The Science of Human Motivation - Essay Example

A RESPONSIVE SELECTION PROCESS FOR INTUITIVE AND CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS FOR A BUSINESS PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANCY Most of the time, an organization is confronted with the task of having to search for the right individuals who will get actively involved in achieving its goals. This is not an easy endeavor though and it will take a step-by-step process to arrive at a successful match. D. Schultz and S. Schultz (1998) believe that foremost is to identify the nature of the job that the company is currently in need of. A job analysis entails determining the specific skills required to perform a job well. From here, an applicant’s profile can be drawn, specifying the characteristics of the person who will best fit the particular post. The next task is to choose the best method or to combine different methods by which to distinguish these personal qualities and aptitudes. Checking on the individual’s educational background and work experience are quite useful. Administering psychological tests also present a valid measure of mental ability and personality. All these can be further corroborated through a series of interviews. What is important though in the selection process is that the selection ratio - the relationship between the number of people to be hired and the number of applicants – is such that the number of persons available for hiring is higher than the number needed to be hired. Otherwise, a shortage in the labour supply could mean lowering down company expectations just to fill in the position. In specific, this write up aims to present a selection procedure for a business psychology consultancy that is in need of intuitive and creative individuals. A business psychology consultancy is a type of organization which is primarily involved in providing corporate tools for the growth and development of various enterprising institutions. They may provide direction for organizational leaders, operational support for efficient delivery, and insight for making the right business decisions (Achieving Edge, 2009, para. 1). There a lot of business psychology consultancy firms that mushroom everywhere. As such, there is a need to include intuitive and creative individuals who can help set the consultancy apart from all of them. Dunn (2003) cites that intuitive persons can be someone who is an only child, is awake at night most of the time, has a special ability in one or more of the arts, possibly dyslexic or gifted, and prefers to be alone on a regular basis. Moreover, people who have a stronger tendency towards intuition observe patterns and make impressions about them. They think in abstract terms and look towards the promises of the future. They also have important qualities like inventiveness, imagination, and idealism (Sensing or Intuition Preferences, 2009). Most importantly, Dubrin (2005) advocates that intuition develops from a constant weighing of various information that has been stored in the memory through experience such that decision-making become instinctive and seasoned. In this way, the longer the experience, the more intuitive the person becomes and the more reliable his intuitions become. Conversely, the older the person or the higher level of company management held the more intuitive the person becomes. On the other hand, Sawyer (2006) espouses that creative individuals are those who could do ordinary everyday tasks extraordinarily. It is apparent in how some of them can cook up a recipe from incomplete ingredients or discover a new route to avoid a traffic jam. A deeper sense of creativity involves making something that is novel and socially desirable. Although, social acceptability is relevant it should not pose a hindrance to the creative individual style. Furthermore, creativity can come from different sources. It could be natural, group, or societal creativity (Sawyer, 2006). Natural creativity is that process of variation, selection, and retention that is innate in human beings. Group creativity is motivated by an assemblage of individuals working together for a common goal. For instance, a theatre performance is composed of a group of creative actors, actresses, directors and stage crew. Lastly, societal creativity is a more complex generation of cultural values, economic strength, and political stability. Thus, intuitive and creative individuals are those who give life to a serious and fact-based corporation like a business psychology consultancy. Intuitive and creative individuals spice up the way the consultancy renders its services so that business clients with various personalities and needs are attended to. Creativity and intuition are balancing characteristics that are valuable in solving problems and making decisions. All of these, when applied to the selection process, means being able to combine different methods in order to hire the right people for the job. First of all, considering that experience enhances intuitive skills, those that will be selected are those who gained considerable experience – three to five years - in the field of business psychology consultancy. This should not be just any experience though. Applicants should have been practicing in the managerial level in the conduct of business especially that consultancy clients are mostly executives and company presidents. This would further mean that an applicant who is older will be preferred over the younger ones. Clients will turn to consultants who can help them make decisions that are often needed to be produced immediately. Apparently, they will trust someone whose intuition has developed through the years. The applicants then will be asked to submit samples of their previous work and letters of recommendation to prove that indeed they have been working hard in the earlier years (Saal & Knight, 1995). This in conjunction with the principle of behavioural consistency which states that past behaviour is a valid predictor of future performance. Secondly, someone who is old is not enough. The applicant should be given a battery of tests that will include mental ability and aptitude. Intuitive individuals are those who have a good long-term memory and ability to reorganize stored information to make careful but quick analyses. The Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT) is a good instrument to determine these characteristics in the applicant. The CFIT will not discriminate against applicants from different cultural background and language exposure. Since creativity grows from environments in which individuality is encouraged, applicants with various nationalities are most welcomed. Meanwhile, an aptitude test called the Differential Aptitude Test will be used to supplement the previous tool as it will tell how much the applicant will benefit from training or if he is flexible enough to accommodate new learning. For a business psychology consultancy, clients come from different types of enterprises that require intuitive and creative potentials in a variety of fields. The higher the aptitude and the more areas of flexibility determined through the test, the greater the chances for the applicant to get selected. The applicant should also be assessed through a personality inventory to see the levels of intuitive and creative abilities that person has. The 16PF – 16 personality factors - is a proven psychological test that can be administered next to the applicant (Achieving Edge, 2009). The results of the test should highlight dominant personality traits pertaining to intuition and creativity. For intuition, the traits that should be focused include future-focused, sees possibilities, inventive, imaginative, deep, abstract, idealistic and theoretical (Sensing or Intuition Preference, 2009). For creativity, the characteristics involve open-mindedness, flexible thinking, productivity, and hard work (Sawyer, 2006). The higher the level of these two traits would mean the better chances for an applicant to be selected and referred to the next phase of the selection process. As established earlier, creativity does not only exist at an individual level. In an organization like a business psychology consultancy, employees work as a team and may function as an organizational psychologist, business psychologist, researcher, leadership trainer and personal impact coach (Achieving Edge, 2009). Consequently, the personality test results of the applicant should reflect his ability to interact with others, team-building skills, and the capacity to adjust to other personality types. Specifically, the applicant’s assessment results should indicate his capability to accept criticisms which are expected when he would often introduce novel ideas. Dealing with fact-based colleagues with more of the business background he will have to handle rejection and scepticism (Williams & Yang, 1999). In addition, the applicant’s personality should reflect a high sense of patience and perseverance to drive him to push his intuitive and creative ideas in times when others do something to restrain it or worst steal it. Third, though Williams and Yang (1999) have stated that the need organizational creativity could be answered by hiring individuals who do well in a combination of their intelligence and personality test results, a psychological assessment is not an end-all to applicant evaluation. As such, the next level in the selection process includes a simulation which will concretely put to the test those intuitive and creative abilities in the real world. A simulation works like a practical test in which a stimulus is given and the response expected will show the applicant’s natural tendencies. One type of simulation that is used with creative individuals in particular is computer simulation (Williams & Yang, 1999). Here, a computer is abounded with significant data and it then tries to duplicate creative thoughts. As for intuitive individuals, the selection process will involve throwing situational dilemmas at the applicant and then he will be rated at how sound the decisions he makes and how quickly he can think of them. A simulation is also more of a practical test for the applicants. To measure creative characteristics, each applicant will be presented with a virtual result of sales report from the consultancy. Then, the applicant is told that this virtual report is of no use to business clients who are not technology savvy or find working with computers a struggle. The applicant who will be able to present original and impressionable alternatives are assured in the selection process. Without a personal encounter, no real assessment can be made of any applicant especially for a business psychology consultancy when interactions with the client happen every time. Written, practical, and recorded data can be thoroughly affirmed with the use of the most popular type of assessment which is the interview (Selection, 2006, para.3). The first interview for this selection process will be one-on-one and the second will be a panel interview. One-on-one interviews are more personal and are aimed at finding out the authenticity of the information that has been recorded and written. It also shows how intelligent and amiable the applicant is with how he uses language and how he expresses himself. What is important during this type of interview in the selection process is to see facial expressions and the outside appearance of the person because creative individuals are usually animated when they talk and wear attractive if not outrageous clothing and accessories. On the other hand the one-on-one interview is followed by a panel interview which will put to the real test the applicant’s ability to make quick and intuitive decisions despite the pressure of being in the presence of more than three individuals. What is more is that the panel interviewers are the top executives of the business psychology consultancy so that they will be able to gauge whether the resolutions that the applicant recommends consider the bigger picture of the situation at hand. Furthermore, subjecting the applicant to a panel interview by managers from different departments of the consultancy will eliminate the possibility that one manager will dislike him on the basis of not having the same attitudes and perspectives with him (Landy, 1985). This is especially true for intuitive individuals who will make conclusions based on his previous experience. In the case of the creative applicants, having managers with different types of personalities listening to his new and bright ideas will result in an unbiased assessment. The last thing that will be implemented in the selection process after the interview is that there should be someone who will be assigned to gather all the information from the managers and make the final decision about the applicant. In this way, anybody in the group who may want to dominate and push for his preferences will be more objective in his assessment (Landy, 1985). Indeed, designing a selection process for an organization like a business psychology consultancy is a complex task. The value that intuitive and creative individuals in the business render should be properly appraised so that the problem of tight competition in the consultancy industry can be addressed. This can be done so by giving rewards for non-traditional approaches that intuitive and creative individuals can think about until they are made into products, innovations, and other services that will set the company apart from the rest. In these times when competition extends globally, the need for constant restructuring that such persons can provide is worth all the selection trouble. Bibliography References Achieving edge: Psychology at work (2009). Retrieved January 9, 2009, from Organizational Edge: http://mbti.md/public/media/pdfs/select/ Dubrin, A. (2005). Human relations: Career and personal success (7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Dunn, S. (2003). Adult development: Traits of highly intuitive people. Retrieved January 8, 2009 from http://www.selfgrowthtest.com Landy, F. (1985). Psychology of work behaviour (3rd ed.). Illinois: The Dorsey Press. Saal, F. & Knight, P. (1995). Industrial/Organizational psychology. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. Sawyer, K. (2006). Creativity: The science of human motivation. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Schultz, D. & Schultz, S. (1998). Psychology and work today: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (7th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Selection (2006). Retrieved January 8, 2009, from Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc.: http://www.siop.org/IOInternships/Selection.aspx Sensing or Intuition Preference (2009). Retrieved January 9, 2009 from DreamDolphin Media LLC: http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/sensing-intuition/ Williams, M. & Yang, L. (1999). Organizational Creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 373-389). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More