BUS MGT BIOWIZ

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3Job Analysis and Job Design

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Conduct a quality job analysis

Write job descriptions and job specifications that can be conducive to effective recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisals, and compensation design and implementation

Design jobs that can enhance employee motivation, morale, productivity, and retention

Link job analysis and job design to the strategic HRM process

Discuss emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in job analysis and job design

In chapter 2, you had the opportunity to learn about strategic HR planning and the importance of analyzing an organization's external and internal environments. This analysis makes it possible to set and achieve HR goals and objectives that are relevant, aligned to those of the organization, and therefore conducive to its success and effectiveness. However, those plans should be translated into specific tasks to be performed before HR can implement its strategic plans through recruitment, selection, compensation, training, and performance management. These tasks can then be grouped into jobs for which people can be recruited, selected, and trained.

Job analysis and job design are critical for the success of subsequent HRM stages. In job design, HR managers identify organizational goals and objectives and translate them into relevant tasks and responsibilities, which are then grouped into roles and job positions. These job positions are subsequently integrated into departments or business units to create the organizational structure, which becomes the vehicle or system through which the organization operates. This system helps the organization achieve its strategic, tactical, and operational goals and objectives.

HR managers need to establish a formal and powerful data-gathering system both to collect information about different jobs and to utilize the gathered information in creating job descriptions and specifications. This system makes it possible to effectively design and structure jobs, departments, business units, and the organization as a whole. These are the processes involved in job analysis, which is discussed in the next section. Figure 3.1 summarizes job analysis and job design as components of the strategic HRM process and provides a framework for this chapter.

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3.1 Job Analysis

Job analysis can be defined as the methodology through which HR collects and evaluates information pertaining to a particular job's content and human requirements. The data gathered during the job analysis process is used as a resource for creating a job's description and specification.

Job analysis serves many purposes. Its main purpose is to create a standard or a benchmark that can be used in various HR activities, such as

job planning

recruiting

compensation and performance evaluation

assessing human capabilities

determining disciplinary decisions in case of employee misconduct (Minton-Eversole, 2006)

Job analysis also provides a clear understanding of the job duties, skills, and capabilities necessary to deliver the desired job outcomes. This understanding is important for matching the right people to jobs and enhancing organizational performance. Job analysis is also extremely important in making it possible to recognize job aspects related to health and safety, potential personnel injury, and other relevant physical job demands (Keyserling, Ulin, Lincoln, & Baker, 2003). Furthermore, job analysis enhances employee interaction and labor relations, which can eliminate many personnel challenges.

Figure 3.1: Job analysis and job design

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Job analysis is critical to the successful completion of tasks and responsibilities and, ultimately, to the success of the entire organization. HR managers, as well as executives and line managers, must therefore actively work hand in hand to ensure that job analysis is performed successfully. In most large organizations, HR carries out the roles of job analysis—creating, periodically reviewing, and updating job descriptions and job specifications based on internal feedback from executives and line managers. HR also performs external benchmarking and additional research on comparable jobs in other organizations, even seeking expertise from specialized organizations if necessary. Executives and line managers then review the outcomes of the job analysis process, especially the job descriptions and job specifications created by HR, validating their accuracy and providing further feedback. Several iterations of the process may ensue until the most accurate job descriptions and job specifications are formulated.

Types of job analysis

There are two distinct types of job analysis. The first approach is task-based job analysis, and it mostly focuses on the duties and responsibilities that a job includes. The second approach is competency-based job analysis; it emphasizes the qualities and requirements needed to effectively carry out a job.

The task-based job approach is used more widely. It relies on defining and clearly establishing all the tasks, duties, and responsibilities associated with the performance of a job. Several terms that are utilized in the task-based job approach are worth highlighting:

A task is any particular job activity that comprises actions, motions, or movements.

A duty reflects a broader set of activities, composed of multiple tasks that an individual carries out.

Responsibility is an individual's commitment to execute particular tasks and duties relevant to his or her job.

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Technical competency analysis focuses on the specific expertise and skills an employee possesses.

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However, it is often difficult to separate tasks, duties, and responsibilities. Task-based job analyses can vary widely in their complexity and detail. For example, the California State Personnel Board offers elaborate guidelines for conducting job analyses. In the first Web link below, a sample is provided for a "staff services analyst" position. As you can see, multiple approaches and data sources are utilized to yield an accurate and comprehensive perspective on what the job entails. These approaches and data sources are discussed in more detail throughout this chapter.

Also critical to job analysis is the analysis of a job's health and safety hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides detailed guidelines for analyzing those hazards. The second link below gives you access to these guidelines, which also include examples of hazard analyses on pages 9 through 11. The appendices also include a comprehensive list of common hazards and their descriptions, as well as hazard control measures.

WEB LINKS

California State Personnel Board: Sample Job Analysis Report: http://spb.ca.gov/WorkArea/downloadasset.aspx?id=2568 (http://spb.ca.gov/WorkArea/downloadasset.aspx?id=2568)

Occupational Safety and Health Administration: Job Hazard Analysis Booklet: http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3071.pdf (http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3071.pdf)

In contrast to task-based job analyses, a competency-based job analysis focuses on individual or team capabilities in terms of required skill sets, technical expertise, and the extent of knowledge that can be applied to improve performance. HR uses competency-based job analysis for three major reasons:

1. to communicate desirable values and create a favorable, positive culture within the organization

2. to motivate employees to raise their performance levels by enhancing their competencies

3. to highlight the need for individuals to continuously strive to develop their capabilities and skills in ways that translate into and are aligned with giving the organization a competitive edge in the market

Two types of competencies are observed in competency-based analysis:

1. Technical competency focuses on specific technical expertise, knowledge, specialization, and skills that an employee possesses and that differentiate him or her from others.

2. Behavioral competency includes such aspects of an individual as personality traits, interpersonal skills, and character dimensions. Some of these human aspects are the ability to work within a group, leadership and managerial capabilities, dispute resolution skills, multitasking capacity, decision-making ability, communication skills, adaptability and responsiveness to change in the work environment, creativity and innovation, and the ability to identify and pursue goals in an systematic manner.

A competency-based analysis also uses a myriad of tools that facilitate disclosing other personal aspects that are critical for job performance but not obvious—e.g., work attitudes.

In most cases, choosing a particular job analysis approach is directly related to the type of job being analyzed and to potential trends and variations in the job. For instance, a project-based job will require unique technical and personal skill sets if teams and tasks are constantly changing. The capacity to adapt swiftly to job changes will be more important in this situation than in a traditional job. As an example, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management adopts both task-based and competency-based job analyses. The first link below provides access to a handbook that describes the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's elaborate job analysis process, along with numerous examples of the tasks, duties, responsibilities, and technical and behavioral competencies of a wide range of jobs. The other two links provide additional information, examples, and forms that can be used to conduct high-quality job analyses.

WEB LINKS

U.S. Office of Personnel Management Handbook: http://www.opm.gov/hiringtoolkit/docs/jobanalysis.pdf (http://www.opm.gov/hiringtoolkit/docs/jobanalysis.pdf)

State of Delaware: Job Analysis Questionnaire: http://www.delawarepersonnel.com/class/forms/jaq/jaq.shtml (http://www.delawarepersonnel.com/class/forms/jaq/jaq.shtml)

Department of the Navy: Overview of Job Analysis: http://www.public.navy.mil/donhr/Employment/HiringReform1/Job%20Analysis%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf (http://www.public.navy.mil/donhr/Employment/HiringReform1/Job%20Analysis%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf)

http://spb.ca.gov/WorkArea/downloadasset.aspx?id=2568

http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3071.pdf

http://www.opm.gov/hiringtoolkit/docs/jobanalysis.pdf

http://www.delawarepersonnel.com/class/forms/jaq/jaq.shtml

http://www.public.navy.mil/donhr/Employment/HiringReform1/Job%20Analysis%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

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Analysts may use the questionnaire method to obtain information about jobs through the use of surveys.

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Data sources for job analysis

Various sources of data can be used for the job analysis process, such as

observation

interviews

questionnaires

computerized systems

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) information

The observation method requires observing a worker while he or she is performing the job to obtain first-hand knowledge about the job's tasks and duties. The observation method is more beneficial for jobs that are observable and repetitive; nevertheless, it is always better to use a combination of different methods.

There are two types of observation:

1. Work sampling is a quick analysis that helps managers ascertain the tasks involved in a job, as well as the time spent on each of them. This statistical technique focuses on specific activities, and numerous observations are made at different times throughout an entire work cycle.

2. The employee diary or log does not require any analyst observation of the worker. Instead, employees are asked to record all job-related duties they perform on the job. The drawback of this method is that an accurate log requires a great deal of time and effort, which divert workers' efforts and thus negatively affect their performance.

The interview method gathers information by interviewing workers, and sometimes their supervisors. Interviews are an excellent source of information since they provide a first-hand account of the job from its incumbents or their managers. Nevertheless, the downside of the interview method is that interviews also require a great deal of time, especially if the jobs being analyzed are managerial or professional and therefore quite complex.

Interviews can also be conducted for groups of participants called subject matter experts (SMEs), who have extensive knowledge of a job. SMEs can provide beneficial input for job analysis, especially for highly technical jobs. Group interviews, however, tend to be even more time consuming. If not carefully designed and managed, group interviews can also result in inaccurate information if some SMEs are allowed to dominate the conversation while others are unable to adequately share their expertise regarding the job in question.

The questionnaire method is another technique to analyze jobs. Analysts obtain information by preparing surveys with questions on such areas as the physical aspects of the jobs; its required characteristics; the types of duties performed and time spent on each; the degree of supervision, whether given or received; job responsibilities; decision making; equipment used; and types of people dealt with on the job.

The questionnaire method has strengths and limitations. It does not require the time and resources other methods do; however, for it to yield accurate results, employees must be able to analyze and convey precise information about the job. Many employees lack these abilities; people's perceptions and their analytical, communication, and writing skills vary widely. This variation can yield significant discrepancies in the quality of the information employees provide in response to a questionnaire.

There are two kinds of questionnaires:

The position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) records details about a certain position. It tends to be oriented more toward workers by emphasizing the behavioral characteristics a given position requires.

In contrast, managerial job analysis questionnaires are specialized for managerial positions and focus on such areas as decision making and leadership.

With the help of technology, it is now possible to have computerized job analysis systems. These computerized systems are similar to paper questionnaires, except for their being computer-scannable documents. Each of the documents contains a set of generalized duty statements so that it can apply to a variety of jobs. The documents' data is then stored in a job analysis database for the purpose of studying, analyzing, and conveying significant information regarding jobs. Needless to say, technology made the process of job analysis and writing job descriptions easier and more efficient. However, as is the case with any computerized system, the value of computerized job analysis systems depends on the accuracy and timeliness of the data entered into them, as well as the effective utilization of that data to create meaningful information to facilitate decision making.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is another useful source for job analysis. Functional job analysis (FJA) is a tool available from the DOL and can be seen as a methodology for gathering information about jobs. The FJA was mainly developed for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), another tool to classify jobs. The FJA

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Job specifications help HR managers find just the right person for a job.

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portrays what is done in a job through three scales: data, people, and things. The DOL also developed the database O*Net On-Line; it replaced the DOT and provides detailed descriptions of jobs. O*Net also contains numerous links to information associated with the workplace ("O*NET," 2011).

As we can see, there are different methods for job analysis, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. It is therefore better and more effective to use a combination of methods rather than just one. However, for any method it is very important that each step be documented thoroughly to provide continuity, inform future job analysis cycles, and avoid legal problems. The most important tangible "products" of the job analysis cycles are job descriptions and job specifications.

Job descriptions

A job description identifies characteristics of the job to be performed in terms of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities to be fulfilled. Job descriptions serve as a standard or a benchmark for many HR matters such as compensation, performance evaluations, training needs assessments, and promotions. HR must provide each newly hired employee within the organization with a job description to highlight and stress the organization's expectations for him or her. In return, employees are expected to fully abide by and satisfy all the job requirements stated in the job description, and sometimes even exceed them.

It is essential that an organization's job descriptions be created and maintained using a consistent and systematic approach. This approach can facilitate valid, reliable, and consistent decisions pertaining to HR matters. It is also critical that job descriptions undergo periodic evaluation and careful revisions to ensure that they are up to date and truly reflect the nature of the job, especially in light of today's continuously changing business environment.

A job description has three main parts:

1. The identification section gives various introductory pieces of information, including job title, job department, chain of command and reporting, job location, job number, job grade, and the employee's exempt or nonexempt status. It is also important that this section state any information that may assist HR in tracking employees and jobs through an HR database system.

2. The second main part of a job description is the general summary. This section provides a clear, concise statement that summarizes the particular job and differentiates it from others. It is highly recommended that this section be created after the successful completion of all other sections of the job description so that it can establish a broader view of the job.

3. A detailed list should also be included of all important and influential functions, tasks, duties, assignments, commitments, and responsibilities associated with the job. Because this section requires a great amount of detail, HR often spends the majority of the job analysis process on this section. In addition, poorly described jobs can result in potential legal implications.

It is common for the last item on this detailed list to be "other duties as required" or "additional tasks as assigned by direct supervisor." These open-ended statements recognize the volatility of the business environment, and they communicate the need for flexibility and adaptability in the employee's being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. These statements also protect the organization from potential legal action should additional tasks become necessary to fulfill a role beyond the tasks yielded during job analysis, until job descriptions can be updated at a subsequent cycle to reflect those additional tasks. Figure 3.2 shows a sample job description for a grocery store manager.

Job specifications

The terms job descriptions and job specifications are often used to refer to the same thing—probably because, as shown in Figure 3.2, they are often combined into one document. However, job descriptions and job specifications are different. A job description refers to the details of the roles, duties, and responsibilities associated with a certain job. In contrast, a job specification describes the ideal person for the job. It is more oriented towards the type and level of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required to perform the job or relevant to its performance:

Knowledge refers to an individual's familiarity and experience with the procedural details of the job; this is a key element in performing the job tasks and responsibilities.

Skill highlights, reflects, and ranks the individual's degree or ability to successfully perform the job. In other words, skill is a combination of knowledge and experience that an individual acquires over time through performing one job or a similar job.

Ability is different from skill in its referring more to an individual's general abilities.

Figure 3.2: Sample job description and job specification

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Other characteristics and traits help an individual carry out a job—e.g., motivation, personal satisfaction, persistence, and the ability to maintain focus on targets and goals. Most of these factors are directly related to education, expertise, personal skills, and the technical, physical, and mental abilities required to achieve satisfactory job performance.

It is vital to carefully examine and consider all aspects of KSAs in formulating job specifications. The required KSAs can be determined from individuals performing the job, employees managing the job or planning to execute the job, or on-the-job trainers and mentors.

Managers involved in selecting an individual for a particular job should pay close attention to all elements of the job specification to precisely determine whether the characteristics of selected individuals satisfy the job specification. Just as with job descriptions, managers must conduct regular updates and revisions for job specifications to ensure their ongoing validity and relevance to the job.

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Knowledge of results is one of the three psychological states that must exist in order to enhance an employee's performance.

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3.2 Job Design

Job analysis and job design are not the same processes. Job analysis involves the identification of a job's duties and the skills a worker needs to carry them out effectively. In contrast, job design focuses on structuring jobs in a way that attracts talent and enhances satisfaction, both of which factors improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness, and therefore enhance the job's success (Liu, Shah, & Schroeder, 2006). Accordingly, the process of job design is broadly concerned with organizational needs, but it considers employees' needs at the same time. Job design addresses four main areas:

the efficiency of the job

organizational reasons for the job

human capabilities

behavioral considerations (Garg & Rastogi, 2006)

The following sections address several approaches to job design.

Hackman & Oldham's job characteristics model

The Hackman & Oldham (1976) job characteristics model highlights the core dimensions of a job that have a concurrent effect on both organizational efficiency and employees' job satisfaction. Three psychological states must be in place to enhance and improve a worker's performance, motivation and inspiration, and job satisfaction:

meaningfulness of work

responsibility for outcomes

knowledge of results

Hackman and Oldham also identified five job characteristics that they believed to have a role in driving those three essential psychological states. These five job characteristics are

skill variety

task identity

task significance

autonomy

feedback

Skill variety is the degree to which the job incumbent uses a range of skills and talents. Task identity is the degree to which the job allows the incumbent to complete an identifiable work product and see clearly tangible or perceivable outcomes. Task significance refers to the extent to which the effect and contribution of work can be seen. Autonomy is the level of freedom and independence a worker is given regarding work schedules and the procedures used to complete the job. Last but not least is feedback, or the extent to which a worker is informed about his or her performance (De Varo, Li, & Brookshire, 2007; Hackman & Oldham, 1976).

According to Hackman and Oldham's model, the more prominently these five job characteristics figure in a particular job, the more motivating and satisfying the job will be, since it will create and nurture the three desired psychological states. In particular, the first three job characteristics in Hackman and Oldham's model (variety, identity, and significance) cumulatively influence the first psychological state (meaningfulness of work). This influence allows these three job characteristics to substitute for one another. For example, a highly specialized job can still be motivating and satisfying if it features high identity and significance. On the other hand, the fourth characteristic (autonomy) influences the second psychological state (responsibility for outcomes) while the fifth

characteristic (feedback) influences the third psychological state (knowledge of results). Thus, lack of autonomy or feedback is detrimental to a job.

Furthermore, the effect of the three psychological states is multiplicative: deficiencies in one state can be detrimental for the motivational potential of the whole job because these states cannot substitute for one another. For example, a highly meaningful job is not motivating if it provides no feedback to allow for knowledge of results, or if it provides no autonomy to facilitate perceptions of responsibility for outcomes. Hackman and Oldham's model can be summarized in the following equation:

motivational potential score of a job = (skill variety + task identity + task significance) ÷ 3

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Telecommuting is a good option for employees with young children at home.

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× autonomy × feedback

Job enlargement, enrichment, and rotation

In order to capture top talent, organizations must be able to offer inspiring and satisfying jobs. Job enlargement, enrichment, and rotation are some of the applications that follow the Hackman & Oldham model.

Job enlargement is the broadening of the types of tasks and responsibilities performed on the job; its purpose is to make a job more interesting and less monotonous. One way to enlarge jobs is through job rotation, or assigning employees to different jobs to increase the variety of activities performed. This rotation is intended to decrease the amount of boredom and make a job more interesting. Job enrichment differs from job enlargement in increasing the number of activities while also offering challenges of varying difficulty levels—empowering workers and making jobs more meaningful. Enrichment goes hand in hand with Frederic Herzberg's two- factor theory that intrinsic factors, such as recognition and responsibility, directly influence employees' job satisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1993). Job enrichment seems to have the most impact on flexible workers who have the ability to adapt to change (Bond, Flaxman, & Bunce, 2008).

Flexible work schedules

HR can motivate and satisfy employees through multiple other approaches to job design—retaining employees within the organization and increasing their productivity, performance, and efficiency. Flexible work schedules are a prominent example of these design approaches. Flexible work schedules can be implemented through three methods:

1. Flextime is a scheduling system that requires employees to work during certain hours of the day. The system leaves employees free to choose their own activities during the remaining hours of the day. This system gives employees the freedom to fulfill personal duties and responsibilities and pursue other personal or family interests, which can reduce stress and work-life conflict and increase employee satisfaction.

2. Job sharing, as the name implies, allows two or more employees to perform the same job, with all its associated duties and responsibilities, on a part-time basis. This system allows the organization to retain valuable employees who have other personal obligations outside of work that prevent them from working full time. This system is highly dependent on the personalities, attitudes, skills, and work ethics of the part-time employees. It requires proper cooperation and coordination to ensure that all the tasks, duties, and responsibilities are fully covered and seamlessly integrated. This system also requires excellent communication skills between the employees who share the job.

3. Telecommuting, also referred to as telework, allows employees to work from home or a location of their choice rather than in a designated office space. This system offers great advantages for many types of employees such as disabled employees with special needs, employees responsible for elderly family members, or employees with children. In addition, telecommuting cuts commuting time, which boosts employees' productivity and efficiency as a direct result of minimizing wasted time. Telecommuting also decreases overhead costs such as office expenses (Lister & Harnish, 2010). Most importantly, it gives employees significant amounts of independence and autonomy, which can be motivating. However, telecommuting can also have some disadvantages. For the organization and the supervisor, telecommuting makes it difficult to control what, when, and how the employee does the work. These difficulties can compromise quality unless the employee is well trained or has an excellent work ethic, or unless other quality-control mechanisms are in place. For the employee, telecommuting can significantly reduce the frequency of social, professional, and even personal interactions, which can compromise the telecommuter's psychological well-being.

Team-based approaches to job design

The idea behind team-based approaches to job design is to increase synergy, or the collaboration of two or more entities (individuals, groups, or organizations)— resulting in bigger or better outcomes than the combination of the entities' independent efforts would yield. Team-based approaches to job design can result in synergy due to complementary skills among group members. These approaches can also improve employee dedication to and alignment with organizational goals and objectives by promoting cooperation in the workplace. In addition, employees become more accepting of decisions in team settings (DuBrin, 2007). Furthermore, teamwork provides three of the five job characteristics identified by Hackman and Oldham: task identity, autonomy, and skill variety. These facts suggest that teamwork has a significant effect on employee motivation and satisfaction, as well as on organizational efficiency and success. On the other hand, the quality of teamwork also depends on the levels of commitment, maturity, and work ethics of the team members; the degree of complementarity of their skills and abilities; and the nature of the tasks at hand. Several team-based job design approaches are now becoming common in the workplace:

In self-managing work teams, members handle some of the management issues such as hiring members, making decisions, and scheduling work. This process can affect their productivity and job satisfaction through their involvement in and direct control over a variety of important roles. Therefore, it is very important for organizations to provide team members with the necessary training that will help them perform their duties in self-managing teams.

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Self-managing work teams take on some management issues such as making decisions and scheduling work.

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In a virtual team, members communicate in a virtual environment. Technology makes it possible for geographically dispersed people to work together toward a common goal. Virtual teams and telecommuting are often used in conjunction, and they share some of the same advantages and disadvantages. For example, virtual teamwork gives employees added flexibility and autonomy. However, team performance and morale may be compromised if some team members are not knowledgeable, committed, and mature, or if no adequate performance assessment and control mechanisms are in place. Virtual interactions can also lack some of the richness of face-to-face interaction. Global virtual teams face some unique challenges, such as language and cultural barriers and time differences.

In an employee involvement group (EI), employees meet to discuss how to resolve job- related problems. They also discuss ongoing job issues such as improving quality and production effectiveness (Ayers, 2007). These suggestions are then presented to management, which decides which suggestions and proposals will be implemented based on merit, cost, practicality, success potential, and other strategic criteria. Through EI groups, employees get the opportunity to be recognized for their contributions towards achieving organizational goals. However, for employees to contribute effectively, it is necessary that they receive comprehensive training in the areas of problem identification

and analysis, decision making techniques, and critical thinking. They must also be technically knowledgeable or well trained in their areas of technical expertise.

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF AN HR MANAGER

"This is not part of my job description"

Thorough job analyses and carefully designed jobs are extremely important for optimal efficiency and effectiveness, yet these formal and structured methods are rarely the ultimate factors that dictate what a job entails. The business environment changes rapidly, causing many jobs to evolve faster than can be captured by the job analysis process. Moreover, managers ultimately determine what, how, when, and by whom jobs get done. Employees' strengths, weaknesses, and preferences can also have an impact on the allocation of tasks and responsibilities within an organization or a department—even across employees with the same job title. The same facts apply to teams. Roles often shift based on abilities, preferences, time availability, organizational politics, and who wants to work (or not work) with whom. Even job specifications may not be useful, because ultimately who gets hired for a job can be determined through organizational politics, the applicant's presentation skills and ability to make a positive impression, the pool of available applicants, and the financial resources available to hire and compensate the person who will take the job. Therefore, since we live in an imperfect business world, why should HR managers spend time on job descriptions, job specifications, and all those time-consuming job analysis and job design activities? Consider the following three articles for humorous but insightful perspectives.

WEB LINKS

This Is Not in My Job Description (Lewis, 2009): http://workawesome.com/career/this-is-not-in-my-job-description/ (http://workawesome.com/career/this- is-not-in-my-job-description/)

That's NOT in My Job Description (Gerdes, 2011): http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2011/05/09/thats-not-in-my-job-description/ (http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2011/05/09/thats-not-in-my-job-description/)

When ‘It's Not My Job' Isn't the Answer (Dacri, 2005): http://business.mainetoday.com/yourbusiness/051111dacri.shtml (http://business.mainetoday.com/yourbusiness/051111dacri.shtml)

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think that employers should require their employees to go beyond their job descriptions? Why? Why not?

2. Regardless of your answer to Question 1, why do you think employers now expect their employees to go above and beyond their immediate job tasks, duties, and responsibilities?

3. Based on these new expectations, what are some critical KSAs and competencies that employees should now have in the workplace in order to become more successful?

4. What are some ways that you can intentionally develop the requisite KSAs and competencies that can enable you to meet these new expectations and build a competitive edge as an employee?

5. Optional: Share with the class the strangest or least expected thing your manager ever asked you to do. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome? What did you learn? Also give feedback and insights to your classmates on how you would have taken a different approach to the situations they faced.

http://workawesome.com/career/this-is-not-in-my-job-description/

http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2011/05/09/thats-not-in-my-job-description/

http://business.mainetoday.com/yourbusiness/051111dacri.shtml

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Job analysis helps give an organization a clear picture of the skills needed to perform a job.

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3.3 Linking Job Analysis and Job Design to the HRM Process

As you know by now, strategic HRM emphasizes enhancing organizational productivity and helping organizations gain and sustain human-based competitive advantages. These advantages are realized by formulating steps toward the acquisition and effective deployment of human capital to achieve organizational goals. In chapter 2 (2.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec2.2#sec2.2) ), you learned about HR planning, which ensures that an organization has an adequate supply of qualified labor to implement its goals and plans. In this chapter, job analysis and job design are the processes through which HR planning is fleshed out into the specific tasks and responsibilities necessary for individuals and groups to contribute toward an organization's planned goals. Thus, job analysis and design are crucial to organizational success, and the way these activities are carried out is very important.

Through job analysis, organizations become better able to match the right people to the right jobs through developing a clearer understanding of what jobs entail as well as what skills and talents employees must have to perform their duties effectively. Job analysis also facilitates other HRM processes, such as training and development, compensation, and performance evaluation. For example, the cycle of updating job descriptions and job specifications can be used as a foundation for training needs assessment. This assessment can trigger training initiatives to better equip current employees with new KSAs that may have become necessary to perform their roles more effectively. Job specifications also provide the means for direct comparisons across jobs, in terms of the KSAs required for compensation purposes, so that the right talent can be attracted and retained. Job descriptions also serve as the basis for performance appraisals: they communicate up front the expectations the employee will be accountable for.

As discussed earlier, job design is critical for employee satisfaction and motivation. Offering attractive jobs that meet employees' needs can help organizations attract and retain top talent. When aligned with organizational goals through careful HR planning and job analysis, job design can be leveraged to satisfy organizational needs as well as employees' needs. For example, highly knowledgeable and mature employees can be motivated through added autonomy and leadership responsibilities, which can satisfy their needs for growth and self-actualization. On the other hand, less experienced employees can be offered more task variety while they are trained, developed, and mentored by more experienced employees.

EYE ON THE GOAL

"The strategic value of designing engaging jobs"

Research by Gallup, a well-known polling and business-consulting organization, shows that it is extremely important to design jobs that are motivating, satisfying, and engaging to employees and that can yield significant positive organizational outcomes. For example, a meta-analytical study of 7,939 business units in 36 companies examined the relationship between employee satisfaction and engagement at the business unit level and the highly desirable organizational outcomes of customer satisfaction, productivity, profit, employee turnover, and accidents. The study found those relationships to be statistically significant and of substantial business value and practical value (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002).

Gallup's definition of employee engagement is unique. It is based on 12 factors that can be incorporated in the design of the various jobs and roles in the organization, as well as the selection process of the right individuals to fill these jobs and roles. Engaged employees

know what is expected of them

have the materials and equipment they need to do their jobs right

have the opportunity to do what they do best every day

receive recognition or praise for doing good work on a regular basis

feel that their supervisors or someone at work cares about them personally

have someone at work who encourages their development

believe that their opinions count

feel that their job is important based on the mission or purpose of their organization

view their associates or fellow employees as committed to doing quality work

have a best friend at work

remember that someone at work talked to them about their progress in the last six months

had opportunities at work to learn and grow in the last year (Wagner & Harter, 2006)

Engagement can be developed in the workplace by ensuring that jobs are designed to be rich in the 12 factors above. Gallup also uses a strengths- based approach to selection and placement. Employees are matched to jobs based on a combination of their top five strengths as measured by the

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Gallup StrengthsFinder, a test that applicants must take and that is now available online through a passcode provided in most Gallup publications. This test measures 34 strengths that Gallup has found to be stable, or "hard-wired," personality traits or talents. Developing employees in their areas of strengths has been found more effective than trying to fix their weaknesses or teach them new strengths. Therefore, when Gallup is hired to help an organization select the best talent, the available jobs are analyzed based on the talents and strengths needed to excel in each job. Current star performers in each job are assessed using the StrengthsFinder tool, and their combinations of strengths become Gallup's "gold standard" against which applicants are compared. Selection is then based on that strengths-based approach to job analysis. When those employees are matched with highly engaging jobs, the outcomes are positive for both the organization and the employees (Rath, 2007).

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Adjusting workspace to allow for a wheelchair is an example of a reasonable accommodation an employer may provide.

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3.4 Opportunities, Challenges, and Recent Developments in Job Analysis and Job Design

Legal aspects of job analysis and job design: Essential job functions, ADA, and FLSA

One of the most important legal uses of job analysis and job design is to ensure that general HR decisions are based on business necessity and that qualified individuals are not excluded for discriminatory reasons. A case in point is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. This act applies to employers with 15 or more employees; in hiring practices, testing, firing, promotion, job training, or wages, the act prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability. ADA requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation if a person with a disability needs this accommodation to apply for or perform a job.

ADA classifies job functions into two categories:

Essential job functions can be represented by all basic, recurring job duties and responsibilities.

Marginal job functions are duties that are only supplementary to the job.

HR managers must identify, segregate, and clearly explain the differences between these two functions in job descriptions and job specifications.

Classification of essential and marginal job functions is based on three considerations:

the amount of time required to perform the task

the task's frequency

the task's significance, compared to other tasks

For instance, a task that is performed more often than others on a job obviously carries more weight and is deemed more essential than those other tasks. Similarly, a task that is performed on a continuous or daily basis is more essential than another task carried out on a monthly or occasional basis, or a task that is only a support function rather than a core function of the job. Finally, a task may be easily transferred, taught, or performed by more than one person. This task is then considered a marginal job function when it is compared to a unique task that can only be accomplished by a limited number of employees who have specific experiences or talents. Careful job analysis and job design can yield accurate and fair HRM processes by helping HR managers and other managers differentiate essential from marginal job functions. This differentiation can become the basis for subsequent selection, compensation, performance evaluation, and training decisions.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) should also be considered in job analysis and job design. FLSA distinguishes between exempt and nonexempt employees based on the nature of their work. For instance, FLSA states that in order to be exempt from overtime pay, an employee's primary duties must be geared towards executive and administrative tasks rather than manual or routine activities. Thus, job analysis and job design have a direct bearing on employees' proper classification and compensation.

ADA, FLSA, and several other equal employment opportunity laws discussed in this textbook have made HR more aware of the necessity of attaching job requirements to particular job factors. This practice enables organizations to defend their actions as being business necessities rather than discriminatory practices. HR has the responsibility to determine and analyze all the tasks, duties, and responsibilities associated with each job and to properly document all the steps and procedures pertaining to it. Diligently conducting job analyses, maintaining revised and updated job descriptions and job specifications, and effectively designing compliant jobs can protect an organization from legal action and maintain its reputation as a fair employer.

Health and safety concerns and the implications of job design

Workplace health and safety provide another example of the legal implications of job analysis and job design. Legal compliance with health and safety regulations can be more effectively achieved if relevant regulations are identified when job descriptions and specifications are formulated and when jobs and work environments are designed.

People are an organization's most valuable asset. Their health, safety, and well-being are vital to organizational success, which goes beyond legal compliance. Ergonomics is the entire branch of science dedicated to physical well-being. The purpose of ergonomics is to design jobs and work conditions that match the capabilities of the working population—avoiding or reducing physical fatigue, injury risks, and health complaints (Sonnentag & Zijlstra, 2006).

However, not all complaints are physical; mental and psychological well-being are also important. To reduce errors and accidents at work, it is equally important to design jobs that take mental capabilities and limitations into account. This consideration is vital and particularly beneficial in jobs that are exceptionally challenging, or

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where there is a serious cost of error. For example, employee burnout can be prevented and employee well-being can be enhanced when the demands of the job are balanced with the resources, autonomy, and control an employee is given (Bakker & Demerouti, 2006).

Emotional well-being is another health concern. The business world today is oriented toward service. Many groups of employees, such as those in customer service, entertainment, and others, are required to express emotions that they do not necessarily feel. For example, telemarketers are often required to use a memorized script to talk to customers instead of freely expressing their emotions. Customer representatives are expected to be pleasant, even to rude customers. Collections agents are expected to be assertive with nonpaying customers who might be facing serious financial difficulties that warrant compassion and understanding. Similarly, doctors and nurses are expected to remain dispassionate and objective, even under the emotional strain of the death or terminal illnesses of their patients and the grief of family members. These expectations are of emotional expression that do not match how an employee truly feels, and they can take a toll on employee health and well-being, and ultimately on the well-being of the organization (Morris & Feldman, 1996, 1997).

Designing jobs that meet high physical, mental, psychological, and emotional standards can contribute to enhanced employee productivity and job satisfaction. This design can also ultimately enhance organizational success and competitiveness as organizations strive to achieve their goals by leveraging healthy employees and safe practices.

Implications of demographics, diversity, and globalization for job design

Globalization makes it easy for organizations to transport jobs to other countries. This raises an important question, however, about how jobs are designed in developing countries and transitional economies (Fay & Frese, 2000). Moreover, job design represents a challenge for multinational organizations due to a myriad of factors—including the differences in working hours, holidays, religious practices, and management styles. These factors greatly affect how jobs are designed. A variety of negative consequences can follow a disregard of cultural differences, social expectations, and other needs for local adaptation of job design and other HRM processes. These consequences include job dissatisfaction, low motivation, inadequate work quality, social dissent, and compromising the organization's reputation in foreign markets and even in the United States. For example, consider the video in the following Web link.

WEB LINK

Sweatshops: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video?id=4577446 (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video?id=4577446)

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the differences between job design in the developed economies and the developing or transitional economies?

2. Are the protesters' concerns valid? Why? Why not?

3. If you were making outsourcing decisions and job design abroad in a multinational organization, how would you have handled the processes differently?

4. Make a list of the job characteristics and HRM processes that you would keep the same across global operations. Explain your rationale.

5. Make a list of the job characteristics and HRM processes that you would adapt to local economic, political, and sociocultural conditions. Explain your rationale for adaptation, and suggest some specific changes you would implement to ensure a better fit with local conditions.

Both nationally and internationally, job design can be directly influenced by demographic, social, and cultural trends. Newer generations have made strides in areas such as networking and communication, which caused their job expectations to escalate as well. Moreover, workers' attitudes toward work have changed. However, to benefit from diversity, organizations need to consider employees' needs and meet their expectations so that there can be mutual exchange and alignment between organizational and employee goals.

Alternative work arrangements

Alternative work arrangements are another recent development that HR managers can use to retain their employees and keep them motivated and productive. HR managers can choose from many alternative work arrangement techniques. As discussed earlier, alternative work methods include flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting.

Compressed workweeks are also becoming increasingly popular. In the compressed workweek system, an employee may work more hours than usual for one day so long as he or she stays within the total number of working hours allowed over the entire week. This arrangement allows employees to receive an extra day off every week or every other week, depending on the extra daily hours worked. This system is favored by many employees because it gives them the flexibility to attend to personal matters, take longer weekends, or simply avoid another day of commuting and escalating gas prices. It also helps organizations mitigate some of the problems caused by unscheduled or short-notice absenteeism as employees fulfill personal needs and obligations. Federal laws associated with overtime, such as FLSA, represent the primary challenge that this system poses for HR managers. Extended working hours also increase levels of stress and fatigue for managers and employees, posing additional challenges (Breaugh & Frye, 2007; Gurchiek, 2006).

Organizational change, job redesign, and the psychological contract

Change, advancement, and growth can be exciting, yet organizational change can have an adverse impact on employees. For this reason, HR should assume the critical

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Compressed workweeks offer employees greater flexibility to attend to matters at home.

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roles of facilitating and communicating the transition to employees, ensuring that the organization passes through a successful and healthy transition while valuable employees remain satisfied and motivated.

Mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing are some examples of organizational changes associated with the current volatility in the business environment and the new psychological contract. These actions often result in organizational restructuring. The usual, dreaded effects of such organizational changes are possible layoffs or increased workloads for surviving employees, which can negatively impact employee satisfaction and motivation (Freeman & Cameron, 1993). Effective job analysis and job design can help mitigate some of these challenges.

Job redesign is the process through which organizations reconstruct and reconfigure the currently existing design of a particular job's roles, duties, and responsibilities. Job redesign can become necessary for a variety of reasons, including business growth, mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, restructuring, or business process reengineering. However, sometimes the primary purpose of job redesign is to enhance the motivational potential of the job. The redesign can make the job more appealing, exciting, and inspiring for employees—thereby promoting employee satisfaction, performance, and retention.

The job redesign process can involve the following deliberate steps if they are deemed necessary or desirable:

1. revise the current job content to highlight any mismatches between the employee's profile and the job activities

2. thoroughly analyze job-related information to determine the main factors that hinder or discourage the employee from performing as anticipated

3. implement or execute the job change by eliminating or adding job duties and responsibilities that would ultimately enhance employee satisfaction

4. revise the job description to reflect the actual duties and responsibilities that the employee is expected to be perform

5. add other factors to the redesigned job that further improve employee satisfaction—e.g., job rotation, enrichment, and enlargement

Job redesign has many advantages, including increasing employee satisfaction, employee performance, and the productivity index. Job redesign also promotes a sense of belonging within the organizational culture, which urges employees to continue working for the organization, which in turn supports employee retention. Finally, job redesign brings out the best in employees through successfully matching them with their jobs.

Organizations design and implement many programs and initiatives for redesigning in order to improve cost, quality, and processes involved in producing a product or providing a service. One purpose of redesigning is businesses process re-engineering, which is the analysis and redesign of workflows and business processes within an organization; its purpose is to achieve spectacular improvements in critical areas. The importance of strategic HRM to business process re-engineering cannot be stressed enough; the integration of both will help organizations achieve continuous improvement, thereby achieving a competitive edge (James, 2002).

The psychological contract, introduced in chapter 2 (2.4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec2.4#sec2.4) ), also has a direct bearing on job analysis and job design. This contract is a set of unwritten commitments and promises that are established between employers and their employees—mostly highlighting mutual duties, responsibilities, and expectations. The contract has been changing over time, and new sets of expectations have emerged. Employees' expectations from their organizations are now mostly related to meaningful jobs; a fair pay system; adequate benefits; flexibility and autonomy; and opportunities for learning, development, and growth. Job analysis and job design can directly cater to those needs and expectations. On the other hand, employers' new expectations of their employees are flexibility, adaptability to change, the ability to work independently and in self-managed teams, superior communication skills, and willingness to build new KSAs and competencies on a regular basis.

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Chapter Summary

Job analysis and job design are critical processes in HRM. They provide the foundation for effective recruitment, selection, training, performance management, and compensation.

Job analysis information can be gathered through observation, interviews, questionnaires, computerized systems, and government resources.

Job analysis yields job descriptions, which identify the tasks, duties, and responsibilities to be fulfilled. Job analysis also yields job specifications, which describe the ideal person for the job in terms of the type and level of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are required, necessary, or relevant to perform the job.

Quality job analysis and job design can yield meaningful, motivating, and satisfying jobs. They can also yield efficient and effective job performance at the individual, team, and organizational levels.

Organizations are in a better position to realize a human-based competitive advantage when they base their job analysis and job design on high-quality strategic HR plans. Organizations also see this advantage when they ensure that their job analysis and job design are utilized to leverage the rest of the strategic HRM process.

Key Terms

Test your knowledge of these key terms by clinking on the "definition" links.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

definition (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm#)

A law that applies to employers with 15 or more employees; it prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability in hiring practices, testing, firing, promotion, job training, or wages—requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.

autonomy

The level of freedom and independence a worker is given regarding work schedules and the procedures used to complete the job.

behavioral competency

Personality traits, interpersonal skills, and character dimensions that an employee possesses and that differentiate him or her from others.

businesses process reengineering

The analysis and redesign of workflows and business processes within an organization to reduce costs, enhance quality, or improve other aspects of the processes involved in producing a product or providing a service.

competency-based job analysis

An approach that identifies the individual or team capabilities, qualities, skill sets, technical expertise, and knowledge needed to effectively carry out a job.

computerized job analysis systems

A job analysis method similar to the questionnaire method, except that its surveys are in the form of computer-scannable documents.

essential job functions

Basic, recurring job duties and responsibilities.

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Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

A law that distinguishes between exempt and nonexempt employees based on the nature of their work.

feedback

The extent to which a worker is informed about his or her performance.

flextime

A work-scheduling system that requires employees to work during certain predefined hours of the day, leaving the remaining hours of the day more or less open for employees to fill as they please, provided that they work the full day.

functional job analysis (FJA)

A methodology designed by the DOL to gather information about jobs and create the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) job-classification system.

interview method

A job analysis method that gathers information about a job through interviews with workers, supervisors, and subject-matter experts.

job analysis

The methodology or approach through which HR collects and evaluates information pertaining to the content and human requirements related to a particular job.

job description

A document that identifies characteristics of the job to be performed in terms of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities an employee must fulfill.

job design

Structuring jobs in a way that attracts talent, enhances satisfaction, and meets the needs of the employee and the organization.

job enlargement

Broadening the scope of a job through widening the types of tasks and responsibilities performed on it, for the purpose of making the job more interesting and less monotonous.

job enrichment

Assigning employees more challenging work to empower them and make jobs more meaningful.

job redesign

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The process through which organizations reconstruct and reconfigure the currently existing design of a particular job's roles, duties, and responsibilities.

job rotation

Assigning employees to different jobs to increase the variety of activities performed.

job sharing

A work system that allows two or more employees to perform the same job, with all its associated duties and responsibilities, on a part-time basis.

job specification

A document that describes the ideal person for the job in terms of the type and level of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are required, necessary, or relevant to the job performance.

managerial job analysis questionnaire

Specialized for managerial positions and focus on such areas as decision making and leadership.

marginal job functions

Job duties that are only supplementary or supportive to the job.

observation method

A job analysis method that requires observing a worker while he or she is performing the job; the method's purpose is to obtain first-hand knowledge of the tasks and duties performed.

position analysis questionnaire

records details about a certain position and tends to be oriented more toward workers by emphasizing the behavioral characteristics a given position requires.

questionnaire method

A job analysis method that gathers information through surveys that include questions about various aspects of a job.

skill variety

The degree to which the job incumbent uses a range of skills and talents.

task identity

definition

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(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/fm#)

The degree to which the job allows the incumbent to complete an identifiable work product and see clearly tangible or perceivable outcomes.

task significance

The extent to which the effect and contribution of work can be seen.

task-based job analysis

An approach that identifies the tasks, duties, and responsibilities associated with performing a job.

technical competency

Specific technical expertise, knowledge, specialization, or skills that an employee possesses and that differentiate him or her from others.

telecommuting

A work system that allows employees to work from home or a location of their choice, rather than in a designated office space.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of focusing on behavioral competency-based job analysis?

2. Look at some job descriptions on O*Net. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of an organizations relying on O*Net exclusively when creating its job descriptions?

3. Do you agree with the Hackman and Oldham motivational potential score equation? For example, if a job offers no autonomy or feedback, is the motivation it imparts automatically zero? If you disagree with the equation, what type of equation would you create?

4. A self-managed work team can provide a solution to many managerial issues, but also brings about a host of its own problems. What are the positives and negatives you see with utilizing self-managed work teams?

5. In Gallup's twelve factors, how many of them cost an organization little or nothing? Why do you think many of these twelve factors aren't practiced by many organizations/managers?

Self-Assessment Quiz

The following quiz is for your own review and will not affect your grade.

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4Recruitment: Attracting the Right Talent

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Identify a wide range of sources for attracting and recruiting talent

Explain the strategic value of effective recruitment through combinations of internal and external applicant sources and recruitment strategies

Link recruitment to the strategic HRM process

Apply pertinent HR laws to the recruitment process

Discuss emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in recruitment

The attraction and recruitment of employees has been at the center of employers' attention for many years. People are the most valuable asset of an organization. Without their knowledge, skills, and talents, an organization will not be able to operate or compete effectively in the market. This is why recruitment plays a strategic role. The purpose of the recruitment process is identifying and attracting qualified talent for organizational jobs in a timely and effective manner. Organizations can find talent in internal ways and external ways. These methods are discussed in detail in this chapter.

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Newspaper advertisements are one option for attracting local job candidates.

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4.1 Finding Talent in the External Labor Market

In order to recruit strategically, an organization may need to gather information about potential candidates for a job who do not work for that organization and may not have applied for a job at that organization before. These potential candidates may currently be full-time students, employed elsewhere in the same or a different industry, or unemployed. They may be actively seeking employment, or they may be content with their current situation. As you learned in chapter 2 (2.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec2.2#sec2.2) ), scanning the environment and analyzing the labor market are part of strategic HR planning. The recruitment process translates environmental scans and labor market analyses into specific actions to find and attract pools of candidates with the specific competencies and skill sets that the organization needs, wherever these candidates can be found. In this section, you will learn about a wide range of external sources of candidates and strategies that can be used to find and attract talent.

Advertising jobs

Newspapers, magazines, television, and radio are all common examples of media sources where organizations can advertise jobs. In general, the effectiveness of a job advertisement depends on two related factors: cost and reach. Cost represents a certain type of advertising media's price; for example, television advertising is more expensive than radio advertising. That's why many local employers with limited resources advertise on local radio.

On the other hand, cost cannot be the only consideration in selecting where to advertise a job opening. It is critically important that the advertising venue be able to reach the target audience. For example, nationwide advertising media may be necessary and justified if the pool of applicants is dispersed across the nation and if the organization is willing to relocate a qualified applicant or allow him or her to work from a distance. On the other hand, a low-paying job with no relocation provisions will likely attract local candidates, and local advertisements may be sufficient for it.

There is a strategic value to integrating the two criteria of cost and reach. Ultimately, the utility of a job advertisement is determined by its costs and benefits, which are determined by the cost per qualified candidate reached. For example, most television advertising is expensive; yet, with millions of viewers, the cost per viewer reached may be minuscule. The most important strategic question is what percentage of those viewers are actually qualified for the job. If this percentage is low then the cost, per qualified applicant reached, may be prohibitively high. Organizations can improve these ratios by targeting their advertisements specifically to television channels, programs, and airtimes that attract larger numbers of the desired pool of applicants.

As another example, advertising a job in the classifieds section of a news site is usually inexpensive. However, qualified people who are currently employed rarely read the classifieds, so a job may have to be advertised for several weeks and on numerous sites before a qualified candidate can be found. Thus, costs may escalate per qualified candidate reached. In that case, it may be more effective to place a more expensive advertisement in a professional or industry journal that can more readily reach qualified candidates. Multiple media sources can also be strategically combined to target diverse

applicant pools.

An organization also has to make sure that an advertisement does not generate an excessive number of applicants, since the process of reviewing and eliminating applicants is costly and time consuming. To avoid this problem, an advertisement should provide sufficient information about the company and clearly specify the position's preferred qualifications and minimum competencies. Advertisements are generally costly in themselves and cost more the longer they are; a long advertisement is sometimes necessary to clearly convey the desired information. The challenge is to provide neither too much nor too little information—only enough for the advertisement to be effective. Careful and intentional choices are necessary for both for a job advertisement's content and its media sources.

WEB LINKS

Job Advertisements in USA Today: http://www.USAtoday.com (http://www.USAtoday.com) Click on the Jobs link at the top of USA Today's homepage and browse through the jobs advertised for examples of position openings that organizations are seeking to fill through a national search.

Job Advertisements in the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ (http://www.chicagotribune.com/) Click on the Jobs link and browse through jobs advertised on the Chicago Tribune for examples of position openings that organizations are seeking to fill through a regional or local search. You can also browse job openings advertised in your own area on your local newspapers' websites.

Discussion Questions

1. What types of information are included in the job advertisements you browsed?

2. What additional information would you have wanted to know as a potential candidate?

3. What are some of the main differences between local and national newspaper job advertisements?

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http://www.usatoday.com/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

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The goal of employment agencies is to connect qualified individuals to organizations with job openings in a relevant field.

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Employment agencies

Employment agencies are a leading source of job candidates. There are two types of employment agencies: public and private employment agencies. Both types primarily serve the same purpose: gathering information about individuals seeking employment in the market; evaluating their qualifications, skill sets, and experiences through a series of interviews and tests; and then connecting them with the relevant organizations for employment.

Public employment agencies work to connect unemployed individuals—mostly blue collar and hourly workers—with hiring employers for the purpose of getting them on an employment payroll, hence relieving the state of having to provide unemployment aid. To that end, both employers and individuals seeking employment must register with a local or state employment office. Public employment agencies normally do not charge organizations any fee for recruiting personnel.

WEB LINK

California Employment Development Department: http://www.caljobs.ca.gov/ (http://www.caljobs.ca.gov/) This website provides an example of the services offered by a public employment agency. Search the Web for the site of a similar public employment agency in your own state. Compare the services offered and browse the jobs advertised.

Private employment agencies, also known as headhunters, primarily deal with white-collar employees such as executives, managers, and professionals. It is therefore crucial that organizations provide headhunters with accurate and detailed job descriptions and job specifications to ensure that the right candidate is recruited. There are two types of private employment agencies: contingency and retainer firms. The classification depends on the method by which a private firm charges the employer. Contingency firms charge the employer only if an employee is successfully hired by the organization. On the other hand, retainer firms charge the employer a fee for bringing qualified candidates to the organization's attention, regardless of whether the organization eventually hires these candidates.

WEB LINKS

Monster: http://www.monster.com/ (http://www.monster.com/)

The Ladders: https://www.theladders.com/ (https://www.theladders.com/) These two websites are examples of private employment agencies. Search both websites for information about the range of services each headhunter offers for employers and for job candidates, as well as whether it can be classified as a contingency or a retainer firm.

Web recruiting

Online recruiting has been on the rise over the past few years (Benderoff, 2007). There are three main sources of Web recruiting:

Web job boards and postings

professional/career websites

employer websites

As the name implies, job boards allow employers to post available openings online to attract qualified employees, at the same time allowing individuals who seek employment to post their resumes.

WEB LINK

Find a Job Already: http://www.findajobalready.com/ (http://www.findajobalready.com/) This website is a job board that allows employers and job seekers to post their information and browse others' information for free. Browse through some of the available positions, employers, and job seekers. Compare the types of jobs available on this website to the more expensive headhunters' websites.

http://www.caljobs.ca.gov/

http://www.monster.com/

https://www.theladders.com/

http://www.findajobalready.com/

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HR can also use job boards to determine compensation packages offered by other organizations for similar positions and then use that information to create more competitive compensation packages to attract qualified individuals. However, many individuals are not seriously seeking a position: they merely post their profiles on job boards to check job availability or compensation packages offered by other organizations.

Career websites are employment sections on professional associations' websites. These sites are are highly specific to a certain field, specialization, or industry. There are multiple advantages associated with this type of online recruiting for both employers and individuals seeking employment. For employers, professional websites selectively attract only professional applicants who are actually interested in a particular specialization; these sites do not attract the general population. For potential candidates, professional websites can significantly cut down search time and effort since candidates can directly search their areas of specialization.

WEB LINKS

The Career Center of the Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals in Business: http://jobs.imanet.org/home/index.cfm?site_id=11711 (http://jobs.imanet.org/home/index.cfm?site_id=11711)

Career Connections at the American Society of Civil Engineers: http://www.asce.org/leadership-and-management/career-resources/career- connections/ (http://www.asce.org/leadership-and-management/career-resources/career-connections/) These are two examples of professional career websites. Note each job advertisement's higher level of specialization, focus, and level of detail. Now browse the Web for professional organizations within your field, looking for sites that offer career-related links.

Finally, employer websites feature career and employment sections that are designated for recruiting. Linking to these sections allows individuals to check job descriptions and specifications and post their resumes for company consideration. A significant advantage of employer websites is creating a valuable database and connecting with passive job seekers who are currently not looking for a job but would be willing to interview if presented with an attractive job offer (Starner, 2006).

WEB LINKS

Jobs at Google: http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/ (http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/)

Jobs at Southwest Airlines: https://www.swajobs.com/ci20/index.jsp?applicationName=swaExtCI (https://www.swajobs.com/ci20/index.jsp? applicationName=swaExtCI)

Visit these two examples of employer websites.

Colleges and universities

Conducting interviews on college and university campuses is one of the most influential and effective sources of recruiting, especially for entry-level professional and technical positions. On-campus career placement offices assist in connecting students with recruiting organizations by organizing career fairs and other recruiting events (Smith, 1995). Employers consider many factors when they select a college or university for recruiting purposes—e.g., the college's reputation, past experience with the university recruiting office or recruited individuals, the nature of the job opening, the organization's allocated recruiting budget, the level of market competition, and the value of the talent in question.

Organizations can use many techniques to establish a successful college or university recruiting program. Summer internship programs are one technique. They offer organizations an initial introduction to potential permanent recruits before any long-term commitments are made. Other influential methods for college recruiting include building long-term relationships with reputable faculty and staff members in certain highly regarded universities, in addition to maintaining an on-campus presence for the organization through guest speaking and other recruiting support activities.

Professional employer organizations and temp agencies

Two of the channels organizations revert to when they search the market for talented employees are professional employer organizations (PEOs) and temp agencies (in this term, temp is short for "temporary employment"). PEOs and temp agencies provide the service of leasing talent to other organizations based on their needs. The difference between PEOs and temp agencies is that PEOs are more geared toward higher-end professional employees. Moreover, PEOs share authority over the leased employee, while in most cases temp agencies maintain full control over their employees. PEOs' first appearance in the market was in 1980 ("Professional employer," 2009).

Both employers and employees gain several advantages from PEOs. Employers are able to secure the services of highly qualified employees whose work they might not be able to afford on a permanent basis. Moreover, the PEO bears all responsibilities associated with hiring, firing, payroll, benefits, taxes, and other administrative functions. These responsibilities allow employers to focus on their own business functions. Companies then reimburse PEOs for their services in the form of a percentage of the customer's gross wages. However, one of the disadvantages to employers in using PEOs is the absence of employee loyalty, as employees obtain all compensation and benefits from the PEO rather than from the client, and employees know that their engagement with employers is only temporary.

PEO employees enjoy great advantages, including cheaper, better, and broader choices of benefits owing to the PEOs' large number of employees, which allows PEOs to enjoy economies of scale. Another advantage to employees is better job mobility, either locally or internationally for some PEOs. In case of an international transfer, this mobility can open more doors and provide multiple venues of job opportunities for employees and their spouses. More job opportunities also translate to additional job security and job seniority retention.

http://jobs.imanet.org/home/index.cfm?site_id=11711

http://www.asce.org/leadership-and-management/career-resources/career-connections/

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/

https://www.swajobs.com/ci20/index.jsp?applicationName=swaExtCI

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Company websites often have career and employment sections that are designated for recruiting.

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Due to the very unique qualifications needed for employment NASA is an organization that routinely seeks out specific job candidates.

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Unsolicited resumes and applications

Qualified employees often seek a career only within reputable organizations that have favorably prominent cultures and practices. The main reason individuals pursue such companies is that they believe they can grow and further develop their technical and interpersonal qualities there. Reputable companies also provide more stability and job security than other employers.

A reputable image within the market is advantageous to organizations: qualified employees tend to get so attracted to those specific organizations that they send in their resumes or applications even when no immediate opening is available. This practice is the source of the term unsolicited applications. Selecting among unsolicited applications can save the organization a considerable amount of money and resources that could have been spent on recruiting efforts. Moreover, employees hired through unsolicited applications will likely be more committed to the organization, perform better, and provide a long-term human advantage for the organizations they seek to associate with.

Soliciting specific applicants

Job seekers may send unsolicited resumes to organizations whose reputations they admire. In the same way, organizations can also solicit specific applicants based on those applicants' recognized, unique capabilities. This is especially common in positions that require rare qualifications. Once a candidate is located, the organization invites that applicant to apply for the position. Candidates are usually offered

an attractive package of compensation, benefits, working conditions, and growth and development opportunities to motivate them to accept a job or to lure them away from their current employers. Organizations that routinely solicit specific applicants include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment

There are many advantages to hiring from outside the organization, using external recruiting methodologies:

The introduction of new individuals into the organization can bring fresh ideas and perspectives, all of which promote a healthy and dynamic organizational culture.

New individuals usually possess diverse experiences from their former jobs, enriching the organization's knowledge base and familiarizing its current employees with competitors' products and practices.

New hires normally require less initial training and supervision, which saves organizations a great deal of time, money, and effort.

The following outcomes are among the disadvantages to external recruitment:

Selection errors can result if good candidates are not identified—i.e., candidates who have the skill sets required to fulfill the job duties and responsibilities or have the right personality, attitude, or organizational cultural background to fit into the hiring organization.

Qualified internal candidates within the organization can be disappointed when they have unsuccessfully sought one of these openings as a promotion or a desirable lateral move. This disappointment can lead to perceptions of betrayal and violated psychological contracts; can compromise loyalty and commitment to the organization; and can lead to numerous morale, attitudinal, and behavioral problems.

It may take some time for new hires to adapt to a new organizational culture or environment. This time can translate into additional cost.

Thus, a balance of external and internal recruitment is necessary.

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Managers may find the talent they are looking for within their own organization.

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4.2 Finding Talent Internally

Internal candidates are a valuable resource that many organizations overlook when they make recruitment decisions. Sometimes, familiarity with internal candidates and their roles in particular positions obscures the possibility that they could be ideal candidates for other positions. Moreover, many organizations do not regularly update their employee databases with KSAs and competencies that current employees acquired after they were hired. This incomplete information sends organizations looking for external candidates for job openings without realizing that they actually have what they need internally. This section offers some approaches to internal recruitment.

Promoting from within

Promoting from within is the internal recruitment of qualified individuals from within the organization. Current employees gain the opportunity to be informed about internally open positions through a variety of methods. Internal job postings are the most prominent way an organization informs its employees of available job openings. Internal candidates can then respond to the openings they are interested in and qualified for.

Promoting from within the organization carries advantages and disadvantages. An obvious advantage is less time, money, effort, and risk involved in hiring internal candidates than external candidates. Internal recruitment is also motivating to employees, who see more growth and development opportunities within their organization.

Three main disadvantages should be considered:

1. Current performance reviews or other organizational indicators of performance might not be a true reflection of the individual's capacity for or efficiency in performing the new job. This disparity is particularly evident when high-performance internal candidates are promoted from normal to managerial or supervisory positions for which they have no adequately refined leadership skills.

2. Moreover, internal recruitment can create conflict and hard feelings among internal candidates who believe they are as qualified as or more qualified than the individual who has been selected for a job. These conflicts can compromise performance, both by those who did not get promoted and by the promoted candidate— who may face resentment and lack of cooperation from coworkers and subordinates. This situation is especially common when the promoted individual gains authority over former coworkers.

3. Internal recruitment often leads to a new opening that has to be filled. Another drawback of promoting from within is the HR time and effort required to plan and organize a search for new, qualified candidates who have the right skill set to replace an employee whom the organization has promoted. Decisions have to be made for that opening, including whether to recruit internally or externally for the position. Another internal recruitment will trigger another opening, and so on. Hiring external candidates does not trigger this cycle of promotion decisions within the organization.

Lateral transfers

A lateral transfer is another form of internal recruiting; the direction of the move is the only difference between lateral transfers and promoting from within. In promotions from within, the direction of recruiting is vertical: from a lower to a higher position, usually to a managerial or supervisory level. Lateral transfers reflect a horizontal move in which individuals take on new positions yet remain at the same level of the organizational hierarchy. Lateral transfers can be across departments, business units, geographic locations, product lines, or customer accounts.

Lateral transfers can provide an alternative career advancement path for talented employees who prefer to stay within their technical areas of expertise, rather than move up to a managerial or supervisory position. Many organizations now offer dual career paths to accommodate these preferences and retain talent. For example, Millipore is a cutting-edge bioscience research leader. It offers its talented research, development, and technology employees the option to advance their careers and receive higher pay in technical positions without leaving the laboratory environment or assuming managerial responsibilities. Scientists who choose a technical career path assume additional technical responsibilities, such as more challenging projects or advanced technologies.

Employee referrals

Employee referrals are a form of recruiting through which employees recommend personal or professional acquaintances, such as friends or family members, for the organization's employment consideration. Employee referrals are one of the largest sources of recruiting, especially for large organizations. Approximately one-fourth of all large organizations' new hires are recruited through employee referrals (Crispin & Mehler, 2010).

Employee referral assists HR managers in acquiring qualified candidates in many significant ways:

The referring person readily familiarizes potential recruits with job descriptions and specifications.

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It provides a convenient and low-cost way to reach capable individuals and creates a considerable database of qualified potential employees for future consideration within the organization.

Individuals hired through employee referral programs have a greater tendency to stay within the organization, compared to people hired through external recruiting agencies or job advertisements (Kiger, 2007).

Referrals provide a very useful way to recruit in many parts of the world where labor is very scarce, and in particular areas of specialization for which qualified workers are hard to find.

As a result of the importance and effectiveness of employee referrals in recruiting, many companies have developed employee referral programs that aim to reward employees for referring qualified individuals.

Advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment

Although internal recruitment might sound more appealing and easier to implement, it has its benefits and limitations, as does any other recruiting system. Internal recruitment has four important benefits:

1. It raises the morale of promoted individuals as they develop more security, sense of commitment, and loyalty to the organization.

2. Employees promoted internally become more satisfied, productive, and efficient, and their performance and work generally become better.

3. It is generally easier to make an accurate judgment about an internal employee's skills, abilities, performance indicators, technical experience, and personality characteristics, which ultimately results in a better determination for job compatibility and placement.

4. Internal recruitment costs are considerably lower compared to such external sources as job agencies.

Internal recruiting also includes the following disadvantages:

1. It does not introduce new ideas, experiences, or cultures to the organization.

2. It does introduce possible rivalries among employees who compete for the same job opening, lowering employee morale and productivity.

3. Employees can grow distracted from their main job tasks and become involved instead in political engagements that might lead to promotions.

4. More training and development are needed for the tasks and responsibilities associated with the new position for an internally promoted employee than for an externally hired recruit with the relevant set of experiences. This disparity is particularly evident in internal promotions to managerial or supervisory positions.

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Developing an effective talent pool requires human resources professionals to continuously update the knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired by current employees.

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4.3 Designing an HR Talent Inventory

Through internal and external resources, organizations are able to have a great pool of talent comprising candidates from different backgrounds and with different skills, capabilities, and levels of experience. Organizations use these different resources to build and design talent inventories, from which they can get an idea of the strengths and potential of their available candidates. In addition, inventories are a great resource for planning for future development opportunities or prospective jobs.

The effective design of an HR talent inventory includes tracking

the KSAs and competencies acquired by current employees

promotions and lateral movements

training and development opportunities

performance appraisals

changes in assigned tasks, duties, and responsibilities

This information becomes valuable when the need arises to fill a new position. For example, if an employee received a job rotation in a different department a year ago, this information can be valuable in assessing that employee's qualifications for a lateral transfer to that department.

Moreover, since many employees may be pursuing learning opportunities at their own time and expense, information should be regularly solicited from employees in order to maintain the most up-to-date inventory possible. For example, an employee who has just completed a new college degree, learned a new language, or organized a fundraising campaign for a local charity may be a good candidate for a position that requires these skills.

An HR inventory can also include information about external candidates, including unsolicited applicants who may be suitable for future openings. Many organizations encourage applicants to send their resumes, even when immediate openings are not posted, to retain this information in the organization's database. Rejected applicants can also be included if future openings arise for which the applicants are qualified. Finally, even "interesting" non-applicants' information can be retained in an organization's HR inventory, so that they can be solicited to apply again should relevant positions open up later on.

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF AN HR MANAGER

"The devil you know may not always be better than the devil you don't know"

Lori is a district HR manager of a large wireless phone service provider. In her organization, district HR managers are responsible for recruiting all the employees within their respective districts—including branch managers, supervisors, customer service representatives, and all other office staff. The company has a nationwide presence and even a few international operations. The company leadership recognizes labor market variations across locations and the need for flexibility to respond to changing customer needs. Therefore, HR managers, district managers, and branch managers are given significant levels of authority over whom to hire or fire; whom to promote or demote; whether to use full-time, part-time, or temporary employees to fill various positions; and even whether to staff or outsource some of the peripheral functions such as bookkeeping, administrative work, and janitorial services.

When the company hires for a managerial or supervisory position, it is common for the interview panel to include customer service representatives and other employees who would report to the prospective manager or supervisor. These representatives' opinions are taken into consideration in the hiring decision. Senior management always emphasizes that if this model is to work, it is critical that HR managers and branch managers collaborate to make human capital decisions. Senior management knows that any interference from the head office to centralize those decisions would not be good for business since the employees closest to the client are the people who know the best way to run the operation and serve the customer base in one location.

Lori believes that any organization should start by recruiting internally. Her HRM professor in college always said that when you hire internally, you know the

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When human resources managers hire internally they know candidates' strengths and weaknesses and are better able to develop their talents.

candidate's strengths and weaknesses, you develop talent in your organization, and you provide a career opportunity within your company. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't," he would joke. Lori wholeheartedly bought into this viewpoint—so much so that she created an electronic bulletin board to

announce job openings internally. She also created an extensive internal and external employee referral program, instituted across the organization, for which she received significant recognition from the head office.

Lori has handled her responsibilities very successfully. She has become confident in her abilities as HR manager, including her unique talent in locating and attracting the right employees, both internally and externally, and matching them with the right jobs. Employees whom she recruited have consistently exceeded expectations, stayed with the company longer, and had more satisfied customers than average. These results have brought Lori many compliments and made the branch managers who worked with her look very good. That's probably why she received today's call from Roger, the vice president of human resources.

Roger: Hello, Lori. This is Roger from the head office. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

Lori: Hello, Roger. Of course; what can I help you with?

Roger: Lori, we have a recruitment dilemma, and you're the best person to help with it.

Lori: Whatever I can do to help. What's the problem?

Roger: It's not really a problem. You can say we have too much of a good thing.

Lori: How so?

Roger: Here's the situation. You know Ken, the branch manager from District 66. He left us last month, and his position is open.

Lori: Yes, and I've been receiving some very good resumes that I'll send out to the interview panel by the end of the week.

Roger: Here's the dilemma. I've been approached by three supervisors who saw the position on the bulletin board: Ben from Toledo, Carrie from Benson, and Jamie from Seattle. I've looked into each of them. They're all qualified, dedicated, have proven track records, and are overdue for a promotion, but we didn't have any openings until Ken left. How can we choose among them, and what are we going to do about the other two? Whoever we pick, we're going to be disappointing the other two.

Lori: We also have at least two highly qualified external candidates, but you know my position on that.

Roger: Yes, I do, and I'm all for giving priority to qualified internal candidates. I also know through the grapevine that both Ben and Jamie have received unsolicited offers from competitors with higher salaries and better benefits but chose to stay with us because they like working here. A blow like this would definitely send them away. Carrie is also toying with the idea of starting her own business, and we might lose her if we don't keep her motivated.

Lori: That's a tough one. Maybe we should hire an external candidate this time. After all, this branch has been fully staffed through promotions and internal transfers. Maybe it is time now for some new blood and a fresh perspective.

Roger: I can't believe you're the one suggesting this, Lori. How can I be sure that those external candidates are as good as they look on paper or in the interview? You know our culture. This is going be the first time we hire an external candidate for a manager position. A lot of people will be upset about this. What's it going to do to the morale and loyalty of our employees?

Lori: Give me some time to think about this and do some research about each of the candidates. I'll get back to you in the next couple of days.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages in filling the above opening with an internal versus an external candidate? Think about the implications for the current candidates, other employees within the branch, other managers and employees across the organization, and customers, as well as the implications for Roger and Lori.

2. What additional information would you need to gather about each of the internal and external candidates before making a decision?

3. If you chose one of the three internal candidates, how would you minimize the negative impact on the other two candidates and on morale in the branch and across the organization?

4. If you chose an external candidate, how would you go about your decision to minimize the negative impact on the three internal candidates and on morale in the branch and across the organization?

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4.4 Linking Recruitment to the HRM Process

Linking recruitment to the strategic HRM process is critical to the success of the organization: it ensures that the recruitment process is aligned with organizational strategies. As shown in Figure 4.1 and discussed in this chapter, recruitment should be informed by HR planning, job analysis, and job design. Recruitment serves as the foundation for effective selection, compensation and benefits, training and development, and performance appraisal. For example, an organization designs its recruitment strategy and chooses its sources of candidates based on its environmental scanning and job market analysis (HR planning), as well as the job descriptions and job specifications of the vacant positions (job analysis and job design). Qualified applicants are then selected, compensated, trained, rewarded, retained, promoted, or possibly let go based on what they bring into the organization and on how well their qualifications align with the organization's needs, goals, and values. Thus, recruitment is central to the HRM process.

Figure 4.1: Attraction and recruitment of talent

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As members of the Baby Boomer generation begin to retire it is essential that companies have talented individuals with solid leadership skills to replace them.

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4.5 Opportunities, Challenges, and Recent Developments in Recruiting Talent

In this section you'll explore emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in recruitment. These include recruiting in a competitive environment, legal and economic issues, an employer's ability to attract candidates, the rise of social networking, alternative work arrangements, globalization, an organization's internal challenges, labor relations, and the expectations of both employers and employees in the recruiting process.

Competitive challenges: The war for talent

Nowadays, it is becoming more and more challenging for companies to acquire talented employees owing to the high demand and scarce supply for such individuals in the recruiting market. This may come as a surprise to you, especially given the current unemployment rates and economic downturn. However, while unemployment rates in general are high, talented and skilled employees are in short supply. Hiring intellectually talented employee as leaders and innovators gives organizations a competitive edge among their peers in terms of performance, which translates in turn into profits.

The main problem is that many older baby boomers currently occupy managerial positions. These employees are approaching retirement age, which poses a great threat to the future of organizations. It is essential that companies search for talented individuals with concrete leadership potential in order to fill those upcoming vacant positions. Attracting qualified individuals in a continuously growing, competitive market is the main challenge for organizations (Axelrod, Handfield-Jones, & Welsh, 2001; Fishman, 1998; Michaels, Handfield-Jones, & Axelrod, 2001; Pfeffer, 2001).

Legal dimensions of recruitment: Equal employment opportunity and discrimination

As organizations attempt to differentiate between candidates who possess requisite job skills and those who do not, it is essential that organizations strictly adhere to all the laws and regulations governing recruitment. For instance, from the very earliest stages of recruitment, such as the screening phase, organizations must clearly demonstrate equal opportunity for all applicants regardless of their age, sex, religion, or ethnic background. In addition, organizations must carefully review their job advertisements and other recruitment tools to ensure that the language does not suggest any discriminatory preferences. As you will learn in chapter 5, organizations must clearly state and outline their job selection criteria and be able to justify the hiring or rejection decisions made regarding any applicant in case the organization's recruiting practices come under question as being discriminatory. For that reason, companies should keep well-organized records of all recruiting activities.

Recruitment, along with all HR functions, are regulated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act is divided into several sections, called titles, each of which deals with particular facets of discrimination—e.g., voting rights, public accommodations, and public education. For an employer, discrimination occurs when an employee is treated differently due to a legally protected characteristic such as gender, religion, race, national origin, or ethnic background. Title VII of the act guarantees equal opportunity in employment, and it prompted the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) to administer and enforce federal civil rights laws. Today, the EEOC enforces laws that prohibit discrimination based on ethnic background, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age. These laws apply not only to employee recruitment and selection but to other human resources practices such as compensation, training, and promotion.

It is important to note that discrimination laws are highly relevant to applicants who are not yet employed by the organization. Those applicants are entitled to equal opportunities before they ever set foot in the organization. Moreover, discrimination laws also apply to nonapplicants. For example, affirmative action policies require that employers show initiative in recruiting a diverse pool of applicants for their job openings. Organizations where women and minorities are under-represented are required to expand their search efforts to include more women and minorities in their applicant pools. For example, an organization with a predominantly white male employee base that relies on employee referrals may be asked to also use job advertisements to reach out to more women and minorities.

However, an organization will never be required to hire less qualified candidates simply because they belong to an underrepresented group. In fact, such practice is illegal because it is discriminatory; this practice can is often referred to as reverse discrimination because it discriminates against the majority group. Contrary to common misconceptions, affirmative action is not about "hiring quotas" forced upon the organization by law. In fact, hiring quotas of any form are illegal in the United States. Affirmative action is primarily a recruitment philosophy that was originally designed to promote a wider, more inclusive applicant pool.

Economic challenges: The rising costs of recruitment

In unfavorable economic conditions, organizations aggressively look into cutting costs in order to stay competitive in the market. Reducing recruiting costs is one of the areas that organizations actively pursue in such harsh economic conditions (Zeidner, 2009).

To carry out this effort effectively, the first step is to evaluate the current recruiting costs incurred by the organization. The simplest method is to divide the recruiting costs by the number of hired personnel for the year. Many elements can be added or removed from this calculation, depending on the organization's preferences and

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The Great Places to Work Institute has developed quantifiable metrics for evaluating workplace characteristics such as compensation and benefits, working conditions, growth and development opportunities, and family-friendly policies.

AP Images/PR NewsFoto/Spokane Teacher's Credit Union

on such considerations as testing expenses, training expenses, relocation packages, and bonus agreements.

Organizations attempt to lower recruiting costs through observing, effectively reducing, or possibly cutting any of these elements. For example, some organizations reduce recruiting costs in tough economic times by working out short-term discount deals with recruiting agencies, thereby reducing the total recruiting costs incurred by the organization (Zeidner, 2009).

However, even in tough times, it is critical that organizations perform a cost-benefit analysis when they attempt to reduce their recruiting costs. For example, as discussed earlier, cheaper recruiting methods do not necessarily reach the right talent; thus, the cost per qualified candidate may be high. On the other hand, a more specialized venue may be more expensive, but may yield the right candidates in less time. Screening large numbers of unqualified applicants may also require less time and fewer resources. This type of cost-benefit analysis should be pursued in most HR decisions, and not just in recruitment.

Finally, some HR expenditures yield long-term returns—e.g., recruiting candidates who are qualified and motivated for the job and committed to stay with the organization. These expenditures should be treated as an investment rather than an expense. They yield worthwhile long-term benefits that should be taken into consideration when an organization decides whether specific costs should be incurred or eliminated.

Becoming the employer of choice for a broader pool of applicants

HR policies and guidelines directly affect an organization's ability to recruit qualified individuals and retain valuable employees. Organizational factors related to recruitment, selection, training and development, and compensation and benefits all contribute to portraying a favorable organizational image in the job market. These factors therefore have a direct influence on attracting talent.

Being recognized as an employer of choice contributes to the organization's overall reputation, which in turn attracts a wider pool of applicants. Organizations must therefore carefully and thoroughly examine their recruiting, selection, and personnel policies, which affect both current employees and the overall attractiveness and reputation of the organization in the market and among prospective recruits. For instance, an organization is more likely to attract qualified applicants when its public image includes career growth, stability, and a favorable internal environment and culture.

As an example, Fortune magazine annually publishes a list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. In 2011, these companies included SAS, Boston Consulting Group, Wegmans Food Markets, Google, NetApp, Zappos, and Edward Jones. Organizations are selected by the Great Place to Work Institute—a global research, consulting, and training firm. The institute has developed quantifiable metrics for workplace characteristics, including

compensation and benefits

working conditions

family-friendly policies

growth and development opportunities

diversity management

Since The Great Places to Work Institute has a presence in more than 45 countries and creates similar lists in other parts of the world, organizations across the globe compete to be on its prestigious lists. The institute also has other lists for other types of organizations, such as the Best Small and Medium Workplaces. By the end of 2011, the Great Place to Work Institute expects to launch its new World's Best Multinational Workplaces list, which recognizes the world's top 25 companies to work for.

WEB LINKS

100 Best Companies to Work For: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/index.html (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/index.html)

The Great Places to Work Institute: http://www.greatplacetowork.com/ (http://www.greatplacetowork.com/) Browse through these two websites for the names and websites of companies on various Best Places to Work For lists. Try to get an idea of what they offer their employees.

Technological developments in recruitment: Social networking

Social networking is emerging as another effective method for recruiting qualified employees. Social networking involves using the Web informally for hiring purposes through blogs, technical and specialized online journals, informal communication with similar minded professionals, and job recruiting websites that reach out to and solicit qualified applicants. As of early 2012, the most commonly used social networking websites were Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. LinkedIn is considered more professionally oriented than other social networking websites, which are oriented more toward personal and social communication.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/index.html

http://www.greatplacetowork.com/

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Social networking can be a useful recruitment tool, but employers and candidates should also be aware of the risks.

AP Images/Minnesota Public Radio, Tim Post

Social networking has many advantages for both the employee and the employer. One of its most significant advantages to employers is the ability to search for candidates to fill highly specialized and unique jobs (Kravitz, 2006; Leonard, 2006). Some social networks also allow current or former employees to assess and evaluate their employers on the Web through reviews and questionnaires—helping other candidates make more informed decisions (Anthaualey, 2006). Most importantly, many social networks are free of charge, which can reduce recruitment costs.

However, it can also be risky for both employers and employees to use social networks for recruitment. For employers, social networks offer their participants a lot of freedom; job candidates may therefore self-promote by sharing false information. They may also post discriminatory or offensive remarks that could later expose the organization to legal action. Similarly, employees may risk their privacy or the illegitimate use of their personal information when people involved in illegal activities pose online as potential employers.

Finally, social networking blurs the line between personal and professional life. For example, employers and recruiters routinely check applicants' Facebook pages to know more about their personal interests and lifestyles. This practice raises privacy concerns and can also be illegal if an applicant is rejected for discriminatory reasons such as religious preferences or sexual orientation. These are reasons for organizations and employees to approach social networking and other Web-based activities in the workplace (e.g., e-mail and company websites) deliberately and carefully, since they are governed by the same laws as more traditional methods.

Alternative work arrangements: Outsourcing, contracting, and contingent workers

As discussed in previous chapters, some organizations revert to outsourcing instead of recruiting and hiring. Organizations outsource to gain efficiency and lower costs for the same or better-quality products or services. When an organization specializes in delivering a particular product or service on a large scale, it can afford the advantages of economies of scale. Outsourcing is therefore common in countries where wages and salaries are lower. Outsourcing to other countries has been growing considerably because of technological advances in networks and transmission methods. Some of the most commonly outsourced services are payroll, legal services, and customer service.

As appealing as it sounds, outsourcing has disadvantages that can offset the advantages, such as security breaches, deficient customer service, and quality-control problems. Organizations that are known for outsourcing may also have a harder time attracting and retaining talent because potential applicants or current employees may perceive them as insecure places to work. Nevertheless, outsourcing can be a viable alternative to traditional recruitment when talent is rare, unavailable, or too expensive to retain on permanent payroll. The organization can then outsource roles on an as-needed basis.

Another form of alternative work arrangement is contingent employment of temporary and contract workers. Contingency employment offers many advantages to organizations:

It enables organizations to effectively adapt to changes in market demand.

It alleviates financial burdens associated with direct hires such as record keeping and other administrative responsibilities and obligations.

It eliminates the costs of benefits such as retirement plans; health, life and unemployment insurance; and other compensation benefits.

Outside contract employees bring their experiences from other organizations and share them with permanent workers in the organization (Connelly & Gallagher, 2004; Matusik & Hill, 1998).

On the other hand, contingency employment can bring disadvantages to both an organization and its temporary or contract employees. Some temporary employees are discouraged by contingency employment because they cannot afford the cost of private health insurance, which is usually partly or sometimes fully covered by organizations for permanent employees. For organizations, federal laws sometimes pose a hurdle since they give temporary and contract employees some rights that restrict organizations from controlling contingency employees. One example is hours of operation. Contingency employees also may not feel as much sense of commitment to the organization as permanent employees—an attitude that may lower the delivered service's or product's quality. However, research on the attitudes and behaviors of contingent employees is mixed on this question. New models and methods are needed to better understand how contingent workers relate to their temporary employers (Gallagher & Sverke, 2005; Van Dyne & Ang, 1998).

Recruiting globally

With an increasing demand and competition for talented employees, more and more organizations are resorting to either searching for talent or sourcing work globally. For many organizations, this option is much more effective and efficient than getting involved with competition in a war over talent in a limited-supply local market. Several factors must be carefully considered and analyzed by organizations before they venture into global recruiting, including

cultural differences

brand recognition

variations in HR laws, practices, and compensation systems (Vashistha, 2007)

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Global organizations may also resort to global recruitment to fill job openings overseas. Global recruitment capabilities can facilitate the assimilation of the organization's operations in global markets by giving it a local "face" and "feel." Global recruitment can also help build the organization's reputation as a contributor to the local community, and local employees can have useful insights into how products and services can be adapted to the local market. Since locals do not have to relocate, they are usually easier to find and attract, and they are less likely to suffer from cultural shocks than their international counterparts. Thus, unless expatriates from the home country or from another location are needed, global recruitment offers many benefits that global organizations should consider.

Internal challenges to effective recruitment: Organizational structure, culture, and politics

As you probably deduced from the vignette presented earlier in this chapter, organizational structure, culture, and politics can affect recruitment. An organization's image is an important factor in attracting and retaining talent. Employees are attracted to organizations that they perceive as having structures and cultures compatible with their personalities and preferences (Gardner, Reithel, Foley, Cogliser, & Walumbwa, 2009). Moreover, people who are hired because of their compatibility with corporate culture are more likely to stay longer (Hunt, 2011). For example, organizational structures that do not support internal recruitment and career development may not be attractive to candidates with high needs for growth. In fact, organizational politics and HR systems that emphasize seniority have been found to be associated with counterproductive behaviors such as hoarding information and fragmentation between workers (Finlay, 1990).

Unions, labor relations, and recruitment practices

A major role of HR is to act as a mediator between employees and organizations, helping align employees' interests with the organization's expectations. Accordingly, organizations depend heavily on HR to keep such relations as healthy as possible. In many organizations, employees are also members of and are represented by labor unions. HR has additional responsibilities in these organizations, such as negotiating employment contracts and, when necessary, effectively managing and resolving problems.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 legalized unionization and collective bargaining. Therefore, most business organizations cannot require or prohibit their employees to unionize, nor can they discriminate against employees who do so through recruitment, selection, training, compensation, promotion, or any other HR processes. However, over the last decade, union membership has been declining, and collective bargaining has decreased in importance. These reductions may be due in part to the increased litigation protecting workers' interests, both in the United States and globally (Brown, Nash, Deakin, & Oxenbridge, 2000).

Realistic job previews and psychological contracts

HR practices have a direct impact on attracting new, qualified individuals and retaining skilled personnel. HR has the recruitment responsibility to carefully and thoroughly investigate and analyze jobs, creating a realistic job preview for potential hires. HR must also communicate all positive and negative aspects of the job to applicants, rather than concealing some or all of the negatives or exaggerating some of the positives to lure in qualified job seekers. Misrepresenting a job will create a culture of organizational mistrust, make newly hired or currently available skilled personnel reluctant to remain in their positions, impoverish performance and motivation, and eventually worsen employee turnover (Hom, Griffeth, Palich, & Bracker, 1998).

Employers and potential employees have their own sets of expectations toward one another during the recruitment process. Potential employees expect a clear, true, fair representation of the job and of the organization in general. Organizations, in turn, expect their job applicants to represent their talents and abilities truthfully. This mutual relationship between employers and the employees becomes part of the psychological contract that develops over time, as discussed in earlier chapters. A psychological contract based on an honest exchange of information will likely be more conducive than dishonesty can be to a productive working relationship.

Studies show that there are five major areas of expectations for employees towards their employers:

career progression and growth within the organization

challenging job duties and responsibilities that fit individuals' capabilities

favorable organizational culture

adequate compensation for the tasks performed

work-life balance

Employers also have five major expectations for employees:

that employees demonstrate willingness, effort, and efficiency as they perform their duties and responsibilities

that they make themselves available whenever needed in order to accomplish tasks outside their normal working hours

that they display ethical conduct within the organization

that they maintain long-term loyalty and commitment to the organization

that they keep a positive attitude in accepting additional duties and responsibilities that need to be performed in order to get the job done (Van de Ven, 2004)

As discussed in earlier chapters, and as is evident in these research findings, the psychological contract between employers and employees is changing: employees are becoming more independent and in charge of their own roles and careers, while employers are expected to provide opportunities for growth and development. In this type of psychological contract, it is critical to establish mutual trust—even as early as the employers' and employees' interaction during the recruitment process.

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EYE ON THE GOAL

"The financial benefits and costs of effective recruitment: Pivotal versus important jobs"

As emphasized in this chapter and throughout this textbook, a cost-benefit approach should be adopted for decisions regarding HRM costs. These expenditures should be viewed as investments that yield long-term returns, rather than just expenses to be minimized or avoided. Recruitment costs fall into this category of expenditures that are truly investments. For example, effective recruitment can reduce the time and energy wasted on going through hundreds, or sometimes even thousands, of unqualified people's applications. The ability to find and hire the right person for the job can save significant costs. Qualified individuals who also fit into the organization's culture and are aligned with its goals and values are more likely to be motivated, productive employees who stay longer, contribute more effectively to their roles and their teams, make fewer mistakes, and require less up-front training. The benefits of finding these individuals will likely more than offset the costs of the process.

Does that long-term return mean that an organization should invest all its resources in recruitment and selection efforts, simply because the recruitment investment always pays off? Not necessarily. Boudreau and Ramstad (2007) make a critical distinction between jobs that are important and jobs that are pivotal. While many jobs in an organization can be considered important for its success, only a few jobs qualify as pivotal. Pivotal jobs are those in which improvement in employees' talent and performance makes the largest difference in the organization's success. These pivotal jobs should therefore receive the organization's focused recruitment and selection resources.

For example, Boudreau and Ramstad compare two types of jobs at a Disney theme park: the people in the costumes representing the characters, such as Mickey Mouse, and the park sweepers. While the characters may seem more important, it is park sweepers who are pivotal to the success of the park. The difference between an excellent Mickey Mouse and an average or mediocre one is not very significant. After all, the employee is always inside the costume, accompanied by a supervisor, is not allowed to talk, and follows a strict daily schedule and a scripted approach when dealing with guests. On the other hand, sweepers don't only keep the grounds clean. They also greet guests, help them navigate the park, and solve many problems on the spot—all of which add to the positive experience that guests seek. The difference between an excellent sweeper and an average or mediocre sweeper can have a substantial impact on customer satisfaction.

Many organizations focus their recruitment resources on the Mickey Mouse equivalents of jobs in their organizations. These are important, highly visible jobs. However, these jobs may not be as pivotal as jobs that are lower in the organizational hierarchy, but where significant variation in performance can happen that can directly compromise the success of the organization. For example, while managers are important, customer service representatives may be pivotal for organizational success in a service organization. Thus, investments in hiring talented customer service representatives may yield higher returns than focusing on hiring the best managers. These types of strategic decisions should direct expenditure toward effective recruitment, rather than toward merely minimizing the costs of recruitment by choosing the cheapest possible sources of applicants.

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Chapter Summary

Recruiting qualified employees is essential for sustaining organizational competitiveness.

HR must be able to find candidates who have the attributes required to succeed in particular roles.

Various sources of applicants can be used to find the right talent.

External sources of applicants include advertising, employment agencies, the Web, colleges and universities, professional employment organizations, temp agencies, unsolicited applications, and soliciting specific applicants.

Internal sources of applicants include promotion from within, lateral transfers, and employee referrals.

It is beneficial to involve line managers and employees in the recruiting process. This involvement can help unify goals and result in attracting and recruiting the best candidates, at the right time, while the organization conforms to applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines.

Key Terms

Test your knowledge of these key terms by clinking on the "definition" links.

affirmative action

A set of policies that require employers to show initiative in recruiting a diverse pool of applicants for their job openings.

Civil Rights Act

A set of laws and regulations, divided into several sections or titles, each of which deals with particular facets of discrimination (e.g., voting rights, public accommodations, and public education); Title VII of the act guarantees equal opportunity in employment and prohibits discrimination based on gender, religion, race, national origin, or ethnic background.

employee referrals

A form of recruiting through which employees within the organization recommend personal or professional acquaintances, such as friends or family members, for the organization's employment consideration.

employment agencies

A leading source of job candidates—these are private and public agencies that gather information about candidates for employment in the market; evaluate their qualifications, skill sets, and experiences through a series of interviews and tests; and then connect candidates with the relevant hiring organizations.

HR talent inventory

A system that tracks key indicators of existing talent within the organization such as the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and the competencies acquired by current employees; their promotions, lateral movements, and training and development opportunities; and their performance appraisals and changes in assigned tasks, duties, and responsibilities.

lateral transfer

A horizontal move in which an individual shifts to another position at the same level of the organizational hierarchy.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

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A U.S. law that legalized unionization and collective bargaining.

professional employer organizations (PEOs) and temp agencies

Organizations that provide employers with leases on a temporary basis, depending on employer needs.

realistic job preview

An accurate picture of a job that communicates all its positive and negative aspects to job applicants.

recruitment process

The process of identifying and attracting qualified talent for organizational jobs in a timely and effective manner.

social networking

The use of the Web in an informal manner for hiring purposes through blogs, technical and specialized online journals, informal communication with similarminded professionals, and job-recruiting sites that reach out to qualified applicants.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Some organizations proactively recruit (i.e., "poach") employees from other companies (especially competitors) by using organizational charts or phone directories to find the employee's contact information. Do you think these recruiting methods are a good business practice? Are there any ethical issues with them?

2. Being extraverted is one trait that recruiters are often thought of as being, but what other KSAs should a recruiter possess in order to be successful?

3. Under what circumstances are broader versus more targeted recruiting methods more appropriate?

4. Some organizations use realistic job previews to present job candidates with accurate information about the negative (and positive) aspects of a job. Under what type of labor market conditions or for what type of job candidates would realistic job previews be more appropriate?

5. What would be the best ways to recruit people for your job? What recruiting methods wouldn't be as effective?

Self-Assessment Quiz

The following quiz is for your own review and will not affect your grade.

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5Selection, Placement, and Job Fit

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Recognize the benefits and risks associated with effective or ineffective employee selection

Identify a wide range of criteria that employers use to select the right employees

List, describe, and assess commonly used employee selection tools

Apply the concepts of validity and reliability to various selection methods

Describe the laws and regulations governing employee selection

Identify emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in selection

Selecting the right employees is one of the most crucial HR processes, but it is also one of the most challenging decision-making processes in an organization. An effective selection process should help the organization choose from a group of applicants: those who fit certain jobs and also fit the organizational culture. Failing to hire the right people will negatively impact performance, quality, and productivity while increasing the turnover rate. It can also lead to litigation and compromise the organization's reputation if the selection process is discriminatory. On the other hand, choosing the right people will enable the organization to compete more effectively and attain its goals and objectives. Selecting the right candidate for the job and the organization is critical to create a human-based competitive advantage because many organizations may have ready access to the same applicant pool and information, especially now that most recruitment efforts are mediated through technology. Figure 5.1 summarizes the selection process as a component of strategic human resource management and outlines the topics discussed in this chapter.

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5.1 What Should You Select For?

Many employers have the unrealistic expectation that an ideal candidate can be found to fill the job if the organization uses the right recruitment tools and then offers the candidate a package that he or she cannot refuse. However, this is rarely the case. Instead, an organization first needs to determine the specific factors that are critical for success on the job in question, and then direct its recruitment and selection efforts accordingly. Applicants can then be evaluated based on those factors, and those who rank highest on these factors should be selected. This section describes some of the most important factors that organizations consider in employee selection.

1. Individual differences

Individual differences refer to a wide range of personal traits that tend to be stable over time and across situations. These traits can be genetically determined. They can also be "hardwired" in the brain at an early age through the influences of cultural background, upbringing, early childhood and adolescence experiences, or a combination thereof. The following are examples of such stable traits:

general mental abilities (GMA) or simply raw intelligence as measured by recognized intelligence quotient (IQ) tests (Schmidt, 2009)

the Big Five personality traits of conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience (Barrick & Mount, 1991)

the core self-evaluations of self-esteem, generalized confidence, neuroticism (the opposite of emotional stability), and locus of control (Judge & Bono, 2001)

Figure 5.1: Selection and job fit

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More recently, various character strengths and virtues have also been identified in the emerging field of positive psychology (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).

Individual differences are important for employee selection, because they can contribute to or limit one's potential for growth and development. Because they are stable in adults, individual differences are extremely difficult if not impossible to change through such HR initiatives as training and motivation. Thus, organizations need to determine the traits that are critical for success in various positions and then ensure that they select employees who possess those traits. For example, extroversion is supported as a critical success factor for sales jobs. However, since extroversion is an individual difference, it is difficult to increase someone's level of extroversion. Therefore, an organization should hire extroverted individuals to fill sales jobs, because it cannot effectively turn introverted employees into more extroverted ones through training, rewards, or other approaches.

Job analysis and job design (discussed in chapter 3, 3.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec3.1#sec3.1) ) can contribute to accurately determining the right traits for each position. To determine the extent to which applicants possess these desired traits, HR uses various individual-differences measurement tools. Most of these tools are based on what is called individual differences psychology or differential psychology, which mainly focuses on analyzing and interpreting the behavioral tendencies that distinguish one individual from another by recognized traits. Personality tests are the most commonly used individual differences assessments.

Examples of well-researched personality tests are the Big Five personality test and the Core Self Evaluations inventory. Unfortunately, these are not the most commonly used tests. Instead, many organizations design their own tests or purchase commercially available assessments, which may or may not be backed up by

https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec3.1#sec3.1

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Knowledge and skill assessments can include certification exams such as those completed by teachers, medical technicians, and electricians.

Comstock/Thinkstock

sufficient research. For example, many organizations use the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. This assessment tool has its proper uses; however, its effectiveness, and thus the legality of its use for selection purposes, is questionable. Many assessments are also costly to buy and administer, further highlighting the importance of selecting the most effective selection tools—a topic that will be revisited later in this chapter.

2. Human capital: Knowledge, skills, and abilities

Job applicants also vary in education, experience, prior training, and physical, mental, and emotional abilities. These factors are not necessarily based on individual differences but can be determined by applicants' current achievements. Such knowledge, skills, and abilities are collectively referred to as KSAs. Although KSAs are not stable personality traits, developing them can be costly and time consuming; many organizations therefore require some level of the necessary KSAs as qualifications for each job.

For a particular job, the organization must first determine the KSAs required to perform the job's tasks and responsibilities. This determination usually takes place at the stages of job analysis and job design. Then the organization needs to employ valid and reliable assessment techniques to accurately measure the extent to which job applicants possess the desired KSAs. The following are examples of assessments for various fields:

licensure exams assess knowledge for fields such as medicine, engineering, and law

certification exams assess skills such as those often completed by teachers, electricians, plumbers, and others

physical fitness tests assess physical ability, such as the ability to lift a certain amount of weight or stand for a given period of time

3. Social capital

Social capital is the value added through interpersonal relationships, interactions, and networking (Adler & Kwon, 2002; Luthans & Youssef, 2004). In an organizational context, social capital emphasizes building a positive organizational culture in order to achieve the organization's ultimate goals and objectives. HR practices that build social capital include the following:

selecting qualified employees and placing them in jobs that fit their qualifications

using motivational tools and reward systems

promoting a positive work environment and an organizational culture that focuses on such collaborative work practices as team-based organizational design, mentoring, coaching, and employee participation and empowerment

Organizations can also select a candidate for the social capital he or she possesses. For example, many contracting jobs favor candidates who have established connections with potential clients. Candidates who possess social capital also find it easier to locate and land job offers than those who lack these connections. Despite its importance, social capital tends to be subjective, vaguely defined, or defined differently from organization to organization. These factors make social capital difficult to measure and therefore difficult to leverage for HR selection purposes.

4. Positive psychological capital

Employees' psychological states have a direct impact on shaping the organizational culture and environment. Unlike traits, psychological states are cognitive, affective, and social capabilities that are open to growth, development, and change over time and across situations. One psychological state that is recognized as being particularly relevant for the workplace is positive psychological capital, a multidimensional concept that encompasses four psychological capabilities:

Confidence (self-efficacy): the ability to take on challenging tasks and make the efforts necessary to accomplish them successfully

Optimism: attributing positive reasons and causes to present events and future success

Hope: persevering toward goals and redirecting paths as necessary

Resiliency: bouncing back from adversity (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007, p. 3)

Psychological capital has been shown to positively relate to many desirable employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance (Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011), which in turn can translate into human-based competitive advantages. Similar to KSAs, psychological capital can be trained and developed. However, organizations may also want to select applicants based on their psychological capital if there are limited time or resources to develop employees, or if the organization is seeking to make the culture more positive.

For example, Seligman (1998) conducted a fascinating set of studies on the sales force of Metropolitan Life Insurance. At the time, the company was basing selection decisions on the results of an industry-recognized test that measured applicants' technical knowledge. However, Seligman believed that being a successful salesperson requires high levels of positivity, and he suggested that positivity might be even more important than technical skills. To test this notion, Seligman convinced

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Metropolitan Life to hire a "special force" of applicants who actually failed the industry test, but who scored highly on a test that he had designed to measure optimism, a recognized dimension of positivity. Interestingly, optimists who failed the industry test outperformed pessimists who passed it, indicating that positivity may be more important to job performance than skills!

5. Attitudes

Employees' attitudes towards their jobs, their coworkers, and the organization can shape their behavior, performance, and success in their jobs. Employees with positive attitudes have a more constructive influence on the success and fulfillment of organizational goals and objectives than employees who have more education and experience but also have a negative attitude (Sartain, 2003). A positive attitude can manifest through a high energy level and enthusiasm, passion for learning, curiosity to explore and experiment, motivation to succeed, and desire to do what is good for the organization.

Attitudes are difficult to change because they are affected by a myriad of factors that may be beyond the organization's control, such as satisfaction with other life domains (Judge & Ilies, 2004). Although attitudes are not considered fixed traits or individual differences, many organizations will therefore select an applicant with the "right" attitude that fits the organization's goals, culture, and job requirements instead of attempting to develop the right attitude in another new hire with other assets. Organizations use many tools to assess such attitudes as job satisfaction, work engagement, and organizational commitment in potential and current employees (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). Surveys are the most commonly used attitude assessments. However, many of the available attitude assessments must be administered carefully, with special measures, since applicants can fake attitudes to gain jobs or to profess socially desirable traits (Mueller-Hanson, Heggestad, & Thornton, 2003).

For example, many organizations regularly administer "climate surveys," asking employees to report on their satisfaction with their jobs, supervisors, and coworkers, and their intentions of staying with the organization. However, many employees would be reluctant to respond truthfully (or at all) to those surveys unless anonymity is guaranteed. Examples of well-designed attitude assessments are Allen and Meyer's (1990) Organizational Commitment scale and Gallup's Q12 scale for measuring work engagement (Harter et al., 2002). Gallup's scale has been found to be an effective measure, but its costs should be considered since it is also proprietary.

Prioritizing selection criteria

The goal of the selection process is to identify the best candidates who possess the most influential qualities a job requires and who fit the organizational culture well. These qualities include a combination of critical knowledge, skills, and abilities; appropriate experience and education; and personal characteristics, traits, and attitudes. However, assessing too many criteria can be costly and time consuming. It may also result in too few qualified applicants and unfilled positions. On the other hand, assessing too few criteria can yield too many qualified applicants to sift through, which can also be costly and time consuming. This sifting can also result in subjective, legally questionable decisions.

Thus, it is wise for an organization to prioritize its selection criteria based on the results of its HR planning, job analysis, and job design. A recruiting team is often assembled to contribute to the prioritization, including HR representatives, the hiring manager, successful future coworkers, direct reports, and internal and sometimes even external customers. Employee selection is a balancing act and a process of optimizing across multiple criteria, rather than maximizing one criterion at the expense of others.

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The selection process should take into account a candidate's ability to fit in with organizational culture, as well as his or her skills and abilities.

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5.2 Job Fit

Hiring the best candidates is important, yet compatibility between a candidate, the organization, and the position is critical for the candidate to be successful and for the organization to be able to leverage the candidate's talent and achieve its goals and objectives. Thus, it is necessary but not sufficient to select a candidate on the above criteria. It also important to focus on the fit between a person and an organization and the fit between a person and a job. Both these focuses optimize the match between the characteristics of candidate, the organization, and the job.

Person-organization fit

It is very important for organizations to recruit qualified individuals with the optimum skill sets matching the organizational goals and objectives (Chuang & Sackett, 2005). To attract and retain these qualified individuals, companies must match an applicant's personality with the organizational environment or culture and then maintain that match during the term of employment.

Person-organization fit can be defined as the extent of resemblance between the personal core values and beliefs of individuals and the norms, rules, regulations, and values of the organizations where they work. Many theories and studies establish as a fact that employees are mentally and physically more sound when they are comfortable with the organizational environment. A strong employee-organization fit has been demonstrated to relate to increased performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment as well as decreased strain and intention to quit (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). Person-organization fit is therefore an important selection consideration. For example, an individual who is willing to take risks would find an organization that values creativity and innovation to be a good fit, while an individual who prefers stability and structure would find an organizational culture that emphasizes predictability to be a better fit. Similarly, an extroverted individual will be more likely to fit in an organizational culture that emphasizes teamwork and collaboration, while an introvert would be a better fit that values individual achievements.

Person-job fit

It is also significant for companies to establish and promote a robust fit between an employee and a job. According to Edwards (2008), person-job fit occurs when the demands of the job are compatible with the capabilities of the incumbent and when the needs and preferences of the incumbent are met by the job. Recruits come to organizations with different combinations of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). It is the organization's responsibility to match those KSAs with the job needs, requirements, and necessary qualifications. This match ensures that all the duties, responsibilities, and tasks associated with the job will be accurately and efficiently accomplished.

From an employee's perspective, a job is deemed satisfactory when it lives up to his or her expectations and seems to fulfill most of his or her professional needs and desires. Employees are believed to pursue and accept job offers much less in accordance with objective evaluations than with subjective evaluations and personal perceptions of whether or not a job fits them well (Caplan, 1987). Person-job fit, like person-organization fit, has also been shown to relate to a number of desirable work attitudes, behaviors, and performance outcomes. Person-job fit is therefore critical for effective selection (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005)

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5.3 Selection Methods

Common selection methods organizations use to gain information about and narrow down potential candidates are resumes and application forms, testing, interviews, reference checks, and honesty tests, medical exams, and drug testing.

1. Resumes and application forms

Job applications and resumes are the organization's initial method of collecting information about potential recruits. A major downside of resumes and job applications is the considerable and unmanageable volume of them that HR departments receive; in most cases, it is extremely challenging to control or carefully consider all these documents. Application forms assist in gathering basic information about applicants that can be grouped into four main categories: contact information, work experience, educational background, as well as the applicant's signature validating all the information indicated in the application form.

Resumes, on the other hand, are controlled by the applicants rather than the employers, which introduces a source of bias and inaccuracy not present in application forms. However, resumes provide an economical method for collecting initial information, identifying potential hires with the basic requirements such as job experience and educational background, as well as selecting applicants for further consideration. Although sometimes misleading, resumes provide applicants more freedom in expressing themselves and highlighting personal experiences that structured application forms may not permit.

2. Testing

The next logical step after candidates have been initially screened through resumes and job applications is to test those applicants in order to further screen and narrow down the choice to a few top candidates. This is the main objective of conducting such tests. In broad terms, there are two main types of tests that organizations employ: aptitude tests and achievement tests.

Aptitude tests evaluate the test taker's level of reception, comprehension, and retention. The most prominent aptitude test is called the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). Achievement tests, on the other hand, determine the individual's current abilities, knowledge, and skills. In other words, achievement tests are qualification examinations to ensure that applicants are ready to perform the tasks they are recruited for.

Organizations can use many other forms of tests, depending on the type of job involved. For example, physical ability tests are conducted only for jobs demanding certain physical job performance requirements, for the purpose of mitigating injuries related to certain job activities (Buffardi, Fleishman, Morath, & McCarthy, 2000; Hogan, 1991).

The cognitive ability test, also referred to as the intelligence test, is primarily designed to assess the applicant's mental abilities. Such tests are particularly relevant for complicated jobs demanding considerable mental capabilities (Salagado, Anderson, Moscoso, Bertuas, & De Fruyt, 2003; Ree, Earles, & Teachout, 1994). Job performance tests are also used by organizations for specialized types of jobs demanding continuously high productivity and performance, such as keyboarding or high- volume machine operation. Job performance tests are mostly conducted through simulations of the actual work setting (Winkler, 2006).

3. Interviews

Many employers prefer to directly interact with their future employees, usually face to face, for a more accurate evaluation of their communication skills, interpersonal skills, and technical experience and knowledge. That is why the job interview is one of the most commonly used selection tools in employment. There are several types of interviews that organization use. These types of interviews are listed and described below. Examples of each type of interview and tips for successfully conducting them (as an interviewer) or doing well at them (as an interviewee) are provided in the links that follow.

Unstructured interviews mostly involve open-ended questions; the interviewee's answer to one question determines the interviewer's progression to the next question. Most of the questions associated with nondirective interviews are related to personal career objectives and expectations, as well as points of strength and weakness.

Structured interviews follow a set of pre-established questions that mainly focus on the interviewee's knowledge, work experience, and technical skills. Structured interviews provide organizations with more valid and reliable results compared to nondirective interviews.

Situational interviews depict a real work-related scenario that interviewers present to the interviewees to evaluate their problem-solving capabilities (Clavenger, Perreira, Weichmann, Schmitt, & Harvey, 2001; McDaniel, Morgeson, Finnegan, Campion, & Braverman, 2001).

Behavior description interviews allow the interviewees to describe how they handled a certain past situation to assess their experiences (Campion, Campion, & Hudson, 1994; Pulakos & Schmitt, 1995).

In panel interviews, two or more representatives from the organization meet in a group setting with the interviewee. This type of interview has the advantage of using multiple raters; hence it is less biased.

WEB LINKS

Structured, unstructured, and semistructured interviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDONsoVoXE&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDONsoVoXE&feature=related)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDONsoVoXE&feature=related

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Applicant references are not a very good source for verifying information since applicants will always provide references who will give favorable recommendations.

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Situational interviews: www.theiia.org/download.cfm?file=81429 (http://www.theiia.org/download.cfm?file=81429)

Behavioral interviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkfnTaiVj4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkfnTaiVj4&feature=related) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkfnTaiVj4&feature=related)

Panel interviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX4ofZoN6Zw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX4ofZoN6Zw)

Discussion Questions

1. Which of the above types of interviews have you encountered in the past? Describe the nature of the job, the characteristics of the interviewer(s) and the interviewee, the setting, and the flow of the interview.

2. As an interviewer, which type of interview are you most and least comfortable with? Why?

3. As an interviewee, which type of interview are you most and least comfortable with? Why?

4. Select jobs that may best lend themselves to each type of interview. Explain your opinions.

4. Reference checks

Application forms often ask applicants to provide reliable reference sources, such as former employers, so that organizations can verify applicants' capabilities and past experiences. In reality, however, references are not a very reliable source for verifying information since applicants are careful to choose only references who are most likely to present them in a favorable light.

Providing references for former employees is very risky for employers due to the risk of possible lawsuits. For example, positive references can trigger lawsuits when new employers claim they have been misled if an employee's conduct has not been as expected after a certain period of employment (Long, 1997). On the other hand, negative references can cause former employees to claim defamation and loss of reputation, even with limited evidence (Ryan & Lasek, 1991). For that reason, organizations should be cautious in providing former employees with references, carefully focusing only on job- related experience and behavior rather than treading into personal opinions that might be misinterpreted. However, such references may leave organizations with narrower descriptions of applicants' past performance, which undermines the purpose of their seeking out references in the first place.

5. Honesty tests, medical exams, and drug testing

Some jobs involve physically demanding tasks and responsibilities. Accordingly, many organizations conduct medical and fitness examinations to ensure that employees are capable of successfully performing the assigned job requirements. Another purpose of these tests is to determine applicants' initial physical status, prior to employment, for future evaluation in case of a work-related injury or disability. Organizations must practice extreme caution in applying for physical examinations for potential recruits to avoid any discriminatory claims.

Employees are often also be expected to employ honest and safe behavioral practices inside and outside the organization—for instance, by never using drugs. Although reference checks and interviews can assess honest and safe behavior, some organizations rely on more direct verification methods, such as honesty and drug tests. Honesty tests using the polygraph were banned in 1988 and replaced with written integrity tests that, although not as effective, have some ability to highlight negative behavioral issues (Bernardin & Cooke, 1993; Ones, Viswesvaran, & Schmidt, 1993). Drug testing, on the other hand, is an accurate and reliable method for exposing substance abuse. However, many individuals see drug testing as a controversial privacy invasion that can lead to false accusations of substance abuse. Some organizations avoid these problems by relying on other types of testing, such as impairment and fitness tests for duty programs, that mainly assess mental abilities in carrying out critical tasks rather than analyzing the root cause of impairment.

http://www.theiia.org/download.cfm?file=81429

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkfnTaiVj4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX4ofZoN6Zw

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The more accurate the testing process, the more likely it is that the best candidates will be selected.

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5.4 Foundational Concepts in Designing and Evaluating Selection Methods

The goal of the selection process is to accurately and consistently predict future job performance through assessing a predetermined set of factors that are believed to be related to applicants' ability or motivation to perform the job. For example, organizations often hire applicants with the highest scores on a particular test, or those who received the most favorable ratings on an interview. The underlying assumption and rationale for this common approach is that test scores or interview ratings are accurate and consistent predictors of subsequent job performance.

However, job performance can never be predicted with 100% accuracy or consistency. The only way to reach perfect accuracy would be for employers to hire all the applicants for a particular job, have them perform the job, and then choose those with the highest performance. Of course this approach is neither practical nor cost effective. Moreover, even if an organization can afford to hire a large number of applicants and retain those with the highest performance, performance prediction is still not perfectly accurate. For example, many organizations have probationary periods in which the employer and the employee "try each other out" before a more permanent arrangement is established. However, employees may be motivated to perform at a much higher level during the probationary period in order to secure permanent employment. Once the probationary period is over, the employee's performance level may drop. Moreover, even if overall job performance can be predicted accurately, performance may be influenced over time and across situations by a myriad of factors that cannot be anticipated or managed. This variation renders consistency in performance prediction a serious challenge in candidate selection.

It is impossible to make perfect predictions of job performance. However, there are many recognized selection tools and methods that can make reasonably high- quality predictions possible by accurately and consistently measuring or assessing important predictors that are strongly related to specific job performance criteria. Accurate prediction of performance criteria is also referred to as high validity. It indicates that a predictor (e.g., test scores or interview ratings) is significantly related to desirable performance outcomes, so that those who measure favorably on the selection tool or method have a higher chance of being high performers than those who do not. For example, if a valid test is used in the selection process, then those who score higher on the test are also likely to perform better on the job.

Consistency, also referred to as high reliability, indicates that a predictor can be replicated over time and across situations. For example, a reliable selection procedure will reflect an applicant's aptitude, ability, and motivation to do the job. The procedure will not reflect the subjective opinion of the interviewer, the temperature or noise level of the room where an employment test took place, or other factors that are not related to the actual job (factors that, if different, could have yielded a different score or decision as to whether or not the organization should select the applicant).

Validity

Validity is the extent to which a selection tool or procedure can accurately predict subsequent performance. Validity is an extremely important factor to consider when designing or evaluating selection methods; there are several reasons:

1. The more accurate the testing process is, the more likely it is that the best candidates will be selected, promoted, or matched with the right jobs.

2. Invalid or unreliable tests can be costly. Many tests need to be purchased or a license of use must be obtained. Moreover, testing is time consuming for both the candidate and for the organization. Tests must be administered and rated, and the results must be reported—processes that require managers' and HR professionals' time and energy.

3. The wrong tests carry such opportunity costs as wasted time and the lower productivity of the employees hired or promoted because of their invalid test results.

4. Finally, invalid testing has legal implications. An invalid test may not be related to performance, but it may still be discriminatory by favoring certain protected classes over others. For example, younger job applicants may consistently score higher than older applicants on a test, and these scores may not be related to job performance. In such a case, that test may be found to be discriminatory. While the organization may have had no intent to discriminate, the use of invalid, discriminatory tests can result in what was referred to later in this chapter as disparate impact, which is also illegal. Other legal considerations will be discussed in greater detail later in the chapter.

Furthermore, when designing or evaluating selection methods, several dimensions of validity should be taken into account (Robinson, 1981; Schmitt, Gooding, Noe, & Kirsch, 1984). Five validity dimensions are multiple facets of the same concept and should be considered in conjunction, rather than individually:

1. Criterion-related validity

2. Content-related validity

3. Construct validity

4. Face validity

5. External validity

First, criterion-related validity is the predictive, empirical (number-based) link between a predictor and an actual measure of job performance. Statistically, it is the correlation between applicants' scores on the predictor and their subsequent job performance scores. This correlation ranges from 0 to ±1.00. Tests that yield validity coefficients ranging from ±.35 to ±.45 are considered useful for employment decisions, while tests

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A reliable interview protocol should yield the same conclusion about an applicant regardless of the interviewer, the interview room, time of day, or the sequence of applicant interviews.

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with validity coefficients of less than ±.10 probably have little relationship with job performance.

For example, there are numerous valid measures of individual differences; of human, social, and psychological capital; and of the job attitudes discussed earlier. Organizations should make sure only valid measures are used for selection purposes. For the reasons listed above, "interesting" personal or interpersonal characteristics should not be considered if they cannot be validly related to job performance. They are costly, time consuming, and distracting, and they can be found discriminatory.

Criterion-related validity is established through building a track record for a selection tool. For example, current employees can be assessed using the selection tool in question, and their current performance can then be correlated to their scores on the selection tool. If the correlations are sufficiently high and statistically significant, then the tool can be used for selection. This correlation is referred to as concurrent validity. Alternatively, a new or experimental selection tool can initially be administered to applicants but not be considered for selection. Selected applicants' performance can then subsequently be measured and correlated to their initial scores on the selection tool. If the correlation is sufficiently high and statistically significant, then the selection tool can become incorporated into the selection process and scores can be taken into consideration for selection decisions. This correlation is referred to as predictive validity.

Second, content-related validity is the logical connection between the selection procedure and the actual job. For example, interview or test questions should be directly related to the important requirements for and qualifications of a job—the rationale being that if an interview or test samples actual job behaviors, then individuals who perform well on the interview or test will also be able to perform well on the job. Content-related validation studies rely heavily upon information gathered in job analysis. If test questions are directly related to the specific skills needed to perform a job, then the test will have high content-related validity.

Third, construct validity is the extent to which a selection tool accurately reflects the abstract personal attributes, or constructs, that a tool intends to measure. For example, while there are valid measures of many personality traits, numerous invalid measures of the same traits can be found in magazines or on the Web. Invalid measures are sometimes even sold to organizations by consultants. Creators of those measures claim that they are beneficial, and the measures seem to make sense on the surface and to ask the right questions, but they should not be used for employment selection purposes because their predictive power is questionable.

Face validity is related to content and construct validity. Face validity is not a form of validity in a technical sense; it refers to applicants', organizations', or observers' subjective impressions of how relevant a predictor is to a job. For example, a bank teller would find nothing strange about taking an employment test that dealt with numerical ability or money-counting skills because these skills are obviously related to job performance. On the other hand, the teller applicant may not see the job relevance of a personality test. This test would thus have low face validity for this job. While it can be irrelevant in a scientific sense, organizations should still pay close attention to the face validity of their selection procedures, since low face validity can result in poor perceptions of the organization. If an organization has a choice between multiple tools that are otherwise equally valid, the tool with higher face validity should be used.

Finally, external validity refers to the generalizability of a selection tool or procedure. For example, an interview protocol or employment test may be more valid in some job positions, departments, organizations, industries, regions, or countries than it is in others. Thus, predictors of performance need to be "revalidated" if the context in which they will be used is sufficiently different. On the other hand, if there are significant situational similarities, then the predictive capacity of a selection process can be generalized. For example, many industries rely on having passed recognized licensing exams or obtained certifications to deem their applicants qualified for technical jobs within those industries.

Reliability

Reliability is the extent to which it is possible to replicate the results from a predictor such as a selection tool, method, or procedure. For example, a reliable interview protocol should yield the same conclusion about the same applicant, regardless of such irrelevant factors as these:

Which interviewer was the applicant assigned to? If some interviewers are more lenient, or if the interview protocol allows for subjective evaluations, then the interview protocol is unreliable.

In which room did the interview take place? If some rooms are known to be more comfortable or conducive to higher-quality interactions than others, then all interviews should be scheduled in the same (or in a comparable) room to increase reliability.

What time of the day did the interview take place? If interviewers get more tired toward the end of the day, this time may bias their evaluations of the applicants interviewed at that time.

What was the sequence of applicants? Interviewers may become more lenient or more stringent over time. For example, an average applicant may be at a significant advantage if interviewed after a number of mediocre applicants, but may be at a significant disadvantage if interviewed immediately after an exceptionally good applicant.

Was the applicant in his or her normal state of being? If an applicant is interviewed while he or she is ill, exhausted, agitated, anxious, or frightened, the results are likely to be unreliable.

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In other words, reliability is a reflection of the degree of error in a measurement, which also conveys the stability of that measurement's outcomes (Nunnally, 1994). Typically, assessing reliability involves gathering scores for a particular predictor twice, then calculating the correlation between the two sets of scores. This correlation is referred to as the reliability coefficient, and it ranges from 0 to +1.00. The closer the score sets approach a perfect +1.00 correlation, the more reliable the predictor is said to be. For selection purposes, the two sets of scores can come from scoring the same group of applicants or current employees twice on the same procedure, while varying certain factors. For example, a test can be administered at two different times, or an interview can be conducted twice using different interviewers, and the scores can then be correlated to assess reliability. These approaches are respectively referred to as test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability.

WEB LINK

Valid and Reliable Psychological Assessments: www.mindgarden.com (http://www.mindgarden.com) This website provides validity and reliability information on a number of assessments suited for evaluating various personality traits and developmental characteristics, many of which are well suited to the workplace. The site also provides contact information to obtain permission to use various tools and measures, many of which are free of charge.

http://www.mindgarden.com/

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Resumes allow applicants room to expand on their qualifications, but applications ensure that the most critical, relevant information is communicated.

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5.5 Increasing the Validity and Reliability of the Selection Process

Selecting candidates for employment entails the use of valid and reliable methodologies for the selection process, ensuring that selected applicants fit the jobs they have been selected for and fit the general organizational culture. Many organizations continually look for ways to improve their methodologies, including creating and using more valid and reliable methods, instituting better training, and linking selection to the HRM process.

1. Better by design: Creating and using more valid and reliable methods

Selection tools vary in their validity and reliability. For example, resumes may be more valid than application forms because resumes allow applicants to expand on their job- relevant qualifications, which may be more predictive of job performance than the many unrelated pieces of information on generic job applications. On the other hand, application forms may be more reliable because their structured format makes it harder for applicants or employers to overlook or intentionally omit relevant information. This reliability is one reason many organizations require applicants to submit a resume and also complete an application form.

Similarly, unstructured interviews may be valid since they allow the interviewee to elaborate on their unique capabilities and experiences. However, unstructured interviews are less reliable than structured interviews, especially in inter-rater reliability, since each interview may vary on the topics covered, the questions addressed, and thus the conclusions that interviewers may reach about each applicant. It is crucial to investigate the validity and reliability of various selection tools and procedures before using them. Using a variety of selection tools and procedures is also one of the best ways to increase the overall validity and reliability of the selection process.

2. Better by implementation: Training those who select and overcoming personal biases

Selecting the right candidates usually involves some subjectivity, which may compromise the validity and reliability of the selection process. Since unstructured interviews are commonly used in selection, it is logical for organizations to prepare a well-equipped team of interviewers. It is also essential that interviewers are trained to determine the most relevant questions to ask based on their evaluation of the background and experience of the applicant in question. Interviewers must exercise extreme caution in selecting questions. Each question must have a clear and insightful job-related, rather than personal, purpose.

Although extensive training of interviewers might be costly, it can also help organizations avoid the substantial costs associated with the inadequate selection of employees, as well as potential litigation due to discriminatory selection. The same fact applies to all those involved in screening resumes initially, calling the applicants' references, preparing job offers, or conducting other stages of the selection process. Interviewers are less likely to operate on personal biases when they have a clear understanding of the job and are adequately trained to assess applicants for their fit with the job and the organization. Sensitivity training familiarizes managers and employees with issues of diversity, discrimination, and harassment. This training has become common in many organizations, which helps their members become more aware of their potential prejudices.

3. Better by integration: Linking selection to the HRM process

As emphasized in every chapter, the purpose of the HRM process is to help an organization achieve its goals through enhancing the effectiveness of its people. This purpose is realized by aligning the HRM objectives with those of corporate objectives and strategic plans. Linking the staffing process, which includes selection, with planning, employee compensation, and work design will ensure that all processes mesh effectively and have a unified goal.

Careful planning, job analysis, job design, and recruitment can yield a smoother and more effective selection process because they provide a high-quality applicant pool to choose from. Well-designed compensation and benefits, training and development opportunities, and performance feedback can also facilitate selection by making the organization attractive to qualified applicants.

In turn, enhancing the selection process can facilitate other HR functions. Employees are more predictable when they are selected using valid and reliable procedures. Their performance level is more likely to be adequate and consistent. When organizational and job fit are carefully considered in the selection process, the process is likely to yield employees who stay longer, have better attitudes, and are more satisfied with their jobs (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Planning for, training, and assessing this type of workforce is significantly easier than would be the case in an organization with high turnover and dissatisfied, low-performing employees.

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5.6 Legal Issues in Selection

By their very nature, employee selection methods attempt to differentiate between candidates who possess requisite job skills and those who do not. When selection methods treat applicants differently based on other factors such as race, age, or sex, they are said to be discriminatory. Obviously, it is imperative for HR professionals to understand the rights and obligations of both the company and the job candidate in this sensitive area. This section, while not exhaustive, highlights landmark discrimination legislation and how it has affected organizations' selection processes.

Equal employment opportunity

As introduced in chapter 4 (4.5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec4.5#sec4.5) ), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sex, religion, race, color, or national origin in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and other terms and conditions of employment. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII and facilitates its application in organizations through education and technical assistance. EEOC also enforces laws that prohibit discrimination based on other protected classes such as disability and age.

Age discrimination

Age discrimination occurs when an employer treats an employee differently based on his or her age, and is legally defined in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967. The ADEA is a federal law and protects all employees in the United States over the age of 40 from the moment they contact an employer about a job opening. Specifically, this law forbids employers from making employment decisions based on a person's age. For example, employers cannot terminate employment, deny a bonus or raise, or refuse to hire or promote someone simply because they think that person is too old. However, it is important to note that persons under age 40 are not protected under the ADEA. Thus, it is possible, without legal repercussions, for an organization to discriminate against an individual for being too young.

Discrimination based on disability

As discussed in chapter 3 (3.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec3.1#sec3.1) ), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibits discrimination against disabled employees who are otherwise qualified. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Examples of individuals with physical disabilities include people with epilepsy, diabetes, severe forms of arthritis, hypertension, paraplegia, impaired vision, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Individuals with mental impairments include people with major depression, bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder, autism, and mental retardation. The law also makes it unlawful to discriminate against any applicant or employee, disabled or not, based on that person's relationship or association with an individual with a disability.

The ADA forbids discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of employment. In addition, it is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an applicant or employee for asserting his or her rights under the ADA. However, an individual with a disability must be able to perform the essential functions and meet the qualifications of the job, with or without accommodation, in order to be protected by the ADA. In other words, the person must satisfy requirements for education, employment experience, skills, licenses, and any other job-related qualification standards. Additionally, the employer must provide any reasonable accommodation that a person with a disability needs in order to apply for a job, perform a job, or enjoy benefits equal to those offered to other employees. The employer does not, however, have to provide any accommodation that would impose an undue hardship on the organization.

Other employment laws

Several other laws are also relevant for employment in general, and employee selection in particular. For example, as early as 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 legalized unionization and collective bargaining. Shortly prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibited pay differentials for equal jobs across genders. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 also prohibits dismissal of an employee due to pregnancy and ensures job security during maternity leave.

More recently, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prohibits hiring illegal aliens. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) of 1988 requires a 60-day notice prior to closedown or massive layoffs. The Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 limits the scope of lie detector use and prohibits it as the sole determinant in hiring and firing decisions. Finally, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 affects organizations that employ 50 or more workers. Employees who have worked at such organizations for at least one year are granted up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical reasons in any given one-year period.

Foundational concepts for the enforcement of employment laws

Several concepts are critical for the implementation and enforcement of the above employment laws. For example, illegal discriminatory practices can be in the form of disparate treatment or disparate impact. A policy or selection procedure may not explicitly discriminate against members of a protected class (which would be a form of disparate treatment), yet this fact does not make that procedure legal. If the procedure has a discriminatory effect (i.e., a disparate impact), it can be illegal even if the effect is unintended.

For example, setting height or weight requirements for job applicants in a particular job may not be intended as a discriminatory practice. However, because these requirements exclude more women and certain racial groups that tend to be shorter or lighter, they can be found discriminatory unless they are justified by specific job

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Most hiring managers believe that they know a good applicant when

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In February 1993, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act grants qualified employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family and medical reasons in any given one-year period.

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requirements. These job requirements must create what is referred to as a business necessity.

As a case in point, it has been found justifiable that an individual in a wheelchair may be denied a job as a firefighter. On the other hand, for the same job category, height and weight requirements have been replaced with job sample tests through which applicants would be evaluated on their fitness levels and abilities to successfully carry out the physical job requirements, regardless of their body types.

Similar to discrimination, harassment in the workplace can assume two forms: quid pro quo or a hostile work environment. Quid pro quo (Latin for "this for that") is a more explicit form of harassment where the harassing member of the organization may require the harassed member to exchange sexual favors against his or her will. A hostile work environment is a more subtle but comparably illegal form of harassment. Some organizational members can create a hostile work environment by offending others, causing them undue hardships, and hindering their abilities to adequately perform their jobs. Examples include sexual or racial remarks or displays of inappropriate forms of art (e.g., posters that would make female employees uncomfortable). Unfortunately, many employees are unaware that their actions can cause their employers to be held legally liable for a hostile work environment. For example, employees who use company e-mail to forward jokes with sexual, racial, or religious connotations expose their employers to such risks.

It is also important to note that discrimination laws protect members of majority as well as minority groups. For example, as discussed in chapter 4 (4.5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec4.5#sec4.5) ) in the context of affirmative action, some organizations may consider hiring less qualified women and minorities in the attempt to appear less discriminatory and more diverse. However, these attempts can be found discriminatory against more qualified white male applicants, who have traditionally constituted the majority of the working population. This "overcompensation" effect is referred to as reverse discrimination and is illegal.

Finally, it is important to note that filing a claim with EEOC comes at no cost to the employee, and that most of the laws discussed above also have clauses that prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who choose to report discriminatory practices. Once an employee provides basic evidence of discrimination, the burden of proof shifts to the employer, who may lack the documentation and evidence that would make it possible to prove the work environment was not discriminatory. Discrimination lawsuits can cost the employer millions of dollars in punitive damages. As mentioned earlier, employment laws cover not only current employees, but also job applicants and past employees, making them particularly relevant for selection as well as for all HR practices.

WEB LINK

Summary of Major HR Laws: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm (http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm) The Department of Labor provides this summary of major HR laws. Various links on this page also provide more details and assistance with interpreting the statutes and regulations governing employment in the United States.

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF AN HR MANAGER

"You can't really trust your gut feeling about an applicant"

Most managers believe that they know a good applicant when they see one. However, in reality, they couldn't be more wrong! Here are some examples:

1. Tom hires Paolo as a production worker because Paolo is an immigrant and Tom believes that immigrants are hard workers. All the references listed in the application gave Paolo favorable recommendations. Two weeks later, it turns out that Paolo is an illegal alien. Paolo gets deported, and the organization is fined.

2. Sarah is sitting in the interview room, waiting to interview Andy for a sales job. Andy is late and comes in with a big coffee stain on his shirt. Sarah concludes that Andy would make a terrible salesperson because he is disorganized and poorly groomed; she cuts the interview short and does not recommend Andy for the job. A month later, Andy graduates with a GPA of 4.0 from a reputable school and accepts a more attractive job offer with a competitor. A year later, Andy is promoted to sales manager for having $5 million in sales, which is unheard of in that industry.

3. Jaime goes to diversity training and comes back convinced that the organization should exert more effort and resources in hiring women and minorities. So, for the next six months, she favors women and minorities in all of her selection decisions,

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they see one, but that is not always the case.

even in cases where there are more-qualified white males in the applicant pool. As a result, performance suffers and the organization faces a class action lawsuit.

Despite these hiring managers' good intentions, they have made critical selection mistakes. As a result, they compromised the performance and reputation of their organizations. Tom should have done due diligence in confirming Paolo's immigration status, which would have been more likely if he had given all applicants a fair chance and followed the proper procedures regardless of each applicant's background. The same applies to Jaime. She should have kept the job requirements front and center in her decision, rather than any applicant's gender or race. As for Sarah, she would have probably hired Andy had she still gone through the interview protocol and heard his amazing answers to the interview questions—answers that none of the other applicants would have been able to give. But because she was too busy staring at the coffee stain and supposing him to be disrespectful, rude, and undisciplined for being late to the interview, she did not really listen to anything he said.

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5.7 Opportunities, Challenges, and Recent Developments in Employee Selection and Job Fit

Finding the right applicant for the job is a challenging task that requires a great deal of effort and dedication. Some of the opportunities, challenges, and recent developments organizations face regarding selection have to do with legal and regulatory issues; sociocultural developments; global and competitive factors; employee motivation; morale, productivity, and retention; and unions and labor relations.

Legal and regulatory opportunities and challenges in employee selection

In addition to the strategic and administrative responsibilities associated with selecting and hiring a candidate, HR managers are also bombarded with legal aspects of employment such as new legislation, managerial and executive orders, and court decisions. Maintaining nondiscriminatory practices while determining employee eligibility and predicting performance are serious challenges that HR managers face on a daily basis. HR managers must exercise extreme caution to ensure that selection procedures are appropriately and purposefully designed to address only information that pertains to a job.

On the other hand, organizations that successfully promote diversity in their workforces have the tremendous opportunity to leverage unique talent and build a competitive advantage. For example, diversity is one of the criteria behind Fortune magazine's Best Companies to Work For lists. Many successful organizations such as Google pride themselves in having cultures that embrace and celebrate diversity, which attracts many talented employees from a wide range of backgrounds.

Sociocultural developments: You may have selected them, but what will make them select you?

It is a very challenging process for organizations to attract qualified candidates for jobs in a highly competitive and skill-demanding market. Moreover, it is an even bigger challenge to retain these talents, skills, and experiences within the organization. A considerable portion of employees' attraction to a certain job and their satisfaction with it is their personal perception of how well they fit in that job and in the general organizational culture. Many factors govern these perceptions, such as challenging tasks, good prospects for growth and career advancement, job stability and security, assignments that carry interesting and meaningful responsibilities, the training and development of skills and talents, reasonable working hours, favorable working environment with well-matched peers, recognition, respect, appreciation and self-actualization, fair treatment, company loyalty, and recognition and assistance with employees' personal needs. However, resources are necessary to keep this host of factors in place, and these resources are drying up quickly in light of today's cut-throat competition and economic recession.

Moreover, significant shifts and challenges are expected to occur as organizations attempt to attract and retain the Millennial Generation born from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. In addition to the above expectations, Millennials tend to expect a lot of flexibility. They tend to take the norm as being self-directed careers that constitute a long series of short-term jobs, multiple income streams, and entrepreneurship. They are as unlikely to rely on organizational initiatives for their learning and development as they are to rely on social security to fund their retirement. In other words, Millennials tend to take matters in their own hands and work at their own terms, making it difficult for any one organization to attract them, let alone retain them over time without constantly negotiating most of the terms of employment (Yost, 2011).

Global and competitive factors

Global staffing involves making recruiting and selection decisions for the purpose of hiring individuals for assignments in other countries. Global recruiting is extremely challenging, and the associated costs are usually very high. Accordingly, accurate selection decisions have to be carefully considered and validated. Global recruiting also involves a variety of factors that HR managers have to adapt and prepare for, such as different tax laws for different countries as well as various customs, cultures, and traditions. For instance, for a successful global employee selection process to occur, HR managers must exert themselves to depict the lifestyle, work environment, culture, and habits to selected employees. Only then will employees be able to deal with such issues as acceptable codes of ethics and moral and religious values (Clegg & Gray, 2002).

An example of an organization that has been successful in global staffing is LivingSocial, a Washington, DC–based company that provides its subscribers worldwide with daily deals. LivingSocial has expanded from 600 to 4,500 employees in 2011, including 700 global positions to support services for the company's 46 million members outside the United States, in the 25 countries that the company currently serves.

To select the right candidate for a global assignment, HR managers must carefully examine aspects such as cultural adjustment abilities, personality traits and characteristics, knowledge of global organizational requirements, communication skills, and other personal and family requirements and considerations. Fortunately, despite the perceived high failure rates of expatriate assignments of the past, recent studies show that these perceived trends are in fact inaccurate (Harzing, 2002). Instead, research demonstrated that self-efficacy, frequency of interaction with host nationals, interpersonal skills, family support, and discretion can facilitate expatriate adjustment. On the other hand, cultural novelty, role conflict, and ambiguity were shown to hinder adjustment. Expatriate adjustment is critical. Well- adjusted expatriates have higher performance, are more satisfied, experience less job strain, engage in more organizational citizenship, and are less likely to quit (Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003).

Impact of selection and job fit on employee motivation, morale, productivity, and retention

The last decade has witnessed a movement toward emphasizing employee talents and strengths in selection, organizational fit, and job fit. Organizational and job fit can be influential factors for employees' initial acceptance or rejection of job offers. However, what's even more critical is that these factors can also exert significant influence on work quality, motivation, and productivity after employees have been hired. For example, as discussed in chapter 3, Gallup's employee engagement

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Organizations often seek favorable relationships with unions, as union activities can influence human resources practices in a number of ways.

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methodology considers two factors—the daily ability to do what one does best at work and having a best friend in the workplace—as being critical for having engaged employees. In turn, this engagement yields numerous desirable outcomes for employees and organizations (Harter et al., 2002). These outcomes are particularly evident after true and unbiased job expectations are clearly and precisely communicated to applicants during the recruiting process.

Individuals approach organizations with many needs, desires, and expectations. Those individuals also come from a variety of backgrounds with different skills, experiences, capabilities, and personal perceptions. When these individuals are ultimately hired by organizations, they expect to find a job environment that would not only fulfill and satisfy their basic needs but also utilize, enhance, and promote their abilities and talents. In addition, significant job involvement and the utilization of maximum talent potential in prominent activities allows individuals to be recognized within the organization, which enhances their sense of self-actualization. Favorable HR practices can promote a concrete culture of trust and create a long-term sense of commitment within the organization for qualified and skilled human assets (Whitener, 2001).

Selection, unions, and labor relations

Union activities directly affect HR practices. For example, unions can impose pressure on management to give priority in job selection to union members rather than outside applicants when a position opens. Unions also influence the job selection process through negotiating shorter probationary periods and a quicker determination of employees' suitability for positions. These activities can sometimes result in premature and poor judgment of individuals, which may ultimately lead to inaccurate selection decisions and unsatisfactory job performance. Other areas where unions influence HR decisions include testing, promotions, layoffs, and merit- based systems. Organizations often seek favorable relations with unions, but such relations can be challenging, as they can compromise the validity and reliability of the selection process.

EYE ON THE GOAL

"Beyond validity and reliability: Utility analysis and return on investment in selection"

While effective selection can be expensive, the costs of selection mistakes can be even worse. One of the recognized scientific approaches to quantifying the return on investment in effective selection is utility analysis, which uses statistical formulas to calculate these returns over time. Utility analysis takes into consideration several aspects of the selection process; for example, it accounts for the predictive capacity (validity) of one selection tool or process versus another. Utility analysis can also account for the joint predictive capacities of multiple selection devices, such as combining structured interviews and personality tests. Furthermore, utility analysis accounts for the importance of the job for the organization in terms of the financial impact of more effective selection in that particular job. Some jobs may exhibit higher variability in performance, warranting more accurate selection, while others may not have as much variation across incumbents, limiting the scope of improvement in selection. Utility analysis also accounts for factors such as labor demand and supply, which the organization may not be able to control. When the desired talent is in abundant supply, organizations can afford to be more selective, which can increase the return on investment in more effective selection procedures. On the other hand, the cost may outweigh the benefits when the organization intends to select the majority of applicants due to talent shortages.

As you probably know if you are familiar with accounting standards, the primary difference between an investment and an expense is that returns on investments accrue over more than one year. If effective selection is indeed an investment, its benefits should accrue beyond the current year. Statistical methods such as utility analysis go beyond the costs of using various selection devices, and even beyond the opportunity costs of effective selection (e.g., the redirection of managers' time and energy away from other activities). These methods also take into consideration time-sensitive factors such as employee flows, which in turn are affected by the number of employees hired using one or more selection procedure, as well as these employees' retention and turnover rates (Cascio & Boudreau, 2011).

Although calculating returns on investment is a complicated task, being able to quantify them in effective selection and other HR practices is an important skill set for HR professionals. This quantification can help them learn to speak the same language as the organization's "C-suite" (senior management and decision makers at the strategic level) and its shareholders, whose ultimate goal is to see the impact on the organizational bottom line. For example, when HR professionals are able to show the dollar-value added of adopting more valid and reliable selection procedures, these investments can be more readily compared with other more tangible investments such as those in buildings, machinery, equipment, or technology. This calculation increases the likelihood that valuable HR initiatives can get the resource allocations, funding, and support they need to truly make a difference in achieving strategic organizational goals.

WEB LINK

The Added Value of HR Initiatives: www.hrcosting.com (http://www.hrcosting.com) This free website allows HR professionals to quantify the benefits and costs of numerous HR initiatives, including enhanced selection tools and procedures. Decision makers can use this website to also conduct what-if analysis and compare alternative HR practices.

http://www.hrcosting.com/

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Chapter Summary

Organizations should use a combination of individual differences; human, social, and psychological capital; and attitudes as criteria for selection. These criteria should be prioritized based on job requirements and organizational culture.

Common selection methods include resumes, application forms, tests, interviews, reference checks, physical exams, and drug tests.

The quality of selection tools, methods, and procedures depends on their validity and reliability. Validity is the extent to which a selection tool or procedure can accurately predict subsequent performance. Reliability is the extent to which a selection tool, method, or procedure can produce consistent, replicable results over time and across situations.

There are numerous laws and regulations governing HR practices, including selection. While employee selection methods attempt to differentiate candidates who possess requisite job skills from those who do not, employers should not treat applicants differently based on discriminatory factors such as gender, religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, or disability.

Ensuring effective selection, organizational, and job fit can have a significant benefit on employee motivation, morale, productivity, and retention. Selecting the right candidates is critical for creating human-based competitive advantage.

Key Terms

Test your knowledge of these key terms by clinking on the "definition" links.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

A federal law that prohibits discrimination against employees over age 40.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

A law that prohibits discrimination against physically or mentally disabled employees who are otherwise qualified for a job and requires reasonable accommodations for them.

Big Five personality traits

Five recognized individual differences: conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.

construct validity

The extent to which a selection tool accurately reflects the abstract personal attributes, or constructs, that a tool intends to measure.

content-related validity

The logical connection between the selection procedure and the actual job.

core self-evaluations

A composite of four individual differences: self-esteem, generalized confidence, neuroticism, and locus of control.

criterion-related validity

definition

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The predictive, empirical (number-based) link between a predictor (such as a selection tool, method, or procedure) and an actual measure of job performance; or the statistical correlation between applicants' scores on the predictor and their subsequent job performance scores.

disparate impact

An illegal situation where a policy or selection procedure that does not explicitly discriminate against members of a protected class has a discriminatory effect, whether intended or unintended.

disparate treatment

An illegal situation in which an organization explicitly discriminates against an individual based on one of the protected classes.

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

A law that limits the scope of lie detector use and prohibits it as the sole determinant in hiring and firing decisions.

Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC)

An entity that enforces antidiscriminatory laws and facilitates their application in organizations through education and technical assistance.

Equal Pay Act

A law that prohibits pay differentials for equal jobs across genders.

external validity

The generalizability of a selection tool or procedure.

face validity

The subjective impression of how relevant to a job various applicants, organizations, or observers perceive a predictor to be.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

A law that requires an organization that employs 50 or more workers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, for family or medical reasons in any given one-year period, to employees who have worked at the organization for at least one year.

general mental abilities (GMA)

Raw intelligence as measured by recognized intelligence quotient (IQ) tests.

hostile work environment

definition

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A discriminatory and thus illegal form of harassment where some organizational members create an uncomfortable or offensive environment for others, causing them undue hardships and hindering their abilities to adequately perform their jobs.

Immigration Reform and Control Act

A law that prohibits hiring illegal aliens.

individual differences

Personal traits that tend to be stable over time and across situations.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

A law that legalizes unionization and collective bargaining.

person-job fit

The extent to which the demands of the job are compatible with the capabilities of the incumbent and to which the needs or preferences of the incumbent are met by the job.

person-organization fit

The extent of the resemblance between the personal core values and beliefs of individuals and the norms, rules, regulations, and values of the organizations where they work.

positive psychological capital

An individual's positive psychological state of development that is characterized by (1) having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the effort necessary to succeed at challenging tasks; (2) attributing positive reasons and causes (optimism) to succeeding now and in the future; (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resiliency) to attain success.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

A law that prohibits dismissal of an employee due to pregnancy and ensures job security during maternity leave.

psychological states

Cognitive, affective, and social capabilities that represent openness to growth, development, and change over time and across situations.

quid pro quo

Latin for "this for that"; a discriminatory and thus illegal form of harassment where the harassing member of the organization requires the harassed member to exchange sexual favors against his or her will.

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reliability

The extent to which the results from a predictor (such as a selection tool, method, or procedure) can be replicated.

reverse discrimination

An illegal practice in which the majority group is discriminated against in favor of a minority group.

social capital

The value added through interpersonal relationships, interactions, and networking.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

A law that prohibits discrimination based on sex, religion, race, ethnicity, or national origin in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and other terms and conditions of employment.

utility analysis

A scientific approach to quantifying the return on investment in effective selection and other HR practices using statistical formulas to calculate these returns over time.

validity

The extent to which a selection tool or procedure can accurately predict subsequent performance.

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)

A law that requires employers to give employees a 60-day notice prior to closedowns or massive layoffs.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Recent research on "Generation Y" suggests that for individuals of that generation fit with the group is more important than fit with the organization. Do you believe this to be true? Why or why not?

2. If you have a selection method that is highly valid in predicting job performance but also yields high disparate impact, although the organization may be able to legally defend this method, should it continue to use it? Are there circumstances when it would be more or less acceptable to use it?

3. Does "face validity" really matter? Why or why not should an organization concern itself with face validity if it doesn't have to? Should an organization be willing to trade off other types of validity to have face validity?

4. Despite being less valid in predicting job performance, both hiring managers and applicants prefer unstructured interviews over structured interviews. Why do you think this is the case?

5. A valid selection tool must be reliable, but a reliable selection tool isn't necessarily valid. Why is this the case?

Self-Assessment Quiz

The following quiz is for your own review and will not affect your grade.

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6Performance Appraisal: Measurement, Assessment, and Management

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Use a holistic approach to define work performance and identify its dimensions

Discuss the outcomes of effective performance appraisal

Link performance appraisal with other functions within the HRM process

Apply the concepts of validity and reliability to performance measurement

Describe various commonly used performance appraisal methods

Identify emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in performance appraisal

It is inconceivable that an organization would not want to see high performance from its employees, yet it is very common for organizations to measure performance poorly and thus be in the dark about the quality of their employees' performance. This fact is especially true in light of the increasing emphasis on service jobs; unfortunately, services are much harder to measure than tangible products. Consequently, performance measurement in today's business world requires more creativity and a more holistic approach than it used to.

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Employee productivity can be defined as the ratio of what employees actually produce and what an organization predicted employees would produce based on the specific responsibilities of a job.

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6.1 What Is Performance?

A holistic approach to performance appraisal means viewing performance as a multidimensional system of inter-related parts. In this section, several components of performance are discussed and integrated. These components provide the foundation for the design, measurement, assessment, and management of an effective performance appraisal system that can be conducive to continuous performance improvement at both the individual and organizational levels.

1. Employee productivity

Productivity is the most prominent component of performance. Generally speaking, any job or role has a core set of functions, duties, and responsibilities that its incumbent needs to perform. Often, there are also some standards regarding the minimum level of acceptable performance for each of these functions, duties, and responsibilities. This predetermined set of criteria can be used as the bare minimum to define and measure employees' performance. Employee productivity can then be defined as the ratio of the actual employee production to the planned or anticipated production for the core set of functions, duties, and responsibilities of the job performed.

2. Employee attitudes

Attitudes can be defined as cognitive and emotional appraisals that shape subsequent behavioral tendencies. Employees' attitudes have a direct influence on their productivity, as well as on the organizational culture as a whole. As you learned in chapter 5 (5.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec5.1#sec5.1) ), this fact makes employee attitudes valid predictors of performance. Some organizations want a more accurate depiction of their employees' performance; these organizations should incorporate employees' attitudes in their performance appraisals. Because attitudes are subjective, two people may appraise the same situation differently and therefore be inclined to respond to it differently.

Important positive attitudes in the workplace include

job satisfaction (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001)

organizational commitment (Riketta, 2002)

work engagement (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002)

Negative work attitudes include

cynicism (Wanous, Reichers, & Austin, 2000)

disengagement (Robison, 2010)

Each of these five attitudes has been shown to be a significant predictor of work performance. Importantly, the "softer" and less tangible nature of attitudes makes them harder to measure. However, these specific attitudes have scientifically designed, valid, and reliable measures that can be incorporated within performance appraisal systems, and well-supported HR initiatives can be used to develop and manage these attitudes.

Employees with negative attitudes express these attitudes in their behavioral patterns and adversely influence their coworkers, which in turn depresses employee morale and team spirit, triggers employee conflicts, and reduces efficiency, quality, and performance. On the other hand, employees who are satisfied with their jobs are generally more committed to fulfill their tasks and responsibilities efficiently. In addition, they are more likely to get involved and actively engaged in job activities. Employees with positive attitudes can also create a "cheerleader effect" that transfers their positive energy to other individuals and creates a favorable atmosphere that promotes work engagement, commitment, and productivity.

Performance appraisal systems that account for attitude recognize that employees with positive attitudes are valuable assets, and these systems provide the means to properly recognize and reward these employees for these attitudes. They also provide mechanisms to identify negative attitudes, diagnose their causes, and design corrective action plans.

3. Work behaviors

Performance is often visualized in terms of productivity and efficiency. However, the following elements of performance should also be considered in evaluations of employee performance:

coaching, mentoring, or supporting new coworkers

sharing skills and experience

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Organizational citizenship behaviors include promoting a friendly work environment and supporting one's coworkers.

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Team performance analysis can focus on individual contribution to the team, or on the team as a unit.

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promoting a friendly work environment and a healthy team spirit

abiding by and encouraging others to follow organizational norms, regulations, and procedures

assisting employees with their emotional and personal problems

These are all forms of positive performance that go above and beyond the call of duty. They are not explicit role expectations and are rarely, if ever, formally recognized or rewarded by an organization. These work behaviors are known as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) (Organ, 1988). OCBs are very challenging to evaluate because they are very subjective in nature. Furthermore, they require the assessor to analyze and evaluate multiple subjective parameters simultaneously, processes that introduce bias and inaccuracy. Moreover, this evaluation does not provide the employee with specific feedback necessary for their development.

Lee and Allen (2002) identify two types of OCBs: individual-oriented and organization-oriented behaviors. Individual-oriented OCBs are targeted toward another individual; an example is helping a coworker with a difficult task. Organization- oriented OCBs are targeted toward the organization—for example, conserving office supplies and speaking highly of one's employer in a social setting constitute organization-oriented OCBs. OCBs are particularly relevant to a holistic performance appraisal system: they make a significant difference in the quality of employees' service. Customers are more likely to be satisfied when they do business with organizations where employees go above and beyond their standard duties, rather than offering a bare minimum of effort. Systems in today's organizations that measure performance appraisal, compensation, and reward therefore also need to measure and assess OCBs.

Some work behaviors can also be counterproductive. Bennett and Robinson (2000, p. 556) define counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) as "voluntary behavior of organizational members that violates significant organizational norms, and in doing so, threatens the well-being of the organization and/or its members." Examples of CWBs include physical violence, verbal aggression, harassment, theft, intentionally producing lower quantity or quality, wasting resources or supplies, sabotaging organizational property, leaking confidential information, or refusing to help coworkers (Robinson & Bennett, 1995).

Many reasons can prompt these behaviors—e.g., environmental conditions such as work stressors, perceptions of injustice, or situational frustration. These behaviors hinder the organization's ability to achieve its goals and objectives and can have serious implications on performance. That's why it is critical for an organization to take necessary actions to detect, assess, and correct counterproductive behaviors (Spector, Fox, & Domagalski, 2005). Thus, addressing CWBs should also be an integral component of performance appraisal systems.

4. Team performance

There are several approaches for measuring team performances because it is more than the sum of the individual performances of the team members. Some approaches focus on individuals and their contributions to the team, while other approaches focus on the team as a unit, including the synergies, added effectiveness, productivity, problem- solving capabilities, and innovation realized as a result of collaboration across team members (McCann & Aldersea, 2002).

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6.2 What Is Performance Appraisal and Why Is It Important?

Performance appraisal is the process through which employee performance is assessed, feedback is provided to the employee, and corrective action plans are designed. Figure 6.1 outlines the performance appraisal process and positions it within the strategic HRM process. Various sections and discussions in this chapter elaborate on those linkages.

Although the main objective of performance appraisals is to evaluate employees' work performance, performance appraisals are also important for organizations because they reflect the effectiveness and efficiency of achieving organizational goals and objectives. Organizations use performance appraisals for many purposes such as

managing salaries, wages, and pay adjustments

providing performance feedback for employees and communicating points of strength and weakness

Performance appraisals are also used by management

to determine job placement decisions such as promotions, demotions, and transfers

to justify employee disciplinary actions such as termination or dismissal

Performance appraisals are often linked to such incentive systems as bonuses, which sustain a culture of rewarding employees based on their job performance rather than their seniority. However, badly prepared performance appraisals can negatively affect high performers because they may not be fairly rewarded, which can ultimately destroy their morale and sense of trust in organizational practices. Finally, performance appraisals can provide the necessary information for assessing training needs and designing the appropriate training and development initiatives to meet those needs.

Figure 6.1: Performance appraisal

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Performance appraisals may be used by managers to compensate and reward employees who perform above expectations.

An accident involving a company vehicle is an example of a critical incident regarding job performance that would need to be recorded.

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6.3 Common Performance Appraisal Methods

Organizations commonly use many valid and reliable performance appraisal methods. Different methods provide different types of information. Some measures are objective and some are subjective; some have absolute standards and others are relative:

1. The narrative technique is a subjective tool in which the evaluator provides a written essay describing the employee's job performance and behavioral patterns.

2. The critical incident method provides a more objective approach to the narrative technique, in which managers keep track of each positive or negative incident of their employees' job-related performance, updating the record regularly. The primary advantage of this approach over the basic narrative technique is that it is less time consuming. Only critical incidents are recorded, which helps evaluators remember each employee's performance for the whole period being evaluated rather than focusing on the last few days or week preceding the evaluation.

3. The management by objective method evaluates employees' successful completion of pre-established goals and objectives in a time frame specified beforehand. The manager and employee jointly set goals and performance standards at the beginning of the evaluation period, and then employees are evaluated at the end of the period based on the extent of their goal completion. Critical to the success of this method is that the means, tools, and processes that lead to goal achievement are left at the discretion of the employee, rather than the manager's dictating them.

4. The graphic rating scale method is an absolute performance appraisal method that lists all the criteria associated with the job. Managers then evaluate employees by assigning a numerical value for each of those criteria, based on a predetermined scoring scale. For example, a manager may be asked to use a 1–10 scale to rate each employee on a list of criteria such as productivity, performance quality, initiative, communication, conformity to organizational policies, and so on.

5. The behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) is also an absolute performance appraisal method. It is a more elaborate form of a graphic rating scale: each of the points on the scoring scale is anchored with specific behavioral descriptions for what constitutes performance at that level. This anchoring facilitates consistency, especially inter-rater reliability, in the use of the scale.

6. The forced-distribution method is a relative performance evaluation technique that allows managers to assign or allocate certain percentages of employees into predetermined appraisal categories. For example, the top 25% of employees based on performance would be considered "excellent," the next 25% would be considered "satisfactory," the following 25% would be considered "below expectations," and the lowest 25% would be considered "unsatisfactory." This lowest performance group would then be reprimanded, put on probation, or terminated. This approach is most commonly associated with Jack Welch, a former CEO of General Electric. GE eliminated the lowest 10% of performers every year using this method.

7. The paired comparison method is another relative performance evaluation technique. It uses a matrix where each employee is evaluated against each and every other employee performing the same job. For each two employees compared against each other, the manager uses a positive or a negative sign to indicate which employee is better. Finally, all positives and negatives are added for each employee and the employees are ranked accordingly, with the one earning the most positives rated the highest.

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6.4 Performance Measurement

Organizations often use a combination of performance measures because each type of measure has strengths and weaknesses, as you will see in this section. However, regardless of the types of information measured, reliable and valid results are always the goal.

Objective versus subjective performance measures

The use of subjective versus objective performance evaluations has been a subject of debate among management professionals, many of whom nevertheless believe that a balance between the two categories provides an optimal mix that creates a fair and effective performance evaluation system. Objective evaluations involve factors that are measurable, mostly in the form of performance metrics associated with achieving certain goals and targets within specific time frames. Examples of objective evaluations include

employee annual attendance

hourly rate of production

cost savings per year

Objective performance evaluations are successful only when they are applied to tasks where direct employee measurement is possible, and where performance can be compared across individuals who perform similar tasks within the same time frame. However, objective measures are not useful when managers attempt to apply them to complex processes. For example, the number of reported safety incidents per month would not constitute an effective objective measure because such incidents vary in terms of importance and severity.

Subjective evaluations may be more helpful for professionals whose performance cannot be clearly measured (such as lawyers, market analysts, and trainers) or whose tasks do not lend themselves to objective measurement, such as

teamwork capabilities

communication skills

levels of professionalism

Measurement scales used for selection are described in chapter 5 (5.3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec5.3#sec5.3) ). For subjective performance evaluations, similar measures can be created for each particular metric based on its weight or importance to the job, which can then be assessed for validity and reliability, then refined, and then utilized to assess performance along those dimensions. For example, managers can be asked to provide actual examples of specific behaviors they expect from their employees for a particular performance criterion. (These examples can also be gathered using the narrative or critical incident methods.) These examples can then be used to create a measurement scale for managers to rate their employees. For instance, a leadership measurement scale may ask managers to rate their employees on items such as "takes initiative," "positively influences others," "works independently," and so forth. Although subjective evaluations provide managers with more flexibility in assessing performance, they can sometimes be unfair, especially in cases of unfavorable manager- employee relationships.

Absolute versus relative performance standards

Absolute performance evaluations assess each individual on the successful completion of his or her targets and goals in comparison to some pre-established standards. In a relative performance, in contrast, one individual is evaluated in relation to others who perform the same or similar tasks. Individuals are then categorized based on their performance rankings. These rankings are particularly relevant to identify exceptionally good employees for the purpose of promotions or special assignments. They are also helpful in identifying a poor fit between individuals and positions—identifications that can be useful in making transfer or termination decisions or when workforce reductions are necessary.

Aside from those unique situations, research demonstrates that most employees prefer to be evaluated based on absolute standards, rather than on their relative performance ranking (Boyle, 2001; Lawler, 2003; McGregor, 2006). Relative performance creates a culture of competitiveness where slower performers are not tolerated. One of the most critical disadvantages of relative performance evaluation systems is potential lawsuits from some protected classes that are perceived to be slower performers, such as older members or individuals with certain disabilities. Another shortcoming of applying the relative performance system is the negative influence on team spirit, as these evaluations create rivalries and competition. Relative performance is also ineffective in providing employees with useful feedback on their performance that would help them improve, which defies the main and most important purpose of a performance evaluation.

Validity and reliability revisited

Due to the measurement-intensive nature of performance appraisal, its tools, methods, and procedures are subject to the same validity and reliability standards that are discussed in chapter 5 (5.4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec5.4#sec5.4) ).

For a performance appraisal system to be deemed valid, its results should correlate to objective performance standards. For example, an appraisal system that yields similar evaluations across the board, regardless of actual performance, has low validity.

A reliable performance appraisal system should yield consistent results. For instance, an effective performance appraisal system must result in the same

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It is important for an appraisal system to be adequately designed for evaluating, measuring, and assessing the right performance indicators to avoid any bias.

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conclusions about an employee's performance, regardless of such variations in input factors as the manager conducting the appraisal, the time of day, or the location of the evaluation.

It is also important that the appraisal system be designed expressly to measure and assess performance, rather than for other unrelated or indirectly related goals. Otherwise, performance evaluations will be biased and their outcomes will be misleading for both the employees and the organization. For example, performance appraisals can be used solely to determine annual raises or bonuses instead of as a way to provide employees with feedback about their performance and help them improve. In these cases, managers tend to ignore the appraisal process until the last week of the year and then give most of their employees the same evaluations in an effort to be "fair" at distributing those financial rewards. As a result, these employees rarely take performance appraisal seriously.

Advantages and disadvantages of various performance measures

Similar to selection methods, performance measures vary in their validity and reliability. Organizations use a combination of methods to accurately assess their employees' performance, since each method has its advantages and limitations:

The graphic rating scale method is favored by organizations because it is fairly simple and easy to apply. It also provides a clear quantitative measure of performance; however, its validity and reliability may be questionable when the involved criteria are obscure or biased.

The behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) provides a more accurate and consistent method of assessing employees. However, thorough analysis must be conducted to determine the specific behavioral patterns associated with each task —a time-consuming task.

The critical incident method, the narrative technique, and the management by objective methods are all subjective ways of appraising employees. Although the subjective nature of these methods can compromise reliability, they have their advantages:

The advantage of the critical incident method is that it depicts the actual performance of employees with its positives and negatives. It also forces managers to regularly observe employees and maintain a regularly updated account of important performance events. This method's disadvantage is that it cannot be used to compare employees' performance.

The descriptive nature of the narrative technique gives it high validity, but it creates a burden on assessors, who must devote a great deal of time toward developing a specific evaluation for each employee.

The main advantage of the management-by-objective method is that it promotes an environment of high performance among employees. Their evaluations are tied up to the accomplishment of their objectives, which can be linked to the organization's strategic goals. This enhances this method's validity. The disadvantage of this method is that it is time consuming, as specific job objectives have to be formulated for every single employee in the organization.

The main strength of relative performance evaluation techniques is that they prevent managers from categorizing a large number of employees in the same performance category and provide a more logical distribution of employees that causes top and bottom performers to stand out. This result enhances the validity of relative performance appraisal methods. However, the performance evaluation results are solely dependent on the preselection of the percentage of employees allocated for each appraisal category, which compromises their reliability and sometimes their validity. This outcome is especially likely when managers resort to artificially placing employees in rankings that do not represent their performance. For example, in organizations that force managers to place some of their associates in the lowest performance category despite their adequate performance, many managers routinely alternate their associates into that category in order to "spread the pain" fairly and equitably.

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6.5 Linking Performance Appraisal to the HRM Process

Performance appraisal is a critical component of the strategic HRM process. Proper assessment of employee performance can facilitate and enhance many HR processes in several ways.

Performance appraisal as an internal resource for strategic HR planning

Performance appraisals provide HR management with valuable feedback that assists in planning and decision making. Data received from performance appraisals reflect many aspects about employees, such as their

personality

growth potential

adaptability to variation in work environment

respect for organizational rules and regulations

productivity

efficiency

leadership and teamwork capabilities

communication skills

other strengths and weaknesses

Using this valuable data, HR managers can identify certain employees for promotions, internal transfers to different positions, or layoffs and termination.

Succession planning is one very important area that performance appraisals serve. Succession planning is an area of great concern to HR managers as companies wish to ensure that qualified employees are available within the organization to fill managerial positions once they are vacant in order to lead the organization into fulfilling its future goals and objectives. Data about qualified individuals can be extracted from performance appraisals to ensure that qualified candidates are selected based on valid and reliable data.

Job analysis as a source of information for performance appraisal

Organizations conduct job analysis for the purposes of recruiting, determining salary rates, or determining how an employee would fit within the organizational chart. Moreover, this analysis helps organizations assess the skills and capabilities of the employees. As discussed in chapter 3, job analysis yields the job descriptions and job specifications that outline the duties and responsibilities associated with each job. It also outlines the human qualities necessary to successfully and efficiently perform the job tasks—such as the education level, experience level, and other physical and personal aspects that are necessary. Job descriptions and specifications can also be used to highlight key performance factors associated with the job. These factors can serve as the basis for performance appraisals and help identify areas of improvement, training, and constructive feedback for employees. Performance appraisal results may show consistent deficiencies in employees' performance of certain tasks, and these results may in turn trigger further job analysis efforts, job redesign, and subsequent modifications in job descriptions and job specifications.

Performance appraisal as a tool for identifying, recruiting, and selecting the right talent

HR managers can effectively use performance appraisals in their future employee recruiting and selection activities. For instance, data collected from performance appraisals can include degree of adaptability, technical experience, communication skills, and other qualities and key performance tasks necessary for a particular job. This data can help HR management foresee the performance of candidates who apply for a particular job. Performance appraisals can also help HR management identify, select, and determine the potential for some employees to occupy leading and managerial positions.

Performance appraisal as an indicator of training needs and knowledge gaps

Many organizations misuse performance appraisals or limit their use to only making decisions pertaining to salaries and promotions; yet the main objective of performance appraisals is employee development. Employees' points of strength and weakness are more clearly identified as they are evaluated against pre- established key performance indicators pertaining to their jobs. This identification enables HR managers to target and refine the weaker skills that require development through positive feedback, training, and development. This process allows the performance appraisal system to work as a positive, proactive mechanism for detecting areas of improvement, rather than as a reactive tool or punishment system where employees with performance deficiencies are judged as not meeting job performance criteria and weeded out.

Performance appraisal as a determinant of fair compensation and reward distribution practices

Managers use performance appraisals to reward and compensate employees based on their contribution to the efficient completion and fulfillment of their job duties and responsibilities. These appraisals promote perceptions of equity and justice, promote an organizational culture favorable to reward employees who exceed expectations through excellent performance, and help the organization achieve its strategic goals and objectives. Promoting these ends gives organizations a reason to

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invest in designing and implementing a valid, reliable, and fair performance appraisal system that employees can rely on.

EYE ON THE GOAL

"Relating performance attitudes to organizational profitability: Not a one-way street"

Until recently, the adage "a happy worker is a productive worker" was assumed to be true. In fact this assumption continues to be propagated by consultants, the media, and many credible references, and it's a shaping factor of many HR systems and policies. However, recent studies shed additional light on the relationship between employee attitudes and performance. While the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance is significant, the direction of causality is debatable. Recent studies show that if you measure satisfaction and performance over time, you will find that the relationship is bidirectional (e.g., satisfaction at Time 1 predicts performance at Time 2, and performance at Time 1 also predicts satisfaction at Time 2). However, performance has a stronger relationship with satisfaction than vice-versa (Judge et al., 2001).

What does all this mean in practice? Most organizations undertake many interventions and have many programs and initiatives in the hope of increasing job satisfaction and job performance, yet it appears that the best way to increase satisfaction is to help employees perform better. How? Support them, train them, give them the tools and information they need, and then get out of their way and leave them alone to do what they do best!

One fact exacerbates a problem for performance appraisal: supervisory ratings are usually influenced less by the employee's productivity than by the employee's attitudes, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and the learning abilities they exhibit during training (Schmidt, 2009). Managers' perceptions are biased toward the belief that employees who have positive attitudes, go out of their way to help, and are fast learners should outperform others. In reality, higher performers may not need any additional training, positive attitudes, or extra behaviors to shine. All they need is for their supervisors to support them in their superior performance, and their attitudes will follow suit. Instead, they are penalized by their supervisors' subjectivity and biases.

Finally, linking employee and organizational performance is always challenging, but especially so when employee performance is based on subjective or biased measures. However, objective performance measures are sometimes inaccurate, unavailable, or simply undisclosed. Several studies have shown that using multiple measures in these cases is likely to compensate for this inevitable deficiency, even if some of these measures are subjective (Chakravarthy, 1986; Dess & Robinson, 1984). For example, it may be impossible for a manager to objectively assess a salesperson's performance in the field. However, using customer satisfaction surveys with specific questions about the salesperson's knowledge and behaviors can provide a proxy for the missing data. Similarly, rather than expecting managers to micromanage their employees in order to accurately evaluate their performance, performance data can be collected instead from various stakeholders to reflect the employees' actual behaviors that can truly impact the organization's performance. Studies support the idea that this approach is even more effective in measuring strategic organizational performance than traditional financial measures, which only focus on shareholders. This perspective also supports the holistic approach to performance appraisal adopted in this chapter.

Discussion Questions

1. On a scale of 1–10, mark your level of satisfaction with your job today. Also make a brief list of the most important events that have led to your level of job satisfaction.

2. On a scale of 1–10, mark your evaluation of your productivity at work today.

3. Repeat this exercise for at least two weeks.

4. Create a chart similar to the examples provided in Figure 6.2 to trace your job satisfaction and your productivity.

5. Based on your chart, does your prior performance seem to lead to your subsequent satisfaction, or does your prior satisfaction seem to lead to your subsequent performance?

6. Based on your findings, what would you recommend as the most effective way for your boss to motivate you? What would be the least effective approach?

Figure 6.2: Examples of productivity and job satisfaction plots

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Scientists are considered knowledge workers because of the level of expertise and competency required to perform their jobs.

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Many employees regard the process of performance appraisal as a threat rather than a way to discover their own strengths and weaknesses.

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6.6 Opportunities, Challenges, and Recent Developments in Performance Management

Opportunities, challenges, and recent developments in performance management include jobs that defy objective measurement, legal implications, employee attitudes, global and cross-cultural considerations, organizational culture and politics, employee discipline, and avoiding common biases.

Jobs that defy objective measurement

In many professions today, there are significant challenges in objectively measuring incumbents' performance quantity, quality, efficiency, or effectiveness. Examples of these professionals include scientists, engineers, managers, and high-caliber technicians. Also referred to as knowledge work, these professionals hold jobs that consist of complex, goal-oriented activities that require high levels of competency. Work seldom has a single set of correct results or best practices, and the incumbent, rather than the manager or the HR department, is often the one with the most expertise about his or her job. Knowledge work is on the rise in modern economies (Quinn, 2005).

Performance measurement can be challenging in some jobs that were discussed earlier; they include service positions and work that involves being part of a team. In these jobs, the line between direct job responsibilities and OCBs is blurred, necessitating a holistic approach to performance management. Telecommuting jobs also pose measurement challenges, and they necessitate a results-oriented management style and substantially quantifiable job outcomes. Otherwise, managers are unable to monitor their employees' day-today behaviors on the job.

Moreover, with increased emphasis on corporate social responsibility, employees are now encouraged to become involved in volunteering activities and community service to positively influence their organizations' reputations, which can further blur the boundaries of job performance. Finally, recent research demonstrates that different people may view the same work as just a job, as a career, or as a calling. These different perceptions can have a significant impact on their performance and attitudes toward their jobs and organizations (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009; Peterson, Park, Hall, & Seligman, 2009).

Legal implications of performance appraisal

In formulating performance appraisals, it is vitally important that organizations exercise extreme caution, due to the legal implications that might be associated with discriminatory factors pertaining to age, race, sex, religion, or ethnic background rather than job-related performance appraisals (Buttrick, 2003). Furthermore, performance appraisals may be subject to legal scrutiny when they are subjective, rather than being an actual measure and a true reflection of employee performance. For example, if an employee who had consistently received "outstanding" evaluations were terminated based on a new manager's evaluation of the employee as a poor performer, the termination could raise red flags regarding the new manager's discriminatory biases and practices. On the other hand, objective performance evaluations might have been documented over time, and the organization might adopt a progressive discipline system in which the employee would be counseled about the performance deficiencies, given opportunities to improve, and then reprimanded progressively for poor performance. In that case, the termination could stand up to scrutiny as a result of poor performance by the employee rather than a result of discrimination by the manager.

Legal concerns are rising even more with the implementation of forced-distribution systems, which obligate managers to allocate certain percentages of employees to different performance appraisal categories such as "outstanding," "exceeding expectations," "meeting expectations," and "below expectations." For example, the classification of the lowest-performing employees as "below expectations" would be questionable if most of the employees in a department have met or exceeded performance expectations according to industry standards.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) emphasizes that performance appraisals must be related to the actual job activities that are nondiscriminatory, properly recorded, and documented (Goemaat, 2003). There are established approaches to designing and implementing fair, properly structured, legally defensible systems to manage performance (Barrett & Kernan, 1987; Feild & Holley, 1982; Werner & Bolino, 1997). These systems can help managers in their decision-making processes and help organizations avoid many unfavorable legal consequences (Panaro, 2005).

Employee attitudes toward performance appraisal

Many employees regard the performance appraisal process as a threat rather than a way to advance and discover their own strengths and weaknesses. Ironically, many individuals believe that the only way they would be recognized though a performance appraisal process is for others to receive lower ratings. Another very common employee reaction to performance appraisals is an impression that a manager is unfair simply because he or she disagrees with the employee's own appraisal of the job performance. Such

impressions are not surprising in light of the numerous recent misuses and abuses of performance appraisals discussed earlier.

The most effective way to improve employees' perceptions and reactions toward performance appraisals is for organizations to promote appraisals that are focused mostly on self-development and personal improvement (Drucker, 2005; Roberts et al., 2005). In general terms, most positively influential performance appraisals must carry an element of constructive feedback for the employees rather than being used solely as the basis for salary, wage, or bonus allocation.

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An employee's grooming and appearance can influence how he or she is perceived by management.

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Global and cross-cultural considerations in performance appraisal

Performance appraisal systems are commonly implemented and practiced in the United States. However, many constraints may arise when an organization expands its operations outside the United States and attempts to implement the same performance appraisal systems in other countries. For instance, different cultural perspectives may cast a negative light on feedback from managers to employees. In Asian and South American cultures, factors such as age, gender, and authority play a major role in determining the chain of command, making it extremely challenging for younger or female managers to communicate performance feedback to their subordinates. Negative feedback is also regarded in these cultures as threatening and destructive, rather than constructive, when managers attempt to communicate points of weakness or deficiency that require additional training and development.

Performance appraisal, organizational culture, and politics

Many factors within an organization can have a direct impact on the performance appraisal process; one of the most influential factors is organizational culture. The organization's internal environment can either encourage or hinder various aspects of performance. For example, one of the determining factors for the success and effectiveness of performance appraisal systems is individual assessment versus team performance assessment. Another factor is the establishment of a trusting culture where performers are adequately recognized and rewarded.

Performance appraisals are also often subject to office politics, specifically management manipulation as a result of favoritism or discrimination. Employee dissatisfaction and loss of confidence in company practices, especially among high performers, can follow unfair or unethical management behaviors related to performance appraisals. Unfavorable performance evaluation practices can also lead to discrimination-based lawsuits and major financial penalties against the organization if evaluations are not properly supported with valid evidence (Fox, 2009).

Using performance evaluations for employee discipline

An effective performance management system clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of employees, and it then evaluates the employees' actual performance against the developed standards to determine gaps or deficiencies in performance compared to what is expected. This process allows managers to make effective decisions pertaining to training, development, and rewards, or it allows them to execute disciplinary action if it is necessary. Disciplinary action can take many forms, ranging from denial of pay increases, bonuses, and other kinds of rewards to demotions or termination for poor performance.

However, discipline should not be the sole or primary use of performance evaluations. As discussed in the next section, an optimal balance between positive and negative feedback should be sought for maximum effectiveness of performance appraisals. On the other hand, when discipline becomes inevitable, the performance appraisal system should provide the evidence and documentation necessary to justify the need for and magnitude of discipline both to the employee and to regulatory bodies, if necessary.

Avoiding common biases when evaluating others' performance

Several perceptual and attributional biases can influence performance appraisals:

1. Stereotyping can yield inaccurate results against employees who belong to particular groups, which can be both unfair and discriminatory. For example, a manager who perceives younger employees to be naïve, lazy, or spoiled may give them lower evaluations regardless of their performance.

2. The halo effect can trigger erroneous judgments about an employee based on a limited number of performance dimensions. For example, a well-groomed employee may also receive favorable but undeserved evaluations on other performance dimensions such as being organized and having exceptional social skills.

3. Availability is another source of bias that influences evaluators in their performance assessments. Many individuals cannot clearly differentiate between the importance of a factor and its frequency of occurrence. Rather than focusing on major factors, evaluators tend to subconsciously remember and give more weight in their performance evaluation to recurring factors, no matter how minor they are.

4. Self-fulfilling prophecies can also interfere with performance appraisals. We tend to see what we expect to see. Research shows that when other things are equal, if managers poorly judge employees to be failures and expect these employees to fail, then the employees are likely to fail. On the other hand, if a manager believes in an employee and expects him or her to succeed, then he or she will be likely to succeed. This different outcome is probably due to the manager's intentionally or unintentionally investing more effort, resources, and support in the second kind of employee—making the manager's unsubstantiated prophecies come true.

5. The fundamental attribution error is that people have the tendency to attribute their own successes to internal causes and their own failures to external factors, while doing the opposite when they assess others' successes and failures. They blame others for their failures but do not give them enough credit for their successes. If left unchecked, this common attributional bias can be detrimental to performance appraisal. It can contribute toward employee perceptions of evaluator unfairness, which in turn can adversely affect employee performance and morale. Attributional bias can also lead to managers' feeling resentment and hostility toward their employees, whom they perceive to be lazy and irresponsible rather than constrained by situational factors. Finally, attributional bias can result in erroneous action plans, such as disciplining or terminating an employee, instead of training, development, or job redesign (Bernardin, 1989).

Perceptual and attributional biases are very hard to control. However, organizations should earnestly try make evaluators aware of biases to keep evaluations valid and reliable. Although the previously discussed sources of bias seem to be inadvertent, other intentional factors can also play a part in biasing employee evaluations. Some common types of intentional bias are manipulating employee ratings to be unfairly stringent or lenient, for either political or personal reasons. Some managers

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In performance appraisal sessions managers should comment on three positive aspects of an employee's performance for every one negative aspect.

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deliberately underevaluate employees to put pressure on them to work harder, teach them a lesson, or create evidence justifying subsequently laying them off. At the other extreme, some managers are too lenient in their evaluations of certain employees to avoid confrontation, to provide protection in case of employees' having personal difficulties, or to ensure employees' loyalty and support. Forced-distribution performance appraisals, cross checking with multiple evaluators, and extensive training are all methods employed by organizations to eliminate or minimize these types of bias (Bernardin, Cooke, & Villanova, 2000; Bernardin & Villanova, 2005).

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF AN HR MANAGER

"Delivering good versus bad news: How much positive and negative feedback should you give?"

As humans, we have a tendency to overemphasize and amplify the negative over the positive (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, & Vohs, 2001). Negative stimuli generally tend to receive more of our attention and energy. Performance appraisal is no exception. For example, it is common for managers to spend more time discussing an employee's weaknesses than strengths, and for managers to invest more energy and resources in problematic employees than in high performers. It is much easier to dwell on one's own or others faults. Pinpointing talents, strengths, and positive performance attributes does not usually come naturally, and it usually requires more intentionality.

So why do humans generally tend to focus on what is negative? The tendency to overemphasize negativity has been attributed to primitive survival mechanisms in reaction to perceived physical danger. In civilized societies, overemphasis on negativity has been attributed to four psychological factors that are comparable to primitive physical survival mechanisms: intensity, urgency, novelty, and singularity (Cameron, 2008). The first factor is the intensity of negative stimuli. Because negative events are perceived as threatening, they are experienced more intensely. Second is the sense of urgency that negative stimuli place on our perceptions and action tendencies, because "something is wrong and needs to be fixed." Positive stimuli do not pose the same sense of urgency, because ignoring positive stimuli does not pose as much risk as ignoring negative stimuli. Third is the perceived novelty of negative events. Believe it or not, much of what is going on in most people's lives is positive. That's why it tends to go unnoticed. Negativity is the exception, and that's why it gets more attention.

Finally, a fourth unique characteristic of negativity is referred to as singularity. Imagine a system with one defective component, a body with one ailing organ, a team with one counterproductive employee, or a family with one dysfunctional member. A single negative component is capable of tainting the performance of the collective, which causes that single negative component to stand out dramatically and send an alarm to the rest about the need to somehow remedy the problem. In contrast, positivity tends to be more general and global in nature. One positive component alone does not necessarily make a system better. One good employee alone usually cannot make an organization successful. One healthy organ alone cannot make the whole body healthy. This singularity makes the effect of negativity more pronounced and more far reaching.

Paradoxically, humans also have a natural tendency, referred to as the heliotropic tendency, to gravitate toward what is pleasurable (i.e., positive) and away from painful or uncomfortable stimuli. However, this tendency is usually overwhelmed by the intensity, urgency, novelty, and singularity of negativity, making it necessary to bring out the heliotropic tendency through intentional decisions and actions. That is why most managers recognize their tendencies to overemphasize their employees' weaknesses, faults, and mistakes yet fail in their intention to be more positive. For example, managers may get so overwhelmed by the urgency of addressing the dysfunctional behaviors of their worst employees that they have no time to interact with and praise their better ones for their consistently positive behaviors. Moreover, those consistently positive behaviors may no longer stand out, so they may be taken for granted and a manager may forget to recognize them while appraising these employees' performance.

So how can managers overcome their negative tendencies and lead more positive performance appraisal sessions, which in turn can lead to positive relationships with their employees, which in their turn can be conducive to higher subsequent performance and a better-functioning organizational culture? First, a manager needs to recognize the important concept of the positivity ratio (Fredrickson, 2009). While extreme, Pollyannaish positivity is unnecessary and can even be dysfunctional, research supports the existence of a tipping point or threshold for positivity. At this point, humans go beyond just being average or functional and begin to thrive and flourish (Keyes, 2002). This tipping point or threshold tends to take place at a positivity-to-negativity ratio of about 3:1. This is the positivity ratio.

Managers therefore need to intentionally create roughly three positive interactions with their employees for every negative interaction. In performance appraisal sessions, managers should put in a strong effort to find and comment on three positive aspects of their employees' performance for every negative aspect they want to bring to an employee's attention. This requires the art of "catching your employees doing something right," instead of the common practice of focusing on problems and mistakes. Interestingly, research shows ratios of 2:1 or 1:1 are not significantly different: they are almost equally counterproductive. Interactions that fall below the 3:1 threshold will likely be perceived by the employee to be excessively negative, regardless of how negative they are.

You might think that this "hand-holding" is more necessary for new or inexperienced employees and that more mature employees or more established relationships can tolerate lower positivity ratios. However, research shows the tipping points in those situations are actually higher. For example, the threshold is about 5:1 in more complex settings such as top management team communications, and as high as 6:1 in marital relationships (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005; Losada & Heaphy, 2004; Gottman, 1994).

WEB LINKS

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Assessing your positivity ratio: www.positivityratio.com (http://www.positivityratio.com) This website gives you access to Barbara Fredrickson's free positivity ratio assessment. Take the assessment and instantly obtain your own positivity ratio. This assessment will help you understand some of your biases toward positive and negative situations. Keep in mind that this assessment is volatile and will change depending on the situations you encountered the previous day. To get a more accurate assessment, it is recommended that you complete this test several times over several days and average your scores.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance: http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/handbook.pdf (http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/handbook.pdf)

This handbook is designed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to help federal supervisors and employees design and implement effective performance management systems that can help organizations align employee performance with organizational goals. The handbook provides numerous examples of performance measures and standards.

10 Secrets to an Effective Performance Review: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/25459/performance-review-examples.html (http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/25459/performance-review-examples.html)

This link provides practical advice, examples, and tips for conducting effective performance reviews. It also allows you to sign up and receive a free resource that includes samples and forms that can be adapted and used in performance appraisals.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe the most positive feedback you have ever received. How did it make you think, feel, and behave? How did it affect your relationship with the person who provided you with that feedback?

2. Describe the most negative feedback you have received. How did it make you think, feel, and behave? How did it affect your relationship with the person who provided you with that feedback? In your opinion today, was the feedback justified?

3. Describe the most positive feedback you have ever provided. What were the circumstances? How did it affect your relationship with the person you provided with that feedback?

4. Describe the most negative feedback you have ever provided. What were the reasons and circumstances? How did the feedback affect your relationship with the person you provided it to? In hindsight, was your feedback justified? What would have been an alternative approach to provide the same feedback more constructively?

5. Take the positivity ratio assessment every day for a week. What is your average positivity ratio?

6. Commit to having a positivity ratio of 3:1 at work and of 6:1 in your personal relationships. Keep track of your interactions for at least a week. How close did you get to those two ratios?

http://www.positivityratio.com/

http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/handbook.pdf

http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/25459/performance-review-examples.html

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Chapter Summary

Performance should be viewed as a multidimensional system of interrelated parts, including employee and team productivity, attitudes, and behaviors.

Performance appraisal is an integral component of the strategic HR process. It acts as an internal source of information for strategic HR planning, job analysis, and job design; as a tool to identify, recruit, and select the right talent; as an indicator of training needs and knowledge gaps; and as a determinant of fair- compensation and reward-distribution practices.

Performance measurement, assessment, and management can be very challenging, especially since many of today's jobs defy objective measurement. Examples include service jobs and knowledge work.

A wide range of performance appraisal methods and measures can be utilized and integrated to increase the validity, reliability, fairness, and legal defensibility of the performance management process.

Key Terms

Test your knowledge of these key terms by clinking on the "definition" links.

attitudes

Cognitive and emotional appraisals that shape subsequent behavioral tendencies.

availability

source of bias that influences evaluators in their performance assessments in that many individuals cannot clearly differentiate between the importance of a factor and its frequency of occurrence; rather than focusing on major factors, evaluators tend to subconsciously remember and give more weight in their performance evaluation to recurring factors, no matter how minor they are.

behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)

A more elaborate form of a graphic rating scale in which each of the points on the scoring scale is anchored with specific behavioral descriptions for what constitutes performance at that level.

counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs)

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms, and in so doing, threatens the well-being of the organization and/ or its members.

critical incident method

A performance appraisal technique in which managers keep track of each positive or negative incident of their employees' job-related performance, recording these incidents on an ongoing basis.

employee productivity

The ratio of the actual employee production to the planned or anticipated production for the core set of functions, duties, and responsibilities of the job performed.

forced-distribution method

A relative performance evaluation technique that allows managers to assign or allocate certain percentages of employees into predetermined appraisal categories.

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fundamental attribution error

bias in which people have the tendency to attribute their own successes to internal causes and their own failures to external factors, while doing the opposite when they assess others' successes and failures.

graphic rating scale method

An absolute performance appraisal method in which all the criteria associated with a job are listed, and managers evaluate employees by assigning a numerical value for each of those criteria, based on a predetermined scoring scale.

halo effect

bias that can trigger erroneous judgments about an employee based on a limited number of performance dimensions.

knowledge work

Work that consists of complex, goal-oriented activities that require high levels of competency to complete; such work seldom has a single set of correct results or best practices.

management by objective

A performance appraisal method that evaluates employees based on their successful completion of pre-established goals and objectives that are jointly set by the manager and the employee, while the means, tools, and processes are left at the discretion of the employee.

narrative technique

A subjective performance appraisal technique in which the evaluator provides a written essay describing the employee's job performance and behavioral patterns.

organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs)

Work behaviors that go above and beyond the call of duty, are not explicit role expectations, and are rarely, if ever, formally recognized or rewarded by the organization.

paired comparison method

A relative performance evaluation technique that uses a matrix where each employee is evaluated against each and every other employee performing the same job.

performance appraisal

The process through which employee performance is assessed, feedback is provided to the employee, and corrective action plans are designed.

self-fulfilling prophecies

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bias in which we tend to see what we expect to see; for example, if managers poorly judge employees to be failures and expect these employees to fail, then the employees are likely to fail, but if a manager believes in an employee and expects him or her to succeed, then he or she will be likely to succeed.

stereotyping

bias that can yield inaccurate results against employees who belong to particular groups, which can be both unfair and discriminatory.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Organizations usually use performance appraisal data in several other HR processes (recruiting, selection, retention, compensation, training, etc.). What are the consequences if line managers do not accurately assess their employees' performance?

2. Some organizations make their managers use a forced-distribution performance appraisal system. Why do you think organizations should use such a system? Why do you think that organizations shouldn't use it?

3. Do you believe that there are "true halos"? That is, do employees who perform well in some dimensions of job performance tend to perform well in most dimensions?

4. Subjective performance appraisal ratings have very low consistency between raters (i.e., very low inter-rater reliability). What does this suggest about supervisor ratings of performance and the decisions on which they're made? Are there better options for jobs in which performance is hard to measure objectively?

5. When evaluating other individual's performance, which biases are most common in your evaluations of others?

Self-Assessment Quiz

The following quiz is for your own review and will not affect your grade.

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7Training and Development fStop/Superstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Define the terms training and development

Describe a systematic HRM approach to training and development—including training needs assessment, design, development, delivery, and evaluation

List and describe various forms of training

Explain decisions that are often necessary to create and administer training program

Discuss opportunities, challenges, and recent trends in training and development

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) is an organization of experts in training and development; the ASTD is the most widely recognized organization of this kind in the United States. The ASTD attracts members from around the world and from all types of organizations, all sharing a common professional interest in training and development processes and in HRM. This chapter is based on ASTD's established training and development models. The link below gives access to the ASTD's website.

WEB LINK

The American Society for Training and Development: www.astd.org (http://www.astd.org)

According to the ASTD, U.S. organizations spent $134.39 billion in 2007 on employee learning and development. Organizations view these substantial expenditures as investments in human capital, with returns in the form of higher employee productivity, talent retention, and the creation of a sustainable human-based competitive advantage.

Training is a process that provides employees with opportunities to obtain the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that enable them to perform their current job-related duties more effectively and responsibly. Employee development, on the other hand, is not necessarily related to the job an employee currently holds, although it can be related to that job (London, 1989). Usually, however, development focuses on the future and prepares employees to take on the duties and responsibilities of other positions (Fitzgerald, 1992). Most of the concepts discussed in this chapter apply to both training and development, and the two terms are used interchangeably in most sections.

http://www.astd.org/

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7.1 The Strategic Value of Training and Development

Training imparts knowledge. Because knowledge is a key to organizational success, training must be considered strategically. Training creates value through investing in employees who add value to an organization and who constitute its intellectual capital. Training helps organizations leverage knowledge, and it therefore enables them to become more competitive. Even organizations that have exceptional recruitment and selection competencies sometimes find that they lack critical KSAs because environmental, market, and technological changes continuously render existing KSAs redundant, obsolete, or of limited use. However, training by itself does not have any strategic value unless it is linked to organizational goals and objectives. In other words, training should be designed, implemented, and evaluated so that it contributes to measurable improvements in organizational core competencies.

Training can also have a positive effect on an organization's rate of employee retention. Workers are on the lookout for employers who offer and promote training and career advancement. Training and career development are valued more highly than high salaries, and they contribute to job satisfaction. Therefore, training plays a critical role in attracting and retaining talent (Hequet, 1993).

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An organization stays competitive by ensuring its employees possess necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).

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Training needs are assessed after a performance evaluation at the individual and organizational levels.

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7.2 The Training Process

Training starts with an accurate, comprehensive, and strategically oriented assessment of an organization's training needs. Training is then designed and developed based on those needs. Strategic decisions must be made regarding how, when, where, and by whom training should be delivered to maximize its effectiveness and impact. Finally, a comprehensive assessment of training outcomes makes it easier to evaluate how well a training program has met the organization's identified needs and objectives. This information feeds into subsequent cycles of training needs assessments and leads to an ongoing improvement of training initiatives. Figure 7.1 summarizes the training process and relates it to the strategic HRM process.

Training needs assessment

Training often entails substantial resource investments; an organization should therefore assess its needs for training before it decides to provide any type of training to its employees. For many organizations, training is the first resort when any problems are detected. However, training cannot resolve every organizational problem; training tends to be most effective in resolving KSA deficiencies. For example, compare the following three scenarios:

1. An employee prefers to work on her own rather than be part of a team.

2. An employee asks his supervisor and coworkers too many questions and seems to always need help and assurance that he is on the right track.

3. An employee wastes his time and his coworkers' time, hopping between cubicles to chat and gossip.

Many organizations would approach these three situations indiscriminately, treating them all as training needs. For example, all three of these individuals' managers might ask HR to train their staff on teamwork, technical skills, interpersonal skills, and office etiquette. However, only the second scenario clearly signals a training need. The employee who asks too many questions may lack technical KSAs or the self-efficacy to apply his current KSAs, both of which can be enhanced through training.

The first employee's preference for individual work may be due to her personality trait of introversion, which cannot be changed through training. Or perhaps her preference proceeds from a lack of trust, which is part of the organization's or work unit's culture. Alternatively, the reward system of the organization or work unit may be geared toward individual performance rather than collaboration and teamwork. Again, training is not the best intervention to resolve these challenges. Other organizational interventions include changing the selection criteria for that position to hire more extroverted individuals, introducing organizational development initiatives to increase trust, or creating team-based rewards. Any of these interventions may be more effective than training in the first scenario.

Figure 7.1: Training and development

In the third scenario, training is also unlikely to ameliorate the gossiping employee's counterproductive behavior. Excessive chatting is rarely a result of KSA deficiencies; negative attitudes such as lack of job satisfaction, work engagement, or organizational commitment are more usual sources for this behavior. Training is unlikely to resolve these underlying problems; motivational techniques are necessary instead. To increase this employee's motivation, it may be necessary to redesign his job to make it more challenging or to transfer him to a job that better fits his abilities. Alternatively, the reward system of the organization may be promoting this employee's counterproductive behavior—for example, if he is paid an hourly rate or a fixed salary, or if he believes that playing office politics is the way to move ahead in his organization. Changing the reward process to depend on productivity rather than "face time" or politics may be appropriate for this situation.

Training needs assessment is the first stage of the training process. Training needs are assessed through evaluating performance at the organizational and individual levels, identifying any gaps between the current and the required competencies that might hinder the organization's progress. If training is indeed necessary, then the next step is to determine the type of training that will most effectively strengthen the specific areas where employees are struggling (O'Connor, 2006).

Three sources of information help an organization determine the type of training it needs:

Organizational analysis makes it possible to determine the current and future needs for KSAs, taking into consideration internal and external forces that could possibly have an impact on training. High absenteeism or turnover are also considered throughout this process.

Job analysis or task analysis is the review of job specifications to compare the KSAs needed to perform a specified job with the KSAs an employee currently has.

Individual analysis compares employee performance against pre-established performance standards. In this case, performance appraisal data can be used as a good source of information for the analysis. Moreover, input from employees themselves can also help an organization identify its training needs.

Training design

Once an organization determines that training is needed, the next step is training design: setting the training's objectives and priorities. The objectives depend on the capabilities that employees currently have and the new capabilities that an organization wants them to have. These training objectives become the foundations for developing, delivering, and evaluating training outcomes. Training objectives should also be communicated to trainees to allow them to see the big picture; this process is referred to as whole training, and it increases training effectiveness.

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Transfer of training is the extent to which an employee's training is used and applied to the job.

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Learner readiness, learning styles, and transfer of learning are three factors that should be addressed during the training design stage to ensure that the training will be effective:

1. Learner readiness is the capacity, willingness, and motivation to learn. It is the first of many factors to be addressed during the training design stage. Employees must at least possess fundamental math, writing, and reading skills to be able to grasp the content of the training program. If employees lack these fundamental skills, then teaching them these basics becomes one of the training objectives. A training program's objectives should be tailored in the design stage to fit employees' readiness and capacity to learn. Another important factor in learner readiness is self-efficacy, which has been defined as a person's "belief about his or her ability to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action necessary to execute a specific action within a given context" (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998, p. 66). Thus, self-efficacy can be critical in learner motivation and willingness to learn. Indeed, learning self-efficacy is a mediator between learning goal orientation and performance (Potosky & Ramakrishna, 2002). Employees need to believe they are able to learn training materials effectively, and training design must include ways to increase trainees' levels of confidence. The following methods are the most widely recognized ways to build self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997):

Mastery and success experiences increase employees' confidence by helping them master a task successfully. Maintaining trainees' confidence is challenging when they are faced with new challenges. However, trainees' confidence can increase when experienced trainers and coaches offer them "guided mastery" experiences through a series of training tasks that gradually increase in difficulty.

Observation and modeling are techniques used when experienced trainers demonstrate desired job behaviors. These techniques are particularly suitable when trial-and-error learning is prohibitively expensive or too risky—for example, for pilots, surgeons, and construction workers. In these cases, experienced trainers can demonstrate or model the desired job behaviors. Observing a model successfully complete a task has been found to increase trainees' confidence.

Social persuasion involves receiving positive feedback and listening to motivational speakers. Although this method influences trainees less strongly than mastery and modeling training techniques, it can instill a confident, can-do attitude in learners.

Physiological and psychological arousal make trainees more confident about their learning abilities. Training can be designed to capitalize on physiological and psychological arousal through setting reasonable start and end times, securing a distraction-free learning environment, including activities that put trainees in a good mood, and providing adequate breaks and nutritious meals throughout the training. Trainees' general health also affects their ability to learn.

2. Learning styles are another factor to be addressed during the training design stage. People learn in different ways, so there is no single way that works best for everyone. The Felder-Silverman model is one of the most recognized models of learning styles; according to it, individual learners can have any combination of these four continua of learning styles:

active or reflective

sensing or intuitive

visual or verbal

sequential or global (Felder & Spurlin, 2005)

Learning styles should be incorporated into the training design stage to align the training with the trainees' particular learning styles. Since training often involves learners with different styles, trainers who utilize multiple methods can deliver a more efficient and effective training that meets the needs of more learners (Karns, 2006). To find out about your own learning style, visit the link below.

WEB LINK

The Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html (http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html)

3. Transfer of training is another factor of training design; it's the extent to which capabilities learned in training are subsequently applied on the job. Accordingly, training should be designed to help employees apply what they learn in training sessions to real job situations. The need for transferrable capabilities should shape not only the training objectives but also the training methods in order to maximize learners' readiness and motivation and to fit their learning styles. For example, consider the effectiveness of the following common alternatives for construction workers' safety trainings:

A lecture in a meeting room explaining safety regulations and expected behaviors

A handbook with written safety guidelines and pictures depicting safe and hazardous behaviors

An online step-by-step presentation showing workers behaving in safe and hazardous ways with a narrated explanation of the behaviors

A site visit and in situ demonstration of safe and hazardous situations

The above alternatives are progressively better at enhancing learner readiness and facilitating training transfer. To cater to multiple learning styles, a combination of some or all these alternatives is recommended, especially for a topic as critical as safety training in an industry as hazardous as construction.

Training development

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

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On-the-job training is one of the more common methods of training used by organizations.

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Training design helps an organization answer the "what" questions about training—such as what are the training objectives? What are the trainees' learning styles? What will enhance learners' readiness and knowledge transfer? In contrast, training development answers the "how" questions. It is about finding the content and resources to meet the training's goals and objectives.

The training development stage requires numerous decisions. The most critical is whether the organization has the resources to develop, deliver, and assess training in house. According to ASTD, about two-thirds of training expenditures by U.S. organizations are for internal learning functions, such as training-staff salaries and the administrative costs involved in internal development. However, training development, delivery, and evaluation are often outsourced if the needed training will be long or complex, requires specialized expertise, or requires assessment through designated entities. For example, if professional certification is required, an organization is likely to send its employees to specialized qualifying courses and have employees take the standard examinations required by the certifying body.

It is also often more cost-effective to outsource highly technical training, particularly when the number of employees who need training is too small to make it cost effective to develop in house. On the other hand, when large organizations do have enough employees to make in-house development cost effective, one effective way to develop and deliver training is through corporate universities. Unlike typical universities' degrees, degrees from corporate universities are not universally recognized outside the organization. However, corporate universities resemble typical universities in hiring subject-matter experts to develop specialized trainings and in having an administrative structure that is separate from the corporate organization. Corporate universities' goal is to promote a learning environment and organizational culture that encourage ongoing learning and development at both the individual and organizational levels.

If training will be developed in-house, the developers will need to determine

the topics to be covered

the skills to be practiced

the mastery levels to be achieved for each, based on the predetermined needs and objectives

Developers will also need to select and develop the materials for the training. A critical decision is whether to develop new learning material, adapt existing material from internal or external sources, or use off-the-shelf material. New learning material has the advantage of being organization-specific. This makes it most relevant to the training needs of the employees. It is also most likely to yield organization-specific knowledge, which can more effectively build unique competencies than off-the- shelf training material that competitors could copy and use for their employees. However, developing new training material can be costly and time consuming. It may require hiring subject-matter experts. On the other hand, if the training needs and objectives can be met using available material, then this material can still be adapted to become more organization-specific at a fraction of the cost and time.

Training delivery: Decisions about types of training

Training development focuses on training content and how well it meets training needs and objectives, while training delivery focuses on training methods and logistics. Many critical decisions are made at this stage, and many delivery options are weighed so that trainees can benefit as much as possible from the content.

Formal versus informal approaches

Formal training is structured: its content, approach, sequence, and organization are all predetermined. One example of formal training is the course you're taking. Tremendous thought and energy have been invested in designing and developing this course before its delivery, and the course follows an established structure, including its process and outcomes. However, formal training does not have to be in a classroom setting. It can be online, as this course is. Formal training can also be in the form of formal mentoring relationships where protégés are assigned to mentors and specific mentoring logistics and outcomes are predetermined.

Informal training is not as systematic or goal-oriented as formal training is. Informal training may occur through interacting with supervisors and coworkers, asking questions, having informal discussions, or independent reading. Informal training is often challenging to evaluate because it has few if any set goals. However, managers and employees sometimes set their own goals and objectives for informal training (Cofer, 2000), which can increase the training's effectiveness in meeting specific needs and objectives. For example, informal mentoring, where mentors and protégés select each other based on mutual interests, has been shown to be more effective than formal mentoring (Ragins & Cotton, 1999).

On-the-job versus off-the-job training

On-the-job training (OJT) is a common method in which organizations focus on the technical aspects of the job. OJT is delivered where the job takes place. Throughout the training, trainees, also referred to as apprentices, are familiarized with the job and its tools, procedures, and techniques. Trainees gain hands-on exposure and they experience the work they'll do after the training period ends. On-the-job training can be in the form of demonstration, instruction, or coaching. Other examples of OJT are job rotation, shadowing a more experienced employee, and assignment to a special project for the purpose of learning. Most informal training takes place on the job.

When an employer sponsors off-the-job training, workers are usually given time off from work to attend training elsewhere. Employees may also use their personal time or employer-approved vacation time to pursue additional off-the-job training such as courses offered at training centers, evening classes at a local college, college programs,

and self-study.

On-site versus off-site training

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Employer-initiated training programs may provide career development opportunities and prepare employees for future positions.

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Training may take place at an employer facility or another venue. One of the advantages of on-site training is that there is no need for employees to commute to receive training, which can save time. The cost of on-site training can also be lower because additional costs such as rental charges and transportation are avoided. On- site training may also be more beneficial to an organization because it gives employees the chance to associate what they learn with the workplace. This benefit especially applies in on-the-job training.

However, off-site training can be a better option when the training goal is developing new skills and preparing employees for future positions, challenges, or responsibilities. One of the advantages of off-site training is that employees are not interrupted while they are being trained, which helps them focus on the capabilities being taught. Off-site training may also be necessary if space or resources are not available on site. For example, many experiential training programs now have outdoors components that require rugged locations and special gear to provide opportunities for bonding, problem solving, and collaboration.

Education versus professional certification

Formal education opportunities may be offered to employees for career development purposes, and they can be provided either on or off site. Formal education can be in the form of workshops, courses offered by consultants, or classes offered by universities. Some of the programs offered at universities have residential requirements while others, such as this course, are entirely online. Many organizations now provide their employees with full or partial tuition reimbursement as an employment benefit. Larger organizations sometimes have arrangements with local universities to provide on-site classes equivalent to classes taught to students at the campus. Under this arrangement, employees can take their classes together and at times that do not interfere with working hours.

Professional certifications are offered by specialized organizations or associations that are accredited to train and assess professionals in their areas of specialization. Holding a professional certificate means that an employee is well equipped with the knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to perform job duties effectively. A professional certification can sometimes be one of the requirements for employment or practice. The links below provide examples of certifications required to practice engineering, medicine, and law.

WEB LINKS

The Professional Engineering Exam: http://www.ncees.org/Exams/PE_exam.php (http://www.ncees.org/Exams/PE_exam.php)

The American Board of Medical Specialties: http://www.abms.org/ (http://www.abms.org/)

The National Council of Bar Examiners: http://www.ncbex.org/ (http://www.ncbex.org/)

Employee-initiated versus employer-initiated training

Employers initiate training for many purposes. They may want to provide career development opportunities, prepare employees for future responsibilities or positions, develop new KSAs in workers for their current roles, or help employees become more effective. Employers may also want to prepare new employees for their new roles or want to use training as a remedial course of action to deal with performance deficiencies. However, employees may also initiate or request training that is not required or recommended by the organization, or they may even pursue training and development opportunities at their own time and expense. The fact that employees move in and out of multiple careers during their lifetime has made many of them come to realize that they need to take the initiative and generate for themselves opportunities for training, development, and growth. Both employees and employers now value and appreciate the desire and pursuit of lifelong learning in their current and potential employees.

Self-paced versus facilitated training

Self-paced training gives learners access to the training material on demand, any time they want, so that they can take a training course at their own pace. The primary advantage of self-paced training is its flexibility. This flexibility gives trainees the ability to fit the training into their busy schedules and allows them to take as much time as they need to master challenging content. However, if learners do not possess good computer skills or self-motivation, they may not be able to benefit much from self-paced training. Moreover, it is usually costly and time consuming to develop high-quality self-paced materials. However, once they are developed, the cost per trainee becomes exponentially lower as the initial development costs are spread out over a larger number of trainees.

On the other hand, facilitated training has a specific date and time. The host organization sets a schedule for the training in which an instructor or a facilitator will be available to train the trainees. Facilitated training usually requires a minimum number of learners, which may sometimes be hard to reach. In addition, well-equipped trainers must be available to deliver an effective training program, especially if it is facilitated online.

Mandatory versus optional training

Some types of training may required for all employees in accordance with legal rules and regulations enforced by agencies such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Examples include safety training and sexual harassment training. Others may be required for ongoing recertification. An organization may also mandate training to keep its employees' KSAs up to date, prepare them to meet future goals and objectives, or resolve performance deficiencies.

However, many organizations also offer their employees a wide range of optional trainings to choose from, based on their interest and availability. Optional training may cover technical or interpersonal topics that would be beneficial for professional growth. It may also cover other areas of interest. Health and fitness are becoming

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In Kirkpatrick's model of training evaluation an employee may be asked to analyze a hypothetical problem that will help assess what he or she has learned during training.

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a common focus of optional training in many organizations.

Face-to-face versus online training

Face-to-face training is conducted in classrooms. Employees and facilitators have to be physically present. Face-to-face training may be effective when interaction with instructors and peers is conducive to higher-quality learning. However, it may not be as effective for a large number of trainees. Online training, also referred to as e- learning, can be accessed anywhere, anytime, using the Internet. Some online training is conducted using an organizational intranet.

It has long been believed that in-class training is more interactive than online training. However, research shows that this may not be the case (Maki, Maki, Patterson, & Whittaker, 2000). Programs such as Blackboard and WebCT have enabled trainees to have virtual chat as well as electronic file exchange, which make online training interactive. A special type of e-learning is virtual reality, which also gives trainees the opportunity to see and examine objects in a three-dimensional perspective. According to ASTD, young workers are more likely to prefer online training. Its many advantages include lower costs per trainee, flexibility, and access to a greater number of employees from a broader geographic area. Online training may be synchronous (at the same time, as a group) or asynchronous (at each employee's convenience). Asynchronous online training also lends itself well to self-pacing, which allows trainees to take their time and master challenging skills.

In general, blending a variety of training methods is recommended to cater to the needs, schedules, and learning styles of different groups of trainees (Mirocha, 2005; Rossett, 2006). For example, a safety training may include the following steps:

an online, self-paced component to cover the basics

a formal, instructor-led component to address questions

a hands-on component for on-the-job training

informal mentoring by the trainee's supervisor to ensure correct and consistent application on the job

Similarly, a sales training may combine face-to-face interpersonal skills training, online technical training on the organization's products and services, and shadowing a more experienced salesperson in the field.

Training evaluation: A multi-level perspective

After training has been delivered, it is critical that organizations assess whether it has met the needs and objectives it was designed for. Two critical decisions are made at the training evaluation phase:

what to evaluate

when and who to evaluate

To determine what to evaluate, the most widely recognized training evaluation framework is Kirkpatrick's model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2009), which describes four levels of assessment:

1. reaction

2. learning

3. behavior

4. results

At the first level, trainee reactions to the training are measured, typically through surveys administered immediately after training is completed. Basic satisfaction with various aspects of the training are emphasized at this level, such as the training venue, the instructor's style, and the training materials.

While trainees' perceptions and feelings about the training are important, it is even more important to assess how much learning actually took place. Kirkpatrick's second level of assessment addresses learning, typically through some form of testing that examines the trainees' degree of mastery for what they have learned. For example, trainees may be asked to recall, reiterate, or discuss what they have learned. They may also be asked to apply it to a scenario or use the information to analyze a hypothetical situation, make a decision, or solve a problem.

In Kirkpatrick's third level of assessment, change in work behavior is assessed to see if the training has produced the desired change in the way employees do their jobs. For training to be effective, it is also crucial that its impact extend beyond the training to affect actual behavior on the job. For example, production workers can be assessed after training for increased speed or quality. Salespersons can be assessed for more frequent cross-selling efforts for the organization's products, better scheduling of sales calls, or increased courtesy toward clients.

Kirkpatrick's fourth and most important level of training assessment is the actual results of training, or the impact of training on the bottom line. Unfortunately, this impact is seldom assessed. It is important that trainees react positively to the training, learn from it, and alter their work behaviors based on what they have learned. Effective training should also lead to a positive impact on the organization's profitability, efficiency, and effectiveness; however, it is often difficult to quantify the dollar value added from training. Difficulties in measurement lead many organizations to ignore this crucial assessment level. Unfortunately, in today's tight economy, an inability to quantify the benefits of training and development often leads to significant cuts in budget allocations toward these important human investments. Human resource departments may also be perceived by the organization's various stakeholders as lacking accountability for scarce resources, which reflects poorly on HR departments' ability to contribute to strategic organizational goals.

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There are three approaches to determining when and who to evaluate:

post-measurement

pre-/post-measurement

pre-/post-measurement with a control group

In post-measurement assessment, the effectiveness of the training is measured afterward by verifying that trainees' performance will now meet expectations. However, sometimes it is possible that employees' performance would have met the same standards without training; HR departments may therefore not be able to use the post-measurement approach to interpret results accurately or attribute positive results directly to the training. Just because a group of trainees are assessed to be superior performers after training does not mean that the training is the reason for their superior performance. They could have been higher performers to begin with due to effective employee selection and placement.

The pre-/post-measurement method tests trainees both before and after the training. If they measure higher on the desired outcomes after the training than they did before the training, it can be argued that the difference in results can be attributed directly to the training. However, like post-measurement, this method does not prove that training is the source of improved performance. It can be argued that trainees' performance level would have improved without any training, simply with practice and more experience over time. Alternative interpretations may also include changes in economic conditions, organizational culture, or reward systems. Moreover, people also tend to perform slightly better when they know they are being observed or tested; this common phenomenon is known as the Hawthorne effect.

The pre-/post-measurement with a control group method tackles the deficiencies of the first two methods by comparing the trainees to a control group—another group of workers with the same level of skills who do not go through the training. The trainees and the control group are tested both before the training and after it. Often, to account for the Hawthorne effect, the control group is given an unrelated intervention. If the trained group shows more pre-/post-measurement improvement than the control group, then this difference is a good indication that the training was effective.

The pre-/post-measurement method is also useful to compare alternative types of training or other interventions. For example, an organization may want to resolve performance deficiencies within a particular function, such as production. It may therefore design a training intervention, a modified reward program, and a job redesign initiative. The organization can then randomly assign the workforce into four groups: a group that receives training, a group that receives the modified reward program, a group whose jobs would be redesigned, and a control group that receives an unrelated intervention. Each of the four groups should be assessed before and after their designated interventions, and the group that shows the most improvement would indicate the superiority of that group's respective intervention.

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Orientation helps new employees reach desired performance levels sooner and gives them a better idea of what the organization expects of them.

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Executive coaching is an effective training and development approach for senior management.

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7.3 Forms of Training and Development

Training and development can take numerous forms to serve different audiences and functions within the organization. Organizations have expanded their use of training and development beyond traditional training methods, including more creative approaches or more ambitious training objectives, such as meeting employees' needs for personal and professional growth. This section provides a glimpse of some of the commonly used forms of training and development.

Orientation and onboarding

Orientation, also known as onboarding, is specifically designed for new employees. This process familiarizes new employees with the environment by introducing them to their jobs; their managers; their coworkers; and the organization's structure, culture, and processes. Orientation and onboarding can also help new employees reach the desired performance levels sooner by accelerating their development and moving them faster along the learning curve. An effective orientation can also help the organization build a positive image among new employees. Along with operating managers and supervisors, HR professionals are often the organization members who carry out orientations, although many organizations today have formal orientation and onboarding programs that are delivered by training staff or online. For a great example of extensive orientation programs, visit the website below, which outlines the orientation program for new members of the nursing team at Yale–New Haven Hospital. This program spans 12 weeks to 6 months, depending on specialization and prior experience.

WEB LINK

Yale–New Haven Hospital Orientation Program for Nurses: http://ynhhcareers.org/nursing/programs/programs-orientation.asp (http://ynhhcareers.org/nursing/programs/programs-orientation.asp)

Technical and nontechnical training

Technical training is job-related, and it usually focuses on the technicalities of the job (or hard skills), whereas nontechnical training is not job-related (and focuses on soft skills). Its purpose is to enhance employees' skills in other areas, such as team-building, organizational, management, problem-solving, decision-making, or communication skills.

Nontechnical training can also be designed to educate employees about other cultures. Cross-cultural training can help global firms send their employees on international assignments, and it is critical to global strategic success. To avoid culture shock, not only employees but also their families must grow familiar with cultural differences; training can help people adjust to a culture that differs from their own (Yamazaki & Hayes, 2004). The same holds true for foreign employees who will be transferred to the United States.

Nontechnical training can help expand employees' horizons and prepare them for challenges in current roles as well as future roles beyond their immediate technical job responsibilities. Nontechnical training can also help build and enhance organizational culture and align employees' competencies and skill sets with the organization's mission, vision, and values.

Ongoing professional development

Ongoing professional development provides employees with training throughout their tenure with the organization. This ongoing training enables employees to develop the knowledge and skills needed not only to perform their jobs more effectively but also to grow and develop professionally throughout their careers. Ongoing professional development can also help employees develop basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Almost 40 million people in the United Stated have a learning disability, which makes it challenging to develop basic skills throughout K–12 education (Ketter, 2006; Kalleba, 2007; Salopek, 2007).

Mentoring and coaching

Mentoring and coaching are two methods of employee development. Mentoring helps an employee, also called a mentee or a protégé, to develop his or her skills by interacting with a mentor, who is a more experienced coworker or supervisor. Mentoring can either be planned by an organization or can follow an employee's effort to seek a mentor (Fagenson, 1992; Turban & Daugherty, 1994) or a mentor's desire to help and develop the less experienced employee. Mentors should generally possess good interpersonal skills, and they should be trained to be able to perform their duties effectively. In addition, they also should be evaluated by the organization (Eby, Butts, Lockwood, & Simon, 2004).

Coaching is the hiring of a peer, manager, or outside consultant for the purpose of training one or more employees. The coach's role is broader than a mentor's. It is to motivate the employees as well as help develop their skills. Coaching can be done in many ways, including one-on-one coaching, which then enables employees to be on their own, helps them to learn for themselves, provides them with resources, or offers a combination of these approaches. Executive coaching is on the rise as a training and development approach for senior management candidates. Traditional, more structured approaches are not as effective as executive coaching to develop the higher-

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level skills necessary for these strategic roles. For coaching to be effective, it is best to identify areas that need improvement and then set goals for this improvement (Smither, London, Flautt, Vargas, & Kucine, 2003).

Job rotation and temporary transfers

Chapter 3 (3.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec3.2#sec3.2) ) offered job rotation—that is, assigning employees to different jobs—as a way to design jobs with a greater variety of activities and less boredom. Job rotation is also one of the techniques used for employee training and development. Through it, an employee is able to work in different functional areas on different assignments within an organization; the employee is therefore given the chance to experience other parts of the organization. Job rotation helps employees extend their experience, widen their understanding, and enhance their skills (Camion, Cheraskin, & Stevens, 1994). Organizations may also rotate employees through different job assignments in different countries (Weinstein, 2009).

Temporary transfers are similar to job rotation in that an employee gets assigned to a position in another part of the organization. However, temporary transfers are more likely to be one-time occurrences, while rotations usually include a predetermined series of job changes. A temporary transfer may be lateral, which means that the employee will have the same level of responsibility. It also can be upward, in the form of a temporary increase in responsibilities and authority. For example, self- managed teams may designate a leader for each project assigned to the team; this designation constitutes a temporary upward transfer for the leader, who will then return to being a member of the team when the project is over. Transfers can also take the form of a temporary downward move because of poor performance or to allow an employee to build different skills.

International assignments

International assignments are also considered a form of training and development. They give employees opportunities to learn how to deal with different cultures and different economic, social, and political systems. These assignments also give employees opportunities to develop their managerial and leadership skills. International assignments also provide employees with opportunities for upward mobility in the organization when they come back; these assignments are recognized as one of the most effective ways to prepare future global leaders (Pope, 2009).

However, international assignments also have some costs and disadvantages and involve some sacrifices by employees who go overseas. For instance, intensive and costly training is necessary before an international assignment to prepare employees and their families to adapt to the challenges in the new host country and to help lessen cultural shock. Problems may persist even after this training and may result in failure at assigned tasks or a premature return to the home country, which amount to a loss in the organization's investment in training. These losses could have been avoided had the organization hired a qualified local resident for the foreign operation instead. Living abroad may also cause employees to miss important and noteworthy events at home, both personally and professionally.

Leadership development and management training

Leadership development can be defined as "expanding the collective capacities of organizational members to engage effectively in leadership roles and processes" (Day, 2000, p. 582). The need for leadership development has increased along with globalization and competitiveness. It is therefore crucial to develop the knowledge and skills of those who are in managerial positions to be able to contribute to future organizational performance. The leadership development process is also integral to succession planning and career planning. Organizations can effectively prepare a cadre of future leaders by assessing the needs for filling future management positions, evaluating potential candidates' current performance, and then proactively imparting the required knowledge and developing the needed skills (Kristick, 2009). The overall purpose of a leadership development program should be to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives. Therefore, organizational strategy and goals must form the basis of the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of a training program.

Leadership development can be offered through a combination of the methods and approaches discussed earlier, including in-house programs, professional programs, university programs, executive coaching, and mentoring. Leadership development can also be offered through action learning, in which participants work on real business challenges while reflecting on progress and lessons learned (Czarnowsky, 2008). Leadership development can also be achieved through a special form of job rotation that is often referred to as management training. A management training program is a structured program in which a high-potential trainee is groomed for a management position through a carefully designed sequence of short-term job transfers and rotations, gaining experience with various parts of the business, often with increasing levels of challenge and responsibility. When the trainee graduates from the program, he or she is usually ready to assume a leadership position. For example, Unilever has a well-known management training program to develop capable local leaders within their global operations. The program is designed for young, recent college graduates who show high leadership potential. The program promises them an accelerated career path to a senior management position within 8 to 10 years after they complete the program successfully.

WEB LINK

Unilever's Management Trainee Program: http://www.unileverme.com/careers/ graduate-recruitment/management-trainee-program/ (http://www.unileverme.com/careers/ graduate-recruitment/management-trainee-program/)

Leadership development programs vary in their approaches, methods, level of formality, and structure. Regardless of these features, a leadership development program should emphasize realism, practicality, and application—giving trainees the opportunity to analyze and solve real organizational problems (Locke & Tarantino, 2006; Patton & Pratt, 2002; Zenger, Ulrich, & Smallwood, 2002).

Career development

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The protean career model allows workers to direct the progression of their careers based on their interests, values, and goals.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock Traditionally, the term career referred to a set of positions an employee occupied within one organization, often taking a progressive, upward direction. However, this is no longer the case due to the constant changes organizations go through. Examples of these changes include downsizing, restructuring, business process reengineering, and the resulting frequency of employees changing jobs and employers. Workers are now moving more toward a protean career model: workers are now the people who direct the progress of their careers based on their own interests, goals, and values (Hall, 2004).

This career model is also related to the notions of career resiliency and the changing psychological employment contract discussed in chapter 2 (2.4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec2.4#sec2.4) ). As a result of these changes, workers are seeking to continually develop new skills, especially since most careers these days rely on a broader knowledge base (Arthur, Claman, & DeFillippi, 1995; Schawbel, 2009).

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7.4 Linking Training and Development to the HRM Process

As depicted in the top half of Figure 7.1, training and development constitute one of the eight critical practices in the HRM process. This is because the purpose of strategic HRM is to help an organization achieve its goals and objectives through people. Therefore, training and development should help improve organizational competencies and performance. This improvement can be realized by viewing training needs in association with strategic organizational plans and prioritizing them accordingly (Clarke, 2003; Reed & Vakola, 2006). HR planning, job analysis and design, recruitment, selection, and performance appraisal should inform and be informed by the organization's goals and strategies. Training needs assessment, design, development, delivery, and evaluation should likewise inform and be informed by the other strategic HR processes—adding value to the organization's efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness.

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF AN HR MANAGER

"Who should you send to training?"

Andrew is a sales manager at a department store called Living in Style, Inc. This morning, he received the following memo from the Claudia Moore, the training manager at the head office.

Andrew is excited about this new training program. However, he has several concerns.

1. Andrew does not recall that anyone consulted him on what training his sales force needed. So he is unsure if the training will be relevant for their specific needs, especially since his store is in a relatively small town where he and his staff know most of the customers by name.

2. Andrew also believes that he has some of the best and most dedicated sales representatives in the company—and maybe even in the industry— so unless this training program offers new information, it may be a waste of their time.

3. What Andrew finds even more confusing is that in the last corporate meeting, management expressed concerns about the increasing default rates on credit and layaway sales. Reducing default rates is now one of the strategic goals of the organization. Because of his staff's excellent and personal relationships with customers, his store was among the lowest on default rates. If that's the case, he wondered why the sales training is promoting credit and layaway sales instead of emphasizing loyalty programs and other ways to establish stronger and longer-lasting relationships with customers.

4. Another of Andrew's concerns is the moral dilemma of promoting more spending in general when the economy is in recession. He sees the potential for this encouragement's having an adverse impact on customers' financial and psychological well-being. He sees it as contradictory and hypocritical to train salespeople to offer superior customer service to sell more products and cross-sell other products that the customer does not necessarily need with no consideration of the customers' finances. Instead, he prefers to train his sales staff to better analyze the needs and finances of one customer and then sell him or her the product that fits those parameters. He believes that this strategy is both more ethical and more conducive to satisfied, loyal customers who will return to the store in the long run.

However, Andrew understands that sending someone to this training program is a requirement. The problem is, whom should he send? He's considering three candidates:

Joe White is the new sales representative, fresh out of college, with no sales experience. Joe is the lowest-paid and currently the slowest and least effective representative due to his lack of experience. + Advantages of sending Joe: He'll definitely learn something new, and the lost productivity is the least compared to sending one of the higher performers. - Disadvantages of sending Joe: Joe is young and impressionable. If he comes back indoctrinated in those morally questionable selling techniques and ends up outselling others and making more money, that success could have a negative impact on the store culture. It may also upset the other salespeople to know that Andrew selected Joe to go to this training when they are all overdue for time away from the store and when they might enjoy this apparently fun event.

Doug Green is the longest-tenured, most experienced sales representative with the highest sales volume across all stores. However, Doug is very outspoken against corporate greed; he prides himself on never taking advantage of customers or selling them something they don't really need. + Advantages of sending Doug: Doug will never fall for the newest trends and management fads. He will question everything, which may push the company to reevaluate its plans and strategies. His attendance will not compromise the store culture because he will discern the best new messages to communicate when he comes back. Sending Doug will also give him good visibility at the head office. Since Doug is overdue for a promotion, Andrew appreciates that this visibility will be good for Doug's career progress. - Disadvantages of sending Joe: Doug will never change his ways, nor does he need to, in Andrew's opinion. So sending him to this training program is a pointless waste of the company's resources. Sparing Doug for a week will also definitely hurt the store's sales volume.

Emma Brown has many years of experience in sales at a variety of industries, including working for competitors in the past. But she has only six months' experience with Living in Style. Her background and KSAs are impressive, but she has a difficult personality, tends to be critical of everything and everyone, and tends to create conflicts with coworkers and customers. She has said many times that she feels overqualified for her job and wants opportunities for development and career advancement. + Advantages of sending Emma: Emma will perceive this training as an opportunity for development and career advancement. Sending her to

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the training will also give the store a break from her toxic attitudes. And who knows—maybe her attitudes will change, or she'll get noticed at the head office and they'll decide to keep her at a position that requires her level of assertiveness. - Disadvantages of sending Emma: Emma may have conflicts with others at the training, which could reflect poorly on the store's image at the head office and compromise Andrew's leadership. The training may also indoctrinate Emma in ideals that are wrong from Andrew's perspective, which Emma seems more likely to adopt than Doug would be. Andrew also feels threatened by the possibility that the head office may consider Emma as a replacement for him, Andrew, if she seems more open to the training's bottom-line value system.

Discussion Questions

1. If you were in Andrew's position, which representative would you choose? Justify your answer. Optional: Work independently, and then compare notes with the rest of your group or with the class. Make your case for the sales representative of your choice, trying to win as many votes as possible for your choice of representative and discourage your classmates from voting for others. Find out which representative received the most votes.

2. If you were in Claudia's position, how would you go about the training process to ensure that the program contributes to the organization's performance and effectiveness and that the best-suited candidates are sent to the training? Optional: Work independently, and then compare notes with the rest of your group or the class.

3. Integrate your answers into a proposed training process that follows the structure adopted in this chapter. Start with training needs assessment, going on to the design, development, and delivery, and finally the evaluation. How can each stage be improved to ensure that the most effective training program is offered to the sales representatives who are most likely to benefit from it?

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Online training has changed the way organizations design, develop, deliver, and evaluate training.

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7.5 Opportunities, Challenges, and Recent Trends in Training and Development

Economic considerations: The increasing costs of training

The costs of training and development have been increasing. As a result, many organizations have cut their training budgets, especially during the recent economic slowdown. Costs are also one of the reasons why the outsourcing of training has not increased significantly (Van Buren, 2005). While many training programs may be more effectively administered externally through experienced third-party trainers or specialized entities, the costs of doing so are becoming prohibitive. For example, many organizations have significantly reduced or eliminated their tuition-reimbursement programs, although these programs have been shown to reduce turnover and facilitate talent retention, provided that they are accompanied with promotions and career progress (Benson, Finegold, & Mohrman, 2004).

Realizing the importance of training for employee motivation and productivity, organizations are facing the challenge of finding more cost-effective ways to deliver quality training. Organizations are now attempting to cut costs through using in-house trainers and facilities. For example, experienced employees can mentor less experienced coworkers or provide on-the-job training. However, this opportunity comes at the sometimes-high cost of the reduced productivity of the more experienced employees who spend time training others. Online training is discussed next; it is another cost-effective alternative to more expensive face-to-face training options.

Technological developments: Online and open-source training

Online training requires the use of the Internet or an intranet, and it can be accessed from anywhere in the world. As discussed earlier, online training is on the rise. For example, in a survey, 60% of the organizations surveyed had online training initiatives, and 86% placed a high priority on moving their face-to-face training online (Strother,

2002). Research findings also suggest that the quality of online learning is comparable, and sometimes even superior, to face-to-face learning (Maki et al., 2000). For example, IBM saved $200 million in 1999 and provided five times the learning at one-third the cost by switching to online training. The accountancy firm Ernst & Young reduced training costs by 35% while improving consistency and scalability through using a combination of 80% online and 20% classroom instruction. The aerospace company Rockwell Collins reduced training costs by 40% by moving only 25% of its training online (Strother, 2002).

In many ways, online training has changed the way organizations design, develop, deliver, and evaluate training. For example, open-source training is a form of online training that is available free of charge to the public. Many online resources are available at no cost and are continuously updated by experts who are motivated to spread new knowledge in their fields, advertise their discoveries, or build their reputations to establish a wider client base. For example, visit the website below to access hundreds of educational videos on numerous topics. Several colleges and universities are also now exploring the full reliance on open sourcing in teaching some of their courses to avoid costly textbooks and database subscriptions.

WEB LINK

Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/ (http://www.khanacademy.org/)

Although online training has many advantages, it is also necessary to consider some disadvantages. For example, learners may be tempted to complete the online training quickly and therefore may not be able to retain or apply what they learn. Furthermore, not all topics can be taught effectively online. Finally, online training may be easier for competitors to copy or imitate than face-to-face training, which may cause losses in intellectual property and the intended human-based competitive edge that training initiatives aim to build.

Training and development for succession planning

As discussed in chapter 2 (2.4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/AUBUS303.12.2/sections/sec2.4#sec2.4) ), the aging workforce makes training for succession planning a high priority for organizations that want to be prepared when the baby boom generation retires. Globalization is also increasing the pressure for more effective talent development, management, and retention through succession planning (Rothwell, 2010). Organizations are now training and preparing employees who they think have the potential to hold management positions, although organizations focus almost exclusively on critical top positions, which is a rather limited perspective. Instead, training and development for succession planning should be a strategic goal at all levels of the organization. This planning can maintain competitiveness in cases of turnover or job changes and can facilitate promotions from within.

Effects of training and development on employees

The primary purpose of training is to enhance employees' skills and enable them to perform their job more efficiently and effectively; training usually therefore has a positive effect on employee motivation, performance quality, productivity, and engagement. In addition, creating an environment that promotes training and offers career development opportunities will likely boost employee motivation, morale, and retention (Huselid, 1995).

Diversity training

Given the increased diversity in the workplace, the importance of diversity management cannot be stressed enough. The purpose of diversity training is to create cross-

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cultural awareness among employees so that they can avoid discriminatory or harassing behaviors that intimidate others, allowing employees to work together in a more peaceful and harmonious way. Accordingly, diversity training should help create an environment that promotes cultural respect and acceptance. Such an environment can enable employees to be more productive and employers to face fewer lawsuits. Most importantly, a respectful environment can allow an organization to capitalize on the contributions and creativity of a diverse workforce. Unfortunately, most diversity training programs have been criticized for being ineffective in changing employee attitudes and value systems regarding diversity (Hemphill & Haines, 1997).

Safety training

As discussed in previous chapters, OSHA requires safety and health training programs in many industries in the United States. The purpose of such programs is to inform employees about workplace safety standards and ensure everyone's safety. These programs may include topics such as accident prevention and safety promotion, accident and emergency response, chemical and hazardous material safety, and general safety practices (Barnett, 2000).

Effective safety training creates awareness of the significance of workplace safety and promotes a safe culture within an organization. Furthermore, it saves an organization money and time by lowering the number of injuries and deaths. Among the many other benefits are fewer incidences of illness, property damage, and worker compensation claims. Studies show that most forms of safety training have a positive impact, but that the most effective methods to reduce accidents, illnesses, and injuries are trainings that involve either interaction, hands-on practice, or behavioral modeling (Burke et al., 2006).

EYE ON THE GOAL

"Make or buy? The payoff from training current employees"

Many employers worry that if they provide their employees with intensive, high-quality training, then employees will eventually leave the organization for better offers—taking with them all the training they received—and the organization will be left with the training costs it incurred. Instead, these organizations believe that it is more cost effective to hire employees who already possess the KSAs necessary for the job. While there is some truth to employers' concerns about post-training turnover, research shows that training can reduce turnover while in progress. Following training with promotion can also reduce turnover afterward (Benson et al., 2004). Thus, for an organization to effectively increase capabilities while retaining talent, its training must be part of strategic HR planning. Long-term succession and career development plans are no exception.

Furthermore, training has been shown to yield handsome returns for both shareholders and employees. For example, an extensive study of 575 publicly traded companies showed that companies that invested twice the industry average on training also outperformed the S&P 500 by 4.6% on various financial performance measures (Bassi & McMurrer, 2004). Organizations with higher training expenditures per employee clearly had higher price-to-book-value ratios, indicating human-based value added. Employees of those organizations also showed higher income (Bassi, Ludwig, McMurrer, & Van Buren, 2002). Training current employees therefore does pay off.

Training can also protect employees, customers, the organization, and society at large. For example, safety training can help prevent worksite accidents, which can compromise employees' lives and health. Production training can help detect defective products or faulty processes, which can expose customers and society to health and safety risks. In turn, it can protect the organization's reputation to prevent accidents and detect defective products and faulty processes before they pose serious risks. This achievement also helps an organization avoid costly lawsuits from those affected by improper or insufficient training.

However, it is now critical, especially in a tight economy, to assess the value of training not only in terms of employee reactions, but also in terms of learning, behavior, and results (Cascio & Boudreau, 2011). Unfortunately, a recent survey showed that only 23% of organizations reported that measuring the impact of training was a high priority (O'Leonard, 2010). For example, many large organizations such as Philips, Estée Lauder, and Canon have maintained their investment in leadership development, even during the recent economic recession (Mattioli, 2009). Yet only 10% of leadership development programs go beyond reactions to also assess the impact of training and development on actual behaviors (Avolio, Sosik, Jung, & Berson, 2004).

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Chapter Summary

Training and development can lead to higher employee productivity, talent retention, and the creation of a sustainable human-based competitive advantage. These benefits often outweigh the costs of training and justify training investments, even during difficult economic times.

The stages of the training process include training needs assessment, design, development, delivery, and evaluation.

In order for training to contribute to an organization's strategic goals, it should be based on those goals and should be evaluated against those goals. Trainee reactions, learning, behavioral change, and individual and organizational performance outcomes should all be considered.

Training should also be linked to the various components of the strategic HR process, including HR planning, recruitment, selection, and performance appraisal. It should inform and be informed by these processes.

Organizations can now choose from a wide range of training methods and approaches, especially due to technological advances in training facilitation. The relative efficacy of each training method depends on the topic at hand, the trainee, the trainer, and the organization's culture.

Key Terms

Test your knowledge of these key terms by clinking on the "definition" links.

coaching

A broad form of training or development by a coach who can be a peer, a manager, or an outside consultant hired for the purpose of coaching one or more employees; a coach's aim is to motivate the employee and help develop his or her skills.

development

A process to prepare employees to take on the duties and responsibilities of other positions that they are to assume in the future.

Felder-Silverman model

One of the most recognized models on learning styles; the model classifies learners as active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and/or sequential/global.

Hawthorne effect

Employees' tendency to perform better when they believe there is any form of intervention taking place, regardless of the effectiveness of the intervention.

Kirkpatrick's model

The most recognized model of training evaluation; it describes four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

leadership development

Expanding the collective capacities of organizational members to engage effectively in leadership roles and processes.

learner readiness

The capacity, motivation, and willingness to learn.

learning styles

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factor to be addressed during the training design stage, as people learn in different ways and there is no single way that works best for everyone.

mentoring

A developmental approach that helps an employee, also called the mentee or protégé, to develop his or her skills through interacting with a more experienced coworker or supervisor, called the mentor.

orientation (also known as onboarding)

Training administered to new employees to familiarize them with their jobs; their managers; their coworkers; and the organization's structure, culture, and processes.

self-efficacy

A person's belief about his or her ability to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action necessary to execute a specific action within a given context.

training

A process that provides employees with opportunities to obtain the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities that will enable them to perform their current job- related duties more effectively and responsibly.

training delivery

The fourth stage of the training process, which focuses on the methods and logistics of training.

training design

The second stage of the training process, in which specific objectives are set for the training based on the identified training needs.

training development

The third stage of the training process, in which the content and resources that best meet the goals and objectives of the training are determined and addressed.

training evaluation

The last stage of the training process, in which organizations assess whether the training has met the needs and objectives it was designed for.

training needs assessment

The first stage of the training process, in which performance is evaluated at the organizational and individual levels, including a search for gaps between the current and the required competencies that might hinder the progress of the organization.

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transfer of training

The extent to which training is subsequently utilized and applied on the job.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Organizations have budget constraints regarding allocation of HR-related dollars. Under what circumstances would an organization want to invest more in training than in selection (or vice versa)?

2. Because of the sizeable investment that organizations put into training employees, through which other HR-related processes could they protect these investments?

3. In reflecting upon Kirkpatrick's methods of evaluating training effectiveness, what happens if trainee reactions to training are mediocre, but recall/learning, transfer/behavior, and results are good? Is this good training? How do the ways to evaluate training relate to an organization's ability to evaluate training effectiveness in the short term vs. long term?

4. When evaluating training success, besides being superior performers to begin with (i.e., the example used in the text), under what other circumstances could a group of trainees perform well, but not due to the training received? That is, besides differences in ability or actual training effectiveness, what factors could make it seem as if the trainees actually benefitted from the training when, in fact, they did not?

5. If an employee has poor performance evaluations, under what circumstances could the issue not be resolved by training the employee?

Self-Assessment Quiz

The following quiz is for your own review and will not affect your grade.