Department of Business Administration

Bachelor of Business Administration

Human Resource Theory & Practice

 Lecture Content
Employee Testing and Selection
(Reference: Chapter No. 6, “Human Resource Management” by Gary Dessler, 13 th Ed.)

• Why Careful Employee Selection Is Important

• The Basic Testing Concepts
• Types of Tests
• Work Samples and Simulations
• Background Investigations and Other Selection Methods
 The Talent Management Process
Talent management process includes Staff-Train-Reward activities.
Where We Are Now
Why Careful Employee Selection Is Important
Recall, the traditional way to envision recruitment and selection is as a series of
hurdles.

Once you review your applicants’ résumés, the next step is selecting the best
candidates for the job. This usually means shaving off the applicant pool by using
screening tools we will study now.

It is extremely important to hire the right employees, mainly because of three reasons:
⁻ Organizational performance
⁻ Costs of recruiting and hiring
⁻ Legal obligations and liability
Tips for Avoiding Negligent Hiring Claims
• Carefully scrutinize information on employment applications.
• Get written authorization for reference checks, and check references.
• Save all records and information about the applicant.
• Reject applicants for false statements or conviction records for offenses
related to the job.
• Balance the applicant’s privacy rights with others’ “need to know.”
 The Basic Testing Concepts
A test is, basically, a sample of a person’s behavior. Using a test (or any selection tool)
assumes that the tool is both reliable and valid.

Reliability
Describes the consistency of scores obtained by the same person when retested with
the identical or alternate forms of the same test.
Are test results stable over time?

Example: If a person scores 90 on an intelligence test on a Monday and 130 when

retested on Tuesday, you probably wouldn’t have much faith in the test.
The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is widely used for college admissions in USA. The
knowledge/skills tested in SAT exams include writing, critical reading, mathematics.

Validity
Indicates whether a test is measuring what it is supposed to be measuring.
Does the test actually measure what it is intended to measure?

Example: A mismanufactured 33-inch yardstick will consistently tell you that 33-inch
boards are 33 inches long. Unfortunately, if what you’re looking for is a board that is 1
yard long, then your 33-inch yardstick, though reliable, is misleading you by 3 inches.
 The Basic Testing Concepts
In employment testing, there are two main ways to demonstrate a test’s validity:
criterion validity and content validity.

Criterion validity - those who do well on the test also do well on the job, and that
those who do poorly on the test do poorly on the job.

Content validity - the test constitutes a fair sample of the job’s content. Or the test
select and measures a person’s ability to perform all those tasks that are critical to
performance.

Note: In psychological tests, predictors are the human traits and skills you believe
predict success on the job. A criterion is the measurement (here, the test score) that
reflects test-taker’s performance against the predictors.
 The Basic Testing Concepts
Steps in Test Validation

1 Analyze the Job: predictors and criteria

Write job descriptions and job specifications. The human traits and skills required for job performance (e.g. applicant
must be a good talker, details oriented etc.) become the predictors which predict success on the job.

2 Choose the Tests: test battery or single test

Once you know the predictors, decide how to test for them. You can use just one test or combine several tests into a
test battery to measure an array of possible predictors (e.g. aggressiveness, extroversion, and numerical ability.)

3 Administer the Test: concurrent validation

You can administer the tests to employees currently on the job. Then compare their test scores with their current
performance. This is called concurrent validation. Its main advantage is that data on performance are readily available

4 Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: scores versus actual performance
You can develop an expectancy chart which graphically presents relationship between test scores and job performance.

5 Cross-Validate and Revalidate: repeat Steps 3, 4 with a different sample

Before using the test, check it by cross-validating by again performing steps 3 and 4 on a new sample of employees. Or
at a minimum, have someone revalidate the test periodically.
 The Basic Testing Concepts
Sample Expectancy Chart showing relation between scores made on test and
expected success on job
Test Takers’ Individual Rights and Test Security
Test takers have the following rights:

• The right to the confidentiality of test results.

• The right to informed consent regarding use of these results.
• The right to expect that only people qualified to interpret the scores will
have access to them.
• The right to expect the test is fair to all. For example, no one taking it
should have prior access to the questions or answers.
 Types of Tests
What Different Tests Measure

Personality Current
Cognitive abilities Motor and physical abilities
and interests achievement

• Cognitive tests include tests of general reasoning ability (intelligence) and other
specific mental abilities like memory.

• Tests of motor and physical abilities measure motor abilities, such as finger dexterity,
manual dexterity, and reaction time.

• Achievement tests measure what someone has learned. Most of the tests you take in
school are achievement tests. They measure your “job knowledge” in areas like
economics, marketing etc.

• Personality tests measure basic aspects of an applicant’s personality, such as

introversion, stability, and motivation. Example: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used personality
assessment instrument in the world.

It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act
in particular situations.

This personality test taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16
personality types.

Respondents are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or

intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P).
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
These terms are defined as follows:
Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I)
Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are
quiet and shy.

Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N)

Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details.
Intuitive rely on unconscious processes and look at the “big picture.”

Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)

Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on
their personal values and emotions.

Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)

Judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and structured.
Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
These classifications together describe 16 personality types, identifying every
person by one trait from each of the four pairs.

For example
Introverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Judging people (INTJs) are visionaries with
original minds and great drive. They are skeptical, critical, independent,
determined, and often stubborn.

Extraverted/Sensing/Thinking/Judging (ESTJs) are organizers. They are realistic,

logical, analytical, and decisive and have a natural head for business or
mechanics.

Extroverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Perceiving (ENTP) type is a conceptualizer,

innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This
person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems.

MBTI can be a valuable tool for increasing self-awareness and providing career
guidance.
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Assignment No. 1: Take the test http://
www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Note down your Personality Type with % preference, Summarize the personality
description, career choices and write examples of possible careers.

Note: handwritten, submission due on October 20, 2019

 The Big Five Personality Model
Research supports the thesis of the Big Five Model - that five basic dimensions
underlie all others and encompass most of the significant variation in human
personality.

Moreover, test scores of these traits do a very good job of predicting how
people behave in a variety of real-life situations. The following are the Big Five
factors:

● Extraversion: The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with

relationships. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable.
Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.

● Agreeableness: The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s

tendency to accept others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and
trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and
hostile.
 The Big Five Personality Model
● Conscientiousness: The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of
reliability. A highly conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable,
and determined. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted,
disorganized, and unreliable.

● Emotional stability: This dimension taps a person’s ability to withstand stress.

People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and
secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed,
and insecure.

● Openness to experience. This dimension addresses range of interests and

fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and
artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the category are conventional
and find comfort in the familiar.
 The Big Five Personality Model
How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior at Work?

Research has found relationships between these personality dimensions and job
performance.

Summary
Emotional stability is most strongly related to low stress levels. High scorers are
more likely to be positive and optimistic and experience fewer negative
emotions. People low on emotional stability are hypervigilant (looking for
problems or signs of danger) and are especially vulnerable to effects of stress.

Extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and in their lives as a whole. They
experience more positive emotions than do introverts, and they more freely
express these feelings. They also tend to perform better in jobs that require
significant interpersonal interaction, perhaps because they have more social
skills. Extraverts are more socially dominant, “take charge” sorts of people, and
they are generally more assertive than introverts.
 The Big Five Personality Model
Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative. And
because creativity is important to leadership, open people are more likely to be
effective leaders. They cope better with organizational change and are more
adaptable in changing contexts.

Agreeable people are more compliant and rule abiding and less likely to get into
accidents as a result. They are also less likely to engage in organizational
deviance.

Conscientiousness people are persistent, give attention to detail, are organized

and structured and don’t adapt quickly to changing contexts.
 Work Samples and Simulations
Measuring Work Performance Directly

Work Management assessment Video-based situational Miniature job training and

samples centers testing evaluation

• The work sampling technique tries to predict job performance by requiring job candidates to
perform one or more samples of the job’s tasks. Example: work samples for a cashier may
include operating a cash register and counting money.

• Management assessment center is a 2- to 3-day simulation in which 10 to 12 candidates

perform realistic management tasks (e.g. making presentations) under the observation of
experts who appraise each candidate’s leadership potential and promotability.

• Video-based simulation presents the candidate with PC-based video situations, followed by
one or more multiple-choice questions.

• Miniature job training and evaluation means training candidates to perform several of the
job’s tasks, and then evaluating the candidates performance prior to hire. The approach
assumes that a person who demonstrates that he or she can learn and perform the sample of
tasks will be able to learn and perform the job itself. (e.g. Internships, apprenticeships etc.)
 Background Investigations
To avoid negligent hiring mistakes, employers must check the candidate’s background thoroughly.

Investigations and Checks

• Reference checks
• Background employment checks
• Criminal records
• Driving records
• Credit checks

Commonly verified data include legal eligibility for employment (in compliance with immigration
laws), dates of prior employment, military service (including discharge status), education,
identification (including date of birth and address to confirm identity), county criminal records
(current residence, last residence), motor vehicle record, credit, licensing verification and
reference check.
Former Employers

Current Supervisors

Sources of Information Commercial Credit Rating Companies

Written References

Social Networking Sites

 Other Selection Methods
Polygraph or Lie Detection Test
Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (USA) severely restricts the polygraph (or lie detector) and other
mechanical or electrical devices that attempt to measure honesty or dishonesty, for honesty testing.
However, Federal laws don’t prohibit paper-and-pencil tests and chemical testing (as for drugs).

Physical Examinations
Once the employer extends the person a job offer, a medical exam is often the next step in the selection
(although it may also occur after the new employee starts work).

Reasons for pre-employment medical examinations:

• To verify that the applicant meets the physical requirements of the position.
• To discover any medical limitations to be taken into account in placing the applicant.
• To establish a record and baseline of the applicant’s health for future insurance or compensation claims.
• To reduce absenteeism and accidents.
• To detect communicable diseases that may be unknown to the applicant.

Substance Abuse Testing

Many employers conduct drug screenings. The most common practice is to test candidates just before
they’re formally hired. Many also test current employees when there is reason to believe the person has
been using drugs - after a work accident, or in the presence of obvious behavioral symptoms such as chronic
lateness. Or when they transfer or promote employees to new positions.