Personnel Selection
Selection
• What is selection?
– Using scientific methodology to choose one alternative (job candidate) over
another.
• Job Analysis
• Measurement
• Statistics
• Why is selection important?
– Decreases the likelihood of hiring “bad” employees
– Increases the likelihood that people will be treated fairly when hiring
decisions are made
• Reduces discrimination
• Reduces likelihood of discrimination lawsuits
• What do I/O psychologists need to know about selection?
– How to select predictors of job performance (criteria problem)
– How to accurately indentify and validate predictors for specific jobs (job
analysis)
• Rely on cognitive and personality variables
– How to reliably and validly measure these predictors
– How to use these predictors to make selection decisions
Criteria
Abstract
concept or idea
• Criteria - standards used to judge the quality
Criterion deficiency
of (discriminate among) alternatives.
Conceptual
Criterion
• For I/O psychologists, this means judging the
relevance
quality of employees, programs, Criterion
and units
in
the organization.
Actual
Criterion
Criterion contamination
Measures that act
as “proxies”
Illegal Criteria
• Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
prohibits using selection practices that
have an unequal impact on members of a
different:
– Race
– Color
– Sex
– Religion
– National Origin
Types of Illegal Discrimination
• Disparate Treatment (Opportunities)
– Discrimination decisions based on one of five prohibited categories
• Disparate Impact (Outcomes)
– Illegal discrimination is any practice (without a business justification)
that has unequal consequences for members of protected groups.
• Roger Parloff, Fortune senior editor:
– Though disparate treatment and disparate impact cases are both aimed
at eradicating the same thing, there is potential tension between them.
• The goal of disparate treatment cases is to guarantee every worker equal
opportunity, but not equal outcomes.
• The focus of disparate impact cases is on equal outcomes.
– If one pursues equal outcomes too single-mindedly, one can
compromise the principle of equal opportunity by inducing the use of
quotas.
Determining Disparate Impact
• The 4/5ths Rule
100 male applicants
50 female applicants
– Disparate impact occurs if the selection ratio
for
any selected
minority group is less than
4/5ths
of
20 males
50 * .16
=8
the selection ratio of the majority group
20/100 = .20
At least 8 females should be selected
.20 * 4/5ths(.80) = .16
At least 16% of people from minority group should be selected using a
given procedure.
Summary
•
Criteria
–
–
Reliable and valid predictors of job performance.
All criteria suffer from:
•
•
–
Deficiency
Contamination
Criteria typically classified as:
•
•
Objective
Subjective
–
–
–
These labels can be misleading
There are several illegal criteria
There are two types of illegal discrimination
•
•
Disparate treatment
Disparate impact
Choosing Predictors of Job
Performance
• When selecting new employees, I/O
psychologists use criteria that will identify
effective on-the-job performance
Performance = (KSA)*Motivation – Situational Constraints
• Performance is a function of the following:
– Knowledge
– Skills
– Abilities
– Motivation
– Situational Constraints
Job Analysis
• Describes:
– the tasks that are performed
• type of work
• tools used
• working conditions
– human qualities (KSAOs or competencies)
needed to perform the work
• Tells us what tasks people do and the
knowledge, skills and abilities they need
to accomplish those tasks.
Types of Job Analysis
• Job-Oriented
– Job components (for a carpenter)
•
•
•
•
Duty: construct houses
Task: build kitchen cabinets
Activity: assemble cabinets
Element: drill holes
• Person-Oriented
– KSAO’s (for a carpenter)
•
•
•
•
Knowledge: Have information to do a task
Skill: Practiced act or behavior.
Ability: Stable capacity to do task.
Other personal characteristics: personality, interests, etc.
Examples Of KSAOs For Different Occupations
Job
Knowledge
Skill
Ability
Other Personal
Characteristics
Lawyer
Constitutional
rights
Writing clearly
Communication
Willingness to
work long
hours
Nurse
Surgical
procedures
Drawing blood
Remain calm
in a crisis
Lack of
squeamishness
in the sight of
blood
Plumber
Pipe design
Soldering
joints
Hand-eye
coordination
Willingness to
get dirty
Police
Knowledge of
legal arrest
Writing clearly
Vigilence
Willingness to
risk personal
Officer
procedures
safety
Data Collection Approaches
• Questionnaire
– diaries
• Interview
– critical incidents
• Observation
• Analyst does work
Who do you collect data
from?
Subject Matter Experts
-incumbent
-supervisor
-co-worker
Hiring the Best
• Job: Firefighter
• What are the major duties of a college
professor?
• What tasks are performed to complete each
duty
• Develop a set of KSAO’s necessary for these
tasks.
– should be useable for recruiting and evaluating
• Challenges?
• What other information would you want?
How would you get it?
Selection
• Predictors
– Any variable used to forecast a criterion
– Issues
• Quality (Reliability & Validity)
• Types
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Psychological Tests & Inventories
Interviews
Assessment Centers
Work Samples & Situational Exercises
Biodata
Peer Assessment
Letters of Recommendation
Biographical Data
• Good questions are about events that are:
– historical
– external
– discrete
– controllable (by the individual)
– verifiable
– equal access
– job relevant
– non-invasive
(Mael, 1991)
• Rationale vs. empirical method
Biographical Data
• Strong criterion validity
– drug use, criminal history predicts dysfunctional
police behavior (Sarchione et al., 1998)
– not redundant with personality (McManus & Kelly,
1999)
• Measurement issues
–
–
–
–
Generalizability
Faking
Fairness
Privacy concerns
Interviews
• Structured vs. Unstructured
• Info. gathering vs. interpersonal behavior sample
• Situational interview
– “How would you handle a circumstance in which you needed the
help of a person you did not like?”
• Measurement issues
– structured has more criterion related validity
– value of unstructured?
– Illusion of validity
• Guidelines for structured interviews
– interviewer should know about job
– interviewer should NOT have prior info about interviewee
– individual ratings of dimensions AFTER the interview is over
Work Samples
• perform a task under standardized conditions
• historically were for blue collar jobs
– e.g. use of tools, demonstrate driving skills
• white collar examples
– speech interview for foreign worker, test of basic
chemistry knowledge,
• Measurement issues
– high criterion validity if skills are similar to job
– costly to administer
– work best with mechanical, rather than peopleoriented tasks
Assessment Centers
• Realistic tasks done in groups
• Assessed by multiple of raters rating multiple domains
• Multiple methods
– in basket group exercise
– leaderless group exercise
• Strong criterion validity (e.g., teachers, police)
– overall scores predict job performance
• Measurement issues
–
–
–
–
costly to administer
different ratings on a task too highly correlated
dimension ratings not correlated strongly across tasks
fix? focus on behavior checklists and rater training
Drug Testing
• opinion?
• People are more accepting of it if job
involves risks to others (Paronto, et al.,
2002)
• Measurement issues
– reliability is very high, but not perfect
– Validity?
• Normands, Salyards, & Mahoney (1990)
– over 5000 postal service applicants
– those who tested positive had 59% higher absenteeism,
47% more likely to be fired
– no differences in injury or accidents
Letters of Recommendation
• ever written a letter of recommendation
for someone?
• worst criterion validity of all commonly
used assessment tools
– some use for screening extremely bad
candidates
• Measurement issues
– restriction of range
– writer bias/investment
Psychological Test Characteristics
•
•
•
•
Group vs. individual
Objective vs. open-ended
Paper & pencil vs. performance
Power vs. speed
Psychological Test Types
• Ability Tests
– Cognitive ability
– Psychomotor ability
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge and skill or achievement
Integrity
Personality
Emotional Intelligence
Vocational interest
Integrity Tests
• Designed to predict whether employee will engage
in counterproductive work behavior (CWB)
– overt vs. personality (covert)
• Better at predicting general CWB and performance
than theft (r = .30 -.40)
• Measurement issues
–
–
–
–
difficult to measure criteria!
proprietary issues (have to pay for them)
legal and privacy issues
faking
Personality Tests
• measures predispositions toward
particular feelings and behaviors
• not all tests are based on past research
• many have shown incremental validity
– e.g., predict when controlling for IQ
• Measurement issues
– job relevance
– not easily/often faked or a problem if faked
(e.g., job faking too)
The Big Five Inventory
• Openness
– Highs: imaginative, creative, and to seek out cultural and educational
experiences.
– Lows: more down-to-earth, less interest in art & more practical.
• Conscientiousness
– Highs: methodical, well organized and dutiful.
– Lows: less careful, less focused & more likely to be distracted
• Extraversion
– Highs: energetic and seek out the company of others.
– Lows (introverts): tend to be more quiet and reserved.
• Agreeableness
– Highs: tend to be trusting, friendly and cooperative.
– Lows: tend to be more aggressive and less cooperative
• Neuroticism
– Highs: prone to insecurity and emotional distress.
– Lows: more relaxed, less emotional and less prone to distress.
Intelligence Tests
• Have greatest validity
• Often very easy and inexpensive to use
– Wonderlic Personnel Test
•
•
•
•
50 items
12 minute time limit
Sample questions
Interpreting scores?
• Scores vary as a function of race and ethnicity
– Ethical issues?
– Face validity?
Determining “Test” Utility
• Goal of testing is to make decisions about
individuals on the basis of the amount of a
given trait they possess.
• A test should give us a “true” picture of a
person’s traits
• Test Score = True Score + Error
Reliability and Validity
• Reliability
– Test-retest
– Parallel (Alternate) forms
– Internal Consistency
• Validity
–
–
–
–
Face
Content
Criterion-related
Construct-related
Predictive Validity for Overall Job Performance of General Mental Ability Scores Combined
With a Second Predictor
Selection Method
Validity
GMA +
supplement
Gain in
validity
from
supplement
% increase
in validity
GMA tests
.51
Work sample tests
.54
.6 3
.12
24%
Integrity tests
.41
.65
.14
27%
Conscientiousness tests
.31
.60
.09
18%
Employment interviews (structured)
.51
.63
.12
24%
Employment interviews (unstructured)
.38
.55
.01
08%
Job knowledge tests
.48
.58
.07
14%
Job tryout procedure
.44
.58
.07
14%
Reference checks
.26
.57
.06
14%
Job experience
.18
.54
.03
06%
Biographical data
.35
.52
.01
02%
Assessment centers
.37
.53
.02
04%
Interests
.10
.52
.01
02%
Graphology
.02
.51
.00
00%
Predictive Validity for Overall Performance in Job
Scores Combined With a Second Predictor
Selection Method
Training Programs of General Mental Ability
Validity
GMA +
supplement
Gain in
validity
from
supplement
% increase
in validity
GMA tests
.56
Integrity tests
.38
.67
.11
20 %
Conscientiousness tests
.30
.65
.09
16%
Employment interviews (structured &
unstructured)
.35
.59
.03
05%
Reference checks
.23
.61
.05
09%
Job experience
.01
.56
.00
00%
Biographical data
.30
.56
.00
00%
Interests
.18
.59
.03
05%
Factors Influencing Selection Quality
• Three factors influence selection quality
– Predictor validity
– Selection ratio
– Base rate
Selection Decisions
sr = .50
sr = .25
False
Negatives
True
r =1.00
=.60
Positives
Successful
Performance
A
D
True
Negatives
br = .50
C
B
Reject
False
Positives
Accept
Predictor Score
Unsuccessful
Performance
Effect of Selection Ratio on
Predictor Utility
sr =.95
sr =.50
sr =.10
r =.40
Reject
Selection Cutoff Score
Accept
Predictor Score
Effect of Predictor Validity
on Predictor Utility
sr =.50
r =.00
=.40
=.80
Selection Cutoff Score
Predictor Score
Selection Strategies
• 3 Basic Strategies
– Multiple Regression
• Assumes relationships between predictors and
criterion are linear
• Assumes having a lot of one attribute
compensates for having little of another
– Multiple Cutoff
• Applicants must achieve a set, minimum score
on all predictors
– Multiple Hurdle
• Applicants must achieve satisfactory scores on
a number of predictors that are administered
over time.