published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, page: 3545. Advisers: John R. Herbold; David Gimeno. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation focused on identifying personality traits, as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32 (OPQ32r) that may act as job performance predictors for customer service centre (CSC) agents in the banking industry. The purpose of this research was to determine whether there are relationships between certain personality traits of customer service centre agents and their job performance. Purposeful sampling was used to involve the entire agent base as participants (N=89). A quantitative empirical study was conducted in which the relationship between the independent variable (personality) and dependent variable (job performance) was investigated. Several personality traits that predicted job performance were identified. Identifying the personality characteristics of individuals who are successful in a CSC environment should aid organisations in creating a better/suitable fit between employees and the requirements of such an environment, thereby improving organisational outcomes. This research adds to current literature gaps in establishing the relationship between personality traits and performance in the context of a customer relations management call centre environment. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The first purpose of this study was to map the field of psychodiagnostic methods in the selection process for the position of Air traffic controller in selected countries in Central Europe. The second one was to see how differs the results of FEAST and psychological testing among different groups of candidates in relation to their success in training. This is a quantitative research. The method used in collecting data was the analysis of results of selected tests for individual candidates. The research was realized at 93 candidates who successfully completed the selection procedure for the position of the Air traffic controller at ŘLP Čr from 2005 - 2009. The data were analyzed using SPSS statistical program. In the vast majority of performance or personality tests did any statistically significant difference was not found between the group of successful and unsuccessful candidates in training. A statistically significant difference was detected in the scale "Noticed matches" in the FEAST test battery, where unsuccessful candidates scored above. Another one was discovered in the test CAQ in factor Q1: Radicalism, where successful candidates achieved lower scores than the unsuccessful. We believe that candidates who manage the selection procedure are so good that it is not possible their further...

Theoretical part of this thesis establishes a working definition of the term Personnel psychology, since the goal of this thesis is to identify the application of personnel psychology in the fields of employee selection and employment agency. It defines employee selection as a complex process and differentiates its various kinds, to examine the potential role of personnel psychology in it. At the same ti me, it defines the term employment agency, determines function, possibilities and limitation s of Labour Office of the Czech Republic and defines "Bilanční diagnostika" (comprehensive career guidance and counselling method ) as a complex advisory system used in th e Labour Office. It shares these findings to examine the potential role of personnel psychology in the process of an employment agency. Empirical part maintains the character of a descriptive research. Its goal is to describe the involvement of personnel psychology in current practices of personnel agencies and HR segments of companies. It also examines the operations of employment agents from the Labout Office and involvement of personnel psychology in these activities. Finally, it relates to the expectations and the performance of "Bilanční diagnostika" of the participant. The final part assimilates an overall comparison of the process...

This thesis is devoted to the method of assessment centres and their predictive validity. The theoretical part is focused on the history and development of assessment centres, their design, course, participants, description of the most commonly used techniques, possible uses, advantages and disadvantages of this method. A separate chapter deals with their validity and methods of measuring validity in assessment centres. In addition, this section analyses related topics - adaptation of employees and employee turnover. The empirical part focuses on describing and measuring the degree of predictive validity of an assessment centre, which have been used between years 2010 and 2012 by an unnamed insurance company for employee selection for a position Insurance Consultant. In this part of the thesis, the conducted research is characterized. The results showed that the predictive validity of assessment centres used in the organization was 0.20 - but this result was not found to be statistically significant. At the end there is the discussion about possible factors that might have influenced the research and consideration of the possibilities of increasing this assessment centre's validity.

The purpose of the study is to measure satisfactions for United States retired military officers and to determine if there is a relationship between retrospective military career satisfactions and current second career or retired satisfactions. Hypothesis I states that there is a positive relationship between a retrospective measure of an officer's military career satisfactions and his current second career satisfactions. Hypothesis II states that there is a positive relationship between a retrospective measure of an officer's military career satisfactions and his retirement satisfactions. The first conclusion is that Hypotheses I and II are supported. Pearson coefficients of correlation indicate that a positive relationship exists for each hypothesis. For Hypothesis I coefficients range from .040 for pay to .270 for co-workers. All are significant at the .01 level except pay, and there is no evidence that the pay coefficient is statistically significant. The coefficients of correlations supporting Hypothesis II range from .164 for work to .415 for finances. All coefficients are significant at the .01 level. All distributions are skewed. The skewness and possible homogeniety of the sample may in all probability account for the low values of the coefficients. The second conclusion is that military officers receive greater satisfactions from their military careers than workers in civilian industry. When retrospective military career JDI means are compared with industry JDI means, the former score higher for work, promotion, and co-workers at the .01 level and supervision at the .05 level. There is no evidence of a significant difference between the two pay means. Moreover, when retrospective military JDI means are compared with current second career JDI means, the former score higher for total score, work, promotion, and co-workers at the .01 level and supervision at the .10 level. The latter score higher for pay at the .10 level. The third conclusion is that fully retired military officers receive greater satisfactions from their retired situations than retired industrial workers. The former score higher on every scale at the .01 level except for people where the level is .05. The two samples may not be comparable, but they are the only samples available. The fourth conclusion is that fully retired military officers and retired military officers currently working in a second career are about equally satisfied with their retired situations. A comparison of RDI means for each group results in no evidence of significant differences for total score and finances. Fully retired officers score 2.60 higher for work and activities and 2.45 higher for people while retired officers working in current second careers score 2.45 higher for health, all at the .01 level.

This dissertation focused on identifying personality traits, as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32 (OPQ32r) that may act as job performance predictors for customer service centre (CSC) agents in the banking industry. The purpose of this research was to determine whether there are relationships between certain personality traits of customer service centre agents and their job performance. Purposeful sampling was used to involve the entire agent base as participants (N=89). A quantitative empirical study was conducted in which the relationship between the independent variable (personality) and dependent variable (job performance) was investigated. Several personality traits that predicted job performance were identified. Identifying the personality characteristics of individuals who are successful in a CSC environment should aid organisations in creating a better/suitable fit between employees and the requirements of such an environment, thereby improving organisational outcomes. This research adds to current literature gaps in establishing the relationship between personality traits and performance in the context of a customer relations management call centre environment. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Much research has studied cohesiveness within client groups in terms of making therapeutic gains. These studies have defined cohesiveness in terms of a) attraction of the group as perceived by a group member, b) how clearly each member sees his/her role within the group, and c) the effectiveness of one's skills in attaining group goals. Little research has dealt with the role of staff cohesiveness in developing an effective treatment program. Effectiveness, in this study, is defined as the degree to which clients are willing to disclose personal information to the staff. The results show a positive correlation between staff's perceived effectiveness with clients and the clients' willingness to self-disclose. On-hand experience with clients seems important in involving clients in therapy.

The aim of this paper is to verify the applicability of Interpersonal Check List for assessing managerial potential, namely leadership potential. The evolution and findings of leadership research are summarized in the theoretical part of the article. Possible effects of personality traits on leader effectivity are theoretically explained. There is evidence that these traits affect the perception of leaders. Empirical tests show that employees in leadership positions score higher in several dimensions of Interpersonal Check List, particularly in managerial - autocratic, competitive - exploitive and blunt - aggresive dimensions. The discussion of these findings leads to the conclusion that the mentioned dimensions could be considered as indicators of leadership potential. Interpersonal Check List is a valid instrument for assessing leadership potential.