job analysis. About 20 years ago I was
employed to analyze the jobs of heavy equipment operators, members of
the International Union of Operating Engineers. The purpose was to
determine why they needed a 4-year apprenticeship to do their work. In
the course of individual interviews (which were necessary because you
cannot really know what a crane operator is doing by just observing him
or her, although you can see what is getting done) I found many of the
engineers were not very verbal about their work on a one-to-one basis.
Because many of these interviews were conducted on site, I frequently
went out with the operators after work to a nearby pub to have a beer. In
that situation, when a group of us sat together, the conversation typically
was about the work, and the nonverbal engineers suddenly became not
only verbal, but extremely verbal. I also noticed that in their conversations
they both supplemented and corrected what they each had to say, often
using very colorful language. I therefore proposed that we hold group
228 APPENDIX D

interviews. This was agreed to despite the complicated arrangements

sometimes involved. However, in the long run it saved time and produced
more valid data. Oversights, exaggerations, insights all went through a
leavening process in the group.
The basic format for an FJA interview is to ask the following five
questions in sequence with appropriate follow-up to obtain specification,
expansion, and clarification as necessary:

• What do you get paid for? (Outputs)

• What do you need to know to produce the Outputs? (Knowledges)
• What do you need to be able to do to apply those knowledges? (Skills
and Abilities)
• What do you actually do to accomplish each of these Outputs?
(Tasks)
• What standards, yours and your organization's, do you work to
achieve? (Performance Standards)

Wherever possible I conduct group interviews with five or six

incumbent "journeymen" having pretty much the same job title and
definitely belonging in what management considers is the same job family.
Management is not always right about the incumbents belonging to the
same job family, and so I prefer to test the waters myself by reviewing
existing information. I make mistakes, too. Supervisors are not included in
these groups except under very special circumstances. In all cases I arrange
for participants to receive an invitational letter from me that states the
purpose of the job analysis (as worked out with management), describes
the format of the 2-day interview, and invites their cooperation as Subject
Matter Experts (SMEs)
The language and the tone of the letter is intended to reduce anxiety and
allow the incumbents to question me in any way they like before the session
begins.
One of the great advantages of the focus group is that the participants
practically always have a good time and conclude by telling me how much
they enjoyed the session and how much they learned about their job
through the exchange that took place with their peers.
The FJA analyst is actually a facilitator. Aside from asking the questions
noted earlier, he or she does not intrude with personal knowledge of the
job under study. The analyst may, however, describe personal experiences
as a facilitator, where they are relevant, and help to lighten the interview
process.
Although I use the same format for individual interviews and for groups
of two and three, it is not quite the same. Nevertheless, the results have
been satisfactory. I recently did an entire social service agency where over
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 229

three-fourths of the jobs had three or fewer workers. These interviews often
take no more than a day.

FJA is a Holistic Concept

Although one of the original premises of FJA was that the whole person
came to the job, not just an individual with certain instrumental skills, it
nevertheless did not purport to be any more than a pragmatic approach to
job description. It affirmed that workers related to Things, Data, and People
and did so from simple to complex ways. It was kind of neat that these three
classes of objects corresponded to what was measured in people by
physical, mental, and interpersonal tests to establish their qualifications to
meet job requirements. However, no more was made of it than that the
correspondence occurred.
As I have already indicated, once I got out in the real world, my vision
was forcibly enlarged. The limited view I had was really a phenomenon of
the data in the DOT definitions, which was the source for all our research.
I quickly discovered there was such a thing as Instructions the workers had
to follow to fulfill the control standards of the organization they worked
for. Some years later I further discovered, again in the real world of placement,
that workers had to adapt to environmental factors in the work situation as
well as to specific content. Together these two categories—Instructions and
Environmental Factors—were a major challenge to a person's Adaptive
Skills. My original idea of wholeness as represented by Things, Data,
People and their counterpart Physical, Mental, and Interpersonal skills fell
short of the wholeness that I had envisioned. My revised concept of
wholeness was that of an individual in a social complex. The evolution of
my thinking led me to a concept that John Dewey expressed over 100 years
ago, namely, that it is a mistake to think of the individual as something
separable from the social context in which he or she lived and worked. He
wrote, "the non-social individual is an abstraction arrived at by imagining
what man would be if all his human qualities were taken away" (Dewey,
1888).
Thus, my first intimation of holism was a recognition that FJA was not
complete until it included in its conceptual scheme both Job Content as
represented by Functional and Specific Content Skills and Job Context as
represented by Adaptive Skills. And, as I noted earlier in my discussion of
Adaptive Skills, this revised view of holism provided an understanding of
the dynamics of job and career choice.
I have come to see the holistic aspect of FJA in another vital way; namely,
that it can help us to understand Stress in the Work Situation and what to
do about it. For the whole person to function optimally, to be fully
productive, he or she must be in tune with with the job-worker situation.
230 APPENDIX D

The feedback from the job-worker situation must confirm that where the
workers are working is where they want to be, that it suits their behavioral
style. When it is confirmed, workers experience the positive stress that
energizes them to excel, to use their functional potential to the utmost, to
go through the roof as far as their special talents are concerned. If for some
reason, either intrinsic to the job content or extrinsic relating to job context,
workers feel they are not where they want to be or should be, negative stress
occurs and barriers to productivity multiply. In the hundreds of focus
groups I have conducted, the conditions for both positive and negative
stress have always surfaced, particularly during the discussion of
Performance Standards.
The sensitive, aware employer concerned about human resources and
its contribution to productivity, as well as that of capital investment, knows
this. In one way or another, employers listen with the third ear and act
appropriately. Nowadays it involves hearing job-context matters such as
sexual harassment, the problems of single parents caring for children, the
needs of persons with disabilities, and the problems associated with shift
work. Taking action in such matters, caring for workers as people, can go
a long way in reducing negative stress and transforming it to positive stress.
Thus, indirectly , as it were, I arrived at a place I always wanted to be;
namely, a place where somehow my moral and aesthetic values and my
scientific research would meet. This they have done in FJA, particularly in
its penetration to holism. Along with Huxley (1977)21believe that "an ethic
and a philosophy are very important in creating a suitable mental
atmosphere in which we can act in the right way towards our natural
surroundings.... We {also} need an aesthetic, an organized sensibility,
which will polarize our feelings and thoughts in an artistic way towards
the world" (p. 37). (He expressed these sentiments in 1959 during lectures
at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 4 years before his death.)

SUMMATION

I trust the foregoing has given you a better idea than you may have had
concerning the nature of FJA. I am grateful for the opportunity the
preparation of this paper has given me to recall and relate the origins of
FJA to its overrall practice. In my own mind I continue to be amazed at how
much of what I have created has its roots in my parents, my teachers, my
SMEs, and my management clients, who have challenged me with specific
needs and problems.
More than ever I am aware that FJA is an organic whole, a living,
growing, developing heuristic methodology. At present, I am preparing a

2Huxley, A. (1977). Ferruci, P. (Ed.), The human situation. New York: Harper & Row.
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FJA 231

volume with my colleagues of benchmarks for every level of the functional

scales to facilitate and expand the use of the scales for job evaluation
purposes. In addition we are working on a structured interview for
selection purposes. We think the FJA approach will help improve and
validate this tool. Who knows what the future holds?
Appendix E: Application of FJA to Job
Evaluation
EQUALITY AND FAIRNESS IN COMPENSATION

Perhaps nowhere in human resource management is the need for

benchmarks more pressing than in job evaluation. The essence of job
evaluation is having a common metric according to which all jobs can be
valued and objective benchmarks to which all jobs can be compared to
justify pay differentials. This is what this chapter is about. It provides a
step-by-step procedure for applying FJA ratings to establish values for jobs
so that all jobs can be compared with each other. The benchmarks in chapter
8 provide the anchors for the valuations.

Workers Need to be Paid Equitably and Fairly

After all is said and done to achieve productive efficiency and effectiveness
in an organization through careful selection of suitable employees, design
of jobs for smooth flow of work, and training that is directed specifically at
performance, it can all fall apart through unwise and inadequate
compensation of employees. Employees need to feel they are being dealt
with equitably and fairly, both with regard to other workers in the
organization and in comparison to workers outside the organization doing
similar work. Nowhere is this manifested better than in their compensation.
Equitably in this context refers to work established to require "equal" or
"similar" levels of skill, complexity and training. Fairly refers to the
recognition of unique or exceptional factors in work situations either of a
negative or positive nature. Thus, for two jobs otherwise judged to be equal,
if one involves extreme negative environmental conditions of one sort or
another (e.g., extremes of heat or cold or exceptional isolation), then
fairness requires that the latter should receive a premium to compensate
for the exceptional conditions that in effect make them unequal. The

232
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 233

premium is an extra that should not disturb the already established status
of the two jobs as being equal in skill, complexity, and required training.

TWO MAIN WAYS OF PAYING WORKERS

There are two main ways to pay workers fairly and equitably. They can be
paid on the basis of the job, the job being ranked for level of difficulty or
complexity in relation to other jobs. Or they can be paid on the basis of their
personal skills, the more skills they bring to a job-worker situation, the
more they will be worth. Both methods are influenced by the worth of the
job or the skills in the marketplace.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. The former
is by far the most common, perhaps because it is the oldest. It has the
advantage of being, or at least appearing to be, the most objective. It is based
on job descriptions and these can be more or less agreed on by putting them
in writing and negotiating their relative worth by what it takes to perform
them satisfactorily. This includes education, training, experience, verbal,
numerical, spatial relations abilities, and physical demands. The more
(higher degree) of these factors required by a job, the more the job is
considered worth for pay purposes. The disadvantage of this approach is
that workers put forth in their jobs far more skill and effort than is rated in
the job description. What is more, this approach tends to limit workers to
their job description when the natural tendency of most workers is to grow
in their jobs, go beyond its boundaries, and meet the challenges of the
moment.
The latter method—paying the person—is not very common, although
depending on how defined, surveys find the method in use in from 5% to
40% of large corporations (Lawler, 1990). It is especially associated with
research and development endeavors, teamwork, participative
management, and high technology organizations. The recent
developments in the workplace of increased use of teamwork in a variety
of industries as well as the expectation that workers be willing to perform
a wider range of duties than those specified in job classifications written
into negotiated contracts have had the effect of increasing the range of skills
demanded in job-worker situations. Where such developments occur,
workers are being paid increasingly on the basis of skill rather than job
evaluation. A major disadvantage, nevertheless, is that paying workers on
the basis of their skills presents significant problems in the definition of
skills to be paid for and in administration.
FJA lends itself equally well to either approach. However, here we
describe its application only to job evaluation, that is, the objective

Lawler, E. IE. (1990). Strategic pay. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

234 APPENDIX E

establishment of the comparable worth of jobs. In FJA, all jobs are rated for
the same range of factors and can all be given point values that in effect
establish their relative difficulty or complexity.
Willingness to accept the idea that more complex jobs are by and large
worth more money has more or less been ingrained in the American value
system and appears to be widely accepted—so long as other contingent
factors are also taken into consideration. Among these contingent factors
that can receive special pay allowances but are not included in the ranking
of the complexity of the job are: hazards, extreme working conditions (heat,
cold, fumes), seniority, allowances for cost of living, family size, child care,
education, training, and performance excellence (paid by bonus). Payment
for these contingent factors is by no means universal and is frequently a
matter determined by the culture, sometimes by legislation, and at other
times as the result of collective bargaining.

FJA APPROACH TO SKILL EVALUATION:

A FOUR-FACTOR APPROACH

FJA considers that a job, whatever its level of complexity, involves the
whole person and therefore all aspects of a worker's involvement in the job
should be considered in the compensation. Four types of factors contribute
to this whole-person involvement: Functional, Holistic, Organizational,
and Premium or Special Adaptation factors. The first three are intrinsic to
the skill requirements of jobs and reflect the qualifications necessary to
fulfill them, such as the individual's capacities, investment in self, and
willingness to assume responsibility. They characterize jobs in their
ordinary relation to each other. The Premium factors represent special
adaptations individuals make to the environment in which jobs occur. They
reflect ways in which workers are willing to extend themselves to adapt to
the work situation.
These four types of factors will, upon close examination of the
information represented by them, be found to correspond to the skill, effort,
training, responsibility, and working conditions that are covered in
traditional compensation plans.
The information required by the FJA job evaluation system is obtained
by the use of the 10 measures already described (3 for skill level, 3 for
orientation, 3 for Reasoning, Math, and Language, and 1 for Worker
Instructions) and several additional scales that are very simple to use.
Among them is a Strength Scale with values already supplied. A few of
them, such as "consequences of error," require that values be established
by the organizations using the system.
The ratings are made from the summary job description of a task bank
designed to reflect the highest functional levels in each of the functional
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 235

scales. For the present purpose we use a summary for a Home Security
Technician, a job that occurs in the social service field in urban centers.

Summary Description for Home Security Technician

Cut materials, e.g. lexan (a transparent acrylic plastic), plywood, burglar and
other metal bars, on power saw, following specifications and measurements
on work orders prepared by supervisor; loads van with materials weighing
up to 50 pounds including Kwik-Set Locks, jigs for locks, security pins, and
hand and portable power tools; drives to clients following an itinerary
determined by supervisor; greets client, describes purpose of visit, requesting
dogs be leashed, and proceeds to install locks and other materials according
to work order; uses a variety of tools, and on occasion when work order
doesn't fit situation, makes a judgment call as to appropriate installation and
fit of materials, drawing on brief training and knowledge of materials and
relying on experience, skill with hand tools and interpersonal skills in order
to make a secure installation and satisfy client.

The ten basic FJA ratings plus strength for this job are:

_________ Level_________
Level ______ Orientation______
Orientation __________ GED__________
GED
Things Data People Things Data People WI Reas Math Lang Str
3a 3b 2 3 1 2 22 3 3 3 3 3 33 3

These numbers are scale values and derive from the following analysis of
the summary job description.
The orientation values tell us this is primarily a Things job, secondarily
People, and thirdly Data. The orientation ranks reflect the following
percentages that were assigned to these components: 60 15 25. These
percentages were assigned to express the judgment that the Things
performance standards were most important, the People standards next
most important, and the Data standards the least important of the three.
The functional levels tell us that this job involves Manipulating (as it
relates to tools and equipment), Computing (as it relates to the
measurements that need to be made), and Exchanging Information (as it
relates to establishing rapport with people on a service level).
The enabler abilities involve being able to follow instructions in which
the worker has some leeway in the procedures and methods used to get the
work done, common-sense understanding to carry out instructions where
the work involves several concrete variables, ability to perform arithmetic
calculations where dimensional specifications are marked on materials,
and language ability sufficient to carry on ordinary conversations with
customers, explain their work, and establish rapport. The strength rating,
derived from Table 1, represents the lifting of 50 pound weights required
by this job.
236 APPENDIX E

The ratings here and their interpretation follow from the earlier chapters
in this document. These ratings are values that are entered in the places
they are called for in the form shown in Fig. 1.
The presentation that follows will take the reader, in order, through the
rationale of the use of the ratings as values for the aforementioned factors.
The factors are represented in the four columns shown in Fig. 1. The method
of calculation is illustrated by applying it to the Home Security Technician.
In addition, the point values for a number of jobs in the same organization
as the Home Security Technician are presented to provide a perspective of
how certain selected jobs might line up in relation to each other.

Column 1: Functional Skill

This column has four sections, one each for Physical (Things), Mental
(Data), and Interpersonal (People). The fourth section, involving an
executive decision concerning organizational values, is discussed
following a description of the calculations relating to the first three sections.
Each of the first three sections has a place for the ratings listed above for
the Home Security Technician. Thus, under Physical, Things Level takes a
3 (see Table 1) for Manipulating; Strength (the enabler) takes a 3; and
Orientation takes a 3. The formula for combining these values to obtain a
subtotal is as follows: Level plus Enabler times Orientation = Subtotal.
Substituting the figures in this formula, we obtain 3 plus 3 = 6, times 3 = 18.
Before we continue any further we need to explain the rationale for
adding the enabler to the level and then multiplying by the orientation
value.

Rationale for Adding Enabler Values to Level

Skill levels have as enablers physical, mental, and interpersonal factors

appropriate to Things, Data, and People. Enablers are added to the
functional level because they are considered as being complementary to
the level, integral with the behavior.
Thus, in the case of Things, the significant enabler is active strength such
as is involved in lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling. There is a 5-point
scale from Sedentary to Very Heavy to reflect different degrees of such
physical involvement (see Table 1). It ranges from no significant weight
manipulated to over 75 pounds handled with significant frequency. The
appropriate scale value is added to the skill-level value before the effort
multiplier is applied.
The enabler for data is reasoning and/or math. The one having the
higher rating is used as the value for entry. The rationale for using one or
the other as the enabler for the data function is that data requires mental
 FUNCTIONAL HOLISTIC ORGANIZATIONAL PREMIUM
FACTORS FACTORS FACTORS FACTORS

Physical Factors Consequences o f Number of Extreme Work

Error Progrmas Managed Conditions

Things level
+ Value of Programs Managed Shiftwork
Strength
x Number of Clients Served Hazards
Orientation
Overtime
Subtotal:
Level of Persons Contacted Isolated
Location
Mental Factors

Data Level -Internal Labor Market

+
Reason/Math Responsibility -External -Shortage
x (Prescription/
Orientation Discretion) -Surplus
Number of Persons Directly
Subtotal: Supervised Merit
Performance
Interpersonal Number of Persons Indirectly
Factors Managed Cost of Living

People Level
+
Language
x
Orientation

Subtotal: Specific
Vocational
Preparation
(SVP)
Relative Value
Management
Places on
Things _______
Data _______
People _______

Subtotal: SKILL Subtotal: HOL Subtotal: ORG Subtotal: PRE

GRAND TOTAL:
FIG. 1. Functional job analysis format for job evaluation.

237
238 APPENDIX E

TABLE 1
Strength Scale

Physical Effort (Lifting) Weight

Very heavy; over 75 pounds 5

Heavy: 50-75 pounds 4
Medium: 25-50 pounds 3
Light: 5-25 pounds 2
Sedentary — 1

activity to apply knowledge, and both reasoning and math are the
appropriate mental activities for this component. Again, the reasoning
and/or math are integral with the behavior. In most jobs, other than certain
selected academic or scientific jobs, reasoning will have the higher rating
and will be the one applied.
The enabler for the interpersonal function is language and the rating for
language is its value. In the work situation, the most common form of
interpersonal activity is by means of spoken language (accompanied, of
course, by body language).1 Written job orders may also be spoken, or, at
any rate, elaborated on through the spoken word. The language scale
provides speaking and reading illustrations. (When interpersonal activity
occurs mainly through writing it is considered a data function and would
be rated for the reasoning involved.)

Rationale for Using Orientation Value as a Multiplier

The orientation component is the source of the effort multiplier. It is not

integral with the function as is the enabler; rather, it is a function of the
demands of the work and the quality of the worker. The effort contributed
to the function and enabler can increase productivity enormously, far
beyond mere addition.
The reasoning is as follows: Effort applied for each task is total effort or
100%. However, the skilled worker gives each of the three functional
components—Things, Data, People—the proportion of 100% that is
warranted by the nature of the task to achieve the desired standards. The
individual does this more or less unconsciously as a result of training and
experience. (It is not unlike the feeling and tonal value that a concert
violinist or pianist learns to give each note and phrase of a musical
composition drawing on their training and personal experience.)

xIf the language of communication is American Sign Language (ASL), then it is likely a
physical level should be assigned to indicate the precision level involved.
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 239

Functional job analysts assign such proportional values on the basis of

their understanding of the standards that need to be achieved in a given
task. The proportional amount (the three proportions must, of course, add
to 100) must be supported by data in the task statement and be acceptable
to the incumbent.
(Although this rationale has been described in terms of tasks, the basic
units of job-worker situations, the same rationale applies to the evaluation
of the job summary in line with the orientation determination made earlier.
The summary will have been written to reflect the highest functional levels
of the job's tasks.)
The proportions are translated to multipliers of 1,2, and 3 according to
the rank order of the three orientations. These multipliers can be adjusted
to higher figures, for example, 10,20,30, to obtain a greater spread of skill
values. These larger numbers will not have any effect on the relative rank
order of the skill subtotal for the particular job.
Following through for Mental in the same manner as was done for
Physical we have the following numbers to substitute in the formula:
Level—3 for Computing, Enabler (Reasoning or Math, whichever is
higher—in this case both are the same)—3, Orientation— 1. Combining
these numbers in the previous formula results in a subtotal of 6.
In the case of Interpersonal, the numbers are: Level—2 for Exchanging
Information, Enabler (Language)—3, Orientation—2. Combining these
numbers in the formula results in a subtotal of 10 (2 + 3 times 2).

Relative Value of Things,Data, People Skills

The final item in the Functional Factors column—Relative Value

Management Places on Things, Data, People— deals with an important
management decision that needs to be made at the outset of the job
evaluation process. The question is: Of the three, Things, Data, People
accomplishments, which is most important to management in the given
organization? What does management value most? Whatever it decides, it
must apply the values arrived at in its decision to all the jobs in the plant.
It cannot, in all fairness, shift its decision for the convenience or favor of a
particular group of workers. If management decides that what it values
most is Things, then Data, and then People, on the order of 7 ,5 ,3 , and uses
these weights to add to the component subtotals, it must stay with these
weights for all the jobs in the organization. The addition of these weights
is a way of bringing underlying beliefs to the fore and accounting for them
by adding points to the basic skill total.
The organization employing the Home Security Technician is a
community service organization dealing especially with the needs of the
poor and providing them with social services. This organization values its
240 APPENDIX E

relation to people highest, the data it collects on the basis of which it makes
its decisions next highest, and the extent to which it deals with things least.
It therefore assigned the following values to Things, Data, and People—2,
5, 7. What these figures are saying is the following: A person's ability to
work with People is worth a bit more to us than three times their ability to
work with Things, and their ability to work with Data is worth a bit more
than twice as much as their ability to work with Things. (The numbers are
arrived at by trial and error to reflect the dominant feelings expressed.)
Only one of these weights is assigned to a job, namely, the one that
corresponds to the highest orientation of the particular job. Thus, in the case
of the Home Security Technician which had as its highest orientation value
Things, two (2) will be added to the subtotals of 18,6, and 10 for an overall
subtotal for the column of 36.

COLUMN 2: HOLISTIC FACTORS

Holistic factors are so named because they relate to the whole job. They
underlie or overlay the whole person's functioning in the job. The three
holistic factors are: Consequences of Error, Responsibility (as reflected in
the execution of the prescriptive and discretionary aspects of instructions),
and Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP). They cannot be expressed in
terms of the analytic factors—Things, Data, and People.

Consequences of Error

Error results in losses. Losses can occur in material, money, staff time,
morale, and organizational image. Losses occur because of ignorance (lack
of training) failures in judgment, courtesy, and cooperation, and because
of a lack of discipline in following the social and work rules relating to work
behavior and time. The extent of the losses (expressed for the subject
organization) can be:

HIGH Affect the whole organization—give the organization a

black eye and have a ripple effect in the community or
marketplace. It could lead to bankruptcy or a tremendous
uphill struggle to overcome the negative effects.
MEDIUM Affect the organization in loss of significant financial
HIGH support—for example, loss of a major account, funding,
grant, and/or database, or disaffection of a segment of
population served (loss of market share).
MEDIUM Affect a program in loss of material, money, staff time, or
harm to client.
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 241

TABLE 2
Consequences of Error

5 High 30 $50,000 +
4 Med-high 20 $20,000-$ 15,000
3 Medium 12 $5,000-$20,000
2 Med-low 7 $l,000-$5,000
1 Low 3 $0-$1,000

MEDIUM Affect a department or work unit in loss of material,

LOW money, staff time, or harm to client.
LOW Affect an immediate work process in loss of personal
and/or supervisory time needed to correct error.

These five scale values are simply indicative. They can be extended to
as many as 10 with the placement of dollar values on them (see Table 2).
The issues in defining values for this scale are: is there information available
to make the judgment and can the judgments be applied consistently?
Needless to say, the organization needs to be aware of where and how
losses can occur, which tasks in which jobs are thus vulnerable, and to take
appropriate precautions in safeguarding against them. Such precautions
can occur in hiring, training, design of the workplace, design of procedures
(e.g., traffic, safety and security education, and signing). Sometimes losses
can reveal significant management neglect and point to remedial measures.
It is essential as part of each worker's training and induction into the
organization that he or she be alerted to the potential consequences of error
inherent in failure to perform according to training and orientation.
There is a Low consequence of error for the Home Security Technician,
one that would not involve more than a loss of $1,000. This yields a score
of 3.

Responsibility
In the view of FJA, responsibility ultimately is a matter of following
instructions, being accountable for that which is prescribed and that which
is discretionary. Every job, from highest to lowest, has a set of instructions.
As noted earlier in higher level jobs, the instructions are heavily weighted
in the direction of discretion or judgment. The lower the level of the job,
the more it involves prescription, following standing operating procedures
(SOPs). It must not be overlooked that even on the simplest level there are
discretionary aspects to the job, and that even on the highest level there are
prescriptive aspects.
Responsibility is a matter for the worker to effectively and efficiently mix
the prescriptive and discretionary aspects of the job as they relate to the
242 APPENDIX E

TABLE 3
Worker Instruction Scale

Range Weight

8
7
6
5 30
4 20
3 12
2 7
1 3

culture (value, traditions) of the organization in order to achieve the

required standards. It is easier to evaluate responsibility for following
prescriptive instructions because they are specific and typically involve
numerical (quantifiable) elements. (These quantifiable elements represent
the distillation of much experience.) It is much more difficult to evaluate
discretionary instructions because they have not yet been reduced to
standing operating procedures. Nevertheless, judgments will be made. A
caution to be observed is to treat errors and successes in the uses of
discretion equally. A discretionary failure may be as much the fault of the
person issuing the discretionary instruction as the person executing it.
The rating for worker instructions as defined in the Worker Instructions
scale provides the basis for the weight assigned (see Table 3).
For the Home Security Technician, the Worker Instructions Level is 2.
"Inputs and outputs, tools and equipment are all specified but the worker
has some leeway in the procedures and methods used to get the job done.
Almost all the information needed is in the assignment instructions.
Production is measured on a daily or weekly basis." Level 2 yields a score
of 7.

Specific Vocational Preparation

This factor places a value on the relevant preparation in experience and
training that an individual needs to reach normal production (RNP) for a
given job. (It is not intended to characterize the individual who may have
more or less training than is needed for the job.) The scale for SVP is shown
in Table 4. Certain conventions have been adopted in evaluating an
individual's qualifications:

• A 4-year college education is valued at 2 years of vocational

preparation, whether in English or engineering.
• A 2-year associate degree with vocational orientation is valued at 1
year of vocational preparation.
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 243

• A specific 6-month business (e.g., secretary) or vocational course

(e.g., electronic technician) is given full value as 6 months of
vocational preparation.
• A fully served apprenticeship to achieve journeyman status is
valued as 3 years of vocational preparation.
• Internships are given full value for time involved, year for year.
• Experience background needs to be evaluated for relevance— on
functional, specific content, and adaptive skill levels—and
judgment calls made as to the time value that will be assigned.
• In general, level 7—2 to 4 years—is the level required to perform in
a craft such as carpenter or plumber or entering professional
occupation, such as teacher, accountant, nurse.

The Specific Vocational Preparation for the Home Security Technician

is judged to require up to 30 days or level 2, which yields a score of 10. The
addition of the three scores for this column—3,7, and 10—yields a subtotal
of 20.

TABLE 4
Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP): Experience and Training

Level Weight

9 10 years + 50
8 4 years -1 0 years 45
7 2 years - 4 years 35
6 1 year - 2 years 30
5 6 months -1 year 25
4 3 months - 6 months 20
3 30 days - 3 months 15
2 Up to 30 days 10
1 Short demo 5

COLUMN 3: ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS

These factors are a further elaboration of responsibility as they mostly and

specifically apply to the management functions in the organization. About
the only item among these factors that will apply to workers generally are
Level of Persons Contacted, unless they have assigned functions in
participative management.
These factors deal quite specifically with the management of money,
plant and equipment, and persons. Each of the items can have its own scale
and may require some definition in terms of dollar ranges or programs.
Programs can also be understood as departments.
244 APPENDIX E

Judgment calls need to be made as to the number of points assigned to

persons supervised directly versus persons managed indirectly. Typically
supervision is a more direct and involved relationship with people.

Level of Persons Contacted

The assumption made is that the higher the level of person contacted the
greater the responsibility and cost of error. Thus, a major difference
between a low-level secretary and executive secretary may be chiefly in this
factor. This assumption can be extended to all jobs, but is probably more
evident in managerial jobs.
An example for a social agency along with associated weights as shown
in Table 5:

TABLE 5
Level of Persons Contacted

Level Weight

External

Service providers, line to line, vendors 5

Clients 7
Program directors, community leaders, block clubs 10
Agency heads 15
Legislators 20
Power brokers 25
Internal

Program or project directors 3

Interdepartmental 6
Executive staff 9
Agency board members 10
Board of commissioners 15

Number of Clients Served

Number of Clients Served is intended to reflect client load for those jobs
having contact with a client either within the agency or external to it. The
factors in this column that apply to the Home Security Technician are the
Level of Persons Contacted and the Number of Clients Served. The former
involves contact with the Program Director internally, which has a value
of 3, and with Clients externally, which has a value of 7. The latter involves
contact with couples and/or families at the residences serviced, which
warrants a value of 2. The three values—3 ,7 ,2 —add up to a subtotal score
of 12 for this column.
APPLICATION OF FJA TO JOB EVALUATION 245

Table 6
Number of Clients Served

Number of Clients Weight

1 1

2 -3 2

4 -5 3
6+ 5

Job Evaluation Score for Home Security Technician

The three subtotal scores—36, 20, and 12—added up yield a grand total
score of 68.

PREMIUM FACTORS

As noted earlier, these are not factors that are appropriately woven into the
point scores reflecting the functional and specific content skill requirements
of jobs, the factors that order jobs relative to one another in a generally
acceptable manner. The reason is that the factors call for special adaptations
on the part of individual workers or organizations to contextual factors of
jobs that are not necessarily associated with skill acquisition. Premium
factors are of roughly three types:

1. Worker adaptation to extreme or hazardous working conditions

calling for particular willingness on their part. This category
includes shift work, overtime work, or work in isolated
situations.
2. Employer adaptation to unique needs and labor market
conditions causing shortages or surpluses for particular
specific-content skills or employee willingness to adapt to very
special conditions.
3. Employer adaptation to loyalty and meritorious performance that
contribute to the employer's stability, profitability, and growth
potential.

These factors need to be compensated for by bonuses or premiums tacked

on to the base pay of a particular job. In this manner, the comparative status
of the jobs based on skill can be maintained and compensation for special
circumstances can be seen for what it is.
246 APPENDIX E

COMPARATIVE POINT VALUES FOR JOBS IN A SOCIAL

SERVICE AGENCY

Table 7 shows the point values for an array of jobs in a social service agency
selected to show the spread of scores calculated in the manner
demonstrated for the Home Security Technician. That is its only
purpose— to show the spread of scores. The scores cannot be truly
understood without resort to the actual tasks included in the job
descriptions which are not included in this publication. However, the jobs
have also been selected so that titles more or less reflect common
understanding of the tasks usually represented by them.

TABLE 7
Selected Job Titles in a Social Service Agency Arranged by Predominant
Involvement With Things, Data, People in Increasing Point Order

Things Data People

Food Service Aide 55 Typist 59 Receptionist 64

Home Security Technician 68 Payroll Technician 58 Community Worker 169
Maintenance Technician 68 Central Files 62 Street Worker 79
Home Security Specialist 85 Accounts Payable 73 GED Technician 83
Accountant 88 Case Manager II90
Planner 98 Social Worker 96
Chief Accountant 125 AODA Counselor 100
Controller 141 Director, Older Adult Programs 105
Director, Family Crisis Center 120
Executive Director 173
Selected Bibliography
The following selected articles describe Functional Job Analysis, and it's
application, in additional detail.

Fine, S. A. (1955, Spring). Functional job analysis. Personnel Administration and Industrial
Relations.
Fine, S. A. (1955, May). What is occupational information? Personnel and Guidance Journal, 33(9).
Fine, S. A. (1986). Job analysis. In R. Berk (Ed.), Performance assessment: Methods and applications
(pp. 53-81). Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
Fine, S. A. (1988). Functional Job Analysis. In S. Gael (Ed.), Thejob analysis handbookfor business,
industry, and government (pp. 1010-1035). New York: Wiley.
Fine, S. A. (1988). Human service workers. In S. Gael (Ed.), Thejob analysis handbookfor business,
industry, and government (pp. 1163-1180). New York: Wiley.
Fine, S. A. (1988). Heavy equipment operators. In S. Gael (Ed.), The job analysis handbookfor
business, industry, and government (pp. 1301-1310). New York: Wiley.
Fine, S. A., & Cronshaw, S. (1994). The role of job analysis in stablishing the validity of biodata.
In G. S Stokes, M. D. Mumford, & W. A. Owens (Eds.), Biodata handbook: Theory, research,
and use ofbiographcal information in selection and performance prediction (pp. 39-64). Palo Alto:
Consulting Psychologists Press.
Myers, D. C., & Fine, S. A. (1985). Development of a methodology to obtain and assess
applicant experiences for employment. Public Personnel Management, 14,51-64.
Olson, H. C., Fine, S. A., Myers, D. C., & Jennings, M. C. (1981). The use of Functional Job
Analysis in establishing performance standards for heavy equipment operators. Personnel
Psychology, 34,351-364.
Primoff, E. S., & Fine, S. A. (1988). A history of job analysis. In S. Gael (Ed.), The job analysis
handbook for business, industry, and government (pp. 114-29). New York: Wiley.

The following sources describe the characteristics of the Worker Function scales as
originally developed for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

Cain, G., & Green, B. F. (1983). Reliabilities of selected ratings available from the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68,155-165.
Fine, S. A. (1955, October). A structure of worker functions. Personnel and Guidance Journal.
Fine, S. A., & Heinz, C. A. (1957, November). Estimates of worker trait requirements. Personnel
and Guidance Journal.
Fine, S. A., & Heinz, C. A. (1958). The functional occupational classification structure. Personnel
and Guidance Journal, 34(2), 66-73.

247
248 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Geyer, P. D., Hice,J., Hawk, J., Boese, R., & Brannon, Y. (1989). Reliabilities of ratings available
from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Personnel Psychology, 42,547-560.
Interview with Ramin Jahenbegloo. (1992, May 28). New York Review of Books, p. 51.
Lawler, E. EL (1990). Strategic pay. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miller. A. R., Treiman, D. J., Cain, P. S., & Roos, P. A. (1980). Work, jobs, and occupations: A critical
review of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Mosel, J. N., Fine, S. A., & Boling, J. (1960). The scalability of estimated worker requirements.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 44,156-160.
Schmitt, N., & Fine, S. A. (1983). Inter-rater reliability of judgements of functional levels and
skill requirements of jobs based on written task statements. Journal of Occupational
Psychology, 56,121-127.
Index

A ,C innovating, 86,197
synthesizing, 90,197
Adaptive skills, development of concept,
Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), see
224-226
Worker functions, scales
Civil rights legislation, impact of, 11-12
Compensation, see Pay E
Canadian Classification and Dictionary of Occu­
pations (CCDO), see Worker functions, Experience
definition of, 25-26
scales
misunderstandings about, 25
Benchmarks
adding, 6,45-46 F
development process, 42-44
origins of, 9-10 Fine, Sidney A., brief biography of, 220-221
quality of, 45 Functional Job Analysis (FJA)
rating tasks for, 42-43 certification process, 10
role of, 5-6 conceptual model of, 12-13
selecting, 43 core concepts, 219,221-231
sources of, 47-48 focus group, 10-11,227-229
use of consensus rating, 43 historical review, 9-11
using, 45 origins of, 219-231
scales, role of, 3-5
Functional Job Analyst taskbank, 211-218
D
G, H
Data functions
definition of, 75,195 General educational development (GED),
illustrative tasks (benchmarks), 77-94 independent of years of schooling,
scale level definitions, 23-24
analyzing, 84,196-197 Holistic concept, FJA, 229-230
comparing, 76,196 Human resource management, purposes of, 1
compiling, 82,196
J
computing, 80,196
coordinating, 88,197 Job analysis
copying, 78,196 control language of, 2-3

249
250 INDEX

need for, 11-12 persuading, 104,199

problems with, 1-2 serving, 98,198
Job evaluation sourcing information, 102,199
application of Functional Job Analysis to, supervising, 116,200
232-246 taking instructions—helping, 96,198
four factor approach, 234-246 treating, 114,200
and consequences of error, 240-241
R
evaluation form, 237
functional skill, 236-240 Rating tasks
holistic factors, 240-243 general educational development, 24-25
and level of persons contacted, 244 suggested method, 45
and number of clients served, 244 worker functions, 18-19
organizational factors, 243-245 worker instructions, 23
premium factors, 245 Reasoning development scale
and use of strength scale, 236-238 definition of, 149,202
and specific vocational preparation, illustrative tasks (Benchmarks), 151-164
242-243 relation to general educational develop­
ment, 24
K, L scale level definitions, 150-161,203-204
Knowledge, skill, and ability enablers, 21
S,T
Language development scale
definition of, 177,205 Systems approach to job analysis, 226-227
illustrative tasks (benchmarks), 179-191 Task, definition of, 16
relation to general educational develop­ Task statement, see also Writing task state­
ment, 24 ments, 29-41
scale level definitions, 178-188,205-206 components
behavior, 27-28
M enablers, 28-29
Mathematical development scale, result, 28
definition of, 165,204 structure of, 27-29
illustrative tasks (Benchmarks), 167-176 uses of, 31-32
relation to general educational develop­ Things functions
ment, 24 definition of, 49,192
scale level definitions, 166-174,204 illustrative tasks (benchmarks), 51-74
scale level definitions
N, P
driving-controlling, 62,194
National Occupational Classification (NOC), feeding-offbearing, 52,193
see Worker functions, scales handling, 50,192-193
Pay machine tending I—material prod­
equal and fair, 232-234 ucts and processing, 54,193
two methods of, 233-234 machine tending II—data processing
People Functions and duplication, 56,193
definition of, 95,197-198 manipulating, 58,193
illustrative tasks (benchmarks), 97-128 operating-controlling 1,60,194
scale level definitions, operating-controlling n, 70,195
coaching, 106,199 precision working, 66,194
consulting, 110,199-200 setting-up, 68,194-195
diverting, 108,199 starting-up, 64,194
exchanging information, 100,199
instructing, 112,200 U,W
leading, 122,201 Unit of work
mentoring, 120,200-201 job vs. task, 15-16
negotiating, 118,200 problems describing, 14-16
INDEX 251

Work and responsibility, 23

doing vs. getting done, 2-3,221-222 scale level definitions, 130-144,201-202
objects of work, 16-17,222-223 Writing task statements, 29-41
Worker functions active voice, 33-34
definition of level and orientation, 16-18 common problems with verbs, 35-37
ordinal nature of, 17-18 components
scales action enablers, 38-39
comparison with classification scales, action verb, 33-37
207-210 results of action, 39-40
historical changes, 208-210 importance vs. relevance, 39
summary chart of, 4 question elements, 29-31
Worker instructions relation of results to action verb, 40
definition of, 129 style guidelines, 33-41
development of, 224 structuring action enablers, 38
illustrative tasks (benchmarks), 131-148 use of adverbs and adjectives, 40-41
and job evaluation, 241-242 use of parentheses, 41
ordinal nature of, 22-23 use of slash, 34
prescription and discretion, 22 and worker function verbs, 34-35