Explain the selection process and various tests involved in it.

Explain the selection process and various tests involved in it.
Discuss and examine the existing selection process of your
organization you are familiar with. Suggest few alternative methods
for improving the existing system. Briefly describe the organization
you are referring to.

Selection process involves rejection of unsuitable or less suitable applicants. This may be done at any of the successive hurdles which an applicant must cross. These hurdles act as screens designed to eliminate an unqualified applicant at any point in the process. This technique is known as the 'successive hurdles technique'. Yoder calls these hurdles 'go, no-go' gauges. Those who qualify a hurdle go to the next one; those who do not qualify are dropped out. Not all selection processes, however, include these hurdles. The complexity of the process usually increases with the level and responsibility of the position to be filled. Moreover, these hurdles need not necessarily be placed in the same order. Their arrangement may differ from organization to organization. Initial Screening or Preliminary Interview
This is a sorting process in which prospective applicants are given the necessary information about the nature of the job and also, necessary information is elicited from the candidates about their education, experience, skill, salary expected, etc. If the candidate is found to be suitable, he is selected for further process and, if not, he is eliminated. This is a crude screening and can be done across the counter in the organization's employment offices. This is done by a

junior executive in the personnel department. Due care should be
taken so that suitable candidates are not turned down in a hurry.
Since this provides personal contact for an individual with the
company, the interviewer should be courteous, kind, receptive and
informal.
When a candidate is found suitable, an application form is given to
him to fill in and submit.
Application Scrutiny
You might have seen that sometimes application are asked on a
plain sheet This is done where no application forms are designed.
The applicant is asked to give details about age, marital status, educational qualification, work experience and references. Different types of application forms may be used by the same organisation for different types of employees, e.g., one for manager, the other for supervisors and a third for other employees. Some forms are simple, general and easily answerable, while others may require elaborate, complex and detailed information. Reference to nationality, race, caste, religion and place of birth has been regarded as evidence of discriminatory attitudes and should be avoided. An application form should be designed to serve as a highly effective preliminary screening device, particularly, when applications are received in direct response to an advertisement and without any preliminary interview. The application can be used in two ways-—
(i) to find out on the basis of information contained therein as to the chances of success of the candidate in the job for which he is applying, and (ii) to provide a starting point for the interview.

It is often possible to reject candidates on the basis of scrutiny of the application as they are found to be lacking in educational standards, experience or some other relevant eligibility and traits. SELECTION TESTS
A test is a sample of an aspects of an individual's behaviour, performance or attitude. It can also be a systematic procedure for comparing the behaviour of two or more persons.
Purpose of Tests: The basic assumption underlying the use of tests in personnel selection is that individuals are different in their job-related abilities and skills and that these skills can be adequately and accurately measured.
Tests seek to eliminate the possibility of prejudice on the part of the interviewer or supervisor. Potential ability only will govern selection decisions.
The other major advantage is that the tests may uncover qualification and talents that would not be detected by interviews or by listing of education and job experience.
Types of Tests: The various tests used in selection can be put into four categories:-
(a) Achievement or Intelligence Tests
(b) Aptitude or Potential Ability Tests,
(c) Personality Tests, and
(d) Interest Tests
These tests and what they measure are described below:-a) Achievement or Intelligence Tests:
These are also called 'proficiency tests'. These measure the skill or knowledge which is acquired as a result of a training programme and on the job experience. These measure what the applicant can do. These are of two types:-
Managing Men (MS -02)
Test for Measuring job Knowledge'-These are known as Trade Tests'. These are administered to determine knowledge of typing, shorthand and in operating calculator, adding machines, dictating and transcribing machines or simple mechanical equipment. These are primarily oral tests consisting of a series of questions which are believed to be satisfactorily answered only by those who know and thoroughly understand the trade or occupation. Oral tests may be supplemented by written, picture or performance types. Work Sample Tests '-These measure the proficiency with which equipments can be handled by the candidate. This is done by giving him a piece of work to judge how efficiently he does it. For example, a typing test would provide the material to be typed and note the time taken and mistakes committed, b) Aptitude or Potential Ability Tests
These tests measure the latent ability of a candidate to learn a new job or skill. Through these tests you can detect peculiarity or defects in a person's sensory or intellectual capacity. These focus attention on particular types of talent such as learning, reasoning and mechanical or musical aptitude. 'Instruments' used are variously described as tests of 'intelligence', 'mental ability', 'mental alertness', or simply as 'personnel tests'. These are of three types'--Mental Tests'- These measure the overall intellectual ability or the intelligence quotient (I.Q.) of a person and enable us to know whether he has the mental capacity to deal with new problems. These dertermine an employee's fluency in language, memory, induction, reasoning, speed of perception, and spatial visualization. Mechanical Aptitude Tests-- These measure the capacity of a person to learn a particular type of mechanical work. These are useful when apprentices, machinists, mechanics, maintenance workers, and mechanical technicians are to be selected.
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Psychomotor or Skill Tests'- These measure a person's ability to do a specific job. These are administered to determine mental dexterity or motor ability and similar attributes involving muscular movement, control and coordination. These are primarily used in the selection of workers who have to perform semi-skilled and repetitive jobs, like assembly work, packing, testing, inspection and so on. c) Personality Tests
These discover clues to an individual's value system, his emotional reactions, maturity and Ms characteristic mood. The tests help in assessing a person's motivation, his ability to adjust himself to the stresses of everyday Me and his capacity for inter-personal relation and for projecting an impressive image of himself. They are expressed in terms of the relative significance of such traits of a person as self-confidence, ambition, tact, emotional control, optimism, decisiveness, sociability, conformity, objectivity, patience, fear, distrust, intiative, judgement, dominance, impulsiveness, sympathy, integrity, and stability. These tests are given to predict potential performance and success for supervisory or managerial jobs.
The personality tests are basically of three types-Objective Tests-- These measure neurotic tendencies, self-sufficiency, dominance, submission and self-confidence.
Projective Tests-- In these tests, a candidate is asked to project his own interpretation onto certain standard stimuli. The way in which he responds to these stimuli depends on his own values, motives and personality.
Situation Tests- These measure an applicant' reaction when he is placed in a peculiar situation, his ability to undergo stress and his demonstration of ingenuity under pressure. These tests usually relate to a leaderless group situation, in which some problems are
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posed to a group and its member are asked to reach some conclusions without the help of a leader, d) Interest Tests
These tests are designed to discover a person's areas of interest and to identify the kind of work that will satisfy him. The interest tests are used for vocational guidance, and are assessed in the form of answers to a well-prepared questionnaire.
Limitations of Selection Tests: From the basic description of tests described above, one should not conclude that a hundred percent predication of an individual's on-the-job success can be made through these tests. These tests, at best, reveals that candidates who have scored above the predetermined cut-off points are likely to be more successful than those who have scored below the cut-off-point.
Tests are useful when the number of applicants is large. Moreover, tests will serve no useful purpose if they are not properly constructed or selected or administered.
Precautions in using Selection Tests: Tests results can help in selecting the best candidates if the following precautions are taken: i) Norms should he developed as a source of reference on all tests used in selection and on a representative sample of people on a given job in the same organization. This is necessary even though 'standard' tests are available now under each of the above categories. Norms developed elsewhere should not be organization structure and philosophy.
ii) Some 'Warm up' should be provided to candidates either by giving samples of test, and/or answering queries before the test begins, iii) Tests should first be validated for a given organization and then administered for selection of personnel to the organization, iv) Each test us«d should be assigned a weightage in the selection.
(v) Test scoring, administration and interpretation should be done by persons having technical competence and training in testing.

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Q.2 Describe the concept, need and various method of HRD. Discuss
the HRD subsystems that exist in your organisation or an
organisation you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organisation
you are referring to.
HRD (HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT)
Human resource development in the organisation context is a
process by which the employees of an organisation are helped, in a
regular and plan way, to-
1. Sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions with their expected future roles.
2. Developing general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potentials for their own and/or organisational development purposes.
3. Increasing and organisational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, teamwork, and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation, and pride of employees.
The definition of HRD is limited to the organisational context. HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal, counseling, training, and organisation development interventions are used to initiate, facilitate, and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or hindering the process.
Various HRD sub-system that exist in the organization you are working with or familiar with are as follows-
1. Performance appraisal
2. Potential appraisal and development
3. Feedback and performance coaching.
4. Planning of career
5. Training
6. Organisation development
7. Complements or rewards
8. Employee welfare and quality of work life
9. Human resources information. Performance Appraisal-Performance appraisal of some type is practiced in most organisations all over the world. A written assessment to which the employee has no chance to respond is still common in most countries, particularly in the developing countries. An HRD-oriented performance appraisal is used as a mechanism for supervisors to-
1. To control the difficulties of their subordinates and try to remove these difficulties.
2. To awarding the weakness of subordinates and help to improving the weakness.
3. Help the subordinates to become aware of their positive contributions.
4. Encourage subordinates to become aware of their positive contributions.
5. To gaining the new capabilities.
6. Plan for effective utilization of the talents of subordinates. In HRD organizations, every supervisor has the responsibility to ensure the development of his or her subordinates in relation to the capabilities required to perform their jobs evocatively. Such performance appraisal interviews may be scheduled every three months or once or twice a year. During this review, the supervisor
attempts to understand the difficulties of the subordinate and to identify his or her developmental needs.
The supervisor also prepares for the meeting by listing observations, problems, suggestions, and expectations. During the appraisal meeting, the supervisor and the subordinate share their observations and concerns. Such discussions help to develop mutual understanding, and the data generated are reported to the higher management and is used in making decisions about individual employee development as well as developmental needs of the work group or the entire organisation.
Potential Appraisal and Development
In organisations that subscribe to HRD, the potential (Career-enhancement possibilities) of every employee is assessed periodically. Assessment is basically used for placement and development planning. If under this system the company is growing continuously. It may be larging in scale diversifying its operation introducing technological changes or entering new markets. Capabilities to perform new roles and responsibilities must continually be developed among employees. The proof employee to must sure the availability of people to do different jobs helps to motivate employees in addition to serving organizational needs. Of course, many supervisors see their subordinates doing only those jobs to which they are assigned. The ideal way to judge a person's potential would be to try the person on each job for which his potential is being assessed.
Any employee can request such assessment. It should be clear whether or not there is a position available in the company to which the employee could be transferred or promoted.
Feedback and Performance Coaching
Knowledge of one's strengths helps one to become more effective, to choose situations in which one's strengths are required, and to avoid situations in which one's weaknesses could create problems. This also increase the satisfaction of the individual. Often, people do not recognize their strengths. Supervisors in an HRD system have the responsibility for ongoing observation and feedback to subordinates about their strengths and their weaknesses, as well as for guidance in improving performance capabilities. Career Planning
In the HRD system, corporate growth plans are not kept secret. Long-range plans for the organisation are made known to the employees. Employees are helped to prepare for change whenever such change is planned; in fact, the employees help to facilitate the change. Major changes are discussed at all levels to increase employee understanding and commitment. It is their responsibility to transmit information to their subordinates and to assist them in planning their careers within the organinsation. Of course, the plans may not become reality, but all are aware of the possibilities and are prepared for them. Training
Training is linked with performance appraisal and career development. Employees generally are trained on the job or through special in-house training programmes.. For some employees (including managers), outside training may be utilised to enhance, update, or develop specific skills. This is especially valuable if outside training can provide expertise, equipment, or sharing of experiences that are not available within the organisation. Organisation Development (OD)
This function includes research to ascertain the psychological health of the organisation. Efforts are made to improve organisational health through various means in order to maintain a psychological climate that is conducive to productivity. The ODor systems experts also help any department or unit in the company that has problems such as absentees, low production, interpersonal conflict, or resistance to change. These experts also revamp and develop various systems within the organisation to improve their functioning. Rewards
Rewarding employee performance and behaviour is an important part of HRD. Appropriate rewards not only recognise and motivate employees, but also communicate the organisation's values to the employees. In HRD systems, innovations and use of capabilities are rewarded in order to encourage the acquisition and application of positive attitude and skills. Promotions are generally not considered as rewards because promotion decisions are based on appraisals of potential whereas most rewards are based on performance. Rewards may be given to individuals as well as to teams, departments, and other units within the organisation. Employee Welfare and Quality of Work Life
Employees at lower levels in the organisation usually perform relatively monotonous tasks and have fewer opportunities for projection or change. In order to maintain their work commitment and motivation, the organisation must provide some welfare benefits such as medical insurance, disability insurance, and holidays and vacations.
Qualityof-work-life programmes mainly focus on the environment within the organisation and adding basic physical concerns such as
air-conditioning and heating, lighting and physical amenities such as food and beverage facilities. HRD systems focusing on employee welfare and quality of work life by regularly examining employee needs and meeting them to the extent feasible. Job-enrichment programmes, educational subsidies, recreational activities, health and medical benefits, and the like generate a sense of belonging that benefits the organisation in the long run.
All above information about employees should be stored in a central human resources data bank (usually by means of computer). This adding all basic information about particular employee, training programmed attended, performance records. This data is using whenever there is a need to prove employees for consideration for special projects, additional training, or higher-level jobs. The Contributions of Subsystems to HRD Goals Performance appraisal focuses primarily on helping the individual to develop his present role. Potential appraisal focuses primarily on proving the employee's likely future roles within the organisation.
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Training is a means of developing the individual's personal effectiveness (e.g., through communication-skills laboratories) or developing the individual's ability to perform his present job role or future job roles. Training can also strengthen interpersonal relationships (through training in communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, transactional analysis, etc). Organisation development is the mechanism for developing team collaboration and self-renewing skills. Efforts to promote employee welfare and ensure the quality of work life, along with rewards, promote a general climate of development and motivation among employees.