Ability, Intellect, and

Intelligence
Ability
An individual’s capacity to perform
the various tasks in a job.

Both the natural apptitudes and

learned capabilities required to
successfully complete a task.

Intellectual Ability
The capacity to do mental activities.
 Dimensions of
Intellectual Ability
••Number
Numberaptitude
aptitude
••Verbal
Verbalcomprehension
comprehension
••Perceptual
Perceptualspeed
speed
••Inductive
Inductivereasoning
reasoning
••Deductive
Deductivereasoning
reasoning
••Spatial
Spatialvisualization
visualization
••Memory
Memory
Nine Physical Abilities
Strength
StrengthFactors
Factors
1.1.Dynamic
Dynamicstrength
strength
2.2.Trunk
Trunkstrength
strength
3.3.Static
Staticstrength
strength
4.4.Explosive
Explosivestrength
strength Flexibility
FlexibilityFactors
Factors
1.1.Extent
Extentflexibility
flexibility
2.2.Dynamic
Dynamicflexibility
flexibility
Other
OtherFactors
Factors
1.1.Body
Bodycoordination
coordination
Source: Adapted from
2.2.Balance
Balance
HRMagazine published
by the Society for Human
Resource Management,
3.3.Stamina
Stamina
Alexandria, VA.

E X H I B I T 2–2
E X H I B I T 2–2
 Physical Abilities
Physical Abilities
The capacity to do tasks
demanding stamina, dexterity,
strength, and similar
characteristics.
 The Ability-Job Fit

Ability-Job
Employee’s Fit Job’s Ability
Abilities Requirements
1. The ability-job fit
• jobs make differing demands on people and
that people differ in their abilities
• employee performance in enhanced when
there is high ability-job fit
• poor ability-job fit, employees will likely to
fail
 Biographical Characteristics
• Personal characteristics that are objective and easily
obtained from personnel records.

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Social Group
• Tenure
• Religion
• Age
• effect of age on turnover:
• - older you get, less likely to quit
• reasons:
• - fewer job opportunities
• - higher benefits
• effect of age on absenteeism:
• - older employees, lower rates on unavoidable
absence
• Gender
• - no consistent male-female differences in problem-
solving ability, analytical skills, competitive drive,
motivation, sociability, or learning ability
• - women are more willing to conform with authority
• - men are more aggressive and more likely to have
expectations of success
• - women with pre-school children prefer part-time
work, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting to
accommodate family responsibilities
• - issue on absenteeism, no significant difference
• Race
• - some scholars argue that it is not productive to discuss
race for:
• 1. policy reason (divisive issue or can cause disagreement)
• 2. biological reason (large percentage are a mixture of
races)
• 3. genetic & anthropological reason (anthropologists &
evolutionary scientists reject concept of distinct racial
categories)
• - Department of Education classifies individuals according
to five racial categories: African American , Native
American (American Indian/Alaskan Native),
Asian/Pacific Islander , Hispanic , and White
• - racial differences in cognitive ability tests continues to be
hotly debated.
• Tenure
• - most recent evidence demonstrates a positive
relationship between seniority and job productivity.
• - tenure (work experience) appears to be a good predictor
of employee productivity
• - in terms of both frequency of absence and total days lost
at work, tenure is the single most important explanatory
variable.
• - potent (strong) variable in explaining turnover
• - longer a person in a job, less likely to quit
• - past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior
• - tenure and job satisfaction are positively related
• - stable predictor of job satisfaction than chronological
age
• effect of age on productivity:
• - unrelated
• reason:
• - some decay due to age, offset by gains due to
experience
• effect of age on satisfaction:
• - tends to increase among professionals
• - tends to decrease among nonprofessionals during
middle age and rises in later years