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March 2017
The Madness of...Predictability Tests?
It is March and that means the beginning of College Basketball's March Madness! This is the time of year when you can expect the unexpected. While March Madness receives some of the highest television ratings and contracts in all of sport, there is plenty of controversy surrounding it.  With the selection process the way it is, rankings, statistics and money decide who gets "in or out" leaving some teams who are deserving out of the tournament without even a shot of proving themselves.  Does this sound like something that happens in the world of Human Resources? 

Predicting Accuracy?

"The NCAA has its own- in my view, misguided- reasons for continuing to use a ratings system that does not account for margin of victory. One of those stated reasons, however, should not and cannot be its predicted accuracy. If you are trying to win your March Madness pool, you wouldn't fill out your bracket according to the RPI. The NCAA should not set up its bracket according to the RPI, either."



On the Bubble
Disregarded before you can even prove yourself?

"The NCAA tournament has a bubble problem, which is really an inclusion problem. And not addressing it threatens the essence of the tournament itself. Fixing it doesn't require a statistical summit or a magical formula, but rather a hard reset of what teams should be considered viable participants in the NCAA tournament. Big schools that are coasting off their reputations, despite middling league records and safe non-conference schedules shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt. "To be rewarded for going 17-14 and not doing anything in the non-conference makes no sense," says Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley. "There's logo bias."

Read More

"That Kid in the Net Who Wouldn't Take that Test"



Psychological Testing in Sport or the Workplace

"Personality testing has been used for many decades by industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists to select appropriate candidates to fill certain job positions...More recently, some professional sports teams are using personality testing to help select from the draft choices. Is this a good idea and what kind of problems can we expect in this process?"  



Dave Baker's Take on March Madness in the Workplace: 

"Like the world of business college basketball teams, in fact all sports teams, demonstrate the power of human capital.  Players like employees are recruited from all over the place.  They're evaluated based on how well they match the core competencies to fill the position.  But all selection processes are not the same."





It's March Madness at Human Capital Advisors!

HCA has three employees with alma maters in the Big Dance. Which employee will win bragging rights at the office?!