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Staffing the Contemporary Organization: A GUIDE TO PLANNING, RECRUITING, AND SELECTING FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS, Second Edition Donald L. Caruth Gail D. Handlogten QUORUM BOOKS Staffing the Contemporary Organization A GUIDE TO PLANNING, RECRUITING, AND SELECTING FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS Second Edition Donald L. Caruth and Gail D. Handlogten QUORUM BOOKS Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Caruth, Donald L. Staffing the contemporary organization : a guide to planning, recruiting, and selecting for human resource professionals. — 2nd ed. / Donald L. Caruth, Gail D. Handlogten. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: Staffing the contemporary organization / Donald L. Caruth, Robert M. Noe III, and R. Wayne Mondy. 1990. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–56720–056–7 (alk. paper) 1. Personnel management. 2. Manpower planning. 3. Employee selection. I. Handlogten, Gail D., 1954– . II. Title. HF5549.C296 1997 658.3—dc21 97–8858 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright ᭧ 1997 by Donald L. Caruth and Gail D. Handlogten All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. A paperback edition of Staffing the Contemporary Organization is available from Praeger Publishers, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (ISBN 0–275–95523–0). Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97–8858 ISBN: 1–56720–056–7 (hc) First published in 1997 Quorum Books, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Printed in the United States of America TM The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10987654321 Contents Figures and Tables vii Preface ix 1. Staffing: An Overview 1 2. Staffing Legislation and Regulation 18 3. Significant Federal Court Decisions 48 4. The Uniform Guidelines, Adverse Impact, and Affirmative Action Programs 78 5. Job Analysis 102 6. Human Resource Planning 121 7. The Recruiting Process 140 8. The Selecting Process 161 9. Selection Tests 187 10. Employment Interviewing 206 11. Performance Appraisal 228 12. Career Planning and Development 256 vi Contents 13. Human Resource Administration 274 14. Evaluating the Staffing Function 298 Selected Bibliography 315 Table of Cases 319 Index 321 Figures and Tables FIGURES 1.1 Human Resource Management System 5 1.2 The Staffing System 9 1.3 Environmental Context of Staffing 12 5.1 Job Description 115 5.2 Job Specification 116 6.1 The Human Resource Planning Process 124 6.2 Human Resource Forecasting Form 127 6.3 Scatter Diagram 130 6.4 Scatter Diagram with Regression Line 131 6.5 Extrapolated Regression Line 132 6.6 Staffing Table 133 7.1 A Model of the Recruiting Process 141 8.1 A Model of the Selecting Process 163 8.2 Employment Application 168 8.3 Example of a Weighted Application Blank Question 176 8.4 Comparison of Results: Typical versus Realistic Job Previews 185 viii Figures and Tables 9.1 Cut-off Score for a Validated Test 196 10.1 Applicant Evaluation Form 219 11.1 Typical Rating Scale 233 11.2 Typical Checklist 236 11.3 Forced Choice Checklist 237 11.4 Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale 238 12.1 The Three Types of Career Paths 266 12.2 Typical Replacement Table 268 13.1 New Employee Orientation Checklist 278 13.2 Supervisor’s Orientation Checklist 279 TABLES 2.1 Summary of Major Staffing Legislation 40 3.1 Summary of Significant Supreme Court Cases 68 3.2 Summary of Significant Circuit Court of Appeals Cases 75 5.1 Types of Information Collected by Job Analysis 107 5.2 Job Analysis Schedule Worker Functions 118 6.1 Correlation and Regression Analysis Data 129 10.1 Selected Questions to Avoid in Interviewing 224 13.1 Why Employees Leave and What to Do About It 284 Preface Staffing any organization today is a challenging, complex endeavor. Economic changes, demographic shifts, increased multiculturalism, heightened global com- petition, organizational restructuring, and extended legislation and a host of other factors suggest that this activity will be even more crucial in the years to come. As organizations enter the twenty-first century, it is readily apparent that the acquisition and utilization of human resources is as vital to continued organi- zational success as the advanced technology required for producing products and providing services. Indeed, technology alone is insufficient since effective use of it depends upon people—the right kinds of people, in the right numbers, performing the right jobs, at the right times. Whether in the past, present, or future, it is people—the catalytic resource of any institution—that have, do, and will determine organizational success. The uniqueness of this book is the integration of topics that are usually the subjects of separate treatment: human resource planning, legal aspects of staff- ing, recruiting, selecting, performance appraisal, career development, and so forth. It is our belief that the entire range of activities associated with planning for, obtaining, utilizing, and developing human resources must be viewed as an integrated system called ‘‘staffing.’’ We believe that unless staffing is conceived of as a system, or perhaps more accurately as a major subsystem of the entire human resource management process, activities performed in one area of staffing may negate activities performed in another area. While there are other books that purport to deal with staffing in general, we have found none that takes the encompassing systems view that we present to our readers. This book is written as a working reference for human resource professionals, operating managers, educators, students, and others seeking practical guidance on staffing policies, procedures, techniques, problems, and issues. This book is x Preface based not only on thorough research, but also on our combined fifty-some years of experience as managers, consultants, observers, students, and teachers of hu- man resource management. Our main thrust is practicality—what has worked or will work for organizations—not obtuse scholarship. This book is written generically so that it can be used by practitioners in all organizations, profit-making and nonprofit, from manufacturing to service. It is also intended to be used as a text or supplement for college and university courses in human research management and staffing. A number of significant changes have occurred in human resource manage- ment since the first edition of this book appeared in 1988. These changes have further underscored the importance of staffing. First, new federal legislation has made human resource management more legalistic and complex. We have seen the passage of five critical pieces of federal legislation: the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. As we will discuss in Chapter 3, each of these Acts has had an impact on staffing. As case law continues to develop we will un- doubtedly see an even greater effect on human resource management. Second, additional decisions by the Supreme Court and the Circuit Courts have shed further light on the interpretations of various statutes. For example, Meritor v. Vinson and Harris v. Forklift Systems have given us a clearer un- derstanding of the courts’ position on sexual harassment, especially hostile en- vironment harassment. Third, concerned with potential employer liability associated with providing references on former employees, many states have passed, and others are con- sidering, reference checking laws to exempt employers from liability when they provide reference information in good faith. These laws will make it easier for employers to obtain more and higher-quality information about potential em- ployees than is the case today. Fourth, no one could have anticipated, in 1988, the plethora of employment tort cases being filed in the mid-1990s. Their burgeoning numbers are cause for concern that they possibly represent the new frontier in employment litigation. Fifth, affirmative action was alive, well, and thriving in 1988. Today, its future is cloudy and uncertain. The Supreme Court decision in Adarand v. Pena, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Hopwood v. Texas, and the passage of Proposition 209 by California voters have muddied the waters of affirmative action. While it is still much too early to predict its ultimate fate, the events that have occurred in the past few years seem to suggest that affirmative action as we knew it in the past will be different in the future. Certainly, this is a matter of concern for staffing specialists. Sixth, strong and steady economic growth in the 1990s has produced the lowest unemployment rate in over a decade. Consequently, the demand for qual- ified personnel has intensified the pressure on the recruitment phase of the staff- Preface xi ing function. Finding the right people with the right skills has become more and more difficult. Seventh, global competition has necessitated downsizing, reengineering, right- sizing, fine tuning, and other efforts to turn domestic corporations into leaner, more focused organizations. Additions to staff are increasingly made through the use of temporary workers or independent contractors rather than permanent employees because it is more cost effective to add staff in this manner. In this regard, it is interesting to note that Manpower, Inc. is allegedly one of the largest employers in the United States at the present time. Eighth, technology has had its effect on staffing, too. Through such devices as video conferencing interviews, faxed resumes, computerized testing, and tele- phone interviews, even simple applications of technology have affected the man- ner in which staffing is accomplished. Moreover, the widespread use of technology across industry lines has intensified the competition for technically skilled individuals.

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