Psychometric Testing
The case for personality testing Complexity of modern industry,
and work life in general, has generated an increasing awareness
of interdependency of tasks / roles and the need to understand
the individual’s preferred / dominant patterns of behavior,
particularly in relation to people and in groups. Knowledge
and skills assessment alone have been shown up to be inadequate
in predicting success in roles / organizations. This is further
aggravated by the fact that presence of knowledge / skills is
no guarantee that they will be deployed as desired. Personal
Interviews as a tool for Selection and internal sourcing, while
being the most popular, promises much but often suffers on many
counts:
• Not enough interviewers are trained in the art of interviews;
• There is little preparation in advance by the interviewer;
the process is often led less by the interviewer’s ability
and more by his confidence in his judgment of people;
• Tendency of interviewers to play pop psychologists;
• Not enough time invested in the process to look for
evidence and consistent patterns of behavior; extrapolations,
assumptions and conjectures are made about how a candidate is
likely to be / behave from limited data about the candidate;
• Interviewer’s own world-views, biases and prejudices
(personal stances) affect his judgment; • Focusing on
what a candidate “knows” to the near exclusion of
a good probe on “what” a candidate has done, “how”,
and the nature of his interfaces with others and the world at
large;
• Standardisation of interview items and sequence, rigor
in setting yardsticks for responses and assessment of responses
is shunned as tedious, impractical and at best dull and boring;
result - comparisons are difficult and choice making is largely
subjective, the “feel good” factor dominating the
decision.It is now well established by research that an individual’s
values, motives, traits and other components that constitute
the core of personality have a more enduring influence on patterns
of deployment of energies and behaviour. Factoring these in
decision making on selection, fitment and development planning
thus makes sound business sense. Assessment tools developed
by experts to profile aspects of personality provides a reliable
basis for data generation about individuals and is time / cost
effective! Professional help in the absence of relevant training
to interpret results of these tests is a useful step.
Why the 16PF ? Pioneers The 16PF (PF: Personality Factor) assessment
tool comes from Institute of Personality and Ability Testing,
USA who pioneered personality testing way back in 1949 with
the introduction of the 16PF. Many testing tools developed since,
have relied and built on the research of Cattell and the 16PF
as a reference.
Contemporary Thanks to ongoing research, the tool has undergone
five revisions and the 5th edition, released in 1994, being
offered through Bhakti in India, is the latest. It reflects
the changing character of society at large, advancements in
personality research by IPAT and others over the years with
inputs from user experience with the tool through the decades
and numerous research centered around the instrument in diverse
settings.
Comprehensive The 16PF profiles the entire domain of personality
as understood and is in a position to shed light on possible
angularities / nuances in the way an individual’s personality
is likely to pan out. It allows for a well rounded understanding
of the individual and can provide useful clues to pointed questions
about a person’s profile and preferences.
Versatile Given the wide sweep the tool allows, it has found
application in diverse settings - organisational, clinical and
research. In an organisation context, it is eminently suitable
as invaluable input to staff selection and employee development
planning and counseling.
Built in safeguards To those who have concerns about test takers
responding in socially desirable ways or resorting to other
devious ways of masking personality, the 16PF offers built-in
safeguards (or alerts) through its 3 “response style indices”
which shed light on the test taker’s attitude / approach
to the test. They offer important clues about whether test responses
can be accepted.
Administrative convinience The 16PF is easily administered in
the paper - n - pencil version. It takes about 35-40 minutes
only. For the limited time spent, it offers a wealth of information
about the individual.
Cost effective Costs per test administration are a miniscule
part of the overall selection costs per position. The returns
far outweigh such investments. Further, profiling outcomes have
value for development and career planning processes making its
utility to last through the tenure of the employee in the organisation.
The 16PF Questionnaire In 1949, Dr. Raymond B. Cattell published
one of the first measures of normal personality, the Sixteen
Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Since its original publication,
the 16 PF has matured, through four revisions, into a widely
used and well-researched measure of normal adult personality.
The inventory is administered worldwide having been translated
into over 40 languages. Dr. Cattell used factor analysis to
uncover the deep, basic traits that underlie human behavior.
The 16PF scales that he derived measure temperament - a person’s
characteristic style of thinking, perceiving, and acting over
a relatively long period of time and in a wide range of different
situations. These personality traits are manifested in a set
of attitudes, preferences, social and emotional reactions, and
habits. The 16PF provides behavioral science professionals with
a quantifiable, well-documented instrument for measuring the
sixteen normal adult personality dimensions. From the candidate’s
response to the questionnaire, scores for 16 personality factors
are derived and a personality profile of the individual is drawn.
It can help in personnel selection and development by identifying
the nature of personal qualities that influence behavior in
work-settings, such as problem-solving style and interpersonal
style, plan work and career performance objectives / directions,
assess management style and provide effective training for career
development.
The 16 Personality Factors measured are: WarmthVigilanceReasoning
Abstractedness Emotional stability Privacy Dominance Apprehensiveness
Liveliness Openness to change Rule-consciousness Self-Reliance
Social boldness Perfectionism Sensitivity Tension.
Narrative Reports Help is at hand through a series of reports
that have been crafted by experts at IPAT that respond to diverse
client needs and concerns. These automated reports have different
foci. The response data from one 16 PF test taker is sufficient
to generate each of these different reports with reference to
the test taker. Clients are at liberty to choose reports that
serve their particular needs.The utility of the reports go well
beyond the immediate reasons for summoning them. Besides being
a useful input for manpower selection decisions, they provide
important pointers for managers on fitment, career and development
planning, etc. For individuals, they provide a valuable basis
to examine their propensities, preferences, recurrent patterns
of behaviour and its implications / explore the kind of adjustments,
changes they would like to invest in and be able to make choices
borne from awareness. Basic Interpretative ReportThis is a multi-purpose,
computerized interpretation of the 16PF Fifth Edition Questionnaire,
covering the basic 16 personality scores with descriptions organized
by global factors. It also contains information about characteristics
relevant to personal and vocational counseling, and other criteria.Personal
Career Development ProfileThe PCDP is commonly used as part
of personnel selection and job placement programs, career transition
consulting, and career and personal life planning. Divided into
six sections, the narrative covers a person’s: Problem-Solving
ResourcesPatterns for Coping with Stressful ConditionsInterpersonal
Interaction StylesOrganizational Role and Work-Setting PreferencesCareer
Activity Interests, and Personal Career Lifestyle Effectiveness
ConsiderationsTen Leadership/Subordinate Role Patterns are also
covered: Authoritarian, Controlling, Objective, Participative,
Permissive, Supportive, Confrontive, Co-operator, Free Thinker,
and Ingratiator. Personal Career Development Profile PlusThe
PCDP Plus consists of a series of Self-Review and planning exercises
designed to assist people in assessing their personal strengths,
work-related and career interests, as well as their needs for
personal development. This 7-page addendum to the PCDP also
facilitates the construction of action plans for personal development
so that educational, work-related, and career goals can be reached.Human
Resources Development ReportTe report offers a 5-page narrative.
It focuses on five management dimensions: Leadership Style,
Interacting with Others, Decision Making, Initiative and Personal
Adjustment. Frequently identified in research and literature
on successful managers, these dimensions enable you to make
a reasonable forecast of a candidate’s management potential
and style.16PF Teamwork Development ReportThis report is a useful
tool in organizational and human resources applications. The
16PF Teamwork Development Report interprets 16PF personality
factor scales as they relate to teamwork issues. It can be generated
for an individual team member, or for an entire team of up to
15 people. (When team sizes exceed more than a dozen or so people,
it is likely that the group includes more than one team. The
16PF Teamwork Development Report is best designed for use with
a single-team group.) Cattell’s Comprehensive Personality
Interpretation It elucidates over a hundred multiple-trait combinations
and interactions, and covers diverse areas of functioning grouped
in these six categories to provide an in-depth understanding
of the client’s whole personality: Cognitive and Perceptual
Functioning Interpersonal Style Intimate Relationships Occupational
Considerations Personality Dynamics
Availing Services: 16PF related service offerings are as follows:
1. Sales of test materials and related manuals / literature;
2. 16PF test administration, scoring, interpretation and reports
Purchase of test materials Purchase of test materials is quite
easy: Look up the rate card that follows this section and send
in your requirements along with a cheque / draft for the amount
involved to the nearest Bhakti office. Upon receipt of payment,
the materials as ordered will be dispatched ex-Chennai by courier
and should reach you within 7 days of payment realization.Should
you need any guidance on the administration of the tests, do
get in touch with corporate@bhakticonsultants.com or call the
Assessment team at 079-23222636. Do allow 3 weeks for delivery
of test related books / publications.
Test Administration and Reports For offline administration,
we recommend that you buy reusable test materials and sufficient
scoring sheets. Should you wish to have the administrator’s
manuals for reference, to help you in managing the process and
profiling by yourself, be sure to order them along with the
test materials.You could send us the filled in scoring sheets
by fax / courier for interpretative reports of your choice.
The automated reports will normally be dispatched by courier
/ fax or email as indicated by you within one working day. Test
administration is also possible through our online channel,
www.bhakticonsultants.com. Access for test taking is provided
through a password made available on realization of the fees
for the same in advance. For organizations that have plans for
wide use of the test, test administration online is in their
hands at their convenience. They only need to estimate their
test usage requirements and buy access for the required number
of uses in advance. Test reports will be directly sent to the
organisation with the facility to archive it on the portal in
their own “private zone”.We would be glad to respond
to any queries that we receive within 15 days of dispatch of
the reports. The Assessment team can be reached through corporate@bhakticonsultants.com
or through telephone at 079-23222636.You can take the 16PF using
the ONSITE software and it will generate the report you need
if you have purchased the credits for the report in advance.
Alternatively you can feed in the item scores/factors scores
into the onsite software and generate the reports. In this case
also you need to purchase the report credits in advanceIn addition
to offering 16PF Interpretative reports, we also offer: Books
and Publications related to the 16PF
