Q.4. Define the Drake theory to explain the influence of accident proneness.
Ans. Drake (1937) has proposed an interesting theory to explain the influence of accident proneness. According to him, “Where the perception level is equal to, or higher than the motor level, the employee is relatively a safe worker. But where the perception level is lower than the motor level, the employee is accident prone and his accident proneness becomes greater as this difference increases.”
Drake demonstrated the feasibility of this theory in a study made on a group of factory workers. He gave them three motor or manipulative tests and two tests visual inspection and sorting. The raw scores were converted into percentiles and the difference in motor level as compared with perception level was obtained. The study showed that employees who were faster on the motor tests than on the perception tests had more accidents and, conversely, those who were faster on the perception tests than on the motor tests had fewer accidents, Drake reports that selecting new employees for comparable tasks on the basis of performance on these setests reduced accidents 70 percent. He believes that this theory is applicable to all types of accidents including automobile accidents. Although the present authors do not know of any check on these claims, they regard them as interesting. However, an obvious limitation of this theory is the lack of consideration given to the individual’s personality and to contributing emotional factors.
Q.5. Write short note on Goldstein research relating to human variables in highway accidents.
Ans. Goldstein has reviewed the research literature relating to human variables in highway accidents. He classes the predictor variable into twelve different categories:
(1) Driving behavior variables (prior accidents, violations, etc.)
(2) Visual ability measures
(3) Reaction time measures
(4) Psychomotor measures (apparatus)
(5) Psychomotor measures (paper and pencil)
(6) Sensory - perceptual measures
(7) Cognitive measures
(8) Personal, emotional, and attitude measures
(9) Background and sociological measures
(10) Fatigue
(11) Age
(12) Alcohol
After examining the studies in each category to see how well they were able to predict accidents, Goldstein comes to the following conclusions:
(1) Accident records do not measure a very stable human performance characteristic; accident status in one period is only slightly related to accident status in another.
(2) Accident records seem to be only slightly predictable from measures of other, stable, human characteristics such as visual acuity, reaction time, and sensory, psychomotor, cognitive, and attitudinal measures.
(3) Accident repeaters apparently do not account for much of the total of traffic accidents on record.
(4) Two age groups contribute disproportionately to the accident total: (1) those below 25 and (2) those above 65.
(5) Alcohol has a bad effect on driving performance at much lower blood level concentrations than is generally recognized; namely, 0.05 percent or even lower.
(6) Alcohol is a contributing factor in 25 to 50 percent of fatal traffic accidents, on the part of drivers and / or pedestrians.
(7) Drivers with extremely poor attitudes of aggressiveness, social irresponsibility, and / or who are highly unstable, apparently have more accidents than those who are responsible, stable, and less aggressive than average.
(8) Students who elect driver education courses apparently have different attitudes and personality characteristics as a group from those who do not choose such courses.
Q. 6. Write the importance of job analysis.
Ans. Importance Of Job Analysis: -
A job analysis is the foundation for almost all human resource (HR) activities. That is, it is difficult to write a job description, select employees, evaluate performance, or conduct training programs without knowing the tasks an employee performs, the tasks. A thorough job analysis providers such information.
Writing Job Descriptions: -
The conditions under which they are per formed , and competencies need to perform. One of the written products of a job analysis is a job description, a brief, two - to five-page summary of the tasks and job requirements found in the job analysis. In other words, the job analysis is the process of determining the work activities and requirements, and the job description is the written result of the job analysis. Job analyses and job descriptions serve as the basis for many HR activities, including employee selection, evaluation, training, and work design.
Employee Selection -
It is difficult to imagine how an employee can be selected unless there is a clear understanding of the tasks performed and the competencies needed to perform those tasks. By identifying such requirements. It is possible to select tests or develop interview questions that will determine whether a particular applicant possesses the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to carry out the requirements of the job.
Examples are height requirements for police officers firm handshakes for most jobs and physical attractiveness for airline flight attendants.
Training -
Again, it is difficult to see how employees can be trained unless the requirements of the job are known. Job analyses yield lists of job activities than can be systematically used to create training programs.
Person power Planning -
One important but seldom employed use of job analysis is to determine worker mobility within an organization. That is, if individuals are hired for a particular job, to what other jobs can they expect to eventually be promoted and become successful? Many organizations have a policy of promoting the person who performs the best in the job immediately below the one in question. Although this approach has its advantages, it can result in the so-called Peter Principle: promoting employees until they eventually reach their highest level of incompetence. For example, consider an employee who is the best salesperson in the company. Even though this person is known to be excellent in sales, it is not known what type of supervisor he or she would be. Promotion solely on the basis of sales performance does not guarantee that the individual will do well as a supervisor. Suppose, however, that job analysis results are used to compare all jobs in the company with the supervisor’s job. Instead of promoting the person in the person in the job immediately below the supervisor, we promote the best employee from the most similar job - that is, a job that already involves much of the same knowledge, skills, and abilities as the supervisor’s job. With this approach, there is a better match between the person being promoted and the requirements of the job.
Performance Appraisal: -
Another important use of job analysis is the construction of a performance appraisal instrument. As in employee selection, the evaluation of employee performance must be job related. Employees are often evaluated with forms that use such vague categories as “denpendability,” “knowledge,” and “initiative.” The use of specific, job - related categories leads to more accurate performance appraisals that are better accepted not only by employees but also by the courts. In addition, when properly administered and utilized, job - related performance appraisals can serve as an excellent source of employee training and counseling.
Job Classification: -
Job analysis enables a HR professional to classify jobs into groups based on similarities in requirements and duties. Job classification is useful for determining pay levels, transfers, and promotions.
Job Evaluation: -
Job analysis information can also be used to determine the worth of a job. Job evaluation will be discussed in greater detail later in this chapter
Job Design: -
Job analysis information can be used to determine the optimal way in which a job should be performed. That is, what would be the best way for an employee to sit at her computer or what would be the best way for a warehouse person to lift boxes? By analyzing a job, wasted and unsafe motions can be eliminated , resulting in higher productivity and reduced numbers of job injuries.
Compliance with Legal Guidelines: -
Any employment decision must be based on job-related information. One legally acceptable way to directly determine job relatedness is by job analysis. No law specifically requires a job analysis, but several important guidelines and court cases mandate job analysis for all practical purposes.
First, the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, the HR principles designed to ensure compliance with federal standards, contain several direct references to the necessity of job analysis. Even though the Uniform Guidelines are not law, courts have granted them “great deference”.
Second, several court cases have discussed the concept of job relatedness. For example, in Griggs V. Duke Power, employment decisions were based in part upon applicants’ possession of a high school diploma. Because a higher percentage of blacks than whites did not meet this requirement, smaller percentages of blacks were hired and promoted. Thus, a suit was filed against the Duke power Company charging that a high school diploma was not necessary to carry out the demands of the job. The court agreed with Griggs, the plaintiff, stating that the company had indeed not established the job relatedness of the high school diploma requirement.
Although not specifically mentioning the term job analysis, the decision in Griggs was the first to address the issue of job relatedness. Subsequent cases such as albermarie V. Moody and Chance V. Board of Examiners (1971) further established the necessity of job relatedness and the link between it and job analysis.
Organizational Analysis: -
During the course of their work. Job analysts often become aware of certain problems within an organization. For example, during a job analysis interview, an employee may indicate that she does not know how she is evaluated or to whom she is supposed to reported, the discovery of such lapses in organizational communication can then be used to correct problems and help an organization function better. For example, while conducting job analysis interviews of credit union positions, job analyst Deborah peggans discovered that none of the workers knew how their job performances were evaluated. This let the organization know it had not done an adequate job of communicating performance standards to its employees.
