CHAPTER 3

CRITERIA: STANDARDS FOR DECISION MAKING

CONCEPTUAL VS. ACTUAL CRITERIA

 Criteria
Standards used to help make evaluative judgements about objects, people, or events.
 Conceptual criterion
The theoretical standard that researchers seek to understand through their research.
 Actual criterion
The operational or actual standard that researchers measure or assess.

Table 1. Conceptual and actual criteria for an employee’s performance appraisal

Conceptual Criteria Actual Criteria

Attitude Indications of counterproductive behaviors

Ability Ratings of knowledge, skills, and abilities
Productivity Objective output measures

CRITERION DEFICIENCY, RELEVANCE, AND CONTAMINATION

 Criterion deficiency
The part of the conceptual criterion that is not measured by the actual criterion.
 Criterion relevance
The degree of overlap or similarity between the actual criterion and the conceptual criterion.
 Criterion contamination
The part of the actual criterion that is unrelated to the conceptual criterion.
JOB ANALYSIS
 A formal procedure by which a content of a job is defined in terms of tasks performed and human
qualifications needed to perform the job.
JOB ANALYSIS: SOURCES OF JOB INFORMATION
 Subject Matter Expert
A person knowledgeable about a topic who can serve as a qualified information source.
 Three Major Sources of Job Information
1. Job incumbent
2. Supervisor
3. Job analyst
JOB ANALYSIS PROCEDURES
 Four Job-related concepts
1. Task – the lowest level of analysis in the study of work; basic component of work
2. Position – a set of task performed by a single employee
3. Job – a set of familiar positions in an organization
4. Job family – a grouping of jobs in an organization
 Task-Oriented Procedure
A procedure or set of operations in job analysis designed to identify important or frequently
performed tasks as a means of understanding the work performed.
Functional Job Analysis – a method of job analysis that describes the content of jobs in terms
of people, data, and things.
 Worker-Oriented Procedure
A procedure or set of operations in job analysis designed to identify important or frequently
utilized human attributes as a means of understanding the work performance.
KSAO’s – an abbreviation for “knowledge, skills, abilities, and other” characteristics;
categories of human attributes examined in worker-oriented procedure
 Linkage Analysis
A technique in job analysis that establishes the connection between the tasks performed and
human attributes needed to perform them.
JOB EVALUATION
 A procedure for assessing the relative value of jobs in an organization for the purpose of
establishing levels of compensation.
Two Operations used in Job Evaluation
1. External equity – a theoretical concept that is the basis for using wage and salary surveys in
establishing compensation rates for jobs.
2. Internal equity - a theoretical concept that is the basis for using job evaluation in establishing
compensation rates for jobs.
 Compensable factor – a dimension of work (as skill or effort) used to assess the relative value of a
job for determining compensation rates.
JOB PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
 Three general characteristics
1. Appropriate – the criteria should be relevant and representative of the job.
2. Stable – the criteria must endure over time or across situations.
3. Practical – should not be too expensive or hard to measure.
JOB PERFORMANCE CRITERIA: CLASSIFICATION
 Objective Performance Criteria
A set of factors used to assess job performance that are objective or factual in character.
 Subjective Performance Criteria
A set of factors used to assess job performance that are the product of someone’s subjective
rating of these factors.
JOB PERFORMANCE CRITERIA: MAJOR CRITERIA
 Production – most commonly used in manufacturing jobs
 Sales – common performance criterion for wholesale and retail sale work
 Tenure or Turnover – length of service is a very popular criterion in I/O psychological research
 Absenteeism – like turnover is an index of employee stability
 Accidents – sometimes used as a criterion job performance, although it has a number of
limitations
 Theft – regard as an index of employee suitability
 Counterproductive Workplace Behavior – includes a broad range of employee actions that are
bad for the organization
Customer Service Behavior – employee activities specifically directed towards the quality of
service
JOB PERFORMANCE CRITERIA: DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
 Aspects of job performance that change over time