Assume you gave a general ability test, measuring both verbal and computational skills, to a group of applicants for a specific job. Also assume that because of severe hiring pressures, you hired all of the applicants, regardless of their test scores. How would you investigate the criterion-related validity of the test?
> Do you agree that “the employer usually has the upper hand” when it comes to establishing the employment relationship? When might the employee have maximum power over the employer?
> Are some of the thirteen strategic staffing decisions more important than others? If so, which ones? Why?
> What are examples of how staffing activities influenced by training or compensation activities?
> Would it be desirable to hire people only according to the person/organization match, ignoring the person/job match?
> Why do you think HR professionals were not able to very accurately predict the importance of many rewards to employees? What are the implications for creating the employee value proposition?
> What guidelines do the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures offer to organizations when it comes to setting cutoff scores?
> Discuss some potential problems with downsizing as an organization's first response to a need to cut labor costs.
> Why should an organization seek to retain employees with performance or discipline problems - why not just fire them?
> A. For each finalist, you are to decide whether or not you would be willing to hire the person and why.
> If a person says to you - "It's easy to reduce turnover, just pay people more money" - what is your response?
> Which of the costs and benefits of voluntary turnover are most likely to vary according to type of job? Give examples.
> For the three primary causes of voluntary turnover (desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, alternatives), might their relative importance depend on the type of employee or type of job? Explain.
> How would you try to get individual managers to be more aware of the legal requirements of staffing systems and to take steps to ensure that they themselves engage in legal staffing actions?
> In developing a report on the effectiveness of the staffing process being conducted for entry-level jobs, what factors would you address in such a report and why?
> What would be the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the entire staffing system to a vendor?
> What are examples of staffing tasks and activities that cannot or should not be simply delegated to a staffing information system for their conduct?
> What are the advantages of having a centralized staffing function, as opposed to letting each manager be totally responsible for all staffing activities in his or her unit?
> What are the steps an employer should take to develop and implement its policy regarding employment-at-will?
> What are examples of orientation experiences you have had as a new hire that have been particularly effective (or ineffective) in helping to make the person/job match happen?
> 1. What sort of background testing should BSS conduct on its applicants? 2. Is there any information BSS should avoid obtaining for legal or EEO reasons? 3. How can BSS know that its background testing programs are effective? 4. In the past, BSS has used
> What are the advantages and disadvantages to the sales approach in the presentation of the job offer?
> If the same job offer content is to be given to all offer receivers for a job, is there any need to use the strategic approach to job offers?
> If you were the HR staffing manager for an organization, what guidelines might you recommend regarding oral and written communication with the job applicants by members of the organization?
> What roles should human resource professionals play in staffing decisions? Why?
> What are the advantages of ranking as a method of final choices over random selection?
> Under what circumstances should a compensatory model be used? What should a multiple hurdles model be used?
> What are the positive consequences associated with a high predictor cutoff score? What are the negative consequences?
> Your boss is considering the use of a new predictor. The base rate is high, the selection ratio is low, and the validity coefficient is high for the current predictor. What would you advise your boss and why?
> What steps should be taken by an organization that is committed to shattering the glass ceiling?
> Evaluate the effectiveness of seniority, assessment centers, and job knowledge as substantive internal selection procedures.
> 1. Is the PS assessment a valid predictor of performance as a store manager? Would you recommend the PS be used in the future to select sales people for promotion to store manager? 2. With a cut score of 7 on the PS, would its use lead to adverse impact
> Describe the three different types of interview simulations.
> Explain the theory behind assessment centers.
> What are the differences between peer ratings, peer nominations, and peer rankings?
> Explain how internal selection decisions differ from external selection decisions.
> Describe how organizations should apply the general principles of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures to practical selection decisions.
> What is the best way to collect and use drug-testing data in selection decisions?
> What are the most common discretionary and contingent assessment methods? What are the similarities and differences between the use of these two methods?
> Describe the structured interview, noting characteristics that improve upon the shortcomings of unstructured interviews.
> How would you advise an organization considering adopting a cognitive ability test in selection?
> Describe the similarities and differences between personality tests and integrity tests. When are each warranted in selection?
> 1. How should Lone Star go about finding a successor to Ritter? Should Bowers be recruited to be the next CEO? 2. How should other internal candidates be identified and recruited? 3. Does Lone Star need a succession plan for the CEO position? If so, how
> What information does a selection decision-maker need to collect in making staffing decisions? What are the ways in which this information can be collected?
> How can organizations avoid legal difficulties in the use of pre-employment inquiries in initial selection decisions?
> Some methods of initial assessment appear to be more useful than others. If you were starting your own business, which initial assessment methods would you use and why?
> Describe the criteria by which initial assessment methods are evaluated. Are some of these criteria more important than others?
> In what ways are the following three initial assessment methods similar and in what ways are they different: Application blanks, biographical information, and reference and background checks?
> A selection plan describes which predictor(s) will be used to assess the KSAOs required to perform the job. Describe the three steps to follow in establishing a selection plan.
> Using the same example as in question four, how would you go about investigating the content validity of the test?
> Give examples of when you would want the following for a written job knowledge test: 1. a low coefficient alpha (e.g., alpha = .35), and b. a low test-retest reliability.
> Describe how you might go about determining scores for applicants’ responses to: a. interview questions, b. letters of recommendation, and c. question about previous work experience.
> 1. Evaluation of Corporate Recruiting Web Sites 2. Interviews with Student Users of Recruiting Areas in Corporate Web Sites 3. Recommendations for the Recruiting Area of the MMH Web Site
> Imagine and describe a staffing system for a job in which there was no measurement used.
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of identifying and using general competencies to guide staffing activities?
> Exhibit 6.9 contains many suggestions for improving the advancement of women and minorities. Choose the three suggestions you think are most important and explain why.
> What information should be included in the targeted internal communication message?
> Compare and contrast a closed internal recruitment system with an open internal recruitment system.
> A sound policy regarding promotion is important. List the characteristics necessary for an effective promotion policy.
> Traditional career paths strictly emphasize upward mobility within an organization. How does mobility differ in organizations with innovative career paths? List three innovative career paths discussed in this chapter, describing how mobility occurs in ea
> What strategies are organizations using to ensure that they are able to attract women and underrepresented racioethnic groups?
> What are the advantages of conveying a realistic recruitment message as opposed to one portraying the job in a way that the organization thinks that job applicants want to hear?
> In designing the communication message to be used in external recruiting, what kinds of information should be included?
> 1. Reasons why it is important to update and write new job descriptions. 2. Outline of a process that will yield a set of thorough, current job descriptions. 3. A process to be used in the future for periodically reviewing and updating these new job desc
> List ten sources of applicants that organizations turn to when recruiting. For each source, identify needs specific to the source, as well as pros and cons of using the source for recruitment.
> List and briefly describe each of the administrative issues that needs to be addressed in the planning stage of external recruiting.
> What are the advantages and disadvantages to using multiple methods of job analysis for a particular job? Multiple sources?
> What would you consider when trying to decide what criteria (e.g., percentage of time spent) to use for gathering indications about task importance?
> Would it be better to first identify task dimensions and then create specific task statements for each dimension, or should task statements be identified first and then used to create task dimensions?
> How should task statements be written, and what sorts of problems might you encounter, in asking a job incumbent to write these statements?
> What is the purpose of each type of job analysis, and how can the three types described in this chapter be combined to produce and overall understanding of work in an organization?
> What problems might an organization encounter in doing an AAP that it might not encounter in regular staffing planning?
> What criteria would you suggest using for assessing the staffing alternatives shown in Exhibit 3.14?
> What is meant by reconciliation, and why can it be so useful as an input to staffing planning?
> A. Summarize the possible advantages and disadvantages of flexible staffing. B. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using FSS as a service provider. C. Summarize the type of additional information you recommend gathering and using as part of th
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of succession planning for all levels of management, instead of just top management?
> Why are decisions about job categories and levels so critical to the conduct and results of HRP?
> What are the types of experiences, especially staffing-related ones, that an organization will be likely to have if it does not engage in HR and staffing planning?
> What are ways that the organization can ensure that KSAO deficiencies do not occur in its workforce?
> Why is it important for the organization to view all components of staffing (recruitment, selection, employment) from the perspective of the job applicant?
> What are potential problems with having a staffing process in which vacancies were filled (1) on a lottery basis from among job applicants, or (2) on a first come-first hired basis among job applicants?
> What are the differences between staffing in the private and public sectors? Why would private employers probably resist adopting many of the characteristics of public staffing systems?
> 1. What geographic location might be best for the plant in terms of attracting sufficient quantity and quality of labor, especially for the key jobs? 2. Should the plant manager come from inside the current managerial ranks or be sought from the outside?
> 1. Determine the yield ratios (offer receivers/applicants, new hires/applicants), time lapse or cycle times (days-to-offer, days-to-start), and retention rates associated with each recruitment source. 2. What is the relative effectiveness of the three so
> 1. Do we think turnover is a problem? 2. How might we attack the problem? 3. What do we need to decide? 4. Should we proceed? 5. How should we evaluate the initiatives?
> Since there are no standard ways of creating staffing process results and cost metrics, is there a need for some sort of oversight of how these data are calculated, reported, and used within an organization? Explain.
> It has been suggested that the use of staffing technology and software is wrong because it dehumanizes the staffing experience, making it nothing but a mechanical process that treats applicants like digital widgets. Evaluate this assertion.
> An organization has a staffing strategy in which it over-hires by 10% the number of employees it will actually need in any job category in order to ensure it meets its hiring needs. It reasons that some of the new hires will renege on the accepted offer,
> A large financial services organization is thinking of adopting a new staffing strategy for entry into its management training program. The program will provide the trainees all the knowledge and skills they need for their initial job assignment after tr
> Is clinical prediction the fairest way to combine assessment information about job applicants, or are the other methods (unit weighting, rational weighting, multiple regression) more fair? Why?
> Do you think companies should use banding in selection decisions? Defend your position.
> Vincent and Peter are both sales associates, and are up for promotion to sales manager. In the last five years, on a 1=poor to 5=excellent scale, Vincent’s average performance rating was 4.7 and Peter’s was 4.2. In an assessment center that was meant to
> Given that seniority is not a particularly valid predictor of job performance, do you think it’s unethical for a company to use it as a basis for promotion? Why or why not?
> Cognitive ability tests are one of the best predictors of job performance, yet they have substantial adverse impact against minorities. Do you think it’s fair to use such tests? Why or why not?
> 1. If you were an applicant, would the HVP program be attractive to you? Why or why not? If you were going to be an offer receiver, which of the three plans would you choose and why? 2. Will the HVP program likely increase the job offer acceptance rate
> Do you think it’s ethical for employers to select applicants on the basis of questions such as, “Dislike loud music” and “Enjoy wild flights of fantasy,” even if the scales that such items measure have been shown to predict job performance? Explain.
> Do you think employers have a right to check into applicants’ backgrounds? Even if there is no suspicion of misbehavior? Even if the job poses no security or sensitive risks? Even if the background check includes driving offenses and credit histories?
> Is it wrong to pad one’s résumé with information that, while not an outright lie, is an enhancement? For example, would it be wrong to term one’s job “maintenance coordinator” when in fact one simply emptied garbage cans?
> Is it unethical for an employer to use a selection measure that has high empirical validity but lacks content validity? Explain.
> Do individuals making staffing decisions have an ethical responsibility to know measurement issues? Why or why not?
> Do organizations have an ethical obligation to have a succession plan in place? If no, why not? If so, what is the ethical obligation and to whom is it owed?
