Accurately foreseeing an employee’s effectiveness can transform recruitment, training, and talent management strategies. However, it’s no easy feat, and in the quest to predict and enhance workplace performance, there has been much discussion about the need to understand the relationship between predictors and performance criteria. Predictor domains are the characteristics, such as skills, experience, or personality traits, that are presumed to influence job performance (e.g. the Big Five personality/OCEAN traits). On the other hand, criterion domains refer to the actual measures of job performance, like productivity, sales figures, or customer satisfaction scores (e.g. the Great Eight competency factors).
Predictor domains when measuring workplace performance
Most traditional classifications focus on the predictor domain – factors like abilities and personality traits – and this is no surprise. Ability measures have long been established as robust predictors of job performance, proving especially effective in gauging an individual’s capacity to benefit from training. Cognitive abilities, in particular, correlate strongly with job and training performance, and high cognitive ability often translates into faster learning times, better problem-solving skills, and more effective decision-making.
Furthermore, personality measures have recently gained traction as reliable predictors of work performance. The Big Five personality factors (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) offer a structured way to assess individual differences. Research suggests that traits like conscientiousness and emotional stability (low neuroticism) are particularly indicative of job performance.
However, in an article in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Dave Bartram from the University of Kent advocates for a shift towards the criterion domain. This shift enables HR professionals to better understand why particular predictor-criterion relationships occur, offering a nuanced perspective on performance.
The value of the criterion domains in talent management
Criterion domains provide a comprehensive view of actual job performance outcomes, showing the tangible impact of an employee’s work. While predictor domains, such as skills and personality assessments, offer insights into potential performance, they do not capture the complex, real-world interactions and achievements that define success in the workplace. Criterion domains encompass performance metrics directly linked to organisational goals, including productivity, quality of work, and innovation. By investigating these domains, organisations can arguably gain an accurate and holistic understanding of employee contributions, ultimately enhancing decision-making processes regarding talent management and development strategies.
The Great Eight is a great example of a criterion-centred model of performance that has revolutionised the way organisations assess and understand employee effectiveness. This framework identifies eight core competencies that are considered crucial for job performance across various roles and industries. These competencies include leadership, interpersonal skills, communication, problem-solving, personal effectiveness, task management, team working, and technical skills. By focusing on these areas, the Great Eight model provides a comprehensive lens through which HR professionals and managers can evaluate employee performance. It enables the identification of strengths and areas for development, facilitating targeted training and development programmes.
Predicting work performance effectively requires an understanding of both predictor and criterion domains – a blend of ability and personality measures, along with a nuanced understanding of criterion domain relationships; personality traits and cognitive abilities can forecast an employee’s potential success in a role, but a more comprehensive evaluation would include the measurement of certain actual performance outcomes, such as productivity, team collaboration, etc. Only with this full picture is it possible to make fully informed decisions that align candidates’ capabilities with organisational goals. For this reason, many HR professionals now employ a combination of interviews, personality questionnaires and ability tests to generate predictors and combine these with multi-source feedback (also called 360 degree feedback) to develop a full understanding of employee’s performance and development needs.
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