Cognipsy - Blog #hiringCognipsy - Blog #hiringhttps://www.cognipsy.com/blogs/tag/hiringSun, 02 Nov 2025 16:03:02 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Understanding Anatagonism]]>https://www.cognipsy.com/blogs/post/Understanding-AntagonismAntagonism is a very critical risk that often impedes the performance and growth of high achievers in organisations. In this post we examine what Antagonism cluster includes and what to do about it.]]>

Think of a new leader, a high performer and a great project manager. Chances are you would have heard of at least a dozen instances where they would have roughed up people, been impolite to a stakeholder, lost temper at their reportees, burnt bridges with peers or simply gone overboard with an argument. Common issues of not being able to get along with others are often underpinned by Antagonism cluster of risks. 

                                            From Big Five standpoint Antagonism is a complex mish mash of traits. It is largely concerned with low agreeableness, high neuroticism and often low emotionality. Individuals prone to Antagonism often have trouble getting along with people and while they can survive most interpersonal transactions, it is difficult for others to cope with them in interpersonal situations. Chances are many individuals with Antagonism proneness may not be aware of how rude or callous they come across to others. This is tricky because Antagonism prone individuals are often scary to give feedback to. When in position of power, people adapt to Antagonism prone individuals by treading carefully around them, not getting involved into arguments with them and in general assuming a meek stance when interacting with them. This often wins them a 'toxic' adjective. 


Antagonism within the purview of  SPS Scan is based on 6 key commonly overlapping challenges:


 Risk Description Impact on others
 Indifference Indifferent to others' needs Others may not share their emotions with them and may not reach out for help
 Arrogance Considers self to be better than others Others may feel insulted, judged or humiliated by them
 Provocation Argues frequently Others may not speak their mind and may not share feedback with them
 Aggression Loses composure, easily angered Others may try and not anger them, handle them with kid-gloves or avoid them altogether
 Fickle Subjective morals, double standards Others may not trust them and may find them deceptive
 Criticism Critical without consideration Others may lose motivation and feel inhibited around them

                                                    It is rare to find individuals with all 6 as high risk 7 in 1000 are likely to exhibit all 6 risks. But even 3 of 6 risks indicate antagonism related challenges for individuals in professional and personal life.

]]>Tue, 29 Dec 2020 13:53:00 +0530<![CDATA[Do psychometric solutions hinder diversity?]]>https://www.cognipsy.com/blogs/post/do-psychometric-solutions-hinder-diversityOften users of psychometric tools are concerned that screening employees for certain traits may reduce the diversity of their talent pool. This is understandable but an unreasonable concern. Find out why?]]>
Often we are asked questions, on the positive aspects of use of psychometric assessment. Say a psychometrically profiled role is being filled in by hiring candidates who match that profile, does that mean we end up hiring clones? Would it imply that such differences that contribute to attitudinal diversity are hindered when psychometric rules are used for making selection decision?


The simplest answer is both yes and no.


Yes because, theoretically, if a profile can perfectly describe a role, and if that exact profile is used to select for the role, there are likely to be commonalities between all such people selected by these means. However, assumptions made in this theoretical hypothesis are not well founded.


No because, it is almost impossible to find one profile that perfectly predicts performance in a role. Different people use different strategies to succeed at work. So only few variables would be valuable in differentiating the performance there.


It is also impossible to find people with exactly similar patterns of scores,  even on 10 traits the chances of finding the same profile are one in a million!


Any psychometric assessment can not describe 100% of all individual differences. e.g. personality can only explain 16% of difference in performance, there is so much more even beyond measures of error that will cause people to be different even with largely similar scores.


Other levels of constructs like attitudes and values also interact with the profiles.


In summary, the impact of psychometrics on diversity is only a theoretical possibility. In reality or in practice, it is very unlikely if not impossible that psychometric instruments would reduce diversity of an organization. In fact, psychometrics can be effectively used to balance attitudinal diversity. E.g. in a prone to risk team, one would want to add a new member who is very cautious.
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