3.2 Case Study/Exercise

Exercise 44. Selecting from Imperfect Applicants

Scenario

The director of college recruiting for Duro Insurance Company is presently recruiting college students for its administrative trainee program. The one-year training program involves a combination of on-the-job and formal classroom training. Upon successful completion of the training, a candidate is assigned a position as assistant department supervisor.

Duro Insurance Company ranks in the top 15 percent of life insurance companies nationally with in-force insurance in excess of $6 billion. Duro markets all forms of insurance, bonds, and pension products on an individual and group basis. More recently, the company added diversified financial services, including discount brokerage services, real estate financing, and mutual funds. The company is divided into six major divisions: Employee Benefits, Commercial Insurance, Individual Life, Automobile, Homeowners, and Diversified Financial Services and functionally into several major operating departments: Sales, Underwriting, Administrative, Loss Prevention, Actuarial, Claims, Legal, Financial and Investments, Advertising and Public Relations, Personnel, and Research and Policy Development. Duro has over 25,000 employees and more than 300 field offices throughout the country. Management at each field office consists of a manager, several department heads, and their assistants. The company has enjoyed a pattern of steady growth and expansion over the years.

Job Description for Administrative Trainee

Handle day-to-day administration of field office, including direct supervision of office clerks.

Plan and oversee the use of space, furniture, and equipment on a continuing basis and recommend changes as necessary.

Supervise computer processing operations for issuing and servicing insurance policies, including claims.

Implement and maintain accounting and collection procedures. The trainee works closely with the department head in learning these duties.

Job Qualifications

BS/BA with business management background (knowledge of accounting desired).

Ability to communicate effectively.

Ability to handle detail.

Ability to plan and direct activities of subordinate personnel.

Demonstrated leadership potential.

Knowledge of computers and software packages including Microsoft Office.

Additional Job Data

The trainee position reports directly to a department head.

Expected career progression is to assistant department supervisor (1–2 years) and, with continued development, to department head (4–5 years after supervisory assignment).

The position requires relocation.

The company offers competitive salaries and benefits, including a tuition repayment plan and in-house career planning and development.

Exercise 43. Which Selection Procedure Is Most Effective?

objectives

To examine the strengths and weaknesses of four different methods for selecting new employees.

To enhance your oral communication skills.

out-of-class preparation time: 30 minutes to prepare for the debate

in-class time suggested: 50–75 minutes

procedures

Your instructor will divide the class into five groups at the end of class prior to conducting this exercise. There will be four debating groups consisting of three to five members each and one or more groups of ‘‘judges’’ that consist of the remaining class members. Debaters will be assigned one of four positions and told to prepare to argue in favor of that position. Judges will be told to read the textbook chapter pages that cover those positions. The issue to be debated is: Which approach to selecting new employees is relatively most effective? The positions are:

the structured interview;

the unstructured interview;

ability and personality tests; and

reviewing applications and résumés, and talking to or getting letters from listed references.

At the start of the next class, your instructor will announce that a four-way debate will be held. The judges’ role in the debate is to ‘‘search for the truth.’’ They are to listen to the different sides presented and then, after the debate is finished, to tell the class what they believe is the ‘‘correct’’ answer to the debate question, not who ‘‘won’’ the debate.

The debate consists of two rounds. The purpose of Round One (15–20 minutes) is for each team to learn the position of the other debating teams. Hence, each team has up to five minutes to explain their position as comprehensively as possible. At the completion of Round One, the debating teams are given up to ten minutes to prepare criticisms of each of the other three teams for Round Two. During this intermission, judges are to discuss what they have heard and begin to formulate their own position.

In Round Two (15–20 minutes), each debating team is given up to five minutes to criticize the position of each of the other teams. Unlike a traditional debate, teams are not allowed to rebut the criticisms made by others. They must simply listen to them. Round Two ends when Team Four has finished criticizing the position of the other three teams.

After the debate has ended, the judges have five minutes to discuss the issue among themselves and to arrive at a consensus, if possible. The judging team(s) then explains its decision to the debaters.