Session 6(a) measurement & decision making issues in selection

Objectives

• After completing this session on employee
selection process, you will be able to:

– Explain meaning & Importance of employee
selection

– Discuss the role of HR in employee selection

– Explain the process of employee selection

– Discuss some barriers to effective selection

Topics

• Following are the topics included in this session:

– Meaning and Importance of Employee Selection

– Role of HR in Employee Selection

– Process of Employee Selection

– Barriers to Effective Selection

– Summary

Meaning and Importance of Employee Selection

In this topic, we will discuss
about meaning and
importance of employee
selection.

What is Selection?

• Selection is the process of picking candidates with requisite
qualifications and competence to fill the specific job requirements
in the organisation.

• The basic purpose of selection process is choosing the right type
of candidate.

• In order to achieve this basic purpose, a well-organized selection
procedure is needed that involves many steps.

• The objective at each step is to gather more and more information
about the candidate and thereby help in selection of the right
candidate.

• Although, some selection includes getting candidates from within
the company by promotion or transfer, we shall look at selection
from outside the organisation .

• This is called selection from external sources.

Difference Between Recruitment and Selection

• You might begin to wonder that all this sounds
like recruitment activities.

• Recruitment and selection are the two crucial
steps in the HR process.

• Both the functions are integrated with the
common objective of identifying the right person
for the right job.

• Recruitment refers to the process of identifying
and encouraging prospective employees to apply
for jobs.

• Selection is concerned with picking the right
candidates from a pool of applicants.

Difference Between Recruitment and Selection (Contd.)

• Difference between recruitment and selection

No. Recruitment Selection
1 Recruitment is the process of searching for The process of selection leads to employment of persons having
prospective employees and stimulating them to the ability and qualifications to perform the jobs, which have
apply for jobs in the organisation . fallen vacant in an organisation .

2 Recruitment is said to be positive in its approach as Selection is negative in its application in as much as it seeks to
it seeks to attract as many candidates as possible. eliminate as many unqualified applicants. It divides the
candidates for employment into those who will be offered, and
those who will be rejected.

3 The purpose of recruitment is to create a large pool Selection aims at eliminating unsuitable candidates and ensuring
of applicants for the jobs in the organisation . most competent people for the jobs.

4 Recruitment is a simple process as the candidates Selection is a complex and lengthy process under which the
are required to fill in the prescribed forms and candidates have to pass through a number of stages before
deposit with the employer. getting the job offer.

Importance of Employee Selection

Employee selection is a very important mainly for two reasons.

o Productivity and work performance
o Cost

• Work performance depends on individuals.

• The best way to improve performance is to hire people who
have the competence and the willingness to work.

• This becomes more apparent as poor or inappropriate choice
can be demoralizing to the individual concerned and de-
motivating to the rest of the workforce.

Role of HR in Employee Selection

In this topic, we will discuss
about the role of HR in
employee selection.

Whose Role is it Anyway?

• Recruitment and selection are always planned activities.

• The control rests in some hands even if the
responsibilities are not clearly defined.

• In some companies, each department screens and hires
its own employees.

• Many managers insist upon selecting their own people.

• All these factors must be considered as human dynamics
are equally important for candidates fitting into the
company.

• However, selection is mostly centralized and is handled
by the human resource department.

Advantage - HR

• The arrangement of HR handling the recruitment
process is preferable because of the following
advantages.

• It is easier for the applicant because they can send
their applications to a single centralized
department/agency.

• It facilitates contact with applicants because issues
pertaining to employment can be cleared through
one central location.

Advantage – HR (Contd.)

• It helps operating managers to concentrate on their
operating responsibilities. This is especially helpful
during peak hiring periods.

• It can provide for better selection because hiring is
done by specialists trained in staffing techniques.

• The applicant is better assured of consideration for a
greater variety of jobs.

• Hiring costs may be cut because duplication of effort
is minimized.

• With increased government regulations on the
selection process, it is important that people who
know about these rules to handle a major part of
selection process.

Candidate – Company Fitment

• Ideally, a selection process involves mutual
decision making.

S
• How much to pay? What facilities to offer? C
R
E
• Will the offer meet my needs? E
N
I
• When the job market is extremely tight, several N
G
candidates will be applying for a position.

• The firm will use a series of screening techniques
to hire the candidate they are looking for.

• When there is a shortage of qualified workers, or
when the candidate is a highly qualified executive,
the company will have to soften their approach
and make appropriate and lucrative offers and
come to a quick decision.

Process of Employee Selection

In this topic we will discuss the
process of employee selection.

What is the Selection Process?

• The selection procedure starts from the preliminary interview of the
applicants and ends with the contract of employment.

• The process differs between two different jobs within the same company.

• For example the selection procedure for senior managers will be long and
involving many screenings and validations but for junior levels the process
may be simpler and faster.

Implementation of Selection Strategy

The steps of the employee selection are:

1. Determine the environmental factors affecting selection
2. Determine the internal factors affecting selection
3. Conduct basic and preliminary interview
4. Conduct selection tests
5. Conduct employment interview
6. Make the selection decision
7. Conduct physical or medical test
8. Award job Offer
9. Award contract of employment

Implementation of Selection Strategy (Contd.)

Determine the environmental factors affecting selection Environmental
• Selection is influenced by several factors. Factors
• Prominent factors are:
o Supply and demand of specific skills
o Unemployment rate
o Economic conditions
o Legal and political conditions
o Company’s image in the industry
Determine the internal factors affecting selection
• Internal factors influencing selection are: Internal Factors
o Company’s policy
o HRP
o Cost of hiring

Execution of Selection Procedure

• Basic and preliminary interview

• All the applications received from job
seekers would be subject to scrutiny so as
to eliminate unqualified applicants.

• This is usually followed by a preliminary
interview the purpose of which is more or
less the same as scrutiny of applications,
that is, elimination of unqualified
applications.

Execution of Selection Procedure (Contd.)

• Screening enables the HR specialists or the recruiters
to eliminate unqualified job seekers based on the
information supplied in their application forms.

• Preliminary interview, on the other hand, helps reject
misfits for reasons, which did not appear in the
application forms.

• The objective of the first round of interview is to:

o Validate whether the information given on the resume
is correct or not
o Find out the relevant information needed, but not
given in the resume or application


Selection tests
• Different types of test may be administered,
depending on the job and the company.

• Tests are used to determine the applicant’s:
o Ability
o Aptitude
o Personality

• Ability tests assist in determining how well an
individual can perform tasks related to the job.
• An excellent illustration of this is the typing test
given to a prospective employee for a data entry
job.
• An aptitude test can help determine a person’s
potential to learn in a given area.


• An example of such a test is the General
Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) which many
business students take prior to gaining
admission to a graduate business school
programme.

• Personality tests are given to measure a
prospective employee’s motivation to function
in a particular working environment.

• The Bernsenter Personality Inventory measures one’s:
o Self sufficiency
o Neurotic tendency
o Sociability
o Introversion and extroversion
o Locus of control
o Self confidence


• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) assesses an individual’s achievement and
motivational levels.

• Interest tests are used to measure an individual’s activity preferences.

• Graphology tests are used to analyse an individual’s personality traits based on his/her
handwriting.


Employment Interview

• Interview is a formal, in-depth conversation
conducted to evaluate the applicant’s
acceptability.

• Shortcoming of interviews

• Absence of reliability is one limitation.

• No two interviewers offer similar scoring after
interviewing an applicant.

• Biases of interviewers may cloud the objectivity
of interviews.

Conclusion of Selection Procedure (Contd.)

Selection decision

• The views of the line manager will be generally
considered in the final selection because it is
he/she who is responsible for the performance of
the new employee.

Physical or Medical test

• A job offer is, often, dependent upon the
candidate being declared fit after the physical
examination.

• The results of the medical fitness test are
recorded in a statement and are preserved in the
employees records.


The objectives behind a physical test are to:

o Detect if the individual carries any infectious
diseases
o Determine whether an applicant is physically fit
to perform
o Determine if there are certain physical
capabilities which differentiate successful and less
successful employees
o Record medical history
o Protect the employer from workers’
compensation claims that are not valid


Job Offer

• Job offer is made through a letter of
appointment.

• Such a letter generally contains a date by which
the appointee must report on duty.

• The appointee must be given reasonable time for
reporting and movement of property.

• As a good practice, the rejected applicants should
be informed about their non-selection.

• Such candidates must be told that they were not
selected because their profiles did not match the
requirements of the company.


Contract of Employment

• Previous employment records and all necessary
educational documents need to be attested and
submitted to the company for future reference.

• Once that is scrutinized, a contract of
employment is drawn.

• A contract of employment is a written contract
that lays down the terms and conditions of
employment between the company and the
selected candidate.


The components of a contract of employment are:

1. Job title
2. Duties and responsibilities
3. Date when continuous employment starts
4. Probation period, if any
5. Salary, allowances and any other payment
6. Hours of work including lunch break and shift arrangements
7. Leaves permitted
8. Notice period
9. Grievance procedure
10. Disciplinary procedure
11. Work rules
12. Termination clause
13. Employer’s right to vary terms of the contract subject to proper
notification being given
14. Employment bonds or non-disclosure agreement, if applicable

Barriers to Effective Selection

In this topic we will discuss the
barriers to effective selection.

Overview

The factors which threaten the effectiveness of selection are:

o Perception
o Fairness
o Validity
o Reliability
o Pressure

Perception

– Human inability to understand others accurately is probably
the most fundamental barrier to selecting the right
candidate.

– Selection demands an individual or a group of people to
assess and compare the respective competencies of others,
with the aim of choosing the right persons for the jobs.

– But as human beings our views are highly personalized. We
all perceive the world differently. Our limited perceptual
ability is obviously a stumbling block to the objective and
rational selection of people.

Overview (Contd.)

Fairness

– Fairness in selection requires that no individual should be
discriminated against on the basis of religion, region, race, or
gender.
– But the low numbers of women and other less-privileged
sections of the society in middle and senior management
positions show that all the efforts to minimize inequity have not
been very effective.

Validity

– Validity is a test that helps predict the job performance of an
incumbent.
– A test that has been validated can differentiate between the
employees who can perform well and those who will not.
– However, a validated test does not predict job success
accurately. It can only increase possibility of success.

Company Level Responsibility

Reliability

– A reliable method is one which will produce consistent
results when repeated in similar situations.
– Like a validated test, a reliable test may fail to predict
job performance with precision.

Pressure

– Pressure is brought on the selectors by politicians,
bureaucrats, relatives, friends and peers to select
particular candidates.
– Candidates selected because of compulsions are
obviously not the right ones.

Summary

This topic summarise the
entire module.

Summary
• In this session, we learnt:

o Selection is the process of picking candidates with requisite qualifications and
competence to fill the specific job requirements in the organisation .

o Recruitment and selection are the two crucial steps in the HR process and are often used
interchangeably. There is however, a fine distinction between the two steps.

o Recruitment refers to the process of identifying and encouraging prospective employees
to apply for jobs, selection is concerned with picking the right candidates from a pool of
applicants.

• Selection is important for mainly two reasons:

o Productivity & work performance and Cost.

• Ideally, a selection process involves mutual decision making.

• The barriers of selection are perception, fairness, validity, reliability and pressure.

Congratulations!
You have successfully
completed the session
‘Employee Selection Process.’

Session 6(a) measurement & decision making issues in selection

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Session 6(a) measurement & decision making issues in selection

More from GTTSlide

Recently uploaded

Session 6(a) measurement & decision making issues in selection