Describe how personnel selection programs are used to make informed decisions about human resources being brought into the organization, and how this might affect utility.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Varies, but could mention that traditionally, personnel-selection programs have attempted to maximize the accuracy of measurement and the efficiency of prediction. Decision theory, while not downgrading the importance of psychometric criteria in evaluating measurement and prediction, recognizes that the outcomes of predictions are of primary importance to individuals and organizations in our society. From this perspective, then, measurement and prediction are simply technical components of a system designed to make decisions about the assignment of individuals to jobs (Boudreau, 1991; Cascio & Boudreau, 2011). Decision outcomes must, therefore, be evaluated in terms of their consequences for individuals and organizations (i.e., in terms of their utility). In short, traditional selection programs emphasize measurement accuracy and predictive efficiency as final goals. In the contemporary view, these conditions merely set the stage for the decision problem.