Proposal submissions for the 2010 SIOP Conference to be held April 8-10 in Atlanta are now being accepted. The deadline for submissions in September 9; your 2010 dues must be paid in order to submit. Reid Klion
Sarah Palin’s recent decision to step down as Governor of Alaska made headlines as many were surprised by her decision to leave the post. Regardless of your feelings about this, chances are good that Alaska will be just fine in the wake of her departure. By the time she leaves her job, Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell, should be ready and able to steer the ship. Although he was not elected to the post, it is likely that he will be up to the challenge of leading the state until the next gubernatorial election. For elected officials, there is often a second in command ready to take the reins when needed. This long-established public sector practice is an example of succession planning that private sector organizations can learn from. Too often, organizational knowledge and strategy are in the hands of a few people at the top. Regardless of industry and mission, companies should spend the time and effort needed to prepare the next generation of leaders for the tasks that await them. Succession plans that are thoughtfully developed and implemented can ensure that the organization grows effectively over time, regardless of who is in charge. In addition, by engaging top performers in succession planning activities, organizations can retain their superstars and take full advantage of their capabilities and talent. Jocelyn Courtney-Hays
Most of us who work in the I-O arena are interested in looking at how personality and other characteristics predict things such as occupational success or leadership ability. However, there are also others who take an approach that is more oriented toward theory or research. A fascinating example is the Harvard Study of Adult Development (part of which is known as the Grant Study as it was originally funded by W.T. Grant, the founder of the now defunct chain of stores). Begun in 1937, it started studying a series of undergraduates who were at Harvard in the late 1930s to early 1940s and continued to track and collect data from them throughout their lives. The study is now in its 72nd year, and it is interesting to note that about half of the original subjects are still alive and now in their late 80s to early 90s. A recent article in the Atlantic profiles the study as well as George Vaillant, the psychiatrist who has managed the project for the past 42 years. One of the many uses of data collected in the study was to identify the predictors of physical and psychological health. Among them are: • Learning to cope with life changes and stresses maturely by with methods such as finding healthy outlets for anger or disappointment • Education • Not smoking • Not abusing alcohol • Maintaining some level of exercise • Staying at a healthy weight A study like this can also serve as a lens as to what research methods were considered important at the time. For example, in the early days of the study, subjects completed Rorschach tests, submitted handwriting samples, and had virtually every dimension of their body measured (recall that Sheldon’s concept of somatotype was still seen as having validity during that era). Now, surviving subjects take MRIs, provide DNA samples, and are being asked to donate their brains to the study. The study, which has amassed over seven decades of data on it subject, will likely be a treasure trove for researchers for another several decades. Reid Klion
Being from Northwest Indiana, my husband is wholly dedicated to the Chicago Cubs. Sadly, the Cubs have always struggled. (Their last World Series win was in *sigh* 1908.) The team’s current problem: poor offense. While the pitching and defensive strategies appear to be working, the Cubbie bats are not swinging like they should be. In mid-June, the Cubs hitting coach fell victim to the slump and lost his job. One Cub player said, “He’s taking the blame for something that’s our fault…” Let’s assume that the coach wasn’t responsible for their poor performance. Yet when results weren’t achieved, he was held responsible. As the team’s offensive leader, the buck stopped with him. I think the principle of leaders being held accountable for their team’s performance holds true in many organizations. To be effective, managers must ensure their employees are effective. Investing in employees’ professional development not only benefits the employees, it benefits their managers as well. Think about your own organization: Are you dedicating effort to developing your people? Are your superiors committed to your development? If the answer to either of these questions is no, consider what might be done to change it. Assessments are a great starting point for development because they can provide information about job-related areas where the individual is strong and areas he or she needs to develop. Assessments can be combined with other tools such as interviews, simulations, or role plays to collect comprehensive information about the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, the individual can build a development plan and be coached to improve. Given how much is riding on the effectiveness of your employees, these kinds of development programs can lead to big returns. Jocelyn Courtney-Hays
pan offers a wide range of assessments that are suitable for use as pre-employment screening tests. Pre-employment assessments can tap into a number of factors ranging from work skills and cognitive ability to work attitudes and conscientiousness. Employment tests of this nature need to be tailored to fit the requirements of the specific job at hand. Using pre-employment screening tests can be the critical key to building a successful organization because, regardless of the nature of the business, it is vital to select the people who have the right skills. Implementing pre-employment screening tests early in the selection process brings a number of benefits. First, employment tests can help to identify those applicants who are clearly not qualified for the position at hand. This helps to limit the pool of applicants to only those candidates who may be of realistic interest to the organization. These tools can also help to identify the candidates who are most likely to be good employees so that recruitment efforts might be prioritized for this set of individuals. Finally, by integrating pre-employment assessments into applicant tracking systems, the assessment process essentially becomes part of the application process and yields a complete employment screening solution for the organization.
A bit ago, I blogged about the online journal, Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. Another online journal also worthy of notice is the Journal of Applied Testing Technology. Published by the Association of Test Publishers and edited by Chad Buckendahl and William G. Harris, it is a peer reviewed journal that is concerned with issues related to assessment. The most recent issue focuses on the assessment of individuals with disabilities. Some other recent articles of note include a piece by Nathan Thompson that outlines the types of test administration methods that are available and tries to untangle acronyms like CAT, CBT, CCT, LOFT that psychologists are prone to throw around and a contribution by Richard Luecht that outlines some cost-benefit criteria to be used in evaluating computer-based testing models. As is the case for virtually all the professional journals that I read, there is almost always at least one article in each issue that is of interest or applicable to something that I have been trying to sort out on my own. An added bonus with these two online journals, you can not only access them directly from your computer desktop, it is hard to argue with the cost of the subscription! Reid Klion
I was out with some friends one evening last week and came across a couple of little girls running a lemonade stand. It was hot and they were friendly, so I decided to stop and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit. They had two drink sizes to choose from (at different rates, of course). When I selected the smaller 25 cent size, the older girl took a paper cup, and filled it halfway, and then handed it to me. I gave her the money and caught up with my friends. I laughed when I told them about the half-full cup and joked that the girls were maximizing their resources in a difficult economic climate.
Then I realized that they were doing exactly what most of us are right now – trying to find a way to maximize our resources, minimize expenses, and get the most output. Jocelyn Courtney-Hays gave an e-seminar recently on the same topic: Two for One: Using Assessments for Selection and Leadership Development. Her presentation is an excellent resource to learn how organizations can increase their effectiveness with an assessment for both employee selection and development.
Jenni Ginsburg
Given one of the things we do here at pan is to help employers to select and develop people, I pay some attention to the larger labor market. As we all know, hiring is down and unemployment is now around 9% according to May 2009 reports from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, one of the things that I find interesting are reports of industries or occupations that continue to do well despite the overall economic situation. For example, there is still a strong demand for positions such as critical care nursing, electrical linemen, and welders. A couple of commonalities among these positions is that they require significant technical skill and require work that is physically demanding. (If you don’t think bedside nursing is physically challenging, just ask a nurse!) A somewhat similar story can be found internationally. According the Manpower’s recently released Talent Shortage Survey, the most difficult positions to fill globally are skilled manual trades, sales representatives, and technicians who work in the areas of production, operations, engineering and maintenance. The Manpower report goes on to indicate that in down economic times, employers need to do more with less and that workforce planning and selection are even more critical because every employee needs to make a difference. Reid Klion
Knowing a job candidate’s cognitive aptitude or ability level is one of the most useful pieces of information in making an informed hiring decision. Cognitive ability is one of the best predictors of job success because it tells us both how quickly an individual will learn a job as well his or her likely level of work performance. Cognitive aptitude tests are typically comprised of items that measure a job candidate’s ability to learn new material, use logical reasoning, or solve problems. Other cognitive aptitude tests measure more specific topics such as reading ability or math aptitude. The benefit of cognitive aptitude tests is that they are often quite valid in making inferences about job performance. They also tend to be both time and cost effective. However, something to be aware of is that cognitive aptitude assessments may be susceptible to adverse impact. That is, members of protected classes are prone to obtain lower scores on these tests than members of other groups. As a result, it is important that a careful job analysis be carried out before a cognitive aptitude assessment is implemented to ascertain that cognitive ability is critical for occupational success in the position at hand and that the cut score and decisions rules used with these tests are appropriate.
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