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Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.
Professor of Management
MGMT 440: Human Resource Management
1 2008 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.
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Outline Quick Review of Selection Theory Selection Methods
Application Blanks & Rsums Employment Interviews Reference Checks Medical Examinations Drug Tests Credit Reports Work Sample Tests Trainability Tests Assessment Centers Personality Inventories
Honesty & Integrity Tests Cognitive Ability Tests Other Ability Tests Biodata Questionnaires Experience & Accomplishments Questionnaires
Criteria for Choosing Selection Methods
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Selection Process
Step 1 - Measurement: Measure each applicantsqualifications using the selection methods
Step 2 - Decision Making: Use the qualifications to predictjob performance to decide which applicant to hire
Step 3 - Evaluation: Evaluate the selection processSource of figure: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Figure 7.1, p. 283
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Selection Process Selection methods measure the applicants qualifications
for the job We use the selection methods to predict the job performance
of each applicant For each selection method (know for quiz):
Describe the selection method
Rate the validity of the selection method how well does theselection method predict job performance: Poor:validity coefficient = r .00
Moderate:validity coefficient = r .25
Good:validity coefficient = r .50
Great:validity coefficient = r .75
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Taylor-Russell Table Get better hires by:
Increasing theBase Rate ofSuccess (BRS) byeffectiverecruiting
Increasingvalidity (r) byusing selectionmethods withgood (.50) orgreat (.75)
validity Decreasing the
Selection Ratio(SR) by raisingthe selection cut-off score
Source of table: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, &Shaw (2006), Table 7.2, p. 307.
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ModeratePoor
Good
Great
Poor
Poor
Moderate
Moderate
Good
Good
Great
Great
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Rsums & Application Blanks Purpose: collect basic factual information about the
applicant
Name, address, phone, e-mail, education, work history,training, skills, accomplishments, etc.
Use: screen out applicants who dont meet the jobsminimum qualifications in terms of education, work
experience, etc.Validity as typically used: poor (typically r < .20)
Why? Lack of agreement on what to look for
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Rsums & Application Blanks Solution to poor validity: be structured in how you evaluate
the rsums or application blanks
Use a numerical scoring system to evaluate the rsums
Define in advance of evaluating the rsums what keywords areassociated with each of the jobs essential qualifications
Example: What words on a rsum indicate a college degree?
Develop a rating system to numerically rate the keywords
Example: How many points out of 100 is a college degree worth?
Example: Does it matter which university? MSU vs. UofM?
Conduct a validity study of the rating system (concurrent?)
If valid, use it; otherwise, revise it
Validity: good (typically r .50) if properly done
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Rsums & Application Blanks By switching from the typical
unstructured rsum evaluation to astructured rsum evaluation, weincrease the validity of ourevaluation of applicants rsumsfrom poor (.00) to good (.50)
Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006),Figure 8.2, p. 324: describes thesteps in constructing a WeightedApplication Blank (WAB)
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Employment Interviews Validity as typically done: poor (r < .20)
Why? Typical interviews are unstructured
Types of Interviews (Degree of Interview Structure) Unstructured: few (if any) pre-planned questions; commonly
used; poor validity (so dont use this type of interview)
Semi-structured: some pre-planned questions, but with lots offlexibility to pursue lots of follow-up questions; moderate
validity (dont use it because we can do better)
Structured: all questions are pre-planned; every applicant getsthe same questions; some limited follow-up questionsallowed; answers evaluated by numeric rating scales; good
validity (this type of interview is a key to good hires)
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Employment Interviews Types of Structured Interviews
Patterned Interview: ask about education, workexperiences, career goals, etc. Example questions:
Why did you pick your major?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What do you plan on doing 5 years from now?
Validity: moderate (we can do better than this) Having an interview script helps validity
Every applicant gets exactly the same questions
But the typical questions may not be all that helpful
Whats a good answer to Why did you pick your major?
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Employment Interviews Types of Structured Interviews (more)
Situational Interview 3 types of questions:
Hypothetical: questions that describe a situation and ask what theapplicant would do in that situation
Job-Knowledge: questions that ask applicants to define job-related terms, or explain a procedure, or demonstrate a skill
Job Requirements: questions that ask applicants about theirwillingness to comply with job requirements (e.g., travel, shift-work, etc.)
Each question has a scoring system to rate the applicants answers onnumerical rating scales
To improve validity, use a panel of interviewers to evaluate eachapplicants interview
Validity: good (we might be able to do better than this)
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Employment Interviews Types of Structured Interviews (more)
Behavioral Interview (Behavior Description Interview)
Questions ask applicants for specific examples from their past
experiences of specific job-related issues Commonly used question format: Tell me about a time when .
Examples:
For a sales position: Tell me about your most difficult recent sale.What did you do? What happened?
If team leadership is essential to the job: Tell me about a time whenyou were the leader of a team. What did you do? What happened?
If providing effective performance feedback is essential to the job:Tell me about a time when you had to talk with a person abouttheir poor performance. What did you do? What happened?
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Employment Interviews Types of Structured Interviews (more)
Behavioral Interview (more) Each question has a scoring system to rate the applicants
answers on numerical rating scales Use rubrics: For each question, write an example of what
would be the:
Best answer (e.g., best answer = 5 points)
Good answer (e.g., good answer = 3 points)
Bad answer (e.g., bad answer = 1 point) To improve validity, use a panel of interviewers to evaluate
each applicants interview
Validity: good to great (r > .60, if properly done); this isusually our best choice of interview formats
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Employment Interviews By switching from the typical
unstructured interview to a highlystructured behavioral interview, we
increase the validity of the interviewfrom poor (.00) to good (.50) or evengreat (.75)
If properly done (thats the catch), this
can be one of our best selection tools But if we conduct the usual
unstructured interview, its little betterthan pulling names out of a hat
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Reference ChecksYou should always carefully check the references of the
finalists for the job before making a job offer
Include the applicants former supervisors
Validity: moderate (r .25), but do careful andthorough reference checks anyway to reduce chancesof lawsuits for:
Negligent hiring: organization can have legal liability if itfailed to check references and it hires a person with ahistory of workplace violence who then repeats the
workplace violence
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Reference Checks But, some managers are reluctant to provide negative
information about a former employee in a referencecheck
They may only want to provide limited information suchas the dates of employment and job title of the formeremployee
Why? They think that by giving only the limited information
that they can avoid lawsuits for: Defamation of character: if you provide negative information
about your former employee, he or she might sue you
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Reference Checks But the former employee might still sue for defamation
by arguing that limited information is negativeinformation
And only providing limited information about a formeremployee in a reference check also runs a risk of alawsuit for:
Negligent misrepresentation (negligent referral): if you fail to
provide accurate and relevant negative information about aformer employee in a reference check, the former employeesnew employer might sue you for not being truthful about yourformer employee, especially if the employee was violent
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Reference Checks Some states have passed laws designed to protect
employers from defamation of character lawsuits whenthey give reference information
Example: Minnesota Statue 181.967 on EmploymentReferences (effective 8/1/04) https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=181.967
My recommendations: Always do careful reference checks when hiring
When you (as a manager) get called about a reference checkconcerning a former employee: Follow the organizations policies on providing reference information
Provide accurate information that you can document
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Medical Examinations A medical doctor performs a medical exam of the applicant
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): only use a medicalexam aftermaking a job offer that is conditional on passing
the medical exam; can use results of the medical exam to: Revoke the conditional job offer if the applicant is found to be
physically unable to perform essential job duties with reasonableaccommodations
Assign applicants to jobs (e.g., bronchitis)
Prevent the spread of contagious diseases
Document pre-existing injuries & illnesses to prevent fraudulentinsurance claims
Validity: poor (with overall job performance), but still mightbe used for the above reasons or for drug tests
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Drug Tests Used in the following situations:
Part of the pre-employment medical exam
Part of an investigation of current employees
Random drug tests of current employees
Caution: Even very reliable drug tests can have asurprising high false accusation rate Why? Most people are innocent, and a small error rate
applied to lots of innocent people can generate lots offalse accusations So, consider re-testing those who test positive before taking
action against them (especially for current employees)
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Credit Reports Fair Credit Reporting Act:
Credit reports can be used as a selection method, but only ifthe following conditions are satisfied: Applicant has been notified in a clear and conspicuous written
disclosure Applicant gives written authorization Information is not used in violation of employment discrimination
laws Monitor for adverse impact discrimination Be ready to demonstrate job-relatedness or business necessity
Example: position involves the handling of money
My advice to job seekers: Check your 3 credit reports beforeyou begin looking for a job and correct any errors: https://www.annualcreditreport.com
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Work Sample Tests In a standardized format, have applicants perform the
tasks required by the job (all or some)
Examples:
For a sales job, have applicants make a simulated sales pitch
For a construction job, have applicants interpret blueprints
For a teaching job, have applicants teach a class
For a secretarial job, have applicants type letters, reports, etc.
Validity: typically good (r .50 [.45 or .54])
Assuming, of course, that the work sample correctlycaptures the jobs essential tasks
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Trainability Tests Typically used for semi-skilled jobs when the applicant
is not expected to know the skills involved in the job
Applicant is instructed how to perform the tasks
Applicant performs the tasks once or twice withcoaching
Applicant then performs the tasks without coaching
Applicant is observed and performance is evaluated for errors
Validity: typically moderate
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Assessment CentersWork sample test for manager positions
Measure: leadership, communication, decisiveness,organizing & planning, etc.
Examples of assessment techniques: In-basket exercises
Leaderless group discussions
Oral presentations
Role-playing exercises Applicants are observed & evaluated by multiple trained
observers
Validity: good, but expensive
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Personality Inventories Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Validity: poor for selection purposes
Might be okay, if carefully used, to help a team work bettertogether
Many psychologists who study personality today prefer adifferent measure of personality than the MBTI:
Big 5 Dimensions of Personality
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Personality Inventories The Big 5 Personality Dimensions: OCEAN
Openness: curious, imaginative, variety of experiences
Conscientiousness: prudent, organized, thoughtful
Extraversion: sociable, outgoing
Agreeableness: cooperative, sympathetic, kind
Neuroticism: easy to anger, anxiety, depression
Sometimes reverse-scored to get opposite of neuroticism: Adjustment: stable, calm, stress-tolerant
Example questions for each dimension:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits
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Personality Inventories The Big 5 Personality Dimensions (more)
Example: California Personality Inventory (CPI) from CPP(formerly known as Consulting Psychologists Press)
Validity: typically moderate for selection (r .25 withmeasures of overall job performance) But, validity of the Big 5 is hard to generalize
Some dimensions of personality may correlate more strongly withparticular aspects of particular jobs
Extraversion: success in sales
Low agreeableness, low conscientiousness, & low adjustment(high neuroticism): more likely to engage in counterproductive
work behaviors (e.g., break rules, abuse sick leave, drug abuse,workplace violence, etc.)
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Personality Inventories Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Designed to diagnose mental health issues
MMPI-2 has almost 600 questions (true/false/cant say)
I am good at meeting other people
Sometimes evil spirits control my actions
Dimensions (scales) include: Hypochondriasis, Depression,Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Masculinity-Femininity,
Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, Hypomania, & SocialIntroversion
Controversial to use for selection purposes
Validity for selection purposes is hard to summarize
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Honesty & Integrity Tests Employee Polygraph Act (1988) prohibits (with some
exceptions) the use of polygraph tests of applicants oremployees
Polygraphs of applicants were then replaced by paper-and-pencil honesty & integrity tests
2 types of paper-and-pencil integrity tests:
Overt integrity tests
Personality-oriented integrity tests
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Honesty & Integrity Tests Overt integrity tests: measures attitudes about
dishonest behavior
Example: Everyone will steal if given the chance
Tools:
Pearson Reid London House:
Personnel Selection Inventory
Reid Report Assessment
Secure Point:
Stanton Survey
Validity: good (r .55)
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Honesty & Integrity Tests Personality-oriented integrity tests: measures
personality traits associated with integrity:dependability & conscientiousness
Tools (usually based on the CPI):
Hogan Assessments: Hogan Personality Inventory has aOrganizational Delinquency scale
Personnel Decisions International (PDI): PDI Employment
Inventory has an Employee Deviance scale CPP: Personnel Reaction Blank has a Wayward Impulse
scale
Validity: moderate (r .27)
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Cognitive Ability TestsAlso called mental ability tests or intelligence tests
Tools: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (full)
Wonderlic Personnel Test (quick: 12 minutes)
Validity: good to great (typically r > .40, e.g., r .51,some as high as .80) Furthermore, the good-to-great validity can be
generalized across a wide variety of jobs Problem: adverse impact
So, debate about their use: they work, but you riskadverse impact discrimination
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Other Ability Tests There are lots of tests of a variety of abilities
Examples:
Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test: test of mechanical
abilities
Wonderlic Basic Skills Test: test of basic verbal & math skills
HAY Aptitude Test Battery: test of speed & accuracy withalphanumeric data
Validity: typically good, if the tested ability is reallyjob-relevant
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Biodata Questionnaires Standardized questionnaire about an applicants life
experiences
Example questions:
Did you ever build a model airplane that flew?
When you were a child, did you collect stamps?
Do you ever repair mechanical things in your home?
Answers are scored using a scoring key
Validity: moderate (r .30 or .35)
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Experience & Accomplishments
Questionnaires Questionnaire focuses on an applicants job-related
experiences & accomplishments To make the questions job-related, the questionnaire is
usually customized to fit job categories Example: For an Information Systems Analyst position:
Describe the types of IT systems problems you haveencountered
Describe the types of manual processes you have studied to
develop automation recommendations Describe your experiences in testing hardware, software, or
systems
Validity: moderate (typically content validity)
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Criteria for Choosing Selection
Methods Validity: how well does it predict job performance?
Utility: factors to consider in addition to validity:
Cost, base rate of success, standard deviation ofperformance (in dollars), & selection ratio
Legality & likelihood of legal challenge
Acceptability to managers
Applicant reactions Societal impact
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Taylor-Russell Table Get better hires by: Increasing the
Base Rate ofSuccess (BRS) byeffectiverecruiting
Increasingvalidity (r) byusing selectionmethods withgood (.50) orgreat (.75)
validity Decreasing the
Selection Ratio(SR) by raisingthe selection cut-off score
Source of table: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, &Shaw (2006), Table 7.2, p. 307.
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Summary & My Advice Core selection procedures almost always use: Structured rsum evaluation or weighted application blank (good
validity) Structured behavioral interview (good to great validity)
Reference checks (moderate validity, but do it to avoid negligent hiring) Consider adding:
Work sample test (good validity) Cognitive ability test (good to great validity, but monitor for adverse
impact discrimination) For some jobs, consider adding:
Medical exam with drug test (poor validity for predicting jobperformance, but might be useful for other reasons)
Overt integrity test (good validity) Other selection methods as appropriate
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Outline Quick Review of Selection Theory Selection Methods
Application Blanks & Rsums Employment Interviews Reference Checks
Medical Examinations Drug Tests Credit Reports Work Sample Tests Trainability Tests Assessment Centers Personality Inventories
Honesty & Integrity Tests Cognitive Ability Tests Other Ability Tests Biodata Questionnaires Experience & Accomplishments Questionnaires
Criteria for Choosing Selection Methods