Comparing the psychological profiles on employees in an ICT firm with a benchmarked ICT industry profile

Challenge:

A client in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry requested that their employees’ psychological profiles should be benchmarked against other organisations in the ICT industry, so that a general comparison could be made.

Solution/Study:

The sample (N = 858) consisted of mostly men (59.8%), while the largest ethnicity group was black candidates (28.50%). Just over a fifth of the sample were based in the South African operations. The research team looked at literature and previous studies to benchmark an employee profile for the ICT industry. From there, profiles were drawn up for the client’s employees; based on psychometric results obtained with the Hogan Personality Inventory, the Hogan Development Survey and the EQ 2.0; and compared with a benchmarked ICT profile.

Results:

The literature suggests that high-performing ICT firms in South Africa tend to focus on innovation and are likely to accomplish this through being proactive, taking measured and calculated risks, providing organisational support through a system of rewards (and leadership), and generating larger numbers of initiatives. In general, ICT firms indicated a below average degree on cross-functional interaction, compared to other industries. The psychological profile of the client’s employees was consistent across measurements and indicated results that are in line with those found in other ICT's.

The results profile suggests that leaders and managers in ICT environments tend to be described in the following way:

• Ambitious,

• Competitive,

• Innovative,

• Proactive,

• Confident,

• Driven by results,

• Assertive,

• More orientated towards tasks (rather than people),

• Hardworking,

• Willing to take calculated risks,

• Open to new ideas,

• Willing to learn and grow, and

• Might be resistant to change that is only implemented for the sake ofchange.