Psychometric Tests Essay

IntroductionPsychometric examines real quickly during the 1980s and 1990s and nowadays, it is in truth commonly habitd by many shapings for making decisions on cream and promotion. In the UK, round 75% of medium to large sized organizations use them as part of their woof procedure alongside interviews or a nonher(prenominal) face-to-face assessment techniques. (Website http//www.morrisby.com/faq/faq_answer.asp?ID=11 Accessed 30/11/2005) The psychometric essays be a useful tool for understanding more ab out(p) the candidates, and conclusion out their aptitude and genius to support the cheek making fortune telling about the someones behaviour or work accomplishment in the proximo.Types of psychometric testsA key feature of all psychometric tests is that they puzzle to fulfil two principal criteria in use reli big businessman, ie, tests moldiness provide consistent results when measuring the same characteristics, or factors, on two or more occasions, usually on a te st-retest basis validity, i.e they mustiness be able to measure what they claim to measure. (G A Cole, Organisational Behaviour, 1995, Continuum) The psychometric tests accrue into two types* Aptitude tests Measure a persons probable rather than knowledge and how well they can learn young skills to heading with the job. The tests mostly focus on the persons numerical, verbal, non-verbal and spatial ability. It is distinguishable to the attainment tests because it jockstraps to predict the cognitive process of the person, whereas the attainment tests focus on the persons bring home the baconment in the past. However, there is a link in the midst of the attainment tests and ability tests because what the person has achieved depends on his/her ability.* Personality questionnaires Focus on the persons temperament, values, interests, etc. The tests involve finding out and analysing the shipway in which people deal with things, their attitude and how they give be hold in di fferent situations. The tests normally dont defend a age limit, and there is no h atomic number 53st or wrong answers.Back to intravenous feeding hundred BC, Hippocrates from Greece was the first theorist to measure the differences between individuals temper. He believed that individuals personality or temperament were determined by their bodily fluids or humours, i.e. yellow bile choleric aggressive, excitable, irritable. A nonher type theory was developed by William Sheldon (1898-1970,) he believed that the temperament of people were related to their physique, i.e. the ectomorph type, people who argon thin, shy, creative and intelligent, the mesomorph type, which ar people who are salutary, active, brave and assertive, and the endomorpht type, people who are fat, sociable and easy going.Another example of type theory was bring to passd by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung he focused on how people think. He created viii psychological types, four Extraverted (E) atti tudes plus four Introverted (I) attitudes fuse with either thinking (T) or feeling (F), and either sensing (S) or intuition (N) EST, ESF, ENT, ENF, IST, ISF, INT and INF. His work was later developed by two generations of the Myers-Briggs family, which the MBTI test use one side or other of all four of Jungs, establish a four-letter code to set up sixteen types of personality. In addition, one of the most famous trait theories was created by Hans Jrgen Eysenck (1997 1990) and the 16 personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) created by R.B. Cattell, its one of the best-known personality measures, as well as one of the most frequently used in the natural selection process.The use and effectiveness of psychometric testsOrganisations spend lots of money and cartridge holder on selection and all they want is the in force(p) person for the right job, an employee who has the ability, enjoys doing the job, and will provide a good level of performance, and benefit the organisation as a r esult. In other words, the tests back up the organisations to save money and time, because once they have got the right person for the job, they talent not impoverishment to go through the recruitment process again.During the interview process, sometimes applicants force lie about their achievement and ability, or even create a false good impression to increase their chance of getting the job. With the help of the psychometric tests, the organisation will be able to fuddle decisions about people more effective and accurately because the information they gather from the tests are reliable, and also enable them to predict the ability and the performance of the candidate. Recent meta-analysis studies have consistently demonstrated that cognitive ability testing accurately predicts future job performance across almost all operational areas. ( can buoy Arnold, ca-ca psychological science, 4th edition, 2005, Pearson Education Limited)An example of the use of a psychometric test duri ng the selection process could involve a potential sales manager, and by chance testing them for their numerical ability, verbal reasoning powers and for analysing their personality, enabling the company to intoxicate how he/she deals things, behaves towards the staff or reacts in different situations. Using a psychometric test during the selection process would also help an organisation to give feedback to those who failed to get the job the feedback is accurate and straight forward, helping the applicants to refer their strengths and weaknesses, so they know what kind of job is suitable for them and to help self-development.During the procreation and promotion processes, the tests are also useful as they help to position whether the employees need training and assistance in improving their skills in detail areas. During the promotion process, the organisation might use the personality questionnaires to find out which candidates personality is most suitable to promote to a hi gher level. Some organisations might even use the results of a psychometric test to make someone redundant. I personally think that it is not fair because the tests should be seen as additional information, and also the personality does not fully shine the productivity of the employee.Limitation of the testsFirst of all, it may be costly and time-consuming for the organisations to produce the tests because the materials required can be expensive, big(a) organisations may even employ a psychologist to design specific tests and it will therefore increase their costs. Examples such as personality tests are tall(prenominal) to manage and interpret results, and therefore specific experts are needed.Secondly, the applicants can mold their response in the personality tests as it increases their chances of getting the job, as they might attempt to give the answers to which the organisation is looking for. It can be exposit as social desirability and it contains two fundamentals, self-d eception and impression management (Paulhaus, 1989). Self-deception refers to applicants being overly optimistic in their perceptions of positive personality features while simultaneously trying to play down their perceived ostracise aspects. Impression management is more concerned with applicants trying to appear handsome because they fear social disapproval. (Dominic Cooper and Ivan T. Robertson, The Psychology of Personnel Selection, 1995, Routledge). Its also required to take into story that sometimes applicants might be neuronic when they are taking the tests, and that it might have an influence on the answers they are giving.For the aptitude and ability tests, some jobs might require multi-skilled applicants who do not have all of the abilities, this does not mean that they cannot perform well, but their performance would also depend on many other factors, i.e. companys policies, procedures and structure, luck, team working, appraisal system, etc. It is hard to predict th e performance of an individual when sometimes people rotate their duty or positions, tailored to one of the methods of motivation.The purpose of the aptitude and personality tests are to predict an individuals performance, personality and behaviour, specifically when the individuals receive new information and obtain new experiences, i.e. If a special event or dramatic change in life were to occur, their attitudes would change and it can therefore influence their performance. Another strong argued point against aptitude and personality tests would be, for example, an employee who performs well but has a hazardous personality he/she could be unfriendly, unsociable and may not the likes of to work as part of a team, but overall his/her performance could be the best at heart the department.The question is, is he/she really the most suitable person for the job? From the business view, he/she is definitely the right person for the job as long as he/she helps to achieve the business tar gets. However, the use of the personality tests would become useless, and fail to take into account their performance capability in this situation because it clearly proves that his/her personality does not reflect their performance. In addition, the tests might be unfair to applicants whose first diction is not English, even though some tests might require a certain amount of education, i.e. vocabulary, but also it would be unfair to applicants who have different cultures, or come from a different background, because they might have different beliefs, opinions and values on different things or react otherwise to similar situations.ConclusionI personally think that the aptitude and ability tests are really useful for organisations, as it helps them to make decisions during their selection and promotion stages. It is reliable and accurate, helps to identify the ability of the applicants and predicts their performance. However, there are lots of factors that could create an influenc e on the individuals life, which would directly or indirectly affect their performance.The personality questionnaire can be accurate if the person answers honestly to the questions, it can help them to know more about themselves and find out what type of person they are. However, I suggest that the personality questionnaire should not be used within workplace because I strongly believe that personality does not reflect the productivity of the person.Finally, I think it is important for organisations not to rely on these tests because they cannot be 100% accurate, and that they should set out a good selection procedure, making sure they are providing a good feedback system to the applicants, and make sure discriminations do not take place during the selection process.Bibliography instruction listG A Cole, (1995), Organisational Behaviour, ContinuumLaurie. J Mullins, (2005), Management and organisational behaviour, 7th Edition, assimilator Hall.Andrzej Huczynski and David Buchanan, ( 2001), Organizational Behaviour An Introductory Text, 4th Edition, Prentice HallJohn Arnold, (2005), Work Psychology, 4th Edition, Prentice HallChristoper Lewis, (1992), Employee Selection, 2nd Edition, Stanley ThornesDominic Cooper and Ivan T. Robertson, (1995), The Psychology of Personnel Selection, RoutledgeWebsite http//www.lboro.ac.uk/service/careers/section/apps_ints/apps_psyc.htmlWHAT Accessed 30 November 2005http//www.psychometricadvantage.co.uk/personalityprofiling.html Accessed 28 November 2005http//www.cosmiccoaching.com/articles/psycho.htm Accessed 28 November 2005http//www.morrisby.com/test_takers_guide/psychometrics.asp8 Accessed 28 November 2005