978-0078112768 Chapter 6 Solution Manual Part 3

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Chapter 06 – Selection and Placement

Additional Activities

Teaching suggestions

The following suggestions and activities involve issues, such as race norming and

interviewing individuals with disabilities, which are likely to be unfamiliar to students. These

issues are likely to raise emotions, and instructors should probably lay some ground rules for

discussion. For instance, feedback to other students should not attack the student himself or

herself for a particular attitude, but discussion should relate to the difficulty in reconciling a

wide variety of perceptions in the practice of human resources (in other words, an

organization may not be able to). This may upset the students’ sense of order, but it is critical

that they understand that there are not always “right” answers. For example, the reality that

an organization can be sued for reverse discrimination when affirmative action is ordered by

a court will confuse students but represents reality.

Inviting other perceptions from students will allow students to understand the range of

perceptions that may exist and how their particular attitudes fit into legal and societal

contexts. The topic of “politically correct” attitudes will arise, and hopefully students can

recognize that in an academic environment, everyone has the right to discuss his or her

attitudes. All students have the academic requirement to recognize the consequences of

actions in the organizational context, such as in issues related to sexual harassment.

1. Discuss with students what special challenges interviewing individuals with

disabilities may have.

Interviewing individuals with disabilities will pose special challenges:

Background: ADA covers an estimated 43 million people. As of July 26, 1994, all

employers with over 15 employees are subject to the provisions of ADA. There must

be no questions on the application blank or within the interview that ask applicants

whether they have disabilities.

You can sensitize students to these issues by allowing them to role play an interview

with a differently abled individual. It is possible that you could invite such an

individual to help the class with this (there are often advocacy groups on campus who

could be asked).

You might try the interview “cold” first and then discuss with both the interviewer

and interviewee what the problems were and where the interviewer was unsure of

how to proceed. The differently abled candidate could present his or her perceptions

about what went well and what could be improved. Typically, the differently abled

will discuss his or her desire to be treated like everyone else (which, of course, the

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legislation also emphasizes).

Following are some suggestions provided for interviewing the differently abled:

Small talk might breach the law, such as what the candidate’s spouse does for

a living or whether the candidate has children (sex discrimination) or where a

candidate went to high school (can be related to national origin). Stick to

job-related questions.

Take notes with caution. An attorney recommends not writing down anything

that you would not want a jury to see.

You can’t ask about health. You can ask the candidate to take a physical exam

after making a conditional offer if you routinely make that request of all

candidates.

Courtesy issues:

Regarding shaking hands, take what candidates offer you, whether hand or

hook.

Do not ask how a candidate became disabled.

With a blind individual: If you have an obstacle-course office, place the

person’s hand on the back of the chair or just direct him or her verbally to the

chair. If there is a guide dog, the dog will guide the person.

Do not lean on a wheelchair. This is personal space and you could make it roll.

Sit down when talking to wheelchair users.

Do not be overly protective. These persons have typically learned to be

independent, and protective behavior will often be perceived as patronizing.



Do not use terms such as handicapped, deformed, deaf, or deaf mute.

Acceptable terms are blind, visually or hearing impaired, or multiply disabled.

Do not ask how a disabled individual will get to work or go to the bathroom

(again, this is not asked of other candidates).

It is never wrong to ask “Is there anything you need?” but typically you should

ask only once.

For additional help:

Guidance is available from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s

Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions (Title D of the

Americans with Disabilities Act), which explains the law in lay terms. The second of

two volumes is a resource directory listing groups that can help with

accommodations. Call (800) 669-EEOC. Hearing impaired individuals can call the

TDD number at (800) 800-3302.

The National Center for Disability Services provides training for interviewers across

the United States.

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Source: M. Hequet, “The Intricacies of Interviewing,” Training, April 1993, pp.

31-36.

2. Case: Selecting Employees for Work Teams at Levi Strauss & Company.

Levi Strauss is implementing a new manufacturing process at its Blue Ridge,

Georgia, plant. The manufacturing process makes extensive use of work teams. The

As a result, they want to choose employees who will help ensure the success of this

manufacturing system. This is a nonunionized environment. They will first choose

Pretend that you are the manager overseeing the new manufacturing operation. What

recommendations would you have for HRM regarding what process and “tests” to use

to select employees for the new manufacturing system? What types of information

about the “tests” would you want in order to make you feel confident they would

work?

1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Suggestions

A job analysis that specifies the job requirements should be done first. Students

should be encouraged to consider techniques that are primarily job-related and that

focus on behavioral measurements. Since current employees are involved, the

organization could consider a multiple-hurdle approach.

For example, a work sample in a team setting with trained observers assessing team

skills such as cooperativeness, persuasiveness, and problem-solving ability might be

an excellent approach. Rather than using cognitive ability tests on current employees,

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volunteers might be elicited for training and to construct a test that would be content

validated. Trainees would have to pass these tests to be selected for the job.

Since there is so much more information available on current employees, an approach

that emphasizes training and selection first from the inside might have higher utility

than testing external applicants.

The effectiveness of the approach could be examined by a predictive validation

process that would correlate scores in the work sample and reining with subsequent

performance on the job. If the techniques appear valid, they could be expanded or

adapted as needed for use with both internal and external applicants.

3. Case: Selecting Patient Escorts at City Hospital.

City Hospital is located in the heart of a large Midwestern city. City Hospital has

about 1,200 beds and employs 4,500 individuals. The job of patient escort is simple,

The job of patient escort is critical to the hospital, since the escort is always the last

The hospital follows a standard procedure when hiring patient escorts. The HR

During the last two years, the hospital has experienced a number of problems with

patient escorts that have affected the hospital’s image. Several patients have

As a hospital administrator, you would like to see a selection process implemented

that would eliminate the hiring of rude, insulting, or careless patient escorts. Poor

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a. What recommendations would you have for HR regarding what process and

tests to use to select employees for the patient escort position?

Job-relatedness again is a critical issue. Personality tests, because of their

Critical incidents in the interview could simulate particularly problematic

patient situations to understand what the candidate would do. Since 25 percent

b. What types of information about the tests would you want to make you

comfortable that they would work?

Validity could be examined by predictive-validation techniques in assessing

the value of demographic information such as previous experience and the

4. Role Play in interviewing: Role-play can be done to illustrate how interviewing may

miss critical issues. Students can be placed in dyads or triads ( two role players and

one observer) to role play this interview. Students should be cautioned not to step out

of role but play it seriously (sometimes role plays are difficult co maintain for long

periods of time). Give the role play only to the person designated to play the role

immediately before the role play will occur. Give students approximately 15 minutes

to prepare to play their roles. Two role descriptions follow.

Applicant Role: Edward Cunningham

You are Edward Cunningham, the former assistant financial controller at

Universal Plastic Company. You were in that position for four years and worked for

Universal for six years. Last week, you were unexpectedly fired by your boss at

Universal. There were several factors that led to your dismissal. They were:

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a. Three years ago, you and two co-workers purposely damaged a new

high-speed forming machine at Universal. The company was unable to prove

anything, but they strongly suspected that you were trying to sabotage the

company. Actually, you made a dumb decision to accept a bribe from an

official at National Plastic Company to do this. You did it because you

desperately needed the money. Universal ended the matter by giving you a

strong oral reprimand that was not documented in your personnel file. Very

few people know about this.

b. Last year, you had three sexual harassment charges filed against you. You felt

that the charges were not justified since all you did was “pinch” the girls in the

office a little bit. The company had you sign a settlement agreement, and you

stopped “pinching” the girls. A written reprimand was placed in your

personnel file and nearly everyone knew about in

c. Two years ago, you failed the state accountant’s certification test. Universal

requires that financial controllers (and assistants) be certified. You took some

extra courses and tried to pass the exam. You took the exam again at the

special interim testing two weeks ago and failed again. Normally, the test is

given every four years so it will be two more years before you have a chance

to take it again. Universal was not willing to wait that long for you to pass.

d. The final straw that led to your dismissal was the IRS ruling last week. You

had implemented some modified accounting procedures at Universal and had

saved the company $175,000. However, the procedures were ruled illegal and

Universal was fined $450,000 in penalties and back taxes. The company

placed nearly all the blame on you.

Three weeks ago you saw an ad for a financial controller position at National

Plastic Company. National is Universal’s major competitor, and the

competition has not only been fierce but downright nasty. You know that

National likes to hire people from Universal, so you sent sour resume to John

Hathaway, the administrative vice-president at National. At the rime you sent

the resume, you had not been fired and had nor heard from the IRS regarding

their ruling. You really want the job at National, and today you are scheduled

to have an interview with John Hathaway.

You will try to emphasize all your strengths in the interview, which you feel

are the following:

You have a master’s degree in accounting (GPA 3.8).

You are (were) the assistant financial controller at Universal and held

that position for four years.

You saved Universal $175,000 in the last three years by modifying

some accounting procedures.

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You were awarded the Outstanding Community Member award by the

Chamber of Commerce three years ago.

You recently completed some advanced postgraduate courses in

finance.

You have worked for two companies (including Universal) since you

graduated from college 10 years ago, and you progressed rapidly in

both companies.

You do not want John Hathaway to find out any of the negative information

about you; however; basically you are truthful, so you will not lie in the

interview. The most important point to disguise is that you were fired by

Universal. You will emphasize your strengths in the interview with John

Hathaway.

Interviewer Role: John Hathaway

You are John Hathaway, administrative vice-president of National Plastic Company.

The company has nationwide manufacturing locations and distribution centers.

Product lines have historically been home-use plastic products, but the company has

recently expanded into the industrial market. The new product lines are specialty

plastic products for several industries, which include forest products, steel, and

textiles.

As corporate administrative vice-president, you are in charge of human resources,

finance, public affairs, and office systems. Within the finance department are the

usual functions, such as payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, internal

auditing, and accounting. Four weeks ago, your financial controllers suddenly quit

and rook a higher-level position with National’s major competitor, Universal Plastic

Company. You tried to conduct an exit interview with the former controller, but were

unable to get any useful information. The competition has been strong between

National and Universal, and this is probably why the former controller was unwilling

to talk.

You advertised the position opening for two weeks and received 75 resumes. Based

on a review of the resumes, you selected 10 for interviews. You have already

interviewed nine of them, and you have not been very impressed with any of them.

Nevertheless, one of the nine did have better qualifications than the other eight, and

you will offer him the job, if necessary. However, the applicant that you expected to

be the best is going to come for an interview today. Because of some critically

important financial project work that must be done, you will have to make a hiring

decision today as soon as the interview is over.

The tenth applicant is Edward Cunningham, who is currently the assistant financial

controller at Universal Plastic Company. He has an outstanding track record, and

following are some of the key points on his resume:

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He has a master’s degree in accounting (GPA 3.8).

He is the assistant financial controller at Universal and has been in that

position for four years.

He saved Universal $175,000 in the last three years by modifying some

accounting procedures.

He was awarded the Outstanding Community Member award by the Chamber

of Commerce three years ago.

He recently completed some advanced postgraduate courses in finance.

He has worked for two companies (including Universal) since he graduated

from college l0 years ago, and he progressed rapidly in both companies.

Edward Cunningham looks like an exceptional candidate, and you would like to find

out even more details about him in the interview. Since Edward works for Universal

(the unfriendly competitor), you will not be able to check his references there. If you

did, you know from past experience that the only information you would get would

be “name, rank, and serial number.” You are not really concerned about Edward’s

technical knowledge since he has a master’s degree, has recently completed some

courses and has apparently demonstrated his knowledge on the job. Further, the state

normally gives a certification test for accountants every four years, and Edward

passed the test six years ago.

Another consideration for the financial controller’s position is the fact that Edward is

a male. Although you know that a person’s sex cannot be specified as a job

requirement, it would be more helpful, from an EEO perspective, to have a male in

that position. The entire department is 85 percent female, and one of your goals is to

have equally balanced departments in terms of race and sex.

HRM Failures

Top

Case 6: Pre-Employment Screenings: What’s Appropriate?

At a public library in Oregon in 2004, Janet Lanier applied for work as a library page. The

job duties included such tasks as reshelving books and occasionally working a youth

After Lanier refused to take the test, claiming it was an invasion of her privacy, the

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A district court found the testing policy unconstitutional. That ruling was later reversed

Employers should keep state and federal law in mind if they contemplate imposing

pre-employment drug testing on job candidates.

Question

As an employer, how would you handle the matter of pre-employment screening?

Possible answers

Consider the job type and job description. Does the job have special

requirements: working with infants or children, operating heavy machinery, or

Case: Lanier v. Woodburn, 9th Cir., No. 06-35262 (3/13/08), 518 F.3d 1147; 2008 U.S.

App. Lexis 5353.

Source: James E. Hall, Mark T. Kobata and Marty Denis, Workforce Management, May

2008, http://www.workforce.com.

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