CHAPTER 4EMPLOYEE TESTING & SELECTION

THE SELECTION PROCESSWhy selection is important?

The careful selection of employees is important for three reasons:Firstly, your own performance always depends partly on your subordinates.

Employees who do not have right capabilities, skills wont work effectively and your own performance and your firms performance will suffer.

The time to keep out these undesirables is before they are in the door, not after.

Effective screening is also important because it costs money to recruit and hire employees.

Hiring and training even a clerk cost US dollars 5000 or more.

Similarly total cost of hiring manager could easily cost 10 times more than clerical job.

This includes search fees, interviewing time, reference checking and traveling/moving expenses.

3. Legal implications negligible Hiring Careful selection is important because of legal implications of incompetent hiring.

For example: Equal employment opportunities (EEO) legislation a court decision requires you to systematically evaluate.

Your selection procedures effectiveness to ensure that you are not unfairly discriminating against any protected group.

The courts are also increasingly finding employers liable when employees with criminal records take an advantage of having access to customers homes and thereby to commit crimes.

Hiring workers with such backgrounds without proper safeguards is called negligent hiring.

C A S E S

Ponticas V/S K.M.S. Investments:An apartment manager entered in womans apartment & assaulted her (case of negligence on part of employee)

B. Henley V/S Prince Georges County:An employee who turned out to have a criminal background murdered a young boy. Management aware of the mans prior murder conviction was held liable.

Steps against negligent hiring includeCarefully scrutinize all information provided by the applicant through his application e.g. unexplained gaps in employment.

Obtain written authorization of the applicant for reference checks from employees and former employers.

Save all records and information you obtain about the applicant during each stage of selection process.

Reject applicants who make false statements of material facts regarding conviction and other offences.

Keep in mind the need to balance the applicants privacy rights with others need to know especially when damaging information is discovered.

Take immediate disciplinary action if problems develop.

BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS

TEST VALIDITYA tests validity answers the question:

What does the test measure?

The term/concept validity relates to the evidence that the test is job-related.

There are two methods to demonstrate a tests validitycriterion validity and content Validity.

Criterion Validity:A type of validity based on showing that scores on the test i.e., (Predictors) are related to the job performance (criterion).

Content Validity (Contents of the Job)A test that is content valid is one in which the test contains a fair sample of the tasks and skills actually needed for the job in question. (e.g., typing test)

RELIABILITY:characteristic that refers to the consistency of scores obtained by the same person when re-tested with the identical or equivalent tests.

HOW TO VALIDATE A TESTStep 1: Analyze the job and write job description and job specification

Step 2:Chose your Test

Step 3: Administer Test

Step 4: Relate your test score and criteria

This determines the significance of the relationship between scores (predictors) and performance (the criterion).

The usual method to do this is to determine statistical relationship between (1) scores on the test and (2) performance through co-relation analysis which indicates the degree of statistical relationship.

If performance on the test and on the job are co-related, you can develop an expectancy chart.

Expectancy ChartA graph showing the relationship between test scores and job performance for a large group of people.

Highest 20%57-64 |||||||||||||||||| 97 Next Highest 20%51-56|||||||||||||| 84 Middle 20%45-50|||||||||||| 71 Next lowest 20%37-44||||||||| 55 Lowest 20%11-36 |||||| 29

Figure : Expectancy Chart:

Chances in Hundred of being related a High Performer and % of High Performers found in each Test Score Group.Note: This expectancy chart shows the relation between scores and rated success.

Thus those who score between 37-44 have 55% chance of being rated above average, between 11-36 have chance of being rated below average and those scoring between 57-64 have a 97% chance of being rated as high performer.

Step 5: Cross validate and Revalidate

Before conduct of test, you may want to check by cross-validation i.e., by again performing step 3 and 4 on a new sample of employees. At a minimum an expert should re-validate the test periodically.

TESTING GUIDELINES

1. Use tests as supplements:(interviews + backgrounds checks)

2. Validate the tests:(test usually proved valid in similar organizations called validity generalization is generally adequate)

Analyze your current hiring and promotion standards.

4.Keep accurate records:(to prove anything relating to equal opportunity law etc.)

Begin your validation Program now

6. Use a certified Psychologist:The development, validation and use of selection standards (including tests) generally require the assistance of a qualified psychologist (APA American Psychologists Association/Society for industrial and organization psychologists (SIOP). Some organization prefer Ph.D., degree holders in psychology.

Test conditions are important.

Ethical and Legal Questions in Testing: Equal employment opportunity implications of testing: The law bars discrimination with respect to color, age, race, religion, sex, disability and national origin.

Individual Rights of Test Takers and Test Security:According to American Psychological Association Standard for educational and psychological test; test takers have certain rights:

Test takers have right to the confidentiality of test results.

That only people qualified to interpret the scores will be provided full information.

He/She has a right to expect that the test is equally fair to all the test-takers.

The Issue of Privacy:No private information is disclosed inside / outside the company - right of defamation.

TYPES OF TESTS

Cognitive (mental) abilities (Logically approved test)Motor & Physical abilities

Test of Cognitive Abilities:

This test includes tests of general reasoning ability (intelligence) and tests specific mental abilities like memory and induction reasoning.

Intelligence Tests:Intelligence (IQ) test are test of general intellectual abilities such as memory, vocabulary, verbal fluency and numerical ability.

IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is a procedure to divide a childs mental age (as measured by intelligence test) by his or her chronological age

and then multiply results by 100. e.g., if an 08-year old child answers question 10-years old might, his or her IQ would be 10 divided by 8 multiply by 100 (10/8*100=125)

Special Cognitive Abilities:These tests are measures of specific mental abilities which include inductive & deductive reasoning, verbal comprehension, memory and numerical ability: These tests are called Aptitude Tests.

Test of Motor and Physical Abilities:These tests include finger dexterity, manual dexterity, speed of arm movement, reaction time and stamina (strength of body)

Measuring Personality and Interests:Personality tests are called personality inventories

Guilford Zimmerman Temperament Survey measures personality traits like emotional stability V/S moodiness and friendliness V/S criticalness.

Interest inventories companies ones interests with those people in various occupations.

Thus a person who takes Stong-Campbell Inventory would receive a report comparing his or her interests of these persons already in occupations such as accounting, engineering, management or medical technology.