The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Essay Example

The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Essay Psychological Bulletin 1998, Vol. 124, No. 2, 262-274 Copyright 1998 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0033-2909/98/S3. 00 The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 85 Years of Research Findings Frank L. Schmidt University of Iowa John E. Hunter Michigan State University This article summarizes the practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research in personnel selection. On the basis of meta-analytic findings, this article presents the validity of 19 selection procedures for predicting job performance and training performance and the validity of paired combinations of general mental ability (GMA) and Ihe 18 other selection procedures. Overall, the 3 combinations with the highest multivariate validity and utility for job performance were GMA plus a work sample test (mean validity of . 63), GMA plus an integrity test (mean validity of . 65), and GMA plus a structured interview (mean validity of . 63). A further advantage of the latter 2 combinations is that they can be used for both entry level selection and selection of experienced employees. The practical utility implications of these summary findings are substantial. The implications of these research findings for the development of theories of job performance are discussed. From the point of view of practical value, the most important property of a personnel assessment method is predictive validity: the ability to predict future job performance, job-related learning (such as amount of learning in training and development programs), and other criteria. We will write a custom essay sample on The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The predictive validity coefficient is directly proportional to the practical economic value (utility) of the assessment method (Brogden, 1949; Schmidt, Hunter, McKenzie, Muldrow, 1979). Use of hiring methods with increased predictive validity leads to substantial increases in employee performance as measured in percentage increases in output, increased monetary value of output, and increased learning of job-related skills (Hunter, Schmidt, Judiesch, 1990). Today, the validity of different personnel measures can be determined with the aid of 85 years of research. The most wellknown conclusion from this research is that for hiring employees without previous experience in the job the most valid predictor of future performance and learning is general mental ability ([GMA], i. e. , intelligence or general cognitive ability; Hunter Hunter, 1984; Ree Earles, 1992). GMA can be measured using commercially available tests. However, many other measures can also contribute to the overall validity of the selection process. These include, for example, measures of onscientiousness and personal integrity, structured employment interviews, and (for experienced workers) job knowledge and work sample tests. On the basis of meta-analytic findings, this article examines and summarizes what 85 years of research in personnel psychology has revealed about the validity of measures of 19 different selection methods that can be used in making decisions about hiring, training, and developmental assignments. In this sense, this article is an expansion and updating of Hunter and Hunter (1984). In addition, this article examines how well certain combinations of these methods work. These 19 procedures do not all work equally well; the research evidence indicates that some work very well and some work very poorly. Measures of GMA work very well, for example, and graphology does not work at all. The cumulative findings show that the research knowledge now available makes it possible for employers today to substantially increase the productivity, output, and learning ability of their workforces by using procedures that work well and by avoiding those that do not. Finally, we look at the implications of these research findings for the development of theories of job performance. Determinants of Practical Value (Utility) of Selection Methods Frank L. Schmidt, Department of Management and Organization, University of Iowa; John E. Hunter, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University. An earlier version of this article was presented to Korean Human Resource Managers in Seoul, South Korea, June 11, 1996. The presentation was sponsored by long Yang Company We would like to thank President Wang-Ha Cho of Tong Yang for is support and efforts in this connection. We would also like to thank Deniz Ones and Kuh %on for their assistance in preparing Tables 1 and 2 and Gershon Ben-Shakhar for his comments on research on graphology. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Frank L. Schmidt, Department of Management and Organization, College of Business, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52240. Electronic mail may be sent to fra[e mailprotected] edu. The validity of a hiring method is a direct determinant of its practical value, but not the only determinant. Another direct determinant is the variability of job performance. At one extreme, if variability were zero, then all applicants would have exactly the same level of later job performance if hired. In this case, the practical value or utility of all selection procedures would be zero. In such a hypothetical case, it does not matter who is hired, because all workers are the same. At the other extreme, if performance variability is very large, it then becomes important to hire the best performing applicants and the practical utility of valid selection methods is very large. As it happens, this extreme case appears to be the reality for most jobs. 262 VALIDITY AND UTILITY Research over the last 15 years has shown that the variability of performance and output among (incumbent) workers is very large and that it would be even larger if all job applicants were hired or if job applicants were selected randomly from among those that apply (cf. Hunter et al. , 1990; Schmidt Hunter, 1983; Schmidt et al. , 1979). This latter variability is called the applicant pool variability, and in hiring this is the variability that operates to determine practical value. This is because one is selecting new employees from the applicant pool, not from among those already on the job in question. The variability of employee job performance can be measured in a number of ways, but two scales have typically been used: dollar value of output and output as a percentage of mean output. The standard deviation across individuals of the dollar value of output (called SDy) has been found to be at minimum 40% of the mean salary of the job (Schmidt Hunter, 1983; Schmidt et al. , 1979; Schmidt, Mack, Hunter, 1984). The 40% figure is a lower bound value; actual values are typically considerably higher. Thus, if the average salary for a job is $40,000, then SD, is at least $16,000. If performance has a normal distribution, then workers at the 84th percentile produce $16,000 more per year than average workers (i. e. , those at the 50th percentile). And the difference between workers at the 16th percentile ( below average workers) and those at the 84th percentile (superior workers) is twice that: $32,000 per year. Such differences are large enough to be important to the economic health of an organization. Employee output can also be measured as a percentage of mean output; that is, each employees output is divided by the output of workers at the 50th percentile and then multiplied by 100. Research shows that the standard deviation of output as a percentage of average output (called SDf) varies by job level. For unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, the average SDf figure is 19%. For skilled work, it is 32%, and for managerial and professional jobs, it is 48% (Hunter et al. , 1990). These figures are averages based on all available studies that measured or counted the amount of output for different employees. If a superior worker is defined as one whose performance (output) is at the 84th percentile (that is, 1 SD above the mean), then a superior worker in a lower level job produces 19% more output than an average worker, a superior skilled worker produces 32% more output than the average skilled worker, and a superior manager or professional produces output 48% above the average for those jobs. These differences are large and they indicate that the payoff from using valid hiring methods to predict later job performance is quite large. Another determinant of the practical value of selection methods is the selection ratio—the proportion of applicants who are hired. At one extreme, if an organization must hire all who apply for the job, no hiring procedure has any practical value. At the other extreme, if the organization has the luxury of hiring only the top scoring 1%, the practical value of gains from selection per person hired will be extremely large. But few organizations can afford to reject 99% of all job applicants. Actual selection ratios are typically in the . 0 to . 70 range, a range that still produces substantial practical utility. The actual formula for computing practical gains per person hired per year on the job is a three way product (Brogden, 1949; Schmidt et al. , 1979): A? //hire/year = A. rvSDyZ, (when performance is measured in dollar value) At7/hire/year = ArvSD,,Z, 263 (1) (when performance is measured in percentage of average output). (2) In these equations, rv is the difference betwe en the validity of the new (more valid) selection method and the old selection method. If the old selection method has no validity (that is, selection is random), then Ar^ is the same as the validity of the new procedure; that is, AJV, = rv. Hence, relative to random selection, practical value (utility) is directly proportional to validity. If the old procedure has some validity, men the utility gain is directly proportional to Ar w . Z, is the average score on the employment procedure of those hired (in z-score form), as compared to the general applicant pool. The smaller the selection ratio, the higher this value will be. The first equation expresses selection utility in dollars. For example, a typical final figure for a medium complexity job might be $18,000, meaning that increasing the validity of the hiring methods leads to an average increase in output per hire of $18,000 per year. To get the full value, one must of course multiply by the number of workers hired. If 100 are hired, then the increase would be (100)($18,000) = $1,800,000. Finally, one must consider the number of years these workers remain on the job, because the $18,000 per worker is realized each year that worker remains on the job. Of all these factors that affect the practical value, only validity is a characteristic of the personnel measure itself. The second equation expresses the practical value in percentage of increase in output. For example, a typical figure is 9%, meaning that workers hired with the improved selection method will have on average 9% higher output. A 9% increase in labor productivity would typically be very important economically for the firm, and might make the difference between success and bankruptcy. What we have presented here is not, of course, a comprehensive discussion of selection utility. Readers who would like more detail are referred to the research articles cited above and to Boudreau (1983a, 1983b, 1984), Cascio and Silbey (1979), Cronshaw and Alexander (1985), Hunter, Schmidt, and Coggin (1988), Hunter and Schmidt (1982a, 1982b), Schmidt and Hunter (1983), Schmidt, Hunter, Outerbridge, and Tratmer (1986), Schmidt, Hunter, and Pearlman (1982), and Schmidt et al. (1984). Our purpose here is to make three important points: (a) the economic value of gains from unproved hiring methods are typically quite large, (b) these gains are directly proportional to the size of the increase in validity when moving from the old to the new selection methods, and (c) no other characteristic of a personnel measure is as important as predictive validity. If one looks at the two equations above, one sees that practical value per person hired is a three way product. One of the three elements in that three way product is predictive validity. The other two—SD y or SDP and Z,—are equally important, but they are characteristics of the job or the situation, not of the personnel measure. 264 SCHMIDT AND HUNTER Validity of Personnel Assessment Methods: 85 Years of Research Findings Research studies assessing the ability of personnel assessment methods to predict future job performance and future learning (e. g. , in training programs) have been conducted since the first decade of the 20th century. However, as early as the 1920s it became apparent that different studies conducted on the same assessment procedure did not appear to agree in their results. Validity estimates for the same method and same job were quite different for different studies. During the 1930s and 1940s the belief developed that this state of affairs resulted from subtle differences between jobs that were difficult or impossible for job analysts and job analysis methodology to detect. That is, researchers concluded that the validity of a given procedure really was different in different settings for what appeared to be basically the same job, and that the conflicting findings in validity studies were just reflecting this fact of reality. This belief, called the theory of situational specificity, remained dominant in personnel psychology until the late 1970s when it was discovered that most of the differences across studies were due to statistical and measurement artifacts and not to real differences in the jobs (Schmidt Hunter, 1977; Schmidt, Hunter, Pearlman, Shane, 1979). The largest of these artifacts was simple sampling error variation, caused by the use of small samples in the studies. (The number of employees per study was usually in the 40-70 range. This realization led to the development of quantitative techniques collectively called metaanalysis that could combine validity estimates across studies and correct for the effects of these statistical and measurement artifacts (Hunter Schmidt, 1990; Hunter, Schmidt, Jackson, 1982). Studies based on meta-analysis provided more accurate estimates of the average operational validity and showed that the level of real variability of validities was usually quite sma ll and might in fact be zero (Schmidt, 1992; Schmidt et a]. 1993). In fact, the findings indicated that the variability of validity was not only small or zero across settings for the same type of job, but was also small across different kinds of jobs (Hunter, 1980; Schmidt, Hunter, Pearlman, 1980). These findings made it possible to select the most valid personnel measures for any job. They also made it possible to compare the validity of different personnel measures for jobs in general, as we do in this article. Table 1 summarizes research findings for the prediction of performance on the job. The first column of numbers in Table 1 shows the estimated mean validity of 19 selection methods for predicting performance on the job, as revealed by metaanalyses conducted over the last 20 years. Performance on the job was typically measured using supervisory ratings of job performance, but production records, sales records, and other measures were also used. The sources and other information about these validity figures are given in the notes to Table 1. Many of the selection methods in Table 1 also predict jobrelated learning; that is, the acquisition of job knowledge with experience on the job, and the amount learned in training and development programs. However, the overall amount of research on the prediction of learning is less. For many of the procedures in Table 1, there is little research evidence on their ability to predict future job-related-leaming. Table 2 summarizes available research findings for the prediction of performance in training programs. The first column in Table 2 shows the mean validity of 10 selection methods as revealed by available meta-analyses. In the vast majority of the studies included in these meta-analyses, performance in training was assessed using objective measures of amount learned on the job; trainer ratings of amount learned were used in about 5% of the studies. Unless otherwise noted in Tables 1 and 2, all validity estimates in Tables 1 and 2 are corrected for the downward bias due to measurement error in the measures of job performance and to range restriction on the selection method in incumbent samples relative to applicant populations. Observed validity estimates so corrected estimate operational validities of selection methods when used to hire from applicant pools. Operational validities are also referred to as true validities. In the pantheon of 19 personnel measures in Table 1, GMA (also called general cognitive ability and general intelligence) occupies a special place, for several reasons. First, of all procedures that can be used for all jobs, whether entry level or advanced, it has the highest validity and lowest application cost. Work sample measures are slightly more valid but are much more costly and can be used only with applicants who already know the job or have been trained for the occupation or job. Structured employment interviews are more costly and, in some forms, contain job knowledge components and therefore are not suitable for inexperienced, entry level applicants. The assessment center and job tryout are both much more expensive and have less validity. Second, the research evidence for the validity of OMA measures for predicting job performance is stronger than that for any other method (Hunter, 1986; Hunter Schmidt, 1996; Ree Earles, 1992; Schmidt Hunter, 1981). Literally thousands of studies have been conducted over the last nine decades. By contrast, only 89 validity studies of the structured interview have been conducted (McDaniel, Whetzel, Schmidt, Mauer, 1994). Third, GMA has been shown to be the best available predictor of job-related learning. It is the best predictor of acquisition of job knowledge on the job (Schmidt Hunter, 1992; Schmidt, Hunter, Outerbridge, 1986) and of performance in job training programs (Hunter, 1986; Hunter Hunter, 1984; Ree Earles, 1992). Fourth, the theoretical foundation for GMA is stronger than for any other personnel measure. Theories of ntelligence have been developed and tested by psychologists for over 90 years (Brody, 1992; Carroll, 1993; Jensen, 1998). As a result of this massive related research literature, the meaning of the construct of intelligence is much clearer than, for example, the meaning of what is measured by interviews or assessment centers (Brody, 1992; Hunter, 1986; Jensen, 1998). The value of . 51 in Table 1 for the validity of GMA is from a very large met a-analytic study conducted for the U. S. Department of Labor (Hunter, 1980; Hunter Hunter, 1984). The database for this unique meta-analysis included over 32,000 employees in 515 widely diverse civilian jobs. This meta-analysis examined both performance on the job and performance in job training programs. This meta-analysis found that the validity of GMA for predicting job performance was . 58 for professional-managerial jobs, . 56 for high level complex technical jobs, . 51 for medium complexity jobs, . 40 for semi-skilled jobs, and . 23 for completely unskilled jobs. The validity for the middle complexity level of jobs (. 51) —which includes 62% of all VALIDITY AND UTILITY 265 Table 1 Predictive Validity for Overall Job Performance of General Mental Ability (GMA) Scores Combined With a Second Predictor Using (Standardized) Multiple Regression Standardized regression weights % increase in validity Personnel measures GMA testsWork sample tests* Integrity tests Conscientiousness tests1 Employment interviews (structured)11 Employment interviews (unstructured/ Job knowledge tests8 Job tryout procedure11 Peer ratings1 T E behavioral consistency method1 Reference checksk Job experience (years)1 Biographical data measures111 Assessment centers T E point method Years of education*1 Interests* Graphology Age- Validity (r) Multiple R Gain in validity from adding supplement GMA Supplement .51 . 54 . 41 . 31 . 51 . 38 . 48 . 44 . 49 . 45 .26 .18 . 35 . 37 . 11 . 10 . 10 . 02 -. 01 .63 . 65 . 60 . 63 . 55 . 58 . 58 . 58 . 58 . 57 . 54 . 52 . 53 . 52 . 52 . 52 . 51 . 51 .12 . 14 . 09 . 12 . 04 . 07 . 07 . 07 . 07 . 06 . 03 . 01 . 02 . 01 . 01 . 01 . 00 . 00 24% 27% 18% 24% 8% 14% 14% 14% 14% 12% 6% 2% 4% 2% 2% 2% 0% 0% .36 . 51 . 51 . 39 . 43 . 36 . 40 . 35 . 39 . 51 . 51 . 45 . 43 . 39 . 51 . 51 . 51 . 51 .41 . 41 . 31 . 39 . 22 . 31 . 20 . 31 . 31 . 26 . 18 . 13 . 15 . 29 . 10 . 10 . 02 -. 01 Note. T E = training and experience. The percentage of increase in validity is also the percentage of increase in utility (practical value). All of the validities presented are based on the most current meta-analytic results for the various predictors. See Schmidt, Ones, and Hunter (1992) for an overview. All of the validities in this table are for the criterion of overall job performance. Unless otherwise noted, all validity estimates are corrected for the downward bias due to measurement error in die measure of job performance and range restriction on the predictor in incumbent samples relative to applicant populations. The correlations between GMA and other predictors are corrected for range restriction but not for measurement error in either measure (thus they are smaller than fully corrected mean values in the literature). These correlations represent observed score correlations between selection methods in applicant populations. From Hunter (1980). The value used for the validity of GMA is the average validity of GMA for medium complexity jobs (covering more than 60% of all jobs in die United States). Validities are higher for more complex jobs and lower for less complex jobs, as described in the text. From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 10). The correction for range restriction was not possible in these data. The correlation between work sample scores and ability scores is . 38 (Schmidt, Hunter; Outerbridge, 1986). Cid From Ones, Viswesvaran, and Schmidt (1993, Table 8). The figure of . 41 is from predictive validity studies conducted on job applicants. The validity of . 31 for conscientiousn ess measures is from Mount and Barrick (1995, Table 2). The correlation between integrity and ability is zero, as is the correlation between conscientiousness and ability (Ones, 1993; Ones et al. , 1993). -f from McDaniel, Whetzel, Schmidt, and Mauer (1994, Table 4). folues used are those from studies in which the job performance ratings were for research purposes only (not administrative ratings). The correlations between interview scores and ability scores are from Huffcutt, Roth, and McDaniel (1996, Table 3). The correlation for structured interviews is . 30 and for unstructured interviews, . 38. From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 11). The correction for range restriction was not possible in these data. The correlation between job knowledge scores and GMA scores is . 48 (Schmidt, Hunter, Outerbridge, 1986). From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 9). No correction for range restriction (if any) could be made. (Range restriction is unlikely with this selection method. ) The correlat ion between job tryout ratings and ability scores is estimated at . 38 (Schmidt, Hunter, Outerbridge, 1986); that is, it was taken to be the same as that between job sample tests and ability. Use of the mean correlation between supervisory performance ratings and ability scores yields a similar value (. 35, unconnected for measurement error). From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 10). No correction for range restriction (if any) could be made. The average fully corrected correlation between ability and peer ratings of job performance is approximately . 55. If peer ratings are based on an average rating from 10 peers, the familiar Spearman-Brown formula indicates that the interrater reliability of peer ratings is approximately . 91 (Viswesvaran, Ones, Schmidt, 1996). Assuming a reliability of . 90 for the ability measure, the correlation between ability scores and peer ratings is . 55v^91(-90) = . 50. From McDaniel, Schmidt, and Hunter (1988a). These calculations are based on an estimate of the correlation between T E behavioral consistency and ability of . 0. This estimate reflects the fact that the achievements measured by this procedure depend on not only personality and other noncognitive characteristics, but also on mental ability. k From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 9). No correction for range restriction (if any) was possible. In the absence of any data, the correlation between reference checks and ability was t aken as . 00. Assuming a larger correlation would lead to lower estimated incremental validity. From Hunter (1980), McDaniel, Schmidt, and Hunter (1988b), and Hunter and Hunter (1984). In the only relevant meta-analysis, Schmidt, Hunter, and Outerbridge (1986, Table 5) found the correlation between job experience and ability to be . 00. This value was used here. m The correlation between biodata scores and ability scores is . 50 (Schmidt, 1988). Both the validity of . 35 used here and the intercorrelation of . 50 are based on the Supervisory Profile Record Biodata Scale (Rothstein, Schmidt, Erwin, Owens, and Sparks, 1990). (The validity for the Managerial Profile Record Biodata Scale in predicting managerial promotion and advancement is higher [. 52; Carlson, Scullen, Schmidt, Rothstein, Erwin, 1998]. However, rate of promotion is a measure different from overall performance on ones current job and managers are less representative of the general working population than are first line supervisors). From Gaugler, Rosenthal, Thornton, and Benson (1987, Table 8). The correlation between assessment center ratings and ability is estimated at . 50 (Collins, 1998). It should be noted that most assessment centers use ability tests as part of the evaluation process; Gaugler et al. (1987) found that 74% of the 106 assessment centers they examined used a written test of intelligence (see their Table 4). From McDaniel, Schmidt, and Hunter (I988a, Table 3). The calculations here are based on a zero correlation between the T E point method and ability; the assumption of a positive correlation would at most lower the estimate of incremental validity from . 01 to . 00. p From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 9). For purposes of these calculations, we assumed a zero correlation between years of educ ation and ability. The reader should remember that this is the correlation within the applicant pool of individuals who apply to get a particular job. In the general population, the correlation between education and ability is about . 55. Even within applicant pools there is probably at least a small positive correlation; thus, our figure of . 01 probably overestimates the incremental validity of years of education over general mental ability. Assuming even a small positive value for the correlation between education and ability would drive the validity increment of . 01 toward . 00. q From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 9). The general finding is that interests and ability are uncorrelated (Holland, 1986), and that was assumed to be the case here. From Neter and Ben-Shakhar (1989), BenShakhar (1989), Ben-Shakhar, Bar-Hillel, Bilu, Ben-Abba, and Flug (1986), and Bar-Hillel and Ben-Shakhar (1986). Graphology scores were assumed to be uncorrelated with mental ability. B From Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 9). Age was assumed to be unrelated to ability within applicant pools. 266 Table 2 SCHMIDT AND HUNTER Predictive Validity for Over all Performance in Job Training Programs of General Mental Ability (GMA) Scores Combined With a Second Predictor Using (Standardized) Multiple Regression Standardized regression weights % increase in validity Personnel measures GMA TestsIntegrity tests Conscientiousness tests6 Employment interviews (structured and unstructured)11 Peer ratings Reference checks1 Job experience (years)8 Biographical data measures1 Years of education Interest^ Validity (r) Multiple K Gain in validity from adding supplement GMA Supplement .56 .38 . 30 . 35 . 36 . 23 . 01 . 30 . 20 . 18 . 67 . 65 . 59 . 57 . 61 . 56 . 56 . 60 . 59 . 11 . 09 . 03 . 01 . 05 . 00 . 00 . 04 . 03 20% 16% 5% 1. 4% .56 . 56 . 59 . 51 . 56 . 56 . 55 . 56 . 56 .38 . 30 . 19 . 11 . 23 . 01 . 03 . 20 . 18 9% 0% 0% 7% 5% Note. The percentage of increase in validity is also the percentage of increase in utility (practical value). All of the validities presented are based on the most current mela-analytic results reported for the various predictors. All of the validities in this table are for the criterion of overall performance in job training programs. Unless otherwise noted, all validity estimates are corrected for the downward bias due to measurement error in the measure of job performance and range restriction on the predictor in incumbent samples relative to applicant populations. All correlations between GMA and other predictors are corrected for range restriction but not for measurement error. These correlations represent observed score correlations between selection methods in applicant populations. The validity of GMA is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 2). It can also be found in Hunter (1980). *lt; The validity of . 38 for integrity tests is from Schmidt, Ones, and Viswesvaran (1994). Integrity tests and conscientiousness tests have been found to correlate zero with GMA (Ones, 1993; Ones, Viswesvaran Schmidt, 1993). The validity of . 30 for conscientiousness measures is from the meta-analysis presented by Mount and Barrick (1995, Table 2). d The validity of interviews is from McDaniel, Whetzel, Schmidt, and Mauer (1994, Table 5). McDaniel et al. reported values of . 34 and . 36 for structured and unstructured interviews, respectively. However, this small difference of . 02 appears to be a result of second order sampling error (Hunter Schmidt, 1990, Ch. 9). We therefore used the average value of . 35 as the validity estimate for structured and unstructured interviews. The correlation between interviews and ability scores (. 32) is the overall figure from Huffcutt, Roth, and McDaniel (1996, Table 3) across all levels of interview structure. * The validity for peer ratings is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 8). These calculations are based on an estimate of the correlation between ability and peer ratings of . 50. (See note i to Table 1). No correction for range restriction (if any) was possible in the data. The validity of reference checks is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 8). The correlation between reference checks and ability was taken as . 0. Assumption of a larger correlation will reduce the estimate of incremental validity. No correction for range restriction was possible. The validity of job experience is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 6). These calculations are based on an estimate of the correlation between job experience and ability of zero. (See note 1 to Table 1). * The validity of biographical data measures is from Hunte r and Hunter (1984, Table 8). This validity estimate is not adjusted for range restriction (if any). The correlation between biographical data measures and ability is estimated at . 0 (Schmidt, 1988). The validity of education is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 6). The correlation between education and ability within applicant pools was taken as zero. (See note p to Table 1). The validity of interests is from Hunter and Hunter (1984, Table 8). The correlation between interests and ability was taken as zero (Holland, 1986). the jobs in the U. S. economy—is the value entered in Table 1. This category includes skilled blue collar jobs and mid-level white collar jobs, such as upper level clerical and lower level administrative jobs. Hence, the conclusions in this article apply mainly to the middle 62% of jobs in the U. S. economy in terms of complexity. The validity of . 51 is representative of findings for GMA measures in other meta-analyses (e. g. , Pearlman et al. , 1980) and it is a value that produces high practical utility. As noted above, GMA is also an excellent predictor of jobrelated learning. It has been found to have high and essentially equal predictive validity for performance (amount learned) in job training programs for jobs at all job levels studied. In

How To Make The Best Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) - CoSchedule Blog

How To Make The Best Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) Blog As bloggers and content marketers, one of your biggest challenges is making sure that your blog posts not only read well, but also look awesome. You probably know why: Posts with better graphics are easier to read and get more shares. The problem is that you may not  have the budget, nor the skills necessary for creating blog post graphics from scratch.  You also like to do things yourself, or just don’t have the means to hire a freelance designer every time you need a new header image for a blog post. That puts you at a slight  disadvantage against your competitors who are already rocking great blog graphics. The good news is that you can learn to create your own blog post graphics fairly quickly. A handful of dollars in stock graphics, a few hours in Photoshop, and you will be on your way to making your blog look better in no time. How To Make The Best #Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) via @puranjaycomIn this post, I’ll share with you the exact strategies I use to create visuals for my posts, right from start to finish. But first, a quick overview of why your blog actually needs more visuals. Why Your Blog Posts Need More Visual Content Human beings are visual creatures. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text. This is a crucial stat for bloggers and content marketers- it means readers are more likely to engage with your visuals than with your words. (Which also explains why infographics tend to be so successful). There are dozens of reasons why you need to add more graphics to your blog posts, but the five  most important ones I can think of are: Higher engagement: Articles with relevant images get 94% more page views than those without. Highlight crucial data: In-post graphics are a good way to highlight the most important data points within an article. If there is something you really want your readers to see, you’re better off putting it into a mini infographic than the main post body (especially considering how most visitors read just 20% of a Web page on average). Get more shares: Pages with pictures see 50% more shares. Create better post structure: In-post graphics are a great way to give better structure to your post by dividing the content into different sections- an oft-ignored benefit. More credibility: 67% of consumers consider detailed images to carry even more weight than customer ratings, reviews, and product descriptions. Recommended Reading:  10 Stunning Examples Of Visual Content Marketing Now that we know why we need visuals, let’s look at how we can create our own blog  graphics. The Building Blocks Of Awesome Blog Graphics You don’t need to know a lot to create your own blog graphics. In fact, this article assumes that your design skills don’t extend beyond cropping an image and adding a filter to it in Photoshop (explained below). That said, you can greatly accelerate the graphic-creation process by mastering a few simple Photoshop skills and building up a library of stock graphics that will serve as the ‘building blocks’ for all your visuals. Let’s look at each of these in detail. Essential Photoshop skills to create blog graphics. You don’t have to master Photoshop to create good looking designs. Being familiar with the interface and understanding a few basic skills will be more than enough. At the very least, you should know the following: Cropping, resizing and selecting images, or parts of images. Layers and how they work. Blending modes and Layer blending options. Creating simple shapes such as circles, rounded rectangles, etc. Using the font tool. Importing and using patterns, brushes, and shapes. Using grids and guides to lay out individual elements. All this shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours of work to learn. Everything else you can learn along the way. There are only 7 things you need to know with Photoshop to create awesome #blog graphics.Choose your colors. Color is the non-designer’s Achilles heel. We either use too many colors, or often, too few- neither of which leads to desirable results. â€Å"What colors should I use?† is the number one question I get asked by non-designers (and the question I often find asking myself). For answers, follow the two step process below: 1. Pick one dominant color. Take a look at any popular website and you will see one thing in common: They all use a single dominant color everywhere. Facebook has its blue, TechCrunch is green and Snapchat is overwhelmingly yellow. All reports, blog posts, and visuals they put out follow the same color palette. For your own blog  graphics, follow the same strategy: Pick one dominant color (ideally, the same as your site color) and use it everywhere. Complement it with lighter variations of the same color when needed. You can always branch out and experiment with more colors of course (it would be a dull world if you couldn’t), but for simplicity’s sake, stick to one dominant color when you’re starting out. Recommended Reading:  Why Visual Brand Consistency Is Important 2. For additional colors, use the Google material design color palette. One of the harder things to understand as an amateur designer is how different colors work with each other and the subtle differences between, say, #FA4B00 and #F04800 (two hexadecimal numbers for different colors). The good news: You don’t have to learn all this on your own. By taking advantage of pre-existing, professional color palettes, you can jump right in and use proven colors in your designs. To start with, use the Google material design color palette. These are Google-approved colors for the Android UI. They look good and cover a huge range of colors. If you get tired of your ‘one dominant color’, pick a few shades from this palette and start experimenting. Pro Tip: Download the palette as a swatch and open it in Photoshop to get immediate access to all colors. Recommended Reading:  Color Psychology In Marketing: The Complete Guide Pick your fonts. After color, typography is the most widely misunderstood aspect of design. You’ve probably seen this in action yourself: flyers with Papyrus, memos written entirely in Comic Sans, and websites that use nothing but Times New Roman. Designers can talk for hours about kerning and line height and letter spacing, but as bloggers, we don’t really need all that. Instead, all we need to know is: What fonts look good. How to pick a good font pair. Here are the answers to these questions: 1. What fonts look good? Some good fonts are expensive (a single license of a professional font can cost upwards of $200), so I’m going to focus entirely on free fonts for now. Fortunately for us, high-quality free fonts have never been easier to find. Your first stop should be Google Fonts. This free font library will give you access to all the fonts you need. It can be overwhelming at first, so I suggest sticking to these tried and tested fonts, for now: If you need something beyond this selection, stop by Typekit.com and check out the fonts that come pre-loaded with a free account (only 25k pageviews/month though- not for you popular bloggers). Next, check out Typography.com and the nearly weekly giveaways at CreativeMarket.com. If you are willing to splurge, you can also check out some boutique font foundries at FontShop.com. 2. How should you  pair fonts? There are two guidelines to pairing fonts: Fonts from the same family go well together.  For obvious reasons, if two fonts are from the same family (say, PT Sans and PT Sans-Serif), they will look good together. Combine serif with sans-serif fonts.  For optimum results, combine a serif font with a sans-serif font. If your posts are long and wordy, use serif in the body text, sans-serif in the headings. For shorter posts (under 2,000 words- a majority of posts), use sans-serif in the body, serif in headlines. (In case you are wondering, serif fonts are those with the little horizontal bar at the edges. Sans-serif, obviously, are those without.) Instead of experimenting with different pairings, pick a few tried and tested combinations to start with. For inspiration, install WhatFont extension and see what fonts your favorite websites are using. Wired.com, for instance, uses Exchange, while Buzzfeed uses Proxima Nova for both headings and body text. Choose your images. Most bloggers turn to SXC.hu, Pixabay, or any of the countless other stock pictures websites for their image needs. Images here are free and easy to find, but also tend to be low in quality and poor in contextual relevancy. Plus, since they’ve been used by bloggers ad infinitum, they tend to look jaded and overused. Recommended Reading: Should You Use Stock Or Free Images For Blog Posts? Below, I’ve shared some of my favorite methods to get better images: 1. Buy stock images. With prices as low as $1/image, you really don’t have an excuse for not taking this route already. The picture quality is far superior and they all look ‘fresh’ to readers since they haven’t been used by every blogger in existence. You also don’t need resolutions wider than 640px for most images, which brings down initial purchase cost as well. If you do plan to modify the image, make sure that the image license permits it. Check out ShutterStock.com, Fotolia.com, BigStock.com, etc. to get started. But what if you don’t have $1 to spare? In that case, use option #2, below. With prices as low as $1/image, you really don’t have an excuse to use great images. #blogging2. Use free hero images. Startups need high quality images to build their sites. Thankfully, a number of designers and photographers have stepped up to the challenge and started offering stunning pictures for free. These are called ‘hero’ images, and for bloggers, they are (largely) untapped goldmines. Here are some sites to get you started: Unsplash.com, DeathToTheStockPhoto.com, LittleVisuals.co, Superfamous.com, and PicJumbo.com. The image quality here is incredible, but you can’t search by keyword, so be prepared to dig deep to find the right image. Some pictures (especially from Unsplash.com) have also been overused by startups. If it looks a little too familiar, it’s probably a good idea to not use it. If a stock photo seems a little familiar, its best not to use it. #blogging3. Try paid hero images. An alternative to stock image marketplaces is to buy splash or hero images from marketplaces like CreativeMarket. You can either buy images individually, or you can buy image packs of hundreds of images for as low as $10. Its a useful strategy if you want something more exclusive than what Unsplash.com or the others have to offer. Choose your shapes, brushes, patterns, and icons. Strong colors, bold fonts, and breathtaking stock imagery are good enough to make your blog stand out.  But to create blog  graphics, you will need a few extra building blocks- namely brushes, patterns, icons, and shapes. You can find thousands of these design elements online on sources both free and paid. The hard part is figuring out what to download, and where to download it. For a start, grab the following: 1. Patterns. A clean, subtle pattern can make the most ordinary design pop and sparkle. There are countless websites peddling patterns online, but for the most projects, you don’t need to look beyond SubtlePatterns.com. Start with the following patterns – Concrete Seamless, Crossword, Stardust, Squared Metal, Notebook, Triangular, and Mooning- and grab more as you learn how to use them. 2. Icons. You will use icons a lot in your blog graphics, mostly to visualize data and highlight key points. I suggest starting out at IcoMoon.io, then exploring free icon packs such as  Line icons, Modern UI icons, 350 Pixel Perfect icons, flat icons, and  3600 flat icons. To get something more exclusive, buy a set of icon packs from  CreativeMarket. 3. Brushes, shapes, and vectors. There is no telling what shapes, vectors, and brushes you will need in your graphics projects. Since our aim is to keep costs low, I suggest grabbing the ones listed below, then buying up separate design elements as needed. Start with the graphics library at Pixeden.com. Grab virtually all the free stuff you can, then head over to MediaLoot.com, PremiumPixels.com, Brusheezy.com, and GraphicHive.net. For paid alternatives, check out CreativeMarket.com and GraphicRiver.com. I also suggest buying some credits at a stock marketplace such as VectorStock.com. A contextually relevant vector image can make your designs really stand out. Also look to grab some of the ‘infographics packs’ at CreativeMarket. You can use elements from these packs to create your own mini-infographics inside posts. This concludes the basic building blocks of our blog  graphics project. Now let’s take a look at some strategies for putting these together to create header images and in-post graphics. The Non-Designers Guide to Creating Better #Blog GraphicsHow to Create Better Blog Graphics Start with your header images. Header images are more than just design filler. They give readers a glimpse of your post’s content, and show up in social media. In essence, these are the ‘anchor’ images for your post and offer readers an idea of what to expect not just from a post, but the blog as a whole. It’s easy to get lazy with header images. You might very well be tempted to stick a stock image from SXC.hu on top and call it a day. The problem is that such stock images not only look bad, but they also don’t get as many page views. The alternative: customized header images. Let’s look at a couple of strategies for creating these. 1. Use good stock images, add text and a color tint. One of my favorite ways to create better header images in a jiffy is to use a high-quality stock image, add some text (usually the post title, shortened for clarity) and a color tint, like this: Creating this is easy enough: Grab a picture from Unsplash.com and add some text in a font from the list above. For the color tint, add a color layer in Photoshop, fill it with a color from the Google Material Design color palette, then drag it beneath the base image layer. Change the ‘blend’ mode for the base image to ‘Multiply’, and you’re all set. 2. Add borders, shapes, and different fonts. Add some complexity to your header image by throwing in some shapes, borders, and font combinations. Try the elegant font + light base color + dark border combination: Or the color gradient + pattern + gradient filled text. In the example below, I’ve used a blue-pink gradient on top of the Triangular pattern fill from SubtlePatterns.com: An easy way to make the post title stand out is to enclose it within a shape, like this: Another personal favorite is to use a vector graphic against a solid background. Below, I’ve used the ‘camera’ icon from the ET-Line icons set: None of these styles are complicated or particularly hard to copy. Try recreating them in Photoshop to get a hang of things. For further inspiration, see the header image gallery at Canva.com. Create your in-post graphics. In-post graphics are a wonderful way to give additional structure to your posts and highlight key information. They are also highly sharable. I try to add at least a couple of graphics to all my posts. With a set of existing templates, it often takes less than 10 minutes to create unique graphics for every piece of content.

Health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Health care - Essay Example There are volunteers who are assigned to have a substantial commitment for several months, whereby they are expected to serve for at least four to three hours daily every week. Moreover, the volunteers learn about the medical profession, and they become a part of the team, which is dedicated to offering high quality health care services. The clinic has breast cancer survivors and advocates of breast cancer awareness, who are inspired by their memories to treat patients with personalized attention, by the use of diagnosis and treatment approaches (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2012). The Women’s clinic receives government funding to support their health care programs such as campaigns for creating awareness of breast cancer. The federal funding supports the clinic in acquiring the required equipment in order to offer quality health care services. The clinic faces the challenge of obtaining substantial funds in order to cover for expenses incurred in the process of delivering heath care services. Moreover, the acquisition of financial resources from various sources may take a long process that may derail the effort of offering quality health care services. The clinic is faced by a challenge of managing diversity in the organization, since there are different professional in the organizations, who have different cultures and ethnic background. Therefore, there is a problem of the language barrier, which has a negative impact on communication (Bickell, Shastri & Fei, 2008). By being a charity-based clinic, it has to depend on donations from interested individuals and organizations. These donations are not reliable since there is no stipulated moment that the clinic receives the donations, and they cannot predetermine the mount, thus resulting to a problem when budgeting. The emotional chances in the environment related to the effort to

The Ethical Way Forward for Procurement of Organs Dissertation - 1

The Ethical Way Forward for Procurement of Organs - Dissertation Example According to the research organ procurement is the set of procedures that includes administrative, authoritative and ethical processes observed in the acquisition of organs for transplant via affiliations, systems or programs. The entire organ procurement procedure includes by consent seeking from the donors or donors’ relatives or acquaintances and the transportation of the organs so obtained from the donor through tissue harvesting to the respective health centres for further medical processing and eventual transplant into the recipient. Organ procurement began as a basic endeavour when affiliations that specialized in kidney transplantation obtained organs and used them to save other lives in the same facility. As the demand for organs and speciality in the transplantation of other solid organs as the heart, small intestines, pancreas liver and lungs among others augmented in the society, the dire need of developing enhanced and ethical organ procurement, distribution and s haring agreements was acknowledged. Because of the high demand for organs for transplant in contemporary times, numerous organizations, through the efforts of physicians, scholars and medical personnel, are operating to counteract the looming shortage to avoid deaths. I would wish to expound on this aspect by drawing an instance of organizations that are pertinent to enhance the entire organ procurement procedures. This addresses the dire need for organizations to come up to ensure that organ procurement continues as it should. For instance, affiliations and networks such as the SEROPP, SEOPF and OPTN in the US were formed that operated within the constitution to introduce efficient organ procurement enhancements that resulted into the betterment of the entire process. Some of the enhancements include tissue typing, computerized kidney-matching, educational programs regarding organ procurement and government controlled systems that improved and controlled identification of organ don ors (Mary et al. 2010). The procurement procedure is a procedural process that involves initial identification of brain-dead givers. The concerned physician conducts this practice. Hospital guidelines and the laws of the state are extremely imperative in the determination of the brain-dead patients. The patients stay under ventilator machines as physicians conduct further procedures on them. On completion of verification of brain death of the patient, the procurement body gives the guidelines and details of what needs to occur before transplantation. The core purpose of contacting the procurement plant is to allow discussion with the family of the deceased regarding procurement of the donor tissues or organs for further transplantation. Procurement body consultation is consummately augments consent by the concerned

Political ecnomony of japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political ecnomony of japan - Essay Example er the Second World War where Japan not only needed rebuilding but the people in Japan were so completely defeated that there was essentially no resistance to the occupation. The American army was certainly not welcomed as a heroic force but was largely seen with a sense of resignation. The Japanese were weary of the war and were more than willing to start over again under the guidance of the American political agenda which supported democratic ideals. The civilian casualties suffered by Japan had put them at such a low point that they might have accepted anything to end the war and return to normalcy. On the other hand, after a short war which was thought to have ended the whole drama, the Iraqi people fought against the occupation as well as against each other (Al-Khabbaz, 2009). Most importantly, the American occupation of Japan after the Second World War came with support. Support from the American public, support from the regional countries and even support for the person leading the occupation who had an excellent understanding of the culture and the people. In Iraq, America has none of these things mentioned above. The American public may have supported the occupation initially but as the death toll rose and sentiments of the public changed, the American public largely does not seem to support the Iraq occupation. The region is becoming increasingly anti-American as the radical elements continue to use Iraq as a symbol of American dominance and cruelty while the American leaders in Iraq appear to have little understanding of what is actually going on in the country (Schwartz, 2004). All these factors show that the Japanese and the Iraqi occupations are considerably different from each other. Schwartz, F. 2004, ‘Forced to be Free: Democratizing Occupations in Japan, Germany, and Iraq’, [Online] Available at:

International Training And Development

International Training And Development It is widely documented that training and development are clearly linked with performance (Nikandrou, Apospori, Panayotopoulou, Stavrou Papalexandris, 2008). Training development of employees enables a multinational, (or any organisation for that matter) to build up its human resources (human capital) (Dowling, Festing Engle, 2008), which can include things such as knowledge, skills, and intellectual property etc. It is also suggested that CEOs with international experience perform better (Ng, Van Dyne Ang, 2009). As this presentation is based on international training and development, we will be relating the presentation to the training and development not only required by, but also that provided by expatriate employees in an organisation. I will begin this presentation by firstly refreshing your memory about the definitions of some of the key terms in this subject, which you should all be somewhat familiar with anyway. Define Expatriate Firstly I will define expatriate for you. An expatriate is an employee of an organisation, who is working and living in another country (Davidson Griffin, 2006). The term expatriate can include 3 types of employees (Dowling et al, 2008): Parent country nationals: those employees who are recruited from the country in which the organisations headquarters are based, yet are sent to another country by the organisation. Host country nationals: those employees who are recruited from the host country into which the organisation has expanded. Third country nationals: those employees whos nationality originates neither in the parent country in which the headquarters are based, nor the host country in which the organisation has expanded into. I will now move onto the definitions of training and development. Define Training Training aims to improve an employees current work skills behaviour (Dowling et al, 2008; Davidson Griffin, 2006). This enables them to grow in their current position in order to perform better in the role that they were hired for. Define Development Whereas development aims to increase an employees abilities in relation to some future position or job (Dowling, et al 2008; Davidson Griffin, 2006). Skills or knowledge may be identified as being necessary in a role that the company anticipates an employee to move into at a later date. Now that I have given you the definitions that will be used throughout this presentation, I just wanted to do a quick exercise to ensure that everyone understands the definitions that I have given. An Australian (Bob) is currently working in America for an Australian company. His manager has decided that his skills in the current position need to be improved. What type of expatriate is Bob, and is it training or development that is required? Answer: Bob is a parent-country national that requires training for his current role. An American (Jane) works in Africa for a French company. Her organisation wants to send her to Australia in the future and they require her to become accustomed with the Australian culture and way of life. Her professional duties will remain the same. What type of expatriate will Jane be once in Australia, and does she require training or development? Answer: Jane will be a third country national, and she will require development to be able to successfully continue her current role in a new country. Now that you all know the difference between training and development, and the different types of expats, I will move on to the role of expat training. The role of Expat Training As you can imagine, the successful training of an expat is crucial for the success of any international assignment, and even successful training programs cannot guarantee that newly learned knowledge and skills will be transferred to the workplace (Cheng Hampson). Effective expat training therefore plays a significant role in ensuring that the organisations international goals are accomplished (Dowling et al, 2008). Expat training may sometimes also include training of the expats family that will be making the international move along with the employee themselves. This can include not only the spouse or partner, but children as well. The aim is to ensure that everyone settles into the new country and environment smoothly, which will in turn give the expatriate employee the best chance at a successful international assignment (Dowling et al, 2008). Some of the key goals of providing expatriates and their families with training before they depart for the international assignment are: To prepare support imminent expatriate employees in international assignments Training can provide support to enable the expat to adjust to the new country and everything that comes along with it, increasing the likelihood of successful performance within the new country. Expats can be the trainees and also the trainers in international assignments. Therefore the more training that they themselves receive, the more likely that the expat is then able to successfully transfer this training on to any international colleagues that require it. For example, if an expats assignment is to introduce a new technology to an overseas branch, the better the training that the expat has received on the technology, the better the training that the expat will be able to provide. Pre-departure training can involve many aspects, which will depend upon the likelihood of difficulties arising in the host country. Issues and training techniques that may be covered can include: cultural awareness, preliminary visits, language instruction, and day-to-day issues. Many of these topics will be covered in greater depth by later speakers. Some multinational companies have even developed their own training schools eg: Motorola, McDonalds, Disney. This enables the training that the employees receive to be tailored to the direct requirements of their position and the organisation as a whole. It also ensures that all employees are getting the same training, which can increase standardisation across borders, improving the reputation of the business. In multinational organisations such as McDonalds this is a huge benefit as the employees are trained in the aspects of McDonalds that remain the same in every country, such as general service techniques, organisational values etc. Cultural Awareness Programs When an expatriate enters another country for the first, or even the 10th time, they can become extremely overwhelmed by the cultural differences between the host country and what they are used to at home (Dowling et al., 2008; Ng et al, 2009). There is also evidence showing that educating an expatriate about the cultural differences that they should expect to encounter in the host country will increase their job performance in the expat role, and decrease the chances of the posting failing (Cullen Parboteeah, 2008). This is equally true for the success or failure of the expats family adapting to the other culture. Being an effective leader in the expat role is another important reason why cultural education and training is imperative to the success of an expat posting (Ng et al., 2008). It is actually suggested that the development of global leader skills is one of the top 5 areas of expertise that affects the success of a multinational organisation (Ng et al., 2008). An effective leader in one country may be an ineffective leader in another country with a totally different culture (Cullen Parboteeah, 2008). For example, a female senior manager in a country with a highly masculine culture, such as Japan, would not be well accepted or respected. Whereas a female manager in Australia is much more widely accepted due to our more Feminine culture. This is true for many physical and personal traits that expats are inevitably going to possess. By being aware of these differences the expat is able to tailor their behaviour, and even physical appearance, to better suit that expected in the host count ry. The most effective way to educate a current or future expat on cross-cultural differences is to develop a sound and tailored cultural awareness program. This should be designed specifically for the culture of the country that the expat will be working in, and customized to meet any specific needs of the organisation, or the individual. The customisation process may include the development of specific strategies that will be more culturally effective for the expat to utilise in the chosen country, or the exploration of available and accepted leisure activities that would appeal to the expat in that country. The depth of the program will depend upon the level of cultural differences between the 2 countries (Dowling et al., 2008). Tableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.As you can see in this table from your text book, the trends in providing cross-cultural training to potential expats and their families has been changing slightly over the yearsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.go through table Usually this cultural training and development is provided internally by the parent organisation, or off-site by an external company. The training may include creating awareness of cross-cultural differences and issues; acceptable behaviour in the host country; business practices such as power-distance levels and bribery; and language training. Therefore by training the expat on the cultural norms of the other country, their success will be much greater than if they were to simply approach the posting without such an opportunity. Preliminary Visits However providing cultural awareness training is not the only means implemented by organisations to get their employees ready for an international assignment. Another technique that may be used is to send the potential candidate (and perhaps their family as well, if they will be included in the final posting) on a preliminary visit to the host country. This will allow the employee and their family to assess whether they will be suited to living in this country, and they will be able to get a feel first hand of what it would be like to live there on a more permanent basis. The true challenges of living and working in some countries may not be recognised until being exposed to the environment itself. Therefore, another benefit of preliminary visits is that the visitors may identify additional issues that need to be included in the cultural training, that the organisation themselves had perhaps not realised. On the contrary, the potential expat may realise that they do not want to accept the position overseas, allowing the organisation to move on to a more suitable candidate for that particular overseas position. Sometimes a short-term international assignment may be in itself a preliminary visit for a potential long-term expatriate task. Ultimately, the organisation needs to decide whether the costs of sending the employee on a preliminary visit will outweigh the costs of having the assignment underperform, be prematurely terminated, or even the possibility of needing to send a replacement employee if the first one doesnt succeed or adapt (Dowling et al., 2008; Ng et al., 2009). I will now pass you on to Camille who will speak to you about language training. PERSON: Camille Language Training The role of English as the language of the business world English is the 3rd language the most spoken in the world (after Mandarin and Hindi). It is the official language in 53 countries and in some worldwide organisations such as the United Nation, the European Union, the NATO, NAFTA etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ You can see on the map the countries in dark blue are those where English is the official/national language, and those in light blue, where it is an official but not primary language. These data show us that one-fourth (1/4) of the worlds population can communicate to some degree in English: 400 million people speak English as a first language, 300 to 500 million as a fluent second language and 750 million as a foreign language. The largest English-speaking nation in the world, the United States, has only about 20 percent of the worlds English speakers. In Asia alone, an estimated 350 million people speak English, about the same as the combined English-speaking populations of Britain, the United States and Canada. However, some problems occur in the fact English is the world business language. Tungs report on 3000 corporations over 12 countries stated the following: Respondents from US, UK, Australia and Canada consider the language skills as unimportant. Respondents from Europe, Asia, and South America think that the knowledge of a foreign language is critical for success. The fact to disregard the importance of a foreign language may reflect a certain degree of ethnocentrism (=tendency to regard ones own group, culture, or nation as superior to others). Hall and Gudykunst study stated that the lower the level of ethnocentrism in an MNE, the more training it provides in cultural awareness and language training. There is no doubt that professional knowledge and experience is essential for entrepreneurs and managers. But reaching and staying at the top requires more than just being knowledgeable and experienced. One of the reasons why some entrepreneurs are successful may lie in the ability to communicate knowledge in a foreign language. Indeed, it is significant that employers realize the importance of learning (Business) English at the workplace. Over the years, research and needs analyses have produced a wide range of the language-using tasks an employee should be able to do through his job: the ability to communicate appropriately with superiors, colleagues and subordinates, and to representatives of other companies from abroad, the ability to assist an English-speaking (native or non-native) person when hosting business partners from abroad, To participate in the social life of the enterprise (e.g. sports and social clubs, etc.) when visiting business partners abroad. Host-country language skills and adjustment Sociocultural adjustment relates to the ability to fit in or effectively interact with members of the host culture. Notion of adjustment is based on cultural learning theory and highlights social behaviour and practical social skills underlying attitudinal factors. Paraphrasing the classical claim by Edward Hall that culture is communication (Hall, 1973, p. 97), the reverse is also true: communication is culture. Communicative ability permits cultural development through interaction with other individuals. Language becomes the means that promotes the development of culture. Language skills are very important for MNEs where English is not the first language: otherwise, there would be many translation issues. The ability to speak a foreign language can improve the expatriates effectiveness and negotiating ability. Its a real advantage. Tungs survey on 400 expatriates stated that the language skills are considered as a critical component in assignment performance: for the task performance for the cultural adjustment. Indeed, respondents of the survey said that the ability to speak the local language was as important as cultural awareness in their ability to adapt and perform on assignment. Actually it provides a real insertion in both social and professional lives. Knowledge of the corporate language Usually, the corporate language is English. Given its place in international business, quite often it becomes the common language within the multinationals. Thanks to the expatriates and their ability to speak the corporate language, communication conduits well between subsidiary and headquarters. An expatriate fluent in the parent-company language and the language of the host subsidiary can perform a gate-keeping role, whatever the formal position he may hold. Its a plus, very positive point: It gives added-power to his position. For international training assignments, expatriates are usually required to know the corporate language (cause these trainings would normally be conducted in the corporate language). An exception to this practice occurs in emerging markets, where the key new line managers may be trained in their own language: it is the case in the McDonalds Corp with its corporate training facility in Chicago. Since 1961, it has become the companys global centre of excellence for McDonalds operations training and leadership development. This is the first restaurant company to develop a global training centre in both the corporate and host country language. However, pre-departure training program often may need to include both the host country and corporate language. Now, Patricia is going to talk to you about the practical assistance PERSON: TRISH Practical Assistance Training HCN Another important component of effective pre-departure training programs is providing information that assists in the relocation of the expatriate.. Providing practical information makes sure the expatriate does not feel left behind during the adaptation process. If they were to be left to fend for themselves the expatriates and their family may have a negative response towards the host country culture, which can contribute to a perceived violation of the psychological contract. Therefore, the main objective of providing the expatriate and their family with practical assistance is to help relieve any anxiety or pressure that may exist and to help overcome any negative feelings that may occur towards the host country. It is now becoming regular practice that many multinational companies take advantage of relocation specialists that help the expatriate with accommodation, information about schools and possible employment for the spouse and children. As Camille has already mentioned, Language training is usually provided prior to departure, however further language training could be provided, particularly if such training was not possible before departure (Dowling Festing Engle, 2008). Another way of gaining information about the host country and its culture is from the people that are already working as expatriates in the area and whom are willing to help the spouse and family of the new expatriate to adapt (Webb Wright, 1996). Usually the company will organize practical orientation programs for the expatriate, their spouse and the expatriates family so that they can familiarise themselves with their new home prior to arriving (Dowling Welch, 2004). However providing practical assistance is jus t one of the many tasks that need to be done prior to departure. Not only is it important to ensure that expatriates are trained adequately, it is especially important when it comes to training others. Expatriates are often used for training because there is a lack of suitably trained staff in the host location. Therefore it is essential that expatriates are trained how to lead, motivate and develop employees, paying particular attention to the managerial training of Host Country National Third Country Nationals as well as having the ability to transfer their skills and knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner. But how are these expatriates prepared for this training role? Unfortunately there is little research on this topic. However it has been suggested by Dowling, Festing and Engle (2008) that multinationals could improve the quality and content offered to expatriates in their role of training HCNs as their replacements would be to better utilise the knowledge transfer process when expatriates are repatriated. In theory, all expatriates should be provided with adequate pre-departure training prior to their dispatch on an individual assignment. However, in practice, organisations often give priority to training their parent country nationals, while comparatively neglecting the training needs of their host country nationals who being transferred into parent country operations and third country nationals who being transferred to another subsidiary. This could lead to perceptions of inequity, especially in situations where third country nationals do not receive the same level of training as others who are working in the same foreign location. But why should multinational companies use and go on to train host country nationals and third country nationals. According to Dowling, Welch Schuler (1999) possible motives for MNCs to use HCNs, in particular, is that they can help to enhance a sense of corporate identity, help save on costs particularly when skills are needed and also to help facilitat e firm based training. The use of HCNs may also help in broadening the outlook for PCNs within the company From this it is clear that training for host country nationals and third country nationals is essential, as it helps facilitate an understanding about the corporate strategies, corporate culture and socialisation. This will help the MNC to achieve a competitive advantage, which is why it is important to ensure that knowledge and skills are distributed throughout the whole organisation. It is for that reason, that the main objective of international training should be to develop an understanding of cultural differences and an ability to work with host country nationals in order to facilitate management know-how transferred from the parent country. Before I pass you on to Helena who will talk about training for non-standard international assignments and the effectiveness of pre-departure training, wed like to take a quick break from our presentation and engage in a little activity weve created based on the topics weve covered so farà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ ACTIVITY PERSON: Helena Increasingly, multinational companies, faced with cost issues and rising staff immobility, are substituting or complementing traditional expatriate assignments with other types of international assignments. These so-called non-standard international assignments include: short-term, commuter, rotational, contractual and virtual assignments. The most popular form of non-standard assignments continues to be the short-term assignment. However, this important organizational activity has received limited attention compared to the burgeoning literature on traditional expatriate assignments. The Role of International Assignments in Managing Foreign Operations As mentioned above, it has long been recognized that international assignments play a critical role in the conduct of international business. For example, have been regarded as serving three purposes: filling a specific position or skills gap; for management development; and organizational development and for organizational development. What are Short-term International Assignments? Typically, the length of the assignment is a decisive factor in determining whether the assignment is defines short-term assignments as: longer than a business trip, yet than the typical expatriate assignment. Short-term international assignments are usually classified as assignments between one to twelve months. Results of studies relying on empirical data of company practices are in line with this definition. According to a survey 50% of member companies required the assignment to be at least 1-3 months in order for it to be categorized as a short-term assignment. Furthermore, 81% of member companies limited short-term assignments as being 6-12 months at the most. Implementing Short-term International Assignments (1) Recruitment and selection: It seemed to be a rule rather than an exception that formal selection is not conducted for short-term assignments. Commonly, short-term assignees work for specific international projects that demand certain skills and expertise. (2) Training and development: In connection with international assignments, training typically refers to country-specific and cross-cultural training. Generally speaking, interviewees reported that country-specific or cross-cultural training is not provided for employees leaving for short-term assignments but for the assignment country involves high cultural distance. (3) Compensation: two characteristic features of short-term international assignments lasting up to 6 months are: that salary payment remains in the home company; and that the companys travel policy forms the basis for compensating assignees. Accordingly, it is natural that the home country salary forms the basis for the assignment compensation. Depending on the situation, various additional elements can be added to the base salary. (4) Performance management: A formal performance management system is used oftentimes. Short-term assignees are treated as any employee in the company. If, for example, the system in use includes twice-a-year goal setting or evaluation discussions between the worker and the manager, this also applies to the assignees. (5) Repatriation: Unlike what has been reported for long-term international transfers, in most of the cases repatriation from short-term assignments was regarded as unproblematic by the interviewees. The effectiveness of pre- departure training The objective of pre- departure training is to assist the expatriate to adjust to the demands of living and working in a foreign location. Organizational social support: Organizational social support encompasses supervisory, co-workers and home country organization social support. Additionally, social support provide expatriates with information about what is acceptable and unacceptable in the new work context (Black et al, 1991). Intercultural training: In most multinational corporations, intercultural training programs are generally superficial, incomplete or nonexistent (Brewster, 1995).And intercultural training enhances expatriates intercultural adjustment. Besides, expatriates who had received cross cultural training had a better level of interaction adjustment and higher levels of skill development. Language training language is sufficiently important in its own right to warrant a more focused treatment (Welch et al., 2005). Indeed, the separation of language from cultural values has been beneficial in some respects because it has enabled researchers to demonstrate the strong, consistent influence of language on a wide range of issues in MNCs, such as intercultural communication, information flows, coordination, control, and structures, knowledge transfer, social identity, power and advancement, and power and language policy decisions. I will now pass you on to Alice who will discuss the Development of staff through international assignments and trends international training and development and finally conclude our presentation. PERSON: ALICE RYNNE. Developing staff through international assignments p150 Thanks Helena. Okay, so developing staff through international assignment. International assignments have long been recognised as a crucial factor in developing international knowledge. The expected outcomes of international assignments can be categorised into two main headings, namely management development and organisational development. Management development occurs through expatriates gaining experience and knowledge, which can aid in career progression. In terms of the multinational, the company benefits by encompassing a collection of experienced international operators, and for future development of the company, having a pool of candidates to draw from for later assignments if need be. International assignments also present the multinational with different avenues to accumulate knowledge, skills and abilities, all of which can be utilised, and in fact be the base of the companys future growth. This is labelled as organisational development. An individuals global outlook, acquired through international assignment, is another key benefit gained from expatriates adopting a broader view. As discussed by the other Alice, expatriates are mediators of the organisation and of socialisation, ultimately assisting in the transfer of new information and ability within the multinational. In terms of individual development, it is evident that international assignments are a type of developmental tool adopted by management that seeks to provide select employees with international opportunities. These opportunities are designed to enhance their abilities within the workplace through exposure to foreign environments, tasks and challenges. Expected financial gain to compensate individuals for the inconveniences of being transferred abroad continue to play an important role in encouraging employees to accept international assignments. In fact, in 2008, less than a quarter of multinational companies said they failed to provide expatriates with additional remuneration. However, in recent studies, it was found that 73 per cent of multinationals provide these financial premiums systematically for long-term assignments only, as compared to only 31 per cent of multinationals offering financial incentives for short-term assignments too. Aside from the cash incentives, the opportu nity for career enhancement and advancement plays a very important role motivating staff to accept international assignments. This trend is common for individuals in smaller populated and advanced economies, for example, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and The Netherlands, where the local economy is not considered large enough to provide the required development and growth opportunities for future management. Moreover, it can also be attributed to the fact that international assignments also provide the opportunity for ongoing growth in revenue. In such a situation, the individual understands that international experience is frequently a requirement for furthering their development, and gives the individual higher credentials for future employability. International assignments also provide an individual with greater marketable skills such as strategic thinking, flexibility and negotiation ability, improved decision-making, greater confidence and authority, more maturity and better pe ople management skills, all of which are attractive qualities to future employers. Now moving away from individual development and along to the subtopic of developing international teams through international assignments, aside from individuals gaining management development skills, international placement can also be the training ground for the international cadre. The benefits of international teams, particularly related to networked organisations, are as follows: A mechanism for fostering advancements, organisational learning and the transfer of information, A means of breaking down boundaries (both functional and national), enhancing communication and data flows, A way of encouraging diverse inputs into judgements, problem solving and strategic evaluations, A way of developing global perspective, and; A way of developing shared values, thus assisting in the use of informal, normative control through socialisation. Research and development and international projects are common situations where teamwork is utilized. It is fair to deduce that international assignments have the potential to form significant team connections by exposing employees to numerous parts of the global organisation. In many cases, expatriates continue communication with these networks long after completion of their assignment. These predominately informal networks can later be activated for work situations, such as providing membership of project t

Biography of Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp Essay -- Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp Wi

Biography of Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born on March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois. His father Nicholas was a lawyer who preferred a life of farming. From an early age, Wyatt learned from his father to stand up for what was right. When Wyatt was two years old, the family moved to Iowa. In 1861, the Civil War broke out, and Wyatt's father and three older brothers joined the Union Army. Soon after, Wyatt ran away to enlist, but his father caught him and sent him back home. In 1864, Nicholas left the army, and the family set out for the West. It took seven months to travel from Iowa to California. On the way they encountered Indians at Fort Laramie. The Earps settled in San Bernardino, where Nicholas bought a ranch. It was assumed that Wyatt would study to be a lawyer, but instead he became a stagecoach driver for the Banning Stage Line. He traveled between Los Angeles and Prescott, Arizona. In 1868, Wyatt went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming, where he was able to save some money. In 1870, he returned to Monmouth, where he married a girl named Urilla Sutherland on January 10, 1870. Sadly, she died a few months after their marriage from typhoid. After the death of his wife, Earp moved on to Lamar, Missouri, where he worked as the town Marshall for a year. Ellsworth was mean, and it was ugly. The stench of the its streets fell second to the odor of the unbathed saddle tramps who had just delivered 150,000 cattle from San Antonio to its freight yards. Adding to these smells were the blends of whisky, tanning leather, kerosene and carved carcasses, a revolting combination. Gunfights were spontaneous, either over a woman or a card game. When Wyatt crossed the Smoky Hill River into Ellsworth in 1873, he may have remembered the "rules of the gunman," but had no intention of employing them. The two main â€Å"rules of a gunman† were to take his time and always be armed. Although many people had warned him that it would be naive to go westward without being properly armed, Wyatt didn’t own a gun. All he hoped for was to find a peaceable job. But, only hours after hitching his horse in town he began to wonder if perhaps everyone was right. The most boisterous spot in town was Brennan’ s Saloon, off Ellsworth Square; its faro and poker tables buzzed 24 hours, bartenders tapped beer and ... ...rnia. Wyatt Earp died on January 13, 1929, and his fame as a lawman has continued to grow since his death. Wyatt Earp literally shot his way into the hearts of Western America. He is familiar to the nation’s people, young and old. From Ellsworth, Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona, he cleaned the streets of desperadoes in town after town. He shot coolly, he shot straight, and he shot deadly, but only in self-defense. Like any other person whose reputation leaned on firepower, there were those who wanted to test, to see if their draw was a split second quicker or if they could find a weak spot. Wyatt put many of their doubts to rest. When the history of the western lawmen is placed in view, Earp’s name leads the parade of Hickok, Masterson, Garrett, Tilghman and all the rest. Bibliography The Wild West. 12 Mar. 2000. 30 Apr 2001 http://www.thewildwest.org/ The O.K. Coral. 5 Jan. 2001. 30 Apr. 2001 http://www.tombstone-epitaph.com/ Tombtown. 2 May 2001. 2 May 2001 http://www.tombtown.com/bios/wyatt.htm Tefertiller, Casey. Wyatt Earp: The Life behind the Legend. Wiley, John and Sons. 1998 West, Paul. O.K. Corral, the Earps and Doc Holliday. Simon and Schuster Trade. 2000

Union Movement in Late 19th Century

During 1870 through 1900 workers joined together; responding to the power of their employers caused by the growth of industrialization. The worker did not always have the luxury of leaving after eight hours of work, the right to representation, or the even the right to work in a safe environment. The working people of nineteenth century America had to unite in struggle to achieve the gains that are often taken selfishly and taken for granted today. There were many successes and failures in organized labor; the successes were often obtained through the loss of the worker, often through lost wages, jobs, or even death. The organization structure of the union during 1870 through 1900 went through different cycles and strategies to achieve what they wanted. One of the first effective regional organized unions was the Knights of Labor formed in 1869. The knights took in not only skilled workers but also any worker that could be truly classified as a producer. The knights took their peek in 1885 when strikes against Union Pacific, Southwest System, and Wabash railroads attracted public sympathy and succeeded in preventing a reduction in wages, at this time they boasted a membership of 700,000. 1886 was a troubled year for labor relations. There were nearly 1,600 strikes involving 600,000 workers, with the eight-hour day being the important item for all of the strikes. Failure of some of the strikes and internal conflicts between the skilled workers and the unskilled led to a decline in the Knights popularity and influence. Another organization called the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions created a constitution that other unions could adhere to. This constitution met in Pittsburgh on Nov. 15 1881 and was created by representatives of the cigar makers, the printers, the merchant seamen, steel workers, carpenters and local units of the Knights of Labor. One of the most important items in the constitution created by the FOTLU recommended that the legal eight-hour work day be an objective for every union to achieve. The FOTLU thus accelerated a strong national push for a shorter work week. The AFL grew from 140,000 in 1886 to nearly on million by 1900. With these strengths in numbers they often preferred striking over political action. The struggle for workers rights, wage increases and protests against wage cuts were often unsuccessful resulting in violence and death. Chicago workers were agitating for the eight-hour work day for months. On May 1st and 2nd 1886 were eighty thousand workers went on strike, bringing most of Chicago†s manufacturing to a standstill. On May 3rd a fight between hundreds of strikers and non-union replacements broke out. Chicago police quickly moved in to restore order, leaving four unionists dead and many wounded. Angered by the deadly force of the police a group of anarchists called on workers to arm themselves and participate in the massive protest demonstration in Haymarket Square on May 4. Only 3,000 members assembled and started out peacefully until late evening when someone still not known to this day threw a bomb that killed seven policemen and injured 67 others. Even though no evidence was ever found about who threw the bomb four anarchists were found guilty and sentenced to death. Ever since the Haymarket square symbolized for radicals and trade unionists everywhere the injustice of a capitalistic society but also associated negatively unions as un-American, criminalistic, and violent. Many other activists died or received injuries for their cause all around the country. In July of 1877 strike riots halted the movement of U. S. railroads. After a few weeks of shutting down most of countries railroad system federal troops were sent in to try to end the nationwide strike. This resulted in more violence and death; in Chicago for example federal troops killed 30 workers and wounded over 100. On June 14, 1877 in Pennsylvania ten coal-mining activists were hanged. October 1887 the Louisiana militia shot 35 unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage and lynched two strike leaders. 1894 federal troops killed 34 American Railway Union members in Chicago attempting to break a strike. July 1892 three hundred Pinkerton guards helped introduce scabs into the workplace by opening fire on striking Carnegie mill steel workers, this resulted in the death of seven guards and eleven strikers. The idea of demonstrations was often to get the attention of management to show that they mean business and can†t be pushed around so easily. New York garment workers won the right to unionize after a seven-month strike. They secured agreements for a closed shop, and firing of all scabs. Striking miners in Idaho dynamited the Frisco Mill. Leaving it to ruins, getting the attention they wanted. The popularity and growth of unions everywhere showed companies that they are not going to walk over their workers as easily as they did in the past. Although union demonstrations resulted in workers being injured, dead or fired they set the way for unions in the future to be successful in their endeavors. These demonstrations were successful in the fact that they showed management and companies that the American worker can unite and be heard as one voice rather than a mass of passive workers that would take any injustice given to them. It is to these unions that we owe many of the benefits and rights we see and use today, such as fighting injustices such as biases and discrimination, winning the right to representation and collective bargaining, and the right for education for every child.

From Element to Riches essays

From Element to Riches essays A diamond in a sense is the most communal, elegantly, used jewel used in circulation today. Do people in actuality understand the concept and edifice of this mineral? A diamond is known as the hardest rock in existence and to most of the world it is a piece of jewelry, but do we know what the chemical composition of a rock and how is it formed? A diamond in actuality is carbon in its most concentrated form. While a few diamonds may have trace impurities such as boron or nitrogen, most diamonds are composed mostly of carbon. Carbon is a chemical that is fundamental in the process of life and used in various amounts of ways on the Earths surface. In diamonds, carbon atoms share all four valance electrons with adjacent carbon atoms, which form a tetrahedral unit. The covalent bond that is formed in this process is responsible for many of the diamonds superlative properties. As a result of the highly symmetrical arrangement of eight atoms that are fundamentally arranged in a repeating structural unit diamond crystals can form a variety of different shapes known as crystal habits. The octahedron is the most common of these crystal habits, but others include cubes dodecahedra and combinations of theses shapes. All however, are manifestations of the cubic crystal system to which the mineral diamond belongs. Diamond crystals that are real do not have entirely smooth faces which can be seen in the trigons that reflect the subtle changes of height in the diamonds face. However some raised trigons that point the same direction as the crystal face can occur from dissolution, etching, and the crystals natural growth. Another notable property that the diamond is well known for is its hardness. Diamonds are the hardest substance known, receiving a ten on Mohs hardness scale. While diamonds are not fragile or prone to breaking they can fracture or shatter. The best place for splitting a diamond is along one of its lines of cleavage as the cr...

12 Awesome Learning Games for Kids

12 Awesome Learning Games for Kids SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Learning games, or educational games, are all about making learning, well, fun! They’re also about getting kids to see the practical nature of the skills they’re acquiring, whether that’s how to identify shapes in the world or how to spell difficult words. In this article, we explain what kinds of skills children can learn through games and give you 12 examples of learning games for kids in preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school. What Skills Can Children Gain From Learning Games? Learning games are entertaining, highly effective methods for teaching children valuable life skills. Here are some of the most important skills kids can hone through learning games: Fine Motor Skills: Coordinating small muscles in specific movements using the eyes Pattern Recognition: The ability to grasp and predict patterns in images, numbers, etc. Visual Scanning: Using your eyes to look in a systematic, pragmatic manner, such as when learning to read Visual Attention: Being able to focus on specific visual information and filter out irrelevant information Short-Term Memory: The ability to recall images, patterns, or other qualities that have just been shown or said and then hidden or removed from sight Reasoning Skills: The ability to process information, think critically, and solve problems Social/Emotional Skills: Includes cooperation and patience as well as how to maintain eye contact, resolve conflicts with others, and communicate effectively Public-Speaking Skills: Expressing yourself verbally in front of others both confidently and appropriately Foreign Language Acquisition: The ability to learn vocabulary words, grammar, and other characteristics of a language that is not your native tongue Active Listening/Listening Comprehension Skills: Giving your full attention to a speaker and understanding the message the speaker is trying to express Language Skills: Linking together words to form proper sentences/phrases and improving vocabulary knowledge The kinds of skills children gain from educational games can vary a lot depending on the game, the ages of the children playing it, and its purpose as a whole, such as reviewing a basic math concept or improving vocabulary knowledge. For example, a learning game that works to improve kids' fine motor skills would be better suited to preschoolers and younger children than it would be for older elementary school students who have already mastered these skills. Educational Games for Kids: 12 Fun Examples In this section, we give you 12 examples of learning games for children in preschool all the way through upper elementary school. We've divided the games into three age groups: Preschool Learning Games (Ages 3-5) Early Elementary Learning Games (Ages 5-9) Upper Elementary Learning Games (Ages 9-12) Preschool Learning Games This first set of educational games is geared primarily toward preschoolers, or kids aged 3-5. Puzzles Number of Players: 1+ Time: 5-15 mins Skills Learned: Fine motor skills, pattern recognition, visual attention, reasoning skills, social skills Puzzles are great (not to mention fun) tools for preschoolers to practice their fine motor skills and pattern recognition. Some of the best puzzles for toddlers and preschoolers are those that teach simple concepts, such as the names of shapes, numbers, and alphabet letters. Be sure you're using puzzles that are geared specifically toward young children and not adults (so as to prevent possible consumption of small pieces). You can also have preschoolers solve puzzles in pairs or groups, or see whether they can solve the puzzle within a certain time frame. This should naturally be followed by a reward for the winners! Hot Potato Number of Players: 3+ Time: 5-15 mins, depending on size of group Skills Learned: Fine motor skills, social skills, public-speaking skills Hot potato is a classic game you likely played as a kid but perhaps never realized just how many skills you were learning as a result! There are many variations on hot potato, but the most basic form, which is the easiest to do with extremely young players, is to have all the kids sit in a circle and give one of them a beanbag (or other soft "potato" substitute, such as a small pillow or a stuffed animal). Turn on some music and then have the kids quickly pass the "potato" to the person next to them in the circle as fast as they can. Once the music stops (you decide when to pause it- remember, random pauses are key to the surprises in the game), the child holding the potato is out (or must do something as punishment, such as reciting the alphabet or counting aloud 1-10). Continue playing until just one child is left. Here are a few other variations on hot potato you could try: Allow the children to toss the "potato" to anyone in the circle (except for the person who just tossed it to you, unless there are only two players left) Have each kid answer a question when given the potato before they can pass it to someone else (for example, you show them a picture of a shape and ask what its name is) Use multiple "potatoes" to up the ante! A teddy bear works well as a "potato." This one's even the right color! Memory/Concentration Number of Players: 1+ Time: 10-15 mins Skills Learned: Short-term memory, fine motor skills, visual attention Memory, or concentration, is a fun, easygoing game that improves children's short-term memory and fine motor skills. There are several different ways you can set up this game depending on the resources you have: Picture cards with matching pairs: With this method, you’ll take a deck of picture cards and spread them out face down on a desk or the floor. Each child will then take turns flipping over two random cards. If the two cards are different, the child must flip them back over and leave them in their original spot. If the two cards do match, the child places them in front of herself. Continue playing until there are no more cards left; the child with the most matches wins. Puzzle pieces with pictures and matching pairs: Puzzle pieces with different edges and/or shapes work well for young children because they’re easier to grab and provide clearer hints as to which pieces will likely fit together. Flip over puzzle pieces two at a time, and play in the same way as described above. Pre-made memory game with windows: If you don’t want to set up your own concentration game with cards or puzzle pieces, then you might want to buy a pre-made memory game that comes with windows, such as this classic version by Melissa Doug (for ages 5-7). Four Corners Number of Players: The more, the merrier! Time: 10-15 mins per round Skills Learned: Active listening skills, public-speaking skills, social skills This classic game is great for burning off some energy. Start by labeling each corner of the room with a different number (or letters, shapes, cardinal directions, or anything else you’re currently teaching your kids). For example, if you want to focus on shapes, you could label each corner a different shape, such as a rectangle, a circle, a trapezoid, and a triangle. Choose one child to be "it" and blindfold them. The rest of the children will each pick a corner and move to it (without the child who is "it" knowing which corner has how many people in it). Still blindfolded, the "it" kid says the label of one of the four corners. With the example above, this would be one of the four shapes. All children standing in the corner whose label is called must immediately return to their seats, as they are now out. Repeat this process until there are four or fewer children left, at which point each kid must choose a different corner. The last person standing wins and becomes the "it" kid for the next round. Early Elementary Learning Games These kids' learning games can be played with children in early elementary school (kindergarten to around third grade). Fruits Basket Number of Players: Best with 8+ Time: 10-15 mins Skills Learned: Active listening skills, foreign language acquisition, public-speaking skills, language skills Fruits Basket is a wild game often played to get kids moving and learning things such as foreign-language vocabulary, numbers, letters, and so on. The game is similar to musical chairs. Put chairs in a circle so that there’s one less chair than there are children playing (e.g., if you have seven kids playing, you’d have six chairs). Make the chairs facing inward toward the middle of the circle. Each child will wear a picture of something around their neck, such as a particular shape, alphabet letter, or animal. Limit the number of unique cards to three or four, depending on the size of the group. This means that there should always be at least two kids per picture card. So let's say you have a group of 12 children playing. In this case, it would be best to have four unique card types, such as apples, oranges, bananas, and peaches. Four unique card types means three cards for each category(in other words, three kids will be apples, three will be oranges, etc.). One kid stands in the middle of the circle (also with a picture card around their neck) while the rest of the children sit in the chairs. The child in the middle picks one of the card names to say out loud. For example, if every child is a shape, the child in the middle could say, "Circle!" to make all the kids with "Circle" cards around their necks stand up and move. Once a category has been said aloud, all children sitting down who have the card with this category on it must stand up and find an empty chair to sit in. Meanwhile, the kid in the middle will also look for an empty seat to try to steal. Whoever doesn't get a chair is now the new child in the middle. Play continues until you decide to end the game- there are no winners or losers. Here are some additional tips for playing Fruits Basket: If a child is having trouble finding a seat and keeps getting stuck in the middle, they can say, "Fruits basket!" to make everyone get up and move at the same time. For an extra challenge, make it so that you can’t just exchange seats with the people sitting directly next to you (if they're wearing the same card as you). This game works great as a foreign-language activity. Have your children practice saying simple words in the target language. I often used this activity to teach my Japanese students English. Bingo Number of Players: The more, the merrier! Time: 10-15 mins Skills Learned: Visual scanning, fine motor skills, active listening skills, pattern recognition, foreign language acquisition Bingo isn’t just for the elderly- lots of kids love playing Bingo, especially if it means winning a prize or two! To play, you can either buy or make your own Bingo sheets. The traditional Bingo sheet looks like this, with each letter of "Bingo" representing a separate column with numbers in it (there's also a free space in the middle): The caller (usually the teacher or adult) will draw cards with numbers on them or randomly call out numbers. Each child takes a few seconds or so to look for the number and see if it is on their Bingo sheet. If it is, the child places a small token (or uses a pencil to draw an X or O) on the square with the number in it. If the number is not there, the child does nothing. If a kid marks five squares in a row, in a column, or diagonally, they call out, "Bingo!" and receive an award. There are many variations on Bingo. Here are some ideas for changing it up: Use pictures or shapes instead of numbers- this is great for teaching foreign vocabulary Get rid of the "Free Space" to make the game more challenging Change the traditional winning pattern and instead require the children to cover spaces in the shape of a giant X, cover all four corners, or get a blackout (i.e., cover the entire board) This next game makes kids the detectives. Scavenger Hunt Number of Players: The more, the merrier! Time: 15-20 mins Skills Learned: Reasoning skills, foreign language acquisition, social skills Scavenger hunts are great for not just getting kids to exercise and run around but also teaching them problem-solving skills and the value of teamwork. There are tons of ways you can set up a scavenger hunt depending on the age, skill levels, and interests of the children. The basic idea of a scavenger hunt is to have children (usually in pairs or groups) search for specific objects or clues in a room or other closed environment. Some scavenger hunts don’t require any preparation. For example, you could have children search for specific shapes in nature or colors of objects (especially useful if you’re teaching color names in a foreign language). Slightly harder scavenger hunts can entail having the children look for math problems or riddles, which they must solve in order to get the hint to where the next problem is hidden. Other types of hunts include providing children with a list of objects to find and gather, perhaps to put together later in order to complete something, such as a jigsaw puzzle. Simon Says Number of Players: The more, the merrier! Time: 15-20 mins Skills Learned: Active listening skills, language skills, foreign language acquisition Simon Says is a great way to teach kids how to listen and understand a variety of words, thereby improving their language and literacy skills. It's also helpful for teaching vocabulary words and grammar in a foreign language. To play, have everybody stand up. Make one person (usually the adult or teacher) be Simon. This person is the leader and is trying to eliminate as many players as possible. As Simon, you will say action phrases for the children to do, such as "Touch your nose" or "Raise your left hand." If you use the phrase "Simon says" before the action, the children must do it. If you don’t use the phrase "Simon says," however, the children must not do the action. Any child who performs an action that does not have "Simon says" before it or who fails to do an action that has "Simon says" before it is out and must sit down. The game continues until one child is left standing. Upper Elementary Learning Games This last set of educational games is best for children in grades four through six. Hangman Number of Players: 2+ Time: 10-20 mins Skills Learned: Language skills (spelling and reading), reasoning skills, public-speaking skills, visual scanning, foreign language acquisition Hangman is one of those classic, simple games that requires no major prep and is very easy to learn. It’s best played with a larger group of people or in teams. One person (usually the adult or teacher) thinks of a word and writes down a short horizontal line, or blank, for each letter of that word. Make sure to use a word that the kids will know and that is ideally relevant to what they’re learning. For example, if you chose the word "flower," you would write down six blanks, one for each letter. Once you have a word chosen and have written down the blanks for it, draw a hook-like picture; this will be what the "hangman" hangs on. It’s similar to an upside-down L or J. Draw an empty box next to this as well- this will be for recording wrong letters: Now, each student (or group of students) takes turns guessing a letter in the mystery word. If the letter is correct, write that letter in whatever blanks it appears in for the word (so if there are multiples of that letter, write all of them in). If the letter is incorrect, put that letter in the empty box and draw part of the hangman. Most people start with the head and then move on to the body, the limbs, and finally the facial features, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It's good to decide ahead of time what a full hangman looks like so the children can know at any point how close they are to losing. Anyone may guess the full word at any time. If the word is incorrect though, treat it as a wrong guess and draw part of the hangman. The players win if they guess the correct word or find all the letters in the word before the hangman is complete. You win if nobody guesses your word! To make the game slightly easier for kids, you can give them a category beforehand from which you’ll think of a word. For example, if the category were "School Supplies," then they’d know to be on the lookout for words such as "eraser," "pencil," or "notebook." Catch Phrase Number of Players: 4+ Time: 15-20 mins Skills Learned: Reasoning skills, active listening skills, language skills, public-speaking skills, social skills Catch Phrase gets its name from a popular board game, which involves describing a certain word or phrase to people without using any of the words in that phrase or any rhyming words. To play your own game of Catch Phrase, come up with dozens of words kids must describe to one another. If you have a large group of kids, divide them into teams (typically two). Write out the words on individual pieces of paper and then put them in a hat or bowl from which one kid at a time will select a word. Check that every child understands the word they get, and be sure they do not tell anyone else their word! There are several ways you can play this game; here are some of the most common: The traditional method is to have two teams. Each team takes turns describing a word to their teammates. Once a team guesses the correct word, play passes to the other team. The game continues like this until time runs out. The team not in the middle of describing a word when the timer stops wins one point. Time each group one minute and see how many words they can guess correctly. Have one child describe words one at a time (or have each child take turns describing one word). Give one point for each correctly guessed word. Don’t allow children to "pass" difficult words- this will make the game even harder! Teamwork is a vital part of Catch Phrase and other kids' learning games. Pictionary Number of Players: 2+ Time: 15-20 mins Skills Learned: Reasoning skills, visual scanning, visual attention, social skills Pictionary is an exciting board game that encourages kids to practice their drawing and reasoning skills. To play, divide children into pairs (or teams) and give them either a mini-whiteboard with a marker or a sheet of paper with a pencil. Each child will take turns drawing a picture of a word that’s been secretly given to them (written on a piece of paper and given to them or whispered to them by an adult). The other kid has a certain amount of time- usually one minute- to guess the word that is being drawn. There are many options for changing up the rules. For example, you could have all the children who are drawing pictures illustrate the same word at the same time, or have every child take turns drawing a picture at the front of the classroom on the whiteboard so everyone can guess. Here are the official Pictionary rules in case you’re interested. 20 Questions Number of Players: 2+ Time: 5-10 mins Skills Learned: Reasoning skills, active listening skills, language skills, short-term memory, public-speaking skills 20 Questions is an easy game to play that doesn’t take up much time and can be played with as few as two players. The purpose of this game is for the players to correctly guess what one person is thinking of within 20 yes-or-no questions. The thing being thought of is usually an object, person, or place. As the thinker, you'll come up with one word and then have the kids one at a time ask you yes-or-no questions to try to figure out what the word is. Questions typically begin broad: Is it a person? Is it something you can eat? Is it something in this room? If it’s the first time you’re playing this game with children, it'd probably be a good idea to go over some examples of basic questions they can ask you so they have a better idea of how to play. As the yes-or-no questions get more specific, children can begin guessing the word. For example: Is it a balloon? Is it George Washington? Is it the playground? If players can figure out what the secret word is within 20 questions, they win! If not, you win. The one message we hope you take away from this article! Review: The Importance of Kids' Learning Games Learning might not sound like much fun, but the truth is that there are tons of ways children can engage in activities that are both fun and educational. This list of 12 learning games is certainly not exhaustive, but it does manage to show just how many different types of (fun) educational games for kids exist. Most of these games can be bought at a store or created with simple tools, such as paper, markers, and colored pencils. If you’re not sure what kind of learning games to use with your own kids, think first of the types of skills you’d like them to learn. For example, if you want your very young students to practice their fine motor skills, a hands-on game such as a puzzle would be a great choice. Regardless of the games you decide to play with children, you’re sure to end up having lots of fun- perhaps more than you thought possible! What’s Next? Want more ideas for kids' learning games? Then check out our expert guides on spelling games (coming soon), alphabet games (coming soon), and toddler learning games (coming soon). If you want to teach children, then perhaps an early childhood education degree is right for you.Our guide goes over what this degree entails in terms of coursework, and gives you a helpful list of the best online BA in Early Childhood Education degree programs. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Hannah Muniz About the Author Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2015, she taught English in Japan via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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