Publisher's Synopsis
A major breakthrough in understanding human capability, intelligence, and development theory is reported with the results of Cason/Jaques? conclusive 3-year study. Their field work demonstrates with high reliability and validity that when heavily engrossed in work, individuals process information in four and only four ways which recur in a series of higher orders of information complexity. Further, this hierarchy of mental processing methods corresponds with levels of individual capability and is congruent with levels of work complexity, explaining, at last, the very nature of managerial systems. - - This book also presents support for the concurrent theory, first formulated by Dr Jaques in 1956, that individuals mature in capability within predictable patterns, a maturation process that continues throughout life. The authors demonstrate the nature of this maturation beyond adolescence and into old age, and discuss how this view compares with that of Piaget and of IQ studies which posit that capability and intelligence are fully mature by late adolescence. The ability to plot and predict the growth of human potential capability throughout life will alter dramatically our present conceptions in developmental psychology. The social consequences of this work are likely to be substantial and extensive and are addressed by the authors. - - An important outcome of this study is the further development of managerial procedures that enable companies to match people with roles, and to develop programs that effectively meet the organization's future human resource requirements.
