Staffing:

Selecting & Motivating People

BMAN 10011: Fundamentals of Management

Dr. Masakatsu (Bob) Ono

[email protected]
AMBS 7.012
TODAY’S LECTURE
- Selecting People
- Motivating People
 Why is selection important?
• How much does it cost to replace a departing
member?
− £30,614 (Oxford Economics)
− The figure contains 1) the cost of lost output while a
replaced employee gets up to speed, 2) the logistical
cost of hiring a new worker

• Unfair selection results in lawsuits, bad publicity,

& loss of revenue
 Selection Process
• Organisational needs analysis

• Job analysis

• Job description & personnel specification

• Identify selection criteria & choose assessment methods

• Attract candidates (recruiting)

• Administer assessment/selection methods (screening)

• Interpret results & make decision (selecting)

 Job Analysis
• the systematic study of a job’s tasks, duties, and
responsibilities, and the knowledge, skills, and
abilities (KSAOs) needed to perform the job.

• Two Main Questions

1. What do people in a particular job do? (task)
2. What human characteristics are
necessary for a job? (person)
 Importance of Job Analysis
Produces… Used in…
• Job description • Selection
• Job/personnel • Training
specification • Performance appraisal
• Job evaluation • Job design
• Compliance with legal
guidelines
etc…
https://www.onetonline.org/
Job Description & Personnel Specification
• Job description (task)
− What workers need to do
− Key results to be achieved
− Compensation
− Positioning in an organisational structure

• Personnel Specification (person)

− Based on the job description
− Specify the “ideal person,” identifying KSAOs
− essential vs. desirable characteristics
 Employee Resourcing
• Supply of suitable employees via recruitment
and selection

• Recruitment: process by which companies

attract qualified applicants
Type Features Examples
Cheaper, quicker, but less Internal notices, word-of-
Internal
variety? mouth, referrals
Expensive, takes longer,
Agencies, advertisements,
External “riskier” but could get a really
headhunters, career fairs
good hire!
 Employee Resourcing
• Selection: Process of choosing applicants for
employment
− Information obtained via screening process
(predictors) will be carefully examined to predict future
performance (criterion)

• Decision Making Techniques

− Systematic (e.g., multiple regression & multiple cutoff)
− Non-Systematic (aka. clinical approach)
 Errors in Selection Decisions

False Negative True Positive

Job Performance
 High
Low 

True Negative False Positive

Reject   Accept
Scores on Selection Tests
 Employee Resourcing
• What determines good selection methods:
− Sensitivity: ability to differentiate candidates
− Reliability: consistency
− Validity: accuracy, measures what it should measure
− Fairness: not discriminating against certain groups

Reliable, not valid Neither reliable nor valid Reliable & valid
 Selection Methods
Screening:
Process of reviewing
information about job
Pseudo Scientific applicants used to
• Graphology select workers

Scientific
Less Scientific
• Psychometric tests
• CVs & Application
• Work samples
Forms
• Structured
• References
interviews
• Unstructured
• Bio-data
interviews
• Assessment
CLASSIC centres
• SJTs
TRIO
 Applications & CVs
• Generally used as a ’first wall’

• Advantages:
− Easy to use
− Easy to compare
− Can be used repeatedly (CVs)
• Disadvantages:
− Time-bound
− May not be accurate
− Biased (e.g., candidates’ names)
 Applications & CVs
• Multiple studies showing
name-based bias in the
selection process
− Ethnicity
− Gender
• Solution?
− name-blind recruitment:
 References
• Usually obtained from current or past employers
• Advantages:
− Positive reactions
− Method’s popularity
• Disadvantages:
− Extremely full of bias
− Creates expectations of candidate if read before meeting
• Other possible issues:
− Do reference writers know the job requirements?
− Are they articulate?
− Do they even reply? – response rates as low as 35%
 Interviews
• The most popular selection method (Wilk & Cappelli,
2003)
− Only 1% of organisations never used any form of
interviews

• Three types:
1. Unstructured interviews
2. Semi-structured interviews
3. Structured interviews
 Interviews
• Advantages:
− Widely accepted by candidates
− Can extract lots of information

• Disadvantages:
− Costly
− Candidates can lie
− May induce stress (e.g., panel interviews)
− Full of bias
 Unstructured Interviews
• A conversation between an employer and an
applicant with not fixed set of questions or
scoring guideline (Dipboye 1994; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998)
− Informal, low job relevance
− Often guided by “gut” feelings
− Prone to a huge amount of bias – reliance on the
interviewer’s personal (mis)beliefs about an ideal
candidate
• We like those who are similar to us (e.g., racial similarity)
• Other bias: attractiveness, overweight, gender “mismatch” etc.
 Are They Good Methods?

Method Reliability Validity Fairness

Applications & CVs little data little data poor

References poor poor very poor

Unstructured Interview poor middling poor

• The classic trio of selection methods are so poor

− need to use more psychometrically sound methods (i.e.,
scientific methods)
 Structured Interviews
• Usually with standardized questionnaires (based
on job description), trained interviewers, and
evaluation
− All candidates are asked more or less the same
questions concerning work behaviours
− Better comparison possible
• Two types
− Situational: “verbal work samples” – future focus
− Behavioural: describe past behaviours
 Sample Behavioural Questions
• When dealing with customers, it is inevitable that you
are going to get someone angry. Tell us about a time
when a customer was angry at you. What did you do to
fix the situation?

• The job of network engineer requires a good deal of

customer service. Tell us about your previous customer
service.

• This job involves persuading employees to follow our

safety rules. Tell us about a time in the past when you
had to persuade an employee to do something.
 Sample Situational Questions
• Suppose that you were scheduled to work on
Saturday. A friend calls on Thursday and says that
you get to use a condo at the beach for free—but
it has to be this weekend. What would you do?

• Imagine that you told a client that you would be

there at 10:00 a.m. It is now 10:30 and there is no
way you will be finished with your current job until
11:30. You are scheduled to meet another client
for lunch at 12:00 and then be at another job at
1:15. How would you handle the situation?
 Psychometric Tests
• Standardised tests to assess our internal traits
that are designed to ensure reliability & validity

• Two kinds:
− Mental/cognitive ability: ability to process information
quickly & accurately
• Fairly stable after 18
• Highly reliable and valid
− Personality traits: style in which things are done
• Moderately stable after 30
• Moderately reliable and valid
Sample Cognitive Ability Test
 Sample Cognitive Ability Test

Which statement must be true?

A. Tim lives in Tinyville.

B. Abby lives in Tinyville.
C. Abby’s apartment has one bedroom.
D. Big apartments have one bedroom.
 Work Samples
• Mini-trials of the job
− Asking candidates to do a simplified version of the job
− Not meant to analyse, just to mimic the job
− One of the more valid methods (especially when
combined with other tests)
• Examples:
− Written analysis
− Presentation
− Group exercise
− Role play
 Assessment Centres
• Not a place! A term used to denote the use of
multiple assessments & methods on candidates,
being observed by trained assessors
− Costly but very effective if designed well

• Assessment activities may include:

− psychometric tests
− group discussion
− report writing
− role plays
 Are They Good Methods?

Method Reliability Validity Fairness

Structured Interview good good good

moderate to moderate to
Psychometric Tests moderate
very high very high
not much thought to
Work Samples very high
data be good

Assessment Centre high* moderate good

*inter-rater reliability can be low

 Validity of Selection Methods
Method Validity Method Validity

Structured Interview .57 College grades .32

Cognitive ability .51 References .29

Job knowledge .48 Experience .27

Work samples .39 Conscientiousness .24

Assessment centers .38 Unstructured interviews .20

Biodata .34 Interest inventories .10

Integrity tests .34 Handwriting analysis .02

Situational judgment .34 Projective personality tests .00

Note. Values provided are corrected validity coefficients

 Applicant Reactions
• Selection is two way street
• What are the issues with too many tests? Too
few?
• Candidates should always be briefed after
application process, regardless of results
 Reading & Self-Test
• Smith (2011)
− Chapter 7: Staffing – Selecting, Developing
and Motivating People
(pp. 165-176)

• Self-test 5 posted on BlackBoard

− Answers are also available