Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Testing categories
Achievement tests
Measure current levels of previously acquired knowledge
Measured Abilities
Mental ability tests measure several distinct abilities but all tests do not measure the same abilities
Scoring of Tests
General tests provide an overall mental ability score Other tests either provide separate scores on each abilities, then sum scores to report a total score or they measure separate abilities and do not combine the scores into a general ability measure.
Verbal Comprehension
Conceptual Classification Semantic Relations General Reasoning Conceptual Foresight
Visualization
Intuitive Reasoning Ordering Figural Identification Logical Evaluation
Testing Methods
Manual performance (assembly/manipulation) Written problems
Abilities Measured
Perceptual speed and accuracy Mechanical information
Explosive strength
Trunk strength Extent flexibility Dynamic flexibility Gross body coordination
Stamina
Definition of Personality
Personality
The unique set of characteristics that define an individual and determine that persons pattern of interaction with the environment. Characteristics
What people habitually want, say, do, feel, or believe, and these attributes are combined distinctly in each person.
Environment
Includes both human and nonhuman elements (organizational demands, work conditions, physical environment, etc.).
Personality Traits
Trait
A continuous dimension on which consistent individual differences in reactions to the same situation may be measured (or explained) by the amount of the characteristic the individual exhibits.
Examples: sociability, independence, and need for achievement
Personality Trait
Conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, ambition (especially) Persistence, endurance, emotional stability, nurturance Conscientiousness, achievement (especially), ambition, extraversion Conscientiousness, dependability (especially), emotional stability, agreeableness Conscientiousness, original thinking, openness to new experiences Conscientiousness, extraversion, original thinking Conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to new experiences Conscientiousness, dependability (especially), emotional stability
Weak Situations
Cause individuals to not uniformly interpret events in the same way
Implications
Personality is less important in powerful situations than in weak situations. Personality characteristics are more important for selection devices and job assignments in weak situations than in powerful ones.
Projective Techniques
Require verbal responses to intentionally ambiguous inkblots, pictures, or sentence stems that provide insights into an individuals personality.
*Based on the revised Personality Characteristics Inventory by Murray P. Barrick and Michael K. Mount, published by Wonderlic, Inc., Libertyville, Illinois.
Conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness predict teamwork and performance in jobs involving interpersonal interactions.
All Big Five traits except openness to experience predict success either as an expatriate or an entrepreneur. High conscientiousness and agreeableness scores indicate less likelihood of deviant behavior. Motivation is the means through which personality operates; emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness support job satisfaction, commitment, and job performance.
Raters often interpret even small amounts of behavior as signs of underlying traits and motives.
Unstructured interviews can increase the accuracy of the raters assessment of an applicants personality.
Observation of behavior
Supervisors record instances of work performance
Example: the Critical Incidents Technique
Performance Tests
What Performance Tests Do
Ask the applicant to do a representative part of the job for which he or she is being evaluated.
Provide direct evidence of the applicants ability and skill to work on the job.
Relying on the assumption that applicants already possess KSAs to complete the job behavior
Costs of time, materials, and equipment required to develop and administer performance tests
Verbal Tests
spoken or written messages or interpersonal interaction
Trainability Tests
for jobs that do not presently exist and specialized jobs for which extensive training is necessary.
Machine operator
Clerical worker
Mechanic
Electronics technician
Verbal: Report of recommendations for problem solution Small business manufacturing game Judgment and decision-making test Supervisory judgment about training, safety, performance, evaluation
Processing of mathematical data and evaluating hypotheses Describing laboratory tests Mathematical formulation and scientific judgment Oral fact finding Role playing of customer contacts Writing business letters Giving oral directions
Manager or supervisor
Engineer or scientist
Assessment Centers
What Is an Assessment Center (AC)?
A procedure for measuring KSAs in groups of individuals (usually 12 to 24) that uses a series of devices (exercises), many of which are verbal performance tests.
Uses of ACs
Selectionidentifying participants who demonstrate behaviors necessary for the position considered. Career developmentdetermining those behaviors each participant does well and those in which each is deficient.
Definition
Effectively expressing oneself in individual or group situations (includes gestures and nonverbal communications) Establishing a course of action for self or others in order to accomplish a specific goal; planning proper assignments of personnel and appropriate allocation of resources Utilizing subordinates effectively; allocating decision making and other responsibilities to the appropriate subordinates Establishing procedures for monitoring or regulating the processes, tasks, or activities of subordinates; monitoring and regulating job activities and responsibilities; taking action to monitor the results of delegated assignments or projects
Decisiveness
Initiative
Expressing a readiness to make decisions, render judgments, take action, or commit oneself
Actively attempting to influence events to achieve goals; showing self-starting actions rather than passive acceptance. Taking action to achieve goals beyond those called for; originating action Maintaining a stable performance under pressure or opposition Maintaining effectiveness in varying environments, with various tasks, responsibilities, or people Staying with a position or plan of action until the desired objective is achieved or is no longer reasonably attainable
SOURCE: George C. Thornton III, Assessment Centers in Human Resource Management (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992).
Types of Abilities To Be Developed in Training Assessors Understanding the behavioral dimensions Observing the behavior of participants
Determining the rating of participants on each behavioral dimension across the exercises
Determining the overall evaluation of participants across all behavioral dimensions
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Integrity Testing
Why worry about employee dishonesty?
Pressure to remain cost-competitive in a global marketplace Wide differences in perceptions of the extent of employee theft
Polygraph Testing
Polygraph (lie detector) Employee Polygraph Protection Act (1988) Made it illegal in selection (with the exception of specific circumstances)
Personality-based measures
Do not ask about theft behaviors directly. Inventory traits linked to several related employee behaviors that are detrimental to the organization.
Drug Testing
Issues in Drug Use Measurement
Distinctions related to use (levels and frequencies of consumption) and impairment (deterioration in performance)
Urine Tests
Require screening and confirmation tests Results are dependent on threshold level set
Hair Analysis
Requires screening and confirmation tests Allows for longer detection periods
Graphology
Graphology
The analysis of the handwriting of an individual in order to infer personality traits and behavioral tendencies.
Graphologist
The individual who performs the analysis of handwriting features:
Size of letters, slant, width, zones (top, middle, and bottom), regularity of letter formation, margin, pressure, stroke, line of letters (upward, straight, downward), connections of letters, form of connection, and word and line spacing.