Robbins & Judge

Organizational Behavior
13th Edition

Chapter 18: Human Resource Policies

and Practices

Student Study Slideshow

Bob Stretch
Southwestern College
© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 18-0
 Chapter Learning Objectives
• After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Define initial selection and identify the most useful methods.
– Define substantive selection and identify the most useful
methods.
– Define contingent selection and contrast the arguments for and
against drug testing.
– Compare the four main types of training.
– Contrast formal and informal training methods, and on-the-job
and off-the-job training.
– Support the use of performance evaluation.
– Show how managers can improve performance evaluations.
– Explain how diversity can be managed in organizations.
– Show how a global context affects human resource
management.

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 The Selection Process
• Initial Selection
– Applicants who don’t meet basic requirements are
rejected.
• Substantive Selection
– Applicants who meet basic requirements, but are less
qualified than others, are rejected.
• Contingent Selection
– Applicants who are among best qualified, but who fail
contingent selection, are rejected.
• Applicant receives job offer.
Exhibit 18-1

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Stage 1: Initial Selection
• Initial selection devices are used to determine if
basic qualifications for the job are met
• Devices include:
– Application Forms
• Good initial screen
• Must be careful about questions asked – legal issues
– Background Checks
• Most employers want reference information, but few give it
out – litigation worries
• Letters of recommendation are of marginal worth
• May use criminal record or credit report checks

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Stage 2: Substantive Selection
• These devices are the heart of the selection process
– Written Tests
• Testing applicants for: intelligence or cognitive ability, personality,
integrity, and interests
• Intelligence tests are the best predictor across all jobs
– Performance-Simulation Tests
• Based on job-related performance requirements
• Work Sample Tests
– Creating a miniature replica of a job to evaluate the performance abilities
of job candidates
• Assessment Centers
– A set of performance-simulation tests designed to evaluate a candidate’s
managerial potential

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 Another Substantive Selection Device
• Interviews
– Are the most frequently used selection tool
– Carry a great deal of weight in the selection process
– Can be biased toward those who “interview well”
• Types of Interviews
– Unstructured (randomly chosen questions)
• Most common, least predictive, and prone to bias
– Structured (standardized sets of questions)
• More predictive of job success; less chance for bias
– Behavioral structured (asking how specific problems were handled in
the past)
• Past behaviors may be good predictors of future behavior
• Interviews most often used to determine organization-individual fit

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Stage 3: Contingent Selection
• Final checks before hiring
– Drug testing
• Controversial: perceived to be unfair or invasive
• Supreme Court ruled that this is not an invasion of
rights
• Expensive but accurate
• Alcohol not generally tested for

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 Training and Development Programs
• Types of Training
– Basic Literacy Skills
• One half of U.S. high school graduates do not have the basic
skills necessary for work
– Technical Skills
• Focus of most training, especially given the pace of
technological change
– Interpersonal Skills
• Skills like effective listening, communication, and teamwork
– Problem-solving Skills
• Help sharpen logic and reasoning, and provide helpful
decision-making techniques

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 What About Ethics Training?
Argument against
– Personal values and value
systems are fixed at an
early age
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Argument for
– Values can be learned and
changed
– Training helps employees
recognize ethical dilemmas
and issues
– Training reaffirms the
organization’s expectation
that members will act
ethically
18-8
 Training Methods
• Formal
– Planned in advance with a structured format
• Informal
– Unstructured, unplanned, and easily adaptable
– 70% of all current training is of this type
• On-the-Job (OJT)
– Includes job rotation, apprenticeships, understudy assignments, and
formal mentoring programs
– May be disruptive to the workplace
• Off-the-Job
– Classroom lectures, videotapes, seminars, self-study courses, Internet-
based courses, role-plays, and case studies.
• E-Training (computer-based)
– Flexible but expensive and not proven to work

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 Individualized Training and Learning
Styles
• Learning styles differ: so should training method
• Learning Styles:
– Reading
• Give them books and reading materials to review
– Watching
• Let them observe experts modeling the proper behaviors
– Listening
• Provide lectures or audiotapes
– Participating
• Let these learners try out the new skills in a safe experimental
environment
• The styles are not mutually exclusive – employees can
learn from multiple styles
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 Evaluating Training Effectiveness
• Many factors determine training effectiveness:
– Training method used
– Individual motivation
– Trainee personality: those with internal locus of
control, high conscientiousness, high cognitive
ability, and high self-efficacy learn best
– Training climate: ability to apply the learning to
the job

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 Performance Evaluation
• Evaluation affects performance level
• Purposes of Performance Evaluation
– Provides input to general human resource decisions
• Promotions, transfers, and terminations
– Identifies skill training and development needs
– Provides performance feedback to employees
– Supplies the basis for reward allocation decisions
• Merit pay increases and other rewards
• For OB specialists: the key purposes of
performance evaluation are the last two - a
mechanism for feedback and reward allocation
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 What Do We Evaluate?
• Individual Task Outcomes
– These are the metrics that directly result from employee
effort such as sales, turnover, or quality
• Behaviors
– When direct results are difficult to determine, may be
evaluated on behavior and documented actions such as
sales calls made, promptness in submitting reports, or
non-productive activities like volunteering for charity
drives
• Traits
– Weak because they don’t reflect productivity; often used
these include attitudes, confidence, and looking busy

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 Who Should Do the Evaluating?
• Immediate Supervisor
• Peers
• Subordinates
• Customers
• The person being evaluated
• 360o feedback: all these and more

Exhibit 18-2

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 Methods of Performance Evaluation
• Written Essay
– A narrative describing an employee’s strengths,
weaknesses, past performances, potential, and
suggestions for improvement
• Critical Incidents
– Evaluating the behaviors that are key in making
the difference between executing a job effectively
and executing it ineffectively

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 More Methods of Performance
Evaluation
• Graphic Rating Scales
– An evaluation method in which the evaluator rates
performance factors on an incremental scale
Keeps up with current
policies and regulations.
1 2 3 4 5

X
Completely Fully
Unaware Informed

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 Another Performance Evaluation
Method
• Behaviorally Anchored
Punctuality Rating Scales (BARS)
• 1: Never late for work – Scales that combine major
elements from the critical
• 2: Late 1-2 times per incident and graphic rating
month scale approaches: The
appraiser rates the
• 3: Late 3 or more times employees based on items
per month along a continuum, but the
points are examples of
actual behavior on a given
job rather than general
descriptions or traits.

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 Even More Evaluation Methods
• Forced Comparisons
– Evaluating one individual’s performance relative to the
performance of another individual or others
– Who is “better,” A or B?
– Group Order Ranking
• An evaluation method that places employees into a particular
classification, such as quartiles
• 10 % are A’s, 20 % B’s, 40 % C’s, 20 % D’s, and 10 % F’s
– Individual Ranking
• An evaluation method that rank-orders employees from best to
worst
• Mary is #1, Juan is #2, Liu is #3…

Exhibit 18-3

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 Suggestions for Improving Evaluations
• Use multiple evaluators to overcome rater biases
– Halo and leniency errors
• Evaluate selectively based on evaluator competence
• Train evaluators to improve rater accuracy
• Provide employees with due process
– Individuals are provided with adequate notice of
performance expectations
– All relevant evidence of a violation is aired in a fair hearing,
with the individual given an opportunity to respond
– Final decision is based on the evidence and is free of bias

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 Providing Performance Feedback
• Why Managers Are Reluctant to Give Feedback
– They are uncomfortable discussing performance
weaknesses directly with employees
– Employees tend to become defensive
– Employees tend to have an inflated assessment of
their own performance
• Solutions to Improving Feedback
– Train managers how to give effective feedback
– Use performance review as a counseling activity
rather than as a judgment process

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 Managing Diversity: Work-Life
Conflicts
• Since the 1980s the line between work and personal
life has begun to blur
• Solutions include:
– Flexible scheduling and benefits
– On-site personal services (like dry cleaning or a gym)
– Time-, information- or money-based strategies available
• Stress is caused not by time constraints but the
psychological incursion of work into the family domain
and vice versa
– Some like greater integration of work and family; others
need greater separation
Exhibit 18-4

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 Diversity Training
• Used to increase awareness and to examine
stereotypes
• Participants learn to value individual
differences, increase cross-cultural
understanding, and confront stereotypes

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 Global Implications
• Selection
– Practices differ by nation: global policies need to be
modified to fit within local customs
– Use of educational qualifications may be universal
• Performance Evaluation
– Not emphasized or considered appropriate in many
cultures due to differences in:
• Individualism versus collectivism
• A person’s relationship to the environment
• Time orientation (long- or short-term)
• Focus on responsibility

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 Summary and Managerial Implications
• Selection Practices
– Proper selection devices increase likelihood of hiring the
right person for the position
• Training and Development Programs
– Can be used to improve employee skills
– Increase employee self-efficacy
• Performance Evaluation
– A major goal is to assess an individual’s performance
accurately as a basis for reward allocation decisions
– Should be based on behavioral, results-oriented criteria,
take a long-term view and allow employees input into the
process

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