Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.

Professor of Management MGMT 440: Human Resource Management

2008 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.

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 applicants

qualifications using the selection methods Step 2 - Decision Making: Use the qualifications to predict job performance to decide which applicant to hire Step 3 - Evaluation: Evaluate the selection process
Source 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 the selection 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
Poor Moderate Good Great Poor Moderate Good Great

Poor Moderate Good Great

Get better hires by: Increasing the Base Rate of Success (BRS) by effective recruiting Increasing validity (r) by using selection methods with good (.50) or great (.75) validity Decreasing the Selection Ratio (SR) by raising the selection cutoff score
Source of table: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Table 7.2, p. 307.

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 jobs

minimum 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

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 are associated 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 a structured rsum evaluation, we increase the validity of our evaluation of applicants rsums from poor (.00) to good (.50) Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Figure 8.2, p. 324: describes the steps in constructing a Weighted Application 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 of flexibility 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 gets the same questions; some limited follow-up questions allowed; 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, work experiences, 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 the applicant would do in that situation Job-Knowledge: questions that ask applicants to define jobrelated terms, or explain a procedure, or demonstrate a skill Job Requirements: questions that ask applicants about their willingness to comply with job requirements (e.g., travel, shiftwork, etc.) Each question has a scoring system to rate the applicants answers on numerical rating scales To improve validity, use a panel of interviewers to evaluate each applicants 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 when you 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 about their 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 is usually our best choice of interview formats
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Employment Interviews
By switching from the typical

unstructured interview to a highly structured behavioral interview, we increase the validity of the interview from poor (.00) to good (.50) or even great (.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 better than pulling names out of a hat
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Reference Checks
You 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 and

thorough reference checks anyway to reduce chances of lawsuits for:

Negligent hiring: organization can have legal liability if it

failed to check references and it hires a person with a history 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 reference check

They may only want to provide limited information such

as the dates of employment and job title of the former employee

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 negative information And only providing limited information about a former employee in a reference check also runs a risk of a lawsuit for:

Negligent misrepresentation (negligent referral): if you fail to provide accurate and relevant negative information about a former employee in a reference check, the former employees new employer might sue you for not being truthful about your former 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 when they give reference information
Example: Minnesota Statue 181.967 on Employment

References (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 check concerning 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 medical exam after making 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 reasonable accommodations Assign applicants to jobs (e.g., bronchitis) Prevent the spread of contagious diseases Document pre-existing injuries & illnesses to prevent fraudulent insurance claims

Validity: poor (with overall job performance), but still might

be 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 a

surprising high false accusation rate

Why? Most people are innocent, and a small error rate

applied to lots of innocent people can generate lots of false 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 if the 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 before

you 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 correctly captures 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 with

coaching Applicant then performs the tasks without coaching

Applicant is observed and performance is evaluated for errors

Validity: typically moderate

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Assessment Centers
Work 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 better together

Many psychologists who study personality today prefer a

different 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 with measures of overall job performance)

But, validity of the Big 5 is hard to generalize Some dimensions of personality may correlate more strongly with particular 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, & Social Introversion

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 or employees

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 a Organizational 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 Tests

Also 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 risk adverse 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 with alphanumeric data

Validity: typically good, if the tested ability is really

job-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 have encountered 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 of performance (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 of Success (BRS) by effective recruiting Increasing validity (r) by using selection methods with good (.50) or great (.75) validity Decreasing the Selection Ratio (SR) by raising the selection cutoff 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 job performance, 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
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