Page 1 Can Employees’ Personality and Cultural Characteristics be Used to Predict their Best Fit with Software Testing Job Tasks? Judith C. Simon, Judith C. Brown Charles Campbell, Sandra Richardson

Page 2 Presentation Overview 1.Importance of topic 2.Theoretical basis a.Personality b.Culture c.Technical expertise 3.Interview data 4.Preliminary model 5.Follow-up research

Page 3 Importance of Topic  Trend toward greater organizational reliance on information systems as part of strategy  Increased complexity of software development  Globalization, with diverse development teams  “People” component identified as the biggest issue in IT management

Page 4 Theoretical Basis - Personality  Personality tests have been used to help determine job fit for employees  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a widely used measure, shown to be reliable and valid when used appropriately  Personality types have been identified as an important factor in successful team importance (balance needed for complex tasks)

Page 5 Theoretical Basis - Culture Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions –Power Distance: extent that different group members see inequality vs. equality in a power struggle –Individualism: extent that individuals assume an identify beyond a group –Masculinity or Femininity: gender role –Uncertainty Avoidance: significance of structured or unstructured events re behavior –Long-term Orientation: values of the future vs. values of the present

Page 6 Theoretical Basis – Culture, cont’d Current study focused on differences between U.S. and India –Power Distance: Highest index (of the five) for India and next to lowest for the U.S., suggesting more equality in U.S. culture –Individualism: Highest index for U.S., with India’s index about half of U.S. index, suggesting more training and structure be given to testers in India –Masculinity or Femininity: Similar index numbers –Uncertainty Avoidance: Similar index numbers –Long-term Orientation: Second highest index for India, while lowest for the U.S., suggesting India values thrift, perseverance, predictability, while the US. values tradition and obligations

Page 7 UNITED STATES RANKINGS FOR DIMENSIONS

Page 8 INDIA RANKINGS FOR DIMENSIONS

Page 9 COMPARISON

Page 10 Theoretical Basis – Technical Expertise Studies indicating critical knowledge / skills desired for IT professionals: 1.Interpersonal communication skills 2.Interpersonal behavior skills 3.Personal motivation and working independently 4.Critical thinking 5.Creative thinking

Page 11 Interview Data Participants: Software testing managers “Intangibles” were rated as very important –Self motivation, energy, level, flexibility –Team orientation, including team leader skills –Integrity, sense of quality –Process discipline –Communications and interpersonal skills

Page 12 Interview Data, cont’d Issues with cultural differences:  Language difficulties encountered between workers in U.S. vs. India; observation that face- to-face communications were better understood than written communications  Greater interest in Indian culture in work advancement compared with quality of life issues  Regular job changes more likely for those employed in India

Page 13 Model Development  Preliminary model, based on theoretical content (no actual data available yet)  Designed to test data to see what factors of personality, culture, and technical expertise might be best used to predict job success

Page 14 Personality Culture Technical Expertise Job Success MBTI Sensing/ Intuition MBTI Extrovert/ Introvert MBTI Thinking/ Feeling MBTI Judgment/ Perception Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Individualism Masculinity Long-term Orientation Education LeadershipExperience Programming Skills Employee Job Satisfaction Employee Evaluations Awards Rewards

Page 15 Follow-up Research  Further development using Structured Equation Modeling or logistic regression techniques  Use of actual data to assess the influence of these characteristics on job performance  Eventual use of model to make effective decisions related to software testing job assignments  Expansion of model to software development and other IT tasks and functions