Misplaced Talent: A Guide to Better People Decisions

227 Pages·2015·7.129 MB·English

by  Joe Ungemah

Misplaced Talent

Misplaced
Talent
A Guide to MAkinG Better
PeoPle decisions
Joe unGeMAh
Cover design: Michael J. Freeland
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2015 by Joe Ungemah. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Ungemah, Joe.
Misplaced talent : a guide to making better people decisions / Joe Ungemah.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-119-03094-2 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-119-03097-3 (pdf);
ISBN 978-1-119-03090-4 (epub)
1. Decision making. 2. Personnel management. I. Title.
HD30.23.U54 2015
658.3′128—dc23
2015008302
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
Chapter 1. Frameworks 1
Origins of Job Analysis 2
The Art and Science of Job Analysis 8
Behavioral Simplicity 13
The Tradeoffs 17
The Good and Bad of Frameworks 21
Chapter 2. Talent Acquisition 27
More Than a Single Brand 29
Let’s Be Realistic 35
Compelling Themes 40
From Message to Market 46
How It’s Done 50
Chapter 3. Capability Assessment 57
Evaluating Value and Risk 59
Legal Requirements 66
Assessment by Interview 68
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 77
Work Simulations 88
Where to from Here? 94
Chapter 4. Psychometric Assessment 97
But First, an Experiment 98
Employee Needs 101
Personality Traits 104
Shared Values 112
Motivated Employees Are Engaged Employees 115
v
vi Contents
Changes in Motivation with Age
and Generations 118
Restoring the Balance with
Person-Environment Fit 122
Chapter 5. Employee Development 127
Psychological Contract 129
Assessment for Development 133
Developmental Challenges 140
Support Through Coaching and Mentoring 146
Moving Together or Apart 151
Chapter 6. Change 155
Breaking the Psychological Contract 157
Succession Planning 159
High Potentials and the Learning Agile 163
Driving Performance 168
Big Data and Monitoring Change 173
From a Balanced to a Transactional Contract 175
Conclusion 177
About the Author 181
Acknowledgments 183
Resources 185
Index 195
List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Image from Frank and Lillian Gilbreth’s 1918 Ball
Brothers Mason Jar Study That Targeted How to
Improve Worker Efficiency by Reducing Motion 4
Figure 1.2. Image of U.S. Army Air Corps Cadets in 1942
Taking a Group Test to Help Determine Their
Proficiency as Pilots, Navigators, or Bombardiers 5
Figure 1.3. Summary of Job Analysis Techniques by
Source of Information 10
Figure 1.4. Example of a Blended Competency Framework 20
Figure 2.1. Three Lists of the Top Twenty-Five Companies 34
Figure 3.1. Summary of Types of Reliability and Validity 63
Figure 3.2. Example of a Competency-Based Interview for
Customer Service 69
Figure 3.3. Image of Calipers Used for Craniometry 80
Figure 3.4. Image of a Comparison Between Two Men,
One Sane and the Other Insane, in the
Cranial Shapes of Their Skulls 81
Figure 3.5. Images of Seventeen Known Criminals 82
Figure 3.6. Comparison Among Embryos to Illustrate
Recapitulation 83
Figure 3.7. Simple Example of an Assessment Matrix 90
Figure 3.8. Simple Example of an Assessment Center
Timetable 91
Figure 4.1. Image of Phrenological Organs 105
Figure 4.2. Image of a Servants’ Employment Agency Where
Heads Are Examined to Determine Suitability 106
Figure 4.3. Image of a Sample Inkblot Used in Projective
Techniques 107
Figure 4.4. Example of Dimensions from a Personality Profile 109
vii
v iii List of Figures
Figure 4.5. Summary of Age and Generation Trends
for Motivation 122
Figure 4.6. Key Characteristics of Person-Environment Fit 126
Figure 5.1. Four Different Types of Psychological Contracts 132
Figure 5.2. Sample Output from a 360-Degree
Feedback Report 137
Figure 6.1. Example of a Talent Board Broken Down by
Level and Department 162
Figure 6.2. Example of a Nine-Box Grid of Performance
and Potential 165
Figure 7.1. Summary of How to Assess, Develop, and
Support Staff 179