Staffing and Personnel Selection

Contents

AIM OF THE COURSE

This course builds students’ ability to put together a great team of employees through the use of best practices in staffing and personnel selection. Students will learn a professionally sound approach to all major stages of the selection process, including job specifications, recruitment, first screening, behaviorally-based candidate assessment and finally, decision making. Emphasis will be put on introducing reliable and valid tools for assessing candidates, as grounded in decades of research in industrial/work psychology. Also covered will be the utility of staffing methods and the relation of staffing and terminations to long-term human capital development and HRM in general. The course is useful for anyone wishing to prepare for a managerial role or a career in human resource management.

MAIN ISSUES

The course covers the whole process of staffing; planning, job analysis, job specification, recruitment, screening, different methods of in-depth assessment (interviews, job samples, testing etc.), decision making, contracting, and finally selecting out and layoffs. The approach is practical but research-based, so that students will leave with a valuable toolkit that they can use throughout their careers, but also with an understanding of basic research that can guide practitioners towards effective strategies in management. Ethical issues will be highlighted and discussed throughout the course.

Topics include the following:

• Why staffing matters?
• Job analysis, job design and job specifications.
• Planning, internal and external recruitment, internationalization and employer branding.
• Individual differences and measurement for selection.
• Methods for evaluating candidates.
a. Behaviorally-based interviews
b. Psychological tests and other tests
c. Job samples and job-related exercises
d. Assessment centers
e. References
• Decision making and contracting.
• Ethical dilemmas in hiring.
• Evaluating the success of selection, assessing the utility of using various methods.
• Selection in the general context of building human capital and the approach taken to human resource management in the organization.
• Relationship of staffing to external circumstances and organizational life-cycles.
• Selecting out and layoffs.
Practical exercises to be completed in-class may include the following:
• Casework: Building a team of store managers.
• In-class exercise (role-play): Selecting a CEO.
• Casework: Selecting patient escorts.
• Salary negotiation exercise.
• Role-play: Termination interview.
• Exercises: Vitality curves and selecting out.

TEACHING METHODOLOGY

The course is based on a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, case-work in groups, in-class-group assignments with individual presentations, and written take-home assignments.

PREREQUISITES

The course is intended for mature students with a completed undergraduate degree. Students will benefit from having a basic knowledge of management and/or human resource management concepts, although students eager to learn will be able to compensate for lack of this by enthusiasm and hard work. Students can come from any background in terms of undergraduate studies, as long as they have an interest in developing into a managerial role in their chosen field. Management experience or significant work experience is a plus. Ideally the class will consist of both experienced and younger students to ensure a lively discussion.

LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this course students will have the following skills:

• Be able to analyse a job and prepare job specifications for systematic assessment.
• Be able to put together and implement a recruitment plan.
• Be able to put together and implement an assessment plan.
• Be able to use the most reliable and valid methods of candidate assessments, including behavioral interviewing, psychological tests and job samples.
• Be able to combine the above information to make a decision on hiring.
Following the course students will have the following knowledge.
• Have knowledge of the principles of reliable and valid assessment methods and the research behind those principles.
• Have knowledge of the various principles and conditions operating in the recruiting process and preparation stage that may affect selection outcomes and the utility of assessment methods.

EVALUATION OF LEARNING OUTCOME: ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

By the end of the course students must be able to fulfill the above stated learning outcome.
Grade 12:
Grade 12 denote 100% target fulfillment related to the learning outcome.
Grade 02:
Grade 02 is the minimum grade required for passing and is therefore given for the minimum acceptable performance related to the learning outcome.

LITERATURE

• Heneman, H., Judge, T.A. and Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2011) Staffing organizations (7th edition). NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
• Several key articles from journals, to be announced later.
• Cases and materials for in-class exercises.