Human Resources Summary
Human Resource Management (HRM): policies, practices, and systems that influence
employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance (Noe et al., 2013)
“All those activities associated with the management of work and people in organizations”
(Boxall & Purcell)
HR is concerned with a set of practices and their application and can be viewed as a ‘system’
for management of people at work
Strategic HRM: pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities that intend
to enable an organization to achieve its goals (Noe et al., 2013)
Human Resource Development (HRD): improving individual, group and organizational
effectiveness and performance by developing knowledge, skills and competencies and/or by
enhancing human potential and personal growth (Hamlin & Stewart, 2011)
AMO model: Performance = f (Ability, Motivation, Opportunity) (e.g., Boselie et al., 2005;
e.g. in Jackson et al., 2014; in P6)
Effective HRM involves different roles at different levels (top management, HR department,
line managers, employees), different disciplines (business, economics, law, psychology,
educational sciences), and evidence-based practice (making decisions through the
conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of information) (Briner & Rousseau, 2011; Rousseau
& Barends, 2011; in P6)
Problem 1 – Personnel Selection & Assessment
The goal of personnel selection is to identify whether candidates have the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs and personality traits) needed to perform
effectively in particular jobs (Lievens, 2017).
, (Lecture 2)
The aim of personnel selection was to predict overall job performance (OJP) and that
performance was a single entity. But this is no longer the case. Job performance domain
includes at least three main sub-domains (Moscoso et al., 2017):
1. Task performance = the proficiency with which employees perform core activities
that are relevant to the job (individual TP & work-team TP)
2. Contextual performance (citizenship performance) = the contribution of employee to
the organizational, social and psychological environment to help accomplish
organizational goals. Put in some extra effort to help colleagues, tell positive stories
to your friends (interpersonal CP & organizational CP)
3. Counterproductive work behavior = any intentional behavior of an employee viewed
by the organization as contrary to its interests (Interpersonal CWB (aggression,
bullying) & organizational CWB (theft, absenteeism, low effort))
Selection Techniques and Procedures (Moscoso et al., 2017)
- Application forms and curriculum vitae’s: both these methods can be used to pre-
screen applicants in order to generate a short list to be invited to the next stage
- Biodata: structured forms asking information about a person’s past life and work
experience. An alternative method for pre-screening
o Despite strong validity this method is rarely used, due to costs involved and
the poor face validity
- Cognitive ability tests: some measure “intelligence” or general mental ability (“g”)
and others provide a profile of specific cognitive abilities such as verbal, numerical,
spatial, reasoning, and perceptual speed.
o Can be administered in groups and is usually limited in time
o Computer-based or paper-and-pencil
o GMA (.51) is the most valid predictor of future performance and learning of
employees without any previous experience on the job (Schmidt & Hunter,
1998)
, - Personality tests: most personality tests measure the “Big Five”, or the Five Factor
Model of Personality (NEO-PI-R, NEO-FFI or Hexaco)
o Stable predicting factor because personality rarely changes over time in
adulthood (Barrick & Mount, 2012)
o They can be faked but people do not distort their responses in such an
extreme way that it lowers the criterion validity considerably (faking factor
(Rynes et al., 2002))
o Conscientiousness (.38) and emotional stability (.20) are the good predictors
for job performance and CWB
- Interviews: remains the most popular method of candidate assessment
o It is perceived to offer a flexible and unstructured opportunity for recruiters
and candidates to exchange information
o Structured interviews are more valid and reliable than unstructured
interviews
o Multimodal interview (Schuler, 1994)
- Work sample tests: identifying tasks representative of the future job
o Applicants rate work sample tests very positively, perceiving them as fair,
valid, and job-related (high predictive validity)
- Job knowledge tests and situational judgement tests: technique for assessing the
degree to which the candidate possesses the knowledge for a specific job
o It presents the candidate with a hypothetical job scenario and ask the
candidate to identify the most appropriate answer for effective job
performance
o The multidimensionality of the tests makes the construct validity rather low
- Assessment centers: involve a combination of selection methods (in-basket,
leaderless group discussions, case analysis, role-play, cognitive ability tests,
personality tests, and interviews). These are given to a group of candidates over the
course of a day or several days where candidates’ behaviors are rated by a number of
trained assessors along identified selection dimensions.
o Costly and time-consuming
o To enhance objectivity more than one assessor rates the candidate on the
dimensions
o Strong criterion-related validity but low construct validity due to the
multidimensionality (can be fixed by trait activation theory, see lecture 2)
o Low correlations among ratings of a single dimension across exercises and
high among ratings of various dimensions within one exercise (Sackett &
Dreher, 1982)
Human Resource Management (HRM): policies, practices, and systems that influence
employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance (Noe et al., 2013)
“All those activities associated with the management of work and people in organizations”
(Boxall & Purcell)
HR is concerned with a set of practices and their application and can be viewed as a ‘system’
for management of people at work
Strategic HRM: pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities that intend
to enable an organization to achieve its goals (Noe et al., 2013)
Human Resource Development (HRD): improving individual, group and organizational
effectiveness and performance by developing knowledge, skills and competencies and/or by
enhancing human potential and personal growth (Hamlin & Stewart, 2011)
AMO model: Performance = f (Ability, Motivation, Opportunity) (e.g., Boselie et al., 2005;
e.g. in Jackson et al., 2014; in P6)
Effective HRM involves different roles at different levels (top management, HR department,
line managers, employees), different disciplines (business, economics, law, psychology,
educational sciences), and evidence-based practice (making decisions through the
conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of information) (Briner & Rousseau, 2011; Rousseau
& Barends, 2011; in P6)
Problem 1 – Personnel Selection & Assessment
The goal of personnel selection is to identify whether candidates have the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs and personality traits) needed to perform
effectively in particular jobs (Lievens, 2017).
, (Lecture 2)
The aim of personnel selection was to predict overall job performance (OJP) and that
performance was a single entity. But this is no longer the case. Job performance domain
includes at least three main sub-domains (Moscoso et al., 2017):
1. Task performance = the proficiency with which employees perform core activities
that are relevant to the job (individual TP & work-team TP)
2. Contextual performance (citizenship performance) = the contribution of employee to
the organizational, social and psychological environment to help accomplish
organizational goals. Put in some extra effort to help colleagues, tell positive stories
to your friends (interpersonal CP & organizational CP)
3. Counterproductive work behavior = any intentional behavior of an employee viewed
by the organization as contrary to its interests (Interpersonal CWB (aggression,
bullying) & organizational CWB (theft, absenteeism, low effort))
Selection Techniques and Procedures (Moscoso et al., 2017)
- Application forms and curriculum vitae’s: both these methods can be used to pre-
screen applicants in order to generate a short list to be invited to the next stage
- Biodata: structured forms asking information about a person’s past life and work
experience. An alternative method for pre-screening
o Despite strong validity this method is rarely used, due to costs involved and
the poor face validity
- Cognitive ability tests: some measure “intelligence” or general mental ability (“g”)
and others provide a profile of specific cognitive abilities such as verbal, numerical,
spatial, reasoning, and perceptual speed.
o Can be administered in groups and is usually limited in time
o Computer-based or paper-and-pencil
o GMA (.51) is the most valid predictor of future performance and learning of
employees without any previous experience on the job (Schmidt & Hunter,
1998)
, - Personality tests: most personality tests measure the “Big Five”, or the Five Factor
Model of Personality (NEO-PI-R, NEO-FFI or Hexaco)
o Stable predicting factor because personality rarely changes over time in
adulthood (Barrick & Mount, 2012)
o They can be faked but people do not distort their responses in such an
extreme way that it lowers the criterion validity considerably (faking factor
(Rynes et al., 2002))
o Conscientiousness (.38) and emotional stability (.20) are the good predictors
for job performance and CWB
- Interviews: remains the most popular method of candidate assessment
o It is perceived to offer a flexible and unstructured opportunity for recruiters
and candidates to exchange information
o Structured interviews are more valid and reliable than unstructured
interviews
o Multimodal interview (Schuler, 1994)
- Work sample tests: identifying tasks representative of the future job
o Applicants rate work sample tests very positively, perceiving them as fair,
valid, and job-related (high predictive validity)
- Job knowledge tests and situational judgement tests: technique for assessing the
degree to which the candidate possesses the knowledge for a specific job
o It presents the candidate with a hypothetical job scenario and ask the
candidate to identify the most appropriate answer for effective job
performance
o The multidimensionality of the tests makes the construct validity rather low
- Assessment centers: involve a combination of selection methods (in-basket,
leaderless group discussions, case analysis, role-play, cognitive ability tests,
personality tests, and interviews). These are given to a group of candidates over the
course of a day or several days where candidates’ behaviors are rated by a number of
trained assessors along identified selection dimensions.
o Costly and time-consuming
o To enhance objectivity more than one assessor rates the candidate on the
dimensions
o Strong criterion-related validity but low construct validity due to the
multidimensionality (can be fixed by trait activation theory, see lecture 2)
o Low correlations among ratings of a single dimension across exercises and
high among ratings of various dimensions within one exercise (Sackett &
Dreher, 1982)
