ABILITY

Ability refers to an individuals capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. The quality or state of being able; power to perform, whether physical, moral, intellectual, conventional, or legal; capacity; skill or competence in doing; sufficiency of strength, skill, resources, etc.

TYPES OF ABILITY
An individuals overall abilities are essentially made up of two sets: INTELLECTUAL ABILITY PHYSICAL ABILITY

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES
Intellectual means the ability to think in an intelligent way and to understand things, especially difficult or complicated ideas and subjects... Intellectual abilities are those needed to perform mental activities for thinking and reasoning.

It is believed that there are a few different dimensions of mental abilities.

Sr. No. 1) Dimension of Intellectual Abilities Number aptitude Description Ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic Job Example Accountant

2)
3) 4) 5) 6)

Verbal communication Read write speaking ability

Perceptual speed Inductive reasoning Deductive reasoning Spatial visualization Identify similarities and differences quickly and accurate Logical sequence drawing Ability to use logic and assess the implications of the argument Ability to imagine how an object would look if its position in space were changed Ability to retain and recall past experience

Senior managers
Investigators Market researchers Supervisors Interior decorator

7)

Memory

Sales person

Relevance of Intellectual Ability to OB

Organizational behavior is traditionally considered as the study of human behavior in the work place. Employee performance is enhanced when an employee and position are well matchedwhat we call a high abilityjob fit. If we focus only on the employees abilities or the ability requirements of the job, we ignore the fact that employee performance depends on the interaction of the two. What predictions can we make when the fit is poor? If employees lack the required abilities, they are likely to fail. If youre hired as a word processor and you cant meet the jobs basic keyboard typing requirements, your performance is going to be poor in spite of your positive attitude or your high level of motivation. When an employee has

abilities that far exceed the requirements of the job, our predictions would be very different. The
employees performance may be adequate, but it may be accompanied by organizational inefficiencies and possible declines in employee satisfaction because the employee is frustrated by the limitations of the job. Additionally, given that pay tends to reflect the highest skill level that employees possess, if an employees abilities far exceed those necessary to do the job, management will be paying more than it needs to pay. In a nutshell, an employees job specifications should be in line with his intellectual abilities. That way, hell be able to execute his duties excellently and effortlessly, as well as obtaining maximum job satisfaction.

PHYSICAL ABILITIES
The ability to perform some physical act; contrasting with mental ability. As in intellectual abilities a larger role in complex jobs with demanding information- processing requirements but physical abilities gain importance for successfully doing less skilled and more standardized jobs.

BASIC PHYSICAL ABILITIES

STRENGTH FACTORS 1. DYNAMIC STRENGTH 2. TRUNK STRENGTH 3. STATIC STRENGTH 4. EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH FLEXIBILITY FACTORS 1. EXTENT FLEXIBILITY 2. DYNAMIC FLEXIBILITY OTHERS FACTORS 1. BODY CO-ORDINATION 2. BALANCE 3. STAMINA