Human Resource Management: Selection Plan

Development of the Selection Plan

• A selection plan outlines the predictors used to assess the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs) required to perform a job.
• Steps involved in developing a selection plan:
  • Develop a list of KSAOs required for the job, which is provided by the job requirements matrix.
  • Decide if each KSAO needs to be assessed in the selection process.

Initial Assessment Methods

• Also referred to as pre-employment enquiries, used to reduce the number of people assessed.
• Predictors used to screen candidates from applicants include:
  • Application forms
  • Biographical information
  • Reference reports
  • Initial interviews
• Purpose is to minimize the costs associated with substantive assessment methods by reducing the number of people assessed.

Resumes and Cover Letters

• Information provided is controlled by the applicant and needs to be verified by other predictors to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Major issues:
  • Large number received by organizations
  • Falsification and misrepresentation of information
  • Lack of research on validity, reliability, costs, and adverse impact.

Overview of Application Blanks/Forms

• Request written information about the applicant's background, including:
  • Educational experiences
  • Training
  • Job experiences
• Key advantage: the organization dictates the information provided.
• Major issue: the information requested should be critical to job success and reflect KSAOs relevant to the job.

Application Blanks/Forms (continued)

• Areas of special interest:
  • Educational requirements (e.g., level of education, CGPA, quality of school/university, major field of study)
  • Training and experience requirements
  • Licensing, certification, and job knowledge
• Weighted application blanks can be used.

Biographical Information/Biodata

• Personal history information used to predict future performance.
• "Best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
• Issues:
  • Generalizability beyond the first group?
  • Benefit of approach must be considered.

Initial Interview

• Characteristics:
  • Begins the process of necessary differentiation
  • Purpose: screen out most obvious cases of person/job mismatches
  • Limitation: most expensive method of initial assessment
• Video and computer interviews offer cost savings.

Evaluation of Initial Interview

• Minimal evidence exists regarding usefulness.
• Guidelines to enhance usefulness:
  • Ask questions assessing most basic KSAOs
  • Stick to basic, fundamental questions suitable for making rough cuts rather than subjective questions
  • Keep interviews brief
  • Ask the same questions of all applicants

Substantive Assessment Methods

• Determining who among the minimally qualified will likely be the best performers on the job.
• Types of substantive assessment methods:
  • Personality tests
  • Ability tests
  • Emotional intelligence tests
  • Performance tests and work samples
  • Situational judgment tests
  • Integrity tests
  • Interest, values, and preference inventories
  • Structured interviews

Overview of Personality Tests

• Describe behavioral, not emotional or cognitive traits.
• May capture up to 75% of an individual's personality.
• Big Five factors:
  • Emotional stability
  • Extraversion
  • Openness to experience
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness

Measures of Personality Tests

• Surveys:
  • Personal Characteristics Inventory (PCI)
  • NEO Personality Inventory
  • Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
• Administration options:
  • Paper-and-pencil
  • Interviews
  • Online forms

Sample Items from the Personal Characteristics Inventory

• Conscientiousness:
  • I can always be counted on to get the job done.
  • I am a very persistent worker.
  • I almost always plan things in advance of work.
• Extraversion:
  • Meeting new people is enjoyable to me.
  • I like to stir up excitement if things get boring.
  • I am a "take-charge" type of person.
• Agreeableness:
  • I like to help others who are down on their luck.
  • I usually see the good side of people.
  • I forgive others easily.
• Emotional Stability:
  • I can become annoyed at people quite easily (reverse-scored).
  • At times I don't care about much of anything (reverse-scored).
  • My feelings tend to be easily hurt (reverse-scored).
• Openness to Experience:
  • I like to work with difficult concepts and ideas.
  • I enjoy trying new and different things.
  • I tend to enjoy art, music, or literature.

Implications of Big Five Personality Traits at Work

• Criticisms of Personality Tests:
  • Trivial validities: correlations for any individual trait with job performance are typically low (around r=.23)
  • Faking: individuals answer in a dishonest way, but tests still have some validity
  • Negative applicant reactions: applicants believe tests are invasive and unfair

Overview of Ability Tests

• Definition: measures that assess an individual's capacity to function in a certain way.
• Two types:
  • Aptitude: assesses innate capacity to function
  • Achievement: assess learned capacity to function
• Four classes of ability tests:
  • Cognitive: perception, memory, reasoning, verbal, math, expression
  • Psychomotor: thought/body movement coordination
  • Physical: strength, endurance, movement quality
  • Sensory/perceptual: detection and recognition of stimuli

Evaluation of Cognitive Ability Tests

• Validity approaches: .50
• Research findings:
  • Among the most valid methods of selection
  • Often generalizes across organizations, job types, and types of applicants
  • Can produce large economic gains for organizations and provide major competitive advantage
  • Validity is particularly high for jobs of medium and high complexity but also exists for simple jobs
• Limitations:
  • Concern over adverse impact and fairness of tests
  • Blacks and Hispanics score lower than whites, but this gap is narrowing
  • Alternative presentation formats (e.g., verbal tests) decrease differences in scores dramatically while producing nearly equivalent scores

Integrity Tests

• Two types:
  • Clear purpose/overt: directly asks about honesty and integrity
  • Personality-based/veiled purpose: indirect measures of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability
• Validity can be useful: predicts bad behaviors and performance

Interest, Values, and Preference Inventories

• Assess activities individuals prefer to do on and off the job.
• Not often used in selection.
• Can be useful for self-selection into job types.
• Types of tests:
  • Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB)
  • Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)
• Evaluation:
  • Unlikely to predict job performance directly
  • May help assess person-organization fit and subsequent job satisfaction

Structured Interviews

• Questions based on job analysis.
• Same questions asked of each candidate.
• Response to each question numerically evaluated.
• Detailed anchored rating scales used to score each response.
• Detailed notes taken, focusing on interviewees' behaviors.
• Validity may be r=.30 or better.
• Surprisingly uncommon in organizations.