Given a second chance, seven in 10 line managers would change their people decisions, according to a survey by workplace psychologist OPP.

The survey shows that 39% of line managers rely on gut instinct as one of the most important factors when making any decisions about their people, while 25% said liking a candidate personally was also a major influence.  

According to the survey people who had undergone a psychometric (personality) test in the course of their career were twice as likely to find this kind of data important to them in making a range of decisions about people. This group is also much more likely to seek for evidence in past behaviour than those who have never received feedback on a personality test in their career (68% vs 51%).
  
Most managers (97%) say they know their people fairly well or better, as opposed to 74% of workers and a further 45% did not trust their manager’s instincts on staff decisions relating to them or to others.

Dr Robert McHenry, chief executive of OPP, says: “The results of this study make chastening reading for any management team. Organisations have to ask themselves why they demand objectivity and transparency in every other decision about resources, particularly in these difficult times when all investment is under scrutiny, but when it comes to people, they allow themselves to ‘fly blind’?

“Managers are making the wrong people decisions more often than not, unable even to stand by their decisions after the fact. Mistakes range from overestimating the potential of a person to discovering information further down the line that would have changed the decision. In any case, these decisions are often made covertly and in the absence of hard facts.”