Human Resource Management:Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Chapter 6

Selection and Placement

Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Learning Objectives

Establish the basic scientific properties of personnel selection methods, including reliability, validity and generalizability.

Discuss how the particular characteristics of a job, organization, or applicant affect the utility of any test.

Describe the government’s role in personnel selection decisions, particularly in the areas of constitutional law, federal laws, executive orders and judicial precedent.

List the common methods used in selecting human resources. Describe the degree to which each of the common methods

used in selecting human resources meets the demands of reliability, validity, generalizability, utility and legality.

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Selection Method Standardsfor Evaluation Purposes

Reliability

Validity

Generalizability

Utility

Legality

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Reliability

Reliability is the degree to which a measure of physical or cognitive abilities, or traits, is free from random error.

The correlation coefficient is a measure of the degree to which two sets of numbers are related. A perfect positive relationship equals +1.0 A perfect negative relationship equals - 1.0

Test-retest reliability- knowing how scores on the measure at one time relate to scores on the same measure at another time.

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Validity

Validity is the extent to which a performance measure assesses all the relevant—and only the relevant—aspects of job performance.

Criterion-related validation is a method of establishing the validity of a personnel selection method by showing a substantial correlation between test scores and job-performance scores. The types include:– Predictive validation– Concurrent validation

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Criterion-Related Validity

Predictive

TIME

TestApplicants

MeasurePerformanceOf Those Hired

Measuretheir Performance

TestExisting Employees

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Concurrent

TIME

Content Validation

Content validation is a test-validation strategy performed by demonstrating that the items, questions, or problems posed by a test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.

Best for small samples Achieved primarily through expert judgment

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Generalizability

Generalizability is the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts.

3 Contexts include:1. different situations (jobs or organizations)

2. different samples of people

3. different time periods

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Utility

Utility is the degree to which information provided by selection methods enhances the effectiveness of selecting personnel.

-Utility is impacted by reliability, validity and generalizability.

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Legality

All selection methods must conform to existing laws and legal precedents.

Three acts have formed the basis for a majority of the suits filed by job applicants:– Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991– Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967– Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991

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Civil Rights Act of 1991

Protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and national origin.

Differs from the 1964 act in three areas:1. Establishes employers' explicit obligation

to establish neutral-appearing selection method.

1. Allows a jury to decide punitive damages.2. Explicitly prohibits the granting preferential

treatment to minority groups.

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Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

Covers over age 40 individuals.

No protection for younger workers.

• Outlaws almost all “mandatory retirement” programs.

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Americans with Disabilities Act

Protects individuals with physical or mental disabilities (or with a history of the same).

Reasonable accommodations are required by the organization to allow the disabled to perform essential functions of the job. An employer need not make accommodations

that cause undue hardship. Restrictions on pre-employment

inquiries.

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Executive Orders

Executive Order 11246 parallels the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and goes beyond by:

requiring affirmative action to hire qualifiedprotected group applicants and

allowing the government to suspend all businesswith a contractor during an investigation.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance and Procedures (OFCCP) issues guidelines and helps companies comply.

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Types of Selection Methods

Honesty Testsand Drug Tests

Work Samples

PersonalityInventories Cognitive Ability Tests

Physical AbilityTests

References andBiographical Data

Interviews

JOBSHR

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Interviews

Selection interviews-a dialogue initiated by one or more persons to gather information and evaluate the an applicant’s qualifications for employment.

To increase an interview’s utility: Interviews should be structured, standardized, and

focused on goals oriented to skills and observable behaviors.

Interviewers should be able to quantitatively rate each interview.

Interviewers should have a structured note-taking system that will aid recall to satisfying ratings.

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Situational Interview

A situational interview confronts applicants on specific issues, questions

or problems likely to arise on the job.

Situational interviews consist of:– experience-based questions– future-oriented questions.

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Other Selection Methods

An individual should manage their digital identity the same way they manage their résumé.

References, biographical data, and applications gather background information on candidates.

Physical ability tests are relevant for predicting job performance, occupational injuries and disabilities.

Physical ability tests include: muscular tension, power, and endurance cardiovascular endurance flexibility balance coordination

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Other Selection Methods

A cognitive ability test differentiates individuals based on their mental rather than physical capacities.

Commonly assessed abilities: verbal comprehension quantitative ability reasoning ability

Personality inventories categorize individualsby their personality characteristics.

Work samples simulate a job in miniaturized form.

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Cognitive Ability Tests

3 Dimensions Cognitive Ability Tests:1. Verbal Comprehension

2. Quantitative Ability

3. Reasoning Ability

Verbal Comprehension -a person’s capacity to understand and use written and spoken language.

Quantitative Ability - the speed and accuracy with which one can solve arithmetic problems.

Reasoning Ability - a person’s capacity to invent solutions to diverse problems.

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Personality Inventories

Agreeableness

ExtroversionInquisitiveness

Adjustment

Conscientiousness

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Emotional Intelligence

Empathy

Self- awarenessSelf- regulation

Self- motivation

Social Skills

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Work Sample Tests

Work-sample tests attempt to simulate the job in a pre-hiring context to observe how the applicant performs in the simulated job.

Assessment Center- a process in which multiple raters evaluate employees’ performance on a number of exercises.

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Honesty Tests

Polygraph Act of 1988 banned the use of polygraph tests for private companies except pharmaceutical and security guard suppliers.

Paper-and-pencil honesty testing attempts to assess the likelihood that employees will steal. – Since these tests are new, there is little evidence

on their effectiveness.

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Drug Tests

Drug-use tests tend to be reliable and valid. Major controversies of drug tests include:

Is it an invasion of privacy? Is it an unreasonable search and seizure? Is it a violation of due process?

Tests should be administered systematically

to all applicants applying for the same job. Testing is likely to be more defensible when there

are safety hazards associated with the failure to perform.

Test results should be reported to the applicant, who should have an avenue to appeal.

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Summary

Job applicants and an organization’s viability are strongly affected by decisions regarding who is accepted and rejected for positions.

There are numerous alternatives to this for making such decisions, many of which have been validated and supported by years of research.

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