PSYIO Exam 2 Study Guide

The operationalization for overall decision accuracy is:

(Quadrant 1 + Quadrant 2) / (Quadrant 1 + Quadrant 2 + Quadrant 3 + Quadrant 4). Regardless of how decision accuracy is defined, the goal of the selection battery is to maximize the number of hits and correct rejections and to minimize the number of misses and false alarms

To establish criterion-related validity though a concurrent validation study, we would perform the following steps:

1) Collect data on both predictors and criteria from incumbent employees at the same time. Ex: incumbents would be run through the work sample test, the assessment center, and the interview and that their performance on these predictors would be scored and performance data would be collected from current employees (for instance, we might gather performance appraisal data already in the incumbents' files or ask supervisors and peers to provide performance ratings of these incumbents. 2) Compute a validity coefficient between the predictor score and the criterion score. This indicates a strength of the relationship between our predictor and our criterion. We can compute a validity coefficient for the battery as a whole or for each predictor separately. Likewise, we can compute validity coefficients for each particular performance criterion or for our composite criterion

To demonstrate predictive validity, we would follow these steps:

1) Gather predictor data on all of the applicants. Ex: running each applicant through a work sample test, assessment center, interview where each applicant would be scored on these tests and a composite score would be arrived at by adding the scores or performing some other computation. 2) Hire some of the applicants to fill the open positions. Note that these applicants would be hired on the basis of predictors that are not part of our newly developed selection battery. Instead, individuals would be hired according to the company's current selection system, which is probably quite different from the one we are proposing. By following this rather unorthodox strategy, we are more likely to get individuals hired into the company who range from low to high on our new predictors. This outcome is very important for the validation process because if we hired only high scorers on the new predictors, we would not be able to determine whether low scorers were unsuccessful on the job because no low scorers would be in our sample. 3) After several months, gather performance data that can serve as the criteria for our validation study. Remember that these criteria are developed from the job analysis and that they are intended to differentiate successful from unsuccessful performers. 4) Compute a validity coefficient between the predictor score and the criterion score that indicates the strength of the relationship between our predictor and our criterion. We can compute a validity coefficient for the battery as a whole or for each predictor. Likewise, we can compute validity coefficients for each particular performance criterion or for our composite criterion

Equal Pay Act

1963 Prohibits discrimination in pay and benefits on the basis of sex for jobs in the same establishment that require equal skin, effort, and responsibility and that are performed under similar working conditions. The disputes that arise regarding this law usually involve the definition of equal work. What is and is not equal is decided on a case-by-case basis

Civil Rights Act

1964. Makes it unlawful for an employer with 15 or more employees to discriminate against individuals with respect to hiring, compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. One of the most important cases in this area is Griggs v. Duke Power (1971).

Executive Order 11246

1965. Prohibits job discrimination by employers holding federal contracts or subcontracts on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or religion and requires affirmative action to ensure equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

1967. Makes it unlawful for an employer with 20 or more employees to discriminate against individuals who are 40 years or older with respect to hiring, compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment on the basis of age. In addition, it is illegal to indicate any age preferences or limitations in job ads or notices. Exceptions are possible, but only when the company can demonstrate that age is a BFOQ necessary to the conduct of its business

Americans with Disabilities Act

1990. Makes it unlawful for an employer with 15 or more employees to discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities with respect to hiring, compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. According to the EEOC, a person with a disability is someone who: (1) Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as seeing, hearing, speaking, working, learning, and walking (2) Has a record of such an impairment (3) Is regarded as having such an impairment. However, the law applies not to all disabled employees but only to those who are otherwise qualified for the job in question. By qualified, the EEOC means that the person can perform the essential functions of the job—if necessary, with the aid of reasonable accommodations

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

1993. Allows eligible employees to take job-protected, unpaid leave for up to a total of 12 weeks in any 12 months because of (1) the birth of a child and the need to care for a newborn, (2) the placement of a child with the employee for adoption, (3) the need to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or (4) the employee's own serious health condition. Serious health condition is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care or continuous treatment by a healthcare provider. In general, the employee has the right to return to the same position or an equivalent position with equivalent pay and benefits at the conclusion of the leave. The purpose of the FMLA is to provide employees with the opportunity to balance their work and family life and to promote the security and economic stability of the family. On January 16, 2009, revised regulations regarding implementation of the FMLA went into effect. The new recommendations, among other things, provide for extended leave for the families of wounded soldiers, clarify what constitutes serious health conditions, and require enhanced communication between employees and employers regarding these issues

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

2009. Stipulates that a discriminatory practice occurs every time one is affected by the decision (i.e., each paycheck), effectively extending the statute of limitations beyond the first occurrence

Bone Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

A characteristic, such as one's gender, religion, or national origin, that is required or necessary to effectively do the job. In disparate treatment cases, defendants often must show that a particular sex, religion, or national origin is really required or necessary for the job

Employment At-Will

A common law doctrine stating that employers and employees have the right to initiate and terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. This approach to employment began in England was incorporated into the U.S. legal system during colonial times. However, the interpretation of this idea has changed such that companies are sued each year by employees who claim "wrongful discharge" by their employers. Although employment at-will is still the default employment conditions, there are exceptions, such as the existence or implication of an employment contract that prevents either employer or employee from ending the employment relationship prematurely or "just case" discharge policies, which provide employees with acceptable reasons for discharge. Such exceptions continue to grow, leaving the law concerning employment at-will in a state of uncertainty

Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)

A more recent case with an interesting twist, the city of New Haven, Connecticut, administered a civil service examination for firefighters, but upon realizing that there was adverse impact against minority candidates, the city chose to throw the results out (the formal term is that they chose not to certify the exam). High-scoring White and Latino promotion candidates sued, arguing that this was racial discrimination and the test should have been certified so that they retained their chance for promotion. The lower court found for the defendants and recognized that if the city had used the test it would have been accused of using a test with adverse impact. On appeal, the Supreme Court overturned this ruling, reasoning that just because there was adverse impact doesn't mean the city would have been held liable under Title VII—the city would have had the opportunity to show that the test was job-related. It's not acceptable to simply throw out a test because there is adverse impact, any more than simply demonstrating adverse impact makes a test illegal under Title VII. The issue of job relatedness plays a major role

Multiple cutoffs

A non-compensatory method of employee selection in which "passing scores" or "cutoffs" are set on each predictor. It is considered non-compensatory because applications, to be eligible for selection, must score higher than these cutoffs on each predictor. In other words, they have to pass each test and scoring well on one test does not make up or compensate for scoring low on another test. An applicant who excels at two things, for example the work sample and assessment center, but bombs on the interview, for example, won't be hired regardless the importance of the of the KSAOs that the interview was designed to tap

Affirmative Action

A practice employed in many organizations to increase the number of minorities or protected class members in targeted jobs. AAPs are not a quota system, although the popular press tends to characterize them in that way. This is not to say that quotes never emerge from or develop in parallel to affirmative action programs. AAPs vary from relatively uncontroversial, as when a company networks with minorities to increase their awareness of job opportunities, to very controversial, like when minorities are hired preferentially. When implemented appropriately, such programs do not result in the hiring of unqualified minorities; they may, however, result in the hiring of minority applicants whose qualifications are equal to or perhaps even inferior to those of majority applicants. AAPs have been popular for many years, as evidence by the inclusion of the following phrase at the bottom of many job advertisements: "This organization is an EEO/AA employer, and qualified minority candidates are encouraged to apply" (EEO/AA stands for equal employment opportunity/affirmative action). Much has been written in recent years, in both the popular press and the academic literature, about affirmative actions. For instance, some studies have examined the stigmatization of AAPs, finding that individuals who benefit from AAPs are sometimes viewed as incompetent and that some people view AAPs as having greater potential benefits to individuals when a justification based on organizational fairness is provided than when it is not

Selection Battery

A set of predictors, or tests, that are used to make employee hiring decisions. In actuality, it is rare for any of these predictors to be used along and it is much more likely that organizations will employ a set of predictors, or a battery of tests, as a way of predicting criterion performance. Part of the variance that is accounted for by the work sample test is also accounted for by the assessment center. Ideally, we want as little correlation among the predictors as possible so that we aren't predicting the same piece of the pie with more than one predictor

Multiple hurdle approach

A special rendition of the multiple cutoff approach. Like the multiple cutoff approach, passing scores are set on each predictor, and superb performance on one predictor cannot compensate for below-cutoff performance on another predictor. However, with this approach, predictors are administered in a predetermined order and applicants are measured on a subsequent predictor only if they scored above the cutoff on the previous predictor. The advantages of this approach mirror those of the multiple cutoff approach, but also include the potential cost-savings feature. By ordering the hurdles by cost, this approach allows the organization to minimize costs by saving the most expensive assessments for last, when fewer applicants are still in the process

Validity Generalization (VG)

A statistical approach used to demonstrate that test validates do not vary across situations. Obviously it takes a great deal of effort, time, and money to demonstrate criterion-related validity using concurrent or predictive approaches so an alternative to this approach that has gained popularity over the past 30 years is called validity generalization. One long-standing belief in the selection area was that test validates varied across situations so the selection battery at one company would likely not be valid for another company

The type of job analysis used most often used to determine training needs is?

A task-oriented job analysis in which subject matter experts (SMEs), such as incumbents or others who are familiar with the job, respond to a series of items in a checklist format. The responses are collected into a summary that serves as the outcome, or result, of the task analysis—a summary that specifically describes the tasks that are completed on the job. For instance, your local Internet service provider may notice that customers frequently complain that mild windstorms are knocking down their fiber-optic cables and disconnecting their service. After comparing the task analysis and the manner in which the cable workers were attaching the cables to the house, the company might conclude that the cable workers did not know how to effectively perform this task. This is a clear instance in which retraining would be very beneficial

Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2011)

Abigail fisher sued the university claiming she was rejected for admission due to an unconstitutional affirmative action policy. The court narrowly tailored AAPs and argued that there is a compelling government interest in achieving diversity in the undergraduate programs at the University of Texas. Although Fisher appealed to the Supreme Court in 2013, it ruled that the lower courts needed to revisit the case because they didn't follow procedures as they should have. The appeals court then ruled that the affirmative action policy was a holistic, narrowly tailored plan, and therefore, rejected Fisher's arguments. Fisher appealed once more to the Supreme Court and that court heard the case once again in December 2015. The court ruled in favor of the University in its final decision in June of 2016. It appears as though the courts are recognizing diversity as a compelling government interested and are somewhat open to AAPs that seem focused on meeting the goals of this compelling interest. A number of court cases involving AA initiatives at both universities and private companies are presently working their way through the legal system, many of which will likely result in decisions that impact selection and other aspects of organizational policy

Practical Approaches to Selection

After demonstrating the validity of our selection battery (including cross-validation), we can provide this information to the particular company, assuring that our selection battery predicts job performance quite well and we can begin to find successful employees and demonstrate that the selection battery is cost effective

Civil Rights Act 1991 Amendment

Amends the 1964 act and the ADA to allow compensatory and punitive damages but places caps on the amounts that can be awarded. Also provides for jury trials in suits brought under these laws. One of the most important cases in this area is Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

Continuing Education

Another form of training that is growing in importance and frequency is continuing education, in which employees participate in degree credit courses, nondegree credit courses, personal enrichment courses, and so on. These courses are often delivered by universities or university extension campuses and are sometimes linked to licensure or certification.. A recent development in this area is what some are calling competency-based training

To cross-validate the selection battery empirically we?

Apply the same predictors and criteria to a different sample at the same company to see how close the validity coefficient is to the original. Specifically, we generate a regression equation using the original predictor and criterion data. We then plug the predictor scores from the new individuals in the cross-validation sample into this original regression equation to obtain a predicted criterion score

Why are certain cases sometimes called disparate impact cases?

Because they involve employment procedures that apparently unintentionally discriminate against or unfairly affect a minority group, that is, the procedures adversely impact that group

Assessing Training Needs

Before even beginning to develop a training program, organizations must identify what, if any, training needs exist. Organizations differ greatly in terms of their training needs. For instance, some organizations may need training at the management level, while others need it at the nonmanagement level. Some organizations may require rater training, while others would benefit from performance training, and still others may need sexual harassment training.

Reasonable accommodations

Changes or exceptions made by an employer that allowed qualified disables individuals to successfully do a job. They include redesigning existing facilities so that they are readily usable by individuals with disabilities (e.g., installing an elevator in a building that does not currently have one). Ex: restructuring jobs and schedules to allow disabled persons to perform their jobs; and acquiring equipment, devices, training materials, and qualified readers/interpreters to aid disabled persons. An example in this last category would be voice-activated computer software that allows individuals who have lost the use of their hands to create computer documents without having to type them

How to use the decision accuracy quadrants

Companies are often interested in knowing only the outcome of the hiring decisions— that is, whether the tried applicants succeed or fail. This information is provided by the following formula for decision accuracy for hires, which reflects the percentage of hiring decisions that are correct: Quadrant 1 / (Quadrant 1 + Quadrant 3). Certainly for jobs such as cardiac surgeon, airline pilot, air traffic controller, etc, the most relevant measure of decision accuracy would be derived from individuals who were hired.

To cross-validate the selection battery statistically we?

Correct or adjust the original validity coefficient for measurement error. But the approach we choose, whether empirical or statistical, is less important than our commitment to estimating the cross-validated coefficient

The best estimate of the validity of a particular selection battery is the?

Cross-validated coefficient; yet, because it takes a little extra time and effort, this step is frequently skipped in validation projects

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Designed to provide equality of opportunity and equal treatment of all people regardless of "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin"

Undue Hardship

Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations, but only if such accommodations do not impose undue hardship on themselves. An accommodation for the disabled that would result in significant difficulty or expense given the employer's size and financial resources

Legal issues are tightly linked with?

Employment decisions, especially employee selection. In general, employment laws attempt to ensure equal employment opportunity to all individuals

The most extensive limitation to employment at-will is?

Federal legislation that renders illegal any employment decisions, such as firings and layoffs, that are based on certain conditions such as gender and race

Often, performance appraisal data are used to identify?

Good candidates for training. In addition to traditional performance appraisal ratings, some organizations allow employees to nominate themselves for training in specific areas in which they feel they could further develop as employees. Finally, sometimes organizations will give a test to diagnose employees' strengths and weaknesses and use the test results to indicate who needs additional training. In fact, performance management systems and training programs are often used in concert to develop employees

According to the EEOC, it is illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment such as, but not limited to, the following:

Hiring and firing, Compensation, assignment, or classification of employee, Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall, Job advertisements, Recruitment, Testing, Use of company facilities, Training and apprenticeship programs, Fringe benefits, Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave

The more channels that are used to advertise a position, the less likely it is that?

Illegal discrimination will occur given that increased numbers of culturally and racially diverse people will be aware that the position has become available. Facebook recently came under fire for placing job ads only on the feeds of users between 25 and 36 who lived in particular areas and had particular interests. The vast majority of Facebook users never saw these ads and some have asked whether this is in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

Diaz v. Pan American World Airways

Imagine the difficulty of convincing a judge that in order to operate your business, you need to hire only females. In fact, this very issue was addressed in an interesting and classic case, Diaz v. Pan American World Airways, Inc. (1971). Diaz was a man who wanted to be a flight attendant, but because of Pan Am's policy, which favored women to the exclusion of men, he was not selected. Pan Am claimed that gender was a BFOQ and that it was acceptable to hire only women for this job because women provided the intangibles regarding passenger comfort. The court ruled that the primary function of an airline is to transport passengers safely, and, thus, maintaining safety was the chief job of a flight attendant. A "pleasant environment" is tangential to this primary function; therefore, gender could not be a BFOQ. Even if the "pleasant environment" had been upheld as a primary function, Pan Am would have been in the position of having to demonstrate that only women could provide such an environment—and that would have been very difficult to do

What are the two how-to guides for personnel decisions?

In 1978, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published the "Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures" (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines), which have been adopted as the legal guidelines for employee selection. In 1987, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) published its Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures (revised in 2018a) to serve as a technical guide for those who work in the field of employee selection, with the caveat that the principles were not intended to be perceived as legal guidelines. Both are used extensively by professionals in the field and referred to in court decisions

Discrimination based on national origin

In addition to prohibiting discrimination in employment decisions based on race, the CRA prohibits discrimination based on national origin, such that no one can be denied equal employment opportunity because of ancestry, culture, birthplace, or linguistic characteristics common to a specific ethnic group. For instance, a company cannot refuse to hire someone because he or she has an accent unless the company can show that the accent impairs job performance. Since 9/11, the number of claims of discrimination based on national origin has swelled significantly. The EEOC attributes most of that increase to a post-9/11 backlash against Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent. The EEOC has a website for both employers and employees who have questions about the law regarding discrimination based on national origin as well as a new compliance manual

Cross-Validation

In cases in which predictive or concurrent strategies are used to validate a selection battery, it is a statistical truth that the validity of that selection battery will always be the highest for the sample on which it was validated. In other words, a given selection battery will likely demonstrate lower validity when employed with a different sample— a phenomenon known as validity shrinkage

Disparate Treatment Cases

In disparate treatment cases the discrimination is intentional and a result of differential treatment or behavior

What does research show about cybervetting?

In interviews of 45 HR recruiters or hiring managers across many different industries, over 90% of respondents reported that they definitely seek out pictures of job candidates to use in their evaluations. In particular, they reported that they use photographic evidence to disqualify candidates based on lewd behavior, drunk behavior, nudity, etc. The interviews also uncovered a common consensus that social media data are indicators of decision making. Some interviewees made it clear that if a candidate left something damaging on their FB page that the recruiter could access, it showed a lack of judgment and poor decision-making skills

Concurrent validation differs from predictive validation in two major ways:

In situations involving concurrent validation: 1) Incumbents rather than applicants are used as participants and 2) Predictors and criteria are measured at the same time. Although empirical research has not demonstrated many differences between concurrent and predictive validation efforts, some I/O psychologists are concerned about the use of concurrent validation because, in their view, incumbents and applicants differ in important ways, such as amount of job experience and potential motivation. Because concurrent designs use incumbents, the results tend to overestimate the validity coefficients compared to predictive designs, which use applicants. Some scholars argue that we should be conducting more predictive validation studies to temper this overestimation tendency and to further evaluate the extent of this potential problem

Sexual harassment

Includes such behaviors as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other conduct of a sexual nature, submission to or rejection of which affects one's job or creates an offensive work environment

Informal communication and recruitment

Informal communication also results in many contacts and, hence, potential job applicants. Often, a company's employees will pass along job info to friends and colleagues who spread it to their friends and colleagues, greatly increasing the applicant pool. This process can be helpful, given that employers tend to be somewhat discriminating about whom they encourage to apply. In this way, informal contacts can help in the screening process. One reason that companies do not want to solely rely on informal contacts is that they could result in discrimination. Ex: if the organization is largely made up of black males, employees' friends and acquaintances are likely to be black males as well). Thus, more formal channels are typically used, too

Validation Study

It is from a validation study that the validity coefficients are derived

How has the internet added a new dimension in recruiting?

It reaches an incredibly large audience that known no geographic boundaries. This new dimension is reflected in two elements: 1) General job boards such as Monster and indeed which have broad appeal and 2) Organizations' own employment websites which focus on attracting recruits for their particular job openings.

Criticisms about statistical methodology

Many criticisms and concerns have been raised about the statistical methodology used in validity generalization is still limited to jobs that are similar to those on which the test was originally validated. For instance, to say that the validity of an in-basket test generalizes is not to say that because it is valid for managerial selection it is also valid for the selection of custodians and ministers, but no test or measure of any construct, regardless of the measure's soundness, is a good predictor for every job. Another issue regarding VG is that the legal community is often involved in disputes as to whether a particular selection test is legal. Note that, although the courts have traditionally required a validation study to show that a selection battery is valid, in recent years they have viewed VG more favorably, given the caveat that a complete and thorough job analysis is necessary. This job analysis must demonstrate that the job on which the tests were validated is the same as the job for which those tests are being used for election. The implication is that if someone else has validated an in-basket for managerial selection, a company must be able to show that the managerial jobs for which we want to use this in-basket are very, very similar to the managerial jobs on which the in-basket was originally validated

Cost is also important because?

Many organizations are willing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a selection battery because, in the long run, it will save them money. Organizations such as the military and upper reaches of the federal government, where a great deal of money is invested in the training and development of new employees, are especially willing to invest in selection. For example, because it is costly to train an astronaut, the false-alarm rate is very significant. Think of it this way: For every new recruit who is selected to be an astronaut, millions of dollars are invested; thus, a great deal of money would be wasted in the training of someone who fails. This is the reason NASA prefers to invest considerable money up front in the selection system

Validity

Maximizing hits and correct rejections while minimizing misses and false alarms will occur to the extent that the selection battery is valid and, thus, the first factor that affects the utility of the selection battery is validity

Disparate Impact Cases

Most cases in personnel law are of the disparate impact variety, in which discrimination emerges as a by-product of employment procedures. They involve employment procedures that apparently unintentionally discriminate against or unfairly affect a minority group, that is, the procedures adversely impact that group

Two major approaches to employee selection:

Multiple Cutoffs and Multiple Hurdle Approach

Multiple regression

Multiple regression is a statistical technique that, when used in the selection context, allows us to estimate how well a series of predictors forecasts a performance criterion. This is a compensatory approach, meaning that an exceptional performance on one predictor can make up for a poor performance on another predictor. The compensatory nature can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the job situation and the concerns inherent in making poor selection decisions. Recall that the validity coefficient is an index of the strength of a relationship between a predictor and a criterion. But, because the focus of selection is on prediction, we are interested in more than just this relationship. Accordingly, we use multiple regression

Validation of selection batteries is extremely important to?

Not only to the organizational performance but also to the laws that police the work of I/O practitioners. Predictive validation studies, concurrent validation studies, and validity generalization each have their strengths and weaknesses, so the choice of validation approach should be determined on a case-by-case basis. Whereas there is some agreement among scholars that VG can serve a positive purpose for organizations trying to conduct high-quality selection, although with some limits, there is disagreement about the statistical analysis that supports VG

ADA Amendments Act

On September 25, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the ADA Amendments Act, which became effective on January 1, 2009, and was the first legislative change to the ADA of 1990. The new law describes how individuals are evaluated as to the presence of a disability, clarifies what it means to be regarded as having a disability, and expands the list of major life activities to include things such as caring for oneself, concentrating, and working, as well as major bodily functions (e.g., functions of the immune, digestive, respiratory systems, etc.). Although this has clarified some issues around the implementation of the ADA, there remain other issues regarding the definition of essential functions and reasonable accommodation. The 2008 Addendum to the ADA broadens the definition of a disability, but some already thought the definition of a disability was too broad

How do organization identify their training needs?

Organizational Analysis

What are the four types of needs analyses?

Organizational Analysis, Task Analysis, Person Analysis, Demographic Analysis

When the predictive validation process is complete, we will have determined?

Our well our selection battery predicts on-the-job performance. This would allow us to begin using this new test if, in fact, the validity evidence indicates that our battery predicts on-the-job performance well. If the validation study shows that the test battery is not a good predictor of job performance, then we have to go back and determine where the problems exist (the job analysis, the measurement of the predictors, the measurement of the criteria, etc)

Perceptions of justice and Black Applicants/AAPs

Perceptions of justice also played a role in a study examining the attitudes of Black applicants towards AAPs. Black applicants viewed an AAP operationalized to show preference for a Black candidate with the same qualifications as a White candidate as less fear than similar plants to emphasized special requirement of Black candidates or that fostered equity between Black and White applicants. Research has also found that Black students perceived race-conscious AAPs, such as preferential hiring, as less just than race-blind AAPs, such as active requirement of minority applicants. Researchers also found that various forms of organizational justice affected perceptions of organizational attraction and intention to apply. Other research found that the structure or type of AAP, along with perceiver characteristics and how the AAP was described, interacted to affect attitudes towards AAPs. A very interesting and sophisticated meta-analysis of studies investigated the effects of stereotyping on the performance and evaluation of AAP targets. The results indicated that the stereotype which depicts AAP targets as lacking competence leads those targets to doubt their own abilities, which negatively impacts their performance. Furthermore, others' perception of low competence and a lack of personal warmth among AAP targets is reflected in performance evaluations. Whereas multiple mechanisms contribute to the problem, the data are clear that stereotype theory explain show targets of AAPs are negatively viewed and the impact that this has on performance ratings and objective performance

Martin v. PGA Tour

Perhaps the most famous ADA case to date is Martin v. PGA Tour, Inc. in 1998. Casey Martin was a professional golfer whose right leg was so disabled that when he walked he was placed at significant risk of fracturing his leg. Martin sued the PGA after it refused his request that a reasonable accommodation be made to allow him to use a golf cart on the PGA tour. The PGA asserted that waiving this rule would fundamentally alter the competition and give Martin a competitive advantage. The judge ruled that it was a "gross distortion of reality" to think that providing Martin with a cart would give him a competitive advantage, given his disability and the pain he experiences simply being on his feet. Thus, the judge concluded that the requested accommodation of a cart was eminently reasonable in light of Martin's disability, and this ruling was supported on appeal by the Supreme Court

Strengths of Multiple Cutoff Approach

Perhaps the strengths of a multiple cutoff approach are best seen when we consider certain types of jobs. For instance, to select cardiac surgeons, we might use a measure of medical knowledge, grades in medical school, an interview, and a psychomotor test involved fine-grained handwork such as cutting and sewing— we definitely might want to use the multiple cutoff approach for a surgeon because even if the doctor is smart, shaky hands are a no! Another advantage of this approach is that it is easier for organizational members to understand than more complicated regression-based approaches. However, the non-compensatory nature of the multiple cutoff approach may be a disadvantage in situations where none of the predictors are so important that a low score would result in the applicant not being acceptable. There are situations where organizations would want strength in one area to be allowed to overcome a weakness in another— this would suggest the use of a compensatory model

What are the two approaches to demonstrating criterion-related validity?

Predictive and and Concurrent Validation

Predictive validation

Predictive validation studies investigate how effective our predictors are at forecasting the on-the-job performance of applicants. Predictors are measured prior to hiring and criteria are measured after a few months on the job

The Selection Decision

Prior to recommending any particular selection battery, we strive to demonstrate its validity

Making a selection decision with a battery that demonstrates zero validity is akin to?

Random hiring and clearly provides no utility to the company. Of course, it is important for organizations to periodically update their job analysis and all of the relevant steps to the selection process to take into consideration any changes that may be taking place in the organization itself, the labor market, the applicants, and current employees

Competency-Based Training

Recall that competencies are skills, behaviors, and capabilities that allow employees to perform specific functions. Organizations that take this approach to training identify what competencies they want all employees to have and then develop training programs around those competencies. Those companies that are truly innovative and thought of as leaders in this area consistently tie training to organizational outcomes. A great deal of recent work has employed competency training in the health field

Research and Recruitment

Research has shown that recruits use the organization's reputation as an indicator of what they expect their job to be like. This reputation also affects recruits' expectations about the pride they will experience working for a particular company. Other studies have demonstrated than organizational values affect recruits' attraction to the organization. Researchers have also shown that individual's aren't attracted to organizations just because of the job attributes (compensations, work environment), they also strongly consider their subjective evaluation of the organization (is it cool, innovate, prestigious, etc). In fact, these subjective evaluations appear to be even more important

Recruiting and Racioethnicity

Researchers studying recruitment and racioethnicity have proposed a model that describes how culturally distinct group members make decisions about employment at later stages of recruiting such as during the site visit. One variable that they identify as very important for these racially diverse applicants is the diversity of the workplace community and other available opportunities. They also suggest that some individual difference variables, such as racioethnic identity, or the extent to which an individual's self-concept is defined by membership in a particular racioethnic group, play very important roles. In a companion piece, these scholars provide a framework to help organizations attract female and minority job applicants. This framework is built around organizations demonstrating to applicants that they value and encourage diversity. A recent study found support for this idea by showing that deep-level differences in attitudes and values between the job seeker and the company strongly predicted the seeker's pursuit intentions. In other words, a company will be more likely to attract job seekers who value diversity, for example, if that company can demonstrate that it has similar values around diversity. Other studies have shown that both Black and White participants more carefully process information on an employment website when diversity cues are included than when they are not present. Careful information processing may allow prospective employees to withdraw their application after uncovering information about a company that they may have missed if they had not carefully processed the data available to them

Concurrent Validation

Sometimes predictive validation studies are so difficult, if not impossible, to conduct that a concurrent validation study is the more viable option

Essential functions

Tasks that are significant and meaningful aspects of the job. In short, then, it is illegal to deny someone a job because he or she can't perform tasks that are only tangential to the job. Such as lifting in a moving company, or painting in a painting company

Petit v. City of Chicago (2002)

The Seventh Circuit Court ruled that there is an even more compelling need for diversity in a large metropolitan police force charged with protecting a racially diverse and divided population than there is in a university. Furthermore, it concluded that the city demonstrated this compelling need and met the Grutter standard

How did the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act come about?

The Supreme Court ruled against Lilly Ledbetter in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007), stating that even though Ledbetter had been unaware of the way in which her salary was calculated until years later, the statute of limitations (defined as beyond 300 days) began running at the initial payment many years earlier. This was a controversial decision leaving women no recourse unless they find out about the potential wage discrimination early on in the process. This led to the 2009 passage by Congress of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which stipulates that the unfair discriminatory practice occurs every time one is affected by the decision (i.e., each paycheck) and, therefore, that the statute of limitations does not run out. The Ledbetter Act has far-reaching implications beyond the interpretation of the Equal Pay Act and has already played a role in other important cases

Person-environment (PE) fit

The agreement of match between an individuals KSAOs and values and the demands of a job and characteristics of an organization. Research demonstrates the importance of perceived person-environment fit in recruiting. Individuals seem increasingly interested in jobs and organizations that seem well suited to them. Additional new research has found that applicants feel more entitled, that they deserve the job or the high salary, when the job specifications for the job are vague. This finding suggests that companies should be clear and specific regarding what job specifications are required for the job which should always stem from the job analysis

Situational specificity

The belief that test validates are specific to particular situations. Certain people, however, took issue with this belief and developed methods to examine whether validities are truly situationally specific. Their validity generalization technique was both statistically and conceptually tied to the technique of meta-analysis, which they developed in conjunction with this work. Basically, they argued that by using meta-analytic techniques to weight and combine validity coefficients across situations, we can examine whether validities are situational specific or generalizable across situations. They conclusion, for which there is a great deal of research support, is that validities do tend to generalize across situations

What does the multiple regression equation indicate?

The best prediction scheme, based on our validation data, for forecasting any individual's criterion performance. In other words, we use the predictor and criterion data from our validation study to determine the best weights for each predictor in arriving at a predicted criterion score.

Cost

The cost associated with the development and implementation of a selection battery certainly factors into its utility. Even assuming the the selection battery is valid and would improve the workforce dramatically, would companies be interested in that if the costs were so high as to be greater than the increased revenue received from hiring better employees?

Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

The court ruled that even when a company argues convincingly that it had no intention to discriminate, if adverse impact exists, it is incumbent on the company to demonstrate that the selection battery was job related. The plaintiff, Griggs, was an African American male who had not been hired as a laborer; he presented data documenting adverse impact against African Americans. The defendant, Duke Power, responded by saying that the adverse impact was unintentional, but it lost the case largely because it could not demonstrate the job relatedness of its selection battery, as a validation study had never been done. What the court was saying, and this still applies today, is that it is illegal to hire only Whites, even when they score better on the selection battery, if the selection battery has not been demonstrated to predict job performance. Another conclusion from this decision is that even professionally developed tests can be illegal if the company cannot show that the KSAOs measured by those tests are job related

Organizational analysis should also consider?

The culture of the organization. Is it an organizational culture that sees training and development as important. If not, this suggests the need to overcome some potential obstacles to training, necessitating careful thought about how best to proceed

The idea of criterion-related validity is?

The extent to which a test is a good predictor of criteria such as job performance. Furthermore, the two types of criterion-related validity—concurrent and predictive where predictive refers to test scores predicting performance in the future, whereas concurrent shows how well a test predicts performance at the same time

The utility of the selection battery is demonstrated by?

The extent to which it both minimizes the number of misses and false alarms and maximizes the number of hits and correct rejections.

Decision accuracy

The first element to focus on in utility of the selection battery is the accuracy of the selection decision or, more specifically, the gain in accuracy that is provided by our new selection battery since, after all, the whole purpose of our involvement in this project is to improve the quality of the current workforce by making better employee selection decisions. In other words, every selection decision can be characterized by whether the person is hired or rejected and whether the person is successful or unsuccessful on the job (though we won't know about job performance until after the person has been on the job for a while)

Two forms of sexual harassment

The first is quid pro quo harassment, which refers to situations in which advancement or continuation in a company is contingent on sexual favors. (Quid pro quo means "this for that."). This is the blatant kind of sexual harassment that we tend to hear about most often. The second form is hostile work environment harassment, defined by the courts as verbal or physical behavior that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment or an environment that interferes with one's job performance

Steps of a Selection Battery

The first step is job analysis, the foundation for everything we do in industrial psychology. We then generate a job description and job specifications. From these, we develop performance criteria while considering the "criteria for the criteria" in developing our measures. Using the job analysis, and primarily the job specifications information, we develop predictors to use, choosing among work samples, assessment centers, biographical information blanks, ability tests, interviews, etc

Quadrants of Decision Accuracy

The first two quadrants refer to the accurate selection decisions. Quadrant 1, labeled hits (sometimes called true positives), represents the number of applicants hired on the basis of our selection system who went on to be successful performers. Quadrant 2, labeled correct rejections (sometimes called true negatives), represents the number of applicants who were not hired and would have been unsuccessful on the job (although this number cannot be accessed from our applicant sample because these individuals are never hired, we are able to gather information about such individuals from the validation sample). The last two quadrants refer to the inaccurate selection decisions. Quadrant 3, labeled false alarms (sometimes called false positives), represents the applicants who were hired but proved to be ineffective performers. Quadrant 4, labeled misses (sometimes called false negatives), represents the applicants not hired that should have been, as they would have been successful performers (these individuals, too, can be examined only within the validation sample)

Parents v. Seattle School District (2007)

The issue was about admission and transfer into elementary and high schools in Seattle, Washington. Although the case is very complicated, a few things emerged. The Supreme Court was split down the middle on the legality of comparing the race of a student to the racial composition of the school in relation to the racial composition of the entire district. Furthermore, the Court ruled that diversity is a compelling government interest, similar to the earlier Grutter ruling regarding law school admissions. Finally, any plan that is based on race alone and does not consider individual evaluations of the students will remain illegal, similar to the ruling in Gratz. Clearly, Grutter and Gratz will continue to shape issues of diversity in educational and organizational settings for years to come. In an interesting sidebar to these cases, the people of Michigan voted in 2006 to ban the use of race in admission decisions for state university. This doesn't change the precedent as set forth by Grutter and Gratz and used in continuing and new cases, but it simply says that Michigan has a law that won't allow race to be used in this context

Adverse Impact

The most accepted operationalization of discrimination, defined in the EEOC Guidelines as the "80% rule of thumb"; a selection battery exhibits adverse impact (i.e., discriminates) against a group if the selection rate for that group is less than 80% of the selection rate for the group with the highest selection rate. Usually, but not always, it is a minority group that has been hired at a rate lower than that for Caucasians. For instance, if we hired 60/100 applicants (selection rate of 60%), we would avoid adverse impact if we also hired at least 48/100 African American applicants (i.e., 80% of the 60% rate for Caucasians, or 48%). There are also statistical significance tests that may aid in the more accurate identification of adverse impact beyond the more traditional 80%. In fact, some suggest that adverse impact be operationalized by a statistical test along with a practical test (e.g., 80% rule). The rationale is that the more ways in which adverse impact is examined the better for coming to an accurate conclusion that will be accepted by the courts

Selection Ratio

The number of job openings divided by the number of applicants. If there are 20 open positions and 20 applicants the selection ratio would be 1, suggesting that the cost and effort involved in developing and implementing a selection battery are necessary because the company would have to hire all available applicants in order to fully staff the organization. But if it was more like 5 open positions and 20 applicants, the selection ratio would be 25% and a selection battery would provide useful here, especially if tough hiring decisions have to be made

Base rate

The percentage of current employees who are successful on the job. In part, this percentage reflects the quality of the previous selection battery (and, perhaps, is affected by other HR processes such as performance management and training) and provides a baseline against which the new selection battery can be compared. Of course, the organization needs to set a cutoff on the criterion so that the base rate can be calculated. For example, a 2.0 GPA is thought of as the criterion cutoff to enter college, and the percentage of current students who meet that cutoff is considered the base rate. The lower the base rate, the greater the room for improvement in the selection battery

Typically, the smaller the selection ratio the greater?

The potential utility of the selection battery. This observation is further evidence of the importance of recruitment for increasing the number of applicants and thus providing organizations with more options

Recruitment

The process of encouraging potentially qualified applicants to seek employment with a particular company. Has often been an ignored element of I/O psychology, but has widespread implications. Many organizations report that they have more challenges related to recruiting than to selection. There are many ways to entice individuals to apply for jobs. Traditionally, jobs have been advertised through college placement offices, newspaper advertisements, employee referrals, job fairs, and, in recent years, online ads

Both selection and training deal with human capital:

The skills, abilities, and experiences of employees that provide each organization with its competitive advantage or unique aspects.

Cybervetting

The use of social media as part of background investigations used to make employee selection decisions. Nowhere is the recruiting and selection landscape changing faster than in the area of cybervetting. Although there are legal and ethical debates about the use of social media data in the selection process, it appears that most employers are using the Internet to gather information that job candidates do not provide voluntarily or give their permission for potential employers to obtain.

Usefulness of Selection Processes

The utility of the selection battery is how useful and cost efficient it is. At this point, we know that we have developed, validated, and cross-validated a selection battery that will result in successful employee selection. But is it worth it? We want to know not only that we have developed a valid selection system but also how much better it is than a different one and and how expensive it is in terms of time and money to use this system. All of these questions deal with the utility of a selection battery

Correlating this predicted criterion score with the actual criterion score provides?

The validity coefficient for the new sample, which can be compared with the validity coefficient of the original sample. Of course, we are hoping for only a small amount of validity shrinkage—maybe .05 to .10. If the validity doesn't shrink very much, we can feel comfortable that the selection battery is still valid and ready for use

redictive validation studies are difficult to conduct because?

They require selecting employees based on predictors other than those we are intending to validate and doing requires two sets of predictor measures but this can obviously be expensive both in money and time for the applicants and administrators

Synthetic Validity

Validity that is inferred based on the links between job components and KSAOs. A related approach to VG and has existed for over 50 years but has not sufficiently captured the support of researchers or practitioners to make it as popular as these other approaches. Based on the notion that job components common across jobs are related to the same knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) or human attributes. Proponents argue for creating large, shared databases of these job components that can be linked to the appropriate KSAOs, allowing for selection to occur based on those KSAOs and without a local validation study. Some argue that this approach is superior to existing approaches, while others find it inferior for various reasons, such as lack of discriminant validity

Task Analysis

What duties, tasks, behaviors, and actions need to be improved? At this level, the analysis is much like the job analyses that we have discussed thus far. The organization or consultant examines the task requirements for the successful conduct of each job, specifying exactly what the new employees are going to do on their jobs. By identifying these tasks, the organization can distinguish between those the new employees are able to do immediately upon beginning employment and those for which they will require some training

Organizational Analysis

Where is training needed in the organization? To answer this question, an organizational analysis is conducted to determine the organization's short- and long-term goals and then to compare those goals to the organization's accomplishments. In this way, the organization can identify which goals aren't being reached, as these areas are likely to be targets for training. Ex: there is a manufacturing company whose organizational analysis indicated that the organization had not been able to achieve one of its important goals—to generate a "team-oriented" relationship among managers and subordinates.. The organization believed that a stronger working relationship among supervisors and subordinates would improve productivity. It saw this as a clear need, and there was targeted improvement in that area by developing and implementing a training program designed to improve communication among employees, thus creating a shared sense of the organization's purpose and mission

Person Analysis

Who needs the training? A person analysis gets quite specific, focusing on those employees who actually need training. Toward this end, it examines how well all employees are carrying out their job responsibilities and duties. For an example, let's return to our Internet company scenario. The cable workers are the employees who have been identified as needing some training; in particular, they need training on attaching fiber-optic cables to houses so that they aren't easily dislodged. Which of the cable workers are most in need of this training? If the company has 2,500 cable workers but only 500 of them seem unable to grasp this skill, it makes sense to target our training to those 500 employees who appear to need it