Cognitive Abilities And Personality Or Behavioral Styles

It is commonly believed that people differ in various ways, and these individual differences play a detrimental role on their behaviour at work. To be more specific, individual differences include two kernel factors which refers to intelligence and personality. It is clear that individual differences are important in determining behaviour, however, there are other external factors which are equally important, such as working environment or culture within an organisation.

Psychometrics came as a consequence from the theories in psychology which tried to find out if there was a way to measure a person’s intelligence.The first types of the psychometric tests were developed by Sir Francis Galton in the late 1800’s, and were later modified by psychometricians James McKeen Cattell and Charles Spearman. Today, psychometric tests are usually used by employers in recruitment and selection process in order to measure the abilities of a potential employee in specific skills such as: intelligence, critical reasoning, motivation and personality profile. Psychometric tests play an important role in selection practice: 70 percent of firms use them (Sackleton and Newell, 1991). The fundamental assumption of psychometrics is that people differ from each other, for instance in terms of their friendliness, their ability to use mathematics, or their motivation to gain success could be different and these differences can be measured. A definition offered for a psychometric test is “an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behaviour” (Anastasi, 1990)

Peck uses the history of human resources to suggest that today 's data analysis methods are simply an advanced version of the way employment was done after World War II, which first utilized intelligence and personality tests. Companies used these tests to quickly find talented and creative employees, the same reason that people analytics is being used for today. Providing the foundation of people analytics not only supports his argument by proving that the idea has worked brilliantly in the past and will work in the future, but also discredits opposing views.

Recruitment and selection tests “aim to provide a potential employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you handle stress, and whether you will be able to cope with the intellectual demands of the job” (Psychometric Success, 2013). These tests are split into personality tests and aptitude/ability test. LL would benefit from personality tests for all employees to ensure

Hiring and training employees is costly and many employers use screening methods to filter out unsuitable candidates that do not meet the assessment criteria. In valid selection systems, there is a match between required job abilities and assessed abilities (Kitaeff, 2011). Cognitive ability tests are widely used in the application screening process and measure how well an individual understands and solves complex problems, applies reasoning to difficult situations, and thinks abstractly. Many organizations use the Wonderlic Personnel Test to assist in recruiting candidates that fit the behavioral, learning and problem solving job criteria. According to Kitaeff (2011),“the Wonderlic test provides a

Steinberg involves the use of personality and workplace fit tools to ensure increased efficiency (G. Steinberg, personal communication, August 13, 2016). Dr. Steinberg spoke about the importance of the corporate culture and individual supervisory leadership style needing to mesh well. He also discussed the important of hiring the correct candidate based on personality fit so that resources are not wasted with low efficiency and high employee turnover. The employee’s ability to form good working relationships with coworkers in the specific workgroup is extremely important, and strong coworker relationships can at times mediate conflicts that arise between corporate and personal values (Menguc, Auh, Katsikeas, & Yeon Sung, 2016). Turnover rate is particularly important in the nursing profession in which I am currently employed. The turnover cost for a nurse in the U.S. is estimated to be at least $20,000, with many areas reporting even higher costs (Duffield, Roche, Homer, Buchan, & Dimitrelis, 2014). As nursing is typically one of the larger budget items for a healthcare system, it is very important that the right nurses are chosen during the selection process. Evaluating personality and workplace fit is one way to help reduce the turnover cost and ensure that the right candidate is chosen for the open

Allport defines personality as ‘the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment’ (Allport, 1937). An individual’s unique personality traits and attributes are a powerful indicator of how he/she will interact with the work environment. The difference between average and outstanding employees can often be solely personality related. As the employee is the most valuable asset to the company, ‘selecting the right employee during the process is critical’ (Carbery and Cross, 2013, pp. 41-53)

Companies have started to use personality tests in the past five years so that they can find a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses. If questions and answers are quite accurate and test is done properly it can help an employer to find more about person’s advantages and disadvantages. It is very important to know because one of the most important points is that most of personality tests help to recognize unqualified candidates. “Although experts warn that many personality assessments don't deliver what they promise, legitimate scientifically validated tests are helping employers evaluate job candidates to select those best suited for particular positions. Other tests are designed to measure intelligence, honesty, management aptitude and other qualities.”

It is hard to pinpoint what exactly controls our personality, learning style, or locus of control. Many different things contribute, and these aspects directly affect our strengths, weaknesses, and overall personality.There are various tests and assessments to indicate what type of personality, learning style, or strengths you have. Some of these assessments will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

1) Which mindset do you have regarding intelligence?  Which mindset do you have regarding other abilities? (use questions on pgs 12 & 13 to help)

Biodata is a self-rated and self-measured method in which candidates provide biographical information about themselves (Levashina, 2012). Information such as personal work history that is relevant to the job being applied for and demographic details are typically included in biodata (Kalliath, Brough, O 'Driscoll, Manimala, Siu & Parker, 2013). Biodata involves questions about a candidate’s experience where they have had to act on their opinions, attitudes or values (Levashina, 2012). The biography provided by job candidates provides useful information for employers for assignment of the candidates attributes. If a candidate provided information about being able to speak multiple languages as well as having lived in many countries, the employer is able to conclude that the candidate shows ability to learn, has cross cultural experiences as well as being able to relocate (Kuntz, 2014). Breaugh (2009) stated that biodata is an effective performance predictor for potential employees. However, this method is not commonly used, as it has low face validity, and candidates have suspicions about how their information will be used (Kalliath, et al., 2013). Schmidt and Hunter, 1998 (as cited by Breaugh, 2009) conducted a meta-analysis in which they estimated for job performance, the predictive validity of biodata was 0.35 and a validity of 0.30 for performance during job training. Mount, Witt & Barrick (2000) stated that employees that rate higher on the biodata work habit

Psychometric tests are impersonal, standardized and objective, and practice tests are readily available. The psychometric test is a level playing field: employers value them because they are a fair way of comparing different candidates’ strengths regardless

For many years companies have depended on three basic tools, such as résumés, interviews and references to gather qualified candidates. These sources are commonly used in a day to day basis but have proven to be inadequate for consistently selecting good employees. When it comes to hiring and selecting you want to use productive tools to help determine the best decision possible. Using the incorrect tools to hire and test potential candidates causes employee turnover and retention. Companies need to understand what pre-employment assessments are and why they are effective. I will be discussing the best means of hiring and testing new employees. Exploring what other companies are doing in hiring and testing, accessing the positives and negatives of each, and lastly offering recommendations to our department.

Cognitive ability of an individual is described as the capacity that is utilized to perform higher mental processes of understanding, remembering, reasoning and problem solving. They should be part of the police exam as they are brain-based skills of an individual.

Attributes are not conducted. They are outline articulations portraying probability of and rates of progress in conduct because of specific situational signals. Notwithstanding their relationship to the likelihood and idleness of reaction, stable inclinations may be conceptualized as far as differential sensitivities to circumstances and differential reaction predispositions. Interceding among characteristics, circumstances, and reactions are passing full of feeling and subjective states. (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).