ABSTRACT
This entry provides a summary description of job classification, explains the role of job classification in organizing people to accomplish work, identifies management functions supported by job classification, and outlines the roles in classification played by executives, managers, and job classifiers. “Scientific classification” is discussed, and the issue of why there are many different classification systems is addressed. The explanation covers the impact of different frames of reference (i.e., different employers and different criterion measures), use of a variety of job classification techniques, and the challenges inherent in the double role of job classification—as a vehicle for management and for public accountability. It concludes that job classification codes provide information vital to management of work in a broad range of circumstances from stabilizing the civil services of African and Central American nations to maintaining accountability of the “new” public management workforce. A list of links to classification resources appears at the end of the entry.
