1. Why is it important to select the right employees for a position? (easy)
Answer: First, a manager’s own performance depends in part on his or her subordinates. Second, it is costly to recruit, hire, and train employees. Third, there are legal implications to incompetent hiring. EEO laws and court decisions require nondiscriminatory selection procedures for protected groups. Courts will find employees liable when employees with criminal records or other problems take advantage of access to customers’ property to commit crimes. Hiring workers with such backgrounds without proper safeguards is called negligent hiring.
2. How can employers protect themselves against claims of negligent hiring? (moderate)
Answer: Employers can take the following steps to protect themselves against claims of negligent hiring. • Carefully scrutinize all information supplied by the applicant on the employment application. • Get the applicant’s written authorization for reference checks and check those references carefully. • Save all records and information you obtain about the applicant. • Reject applicants who make false statements of material facts or who have conviction records for offenses directly related and important to the job in question. • Keep in mind the need to balance the applicant’s privacy rights with others’ “need to know” when damaging information is discovered. • Take immediate disciplinary action if problems develop.
3. Describe the two main ways to demonstrate a test’s validity in employment testing. What third method is rarely used? (moderate)
Answer: The three ways to demonstrate a test’s validity are criterion validity, content validity, and construct validity. Criterion validity means demonstrating that those who do well on the test also do well on the job and those that do poorly on the test do poorly on the