CS3.1.1 Profiling, Benchmarking and Selecting Effective Project Managers through the use of Psychometric Testing Gerard

1. CS3.1.1 Profiling, Benchmarking and Selecting Effective Project Managers through the use of Psychometric Testing Gerard Ferrara TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER, 2007 Project Management - Setting the Standard Australian Institute of Project Management National Conference 2007 Hobart Tasmania October 7 – 10, 2007

2. Selecting Effective Project MangersThrough The Use Of Psychometric TestingAIPM Conference 2007Presenter: Gerard Ferrara, Psychologist

3. Presentation Outline • Background to PM testing study • Psychometric tests • Profiling PMs • Benchmarking PMs • Selecting PMs

4. Background to psychometric testing PMs • Approached by a major recruiter of Project Directors and Project Managers who wanted to select and place high quality people in a range of key PM roles across Australia and overseas • Desire to improve their selection process and use “best practice” methods • Agreed that some form of objective testing of applicants should be part of the process

5. Psychometric tests – current state of play • Increasingly being used in the selection and development of employees across Australia and the world • The internet and online testing have resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of testing • Most testing poorly conducted • Great deal of misunderstanding, confusion, mystery, suspicion, scepticism and fear associated with psychometric testing

6. Research supporting the use of tests in selection • Meta-analysis of 85 years of research in personnel selection • Found that the 2 most valuable and valid approaches to predicting future job performance were: • The use of General Mental Ability (GMA) and integrity / conscientiousness testing (.65) • The use of GMA testing and a structured interview (.63) • Schmidt and Hunter (1998) Psychological Bulletin, American Psychological Association

7. Performance TypicalBehaviour Types of tests Ability Skills Temperament / Personality (behavioural style) Motivation (interests / values)

8. Selection of tests used to assess PMs • Combination of Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning to measure General Mental Ability (GMA). • ACER Select and TAR - “Professional” level of difficulty • Personality test to measure key personality traits associated with managerial performance • Total testing time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes.

9. Work Personality Index The WPI measures 17 personality traits that research has shown are related to work performance. These are: Notes: p.4

10. PM Testing Process • Initial ability and personality profiling of the ideal PM • 2. Benchmarking and validating of ability and personality scores of ideal PM profile • 3. Confirmed ability and personality PM profile • Testing PM candidates against the PM profile • Review results and next steps

11. Ideal range of scores Actual scores compared with ideal WPI

12. Test results – Ability (ACER Select and TAR) • Verbal reasoning – 57% mean percentile rank • Numerical reasoning – 54% mean percentile rank • Abstract reasoning – 42% mean percentile rank • Average reasoning score – 51% mean percentile rank

13. PM mean reasoning test results, compared to the Australian population A N V

14. Test results – (WPI) Personality • Mean score Mode score • Ambition 7 8 • Flexibility 7 6 • Rule Following 6 5 • Dependability 7 8 • Concern for others 5 6 • Teamwork 8 9 • Self-control 7 9 • Stress tolerance 7 8 • Analytical thinking 5 5 Sten scores – out of 10

15. Thank you