Olympic Teams Hold Tryouts for Good Reason.

In spite of the need for high performance, research shows that there are still major differences in productivity among employees. In a recent book on selection, Adrian Furnham wrote that variance in productivity across workers averages about two to one: that is, good workers produce about twice the output of poor workers. In the weaving industry, for example, good workers produce 130 picks per minute compared to poor workers’ rate of 62 picks per minute (the same ratio was found among hosiery workers, knitting machine operators and taxi drivers). As the work becomes more complex, the productivity ratio becomes even higher, so that a good physicist produces much more than twice the output of a poor one (Furnham, 1992).