978-0134235455 Chapter 6 Solution Manual

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-7

Chapter Section Summaries:

6-1: Careful, employee selection is important for several reasons.

6-2: Whether you are administering tests or making decisions based on test results,

managers need to understand several basic testing concepts.

6-3: Whether they are administered via paper and pencil, by computer, or online, we

discussed several main types of tests.

6-4: With work samples and simulations, you present examinees with situations

representative of the jobs for which they are applying.

6-5: Testing is only part of an employer’s selection process; you also want to conduct

background investigations and other selection procedures.

Discussion Questions:

6-1: What is the difference between reliability and validity?

Reliability is the consistency of scores obtained by the same person when retested with an

identical test or with an equivalent form of a test. It is a measure of internal consistency of

6-2: Explain why you think a certified psychologist who is specially trained in test

construction should (or should not) be used by a small business that needs an

employment test.

Due to the complex and legal nature of this activity, the use of a certified psychologist may

be the only safe way to accomplish your objectives. However, because of the high salary and

limited job scope of such a specialist, a definite drawback to this approach is the cost

6-3: Why is it important to conduct pre-employment background investigations? How

would you do so?

This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student

6-4: Explain how you would get around the problem of former employers being

unwilling to give bad references on their former employees.

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-8

Since many companies have strict policies regarding the release of information about former

employees, it may not be possible to get information at all, good or bad. However,

conducting a thorough reference audit by contacting at least two superiors, two peers, and

two subordinates will help increase the chance that you will find someone who is willing to

6-5: How can employers protect themselves against negligent hiring claims?

This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student

Individual and Group Activities:

6-6: Write a short essay discussing some of the ethical and legal considerations in testing.

State and federal laws, EEOC guidelines, and court decisions require that you must be able to

prove that your tests are related to success or failure on the job and that they are not having

an adverse impact on members of a protected group. Test takers also have certain basic

6-7: Working individually or in groups, develop a list of specific selection techniques that

you would suggest your dean use to hire the next HR professor at your school.

Explain why you chose each selection technique.

The students should use the selection information presented in the chapter to list their

6-8: Working individually or in groups, contact the publisher of a standardized test such

as the Scholastic Assessment Test and obtain from it written information regarding

the test’s validity and reliability. Present a short report in class discussing what the

test is supposed to measure and the degree to which you think the test does what it is

supposed to do, based on the reported validity and reliability scores.

Encourage students to contact different sources; it may be a good idea to have a sign-up

sheet so that no two students or groups are gathering information about the same

6-9: Appendix A and B at the end of this book list the knowledge someone studying for

the HRCI (Appendix A) or SHRM (Appendix B) certification exam needs to have in

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-9

each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Management and

Workforce Planning). In groups of several students, do four things: (1) review

Appendix A and/or B; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the

Appendix A and/or B required knowledge lists; (3) write four multiple-choice exam

questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the

HRCI exam and/or the SHRM exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from

your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so that students in all

teams can answer the exam questions created by the other teams.

Material included in this chapter that relates to the HRCI certification exam includes

establishing and implementing selection procedures of testing; reference and background

Experiential Exercise: A Test for a Reservation Clerk

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice in developing a test to measure one

specific ablilty for the job of airline reservation clerk for a major airline. If time permits, you’ll

be able to combine your tests into a test battery.

Required Understanding: Your airline has decided to outsource its reservations jobs to Asia.

You should be fully acquainted with the procedure for developing a personnel test and should

read the following description of an airline reservation clerk’s duties.

How to Set up the Exercise/Instructions: Divide the class into teams of five or six students.

The ideal candidate will need to have a number of skills and abilities to perform this job well.

Your job is to select a single ability and to develop a test to measure that ability. Use only the

materials available in the room, please. The test should permit quantitative scoring and may be

an individual or group test.

Please go to your assigned groups. As per our discussion of test development in this chapter,

each group should make a list of the skills relevant to success in the airline reservation clerk’s

job. Each group should then rate the importance of these abilities on a five-point scale. Then,

develop a test to measure what you believe to be the top ranked ability. If time permits, the group

should combine the various tests from each group into a test battery. If possible, leave time for a

group of students to take the test battery.

Application Case: The Insider

6-10: We want you to design an employee selection program for hiring stock traders. We

already know what to look for as far as technical skills are concerned – accounting

courses, economics, and so on. What we want is a program for screening out potential

bad apples. To that end, please let us know the following: What screening tests would

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-10

you suggest, and why? What questions should we add to our application form?

Specifically, how should we check candidates’ backgrounds, and what questions

should we ask previous employers and references?

Students should consider the different types of selection measures that they believe

6-11: What else (if anything) would you suggest?

Students should list (and be ready to defend) the specifications that they believe would be

Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company – Honesty Testing

6-12: What would be the advantages and disadvantages to Jennifer’s company of routinely

administering honesty tests to all its employees?

Polygraph testing raises a large number of legal and moral issues, issues Carter Cleaning

would best avoid. Using some of the available “paper-and-pencil” honesty tests may be a

6-13: Specifically, what other screening techniques could the company use to screen out

theft-prone and turnover-prone employees, and how exactly could these be used?

More thorough background checks are a recommended technique to eliminate potential

thieves. Some firms choose to contract this out to a private security agency, although cost

may be an issue to Jennifer. However, the company can quickly check to see if savings

6-14: How should her company terminate employees caught stealing, and what kind of

procedure should be set up for handling reference calls about these employees when

they go to other companies looking for jobs?

Terminating employees for theft should include the involvement of the proper authorities

and should only be done when there is absolute proof of the theft and who committed it.

Such an action will also send a message to other employees that you will not tolerate theft

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-11

Hotel Paris: Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris – The New Employee

Testing Program

6-15: Provide a detailed example of a security guard work sample test.

Students should begin by discussing the types of tasks a security guard is responsible for.

6-16: Provide a detailed example of two possible personality test items you would suggest

they use, and why you would suggest using them.

Student answers will vary.

6-17: Based on what you read here in this Dessler Human Resource Management Chapter, what

other tests would you suggest to Lisa, and why would you suggest them?

Because front desk employees usually handle credit cards and make cash transactions,

6-18: How would you suggest Lisa try to confirm that it is indeed the testing and not some

other change that accounts for the improved performance?

Students’ answers will vary.

My Management Lab

Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com.

Answers to these questions are graded against rubrics in the MyLab.

6-19: Explain how you would go about validating a test. How can this information be useful to

a manager?

6-20: Explain how digital and social media have changed the employee selection process, and

the advice you would give an employer about avoiding problems using such tools for

selection.

Key Terms:

Negligent Hiring – Hiring workers with questionable backgrounds without proper safeguards.

Reliability – The consistency of scores obtained by the same person when retested with idential

tests or with alternate forms of the same test.

Test Validity – The accuracy with which a test, interview, and so on, measures what it purports

to measure or fulfills the function it was designed to fill.

Chapter 6: Employee Testing and Selection 6-12

Criterion Validity – A type of validity based on showing that scores on the test (predictors) are

related to job performance (criterion).

Content Validity – A test that is content valid is one that contains a fair sample of the tasks and

skills actually needed for the job in question.

Construct Validity – A test that is construct valid is one that demonstrates that a selection

procedure measures a construct and that construct is important for successful job performance.

Expectancy Chart – A graph showing the relationship between test scores and job performance

for a group of people.

Interest Inventory – A personal development and selection device that compares the person’s

current interests with those of others now in various occupations so as to determine the preferred

occupation for the individual.

Work Samples – Actual job tasks used in testing applicants’ performance.

Work Sampling Technique – A testing method based on measuring performance on actual job

tasks.

Management Assessment Center – A situation in which management candidates are asked to

perform realistic tasks in hypothetical situations and are scored on their performance. It usually

also involves testing and the use of management games.

Situational Test – A test that requires examinees to respond to situations representative of the

job.

Video-based Simulation – A situational test in which examinees respond to video simulations

of realistic job situations.

Miniature Job Training and Evaluation – Training candidates to perform several of the job’s

tasks, and then evaluating the candidates’ performance prior to hire.