Management Chapter 7 Selecting Human Resources Background Checking Critical For Wide Range Positions Including

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7-5a. Negligent Hiring and Retention

• An employer’s liability hinges on how well it investigates an applicant’s background.

7-5b. Legal Constraints on Background Investigations

• Various federal and state laws protect the rights of individuals whose backgrounds may

be investigated during pre-employment screening.

HR Highlight: Ban-the-Box Legislation Affects Hiring

The ban-the-box laws in several states prohibit companies from asking about criminal

convictions on an application form.

1. What are the potential consequences (both positive and negative) of limiting the impact of

criminal history on employment decisions?

Students’ answers will vary. They should consider the unemployment rate among convicted

criminals and the difficulty of filling some jobs.

2. For what types of jobs would you recommend companies utilize criminal background

checks? For what types of jobs would they be unnecessary?

Students’ answers will vary. They might consider background checks necessary for jobs

of others.

7-5c. Medical Examinations and Inquiries

7-5d. Previous Employment Checks and Personal References

• Previous employment checks protect a company from negligent hiring claims, provide

7-5e. Additional Selection Criteria

• Additional selection criteria include previous job tenure, time gaps between jobs, and

7-5f. Making the Job Offer

• The final step of the selection process involves extending an offer.

7-6. Emerging Challenges and Best Practices

7-6a. Time to Hire and Related Concerns

• Evidence indicates that the process of hiring employees is increasingly taking longer,

7-6b. Best Practices for Employee Selection

• It is important for employers to emphasize job-related criteria when identifying

selection instruments and evaluating job candidates.

Critical Thinking Challenges

1. You are the HR manager for a commercial airline. You have been assigned to develop a

realistic job preview for flight attendants. Your objective is to give a balanced picture of

the job so that applicants will better understand what they will be asked to do. Job duties,

schedules, and other facets of the job should all be well understood early in the recruiting

process to avoid poor P/E fit later on.

A. How would you gather information about the job context and environment? Explain

what sources you would use and why.

B. How could you use technology to show the positive and negative aspects of the job?

2. Develop a work sample test to screen applicants for a college professor’s job.

A work sample test requires an applicant to perform a simulated task that is a specified

3. Develop a slate of six to eight behavioral interview questions to use for hiring a server for a

restaurant. Review the job description on http://www.onetonline.org to identify essential

Chapter 7: Selecting Human Resources

job functions and qualifications.

4. You are preparing to train managers to recognize and overcome their inherent biases. To

prepare for this session, take the online Implicit Association Test to determine if you have

any unconscious biases. You can find the test at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.

5. How would you conduct a complete background investigation on applicants for the job of

school bus driver to minimize concerns about negligent hiring?

Students might recommend using an outside vendor to conduct the background

investigation since the vendor would have access to specialized databases used for

Case: “To Test, or Not to Test, That Is the Question” for Amtrak, Integra

LifeSciences

Although personality tests are used by many companies for screening and hiring new employees,

the tool is not foolproof; its loopholes can sometimes eclipse its benefits—making it debatable

whether these tests can rightly assess an employee’s true potential.

1. Explain why it is or is not a good practice to use personality tests in employee selection.

Chapter 7: Selecting Human Resources

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of personality tests used in this way?

2. Evaluate the rationale used by Amtrak and Integra LifeSciences to justify using or not

using personality tests. Do you agree with these decisions?

3. Imagine that you are the Chief HR Officer for a company that is considering the use of

personality tests to make better selection decisions. What advice would you provide your

executive leadership team? What issues would be the most critical in your development of

company policy?

Chapter 7: Selecting Human Resources

selection and that company policies should be developed or adequately modified to avoid

such instances. The company should ensure professional scoring of personality tests and

not make incorrect assumptions that applicants have faked their answers.

Supplemental Cases

It’s All in the Family

This case highlights how some companies are hiring the sons and daughters of influential foreign

officials and businesspersons in China to enhance the likelihood that they will get business. (For

1. Explain why it is or is not a good practice to consider the connections a job applicant might

have that could enhance an employer’s business portfolio.

2. Discuss whether targeting the children of well-connected political or business leaders is

ethical.

3. Imagine that you are the Chief HR Officer for a company considering doing business in

China. You have been informed that many of your competitors have implemented

programs to hire the sons and daughters of influential Chinese leaders. What advice do you

give to your executive leadership team? Whose interests would be most important in your

policy decision?

Using Data to Enhance Hiring Decisions

This case demonstrates the power of using data and statistical analysis to recruit high-quality

workers who will perform well and stay with the company for a long time. (For the case, visit

1. Discuss how using a data-driven approach to hiring can enhance selection in companies.

The data-driven approach to hiring involves the use of primary data to facilitate good

decision-making. Using data to drive selection decisions provides hiring managers the

2. What other methods besides surveying might be used to collect important selection data

from employees?

3. What types of skills will HR professionals need to develop a data-driven approach to

selection in companies?

Full Disclosure on Sex Offenders?

This case investigates how Megan’s Law, which specifies that all states must register all

convicted sex offenders register so that residents are aware of their presence in a neighborhood,

generates implications about the use of criminal registries in hiring and employee management.

1. Discuss what a manager should do in each of the two Michigan cases.

Chapter 7: Selecting Human Resources

The first case involves an office equipment company where a 34-year old office equipment

repair technician was paroled after serving a 7-year sentence for attacking women on

jogging paths. His previous employer offered to rehire him as a field technician who would

It is highly recommended that a manager should seek legal advice in these types of

situations.

2. What circumstances might lead you to make different decisions in different cases under

Megan’s Law?

Many factors might lead to different decisions in different cases. Some examples would be:

• How long had the employee been employed before you found out he/she was on the

list?

• Was the employee honest on his application?

• How long ago did the illegal behavior take place?

• What is the employee’s performance work record?

• Have other employees complained about this employee?

Strategic Selection: A Review of Two Companies

This case shows how Hallmark and United Health Group use selection as part of their strategic

1. Compare and contrast the two selection strategies used by the organizations discussed in

the case.

Hallmark Cards’ strategy is focused on measuring the quality of the hiring decisions by

using a recruiting metric called a “staffing index” that enables management to track the

Chapter 7: Selecting Human Resources

degree to which newly hired employees are performing as expected on the job.

UnitedHealth Group’s strategy is focused on modifying their selection procedures within

the organization by splitting job candidates into two basic groups. The first group was

comprised of high-level professionals who would be recruited by internal staffing

specialists, while the second group included various staff and line personnel who would be

acquired with outsourcing contacts. This “two–pronged” strategy enabled the company to

save money through increased control and efficiency. Based on the information that was

provided, it appears that Hallmark did not change its selection procedures, but put in

place a metric to measure the success of the procedure. UnitedHealth Group’s strategy

actually changes the selection procedures; however, we are not told of any metrics used to

determine the success of the change other than a reference to “increased control and

efficiency.” Therefore, the change could have reduced costs but not increased quality.

2. What other strategies might help organizations better utilize and manage selection

activities?

Some of the strategies that students might identify would be training of managers and

Selecting a Programmer

This case demonstrates how using a test after a pool of candidates has already been interviewed

1. Identify and evaluate the stages of the selection process reflected in the case.

The selection process steps usually include applicant job interest, preemployment

screening, processing application forms, immigration verification, selection testing,

selection interviewing, background investigations, and medical examinations.

In the case, the following steps are reflected:

• Applicant job interest—fourteen candidates applied for the job in the employment

section of the personnel department.

2. If you were Marie, what would you do?

Students’ answers will vary. Some students may say that Marie should conduct a

Comments

The case illustrates several issues regarding selection tests. The firm has overreacted, to some

extent, by discontinuing all testing. In an area such as this, a content valid test could be

developed. The Vice-President even hints at the availability of some rather vague “predictive”

data. However, insisting on giving a test that has not been validated is questionable.

Extra Teaching Video

On the Job Video: Money Desktop—Interviewing

This short video will help reinforce key points and may prompt additional discussion from the

class.