Technical b r Report - International Military Testing Association

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order drill is a good military exanple. Here we see that the outcone or
product of the task is no more or less than the correct execution of steps
in task performance -- that is, the process.
?!ore tasks are of the second type mentioned, those in which the product
invaria3ly r'ollows from the process. Fixed-procedu:e tasks typically fall
in this category. Troubleshooting an electrical circuit, disassembling a
rifle, and implanting a land mine are ex&nples. In tasks of this type the
procedural steps are knob-n, observable, and comprise the necessary and
sufficient conditions for task outco?.e; so if process is correctly executed,
task product necessarily folious.
A great man; job tasks are of the third type >*here the product is less
that fully conditional on the process. In other words, with these types of
tasks the process nay appear tc have been correctly carried out but the goal
or product not achieved. This can happen for one of two reasons: eitf;er
(a) because w are unable to fully specify the necessary and sufficient steps
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in task performance or (b) becaze we do not or cannot accurately measure
then. In aizl-firing a rifle, far exaqle, WC are interested in knowing if a
soldier is s:anding with his body properly oriented to the target, face
properly positioned on stock, rtfle sling in correcr position, lead arm
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perpendicular, acd firing arc1 parallel to ground; if be is breathing correctly,
has a good sigh: picture, and squeezes the trigger. Presumably, if this
process is followed the rifleman will hit the target. Assuming that we have
identified all esseztlal steps in rifle iiring, and, further, that de can
reliably measure their c,orrect execution, the:1 tbe task is of the second
type described above and dock zot belong in Category 3.
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However, in practice,
we know that ou:: best efforts to cvalucte execution of this particular task
are not sufficient to warrant substituting process for product ceasurezen:.
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