When constructing a team whose congruence, productivity, and adaptability are crucial to the success of a highly-invested-in project, such as a manned mission to Mars, personnel selection becomes much more complicated than simply selecting those individuals most highly qualified for the job. In a hypothetical, but not unrealistic, situation in which eight individuals must be selected for the construction of a Mars mission team, and nearly one hundred applicants meet the technical qualifications in terms of knowledge, skills, and experience, a method of predicting which combination of individuals will constitute the most successful team would be an important factor in maximizing returns on the investment put into the mission (Kanas et al, 2009). However, there is much debate surrounding the usefulness and accuracy of several currently available “psychometric assessments”. While they may provide perspective on an applicant’s personality or interpersonal interaction style, they do not specifically assess the intrinsic or potential compatibility between specific individuals that underlies the formation of a small synergistic team. This paper will explain these “psychometrics”, and will then explore the algorithm-based methods that have come under the spotlight in the fields of matchmaking services and employee-employer matching. I will argue that these methods, either alone or in conjunction with psychometrics, are more appropriate in the context of constructing a Mars mission crew than psychometrics alone.
1. On The Limited Success Of Psychometric Assessments
It has been hypothesized that groups or pairs with high interpersonal compatibility perform better on collective tasks (Hill, 1975). However, as I will demonstrate in the follo...
... middle of paper ...
...changes in mood or outlook on life (Howes 1979). This data could then be fed into the OkCupid algorithm to determine the match percentages of every two person combination, and a simple additional algorithm could be used to identify groups with maximized average match percentage. In addition to this, the FFM could be used to identify individuals with personality profiles most congruent with the predictions of Canadian Space Psychology’s characteristics of successful long-duration missions, and give them additional preference in personnel selection. This combination could be an important safeguard, considering that two individuals with a high match percentage could still both be unfit for space travel. Finally, it would be important to train the finalists together for an extended period of time, to test the predictions of the algorithms and psychometrics (Kanas, 2009).
The present study identified social loafing is less likely in collective conditions than coactive conditions although results were non-significant. This study supports the research of Worchel, Rothgerber & Day (2011) as participants who worked in newly formed groups worked harder in the group setting than alone. This was shown to occur due to a number of reasons including group goal setting and group level comparison between participants. Future studies should consider the influences of group tasks for group development. In conclusion, social loafing in collective groups are not significantly less than the coactive condition however results may vary in future experiments due to having new variables, different participants and a change methodology in future experiments.
Group formation or formation of cliques is typically seen as the stereotypical jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, or nerds. But what most do not necessarily take into consideration is that members of each group have an existing commonality between them even if most of the members do not know what that common trait is. Being a part of a group can have an impact on an individual. Through group discussion, individuals only strengthen their beliefs due to the fact that they know that they are not alone in those beliefs since they have friends
The size of a group is considered to be a restrictive condition on the quantity and quality of connection that can transpire amongst particular members. Kephart (1950) established that as group size increases the number of relationships that exist among member’s increases greatly. He suggests that as a result of this increase in relationships among members there will be an increased tendency towards divisions into subgroups in which participants relate to one another.
This experiment was originally tested by Muzafer Sherif is a famous social psychologist who worked on understanding groups and their members. This experiment is to test his Realistic Conflict Theory. The Realistic Conflict Theory studies, “group conflict, negative prejudices, and stereotypes as being the result of competition between groups for desired resources” (McLeod). This study of group conflict and cooperation shows how groups favor their own members, and how in group conflict can be resolved by groups working together on a common task that neither group can complete without the help of the other group. This is proven in this experiment when two groups have to work together to solve a given problem.
Greer, L. L., & van Kleef, G. A. (2010). Equality versus differentiation: The effects of power dispersion on group interaction. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 95(6), 1032-1044. doi:10.1037/a0020373
Gilovich, T., & Gilovich, T. (2013). Chapter 12/ Groups. In Social psychology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Moreland, R. L., & Levine, J. M. (2002). Socialization and Trust in Work Groups. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 5(3), 185.
D., & Akert, R. M., 2013). In the presence of others, we tend to do better on tasks that are simple and well learned, and we tend to do worse on tasks that are complex and require us to learn something new. We tend to be in a greater state of arousal in the presence of others which can either be beneficial or damaging to our performance on certain tasks. This concept can be linked to my experience of spending much of my time with the group of girls at the gym. This concept can be used to interpret and make sense of my experience and feelings because my performance on simple fitness tasks enhanced in the presence of others. The presence of others gave me this instant state of arousal that pushed me to perform extremely well on fitness tasks I was really good
Stewart, G., Manz, C., & Sims, H., (1999). Teamwork and Group Dynamics. New York: Wiley. pp. 70- 125.
"Personality Test Based on C. Jung and I. Briggs Myers Type Theory."Personality Test Based on C. Jung and I. Briggs Myers Type Theory. Humanmetrics, 1998. Web. 11 June 2014. .
Managers seem to inherit a strong trust in the authority of personality traits to forecast behavior at the work area. If managers thought that situations resolute behavior, they would hire individuals almost at random and assemble the situation correctly. But the employee selection procedure in most establishments places a great deal of importance on how applicants achieve in interviews and on examine through which the personality of a person can be achieved and the task distribution can be much easy varying upon the type of personality (Robbins, Odendaal and Roodt, 2001)
Risavy, S., & Hausdorf, P. (2011). Personality Testing in Personnel Selection: Adverse Impact and Differential Hiring Rates. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 19(1), 18-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2011.00531.x
People tend to be attracted to others who are alike in perspective attributes (“Effects” n.d.). This similarity contains a match between our interests, attitudes, values, background, or personalities within another person. Research done by social psychologists has proven that the more alike the opinions within people that the more that said relationship will bloom. Within the aspects of similarity, people tend to bond with people who seem to have similar interests and experiences. Sean Mackinnon, Christian Jordan, and Anne Wilson, conducted a study, where they studied physical similarity throughout a classroom setting. With this study they were handed a seat and told to sit beside someone who had already been seated. The research team then secretly measured how close the person had sat down their chair. Once the study was conducted they continued to study the pairs. The research team concluded that the pairs who looked more similar sat closer together than those who didn’t outwardly seem similar. This study proved how similarity influences behavior within
Choosing group members should be based on indicators of competence. People depend on indicators that give information about competence in the person’s specific area of expertise that is vital for the success of the task at hand. According to Hinds, Carley, Krackhardt, and Wholey (2000), effort is not a measure of ability but of willingness to put in the hours on a project. This suggest...
Several experiments and researches have been conducted that have focused on how people behave in groups. The findings have revealed that groups affect peoples’ attitudes, behavior and perceptions. Groups are essential for personal life, as well as in work life.