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Selection

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Human Resource Management, 10/e

2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Introduction
Selection

is the process by which an organization chooses the person(s) who best meets the selection criteria for the position available Decisions must be made efficiently and within the boundaries of EEO laws Selection programs try to identify applicants with the best chance of meeting or exceeding the organizations standards of performance

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Introduction
Performance

refers to more than quantity of output It can also mean quality of output, good attendance, and honesty

Successful

selection doesnt always mean finding someone with the most of a given quality The goal is an optimal match between the job and the characteristics an applicant possesses Identify which characteristics are the most important for the circumstances

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Internal Environmental Influences

Organizational

characteristics can influence the selection process: Size Complexity Technological volatility

An

organizations attitude about hiring from within is also a determinant

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Internal Environmental Influences

Development

and implementation of large-scale selection efforts can be costly Complex systems are found at larger organizations To recover the development costs, there must be a sufficient number of jobs to be filled

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External Environmental Influences

Employment

laws/regulations affect what an organization can do in its selection system Federal and state laws both have an impact Some states have tighter limits on drug testing Others offer protection to employers who provide feedback during reference checks unemployment rates are low, it may be hard to attract and hire the number of people needed When there is an oversupply of qualified applicants, selection strategies differ

When

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External Environmental Influences

Human

resource specialists evaluate the effects of the labor market on selection by using a selection ratio:
Selection

ratio = Number of applicants hired \ Total applicants

When

the selection ratio is close to 1:1, it is a high selection ratio The lower the selection ratio, the more detailed the selection process The organization can be more selective, but the selection decision will require more time and money

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Selection Criteria
Understanding

the characteristics essential for high

performance The characteristics are identified during job analysis They must be reflected in the job specification
The

goal of any selection system is to: Determine which applicants possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, and KSAOs dictated by the job

The

system must distinguish between characteristics that are: Needed at the time of hiring, acquired during training, and developed on the job

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Categories of Criteria
Criteria

for making selection decisions fall into these broad categories: Education Experience Physical characteristics Other personal characteristics

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Formal Education
Many

cognitive, motor, physical, and interpersonal attributes are present because of: Genetic predispositions and learning accomplishment is a common, costeffective way to screen for these abilities Education may be required in a particular area of expertise To be legal, educational standards must be related to successful performance of the job Do not set standards higher than required by the job

Educational

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Experience and Past Performance

Many

believe that past performance on a similar job is the best indicator of future performance Employers also consider experience a good indicator of ability and work-related attitudes prove that experience is related to job performance However, the organization must have a rational basis for defining what relevant experience means

Studies

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Physical Characteristics
In

the past, many employers used physical characteristics as a criterion Employers were more likely to hire and pay better wages to taller men Flight attendants and receptionists were hired on the basis of beauty Such practices discriminated against ethnic groups, women, and the handicapped

These

practices are now illegal unless a physical characteristic is directly related to work effectiveness

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Personal Characteristics and Personality

The

personal characteristics and personality types category includes marital status, sex, age, and so on Some employers prefer married employees because they are assumed to be stable and have a lower turnover rate Other employers prefer single employees, who may be more open to a transfer or lengthy overseas assignment

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Personal Characteristics and Personality

Age

has also been used as a criterion It is illegal to discriminate against those over 40 No law addresses this for younger people Age restrictions can only be used if job-related

This

issue will become more important by 2010, when the median age in the U.S. will be 40.6 years

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Personal Characteristics and Personality

Certain

aptitudes and skills can also be included in this category Example: The military uses spatial-relations aptitude as one criterion for selecting potential pilots employers prefer employees with certain personality types Example: Having an outgoing personality may be useful to salespeople

Many

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Personal Characteristics and Personality

Personality

tests have been more positive since validation of the Big Five personality factors: Emotional stability Extroversion Openness to experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness Big Five traits explain up to 75 percent of an individuals personality Conscientiousness and emotional stability predict performance across most occupations

The

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Personal Characteristics and Personality

Selection

using personality should be based on whether it is necessary for high performance Personality measures run a greater risk of being legally challenged as an invasion of privacy You must be certain that successful and unsuccessful employees can be distinguished by personality is unwise to use personality as a general criterion for screening out undesirable applicants The personality characteristic that leads to failure in one job might lead to success in another

It

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Reliability & Validity of Selection Criteria

Once

a set of criteria has been decided on, a technique for assessing them must be chosen Application blanks and biodata forms Interviews Psychological tests of aptitude and personality Work sample tests Physical and medical testing Reference checks of the method chosen, be certain that the information is both reliable and valid

Regardless

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Reliability
The

main goal of selection is to make accurate predictions about people Selection techniques must yield reliable information refers to how stable or repeatable a measurement is over a variety of testing conditions A somewhat unreliable tool can still be useful Measurements that are too inconsistent are useless is a common way to assess reliability Reliability is also determined by using interrater reliability

Reliability

Test-retest

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Validity
To

be useful, measures must also be valid Validity addresses what a test measures and how well it has measured it The primary concern is whether the assessment results in accurate predictions about the future success or failure of an applicant

Three

types of validity HR specialists should be familiar with: Content Construct Criterion-related

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Content Validity

Content

validity is the degree to which a test, interview, or performance evaluation measures skill, knowledge, or ability to perform a job Content validity is not appropriate for abstract job behaviors

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Construct Validity

Construct

validity is a trait that is not typically observable, such as leadership A test has construct validity when it actually measures the unobservable trait that it claims to measure Construct validity can be assumed to exist if a large body of empirical work yields consistent results

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Construct Validity
The

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures established three requirements for construct validity: A job analysis must systematically define: The work behaviors involved in the job The constructs that are important to job performance The test must measure one of those constructs The construct must be related to the performance of a critical work behavior

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Criterion-related Validity
Criterion-related

validity is the extent to which a selection technique can accurately predict one or more important elements of job behavior Scores on a test or performance in a simulated exercise are correlated with measures of actual on-the-job performance The test is a predictor The performance score is a criterion

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Criterion-related Validity
Criteria

relevant to personnel selection include measures such as: Quality or quantity Two popular types of Supervisory ratings criterion-related validity are predictive Absenteeism and concurrent Accidents Sales criterion determines if a selection system is legal Choose a measure that reflects the contributions of employees to the effectiveness of the organization

The

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Predictive Validity
Predictive

validity is determined by using the scores from a sample of applicants for a job
Administer
Select

the test to a large sample of applicants

individuals for the job Wait an appropriate amount of time and then collect measures of job performance Assess the strength of the predictor-criterion relationship

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Predictive Validity
The

drawback of predictive validity: The employer must wait until it has hired a large number of people for whom it has predictor scores It must then wait until it can measure the job performance of the people hired

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Concurrent Validity
Concurrent

validity is also used to determine whether a selection test can predict job performance The test is administered to present employees performing the job At the same time, performance measures for these employees are collected Test scores are then correlated with the performance measures

The

biggest advantage of concurrent validation: It can be conducted relatively quickly, which makes it less expensive than predictive validation

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Validity Problems
Potential

problems with predictive validation: Uses experienced employees, which can bias validation in favor of applicants with experience Present employees often balk at completing tests There is a self-selection bias that restricts the range of test scores (the least skilled workers have been terminated, demoted, or transferred)

Concurrent

validation should not be used as an alternative to predictive validation simply because it can be done more quickly

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The Selection Process

In

the past, hiring decisions were based on the subjective likes and dislikes of the boss Selection tools were designed to aid this gut reaction Today, selection is viewed as more than intuition selection decision is a series of steps through which applicants pass At each step, more applicants are screened out

The

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The Selection Process

Insert

Exhibit 8-1

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Step 1: Preliminary Screening

The

first step in most selection processes involves completing an application form Application blanks vary in length and sophistication Nearly all ask for enough information to determine minimal qualifications The application eliminates the need for interviewers to gather basic information Application blanks are subject to the same legal standards as any other selection method They generally limit questions that imply something about the applicants physical health

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Step 1: Preliminary Screening

Many

organizations add clauses at the beginning or end of their application blanks that help to: Protect the organization against unjustified lawsuits Ensure that applicants and employees understand the terms of their employment

Three

of the more common clauses cover: Applicants rights as they relate to the organization The scope of the employment contract Grievances

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Step 1: Preliminary Screening

The

biographical information blank (BIB): Contains more items than typical application blanks Asks for information related to a wider array of attitudes and experiences

BIB

items are based on an assumption that prior experiences are related to future behavior Example: People who preferred English in school will perform differently on a given job than people who preferred science or math

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Step 1: Preliminary Screening

The

weighted application blank is designed to be scored more systematically and is more like the BIB Current high and low performers are compared on a variety of characteristics that were known at the time they applied for the job Weights are then assigned to the degree of difference on each characteristic The weights are totaled for each applicant, and the one with the highest score is the preferred choice
Applicants who are judged minimally qualified proceed to the next phase of the selection process

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Step 2: Employment Interview

The

interview is the selection technique most often encountered by persons applying for jobs in the U.S.
Structure

the interview to be reliable and valid Train managers to use good interviewing techniques

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Types of Interviews
Interviews

vary along two important dimensions: How structured it is Whether it focuses on historical information or hypothetical situations

An

unstructured interview has no predetermined script or protocol Structured interviews are more reliable and valid than unstructured interviews Standardization lowers the possibility that biases have been introduced by the interviewer

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Types of Interviews
Two

types of structured interviews have gained popularity in the U.S.: Behavioral interviewapplicants are asked to relate actual incidents from their past work experience to the job for which they are applying Situational interviewseeks to identify whether an applicant possesses relevant job knowledge and motivation by asking hypothetical questions
Questions about past experience have higher validity than future-oriented hypothetical questions

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Training for Interviewing

Training

programs can reduce many of the errors found in traditional, unstructured interviews This is especially true when the training is used in conjunction with a structured interview format Validity is enhanced when a trained interviewer takes behaviorally oriented notes during the interview

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Step 3: Employment Tests

An

employment test attempts to measure certain characteristics, such as: Aptitudes Manual dexterity Intelligence Personality can be expensive to develop an employment test, so many employers purchase existing tests Some tests cost as little as $1 per applicant The Mental Measurements Yearbook summarizes many of the tests and their effectiveness

It

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Step 3: Employment Tests

Any

testing device should be validated before it is used to make hiring decisions Validation studies are expensive; even more so if questions of discrimination arise Despite the cost, tests can more than pay for themselves through increased efficiency in selection type of test ultimately used depends on: Budgetary constraints The complexity and difficulty of the job The size and quality of applicant populations The KSOAs required by the job

The

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Job Sample Performance Tests

This

test requires the applicant to do a sample of the work that the job involves in a controlled situation Programming for computer programmers Driving course for delivery persons Auditions at an orchestra or ballet company

Applicants

are often asked to run the machines they would run on the job The quantity and quality of their work is compared with the work of other applicants

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Job Sample Performance Tests

Job

sample performance tests have some of the highest validities of all selection tests Their superiority lies in the direct relationship with performance on the job validity should not be confused with actual validity Face validity is how good a test looks for a given situation Many tests that are valid also look valid, but that is not always the case

Face

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Cognitive Ability Tests

The

best known cognitive abilities are math and verbal These form the basis the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and math abilities are also measured by tests developed specifically human resource use: Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale Wonderlic Personnel Test California Test of Mental Maturity (adult level)

Verbal

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Cognitive Ability Tests

The

Minnesota Paper Form Board Test (MPFB) measures spatial relations Clerical aptitude can be determined with the Minnesota Clerical Test

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Psychomotor Ability Simulations

Psychomotor

ability tests are not as popular as they once were; they include: Choice reaction time Speed of limb movement Finger dexterity

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Personality Inventories & Temperament

The

least reliable of the employment tests attempt to measure personality or temperament Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory California Psychological Inventory Edwards Personal Preference Schedule

Some

disappointing results are due to a mismatch between the test and the situation in which it was used

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Personality Inventories & Temperament

A

different approach utilizes projective techniques to vague stimuli Reactions provide data on which psychologists base assumptions and interpretations of personality The stimuli are purposely vague to reach unconscious aspects of the personality Insert Exhibit 8-8 here The most common are the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test

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Polygraph and Honesty Tests

The

polygraph is erroneously called a lie detector It records changes in breathing, blood pressure, pulse, and skin response, then plots the reactions on paper It was a popular selection tool by the mid-1980s because on-the-job crime had increased tremendously

In

recent years, objections have been raised

May

be an invasion of privacy Can lead to self-incrimination May not be reliable and valid

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Polygraph and Honesty Tests

The

Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 made it illegal for most private organizations to use the polygraph as a selection device
Government

Exemptions:

agencies Certain Dept. of Defense and Dept. of Energy contractors Private employers whose business involves security and controlled substances
It is legal to use the polygraph during an ongoing investigation of dishonesty if the employees rights are safe-guarded

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Polygraph and Honesty Tests

Organizations

searching for an alternative to the polygraph are turning to paper-and-pencil tests Overt integrity tests ask direct questions and gather a history of theft and other illegal activities Personality-based integrity tests assess a predisposition toward deviant and disruptive behavior tests have acceptable levels of validity and reliability They can also be used to predict future job performance

Honesty

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Step 4: Reference Checks

When

applying for a job, you may be asked for a list of references Rarely does someone knowingly include the name of a reference who will give a negative impression This built-in bias is why references are criticized

Equally

important are concerns over the legality of asking for, and providing, such information Giving out confidential information could be a violation of the employees right to privacy Giving a negative recommendation opens the reference up to a defamation lawsuit

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Step 4: Reference Checks

Fears

of being sued have led many managers to refuse to provide references for former employees Many organizations include statements in employee handbooks about reference checking policies Managers often give out only verifiable kinds of information, such as date of employment and job title must also be wary of any policy which suggests that all references should be neutral They could be sued for a negligent referral

Organizations

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Step 4: Reference Checks

At

present, the legal status surrounding referencechecking and providing recommendations is unclear At least 32 states have passed laws giving managers some immunity for providing good-faith, job-related information about their employees Most laws are too new to determine if they will be effective

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Step 5: Physical Examinations

The

Americans with Disabilities Act indicates that: Physical examinations can be used to screen out unqualified individuals, but only after a conditional offer of employment is made If an organization uses such examinations, everyone who is conditionally offered employment should be required to have one

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A Note on Drug Testing

No

other selection practice elicits a more emotional reaction than a drug-testing program About 62 percent of U.S/ corporations use drug tests The Dept. of Transportation mandates drug and alcohol testing for all employers who have truck/delivery drivers with commercial licenses

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A Note on Drug Testing

Statistics

compiled by the U.S. Dept. of Labor: There are 14.8 million illicit drug users in the U.S. and three-quarters of them are employed More than 14 percent of employed Americans report being heavy drinkers More than 1 in 3 workers between 18 and 25 are binge drinkers Alcohol abuse costs U.S. corporations 500 million lost work days each year Losses of $120 billion annually are due to drug abuse

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A Note on Drug Testing

The

reliability of drug tests is a major concern: The tests can yield a high number of false positives The personal consequences of being falsely labeled a drug user are severe

The

legality of drug-testing programs has not been established However, many have withstood challenges in court

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A Note on Drug Testing

Most

good-faith drug testing programs will be legally acceptable if the organization has: Informed all job applicants of the drug-testing screening program Established a high-quality testing procedure with a reliable testing laboratory Performed tests in a professional, non-threatening way Kept results confidential

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Selection of Managers
The

employment tests used vary with the type of employee being hired Organizations frequently spend more time, effort, and money hiring middle- to upper-level executives of the best-known multiple selection methods used for this purpose is the assessment center First used by the German military in World War II Used by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the U.S. in the 1940s Introduced to the business world in the 1950s by AT&T

One

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Selection of Managers

An

assessment center uses a variety of testing methods, including: Interviews Work samples and simulations Paper-and-pencil tests of abilities and attitudes

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Selection of Managers
Assessment

centers are similar in a number of areas: Groups of approx. 12 individuals are evaluated Individual and group activities are observed and evaluated Multiple methods of assessment are used Assessors are usually a panel of line managers for the organization, consultants, or outsiders trained to conduct assessments Assessment centers are relevant to the job

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Selection of Managers
Assessors

then evaluate each individual on a number of dimensions, such as: Organizational and planning ability Decisiveness Flexibility Resistance to stress Poise Personal style judgments are consolidated and developed into a final report

Raters

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Selection of Managers
Assessment

center reports permit the organization to

determine: Qualifications for particular positions Promotability How individuals function in a group Type of training/development needed How good assessors are at observing, evaluating, and reporting on the performance of others

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Selection of Managers
Assessment

centers are a valid way to select managers, but they are not without disadvantages Relatively expensive Not a reasonable alternative for smaller organizations Less costly and administratively complicated techniques may be just as effective

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Selection Cost-Benefit Analysis

Utility:

the degree to which using a selection system improves the quality of the individuals being selected Statistical utility: the extent to which a selection technique allows a company to predict who will be successful Organizational utility: a matter of costs and benefits

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Selection Cost-Benefit Analysis

Whether

a selection system should be developed and used depends on whether it saves more money than it costs A cost-vs-benefits analysis requires estimates of the direct and indirect costs associated with the system Direct costs: the price of the tests, the salary paid to an interviewer, the equipment used, and so on Indirect costs: such things as changes in public image associated with implementing drug testing

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Selection Cost-Benefit Analysis

An

organization must also estimate how much money it saves by hiring more qualified employees Higher levels of quality or quantity Reduced absenteeism Putting more money Lower accident rates into selection can Less turnover reduce the amount selection procedures can yield huge benefits This is especially true where the costs of hiring a poor performer are high
that must be spent on training

Valid