The use of psychological testing in recruitment - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1357 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Psychology Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Introduction The purpose of this review is to highlight the benefits of using psychological testing for the purpose of recruitment. This review focuses specifically on the importance of psychological testing so that an organisation can get the most suitable candidate for the job. Psychological testing is also known as cognitive ability employment testing and Job fit assessment. History of psychological testing Psychological testing is one of the oldest, and perhaps most contentious, selection tools (Roberts, 2005, p.132). The emergence of psychological testing can be traced back to 500 BC. Psychological tests can be defined as Psychometrics to indicate that they are concerned with identifying the psychological characteristics of people (psycho-) and putting a value (-metric) against such characteristics (Roberts, 2005, p.132). The two main types of psychometric testing most commonly used are tests of ability (divided into achievement tests, aptitude tests, and intelligence tests) and tests of personality (e.g. Big Five: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The use of psychological testing in recruitment" essay for you Create order Why use psychological testing? Human capital is the most valuable asset an organisation can have. The quality and calibre of the work force will determine the competitiveness of an organisation. There is a growing recognition that attracting and retaining talented employees can provide organisations with a sustained competitive advantage. The Managing director of Mckinsey and Co, Rajat Gupta, describes the search for outstanding people as the war for talent (Singh 2001). Greater competition for talented employees has made organizations more aware that recruitment and selection are key functions of human resource management (HRM). Reliability of psychological testing If a Human Resource Manager chooses to include a written cognitive ability tests as part of the process for selecting new employees from a large applicant pool, he or she can be virtually certain that: the set of employees hired using these tests will complete training more quickly and more successfully and will perform their core job tasks better than a set of employees selected without using tests of this sort (Schmidt Hunter, 1998) Cognitive ability test scores also predict outcomes in all jobs including overall job performance, objective leadership effectiveness, and assessments of creativity. Looking across the results of multiple meta-analyses, estimates of the average validity of general mental ability for predicting job performance (corrected for range restriction and measurement error in the criterion) converge around .50 (Ones et al., 2005). The strength of the relationship between test scores and performance increases as training and jobs become more cognitively comp lex (Ones et al., 2005; Schmidt Hunter, 1998). Examples of application of psychological testing for recruitment purposes CASE#1 The job candidate seemed so right in the interview: sharp, well-dressed, articulate, lots of references. But three weeks into the job, it became clear he just wasnt what he seemed to be. Ronald Waln, an industrial-organizational psychologist, makes a business of helping businesses avoid this scenario. His Wichita Company, Assessment Strategies Inc., offers testing services to help businesses screen prospective employees and verify that they have the right personality for the job. Since 1982, he has worked with Kansas companies and government agencies to help them pick the right candidate for the job. Richard Coe, owner of Coe Financial Services said. Im a small company and its very important to make the right decision. The testing provided by Assessment Strategies Inc gives me information that Im not going to get in an interview. Waln said, I work with a job description provided by the client and select the appropriate tests to provide the guidance theyre looking for. In general, w hat youre examining is personality match to the job, work ethic and leadership characteristics. avoiding turnover saves money, said Gary Richards, Operations Manager of J.R. Custom Metal Products, a West Wichita manufacturing company Companies sometimes dont realize the cost of turnover, but it is a pile of money, CASE#2 Selecting the most suitable applicants for the job of law enforcement officer is a costly endeavour. Personnel costs consume about 85 precent of the local law enforcement agency budget (Bradford, 1998). The New York Police Department estimates that each new officer costs about $500,000 (Decicco, 2000). According to Cochrane et al. (2003), it costs a large metropolitan police department approximately $100,000 to train each new police recruit. Further, Fitzsimmons (1986) reported that it costs a major city almost a half million dollars for each hiring error that results in an unsuitable officer. Millions of dollars have been lost through litigation because of discriminatory hiring practices (Horstman, 1976). Beyond the monetary loss and waste of human resources that accompany an erroneous hiring decision and, more importantly, is the significant liability to both the public safety and the integrity of the hiring agency of selecting an applicant that is unqualified for the job of law enforcement officer. Additionally, not selecting a suitable individual for reasons unrelated to the essential functions of the job (e.g., age, sex, ethnicity, etc.), intentionally or not, reflects a major social injustice and is illegal (e.g., employment discrimination). The financial investment in getting a probationary officer on the street as well as the financial liability of selecting the wrong individual for the job highlights the importance of the selection process. Psychological screening alone costs more than $150 per police officer applicant (Ash, Slora, Britton, 1990) and is a standard practice in most law enforcement agencies (Varela, Boccaccini, Scogin, Stump, and Caputo). Considerations when conducting Psychological testing 1. The test takers perception of a psychological test can impact the outcome of the test. For example, Researchers have consistently found that confidence can and does matter to ability-test performance (e.g., Ackerman and Kanfer, 1993). Here, we focus on this kind of S-E, which is defined as applicants beliefs in their capabilities to perform well on cognitive ability employment tests. 2. Even if ability measures are correlated with academic and work performance, perhaps test scores only matter to a certain point. For example, people with exceptionally high scores may not perform any better than those with merely high scores. Under these circumstances, the relationship between test scores and performance would be curvilinear and there would be a ceiling on scores beyond which having a higher score would not correspond to increased performance. Psychometric tests-which gauge a persons personality, aptitude or intelligence-are recognized as legitimate predictors of job perform ance. Personality tests, for example, deliver a general view of an individuals habits, attitudes and values. How well you handle new employees during their first three months on the job determines whether they become productive, long-term staff members or washouts. Conclusion Any organisation conducting a psychology test should understand that, although these tests are highly effective, they should be used in a multi-faceted selection process. Research suggests that although recruitment can be undertaken without psychological testing, it is essential; often critical to screen prospective employees with the help of this method. For example, certain organisations such as the Police force, Government security agencies, NASA etc. have this as mandatory selection criteria. Annie Murphy Paul, author of The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves. The reality is that people are complicated, contradictory, and changeable across time and place. The tests strike the Texas State Employees Unions Gross as a possible means of hunting for compliant workers. He wondered how much taxpayer money the cancer centre spent developing such a tool and calls it a fancy prod uct looking for a problem. The key question but if the tests are valid and reliable in identifying successful employees, theyre likely cost-effective, given the money institutions pay out as a result of turnover and lawsuits from disgruntled ex-workers. Whether theyre valid and reliable is the key question. M.D. Anderson already thinks so. Shibu Varghese, M.D. Andersons vice president of human resources, says that so far, people who have scored high on the test have gone on to do particularly well on performance evaluations. Christiane Spitzmuller, a University of Houston industrial psychologist, acknowledges some inappropriate tests have caused problems. But she says the majority of personality tests dont, particularly if theyve been constructed after measuring job performance, then empirically collecting data on a set of questions that predict a relationship between the two. She foresees the use of such tests only increasing in the future. Parking lot

Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal Essay - 1907 Words

The United States was founded on a grand ideal of social freedom. The U.S. Constitution was put into place to protect the rights of the individual by creating a fair and just society. These values of liberty resound for most Americans as assurance that they will never wake up to find they have lost their voice to an all-powerful oligarchy. Americans like to believe they live in what they call â€Å"the land of the free.† Of course, we know from the history of the country, the definition of freedom is a controversial topic. Even when the Constitution clearly states, â€Å"all men are created equal,† the topic of social equality is what has divided the country in many debates of the meaning of freedom. For the past decade or so, the topic of same-sex†¦show more content†¦People want to get married, not only for the legal benefits offered by marriage, but also because they want to be viewed as couple in a serious, long-term relationship. Because in most states sa me-sex couples are not allowed to marry, it reinforces the view that same-sex relationships cannot be as sincere as straight relationships. It denies same-sex couples of the ability to be seen by society as being in a serious relationship. Wedgwood argues, â€Å"It is the public recognition of the status of â€Å"married† that constitutes the most important benefit of marriage, and what is most crucially abridged when the State discriminates against gay couples who want to marry.† (7) Legally, marriage gives a couple a plethora of rights and benefits. Consider this: a gay man finds his partner of ten years is in the intensive care unit after a serious car accident. When he arrives at the hospital, he finds he is unable to visit his partner because only family is allowed visitation in the ICU. A marriage legally makes you a family, and without it rights such as these are not available for people you are not related to. Other rights of marriage include inheriting a share of a spouse’s property; filing for jointShow MoreRelatedSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1288 Words   |  6 Pages Marriage is not precisely the same as it used to be interpreted. For example, women used to be their husband’s property. Sometimes the women were forced to marry whoever their parents wanted them to marry and most of the time they couldn’t leave the marriage. Nowadays women have more freedom. They can vote, they can run their own business, and they can marry which ever man they want to. The laws change as the people’s mind change. As they get more comfortable with the idea, they become more openRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal Essay1475 Words   |  6 PagesSame sex relationships relate to when a man or woman are attracted to someone of the same gender of themselves. It is being rejected as same gender marriage denies the obvious purpose between a man and a women which is procreation (Richardson-Self, 2012). Denying same sex couples the legal right to get married, could mean that they are being denied their basic human rights to enjoy human benefits (Richardson-Self, 2012). However, the opposing view is that if gay marriage was granted the legal rightsRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1403 Words   |  6 PagesSame-Sex Marriage â€Å"I now pronounce you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  At some point in a person’s life, they have heard or will hear those words. What follows, however, has changed somewhat over the years; although, the commitment has remained the same. Those words historically indicate that until the death of a spouse, that couple shall remain together. Who should be able to determine whom that spouse is for that person? Some people judge others for their sexuality and how it is affecting them, but they never stop andRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1144 Words   |  5 PagesGay Marriage There are many issues the revolve around same-sex marriage. Many issues like: Whether same-sex should be legalized and should there be an amendment on same-sex marriage? There are multiple side to view this, but gay marriage but in my opinion gay marriage is socially accepted. it should be legal and it does affect American teens in a broad spectrum of ways. There have been a lot of issues on whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal or not. According to Burns, â€Å" The unionRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal998 Words   |  4 PagesSame sex marriage ought to be legalized on the grounds that it is uncivilized and unmerited. Marriage is a commitment between two people that cherish one another. In almost every country and culture, marriage is a commitment of loyalty and love. Marriage is an authority contract gathering two individuals together, furnishing them with profits of holy matrimony such as tax cuts and clinical privileges. The debate throughout most countries today is whether or not the rights of these profits and commitmentsRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1659 Words   |  7 Pages Same-sex couples can hardly remember a time where they were not fighting for their right to marriage in the United States. After several court cases, California Proposition Six, and their struggle against the Defens e of Marriage Act (DOMA), same-sex couples found their way into U.S. society. Many misguided studies appealed to those opposing same-sex marriage, but after several years of integrating in society, same-sex couples found the support they were looking for. Before the Supreme CourtRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal899 Words   |  4 Pages In the United States, same sex marriage became legal nationwide on June 26, 2015, when the United States Supreme Court overruled the court in favor of same sex freedom and marriage. The victory of same sex marriage came to be recognized from the Obergefell v. Hodges case which was submitted when an American Ohio man was denied and regretted to get his name on his late husband’s death certificate. Same sex marriage has been a controversial social issue in the United States for several decades. SinceRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1491 Words   |  6 PagesSame sex marriage is one of the most debatable issues in the modern world. Marriage has been accepted as the social union between a man and a woman for the past thousand years. Homosexuality was viewed with scorn, and marriages among same sex couples were prohibited in most cultures across the globe. However, gay relationships are slowly obtaining acceptance, as homosexuals have come to be expressive in fighting their rights to marry in the early 90’s. As homosexuality grows in acceptance in theRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal892 Words   |  4 PagesLove Same sex marriage is now allowed in all states across the country. But it took years and years for this â€Å"issue† to be finally laid to rest. The first state to legalize same-sex marriage was Massachusetts in 2004. There was not a last state to legalize gay marriage. The supreme court realized how many states were now legalizing it, so they just had all of the states left legalize it as well. ProCon.org supplies information that â€Å"Twenty-six states were forced to legalize gay marriage becauseRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal2253 Words   |  10 Pages1776). The recognition of same-sex marriage is an issue influenced by numerous factors, and debates continue to arise over whether people in same-sex relationships have the right to marriage. Marriage provides many benefits, legally, financially, and personally. Same-sex marriage can open up those in same-sex relationships to tax benefits and financial demands comparable to those afforded to and required of peo ple in opposite-sex marriages. Same-sex marriage also gives them legal protections, such as

Business Law Electronics Contracts using Email

Question: Describe about the Business Law for Electronics Contracts using Email. Answer: Several of the rules that are applicable in case of 'paper' contracts are also applicable in case of the electronic contracts that have been created by the parties using e-mail, online or other electronic means. At the same time, more and more businesses and supplies are moving towards electronic and online credit applications including with the customers were not present in Australia, the effect of these rules have become even more significant. A number of these rules have been recently considered by the courts which included the Supreme Court of Queensland that had to go through the issue of electronic signing by e-mail to contract to which an interest in land was created. Therefore the issue of electronic contracts can be divided into three parts regarding the ways in which the issues related with electronic contracts have an impact on consumers. In the first part, the issue is if an e-mail can be considered as a signature; when the credit applications and the terms and conditions of trade and the guarantees should be signed and if the foreign laws can be considered as relevant. In this second part, the issue that needs to be considered is who has the sufficient authority for signing the contract on behalf of a customer or guarantor and what will happen if such a person does not have the required authority. Similarly in partly the issue is related with the time when the parties are considered to be found during the negotiations even if it has been said by them that it is subject to contract? First of all, it has to be seen if an e-mail can be considered as a signature in case of an electronic contract. Generally if the contract or any clause of the contract creates an interest in land or is a guarantee, the law in Australia provides that there should be a memorandum or a note present in writing that has been signed by the relevant party or its agent. This condition is particularly relevant in case of the creditors who have relied on charging clause for lodging caveats on the interests over land or guarantees. For example in Stellards Case, Stellard was willing to buy land off NQF and after a series of e-mails, it sent an e-mail to NQF in which it has mentioned the amount that the company was offering to pay and also the general terms of the offer or in other words the 'offer e-mail'. There was no formal contract document that has been hand written or electronically encrypted signatures that were placed on it. In this regard, the agent of NQF (the director's son) sent an acceptance e-mail in which it had accepted the offer e-mail sent by Stellard and at the end of this e-mail, intentionally, the name Drew has been typed at the end of the e-mail. It was agreed by NQF that the e-mail getting the acceptance has been sent by Drew but it was a memorandum or a note in writing. At the same time, it was also alleged by NQF that the e-mail containing the acceptance has not created an enforceable contract between the parties regarding the land as it was not 'signed'. Therefore the issue arose if the acceptance e-mail can be considered as a signed memorandum or writing. In this regard, a national scheme is present in Australia regarding the electronic transactions law. This is present in the form of Electronic Transactions Act (Vic) 2000. At the same time, similar legislations also present in other countries. Therefore according to the court in Stellard's case, it was stated that in view of the trail of the e-mails between the parties, the acceptance e-mail had a signature and the result was that an enforceable contract regarding land was present between the parties as it was a memorandum or a writing that has been signed by the registered owner or an agent thereof. The result was that the court stated that under the circumstances, where the parties have been involved in negotiations by using e-mail and particularly when an offer has been made e-mail, it is available to the court to infer that consent regarding the use of e-mail has been given by the conduct of the relevant party (Burns and Hutchinson, 2009). Therefore the court noted that in communicating negotiations through e-mail, an implied consent has been present on part of Drew on behalf of NQF regarding the method of signing through the e-mail. It also needs to be mentioned that which relevant electronic transaction log will be applicable to the terms and conditions of the supplier will rely on the words used in these terms and conditions and also on the effective and online system, e-mails or other electronic communications are used by business for credit applications and guarantees, particularly in case an e-mail trail is not present. Therefore if it is done correctly, it is possible to sign the documents by using electronic means apart from the e-mails, provided that a supplier has strictly complied with the provisions of the relevant electronic transactions law. In order to be valid, the basic elements that have been prescribed by the contract law are also applicable in case of electronic contracts. In this way, the requirements of offer and acceptance, consideration and the capacity of the parties to create a valid contract are still regarding case of electronic contracts. However a question may arise as to when the terms and conditions and the guarantees have to be signed in order to be enforceable regarding certain rights. Therefore generally the terms and conditions and guarantees contained express terms for the purpose of securing any payment that is owed towards the supply. Some of the common examples of such a situation include the case where supply will retain the ownership of the goods in the time they have been paid for in full. Similarly, a charge can be granted to the supply regarding any interest in land that the customer may have, either at present or in future. This is also known as a charging clause. The effect of a charging clause is that it allows the supplier to lodge a caveat regarding any interest in land that has been registered in the name of the customer. This has proved to be a significant tool for the purpose of debt recovery. In order to lodge a caveat under the law of Australia, the terms and conditions (as was the case in Stellard's case) have to be signed by the customer. In most of the other countries there is a similar requirement related with the caveat lodgment systems. Similarly in case of guarantees, a charge is generally granted regarding any interest in real or personal property that the guarantor has, or is capable of granting an interest in. This is known as a general charging clause. According to the law of Australia, a guarantee has to be signed by the guarantor on the agent of the guarantor in order to be made enforceable. The test regarding any mail has been signed by guarantor or its agent can be the test that was mentioned by the court in Stellard's case. In the same way, t he requirement according to which the guarantee should be signed is also present in the law of most of the countries. Under these circumstances, it can be said that under the Australian as well as according to the Australian law, the electronic signatures are considered as being valid for the purpose of executing agreements. However, a difficulty may arise in case of electronic signatures when evidence is needed for confirming the identity of the person signing the contract or the intention of the party to be bound by the contents of the agreement. Although these risks may be mitigated by using digital signature tools that incorporated the context of the identity verification and methods of authentication like public-key cryptography but still there are certain significant issues that need to be considered. As a result it can be said that although the electronic signatures are legally enforceable but still they are difficult to prove. As mentioned above, in order to be created validly, there are certain elements that have to be present in an agreement. These elements include the intention of the par ties to create contractual relationships, accepting the offer made by a party in providing consideration under the agreement. Generally in case of commercial transactions, the creation and the execution of a valid agreement through electronic means has to satisfy these elements under the international law and also under the Australian law as is the case with the paper contracts. However apart from the usual requirements that are present in case of a labor contract, a contract that has been created using electronic means is considered as legally valid if the contract has been appropriately stored and it can be accessed after its execution. At the same time, it is also required that they should be consent present between the parties either express or implied that the information will be received electronically. At this point, it is also worth mentioning that according to the law, the purported originator is considered to be bound by the communication if such a communication has been s ent by the purported originator or with its consent. However this results in a problem that deals with establishing that this element is present, especially in the cases where the parties to the transaction have not been dealing with each other face-to-face and as a result, they cannot verify the identity of each other by using traditional means. Under these circumstances, it can be said that e-mail has outnumbered the traditional letters and faxes and has become the preferred communication method for businesses which include the negotiations for contracts. Although generally the courts are considered as being behind the times but in this case, the courts have responded towards this shift in communication and consequently, e-mail has been accepted by the courts as the means of creating a binding in between the parties. On the other hand, all the businesses are not conversant with this fact. In fact there are a number of businesses that are still under a mistaken belief that anything said or agreed to the e-mail is not binding for the parties and the also believe that a legally enforceable contract can only be created when a formal written document has been signed by the parties. But the law provides that if the parties are negotiating through e-mail but they do not want the e-mails to be binding contracts, this fact should be clearly mentioned in the e-mail that no binding contract will be created between the parties unless a formal contract is executed by the parties. On the other hand, if this condition has not been expressly mentioned, it is not likely that such a condition will be implied in the e-mails by the court. The result was that, for example, in Stellard, the court arrived at the conclusion that a binding contract related with the sale of land has been created between the parties through e-mail. More significantly, it needs to be noted that in both the offer e-mail as well as in the acceptance e-mail, it has been mentioned that the offer is subject to contract and also mentioned that it was subject to execution. After the exchange of e-mail between the parties, a contract was sent by the buyer to the seller for executive, but the same was not signed. Later on, the seller withdrew from the deal and had made a contract with another party. Therefore, it was the decision of the court that by the context of the e-mails, it can be said that it was the intention of the parties to be bound by it immediately. This was the case even if the party is expected that the agreement will be substituted by a formal contract which will also contain additional terms. In this regard, the court also stated that the e-mails fulfill the requirement according to which a contract related with the sale of land should be in writing and signed, in view of the provisions of the Electronic Transactions Act, 2001. Therefore, it can be stated that the decision given in this case follows an earlier decision of Western Australian Court of Appeal that was delivered by the court in Vantage Systems Pty Ltd v Priolo Corporation Pty Ltd. (2015). In this case, it was stated that a contract has been created between the parties regarding the lease of commercial premises by using a series of e-mails although it was mentioned in these e-mails that the offer was subject to formal approval. While delivering this decision, the court was not affected by the fact that the parties failed to agree regarding a reinstatement clause and it also ignored the fact that no formal lease was later on signed by the parties although it was the intention of the parties to do so. The trend related with binding e-mail also extends to the settlement negotiations that take place between the lawyers through e-mail. For example in Universal Music Australia Pty Limited v Pavlovic (2015), the NSW Supreme Court arrived at the decisio n that a binding settlement agreement was created through the e-mails that were exchanged between the lawyers. In this case, the court stated that the e-mail of the lawyer in which it was mentioned that the settlement deal will be signed by the client along with the rest of the communications and the conduct of the parties, it was considered that a binding contract has been created. Although the parties had the intention that a deal will be signed later on and it was never signed but a Court refused to find the presence of an implied condition according to which, a binding contract will not be created unless the deed has been actually signed. Therefore in the end, it can be said that as a result of the expansion of Internet and e-commerce, there has been a significant increase throughout the world regarding the formation of electronic contracts. New laws are also being developed for accommodating electronic contracts. However, despite the development of new legal framework for accommodating electronic contracts, still there are certain uncertainties related with the formation of electronic contracts. References Australian Government, Commonwealth Treasury (2006) The Australian Guidelines For Electronic Commerce. Available:https://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1083/PDF/australian_guidelines_for_electronic_commerce.pdf (September 18, 2008). Benkler, Y. (2000), Net Regulation: Taking Stock and Looking Forward. University of Colorado Law Review, 71 (4), pp.1203 1252 Burns, K. and Hutchinson, T. (2009) The Impact of Empirical Facts on Legal Scholarship and Legal Research Training. The Law Teacher, 42 (3) pp. 153-179 Carter, J. W. and Harland, D. J. (1993) Cases and Material on Contract Law in Australia, pp. 339-40 Cornwilaw (2006), Electronic signatures and Electronic Contracts, Available: https://www.corwinlaw ( 22 May 2011). Forder, J. and Svantesson, D. (2008) Internet and Ecommerce Law, pp. 52-53 Gatt, C. (1998) Comparative Issues in the Formation of Electronic Contracts. International Low and Information Technology, 6 (1), pp. 34 -57 Graw, S. (2005) An Introduction to the Law of Contract, pp. 461-464 Optus, (2009), Buying Online is Easy: A Few Things to Note. Available: https://personal.optus.com.au (December 26, 2009) Perry, D. (2002) Electronic Enforcement Environment and Capability, Internet Law Bulletin, 5 (7), pp. 73- 74 Rahukar, S., (2010), Electronic Contracts (Part-1) Club Hack Mag. Available: https://chmag.in/article/nov2010 (May 22, 2011) Schiano, W. T. (2004) CyberLaw: Text and Cases, pp. 158-159 Starke, J. G., Seddon, N. C. and Ellinghaus, M. P. (1992) Cheshire and Fitfoots Law of Contract pp. 663- 773 Case Law (Stellard Pty Ltd Anor (Stellard) v North Queensland Fuel Pty Ltd [2015] QSC 119 Vantage Systems Pty Ltd v Priolo Corporation Pty Ltd [2015] WASCA 21 Universal Music Australia Pty Limited v Pavlovic, [2015] NSWSC 791 Statute Electronic Transactions Act (Vic) 2000