Mgmt 441-01 Staffing Prof. Howard Miller Welcome! Mgmt 441-01 Staffing Prof. Howard Miller

Staffing Function Among several human resource functions Benefits Compensation Safety Labor Relations Training

Staffing . . . Involves getting people in, or out, of a company We’ll concentrate on the “getting people in” part

Staffing has 2 main purposes “Get the best talent” for the firm at the price we can offer Conform to national, state and local regulations concerning staffing practice, or in short “keep it legal”

How to Staff? Derive “demand for labor” Update job requirement information Identify knowledge, skills and abilities required for success on job Develop measures of job-related KSA’s Recruit from relevant labor markets Screen using “valid” tests Make offer, provide orientation to accepts

Staffing Project Steps Choose job to study Find real setting to perform job analysis Perform job analysis Develop job description, job specification Find/develop tests to measure job specifications Identify “Relevant” labor markets Define recruiting methods Spell out hiring process to client in full detail

What do you mean “valid test”? * Note importance of Supreme Court case Watson v. Ft Worth Bank and Trust (1988) Supreme court states (paraphrasing): “A test is any hurdle you have to clear to get a job” - especially important for interviewing, which was at core of case * A “valid test” is a hurdle that allows better talent to get over, while lesser talent is screened out

How do we establish if a test is “valid” Note importance of “The Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures” (1978) Three methods recognized by courts – “Content validation” “Criterion-related validation” “Construct validation”

The logic of hiring validity illustrated Consider classic payoff matrix, which we’ll label “selection decision matrix” in our setting. Good decisions result when applicants who will succeed are hired (“true positive”), and applicants who will not succeed are rejected (“true negative”) Bad decisions involve rejecting people who will work out (“false negative), and accepting those who don’t work out (“false positive”)

Selection Decision Matrix

Content validation … A logical analysis by subject matter experts (SME’s) of the overlap between the content of screening tests and the content of job requirements Note the deceptive simplicity of the requirements for a typist at the university

Criterion-related validation The main way it’s done 2 types: Predictive Validation and Concurrent Validation Predictive uses test data from applicants, and job performance data from those hired Concurrent uses both test and performance data from current employees

Construct Validation . . . More complex than the other two One has to show that measures of applicant traits and job performance really measure those things (Classic construct validation) AND then show trait measures correlate with job performance measures

the vast majority of the time we’ll be referring to “concurrent, criterion- related validity evidence” because of it’s overwhelming use

Valid tests mean lower error rates in hiring decisions More true positives and negatives Fewer false positives and negatives Lower exposure to successful litigation Higher “utility” of the staffing function

Research on validity tells us what works! Find tests that are shown to be valid How is this done? Within the “concurrent, criterion-related validation” approach, it means showing a significant correlation between test scores and job performance scores – the essence of a concurrent validity study.

What would such validation data look like? See “Ma and Pa Consumer Electronics Store” data set illustration

Valid Hiring Tests A hiring test – anything you must get through to get the job A “Valid” hiring test – one where applicants who score better on the test do a better job if hired In criterion-related empirical test validation, it is one where there is a “significant correlation between hiring test scores and job performance scores”

Empirical validation Obtain a representative sample of people Have them take the hiring test(s), and measure their job performance Compute the statistical correlation of hiring test scores and job performance scores Compute the “statistical significance” of the sample correlation If “significant”, cross-validate in new sample If correlation remains significant, put test(s) into use

Some key statistical concepts “Mean” the average score for a group of people “Standard Deviation” the average variability around the average score for a group of people “Correlation” a number that reveals the degree of linear association between hiring test scores and job performance scores

Correlation properties Correlation is notated with lower case “r” It can range in value from -1.00 to +1.00 r=0 means “zero” correlation, no linear association between the test (x) and job performance (y) – that’s not happy r=+1.00 (or r= -1.00) means there is a perfect association of hiring test and job performance - doesn’t happen in reality, tho’ we’d love it if it did! Correlations from real samples RARELY exceed values of r=.50

More on correlation Correlation can be used to “summarize” the pattern in a 2-variable scatterplot, like the hiring test (x axis) versus job performance (y axis) scatterplot In this application, correlation is a special case of linear regression – using a straight line to summarize what’s happening in a data set Plot interview score against job performance in the Ma and Pa data set

Statistical analysis of interviews in relation to monthly sales Compute the correlation of hiring test scores with job performance scores Compute the regression of job performance scores (Y) on hiring test scores (X)