978-0538468077 Chapter 2 Solution Manual Part 5

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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