KSA is an acronym for knowledge, skill, and ability. Knowledge is defined as the intellectual possession and command of the information necessary to qualify for and perform successfully in a position. An example of TMOT knowledge is "Know public policy principles including customer service, regulation, enforcement, liability, accountability, responsibility, information dissemination, controlled conduct." Skill is defined as proficiency in performing tasks such that requirements for accuracy, latency, timeliness, or quality are met consistently. An example of a TMOT skill is "Determine if data viewed is abnormal, anomalous, within or outside a range or threshold." Ability is defined as enduring intellectual, physical, and sensory capabilities necessary to successfully perform in a position. An example of a TMOT ability is "Read and interpret technical data related to computers and software."
The list of KSAs generated by the interactive dialog is based on the set of discrete tasks selected. One or more KSAs are associated with each discrete task, and if a discrete task is selected, its associated KSAs appear in the KSA list. Using all of the KSAs from the KSA list to generate a position description could result in an excessively long position description. The entire KSA list should be used if the position description is to be used for selection or training. Consider choosing a subset of the KSA list if the position description is to be used for recruitment.
If choosing a subset of KSAs to be used to generate the position description, focus on the frequency and criticality of each KSA. If a KSA is required frequently by the job, that KSA should be chosen. If a KSA is required infrequently but is critical to success in the job, then that KSA should be chosen. Generally, between 10 and 20 KSAs should be chosen.
After you create a new discrete task, you should associate one or more KSAs with it. KSAs from the base set will probably be sufficient for most new discrete tasks. For guidance regarding which KSAs apply to a new discrete task, identify similar discrete tasks and review the KSAs associated with those discrete tasks in appendix B of the TMC Operator Requirements and Position Descriptions document. Use the KSAs associated with these similar discrete tasks to guide your selection of appropriate KSAs for your new discrete task.
The need to create new KSAs will arise only when a new discrete task has been defined and KSAs from the base set are not sufficient to describe the requirements for that task. There are two approaches that can be used to create new KSAs. In the first approach, the requirements of the task are directly analyzed and documented. In the second approach, an existing resource, such as the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), is used as a guide.
To directly analyze the requirements of a task, first identify any explicit task performance requirements. Task performance requirements are criteria that can be expressed in terms of accuracy, latency, timeliness, or quality. The task performance requirements form the basis of the skill statement. To develop the knowledge statement, identify any organized body of technical information regarding the principles or procedures that are necessary to perform the task. In this context, knowledge could be acquired by training or by previous experience. To develop the ability statement, identify any intellectual, physical, and sensory capabilities necessary to perform the task. In this context, abilities are long-term, enduring characteristics that may be innate or acquired in previous experience and are not expected to be acquired through new-employee training.
There are a number of existing resources that can be used as a guide to create new KSAs. For example, the Occupational Information Network, referred to as O*NET (http://www.onetcenter.org/), is a comprehensive database of occupational information created by the U.S. Department of Labor. General questionnaires used in the O*NET Data Collection Program are available for public use at http://www.onetcenter.org/questionnaires.html. The knowledge, skill, and ability questionnaires may be used to determine what KSAs are required to perform a discrete task. These questionnaires can be administered to job incumbents, supervisors, or specialists (e.g., job analysts) to determine the necessary KSAs.
The other O*NET questionnaires may also be of use. For example, the Education and Training questionnaire may help to determine educational and work experience requirements. The O*NET questionnaires only provide generic information, however; the generic information collected must be tailored to the specifics of the TMOT position at the TMC of interest. Furthermore, the information provided by the questionnaires may not provide KSAs specific enough to adequately describe the requirements of the new discrete task.
If you add new KSAs in the interactive dialog (i.e., KSAs that were not part of the base set provided by the interactive dialog), then you will need to create a task statement for each new KSA that is included in the position description output. The tool will not automatically generate task statements for new KSAs. To create a task statement for a new KSA, consider the discrete tasks that require the new KSA and write a general statement, following the style guidelines found in the Writing Position Descriptions tutorial, that incorporates as many of those discrete tasks as possible.
Return to Main Tutorials Page