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Case Study: Decision Making Assignment
Liberty University
BUSI 643 – Workforce Planning and Employment
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Introduction
Young Randy May has found himself in a lucky spot from hitting the jackpot in the
lottery winning two million dollars. He still has a steady paycheck with his career as a mechanic
working on planes. However, since his newfound luck, he decides to wisely invest it in hopes of
establishing another source of money for his future. In examining the current market, he decides
to begin a chain of ice cream shops. Once Randy starts getting into the designing of his shops, he
realizes he needs to come up with a strategy to hire reliable workers at each shop. He knows that
only fifty workers are needed at this time, but he has currently had one hundred interested
applicants. Randy sought out advice from his friend Mary who advised him that interviews
helped her the most with staffing. However, he paid for a consultation with Ray Higgins who
suggested interviews and a work sample test to see who would better perform at the shops with
customers. Since Randy paid for the consultation, he now does not have enough money to do
both methods and must make the tough decision of figuring out which one would benefit him the
most. For a new small business, the costs that can come from hiring the wrong applicant can end
up being astronomical in terms of the actual dollars spent and lost opportunities (Vincent, 2019).
Choice of Selection Methods
Randy figures that the interview validity that predicts overall job performance is at a .30,
where as the work sample validity would be a .50. Any result that shows a higher amount than .
30 would be deemed as beneficial. When looking at the work sample test, it does prove to be
more valid, but it would cost Randy $150 for each individual that participates. The interview
method would only cost him one hundred dollars each. The work sample proves to have more
valid results based on how each person performs, but ultimately it would save Randy more
money to go with the interview method. The job interview method tends to have its limitations in
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evaluating an applicant’s compatibility with a position and can be more in the favor of the
applicant (Vincent, 2019). This is where the work sample test would also be more beneficial.
Randy needs to be careful when choosing workers because the applicant pool will have a number
of the best choices but there still will be average individuals chosen since he needs to fill a lot of
spots. Interviews can run the risk of an individual fabricating their answers or qualifications and
can lead to a more deserving individual being declined. The best thing for Randy to do is to
examine the pros and cons of each strategy and decide which one would be best for him and his
company.
Which Method?
As stated above, the work sample would provide more reliable results for performance,
but the interview method would save Randy the most money. Looking at the validity scores, the
work sample would provide him the best outcome in the long run. Interviews may save the most
amount of money, but that will not matter if he does not hire the best candidates possible. Hiring
workers who perform poorly could lead to a decline in sales since no one wants to go somewhere
with poor customer service. A manager’s main involvement in in staffing is selection of an
employee as they are held accountable for who they hire (Judge, & Kammeyer-Mueller p.598).
The work sample test will provide results of the best individual for the job who interacts with a
customer in the desired way.
Increased Applicants
In the chance that Randy has an influx of interested applicants, then he may need to
rethink his method and go for the interviews. As a new small business, Randy does not have the
extra funds to conduct the work sample on each applicant. If he receives more applications, then
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the work sample test may become way more expensive then he was originally anticipating. This
would then make the interview method cheaper and more attractive for his budget. The more
applications he receives, the pickier he can be with who he chooses to hire as well. Research has
shown that interviews can be the most helpful technique in examining an applicant (Vincent,
2019). Both methods can be seen as a practical way in hiring individuals even with the work
sample proving to have better valid outcomes. Since Randy needs to revaluate his strategy and
stay within his funds, it would be best to perform interviews.
Additional Information
All of this considered it would still be ideal for Randy to ask his friend Mary for more
information of her experiences conducting interviews. Mary says that interviews have generally
been well for her, but she does not provide any data from using this method. Lacking this data
makes it harder to determine what she meant by this statement. Even as a friend, Randy may
have a hard time figuring out what exactly her experiences were. “Generally working out” could
have many different meanings. He could also ask his Ray for some tips with interviewing and see
if can provide some insight without performing another consultation. Randy may also find it
beneficial to include the requirements or skills for each valid score with both methods. If the
desired requirements and skills are not examined within each one, this could have an impact on
which method would help Randy the most. “Even the most elaborate recruitment process is
useless if the wrong criteria are measured” (Vincent, 2019). Another key factor that is missing
but can provide insight on the applicants is the background information for each applicant. With
the one hundred individuals that applied, do they possess the desired skills? Do they possess
average working experience? Are any of them use to working in the food industry or with
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customer service? These questions could help show Randy which method would be the better
choice in hiring an individual.
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References
Judge, T., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2022). Staffing organizations (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill
Education.
Vincent, V. (2019). 360 recruitment: A holistic recruitment process. Strategic HR Review, 18(3).
https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SHR-02-2019-
0006/full/html
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