Human Resources Management Discussion.

Assume you are employed as an HR manager for a large retail clothing store. You are tasked with hiring a sales clerk for an open position.  The ideal candidate for this position will possess the following factors: 

1. Have at least a high school education (bachelor’s or associate’s degree desirable).

2. Have experience as a sales clerk or in a related field (such as customer service).

3.  Ability to work with currency and balance a cash drawer correctly.

4. Have good communication skills (for example, speak clearly, make good eye contact)

5: Have good interpersonal skills (for example, demonstrate patience and flexibility and develop rapport easily).

5: Have good selling skills (for example, ability to influence, persuasiveness).

6. Be motivated to work.

Part A: Evaluating Selection Methods

Identify which selection method (e.g., résumé, interview, test, role-play exercise, reference check or personality inventory) you would recommend for each of the six factors listed below. You can use the same selection method more than once if you believe it is appropriate for more than one factor.

1. Education – selection method:  _________________________________________

Justification:

2. Work experience – selection method:  _________________________________________

Justification:

3 Ability to work with currency – selection method: _____________________________

Justification:

4.Communication skills – selection method:  ___________________________________ 

Justification:

5. Interpersonal skills – selection method:  _______________________________________

Justification:

Work motivation – selection method:  _________________________________________

Justification:

2007 SHRM. Marc C. Marchese, Ph.D.

Part B: Evaluating a Selection System

There are different ways to ensure that a selection system is working. One important method focuses on legal compliance.  As indicated in the reading material, there are two types of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact (also known as adverse impact). 

Disparate treatment discrimination refers to treating applicants differently based on a protected characteristic (for example, age, sex, national origin, religion). Disparate impact discrimination may be unintentional because the intention was for all applicants to be treated equally; however, this equal treatment had an unequal effect related to a protected characteristic. The most common approach to identify adverse impact is to apply the four-fifths rule. The four-fifths rule states that adverse impact exists if the selection ratio of the minority group is less than four-fifths (or 80 percent) of the selection ratio of the majority group. The simplest way to calculate adverse impact is to divide the selection ratio of the minority group by the selection ratio of the majority group. If the result is less than 80%, then adverse impact exists.  

The retail clothing store collected the following hiring data over the past seven years for Department Manager positions:

Males applied:  75; Males hired: 15

Females applied: 115; Females hired: 20

Caucasians applied: 150; Caucasians hired: 30

Minorities applied: 40; Minorities hired: 5 

Calculate the selection ratios for the two groups:

Males: ----------------

Females: --------------

Minorities: ----------------

Non-Minorities: ___________

Does adverse impact exist when you compare the minority applicant pool with the non-minority applicant pool?  Does adverse impact exist when you compare the female applicant pool with the male applicant pool? Show your calculation for both questions.

2007 SHRM. Marc C. Marchese, Ph.D.

Part C: Evaluating a Selection Process

Think about the concepts of reliability and validity in the context of the selection process. Describe what each one means, why it is important, and provide an example.  How are reliability and validity related to each other and why is important for a selection process to be both valid and reliable? 

You may use a word document if you like or provide your answers in the content of your response window.

Be sure to provide the references for the sources of the information you used to inform your analysis including the material provided in the classroom.

Discussion Two: Application

Read the Module 3 Case and in-depth scenario 1. Draft a 1 - 2 page memo to the founders of HSS to address the issues with the selection practices. Specifically, include a) a discussion of the reasons why a selection strategy is necessary to hire the best candidates; b) an explanation to the founders regarding how the selection process should be based on valid and reliable selection criteria, including some examples; and c) a discussion of the selection criteria and methods that could have been used to avoid hiring the wrong candidate for the marketing manager position.  You may use a word document if you like or provide your proposal in the content of your response window.  Be sure to provide the references for the sources of the information you used including the material provided in the classroom.

MODULE CASE

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From talking to one of the founders, you learn that one of the reasons for hiring from internal referrals is that HSS had attempted to hire its first marketing manager from outside the company in a general search a year and a half ago. One of the candidates had outstanding qualifications—

degrees from top universities and 15 years of experience at a very successful 

firm. He had worked for two other firms for less than a year before he applied for the position at HSS.

When the founders at HSS called the candidate’s last supervisor, the supervisor did not say 

anything directly negative about the candidate but left a negative impression of him with the 

founder who had talked to him. The founders did not want to believe that a candidate with such good qualifications had negatives in his background, so they called the president of the company for which the candidate had last worked. The president of the company assured the founders that there was simply “a personal ity conflict” between the candidate and his immediate supervisor. The founders decided to hire the candidate as the marketing manager for HSS.

The first two or three weeks that the new marketing manager worked for HSS had gone well, and he used his knowledge and experience to begin creating a good marketing plan. Then one Monday he neither showed up for work nor called HSS. HSS tried to contact him, but because he had recently moved to the local area to work for HSS, they were unable to locate him. Finally, two days later, the new marketing manager showed up for work as if nothing had happened. One of the founders questioned him but did not get an adequate explanation as to why he had not showed up to work for two days. The new marketing manager assured him that it would not happen again, but two weeks later the same thing happened.One of the founders questioned him about his absence and the employee became somewhat belligerent and admitted that he had been receiving treatment for a chronic illness. 

When asked what the illness was, the marketing manager admitted that he was an alcoholic.The founders decided to fire the new marketing manager. When they told him they were going to “let him go,” he threatened to sue them under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The marketing manager subsequently hired an attorney and started the process of bringing a lawsuit against HSS. HSS hired an attorney to deal with the situation. In his investigation the attorney learned that the marketing manager had

similar problems in his previous firm and had initiated a lawsuit 

against them, but when he had been hired by HSS he had dropped the lawsuit against the other firm. The attorney recommended that HSS attempt to settle the case for a sum that was about the same as one year’s salary. The attorney believed that HSS would prevail if the case went to court, but that it would cost HSS more to contest the case than it would cost to settle the case. So HSS had settled the case. The founder you talked with about this past situation is concerned that if HSS starts hiring from 

outside the organization, similar situations will occur. This founder also realizes that HSS must  start to hire from outside the organization but is a little scared because of the past negative experience

SOURCES:

 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-psychology/chapter/industrial-psychology-selecting-and-evaluating-employees/ 

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/the-job-offer/

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/questions-employers-ask-when-conducting-a-reference-check-2062965

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/job-interview-questions-that-are-illegal-1918488