What is functional analysis?

8. What is functional analysis?

It is a technique used to identify the labour competencies inherent in a productive function. Such function may be defined at the level of an occupational sector, an enterprise, a group of enterprises or a whole sector of production or services. Functional analysis may be developed with different initial levels: an occupational sector (hotel); mainstream occupations at various sectors (occupational safety and health); or an occupation (PC repairman). It is thus evident the flexibility of functional analysis. Although it was designed as a wide-scale analysis tool, it may also be useful to analyse occupations in certain subsectors or even at specific organisations.(1)

Functional analysis is not an exact method whatsoever. It is a working approach to the required competencies by means of a deductive strategy. It begins by establishing the main purpose of the productive function or service under study and then questions are asked to find out what functions need to be performed in order for the previous function to be achieved.

Ideally, this is carried out on a group of workers who are familiar with the function object of the analysis. Its worth as a tool comes directly from its representative quality. Certain rules are followed during its preparation in order to keep uniform criteria. The main purpose, key purpose or key function of the enterprise is usually described by following this structure:

Some definitions of functional analysis

SENAI defines the functional analysis as a method that begins with the definition of the key enterprise purpose and concludes when the simplest productive functions are defined -competence elements- carried out by a worker. They have been used to establish an occupational qualification structure, starting on the identification of its main purpose, deriving successfully to those significant functions and sub-functions for the achievement of this purpose arriving, in this way, to the Competence Elements and Performance Approach.

SENAI uses the Functional Analysis to determine the occupational qualification in a Vocational Profile and considers that exceeds job analysis. Functional Analysis takes into account work context, organized systems, functional relations, production goods results and services and future demands. It considers giving a new treatment to labour activities because it is connected to a wider analysis of all labour context not restricted only to job.

SENA defines it as “a method of questioning and focus that facilitates the identification of the Key Purpose of the sub area of performance, as a starting point to stating and correlating the functions that people should develop in order to fulfil such purpose, until their individual contributions can be specified”.(2)

CONOCER: To detect the elements of competency that are part of a complex productive activity, like the ones usually evidenced in productive organisations, Analysis of Functions or Functional Analysis may be employed. It consists of a successive disaggregation of the productive functions until the functions performed by one person are found. These are the elements of competency.

The Analysis of Functions has the aim of identifying those functions which are necessary to fulfil the main purpose, that is, recognising –because of their relevance– the added value of such functions. The results of such analysis are expressed in a functional map or tree of functions.

L. Mertens:(3) Functional analysis has been taken by the new theory on social systems as their technical methodological basis. In that theory, functional analysis does not refer to the “system” itself, in the sense of a mass or a state that needs to be conserved or to an effect that needs to be produced. Rather, it is used to analyse and understand the relationship between the system and its setting, that is, the difference between them.

From this perspective, the objectives and functions of the enterprise should not be formulated from its organisation as a closed system, but rather in terms of its relationship with its setting. As a consequence, each worker’s function in the organisation should be understood not only with regards to the enterprise’s environment, since such environment itself also creates subsystems within the enterprise’s system, where each function is the setting of the other.

The starting point of functional analysis is what exists as contingent, as a probability. Then it relates that to points of view of the problem, which in this case is a certain result expected by the enterprise. It tries to make the problem understandable and intelligible, stating that it can be solved some way or another. The relationship between a problem and the desired result and its solution cannot be understood in itself; it also serves as a guide to find out about other possibilities, i.e. functional equivalents.

The functional method is a comparative method. Regarding competencies, it analyses the relationships that there are at enterprises between results and skills, knowledge and aptitudes of workers, comparing ones to the others.

United Kingdom: The development of Vocational Qualifications in the United Kingdom(4) used as a basis a structure of performance standards of national scope. The standards described the competencies required in a certain area and they are created by taking occupational functions analysis as the starting point. This approach implies the identification of the main objective (also called key purpose) of the area under study.(5) Then, it goes on with the definition of the functions that ought to be carried out in order to fulfil that key purpose. In essence, it is a disaggregation process that goes from the general to the particular. Once the key purpose has been identified, the disaggregation is done by answering this question: what should be done for this to be fulfilled?

This procedure continues until reaching a level where the function to be carried out, which answers the question, can be effectively performed by a person. It is there where the labour competency of a worker appears. Generally, this occurs between the fourth and fifth disaggregation level in the functional tree or map.

This analysis focuses on what the worker achieves, that is, the results, but never in the process followed to obtain them. This is its main difference with task analysis and job analysis.(6)