Discussion question: - Please read Chapter 10 ABILITY Carefully and then give your answers on the basis of your understanding. 4. What combination of abilities is appropriate for the job of your dreams? Do you possess those abilities? If you fall short on any of these abilities, what could you do to improve? (1.25 Marks ) (Min words 200-300) Important Note: - Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the textbook and at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles.

CASE:

FBI The FBIs website provides a vivid description of the job of a special agent. One day a special agent may be focused on recruiting a human source of information from a foreign country to avert a terrorist attack. Another day may involve several different activities; testifying in court in the morning, planning a sting operation over lunch, chasing down a suspect on a Most Wanted list in the afternoon, and speaking at a community event in the evening. To be effective at these tasks, special agents not only need to be physically fit, but they also need to be able to work independently, be adaptable to changing and sometimes very dangerous situations, make logical decisions based on all available facts, and communicate effectively and articulately, both orally and in writing. To make sure new hires possess these abilities, the FBI requires that special agent applicants go through a series of ex-aminations, which include a three-hour session consisting of cognitive, behavioral, and logical reasoning tests, a 90-minute written test that measures problem solving abilities, a one-hour panel interview intended to supplement the information gathered in the other testing, physical fitness tests, and a medical ex-am which, among other things, tests vision and hearing. One of the assumptions behind this testing is that new hires will possess the abilities necessary to have an effective and long career as an FBI special agent. But is this assumption valid? On the one hand, many of the abilities that are tested during the hiring process remain rela- tively stable over time. So, for ex-ample, an agent who scored high on the logical reasoning ability test when hired will have high logical reasoning ability years later. On the other hand, some abili- ties change over time, and not for the better! Most notably, physical abilities tend to erode due to the process of aging and coping with the demands of work and life. In recognition of this specific issue, the FBI recently instituted annual physical fitness testing. The test includes the number of sit-ups in one minute, a timed 300-meter sprint, the maximum number of pushups (untimed), and a timed 1.5 mile run. The scoring system is based on an agents age and sex, and those who score below standard (or who do not take the test without a medical excuse) are given a rating of no higher than Minimally Successful on the Maintaining High Professional Standards dimension of their annual performance review.