THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO IDENTIFY CLUSTERS OF TASKS PERFORMED BY A COMPREHENSIVE SAMPLE OF OFFICE EMPLOYEES WORKING IN FIVE OFFICE-SIZE CATEGORIES IN 12 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATIONS IN WASHINGTON STATE. QUESTIONNAIRES LISTING 599 OFFICE TASKS AND VALIDATED BY INTERVIEWS WITH 286 OFFICE WORKERS AND SUPERVISORS AND BY A JURY OF EXPERTS, WERE SENT TO A PROPORTIONAL, STRATIFIED SAMPLE OF 295 FIRMS IN THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE SECTOR AND 28 GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES. OF 767 QUESTIONNAIRES DISTRIBUTED, 663 (86.4 PERCENT) WERE RETURNED IN USEABLE FORM. ON THE BASIS OF FINDINGS, THE 599 OFFICE TASKS WERE CLUSTERED WITHIN 13 MAJOR CATEGORIES--TYPEWRITING, OPERATING OFFICE MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT, TAKING DICTATION AND TRANSCRIBING, MAILING, FILING, TELEPHONING AND COMMUNICATING, PERFORMING CLERICAL OPERATIONS, SECURING DATA, USING MATHEMATICS, PERFORMING FINANCIAL AND RECORD KEEPING OPERATIONS, PERFORMING EDITORIAL OPERATIONS, MEETING AND WORKING WITH PEOPLE, AND MISCELLANEOUS. CLUSTERS OF TASKS WERE SIMILARLY PREPARED FOR EACH OF SIX BROAD JOB CATEGORIES--SUPERVISION, SECRETARIAL-STENOGRAPHIC, CLERICAL, BOOKKEEPING-ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS MACHINE OPERATION, AND DATA PROCESSING. RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNED (1) IDENTIFYING CLUSTERS OF KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS, AND CAPABILITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF MAJOR TASKS, (2) ASCERTAINING EMERGING CHANGES IN OFFICE STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS, (3) DEVELOPING AN INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES-DERIVING MODEL FOR OFFICE EDUCATION AND (4) DEVELOPING SELF-PACED LEARNING PACKAGES. A FULLER DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN FOR THIS STUDY IS PROVIDED IN DOCUMENT VT 001 758. (PS)