Employee Selection Principles and Techniques

Organizational Entry A study of managerial, professional and technical employees of a large OLL company mound that those who demonstrated success early In their career were more Likely to be promoted than those who were less successful early in their career (Dither & Brett, 1991). Initial Job challenge has a positive impact on employee performance and success. The challenge should be compatible with your expectations and preferences.

Employee preferences Challenging, interesting and meaningful work High salary Opportunities for advancement Job security Satisfactory working hours Pleasant working conditions Compatible co-workers Feeling of being respected and appreciated Opportunity to learn new skills Fair and loyal supervision Being asked one’s opinion on work Issues Assistance with personal problems A study of business students showed the most important consideration to be the company’s location, followed by salary and benefits (Barber & Rolling, 1993).

Another factor that affects employee preferences Is level of education. College graduates nave Deterrent preferences Trot null cocoons graduates anon tenure are also differences BTW college graduates.

Engineering majors differ from liberal arts majors and students differ from C students. Age also plays an important role as well as specialization. Employee preferences change as a function of economic conditions. When Jobs are difficult to obtain, new employees may be more interested in pay and Job security.

In a better economic climate when there are plenty of Jobs, issues such as challenging work or the opportunity to develop new skills rank higher. Preferences also differ as a function of race. A survey comparing Job preferences of black and white women college students, found that more blacks than whites wanted a high-paying Job rather than interesting work (Muriel, Frieze & Frost, 1991).

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The recruitment process Sources of potential employees Recruiter characteristics College campus recruiting

Information provision to Job recruits Sources of recruiting: Formal > ads in newspapers, referrals from employees, employment agencies, search services, placement services of professional associations, Job fairs, outplacement agencies, college campus, online recruiting (e. G. Several major newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune have Jointly begun an online career employment service). Informal > contacting friends and acquaintances > more accurate information and more often lead to hiring.

A study of 186 students at universities and training schools found that the longer the bob search, the less the students used formal recruiting sources. However, those who remained unemployed 3 months after the study began significantly increased their use of formal sources > the use of formal sources was high in the early stages of a job search and again later if the search proved unsuccessful (Barber, Daly, Contamination & Phillips, 1994).

Recruiter characteristics like smiling, nodding, maintaining eye contact, demonstrating empathy and warmth and showing thoughtfulness, competence and personalities are important and influence applicants to accept Jobs. College men expressed en same Kelvin AT JODI acceptance winter tenet recruiter was male of female, but college women said they would be much more likely to accept a Job offer if the company recruiter was male. Research has shown that 50% of women interviewed are offended by gender-related comments made to them by male recruiters about their personal appearance.

Also, Job applicants prefer recruiters to spend time during the interview to provide information about the company, to seek information about the applicant (give the chance to the applicant to speak about their achievements), and answer applicant questions. Also issues like how comfortable the applicant feels in the presence of their prospective superiors and the location of the company are important. Campus recruiting Fewer than half of the corporate recruiters have received training in the proper techniques for interviewing Job applicants > problems with the success of campus recruiting.

Many organizations are turning to computerized recruitment databases: compilations of student resumes. Colleges and universities also maintain online resumes of graduating seniors as well as listings of companies that are hiring. Also dents can access information about alumni who will serve as mentors. Universities also offer computerized videoconferencing facilities in which companies can conduct long-distance interviews with college seniors > company access to schools they may not visit. Major problem for campus recruiting is finding Job candidates who have a realistic view of the business world.

Both applicants and recruiters may present misleading images in order to attract attention > high incidence of turnover in the first 3-5 years of the first Job entry. Realistic Job previews: provide information that is as accurate as possible about all aspects of a Job. Such information can be supplied through a brochure or other written description of the Job, through a film or videotape, or through an on-the-Job sample of the work to see if the applicant can perform the required tasks > reduction of unrealistic expectation about Jobs.

Research shows that realistic Job previews correlate positively with Job satisfaction, 100 performance Ana reach turnover rates. Also teeny reduce ten mummer AT applicants accepting Jobs. Their effect varies as a function of the prior exposure applicants have had to the Job in question > a study of 1,117 applicants for positions as correctional officers found hat applicants with previous experience at prison work were far less likely to accept job offers after watching a realistic Job preview on videotape than were applicants who had no such prior experience (Meaning, Denies & Ravioli, 1993).

After the recruiting process has been completed and applicants and organizations have decided that each meets the other’s needs, the selection process formally begins. The Selection Process Job and Worker analysis > 1/0 psychologists must investigate the nature of the Job. The organization will not know what abilities potential employees should have unless t can describe in detail what they are expected to do to perform the Job effectively > Job Analysis: the study of a Job to describe in specific terms the nature of the component tasks performed by the workers.

A Job analysis determines the specific skills necessary to the Job and from it a profile of worker qualification can be developed. Once these abilities have been specified, the human resource manager or the occupational psychologist must determine the most effective means of identifying these characteristics in potential employees, and evaluate them in each applicant. Then a score or level for the various abilities is established > the 1/0 psychologist may look at the present workers of the company to determine the cutoff scores that should be set.

Recruitment decisions The company should then decide what recruitment method they will use to recruit new employees > ads, employment agencies, referrals from current employees. The response number of potential employees affects the criteria set for their selection > The selection ratio: the relationship between the number of people to be hired and the number available to be hired ( the potential labor supply). If there is a shortage of applicants and the Jobs must be filled within a few weeks, some requirements will have to be changed (e. G. He cutoff score on an intelligence test). A shortage of applicants may also force the company to expend its recruiting campaign and to offer higher wages, enhanced benefits or improved working conditions to attract and retain new employees. Selection techniques Application blanks, interviews, letters of recommendation, assessment centers and psychological tests. Usually a combination of techniques is used. In the U. S. Testing for drug use is now widespread for all types of Jobs. Also, there is an increased concern for AIDS and some organizations screen their applicants for the HIVE.

Some scientists have suggested that in the future, genetic testing may be applied to identify applicants who may be sensitive to certain chemicals used in the workplace and to predict those individuals who are likely to develop specific diseases. Testing the Selection Techniques Every new selection program must be investigated to determine its predictive accuracy or validity. This is done by evaluating the performance of the employees selected by the new procedures, through e. G. Supervisor ratings of their performance.

By comparing hose ratings with the performance on the selection techniques we can determine how the 2 measures correlate. Did the selection techniques predict which of the applicants turned out to be the better workers? Based on the results, we either keep or modify our selection procedures. Fair Employment Practices 1972: regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) > all Job applicants regardless of race, religion, sex or national origin are guaranteed equal opportunities for employment > discrimination on such grounds is illegal.

Adverse impact When a minority group of applicants or employees is treated markedly worse than he majority group in personnel decisions, that minority group is said to be the target of adverse impact in the selection process. Any selection rate for a minority group that is less than 80% of the selection rate for the majority group is evidence of adverse impact > the company could be challenged in court for maintaining different rejection rates for minority and majority applicants, but other evidence would also have to be presented and not Just statistical documentation.

Dilatoriness Stetsons Interviews and application blanks have been greatly affected by nondiscrimination isolation because questions that discriminate against a particular group can lead to lawsuits. No questions can be asked that identify applicants’ national origin, race, or color. Applicants cannot be asked to name their birthplace or that of their relatives, to identify their religious affiliation, or to give the maiden names of female relatives.

It is also unlawful to inquire about the clubs or societies to which the applicants belong and to ask them to submit photographs with their employment applications. It is lawful to ask if applicants have ever been convicted of any crime (as conviction loud be considered relevant to Job performance in certain instance – such as when someone convicted for embezzlement applies for a Job as a bank teller), but it is unlawful to ask if someone has ever been arrested because members of certain minority groups are much more likely to be arrested on suspicion of wrongdoing.

Reverse Discrimination Equal Opportunities legislation has sometimes resulted in discrimination against members of the majority group > reverse discrimination: the phenomenon that may occur when recruiting, hiring, promotion and other personnel decisions in favor of embers of a minority group result in discrimination against members of the majority group. A 4-year study of 13,509 employees in scientific and engineering occupations found that women and blacks had greater promotion opportunities than equally qualified white men (Sheehan, 1992).

Persons hired or promoted on an affirmative action basis may be stigmatize in this way. New legislation notes that the rights of the majority group must not be unnecessarily restrained in the effort to help minorities and that minorities should not be hired or promoted solely on the basis of percentages. Other targets of discrimination Older workers The work force is aging. Life expectancy is increasing and health in later life is improving. At the same time, working lives have been getting shorter with a trend towards early retirement.

Old age formally starts at the point of retirement: 60 for women, 65 for men, but older workers are considered the ones who are above 50 years AT age. However, management still prefers to hire younger workers, despite consistent evidence from 1/0 psychology research that older workers are as productive and sometimes more so, as younger workers and have lower absenteeism and turnover rates. In general, older employees do not suffer from poorer health, diminished vigor or declining mental abilities when compared with younger employees.

Studies of about 24,000 persons in managerial Jobs in the manufacturing, clerical and service sectors of the work force found that age was positively related to performance in highly complex and cognitively challenging Jobs and that performance declined with age only in less demanding Jobs such as low-level clerical or repetitive assembly-line work (Viola, Walden & McDaniel, 1990). However, the stereotypes about older workers persist.

They receive more negative reference evaluations than younger workers > a meta-analysis of studies of ratings of older employees found that workers 34 years old and younger tended to give less favorable ratings to workers aged 55 and older than they did to younger workers (Finniest, Burke & Raja, 1995). Older workers are protected by law against ageism (discrimination in hiring and promotion with regard to age). The emphasis in the developed world should shift from planning for early retirement towards encouraging longer working lives.

In Finland, the government has taken an active approach towards the employment of elder people for some years > longitudinal research program: the ‘Finance project’ > developed the concept of work ability to assess the ability of workers to do their Job and to predict quality of life > increasing heterogeneity in work ability amongst older groups of workers > Nation-level action programs to promote health and lifestyle, to make adjustments to the physical work environments and to design work and organizational systems more carefully to the needs of older workers (adjustments include improved workplace design to reduce the physical workload, regular updating of professional skills and knowledge, and the introduction of more flexible scheduling of work, for example, by introducing micro-pauses following peak loads). Different countries have adopted different approaches to the issue of ageing, work and health due to their policies towards labor market intervention as well as the organization of their health care systems. A major factor is whether health care is supported through employer-funded insurance or through general taxation. Workers with disabilities Employees with physical and mental disabilities are protected by law against Job Localization.

Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to ten physical or mental impairments of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability if it would not impose an undue hardship on normal business operations. Defining the term disability has proven difficult and requires some 60 pages of government regulations: in general, a person is considered disabled if s/he has a physical or cognitive impairment that limits one or more major life activities. [sensory impairment: vision or hearing disabilities, motor impairment, cognitive impairment: learning disabilities, speech impairment, mental retardation]. Research has shown that disabled employees perform as well as or better than nondurable employees do.

Job opportunities for disabled persons vary as a function of type of disability: Pl with impairments of vision, hearing or motor skills experience greater difficulty obtaining employment than Pl with less disabling conditions. Women workers Women face discrimination particularly when applying for what are still considered to be traditionally male Jobs. Once hired, women receive lower wages than men with similar skills and qualifications that are performing the same Jobs do. Gender-based wage discrimination: lower pay for comparable worth. Comparable worth: the idea that Jobs that require comparable or equivalent skills should receive comparable compensation. Thus, discrimination against women today may occur less in the hiring process but more in terms of pay and promotion.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation Gay men and lesbian women face discrimination in hiring in public agencies and private companies. Some companies, such as AT&T, Xerox and Levi Strauss actively sponsor support groups and networks for their gay employees. Discrimination based on physical attractiveness Beauty’s: Judgment based on a pleasing physical appearance > has shown to affect ring and promotion decisions. Many Pl Delve Tanat phonically attractive persons also possess more sealed personality and social traits. A bias against overweight Job applicants has also been found. Job Analysis Job analysis: the study of a Job to describe in specific terms the nature of the component tasks performed by the workers.

Includes information about the tools or equipment used, the operations performed, the education and training required, the wages paid and any unique aspects of the job such as safety hazards. Essential for employee selection and the design of training programs. Also, it helps in he design of Jobs and workspaces for more efficient performance. Example: if an operator has to walk a long distance from the machine to the storage shelves every time it is necessary to replenish the supply of raw material, this wasted time and effort can be eliminated be redesigning the work area. Job analysis can also uncover safety hazards or dangerous operating procedures.

It can also be applied to the development of Job evaluations which are used to determine appropriate wages for various Jobs > in order to determine fair pay, judgments are made by experts that are based on Job analyses after the collection ND evaluation of data from large numbers of employees on such Job-related factors as the specific skills required, the level of education, the level of responsibility and the consequences of making errors. 2 basic approaches to Job analysis: the Job-oriented approach and the worker- oriented approach. The Job-oriented approach: focuses on the specific tasks involved in performing a Job and on the Job outcome or level of productivity. The worker-oriented approach focuses on worker behaviors on the Job and on the specific skills, abilities and personal traits needed to perform the Job. Most Job analyses involve a combination of Job-oriented and worker-oriented data.

Interviews: used in Job analysis and involve extensive meetings with the persons directly connected with the Job: the workers performing the Job and their supervisors, and sometimes the instructors who trained the workers for the Job. I nose Interviews may De supplemented Day quaternaries. Questionnaires: 2 types used: the unstructured one and the structured one. In the unstructured or open-end approach, the subject matter experts describe in their own words the components of the Job and the tasks performed. In the structured approach, workers and supervisors are provided with descriptions of tasks, operations and working conditions and are asked to rate the items or to select those items that characterize their Jobs. Length of Job experience and race have been shown to influence the content of the lob analysis. Level of education and gender have only minimal effects.

A widely used questionnaires is the PAS: Position Analysis Questionnaire: consists of 194 Job elements related to specific behaviors. These elements are organized into 6 categories of Job behavior: information input, manila processes, work output, legislations with other persons, Job context and other Job activities and conditions. Subject matter experts rate each element for its importance to the Job in question. Such quantifiable ratings have an advantage over the kind of information yielded by the unstructured questionnaire. Direct observation: direct observation of the workers on the Job. But Pl may behave differently when they are being watched, so it is necessary for the Job analysts to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

Also, they should observe a representative sample of workers and make observations at various times throughout he workday to take account of changes caused by such factors as fatigue. Systematic Activity Logs: workers maintain a detailed written record of their activities during a given period. Critical Incidents: The critical-incidents technique is a means of identifying specific actions or behaviors that lead to desirable or undesirable consequences on the Job. It is based on identification of those incidents that are necessary to successful Job performance. The goal is to have subject matter experts indicate the behaviors that differentiate good from poor workers.

A single critical incident is of little value, but undress of them can effectively describe a Job task sequence in terms of the unique behaviors required to perform it well. Research comparing the effectiveness of various approaches to Job analysis indicates that they vary in their usefulness. The choice of a specific technique must depend on the organization’s reasons for conducting the analysis in the first place. Unless the purpose of the Job analysis is stated (e. G. Refining a selection or training program), the company cannot make an informed decision about which technique to use or what kind of information to seek. But generally, a combination of methods provides