What roles should hr professionals play in staffing decisions why

Staffing and Selection

Please note that you are demonstrating your knowledge about the subject areas explored in the course. Explain in full detail (minimum = one paragraph):

1. What are the advantages of ranking as a method of final choices over random selection?

2. Compare and contrast a closed internal recruitment system with an open internal recruitment system.

3. Would it be better to first identify task dimensions and then create specific task statements for each dimension, or should task statements be identified first and then used to create task dimensions?

4. Traditional career paths strictly emphasize upward mobility within an organization. How does mobility differ in organizations with innovative career paths? List three innovative career paths discussed in this chapter, describing how mobility occurs in each.

5. What are the most common discretionary and contingent assessment methods?

6. Describe the structured interview process. What are the characteristics of structured interviews that improve on the shortcomings of unstructured interviews?

7. What roles should human resource professionals play in staffing decisions? Explain your rationale.

8. What are ways that the organization can ensure that KSAO deficiencies do not occur in its workforce?

9. What are the types of staffing-related experience that an organization will be likely to have if it does not engage in HR and staffing planning?

10. What are the advantages and disadvantages of identifying and using general competencies to guide staffing activities?

11. In designing the communication message to be used in external recruiting, what kinds of information should be included (explain why).

12. If you were the HR staffing manager for an organization, what guidelines do you recommend regarding oral and written communication with the job applicants by members of the organization?

13. A selection plan describes which predictor(s) will be used to assess the KSAOs required to perform the job. Describe the three steps to follow in establishing a selection plan.?

14. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using multiple methods of job analysis for a particular job? Multiple sources?

15. Provide two examples of effective orientation experiences for a new hire in helping to make the person/job match happen.

16. Name the most important of the 13 strategic staffing decisions. Explain why these are most important.

17. Compare and contrast a closed internal recruitment system with an open internal recruitment system.

18. Why is it extremely important for organizations to be sure to keep promises that they make to job applicants?

19. Your supervisor is considering the use of a new predictor. The base rate is high, the selection ratio is low, and the validity coefficient is high for the current predictor. What would you advise your supervisor and why?

20. Describe the similarities and differences between personality tests and integrity tests. Describe when is each warranted in the selection process.

21. Identify the factors would lead an organization to enter into a consent agreement rather than continue pursuing a suit in court?

22. What would you consider when trying to decide what criteria (e.g., percentage of time spent) to use for gathering indications about task importance?

23. How should task statements be written, and what sorts of problems might you encounter, in asking a job incumbent to write these statements? What are the advantages and disadvantages of identifying and using general competencies to guide staffing activities?

24. Describe how you might go about determining scores for applicants’ responses

to: a. interview questions, b. letters of recommendation, and c. question about

previous work experience.

25. Define the three initial assessment methods and state how each is different: application blanks, biographical information, and reference reports.

26. How can organizations avoid legal difficulties in the use of pre-employment inquiries in initial selection decisions?

27. What are the advantages of having a centralized staffing function, as opposed to letting each manager be totally responsible for all staffing activities in his or her unit?

28. Cognitive ability tests are one of the best predictors of job performance, yet they have substantial adverse impact against minorities. Do you think it’s fair to use such tests? Explain why or why not?

29. State how Human Resources should assist individual managers to be more aware of the legal requirements of staffing systems and to take steps to ensure that they themselves engage in legal staffing actions?

30. Given that seniority is not a particularly valid predictor of job performance, is it unethical for a company to use it as a basis for promotion? Explain why or why not?

31. What are the steps an employer should take to develop and implement its policy regarding employment-at-will?

32. Using the applicant attraction strategy model (Exhibit 12.1), provide two examples of how the same job offer has different effects on pre- and post-attraction outcomes?

33. Explain why most organizations provide some form of specific "just cause" guarantee regarding terminations during their job offers.

34. Do you think it’s ethical for employers to select applicants on the basis of questions such as, “Dislike loud music” and “Enjoy wild flights of fantasy,” even if the scales that such items measure have been shown to predict job performance? Explain.

35. How can organizations avoid legal difficulties in the use of pre-employment inquiries in initial selection decisions?

37. Is clinical prediction the fairest way to combine assessment information about job applicants, or are the other methods (unit weighting, rational weighting, multiple regression) more fair? Explain the reasons why.

38. Identify some potential problems with downsizing as an organization's first response to a need to cut labor costs.

39. Organizations can gauge the likely reactions of job applicants to job offers not only by conducting formal research, but also by gathering information. Explain how you would gather information about job applicant preferences prior to the job offer.

40. What are examples of staffing tasks and activities that cannot or should not be simply delegated to a staffing information system for their conduct?

41. What are the advantages of having a centralized staffing function, as opposed to letting each manager be totally responsible for all staffing activities in his or her unit?

42. What arguments would you make in attempting to persuade an organization that it should be periodically assessing the validity of its selection procedures?

43. Why should the job rewards matrix be used to determine the job offer to job finalists?

44. When rejecting job applicants, explain why most organizations do so with a rejection message to the applicant that is short and vague in content.

45. Having applicants sign release statements so the employer can do background investigations is a legal means for minimizing the possibility of negligent hiring. Explain why.

46. Which of the following would be the most sensible approach for addressing the issue of applicant truthfulness

a. receive applicant information in good faith since the majority of applicants will be honest and it is not fair to inconvenience everyone with more verification because of a few “bad apples.”

b. treat applicants with trust and they will respond with honesty in most cases.

c. have applicants provide independent, third-party documentation of all job information provided on application blanks.

d. verify the applicant information provided that is deemed most vital.

Explain why:

47. Which of the following should be the overall focus of orientation training

a. person/job match

b. job/organization match

c. person/person match

Explain why:

48. Explain why an employer has or does not have a right to check into applicants’ backgrounds even if there is no suspicion of misbehavior.

a) Does the employer have or does not have the right even if the job poses no security or sensitive risks? Explain the reasons why/why not.

b) Does the employer have or does not have the right even if the background check includes driving offenses and credit histories? Explain the reasons why/why not.

49. Explain the following assessment methods: Initial, Substantive, Discretionary, and Contingent.

a) Also explain how each of these methods connect with the Applicant Flow

50. Explain the challenges of Adverse Impact when using predictors.

51. Biodata is like a background check in many ways, but background checks tend to focus on external references rather than applicant surveys. What can biodata reveal about an applicant?

52. Explain the following methods of selection:

a) Random

b) Ranking

c) Grouping

Place the following names in: 1) random; 2) ranking; and 3) grouping order:

Name Assessment Score

Lyn 9

Casey 12

Keshia 11

Meg 7

Luis 6

Buster 9

Random

Ranking

Grouping

53. If a cutoff score is set based on the qualifications deemed necessary to perform a job, it is most likely the ______ method of determining cut scores.

a) top-down

b) criterion-related

c) minimum competency

d) Banding

e)

54. If you were the HR staffing manager for an organization, provide three guidelines

you would recommend regarding oral and written communication with the job

applicants by members of the organization.

55. From the newcomer's perspective, likely components for inclusion in the socialization/orientation process include:

a) performance proficiency

b) organization goals and values

c) politics

Explain each of the above components

56. If adverse impact occurs because of certain selection procedures, Explain how the selection process may be justified under UGESP through validity studies.

57. If an HR specialist is assessing the usefulness of predictors in forecasting job success, and it is noted that a given predictor has both high validity and high adverse impact, what should the HR specialist conclude?

58. An applicant who is hired but does not perform successfully is a _______:

a) true positive

b) false positive

c) true negative

d) false negative

59. An applicant who is not hired but who would have performed successfully if hired is a _____________.

a) true positive

b) false positive

c) true negative

d) false negative

Explain your answers to questions 57 and 58.

60. If an organization wishes to comply with the law and still increase the diversity of its workforce, what course of action should HR take?