Chapter 6

EMPLOYEE
TESTING AND
SELECTION
 Why Careful
Selection is
Important
• The importance of selecting the right employees
• Organizational performance always depends in
part on subordinates having the right skills and
attributes.
• Recruiting and hiring employees is costly.
• The legal implications of incompetent hiring
• The liability of negligent hiring of workers
with questionable backgrounds
 Avoiding
Negligent Hiring
Claims
• Carefully scrutinize information supplied by the
applicant on his or her employment application.

• Get the applicant’s written authorization for reference

checks, and carefully check references.

• Save all records and information you obtain about the

applicant.

• Reject applicants who make false statements of material

facts or who have conviction records for offenses directly
related and important to the job in question.

• Take immediate disciplinary action if problems arise.

 Basic Testing
Concepts
• Reliability
• The consistency of scores obtained by the same
person when retested with the identical or
equivalent tests.
• Test validity
• The accuracy with which a test, interview, and so
on measures what it purports to measure or
fulfills the function it was designed to fill.
• Does the test actually measure what we need for
it to measure?
 Types of Validity
• Criterion validity
• A type of validity based on showing that scores on
the test (predictors) are related to job
performance (criterion).
• Content validity
• A test that is content valid is one that contains a
fair sample of the tasks and skills actually needed
for the job in question.
 How to Validate a
Test
• Step 1: Analyze the job
• Step 2: Choose the tests
• Step 3: Administer the test
• Step 4: Relate Test Scores
and Criteria
• Step 5: Cross-Validate and
Revalidate
Computer-Interactive
Testing
• Types of tests
• Specialized work sample tests
• Numerical ability tests
• Reading comprehension tests
• Clerical comparing and checking tests
• Online tests
• Telephone prescreening
• Offline computer tests
• Virtual “inbox” tests
• Online problem solving tests
 Types of Tests
• Tests of cognitive abilities
• Intelligence Tests
• Tests of general intellectual abilities that measure a
range of abilities, including memory, vocabulary, verbal
fluency, and numerical ability.
• Aptitude tests
• Tests that measure specific mental abilities, such as
inductive and deductive reasoning, verbal
comprehension, memory, and numerical ability.
• Tests of motor abilities
• Tests that measure motor abilities, such as finger dexterity,
manual dexterity, and reaction time.
• Tests of physical abilities
• Tests that measure static strength, dynamic strength, body
coordination, and stamina.
 Measuring
Personality and
• Personality tests Interests
• Tests that use projective techniques and trait
inventories to measure basic aspects of an applicant’s
personality, such as introversion, stability, and
motivation.
• Disadvantage
• Personality tests—particularly the projective type—
are the most difficult tests to evaluate and use.
• Advantage
• Tests have been used successfully to predict
dysfunctional job behaviors and identify successful
candidates for overseas assignments.
 Other Tests
• Interest inventories
• Personal development and selection devices that
compare the person’s current interests with those of
others now in various occupations so as to determine
the preferred occupation for the individual.
• Achievement tests
• Test that measure what a person has already learned
—“job knowledge” in areas like accounting,
marketing, or personnel.
 Work Samples
• Work samples
• Actual job tasks are used in testing
applicants’ performance.
• Work sampling technique
• A testing method based on measuring
an applicant’s performance on actual
basic job tasks.
 Work
•
Simulations
Management assessment center
• A simulation in which management candidates are
asked to perform realistic tasks in hypothetical
situations and are scored on their performance.
• Typical simulated exercises include:
• The in-basket
• Leaderless group discussion
• Management games
• Individual presentations
• Objective tests
• The interview
Work Simulations
(cont’d)
• Video-Based situational testing
• A situational test comprised of several video
scenarios, each followed by a multiple choice
question that requires the candidate to
choose from among several courses of
action.

• While the evidence is mixed, the results

suggest that video-based situational tests
can be useful for selecting employees.
 Making Background
Checks More Useful
• Include on the application form a statement
for applicants to sign explicitly authorizing a
background check.
• Use telephone references if possible.
• Be persistent in obtaining information.
• Ask open-ended questions to elicit more
information from references.
• Use references provided by the candidate as a
source for other references.
 Using Preemployment
Information Services
• Concerns about checking applicant histories
• Various equal employment laws discourage or
prohibit the use of such information in employee
screening.
• Courts view making employment decisions based on
someone’s arrest record as unfairly discriminatory.
• The EEOC says a poor credit history should not by
itself preclude someone from getting a job.
 The Polygraph and
Honesty Testing
• The polygraph (or lie detector)
• A device that measures physiological changes,
• The assumption is that such changes reflect
changes in emotional state that accompany
lying.
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.
• Prohibits employers (in most all cases) from
conducting polygraph examinations of all job
applicants and most employees.
• Also prohibited are other mechanical or
electrical devices including psychological stress
evaluators and voice stress analyzers.
 Paper-and-Pencil
Honesty Tests
• Paper-and-pencil honesty tests
• Psychological tests designed to predict job
applicants’ proneness to dishonesty and
other forms of counterproductivity.

• Measure attitudes regarding things like

tolerance of others who steal, acceptance of
rationalizations for theft, and admission of
theft-related activities.
 Physical Examination
• Reasons for preemployment medical
examinations:
• To verify that the applicant meets the physical
requirements of the position
• To discover any medical limitations you should take
into account in placing the applicant.
• To establish a record and baseline of the applicant’s
health for future insurance or compensation claims.
• To reduce absenteeism and accidents
• To detect communicable diseases that may be
unknown to the applicant.
THANK YOU 