Paper: 01, Human Resource Management

Module: 12, Selection Decision Outcome and Barriers in Selection

Prof. S P Bansal
Principal Investigator Vice Chancellor
Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi

Prof YoginderVerma
Co-Principal Investigator Pro–Vice Chancellor
Central University of Himachal Pradesh. Kangra. H.P.

Prof. Rajeev Jain

Paper Coordinator Faculty of Commerce & Management,
Kota University, Kota

Dr. Anurodh Godha

Content Writer School of Commerce and Management,
VM Open University, Kota (Rajasthan) India
Items Description of Module
Subject Name Management
Paper Name Human Resource Management
Module Title Selection Decision Outcome and Barriers in Selection
Module Id Module no.-12
Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge of selection procedure
Objectives To aware about the selection decision outcomes and barriers of effective selection
Keywords Selection Decision Outcomes, Barriers to Effective Selection

QUADRANT-I

Module 12: Selection Decision Outcome and Barriers in

Selection
1 Learning Outcome
2 Introduction
3 Difference between Recruitment and Selection
4 Purpose and Importance of Selection for an Organization
5 Selection Decision Outcomes
6 Barriers to Effective Selection
7 Placement – Orientation – Socialization
8 Summary

1. Learning Outcome:
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the difference between recruitment and selection
 Know the purpose and importance of selection for an organization
 Point out the outcomes of selection decision.
 Come across the barriers to effective selection
 Understand in brief about placement and orientation.
 Develop a selection decision process.

2. Introduction

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The ability of an organization to attain its goals effectively and to develop in a dynamic environment
largely depends upon the effectiveness of its selection programs. The purpose of selection is to pick
up the most suitable candidates who would best meet the requirements of the job and the organization.
The needs of the job are matched with the profile of candidates and the most suitable person is picked
for job after eliminating the less suitable applicants through successive stages of the selection
processes. Effective selection, therefore demands constant monitoring of the fit between the person
and the job.
Selection decision outcome may be conceptualised in terms of either choosing the fit candidates, or
rejecting the unfit candidates, or a combination of both. Selection involves both because it picks up
the fits and rejects the unfits. In fact, in Indian context, there are more candidates who are rejected
than those who are selected in most of the selection processes. Therefore, sometimes, it is called a
negative process in contrast to positive programme of recruitment.
Dale Yoder says, “Selection has long held a high rank in the priority of problem areas in
management. Investments in good people produce a very high rate of return. A good choice of people
can provide a basis for long, sustained contributions.”

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Decenzo and Robbins write, “Proper selection of personnel is obviously an area where effectiveness -
choosing competent workers who perform well in their position-can result in large saving.” According
to them, selection has two objectives: (1) to predict which job applicants would be successful if hired
and (2) satisfaction of employee needs and wants as well as the fullest development of his potential
are important objectives of selection.
3. Difference between Recruitment and Selection

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Difference between recruitment and selection has been described by Flippo as, “Recruitment is a
process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for
jobs in an organisation. It is often termed positive as is stimulates people to apply for jobs, selection
on the other hand tends to be negative because it rejects a good number of those who apply, leaving
only the best to be hired.” Recruitment and selection differs in following manner:

Source: Designed by Author

(i) Difference in Objective: The basic objective of recruitment is to attract maximum number
of candidates so that more options are available. The basic objective of selection is to choose
best out of the available candidates.

(ii) Difference is Process: Recruitment adopts the process of creating application pool as
large as possible and therefore. It is known as positive process. Selection adopts the process
through which more and more candidates are rejected and fewer candidates are selected or
sometimes even not a single candidate is selected. Therefore, it is known as negative process
or rejection process.
 (iii) Technical Differences: Recruitment techniques are not very intensive, and not require
high skills. As against this, in selection process, highly specialised techniques are required.
Therefore, in the selection process, only personnel with specific skills like expertise in using
selection tests, conducting interviews, etc., are involved.

(iv) Difference in Outcomes: The outcome of recruitment is application pool which becomes
input for selection process. The outcome of selection process is in the form of finalising
candidates who will be offered jobs.

4. Purpose and Importance of Selection for an Organization

Selection means to choose a person from the prospective candidates fit for the vacant posts in the
organisation or choosing a person fit with the existing work groups and culture of the organization.
Poor selection procedures and processes lead to various unnecessary costs in the organization. In a
situation where the right personnel is not selected, the remaining functions of human resource
management will not be effective. At the other hand if the right person is selected, then he will be a
valuable asset to the organization. Thus selection of personnel is the most important function of the
personnel management. The importance of selection may be judged from the following facts.

Source: Designed by Author

A. To Procure the Qualified and Skilled Employees: Effective selection process facilitates the
procurement of well skilled and qualified workers in an organisation. Selection of skilled and
qualified personnel who is for the job will reduce the labour cost and increases the efficiency.
B. To reduce the Employee Turnover Rate and Absenteeism: Employee is an asset for the
organization. Retention of employees is important to an organization, as the costs of hiring
and training new employees are very high. Effective selection process ensures that only the
most qualified individual is chosen to fill a vacant job position. Employees who are satisfied
with their jobs lead to a low employee turnover rate. Proper selection of personnel reduces
personnel problems in the organisation. Labour relations will be better because workers will
be fully satisfied by the work. Skilled workers help the management to expand the business
 and to earn more profits and management in turn compensate the workers with high wages,
benefits etc
C. Saving in Time: A good selection procedure will save time in the recruitment and orientation
or socialization processes. Less time is wasted trying to inculcate the new recruit with various
aspects of the organization's culture and norms. The employees are given an adequate picture
of what the new job entails, and this eliminates wastage of time.
D. To Reduce Cost of Training and Development: As qualified personnel have better grasping
power, so proper selection of candidates may reduces the cost of training and development.
They can understand the work environment easily. Further, the organisation can develop
different training programmes for different persons on the basis of their individual
differences, thus reducing the time and cost of training considerably.
E. To Assess Behaviour: Oganization takes particular notice of the personal flexibility and
adaptability of a candidate, which assures that such an individual can adjust rapidly to the
tough demands of the job. A good selection procedure gives managers an opportunity to
assess potential employees' character and personality and accordingly most suitable candidate
is given the job.

5. Selection Decision Outcomes

Consider, for a moment, that any selection decision can result in four possible outcomes. As shown in
Figure 12.1, two of these outcomes would indicate correct decisions, but two would indicate errors.
Accept Reject

Correct Reject
Later Job Pertormance

Successful decision error

Unsuccessful Accept Correct

error decision

Figure 12.1 Selection Decision Outcome Matrix

Correct decisions are those where the applicant was predicted to be successful and later did prove to
be successful on the job, or where the applicant was predicted to be unsuccessful and would have
performed accordingly if hired. In the former case, we have successfully accepted; in the latter case,
we have successfully rejected. Thus the purpose of selection activities is to develop outcomes shown
as “correct decisions” in Figure 12.1.
Problems occur when we make errors-by rejecting candidates who would later perform successfully
on the job (reject errors) or accepting those individuals who subsequently perform poorly on the job
(accept errors). These problems are, unfortunately far from insignificant. Reject errors historically
meant that the costs in performing selection activities would be increased. Accept errors, on the other
hand, have very obvious costs to the organization including the cost of training the employee, the
costs generated (or profits forgone) due to the employee’s incompetence, the cost of severance and
the subsequent costs of further recruiting and selection screening. The major thrust of any selection
activity, therefore, is to reduce the probability of making reject or accept errors while increasing the
probability of making reject or accept errors while increasing the probability of making correct
decisions.

In summary, selection has two objectives: (1) to predict which job applicants would be successful if
hired and (2) to inform and sell the candidate on the job and the organization. Unfortunately, these
two objectives are not always compatible Putting a job candidate through hours of filling out forms,
taking tests, and completing interviews rarely endears the organization to the candidate. These are
tiresome and often stressful activities. Yet if the selection activities place too great an emphasis on
public relations, obtaining the information needed to make successful selection decisions may be
subordinated. Hence a manager’s dilemma in selection is how to balance the desire to attract people
with the desire to gather relevant selection data.

6. Barriers to Effective Selection

The main objective of selection process is to hire people who have competence and commitment for
the assigned job. This objective is often defeated because of certain barriers. As we have understood
the process of selection, it would be important to have an insight into the barriers in effective
selection. The various barriers to effective selection of human resource at work are explained as
under:
A. Ineffective Recruitment Initiative:

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Sometimes selection process gets affected due to ineffective recruitment initiatives taken by
the organization. If the recruiting organization fails to attract qualified candidates in
recruitment process then it is obvious that right candidate will not be selected in the selection
process, therefore, ineffective recruitment will definitely influence selection and selection
outcome.
B. Perception:
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Selection demands an individual or a group to assess & compare the respective competencies
of prospective candidate, with the aim of choosing the right persons for the jobs. Our
inability to understand others personality is probably the most fundamental barrier to
selecting right candidate. Incorrect perception of a candidate who has come for interview may
bias the interviewer and may result into inappropriate selection. We all perceive the world
differently. Our limited perceptual ability is obviously a stumbling block to the objective and
rational selection of people. For instance, an interviewer may not interpret the answers
correctly leading to inappropriate decision in perception.
C. Fairness: Effective selection requires that no prospective candidate should be
discriminated against on the basis of his or her religion, region, race or gender. In many
selections, religion, region, gender of the candidates are considered rather than their skills,
abilities or experiences. This leads to bias selection. Gender issue also hampers effective
selection. In early days, men predominately held managerial jobs and if those jobs are viewed
as being primarily masculine in nature, such stereotyping may produce negative reaction in
selecting right candidates. Less number of women, people belongs to less privileged sections
of society at the middle and senior management positions shows that all the efforts to
minimize inequity have not been very effective.
D. Validity: Validity is a test that helps in predicting the job performance of an incumbent.
Validity is a test that can differentiate between the employees who can perform well and those
who will not. However, it is found that a validated test does not predict job success
accurately. It can only increase possibility of success.
E. Reliability: A reliable method is one, which will produce consistent results every time it
is conducted in similar situations. Like a validated test, a reliable test may fail to predict job
performance with precision.
F. Pressure: Pressure brought on selectors by politicians, bureaucrats, relatives, friends and
peers to select particular candidate are also barriers to selection. Candidates selected because
of compulsions are obviously not the right ones. Appointments to public sector undertakings
generally take place under such pressure.
G. Quota System: Quota system also influences effective selection. Due to this sometimes
an inappropriate candidate is selected in place of most suitable candidate.
 H. Nepotism/Favourism: This is also very common barrier to effective selection in both
public and private sectors.
I. Cost and Time: Sometimes due to insufficient time and less budget, right person cannot be
selected for the post.
J. Stereotyping:

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This is one of the most common barriers to selection. An interviewer may have incorrect
perception about a particular set of people which may sway the decision to the other side
while short listing a candidate in the interview process. In stereotyping, we generally
categorize the candidates such as:

 All professors and teachers are absent minded

 back benchers in the class are poor attention payers
 All females are basically sincere and honest
 All civil servants are boring
 Candidates with Science background are intelligent etc.
 Obese people do not make good salesmen
Statements written above are called “stereotypes”, which may leads to biased selection of
candidates. Stereotype, therefore is also a kind of perceptual error. At times during an
interview, it may so happen that an interviewer among a panel of interviewers, may rate a
candidate much higher because the interviewer sees his projection of personality in the
candidate. The interviewers should be free from such bias while conducting the interview.
K. Halo Effect: Another barrier to selection is halo effect, which can be negative or positive.
In hallo effect the personal characteristics influence or overwhelms the interviewers and this
lead to wrong selection. In other words, a single characteristic of an individual or a trait of a
candidate may cast its influence over all other traits of that individual, resulting in a biased
selection/rejection of a candidate.

7. Placement – Orientation - Socialization

After an employee has been recruited he is provided with basic background information about the
employer, working conditions and the information necessary to perform his job satisfactorily. The
new employee’s initial orientation helps him perform better by providing him information of the
company rules, and practices.

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According to Pigors and Myers, “Placement consists in matching what the supervisor has reason to
think the new employee can do with what the job demands (job requirements), imposes (in strain,
working conditions, etc.), and offers (in the form of pay rate, interest, companionship with other,
promotional possibilities, etc.)” They further state that it is not easy to match all these factors for a
new worker who is still in many ways an unknown quantity. For this reason, the first placement
usually carries with it the status of probationer.

A few basic principles should be followed at the time of placement of an employee on the job.
These may be enumerated as below:

 The job should be offered to the man according to his qualifications. The placement should
neither be higher nor lower than the qualifications.

 While introducing the job to the new employee, an effort should be made to develop a sense
of loyalty and cooperation in him so that he may realise his responsibilities better towards the
job and the organisation.

 The employee should be made conversant with the working conditions prevailing in the
industry and all things relating to the job. He should also be made aware of the penalties if he
commits a wrong.

 Man should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the job. The job should not
be adjusted according to the qualifications or requirements of the man. Job first; man next,
should be the principle of placement.

 The placement should be ready before the joining date of the newly selected person.
  The placement in the initial period may be temporary as changes are likely after the
completion of training. The employee may be later transferred to the job where he can do
better justice.

In the words of John M. Ivancevich, “Orientation orients, directs, and guides employees to
understand the work, firm, colleagues, and mission. It introduces new employees to the organisation,
and to his new tasks, managers, and work groups.”

According to John Bernardin, “Orientation is a term used for the organizationally sponsored,
formalized activities associated with an employee’s socialisation into the organisation.”

Billimoria has defined orientation as, “Induction (orientation) is a technique by which a new
employee is rehabilitated into the changed surroundings and introduced to the practices, policies, and
purposes of the organisation.”

Orientation is one component of the new employee socialization process. Socialization is the ongoing
process of instilling in all new employees prevailing attitudes, standards, values, patterns of behaviour
that are expected by the organisation and its departments.

Thus, orientation is a process through which a new employee is introduced to the organisation. It is
the process wherein an employee is made to feel comfortable and at home in the organisation. The
new employee is handed over a rulebook, company booklets, policy manuals, progress reports and
documents containing company information which are informational in nature. It is responsibility of
the human resource department to execute the orientation programme.

8. Summary

 Selection process involves mutual decision making. The organization decides whether or not
to make a job offer and how attractive the job offer should be. The candidate decides whether
or not the organization and the job offer are according to his goals and needs. Selection of
proper personnel helps the management in getting the work done by the people effectively.
 To be an effective predictor, a selection device should be
a. Reliable
b. Valid
c. Predict a relevant criterion
 Selection decision outcome may be conceptualized in terms of either choosing the fit
candidates, or rejecting the unfit candidates, or a combination of both. Selection involves both
because it picks up the fits and rejects the unfits. In fact, in Indian context, there are more
candidates who are rejected than those who are selected in most of the selection processes.
Therefore, sometimes, it is called a negative process in contrast to positive programme of
recruitment.
 The importance of selection may to procure the qualified and skilled employees, to reduce the
employee turnover rate and absenteeism, to save time, to reduce cost of training and
development and to assess behaviour
 The various barriers to effective selection of human resource at work are ineffective
recruitment initiative, perception, fairness, validity, reliability, pressure, quota system,
nepotism, cost & time, stereotyping and halo effect
 Orientation is a process through which a new employee is introduced to the organization. It is
the process wherein an employee is made to feel comfortable and at home in the organization.
The new employee is handed over a rulebook, company booklets, policy manuals, progress
reports and documents containing company information which are informational in nature. It
is responsibility of the human resource department to execute the orientation programme
 In India the selection process on hiring skilled and managerial personnel are fairly well
defined and systematically practical.