1. Is the PS assessment a valid predictor of performance as a store manager? Would you recommend the PS be used in the future to select sales people for promotion to store manager? 2. With a cut score of 7 on the PS, would its use lead to adverse impact against women? Minorities? If there is adverse impact, does the validity evidence justify the use of the PS anyway? 3. What are the limitations of the study? Do you think that the conclusions you would reach based on this sample of individuals who were promoted to store manager would generalize to the population of all salespeople who are being evaluated for promotion potential? Do you think the method of rating performance is sufficient as a criterion, and if so, why. If not, what additional steps would you take to ensure that performance is measured adequately? 4. Would you recommend YellowBlaze now actually use the PS for making promotion decisions? Why or why not? 5. One employee has raised questions regarding whether the performance ratings themselves are biased. This employee has not made a formal legal complaint against Yellow Blaze yet, but the organization wants to evaluate whether there is reason for concern. Based on the calculations you made regarding the differences for performance evaluation ratings for women relative to men, and for minorities relative to non-minorities, do you believe that there is reason for the organization to be concerned regarding this issue? In other words, do the data suggest that there is, in fact, a substantial difference in performance evaluation ratings for different groups of employees? How should the organization respond to this individual employee’s concerns?
> If you are asked an illegal interview question, why is it important to first assess the intentions of the interviewer?
> Why is it a smart strategy to thank an interviewer, to follow up, and even to send a rejection follow-up message? Are any risks associated with this strategy?
> Like criminal background checks and drug tests, social media background checks have become commonplace in today’s recruiting. What are the pros and cons of conducting such checks as a primary or sole means of screening applicants?
> Online psychometric and skills tests with multiple-choice questions have become a hot trend in recruiting today. Employers may ask not only how applicants would handle tricky situations, but also how happy they are or how much they have stolen from their
> To focus on the “you” view, should writers scrub all uses of I and we from their writing? Why or why not?
> What category of proposal, solicited or unsolicited, is more likely to succeed, and why?
> It has been suggested that “ethical conduct” be formally incorporated as a general competency requirement for any job within the organization. Discuss the pros and cons of this suggestion.
> Identify examples of ethical dilemmas an organization might confront when developing an affirmative action plan (AAP).
> Does an organization have any ethical responsibility to share with all of its employees the results of its forecasting of HR requirements and availabilities? Does it have any ethical responsibility not to do this?
> Assume the company you work for practices strict adherence to the law in its relationships with employees and job applicants. The company calls it “staffing by the book.” But beyond that, it seems that anything goes in terms of tolerated staffing practi
> Assume that you’re the staffing manager in a company that informally, but strongly, discourages you and managers from hiring people with disabilities. The company’s rationale is that people with disabilities are unlike to be high performers or long term
> One of the strategic staffing choices is whether to pursue workforce diversity actively or passively. First suggest some ethical reasons for the active pursuit of diversity, and then suggest some ethical reasons for a more passive approach. Assume the
> Assume that you are either the staffing professional in the department or the hiring manager of a work unit. Explain why it is so important to represent the organization’s interests (see Exhibit 1.8). What are some possible consequences of not doing so?
> Firing an employee has numerous potential negative organizational consequences, including the discomfort of the supervisor who delivers the termination information, conflict or sabotage from the departing employee, and the potential for a lawsuit. In res
> Imagine your organization is doing exit interviews and has promised confidentiality to all who respond. Your supervisor has asked you to give the name of each respondent so she can assess the information in conjunction with the person’s supervisor. What
> What factors would lead an organization to enter into a consent agreement rather than continue to pursue a suit in court?
> 1. Drawing from concepts presented in the measurement chapter, how could Mandy more formally evaluate SSI's assessment process, as well as the alternative presented to her by Vin? 2. Construct a scenario in which you think Mandy should continue her busin
> Why is each of the four situational factors necessary to establishing a claim of disparate impact?
> What are the limitations of disparate impact statistics as indicators of potential staffing discrimination?
> Do you agree that “the employer usually has the upper hand” when it comes to establishing the employment relationship? When might the employee have maximum power over the employer?
> Are some of the thirteen strategic staffing decisions more important than others? If so, which ones? Why?
> What are examples of how staffing activities influenced by training or compensation activities?
> Would it be desirable to hire people only according to the person/organization match, ignoring the person/job match?
> Why do you think HR professionals were not able to very accurately predict the importance of many rewards to employees? What are the implications for creating the employee value proposition?
> What guidelines do the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures offer to organizations when it comes to setting cutoff scores?
> Discuss some potential problems with downsizing as an organization's first response to a need to cut labor costs.
> Why should an organization seek to retain employees with performance or discipline problems - why not just fire them?
> A. For each finalist, you are to decide whether or not you would be willing to hire the person and why.
> If a person says to you - "It's easy to reduce turnover, just pay people more money" - what is your response?
> Which of the costs and benefits of voluntary turnover are most likely to vary according to type of job? Give examples.
> For the three primary causes of voluntary turnover (desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, alternatives), might their relative importance depend on the type of employee or type of job? Explain.
> How would you try to get 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?
> In developing a report on the effectiveness of the staffing process being conducted for entry-level jobs, what factors would you address in such a report and why?
> What would be the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the entire staffing system to a vendor?
> What are examples of staffing tasks and activities that cannot or should not be simply delegated to a staffing information system for their conduct?
> 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?
> What are the steps an employer should take to develop and implement its policy regarding employment-at-will?
> What are examples of orientation experiences you have had as a new hire that have been particularly effective (or ineffective) in helping to make the person/job match happen?
> 1. What sort of background testing should BSS conduct on its applicants? 2. Is there any information BSS should avoid obtaining for legal or EEO reasons? 3. How can BSS know that its background testing programs are effective? 4. In the past, BSS has used
> What are the advantages and disadvantages to the sales approach in the presentation of the job offer?
> If the same job offer content is to be given to all offer receivers for a job, is there any need to use the strategic approach to job offers?
> If you were the HR staffing manager for an organization, what guidelines might you recommend regarding oral and written communication with the job applicants by members of the organization?
> What roles should human resource professionals play in staffing decisions? Why?
> What are the advantages of ranking as a method of final choices over random selection?
> Under what circumstances should a compensatory model be used? What should a multiple hurdles model be used?
> What are the positive consequences associated with a high predictor cutoff score? What are the negative consequences?
> Your boss 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 boss and why?
> What steps should be taken by an organization that is committed to shattering the glass ceiling?
> Evaluate the effectiveness of seniority, assessment centers, and job knowledge as substantive internal selection procedures.
> Describe the three different types of interview simulations.
> Explain the theory behind assessment centers.
> What are the differences between peer ratings, peer nominations, and peer rankings?
> Explain how internal selection decisions differ from external selection decisions.
> Describe how organizations should apply the general principles of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures to practical selection decisions.
> What is the best way to collect and use drug-testing data in selection decisions?
> What are the most common discretionary and contingent assessment methods? What are the similarities and differences between the use of these two methods?
> Describe the structured interview, noting characteristics that improve upon the shortcomings of unstructured interviews.
> How would you advise an organization considering adopting a cognitive ability test in selection?
> Describe the similarities and differences between personality tests and integrity tests. When are each warranted in selection?
> 1. How should Lone Star go about finding a successor to Ritter? Should Bowers be recruited to be the next CEO? 2. How should other internal candidates be identified and recruited? 3. Does Lone Star need a succession plan for the CEO position? If so, how
> What information does a selection decision-maker need to collect in making staffing decisions? What are the ways in which this information can be collected?
> How can organizations avoid legal difficulties in the use of pre-employment inquiries in initial selection decisions?
> Some methods of initial assessment appear to be more useful than others. If you were starting your own business, which initial assessment methods would you use and why?
> Describe the criteria by which initial assessment methods are evaluated. Are some of these criteria more important than others?
> In what ways are the following three initial assessment methods similar and in what ways are they different: Application blanks, biographical information, and reference and background checks?
> 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.
> Using the same example as in question four, how would you go about investigating the content validity of the test?
> Assume you gave a general ability test, measuring both verbal and computational skills, to a group of applicants for a specific job. Also assume that because of severe hiring pressures, you hired all of the applicants, regardless of their test scores. Ho
> Give examples of when you would want the following for a written job knowledge test: 1. a low coefficient alpha (e.g., alpha = .35), and b. a low test-retest reliability.
> 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.
> 1. Evaluation of Corporate Recruiting Web Sites 2. Interviews with Student Users of Recruiting Areas in Corporate Web Sites 3. Recommendations for the Recruiting Area of the MMH Web Site
> Imagine and describe a staffing system for a job in which there was no measurement used.
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of identifying and using general competencies to guide staffing activities?
> Exhibit 6.9 contains many suggestions for improving the advancement of women and minorities. Choose the three suggestions you think are most important and explain why.
> What information should be included in the targeted internal communication message?
> Compare and contrast a closed internal recruitment system with an open internal recruitment system.
> A sound policy regarding promotion is important. List the characteristics necessary for an effective promotion policy.
> 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 ea
> What strategies are organizations using to ensure that they are able to attract women and underrepresented racioethnic groups?
> What are the advantages of conveying a realistic recruitment message as opposed to one portraying the job in a way that the organization thinks that job applicants want to hear?
> In designing the communication message to be used in external recruiting, what kinds of information should be included?
> 1. Reasons why it is important to update and write new job descriptions. 2. Outline of a process that will yield a set of thorough, current job descriptions. 3. A process to be used in the future for periodically reviewing and updating these new job desc
> List ten sources of applicants that organizations turn to when recruiting. For each source, identify needs specific to the source, as well as pros and cons of using the source for recruitment.
> List and briefly describe each of the administrative issues that needs to be addressed in the planning stage of external recruiting.
> What are the advantages and disadvantages to using multiple methods of job analysis for a particular job? Multiple sources?
> What would you consider when trying to decide what criteria (e.g., percentage of time spent) to use for gathering indications about task importance?
> 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?
> How should task statements be written, and what sorts of problems might you encounter, in asking a job incumbent to write these statements?
> What is the purpose of each type of job analysis, and how can the three types described in this chapter be combined to produce and overall understanding of work in an organization?
> What problems might an organization encounter in doing an AAP that it might not encounter in regular staffing planning?
> What criteria would you suggest using for assessing the staffing alternatives shown in Exhibit 3.14?
> What is meant by reconciliation, and why can it be so useful as an input to staffing planning?
> A. Summarize the possible advantages and disadvantages of flexible staffing. B. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using FSS as a service provider. C. Summarize the type of additional information you recommend gathering and using as part of th
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of succession planning for all levels of management, instead of just top management?
> Why are decisions about job categories and levels so critical to the conduct and results of HRP?
> What are the types of experiences, especially staffing-related ones, that an organization will be likely to have if it does not engage in HR and staffing planning?
> What are ways that the organization can ensure that KSAO deficiencies do not occur in its workforce?
> Why is it important for the organization to view all components of staffing (recruitment, selection, employment) from the perspective of the job applicant?
> What are potential problems with having a staffing process in which vacancies were filled (1) on a lottery basis from among job applicants, or (2) on a first come-first hired basis among job applicants?
> What are the differences between staffing in the private and public sectors? Why would private employers probably resist adopting many of the characteristics of public staffing systems?
