ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problems of communicating about work, including the subtleties involved in the choice of words. It also explores the reason for focusing on tasks, rather than on jobs and the crucial role of Level and Orientation measures in defining a task. FJA provides human resource specialists with a means to design viable jobs for their organizations from entry to professional levels. The orientation measure provided by FJA indicates the relative involvement of the worker with Things, Data, and People in performing a task. The training the worker must have to perform the task should emphasize and build on the mental skills required. Functional level and orientation became the means for focusing on what workers do, the neglected part of job analysis, and the conceptual basis for developing a tool to control the language of job description and measure the complexity of tasks.
