Page 184 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

methodological issues in the measurement of potential 167
in the future. There are various other methodological aspects to be taken into account
which will be dealt with below.

IDENTIFICATION OF FUTURE JOB FUNCTIONS AND REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Two major problems have to be considered with regard to the measurement of potential,
i.e., the identification of future job functions and the qualification an individual needs to
fill these functions adequately. First, even if the needs analysis was performed accurately,
there is no guarantee that future tasks and the qualifications associated with them will
not change within the supposedly covered period (Lattmann, 1994). The actual job
requirements of executives have changed dramatically during the past few years, and
these changes are caused primarily by the rapid implementation of new information
technology applications in all functions of the company and the increased use of new
workteamdesigns(Campbell,1999).Forexample,especiallyinthefieldoftechnological
development, progress is moving so rapidly that the job functions that are identified might
become obsolete soon after the needs analysis is completed.
As far as the required qualifications are concerned, this development suggests that the
diagnosis of individuals’ trainability (Robertson & Downs, 1989; Wexley, 1984), their
motivation to learn, and their potential to develop and adapt are as crucial as the
test of present capabilities (Obermann, 1996). It should be mentioned that certain per-
sonality characteristics that were important during the last few decades are no longer
relevant in the selection and development of employees. While during the 1960s to 1980s
organizations were searching for members who were loyal to the company and showed
a high level of corporate identity, the opposite is now more accurate. Few if any organi-
zations aim at life-time employment for their members. Rather, they seek “flexecutives”
(Mahnkopf, 1999) who only identify with the next task they are asked to perform but
not with the company as a whole. This change poses the great challenge for the field
of human resources management to develop diagnostic instruments that allow for the
measurement or prediction of the degree to which individuals are able to adapt their
personality to the changing image of the ideal staff the management will seek, or will be
coerced by market laws to look for. Campbell (1999) goes even further in that he not only
attaches much importance to how well an employee adapts to new requirements but also
to how well employees self-manage their continual learning. He suggests (p. 419) that
“... assessment can focus on how well individuals assess their own training needs,
how well they design or select training experiences to meet their own needs, how
well they execute their own training experiences, and how well they evaluate whether
they meet their own training objectives.”
A second major problem in the identification of the required qualifications (Arvey,
Salas, & Giallucca, 1992) is that the job functions can possibly be effectively performed
with different kinds of qualifications. That means that, for all relevant job functions, the
different combinations of skills and abilities that might enable an incumbent to perform
effectively must be taken into account. With regard to practicability, however, it can
be assumed that only certain combinations will be considered. This restriction could
result in disadvantages for employees that do not fit one of the considered profiles. Put
simply, needs analysis procedures could have provided the profile of a successful area
sales manager being highly flexible, having excellent oral communication skills and