Development and Validation of a Biodata Tool for Civilian Army Personnel

1
Development and Validation of a Biodata Tool for
Civilian Army Personnel

• The U.S. Army developed the Civilian Leader
  Improvement Battery (CLIMB) containing a
  biographical data Personal Characteristics
  Inventory (PCI)
• A sample of 320 current employee supervisor pairs
  we statistically related Biodata tool supervisor
  performance ratings.
• Results show the Self-Efficacy, Work Motivations,
  and Peer Leadership scale scores had low to
  moderate relationships to performance on many of
  the 27 leadership competencies apprised by
  supervisors.
• The scales combined to account for additional
  performance variance resulting in a significant
  canonical relationship between the PCI and the
  LEA.

2
Development and Validation of a Biodata Tool for
Civilian Army Personnel

• Originally developed to assess Special Forces
  leaders for the U.S. Army (Kilcullen, 2006)
• PCI is a rational versus empirical biodata test
  that measures temperament characteristics by
  asking multiple-choice questions about ones past
  behavior and reactions to life events.
• The PCI consists of 72 items for measuring
  temperament characteristics designed to be
  relevant to supervisory job performance. Scales
  include..,
• 1) Work Motivation
• 2) Cognitive Flexibility
• 3) Peer Leadership
• 4) Stress Tolerance
• 5) Social Perceptiveness
• 6) Team Orientation
• 7) Self-Efficacy.

3
Development and Validation of a Biodata Tool for
Civilian Army Personnel

• Example Items (72 total )

1. How often have your work efforts been blocked by someone who didn't like you?
2. How often have coworkers asked for your help in resolving personal problems?
3. In the past, how confident have you been about your leadership ability when you were placed in charge of a group?
4. How often have you enjoyed working on projects where it was clear that there was not a right or wrong answer?
5. How often were you the one who was asked to organize group projects?
6. How often have you stayed up late several nights to finish a work project?
7. To what extent have changes at work made you uneasy even when they have not directly affected you?
8. How often have you lost time trying to prevent an argument among coworkers?
9. How frequently have you been surprised by events that turned out differently than you expected?
10. I would be able to perform well as a leader in most settings.
4
Development and Validation of a Biodata Tool for
Civilian Army Personnel

• Graph 1
• Sample CLIMB PCI Score Report for the Stress
  Tolerance Dimension
• Graph 1 presents an example of a CLIMB PCI score
  report graph showing how the employee scored (X)
  compared to a normative group of civilian
  supervisors.
• The gray box defines the area one standard
  deviation above and one standard deviation below
  the mean for the supervisor sample.
• Scale anchors were written to neutrally reflect
  the characteristic being measured in both high
  and low conditions. Hence Stress Tolerance is
  depicted as a bipolar continuum with Expressive
  on the low end to Calm on the high end.
• Employees can see where they fall on the
  behaviorally anchored continuum compared to other
  supervisors and can observe the extent to which
  they are in the norm or extreme on any
  characteristic.

5
Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations, and
Alphas, for PCI Scale score Ratings and LEA
Employee Supervisor Ratings on 27 Competencies (n
320) Canonical Correlation .578 (p lt .003,
189, 1106)
6
IVs
DVs
Canonical Correlation .578 (p lt .003)
Job Performance
Personality
7
360-DEGREE FEEDBACK
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6Us4zDiHL0Y
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What is 360 Degree Feedback
Using a specially designed tool
Feedback collected from
Anonymously
Boss
Internal Customers
Peers
Self
Team Members
External Customers
9
360-Degree Feedback

• Provides performance data from multiple points
  of reference
• More powerful, reliable and accurate as compared
  to traditional, single source feedback processes

10
Not just a performance system

• 360-degree feedback should be regarded as an
  organizational process rather than a mechanical
  tool.

11
How its being used .

• Leadership development programs.
• Voluntary feedback
• Team assessments
• Organizational Change
• Assessment of training needs
• Assist performance management

12
Benefits

• For the organisation
• Promotes constructive feedback and open
  communication
• Develops a culture of continuous performance
  improvement
• Builds leadership/ managerial capability
• Embeds values and expected working competencies
• Can be a powerful trigger for change
• Provides feedback about leadership and management
  strength

13
Benefits

• For the individual
• Increased self-awareness
• Discovering the blind spots
• Understanding the strengths and opportunities for
  development
• Taking ownership and control of own development
• Helps managers to know how to get it right

14
Pitfalls
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaLFRUI5H0mw

• When used in lieu of performance management,
• When laid on supervisors ..
• When requested of skeptical employees, ..
• When not connected to organizational or
  leadership strategy, .
• When respondents dont know how to provide
  constructive feedback, ..
• When there is insufficient information, ..
• When the focus is on the negative,
• When there is workplace overload, ..
• When implemented as fad without systemic support
  .
• When there is unethical behavior in the
  organization.

15
Why are Companies not adopting 360 degree
approach?

• It is costly and time consuming
• Emotional attachment in peers.
• Appraises are not ready to take feedback
• Tend to be somewhat shocking to managers
• Employees desire to get the boss or may
  alternatively scratch their back

16
5 things to consider before you start 360 degree
appraisal

• Purpose
• clarify why and what
• communicate to everyone.
• 2. Culture are you ready?
• Do you have a mature enough team dynamic?
• Are you open enough?
• Those involved need to feel comfortable
  supported.
• 3. Timing of introduction also link with the
  budget and training planning cycle.
• 4. Roll out champion?
• How to generate buy-in?
• Involve everyone early.
• 5. Confidentiality for appraisees and raters
  non-attributable.