Browsing by Author "Jakob, Birgit"

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    A comprehensive psychometric audit of an existing selection procedure
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-03) Jakob, Birgit; Theron, C. C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Selection represents a critical human resource intervention by virtue of its ability to regulate the movement of employees into, through and out of the organisation. Selection thus represents a relatively visible mechanism through which access to employment opportunities can be regulated. From the perspectives of both affirmative action and fairness, as well as utility, selection has therefore been under intense scrutiny. This implies that there are two substantial criteria in terms of which selection procedures need to be evaluated, namely equity and efficiency. Should the human resource function be challenged to defend its selection procedure, it should be able to assemble credible evidence to show the efficiency and equity of the disputed intervention by means of a reasoned justification. The problem is, however, that most selection procedures being operated in South Africa would probably not be able to successfully meet this burden of persuasion. The search for equitable and efficient selection procedures thus necessitates the need for psychometric audits to provide the feedback required to adjust selection procedures towards greater efficiency and equity, and to provide the evidence required for the vindication of organisations should they be challenged in terms of the South African anti-discriminatory labour legislation. The Guidelines for the Validation and Use of Selection Procedures developed by the Society for Industrial Psychology (1998) represents an attempt to illustrate the ideal process according to which selection procedures should be developed and validated. Conditional on the acceptance that the Guidelines (1998) set out the most justifiable methodology for the development and justification of selection procedures, it becomes a necessity for organisations to periodically evaluate (i.e. periodically psychometrically audit) their current selection procedures and its developmental history to determine whether the human resource function can convincingly demonstrate: .:. The business necessity of the selection procedure; .:. The validity of the performance theory on which the selection procedure is based; and .:. That the selection strategy combines applicant information fairly. A checklist was developed from relevant psychometric literature for the purpose of the psychometric audit representing a structured list of activities required to justify the use of a selection procedure. A psychometric audit was conducted on a selection procedure for call centre staff of a large SA insurance company. The audit uncovered a number of deficiencies in the call center selection procedure and its developmental history. The performance hypothesis, in which the choice of operational predictor measures is grounded, was neither developed, nor argued, nor documented with sufficient clarity to indicate unambiguously the presumed nature of the nomological network of performance determinants and performance constructs. Problems were found with the external validity of the validation design. No reliability, validity, fairness or utility analyses had been performed at the time of the audit. Subsequent correlation analysis indicates low statistically insignificant correlations between the majority of the chosen predictors and the developed criteria. Nonetheless, linear combinations of predictors were found for each of the three call center positions that significantly explain moderate proportions of criterion variance. The fairness of the use of the CSR multiple regression equation across black and white applicants was examined and found to be acceptable. Due to practical constraints, the utility of the selection procedure has not been evaluated. It is recommended that the current selection procedure be re-examined in detail by the company to bring about positive changes in the performance hypothesis and the operational criterion measures. Thereafter, concrete evidence of reliably generated methodological research needs to be obtained again in order to verify the appropriateness, reliability and the meaningfulness of the inferences made from predictor assessments, thereby limiting, ifnot eliminating, possible cases oflitigation.