The relation between cognitive ability and psychological readiness of semi-skilled employees in the South African mining industry

Abstract

Political change has, especially in the South African mining industry, created the need for the application of culturefair tests with the view of affirmative action. These tests are especially applied to measure cognitive ability, which is widely accepted to be positively correlated with work performance. The question arose whether cognitive tests are able to predict psychological readiness to perform as implicated by Hemstein and Murray's (1994) work on the "Bell Curve". In this study, no meaningful relation between cognitive ability and psychological readiness was found. This reflects some support for a multi-dimensional approach to the study of intelligence. Opsomming Politieke verandering het veral in die Suid-Afrikaanse mynbedryf, gelei tot 'n behoefte aan die toepassing van kultuurbillike toetse vir die doeleindes van regstellende aksie. Hierdie toetse word toegepas om kognitiewe vermoe te meet en daar word wyd aanvaar dat dit positief met werksprestasie korreleer. Die vraag het ontstaan of hierdie toetse daartoe in staat is om sielkundige gereedheid om te presteer, voorspel soos geimpliseer deur Hemstein en Murray (1994) se werk oor die "Bell Curve". In hierdie studie is geen betekenisvolle verband tussen kognitiewe vermoe en sielkundige gereedheid om te presteer, gevind nie. Daar word dus steun vir 'n multi-dimensionele benadering tot die bestudering van intelligensie, gevind.

Keywords

• Cognitive ability
• Psychological readiness
• Semi-skilled employees
• Mining industry