July 2012 - JvR Psychometrics Assessment Catalogue

July 2012
ith its rich mineral resources, wildlife and
natural beauty Africa is a unique and facinating
continent. The real magic of Africa however lies
in its people!
The name of our magazine, Ukwanda, is a
Xhosa word for ‘growth’. As psychologists we
support the growth of individuals, teams, organisations
and communities by sharing knowledge, developing
interventions and doing rigorous research. This
magazine provides you with a selection of information
sourced from all over the world to illustrate how a
knowledge partnership without boundaries can help the
field of Psychology and the people it serves, to prosper
and grow.
This premiere edition of Ukwanda showcases
Jopie van Rooyen and Partners and JvR Consulting
Psychologists’ perspectives:
Jopie van Rooyen and Partners as
psychological test providers in Africa selected a range
of articles from our international business partners
for your interest. Topics covered include leadership,
management,entrepreneurial thinking, engagement,
emotional investment and biofeedback. South African
perspectives on safety and integrity, work done in Africa,
the project on the History of Psychology and numerous
research studies and initiatives are also included.
JvR Consulting Psychologists share with
you their philosophy and methodology regarding
assessments, facilitating skills development, or
planning and implementing psychological interventions.
We hope you find their views of Consulting Psychology
in the workplace interesting and informative.
Enjoy the read!
Jopie & Grant
Jopie van Rooyen & Partners SA (PTY) LTD
johannesburg
+27 11 781 3705/6/7
cape town
+27 21 913 0541
BETHLEHEM
+27 83 447 7315
www.psychologyafrica.com
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @jvrafrica
Bad Managers
2
Developing Great Leaders: A Measured Approach
4
Six Traits of a Great Leader
6
Growing Our Tribe: Bringing Psychometrics to Africa
7
Being Socially Responsible
8
All Eyes on Research
10
They Grow Up so Fast: The SA Assessment Family
12
Safety Requires a Person-Approach
13
I’m not a Robot, I’m just a Senior Executive
14
When Times are Hard, don’t Tread Softly
- Stretch Your Strengths
15
Conflict in the Workplace: Is there a Solution?
16
Turning the Maths Tide
17
The Histories Project
18
Increase Engagement by Getting to Know People
18
Sport, Biofeedback and the Olympics
19
A Return on Investment Study: MCQTM
19
The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century
19
Integrity Testing:
The Work-Related Integrity Scale (WRISc)
20
We thank the following distributors for allowing us to publish their
articles:
• HoganAssessments for the article: Bad Managers
• CPP for the article written by RJ Devine: Developing Great Leaders: A Measured Approach
• Psychometrics Canada for their article: Increase Engagement
• OPP for their article: I am not an Alien
• Peter Berry Consulting for their article: Entrepreneurial CEO’s
• StrengthsPartnership for their article: Times are Hard
• EASIConsult for their article: Return on investment using the MCQ
Information was also provided by the following the staff members:
• Dr Jopie de Beer
• Dr Grant Freedman
• Dr Nicola Taylor
• Kathy Knott
• Fatima Bhabha
• Gareth Hallett
• Casper van Zyl
• Paul Vorster
• Angelique da Silva
• Sandra Case
• Leigh Wallace
• Judy Bush
• Hofmeyr de Beer
• Jani Wiggett
• Gawie de Beer
and lastly, We WOULD LIKE TO thank the following PEOPLE:
Dr Karina de Bruin for her editing
Morne Stander for layout and graphic design
ONE
By DAVE WINSborough & Robert hogan, Hogan assessments
ow leaders view themselves is largely their own theory about
their performance – a theory that is rarely tested or evaluated,
and sometimes shockingly out of touch with reality.
What leaders’ bosses think of their performance is
consequential; what their staff think is also consequential, but little
heard and, according to the data, often out of synch with the bosses’
view. Organisations need to align these two perspectives in order to
improve bad leadership, which is more prevalent than realised.
The Vietnam War provides a drastic example of the
problem with bad leadership: between 1969 and 1971, 730 American
officers were killed by their own troops,1 a practice known as fragging,
after the fragmentation grenades that were rolled under the officers’
bunks. In addition to the known fragging events, there were 1,400
officer deaths from unresolved causes, as well as an unrecorded number
of assaults and injuries. Unpopular officers were seen as too aggressive,
incompetent, or too self-promoting, and therefore likely to endanger
the lives of their troops. Some officer killers were probably disturbed;
nonetheless, the evidence suggests that the fragging was intended to
remove leaders who seemed likely to get their men killed.
In a world where bad leadership can have fatal
consequences, a pre-emptive strike for the sake of self-preservation
makes Darwinian sense.
Although dramatic, the percentage of Army leaders
who met their maker through fragging is small. The base rate for bad
leadership in business and government, however, is astonishingly high.
In an excellent summary of the evidence,2 Robert and Joyce Hogan and
Rob Kaiser present a compelling argument showing that at least 50%
(and perhaps as many as 75%) of all managers derail or significantly
underperform.
The reputations of bad leaders
Reputation – how other people regard you – is reflected by 360° surveys,
which involve having staff anonymously rate their leaders using a
standardised framework. When aggregated, this information provides
a picture of strengths and weaknesses of each individual manager.
We used our database of 360° survey results, comprising more than
6,000 evaluations of over 1,200 New Zealand leaders from business
and government, to understand what poorly rated managers do in the
everyday world of work. These results produced a startling snapshot.
Four behaviours distinguish bad leaders from average
or well regarded leaders:
1. They are bad at managing their emotional and social
behaviour. Compared to better managers, they don’t take
feedback or adjust their behaviour to fit their audience or
situation.
2. Bad managers lack integrity. They avoid personal
accountability and don’t meet their commitments. They
are seen as dishonest in their dealings with others and their
behaviour is inconsistent with organisational values.
3. They are bad at making performance-related staffing
decisions. They don’t make their standards and expectations
TWO
ARE YOU ONE?
clear, and they don’t hold their staff accountable for their
performance.
4. They make minimal efforts to develop or grow their staff.
They don’t discuss development needs with their staff, nor
do they stretch or encourage them. Staff who work for bad
leaders feel ignored.
It is instructive to view this set of poor behaviours against a model
of leader development. Hogan and Warrenfeltz3 highlighted four
major domains of leadership capability: managing oneself, managing
relations with others, leadership skill (vision and team development),
and professional or technical skills. These domains form a natural
developmental sequence, with the later skills depending on the
appropriate development of the earlier skills. They also form a hierarchy
of trainability, in which the earlier abilities are harder to train and the
later ones are easier to train.
Against this model, the four hallmarks of bad leaders
emerge in the self management and relationship domains, which are
essential precursors to the execution of effective leadership skills and
are also hard to train. Bad leaders lack the underpinnings to be effective.
They are underweight in their moral development and lack the skill to
develop effective relationships with their subordinates.
Put simply, bad leaders lack character.
Bad leaders are costly
If Hogan, Hogan, and Kaiser are even partly right about the high base rate
of incompetent managers in modern organisations, and if bad managers
harm business results, then this is a major concern. And it turns out there
is ample evidence that bad leaders are costly in terms of the bottom
line, staff morale, and productivity. Consider the following example. Bad
leaders are profligate in the way they treat talent. Reports of employee
engagement suggest that, around the globe, workplace morale is
flat-lining or declining.4 This is a problem because staff engagement
shows a clear relationship with productivity, retention, extra effort, and
profits. Research we conducted for the NZ Army revealed leadership to
be the prime contributor to staff staying or leaving; as a result, Army
leaders began a top-to-bottom review of leadership behaviour and
development.5
The evidence suggests that bad managers are
dangerous to health: leadership skill is tied to the psychological state
of employees, ill-health (e.g. cardiovascular disease), accidents, and
well-being.6 Numerous surveys of employee engagement report
that the most stressful aspect of work is the relationship with one’s
immediate manager.7 One study showed that scores on a measure of
transformational leadership are correlated with employee sick-leave.8
Bad leaders are also costly in two more ways. A
global study of management practice9 revealed strong and consistent
links between the sustained performance of firms and the caliber of
their management practices, including the effectiveness of people
management. Moving management skill from the 25th percentile to the
75th percentile is equivalent to increasing capital 77% or increasing labor
July 2012
inputs by 44%. Good management impacts productivity the same as
adding nearly half as many staff. In a detailed examination of the NZ
manufacturing sector,10 the authors point out the opportunity cost of
poor leadership: poorly run firms struggle to attract good talent, further
weakening their performance. Overall, NZ manufacturers languish well
below the best countries and at the tail end of the middling ones.
How does poor leadership persist?
How do leaders known to their staff as incompetent remain, or worse,
get promoted? An obvious explanation for the persistence of bad leaders
is that bosses and followers disagree about what constitutes good
leadership, but bosses get the final say. That is, what gets a manager
promoted is not the same as what followers regard as good leadership.
In the US military, the disjuncture in evaluations of officers’ competence
between the officers’ superiors and their subordinates resulted in death
and disfigurement. In the corporate world it can result in bonuses and a
key to the executive loo.
In 2009, we tested the idea that managers and
staff hold different views about leader competence. We examined the
360° ratings of 240 mid midlevel managers in a NZ insurance agency.11
We looked first for overlap in the managers’ and the staff’s lists of the
highest- and lowest-rated managers. Table 1 shows that to our surprise
there was almost no agreement between staff and executive lists.
Staff and bosses agreed on only 1 in 5 poorly
performing managers; worse, there was only just over 1 in 10 agreement
on who the top performers were.
Table 1: percentage overlap between boss and follower top
and bottom rated managers
Staff top 20th
percentile
Staff bottom 20th
percentile
Managers top 20th percentile
12.2%
0%
Managers bottom 20th percentile
4.8%
19.5%
When we looked at the behaviours each group used to form its
judgments of top performers, we found the basis for the disagreement.
Staff prefer leaders who build teams, support development, create and
drive vision, and effectively manage their emotions and interactions
with others. Bosses, on the other hand, prefer leaders who are resilient,
manage themselves well, and build relationships (achieving results was
ranked 6th out of 12 for both groups).
It is self-evident that staff and managers should have a shared
understanding of what competence looks like at all levels of an
organisation. Staff do not prefer weak leaders who let them get away
with slacking: on the contrary, engagement surveys from around
the world show that employees want tougher management of poor
performing colleagues.12 Leadership frameworks like those in place at
the NZ Army provide clear and direct descriptions of good leadership
at all levels in the organisation. Backed with strong management
processes like goal setting, performance tracking, regular appraisal or
continuous improvement methods, these tools ensure a sound, shared
understanding of what leaders should do; to lead is, after all, an active
verb.
Business and government organisations could take
a leaf from the playbooks of top sports teams. Players are constantly
subjected to analysis and feedback, and encouraged to become expert
at observing and diagnosing their own strengths and weaknesses. In
professional environments, this occurs day in and day out – and then the
on-field performance is further dissected, analyzed and commented on.
Players are expected to adopt and implement these insights.
Sending an individual on a course simply because
it is available is not a recipe for development. On the other hand,
matching training and experience on the basis of a sound appraisal
of strengths and weaknesses is the best contributor to leadership
growth.13 Integrating development and feedback is key to ensuring
that managers understand what they need to do to improve. From an
annual or semi-annual ritual even more attention should be paid to
leadership improvement. Formal and informal appraisal, combined with
well-designed and -run 360° tools provides strategic self-insight. Adding
other tools, like personality profiling or development centers, can further
enhance peoples’ understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Finally, organisations need to close the loop between providing
feedback and checking that development has occurred. Too often,
providing feedback is seen as the end of the road. Ticking the box on
feedback is only the beginning of the development journey. Using tools
like Goalkeeper, an innovative web-based app that ties action to insight,
ensures that bosses and managers work together to change bad habits
and improve leadership performance.
Your staff deserves nothing less.
REFERENCES
Lepre, G. (2011) Fragging: why U.S. soldiers assaulted their officers in Vietnam, College Station, Texas Tech
University Press.
1
What organisations can do to reduce bad leadership
Our own experience in working with large, well-run organisations like
IBM, Exxon-Mobil, Fletcher Building, Shell, Maersk, and the NZ Army
reveal the problem of how to deal with bad managers. Those identified
as having leadership talent are carefully selected, and provided with
basic leadership training very early in their careers. Along with formal
courses, they are moved into positions of significant responsibility and
autonomy. Senior leaders are required to evaluate them carefully and
coaching programs are provided to smooth out poor practice and spiky
personalities. Above all they are regularly provided with lots of feedback;
development and training never stops. There are five simple remedies
for bad leadership:
1. Establish a sound definition basis for good leadership
2. Provide regular and consistent training in good practice
3. Provide managers with feedback on their performance against that
standard
4. Provide supportive but firm coaching and development to ensure
continuous improvement
5. Remove managers who are unable to change
Hogan, R., Hogan, J. & Kaiser, R. (2010) Management derailment: personality and mitigation. In Zedeck, S
(ed) American Psychological Association Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. APA Press
2
3
Robert Hogan Rodney Warrenfeltz. Educating the modern manager. Academy of Management Learning
and Education, 2003, Vol. 2, No. 1, 74-84.
4
www.aon.com/.../Trends_Global_Employee_Engagement_Final.pdf
Winsborough, D., Morris, M & Hughes, M. Preventative weapons in the war for talent; engaging on the fence
employees. Selection & Development Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2008
5
Kuoppala, J., Lamminpaa, A., Liira, J., & Vainio, H. (2008). Leadership, job well-being, and health effects: A
systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(8), 904-915.
6
Hogan, J., Hogan, R. & Kaiser. R.) Management derailment; personality assessment and mitigation. In
Zedeck, S. (Editor). (2010) American Psychological Association Handbook of Industrial and Organizational
Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
7
8
Kelloway, E. Kevin and Barling, Julian(2010) Leadership development as an intervention in occupational
health psychology, work & stress, 24: 3, 260-279
Bloom, N. & Van Reenen, J. (2007) Measuring and explaining management practices across firms and
countries. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, (4), pp1351-1408
9
10
Green, R. & Agarwal, R. (2011) Management matters in New Zealand: how does manufacturing measure
up. Ministry of Economic Development Occasional Paper 11/03.
Winsborough, D. (2010) What followers want: ancient lessons for modern leaders.
Paper presented to the 27th Annual Conference of the Society for
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego.
11
12
See for example http://www.fedview.opm.gov/2011/
Handfield-jones, H. (2000). How executives grow,
McKinsey Quarterly, 1, 117-123
13
Of course knowing what to do and following through are not the
same: after all, most people know that eating lots of fresh fruits and
vegetables, exercising regularly, and moderating their alcohol intake
are recipes for health, yet many eat badly, smoke and are slothful and
indulgent. Discipline and persistence are the hallmarks of effectiveness.
THREE
By Robert J. Devine Organisational Development Consultant, R. J. Devine and Associates
Developing Great Leaders: A Measured Approach
Original source: CPP website. Abbreviated article produced with CPP’s permission.
For the full article visit https://www.cpp.com/contents/whitepapers.aspx
very year countless businesses that appear to have all the right
stuff—great vision and the operational capabilities to implement
it—fail. Why? The answer is simple: They fail because they don’t
have good leaders.
Great leaders maintain competitive pre-eminence and help companies
capitalise on the opportunities the future will bring. Their responsibilities
in today’s business environment seem daunting. They must create
vision and direction, organise operations so that the vision is profitably
FOUR
attainable, inspire and retain their workforces, and develop tomorrow’s
leaders. The full cost of a leadership void at the senior level can’t be
ignored: reduced productivity, added training costs, lost knowledge
and sales — plus the cost of replacement, an estimated 150% of an
employee’s compensation package — can dramatically affect any
company’s bottom line. Creating and maintaining good leadership can
and should become a measurable, operational process, just like reporting
profit and loss every quarter.
July 2012
Great leaders take charge and get things done.
They take disciplined, organised action. They
use their power and authority objectively, and
they influence others using optimism and selfconfidence.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:
THE FOUR BUILDING BLOCKS OF GREAT LEADERSHIP
Great leaders are skilled in four building blocks of leadership. These
building blocks serve as the foundation for leadership assessment,
coaching, and development.
Vision
Interpersonal style
Communication
Problem solving /
Decision making
The building blocks of great leadership must be
considered against the backdrop of business performance objectives.
Managers and leaders must be results driven, and their efforts
and priorities must be devoted to the development of leadership,
interpersonal, communication, and problem solving skills as applied to
the needs of their specific business situation.
Managers and leaders need to maintain a flexible,
situational approach to development and use of the leadership skills,
adjusting their approach to the situation at hand, the individuals
involved, and the time available. While enhancing their leadership
skills, they should articulate their career objectives and understand the
relationship and importance of their newly acquired leadership skills to
where they are now and where they want to go.
It is important to note that the four leadership
building blocks do not include specific job-related competencies and
expertise. It is assumed that over the course of their career, managers
and developing leaders gradually acquire levels of technical know-how in
areas such as internal operations, information management, computer
use, and accounting and finance.
WHAT? — SO WHAT? — NOW WHAT?:
DEVELOPING GREAT LEADERS
We have painted a portrait of a great leader that specifies the skills
and attributes required for success. We have also outlined the four
factors that help great leaders develop. So we know the “what” of
great leadership, but we do not yet know the “how.” Comfort level
and confidence with these factors can be improved on the job, but the
process needs to be collaborative and continuous. The most effective
and efficient methodology for engaging managers and leaders in
continual learning and improvement has three basic phases, which can
be arranged into a loop.
THREE PHASES, ONE LOOP
Leadership consultants have learned through years of working with
executives, as well as providing objective, reliable, and valid assessments
to performance improvement professionals, that the process of training/
learning new skills generally falls into three overlapping phases, arranged
into a repetitive loop (see Figure 1).
Plans for action should involve no more than two skills and should not
be a laundry list of “shoulds” and “should nots.” Items in the action
plan should be behavioural and measurable, and they should describe
specific actions they will take that will lead to a change in behaviour.
You can select from many formal assessments to bring reliable and
valid information to your leadership development programmes. These
products can provide an objective and standardised starting place for
development plans. Build an assessment matrix that reflects the building
blocks you have identified, and the assessments you plan to use. Make
sure that each factor is picked up by at least two assessments.
Great leaders can be developed. We can predict how
our best leaders will behave in a variety of situations. Great leaders take
charge and get things done. They take disciplined, organised action.
They use their power and authority objectively, and they influence others
using optimism and self-confidence.
The first step in becoming a better leader is
performing an objective assessment of the manager/ leader’s ability to
use the building blocks of leadership. Once the strengths and growth
opportunities are clear, the manager/leader can work with a guide to
determine how to improve in areas that require growth.
We can all be better leaders. In the words of Henrik
Ibsen, “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take
the helm.”
Figure 1:
Phase
Description
What? - the assessment phase
Collect information, both explicit and implicit, and consider these data as a series of proposals about strength
and style. Numerous assessments and products provide objective and valid information regarding this first
phase.
So What? - considering what Interpret, compare, and understand what the data are telling you; clarify the implications of the data in the
light of business and career goals and objectives. Identify each proposal as favourable or unfavourable.
the assessment reveals
Now What? - learning the skill
Individual managers and leaders, working with an objective and knowledgeable “guide,” identify and articulate
one or two action steps that will move them toward their performance improvement objectives.
FIVE
By Berry, P., Nealon, S., & Pluess, K. (2009). Peter Berry Consultancy
eter Berry Consultancy (Sydney based), one of our global partners,
recently conducted research to investigate the leadership
differences between entrepreneurial CEOs, executives and middle
managers in Australia (N = 1,046). The research focused on the Hogan
profiles of the three groups as well as a comparison of high and low
scoring managers using 360 feedback ratings. Peter Berry Consultancy
reported some key findings about these three different layers of
leadership and what makes them tick. CEOs were clearly different from
managers, with executives being in the middle. Six key traits were
identified in great leaders:
More executive drive
CEOs scored highest on Ambition,
Commerce and Power. In the Ambition
scale, CEOs scored highest on the
two sub-scales of Competitive and
Leadership. Typically these CEOs are
confident and assertive, they love challenges,
competition and being the best. They enjoy
networking with influential, successful friends
and people. They want to be in charge and they
dislike lazy, unambitious people.
More visionary
CEOs
scored
highest
on
Imaginative. They also scored
highest for Generating Ideas, which
is a subscale in Inquisitive. Typically
these CEOs are creative, innovative
and unpredictable. They love “thinking outside
the square”, and having different perspectives
and ideas. They are often good at launching
new products/services and generating new
markets.
More risk taking
CEOs scored highest on Mischievous
and lowest on Prudence and Security.
They also scored lowest on Impulse
Control which is a sub-scale in
Prudence. Typically these CEOs are
typically charming, daring, interesting, and
enjoy pushing the limits. They have a strong
appetite for risk, they are prepared to take
chances, and can be flexible, open minded and
non-conforming.
Less detailed
CEOs scored lowest on Diligent
and Scientific. Typically these
Successful CEOs will be effective
with delegation and prioritising
work,
and
leave
analysis,
investigation, loyalty, perfectionism and
problem solving to others… they are more
intuitive. They prefer to work “on” the
business, rather than “in” the business. They
will be more approachable.
Better at relationships
CEOs scored highest on Sociability,
Affiliation, Colourful and Power.
Typically these CEOs are typically
outgoing and sociable (without being
extroverted), they are people persons,
not loners, where relationships and friendships
are important. They will want to be seen and
heard. They will be inclined to be assertive in
relationships, constantly setting agendas, and
using persuasion skills.
Perceptive
CEOs scored lowest on Adjustment
and Dutiful, and highest on Tradition
and Skeptical. Typically these CEOs
are driven by a degree of stress and
will show a sense of urgency. They
will have their eyes “on the ball”. Others will
see them as bright and shrewd, often with a
sixth sense or “a nose for trouble”. They also
have a strong sense of right and wrong, and
will display firm moral and ethical values. They
will care about organisational culture. They will
be independent, self-reliant, tough minded,
and prepared to rock the boat.
Peter Berry Consultancy concluded that as we go down the food chain
from CEO to executives and then to managers, the further we go from big
picture to operational. This is confirmed when we look at the managers’
results, suggesting an “in the business” approach based on analysis,
conscientiousness, loyalty and care. The results further suggested they
can be very independent and self-starting around operational excellence.
Managers do not appear to be as strong on relationships and networking,
and they are not as driven as CEOs. On the other hand, the CEOs are
SIX
strategic, better at relationships, more driven, less detailed, and very
perceptive and focussed.
The conclusion is that leaders are leaders and
managers are managers, and they are quite different. If leaders are
indeed leaders, the managers have a “doer” profile, and the executive
group sit between the CEOs and the managers.
Note: The authors of the complete research paper granted JvR permission to publish this abstract of
the research.
July 2012
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
frica consists of 56 independent countries and is home to 1
billion people. This number constitutes about 15% of the
world population. It is the second largest continent and second
most-populated continent after Asia. It covers 6% of the earth’s total
surface area and 20.4% of the total land area (11.7 million square miles
or 30.2 million square kilometres).
Africa straddles the equator and includes numerous
climatic zones. It is seen as the only continent to stretch from the
northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa is known for
its natural beauty and its wonderful bird, plant and animal life.
Moreover Africa is widely regarded as the origin
of the human species and the diversity of cultures attract interest
worldwide. Being a company of Psychologists it is the human potential
in Africa that motivates Jopie van Rooyen & Partners (JvR) to invest in
building business opportunities in Sub Saharan Africa.
Throughout 2012 we have scheduled certification
training on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in countries like
Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Ghana, Zimbabwe and
Mauritius. We will expand the MBTI training to be offered to people in
Angola, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia during 2013.
Our clients in these countries will also be offered opportunities to be
accredited on the EQ-i, the Hogan Assessment suite and others. We
support our clients by making them part of the “Type Tribe”, the “EQ
Tribe” or the “Hogan Tribe” which provides them with information on
the most recent developments, current research, special offers or
unique applications. By sending our trainers to various countries we are
making sure that our colleagues in Africa are empowered to use the best
assessments in their own consulting and thereby in the development of
people and businesses in Africa.
... making sure that our colleagues
in Africa are empowered to use the
best assessments...
For more information please contact Elke Chrystal (elke@jvrafrica.co.za).
SEVEN
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
JvR is proud to be involved with the following 5 organisations:
outh Development Seminar - We were proud to
participate in a Youth Development Seminar on 16 June 2012.
The seminar was the brainchild of Mr Bartlett Hewu, the founder
of Hewu Attorneys as a Corporate Social Investment initiative geared
towards sharing information, ideas and insight on the careers, skills
and educational qualifications which are required by the South African
economy. Mr Hewu realised that there is a misalignment between the
courses offered by the institutions of higher learning and the requirements
of the job market, which results in high unemployment levels of youth
with junior and/or honours degrees (e.g. BA without specialisation).
The seminar was attended by over 120 youths from Soweto, Diepsloot,
Ekurhuleni and Pretoria some of whom are unemployed graduates and
others who are in grades 10 to 12.
The programme included:
• The keynote address was delivered by Mr Hewu (LLB, HDip Tax, HDip
International Tax), on the Roles and Responsibilities of the Youth in
South African Society.
• Dr Grant Freedman from JvR presented research on the Skills
Required by the South African Economy, highlighting the greatest
needs as being in the areas of engineering, drivers, skilled trades,
technicians, managers and teachers.
• This was followed by a discussion led by Professor Mulalo
Doyoyo, who holds a PhD in Engineering and Applied Mechanics,
on Opportunities in Green Energy and Beneficiation of Materials –
Demonstration of Turbines.
• Mr Thamsanqa Maqubela, the CEO of the South African Graduate
Development Association, provided additional relevant and
practical advice for the delegates arising from research into Graduate
Empowerment, Diagnostic Analysis of the Causes of Unemployed
Black Graduates and SAGDA Programmes to Address Them.
The Seminar was held at the Pivot Conference Centre at Montecasino
in Fourways. The sponsors were Hewu Attorneys, in association with
JVR Consulting, University of Johannesburg and South African Graduates
Development Association.
In 2013, JvR will be renewing its focus on educational
products and services for the South African context and there will be
much more news to come in this important area.
STUDIETRUST is an independent non-profit national bursary scheme – a
civil initiative that fights poverty in South Africa by empowering able but
financially needy young people with opportunities for further education.
EIGHT
The JVR Group has for many years supported Studietrust by sponsoring
bursaries awarded to students from previously disadvantaged
communities to study psychology.
Studietrust is a true venture of hope, investing
“Today for Tomorrow”. We are privileged to be associated with
Studietrust.
ACTION 5:14 – is an initiative by the civil society in the quaint little
town of De Rust in the Western Cape that supports two crèches, the
Oudemuragie Jubilee Montessori Pre-School and the Sionsberg Jubilee
Creche. Jopie van Rooyen and Partners augments the salaries of the
teachers of these schools on a monthly basis.
Nkanyezi Stimulation Centre was founded by Prisca Tshabalala,
who after giving birth to a child with Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus
Epilepsy, Nkanyezi, discovered there was no support for families or
children with multiple disabilities in the area. It was named after
Nkanyezi who died two weeks before the opening of the centre, after a
deathbed promise from his mother to keep working to improve the lives
of people like him.
That was in 1998. Fourteen years later Prisca still
manages the centre and not only doesn’t get paid but passes on her
pension to the centre to ensure it stays open despite limited funding.
She is a living angel but the most amazing part about the centre is
that she’s not the only one. The centre is full of incredible staff and
volunteers who work tirelessly, more often than not without reward
(or even salaries for up to 6 months at a time because of non-payment
by government of subsidies) to achieve daily miracles. Just last week
Tumelo Bori and Ntando Sibeko learnt to clean their teeth on their own –
this after doctors at Baragwanath Hospital said they were ‘unteachable.’
The goal at the centre is to ensure each child reaches his or her individual
maximum potential and the highest possible level of self-sufficiency.
Individuals and companies can get involved by
donating jumble, volunteering to assist in an arts and crafts lesson,
working in the self-sustaining vegetable garden, donating goodies off
the wish list or just donating financially. JvR Is proud to have donated and
volunteered to assist in the repainting of the Nkanyezi Centre facilities.
In December 2011 we assisted in brightening the 42 “Little Shining
Stars”’s Christmas by compiling gift bags with learning necessities,
clothing and toys.
Should you be interested in also supporting the above organisations,
please contact Morne Stander (mornes@jvrafrica.co.za).
July 2012
PHOTO: The JvR Bethlehem office took full responsibility for the Golden Gate Hospice’s annual staff day
as part of the JvR group’s social responsibility.
nine
ne of the challenges that psychologists face in South Africa
today is gaining access to high quality, locally-developed tests
that deliver valid and reliable results. In 2004, the Human
Sciences Research Council published a needs analysis for psychological
assessment in South Africa. As there is no longer a central governmentsponsored testing agency operating in South Africa, the onus for
new test development falls on the shoulders of academics, individual
specialists, and test publishing houses as experts in the field.
It is with this responsibility in mind that the research
department at JvR has initiated a move towards the development of
new psychological assessments to meet the needs of assessment
practitioners in South Africa. The initial focus will be on cognitive ability
assessments, but will move to other areas identified by practitioners
as vital to the field of psychology and to the improvement of their
practise. The research team follows best practice methodology in test
development, based on a solid theoretical groundwork and years of
experience. We are guided by evidence, grounded in theory, and inspired
by innovation.
We are in the process of collecting data on a number
of different assessments. If you would like to participate, partner, or
would like more information, please email us at the above email address.
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales® – Fourth Edition (WAIS®-IV)
• Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0®)
• Verbatim and Numeratum
• Work-related Risk and Integrity Scale (WRISc)
• Dynamic Complexity and Styles Test (DyCaST)
• Prospect Screener
• Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory (HBRI)
• Manufacturing Compatibility Questionnaire (MCQ)
• StrengthscopeTM
• Matrigma®
• Leadership Skills Profile (LSP)
Research Focus for 2013
In 2013, the focus for the research team will be on the adaptation,
standardisation and norming of educational and clinical or
neuropsychological assessments. We rely on our clients to guide us in
terms of the assessments that should receive our most urgent attention,
so please provide us with feedback on what you would like to see us do
by emailing us at research@jvrafrica.co.za.
Adaptation of the WAIS-IV in South Africa
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scales®-Fourth Edition (WAIS®IV) has a number of improvements
over the WAIS-III, with new
subtests, clear instructions, and
a shorter administration time.
The WAIS-IV is being adapted by
JvR in order to ensure the most
appropriate content and norms
for the assessment in South
Africa. The SA adaptation process
TEN
for the WAIS-IV began in 2010,
when Pearson (the international
copyright holder) granted JvR
permission to adapt and later
translate the WAIS-IV for the
South African context. A panel of
psychologists and anthropologists
from various cultural backgrounds
provided advice in the review
process. The panel reviewed the
items of the WAIS-IV according
to appropriateness for the South
African context, bearing in
mind the future translation into
Afrikaans and Zulu.
The research version
of the WAIS-IV (SA version) was
finalised in collaboration with
experts and scientists from the
international Wechsler research
team from Pearson Assessments.
JvR is currently working in
partnership
with
higher
education institutions and private
practitioners to collect data
from across the country for the
standardisation of the WAIS-IVSA.
We are very excited about this
project, and look forward to being
able to provide this premium
assessment to our clients in the
very near future.
July 2012
South African research conducted with the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i®)
to the possibility of method
Over the years, JvR has supported
components related to extraverted
numerous studies that have
artefact when using joint factor
behaviour. These results facilitate
analysis across two variable sets,
used the Emotional Quotient
our understanding of the EQ-i’s
JvR explored the EI-personality
Inventory (EQ-i®) to measure
theoretical base in relation to
relationship by means of
emotional intelligence in South
mainstream personality research.
interbattery factor analysis. This
Africa. These studies have ranged
from investigating well-being,
method reveals only common
The relationship between
factors between two variable
to
leadership
effectiveness,
emotional
intelligence
sets. Two trait personality
resilience, and burnout. We have
and derailment
also conducted our own research,
questionnaires,
namely
the
JvR looked into identifying useful
Hogan Personality Inventory
which is summarised in the
relationships between personality
(HPI) and the Work Personality
paragraphs below.
derailers
and
emotional
Index®, were used along with the
intelligence. The utility of using
EQ-i as a measure of emotional
The relationship between
the Hogan Development Survey
intelligence.
Similar
factors
(HDS) and EQ-i instruments
emotional
intelligence
emerged in both analyses, which
together
for
development
and personality
point to three seemingly robust
Research has shown strong
purposes was demonstrated, and
areas of overlap between mixed
important additional information
relationships between mixed
model EI and personality. First,
on how the scales work together
model emotional intelligence and
both the EQ-i and personality
trait measures of personality.
was uncovered. In terms of
assessments measure behaviour
relationships between scales,
Most studies have used joint
related to internal constraint.
understanding which of the EQ-i
factor analysis to examine this
The second area of overlap points
relationship and found that EI
scales are related to personality
to interpersonal functioning,
derailment can provide additional
loaded as a separate construct in
and the third seems to measure
personality factor space. Owing
interpretive information as to
how well an individual is likely to
manage their derailing behaviours.
The correlations also worked to
support the theory behind the
derailers, with relationships in line
with the expected strengths and
development areas of each of the
clusters of behaviour. Regression
analysis provided a vehicle for
identifying those aspects of
emotional intelligence most likely
to predict derailment on each of
the 11 HDS scales. Practitioners
can use this information in a
number of application areas, but
will probably find it most useful
in coaching or development
sessions. By promoting selfawareness on both of these
constructs, practitioners can
create focus areas for the client in
terms of their individual strengths
and development areas in being
able to successfully manage their
behaviour.
JvR researches the MBTI® form m
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®
(MBTI®) instrument is a globally
renowned assessment of normal
personality
that
measures
and classifies individuals into
16 psychological types.
Due
to the unique challenges and
characteristics of psychometric
testing within the South
African
context,
particularly
around legislation and cultural
diversity, it is imperative that
developers and distributors of
psychometric instruments ensure
the appropriateness of these
instruments for our South African
context. The main aim should be
to render assessments as valid,
reliable and as culturally unbiased
as possible. A recent study by Van
Zyl and Taylor (2012) endeavoured
to fill the gap in current literature
by investigating the reliability,
validity and differential item
functioning (DIF) of the MBTI®
Form M across several ethnic and
gender groups in South Africa.
The aim of the study was to add
to the instrument’s continuous
development and ultimately
contribute to the evolving body of
knowledge on the MBTI® Form M.
Findings of this crosssectional study indicated excellent
reliability for the MBTI® Form
M across various groups in the
sample (N = 10 705), ranging from
.88 to .92 for the total sample.
Interestingly, internal reliability
was found to increase with age
on the Sensing-Intuition scale
(S-N), suggesting that individuals
may respond more consistently
to items that load on this scale
as they become older. Evidence
for good construct validity was
found, using both exploratory
and confirmatory factor analysis.
The MBTI® Form M does not
appear to display consistent bias
against any particular group in
terms of gender or ethnicity,
although evidence for differential
responding at an item level was
found. However, the presence
of uniform DIF in the study is
unlikely to translate into any form
of test bias, whilst no evidence for
non-uniform DIF related to ethnic
differences could be found for any
of the items on the MBTI® scales.
The reliabilities of the
study closely emulated those
as indicated by international
research. Likewise, the factor
structure obtained in this study
matched the factorial structure
as obtained in the majority of
preceding studies. The future
replication of the results of
this study, particularly with the
inclusion of a more representative
sample of the South African
population, would be invaluable.
This research is discussed more
comprehensively in: Van Zyl, C.J.J.
& Taylor, N. (2012). Evaluating
the MBTI® Form M in a South
African context. SA Journal of
Industrial Psychology, 38(1), Art.
#977, 15 pages. http://dx.doi.
org/10.4102/sajip.v38i1.977. The
researchers can be contacted at
research@jvrafrica.co.za.
ELEVEN
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
e started a new family in 2005 – our South African
range of assessments! Very exciting! A very steep
learning curve, as all new parents know.
Jopie settles back on the couch with a cup of tea. ‘The family has grown
and each addition brings something new and exciting. Having a South
African range of assessments just feels right, in so many ways. We
have our JvR Research team, affectionately called the Brain Trust, who
is developing tools, and at the same time, we are partnering with South
African developers to bring their innovations to the market.’ Jopie smiles
as she thinks back to how it all started:
So Jopie, how and when did the JvR SA Range come about?
We have been distributing a range of very well known international
assessments and tools since 1993. We however knew and understood
that South African clients would appreciate also having access to South
African assessments. This would be particularly useful in contexts where
there are sensitivities in terms of the use of assessments or where cost
is an issue.
Since 2005 we have been partnering with very well
known South African researchers and academics that have developed
psychometric assessments and today we boast a separate SA Catalogue
that carries information on 20 different tests and tools – some of which
have a number of components, for example the Competency Assessment
Series (CAS).
This is, of course, not a new initiative. In years
gone by, assessments were developed and distributed by the NIPR and
the HSRC. We have expanded our vision to include having the South
African assessments available on-line. Today, our range of assessments
includes exciting new tests being developed by our own research team.
Our aim is to build a South African range of
assessments that provide answers to our unique context and can dovetail easily with great international assessments that have been validated
for use in South Africa.
Who was the first member of this ‘SA assessment family’?
What a privilege it is for us to have signed on, as first assessment,
the Locus of Control Inventory (LCI) developed by the well known and
respected Professor Johann Schepers. With Prof Schepers’ academic
stature and his statistical expertise it was the ideal assessment to
take on. The psychometric standards he set for other assessments in
TWELVE
this South African range were ideal! We were soon able to add other
tests such as the Basic Traits Inventory (BTI) and the Sources of Work
Stress Inventory (SWSI) developed by Prof Deon de Bruin and Dr Nicola
Taylor, and the Career Interest Profile (CIP) by Prof Kobus Maree, and
more recently the Leadership Behaviour Inventory (LBI-2) by Professors
Theron and Spangenberg – to name but a few. All have allowed us to
maintain the high standards set from the start.
Are all the members of this SA family ‘psychometric tests’?
No, we were amazed at the many wonderful methodologies South
Africans have developed in their work with people. Some include board
games, DVDs, development programmes and stories, to name but a
few. We name it our ‘edutainment category’, as the tools entertain
as they educate. Many of these can be used for learning, development
or remedial work. We are always keen and on the look-out for more of
these tools.
Is the range of assessments and tools only for South Africans?
Yes and No. Yes, our tools are designed to be used in our context. But
there is no reason that they cannot be used in other countries as well
– it would just be a process of collecting local norms. For example, the
TriMaths range has been translated into Portuguese (along with its
current Afrikaans, English, Tswana and Zulu versions). It is wonderful
to be able to showcase what South Africa has to offer to the world. We
have also had interest from Europe and South America to have certain
South African assessments available and researched in their context.
What is the benefit for the developers to have their assessment
distributed through JvR?
JvR respects the ownership and rights of the developer and our
contractual agreement reflects this. We provide an infrastructure and
the know-how to take the test or tool to the market. Through research,
client support and training we build a business case for the assessment or
tool. We ask the developer to accept responsibility for the maintenance,
quality and new versions or updates of the assessment. We therefore
do not buy the assessments, but really value having a partnership where
both parties benefit.
Can anyone who has developed an assessment or tool get it published
through JvR?
Potentially yes. We do however make sure that any new assessment or
tool is thoroughly evaluated by our internal experts. We expect, if it is an
assessment, to receive a technical manual that include elements such as
a literature overview, relevant theories, history, research and application.
If the assessment makes it through these hurdles, it meets a need in the
market, and the expectations of all the relevant parties are aligned, we
are very happy to add it to our South African range.
Where do you see this initiative in the next 5 years?
JvR researchers are currently working very hard to complete a number
of new assessments to meet gaps in our market. As all will know, test
development is not an easy or quick process, but we are very excited
about publishing more of our own assessments in the near future. Tests
that assess basic literacy and numeracy skills, a basic screener, and an
assessment to evaluate thinking styles are all due to be published in a
research version by the end of 2012. Through a valued partnership we
have an integrity measure to offer our clients before the end of the year.
The national and international trend is to have
assessments available on-line. Although we believe that there will
always be a need for printed test material, many of our clients need the
versatility of an on-line system. The South African assessments will be
available in electronic format by the end of this year (2012).
In essence, we are proudly South African and are
committed to building and growing this new family through partnerships
and by developing some assessments in-house. It is an exciting and
creative process full of energy and innovation, and we see it going from
strength to strength.
July 2012
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
PHOTO: CHRIS BOWLEY
orkplace safety is an important consideration for organisations.
Companies tend to have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy when it comes
to accidents and unsafe work practices. This is partly because
accidents may be costly on both an economic and human level (see Ritz
(2011) for a more detailed overview of accidents/injury costs in mining).
Consequently, organisations actively seek new methods and processes
to ensure the safety of employees.
Generally, organisations tend to distinguish
between two types of safety interventions namely, systems-oriented
approaches and person-oriented approaches. Most institutions,
especially mines, tend to focus heavily on systems approaches to safety.
These interventions tend to be used to address immediate mine safety
requirements on a physical level. Systems approaches may include
policies, procedures, safety equipment and any other non-human
intervention. Ultimately, system approaches try to engineer risk out of
the organisation. However, behavioural impediments to safety, which
need to be addressed on a person level, may also be required. Person
approaches to safety look more closely at human causes of accidents
which may include lapses of judgement, poor work-accuracy, slowed
responses, attitudes, and personality.
Although systems approaches are important they do
not ensure that people will use, adhere, or buy into the systems provided.
This is the primary consideration behind the Hogan SafeSystem which
takes a person approach to safety and extends this to a safety climate
level (for more information on the Hogan SafeSytem please refer to
http://www.hoganassessments.com/safesystem). Also, systems
approaches are unable to effectively control for human-error which is
considered to be the most prevalent cause of accidents.
Research in South Africa has recently shown how
psychomotor abilities are linked to accident frequency. Safety in highrisk environments tends to be dependent on whether an individual
reacts appropriately, accurately, and timeously to environmental
variables. The Vienna Test System (VTS) developed by Schuhfried has
demonstrated predictive validity with accidents/injuries in a mining
and traffic environment in South Africa. Psychomotor data on the VTS
subtests have demonstrated how inaccurate, inappropriate, slow, and
speedy reactions may result in a greater likelihood of accidents and
injury with local mineworkers. The VTS has also demonstrated how a
speed/accuracy trade-off may occur in high-risk occupations where
responding too quickly results in less accurate responding and reacting
too accurately results in slower responding (both of which increase the
risk of accidents/injuries).
The use of the VTS has thus added to the application
of person approaches to safety. It is also interesting to note that
psychomotor ability has accounted for up to 12% of the variance in
accidents on the mines. This indicates that human approaches to the
reduction of accidents may add significantly to the reduction of accident
risk in industry.
For more information and research on safety in the
workplace please contact Paul Vorster at paul@jvrafrica.co.za.
References and Recommended Reading:
PwC (2011). SA Mine: Review of trends in the South African mining industry. Retrieved February 16, 2012,
from http://www.pwc.co.za/en/publications/sa-mine.html
Ritz, D. (2011). Courageous safety leadership in turbulent times: The economic moment of truth for safety
commitment. Toronto, Canada: Barrick Gold Corporation Limited.
Robertson, I. H. , Manly, T. , Andrade, J., Baddeley, B. T. , & Yiend, J. (1997). ‘Oops!’: Performance correlates
of everyday attentional failures in traumatic brain injured and normal subjects. Neuropsychologia, 35(6),
747-758.
Rubenstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E. , & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763 – 797.
Reason, J. (2000). Human error: Models and management. British Medical Journal, 320, 768 – 770.
THIRTEEn
This article first appeared on OPP’s blog on 17 Feb ‘12
http://blog.opp.eu.com/2012/02/im-not-alien-im-just-senior-exec.html#more
or anyone who’s ever
thought of their boss as
a “cold fish” who doesn’t
appear to experience any
emotions, our new research may
be a revelation.
OPP’s 2011
16PF study showed that senior
executives are more likely to be
cool, calm and collected than other
managers, and seem as if they
don’t let fluffy things like feelings
get in the way of their naked
ambition and drive to influence.
But this masks the truth.
In fact, the
research revealed that senior
executives report the highest level
of emotional investment in their
work, but that they also experience
the lowest levels of stress across
the managerial workforce. This
leads to the hypothesis that senior
executives have a distinctive
personality profile that enables
them to cope more effectively
with a highly demanding job, and
can give the impression that they
are emotionally unflappable.
W h a t
differentiates senior managers
FOURTEEN
from others is their high degree
of control over their work
environments. This allows them
to be more resilient to seemingly
nightmarish
workloads,
to
balance strategy with people
management, and to make
difficult decisions in their job.
Amongst all of this, they also
somehow manage to ensure a
degree of work-life balance.
This
is
supported by the information
about personality within OPP’s
research. The typical personality
profile of a senior executive is an
‘independent’, ‘dominant’ and
‘socially confident’ individual
who is ‘open to change’ and
‘innovation’, but who is less
‘apprehensive’ and less ‘sensitive’
than the general population. This
suggests that senior executives
are more effective at managing
their emotions (rather than
repressing or not having them
at all) – allowing them more
emotional space to focus on the
major strategic issues. This is
particularly the case when they are
making difficult, people-related
decisions, where they tend to
adopt a detached and impersonal
style. Crucially, the research
suggests that this is a reaction
to the demands of the job rather
than innate cold-fishiness. If
they are able to master this style,
senior executives report more job
satisfaction and enjoyment from
their work, and are less likely to
think about quitting than middle
or line managers.
In
fact,
extensive research (including
some from our very own Dr Penny
Moyle, CEO) also shows that
demanding jobs are less likely to
take their toll on a person when
they have strong networks of
people to support them. The
relationship a senior manager has
with their boss has the greatest
impact on their ability to cope
with stress and avoid burnout.
If a business leader is equipped
with self-awareness and an
understanding of others, they are
able to be genuinely supportive
of their senior managers, who are
more likely to be able to rise to the
challenges required.
The next most
powerful source of social support
for leaders at the top is from their
senior-management teammates.
Teambuilding, particularly if it
has a focus on understanding
how team members will each
find different things stressful
and how different people react
to stress, can help build a social
support network that will enable
all team members to perform
at their peak, without suffering
stress and burnout.
So when you
see a high-powered, dominant
person relishing just how in
charge they are, just remember
they don’t necessarily possess
special powers of cold logic,
or a Vulcan imperviousness to
emotion. They probably do have
distinct personality traits from
other types of employees, but it is
also highly likely that they benefit
from an understanding network
of trusted colleagues, and a boss
who supports and empowers
them.
July 2012
By James Brook director, Strengths Partnership
s is the case with many of the world’s largest, industrialised
economies, the UK economy is growing at a sluggish pace
and faces the looming spectre of recession again.
Against this backdrop, it is imperative that we challenge our assumptions
about how we manage people and find new and innovative ways to
boost workforce productivity, employee engagement and competitive
advantage. Based on our experience and years of research, we believe
that strengths-focused approaches to people management (what we
call the Strengths Advantage™ system), combined with the power of
positive stretch, can play a key role in releasing the herculean levels of
workforce effort and energy that will be required to accelerate the UK
out of this economic quagmire.
In the same way that a professional athlete ‘going
for gold’ needs regular practice and ‘stretch’ to build their physical
and psychological strengths to remain at the top of their game, so do
employees, particularly those with strong aspirations and potential to
advance. Employees need regular opportunities to test their ‘limits’ - to
see what they are capable of achieving when they use their strengths
(defined as underlying characteristics that are natural sources of energy
and result in productive outcomes) productively in different ways. This
also builds what we call “agility”, or the crucial capacity to be flexible
across different situations and operating environments.
Although employees might not feel comfortable
with the idea at first, part of the role of a manager is to coach and
encourage the person through any initial reluctance and fear associated
with moving outside their “zone of comfort”. This may sound like “tough
love”, and in some respects it is, but without this positive challenge,
employees are unlikely to get the most out of their strengths, skills
and knowledge and will never discover the true value they offer to the
organisation and society more generally.
There are various ways people can get ‘stretch’ in areas
of strength, including:
• Building new knowledge and skills in areas of strength
• Taking on challenging assignments or projects that play to one’s
strengths
• Coaching/training others in their areas of strength
• Gaining experience in different parts of the organisation through job
rotations, secondments or short-term assignments
• Using strengths in new ways to tackle performance blockers and
challenges
In order to achieve “flow” or total immersion in a job, research by
Csikszentmihalyi has shown that a person needs to have a passion or
desire to do the job, i.e., they need to feel strengthened by it. There
also needs to be a good match between the level of skills required and
the level of challenge and “stretch” provided. If there is no stretch, the
employee is likely to quickly lose interest and becoming increasingly
disengaged, undermining performance and effort. However, if there
is too much “stretch”, the employee is likely to feel incompetent and
frustrated, with their confidence and performance being adversely
impacted as a result.
It is the role of the manager to help the employee
identify the degree of stretch currently being experienced by the employee
through open inquiry and discussion. With a clear understanding of
current levels of stretch, the manager and employee can then co-create
new goals that raise or lower the degree of stretch to a point where the
employee is feeling challenged and engaged, but not overwhelmed.
This ongoing calibration of stretch will keep the employee’s confidence,
commitment and contribution high, resulting in strong business results
and sustainable success.
Unlike their Western counterparts, Chinese
managers understand the value of stretch. They encourage employees
to aspire to and achieve nothing short of the highest standards
(particularly in areas of strength and potential). This has helped fuel
China’s impressive economic growth in recent decades. By contrast,
British and Western employers often get bogged down in trying to
cultivate a happy, contented workforce and this takes precedence over
productivity, effectiveness and the inevitable discomfort associated
with growth.
When overdone, this can undermine not only
the success of the organisation, but also the employees. Rather than
helping employees, allowing them to take the “happy”, comfortable
path actually undermines their opportunities to flourish in the longer
run, as their ability to achieve their full potential and improve their
employability and rewards (both financial and non-financial) will be
significantly constrained. Of course, what is important here is balance
- to ensure employees are treated in a fair, considerate and decent way,
whilst at the same time inspiring performance stretch and high morale.
This will minimise the risk that UK workplaces become “soft play areas”
as opposed to places where productivity and success are key imperatives.
This article first appeared in HR Magazine (www.hrmagazine.co.uk)
on 26 Jan 2012.
FIFTEEN
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
Is there a solution?
PHOTO: Sarah Sitkin
n today’s world of work, we tend to think of conflict in negative terms.
Conflict is a force that causes anxiety and often viewed as something
that needs to be eliminated. This is often due to the waning force it
has on productivity while compounding the difficulty of the job.
A worldwide study conducted by CPP and its partners in
2008 reported the following findings:
• 85% of employees at all levels within an organisation experience
some degree of conflict. In fact, 29% reported to “always” or
“frequently” experience conflict. While the level at which most
conflict is observed is between entry-level roles, 12% of the
respondents indicated that disagreements among their senior teams
are frequent or continuous.
• The average worker spends 2.1 hours per week dealing with conflict.
• 27% of employees have seen conflict lead to personal attacks, and
25% have seen it result in illness or absence from work. In addition,
9% reported that conflict resulted in the failure of a project.
• 70% of employees see managing conflict as a critically important
leadership skill.
• 54% of employees think managers could handle disputes better by
addressing the underlying tension before it escalates.
The results of the study also indicated that approximately 25% of
workers experienced positive outcomes from conflict situations. These
situations may have been dealt with by an individual or team that had
previous training in conflict management and knew how to harness the
positives from such situations. Countries who reported higher levels of
SIXTEEN
conflict management training also observed more positive outcomes
from conflict. Twenty-seven percent of people who had received training
in conflict management reported being more comfortable and confident
in managing disputes, while 85% of trained employees now seek winwin outcomes from conflict. In fact, 85% of this group changed the way
they approach conflict by becoming more proactive and taking it less
personally.
Despite these results, the study found that the
majority of employees have never received conflict management training.
This is even further striking if one considers that stress and workload—
two factors increasing rapidly in our current economy—are the second
and third most common causes of conflict. KILMANN DIAGNOSTICS is
the exclusive provider of online training for the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict
Mode Instrument (TKI) worldwide. Making effective use of the TKI, there
are two established online courses on conflict management that provide
the foundation for a completely integrated programme. Building on the
Basic and Advanced courses, there are currently three additional online
courses on change management. These courses provide the means
for establishing a healthy culture, enhancing critical thinking skills for
addressing complex problems and conflicts, and promoting teamwork
throughout an organisation. Jopie van Rooyen and Partners distributes
these products in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Note: The complete results of the study referenced here was published
in: Workplace conflict and how business can harness it to thrive, CPP
Global Human Capital Report, July 2008.
July 2012
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
outh Africa was ranked 50th out of 142 countries in the
2011/2012 World Competitiveness Report, released on 7
September 2011. This ranking gives the idea that we are
functioning in the top third of economies. However, further analysis
of this ranking shows a different picture. We remain an economy of
extremes—ranked 1st in ‘Regulation of securities exchanges’ and
‘Strength of auditing and reporting standards’; but ranked 133rd in
‘Quality of the educational system’ and 138th in ‘Quality of math and
science education’ (http://www.stanlib.com/EconomicFocus/Pages/
SouthAfricaranked50thinthe20112012WorldCompetitivenessReport.
aspx). In support of these findings, the Annual National Assessment in
South Africa revealed that the national performance in numeracy is at an
average of 28% (SABC News, 2011).
According to Reddy and Janse van Rensburg,
analytic skills in mathematics need to be built up from early years.
Mathematical knowledge is hierarchical in nature and therefore strong
prior knowledge is critical for conceptual development. The acquisition of
these capabilities is shaped in the early years by the nature and quality
of interactions in the home and community and the quality of input from
school. Early attention to mathematical skills and knowledge may thus
contribute to breaking the cycle of poor academic performance (HSRC,
2011). To this end the South African developed TriMaths assessment
suite can identify which aspects in mathematics a learner needs help
with.
It assesses three areas of mathematics (which should
ideally be used together, but can be used separately):
1. Basic Mathematics: learner’s basic cognitive skills and knowledge/
achievement in mathematics;
2. Mathematics Vocabulary: learner’s adequacy of mathematical
language proficiency; and
3. Study Orientation toward Mathematics: learner’s interest and study
orientation in mathematics.
The results of these assessments can be used by teachers and parents
to assist learners to target specific problem areas in mathematics.
TriMaths is specifically aimed at learners between 9 and 15 years of age
and is available in English, Afrikaans, Tswana, Zulu and Portuguese. The
sooner a mathematics problem can be identified and rectified, the more
opportunities will arise for the learner’s future. An individual, group, or
ideally systemic intervention could turn the proverbial mathematical
tide in South Africa.
8
4
2
1
5
4
1
7
1
7
9
4
5
1
9
4
6
3
2
3
5
7
4
2
8
9
8
1
2
6
2
3
1
6
5
3
5
7
7
1
1
6
3
2
7
1
9
8
3
7
6
2
5
7
4
6
SEVENTEEn
Bits & Pieces
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
he identity of our nation is
embedded in our national
history. As individuals, we
find the roots of our identity in
our personal histories. Psychology
obtains its identity through the
systematic building of theories,
insights, research and past
experiences. To ignore our past
would be to relinquish our identity,
as we have so much to learn from
those who have gone before us.
At JvR, we
realised that psychologists in
their golden years hold a wealth
of information in their memories,
and that capturing their stories
may be of immense value to the
profession. We began to conduct
filmed interviews with well-known
South African psychologists so
that others could benefit from
their memories, insights and
wisdom. Our criteria were simply
that they should be older than 70
years and be prepared to share
their stories and advice to young
psychologists with us. We have
been continuously amazed by
the richness of information and
insight they provided! We are very
happy to share these videos with
you on www.histories.jvrafrica.co.
This project
was initially named the “Legends
Project”, but we have extended it
to include other historical sources
to supplement the anecdotes.
The Histories Project is a workin-progress. We are cognisant of
the fact that there are still many
stories of renowned psychologists
to be captured, and we will
continue to build this collection
with time. Please participate
in the project by nominating
psychologists (over 70 years of
age) that you know have made
a significant contribution to
psychology in South Africa.
You may also
have an interest in the evolution
of psychological assessments
and apparatus in South Africa
over the last century. A number
of individuals, institutions, and
universities have provided us with
an opportunity to photograph
some of these assessments. We
also have descriptions and stories
about the development and use
of these assessments from a
number of sources. These photos
and various anecdotes have been
compiled, along with an historical
timeline, into a coffee table book
available from JvR.
For
your
nominations or any other requests
please contact JvR at +27 11 781
3705, or contact paul@jvrafrica.
co.za.
By Shawn Bakker, Psychometrics Canada
escribing work engagement can be difficult, but you know it
when you have it, and when you don’t. When I was 16 years
old I had a summer job working at a raspberry plant emptying
containers of raspberries onto a conveyor belt for 12 to 16 hours – all
at night. The work was consistent, structured and routine, and provided
stable employment. These are aspects of employment that many people
find engaging.
Yet other than the pay check, there was nothing
about the job that I enjoyed. I dreaded going each day and I was not
engaged. Instead of rotating workers through different jobs, and giving
us the opportunity to learn something new, we were kept at the same
job for the entire summer. Rather than communicate how many berries
we needed to process, we were kept guessing. The organisation failed to
notice these opportunities to engage employees.
The following summer I got a job as a truck driver
for a construction company. I spent my days picking up and delivering
construction materials and had the freedom to plan my routes, schedule
my daily activities, and learn many new things from the job supervisors I
interacted with. Along with the pay check, I enjoyed every aspect of the
job.
Work engagement is generally defined by its
results – engaged people demonstrate higher levels of performance,
commitment and loyalty to the company they work for. Engagement
focuses on the connection that an employee has to the organisation that
results in putting forth a greater effort in their work. It is obvious that all
organisations want to increase engagement – who does not want higher
performance and greater commitment?
Research shows that engagement is affected by
many things including the nature of the job, career opportunities,
relationships with co-workers and leaders, and pride about the company.
EIGHTEEN
To increase engagement a company needs to consider each of these. So
where can an organisation start?
It makes sense to start at the beginning, when
an employee is first hired. Since engagement is increased when an
employee has the opportunity to use their skills and talents, person-job
fit is very important. Consider how you evaluate candidates and link their
skills to the requirements of the job. A good fit will give the employee
the opportunity to do what they are good at and feel engaged. A poor
fit will require the employee to use skills they may not have or want
to acquire, leading to disengagement. With appropriately implemented
application reviews, psychometric assessments, and interviews you can
better hire people who will be engaged.
A second driver of engagement is providing current employees with the
opportunities to stretch and develop new skills. These are key activities
in any career growth and employee development program. Consider the
efforts your organisation makes to develop employee skills and provide
future opportunities for growth.
Effectively helping employees identify these
opportunities to develop will drive engagement. When people see little
to no future opportunities engagement starts to lag. Each of these
activities comes down to an awareness of people. Increasing what
you know about people, their skills and talents, needs and desires, will
greatly increase your ability to enhance employee engagement.
About Shawn Bakker, M.ed R.Psych
Shawn is the editor of Psychometrics Canada’s newsletter, Psychometrics
Direct. He has written numerous articles on the use of psychometric
assessments in the workplace, and has spoken at many HR industry
events. Shawn is the co-author of the Work Personality Index, Career
Values Scale and Career Interest Profiler.
July 2012
port is a multimillion
dollar industry providing
excitement and pleasure
to millions of people. Preparing
athletes for sporting events
is a sophisticated science and
the insight gained from both
research and experience have led
to a number of ways in which
psychological and physiological
preparation of athletes can be
optimised. It is obtaining “the
edge” on competing athletes that
is the ultimate goal—particularly
if it is possible to do this without
incurring or worsening injuries!
Of
specific
importance is teaching and
helping the athlete to manage
anxiety and stress control before
and during a competition. Muscle
bracing and residual tension are
typical symptoms of competitive
stress. Not all athletes will
consider using biofeedback for
the purpose of managing stress.
There are however indications
that a number of individual and
sport teams have opted for this
methodology in preparation for
the Olympics in England this
year. A variety of athletes from
Brazil, Europe and Eastern Europe
use biofeedback to identify and
manage excess and non-functional
psychophysiological arousal under
pressure. Biofeedback is a very
useful method to ensure that
the athlete learns how to control
excess reactivity. Efficiently
managing physical skills required
by the specific sport can be further
enhanced by learning more subtle
skills such as heart rate variability,
skin conductance and breathing
skills. For more information on the
use of biofeedback in sport, more
specifically integrating Schuhfried
assessments, please contact
Angelique Da Silva at angelique@
jvrafrica.co.za.
Article provided by Easi•COnsult®
he new Manufacturing Compatibility Questionnaire (MCQ™),
measures core competencies that are important in most
manufacturing or production jobs, such as Dependability,
Team Orientation, Learning and Problem Solving, and Safety Focus.
Additionally, each MCQ™ report includes a structured behaviorally-based
interview guide tailored to the applicant’s responses on the 48-item
test. A large scale criterion validation study was recently conducted in a
multi-plant manufacturing company. The average correlation between
the MCQ™ and job performance was .22, falling in the range of most
professionally developed pre-employment tests. This number suggests
that this instrument can identify those applicants who are more likely to
be successful on the job. Next, we followed the validation study with a
utility analysis.
Utility analysis (UA) measures the return of
investment (ROI) for a selection test. This analysis yields a dollar value
that indicates how much money will be gained if a particular test is used
for selection. In order to accurately assess the ROI, we considered the
salary for the position, how much it costs to administer the selection
test, and the relationship between the test and job performance.
The effectiveness of the test was assessed with a
sample of current employees of a manufacturing organisation. The test
was significantly related to job performance. Based on the information
obtained from this organisation and using a conservative estimate of
an hourly (U.S.) wage of $13.00, a utility analysis was conducted for the
MCQ™.
The analysis revealed that if the manufacturing
company only hired the top scoring applicants, they would realise an
increase in productivity on the average of $25,360.00 per hire in the
first year of employment. This indicates that top scoring applicants are
almost twice as productive as lower scoring applicants.
The MCQ™ is due to be validated in South Africa
during 2012-2013.
A 2011 APA Presidential Task Force Report
iven the mobility of
people in Africa, you
may be interested in
reading this extensive study done
by the American Psychological
Association (APA) on the
psychological and mental health
issues related to immigration.
This in depth and evidencebased report aims to create an
understanding of the mental and
behavioural needs of people who
immigrate to America. Attention
is given to the effects of
acculturation and discrimination.
The APA task
force also dispels common myths
about immigrants and places
emphasis on the value and unique
contributions that immigrant
populations can make. The
APA report CROSSROADS: The
Psychology of Immigration in the
New Century could provide useful
information to those who work
with immigrants in Africa and
who wish to do further research
on the topic in our context.
immigration/executivesummary.pdf
You
will
find
the
information by visiting the
APA website at:
http://www.apa.org/topics/
To request hard copies, please
email immreport@apa.org
OR
http://www.apa.org/topics/
immigration/report.aspx
NINETEEN
By JOPIE van rooyen & Partners
ntegrity testing is not a new practice in industrial and organisational
settings. Internationally integrity tests have been utilised for
many years. In fact, the first academic review for this category
of assessments was published more than 30 years ago (Sackett &
Decker, 1979). In South Africa however, the practice of integrity testing
remained relatively obscure until recently when a gradual increase in the
application of these types of testing had been observed. The demand for
such assessments continues to rise steadily.
Integrity tests were originally developed in America
to identify dishonest job applicants after legislation was implemented
to prohibit the use of polygraph testing. Since then, integrity tests
have evolved to be much more than mere replacements for polygraph
tests. Today, the primary focus of integrity measures is the prediction of
counterproductive work behaviours (CWB).
Integrity tests typically refer to two categories
of assessment labeled ‘overt’ and ‘covert or personality-oriented’
tests (Sackett, Buris, & Callahan, 1989). Overt assessments enquire
directly about an individual’s attitudes toward counterproductive work
behaviours such as theft. Such measures typically include questions
related to the punitiveness of theft, contemplation of theft, as well as
the individual’s history of engaging in such behaviours. Included would
also be questions pertaining to the individual’s honesty in general.
In the second category - covert or personality
oriented assessments - a more indirect approach is followed in
measuring counterproductive tendencies. These assessments tend to
have a broader focus than overt tests in that they focus on a range of
counterproductive work behaviours other than theft and honesty such
as fraud, sabotage, absenteeism, aggression, vandalism, violence,
manipulation, and hostility.
Personality has been found to play an important
role in the cognitions involved in counterproductive work behaviours.
For example, it affects the way individuals perceive their environment,
their attributions for the causes of negative outcomes, their emotional
responses to such outcomes, and their ability to inhibit counterproductive
impulses (Spector, 2011).
The Work-Related Risk & Integrity Scale (WRISc)
was developed in South Africa to empirically measure personality
constructs that theoretically relate to counterproductive work
behaviours. In particular, the assessment measures personality
constructs important for an understanding of the mental cognitions
underlying counterproductive work behaviours. Since it is not possible
to control for, or eliminate all the situational variables which may give
TWENTY
rise to counterproductive work behaviours, it is important to identify
those individual differences factors that can be used to differentiate
between individuals more or less likely to engage in counterproductive
work behaviours.
Thus, given the same organisational context, the
WRISc model was developed to differentiate between individuals more
or less likely to engage in counterproductive behaviours based on the
way they attribute causes to events, react to them emotionally, and
their ability to inhibit destructive behaviours.
Further, the WRISc measures personality constructs
empirically found to be predictive of risk-taking behaviour. Since risktaking is more than a unitary trait, multiple personality constructs
predictive of this dynamic form of behaviour are included in the
assessment. These include those personality traits that provide the
motivational force for risk taking, protects against guilt or anxiety about
possible negative consequences, and those that make it easier to cross
the cognitive barriers related to deliberation and conformity.
In addition to counterproductive tendencies,
integrity tests have been shown to be excellent predictors of job
performance. In fact, integrity tests are the “personnel selection method
with the greatest incremental validity in predicting job performance
over cognitive ability” (Berry, Sackett & Wiemann, 2007, p. 2). For both
overt and personality-oriented measures, meta-analytic studies have
reported coefficients of .41 for the prediction of job performance (Ones,
Visweswaren & Schmidt, 1993).
JVR is excited by the prospect of making available
a new instrument that we hope will be of great value to our clients. For
more information on the WRISc, please contact the research department
at JvR.
References
Berry, C. M., Sackett, P. R., & Wiemann, S. (2007). A review of recent developments in integrity test research.
Personnel Psychology, 60, 271-301.
Ones, D. S., Visweswaren, C. & Schmidt, F. (1993). Comprehensive meta-analysis of integrity test validities:
Findings and implications for personnel selection and theories of job performance. Journal of Applied
Psychology Monograph, 78, 679-703.
Sackett, P. R., & Decker, P. J. (1979). Detection of deception in the employment context: A review and critique.
Personnel Psychology, 32, 487-506.
Sackett, P. R., Buris, L. R., & Callahan, C. (1989). Integrity testing for personnel selection: An update.
Personnel Psychology, 42, 491-529.
Spector, P. E. (2011). The relationship of personality to counterproductive work behavior (CWB): An
integration of perspectives. Human Resources Management Review, 21, 342-352.