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Personality Testing, Yes or No?

Decent Essays

The following is a case study from an Executive Master of Business Administration "EMBA" program syllabus, Alexandria University, Egypt, in collaboration with Georgia State university, USA. The case is related to the Organizational Behavior study from the reference book "Organizational Behavior and Management", ninth edition, Ivancevich, konopaske & Matteson. ISBN 978-0-07-122089-7

Case 3.1: Personality Testing, Yes or No?

Mark, a project leader in Austin, Texas, needed a new software engineer for his eight-person team. He used his network, reviewed resumes, and invited 15 candidates for interviews. In addition he had the top three candidates complete the 16-personality factors test. This was a general test that he believed would …show more content…

Personality testing attempts to provide quantifiable data that can make the differentiation easier. Such differentiation is still difficult. Some personality researchers suggest there are regional differences in personality. That is, a New York candidate for Mark's position would be different from an Oregon candidate.
Mark, after considering all the issues surrounding personality testing, decided he would not conduct or use such tests in the future.

Q1- Is Mark making a good decision to drop the use of personality testing? WHY?

A1- Employee behavior, which is considered the foundation of Organizational Behavior, cannot be understood without considering the concept of Personality, which is defined as a product of both Nature (hereditary forces) and Nurture (cultural, family relation, and social class forces)

Nowadays, there is a renewed interest and focus on personality as a key to understand “OB”. This led to the research in the area of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (Extroversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) in addition to the other “three” important dimensions (Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy, and Creativity)

The introduction we presented is the basis on which we decide to choose answering the first question by “NO”. Mark should have used better-quality personality test, in addition to

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