Chapter 17

Human Resource
Policies and Practices

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
S T E P H E N P. R O B B I N S
E L E V E N T H E D I T I O N
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The Selection Process
• Initial Selection
– Applicants who don’t meet basic requirements are
rejected.
• Substantive Selection
– Applicants who meet basic requirements, but are less
qualified than others, are rejected.
• Contingent Selection
– Applicants who are among best qualified, but who fail
contingent selection, are rejected.
• Applicant receives job offer.

Exhibit 18-1
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Stage 1: Initial Selection
• Initial selection devices are used to determine if
basic qualifications for the job are met
• Devices include:
– Application Forms
• Initial screening
• Must be careful about questions asked – legal issues
– Background Checks
• Most employers want reference information, but few give
it out – litigation worries
• Letters of recommendation are of marginal worth
• May use criminal record or credit report checks

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Stage 2: Substantive Selection
• These devices are the heart of the selection
process
– Written Tests
• Testing applicants for: intelligence or cognitive ability,
personality, integrity, and interests
• Intelligence tests are the best predictor across all jobs
– Performance-Simulation Tests
• Based on job-related performance requirements
• Work Sample Tests
– Creating a miniature replica of a job to evaluate the
performance abilities of job candidates
• Assessment Centers
– A set of performance-simulation tests designed to evaluate
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Another Substantive Selection Device
 Interviews
– Are the most frequently used selection tool
– Carry a great deal of weight in the selection process
– Can be biased toward those who “interview well”
– Are better for assessing applied mental skills,
conscientiousness, interpersonal skills, and person-
organization fit of the applicant.
 Types of Interviews
– Unstructured (randomly chosen questions)
• Most common, least predictive, and prone to bias
– Structured (standardized sets of questions)
• More predictive of job success; less chance for bias
– Behavioral structured (asking how specific problems were
handled in the past)
• Past behaviors may be good predictors of future behavior
 Interviews most often used to determine organization-
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 Selection Devices (cont’d)
 Written Tests
– Renewed employer interest in testing applicants for:
• Intelligence: trainable to do the job?
• Aptitude:
• Ability
• Interest (attitude): would/will do the job?
• Integrity: trust to do the job?
– Tests must show a valid connection to job-related
performance requirements.

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 Selection Devices (cont’d)
 Performance-Simulation Tests
– Based on job-related performance requirements
– Yield validities (correlation with job performance)
superior to written aptitude and personality tests.

Work Sample Tests

Creating a miniature replica of a job to evaluate
the performance abilities of job candidates.
Assessment Centers
A set of performance-simulation tests designed
to evaluate a candidate’s managerial potential.
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Stage 3: Contingent Selection
 Final checks before hiring
– Drug testing
• Controversial: perceived to be unfair or invasive
• Supreme Court ruled that this is not an invasion of rights
• Expensive but accurate
• Alcohol not generally tested for

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Training and Development Programs

 Types of Training
– Basic Literacy Skills
• One half of U.S. high school graduates do not have the
basic skills necessary for work
– Technical Skills
• Focus of most training, especially given the pace of
technological change
– Interpersonal Skills
• Skills like effective listening, communication, and
teamwork
– Problem-solving Skills
• Help sharpen logic and reasoning, and provide helpful
decision-making techniques

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 What About Ethics Training?
 Argument against ethics  Arguments for ethics
training training
– Personal values and – Values can be learned
value systems are fixed and changed after early
at an early age. childhood.
– Training helps employees
recognize ethical
dilemmas and become
aware of ethical issues
related to their actions.
– Training reaffirms the
organization’s
expectation that
members will act
ethically.

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 Training Methods

E-training Formal Training

Individual and
Off-the-Job
Training Group Training Informal Training
Methods

On-the-Job
Training

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Training Methods
 Formal
– Planned in advance with a structured format
 Informal
– Unstructured, unplanned, and easily adaptable
– 70% of all current training is of this type
 On-the-Job (OJT)
– Includes job rotation, apprenticeships, understudy
assignments, and formal mentoring programs
– May be disruptive to the workplace
 Off-the-Job
– Classroom lectures, videotapes, seminars, self-study
courses, Internet-based courses, role-plays, and case
studies.
 E-Training (computer-based)
– Flexible but expensive and not proven to work
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 Individualizing Formal Training to Fit the
Employee’s Learning Style

Readings Lectures

Learning
Styles
Participation and
Experiential Visual Aids
Exercises

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Individualized Training and Learning Styles
• Learning styles differ: so should training method
• Learning Styles:
– Reading
• Give them books and reading materials to review
– Watching
• Let them observe experts modeling the proper behaviors
– Listening
• Provide lectures or audiotapes
– Participating
• Let these learners try out the new skills in a safe
experimental environment
• The styles are not mutually exclusive –
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 Career Development Responsibilities
 Organization  Employees
– Clearly communicate – Know yourself.
organization’s goals – Manage your reputation.
and future strategies.
– Build and maintain
– Create growth network contacts.
opportunities.
– Balance your generalist
– Offer financial and specialist
assistance. competencies.
– Provide time for – Document your
employees to learn. achievement.
– Keep your options open.

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 Performance Evaluation
 Purposes of Performance Evaluation
– From practical point of view
• Promotions, transfers, and terminations
– Appraisal plays integral role in performance
management
• Employee skills and competencies
– Validating selection and development programs.
• Employee performance compared to selection evaluation
and anticipated performance results of participation in
training.
– Overcome deficiencies: Providing feedback to
employees.
• The organization’s view of their current performance

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 Evaluating the Training Effort

 Designing the study (How to measure)

– Time series design
– Controlled experimentation

 Training effects to measure (What to

measure)
– Reaction of trainees to the program
– Learning that actually took place
– Behavior that changed on the job
– Results that were achieved as a result of the training

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 Performance Evaluation (cont’d)
 What Do We Evaluate?

Individual Task
Behaviors
Outcomes

Performance
Evaluation

Traits

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 Performance Evaluation (cont’d)
 Who Should Do the Evaluating?

Immediate
Supervisor

Peers

Self-Evaluation

Immediate
Subordinates

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 Appraisal Methods/Tools

1. Graphic rating scale method

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2. Alternation ranking method

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 Paired comparison method

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3. Forced distribution method
– Places predetermined percentages of subordinates in
performance categories
– Similar to a professor “grading on a curve”
– Features a 20/70/10 split
– Drawbacks include perceptions of unfairness

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4. Critical incident method
– Requires keeping record of uncommonly good or
undesirable examples of employee behavior and
reviewing it with the employee at predetermined times
– Usually supplements a ranking system
– Helps keep supervisors focused on more than the last
few weeks for evaluation

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5. Management by objectives method
1. Set the organizational goal: Set the
organization’s goals and establish organization
wide plan to achieve them
2. Set the departmental goal: Set department’s
goals through a joint effort between department
heads and superiors
3. Discuss departmental goals: Discuss
departmental goals with all subordinates and ask
them to develop their own individual goals

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 .
4. Define expected result: Define expected results
by department heads and subordinates setting short-
term performance targets
5. Performance reviews: Conduct performance
reviews and measure results
6. Provide feedback: Department heads to provide
feedback through performance reviews and meetings
with subordinates

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Suggestions for Improving Evaluations
 Use multiple evaluators to overcome rater
biases
– Halo and leniency errors
 Train evaluators to improve rater accuracy
 Provide employees with due process
– Individuals are provided with adequate notice of
performance expectations
– All relevant evidence of a violation is aired in a fair
hearing, with the individual given an opportunity
to respond
– Final decision is based on the evidence and is free
of bias
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 Providing Performance Feedback
 Why Managers Are Reluctant to Give Feedback
– Uncomfortable discussing performance weaknesses
directly with employees.
– Employees tend to become defensive when their
weaknesses are discussed.
– Employees tend to have an inflated assessment of their
own performance.
 Solutions to Improving Feedback
– Train managers in giving effective feedback.
– Use performance review as counseling activity than as
a judgment process.

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 Providing Performance Feedback (cont’d)
 Why Feedback Is Important?
– Provides employees with information about their
current performance
– Affects employee motivation to continue performing.
 What About Team Performance Evaluations?
1. Tie the team’s results to the organization’s goals.
2. Measure both team and individual performance.
3. Train the team to create its own measures.

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 International HR Practices: Selected Issues
 Selection
– Practices differ by nation: global policies need to be
modified to fit within local customs
– Use of educational qualifications may be universal
 Performance Evaluation
– Differs in many cultures due to differences in:
• Individualism versus collectivism.
• Time orientation (long- or short-term).
• Focus of responsibility.

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 Managing Diversity in Organizations (cont’)
 Diversity Training
– Participants learn to value individual differences,
increase cross-cultural understanding, and confront
stereotypes.
– A typical diversity training program:
• Lasts for half a day to three days.
• Includes role-playing exercises, lectures, discussions,
and sharing experiences.

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Managing Diversity: Work-Life Conflicts
 Since the 1980s the line between work and
personal life has begun to blur
 Solutions include:
– Flexible scheduling and benefits
– On-site personal services (like dry cleaning or a
gym)
– Time-, information- or money-based strategies
available
 Stress is caused not by time constraints but the
psychological incursion of work into the family
domain and vice versa
– Some like greater integration of work and family;
others need greater separation
Exhibit 18-4
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