Nettlers are reasonably skilled at understanding emotions, but can sometimes be indifferent to the feelings of others. They may say or do things without consideration for how it will impact the people around them. And if a Nettler is able to pick up on a person's vulnerabilities (e.g. a lack of assertiveness) they will use it to their advantage if it suits their needs. They know which buttons to push, which could put Nettlers at an advantage in certain types of negotiations, but it would also potentially make them poor mentors and managers. Overall, Nettlers are not well-suited to leadership positions or customer service. They may thrive in an environment with highly structured and supervised teamwork, and well-designed, solo assignments that don't require too much cooperation.
In order to climb the ranks socially and professionally, Nettlers may sometimes use veiled intimidation or other unscrupulous means, like rumor-mongering or gossip. Try as they might to hide feelings of anger, frustration orbitterness, these emotions might seep through when Nettlers are under stress or with people who bring out the worst in them (e.g. a micromanager, a bullying colleague).
Some Nettlers may contend that their occasional malice is a survival mechanism: If they are treated poorly or cruelly, they will respond in kind. Nettlers can be chronic complainers and adopt a victim attitude, which they will use to justify their actions (blaming others for mistakes, using someone as a scapegoat). When in a confrontation, they will focus on the hurt or the negative things that were said, rather than learning from the situation and moving on. Although they can pick up on some social cues, they may also read too much into a situation, seeing a slight where none was intended. This could mean that many Nettlers will hold a grudge, perhaps even for years. This could also mean, however, that if treated with respect and kindness, the Nettlers' edge might soften.
Over the past several years, honesty and integrity testing in the workplace has become more and more prevalent. There are several reasons for this increase. First, organizations that had in the past utilized polygraph testing for their employees were forced to stop due to new legislation. This created a void in this type of testing - something that these companies likely regretted because they knew that testing for honesty has benefits, both in the quality of personnel hired and in the reduction of theft and other counterproductive behavior. Second, companies are realizing that the high cost of turnover, even in entry-level jobs, merits more careful selection procedures. And finally, evidence suggests that organizations and companies have reason to fear that their employees may in fact steal from them: Studies show that in companies where honesty testing has been implemented, theft and other forms of dishonest behaviors have decreased dramatically.
That being said, honesty tests must be interpreted cautiously, and in the context of other information about the individual taking the test. No selection decisions should be made solely on the basis of the results of a test; honesty assessments should be used as just one part of the selection process. In addition, tests should be used only for jobs for which it is relevant, such as those that involve access to money and merchandise, jobs where there isn't much supervision or strict enforcement of rules, and other occupations vulnerable to dishonest behavior.
Probability of social desirability bias
What is Impression Management?
Impression Management assesses the degree to which results on a test are distorted, biased, or manipulated. It is added to assessments like this one in order to call attention to suspicious test-taking behavior. When taking aptitude or personality tests, some people will try to present themselves in a better light, especially if the stakes are high, such as when they are applying for a job. The person may deliberately or subconsciously choose to underreport negative behaviors or overreport positive ones, or he or she may select responses that he or she believes other people will give under the same circumstances. Other names for concepts similar to Impression Management (though not necessarily identical) include Social Desirability, Gaming the Test, Faking, Faking Good, Distortion, Lying, and Self-deception.
How is Impression Management assessed?
A test-taker's answers on the Impression Management questions are compared to the responses of the general population who also took this assessment. When someone selects socially desirable responses that are rarely endorsed by other people, there is reason to believe that a self-presentation bias is at play.
It is important to keep in mind that a socially desirable response to any single Impression Management question could actually be the truth, in that the person is actually as good or as skilled as he or she is claiming to be. However, if most or all the questions on the scale follow a socially desirable pattern, it is unlikely that the person is being truthful, though not entirely impossible.
How should an Impression Management score be interpreted?
The information offered by an Impression Management scale is meant as a cautionary note, an indication to pay careful attention to the test-taker's results and to his or her responses in an interview. A high probability of social desirability casts doubt on a person's results, but this doesn't mean that he or she should automatically be dismissed solely based on that. The hiring manager should view this as a sign that they need to be particularly thorough when interviewing the candidate, paying special attention to the skills and traits a person claims to have and probing in the interview to see if the person is really as good as he or she claims to be. For additional tools that can help with the hiring process, we suggest that you use the interview questions module available in ARCH Profile, which provides questions that are tailored to a test-taker's results and specifically designed to probe deeper.
There is one caveat: any Impression Management scale can produce a false negative. People who are familiar with psychometrics may be able to detect Impression Management questions and achieve a low score. A false positive is also possible, in which a person is actually as wonderful and honest as he or she claims to be. However, both of these conditions are quite rare.
How did this test-taker perform on Impression Management?
The probability that Sample's responses were influenced by social desirability bias is very low.
This means that he was most likely being honest in his responses. Consequently, there is reason to believe that his results on the scales are an accurate reflection of how he conducts himself in reality. Even with a low likelihood of social desirability, it would still be a good idea to ask Sample probing interview questions in which you ask for concrete examples of situations when he displayed certain positive characteristics or competently managed challenging circumstances.