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SAGE Journal User Guide

Article 1

Bolander, P., & Sandberg, J. (2013). How employee selection decisions are made in practice. Organization Studies, 34(3), 285–311.

Topics in this article:

• The main findings suggest that selection decision-making is characterized by ongoing practical deliberation involving four interrelated discursive processes: assembling versions of the candidates; establishing the versions of the candidates as factual; reaching selection decisions; and using selection tools as sensemaking devices.
• By choosing the right employees, organizations improve their abilities to realize strategic objectives and manage future challenges. Although employee selection is considered key for organizations, existing research has usually paid little attention to how selection decision-mak­ing takes place in real-life situations.

Questions from this article:

1. Do you believe there is a discord in how employee selection decisions should be made versus how they are actually made in organizations? Explain.
2. Compare and contrast the two main approaches to employee selection–the psychometric versus the social process approach. Describe each and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each. Is one approach better than the other? Explain.
3. Is the ethnomethodological-discourse analytical approach to employee selection decision-making better than the other two previously mentioned approaches? Why or why not?

Article 2

Fisher, C. D., & Boyle, G. J. (1997). Personality and employee selection: Credibility regained. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 35(2), 26–40.

Topics in this article:

• This paper reviews problems with personality as a predictor of employee selection by identifying circumstances under which personality measures are most likely to be useful.
• Criticisms of personality testing in selection have included poor criterion-related validity, potential faking by applicants, unfairness, and invasion of privacy. Criticisms of personality testing in selection have included poor criterion-related validity

Questions from this article:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using personality tests for employee selection into an organization?
2. Based on the article, are personality tests a good predictor of job performance?
3. Which of the personality tests (Big Five, Eysenck, Hogan, Hough, or Cattell) would be most useful to an organization from an HRM perspective?