Human Resource Management

Employee Testing
and Selection
Chapter 6
Why Careful Selection is
Important
 The importance of selecting the right
employees
– Organizational performance always
depends in part on subordinates having
the right skills and attributes.
– Recruiting and hiring employees is costly.
– The legal implications of incompetent
hiring
• EEO laws and court decisions related to
nondiscriminatory selection procedures
• The liability of negligent hiring of
workers with questionable
backgrounds
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–2
Basic Testing
Concepts
 Reliability
– The consistency of scores obtained by the
same person when retested with the
identical or equivalent tests.
– Are the test results stable over time?
 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.
– Does the test actually measure what we
need for it to measure?
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–3
Types of
Validity
 Criterion validity
– A type of validity based on showing that
scores on the test (predictors) are related
to job performance (criterion).
• Are test scores in this class related to students’
knowledge of human resource management?
 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.
• Do the test questions in this course relate to
human resource management topics?
• Is taking an© 2005
HR course
Prentice Hall Inc. Allthe same as doing
rights reserved. 6–4
How to Validate a
Test
 Step 1: Analyze the job
– Predictors: job specification (KSAOs)
– Criterion: quantitative and qualitative
measures of job success
 Step 2: Choose the tests
– Test battery or single test?
 Step 3: Administer the test
– Concurrent validation
• Current employees’ scores with current
performance
– Predictive validation
• Later-measured performance with prior scores
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–5
How to Validate a Test
(cont’d)
 Step 4: Relate Test Scores and Criteria
– Correlation analysis
• Actual scores on the test with actual
performance
 Step 5: Cross-Validate and Revalidate
– Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 with a different
sample
of employees.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–6

 Testing Program
Guidelines
1. Use tests as supplements.
2. Validate the tests.
3. Monitor your testing/selection program
4. Keep accurate records.
5. Use a certified psychologist.
6. Manage test conditions.
7. Revalidate periodically.

Table 6–1
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–7
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
Aspects of Testing
 An organization must be able to prove:
– That its tests are related to success or
failure on the job (validity)
– That its tests don’t unfairly discriminate
against minority or nonminority
subgroups (disparate impact).
 EEO guidelines and laws apply to all
selection devices, including interviews,
applications, and references.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–8

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
Aspects of Testing (cont’d)
 Testing alternatives if a selection device has
disparate impact:
– Institute a different, valid selection
procedure that does not have an adverse
impact.
– Show that the test is valid—in other words,
that it is a valid predictor of performance
on the job.
– Monitor the selection test to see if it has
disparate
impact.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–9

Test Takers’ Individual Rights and Test
Security
 Under the American Psychological
Association’s standard for educational and
psychological tests, test takers have the right:
– To privacy and information.
– To the confidentiality of test results.
– To informed consent regarding use of
these results.
– To expect that only people qualified to
interpret the scores will have access to
them.
– To expect the test is fair to all.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–10
Using Tests at
Work
 Major types of tests used by employers
– Basic skills tests (45%)
– Drug tests (47%)
– Psychological tests (33%)
 Use of testing
– Less overall testing now but more testing
is used as specific job skills and work
demands increase.
• Screen out bad or dishonest employees
• Reduce turnover by personality profiling
 Source of tests
– Test publishers
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–11
Computer-Interactive
Testing
 Types of tests
– Specialized work sample tests
– Numerical ability tests
– Reading comprehension tests
– Clerical comparing and checking
tests
 Online tests
– Telephone prescreening
– Offline computer tests
– Virtual ―inbox‖ tests
– Online problem solving tests
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–12
Types of
Tests
 Tests of cognitive abilities
– Intelligence Tests
• Tests of general intellectual abilities that
measure a range of abilities, including memory,
vocabulary, verbal fluency, and numerical
ability.
– Aptitude tests
• Tests that measure specific mental abilities,
such as inductive and deductive reasoning,
verbal comprehension, memory, and
numerical ability.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–13

Types of Tests
(cont’d)
 Tests of motor abilities
– Tests that measure motor abilities, such as
finger
dexterity, manual dexterity, and reaction
time.
 Tests of physical abilities
– Tests that measure static strength,
dynamic
strength, body coordination, and stamina.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–14

Measuring Personality and
Interests
 Personality tests
– Tests that use projective techniques
and trait inventories to measure basic
aspects of an applicant’s personality,
such as introversion, stability, and
motivation.
– Disadvantage
• Personality tests—particularly the projective
type—are the most difficult tests to evaluate
and use.
– Advantage
• Tests have been used successfully to predict
dysfunctional job behaviors and identify
successful candidates for overseas
assignments.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–15
The ―B ig Five‖
 Extraversion
– The tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and to
experience positive effects, such as energy and zeal.
 Emotional stability/neuroticism
– The tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and
experience
negative effects, such as anxiety, insecurity, and
hostility.
 Openness to experience
– The disposition to be imaginative, nonconforming,
unconventional, and autonomous.
 Agreeableness
– The tendency to be trusting, compliant, caring, and
gentle.
 Conscientiousness
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–16
– Is comprised of two related facets: achievement and
Other
Tests
 Interest inventories
– Personal development and selection
devices that compare the person’s current
interests with those of others now in
various occupations so as to determine the
preferred occupation for the individual.
 Achievement tests
– Test that measure what a person has
already learned—―job knowledge‖ in areas
like accounting, marketing, or personnel.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–17

Other Tests
(cont’d)
 Web-Based (Online) testing
– Eliminates costly and inefficient paper-
and-pencil
testing processes.
– Allows for role-playing by applicants.
– Use of computer-based scoring eliminates
rater
bias.
– Provides immediate scoring and
feedback of results to applicants.
– Can be readily customized for specific
jobs.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–18
Work
Samples
 Work samples
– Actual job tasks are used in testing
applicants’
performance.
 Work sampling technique
– A testing method based on measuring an
applicant’s performance on actual basic job
tasks.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–19

Work
Simulations
 Management assessment center
– A simulation in which management
candidates are asked to perform realistic
tasks in hypothetical situations and are
scored on their performance.
 Typical simulated exercises include:
– The in-basket
– Leaderless group discussion
– Management games
– Individual presentations
– Objective tests
– The interview
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–20
Work Simulations
(cont’d)
 Video-Based situational testing
– A situational test comprised of several
video scenarios, each followed by a
multiple choice question that requires
the candidate to choose from among
several courses of action.
– While the evidence is mixed, the results
suggest that video-based situational tests
can be useful for selecting employees.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–21

Work Simulations
(cont’d)
 The miniature job training and evaluation
approach
– Candidates are trained to perform a sample
of the job’s tasks, and then are evaluated
on their performance.
– The approach assumes that a person who
demonstrates that he or she can learn
and perform the sample of tasks will be
able to learn and perform the job itself.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–22

Background Investigations and
Reference Checks
 Extent of investigations and checks
– Reference checks (87%)
– Background employment checks
(69%)
– Criminal records (61%)
– Driving records (56%)
– Credit checks (35%)
 Reasons for investigations and checks
– To verify factual information
provided by applicants.
– To uncover damaging information.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–23
Background Investigations and
Reference Checks (cont’d)
 Sources of information for background
checks:
– Former employers
– Current supervisors
– Commercial credit rating companies
– Written references

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–24

Background Investigations and
Reference Checks (cont’d)
 Legal limitations on background checks
– Privacy Act of 1974
– Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970
– Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of
1974 (and Buckley Amendment of 1974)
– Freedom of Information Act of 1966
– 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA)

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–25

Background Investigations and
Reference Checks (cont’d)
 Reference providers’ concerns
– Fear of legal reprisal for defamation
– Not wanting to damage the applicant’s
chances
– Helping to get rid an incompetent
employees

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–26

Making Background Checks More
Useful
 Include on the application form a statement
for applicants to sign explicitly authorizing
a background check.
 Use telephone references if possible.
 Be persistent in obtaining information.
 Ask open-ended questions to elicit more
information from references.
 Use references provided by the candidate as
a source for other references.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–27

Using Preemployment Information
Services
 Concerns about checking applicant histories
– Various equal employment laws
discourage or prohibit the use of such
information in employee screening.
– Courts view making employment decisions
based on someone’s arrest record as
unfairly discriminatory.
– The EEOC says a poor credit history should
not by
itself preclude someone from getting a job.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–28

Checking Background
Information
 Step 1—Disclosure and authorization.
– Inform the employee/applicant that a report
will
be requested and obtain written authorization.
 Step 2—Certification.
– The employer must certify to the reporting
agency that the employer will comply with
the federal and state legal requirements.
 Step 3—Providing copies of reports.
– The employer must provide copies of the
report to the applicant or employee if
adverse action is contemplated.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–29
Checking Background
Information (cont’d)
 Step 4—Notice after adverse action.
– After the employer provides the employee
or applicant with copies of the
investigative reports and a ―reasonable
period‖ has elapsed, the employer may
take an adverse action.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–30

 Collecting Background
Information
1. Check all applicable state laws.
2. Review the impact of federal equal employment laws.
3. Remember the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.
4. Do not obtain information that you’re not going to use.
5. Remember that using arrest information will be highly
suspect.
6. Avoid blanket policies (such as ―we hire no one with a
record of workers’ compensation claims‖).
7. Use information that is specific and job related.
8. Keep information confidential and up to date.
9. Never authorize an unreasonable investigation.
Source: Adapted from Jeffrey M. Hahn, ―Pre-Employment Services: Employers
Beware?‖
Figure 6–8
Employee Relations Law Journal 17, no. 1 (Summer 1991), pp. 45–69; and Shari
Caudron, © 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–31
―Who are you really hiring?‖, Workforce, November 2002, pp. 28–32.
 Collecting Background Information
(cont’d)
10. Make sure you always get at least two forms of
identification from the applicant.
11. Always require applicants to fill out a job application.
12. Compare the application to the résumé
13. Particularly for executive candidates, include background
checks of such things as involvement in lawsuits, and of
articles about the candidate in local or national
newspapers.
14. Separate the tasks of (1) hiring and (2) doing the
background check.

Source: Adapted from Jeffrey M. Hahn, ―Pre-Employment Services: Employers

Beware?‖
Figure 6–8 (cont’d)
Employee Relations Law Journal 17, no. 1 (Summer 1991), pp. 45–69; and Shari
Caudron, © 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–32
―Who are you really hiring?‖, Workforce, November 2002, pp. 28–32.
The Polygraph and Honesty
Testing
 The polygraph (or lie detector)
– A device that measures physiological
changes,
– The assumption is that such changes
reflect changes in emotional state that
accompany lying.
 Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.
– Prohibits employers (in most all cases)
from conducting polygraph
examinations of all job applicants and
most employees.
– Also prohibited are other mechanical or
electrical devices including psychological
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–33
stress evaluators and voice stress
Permitted Users of the
Polygraph
 Employers with contracts involving:
– National defense or security
– Nuclear-power (Department of Energy)
– Access to highly classified information
– Counterintelligence (the FBI or Department
of
Justice)
 Other exceptions
– Hiring of private security personnel
– Hiring persons with access to drugs
– Conducting ongoing investigations
involving economic loss or injury to an
employer’s ©business.
2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–34
Paper-and-Pencil Honesty
Tests
 Paper-and-pencil honesty tests
– Psychological tests designed to predict
job applicants’ proneness to dishonesty
and other forms of counterproductivity.
– Measure attitudes regarding things like
tolerance of others who steal, acceptance
of rationalizations for theft, and admission
of theft-related activities.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–35

Antitheft Screening
Procedure
 Ask blunt questions.
 Listen, rather than talk.
 Do a credit check.
 Check all employment and personal
references.
 Use paper-and-pencil honesty tests and
psychological tests.
 Test for drugs.
 Establish a search-and-seizure policy and
conduct searches.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–36
 Grapholo
gy
 Graphology (handwriting analysis)
– Assumes that handwriting reflects
basic
personality traits.
– Graphology’s validity is highly
suspect.

Handwriting Exhibit Used by Graphologist

Source: Reproduced with permission from Kathryn Sackhein,

Handwriting Analysis and the Employee Selection Process (New York:
Figure 6–8
Quorum Books, 1990), p. 45. © 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–37
Physical
Examination
 Reasons for preemployment medical
examinations:
– To verify that the applicant meets the
physical requirements of the position
– To discover any medical limitations you
should
take into account in placing the
applicant.
– To establish a record and baseline
of the applicant’s health for future
insurance or compensation claims.
– To reduce absenteeism and
accidents
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–38
– To detect communicable diseases
Substance Abuse
Screening
 Types of screening:
– Before formal hiring
– After a work accident
– Presence of obvious behavioral
symptoms
– Random or periodic basis
– Transfer or promotion to new
position
 Types of tests
– Urinalysis
– Hair follicle testing

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–39

Substance Abuse in the
Workplace
 Issues
– Impairment versus presence
– Recreational use versus
habituation
– Intrusiveness of procedures
– Accuracy of tests
– Drug Free Workplace Act of
1988
– Americans with Disabilities Act

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 6–40