Business
Psychology
Despite the best efforts of The Idler – the periodical which aims “to
return dignity to the art of loafing, to make idling into something to
aspire towards rather than reject” – the stark reality for most of us is
that we will spend a sizeable chunk of our lives working for someone
else in return for a wage. And these employers want their bang for a
buck. They want us to be as productive as possible. To help achieve
this, many corporations, especially in rich, Western countries, hire
organizational psychologists. Indeed, business is one of the areas of
“real life” in which psychologists enjoy most influence. Consultant
psychologists provide advice and tools for improving productivity,
shaping organizational structure and selecting personnel.
The right mix of the right stuff
This last task is particularly important, given that research shows that
the most productive individuals are disproportionately responsible for a
huge amount of output. According to a respected review by the organi-
zational psychologists Frank Schmidt and John Hunter, published in
1998, a superior skilled worker – which in statistical terms means one
whose average output is one standard deviation above the staff average
- will be 96 percent more productive than a poor worker – one whose
average output is one standard deviation below the staff average. In
plain English, this means finding the right person for the right job has
profound financial consequences for businesses.
The good news for business is that – despite the controversies asso-
ciated with intelligence- and personality-testing – the link between
scores on properly validated tests and subsequent work-performance is
extremely strong. All the evidence shows that IQ tests provide a powerful
indicator of how well a person will perform on the job. When it comes
to personality, organizations that use tests which tap into the five-factor