Promotion to Police 

Sergeant 
A Case Study 

Dangawen, Cecile G. 

Doria, Sheena DC. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
November 23, 2018 
MM 240: Human Resource Management 
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / OVERVIEW OF THE CASE
State University is a large university with eight campuses spread throughout the state which are
hundred miles apart from each other. The main objective of the police chief of each department
is to improve their selection and promotion procedure so that the 20 vacancies will be filled up
with the right person with the right competencies from among the 150 eligible police officers.
Previous promotion practices was perceived to be a very subjective type of selection because of
the lack of documentation and that there is no single promotion procedure that is applicable to
all the campuses of State University. Since this will be a high quality campus wide promotion
procedure, it should be designed to ensure fairness and objectivity.
Inequality in the treatment of people has been a global challenge most specially for an
organization with a very diversified workforce. At the core of equal employment is the concept
of discrimination. The law applicable to the promotion procedure of State University to ensure
fairness or avoid discrimination in selection is the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) or the
Equal Opportunity Approach. The concept of EEO is that all individuals should have equal
treatment in all employment related actions (Mathis and Jackson, 2008). The approach seeks to
formalize procedures so that relevant, job-based criteria are used rather that irrelevant
assumptions (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, 2002). One of the employment discrimination noted in
the case is the Disparate Impact which according to Mathis and Jackson (2008) occurs when one
of the protected class are substantially underrepresented as a result of employment decisions that
work to their disadvantage.
The State University hired a consultant named Miss Gerri Smith to develop the said high quality
promotion procedures that they need with the help of the police and personnel groups. But then,
the promotion procedures made were too complicated. In the old system, they have a list of the
next in line sergeants who will be prioritized in case of vacancies. So, the new procedures may
give negative impact on the company particularly the employees since there is a possibility that
these next in line sergeants will not get the position with the new system. Accordingly, the new
procedure can also create negative impact on the minorities because of the practice of internal
recruitment.
With this, the case now poses a challenge for State University to decide whether they should
fully implement the promotion procedures developed by Miss Smith or not. If they implement it,
they should decide on to what extent should they implement the procedures that would minimize
the adverse impact on the employees and company.
IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

In identifying and evaluating the specific problem faced by the hotel, the Ishikawa Diagram
(Fishbone diagram) was used to see the underlying mechanisms that caused the situation. The six
M’s of Management which includes Men, Money, Management, Materials, Methods and Mother
Nature (Physical Environment) were looked upon.

Men

Implementation of the new procedures relies heavily on the department police chiefs.
In order to improve the quality of data for making a decision on the best candidate for the job,
multiple selection techniques are now used. To ensure effectiveness of the selection procedure, it
gives a high advantage if there is a standard implementation which can only be achieved if it is
done by the same person or panel across all departments. However, due to budget and time
constraints not to mention the distance of one campus from the other, the use of the new
procedure will highly depend in the hand of the end users. Although a training is conducted on
how to conduct the interview, the newly developed tool is more complicated than the procedures
they are used to. this will inevitably create variations in the interpretation and implementation.
Hiring of an outsider to revise promotion procedures (consultant)

It has been common practice for competitive organisations to hire the services of an external
professionals to conduct job analysis and outsourced an assessment centres run by professionals
to facilitate selection and recruitment process. In many cases these consultant were hired to do
the job with the hope that they will be fair and objective. They are expected to do the job in
collaboration with the technical staff within the organization who are more or less
knowledgeable of the current practices of the organization. The hiring of the services of Ms.
Smith to improve the selection procedure poses some advantages and disadvantages. Hiring Ms.
Smith will mean that she can bring about fresher ideas on the company from the third person
point of view. The company became stagnant for a long time as they settle on the old way of
doing things which is unsystematic and unjust since they based on intuition and subjective
judgments as mentioned. However, since she is an external consultant, she may not understand
everything inside the company to come-up with better recommendations just like job analysis.
Hiring her also entails costs for the company.Whatever is the outcome of the evaluation, efforts
are made to reinforce the strength and overcome limitations by turning them into opportunities
(Itika, 2011).

Material/Methods

Lack of documentation of previous promotion procedures and unsystematic promotion

procedure

The documentation of the job analysis conducted in 1079 and the promotion procedures was
nowhere to be found making it hard for the State University to adopt the old system because of
lack of reference of the technique and procedures to be used. The current procedure of the State
University is not systematic and has not been updated because as mentioned earlier the job
analysis was conducted in 1979 and it has not been updated to adapt with recent changes in the
Human Resource Management techniques and procedures. It can be noted in the case that the
decisions in the selection of candidates was done using intuition and subjective judgements. To
avoid biases in the selection process, a well documented selection procedure should be in place.
Each observation or steps in the selection process has to be systematically recorded in a well
designed form that will rate the competence of each applicant. Using job analysis to document
HR activities is important because the legal defensibility of an employer’s recruiting and
selection procedures, performance appraisal system, employee disciplinary actions, and pay
practices rests in part on the foundation of job analysis (Mathis and Jackson,2008).
Money/Finance (more resources will be spent)

The conduct of job analyses to the eight campuses of the University which are geographically
located hundred miles apart from each other will require additional financial resources in order to
complete the procedure. The cost of conducting of an interview for the approximate 100
applicants spread throughout the large state might overshadow the benefits that may be derived
from it. Ms. Smith mentioned that in order to attain fairness and standardization, it ideal to have
only one interview panel or board rather than having one panel at each of the eight campuses.
However, due to the geographical location and limitation in budget, there will a possibility that
Ms. Smith team will not be able to conduct a thorough job analysis and the interview of all the
applicants.

Physical Environment

Issues on Equal Employment Opportunities

The universities police departments viewed themselves as leaders in the field of law
enforcement practice. Consequently they are particularly concerned about maintaining a force
that was balance with respect to the races and sexes. The implementation of the new promotion
procedure might bring about issues related to Equal Employment Opportunities.

The concept of Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) is that all individual should have an
equal treatment of all employment related actions. Initial concerns primarily addressed
discrimination based on race,gender and religion (Mathis & Jackson, 2008).

In the implementation of the Sergeant's Promotional Exam (SPE) , the university might face
legal cases on Disparate Impact which occurs when one of the protected class are substantially
underrepresented as a result of employment decisions that work to their disadvantage. The
current practice of the police department in the administration of the SPE particularlly so in the
practice of the internal recruitment would possibly bring issues of underrepresentation of the
minority groups especially the blacks and Hispanics.
Management

Tolerated the unsystematic and subjective judgment of promotions for a long time

It was mentioned that job analysis was not the foundation for selection decision but rather the
intuition and subjective judgments, and this happened for the past before they decided that they
need a more systematic procedure. This means that the management falls short of a good
judgment of what is wrong and the ability to correct them. They tolerated the old system and the
wrong way of doing things.

Adverse Effect of the SPE

Ms. Smith believed that when management is sincerely concerned about the potential
discriminatory effects of the selection procedure, the best guarantee for preventing unfair
discrimination is information. Generally, the most important issue regarding discrimination in an
organization is the effect of policies and procedures regardless of the intent of the employer. No
matter how good the policies of the organization are, it is still not safe to assume that it will
eliminate all instances indifferent treatment. Adverse effect of the new SPE can be measured
using the 80 percent rule. Wherein a strong impact against black would occur if only the top 10
candidates will be promoted, less adverse effect if the top 20 candidates will be promoted and
that no adverse impact if the top 30 candidates were promoted. It was noted in the case that the
adverse impact is directly associated with the written examination. This means that the higher the
weight given to the written exam as a component of the SPE, the more adverse impact of the
SPE as a whole.

IDENTIFICATION OF MAIN PROBLEM OR ISSUE

The case now leads to the main problem of State University,

What should the company do to ensure that the adverse impact (i.e. conflict, doubts and
anxiety) on the employees on the promotional procedures developed by Miss Smith be
minimized?

Objectives:
1. To be able to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the different processes and
procedures.
 2. To assess whether the adopted promotion procedure will meet the projected timeline for
the selection process
3. To assess whether the promotion procedure promotes Equal Employment Opportunities

ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION

ACA# 1: Implement the updated promotional procedure. ​The State University should fully
implement the procedures developed by Miss Smith.

Advantages:
1. The costs incurred in hiring Miss Smith will be maximized.
2. The new promotional procedure is well documented and more systematic than the
current practice
3. The necessary knowledge, skill and abilities inherent to the job is well defined
which can eliminate biases and subjective judgement in the selection process
4. The whole process in the crafting of the new promotion procedure is participatory
and consultative because it has involved the stakeholders who are more familiar
with the current practices in the State University.
Disadvantages
1. The procedures recommended by Miss Smith is too complicated that might not be
implemented effectively because of the limited time review and pilot the new
procedure
2. The employees might resist the change
3. The people who are next in line in the old system will be demotivated
4. The selection process is too long and requires too much human and financial
resources for its implementation
5. There can be an adverse impact to the minorities

ACA # 2: Implement the updated promotional procedure but delay the implementation to
improve and simplify the procedure. ​The State University should implement the procedures
recommended by Miss Smith but not fully adopt everything it since the procedures were too
complicated. The organization may adopt but not to be implemented immediately to give time
for the promotion procedures be improved and simplified.

Advantages:
1. There will be enough time to study the process and train the people who will be
assigned in the promotion
2. There will be enough time for the other police department to consult and
coordinate for standard implementation
 3. There will be enough time to present the new procedure to the higher levels of
management for comments and other suggestions
4. The simplified procedure may reduce cost and reduce the adverse impact to the
employees and candidates
5. More time to disseminate the changes for acceptability.
​Disadvantage(s):
1. Miss Smith may not accept any future consultancy services from the State
University since the procedures she worked hard for were not fully adopted.
2. The implementation will be delayed which means the possible benefits that the
new procedure may bring will be reaped at a later time, too.
3. The delay itself can create negative ideas

ACA # 3: Proceed with the old promotional procedure/ Status Quo​.The State University
should not adopt Miss Smith’s recommendation and follow their old way of doing things.
Advantages:
1. No need to train and orient the employees on the new process
2. The promotion process will be concluded in a short time.
3. The anxiety of the police chiefs and the employees that can be brought about by
the new procedure will be avoided
Disadvantages:
1. Waste of University resources
2. The promotion procedures will be forever be unjust and unsystematic. The
procedure will remain outdated limiting the University to take advantages of the
current opportunities and trends in the Human Resource Management
3. Possible lawsuit can occur because of the undocumented basis of the promotional
procedure

RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION

Among the three alternatives presented, it is recommended that the State University should delay
the implementation of the new SPE for improvement and at the same time it needs to be
simplified. The updated Sergeant's’ Promotional Exam created by Ms. Smith is very
comprehensive but too complicated to be implemented in a very short period. The delay of its
implementation will allow the University to disseminate the information regarding the new tools
to be used for appreciation of the direct users and for possible comments, improvement and the
possibility that it could still be simplified. In additions, there will be enough time to study the
process and train the people who will be assigned in the promotion for effective and efficient
implementation.
PLAN OF ACTION

In order to execute this alternative course of action the company should first rehire Miss Smith
as a consultant and together with the police chiefs, to review the procedures recommended and
and simplify the following items as a component of the SPE:
Job Analysis
The method adopted in the analysis of the job was able to identify the job relatedness to a
particular KSAs. However, the informations gathered were limited to the answers on the surveys
and questionnaires provided by the respondents. Since there will be enough time to review the
implementation, the team of Ms. Smith should:
● consider job analysis through observation of the actual tasks in order to formulate a
documented service process.
● The team can take a closer look at the organization set up of the police department to
determine the hierarchy in position.
● The analysis of the organizational chart should be conducted to determine to whom the
position reports directly which can be included in the job description.
● Identify more KSAs that can result to an effective or superior performance
Test Development
Written Exam
● To avoid discrimination in the written exam, the questionnaires should be
carefully reviewed to adjust to the reading skills of the minorities. Avoid any
highfalutin words
● Personality test may also be considered to determine the psychological and
emotional fit of the candidate. Questions should be limited to what is relevant to
the workplace
● The weight of written exam should be reduced as it was mentioned in the case. It
should be clearly explained to the police chiefs that high weight of written the
exam gives more adverse impact to the employees particularly increasing the
level of discrimination felt by the applicants.
Interview
● The interviewers can take advantage of the latest technology in the conduct of
interview to be able to achieve the goal of interviewing the approximately 100
candidates spread throughout the state. This will give equal opportunity to all the
candidates.
Appraisal
 ● The appraisal tool should be reviewed and revised if necessary to ensure that it is
aligned with the identified SKAs
● A peer evaluation should be included
Test Administration
● To explore internal and external recruitment not to be subjected to disparate
impact

Scoring the SPE

● Review the weights given to the components of the SPE to minimize the adverse
impact of the tool. More weight maybe assigned to performance evaluation rather
than the written exam.

After revising and simplifying the promotional procedures, Miss Smith will also train the chiefs
on how to execute the program. The implementation will also be postponed for 1 to 2 months to
give ample time for them to be trained.
References:

Itika, J .( 2011)​ Fundamentals of human resource management: Emerging experiences from Africa

Mathis,R & Jackson, J (2008) 12th ed. ​Human Resource Management

Torrington, D, Hall, L, Taylor, S (2002). ​Human Resource Management