Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Chapter 6. Selection and Placement - Coggle Diagram
Chapter 6. Selection and Placement
Selection Method Standards
Validity
Criterion-related validation
If there is a substantial correlation between test scores and job-performance scores, criterion-related validity has been established.
Criterion-related validity studies come in two varieties.
Predictive validation seeks to establish an empirical relationship between test scores taken prior to being hired and eventual performance on the job.
Concurrent validation assesses the validity of a test by administering it to people already on the job and then correlating test scores with existing measures of each person's performance.
The assumption is that if high performers in the company score high on any trait, then the company should use scores on this trait to screen new hires.
Content validation
When sample sizes are small, an alternative test validation strategy, content validation, can be used.
Content validation is performed demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by the test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.
The extent to which performance on the measure is
related to performance on the job.
Generalizability
Generalizability is defined as the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts.
There are two primary “contexts” which should be generalized: different situations and different people.
Three step process
First, the company provides evidence from previous criterion-related validity studies conducted in other situations that shows
that a specific test is a valid predictor for a specific job.
Second, the company provides evidence from job analysis to document that the job it is trying to fill is similar in all major respects to the job validated elsewhere.
Finally, if the company can show that it uses a test that is the same as or similar to that used in the validated setting, then one can “generalize” the validity from the first context to the new context.
Reliability
Estimating the reliability of measurement
Test–retest reliability
If the characteristic we are measuring is supposedly stable and the time period is short, this relationship should be strong.
If it were weak, then the measure would be inconsistent—hence, unreliable.
The time period between measurements is important when it comes to interpreting test–retest reliability.
The correlation coefficient
A measure of the degree to which two sets of numbers are related.
Expresses the strength of the relationship in
numerical form.
The degree to which a measure is free from random error.
Utility
The degree to which the information provided by selection methods enhances the bottom-line effectiveness of the organization.
The more reliable, valid, ad generalizable the selection method is,
the more utility it will have.
Legality
All selection methods should conform to existing laws and existing legal precedents.
Types of Selection Methods
Interviews
A dialogue initiated by one or more persons to gather information and evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for employment.
HR staff should keep the interview structured,
standardized, and focused on accomplishing a small number of goals.
Interviewers should also have a structured note-taking system that will aid recall when it comes to justifying the ratings.
Selection interviews should be focused totally on rating and ranking applicants, and even though it may be tempting to accomplish other goals like recruiting the candidate, this temptation needs to be resisted.
References, application blanks, and background checks
The evaluations supplied in most reference letters are so positive that it is hard to differentiate applicants. This problem with reference letters has two causes.
First, the applicant usually gets to choose who writes the letter and can thus choose only those writers who think the highest of her abilities.
Second, because letter writers can never be sure who will read the letters, they may justifiably fear that supplying damaging information about someone could come back to haunt them.
Another problem with reference checks is that applicants do not always tell the truth when it comes to listing their references.
Employers can also collect background information from the applicants themselves.
Physical ability tests
Although automation and other advances in technology have eliminated or modified many physically demanding occupational tasks, many jobs still require certain physical abilities or psychomotor abilities.
Tests of physical abilities may be relevant not only to predicting performance but also to predicting occupational injuries and disabilities.
7 classes of test
Muscular tension
Muscular power
Muscular endurance
Cardiovascular endurance
Flexibility
Balance
Coordination
Cognitive ability tests
Cognitive ability test differentiate individuals based on their mental rather than physical capacities.
3 dominant facets
Verbal comprehension refers to a person's capacity to understand and use written and spoken language.
Quantitative ability concerns the speed and accuracy with which one can solve arithmetic problems of all kinds.
Reasoning ability: a broader concept, refers to a person’s capacity to invent solutions to many diverse problems.
Personality inventories
Categorize individuals by what they are like.
The concept of “emotional intelligence” is also important in team
contexts and has been used to describe people who are especially effective
Emotional intelligent
Self-awareness: knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Self-regulation: the ability to keep disruptive emotions in check.
Self-motivation: the ability to motivate oneself and persevere in the face of obstacles.
Empathy: the ability to sense and read emotions in others.
Social skills: the ability to manage the emotions of other people.
The lower validity associated with self-reports of personality can be traced to three factors.
First, people sometimes lack insight into what their own personalities are actually like so their scores are inaccurate or unreliable.
Second, people’s personalities sometimes vary across different contexts.
Third, with some traits like ability, validity coefficients are higher when one uses a curvilinear prediction instead of just a straight linear prediction.
Work samples
Attempts to simulate the job in a prehiring context to
observe how the applicant performs in the simulated job.
Advantage
In some cases, employers will sponsor competitions in which contestants compete for attention by going head-to-head in solving certain job-related problems.
Competitions are particularly well-suited for assessing and “discovering” young people who may not have extended track records or portfolios to evaluate.
In some cases, applicants respond to a set of standardized hypothetical case studies and role-play how they would react to certain situations.
Disadvantage
First, by their very nature the tests are job specific, so generalizability is low.
Second, partly because a new test has to be developed for each job and partly because of their nonstandardized formats, these tests are relatively expensive to develop.
Honesty and drug test
Paper-and-pencil honesty tests come in a number of different forms.
Some directly emphasize questions dealing with past theft admissions or associations with people who stole from employers.
Other items are less direct and tap more basic traits such as social conformity, conscientiousness, or emotional stability.
Employers considering the use of drug tests would be well advised to make sure that their drug-testing programs conform to some general rules.
First, these tests should be administered systematically to all applicants for the same job.
Second, testing seems more defensible for jobs that involve
safety hazards associated with failure to perform.
Finally, companies that employ drug testing also have to recognize the changing legal status for drugs like marijuana.