The Hindu Business Line : Psychometric tests minimise human bias in selection

The most important factor for organisations is that psychometric tests allow hiring of individuals who are more likely to be good performers. Most organisations are aware of the real cost in selecting individuals who are not ‘quite’ suited to their jobs.

Mr Vikas Dhawan, Psychometrician at The Psychometrics Centre, Cambridge Assessment, UK.

What are the qualities that an employer looks for in a prospective employee? Employers usually look for traits specific to ‘that’ particular role. For instance, to hire a bank professional at the administrative level, you would l ook for good numeric skills, high attention to detail and being agreeable; while for a senior level manager you might look for strategic and independent thinking, result-orientation, ability to work under pressure, etc.

“Having a well-planned list of desired characteristics goes a long way in ensuring that the process of assessment is sound. This is what makes an assessment valid and objective,” says Mr Vikas Dhawan , Psychometrician at The Psychometrics Centre, Cambridge Assessment, UK ( www.thepsychometricscentre.co.uk), sharing his personal views with Business Line, over the e-mail.

Excerpts from the interview.

Where do your tests fit in?

Psychometric tests are meant to minimise human bias in selection and make the process scientific. They allow you to assess the required technical skills and knowledge, and personality characteristics fairly accurately and consistently. You can compare individuals on common criteria and decisions can be made without bias against any particular group. The features mentioned are the core elements of psychometrics.

What is more important to an employer — personality or ability? Why? If both are important, what is the trade off between the two?

Both are and should be important. Though research has shown that ability tests tend to predict successful job performance slightly better than what personality assessments do.

But identifying personality characteristics is equally crucial; more so in today’s global environment where organisations look for a ‘complete’ employee. An IT engineer is not only required to be good at software development but also to be a good team player and be able to communicate with clients effectively. Moreover, organisations should avoid using only ability or only personality tools for hiring. Both used together tend to provide more reliable, fair and accurate results.

What is the role of an employee in promoting the image of a firm? How?

Employees are the lifeline of any organisation. Individuals who enjoy their work-role display higher level of motivation and are generally more content. This positive attitude is passed onto the society through their family and social network and respect for the company grows.

This gets reflected in its balance sheet as well as through its lower attrition rate. An organisation’s and society’s development are directly related to individual development. For achieving this objective, psychometric tests can be used as an important instrument for career assessment as well.

Adopting fair and open assessment procedure can also bring in an indirect benefit – individuals who are not successful in getting the job will respect and promote the company and the organisation will attract the best available talent.

How is the efficacy of psychometric tests assessed?

By their properties of reliability and validity. In other words, if a test is statistically accurate and measures what it is supposed to measure in a fair and consistent manner across all individuals, it would be a good psychometric test. Test manuals should provide information on all the above properties.

Is employee diversity factored into these tests, considering that today’s globalised company is an agglomeration of employees from different countries?

Yes, a good test would have taken into consideration varying levels of performance, regional differences or difference in personality traits from different ethnic backgrounds. Even age and sex differences, if any, should be reported in the manuals.

Can psychologically impaired persons be beneficial to a company?

Consider the case of John Forbes Nash, a paranoid schizophrenic who won the Nobel Prize in Economics, for his famous Nash Equilibrium.

Organisations do define their own policies. In terms of ethics though, it should be ensured that policies are fair and unbiased. Also, we need to be careful in using terms like ‘psychologically impaired’. Instead, use of terms like ‘requiring medical care or assistance’ makes us (the society) and the organisations feel more responsible.

Do you think that many M&A (merger and acquisition) deals can be saved from disaster if culture-fit were ensured through psychometric processes before business acquisition?

Quite possible. Sometime ago we helped a smooth merger of two law firms who had different work cultures. Assessment of team dynamics of both the firms enabled us to provide them with an optimum team-fit and allowed them to have a better understanding of each other. The merged entity is doing well!

Are there any pitfalls in psychometric tests?

The tests are vulnerable to misinterpretation as well as over-interpretation. This can be true of personality profiles which in the hands of untrained individuals can be risky. The results of such assessment tools are used for making high stake decisions like recruitment and promotion which can have far-reaching effects for the organisation and the individual assessed.

For this reason, it is important that professional training is given to individuals who use these tests. If you compare it with a medical examination, you wouldn’t want a layman to interpret your reports and do a surgery, right?

Any word of advice to professionals using these tests?

I must emphasise that there is a danger of treating individuals as having ‘right’ personality or ‘wrong’ personality. Extreme care should be taken to avoid this. We only believe that certain personality traits are better suited for certain jobs and our task is to identify individuals who have these. Another sensitive area is giving feedback to the assessed individuals.

In the UK, great emphasis is given on feedback which highlights a need for trained professionals. The British Psychological Society provides certification for competence in occupation testing, referred to as Level A (for ability testing) and Level B (for personality testing). Most test publishers require these certifications before making their tests available for use. We run specialised courses for these qualifications as well.

What do you think are the sector’s prospects in India?

Immense. The sheer numbers involved in recruitment are mind-boggling. Let’s take Infosys. If I remember right, their target this year has been to hire about 25,000 people. This is only one company in one sector. India is on a recruitment overdrive. With companies more and more willing to invest in employee selection and development, application of psychometrics is bound to grow. This would raise the demand for psychometricians in India who can design and analyse the tests.

To gain further insight into the Indian market, some of my colleagues and I shall be attending a conference on psychological assessment in personnel selection at Delhi in November 2007 (hosted by Defence Institute of Psychological Research) www.personnelselection.org.

Bio:

With an extensive background in the fields of commerce and computer applications, and experience in a managerial position in the IT (information technology) industry in India, Mr Dhawan pursued his desire to understand and analyse complex human nature, which led him to take up a post-graduate course in psychometrics in the UK. His professional interests include test construction and analysis, design and implementation of recruitment and training processes for organisations and e-Assessment. “Vikas is a keen observer, loves writing and creating music, cooking and sleeping. He believes he can be completely described in the words of Cyrano de Bergerac, ‘A large nose is the mark of a witty, courteous, affable, generous and liberal man,’” as his profile on The Psychometrics Centre’s site reads.

D. MURALI

GOUTAM GHOSH

http://InterviewsInsights.blogspot.com

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