HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods
Reliability Validity
Utility Legality
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Reliability
Reliability refers to consistency of measurement, usually across time but also
across judges
Examples:
• Zero reliability: You step on a weighing scale three times in a row right now and
each time it showed: 80kg, 100kg, 45kg
• Perfect reliability: The IQ test you did gives the same score every time you take
it
• Perfect inter-judge reliability: 5 different interviewers all judged you to have the
same level of social skill
Methods always contain some error or “noise”
3 or unreliability
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Validity
Validity is the extent to which the technique measures the intended knowledge,
skill, ability or other requirements (KSAOs).
Methods that are not valid are useless!
Content validity - degree to which the content of the selection method is
representative of job content.
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Validity
Criterion-related validity: How well performance on a selection method
predicts actual job performance
Predictive validity – whether scores on a selection measure correlate with
future job performance
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Validity
Concurrent validity – whether scores on a selection measure are related to
job performance levels, when both are measured at roughly the same time
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Validity
Concurrent validity –is easy and quick to determine
• But can be problematic to apply if the current workers don’t represent
current job applicants
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods
Reliability and validity are two different things
• Tests that are not reliable cannot be valid
• Test that are reliable may not be valid
Example:
Think about IQ test example with perfect reliability. Let’s say that we are looking
to hire some musicians. Using the IQ test, instead of their proficiency in playing a
number of instruments, to select is not valid.
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Utility
Utility – refers to the practical economic value of a selection method
• Depends on its validity; but not only… Also:
• Cost of the selection method to develop and to administer
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Utility
Variability of job performance – the more variability, the more utility a selection
tool has
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Legality
Legality
EU Anti-discrimination Law: Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex,
race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or
belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national
minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be
prohibited.
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Selection Methods - Legality
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Tests
Tests assess some “s” to
measure “g”
• Test-taking ability matters
(e.g. reading skill, educational
background, practice effects)
• Correlation with job
performance = +0.51
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Personality – Big Five Personality
Inventory
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Personality – Big Five Personality
Inventory
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Personality – MBTI (Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator)
Want to take the
test ?:
https://www.16p
ersonalities.com
/free-
personality-test
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Personality – MBTI (Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator)
• Reliability: After 5 weeks, 50% of people’s type changes (Pittenger, 1993; 2005)
• Predictive validity: Reviewing other research, the evidence that MBTI predicts
managerial effectiveness is mixed and inconsistent (Gardner and Martinko, 1996)
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Work Sample Tests
• Applicants are asked to perform the exact same tasks that they will be
performing on the job.
• High reliability and validity
• Correlation with job performance = +0.54
Example:
One of Levi Strauss’s work sample tests asks applicants for maintenance and repair
positions to disassemble and reassemble a sewing machine component
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Interviews
Social desirability – we say what we think
people want to hear
• Male applicants tend to have higher social
desirability than female applicants (Ones &
Viswesvaran, 1998)
• Older applicants tend to have higher social
desirability than younger applicants (Ones &
Viswesvaran, 1998)
• Knowing this, supplement evaluations with
due diligence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGLal9
wkbYo
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Similarity bias
• Similarity bias, or affinity bias, is the phenomenon of preferring individuals whom
we see as similar to ourselves in some way.
• Humans naturally and unconsciously create an “in group” and an “out group” based on
who we think has the same interests, experiences, the same background, or even the
same ethnicity as us. It can subtly influence your hiring decisions, lead you to give
preferential treatment to similar people to yourself and overlook other qualified
candidates.
• It can lead to preferential treatment of certain types of candidates and create an unfair
recruitment process.
• Continuously perpetuating the similar-to-me effect over time leads to reduced company
diversity, a culture of conformity, and one-dimensional thinking and problem-solving.
• Introducing measures like screening candidates with skills tests, anonymous or diverse
panel interviews, inclusive job descriptions, and regular unconscious bias training can go
a long way to reduce all kinds of unconscious biases.
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Similarity bias
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Similarity
bias
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