Contributing psychologists
Grant Amos
Grant, who holds degrees in Sociology and Psychology from Canterbury University, set up his own industrial and organisational consultancy in 1988. He is well versed in providing independent selection and HR advisory services to a wide range of clients.
Prior to specialising in the provision of psychometric advisory services he spent three years with a major recruitment firm in Auckland, originally running a brand name that recruited in the sales and marketing strata of business, and then in senior management positions.
His earlier career was with Air New Zealand, which he joined in 1978. Grant’s original position required that he set up and then conduct customer service and customer relations training courses. To fully understand the intricacies involved in the industry he first went and worked in each of the customer-contact roles, before setting any training programmes. Later his courses were conducted within the context of having completed many of the roles discussed, and having dealt first hand with typical customer interactions. In 1980 he began working with passengers who had a fear of flying, and still conducts the Flying Without Fear programme around New Zealand.
In 1982 Grant was appointed to a position that placed him in charge of Air New Zealand’s cabin crew training section, working with both the domestic as well as the international crews. At this time the Boeing 747 aircraft had just replaced the DC10 fleet, and there was considerable growth in both domestic and international operations, culminating with the purchase of Boeing 767 aircraft in 1985. Having already become qualified as a Technical Institute instructor, and with a small but willing team, the entire training system was revamped and upgraded to meet the greater demands of efficiency and skill base.
Both the Flying Without Fear programme and the recruitment exposure have provided Grant with a wide range of business opportunities, and his client base stretches from the airline industry, through production organisations and CRIs, to manufacturers and high customer contact clients. He still operates a small private practice, but is now more focused on the correct implementation of psychometric tools in human resource activities, as well as consulting on best practice issues in industry. To this end Grant has remained a member of the Occupational Division of the New Zealand Psychological Society.
Clients that Grant has completed work over the years with a number of big companies, including Air New Zealand, Inland Revenue (including the major restructuring 1993-6), Northpower, Villa Maria Wines, Sheraton Hotels, Skill NZ, and a number of transport companies. He has also provided key role selection advice for a number of smaller companies, where the appointment was crucial to the success of the organisation.
Keith McGregor
Keith McGregor holds a degree in psychology from Victoria University. He is the author of the Selector PA suite of software.
He joined Gilmour McGregor and Associates Ltd as a director in May 1986. Prior to this he spent 12 years with the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an industrial psychologist. During this time, Keith was involved in a wide spectrum of organisational and personal psychology, including areas such as selection test development, interviewing, training development and validation, personal counselling, large scale survey work and statistical analysis. Also during this time Keith represented the New Zealand Defence Forces in behavioural sciences projects with psychologists and researchers from the British, Canadian, Australian and American armed forces.
As a principal in Gilmour McGregor & Associates, Keith is directly involved in the activities of the company which employs registered psychologists of various disciplines: clinical, forensic and industrial. Among the numerous organisations he works with, both national and international, Keith is recognised for his executive assessment work and in particular for his extensive knowledge of interview techniques, testing and test development.
Large scale survey research work also remains a focus, as does staff training, organisational development and career related counselling. Keith is actively involved in the study and application of psychological factors which influence safety behaviours in industrial and aviation settings and is an organisational factors consultant to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.
As a special interest Keith also maintains ongoing contact with a number of voluntary organisations and secondary schools - an interest which provides him with regular testing ground for his training skills in the form of vigorously skeptical sixth and seventh formers.
Keith is a member of the occupational division of the New Zealand Psychological Society.