Joseph Re

Publication Date

2-1984

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Ray Mendel, S. Fisicaro, Daniel Roenker

Comments

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Degree Program

Department of Psychology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

The five most commonly available methods of job evaluation are examined according to their usefulness in assessing equal work as defined by the statutory standards of the Equal Pay Act (EPA). Although the position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) method of job evaluation is the most promising for the above purpose, there exists only minimal evidence suggesting that the PAQ does in fact evaluate a job based on the four EPA specified job content factors of skill, responsibility, effort, and working conditions (SREW). Therefore, the present study is designed to explore the extent of the relationship between the EPA and the PAQ.

Five raters are provided with a copy of the PAQ and the legally grounded definitions of SREW. Raters are asked to rate each of the 194 PAQ job elements based on two separate qualities. First, raters are asked to consider if each PAQ job element can or cannot be used to measure one or more of the SREW factors. Second, once the rater identifies a PAQ job element which can be used to measure a particular SREW factor, the rater is asked to indicate, on a 1-5scale, the degree to which that particular job element reflects the EPA SREW factor. Indices of inter-rater agreement in the form of intraclass correlation coefficients are computed.

The results correlations indicate that raters strongly agree that certain PAQ job elements appear to be useful in quantifying the four EPA SREW factors. The results are discussed in terms of the validity of the claim made in Jeanneret (1980), in which he asserts that certain PAQ job elements tap the EPA SREW factors. Also, the results are examined as an indication of the usefulness of the PAW in the development of an alternative PAW based job evaluation strategy which the author believes is in compliance with the EPA mandates. The alternative EPA/PAQ job evaluation strategy is specifically designed to generate a separate value for a job on each of the SREW factors. The advantage of the proposed EPA/PAQ strategy are discussed in terms of the plan’s effectiveness and applicability in EPA litigation. Further implications involve the advancement of the legal and technological capabilities of the current state of job evaluation.

Disciplines

Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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