Page 85 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

64 debis career development center
of the scales (i.e., a check on the existence of theoretically predicted correlations with
alternative measures) is acceptable (Robertson & Kinder, 1993; Saville & Holdsworth,
1990). In general, the OPQ scales display high internal consistency and there is good
convergent and discriminant validity at the item level, with each item loading on its own
scale higher than it does on any other scale (Robertson & Kinder, 1993).
In the first step using the OPQ in the dCDC assessment center, the OPQ is related
to dCDC criteria. This analysis comprises references to strengths and weaknesses of
the participant’s personality. The OPQ offers further options for analysis, where one
may compare the results of specific norms from samples consisting of reference groups
in different organizations. Also, different OPQ scales measure personality aspects con-
tributing to a higher criterion-related validity than using the overall dCDC assessment
center result alone. Scales measuring conscientiousness or integrity have the potential
to add incremental validity to the correlation of measures of intelligence with job per-
formance, and the overall correlation of these personality measures is higher than the
correlation of an assessment center result (without any tests included) with an overall
job performance criterion (Schmidt & Hunter, 2000).
The following analysis options are offered by the Occupational Personality Question-
naire:

analysis on the scale level (e.g., persuasive, innovative, competitive)

analysis of team type styles (e.g., coordinator, shaper, completer)

analysis of leadership styles (e.g., directive, participative, negotiatory)

analysis of subordinate styles (e.g., receptive, self-reliant, informative)

analysis of selling styles (e.g., enthusiast, perseverer, business winner).

Behavioral descriptions for each analysis option are available to participants in a
personal written report obtained after test completion.
Altogether, this personality test results in well-suited information reflecting the partic-
ipants’ personal and professional development goals. Moreover, comparing one’s self-
image with one’s outside image is informative to participants, and differences between
self- and outside image can be relevant for the assessor’s diagnostic judgments about the
participant.
The extent that a participant’s self-image is realistic and communicated by the evalu-
ation is a diagnostic element in and of itself. These differences enable the assessors to
better understand the participant’s “subjective reality” (cf. Sarges, 1995, p. 486). They
also are excellent starting points for personnel development and coaching.

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE USING PERSONALITY SCALES IN A DEVELOPMENT
ASSESSMENT CENTER

What kind of concrete experiences have we made applying personality scales in the debis
Career Development Center? We present a brief outline here.
In the first assessment centers, candidates did not receive explicit feedback on their
personality test results alone. Rather, they received feedback only on the overall result
of the debis Career Development Center across all different elements. This was done to
underline that all diagnostic elements of the assessment center were of equal importance.
Results from all the different assessment center elements contributed to the overall result.