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Course Learning Outcomes for Unit

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Explain the importance of all components of staffing. 1.1 Define measurement, including why measurement and assessments are important. 1.2 Discuss how reliability and validity affect the evaluation of measure.

7. Compare and contrast internal and external selection decisions. 7.1 Determine appropriate questions to measure and or assess a candidate’s skills. 7.2 Prepare a rubric that will validate and rank candidates for a particular position.

Course/Unit Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

1.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 8 Unit VI Project

1.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 8 Unit VI Project

7.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 8 Unit VI Project

7.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 8 Unit VI Project

Reading Assignment

Chapter 8: Measurement

Unit Lesson

This is probably the one unit that some may find a bit more challenging than others simply because it deals more with the mathematical and statistical side of staffing. Please do not allow the data tables within this chapter to intimidate you in any manner.

If you think back to even when you were a child, measurements have always been a part of your life.

UNIT STUDY GUIDE Assessing Talent

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

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When babies are born, doctors use weight and height as measurement tools. As the baby continues to grow, at each visit, weight and length/height are always taken. The doctor may say the baby is growing well based on normal standards, or the doctor may say the baby is underweight or overweight. This is something that continues throughout childhood. Even as adults, when you go to the doctor, the medical assistant typically checks your weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen level. If for some reason your blood pressure is not within what is considered normal range, you may be told your blood pressure is higher than the standard rate. Once you see the doctor, he or she will review blood pressure results from previous visits to see what your blood pressure was at that visit. This information will then be used to determine what treatment plan, if

any, is needed. These are just a couple examples of how measures are used. Such measures are used to determine/dictate personal physical growth and well-being based on medical guidelines and standards.

Now look at how measurement is used when it comes to education. As early as pre-school, assessments and measures are used to determine learning and development progress. Some of the areas that are measured at this stage include motor skills, developmental skills, and social skills. Based on the progress at this level, it helps to determine and project what level the child will be on as he/she enters into kindergarten. Of course, throughout elementary, middle and high school, different assessments are given regularly to evaluate students’ comprehension. When tests are administered the teacher will review the grades individually and collectively.

If it is determined that majority of the students failed or scored really low on a test, the teacher then may decide to revisit how the information was delivered. At this point, the assessment scores are being used as a tool to evaluate delivery and teaching styles utilized by the teacher. Once assessed, the teachers typically use the results to determine if more time should be spent to re-teach a particular module. It is also used to help determine what areas the students struggle in and how teachers can adjust delivery concepts to lead to better results. Within your elementary, middle, and high schools, different states utilize different state assessments to assess the progress of students within different school systems. The validity and reliability of such tests sometimes may be questioned. Should such standardized assessments be used to predict student and school achievement? Such testing is usually administered throughout an academic school year. These are a couple examples of how measurement can be utilized and the impact education at an early age.

Other assessments that some of you may be familiar with include:

 ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). This is a multiple choice test, administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States Armed Forces.

 ACT (American College Testing). This is a college admissions examination taken by high school- aged students to determine their readiness for college.

 SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test). This is the other college admissions examination used to determine students’ readiness for college.

These three are very well-known and are often mentioned to students as early as 10th grade in high school. Some other popular tests include the graduate records examination (GRE), graduate management admission test (GMAT), and defense activity for non-traditional education support (DANTES). The GRE and GMAT are assessments used to measure if a person is eligible for graduate school. The DANTES Testing is a non- traditional way of receiving credit for college courses by taking a test. Some of you may know DANTES as DANTES subject standardized tests (DSST) testing.

Measurement and assessment is used in many aspects of our lives, starting with when we are young children. (Welcomia, n.d.)

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Title As stated earlier, assessments and measures have been part of your life ever since your beginning. Hopefully, this has made your view on measures a little more relaxing.

For those of you working in human resources (HR), this may be an area you deal with on a regular basis; however, for some it may be an unfamiliar area because some organizations have specific individuals within management and/or HR who deal directly with data and analyzing the outcomes. Once the data is reviewed and analyzed, these individuals report their findings to the appropriate employees, and necessary action(s) are then implemented. Due to cost and time, some companies will also choose to seek an outside firm to assist in this area.

What is measurement?

According to Phillips and Gully (2015), “evaluating people, processes, or outcomes requires collecting data, which requires measurement. In staffing, measurement is the process of assigning numbers according to some rule or convention to aspects of people, jobs, job success, or aspects of the staffing system” (p. 204). The numerical outcomes of measurement are data.

Now you may ask, what kind of data is used, and why is this important? If you are tasked to complete such an assignment, you would want to gain information that could help with understanding and interpreting staffing and selection process outcomes. You will be required to analyze those outcomes and determine how they will impact your current and future staffing needs, what impact they will have on employee job performance, and what changes may be needed. Ultimately, there must be some standardization of the measurement process.

Standardization is important for both objective and subjective measures. Unless the data is accurate, dependable, and relevant, it can be classified as a true waste of time, purposeless, and pointless. When dealing with data, there are four levels of measurement that must be considered:

 nominal measurement,

 ordinal measurement,

 interval measurement, and

 ratio measurement.

This leads to the process of assigning numerical values during measurement, which is known as scoring (Phillips & Gully, 2015). Keep in mind that scores can be manipulative in various ways, which aids in the interpretation of the scores. Such manipulations include percentiles, central tendency, variability, and standard scores. Correlations also are considered as it helps to indicate the strength and relationship between two attributes (view Figure 8-3 on page 210 of your textbook). Regression is another technique that can be used to predict outcomes by utilizing one or more predictor variables (view Figure 8-5 on page 214 of your textbook).

Before we delve any further, can you identify where measurement can or has been used in the previous units? In Unit I, how does it relate to strategic staffing and business and staffing strategies? In Unit II, is there any relation to the legal context covered? How about job analysis and competency modeling in Unit III? In Unit IV forecasting and planning were covered; could measurement be related to these topics? Would it be related in any way to sourcing and recruiting, which we covered in Unit V?

Now that you have taken the time to ponder the above questions, you are certainly prepared to finish discussing the information within Chapter 8.

What does the quality of measures consist of? You may have heard the terms reliability and validity. Quality of measure consists of both reliability, which can be defined as consistency (providing consistency in measures regardless of the number of times administered), and validity, which can be defined as accuracy of measurement and prediction (this can be obtained via scores from a measure). There are various procedures that can be used to estimate or test reliability. These procedures, along with the key aspects of validity and validation, are discussed in detail within Chapter 8. Please be certain to pay close attention to the key terms discussed and the illustrations.

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Title Another area that must now be considered is assessment. Many of you, at some point, have taken an assessment as a measure to determine whether you qualified for a position or to test readiness for entrance into college. It is the responsibility of managers to determine what testing material will be used. How will the testing impact the hiring decision? Management must review legal guidelines that can influence the proper use of the assessment data. Please review “Develop Your Skills” at the bottom of page 225 in your textbook as it provides 10 tips on conducting an effective assessment program.

Keep in mind that measurement is essential and helps to create the standards and foundation when it comes to staffing. The gathering of information starts as early as conducting a job analysis. How so? Well, job analysis results in the production of job descriptions and job specifications. If this information is faulty, then it will lead to poor job descriptions, which in turn would lead to assessing and sourcing inaccuracies. These inaccuracies can lead to poor hiring decisions, legal issues, and possible company failure.

As you can see, there is a great deal of important information within this one chapter. After reviewing this chapter, you should have a better understanding of measurements and feel more comfortable with the statistical data presented. You should also be able to see the correlation between previous units and how they all build upon each other.

References

Alexandersikov. (n.d.). Assessment analysis evaluation measure business analytics technology concept, (ID 102457454) [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/assessment-analysis-evaluation- measure-business-analytics-technology-concept-image102457454

Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2015). Strategic staffing (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Welcomia. (n.d.). Child growing measurement, (ID 110204043) [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/child-growing-measurement-medical-staff-doctor-office-caucasian-girl- scale-child-growing-measurement-image110204043