Introduction:
At Tanglewood it is imperative that employees don’t just look the part, but rather their
performance brings validity that they were a good hire. Tanglewood believes in their employees
and only hire the best, so it’s vital that employees that have been chosen are in the best
position to live up to such expectations. Measurement and validation is a key component when
it comes to the staffing of any organization as it helps identify the right people with the right
skillset achieve the best results.
Content Validity:
According to our textbook “content validity primarily focuses on the extent to which the content
of the measures represents the attribute of interest and the content of the job.” (Kammeyer-
Mueller, 2022) When it comes to the content validity for each of the proposed scales pertaining
to Tanglewood it was evaluated based on the following methods: citizenship, absence,
performance and promotion potential.
Citizenship performance method reflects one’s ability to perform their job well in the context of
being a part of the team. Employees that score high on this test have demonstrated a capacity
to work well with others, follow company policy and display a positive attitude. This scale is
important because this gives management a snapshot into an employee’s ability to adopt and
enhance the culture of the organization.
Absence performance method provides a snapshot into seeing how committed and reliable an
employee is. This method tracks the attendance of employees by taking a count of who did not
show up for work and who was late. In professional sports, there is a saying that is often said
when a player is seeking another contract and an organization has to make the decision as to
whether or not they are worthy of it, “The best ability is availability”. According to an article on
the importance of employee attendance “It fosters a culture of trust among team members and
cultivates a sense of responsibility, which is essential for any business’s sustained growth and
success.” (Czerwonka, 2024) No matter how talented and gifted an employee is, if they can’t be
relied upon to show up to work, then they can’t be trusted to get the job done. The same thing
applies to Tanglewood, based on this metric if there is an attendance issue that can be noted,
one can predict a decrease in productivity with disciplinary actions to follow suit from
management.
Performance scale method directly reflects an employee’s ability to complete their tasks
promptly and with excellence. This scale is a great indicator for organizations to gauge just how
competent an employee is at their job. Employees that don’t score well on this test may serve
as an indicator that they may be serving in the wrong role, or they haven’t been in the most
advantageous position to succeed. This method also provides insight for management to gauge
strengths and weaknesses of an employee as it pertains to their specific job function.
Promotion potential scale is the final predictor method for content validity as this serves as an
indicator as to whether an employee warrant being promoted to an elevated position within the
organization. The downside to this scale is that the results can be entirely subjective, based on
how management may view you. As a result, this may be hard to accurately implement this
method as it is solely based on how well you got the attention and support of management.
Tanglewood would need to implement some level of criteria for managers to determine basic
requirements for employees to be considered for promotion opportunities. This method must
be safeguarded to avoid the wrong people getting promoted and the right people being
overlooked. Tanglewood is expected to use all of the previously mentioned methods to properly
staff and evaluate their employees to identify various levels of individual success and/or failure
within the organization.
Predictors:
“Anything that identifies good potential performers is a predictor.” (Kammeyer-Mueller, 2022)
Tanglewood should continue to evaluate their staffing system and identify which predictors
would be best suited for them to find the best candidates for the job. Based on the negative
views that management holds towards the traditional methods, the results of the new
methodology seems to be more effective. The new method consists of education, job
experience, interview scores, a retail market knowledge exam, and Marshfield applicant exam.
As it pertains to the role of store associate, I would suggest monitoring the effectiveness of new
hires based on their work experience. If an employee hasn’t demonstrated a history of doing
their job well or constantly switching jobs, it may be worrisome. Also, I would highly suggest
that Tanglewood would make it an emphasis for all new hires to take the retail market
knowledge exam. Given the nature of the sales associate position, as well as it being the front
line of your organization, it is imperative that you hire highly skilled and competent individuals
that have a broad understanding of the role they play. Tanglewood should include the applicant
exam as a predictor of one’s ability to problem solve, comprehend various situations and
numerical processes. As a sales associate, it would be incredibly beneficial to include this exam
into the recruitment process, as it serves as a great indicator how successful an applicant will be
in that role. While both traditional and modern methods may vary in effectiveness it is
important to realize that no predictor is perfect. As a workplace psychology expert perfectly
summed it up “To minimize any bias and increase the predictive power of the decision-making
process, organizations and hiring managers should use a combination of valid predictors,
including structured interviews, biodata, and job knowledge tests.” (Cox, 2023)
Generalization:
Based on the experimental validation procedure, I do believe the observed validity will
generalize to other nearby stores for Tanglewood. Due to the nature of limitations that each
method on what you can inquire from an employee, however collectively both the traditional
and experimental methods can yield meaningful data and results. The detriment of both
methods is that neither paints a full picture of what you’re looking for when it comes to staffing.
When it comes to precision and accurately being able to depict who an applicant is, the
traditional method is superior due to the detailed nature of identifying their education level,
work experience and interview skills. However, when it comes to determining capacity and
competency the newer methods do a great job of highlighting one’s ability to their specific job
well, versus the traditional highlights one’s ability over a broader scale. Both factors would
significantly impact the organization’s current and future ability to provide exceptional service
to their clients.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the most important objective for the company should be to hire the most
extraordinary candidates. While there’s no such thing as the perfect person, there is something
to be said about putting people in the most advantageous position to be successful in any given
role. Taking shortcuts and not allocating the right amount of attention and resources towards
content validity measures can prove detrimental to a company’s reputation and bottom-line. It’s
imperative that Tanglewood maintains high employee satisfaction to minimize turnover. Also,
Tanglewood has shown a desire to operate with a spirit of excellence as an organization so that
it may distinguish themselves from competitors and appease their customers. The best way to
create a culture of excellence is by hiring people that value excellence and that’s what
measurement and validation is all about.
References
Cox, G. (2023). New Recommendations for Predictors Used in Hiring.
https://www.ioatwork.com/new-recommendations-for-predictors-used-in-hiring/
Czerwonka, E. (2024). Importance of Attendance at Work: 10+ Ways to Improve Employees
Attendance. https://buddypunch.com/blog/importance-of-attendance-at-work/
Kammeyer-Mueller, J. & Judge, T. (2022). Staffing Organizations. McGraw Hill.
Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2018). Tanglewood Casebook for use with Staffing Organizations.
McGraw Hill.
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