Because learning changes everything.

Chapter 6

Selection and Placement

Human Resource Management

Gaining A Competitive Advantage
THIRTEENTH EDITION
Raymond Noe, John Hollenbeck, Barry
Gerhart, Patrick Wright

© 2023 McGraw Hill, LLC. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill, LLC.
 Learning Objectives 1

6-1 Establish the basic scientific properties of personnel

selection methods, including reliability, validity, and
generalizability.
6-2 Discuss how the particular characteristics of a job, an
organization, or an applicant affect the utility of any test.
6-3 Describe the government’s role in personnel selection
decisions, particularly in the areas of constitutional law,
federal laws, executive orders, and judicial precedent.
6-4 List the common methods used in selecting human
resources.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 2

 Learning Objectives 2

6-5 Describe the degree to which each of the common

methods used in selecting human resources meets the
demands of reliability, validity, generalizability, utility, and
legality.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 3

 Introduction
Choosing Employees:
• Organizations make take utmost care.
• Decisions impact organization’s competitiveness and
every aspect of job applicant’s life.
• Decisions must promote best interests of the company
and be fair to all parties.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 4

 Selection Method Standards 1

• Reliability.
• Validity.
• Generalizability.
• Utility.
• Legality.

LO 6-1
© McGraw Hill, LLC 5
 Selection Method Standards 2

Reliability:
• Degree to which a measure is free from random error.
• Estimating the reliability of measurement:
• Refers to measuring instrument rather than characteristic.
• Correlation coefficient is a measure of the degree to which two sets
of numbers are related.
• Perfect positive relationship equals +1.0.
• Perfect negative relationship equals −1.0.

• Test-retest reliability.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 6

 Selection Method Standards 3

Reliability continued:
• Standards for reliability:
• The required reliability depends on the nature of the decision being
made about the people being measured.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 7

 Selection Method Standards 4

Validity:
• Extent to which performance on the measure is related to
performance on the job.
• Criterion-related validation:
• Method of establishing validity by showing a substantial correlation
between test scores and job-performance scores.
• Validity coefficient.
• Predictive validation.
• Concurrent validation.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 8

 Figure 6.3 Graphic Depiction of Concurrent
and Predictive Validation Designs 1

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 9

 Figure 6.3 Graphic Depiction of Concurrent
and Predictive Validation Designs 2

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 10

 Table 6.1 Required Level of Correlation to Reach
Statistical Significance as a Function of Sample Size

REQUIRED
SAMPLE SIZE CORRELATION
5 0.75
10 0.58
20 0.42
40 0.30
80 0.21
100 0.19

© McGraw Hill, LLC 11

 Selection Method Standards 5

Validity continued:
• Content validation:
• Items, questions, or problems posed by a test are representative of
situations or problems that occur on the job.
• Simulations, computer-based role-playing games.

• Best for small-sample settings.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 12

 Selection Method Standards 6

Generalizability:
• Degree to which validity of a selection method established
in one context extends to other contexts.
• Similar levels of correlation across different groups.

• Validity generalization.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 13

 Selection Method Standards 7

Utility:
• Degree to which information provided by selection
methods enhances effectiveness of selecting personnel.
• Utility is impacted by:
• Reliability.
• Validity.
• Generalizability.

• Job performance follows a power law distribution.

LO 6-2
© McGraw Hill, LLC 14
 Figure 6.5 Comparing a Normal Distribution
(Red Curve) to a Power Law (Blue Shading)

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 15

 Selection Method Standards 8

Legality:
• All selection methods should adhere to existing laws and
legal precedents.
• Federal legislation:
• Civil Rights Act of 1991.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.

LO 6-3
© McGraw Hill, LLC 16
 Selection Method Standards 9

Legality continued:
• Civil Rights Act of 1991.
• Protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, sex,
religion, and national origin.
• Differs from 1964 act:
1. Establishes employers' explicit obligation to establish neutral-
appearing selection method.
2. Allows a jury to decide punitive damages.
3. Explicitly prohibits granting preferential treatment to minority groups.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 17

 Selection Method Standards 10

Legality continued:
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
• Covers individuals over age 40.

• Outlaws “mandatory retirement” programs.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 18

 Selection Method Standards 11

Legality continued:
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990:
• Protects individuals with physical or mental disabilities (or with a
history of the same).
• Reasonable accommodations are required by the organization to
allow the disabled to perform essential functions of the job.
• Employer need not make accommodations that cause undue hardship.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 19

 Types of Selection Methods 1

• Interviews.
• References, Application Blanks, Background Checks.
• Physical Ability Tests.
• Cognitive Ability Tests.
• Personality Inventories.
• Work Samples.
• Honesty Tests and Drug Tests.

LO 6-4
© McGraw Hill, LLC 20
 Types of Selection Methods 2

Interviews:
• Selection interviews:
• Without proper care, it is unreliable.
• Should be structured, standardized, and focused on goals oriented
to skills and observable behaviors.
• Interviewers should be able to quantitatively rate each interview.
• Interviewers should have a structured note-taking system to justify
ratings.
• Focused totally on rating and ranking applicants, not recruitment.

LO 6-5
© McGraw Hill, LLC 21
 Types of Selection Methods 3

Interviews continued:
• Situational interviews:
• Confronts applicants on specific issues, questions, or problems
likely to arise on the job.
• Experience-based questions.

• Future-oriented questions.

• Important to use multiple interviewers to avoid subjective errors.

• Digitally taped interviews, Skype.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 22

 Table 6.2 Examples of Experienced-Based and
Future-Oriented Situational Interview Items 1

EXPERIENCE-BASED
Motivating employees: “Think about an instance when you had to
motivate an employee to perform a task that he
or she disliked but that you needed to have
done. How did you handle that situation?”
Resolving conflict: “What was the biggest difference of opinion you
ever had with a co-worker? How did you resolve
that situation?”
Overcoming resistance to “What was the hardest change you ever had to
change: bring about in a past job, and what did you do to
get the people around you to change their
thoughts or behaviors?”

© McGraw Hill, LLC 23

 Table 6.2 Examples of Experienced-Based and
Future-Oriented Situational Interview Items 2

FUTURE-ORIENTED
Motivating employees: “Suppose you were working with an employee
who you knew greatly disliked performing a
particular task. You needed to get this task
completed, however, and this person was the only
one available to do it. What would you do to
motivate that person?”
Resolving conflict: “Imagine that you and a co-worker disagree about
the best way to handle an absenteeism problem
with another member of your team. How would
you resolve that situation?”
Overcoming resistance to “Suppose you had an idea for a change in work
change: procedures that would enhance quality, but some
members of your work group were hesitant to
make the change. What would you do in that
situation?”

© McGraw Hill, LLC 24

 Types of Selection Methods 4

References, Application Blanks, and Background Checks:

• Reference checks are weak predictors of future job
success.
• Background information from applicants is low-cost and
useful.
• Education gap.
• Misinformation on references, resumes.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 25

 Types of Selection Methods 5

Physical Ability Tests:

1. Muscular tension.
2. Muscular power.
3. Muscular endurance.
4. Cardiovascular endurance.
5. Flexibility.
6. Balance.
7. Coordination.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 26

 Types of Selection Methods 6

Cognitive Ability Tests:

• Verbal comprehension.
• Quantitative ability.
• Reasoning ability.
• Have adverse impact on some minority groups:
• Race norming, banding.

• Concern that applicants may cheat:

• Question harvesting.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 27

 Types of Selection Methods 7

Personality Inventories:
• Five major dimensions of personality, known as the “Big
Five”:
1. Extroversion.
2. Adjustment.
3. Agreeableness.
4. Conscientiousness.
5. Openness to experience.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 28

 Table 6.3 The Five Major Dimensions of
Personality Inventories

FIVE MAJOR DIMENSIONS

1. Extroversion Sociable, gregarious, assertive, talkative,
expressive
2. Adjustment Emotionally stable, nondepressed, secure,
content
3. Agreeableness Courteous, trusting, good-natured, tolerant,
cooperative, forgiving
4. Conscientiousness Dependable, organized, persevering,
thorough, achievement-oriented
5. Openness to experience Curious, imaginative, artistically sensitive,
broad-minded, playful

© McGraw Hill, LLC 29

 Types of Selection Methods 8

Personality Inventories continued:

• Emotional intelligence:
• Self-awareness.

• Self-regulation.
• Self-motivation.
• Empathy.
• Social skills.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 30

 Types of Selection Methods 9

Personality Inventories continued:

• Validity in terms of predicting job performance is higher
when scores are taken from other people.
• People tend to lack insight into their own personalities.

• Personalities vary across contexts.

• It is easy to fake traits on tests.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 31

 Types of Selection Methods 10

Work Samples:
• Samples can vary greatly.
• They may include role-play, interactive videos, simulations,
or competitions.
• Because tests are job-specific, generalizability is low.
• Tests are expensive to develop.
• They are used in assessment centers.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 32

 Types of Selection Methods 11

Honesty Tests and Drug Tests:

• Polygraph Act of 1988 banned use of polygraph tests for
most private companies.
• Paper-and-pencil honesty testing:
• Assess likelihood of employees stealing.
• Test social conformity, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 33

 Types of Selection Methods 12

Honesty Tests and Drug Tests continued:

• Drug-use tests:
• There is a consideration of the opioid epidemic and shifting legal
status of marijuana.
• Testing mandated by federal law for occupations classified as
“safety sensitive” jobs regulated by Transportation Department.

© McGraw Hill, LLC 34

 End of Main Content

Because learning changes everything. ®

www.mheducation.com

© 2023 McGraw Hill, LLC. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill, LLC.