Chapter 7:
Internal Selection
chapter 10: Internal Selection in Main Text
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Staffing Organizations Model
Organization
Mission
Goals and Objectives
Organization Strategy HR and Staffing Strategy
Staffing Policies and Programs
Support Activities Core Staffing Activities
Legal compliance Recruitment: External, internal
Selection:
Planning Measurement, external, internal
Employment:
Job analysis Decision making, final match
Staffing System and Retention Management
10-2
Learning Objectives for This Chapter
Compare how the logic of prediction applies to internal vs.
external selection decisions
Evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages of the five
initial assessment methods used in internal selection
Consider the merits and pitfalls of using seniority and
experience for internal selection decisions
Describe the main features of assessment centers
Understand the advantages and disadvantages of using
assessment centers for internal selection decisions
Evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages of the
seven substantive assessment methods used in internal
selection
Preliminary Issues
• Logic of prediction
– indicators of internal applicants’ degree of success in past
situations should be predictive of their likely success in
new situations
• Types of predictors
– there is usually greater depth and relevance to the data
available on internal candidates relative to external
selection
• Selection plan
– important for internal selection to avoid the problems of
favoritism and gut instinct that can be especially prevalent
in internal selection
Logic of Prediction: Past Performance Predicts
Future Performance
• Advantages of internal over external selection
i. Greater depth and relevance of data available on
internal candidates
ii. Greater emphasis can be placed on samples and
criteria rather than signs
Initial Assessment Methods
Initial Assessment Methods
• Job incumbents asked to evaluate own skills to
1. Self-assessments
determine promotability
• Higher-ups given considerable influence in
2. Managerial sponsorship
promotion decisions
3. Informal discussions and • May be suspected in terms of relevance to actual
recommendations job performance
4. Talent Management and • Keep ongoing records of skills, talents, and
Succession Plan capabilities of employees
• Methods include peer ratings, peer nominations,
5. Peer Assessments
peer rankings
Choice of Initial Assessment Methods
Substantive Assessment Methods
Seniority
and
experience
Promotion
Job
panels and
knowledge
review
tests
boards
Substantive
Assessment
Methods
Interview Performance
simulations appraisal
Assessment Promotability
centers ratings
SAM 1. Seniority and Experience
• Definitions
Seniority refers to length of service with organization,
department, or job while experience refers to length of
service and activities an employee has undertaken
• Advantages:
i. Direct experience in a job content area reflects an
accumulated stock of KSAOs necessary to perform job
ii. Information is easily and cheaply obtained
iii. Protects employee from capricious treatment and
favoritism
iv. Promoting senior or experienced employees is socially
acceptable as it will be viewed as rewarding loyalty
Seniority and Experience
• Employees typically expect promotions will go to most senior
or experienced employee
• Research showed that seniority is unrelated to job
performance while experience is moderately related to job
performance (especially in the short run)
• Experience is superior because it is:
– a more valid method than seniority
– more likely to be content valid when past or present jobs
are similar to the future job
SAM 2. Job Knowledge Tests
• Job knowledge includes elements of both ability and seniority
• Measured by a paper-and-pencil test or a computer
• Reflects an assessment of what was learned with experience
• Advantages:
i. Job knowledge test holds great promise as a predictor of
job performance
ii. Also captures cognitive ability
SAM 3. Performance Appraisal
• A possible predictor of future job performance is past job
performance collected by a performance appraisal process
• Advantages:
i. Readily available
ii. Probably capture both ability and motivation
• Weakness:
i. Potential lack of a direct correspondence between
requirements of current job and requirements of
position applied for
Performance Appraisal
• Questions to ask in using performance appraisal as a method of
internal staffing decisions:
i. Is the performance appraisal process reliable and
unbiased?
ii. Is present job content representative of future job content?
iii. Have the KSAOs required for performance in the future
job(s) been acquired and demonstrated in the previous
job(s)?
iv. Is the organizational or job environment stable such that
what led to past job success will lead to future job success?
SAM 4. Promotability Ratings
• Assessing promotability involves determining an applicant’s
potential for higher-level jobs
• Promotability ratings often conducted along with performance
appraisals
SAM 5. Overview of Assessment Centers
• Involves using a collection of predictors to forecast success,
primarily in higher-level jobs
• Objective of assessment centers is to predict an individual’s
behavior and effectiveness in critical roles (usually managerial
jobs)
• Incorporates multiple methods of assessing multiple KSAOs
using multiple assessors
• Participants are evaluated by assessors at conclusion of
program
Assessment Center Rating Form
• Participants take part in
several exercises over
multiple days that may
include:
a. In-basket exercise
b. Leaderless group
discussion
c. Case analysis
SAM 6. Interview simulations
A. Role-play: candidate must play work related role with
interviewer
B. Fact finding: candidate needs to solicit information to
evaluate an incomplete case
C. Oral presentations: candidate must prepare and make an
oral presentation on assigned topic
SAM 7. Promotion panels and review boards
• Use multiple raters, which can improve reliability and can
broaden commitment to decisions reached
Choice of Substantive Assessment Methods
Discretionary Assessment Methods
Discretionary Assessment Methods
• Narrows list of finalists to those who will receive job offers
• Decisions often made on basis of
– Organizational citizenship behavior and
– Staffing philosophy regarding EE0 / AA
Internal Selection Vs External Selection
• Internal selection is distinguished from external selection:
i. In internal selection, previous finalists who do not
receive job offers do not simply disappear
ii. In internal selection, multiple assessors generally used
