Quest Partnership Business Psychologists News Blog

UK Companies May Lose Best Managers in Restructuring

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:42:00 +0000

A Job Watch report by the Management Consultancy Association (MCA) warns that UK companies need to manage their restructuring programmes carefully to avoid losing the best people that would be placed to carry the business through the downturn (17 Dec 2008). The research behind the report found that whilst businesses are aware that losing their best people will make things harder, two thirds (60 per cent) are doing little or nothing to keep them.

The MCA estimates that if unemployment reaches three million, at least a further 360,000 managers could go by 2010. It is widely predicted by many business commentators including the CBI that a further 1.2million jobs will be lost (4 per cent of the total employed) by 2010. Some analysts suggest twice as many jobs will be lost among white collar and managerial grades.

The MCA survey, based on consultants who work with 90 of the FTSE100 found that:

- The majority of businesses (82 per cent) are not well
positioned to withstand the downturn
- Profits are expected to fall in over four out of five companies
- Two thirds of organisations are expected to make substantial lay-offs in the next 12 months

Richard Ogden, Occupational Psychologist at Quest Partnership said: "It is vital that companies put in place systems of assessment to identify and retain their highest potential staff. Businesses that can keep their talent will be fitter and stronger to weather the storm, and to capitalise on opportunities more effectively".

Ensuring professional management of restructuring and redundancies is vital. Ogden says "Business leaders ignore staff engagement and motivation at their peril. Just because the financial climate is dire, does not mean the human element disappears. Providing outplacement support and the professional management of restructuring can go a long way to avoid further falls in staff morale. Companies that show they are there for staff in the toughest of times, are more likely to retain their top talent"

Alan Leaman, Chief Executive of the MCA, also sees the retention of talent as a key success factor: "Businesses need to ensure they don't lose their best people as this could seriously damage their ability to compete. Recovery, once it comes, will also be slower and more painful if your best people have left and need to be replaced."

Advice on restructuring, redundancy and outplacement at: http://www.worktransformation.co.uk/.

Is a degree worth the paper it's written on?

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:50:00 +0000

A recent report has shown that one in eight university students are now awarded a first-class degree, nearly twice as many as a decade ago with nearly half (48%) achieving a 2:1. The increase in firsts is fuelling fears that the system has been devalued in a similar way to the A level examinations after a report from the Quality Assurance Agency found degree grades were becoming virtually meaningless.

So, how do companies ensure that they are not missing out on top graduates? Whilst interviews and ability tests can be a guide, these do not provide the holistic assessment required to identify an individual's potential to develop over 5-10 years. Graduates do not have the work experience or current skills that one can assess for more experienced hires. With degree qualifications becoming the same, an assessment centre becomes even more vital.

Its not just about identifying the best...

The top 10% of graduates is highly in demand and your company needs an edge to attract and recruit them. If you are able to attract this elusive cadre to your recruitment event - how do you know they will say 'yes' when you make your offer?

Quest Partnership has 20 years experience in managing graduate recruitment with differing degrees of support and outsourcing. We have found the vitial ingredient in attracting the best is to build a strong relationship with candidates from the outset - from the initial online application through to the job offer. Everything you do, or communicate, says something about your business and how you might manage a new graduate's career.

Research shows that a more objective assessment centre approach is not just the best way to predict future job performance, but is also much more likely to lead to acceptance of your offer. Employers of Choice are the ones who show they are serious about their people, by being serious with their recruitment.

If you are interested in discussing your current or future graduate recruitment, do talk to us obligation free.

Losing it: Mismanaging Information

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:47:00 +0000

Assessing and Recruiting Information Managers

When governments talk of a need to be transparent, we don’t normally expect this to mean sharing all our personal information with thieves and fraudsters. As the Ministry of Defence admits this week that the personal data of some 600,000 applicants to the armed services is lost on a stolen laptop, one wonders whether the Government has any individuals’ data left that isn’t now in the public domain. It would be unfair to blame the whole public sector, as of course the Freedom of Information Act cannot be applied to private sector businesses. However, blaming individuals such as the hapless MOD staff member who is facing a court martial is disingenuous. This is a systemic problem, and the fault for this lies solely with the management and poor strategic vision of these organisations.

Our experience is that clients tend to take the secure management of data and records very seriously. The Research Councils in Swindon commissioned us to construct a recruitment exercise to select Records and Information Compliance Managers within their organisation. This was actually before the Child Benefit records debacle of last year, and the fictional simulation exercises we applied now seem all too prescient.

It was quickly apparent when looking at the roles, that the management of information is not a simple case of establishing protocol or procedure. It requires a strategic perspective that focuses on organisational systems and impacts on staff psychology at every level. Any conception of the information or records manager as a completer-finisher, librarian type is wholly wrong. An information managers needs to be a change agent, just as in any other transformational management role.

Information is the lifeblood of any organisation and the emergence of new information technology is increasing at a rapid pace. Just some emerging issues include data that is now distributed amongst third party, online providers like Google, who already provide shared calendars and mail servers. Such external provision is a practice increasing as companies take advantage of the cost savings from outsourcing IT infrastructure. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook present further problems, as the amount of personal information that staff provide on these pages can be used to compromise security and passwords.

Our recruitment methodology used to recruitment information and record managers focuses not just on technical skills e.g. understanding the Freedom of Information or Data Protection Act, but also on assessing the organisational change skills required to embed culture into an organisation. If you need help in assessing best people to take your information management strategy forward, contact Quest Partnership now.

The Key to Keeping to New Year's Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:11:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again when many of us will be starting our new year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, one year on, the success rate for maintaining resolutions is just 12 percent. So the odds are against us! For those of us who have just started on our new resolutions – what can the psychologists contribute to this area?

According to eminent psychologist Albert Bandura, there are certain types of people who are more likely to succeed. Bandura talked about self-efficacy - one’s belief in their own capabilities. So people with high self-efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided, therefore helping them to build stronger commitment.

Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology at Hertfordshire University, has conducted a mass experiment on 10,000 people to uncover what is the key to successful resolution keeping. He proposes five useful tips. Firstly, only make one resolution or choose one aspect of life to improve, to increase your chances of success.

Wiseman also suggests planning your resolution in advance of New Year’s Eve, as the extra time will allow you to really think through what you exactly want to achieve. Another tip is try to avoid repeating previous resolutions, or at least use a different technique. This is because your self-belief or self-efficacy in your ability to succeed will be lower. So for example if the latest diet craze did not work last year, try a different technique altogether such as planning to exercise more.

The research also indicates that any resolutions should be kept specific e.g. instead of stating you will do more running, you should plan your precise schedule of the times, dates, places, and lengths of your weekly runs. Finally, give yourself a reward for any achievements such as buying a treat if you manage to cut down on smoking or lose a few extra pounds.

However, even if you do fail then this may not necessarily be a lost cause. Richard Koestner, a researcher at McGill University who specializes in goal-setting and self-regulation, says that "even though people fail, and they feel bad, they still usually learn something."

"The key is to know that it takes people an average of six or seven attempts to be successful. If you don't keep your resolution, learn from what you did this time, and see what you can do different next time."

Best of luck with keeping to your New Year’s resolutions!

You can take part in Wisemen’s current research on new year’s resolutions by clicking the link below:

http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/wiseman/resolutions/opening.html

Is there a Psychopath in your office?

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:09:00 +0000

When we think of psychopaths, disturbing images of Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates will probably spring to mind. However according to a new book entitled “Snakes in Suits” by Professor Robert Hare and Paul Babiak, psychopaths may already be working in your very own office.

Professor Hare, an expert on Psychopathy, claims that Psychopaths are impulsive individuals who lack empathy and remorse for others. They are extremely controlling and crave power and prestige. If this might sound familiar to you, then Professors Hare and Babiak suggest that psychopaths often rise to prominent positions within organisations, take high risks, cause conflict and then leave the company in shambles before moving onto the next high profile role. Some have suggested that one may be the former Daily Mirror tycoon Robert Maxwell, who stole £400m from pension funds to help his ailing companies.

The challenge is to spot these psychopathic individuals in the first place. Psychopaths interview well and often charm their way into an organisation. Yet particularly with senior appointments some companies will use little more than an interview to select their key people. Therefore we should think more carefully about how we recruit our senior roles to ensure that we reduce the risk of hiring the next Hannibal Lecter.

You have been warned!

Time = Money? - Depends on how you earn it

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:46:00 +0000

'Time is money'. But do you think of time as having a monetary value? According to Sanford DeVoe and Jeffrey Pfeffer at Stanford University in America, your answer could well depend on whether you are paid by the hour.

If someone sees their time as having a financial worth, then it follows that any time they don't spend earning money is essentially lost revenue. DeVoe and Pfeffer found that of over 10,000 employees, those who were paid by the hour were significantly more likely to say that, given the choice, they would choose to work more hours for more money, rather than fewer hours for less money. This held true even after controlling for a raft of factors like current weekly income and number of hours worked.

The findings have implications for how we are paid and for the modern drive towards flexible working arrangements. You might think that the option of an hourly rate and flexible hours would free you up to spend more time on what really matters to you in life. But these results suggest such an arrangement would lead you to view time as money, making it hard to resist working longer hours.

Man Flu? - Men are more resilient than you think..

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:25:00 +0000

Thwarting those who might have us believe that Man Flu is a real phenomena and potentially costly to industry - researchers seem to have shown that men actually have a higher tolerance to pain than women.

Esmeralda Garcia and colleagues used a device to apply pressure to 12 pairs of pressure points on the bodies of 12 men and 18 women. Nine of these pairs of points were the so-called 'tender points' used to diagnose fibromyalgia (chronic diffuse pain), on each side of the body.

As the pressure on these points was increased, the participants were asked to indicate when they first experienced pain, as distinct from unpleasantness or discomfort. Men showed greater pain thresholds at all three of the pairs of control points and two of the pairs of tender points.

Quest Duty Consultant suggests that it could be more a case of blokes being macho about it and holding out longer.... ?

UK Jobseekers Dream of being Own Boss

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:51:00 +0000

Entrepreneurship is the key to career and life fulfilment.

Dragons look out! it seems we are a nation of budding entrepreneurs. A poll of over 2000 jobseekers, which was undertaken recently by Reed Employment this month, reveals that the dream job for the majority of respondents is to own their own business.

The survey also revealed that professions such as medicine and law are being shunned by jobseekers who want more financially lucrative careers in the fields of accountancy and banking and finance.Perhaps surprisingly, accountancy was actually the third most popular career choice and banking and finance was the ninth most popular choice, scoring more highly than law.

Science was only chosen as a dream career by a handful of respondents, lending strong support to this month’s CBI report that the worrying decline of science students could have a long term detrimental impact on the UK economy.

Money was considered the most important factor in choosing a career today according to 68% of respondents. In fact, financial rewards were considered a bigger motivator than career progression, which was selected by just fewer than 40% of respondents.

Just 6% of respondents would select a company because of its corporate social responsibility programmes and only 2% stated they would be swayed by an employer’s brand image. Shame for companies, given how much money is spent on these aspects of promotion.Interestingly, the least favourite jobs were politicians, plumbers and dentistry.

Top Ten UK Jobs
1. Business owner
2. Pilot/astronaut
3. Accountant
4. Teacher
5. Air hostess/cabin crew
6. Writer
7. Vet
8. Policeman
9. Banking
10. Law

Graduates need to be Streetwise, not high IQ

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:07:00 +0000

“A high IQ helps, but HR and talent managers ask us to select graduates that have common sense, are streetwise, and understand how to innovate and lead.” says Max Choi, Occupational Psychologist. “You are simply not going to assess these qualities with a traditional verbal or numerical test. That’s why we are developing a Scenarios test to assess their practical, real-world decision making”. Max is co-author of Scenarios – the first valid psychometric test of Managerial Judgement marketed by SHL Group plc.

Graduate Scenarios simulates real organisational decision making by presenting practical problems and situations to applicants. It helps select candidates who understand how best to achieve objectives, manage people and effect change in an organisation. Research shows that this type of tacit skill bears a relationship to IQ, but it is something quite distinct and is not something that can be formally taught or learnt. It is also not related to academic performance, and this will come as no surprise when one surveys the UK’s rich lists. Sir Alan Sugar Amstrad entrepreneur left Brooke House School in East London aged 16 to set up his first company, selling car aerials from the back of a van. Sir Philip Green, retail tycoon left school without qualifications aged 15. He is now worth an estimated £3.6 billion.

Your graduates can trial the test now at no cost

If you wish to participate in the latest research and use the test initially on a free basis prior to publication, please contact us below. We are looking for a small level of commitment from recently employed graduates to expand our research data.

A great learning and benchmarking opportunity (if you have taken on graduates within the last two years) is to let us undertake a validation study for the test at no cost to you. In return for completing a quick online administration of the test and collecting some brief manager ratings, we will provide your graduates with a useful Development Report, and your business with a brief report based on the data provided - this includes benchmarking your organisation against our UK data.

Contact Max Choi at max@questpartnership.co.uk or on 0845 612 7722 for more information.

Northern Rock – a Lesson for Recruiters

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:42:00 +0000

What went wrong? What can recruiters learn?

What has the crisis at Northern Rock got to do with recruitment or assessment? To achieve its phenomenal growth from a small building society to a major mortgage player we now know that it entailed a high level of risk exposure to the way it conducted its business. The reality is that many companies striving to grow and enhance its profits will take a certain degree of risk. Although it might be the companies that pick up the risks: it is people that make the decisions and take the risks. The classic example of bad decision making would be Nick Leeson: one individual who brought down Barings Bank.

Companies reward the talent that can bring new income into the business. Taking bigger risks leads to potentially bigger rewards, so the system can push individuals towards greater (and potentially reckless) risk taking. So are Northern Rock and Barings Bank isolated cases? Not at all. These are just the big cases where the risk exposure went disastrously wrong and made the headlines. There are many incidents of poor risk management in business whereby the poor outcomes might be ‘covered up’ or not merit wider media coverage. Often a reckless executive has the luck of pulling a risky decision off. Then they are often rewarded as a ‘talent’ of the company – until their unbalanced attitude to risk puts the business in serious trouble next time.

Whether staff are traders, managers or senior executives, risk is inherent in all commercial decisions and exposure to the business should be balanced objectively. The Northern Rock executives had all their eggs in one basket in terms of their mortgage strategy and saw the probability of things going wrong as being too remote. This is analogous to not insuring your car because you think you are a great driver! Talk of Northern Rock ‘falling victim’ to international monetary problems is a very forgiving way of looking at what was essentially, bad decision making.

Managing risk exposure is a very complex psychological skill, and a combination of conceptual reasoning, technical skill, tacit knowledge and underlying personality traits.

Quest have developed holistic assessment methodology to ensure organisations optimise their risk taking and maximise their trading performance. We use leading edge technology to assess candidates’ potential to become top traders. At Senior Executive level our strategic-level business exercises predict board level decision making and ability to take calculated risks to transform businesses. The Identity - self-perception questionnaire also contains a measure of candidates' risk taking behaviour whereas other personality tools do not look at this area.

Psychometric Use Increasing

noreply@blogger.com (Duty Consultant) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:26:00 +0000

Relying on academic qualifications is not enough, survey says.

Psychometric testing is a “very useful” aid in the recruitment process according to 92 per cent of recruiters who were surveyed by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR).

The Graduate Recruitment Survey 2007 also revealed that two-thirds of the over 2 hundred respondents surveyed said the results of psychometric tests had “some influence” on recruiting decisions, while almost a quarter saying that they had a “very strong influence”. Only 2 per cent said they had no influence at all.

The employers said that testing was being used because qualifications were not reliable in assessing true workplace skills, especially the skills they really needed such as communication and management.

The report says that “Organisations are looking to focus more on soft skills and to put more faith in the selection process”

Tests and other assessment methods offer much more objective and reliable information and help to differentiate between growing numbers of graduates, all of whom look very similar on paper.