HOWTRAINABLE ARE

MANGERSFOR LEADERSHIP?

A M e r i t T r a c C a s e s t u d y

An Indian conglomerate company, listedin the Fortune Global 500, with a largeworkforce, wanted to assess theiremployees as part of their Learning andDevelopment initiative.

They wanted to identify people for theirManagement Development Program fromtheir primary and secondary levelleaders. The company found thatemployees can be similar in performanceat work in the current job role and istherefore difficult to use thecurrent performance as a predictive indexfor the higher roles, requiring managerialskills.

They also realized the challenges oftraditional interview sessions due to thelack of objectivity and time consumption.To resolve this, the company identified/employed MeritTrac to facilitate thisprocess.

MeritTrac Services, India’s largest skillsAssessment Company designs anddelivers tests to assess abilities,knowledge and behavior for various jobroles across verticals in varied industrysectors. For this requirement- Selectingthe best candidate for an internalprogram, MeritTrac identifiedManagement Success Profile from itsrepertoire of assessment tools. This wasadministered on the target group of morethan 1500 managers.

The behavior assessment wasrecommended to enable

Problem StatementTo identify potential leaders

The employee pool weresimilar in qualification andexperience.

Challenge

Solution

Scientific behaviorassessments designed toidentify managerial andleadership skills

OutcomeIdentification of best fitfor the leadershipprogramSelection based onobjective resultswithout interviewerbias Reduced Time

Selecting the right managers for the Leadership DevelopmentProgramTo ensure such a selection is done basis scientific process and isnot affected by personal biasTo help reduce time for the selection process

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Selecting the Right Managers

The behavior assessment (MSP) recommended for this purpose measuresemployees on

Adapts & Leads Change Demonstrates Interpersonal EffectivenessDemonstrates Performance Orientation & DriveManages Business ComplexityManages People & Resources and Influence Others

This assessment was administered to the pool of managers from wherethe client had to choose the best suited managers for their leadershipdevelopment program. The use of this behavior assessment facilitatedin identifying individuals who possessed the skills and traits that maybe enhanced from the program designed to hone their leadershipskills.

Results free of Interviewer bias

The assessment is designed by a team of I –O psychologists who havealso designed the scoring logic that helps calculate the scores obtainedon the behavior traits. The interpretations are pre-defined for the scoresand the system generated reports accurately reflect the interpretationfor the given scores. The assessment being an online one, yields instantonline reports. Such reports are free of human intervention either forscoring or interpretation.

The reports of this assessment tool threw light on the test taker’s(manager’s) inclination towards the above mentioned competencies interms of the strengths. The detailed nature of reports helped inunderstanding the test taker’s level of strength on each of thecompetencies. Insights into the critical behavior / personality traits were obtainedwithout a face to face interview and / or the bias that creeps in due tohuman intervention.

Quick decision making

The online assessment and instant reports ensured that over 1500number of managers were tested and reported on their behavior traitswithin a few hours. This reduced the calendar time and cost the clientwould have incurred if the client had interviewed such large numbersface to face.

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Selecting the Right ManagersThe data obtained was statisticallyanalyzed and it was found that the testtakers’ performances on the behaviorcompetencies measured, highlycorrelated with each other.

Individuals who adapt well and leadduring change demonstrateinterpersonal effectiveness and are ableto influence others. Such individuals arealso able to manage people, resources,business complexity and demonstrateperformance orientation and drive.

Likewise, individuals who may not beable to manage business complexity,resources or people, may notdemonstrate interpersonal effectivenessor influence others. Individual who arenot very adaptive, may not be able tolead during change and may not displayperformance orientation.

Distribution of the performance managers in percentage

31% of the test takerswere found to possess thebehavior traits measuredas a substantial strength. 44% of the test takerswere found to have thesebehaviors as an adequatestrength and 24% of thetest takers displayed a lowstrength on these keybehavior traits.

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31%

44%

24%

Application of MSP

With the growing significance of behavior / personality assessments inhiring, training and development, it is important to use the rightassessments, preferably those that are tailor-made for a given purpose.Assessing managers through a valid and suitable tool becomes importantspecially when

There are more than one managers being assessed for a singleposition The years of experience cannot be considered a criteria forpromotionThe managers are adept at interviewing candidates and arefamiliar with the meaning and purpose of the interviewquestionsSkills & abilities cannot be tested when the performance inmanagerial roles is beyond application of knowledge and skills

Management Success Profile is built specifically to assess people onmanagerial competencies. These competencies are specific to themanagerial traits thereby important and applicable for any industrysector and vertical.

MSP assesses the six competencies through bio-data, situation judgmentand personality. The results give a clear indication of their people andtask management inclinations..

MSP is an assessment in partnership with Findly and adheres to theguidelines provided within the EOCC’S Uniform Guidelines on EmployeeSelection Procedures and SIOP’s Principles for the Validation and Use ofPersonnel Selection Procedures.MSP has strong Criterion Validity and has ahigh Reliability value of .84. .

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MeritTrac Services Pvt. Ltd., Market Square, No.12/5,4th floor, Kaikondarahalli., Varthur Hobli, Sarjapur Main Rd.,

Bangalore‐ 560 035, Ph: +91 (80) 71819100

For more information ‐ info@merittrac.com