Selection

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Selection

• Criteria and Job Analysis

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Selection

• What is selection?
• Using scientific methodology to choose one
  alternative (job candidate) over another.
• Job Analysis
• Measurement
• Statistics
• Why is selection important?
• Decreases the likelihood of hiring bad
  employees
• Increases the likelihood that people will be
  treated fairly when hiring decisions are made
• Reduces discrimination
• Reduces likelihood of discrimination lawsuits
• What do I/O psychologists need to know about
  selection?
• How to select predictors of job performance
  (criteria problem)
• How to accurately indentify and validate
  predictors for specific jobs (job analysis)
• Rely on cognitive and personality variables
• How to reliably and validly measure these
  predictors
• How to use these predictors to make selection
  decisions

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Criteria
Abstract concept or idea
Conceptual Criterion

• Criteria - standards used to judge the quality of
  (discriminate among) alternatives.
• For I/O psychologists, this means judging the
  quality of employees, programs, and units in the
  organization.

Criterion deficiency
Actual Criterion
Criterion relevance
Criterion contamination
Measures that act as proxies
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Classification of Criteria

• I/O Psychologists try to choose criteria that
  assess performance excellence.
• Criteria are typically classified in one of two
  ways
• Objective
• Subjective

• More easily quantifiable
• Production
• Number of touchdowns
• Number of units produced
• Sales
• Tenure/Turnover
• voluntariness
• functionality
• Absenteeism
• Accidents
• Theft

• Judgements made about employees performance
• general factor (effectiveness)
• specific factors
• quantity of work
• quality of work
• Note More complex jobs require more criteria for
  effective evaluation

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Illegal Criteria

• Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits
  using selection practices that have an unequal
  impact on members of a different
• Race
• Color
• Sex
• Religion
• National Origin

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Types of Illegal Discrimination

• Disparate Treatment (Opportunities)
• Discrimination decisions based on one of five
  prohibited categories
• Disparate Impact (Outcomes)
• Illegal discrimination is any practice (without a
  business justification) that has unequal
  consequences for members of protected groups.
• Roger Parloff, Fortune senior editor
• Though disparate treatment and disparate impact
  cases are both aimed at eradicating the same
  thing, there is potential tension between them.
• The goal of disparate treatment cases is to
  guarantee every worker equal opportunity, but not
  equal outcomes.
• The focus of disparate impact cases is on equal
  outcomes.
• If one pursues equal outcomes too
  single-mindedly, one can compromise the principle
  of equal opportunity by inducing the use of
  quotas.

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Determining Disparate Impact

• The 4/5ths Rule
• Disparate impact occurs if the selection ratio
  for any minority group is less than 4/5ths of the
  selection ratio of the majority group

100 male applicants
50 female applicants
20 males selected
50 .16 8
20/100 .20
At least 8 females should be selected
.20 4/5ths(.80) .16
At least 16 of people from minority group should
be selected using a given procedure.
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Summary

• Criteria
• Reliable and valid predictors of job performance.
• All criteria suffer from
• Deficiency
• Contamination
• Criteria typically classified as
• Objective
• Subjective
• These labels can be misleading
• There are several illegal criteria
• There are two types of illegal discrimination
• Disparate treatment
• Disparate impact

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Choosing Predictors of Job Performance

• When selecting new employees, I/O psychologists
  use criteria that will identify effective
  on-the-job performance
• Performance is a function of the following
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Abilities
• Motivation
• Situational Constraints

Performance (KSA)Motivation Situational
Constraints
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Job Analysis

• Describes
• the tasks that are performed
• type of work
• tools used
• working conditions
• human qualities (KSAOs or competencies) needed to
  perform the work
• Tells us what tasks people do and the knowledge,
  skills and abilities they need to accomplish
  those tasks.

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Purposes of Job Analysis

• Recruiting
• Career development
• What does it take to move up?
• Legal defense
• Essential functions What tasks must be done?
• Performance appraisal
• Selection
• What sorts of people should we hire?
• Training
• What knowledge and skills are needed?
• Research

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Job-Oriented Job Analysis

• Job components (for a carpenter)
• Duty construct houses
• Task build kitchen cabinets
• Activity assemble cabinets
• Element drill holes

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Person-Oriented Job Analysis

• KSAOs (for a carpenter)
• Knowledge Have information to do a task
• Skill Practiced act or behavior.
• Ability Stable capacity to do task.
• Other personal characteristics personality,
  interests, etc.

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Examples Of KSAOs For Different Occupations
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Hiring the Best

• Job College Professor
• What are the major duties of a college professor?
• What tasks are performed to complete each duty
• Develop a set of KSAOs necessary for these
  tasks.
• should be useable for recruiting and evaluating
• Challenges?
• What other information would you want? How would
  you get it?

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Data Collection Approaches

• Questionnaire
• diaries
• Interview
• critical incidents
• Observation
• Analyst does work

Who do you collect data from?
Subject Matter Experts -incumbent -supervisor -co-
worker
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Occasions for Formal Job Analysis

• Major Restructuring
• after dramatic growth
• downsizing
• new positions
• Large Selection Procedure
• Dramatic changes in technology
• Passage of Time