Chapter # 6
Selecting Employees and
Placing Them in Jobs
Selection Process
• Personnel Selection:- The process through which organizations make
decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization.
• Selection process varies from org to org but mostly org selection
includes following steps.
Standards for the Selection Tools
• The method provides reliable information.
• The method provides valid information.
• The information can be generalized to apply to the candidates.
• The method offers high utility (practical value).
• The selection criteria are legal.
Reliability
• Reliability:- The extent to which a measurement is free from random
error.
• Such that a reliable test of intelligence should generate consistent
results if the same person takes the test several times.
• Correlation coefficients is usually used to measure the degree to which
two sets of numbers are related.
• +1, 0,-1 correlation.
• A reliable test would be one for which scores by the same person (or
people with similar attributes) have a correlation close to 1.0.
Validity
• Validity:- The extent to which performance on a measure (such as a
test score) is related to what the measure is designed to assess (such as
job performance).
• To determine validity is to compare many people’s scores on that
measure with their job performance.
• For example, suppose people who score above 60 words per minute on
a keyboarding test consistently get high marks for their performance in
data-entry jobs. This observation suggests the keyboarding test is valid
for predicting success in that job.
• Three ways of measuring Validity
1. Criterion-Related Validity
• A measure of validity based on showing a substantial correlation
between test scores and job performance scores.
Two kinds of research are possible for arriving at criterion-related
validity:
1. Predictive validation—This research uses the test scores of all
applicants and looks for a relationship between the scores and future
performance. The researcher administers the tests, waits a set period of
time, and then measures the performance of the applicants who were
hired.
2. Concurrent validation—This type of research administers a test to
people who currently hold a job, then compares their scores to existing
measures of job performance. If the people who score highest on the test
also do better on the job, the test is assumed to be valid.
2. Content Validity
• Content Validity:- Consistency between the test items or problems and
the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.
• In content validity test org try to expose job applicant to situations
that are likely to occur on the job.
• Test content validity has been decided through expert judgment.
• Experts can rate the test items according to whether they mirror
essential functions of the job.
• This validity is suitable for measuring behavior that is concrete and
observable.
3. Construct Validity
• Construct Validity:- Consistency between a high score on a test and
high level of a construct such as intelligence or leadership ability, as
well as between mastery of this construct and successful performance
of the job.
• Such test measure abstract qualities such as intelligence or leadership
ability.
• For example, if you could show that a test measures something called
“mechanical ability,” and that people with superior mechanical ability
perform well as assemblers, then the test has construct validity for the
assembler job.
Ability to Generalize
• Generalizable:- Valid in other contexts beyond the context in which
the selection method was developed.
• In other words, is a selection method that was valid in one context also
valid in other contexts
• Cognitive abilities test are generalizable across many jobs.
Practical Value or Utility
• Utility:- The extent to which something provides economic value
greater than its cost.
• Another consideration is the cost of using the selection method.
• Cost should significantly less than the benefits of hiring the new
employees.
• The choice of a selection method may differ according to the job being
filled. Such as high value vs low value product or service.
Legal Standards for Selection
• Selection process be conducted in a way that avoids discrimination
and provides access to employees with disabilities.
• Equal employment opportunity
• Candidates’ privacy rights (Confidentiality)
Job Applications and Résumés
• Application Forms:- Asking each applicant to fill out an employment
application is a low-cost way to gather basic data from many
applicants.
• Job application provides several types of information such as Contact
information, work experience, educational background and applicant
signature
• Resumes:- In resume the applicants control the content of the
information, as well as the way it is presented.
• References
• Background Checks
Employment Tests and Work Samples
Two broad categories of tests
1. Aptitude tests assess how well a person can learn or acquire skills
and abilities.
2. Achievement tests measure a person’s existing knowledge and skills.
For example, government agencies conduct civil service
examinations to see whether applicants are qualified to perform
certain jobs.
• Physical Ability Tests
• Cognitive Ability Tests:- Tests designed to measure such mental
abilities as verbal skills, quantitative skills, and reasoning ability.
Job Performance Tests and Work Samples
• Jobs may require candidates who excel at performing specialized tasks,
such as operating a certain machine, handling phone calls.
• To evaluate candidates for such jobs, the organization may administer
tests of the necessary skills. Sometimes the candidates take tests that
involve a sample of work, or they may show existing samples of their
work.
• Testing may involve a simulated work setting, perhaps in a testing
center or in a computerized “virtual” environment.
• Examples of job performance tests include tests of keyboarding speed
Personality Inventories
• Employers may also want to know about candidates’ personalities.
• For example, one way that psychologists think about personality is in
terms of the “Big Five” personality traits
Honesty Tests and Drug Tests
• Organizations want employees to be honest and to behave safely.
• Some organizations are satisfied to assess these qualities based on
judgments from reference checks and interviews. Others investigate
these characteristics more directly through the use of honesty tests and
drug tests.
Medical Examinations
• Especially for physically demanding jobs, organizations may wish to
conduct medical examinations to see that the applicant can meet the
job’s requirements.
Interviews
• Interviews process bring together job applicants and representatives of the
employer to obtain information and evaluate the applicant’s qualifications.
• This method is the most used in selection process.
• Interviewing Techniques
1. Nondirective Interview:- A selection interview in which the interviewer
has great discretion in choosing questions to ask each candidate.
Nondirective interviews typically include open-ended questions about the
candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, career goals, and work experience.
2. Structured Interview:- A selection interview that consists of a
predetermined set of questions for the interviewer to ask. Ideally, the
questions are related to job requirements and cover relevant knowledge,
skills, and experiences.
3. Situational Interview:- A structured interview in which the interviewer
describes a situation likely to arise on the job, then asks the candidate
what he or she would do in that situation. This type of interview may have
high validity in predicting job performance.
4. Behavior Description Interview (BDI):- A structured interview in which
the interviewer asks the candidate to describe how he or she handled a
type of situation in the past. Questions about candidates’ actual
experiences tend to have the highest validity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviewing
• Advantages
• Can provide evidence of communication and interpersonal skills
• Can gain into candidates personality and interpersonal styles
• Disadvantages
• Can be unreliable
• Low on validity
• Costly
• Subjective
• Can be biased
Selection Decisions
• Multiple-Hurdle Model:- Process of arriving at a selection decision by
eliminating some candidates at each stage of the selection process.
• Compensatory Model:- Process of arriving at a selection decision in
which a very high score on one type of assessment can make up for a
low score on another.
• Communicating the Decision
Quiz # 1
Consider a job you hold now or have held recently. Would you
want this job to be redesigned to place more emphasis on
efficiency, motivation, ergonomics, or mental processing?
What changes would you want, and why? (Or why do you not
want the job to be redesigned?)