Psychometric Tests and Assessment at Work

An development center is a tool (not a place) that uses a number of different methods of assessment in one session to enable a rounded and accurate assessment of an individual for development purposes.

Development centres…

• Designed to discover strengths & development needs
• Intention of feeding back results to candidates and devising development plan
• Exercises designed to reveal key strengths and development needs
• A good idea to know something about corporate strategy and manpower plan

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Job analysis is “the process of examining a job in detail in order to identify its component tasks. The detail and approach may vary according to the purpose for which the job is being analyzed”.

Thorough and competent job analysis is essential to ensure that all parts of the Human Resource Cycle to which job analysis contributes are effective.  For example, one cannot properly write a job description or put together a competency profile without having first analysed the job. It’s difficult to know which assessments to use in selection without job analysis data.  Performance appraisal (if done properly) relies on a good knowledge of job requirements and what it takes to succeed and this of course is the basis of the job analysis.

Too few people however know how to conduct a job analysis properly.  If calling on external consultants, it can be costly.  However, it is important to keep in mind the high cost of hiring mistakes and so forth that will occur as a result of no or misinformed job analysis being conducted.

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An assessment center is a tool (not a place) that uses a number of different methods of assessment in one session to enable a rounded and accurate assessment of an individual for selection.  Development Centers are similar to Assessment Centers, but their focus is on developing an individual who has already been selected for a job position.

• It provides detailed information on how a person performs in a variety of different situations

• It is primarily used in selection

• The ultimate aim is to appoint or promote to a particular job or career path

• It is used to assess job suitability
  

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A psychometric test is a measure of a psychological construct (such as personality or aptitude) that has been constructed according to psychometric principles.  In addition, the test should be administered, scored and interpreted in a standardised manner.  Psychometric principles means that the test was developed in the following manner:

• Constructed according to a valid theoretical rationale

• Items (questions) developed on the basis of that rationale and in order to assess the construct the test purports to measure

• Trialling of items

• Analysis of the items for reliability and other statistical properties

• Refinement of the items on the basis of the analysis

• Re-trialling of the items

• Further analysis and retrialling as necessary to provide a reliable scale

• Validation research to ensure that the test constructs measure what they purport to measure and to assess whether the test can also predict meaningful outcomes such as performance

• Standardisation and development of a norm group for comparative purposes

• Writing up of all of the above in the test’s technical manual.

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