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665 days ago
The "Strategic Job Analysis" for the air traffic control specialist occupation is one of my research tasks for FY2008 and beyond. Dunnette and Peterson & Bownas proposed a job-by-person matrix back in 1983. In the mid-1990s, my laboratory sponsored work on framing or developing a methodology for actually building such a matrix. And now, 12 years later, the task is no longer theoretical, but real, with deadlines and expectations. As a first approximation, I've started building an Excel workbook with 3 worksheets: a job-by-person matrix; job characteristics or attributes; and person attributes (e.g., knowledge, skill, abilities and other personal characteristics). I've taken the more-or-less updated version of the tower cab activities, sub-activities, and tasks based on the CTA, Inc. 1987 job/task analysis, as my starting point/test case. The lowest level of the hierarchy is task statements, and the Excel "Group" function is used to group tasks into ...
669 days ago
According to Kit Bond (R-MO), failing to pass the RESTORE Act, granting immunity to telecommunications companies that collaborate with the federal government to conduct warrantless and unconsitutional electronic surveillance, is dangerous. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Bond went on to say that without immediate passage of permanent legislation (e.g., the RESTORE Act), "terrorists" will soon "be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies." Here's another perspective - without this legislation, citizens will be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies. Sounds good to me, being able to make a phone call, free from governmental snooping and intrusion. That's what I thought the Fourth Amendment was all about. So defeat the RESTORE Act, make the phone companies liable for the cooperation in illegal and unconstitutional surveillance. Make ...
722 days ago
Federal executives and senior managers are notorious for buying last year's management fad from consultancies believing in magic bullets for solving organizational problems, and attributing failures to employees and success to their insight. Phil Rosenzweig's The Halo Effect should be required reading for every member of the Senior Executive Service and senior management cadre. Basically, there are nine managerial delusions: The Halo Effect: attributing "success" on prior performance (also known as the post-hoc fallacy) The Delusion of Correlation and Causality: a correlation between A and B doesn't mean A caused B, or vice versa. The Delusion of Single Explanations: focusing on a single factor as the explanation of "success" and ignoring anything else. The Delusion of Connecting the Winning Dots: looking only at "winners" in a cross-sectional design and disregarding losers over time. The Delusion of Rigorous Research: fancy ...
738 days ago
The conference version of H.R. 3407 (for FY2008 appropriations for Treasury, Transportation, and HUD) will overturn the FAA's Age 60 rule (14 CFR 121.383(e))by legislative fiat. Section 116 amends 49 USC 447 by adding a new subsection 44729 titled "Age Standards for Pilots." There are x main parts to the legislation: Pilots may serve in multicrew covered operations (e.g., Part 121) until reach age 65, consistent with the ICAO standard (one over 60, one under 60); If ICAO changes, and allows a pilot over 60 to serve as PIC without regard to co-pilot age (e.g., both over 60), then the US standard will conform; The change is not retroactive and an action taken in compliance with 49 USC 44729 "may not serve as a basis for liability or relief in a proceeding, brought under any employment law or regulation, before any court or agency of the United States or of any State or localty;" Collective bargaining agreements will have to be amended through ...
