Work Psychology - Essay Example

? Work psychology Work psychology Personal specification explains the various requirements that job holders require to perform a job satisfactorily. It may comprise educational qualifications, personal attributes, training, and experience. A job description is a list that one uses to generate tasks, responsibilities, and functions of a position. It may comprise of competences and qualifications that a person needs to perform a job. The personal specification and job description that the author refers in this case is that of appointing the European Social Fund Programme Coordinator. This is a particularly vital position in the company and management should be extremely keen during appointment. This is a critical task since it covers the central area of London and requires the person that the management appoints to carry out challenging programmes (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). The person that the management appoints should have qualities such as the ability to convince, skill, and motivate individuals. They should have relevant qualifications and work experience in the field. This personal specification is sufficient since it provides all the details that match this job. It should incorporate meticulous details of the level of qualification and experience that is necessary. Importance of using job analysis Job analysis is a valuable method that managers have employed to access information concerning this job of project coordinator. It is a process through which they acquire information concerning responsibilities, skills, and work environment of a job. It is a process that demands them to collect a lot of information to emerge with the right conclusion on the requirements. The process is extremely valuable in preparation of both job specification and description. It enables managers to hire the appropriate coordinator who will facilitate delivery of the European Social Fund programmes in the organization. This leads to proper utilization of the resources of and hence leading to success of the organization. Job analysis aids management to select the best candidate who will deliver the necessary information to young people (Arnold, 2005). This will ensure that the project achieves its target of reaching young people who have many issues that require support. Methods of using job analysis Job analysis is decidedly vital in an organization since it impacts directly on productivity of an organization. The human resource department should be thoroughly keen when deciding the method that an organization should adopt for job analysis. There are various ways of conducting job analysis that managers can adopt. These include conducting interviews, questionnaires, incident investigations, gathering background information, and observation (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). These methods provide reliable information concerning job description and various specifications for the available job opportunities. The human resources professionals should adopt several of these methods to enhance credibility of the information. The most appropriate method for this job is conducting interviews. This is an ideal method because a panel of interviewers examines the candidates physically. This enables them to acquire all the relevant qualities that they need for the job opportunities available (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). Methods of Personnel Selection This is the process that organizations adopt to promote or hire individuals. It mainly focuses on selection of appropriate workers in an organization. The most reliable methods of Personnel Selection that the Organizations should adopt include work sample tests, situational and competency based structural interviews, and cognitive ability. They are the one that are available in this case where selection of a program coordinator is the key issue. These methods are the best since they provide a high level of validity (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). The management adopts appropriate means of appointing the Program coordinator since the management expects them to carry out essential and critical responsibilities. Such responsibilities include working with sub contractors to coordinate delivery of European Social Fund and other programs that are essential for the youths of NEET. They should also support project workers through induction and training systems (Arnold, 2005). Situational and competency based structural interviews This is a type of interview that tests the various skills of candidates. The interview requires the candidates to answer a few questions that the management creates a criterion for assessment to ensure that the answers that the interviewee gives match with the answers. The management of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea family $ Children Services should adopt this method of personnel selection. This is because it enables the interviewers to assess the ability of the various candidates to deal with various problems (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). It is effective since it avails the interviewers with a guide that outlines the various requirements that they look for. It allows the management to evaluate the skills and competences of the various individuals competing for the post of the coordinator. This will ensure appointment of a responsible and appropriate person. They should achieve this by targeting a skill or competency with each and every question. Work sample tests This is another form of Personnel Selection that requires candidates to perform work activities or tasks. It allows the candidates competing for the post of the coordinator to perform tasks that are identical to their jobs. This will enable the employer to acquire vital information concerning proficiency of the candidate in performing various tasks. This is very essential since the successful candidate will have difficult tasks after appointment. Since the interviewers need to examine the level of competency of different candidates competing for this post of project coordinator, they should design one exercise and apply it for all the candidates. The will determine the ability of an individual to communicate and solve problems. Professionals refer to this test as trainability test and have a high level of validity when compared to many other forms of personnel selection (Arnold, 2005). Cognitive ability This is a test that assesses the range of reasoning skills of the interviewees. The interviewers pose it to determine the best candidates whom they should assign this job of project coordinator. Through this method, the management appoints an appropriate person whom they should assign the task. The management should assign this task to a critical thinker since it demands proficiency in communication, reasoning, and listening skills. The use of symbols and numbers is also a vital aspect of the processing of reasoning. It assesses the level reasoning of the candidate and thus enables managers to emerge with the suitable candidate (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). In this case, the Job that is available is the position of a program coordinator. He should have the responsibility of delivering the challenge of European Social Fund program. The management expects the coordinator to coordinate delivery of ESF and various programmes that support the youth, support project workers, market the project and disseminate outcomes to partner agencies (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). The responsibilities of the programs include imparting relevant knowledge, motivate, inspire, and skill young people into Employment, Education, or Training through various activities. The coordinator will be accountable to make sure that the project complies with the laid down regulations. The program should enable students to overcome personal barriers that hinder progression. The coordinator should be a person who complies with the monumental five theories of personality. He should express qualities of extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experiences. Competency based structural interviews provide the best method of personnel selection. This is because it bears a high level of validity. Validity is the most noteworthy aspect of selection and hence the examiners give it priority (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). The concept of validity is the most appropriate method that human resource managers have employed to evaluate the accuracy of various selection methods. Job Analysis is a convenient method that suggests appropriate characteristics. For a company to achieve fruitful results, the management concentrates on validity of the method of selection. Currents trends in Personnel Selection have made a positive impact on the employment patterns. This is because it has made the process of selection easy and convenient due to emergence technological advancement. References Arnold, J. 2005. Work psychology: understanding human behaviour in the workplace, Prentice Hall/Financial Times Matthewman, L. Rose, A. Hetherington, A. 2009. Work psychology: an introduction to human behaviour in the workplace, Oxford University Press Nankervis, A. Compton, R. Morrissey, B. 2009. Effective Recruitment and Selection Practices, 5th ed, CCH Australia Limited Read More