Validation of a personality measure of managerial performance

Recent interest in the characteristics of effective managers raises the notion that personality factors may be part of the effectiveness syndrome. Modern research in personality systematics makes it possible to refine and extend earlier analyses of this topic. A job analysis of three levels of management in a large trucking company identified the personality characteristics of good managers, as described by peers and subordinates. These managers and a large group of incumbents (n=372) completed the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI). Managers were assigned scores reflecting their status in the organization; they also were rated by their supervisors. A subset of HPI components were significantly associated with the criteria, with correlations ranging from .22 to .66. These components were combined and used in five separate validity studies. The resulting measure was significantly associated with managerial performance in a variety of organizational settings. These results are consistent with the growing body of evidence suggesting that a coherent set of noncognitive characteristics promotes managerial performance across organizational types.     

Assessing the Need for Alcohol Abuse Programs for African-American College Students

The authors compare Black and White college student alcohol and other drug use. Significant differences were noted showing alcohol abuse to be less of a problem for Black students.     

Validation of personality and cognitive measures for insurance claims examiners

Claims Examiners are critical for the profitability of large insurance companies. Mistakes in hiring these people can result in improperly processed claims and/or turnover, and this yields negative financial consequences for the company. This paper describes research evaluating the validity of selection procedures for the position of claims examiner at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma. A job analysis indicated that both cognitive skills and personal abilities are necessary for successful performance as a claims examiner. The job analysis also indicated that both subjective and objective criterion measures reflect important aspects of job performance. The criterion data included nine supervisory ratings, employee nominations, average percent of performance, absences, disciplinary actions, and sick leave. In a concurrent validation strategy, we tested a sample of experienced incumbents (N=50) using four cognitive ability tests (Basic Skills Tests: BST) and two measures of personality (Hogan Personality Inventory and PROFILE). Scales from two personality inventories were combined to form the Claims Examiner Inventory (CEI). Scores from the CEI and three of the four cognitive tests correlated significantly with the average percent of performance and six of the supervisory ratings, including the average supervisory rating. In addition to the cognitive measures, the personality measure contributed significantly to the prediction of percent of performance achieved with R=.64. These results are consistent with other research findings that support the use of both personality and cognitive measures as predictors of job performance.     

The Influence of Retention Interval on the US Preexposure Effect: Changes in Contextual Blocking over Time

A number of studies manipulating the length of the interval between conditioning and testing indicate spontaneous recovery from overshadowing, suggesting that certain instances of overshadowing represent a deficit in memory retrieval rather than a failure of animals to form an association between the overshadowed stimulus and the US. The present series of experiments examined the influence of lengthening the retention interval on blocking, another stimulus selection phenomenon that is typically interpreted as an acquisition deficit. The results indicated that when subjects were tested shortly (3 days) after training conditioning to a taste blocked subsequent conditioning to an odor conditioned in compound with that taste (Experiment 1), whereas prior conditioning to an odor did not block subsequent conditioning to a taste conditioned in compound with that odor (Experiment 2). This pattern of results was essentially unchanged when testing occurred at a longer (21-day) retention interval. However, there was evidence of a US preexposure effect in Experiment 2 when subjects in the US ONLY control condition were tested at the 3-day retention interval, but not when testing occurred 21 days after conditioning. Experiments 3 and 4 examined whether this loss of the US preexposure effect over time might actually represent a change in the degree of contextual blocking as the retention interval is lengthened. Exposure to the conditioning context either during the interval between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of conditioning (Experiment 3) or prior to Phase 1 of conditioning (Experiment 4) alleviated this US preexposure effect suggesting that the loss of the US preexposure effect as the retention interval is lengthened observed in Experiment 2 is due to changes in the degree of blocking by contextual stimuli over time. The results are discussed in terms of differential susceptibility of forgetting of two functional roles played by a contextual stimuli in the current situation-context as a CS and context as a retrieval cue for other CS-US associations.     

The Mission and Role of Psychology in a Traumatised and Changing Society: The Case of South Africa

At present there is a “crisis” in psychology in South Africa. A mental health investigation has been initiated and a national task force appointed in order to reform the profession in all its aspects. These events are the result of a deep sense of unease about the mission, relevance and image of the profession and an awareness that mainstream psychology is irrelevant to the nature and needs of the majority black population. Presently psychology in South Africa is at a crossroads. This paper identifies the mental health needs of the majority black population and suggests professional training programmes for future psychologists and the utilisation of services and resources in delivery systems. The article also re-defines the psychologist's role in a divided and traumatised society.     

Parental Leave of Absence: Some Not So Family-Friendly Implications1

This experiment examined the effects of ratee gender, type of leave of absence, and level of performance on perceptions of organizational commitment, work commitment, family commitment, and recommendations for organizational rewards. The proposed 3-way interactions between gender, type of leave of absence, and performance level were not supported; however, main effects and 2-way interactions were revealed. Moreover, perceived organizational commitment and work commitment were found to moderate the relationship between performance level and reward recommendations. The findings also indicated that men who were depicted as taking a leave of absence from work for parental reasons were less likely to be recommended for rewards than were males who had not taken a leave of absence.     

Background and career orientations of women with mathematical aptitude

A “person-thing” career motivation continuum was tested as a model for structuring this investigation of the personal characteristics and career influences of women in mathematics who entered teaching or nonteaching careers. Women mathematicians who chose to teach were hypothesized to be more person-oriented in career development (i.e., they would be more influenced in the development of career interest by people). In contrast, women who chose careers in mathematically oriented fields, until recently considered nontraditional for their sex (engineering, physical science, accounting, economics, computer science), were expected to be more attracted to the “ideas” or “things” of mathematics.This hypothesis was tested in its null form by comparing personality traits and career influences for two groups of university senior women. Each group was composed of 30 subjects who had elected at least 24 semester credit hours in mathematics. Subjects were randomly selected after individuals were first stratified into two groups, according to whether they chose teaching or nonteaching careers in math-related areas.Second order personality traits derived from subjects' responses to Cattell's 16 PF Questionnaire were employed to assess personality differences. A biographical questionnaire was utilized for collecting data relative to career-influence factors. Multivariate analysis of variance and chi square statistical models were employed for data analysis.The two groups differed significantly in overall personality profiles. This difference was related to the nonteaching group's having scored significantly higher (than did the teaching group) on both the creativity and independence personality factors. Related to career influence, the nonteaching women appeared to develop their interests in mathematics somewhat earlier than did their counterparts who chose to teach. Women teachers were more attracted to their careers because of the influence of people engaged in mathematically oriented work. More of the nonteaching women cited influences associated with mathematics, itself, such as books, demonstrations and independent studies, as paramount in their career decision-making. Also, men were seen as more influential in fostering their career development by the non-teaching group, while in contrast, the teachers chose women as more influential in the development of their interests in mathematics.These findings appear to support the “person-thing” hypothesis associated with the development of career interests for women in mathematics.