Analysis Of The Verka Test Business Essay

TOPIC- Report on Psychological tests used in VERKA for employee selection and performance appraisal

Verka Milk Plant, Ludhiana

Introduction of Verka

THE PUNJAB STATE COOPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS FEDRATION LIMITED; The Punjab State Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited(MILKFED) was established the in 1973 by Punjab Diary Development cooperation under the Punjab Sate Co-operative Act,1967 to safeguard commercial interest of milk producers farmers to save them from exploitation of middleman, with their participation in its management and to provide quality milk and milk products to consumers at competitive rates. It came into existence with a twin objective ; First to carry activities for promoting production, procurement and processing of milk for the economic development of milk producers by providing remunerative milk market to them at their door step. Second, provide quality milk and milk products to consumers at reasonable rates.

Although the federation was registered much earlier, but it came to real self in the year 1983 when all the milk plants Punjab Dairy Development corporation Limited were handed over to cooperative sector and the entire State was covered under operation Food programme to give farmers to a better deal and our valued customers better products. Today, when we look back,

Verka has fulfilled the promise to great extent. The setup of the organization is a three tier system, Milk Producers Cooperative Societies at the village level, Milk Union at District level and Milk Fedration as an apex body at a State level. Milk production is a very important part of agricultural economy in the State of Punjab. Punjab is one of smallest state in Indian Union with a total area of 50,362 Sq. km. Dairy Farming is an old subsidiary profession in the rural area of Punjab. Punjab is the second largest milk producing state in India, producing 10 % of country’ s milk

Some fact about verka:

1. First Milk Plant of the State was setup at verka near the Amritsar.

2. The brand name of Milk and Milk Products was adopted as verka.

3. The Foundation stone of Milk Plant Ludhiana was laid by Hon.S.Parkash Singh Badal the CM of Punjab in 1970.

4. Commissioning of the Plant was done by Dairy Development Corporation in 1974.

5. Inauguration was done by Late Smt. Indra Gandhi the PM of India.

6. The capacity of plant was 1.00 lac. Liter per day, including power plant of 7MT and now the milk plant of 4.00 lac Liter per day.

7. Village level cooperative societies were also formed on “Anand Pattern”. The system was run by the farmers, of the farmers for the farmers.

Necessity for Production Enhancement

1. Milk production in the area increased manifold with the result. Resultantly started receiving daily 2.50 LPD of milk.

2. To increase the participation of women 120 exclusively women societies are organized with 15300 women members. through Punjab Women Dairy Project a Central Govt. sponsored scheme.

3. Milk Production in the area increased manifold with the result. Resultantly started receiving daily 2.50 Lac LPD of Milk and Peak procurement 4.5 Lac LPD.

4. To cater to the increased demand, necessity of expansion of milk plant arose.

5. Capacity of Milk Plant enhanced from 1 lac to 4 lac litres with additional powder. Plant of 30 MTs .

6. Plant is having latest State of Art Technology with MVR (Mechanical Vapour Reprocesses) along with a drier with fluidized bed through which agglomerated Powder is manufactured.

7. This improved the socio- economic conditions of marginal and poor farmers.

8. The profitability of the plant and turnover of the plant improved a lot.

9. No. of societies increased from 94 to 751 and its membership from 5400 to 78000.

10. All the societies are in net profit and distributing bonus to its members.

Quality of Milk and Milk Products

1. To improve the quality of raw milk, Clean Milk Production program started in 650 villages and resultantly the quality of products increased.

2. Milk Plant, Ludhiana was the First in India in Dairy Sector to get ISO Certification.

3. Under ISO Certification and HACCP (IS 15000) Milk Union started export of Ghee, SMP to Gulf Countries Philippines, Manila, South Africa, Singapore, Bangla Desh etc. The export is more than 5.5 crore during the last year.

4. To further improve the quality of Raw Milk, Milk Union started 365 Automatic Milk collection Stations at village level.

5. To meet the Challenges of WTO Milk Union started TIFAC program with the help of Ministry of information.

6. 22 Bulk Milk Coolers have been installed at village level to chill the milk on this spot and to check bacterial count.

7. 28 model dairy demonstration farms have been established including milking machines in distt. of Ludhiana which has encouraged the farmers to adopted dairy on large scale.

8. Milk Union, Ludhiana is first in India which has installed Bectoscan worth 70 lacs and Somatic cell count machine have been installed at milk plant, Ludhiana,

9. Further 23 BMC has been approved under central govt. Scheme on 75% grant to be installed in societies.

Present Status/ Achievements of the Plant

1. No. of societies increased from 94 to 751 and its membership from 5400 to 78000.

2. Milk Procurement has increased from 10200 LPD to 2,50,000 LPD.

3. Highest milk price is being paid to the milk producers as compare to other plants in the states

4. Products being manufactured by Ludhiana Plant are sold at premium rates through out of the country and in the International Market.

5. City supply has increase from 66000 LPD to 1,60,000 LPD.

6. Turnover the plant touched to 180 crores Profit of the union has increased manifold.

7. Capacity utilization of the plant is more than 80%.

8. Milk products like Ghee,Table Butter,Skimmed Milk Powder,Whole Milk Powder,Curd,Paneer,Milk Cake etc are being manufactured by Milk Plant Ludhiana.

Milk Union, Ludhiana is further progressing by leaps and bounds and it is hoped that in the years to come, it will achieve excellent results and will help improve the social and economic condition of the people at large.

FUTURE PLANNING

* Milkfed strives to give better and remunerative price to the farmers to make dairy attractive and sustainable profession.

* Providing improved technical input services to farmers.

* Setting up big commercail farms.

* More stress on clean milk production programme.

* Rural women empowerment.

* Massive women empowerment.

* Massive modernisation of process and operations.

* Enforcement of stringent quality parametres.

* Strengthing market base with specific stress on consumer market.

* Dynamic enhancement in Verka product mix.

Psychological testing

Psychological testing is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to assess psychological construct, such as cognitive and emotional functioning, about a given individual. The technical term for the science behind psychological testing is psychometrics. By samples of behavior, one means observations over time of an individual performing tasks that have usually been prescribed beforehand, which often means scores on a test. These responses are often compiled into statistical tables that allow the evaluator to compare the behavior of the individual being tested to the responses of a norm group.

Psychological assessment is similar to psychological testing but usually involves a more comprehensive assessment of the individual. Psychological assessment is a process that involves the integration of information from multiple sources, such as tests of normal and abnormal personality, tests of ability or intelligence, tests of interests or attitudes, as well as information from personal interviews. Collateral information is also collected about personal, occupational, or medical history, such as from records or from interviews with parents, spouses, teachers, or previous therapists or physicians. A psychological test is one of the sources of data used within the process of assessment; usually more than one test is used. Many psychologists do some level of assessment when providing services to clients or patients, and may use for example, simple checklists to assess some traits or symptoms, but psychological assessment is a more complex, detailed, in-depth process. Typical types of focus for psychological assessment are to provide a diagnosis for treatment settings; to assess a particular area of functioning or disability often for school settings; to help select type of treatment or to assess treatment outcomes; to help courts decide issues such as child custody or competency to stand trial; or to help assess job applicants or employees and provide career development counseling or training.

A useful psychological measure must be both valid (i.e., there is evidence to support the specified interpretation of the test results) and reliable (i.e., internally consistent or give consistent results over time, across raters, etc.

Types of Psychological Tests

There are several broad categories of psychological tests:

1. IQ/achievement tests

IQ tests purport to be measures of intelligence, while achievement tests are measures of the use and level of development of use of the ability. IQ (or cognitive) tests and achievement tests are common norm-referenced tests. In these types of tests, a series of tasks is presented to the person being evaluated, and the person’s responses are graded according to carefully prescribed guidelines. After the test is completed, the results can be compiled and compared to the responses of a norm group, usually composed of people at the same age or grade level as the person being evaluated. IQ tests which contain a series of tasks typically divide the tasks into verbal (relying on the use of language) and performance, or non-verbal (relying on eye-hand types of tasks, or use of symbols or objects). Examples of verbal IQ test tasks are vocabulary and information (answering general knowledge questions). Non-verbal examples are timed completion of puzzles (object assembly), making designs out of coloured blocks (block design).

Attitude tests

Attitude test assess an individual’s feelings about an event, person, or object. Attitude scales are used in marketing to determine individual (and group) preferences for brands, or items. Typically attitude test use either a Thurston Scale, or Likert Scale to measure specific items.

Neuropsychological tests

These tests consist of specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. They are typically used to assess impairment after an injury or illness known to affect neurocognitive functioning, or when used in research, to contrast neuropsychological abilities across experimental groups.

Personality tests

Psychological measures of personality are often described as either objective tests or projective tests. The terms “objective test” and “projective test” have recently come under criticism in the Journal of Personality Assessment. The more descriptive “rating scale or self-report measures” and “free response measures” are suggested, rather than the terms “objective tests” and “projective tests,” respectively.

Objective tests (Rating scale or self-report measure)

Objective tests have a restricted response format, such as allowing for true or false answers or rating using an ordinal scale. Prominent examples of objective personality tests include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III,[3] Child Behavior Checklist,[4] and the Beck Depression Inventory.[5] Objective personality tests can be designed for use in business for potential employees, such as the NEO-PI, the 16PF, and the OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire), all of which are based on the Big Five taxonomy. The Big Five, or Five Factor Model of normal personality, has gained acceptance since the early 1990s when some influential meta-analyses (e.g., Barrick & Mount 1991) found consistent relationships between the Big Five personality factors and important criterion variables.

Projective tests (Free response measures)

Projective tests allow for a freer type of response. An example of this would be the Rorschach test, in which a person states what each of ten ink blots might be.

Some projective tests are used less often today because they are more time consuming to administer and because the reliability and validity are controversial.

As improved sampling and statistical methods developed, much controversy regarding the utility and validity of projective testing has occurred. The use of clinical judgement rather than norms and statistics to evaluate people’s characteristics has convinced many that projectives are deficient and unreliable (results are too dissimilar each time a test is given to the same person). However, many practitioners continue to rely on projective testing, and some testing experts (e.g., Cohen, Anastasi) suggest that these measures can be useful in developing therapeutic rapport. They may also be useful in creating inferences to follow-up with other methods. Possibly they have lingered in usage because they have a mystical and fascinating reputation, and are more attractive to uninformed people than answering objective tests, e.g., true/false questionnaires. The most widely used scoring system for the Rorschach is the Exner system of scoring. Another common projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT),[8] which is often scored with Westen’s Social Cognition and Object Relations Scales[9] and Phebe Cramer’s Defense Mechanisms Manual.[10] Both “rating scale” and “free response” measures are used in contemporary clinical practice, with a trend toward the former.

Basically this questionnaire are used by VERKA for study the job satisfaction of employees . Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree Strongly Agree

Top of Form

1. I am satisfied with how often I handle paperwork.

2. I am satisfied with how often I analyze data or other information.

3. I am satisfied with how often I learn new information.

4. I am satisfied with how often I create new ideas, procedures or things.

5. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I persuade or teach others.

6. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I take part in problem solving.

7. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I perform detailed tasks.

8. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I work with or create visual information.

9. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I help others.

10. In my job, I am satisfied with how often I share knowledge with others.

Performance Appraisal through Questionnaire

1. Do you appraise an employee by an appraisal system?

Yes No

2. If yes, what is the system of appraisal adopted by your company?

3. How often are appraisals carried out in your organization?

Weekly

Quarterly

Half Yearly

Annually Others (Please Specify)

4. What are the criteria used in your company to evaluate an employee?

Performance Customer Focus

Technical Competence Attendance

Target Vs. Achievement Key Result Areas

Quality of Output 3 Point Scale

5. Do you obtain feedback on the person being appraised?

Yes No

6. How is feedback given to the employees?

Written Oral

Detailed Summarized

Self-Assessed Manager Assessed

7. Do you share both positive and negative feedback with appraise in the same meeting?

Yes No

8. Do you follow a self-assessment of an employee?

Yes No

a) If yes, is it integrated into the appraisal system you follow?

Yes No

9. Is compensation increase related to an appraisal in any way?

Yes No

10. Does the appraiser set targets for an employee being appraised?

Yes No

If yes, for what period?

3 Months 3-6 Months

6 Months 12 Months

11. Do you have a checklist for carrying out appraisals?

Yes No

12. Do you follow career planning?

Yes No

13. What would be the level of effectiveness of 360 score when implemented as a form of

appraisal?

Less than 20% 20% – 35%

35% – 50% above 50%

Psychological Tests & Special Education Materials In VERKA

Since 1886, VERKA has been a leading publisher of widely-used and well-respected Psychological and Special Education tests and materials. They are proud of their long tradition in supplying these valuable products to the professions. They remain committed to their customers’ changing needs through continued development of new products, which reflect the testing and training requirements of the professions. We supplement our vast, up-to-date product line with knowledgeable and prompt customer service.

Psychological Tests and Special Education Materials

2009 Spring Catalog

Intelligence / Cognitive Ability

Early Childhood / Preschool

Motor

Speech / Language / Auditory

Achievement / Reading / Math / Writing / Spelling

Visual / Auditory Perception

Resources for LD/BD/ADHD

Autism Spectrum

Visual, Hearing Impairment

Clinical

Transition / Career / Life Skills

Psychological testing for employee selection

During the first hundred years of scientific management and employee selection, psychological testing became a powerful and institutionalized tool that was broadly applied. Universities and trade schools, managers, engineers, psychologists, and government officials recognized the importance of using scientific methods and tools to manage human capital, the economics of business, and the national defense. Industrial and organizational psychologists emerged as the preeminent players in the development and dissemination of these tools and the evaluation of the tools’ real and perceived efficiency.

The Issue of Validity

(1) Consequently, psychologists have often cautioned consumers to be wary of the variable quality of what is purported to be psychological science.

(2) In the early part of the 20th century, psychology usurped the use of scientific methods to improve performance, selection, motivation, and strategic training from engineering management and had eclipsed scientific management in terms of contributing to the national defense through selection test development. The assessment tools were designed with the hope of facilitating optimal personnel development and utilization of human capital.

(3) Using scientific principles and quantitative methods to conserve and develop optimal human resources by forecasting behavioral tendencies over extended periods proved to be a considerable challenge. The challenge was met with variable success, as the opportunities for error were great. Psychologists had captured the testing agenda, but they would struggle mightily to identify instruments that were accepted and widely judged to be useful.

(4) Criterion-related validity is the correlation or other statistical relationship between selection test score (the predictor) and job performance (the criterion). If those who score low on a test also perform poorly (and visa versa), the test is said to have high criterion-related validity. Content-related validation is a demonstration that the content of the test reflects important job-related behaviors and measures important job-related knowledge or skills. Construct-related validity is evidence that a test measures the constructs or abstract characteristics that are important to successful performance of the job.

5) The problem with an organization conducting its own validation study is that it can be time-consuming (especially if a predictive design is used), it can be costly, and it requires large sample sizes to yield reasonable levels of reliability. Because of these problems, only fairly large organizations and those with fairly frequent hiring have the resources and sample Sizes necessary for conducting validity studies.

(7) Validity evidence can include a demonstration that the specific job for which a test is used to select personnel is very similar to the job for which the test was originally developed. Determining the degree of similarity requires that an organization conduct systematic job analyses as way of identifying the tasks, duties, responsibilities, and work conditions of a job and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to succeed in the performance of the job.

(8) Additional evidence of the validity of an employee selection test is the validity coefficient, which is the correlation coefficient between an employee’s selection test score and one or more relevant measure of job performance. The greater the validity coefficient, the more valid the test is and the greater the usefulness of the test in the selection process. Acceptable validities for a single test are usually in the range of .21 to .35; for multiple tests, somewhat higher ranges (above .35) are customary for considering tests to be valid.

(9) The most important property of a personnel selection test is predictive validity, or the ability to predict job performance, learning, and success.

Herrnstein and Murray have pointed out that science has reasonably definitively demonstrated that

* Different racial groups perform differently on intelligence tests, particularly IQ tests.

* Intelligence tests have considerable predictive validity when it comes to employees’ future productivity and job success.

* Differences on mean and distribution of IQ can be used as efficiency enhancement tools rather than facilitators of racial discrimination.

* Ignoring real predictive differences among groups and the utility of those differences when selecting individuals is unfair, unscientific, unnecessary, economically absurd, and does not really aid protected groups in the long run.

They suggest that the data show that the plight of racially protected groups was changing for the positive prior to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the issuance of the Griggs v. Duke Power decision, and the publication of the Uniform Guidelines. In Herrnstein and Murray’s opinion, affirmative action programs made small and early differences, but had no substantial positive influence on the plight of protected groups.

How is psychological assessment used in verka?

Since every executive wants the best people possible, it should not be surprising that many companies use psychologists to assess people and teams and so is Verka doing. We are usually asked to do psychological assessment and interviewing in the following situations:

* Inventory a company’s management talent and potential

* Identify high-potential individuals for development opportunities

* Look at an individual’s readiness for promotion

* Design individual development plans based on identified strengths and weaknesses

* Assess possible reasons for poor performance and provide guidance

Typically, a company first uses psychological profiling to help hire or promote key people. Many companies establish a policy to have the psychologist see all final candidates for a position above a specific salary level or grade. Such a policy ensures quality control in the hiring and promotion process throughout the company. Having an objective and professional common denominator in the hiring process is valuable, because the variability of interview skill effectiveness across managers is enormous. Reports are submitted to the senior HR manager or directly to the CEO to protect the confidentiality of the information. Feedback is available to all candidates and guaranteed to successful candidates as part of their initial development planning.

As managers become familiar with the value of psychological assessment, the focus of the assessment report often changes from hiring or promotion to development and coaching. The information from the psychological profile is used to map and monitor a plan of action for a person’s growth within the company.

How is a psychological assessment conducted in VERKA?

Psychological profiles, as done by VERKA, are based on a two-hour behavioral interview, a general intelligence test, and several personality questionnaires, for a total of about four hours with an individual. Some psychologists use as much as a full half-day for just testing. Others use little testing but interview for as much as four-five hours. While the science is far from perfect, the combination of a disciplined interview with valid, standardized testing provides a thorough and objective assessment of an individual’s capabilities and personality characteristics.

What does psychological testing cost?

Like any professional service, there is a wide range of fees for psychological profiling services. In the Chicago area, the range of fees is from $1000 to more than $6000 per assessment. Most psychological profiles conducted by Lakin Associates cost about $1600 for sales and supervisory candidates up to $3500 for executive candidates and developmental planning profiles of senior-level managers/executives.

Bottom line

You need to hire the right people, develop them effectively, and prepare them for their future and the future of your company. Psychological tests give you important insights about your people and the people you may hire. They help you make better decisions. From a purely financial view, if psychological tests can prevent you from making one bad hire, it probably saves you tens of thousands of dollars. (Remember–a bad hire costs you thousands of dollars in recruiting and hiring expenses, training, lost opportunity, salary and benefits, and termination costs!) From a development perspective, psychological profiles focus your training and development dollars where they can be most effective. From an organizational perspective, there is no better growth strategy than using every tool available to hire and develop the best people. Ask Lakin Associates to help you by providing psychological assessment services for your business needs.

TWO TYPES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL TECHNIQUES IN VERKA

Performance appraisal techniques is be classified as either past-oriented or future-oriented. Past-oriented techniques assess behavior that has already occurred. They focus on providing feedback to employees about their actions, feedback that is used to achieve greater success in the future. In contrast, future-oriented appraisal techniques emphasize future performance by assessing employees’ potential for achievement and by setting targets for both short- and long-term performance. Verka uses them as follows:

PAST-ORIENTED.

Some of the traditional forms of performance appraisals such as rating scales and checklists remain popular despite their inherent flaws. They entail an assessor providing a subjective assessment of an individual’s performance based on a scale effectively ranging from good to bad or on a checklist of characteristics. Typically, basic criteria such as dependability, attitude, and attendance are listed. For the rating scale, the evaluator simply checks a box beside each factor to indicate, for example, excellent, good, fair, or poor. A value may be assigned to each level of success—a rating of fair, for instance, might be worth two points—and the appraisee’s score totaled to determine his or her ranking. For the checklist, the evaluator simply marks statements such as “works well with others” believed to describe the worker being appraised. The obvious advantage of these techniques is that they are inexpensive and easy to administer. Primary disadvantages include the fact that they are: highly susceptible to all forms of bias; often neglect key job-related information and include unnecessary data; provide limited opportunities for effective feedback; and fail to set standards for future success. Furthermore, subjective techniques such as rating scales are vulnerable to legal attack.

Critical incident evaluation techniques require the assessor to record statements that describe good and bad job-related behavior (critical incidents) exhibited by the employee. The statements are grouped by categories such as cooperation, timeliness, and attitude. An advantage of this system is that it can be used very successfully to give feedback to employees. Furthermore, it is less susceptible to some forms of bias. On the other hand, critical incident assessments are difficult because they require ongoing, close observation and because they do not lend themselves to standardization and are time consuming.

FUTURE-ORIENTED.

One of the most popular future-oriented performance appraisal techniques utilizes the management by objectives (MBO) approach. In MBO, managers and employees work together to set goals. In fact, MBO is usually goal oriented, with the intent of helping employees to achieve continuous improvement through an ongoing process of goal setting, feedback, and correction. As a result of their input, employees are much more likely to be motivated to accomplish the goals and to be responsive to criticism that arises from subsequent objective measurements of performance. To be successful, MBO depends on specific and measurable goals and a definite time frame. Although it achieved fad status in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, critics of MBO cite its propensity to focus on objectively measured behaviors, such as quantity of output, at the expense of subjective criteria, such as quality of output. The result can be employee frustration or lackluster performance.

Assessment center evaluation is a more complex assessment method that is usually applied to managerial or executive prospects. It is a system of determining future potential based on multiple evaluations and raters. Typically, a group meets at a training facility or evaluation site. They are evaluated individually through a battery of interviews, tests, and exercises. In addition, they are evaluated within a group setting during decision-making exercises, team projects, and group discussions. Psychologists and managers work together to evaluate the employees’ future management potential and to identify strengths and weaknesses. Assessment centers are susceptible to bias, have been criticized as not being specifically job related, and are extremely costly. But