Page 40 - DMGT507_SALES AND PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT

Sales and Promotions Management

Notes In narrow sense, "It is a sample of an aspect of an individual's behaviour, performance or
attitude".
Thus, we may define it as a systematic procedure for sampling human behaviour.

Psychological testing is gaining greater importance as a selection tool of sales personnel because
of sales management becoming more formalised and rising cost of selection and training. The
major purpose of testing is to identify the various aspects of a persons' behaviour such as
intelligence, achievements, interests, aptitude, personality traits, etc.

Different Types of Psychological Tests

Psychological tests are divided into four categories on the basis of human behaviour. But mostly,
the three categories: Aptitude Test, Personality Test and Achievement Test are used in selection
procedure of sales personnel.

Figure 2.2: Classification of Ability Test

1. Aptitude or Ability Test: These are used to measure the talent/ability of a candidate to
learn the job or skill. They detect peculiarities or defects in a person's sensory or intellectual
capacity. They focus attention on a particular type of talent, e.g., learning, reasoning or a
mechanical bend of mind. Such tests may be of the following types:

(a) Mental or Intelligence Test: They measure the overall intellectual activity or the
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of the candidate. They also determine the candidate's
word fluency, memory, inductive reasoning, speed of perception and spatial
visualisation.

(b) Mechanical Aptitude Test: These measure the capacity of a person to learn a particular
type of mechanical work as they measure a person's visual-motor coordination or
integration.

(c) Psychomotor or Skill Test: These tests measure a person's ability to do a specific job.
They are administered to determine mental dexterity or mental ability and similar
attributes involving muscular movement, control and coordination.
2. Personality Tests: These tests try to find out an individual's value system, his emotional
reactions and maturity and his characteristic mood. Their major motive is to measure the
basic make up or characteristics of individuals which are non-intellectual in nature.
These tests can be categorised into the following types:

(a) Objective Test: They measure neurotic tendencies, self-sufficiency, dominance-
submission and self-confidence. These are scored objectively.

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