"Why are you so emphatic that companies should use industrial
psychologists to help evaluate present management and potential management candidates? MF, Mississippi
"Why are you so emphatic that companies should use industrial
psychologists to help evaluate present management and potential management candidates? MF, Mississippi
THE INDUSTRY ADVISOR
WHY INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS?
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
All too often,
upper management selects the wrong people, for all the wrong reasons, places them into
positions of authority, lets them learn their jobs by osmosis and then one-day complains
that their business is no longer competitive.
I am often called into these businesses because of the difficulty upper management is having solving certain problems. One such problem is line employees who appear unmotivatable and pugnacious. When ever there is a people performance problem my experience has shown that the common thread for this problem points to the person or persons who supervises the underperformers. Since I’m brought in to solve the problem, my prognosis requires a picture of the present capacities, capabilities and managerial style of every leader in the company. Industrial Psychologists give me that information.
Because this industry traditionally directs too little attention to middle management (and supervisory) training, sacrificing their training to other "priorities," the selection process must bear the responsibility that would normally fall to the training function. How good is management’s selection process?" Not as well as one might initially think. When the selection process does not include psychological testing my experience has shown that only 4 candidates out of 10 will succeed. Not good enough odds in today’s competitive environment.
The collective skill, knowledge and abilities of all management players determine the success or failure of a manufacturing operation. It is management and more specifically the supervisor that is responsible to seek out ways to reduce costs, keep unions off your back, control absenteeism and labor turnover, improve productivity, keep morale high, maintain consistent quality and make money for the company.
I fear no contradiction that the identification of potential line supervisors and managers is one of the least developed decision-making processes. Studies show the inconsistent success management has had in identifying and choosing candidates who can be promoted into positions where, without training, they succeed – in meeting today’s business demands.
Most line supervisors I’ve talked with, or trained, felt that they did not get into their position solely because they possessed the necessary attributes (which we will discuss later on), but rather, they were manipulated into accepting the position by their "boss". The old adage that the best ball players do not necessarily make the best coaches is true. Supervisors are coaches who need; personal strength, problem solving skills and the take-charge capabilities required to supervise a section, line, module or department (more definitive supervisory attributes are covered in our Supervisory Training Manual ).
In case you’re interested, a psychologist’s assessment battery is painless, especially when they have extensive background in dealing with this industry. The test battery normally requires two to three hours to complete and yields important information on the following five broad areas; Reasoning Abilities, Motivating Others, Work Interests, Work Style, Interpersonal and Supervisory Capabilities.
Before or after the testing process, each supervisor’s manager (who had direct knowledge of the supervisor’s overall effectiveness on the production floor) is asked to rate each of the tested supervisors as either a Winner, Solid, or Replaceable – using the following broad definitions. The Winner rating is reserved for those line supervisors whose performance shows a clear superiority over all of their peers. The Solid rating is for those supervisors who were not considered as outstanding as the Winner but whose overall performance could be considered average or typical of line supervisors in general. The Replaceable rating is reserved for supervisors who are presently experiencing or will experience serious difficulties in measuring up to the demands of their supervisory position. I will now . . .
To obtain the highly informative balance of this valuable, timely and authoritative paper there is a small recompense fee of $10.00 payable by credit card – using our secure server. Upon notification of your payment, the ENTIRE PAPER will be E-mailed to you. |
Copyright © 2010 Gene Levine Associates, All Rights Reserved
CLICK HERE TO PAY ON-LINE
USING OUR SECURE SERVER
