Chapter 6 Selecting Applicants

1. Chapter 6Selecting Applicants

2. Outline • 6-1 Gaining Competitive Advantage • 6-2 HRM Issues & Practices • 6-3 The Manager’s Guide

3. 6-1 Gaining Competitive Advantage • Linking Selection Practices to Competitive Advantage • Improving productivity • Achieving legal compliance • Reducing training costs

4. 6-2 HRM Issues & Practices • Validity • The appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of selection inferences • A technical term for “effectiveness” • Achieving Validity • Manager must have a clear notion of the needed job qualifications • Manager must use selection methods that reliably and accurately measure these qualifications

5. Reliability • Refers to the consistency of a measurement • Reliable evaluations are consistent across both people and time • Reliability is maximized when: • Two people evaluating the same candidate provide the same ratings • The ratings of candidates taken at two different times are the same • When selection scores are unreliable, their validity is diminished

6. Increase the Reliability of Selection Practices • Establish a good rapport with candidates • Make them feel at ease • Ask questions that are clear • Ask questions that are moderately difficult • Administer several measures to assess each important KSA

7. Behavior Consistency Model • The best predictor of future job behavior is past behavior performed under similar circumstances • Implies that the most effective selection procedures are those that focus on the candidates’ past or present behaviors in situations that closely match those they will encounter on the job

8. Behavior Consistency Model Process • Employers should follow the following process in order to implement the behavior consistency model: • Thoroughly assess each applicant’s previous work experience to determine if the candidate has exhibited relevant behaviors in the past • Evaluate the applicant’s success on each behavior relevant to the job • Administer various assessments to estimate the future likelihood of job behaviors

9. Assessing & Documenting Validity • Three strategies • Content-Oriented Strategy • Criterion-Related Strategy • Validity Generalization Strategy

10. Content-Oriented Strategy • A firm gathers evidence that it followed appropriate procedures in developing its selection program • Evidence would show that the selection devices were properly designed and were accurate measures of the needed worker requirements • The employer must demonstrate that the selection devices were chosen on the basis of an acceptable job analysis • The employer must demonstrate that they measured a representative sample of the KSAs identified

11. Criterion-Related Strategy • Attempts to demonstrate statistically that someone who does well on a selection instrument is more likely to be a good job performer than someone who does poorly • Validity coefficient • Calculated by statistically correlating predictor scores with criterion scores

12. Criterion-Related Validation Study • May be conducted in one of two ways: • Predictive Validation Study • Information is gathered on actual job applicants • Criterion scores cannot be gathered until the applicants have been hired and on the job for several months • Concurrent Validation Study • Information is gathered on current employees • More commonly used • Can be conducted quickly • Research indicates that the two types of studies seem to yield approximately the same results

13. Validity Generalization Strategy • Established by demonstrating that a selection device has been consistently found to be valid in many other similar settings • An impressive amount of evidence points to the validity generalization of many specific devices

14. EEOC Guidelines on Employment Discrimination • The Uniform Guidelines • National Origin Discrimination Guidelines • Sexual Harassment Guidelines • Pregnancy Discrimination Guidelines • Age Discrimination Guidelines • Religious Discrimination Guidelines • Disability Discrimination Guidelines

15. The Uniform Guidelines • Issued in 1978 • Apply to nearly all organizations employing 15 or more employees • Designed to assist organizations in understanding the compliance requirements imposed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, primarily in regard to disparate impact claims • If an employment decision results in disparate impact, the organization must: • Eliminate the selection device(s) causing the disparate impact, or • Demonstrate the validity of the selection device(s)

16. National Origin Discrimination Guidelines • Individuals rejected for employment have just cause for legal redress if their rejection was based on any of the following factors: • Place of origin • Ancestor’s place of origin • Marriage to a person of a foreign origin • Membership in an association seeking to promote the interests of a national origin group

17. Sexual Harassment Guidelines • The employer is liable for unlawful sex discrimination if: • An employment opportunity is granted because of a candidate’s submission to an employer’s request for sexual favors, or • An employment opportunity is withheld because of the candidate’s refusal to grant such favors

18. Pregnancy Discrimination Guidelines • A female applicant who is temporarily unable to perform some job function due to her pregnancy-related condition must be treated in the same manner as any other applicant with a temporary disability • The preferences of coworkers, clients, or customers would not serve as a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for rejecting such a candidate • Managers should avoid asking any questions regarding pregnancy during an employment interview • If an applicant’s pregnancy is readily apparent, managers should ignore the condition

19. Age Discrimination Guidelines • Prohibit disparate treatment directed towards applicants aged 40 and above • A firm must demonstrate that the hiring decision was not based on age, but on some “reasonable factor other than age,” such as lack of skill • Also states that employment practices that have a disparate impact on individuals is protected under the Age Discrimination Employment Act is unlawful unless it can be justified by a business necessity

20. Religious Discrimination Guidelines • Requires employers to accommodate a reasonable request for religious accommodation, as long as the accommodation does not pose an undue hardship on their business operations • Traditional denominations and people not belonging to a formal religion are both protected • “Reasonable accommodation” • “Undue hardship” • “de minimus principle”

21. Disability Discrimination Guidelines • Broad definition which includes many types of disorders, such as: • Illnesses (e.g., AIDS, cancer, diabetes) • Losses (e.g., loss of limb, sight, hearing, as well as learning disabilities and mental retardation) • Emotional and mental illnesses (e.g., manic depression, epilepsy, and schizophrenia) • Recovery (e.g., recovering alcoholics and drug addicts)

22. Constitutional Constraints on Selection • Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution • Pertains to an individual’s privacy rights • Protects job candidates and employees from unreasonable intrusions by the employer (i.e., the government) • Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution • Provides citizens with equal protection under the law • Applies to federal employees • Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution • Provides citizens with equal protection under the law • Applies to state employees

23. Tort Law Constraints on Selection • Negligent Hiring • Refers to situations in which employers hire an applicant who is somehow unfit for the job, and because of this unfitness, commits an act that causes harm to another • Defamation • “The unprivileged publication of a false oral or written statement that harms the reputation of another person”

24. Selection Methods • Application Blanks • Biodata Inventories • Background Investigations • Reference Checks • Employment Interviews • Employment Tests • Assessment Centers

25. Uses of Application Blanks • Serves three primary purposes: • To determine whether candidates meet the minimum qualifications for the job • Applications help employers judge the presence (or absence) of certain job-related attributes • Information contained on the application blank can be used to “red flag” any potential problem areas concerning the applicant

26. Questions to Refrain from on an Application Blank • Questions that allow the employer to identify an applicant’s protected group membership • Such as date of birth, sex, or religious preference • Questions that are not directly job related yet have a disproportionate impact on one or more protected groups • Example: “What is your height and weight?” • Questions that seek information which traditionally has been used to screen out members of certain protected groups • Example: “How may children do you have?”

27. Biodata Inventories • Responses are objectively evaluated • Two types of biodata inventories: • Weighted Application Blanks • Biographical Information Blanks • Used as a prescreening device to predict tenure • Excellent predictors of job success • Few companies use this method • Some legal concerns

28. Background Investigations • Traditionally used for two purposes: • To screen applicants for positions of trust in occupations such as law enforcement, private security, and nuclear power • To screen candidates for “special duty of care” positions in order to satisfy requirements imposed by negligent hiring law • Employers must avoid violating the legal rights of applicants • Fair Credit Reporting Act • Applicants must be notified if employment is denied because of information obtained during an investigation

29. Reference Checks • Involves collecting information from applicants’ previous employers • Provides another potentially useful means of assessment • Serve two important purposes: • Verify information provided by applicants to ensure that they have not fabricated their qualifications or work history • Provide additional information about applicants, which may be predictive of job performance

30. Legal Guidelines for Giving References • Truthful and its truth can be proven • Not conveyed with malicious intent • Communicated only to individuals who are “interested parties” • Job related • The information pertains to issues about which the reference-seeker has a legitimate need to know

31. Employment Interviews • Provides an opportunity for applicants to describe their previous work experience, educational history, career interests, likes and dislikes, etc. • Four types of valuable information sought during an interview: • Technical knowledge • Self-evaluative knowledge • Situational information • Behavior description information • Raise the same legal concerns as application blanks

32. Employment Tests • Mental Ability Tests • Personality Tests • Work Sample Tests

33. Mental Ability Tests • Designed to measure intelligence or aptitude • Used primarily for assessing entry-level applicants • Used for jobs that do not require specific job-related skills • Determine whether the applicants have the capacity to learn job skills successfully • Often have a disparate impact on certain protected groups

34. Personality Tests • The five personality characteristics most often measures by these tests, called “The Big Five” are: • Extroversion • Emotional stability • Agreeableness • Conscientiousness • Openness to experience • Possible problems with personality tests • Evidence on the validity of personality tests has been mixed • The validity is situation specific • Possible legal problems

35. Work Sample Tests • Require applicants to perform some of the actual (or simulated) duties of the vacant position • Used to assess: • Manual skills • Clerical skills • Managerial skills • Disadvantages of Work Sample Tests: • Quite expensive • There could be a safety problem

36. Developing Work Sample Tests • Conduct a job analysis to identify the important tasks of the position • Choose a representative sample of tasks to be included on the test • Develop a scoring procedure for assessing how effectively an applicant performs each task • Administer the test to applicants under standardized conditions

37. Assessment Centers • Associated with work sample tests • May last from two to five days • The most commonly used work sample tests are: • The leaderless group discussion • Management games • In-basket • Been found to be quite valid when appropriately developed and used

38. Screening for Dysfunctional Behavior • Employers do not want to hire applicants with dysfunctional tendencies • Such tendencies include: • Drug addiction • Dishonesty • Assessing applicant honesty • Polygraph tests • Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) • Paper-and-pencil honesty tests • Overt tests • Personality-based measures

39. 6-3 The Manager’s Guide—Line Managers & Employee Selection • Determining needed competencies • Assessing job candidates • Providing input into selection decisions • Making job offers • Ensuring validity

40. HRM Department & Employee Selection • Two primary roles: • Providing technical support • Helping managers conform to legal & technical standards

41. Conduct job analyses & write job descriptions Set minimum qualifications for jobs Determine which selection method to use Develop application blanks Select/develop and administer employment tests Conduct initial screening of applicants Conduct (or commission) background or reference checks Approve selection decisions made by line managers Monitor the firm’s hiring practices for EEO compliance and validity Technical Functions Performed by HRM Professionals