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Work Skills Transcend Cultures Work Habits May Not

Written by: Peter Gilbert

Article Overview: Since Chally is strongly established internationally, we're often asked what has to be done to alter the testing for different cultures around the world. For the past six years, we have been tracking performance on a Chally assessment versus actual performance on the job across many countries. Our goal was to develop a research database that would highlight differences that were based on geography or culture. For our comparisons internationally, we chose geographic, cultural, and economic regions that were very different. These included England, Sweden, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and French Canada. The results were somewhat surprising, but very logical. Our research results provided clear evidence that the skill and competency scores are stable and equally applicable across cultures all over the world.

Work Skills Transcend Cultures Work Habits May Not

Since Chally is strongly established internationally, we're often asked what has to be done to alter the testing for different cultures around the world. For the past six years, we have been tracking performance on a Chally assessment versus actual performance on the job across many countries. Our goal was to develop a research database that would highlight differences that were based on geography or culture. For our comparisons internationally, we chose geographic, cultural, and economic regions that were very different. These included England, Sweden, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and French Canada.
The results were somewhat surprising, but very logical. Chally assessment reports are traditionally divided into several sections, depending on the application. However, two broad categories are always reported in any employee application. The first part of the report is a measure of an individual's competencies or skills and how effectively that individual will perform those skills on the job. We also provide detailed coaching tips to improve any skills that are below par. The latter part of the report highlights that individual's distinctive motivational drives, and the work habits they have acquired over time. We say distinctive, because only those needs and habits that separate them from others are reported. (We do not report the typical “horoscope” or “fortune teller” traits that would be common to most everybody). To accomplish this, we only report motivational and work habit scores that are below the 30th or above the 70th percentile; in other words, the distinctive extreme points that make us all unique.
Our research results provided clear evidence that the skill and competency scores are stable and equally applicable across cultures all over the world. There were however, some differences in the motivational norms and work habit levels in different cultures. These tended to vary according to how broadly the country was developed (for work habits) and cultural differences for the motivational patterns.
If we think of skills (the first part of our report) more broadly, these findings become easier to understand. Good soccer players are going to be skilled wherever they play. The skill requirements are the same in England, Japan, Germany, or South America. Furthermore, an engineer or surgeon would need the same skills and training anywhere in the world. Skills are culture free.
Work habits and motivational drives are also constant everywhere in the world - but the degree required or considered the minimal or maximum acceptable level may be quite different. Today, for example, some of America’s most aggressive or emotionally uncontrolled sportspersons may not been permitted to play in Japan. In the USA tolerance for disrespectful behaviour is much higher in their more freewheeling culture than other more emotionally controlled cultures. The motivational and work habit scores need to be understood in the light of the economic or cultural background of the candidate. This is the major reason that the motivational and work habit scores are NOT calculated in our recommendation or statistical prediction of success at performing the job, and explains why (unlike personality or attitude tests) Chally's actuarially-validated skill scores predict equally well in any part of the world.

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Article Tags: assessment reports, chally assessment, clear evidence, competencies, competency, cultures around the world, different cultures around the world, economic regions, employee application, extreme points, fortune teller, french canada, habit, horoscope, india indonesia, norms, percentile, research database, sweden denmark, work habits



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