Work, Jobs, and Occupations A Critical Review of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1980) / Chapter Skim
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5 ORGANIZATION OF THE OCCUPATIONAL ANALYSIS PROGRAM OF THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
5 ORGANIZATION OF THE OCCUPATIONAL ANALYSIS PROGRAM OF THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
Pages 93-113
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From page 93... ...
1:I-2~. In the 13 years preceding the publication of the fourth edition DOT, job analysts in the field centers produced more than 75,000 job analysis schedules for use in preparing the 12,099 occupational definitions included in the fourth edition.
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From page 94... ...
The state Employment Service agencies administer the funds and staff the field centers. The Job Search Branch, the division's only other branch, has little connection with the Occupational Analysis Branch and its associated field centers.
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From page 95... ...
This chapter reviews the organization and activities of the two units of the Division of Occupational Analysis, the Occupational Analysis Branch and the Job Search Branch, and of the 11 occupational analysis field centers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the organization of the program for the production of the DOT.
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From page 96... ...
As represented in Figure 5-1, the formal chain of command between the national office staff and the field centers is very indirect: from the Occupational Analysis Branch of the Division of Occupational Analysis through the Office of Technical Support to the U.S. Employment Service, then to the Office of Field Operations of the Employment and Training Administration, down through its regional offices and area operational offices, to the state Employment Service agency, usually through its technical services group, and finally to the occupational analysis field center.
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From page 97... ...
Our visits to the field centers indicate that there has been substantial confusion among the staff as to their role since the publication of the fourth edition DOT. The development
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From page 98... ...
Our visit to the North Carolina center, in particular, confirmed the lack of effective control of the various field centers by the national office, especially with respect to the standardization of data collection activities. The staff at the North Carolina center are in a unique position to observe the work of the other centers, since North Carolina is the repository for all the data collected for the fourth edition DOT.
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From page 99... ...
The Job Search Branch personnel play a more specialized role in the job-matching process than does the staff of the Occupational Analysis Branch, providing various publications designed to encourage applicant self-service and placement at local Employment Service offices. The formal functions of the Job Search Branch are defined below (U.S.
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From page 100... ...
Analytical summaries are provided of job openings data for the nation, states, and job bank districts by occupational category, wage rate interval, and industry. THE OCCUPATIONAL ANALYSIS FIELD CENTERS At present there are 10 occupational analysis field centers and one special project, which receive technical direction from the Occupational Analysis Branch of the national office but have their funds administered by the state in which they are located.
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From page 101... ...
In addition, since the state agencies staff the field centers, most of the employees of the field centers come from the state Employment Service, usually from various local Employment Service offices. As members of the various state civil services, field center staff have no direct promotional route to the national office, where their knowledge of field operations might be useful, and few promotional opportunities in the state service,
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From page 102... ...
Some analysts, by contrast, find the organizational arrangement of the field centers more of a help than a hindrance. They feel that this arrangement enables them to work closely with state Employment Service personnel and keep them informed as to current occupational analysis activities.
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From page 103... ...
. The division of the California center into two units was in fact not internally initiated but was done at the request of state personnel who wanted a separate unit for special projects on the organization chart in order to reflect the field center's responsibility to the state.
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From page 104... ...
FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION OF THE FIELD CENTERS Currently, the national office has assigned lead responsibility to various of the field centers for coordinating and managing work on specific topics,
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From page 105... ...
, the California field center has been instrumental in devising new procedures for upgrading the quality of future editions of the DOT. For example, the method of assigning industries to field centers has been revised so that each center has primary, or lead, responsibility for a smaller number of industries.
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From page 106... ...
However, so that job analysis schedules will not be overproduced for common jobs, completed schedules will be sent to the North Carolina field center, which will keep track of the amount of source material received. As a final example of the lead role concept the Texas field center was assigned to provide field center input into the development and maintenance of keywords and the updating of the Handbook of Occupational Keywords, a task that involves deciding which keywords to add and which to delete.
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From page 107... ...
MAJOR FIELD CENTER ACTIVITIES The occupational analysts at the field centers are involved in a variety of activities. The primary function of the field centers, of course, is to provide the raw data used as input into the DOT.
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From page 108... ...
Specific details are provided on the assignment of industries to field centers, the sampling and selection of establishment sites, on-site job analysis procedures, the preparation of job analysis schedules, and the writing of composite definitions. One important related function of the field centers is defining and assigning DOT codes to "new" occupations.
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From page 109... ...
. Training on DOT use and application was an important component of the total work effort of the field centers in 1978, since it was the first year in which the fourth edition DOT was available.
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From page 110... ...
This type of training is carried on at most centers: for example, analysts at the Michigan field center trained vocational rehabilitation groups in job analysis techniques; the New York field center provided a similar public service by assisting a large private firm in developing its own job analysis system. Special Projects In addition to the ongoing work of the field centers, some members of the field center staff work on special projects, usually initiated by the state but also occasionally by the national office.
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From page 111... ...
It is currently surveying all occupational analysts in the field centers on a variety of topics, including keywords and the revisions of worker function codes and the GED specification. Two research tasks have been undertaken to revise the GED specification: (1)
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From page 112... ...
. In contrast, we conclude that the inherent complexity of the task and the cumbersome nature of a structure based on a federal national office and state field centers are the major reasons for the difficulties, although management failures may also have played a role.
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From page 113... ...
The national office lacks effective control, not only because the chain of communication is long and cumbersome but also because the field centers have two bosses. The state agencies have direct command over the field centers and their resources, and they can and do request the help of the field centers for state projects.
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