Employees’ Perception of Selection Systems

IntroductionThis paper summarises the views of two authors on how bank line appli washbasinnisterts or capability employees perceive option procedures. Both denominations focus on employees experiences of selection methods. hold 1 Applicants Perceptions of survival Procedures and Decisions A Critical Review and Agenda for the Future. The outsetborn expression is written by Ryan and Plolyhart (2000) and is titled Applicants Perceptions of Selection Procedures and Decisions A Critical Review and Agenda for the Future. This article is motivated by the so fart that measly unemployment rates begin increased the competition for employees, which has forced organisations to review the various comp sensationnts used in selecting lineage applicants and how trading applicants perceptions of those procedures can match the attractiveness of the organisation to potential employees. An separate motivation for this contract is the fact that in that respect is lack of better query on applicant perspectives. Thirdly, the article notes that social arbiter theorists are looking for ways to apply social justice guess concepts to applicants perceptions of selection methods. Moreover, there is an increasing alteration in the workforce as intimately as racial differences in perception of selection procedures which can light upon the direction in which job applicants perceive organisations and thus the attractiveness of those organisations to potential employees.The article notes that one of the main assumptions of almost research in this area is that the manner in which job applicants perceive selection procedures and processes affects the manner in which the applicant views the organisation and thus the decision on whether to apply for a job vacuity to that organisation or not. The article also suggests that differences in perceptions amongst minority and majority groups on received selection procedures can account for some of the differences in job e xploit that is often discover between these two groups.The article begins by reviewing the works of Schimittand Gilliland (1992) and Gilliland (1993). These studies develop a model which renders a fall in between between applicants perceptions of selection systems and situational factors and their subsequent attitudes and behaviours towards those organisations. The model postulates that applicants perceptions of the procedural justice system are playd by situational characteristics. These characteristics include the type of test administered during the selection process, the gentle resource policy of the organisation and the behaviour of the human resource staff of the organisation. The overall achromasia of the selection system is influenced by the degree to which the applicants perceptions of the procedural justice of the selection system meet the expectations of applicants. The framework further stipulates that applicants prior experiences with a selection system would affe ct the evaluation of the system. Distributive justice rules of equity, equality, and need fuddle an squeeze on the perceptions of the distributive fairness of the final examination decision reached through the selection system. Distributive justice rules are in turn influenced by performance expectations and the salience of discrimination. In a nutshell, the framework desists that there should be a relationship between outcomes much(prenominal) as job application decisions, test motivation, self-esteem, self-efficacy, endorsement of the companys products, job acceptance decisions, job satisfaction, and performance among others and applicants perceptions of fairness of the selection process.After reviewing the framework, the authors past move on to provide a vital review of the empirical literature and evaluating how they conform to the framework. The review focuses on four key areas includingThe perceptions that have been canvass The factors that determine applicants percept ions The consequences of holding more positive or negative perceptions and The theoretical frameworks that have been presented.With respect to the applicants perceptions that have been studied, the article notes that the most comm only when researched perceptions include applicants feelings regarding degree to which the selection system is related to the job, feelings about the fairness of various aspects of the selection system and its associated outcomes, as well as feelings about test taking motivation.The authors provide a unfavorable review in this area and conclude that a major concern with most of these studies is that their constructs are imprecise with respect to the manner in which they are defined as well as the variability with which they are operationalised. As a result, the authors conclude that a better conceptualisation of research on test behaviours and on fairness is required to improve understanding. The authors however, admit that the work of Chan et al (1998) t o a certain extent provides a link between test attitudes and perception of fairness although the pack focused only on two concepts from each line of research. According to the authors, lack of an improved integration of studies on test attitudes on fairness and test attitudes makes understanding catchy. For example, it is difficult to determine whether potential employees who are more earnest perceive procedures are more unfair as opposed to those who are less anxious. In addition, it is difficult to determine whether beliefs about testing have a spunkyer impact on perceptions of fairness of a procedure than characteristics of the procedure and selection situation itself. The author notes that notes that most test-taking attitude measures are perceptions of oneself (including motivation, anxiety, etc) while justice-related perceptions typically focus on the fairness of the test used in making hiring or rejection decisions. The authors argue that there should be a relationship b etween applicants motivation and anxiety and the justice-related perceptions.The authors also suggest that it is beta for other perceptions to be tested. Basically most of the studies under review focus on how the motivation or perceptions of applicants influence their perceptions of fairness. This approach neglects the impact of other perceptions of fairness that may be critical for the improvement of selection systems.Article 2 Fairness Reactions to Selection Methods An Italian Study.This article is written by Bertolino and Steiner (2007). Like the first article, this article begins by reviewing the works of other authors who provide assorted conceptual frameworks on the relationship between applicants perceptions of fairness of selection systems and their attitudes and behaviours towards the organisations. This article cites the work of Schuler (1993) whose framework suggests that the reaction of applicants to a selection process is a function of the key characteristics of the selection techniques employed. In addition, the article reviews the work of Anderson and Ostroff (1997) who focus on the socialisation impact of selection methods. Like the first article, the second article also reviews the work of Gilliland (1993) who employ organisational justice theory to comprehend the reaction of applicants to selection systems.Unlike the first article, which is based solely on a critical review of empirical literature on the reaction of applicants to selection systems as well as the primal models of selection systems, the second article is based on both primary and secondary information. It begins by reviewing literature, and then conducts and exploratory study on the reaction of applicants to selection systems using a sample of 137 Italian students. The study is motivated by the fact that despite the presence of bear witness on selection systems, most of the studies have been conducted in other countries with no attention given to Italy. The article notes that cultural differences may play an important role in the manner in which applicants perceive selection systems and thus their reaction to those systems as well as their attitudes towards the organisation. Based on the four dimensions of culture proposed by Hofstede (1980, 1991) (individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty scheme, masculinity vs femininity, and power distance), the article suggests that it is possible for selection systems to be avoided by these four dimensions. For example, the article reviews the work of Ryan et al. (1999) who show that uncertainty avoidance can affect the selection practices of many countries. In addition, the study reviews the work of Triandis (1990) who argue that people from countries with high uncertainty avoidance prefer predictability, knowing what others will do, and having clear instructions and expectations. This means that employees who work in countries with high uncertainty avoidance should be more inclined towards engaging in struc turing activities, including the standardisation of practices. On the contrary, those in countries with low uncertainty avoidance should be less committed to formal structures and should be lively to accept spontaneous changes in practices.The study employed a survey questionnaire to study the reaction of Italian student to selection systems. The questionnaire used in the study is the one developed by Steiner and Gilliland (1996) which presents 10 different selection methods used in the U.S or Europe. The questionnaire asked students to think about a job they would apply for upon climax of their courseUsing a within-subject analysis of variance (ANOVA) the ratings of process favourability was compared across 10 selection methods. The evidence suggests that there are significant differences across the 10 selection methods. The selection method that received the most favoured rating was work-sample test. Resumes, written ability tests, interviews and personal preferences had the sec ond favourable rating. Personality tests and biographical information blanks received a neutral rating while honesty tests and personal contacts received negative ratings.The authors conclude that their results are similar to those obtained from other countries. In particular, they observe that employers right, opportunity to perform and face severeness are the procedural dimensions that had a high correlation with process favourability for all four countries that were studied.The two articles are similar in that they both begin by providing a theoretical framework on selection methods. Both articles provide the same theory which shows that there is a relationship between applicants perceptions and their reactions to selection systems. However, the first article differs from the second one in that it is based solely on the review of secondary literature. The article does not arrive on any conclusions with respect applicants reactions to selection systems. Rather, it identifies weak nesses in the literature and provides recommended procedures for improvement in future studies. On the contrary, the second article employs primary data to study how employees perceptions of selection systems affect their reactions to those systems. It compares findings to old studies and concludes that culture has no significant impact on employees reaction to selection systems in Western countries. The study observes that the findings from France, Italy and other Western countries are similar to those obtained in studies from the United States. This shows that the different cultural dimensions mentioned in Hofstede (1981, 1990) do not influence the manner in which employees perceive selection systems which means that it does not affect the manner in which the react to those systems. The foregoing suggests that other factors may be affecting employees perceptions rather than culture.Conclusions and RecommendationsBased on the discussion of the two articles above, one can conclude that employees perception of selection procedures influences the manner in which they do towards the organisation and the decision to accept or reject an offer to work for a particular company. These perceptions may even influence the applicants other interactions with the company such as deciding to buy or not to buy the companys products. The main difference between the two articles is that one focuses on criticising research on selection systems while one focuses on understanding how employees perceive selection systems across countries and how those systems affect their reaction. Based on this conclusion, it is important for organisations to note that the manner in which they design their selection system can affect the perception of applicants and as such affect the attractiveness of vacancies to potential applicants. Selection systems can even influence the ability of a company to attract able applicants. If employees have a negative perception about a particular company, th ey may not be motivated to apply for a vacancy in that company and this may make it difficult for the company to fill the vacancy with a satisfactory applicant. Consequently, employers should seek the most favourable selection systems so as to increase their ability to attract qualified applicants to their jobs. The first article shows that research on selection systems is limited. Therefore, this paper recommends that more research should be conducted on selection systems and how employees perceive those systems. By so doing one can provide better recommendations to employers to aid them in designing their selection systems.ReferencesBertolino, M., Steiner, D. D. (2007) Fairness Reactions to Selection Methods An Italian study, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 15, numeral 2Ryan, A. N., Ployhart R. E. (2000) Applicants Perceptions of Selection Procedures and Decisions A Critical Review and Agenda for the Future, Journal of Management, 26, 565-606