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42. EXERCISE: SELECTION INTERVIEW ROLE PLAY
I. OBJECTIVES
1. To help students develop skills in conduc&ng selec&on interviews.
2. To provide students with prac&ce in the basic principles of e-ec&ve interviewing.
II. OUT-OF-CLASS PREPARATION TIME: 30 to 90 minutes, depending on role played (students who
play the interviewee will need to prepare a resume).
III. IN-CLASS TIME: 45 minutes
IV. PROCEDURES: See text
V. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS/DISCUSSION
The exercise allows the instructor to examine the interview process from both the interviewee
Students will be quite interested in this role play because many will be involved in a job search
and the role play becomes more authen&c by requiring students to use their own resumes and
Two other varia&ons on the exercise can be used. If &me permits you may want all three-group
members to rotate through each role or alternately the instructor can select two students to serve as the
AAer the role-play, have students present their observa&ons using the discussion of the factors
1. Excessive talking and domina&on by the interviewer.
2. Inconsistency in interviewing across several applicants.
3. Premature decisions made early in the interview.
ROLE DESCRIPTIONS
Interviewer
You are the Director of College Recrui&ng for Duro and will be interviewing a candidate for
placement in the company's administra&ve training program. You are to decide on the type of interview
style you will use and prepare some ques&ons for the candidate. You should carefully read the
background informa&on. During the interview you may add addi&onal informa&on about the company
as required. AAer the interview, @ll out Form 2.9.
Interviewee
You will be gradua&ng this year and presently seeking an entry level posi&on. During the interview
answer the ques&ons as you would during a "real interview." You really want this job because you have
heard that Duro is an excellent company to work for with many opportuni&es. Bring a copy of your
resume with you to the interview.
43. EXERCISE: WHICH SELECTION PROCEDURE IS MOST EFFECTIVE?
I. OBJECTIVES:
1. To examine the strengths and weaknesses of four different methods for selec&ng
new employees.
2. To enhance students’ oral communica&on skills.
II. OUT-OF-CLASS PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes to prepare for the debate.
III. IN-CLASS TIME SUGGESTED: 50 to 70 minutes
IV. PROCEDURES: See text
V. SOLUTION/DISCUSSION:
This exercise is designed to examine the rela&vely strengths and weaknesses of four different
selec&on techniques. The authors have found this debate format to be a highly e-ec&ve one. Every
During the debate, we typically ask that all deba&ng teams stand up, in teams, around the
perimeter of the room. We only allow the judges to sit down. This permits each team to clearly see and
One important aspect of the instruc&ons that needs to be stressed is to tell the judges that they
are not to pick a "winner." Rather, they are to serve as the truth squad and to ul&mately state what they
One other important aspect of the instruc&ons that needs to be stressed is that no spontaneous
There are several modi@ca&ons to the exercise that instructors may want to consider. The
exercise, as wriOen, requires four deba&ng teams. This could be reduced to just two or three teams.
44. EXERCISE: SELECTING FROM IMPERFECT APPLICANTS
I OBJECTIVES:
1. To make you aware of the diPcul&es involved in selec&ng from a group
of applicants who are not well qualified.
2. To give you prac&ce in making selec&on decisions.
3. To familiarize you with possible selec&on criteria.
II. OUT-OF-CLASS PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes to read the exercise and determine
which applicant should be hired.
III. IN-CLASS TIME SUGGESTED: 30-45 Minutes
IV. PROCEDURES: See Text
V. DISCUSSION
This exercise forces students to select a person to hire from a group of three poorly qualified
applicants. In many hiring situa&ons, there are many highly qualified applicants and one must decide
which of them to hire. However, as this exercise shows, this is not always the case. Some jobs are so
undesirable that virtually no one wants it. Other jobs are located in rural areas where few people live,
making it hard to @nd good applicants. In this exercise, the job is both undesirable (low pay, dangerous,
dirty, poor working condi&ons, no winter work) and located in a rural area.
The exercise requires students to examine each applicant’s strengths and weaknesses before
making a selec&on decision. Listed below are some of these:
Chuck Maki:
Strengths---Polite, personable, high school graduate, lives close to mill, has a more or less permanent
place to live (with parents), knows the area and residents, willing to start work immediately, says he quit
drinking.
Weaknesses---Spent &me in jail for DUI and other convic&ons, no current driver’s license so he can’t
drive logging trucks, no prior logging experience, may have a drinking problem.
Bud Hoover:
Strengths---Has worked a variety of jobs, likes working on trucks and other equipment.
Weaknesses---Never finished high school, lives 20 miles from mill, switches jobs frequently, no logging
knowledge, incessant talker, heavy smoker, not available for two weeks.
Jim Bryce:
Strengths--- Older than others, has construc&on skills, has worked with wood, loves to work outdoors,
not bothered by weather condi&ons, willing to start work immediately.
Weaknesses---Never finished high school, has had several bad accidents, declared bankruptcy, poor
physical appearance, lives 35 miles from mill, no permanent place to live, ques&onable transporta&on,
When debrie@ng this exercise, the instructor may want to point out that any&me candidates
appear to be equally well qualified or equally poorly qualified, there are probably major di-erences
between them that the person doing the selec&on is not aware of. Therefore, one could argue that Buck
probably needs to talk to the candidates again and learn more about each. Buck states that his two
major criteria are having dependable employees who will not quit aAer a short &me. So, he needs to ask
each where they would live if they got the job and whether each is able to get to work every day. He also
may want to ask each if they are able and willing to commit to work for him for a specific period of &me,
such as un&l winter arrives.
Buck could inquire further about each applicant’s previous job experiences to determine exactly
what skills each possesses that might be helpful on the job. For example, Jim Bryce has worked in
construc&on so perhaps he has driven some construc&on equipment even though it is not logging
equipment. He may have some mechanical knowledge that would cross over to logging equipment also.
He also may be able to repair some of the logging buildings that need work.
Another point that could be made is that since Buck has had repeated employee turnover, he
needs to always look for ways to make the job less undesirable. Equally important, he needs to @nd ways
to enhance the job and make it more enjoyable and rewarding. Finally, Buck needs to always be on the
lookout for a replacement should a current employee quit. In the future, he doesn’t want to be in the
posi&on he @nds himself in now where he is desperate for a new employee.
45. INCIDENT: THE ETHICAL SELECTION DILEMMA AT INTEGRITY MOTORS
I. OVERVIEW:
For more than 30 years, legisla&on has been passed and enforced to assure that women have an
equal opportunity in the workplace. For example, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires employers to pay
men and women the same for similar work; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits gender-based
discrimina&on; and the Pregnancy Act of 1978 prohibits discrimina&on based on a woman's pregnancy.
Despite these laws, managers some&mes "overlook" the legisla&on, without considera&on of the ethical
implica&ons of their decision, not to men&on the risks associated with viola&ng a law.
The case deals with a clearly illegal basis for making an employment decision about a job
applicant - the best among all applicants - who was suspected of being pregnant. Each &me that the
case has been assigned, a majority of students, including women, vehemently argue for viola&ng the
Pregnancy Act of 1978 rather than hiring someone who might have been pregnant. They indicate that
the nature of a small business enterprise - lean sta-, limited recruitment budget, etc.- would deem it
appropriate to consider economic expediency over legal and ethical concerns. Therefore, the ensuing
class discussion addresses the concerns of small businesses but also goes beyond that to discuss the
legal implica&ons of viola&ng laws and ethical principles that should guide management decisions, even
for a small business enterprise.
However, the gender issue in this case is important for students to understand because women
ethically deserve, and are legally en&tled to, the same respect given to men when making employment
decisions. Despite what seems to be an obvious solu&on to the case, it is always astonishing to see the
large number of students who would rather hire a less qualified candidate than the best qualified person
who might be pregnant. It is felt that this case enables students to have a close look at a very sensi&ve,
realis&c issue that they may encounter in their professional careers. OAen, many students express that
before the case they had not considered the full realm of women's issues, and how the issues might
affect employment decisions.
It is important to note that the case depicts an actual situa&on that occurred in an organiza&on.
Of course, the names of the people, organiza&on, and industry have been changed. When this situa&on
occurred in the organiza&on, the same debate described in the case took place; however, as the debate
con&nued, Helen became more adamantly opposed to hiring Gladys because of the uncertainty
surrounding whether she would be able to carry out her du&es while being pregnant. Gladys was not
hired. Yet, ironically, within six months of the decision to not hire Gladys, Helen became pregnant and
requested an extended leave of absence.
II. ANSWERS TO INCIDENT QUESTIONS:
1. What are the legal and ethical issues involved in this case? Was it ethical for Gladys
Morrison to have applied for the posi&on in the @rst place?
The legal issue in the case is that the Pregnancy Act of 1978 protects pregnant women from
being discriminated against in employment decisions based on a woman's pregnancy status. Therefore,
Two of several ethical issues in this case relate to the fair treatment of women compared to men
and making employment decisions based on a rumor. First, there is always uncertainty in a newly
established employment rela&onship. Both men and women may become temporarily disabled for a
host of medical reasons or simply decide to leave the organiza&on aAer a few months, weeks, or even
Many students will argue that Gladys should have made it known if she were pregnant.
However, it should be pointed out that pregnancy could occur at any&me. Even if she were not pregnant
at the &me of applica&on, she could become pregnant at any point during her employment.
2. Should the owner hire Morrison or some other applicant? Should the informa&on
about the pregnancy be considered?
3. If Morrison is hired, how could Integrity Motors accommodate her pregnancy?
Teaching Note Contributed by James C. Wimbush, Indiana University.
46. INCIDENT: EXIT INTERVIEWS AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION
I. OVERVIEW:
The "Hip side" of employee recruitment and selec&on is employee turnover. Most organiza&ons
use exit interviews with depar&ng employees to determine causes for dissa&sfac&on and sugges&ons for
improving the organiza&on and it's human resource policies/procedures. Unfortunately, the u&lity of
exit interviews is oAen quite limited because depar&ng employees are oAen reluctant to be honest and
open for fear of aliena&ng the interviewer or others in the organiza&on.
Yet, systema&c input from employees (both con&nuing and depar&ng) is necessary to assist the
organiza&on in improving it's management of human resources. Either the quality of data generated by
exit interviews needs to be improved or alterna&ve data sources need to be developed and u&lized.
II. OBJECTIVES:
1. To sensi&ze students to some possible limita&ons of exit interview data in improving
human resources management processes.
2. To cause students to consider methods of improving exit interviews and/or
developing alterna&ve sources of employee input.
III. DISCUSSION:
In this par&cular case, the exit interview data are de@cient and the facility has a signiticance
problem of low morale and high turnover among registered nurses. Possible methods of improving the
current exit interviews and/or developing alterna&ve data sources are detailed below.
IV. ANSWERS TO INCIDENT QUESTIONS:
1. Discuss the nature and causes of the problem.
The problem is lack of integra&on of exit interview data and it is a common problem in many
2. Should Mr. James aOempt to improve the exit interview process? If so, how should
this be done?
Since most organiza&ons have a tradi&on of collec&ng exit interview data, it may be poli&cally
diPcult to simply eliminate their use. Consequently, Mr. James should consider modi@ca&ons such as
their poten&al solu&on, (3) Assure depar&ng employees that the informa&on they provide will not be
3. What other assessment alterna&ves should he consider in addi&on to or rather than
exit interviews?
The major alterna&ve source of employee input concerning human resource policies and
processes is a systema&c, periodic employee aBtude survey. Unlike the exit interview, aBtude surveys
elicit input from all employees (not just those who are leaving). Such surveys should be given
In addi&on to aBtude surveys, group mee&ngs or one-on-one mee&ngs also allow employees to
provide input. It is important to create an atmosphere of openness and trust and not to penalize
4. How can James use the informa&on generated about why nurses stay or leave to
improve nurse reten&on?
He should enhance both the exis&ng process for exit interviews as well as the employee aBtude
