Requerimientos nutricionales conejos

A study of advertisements for OR scientists shows that they are often couched in such broad generalities that they are of little use in evaluat­ ing candidates for OR appointments. A careful study of one hundred and forty advertisements for OR scientists put out by a number of employers over a period of twenty-eight months indicated that employers were

basically interested in five principal requirements when identical phrases were grouped together. These were:

(i) A good first degree in a numerate discipline. This was demanded in approximately seventy-three percent of the advertisements.

(ii) Formal qualifications in Operational Research, or Management Science. Approximately forty-three percent of the advertisements contained this demand.

(iii) Well developed communications and interpersonal skills. In approximately forty-one percent of the advertisements this was demanded.

(iv) Ability to apply creative, critical and practical approach to problem solving. This was a condition for appointment in approximately thirty-four percent of the advertisements.

(v) At least one year experience in OR/CIS. This demand was contained in approximately seventy-seven percent of the advertisements. These requirements failed to specify the particular ways in which the prospective OR scientist could be distinguished from the general adult population, members of other scientific disciplines, and members of other professional groups. As guidelines they do not increase one's power to select Operational Research Scientists in the most effective and most efficient manner.

In fact the advertisements leave one with the impression that recruitment officers are unsure of the characteristics which are really responsible for success in OR. Hence young OR scientists are allowed to experiment for about a year or more wherever they can be initially accepted after which the recruitment officer can then use their performance over that period to test for their suitability or otherwise for the particular appointment (a case of risk aversion? See (v) above).

The other factor which is highly emphasised in selection procedures is numerate ability or general intelligence (see (i) above). This is rather unfortunate because it does not tell us much since most people who go into OR are relatively intelligent anyway. Furthermore as Blum and Naylor (1968) pointed out, it is generally recognised that most people fail in their job not because they are technically incompetent but because they may not possess the right personality for the job. Blum and Naylor declared:

"...it has been unequivocally determined that in many occupations the people with the highest scores on an intelligence test are not necessarily the most successful employees..." (p.101)

Gaudet and Carli (1957) who administered questionnaires on a number of top executives in order to gather data on executives whom the top executives had fired estimated that four out of five executives fail due to personality problems ("personality lacks") than for lack of technical competence

("knowledge l a c k s " ).

Blackett (1950) expressing a view on the most important qualification required in an OR worker listed among other things the ability to take a broad view of a problem, some knowledge of statistical methods, a high degree of general intelligence, and enthusiasm. But concluded

"...above all, the right personality is vital..." (p.15).

Similarly Tippett (1950) expressing an opinion in response to a question on what training an OR person should receive suggested technological training with elements of statistics and scientific method, but remarked in closing

"...the chief requirement being the mental outlook - the personal qualities - which will count for more than half of his qualifications" (p.79)

That a successful OR worker requires something more than his pure

scientific training has long been the subject of speculation. The point made by Streat (1950) in this respect is worth underscoring:

"Is any good scientist qualified to succeed in operational research or does it call for qualities other than pure scientific attainments? If so, what sort of qualities? Is there anything essential to true operational research in the

partnership of different sciences? Those

questions were prompted by my own strong feeling that there was something more than pure scientific qualifications in the men who had most succeeded in contributing to efficiency by operational research." (p.133)

Although it is generally recognised that a right personality is essential to the successful practice of OR, the personality profile of OR workers has never been scientifically determined. We believe that for the job of introducing OR into the developing countries to be properly done, it is important and necessary that only the right calibre of people should be enlisted.

The foregoing paragraphs highlighted the need for a scientific way of meeting the demand and supply of OR scientists, particularly in the process of the introduction of OR into the developing countries. There is clearly a need for a better understanding of the qualities which distinguish the OR scientist from other members of the scientific community, other pro­ fessional groups, and in particular from the general adult population. One needs to be able to describe in more precise terms the calibre of people in OR and those with the highest probability of succeeding in OR in relation to the average adult, and members of other occupations. To assist in this process we propose, using an instrument which is based on scientific foundation and one which is widely used world-wide for personality studies, to construct a personality profile of OR scientists and, to suggest how this additional information might be used to enhance the effective and efficient selection of persons for OR work. In order to do this, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), a psychometric instrument for measuring the sixteen primary source traits which the instrument designer believes to be the underlying structures of personality was employed to study the traits which m ost significantly

distinguish OR scientists from the general adult population. (See C ^ e l l , Eber and Tatsouka, 1970).

Before procee ding to the construction of the 1 6PF profile, a brief d i s ­ cussion ab o u t personality and personality assessment in general would be in order.