reluctance has often to be overcome. Next, they must be used as part of a progressive 3-stage process of selection, induction training, and gaining experience on the job. High test scores will not by themselves guarantee success; they demonstrate only that the person has the capacity to learn the job. Equally important are proper training and desire to do the work and master it. Finally, the tests must be administered under standardised conditions and used by people who have been trained in their interpretation, i.e., who understand both their value and their limitations. Someone who is enthusiastic about tests to an excessive extent can be just as much a menace as someone who is totally prejudiced against them.Most of the contributors quote correlation coefficients or other statistical findings as to the validity of tests used by them. The impressiveness of these findings varies very much from one situation to another. Where the nature of the job, e.g., clerical or computer work, is such that certain mental abilities are clearly required for success in it, then appropriate tests show up well and can safely be used to eliminate applicants falling below the minimum standards found to be necessary. The test results also provide accurate information about the ability of those applicants qualifying for interview, to which the interviewers can attach due weight. But in many jobs, particularly those of a managerial nature, or where the stress is on getting on well with people, the requirements for success are complicated, and it is difficult to obtain reliable criteria for follow-up purposes. Here, statistical proof of the value of the tests is much harder to come by. Many of the contributors make the point that in such situations the tests (particularly tests of personality rather than of ability) should be used &dquo;in a descriptive rather than a statistical way&dquo;. Whether or not the tests are valid in isolation (usually they are not) they do provide useful pointers for follow-up at interview. As Mr D. Wilson of United Biscuits puts it, &dquo;The tests provide a focus of attention for judgments about people; the experience of being in discussions where test results and interview data have been compared appears to have improved the quality of interviewing and the care with which material from interviews is interpreted&dquo;. Again, Mr J. Copeland in his chapter on &dquo;Selecting Engineers in an Electronics Firm&dquo;, reports that &dquo;A very significant gain from the use of the Morrisby differential test battery has been an enormous improvement in the art of interviewing. From studying the test result profile one can modify the interview to suit the particular applicant. Also, being released from the need to explore potential ability and some of the significant aspects of personality, one can give more time to exploring motivation&dquo;. Dr G. A. Randell of the University of Bradford Management Centre makes the further point that &dquo;The use of a battery of tests and questionnaires can not only indicate the ...
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