Question: Cognitive ability tests are one of the

> 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?

> 1. What geographic location might be best for the plant in terms of attracting sufficient quantity and quality of labor, especially for the key jobs? 2. Should the plant manager come from inside the current managerial ranks or be sought from the outside?

> 1. Determine the yield ratios (offer receivers/applicants, new hires/applicants), time lapse or cycle times (days-to-offer, days-to-start), and retention rates associated with each recruitment source. 2. What is the relative effectiveness of the three so

> 1. Do we think turnover is a problem? 2. How might we attack the problem? 3. What do we need to decide? 4. Should we proceed? 5. How should we evaluate the initiatives?

> Since there are no standard ways of creating staffing process results and cost metrics, is there a need for some sort of oversight of how these data are calculated, reported, and used within an organization? Explain.

> It has been suggested that the use of staffing technology and software is wrong because it dehumanizes the staffing experience, making it nothing but a mechanical process that treats applicants like digital widgets. Evaluate this assertion.

> An organization has a staffing strategy in which it over-hires by 10% the number of employees it will actually need in any job category in order to ensure it meets its hiring needs. It reasons that some of the new hires will renege on the accepted offer,

> A large financial services organization is thinking of adopting a new staffing strategy for entry into its management training program. The program will provide the trainees all the knowledge and skills they need for their initial job assignment after tr

> Is clinical prediction the fairest way to combine assessment information about job applicants, or are the other methods (unit weighting, rational weighting, multiple regression) more fair? Why?

> Do you think companies should use banding in selection decisions? Defend your position.

> Vincent and Peter are both sales associates, and are up for promotion to sales manager. In the last five years, on a 1=poor to 5=excellent scale, Vincent’s average performance rating was 4.7 and Peter’s was 4.2. In an assessment center that was meant to

> Given that seniority is not a particularly valid predictor of job performance, do you think it’s unethical for a company to use it as a basis for promotion? Why or why not?

> 1. If you were an applicant, would the HVP program be attractive to you? Why or why not? If you were going to be an offer receiver, which of the three plans would you choose and why? 2. Will the HVP program likely increase the job offer acceptance rate

> Do you think it’s ethical for employers to select applicants on the basis of questions such as, “Dislike loud music” and “Enjoy wild flights of fantasy,” even if the scales that such items measure have been shown to predict job performance? Explain.

> Do you think employers have a right to check into applicants’ backgrounds? Even if there is no suspicion of misbehavior? Even if the job poses no security or sensitive risks? Even if the background check includes driving offenses and credit histories?

> Is it wrong to pad one’s résumé with information that, while not an outright lie, is an enhancement? For example, would it be wrong to term one’s job “maintenance coordinator” when in fact one simply emptied garbage cans?

> Is it unethical for an employer to use a selection measure that has high empirical validity but lacks content validity? Explain.

> Do individuals making staffing decisions have an ethical responsibility to know measurement issues? Why or why not?

> Do organizations have an ethical obligation to have a succession plan in place? If no, why not? If so, what is the ethical obligation and to whom is it owed?

> MDN Inc. is considering two employees for the job of senior manager. An internal candidate, Julie, has been with MDN for 12 years and received very good performance evaluations. The other candidate, Raoul, works for a competitor, and has valuable experie

> Most organizations have in place job boards on their web page where applicants can apply for jobs online. What ethical obligations, if any, do you think organizations have to individuals who apply for jobs online?

> Many organizations adopt a targeted recruitment strategy. For example, Home Depot has targeted workers 50 and above in its recruitment efforts, which include advertising specifically in media outlets frequented by older individuals. Other organizations t

> Assume you are assisting in the conduct of job analysis as an HR department representative. You have encountered several managers who want to delete certain tasks and KSAOs from the formal job description having to do with employee safety, even though th

> 1. How would you go about the process of making decisions about who to select for the openings? In other words, without providing your decisions for the individual candidates, describe how you would weigh the various selection information in order to rea

> A. How can an organization go about collecting and reporting the statistics presented in Exhibit 2.3? B. What “rule of thumb” or guidelines would you recommend for deciding whether statistical differences reflect discrimination occurring through the staf

> Is there any categorical imperative that you can think of that would have universal application? Isn’t there an exception to every rule?

> Since happiness is extremely subjective, how do you objectively measure and assess happiness? Do you agree with J. S. Mill that arithmetic can be used to calculate happiness? Is money a good proxy for happiness?

> Is someone who makes an ethical decision based on enlightened self-interest worthy of more or less praise than someone who makes a similar decision based solely on economic considerations?

> How would you respond when someone makes a decision that adversely affects you while saying, “it’s nothing personal, it’s just business”? Is business impersonal?

> It seems likely that the top executives of the major banks involved in the manipulation of the LIBOR rate were aware of the manipulations, and of the massive profits and losses caused by those manipulations. Why did they think that such manipulations co

> The lack of corporate accountability, and an increased awareness of inequities and other questionable practices by corporations, led to the Occupy Movement. Identify and comment upon additional recent instances which have led to concerns over the legitim

> In each case discussed at some length in this chapter – Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, and Bernie Madoff – the problems were known to whistleblowers. Should those whistleblowers each have made more effort to be heard? How?

> Rank the three worst villains in the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). Explain your ranking.

> Use the Jennings “Seven Signs” framework to analyze the Enron and WorldCom cases in this chapter.

> Many cases of financial malfeasance involve misrepresentation to mislead boards of directors and/or investors. Identify the instances of misrepresentation in the Enron, Arthur Andersen, and WorldCom cases discussed in this chapter. Who was to benefit, an

> What are the reactions and outcomes that can be attributed to the leaked Panama Papers?

> The CEOs of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Turing Pharmaceuticals took the view that they could jack up the price of their drugs by huge percentages because they could, and they failed to consider seriously enough whether they should. Whose fault was this?

> At GM and Takata, whose improper actions finally came to light, a whistleblower raised objections to the actions before or very early in the production process. Why were their concerns ignored and risks taken? In VW’s case, why didn’t a whistleblower com

> The new anti-bribery prosecution regime involves serious charges and penalties for bribery in foreign countries during past times when many people were bribing in the normal course of international business, and penalties were not levied. Is it unreason

> Do you think that the events recorded in this chapter are isolated instances of business malfeasance, or are they systemic through the business world?

> Why is an ethical corporate culture important?

> Why should a professional accountant be aware of the Ethics Code of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)?

> Why is it important for a professional accountant to understand the ethical trends discussed in this chapter?

> Is a professional accountant a businessperson pursuing profit or a fiduciary that is to act in the public interest?

> What are the common elements of the three approaches to ethical decision making that are briefly outlined in the chapter?

> Why are philosophical approaches to ethical decision making relevant to modern corporations and professional accountants?

> How can conflicts between the interests of stakeholders be resolved by a corporation’s management?

> How can a corporation show respect for its stakeholders?

> Why are the expectations of a corporation’s stakeholders important to the reputation of the corporation and to its profitability?

> Should executives and directors be sent to jail for the acts of their corporation's employees?

> How can corporations ensure that their employees behave ethically?

> Why is it important for the clients of professional accountants to be ethical?

> Why might ethical corporate behavior lead to higher profitability?

> Is there anything else that can be done to curtail this sort of egregious business behavior other than legislation?

> The events recorded in this chapter have given rise to legislative reforms concerning how business executives, directors, and accountants are to behave. There is a recurring pattern of questionable action followed by more stringent legislation, regulatio

> Why have concerns over pollution become so important for management and directors?

> 1. Why do you think that the doughnut chain continued to sell only sugary soft drinks even though it was under pressure to sell diet soft drinks as well? 2. Was selling only sugary soft drinks ethical? 3. Should the university campus officials have force

> 1. Should the chair of the board of directors be allowed to initiate investigations into weaknesses in a company’s internal control systems? 2. Is the strategy of pretexting an acceptable means in order to obtain critical information that will strengthen

> 1. Was this an ethically correct sales pitch? Were the lenders taking advantage of financially naive customers? 2. Should the investors now be upset that, as a result of the subprime mortgage meltdown, Merrill’s stock price fell by about 30 percent in 20

> 1. Describe the fraud that allegedly occurred through Sino-Forest Corporation Inc.? Who benefited and how? 2. Why did regulators not prevent this fraud from occurring? What were they relying on? 3. Why did the directors of Sino-Forest not prevent this fr

> 1. If selling pornography is legal, profitable, and readily available elsewhere, should Telus shut down its adult service? Why or why not? 2. Telus said that it wanted to be Canada’s premier corporate citizen. Should companies such as Telus feel obligate

> 1. The senior executives at Siemens’ spent most of their working environment that condoned bribery outside Germany but not inside. However, they failed to take notice of the changes that Transparency International – championed by a German who was embarra

> 1. Football is big business, raising millions and millions of dollars for American universities. Numerous administrators and officials at Pennsylvania State University put a higher value on college football than on the welfare of children. How would an o