...Psychological Testing in the Workplace Jennifer Lindquist PSY 435 December 9, 2013 Francis Uzonwanne Psychological Testing in the Workplace Psychological testing is being used in the workplace to improve the workforce. Validity and reliability issues surround psychological testing. There are some ethical issues that surround psychological testing. With high competitive business environment most employers are starting to do employment testing to improve their workforces. Public and private sector companies frequently conduct psychological test for full-time employment. Different types of psychological testing One type of psychological testing is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality testing system that private companies and federal government agencies use. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator arranges personality data by a four scales of opposing characteristics (Basu, 2013). The first scale decides if an employee’s drive ascends form the environment or the individual’s own ideas and emotions. The second scale decides if an employee pays attention to sensory information or to his or her own intuition (Basu, 2013). The third scale calculates if decisions are made based on reasoning and logic or personal values. The fourth scale decides if the employee is spontaneous or organized towards his or her daily activities. Companies use Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test to try to correspond employees to the job that fits his or her personality...
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...What is psychological assessment? Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of techniques to assist in arriving at some hypotheses about a person and their behaviour, personality and capabilities which is used to make effective decisions such as those in the selection process. Psychological assessment is also referred to as psychological testing, or performing a psychological battery on a person. The South African Context Psychological assessment has developed considerably compared to the past during period the apartheid era. This is mainly due to the introduction of Employment Equity and Affirmative Action in South Africa which brought about an immense amount of changes especially in that of procedures taken in the workplace. Changes had to be made to incorporate the diversity that is experienced in South Africa, aswell as incorporating new legislation. Various factors in South African workplaces ranging from unemployment and equity considerations to rapid occupational change driven by technological inputs, have placed greater emphasis on effective selection and development of human resources. This leads to greater demands on psychological assessment in the organizational setting with respect to ensuring responsible, ethical and equitable assessment. (Paterson; 2005:pg12) Post-apartheid psychological assessors started to realize that the selection process was indeed unfair and not equitable; they became aware of new assessment measures...
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...Psychological Testing in the Workplace Tamara Walker PSY 435 October 17, 2011 Christopher Reid Psychological Testing in the Workplace With companies faced with an increasingly competitive business environment, employers are turning to I/O psychologists for employment testing as a way to improve his or her work environment. In a survey recently taken, 40% of Fortune 100 companies stated that his or her employment selection systems included some form of psychological testing by an I/O psychologist (Shaffer & Schmidt, 1999). A similar survey that was taken by the American Management Association showed 44% of its responding applicants used testing to select his or her potential employees (Shaffer & Schmidt, 1999). While the most commonly used form of psychological testing in the workplace is the cognitive ability tests, personality tests are also being used more and more frequently. Psychological Tests A psychological test is a series of standardized problems or questions that assess a certain individual characteristic. Tests are commonly used to assess many KSAOs, including knowledge, skill, ability, attitudes, interests, and personality (Spector, 2008). There are three types of psychological tests used in the workplace to help differentiate between those used for pre-employment or retention. Essentially pre-employment is called the "recruiting radar." These tests are ability tests, personality tests, and emotional intelligence tests (Spector, 2008). Ability...
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...Psychological Testing PSY/435 February 25, 2012 Psychological Testing Psychological testing is a recognized way to measure an individual’s knowledge, skill, abilities, characteristics, traits, and behavior. This type of testing is a way to introduce an individual’s personality, and a tool to help organizations select the appropriate employee. The ability test, personality test, and emotional intelligence test are just a few of the many tests available. A good test is one that is reliable and valid. A reliable test will work the same each time it is administered, and a valid test measures what it intends to measure. Although ethical issues exist, many psychological testing is both valid and reliable, and is a benefit for the employee and organization when used appropriately (Spector, 2008). Psychological Testing in the Workplace “A psychological test is a standardized series of problems or questions that assess a particular individual characteristic” (Spector, 2008, p. 110). These tests are often used to evaluate an individual’s knowledge, skills, and abilities, and include items that specify his or her characteristics of interest. Multiple items on the test provide better reliability and validity compared to single-item tests (Spector, 2008). Psychological tests are typically easy and quick to apply and can assess several characteristics in one test (Spector, 2008). Ability Test An ability test is similar to the aptitude test, in which it tests an individual’s capacity...
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...Psychological Testing Tabitha Taney PSY/475 September 18, 2013 Maggie Boone Psychological Testing There are tests of every type that most people will have to take throughout their lives. There are driving tests, tests to get into college, tests in all varieties of schools and even in the workplace, when being hired or promoted. There are also tests in the world of psychology, including testing in schools and the workplace. Psychological testing will be defined, with a few different varying descriptions from a few sources, since there is not just one definition for this type of test. The major categories of tests will be described and the major uses and users of these tests will be identified. The concepts of reliability and validity will be compared and contrasted, and how they both impact the field of psychological testing will be discussed. Definition of the term “test” “The glossary of the authoritative Standards for Educational and Psychology Tests,” according to our textbook, “says that a test is an evaluative device or procedure in which a sample of an examinee’s behavior in a specified domain is obtained and subsequently evaluated and scored...
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...attribute to a extent go undetected these can be also said as a silent killer , and for a well developed organizations, in case of counterproductive or deviant behavior the initial consequences will be brutal. Why does counterproductive or deviant behaviour occur in a organization ? In an organization most important people are the co-workers, they are the base of the company or the organization. If they no longer have trust from each other Then its not going to run smoothly. deviance will often occur when employees feel a psychological contract has been violated. A psychological contract is a set of beliefs or unstated agreement between the employee and the organization (or individuals within the organization) of their obligations to one another. A common psychological contract many employees possess is: If they complete their tasks on time and work hard, they will receive a paycheck and remain an employee of the organization. Because the psychological contract is often vague and based on the perceptions/beliefs of the individual, it is often hard to determine or control exactly what the employee will perceive as fair. Deviance may occur when the employee perceives they are maintaining their part of...
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...Privacy Protections a. What are some of the Constitutional protections of privacy? The Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution provides the “rights of people to be secure in their persons, their houses, families, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the federal government.” Courts have used this to imply a right to privacy. However, this privacy provision applies to government searches and is not applicable to private sector employees. According to Jacobsen, J.D, there are no explicit federal "privacy rights" beyond "reproduction, contraception, abortion, marriage and childrearing", and so the notion of a constitutional right to privacy has little bearing on employment law. b. What privacy rights are afforded to public and private sector employees? The restrictions on employer inquiries of applicants at hiring are based mainly on prohibitions against discrimination, rather than on privacy rights. Pre-employment privacy rights for both public and private sector employees are very limited beyond this. Post-employment privacy rights are also often the ancillary effect of discrimination laws. For example, the Americans with the Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) specifically prohibits the disclosure of medical information relating to disabled. In the public sector, two factors govern the permissible extent of intrusion into an individual's affairs, that is, the relation of the subject's job to the line of inquiry, and secondly, the subject's...
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...Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. Discussion Questions How does research affect clinical practice? Is all research equally trustworthy? Explain your answer. What are some of your biases about mental health? How do you think you formed these biases? Week 2 Discussion Questions Can effective therapy happen without administering psychological testing? Explain why or why not. Under what circumstances is testing useful? In what ways does culture influence psychological testing? PSY 480 Week 3 Psychological Testing Article Individual Assignment: Psychological Testing Article Analysis Resources: Electronic Reserve Readings, the University Library, or other resources Locate an article concerning the use of psychological testing in the workplace (e.g., the use of personality tests during the interview process). Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you analyze your selected article. Address the following: Briefly summarize the article. Describe the psychological testing instruments that were discussed in your selected article and how these instruments were used. Evaluate the effectiveness of the psychological testing instruments discussed in your selected article. Discussion Questions What is an...
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...Fundamental Concepts of Industrial and Organizational Psychology The “American Psychological Association” (2012) website explains industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology as a general practice specialty of professional psychology that focuses on scientifically based solutions toward human difficulties in work and other organizational settings. I/O psychology provides solutions by way of development and application of scientific principles to the workplace (Spector, 2008). This discipline contains a facet that focuses on research as well as an application facet. Some in I/O psychology invest much of their time conducting and cataloguing research regarding people at work, while others focus on the application of the concepts generated from such research. A general overview with an emphasis on the evolution, the contrast toward other disciplines, the use of, and the role of research can provide a clear understanding of industrial and organizational psychology. Amidst the full swing of the industrial revolution, factory managers were faced with the challenge of maximizing resources. Challenges like this created a need for workplace psychology and I/O psychology quickly filled that need. The beginning stages of this discipline solely placed emphasis on the industrial component of the workplace and viewed the employees as expendable (Spector, 2008). At this stage industrial psychology sought solutions toward creating the greatest return for the least amount...
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...Running head: EMPLOYEE TESTING LAWS EMPLOYEE TESTING LAWS & PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES: ARE THEY ENSURING TRANSPARENT ACCOUNTABILITY OF AN EXECUTIVE LEADER’S MENTAL & BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCY? EMPLOYEE TESTING LAWS 2 Abstract This paper serves two roles. Firstly, the work attempts to synthesize the efforts of fellow classmates as presented in our mutual discovery and examination of Equal Employment Opportunity law during a traditional graduate level “long semester”. This synthesis piece will primarily consider the focus areas that surround employee testing (drug testing, as well as pen and paper evaluations). Secondly, this paper presents application dilemmas for the practitioner with regard to the language of the current legislation. The paper argues that the current collection of employee testing legislation, while offering necessary civil protections, would benefit from targeted amendments. These amendments would include language that would exempt specific employees of certain protections that are currently offered to all employees under existing EEO law. The paper argues that existing laws do not ensure the sound mental capacity and well being of leaders charged with protecting the collective interests of many stakeholders. These “specific employees” would primarily include executive leadership roles within publicly traded companies or those employees that currently fall under any “SOX/Dodd-Frank” compliance regulations. The “certain protections” that this...
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...professionals looking to assess candidates for employee selection or development, click "View Tests" to explore our range of psychometric tests and exercises. View Tests Candidates and Job Applicants: Try out some of our free practice psychometric tests For candidates that want to familiarise themselves with the testing process, we have created these free sample tests below. Click on the buttons bellow to begin your practice test. Personality Test Inductive Test Numerical Test Verbal Test Please note that these free tests are NOT to be used for selection/assessment. These sample tests are purely to familiarise candidates with psychometric testing. What are psychometric tests? Psychometric tests are standardised psychological measurements of knowledge, abilities, attitudes or personality traits. Psychometric tests have been extensively used in commercial, academic and educational settings for centuries and their popularity has continued to increase. Psychometric tests work by recording a candidates responses to a set of questions, designed to measure a specific psychological construct, such as cognitive ability or personality. These psychological constructs have been found to be related to real-world outcomes, such as job performance, trainability and competence. In an employee selection setting, psychometric tests provide the ultimate insight into a candidates potential, providing a meaningful and highly valid prediction of that candidates knowledge, skills, abilities...
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...With the need to perform at an all time high in the workplace, more employers are beginning to look at the possibility of stimulant abuse within their own company. Illicit drug abuse such as cocaine, adderrall, etc, seems to lend itself to a trend of increased worker’s comp claims involving incident and injury. One study shows that nearly 75% of all drug users are employed, as are most binge drinkers. “Alcoholism causes 500 million lost workdays each year (National Association of Treatment Providers, 1991).” Another study shows that seventy-three percent of all current drug users aged 18 and older (8.3 million adults) were employed in 1997. This includes 6.7 million full-time workers and 1.6 million part-time workers (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 1998). More surprising than this data set is the data collected during a national survey conducted by the Hazelden Foundation, more than sixty percent of adults know people who have gone to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol (Hazelden Foundation, 1996). There are two major categories of drugs: those that speed up bodily and mental functions, and those that slow them down. Stimulants such as caffeine, amphetamines, crack, ephedrine, etc; all speed up heart rate, metabolic rate and cognitive abilities. Depressants such as alcohol, and many times anti-anxiety medicines slow down motor skills, and prevent an over active central nervous system. Both used within the context of the original prescription...
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..."Privacy. There seems to be no legal issue today that cuts so wide a swath through conflicts confronting American society: from AIDS tests to wiretaps, polygraph test to computerized data bases, the common denominator has been whether the right to privacy outweighs other concerns of society…" This quote from Robert Ellis Smith explains, in one sentence, the absolute need to ensure privacy in the workplace. One of the most interesting, yet controversial, areas concerning public personnel is employee privacy. What limits are there to employers’ intrusions into, and control over, employees’ behaviors and personal properties? There are five major areas which trigger privacy matters in the area of public sector employment: background checks, cognizance of off duty conduct and lifestyles, drug testing, workplace searches, and monitoring of workplace activity. Of these five, the fifth area of privacy, monitoring of workplace activity, is the most controversial. The reason for this is the advance of technology. These conflicts open anew the basic questions as to what is private, what is propriety, what legal rights an employee possesses, and what an employee’s obligations and responsibilities are within the sphere of public employment. Privacy has been defined as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others". The privacy claims of employees can vary in terms of the...
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...Anastasi and Urbina (1997) note that all psychological tests are tools that can be beneficial or harmful depending upon how they are applied to people and situations. Their first chapter cogently explores all of the contributing reasons to their assertions about both positions. Basically, there are several elements that determine the quality and suitability of a psychological test’s ability to be a good predictor of one’s behavior. First, the test should be an objective and standardized measure of a small sample of an individual’s behavior, such as intellectual skills, vocational suitability, or personality functioning. Implicit to these parameters are the concepts of reliability and validity. A test is reliable in that it is consistent in what it measures over time. For example, a test that measures a student’s IQ as being 80 on Monday, but 130 on Thursday would demonstrate weak reliability. To be reliable, the test should be measuring what it states it is set up to measure. A second important quality of good psychological tests is that of validity, or the measure of a test’s usefulness. For example, we might think that one who scores high on a scale of anger may have interpersonal problems across a variety of situations. Thirdly, psychological tests must be administered to large groups of people of all ages ( i.e., IQ tests) to determine how the scores may be typically obtained. Standardization provides a mean (average) and a standard deviation (i.e. spread of scores...
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...involve focusing on workplace dynamics and organizational structures. Through the use of industrial organizational psychologists, work places can improve the success of their organizationIndustrial organizational psychology first began in the earlier 20th century when it was found that troops returning from World War I needed therapy to regain morale. It wasn't until after World War II that the field really grew, and as the 20th century progressed the use of a industrial organizational psychologist in the work place became more common. Those who work as an industrial organizational psychologist can expect to spend a lot of time working with statistics. As developing initiatives on behalf of businesses depends on science-based research, the industrial organizational psychology relies heavily on working with large numbers.There are many functions performed by industrial psychologists which include: Personnel Psychology is a subfield of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.[1] Personnel psychology is the area of industrial/organizational psychology that primarily deals with the recruitment, selection and evaluation of personnel, and other job aspects such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships between managers and workers in the workplace.[2] It is the field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees; this area of psychology deals with job analysis and defines and measures job performance, performance appraisal, employment testing, employment interviews...
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