Levels

The subfactor definitions were now written. STC's next step was to determine how many levels were necessary for each subfactor and then write definitions for each level of each subfactor.

Levels

A level measures the degree to which a subfactor is present in a given job. For example, an Administration Manager has more responsibility for personnel, policies and practices than a Customer Service Clerk. Therefore, the Manager's job would be assigned a higher level on that subfactor. Another example is that a Welder would have a higher level of disagreeable or hazardous working conditions than a Mail clerk.

The first step, then, was to determine the number of levels necessary for each subfactor.

Deciding on the number of levels

Subfactors are usually divided into 4-6 levels, five most common. For example, the Committee felt there was a high degree of problem-solving and judgement required to perform most of the jobs at STC, so they gave this subfactor 5 levels. They looked at the other 9 subfactors and determined these subfactors required 4 to 6 levels.

The next step was to define these subfactor levels.

Defining the levels

The subfactor definition for Problem-Solving/Judgement (from the previous page) is:

This subfactor measures the problem-solving/judgement required on the job. It assesses the difficulty in identifying various available choices of action and in exercising judgement to select the most appropriate action. It also considers mental processes such as analysis, reasoning or evaluation.

The Committee then wrote definitions for levels 1 (the lowest) to 5 (the highest).

The example on the next page shows level definitions for the subfactor of Problem-Solving/Judgement. The other 9 subfactors were similarly defined, but due to space considerations, are only briefly outlined in this case study.