20|20 Assessment™ at the iDate 2009 Conference

James Houran, Ph.D., President of 20|20 Assessment™, will be presenting an invited session at iDate 2009 entitled “’Science Friction’: Compatibility Profiling Present and Future.” iDate 2009 is the premier conference for online dating services, which is a niche segment of the service-hospitality industry and is arguably the leading sector in the e-commerce market. The conference is being held this year at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on June 25-26. The event will discuss business strategies, mobile technologies, new markets, social networks, mobile marketing, venture capital, software, partnerships, legal issues, background search and payments.

Dr. Houran is a recognized expert on the science of compatibility testing, and his team has developed numerous proprietary matching systems for online dating sites, including one of the largest services within the market — PlentyofFish.com. It makes sense that the science of assessing personal traits and gauging romantic compatibility strongly parallels the process for evaluating a job candidate’s compatibility with a position in terms of skill set and fit with the company culture. Dr. Houran’s session will focus on the variables that predict relationship stability and satisfaction, as well as the leading-edge methods for testing and matching individuals on these traits. Matching people is part art and part science, with the goal of maximizing “positive friction” between people (two or more individuals feeding off each other) and minimizing any “negative friction” (two or more individuals clashing with each other). The subject of his presentation also has direct relevance for implementing best practices related to any organization. Consider the following issues:

1. Which rule-of-thumb best promotes interpersonal compatibility in the workplace -- “opposites attract” or “birds of a feather flock together”? With respect to platonic or professional relationships, people are generally drawn to and like others who are most similar to them…at least initially. But, this is not always the right recipe for selection or promotion. Interpersonal compatibility is indeed fostered by “sameness” between individuals, but “complementarity” is more ideal if your goal is to maximize strategic and innovative thinking within a team or group. Choosing new members who think and act much like the existing team promotes the risk of groupthink, a phenomenon that actually stifles creative, independent and critical thought (read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink). And when making hires or promotions, it is always good practice to select new talent that helps fill competency gaps in your current employee base. Using a standardized assessment helps protect against a person’s inherent bias to select someone like him/herself, and it provides a way to benchmark your current talent and identify gaps in knowledge or skills.  

2. Are personality traits important when selecting new team members? Personality testing is a long-standing HR practice, and it is the service offered by most assessment vendors. However, the latest research shows that personality is a poor predictor of job performance. Managers should instead focus on evaluating skill set and attitude. These are the most robust predictors of performance and the gold standard and legally defensible criteria used by government agencies (read more at: http://online.onetcenter.org/).

3. Should organizations set policies related to office romances? Yes, every organization should examine this important topic. Traditionally, most people meet their mates via accidental meetings in the community, introductions by family or friends and interactions in the workplace. Coworker relationships -- casual or serious -- will impact almost every organization, because the opportunity for fraternization is actually amplified in typical work environments. For example, we find people who are familiar to us to be more physically attractive than those who are not familiar to us. Compounding this is the fact that merely being in the same general vicinity as another person can increase our overall liking for that person.  The longer that two people are in close proximity, the greater the chance that they will end up liking each other.  This classic principle is called the mere exposure effect.  In many cases, the mere exposure effect leads to increased physical attractiveness between individuals. Moreover, people who are in our immediate focus of attention are perceived as more physically attractive than those not in our immediate focus.

These psycho-social variables inherently promote office romances, so it is likely that every organization will need to deal with the issue at some point. Establishing formal organizational guidelines helps to minimize the risks that romantic relationships pose to employee morale and worker productivity, as well as the potential for legal ramifications (read more at: http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/OfficeRomance.htm).  

Please contact 20|20 Assessment™ for more information on industry-specific assessment tools, organizational development services and HR policy generation.