| The analysis of work is used to design and classify jobs, as the basis for selecting, training, and evaluating personnel, and for other purposes. A variety of work analysis methods exist to meet the wide range of purposes for which work analysis is used. Yet, despite the variety of methods for analyzing work, there is no single, unifying theory of work analysis. To address the need for a sound theoretical base to support work analysis, a theory of work analysis was developed using concepts derived from the literature and Robert Dubin's methodology for theory building.;The concepts for a theory of work analysis were derived from literature in eight areas: (a) technology and work, (b) work roles and role theory, (c) work design and employee effects, (d) work design and work reengineering, (e) process analysis and process improvement, (f) work performance and training needs, (g) job and work analysis, and (h) theory and theory building. The theory's concepts and their interrelationships were structured according to Dubin's methodology for theory building.;Three methods were used to validate the theory of work analysis: (a) critique of the theory was elicited from three scholarly experts on work analysis, (b) the theory was critiqued using C. H. Patterson's criteria for evaluating theory, and (c) three practitioner experts provided a written critique of the theory. Synthesis of the critique from these sources was integrated using a two-axis matrix, and modifications to the theory were made based on this critique.;The resulting theory of work analysis is based of the interaction of factors in the "work environment," the "work task," and the "worker." The theory proposes that the content of work analysis is derived from all three of these concepts, and that change in any one of these concepts brings about change in both of the other concepts. Furthermore, work analysis applied to one of these concepts must account for change in the other two concepts. In addition to documenting the present content of work, work analysis should also reflect emerging methods of accomplishing work. An illustration is presented of how work analysis methods would change if this theory was adopted. |
