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Chapter 3: Criteria: Standards for Decision MakingLearning Objectives

• Understand the distinction between conceptual and actual criteria.

• Understand the meaning of criterion deficiency, relevance, and contamination.

• Explain the purpose of work analysis and the various methods of conducting one.

• Explain the nine major criteria of job performance examined by I/O psychologists.

• Understand the concept of dynamic criteria.

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Chapter Summary

• Criteria are evaluative standards that serve as reference points in making judgments.

• The two levels of criteria are conceptual (what we would like to measure if we could) and actual (what we do measure). All actual criteria are flawed measures of conceptual criteria.

• Work analysis is a procedure used to understand the activities performed in a job and the worker attributes it takes to perform a job. Work analysis establishes the criteria for job performance.

• Worker attributes are best understood in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other (KSAOs) characteristics as well as organizational competencies.

• The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a national database of worker attributes and work characteristics. I/O psychologists use it for a wide range of purposes.

• Vast differences in compensation levels paid around the world have led to the exporting of jobs to other countries.

• Job performance criteria typically include production, sales, turnover, absenteeism, accidents, theft, deviant workplace behavior, emotional labor, and adaptive and organizational citizenship behavior.

• The level of job performance criteria can change over time for workers, decreasing the accuracy of long-term predictions of job performance.