Question

During a global career succession assessment of leadership talent pipeline, a candidate was asked to complete a personality/behavioral tendency profile. The candidate asked to speak to the program administrator about the validity of the assessment. The assessment is based on first responses to several sets of word values. The instructions were to respond with first instinct to the set of words listed in several different categories. The candidate stated that some of the words could have different interpretations based on values, beliefs, and cultural origin. Therefore, the validity of the assessment could be biased in terms of results/outcomes. The program administrator removed the weighting of the assessment (not part of the overall assessment scoring) to be used for informational and team building purposes only.

Use the above information to answer the following in 700 to 1,050 words:

• Analyze whether the candidate has a valid discrimination concern about the assessment.
• Determine what EEOC laws could potentially be at risk of violation.
• Evaluate how the assessment could be altered so that it could still be used for the program.

Answer 1

Yes, the candidate has a valid discrimination concern about the assessment. The reason being the concept of the assessment uses TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness) for the list of words. The words have different interpretations to the candidates based on the values, beliefs and the culture of the candidate. Hence the results might be based only on the values and beliefs of the candidate rather than based on the skills and experience required for the job role. A selection process is valid only if it helps the employer to recruit the right person for the right job at the right time. Thus the candidate’s concern of some of the words association test produces different results based on values, beliefs and cultural origin does qualify for discrimination.

The EEOC regulation that is at risk of violation for mentioned case is:

1. Religious discrimination- The values, beliefs and cultural origin are based on their religion.
2. Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity – Equal opportunity for employment so as to avoid any discrimination.

The assessment can be altered to use for employee assessment. The words association test can be altered so that the employee is tested on the language, vocabulary, e-mail writing test, etc. Comprehension passages can be used to assess the ability of the candidate to interpret the case. These tests will help the employer to assess the skills and qualifications required for the role.