Communications of the ACM
Personalities Influence Workforce Planning
Credit: Small Business Chronicle
Concordia University researcher Mohammed Othman says his mathematical model could improve engineer workforce planning. Othman says in a paper how the model can take the results from personality tests, such as a worker's motivation level, work capacity, and ability to learn, and uses that psychological data for hiring, firing, scheduling, and training purposes.
Othman initially ran a complex model to determine the cost of running a manufacturing shop floor over eight weeks, employing a control that slotted hirable workers into positions without regard for their training, skills, capacity for work, personality, or motivation. Othman then used his model, taking these factors into account before the production period began, placing workers in more appropriate positions with a view to minimizing hiring, firing, training, and overtime costs. The model created a significant cost savings of 7.1 percent.
Othman says the model could be used in the service industry, in addition to manufacturing. "There is also an opportunity for another researcher to incorporate cognitive ability," he says.
From Concordia University
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