Identify and briefly explain the main methods used to obtain the information necessary for effective job evaluation.

The four main methods are: (a)observation, (b)interviews, (c)questionnaires,and (d)functional job analysis.Used in conjunction with other methods,observation involves watching the employee as the job is performed and noting all of the necessary information needed for evaluating jobs.Although time-consuming interviews can be conducted with either a sample of employees,their supervisors,or preferably both,a structured interview format provides more consistent information.An open-ended or closed-ended questionnaire can be used to gather job-related data.Because care needs to be taken to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire,most organizations use questionnaires developed by outside specialists.A commonly used tool,the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)focuses on the behaviours that make up a job and utilizes job elements to describe work activities.Based on a common set of job functions,functional job analysis produces a series of task statements to describe the job.Managers can then analyze these statements to draw conclusions about the nature of the job.