During the early part of the 21st century, the preference for using psychometric tests during many organizational functions was on the increase, as substantiated by Alison Wolf and Andrew Jenkins in their article The Growth of Psychometric Testing for Selection: Why has test use increased, will growth continue and what does this mean for Education? (2002). As such, this aligned with the development of Dubai, and, as the city expanded, immense investment was rightly deemed important for making Dubai a modern, efficient city, with a robust infrastructure.
By early April 2016, Bek Frith was also writing in HR Magazine about the increase in confidence allied with utilizing psychometric assessments, though the total number of tests undertaken diminished a little from 2012 to 2016. At this time, the degree of confidence also varied according to nationality, the nationals who placed the most confidence in psychometric tests were those from the Czech Republic – 97% of Czechs said that the tests resulted in fairer, more reliable results. Germans, however, were more skeptical, with only 30% stating trust in the results.
Of course, the chance of finding a psychometric test in Dubai also follows the trend, and the use of a psychometric test in Dubai is on the increase. Many people have been taken on by organizations across all sectors of the marketplace in Dubai based on psychometric test results, and the notion of using a psychometric test in Dubai appears to fit in well with the zeitgeist – the ‘spirit of the times.”
This will be more and more prevalent as the economic recovery continues during the 2020s, a decade which has already proven difficult for a variety of reasons. When a psychometric test in Dubai can be more than just a box ticking exercise, as noted by Nada Osama in Business magazine, 17th May 2018, it bodes well for improving talent identification and areas for personnel development.
The fundamental aspect of any list, of course, is that it is useful. This is especially true of a list associated with performing a psychometric test in Dubai – or, indeed, anywhere. As Nada Osama also notes, the implementation of psychometric tests involves well defined goals. In short, what does an organization in Dubai require from psychometric testing? Do you want to identify new leadership potential? Do you plan to improve the overall level of competence within the company, in-line with the fast pace of change that is going on in Dubai?
All the above involves the evaluation and implementation of each psychometric test in Dubai by professionals who are competent at interpreting each of the many tests that are available. As such, it is important to have qualified personnel who have taken the requisite courses in, for example, The Thomas Solutions, the Hogan assessments, the Saville WAVE questionnaires, the NEO Pi-3 and the EQ-i-2.0 assessments, to name just a few.
To explain a little the names and numbers that have just been quoted, the Thomas Solutions (as that organization expresses its psychometric tests) cover a wide range of areas, for example, the General Intelligence Assessment (GIA) gives results about cognitive abilities, the Personal Profile Assessment (PPA), analyses personality, the TEIQue, is oriented towards Emotional Intelligence – its full name being the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. There is also the High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI), a relatively recent assessment development which identifies potential within the individual, especially high potential for leadership. Such a psychometric test in Dubai is useful because Dubai has ambitions to expand its horizons, horizons recently and, literally, expanded via the UAE’s Hope Probe, which is now circumnavigating the planet Mars.
The Hogan assessments give insights into the ‘bright side’ of personality, when the participant is calm and relaxed. Hogan assessments also give a view about the ‘dark side’, which is more about identifying talents and strengths, but often ones which can ‘derail’ the participant from achieving fully because the strengths need to be managed carefully and astutely. This kind of self-knowledge is extremely useful for people to know about and reflect upon. The Hogan assessments also analyse values that individuals and groups have, which can make for useful reflection, then open opportunities for development.
The Saville WAVE questionnaires are highly detailed assessments which analyse personality and give data on the process of the assessment too. It is also popular as a 360-degree assessment, meaning that a group of colleagues can give feedback about the assessment taker and a broader view can be obtained via that process.
Another psychometric test in Dubai that is proving popular is called the NEO Pi-3, a test based closely on the Big Five Personality Traits, which are the most prominent traits identified in the world of psychology for describing personality. Backed by decades of research and refined theories of personality, the NEO Pi-3 is the latest in a line of assessments of personality which are worth investigating fully.
Another assessment that has a substantial basis in research is the EQ-i-2.0, which is the latest version of an assessment of Emotional Intelligence. How people react emotionally in various work scenarios and how well emotional responses are managed, both by the individual and those around them, can make for significant improvements at work, especially when considering teamwork and team building.
Furthermore, there are world-class organizations that evaluate, and only propose, the use of psychometric tests that have met rigorous standards for reliability and validity. As a recap, reliability means that the psychometric test consistently records results about what it is set to evaluate, within narrow parameters of accuracy. Validity, however, means that the psychometric test renders precise results about what it is intended to test, and that these results are backed scientifically. Examples of the organizations that provide the benchmarks for standards in testing are the British Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association. Hence, it is vital that reviewing any psychometric test in Dubai involves acknowledging the approval and standards imposed by professional societies. Professional assistance and advice will also help while making a list of prerequisites for the testing regime that finds optimal solutions and results.
These professional psychological organizations also have rigorous standards for the attainment of qualifications for assessing people, standards for psychometric tests in Dubai also reflecting the city’s desire for high quality attainment, with the appropriate certification within its organizations and social entities. Personnel who have the British Psychological Society Assessor qualification at Levels A and B have displayed and been tested to a high standard to achieve that qualification. It is important for prospective clients who want expert advice and guidance during the administration of assessments to recognize what that qualification brings with it.
Another aspect to running a psychometric test in Dubai is the reassurance of appropriate benchmarking of the results. This means that the results and associated data are comparing like-with-like, so the populace of Dubai is compared amongst itself. Basically, to find the best within Dubai, it is significant if you are appropriately comparing people within Dubai, not utilizing data that comes from a distant city where circumstances and required capacities, for example, are vastly different. Such benchmarking comes from many years of compiling data and analyzing it expertly to see trends and areas that are developing or require further development. The data can also be interpreted well so that future trends can be predicted wisely.
Importantly, this last point aligns the taking of a psychometric test in Dubai with the forward-thinking, adaptive, and innovative mindset that Dubai is forever developing. In a speech about innovation back in 2015, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Leader of Dubai, said that organizations need to ‘innovate or stagnate’. The rate of technological change, as indicated, for example, by Moore’s Law – which prognosticates that the density of semiconductor integrated circuits which can be economically constructed doubles every two years – is also making a truly predictive psychometric test in Dubai have immense value to any organization. With a hint of irony too, it is predicted that Moore’s Law will cease by 2022, any exponential growth inevitably diminishing.
As a summary, then, conducting a psychometric test in Dubai is an important aspect to organizational life that is destined to feature more and more as the century and the city move forward, the working life of most people changing rapidly, yet, with vigilance, and the appropriation of skills and abilities, plus the development of human potential, each psychometric test in Dubai can contribute to a brighter future.
