Human resources assessment
Question 1
In what ways can a person’s physical qualities and appearance affect the way they are treated at work?
Physical qualities and appearance affects the way a person is treated at the work place. It is through physical appearance that a person gets a clue of whom the other person is. This topic has attracted a number of studies, which have endeavoured to find out the relationship that exists between the physical appearance and the way people are treated. Studies have established that indeed physical qualities and appearance affects the way workers are treated.
Physical appearance refers to the looks and the outward appearance of an individual. The outward appearance communicates many things about an individual personality and values. Some of the things that are associated with physical appearance include the height of an individual, the size /weight, masculinity, the dressing style, hairstyle, facial expression, body posture among many others.
Physical appearances and physical qualities may affects how an individual is treated in an organization in various ways. One of the ways is the height of an individual. A tall person is usually believed to wield power and authority than a short individual. Therefore, in a setting where, there are two people one who is short and another short, the taller will be respected compared to the shorter one. This kind of discrimination happens unconsciously and plays a major role in judging people and treating them in different ways. A study conducted revealed that a job applicant style of hair dress coupled with physical appearance contributed to the interview outcome. In the situations that the physical attractiveness is equal, results showed that those that dress in a traditional manner had higher chances of being recruited as supposed to those that dressed poorly and casually (Forsythe et al 1985). This, therefore, this is an illustration that indeed the way a person looks, affect the way they are perceived and treated at their work place.
Physical qualities and appearances also play a fundamental role in the way people are treated and selected for various responsibilities. Some tasks require people that are attractive to help the company achieve its goals and in building a positive image (Fatt, 2000). A good example of this industry is the media. Media personalities are expected to be attractive and tall to ensure that the channel they work for receives many viewers. Therefore, this may affect the way employees are treated leading to some feeling discriminated. Therefore, it is important that the issues of physical qualities and physical appearances are addressed before exploding. Judging people based on their physical appearance is a form of conscious discrimination, which people are not aware but practise it unknowingly.
Question 2
What do organisations expect to gain by employing psychometric tests?
One of the forms that organizations are employing in recruiting candidates is use of psychometric tests. These tests are aimed at testing the cognitive ability of an individual and assessing the suitability of the candidate to handle the future managerial functions (Campion, Pursell & Brown, 1988). Therefore, every employer wants the best and therefore, they use this method. Employers vest their expectations when using this psychometric test in recruiting its employees.
One of the expectations is to gain the best talent among the large pool of candidates. Every organization wants to hire candidates that will impact positively on the organization. Therefore, this is one of the preferred methods as it helps to evaluate the thinking capacity and the general abilities of the candidate.
These tests are also the best avenue of enabling an employer to know the overall characters of the candidate, weakness, strength and working style. Therefore, they are most preferred (Campion, Pursell & Brown, 1988). Even though, they may not be used in isolation, they play a great deal in projecting the overall character of the individual allowing the employer to choose those that fit the culture and the expectations of the organization.
The test is also used to measure the motivation of the individual, values, opinions, priorities regarding to different tasks and situations. Therefore, an employer will be able to know the requirement and the motivation of every applicant making an appropriate decision when hiring them. One important factor that allows the use of this test is to determine the motivation. The motivation of a candidate is exhibited through his or her personality and the way they respond to such questions. Therefore, an employee is likely to recruit an individual that is motivated to work in the organization and therefore this test helps them to make that decision.
These tests are also important in case the applicant is nervous. Using psychometric tests allows the employer to assess the candidate’s ability and therefore, cases of nervousness that might have affected the candidate are avoided. Therefore, employer are able to understand the personality of their candidate better and are able to get the best candidates that have the ability and expertise to impact positively on the organization.
Question 3
According to Eysenck, there exist 3 basic dimensions of personality. Of what use is this knowledge to the Human Resource departments of large organisations recruiting both team-managers and team-workers?
Eysenck three traits are extravercism, neuroticism and psychoticism. He stated that extraversion are people who are sociable, and active and like meeting people and going to parties. Neuroticism on the other hand are emotional, have variation in their emotional intensity, therefore such individual are likely to use drugs to reduce or avoid emotional states (Gale & Eysenck, 1992). The last category is psychoticism. People in this category are non-conformist, and tough minded and may engage in anti-social behavior.
Human resources are required to have knowledge about these three traits to enhance their performance in recruiting both the team members and team workers. They have to understand that people have different characters and personalities, which may enable them, perform well or deter them from performing their tasks well.
Team managers and term workers are people that must possess certain qualities to ensure that they lead their teams and other employees well towards achievement of the organizational goals (Eysenck, 1991). Therefore, if they understand this traits they will be able to make appropriate selection recruitment decisions. For instance, team leaders should be extravercism; they should be people that are social and active to provide good leadership. Therefore, understanding there behaviors will guide human resources in making the right decisions. People that have antisocial behavior or those that are always anxious and depressed lack the confidence and self-esteem and these may deter them from providing positive leadership affecting the organization. Therefore, it is imperative that the human resource understand these differences to make decisive decision that is able to propel the organization forward.
Team leaders and team managers are in charge of people who have different personality and capabilities. Therefore, they should be people who are able to identify these capabilities and promote them. This can only happen if managers understand their duties and relate better with the other employees. Human resource in charge of human resource therefore, should employ this theory to make rational choices of the people that can help them achieve the goals and objectives of the organization.
References
Campion, M., Pursell, E., & Brown, B. (1988). Structured interviewing: raising the psychometric properties of the employment interview, Personnel Psychology, 41(1): 25- 42.
Eysenck, H. (1991). Dimensions of personality: Criteria for a taxonomic paradigm, Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 773-90.
Forsythe, S., Drake, M., & Cox, C. (1985). Influence of Applicant’s Dress on Interviewers’
Selection Decisions, Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 374-378.
Fatt, J. (2000). Attractiveness and Outcomes of Job Interviews, Management Research
News, 23, 11-18.
Gale, A., & Eysenck, M. (1992). Handbook of individual differences: Biological perspectives. Chichester: Wiley.
