Personality Tests in HR

Essay text:

The specification of job tasks 2. The identification of traits that are linked to these tasks Problem with specifying employee personality traits in particular is determining which personality traits to use. Job Personality traits Executive Conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, ambition (especially) Supervisor Persistence, endurance, emotional stability, nurturance Salesperson Conscientiousness, achievement (especially), ambition, extraversion Secretary Conscientiousness, dependability (especially), emotional stability, agreeableness Computer Programmer Conscientiousness, original thinking, openness to new experiences Insurance agent Conscientiousness, extraversion, original thinking Newspaper writer Conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to new experiences Carpenter Conscientiousness, dependability (especially), emotional stability Interaction of Traits and Situation - Powerful and weak situation o Powerful situations: Individuals behavior is more attributable to the situation than to individual traits o Weak situations: Individual is uncertain about appropriate behavior -> he/she interprets the situation and acts in accordance with his/her personality traits o Use: Personality traits are more important for selection devices and job assignments in weak situations than in powerful ones - Relevance of the work content o Personality traits are only relevant in specific situations - Conclusions o Traits vary greatly in the extent to which they influence behavior o Situation also has an important influence on individual behavior o Specific personality traits predict valued behaviors at work only in relevant situations o Offers a partial explanation for the lack of uniform positive findings in the use of Personality data for selection Measurement methods Inventories in personality measurement - Uses the written responses of an individual as the information for determining personality - Measures abnormal and normal traits, several personality dimensions and only one dimensions 1...