The Psychology of Personnel Selection

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Boxes......Page 10
Figures......Page 11
Tables......Page 15
Prologue and acknowledgements......Page 17
Part 1 Methods of personnel selection......Page 19
1.1 Introduction......Page 21
1.2 Graphology......Page 22
1.2.1 Scientific evidence for graphology......Page 25
1.2.2 Graphology and job performance......Page 27
1.3 Physiognomy and body build......Page 29
1.4 Assessing physiognomy......Page 32
1.5 Phrenology......Page 35
1.5.1 Appraising phrenology......Page 36
1.7 Astrology......Page 37
1.8 Other projective tests......Page 40
1.9 The Barnum effect......Page 42
1.10 Accepting feedback......Page 45
1.11 Summary and conclusion......Page 46
2.1 Introduction......Page 48
2.2 Basic guidelines for a good selection interview......Page 49
2.3 Description, types and functions of the interview......Page 51
2.4 Structured vs unstructured interviews......Page 54
2.5 The cognitive basis of interviews......Page 55
2.6 The psychometrics of interviews......Page 59
2.7 The 'acceptability of interviews’......Page 63
2.8 Fairness, bias and the law......Page 64
2.9 Interviewing skills......Page 65
2.10 Summary and conclusion......Page 68
3.2 Structured vs unstructured references......Page 70
3.3 Reliability of references......Page 72
3.4 Validity of references......Page 74
3.5 How to improve the validity of references......Page 76
3.6 Popularity of references: an evolutionary perspective......Page 77
3.7 Conclusion......Page 79
4.1 Introduction......Page 80
4.2 Scoring of biodata......Page 81
4.3 Verifiability of biodata and faking......Page 83
4.4 Validity of biodata......Page 86
4.5 Structure of biodata......Page 88
4.6 Summary and conclusions......Page 91
5.1 Situational judgement tests......Page 93
5.2 Validity of SJTs......Page 95
5.3 What do SJTs actually measure?......Page 99
5.4 Academic performance and general grade-point average (GPA)......Page 100
5.5 GPA: a poor predictor of success in the real world?......Page 101
5.6 Why does GPA predict occupational outcomes?......Page 106
5.7 Summary and conclusions......Page 109
Part 2 Constructs for personnel selection......Page 111
6.1 Introduction: what is intelligence?......Page 113
6.2 A brief history of GMA and Raven's Progressive Matrices......Page 115
6.3 A brief history of IQ and the Wonderlic Personnel Test......Page 117
6.4 Like no other: the predictive power of GMA......Page 120
6.5 GMA in the UK......Page 124
6.6 GMA in Europe......Page 126
6.7 Longitudinal evidence......Page 129
6.8 Why, then, is IQ so unpopular?......Page 130
6.9 The inconvenient effects of the 'triple g’: general, genetic and group differences......Page 132
6.10 Searching for mediators: GMA predicts job performance and training, but why?......Page 135
6.11 GMA and counterproductive work behaviours......Page 137
6.12 Retesting, practice and coaching effects......Page 138
6.13 Summary and conclusions......Page 140
Notes......Page 141
7.1 Introduction......Page 142
7.2 What are personality traits?......Page 147
7.3 The Big Five: emergence of the five-factor model......Page 150
7.4 Validity of personality traits as predictors of job and training performance......Page 152
7.5 Personality in the European Community......Page 156
7.6 Conscientiousness: the most important personality predictor of work outcomes......Page 157
7.7 Neuroticism: it helps if you are calm......Page 160
7.8 Extraversion: positive, sociable people-people......Page 163
7.9 Agreeableness: getting along, caring and sharing......Page 165
7.10 Openness: intellectual, imaginative, artistic jobs......Page 166
7.11 It's not all about performance: validity of the Big Five as predictors of job satisfaction......Page 167
7.13 Faking......Page 170
7.14 How to overcome the problem of faking......Page 173
7.15 Low validity......Page 174
7.16 Specific criteria......Page 176
7.17 Integrity inventories......Page 177
7.18 Criticisms of integrity inventories......Page 181
7.19 Emotional intelligence (EI)......Page 182
7.21 EI: the personality construct......Page 183
7.22 Reliability of EI......Page 184
7.23 Validity of EI......Page 185
7.25 Core self-evaluations......Page 187
7.26 Moving beyond traits: the person--environment fit......Page 188
7.27 Summary and conclusions......Page 190
Notes......Page 192
8.1 Introduction......Page 193
8.2 Definitions and conceptualisations of creativity......Page 194
8.3 Creative people......Page 195
8.4 Creative processes......Page 201
8.5 Creative work environments: the press approach to creativity......Page 202
8.6 Creative products......Page 203
8.7 Assessing and measuring creativity......Page 204
8.8 Summary and conclusions......Page 207
Note......Page 208
9.1 Introduction......Page 209
9.2 The trait approach to leadership......Page 210
9.3 Perceptions of leadership......Page 213
9.4 Contingency and the situational determinants of leadership......Page 214
9.5 Rebirth of the trait approach......Page 215
9.6 Leadership styles: behavioural approaches to leadership......Page 220
9.7 Charismatic leadership......Page 221
9.8 Transformational leadership: leaders as mentors......Page 223
9.9 Personality of transformational leaders......Page 226
9.10 Transactional leadership: controlling rather than inspiring......Page 227
9.11 Leadership and gender......Page 229
9.12 Summary and conclusions......Page 232
10.1 Introduction......Page 234
10.2 Business reports......Page 236
10.3 The psychology of giftedness......Page 238
10.4 The psychology of high-flyers......Page 240
10.5 The Icarus syndrome and talent derailment......Page 248
10.6 Practical implications......Page 250
10.7 Summary and conclusions......Page 252
References......Page 253
Index......Page 296