Assessment, Careers, and Business - Chapter 15 - Cohen - 2018

Summary of Assessment, Careers, and Business - Chapter 15 - Cohen - 2018. A whole world of tests is available to help in various phases of career choice. Historically, one variable considered closely related to occupational fulfillment and success is personal interests.

What are the measures of interest?

Assuming that interest in one's work promotes better performance on the job both employers and employees should have much to gain from methods that can help individuals identify their interests and jobs tailored to their interests. An interest measure in the context of the workplace can be seen as an instrument designed to evaluate test takers' likes, dislikes, leisure activities etc. Employers can use the information about their employees' interest patterns to formulate job descriptions and attract new personnel. The Strong Interest Inventory was one of the first interest measures published by psychologist Stanley Hall (1907). His questionnaire was designed to assess children's interest in various recreational pursuits. In the early 20's Strong came up with a measurement program holding 420 items, called the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB).

Strong's recipe for test construction was empirical and straightforward: (1) select hundreds of items that would conceivably distinguish the interest of a person by that person's occupation, (2) administer this rough cut of the test to several hundred people selected as representative of certain occupations of professions, (3) sort out which items seemed of interest to persons by occupational group, (4) construct a final version of the test that would yield scores describing how an examinee's pattern of interest corresponded to those of people actually employed in various occupations and professions.

How well do interest measures predict the kind of work in which individuals will be successfull and happy? In one study, interest and aptitude measures were found to correlate in a range of about .40 to .72.

What are the measures of ability and aptitude?

Achievement, ability and aptitude tests all measure prior learning, although they differ in the uses to which the test data will be put. Aptitude tests may tap a greater amount of informal learning than achievement tests and achievement tests may be more limited and focused that aptitude tests. 

The Bennet Mechanical Comprehension Test is a widely used paper-and-pencil measure of a testtaker's ability to understand the relationship between physical forces and various tools as well as other common objects. 

The General Aptitude Test Battery is a test battery that is available for use by state employment services as well as other agencies and organizations, such as school districts and nonprofit organizations, that have obtained official permission from the government. The GATB consist of 12 subtests that measure nine aptitudes which in turn can be divided into three composite aptitudes. The GATB has evolved from a test with multiple cutoffs to one that employs regression and validity generalization for making recommendations based on test results. The GATB became a center of controversy around the late 1980s when it became public knowledge that the test had been race-normed. Race-norming refers to the process of adjusting scores to show an individual testtaker's standing within his or her racial group. 

What are the measures of personality?

The use of personality measures in employment settings is a topic that has generated a fair amount of debate in the scholarly literature. Concern has been expressed about attempts by employees to 'fake good' on such tests. Although there are many personality tests, some will be more appropriate for the task at hand than others. 

How do you measure personality traits?

Personality measurement in the context of employment-related research or counseling might begin with the administration of a test designed to measure the Big Five. The most widely used test today is the NEO PI-R. But there are more types of instruments that also fall under the general heading of personality test. You also have integrity tests, especially designed to predict employee theft, and/or potential for violence. Integrity tests may be used to screen new employees as well as to keep honest those already hired. 

Sackett dichomotized integrity tests into overt integrity test (Do you always tell the truth?) and personality-based measures, which resemble in many ways objective personality inventories. 

Is there a relationship between personality and work performance?

Most people believe there is. But there are methodological obstacles in conducting such research, so many researchers have failed to discover a relationship. But studying work performance with regard to the Big Five traits has led to some useful findings. Barrick (2001) conducted a second-order meta-analysis and determined that in general, high conscientiousness and extraversion scores were correlated with good work performance, and high neuroticism scores were correlated with poor work performance. The relationship between personality and work performance is not straightforward, some personality traits seem helpful with regard to some, but not all types of jobs. 

Another question researchers ask themselves is 'Does the emotional disposition of children have anything to do with how satisfied they are with their jobs as adults?'. The answer is yes. But the use of personality tests in any employment-related context have their critics. 

Researchers are also interested in the role of culture in various aspects of assessment for employment. Meyers (1994) says that a new job can sometimes result in some kind of culture shock. This is also why he came up with the instrument called the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory CCAI. 

There are also assessment tools that not only have application for career entry but also in career transition. One test specifically designed for use with people contemplating a career change is the Career Transitions Inventory. The purpose of this test is to assess psychological resources during the process of career transition. Career transition was operationally defined as task change, position change and occupation change. 

How does screening, selection, classification and placement work?

Screening refers to a relatively superficial process of evaluation based on certain minimal standards, criteria, or requirements. 

Selection refers to a process whereby each person evaluated for a position will be either accepted or rejected for that position. By contrast, classification does not imply acceptance or rejection but rather a rating, categorization, or 'pigeonholing' with respect to two or more criteria. 

Like classification, placement need not carry any implication of acceptance or rejection. Placement is a disposition, transfer, or assignment to a grnp or category that may be made on the basis of one criterion. 

How do the résumé and the letter of application look?

There is no single, standard résumé, they can be 'as unique as the individuals they represent'. Typically it holds information about the work objectives, qualifications, education and experience of someone. But neither a résumé nor a letter of application is likely to be the sole vehicle through which employment is secured. The cover letter and résumé may be analyzed for details such as quality of written communication, perceived sincerity, and appropriateness of the applicant's objectives, education, motivation and prior experience. 

What is the application form?

Application forms may be thought of as biographical sketches that supply employers with information pertinent to the acceptability of job candidates. The guiding philosophy is that each item in the form be relevant either to consideration for employment or for contacting the applicant. 

What is the letter of recommendation?

Such letters hold unique and detailed information about the applicant's past performance, the quality of the applicant's relationship with peers and so forth. 

What is an interview?

Interviews, whether individual or in group, provide an occasion for the face-to-face exchange of information. It can be highly structured or highly unstructured. As with all interviews, the interviewer's biases and prejudices may creep into the evaluation and influence the outcome. 

What is portfolio assessment?

Portfolio assessment entails an evaluation of an individual's work sample for the purpose of making some screening, selection, classification or placement division. In portfolio assessment, the assessor may have the opportunity to (1) evaluate many work samples created by the assessee, (2) obtain some understanding of the assessee's work-related thought processes and habits through an analysis of the materials from rough draft to finished form, and (3) to question the assessee further regarding various aspects of his or her work-related thinking and habits. 

What are performance tests?

A performance test requires assessees to demonstrate certain skills or abilities under a specified set of circumstances. The typical objective of such an exercise is to obtain a job-related performance sample. The boundaries between performance, achievement, and aptitude tests are often blurred, especially when the work sample entails taking a standardized test of skill or ability. 

An instrument designed to measure clerical aptitude and skills is the Minnesota Clerical Test (MCT). The MCT comprises two subtests. Each subtest contains 200 items, with each item consisting of either a pair of names or a pair of numbers. The assessee's task is to check whether the two names in the pair are the same or different. 

A commonly used performance test in the assessment of business leadership ability is the leaderless group technique. Communication skills, problem-solving abilities, the ability to cope with stress, and other skills can also be assessed by a group exercise in which the participants' task is to work together in the solution of some problem or the achievement of some goal. 

Another performance test frequently used to assess managerial ability, organizational skills, and leadership potential is the in-basket technique. This technique simulates the way a manager or an executive deals with an in-basket filled with mail, memos, announcements and various other notices and directives. 

What are physical tests?

A physical test may be defined as measurement that entails evaluation of one's somatic health and intentness, and observable sensory and motor abilities. Additionally, physical techniques have been applied in the assessment of integrity and honesty, as in the case with the polygraph and drug testing. 

What holds drug testing?

Beyond concerns about traditional physical, emotional and cognitive job requirements lies great concern about employee drug use. In the context of the workplace, a drug test may be defined as an evaluation undertaken to determine the presence, if any, of alcohol or other psychotropic substances, by means of laboratory analysis of blood, urine, hair, or other biological specimens. 

In the course of legal proceedings, a question that emerges frequently has to do with the validity of drug testing. The consequences of false positives (an individual tests positively for drug use when in reality there has been no drug use) and false negatives (an individual tests negatively for drug use when in reality there has been drug use). Another question related to the validity of drug tests concerns the degree to which drugs identified through testing actually affect job performance. An alternative to drug testing involves using performance tests to directly examine impairment. 

What are measures of cognitive ability?

Selection decision are often based on performance on test that tap acquired knowledge as well as various cognitive skills and abilities. 

But the use of tests that tap primarily cognitive abilities and skills for screening, selection, classification and placement has become controversial. This controversy stems from a well-documented body of evidence that points to consistent group differences on cognitive ability tests. 

Productivity may be defined as output or value yielded relative to work effort made. The term is equally applicable to workers who make products and to workers who provide services. Using techniques such as supervisor ratings, interviews etc. management might determine what/who is responsible for the unsatisfactory performance. One type of ranking procedure used when large numbers of employees are assessed is the forced distribution technique. This procedure involves distributing a predetermined number of percentages of assesses into various categories that describe performance. 

The critcal indicents technique involves the supervisor recording positive and negative empoloyee behavior. Peer ratings or evaluations by other workers at the same level have proved to be a valuable method of identifying talent among employees. Is there a downside to peer ratings? Most definitely! Even when peer ratings are carried out anonymously, a person being rated may feel as if some suspected peer rated him or her to low. 

In many organizations, people work in teams. In an organizational or workplace context a team may be defined as two or more people who interact interdependently toward a common and valued goal and who have each been assigned specific roles or functions to perform. 

What is motivation?

Why do some people skip lunch, work overtime, and take work home nightly whereas others strive to do as little as possible and live a life of leisure at work? On a theoretical level, an abundance of theories seek to delineate the specific needs, attitudes, social influences and other factors that might account for differences in motivation. Maslow (1970) constructed a theoretical hierarchy of human needs and proposed that, after one category of need is met, people seek to satisfy the next category of need. 

Motivation may be conceptualized as stemming from incentives that are either primarily internal or primarily external in origin. Another way of stating this is to speak of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, the primary driving force stems from things such as the individual's involvement in work or satisfaction with work products. In extrinsic motivation, the primary driving force stems from rewards, such as salary and bonuses, or from constraints, such as job loss. 

How do you measure burnout?

Burnout is an occupational health problem associated with cumulative occupational stress. It has been defined as 'a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with other people in some capacity. Emotional exhaustion refers to an inability to give of oneself emotionally to others, and depersonalization refers to distancing from other people and even developing cynical attitudes towards them. The most widely used measure of burnout is the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Using instruments like the MBI, researchers have found that some occupations are characterized by higher levels of burnout than others. 

What is job satisfaction?

Job satisfaction has been defined as 'a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences'. One diagnostic measure of job satisfaction involves video-recording an employee at work and then playing back the video for the employee. The employee clicks on virtual controls to indicate when an unsatisfactory situation arises, and a window of question automatically opens. Other measures of job satisfaction may focus on other elements of the job, including cognitive evaluations of the work and the work schedule. 

What is organizational commitment?

This has been defined as the strength of an individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization. This strength has been conceptualized and measured in ways that emphasize both its attitudinal and behavioral components. Organizational commitment refers to a person's feelings of loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in an organization. 

What is an organizational culture?

Organizational culture has been defined as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns characteristics of a particular organization or company, including: structure of the organization and the roles within it, the leadership style, prevailing values, norms, sanctions, support mechanisms etc. Because the concept of organizational culture is so multifaceted, obtaining a measure of it is no simple feat.