Product reviews for Profiting from Multiple Intelligences in the Workplace

Joyce Martin's book, Profiting from Multiple Intelligences in the Workplace, provides an update on the changing world of HR with respect to finding the right person for the job. It is aimed more at the HR manager who is involved in hiring new staff, although it also provides a number of questionnaire forms for gaining a better understanding of Howard Gardner's model of multiple intelligences.

The job market does not remain static; you cannot rely on last year's thinking about CVs or recruitment. Labour market conditions are constantly changing, and the skills and abilities being sought get redefined, based on a variety of new models as each previous model is found wanting. What we do know is what doesn't work. For Joyce Martin, that would be IQ as a predictor of job success. There is no way a single number (such as an IQ score) could do that.



Which brings us to the major issue here: how is it possible to predict how someone will perform in a job? Early models, such as Rodgers's Seven Point Plan (1952), tended to focus on superficial aspects ” the visible or easily identified top layer of “personality.' Many psychologists have sought to find more reliable and stable aspects of “personality'. Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence model has been widely trialed in educational systems over the last decade, and has “brought about significant changes in how educators define learners and their abilities” (p. 218). Joyce Martin's book is the first to apply this model to the adult workforce, and is a useful step along the way of meeting the needs of HR departments.