This presentation is made as part of DSA internship with Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIML

1. W H A T P E O P L E A N A L Y T I C S
C A N ’ T C A P T U R E
D A N I E L
G O L E M A N

2. O U T L I N E
ABOUT Big Data can be used to analyse
the performance of people but
not always effectively. The article
explains how
SOFTWARE
USED
XQ
Google
ANALYSIS Important insights
Managerial Relevance

3. OUTLINE The latest fad in human resources, using big data analytics and
personality test scores to predict who is best for a given job – so-
called “XQ.”

4. M A R K E T T R E N D S
Of course many businesses are reaping rewards from big data analytics.
But there are also some areas of disappointment. Experts caution that
big data, like any other, is only as good as the questions being asked –
and that some algorithms can make unhelpful assumptions.

5. "Statistics means
never having to say
you are certain."

6. And then there’s the question of what metrics a personality test uses
to gauge “success.” Big data needs a hard outcome metric for
performance, but the most readily available metrics may not actually
be the most important variables in organizational flourishing.

7. A manager – like the demotivating petty tyrant mentioned above –can force his
people to work hard to meet quarterly targets, for example, while destroying the
emotional climate that sustains the life-blood of any organization. We have long
known that managers who focus too much on performance at the expense of
people can be ruinous to the organization over the long term. Using an outcome
metric like an executive’s earnings performance, while ignoring his role as a boss
and his impact on the morale, loyalty, focus, and stress levels of his direct reports,
may result in a false indication of who’s really the best boss.

8. It’s telling that at Google, that bastion of algorithms emerging from giant
data sets, engineers refused to use just such a method to decide on
promotions. As Laszlo Bock, head of hiring at Google explained, the very
fact the company knows so much about algorithms lets it see their limits.
The assumptions built into a test can themselves be biased against certain
traits and so discriminate unfairly.
But the biggest objection comes from the fact that the strongest predictor
of a person’s future behavior is their past performance itself. And that
performance gets evaluated best by people who know that person well.

9. A N A L Y S I S P A R T 1 : I N S I G H T S
The assumptions built into a test can themselves be biased against
certain traits and so discriminate unfairly.
But the biggest objection comes from the fact that the strongest
predictor of a person’s future behavior is their past performance itself.
And that performance gets evaluated best by people who know that
person well.

10. A N A L Y S I S P A R T 1 : M A N A G E R I A L R E L E V A N C E
A manager can force his people to work hard to meet quarterly targets, for
example, while destroying the emotional climate that sustains the life-
blood of any organization. We have long known that managers who focus
too much on performance at the expense of people can be ruinous to the
organization over the long term. Using an outcome metric like an
executive’s earnings performance, while ignoring his role as a boss and his
impact on the morale, loyalty, focus, and stress levels of his direct reports,
may result in a false indication of who’s really the best boss.

11. T H A N K Y O U
A P R E S E N T A T I O N M A D E B Y A K A N K S H I M O D Y