Question

: You are the HR Director for a company that employs self-managed work teams who operate assembly lines to produce televisions. Due to a wave of interpersonal problems in your workplace, the top brass have asked you to find a way to hire only individuals who can work well in teams (they expect to screen 5000 applicants during the next hiring cycle). You contacted some of the local consulting companies and found five companies who have each created a test that they say will predict which of your job applicants would work best in teams. A summary of their brochures is provided below.

For each of the five companies/tests, your first task is to evaluate their test and describe the “pros and cons” of each as a potential hiring solution (given the information they provide). Think about each with regard to cost, reliability, validity, and generalizability (see your textbook and the class PowerPoint notes).  

Employment Services, Inc. ($10 / applicant). ESI originally created this test to be used to predict teamwork behaviors of lawyers working on cases together. They found that scores on their test (which had an internal consistency reliability of .81) correlated with supervisor ratings of teamwork (r = .26).

The Jones Group ($6 / applicant). The Jones group is a France-based consulting company that has recently opened an office in the U.S. They’ve been using a test to predict teamwork behaviors of factory workers in French companies. The test, which has a test-retest reliability of .92, has been found to be correlated with supervisor ratings of teamwork behaviors (r = -.62).

Teamwork Unlimited ($8 / applicant). TU recently constructed this test and used it to select individuals to work in self-managed work teams at a factory that manufactures televisions (not yours). Their brochure features a testimonial from the CEO of that company, who said: “before I used the Teamwork Unlimited Teamwork Test ™, we had fights among our employees all the time. Since we’ve been using the TUTT to screen out those who aren’t team players, we haven’t had a single altercation among our employees.”

Smith Business Solutions ($8 / applicant). SBS originally designed their study to predict the teamwork behaviors of auto workers in Detroit, but have begun to market their test to other industries. In their sample of auto workers, they found that their teamwork test correlated with supervisor ratings of job performance (r = .45), and it had a coefficient alpha of .57.

Miller Consulting Company ($7 / applicant). MCC is owned by Bob Miller, one of the leading I-O psychologists who specialize in teams. Miller recently wrote a paper outlining his theory of Teamwork Skills, which has generated a lot of interest among both academics and consultants. MCC created a test for teamwork skills, using the types of characteristics that Miller’s theory predicted would be associated with teamwork behaviors. MCC administered the test to a sample of administrative assistants and found the test-retest reliability to be .71.

Answer 1

Answer

The table below gives a concise comparative summary of the given data. In addition to the given data, two additional characteristics have been added – each consulting firm is ranked (from 1 best to 5 worst) on each of the characteristics given and for each consulting firm r²

is also given. More than r, r² is a better reflector of a predictor variable’s predicting efficiency since it represents the percentage variation in the predicted variable that is explained by the predictor variable.

[Cost: $ per applicant; Rel: Reliability; r = correlation coefficient; r² : %.

Company	Cost	Rel	r	r2	Rank
					Cost	Rel	r	r2
ESI	10	0.81	0.26	6.76	5	2	3	3
JG	6	0.92	- 0.62	38.44	1	1	1	1
TU	8	NA	NA	NA	3.5	-	-	-
SBS	8	NA	0.45	20.25	3.5	-	2	2
MCC	7	0.71	NA	NA	2	3	-	-

Clearly, JG is the most consistent top player and hence its HR policies are worth emulating.