Deléne Visser

Black and White Employees' Fairness Perceptions of Personnel Selection Techniques

The Employment Equity Act (1998) states that no unfair discrimination should occur against an employee in any organisational policy or practice. The diversity of the South African population may lead to opinions that certain selection techniques have an adverse impact on members of different population groups. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent black and white respondents regarded specific selection techniques as being fair. A further goal was to establish whether knowledge of selection techniques influenced perceptions of the fairness of selection techniques. The sample consisted of 328 mature university students (mean age 30,6 years) all of whom had work experience. The perceptions of the Black (uninformed) and White (uninformed) groups were compared and thereafter the perceptions of informed and uninformed black students were compared. Exposure to the subjects Strategic Personnel Management and/or undergraduate Industrial Psychology, thereby providing the student with theoretical knowledge about the nature and value of various selection techniques, constituted the variable ‘being informed’. The results supported the hypothesis that the Black (uninformed) and the White (uninformed) groups have different perceptions regarding the ten selection techniques. However, no support was found for the hypothesis that the fairness perceptions of the Black (informed) and the Black (uninformed) groups would differ. The implications of these findings were discussed in terms of selection practices in South Africa. Key words: Personnel selection techniques, fairness perceptions, cross-cultural comparison.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA: PRACTITIONERS' PERSPECTIVES

Many organisations are downsizing their Human Resource (HR) operations due to the perceived lack of credibility of the function as a whole. This study investigates possible reasons for this perceived lack of credibility, and suggests ways in which the Human Resource Management (HRM) function can overcome this challenge. One of these suggestions implies the need to advance the professional status of HRM. The current professional status of HRM, as perceived by South African HR practitioners (N = 398) was evaluated by means of the trait approach to assessing the professional status of an occupation. The results reveal that practitioners do consider HRM to be a profession. However, HRM is still very much in the early stages of achieving true professional status. Other findings and their implications are also discussed. Opsomming Die Menslike hulpbronbestuursfunksie (MHB-funksie) word deur verskeie organisasies gerasionaliseer as gevolg van ’n oenskynlike gebrek aan geloofwaardigheid van die funksie as ’n geheel. In hierdie studie is moontlike redes vir die geloofwaardigheidsprobleem ondersoek en aanbevelings gemaak ten opsigte van wyses waarop die MHB-funksie hierdie uitdaging kan oorkom. Een voorstel impliseer die behoefte om die professionele status van die MHB-funksie te bevorder. Die huidige professionele status van MHB soos gesien vanuit die perspektief van Suid-Afrikaanse MHBpraktisyns (N = 398) is aan die hand van die eienskapgebaseerde metode om die professionele status van ’n beroep te bepaal, geevalueer. Die bevindinge dui daarop dat ofskoon praktisyns MHB as ’n professie beskou, die MHBfunksie steeds in die vroee fase van die strewe na ware professionele status is. Ander bevindinge en implikasies word ook bespreek.

Comparability of the Paper-and-Pencil and Computerised Adaptive Versions of the General Scholastic Aptitude Test (GSAT) Senior

A computerised adaptive test was constructed from two existing parallel paper-and-pencil versions of the General Scholastic Aptitude Test (GSAT) Senior. Achievement in the GSAT computerised adaptive test was compared to achievement in one form of the GSAT paper-and-pencil test. In computerised adaptive testing the program tailors each test to the examinees ability level. Based on a statistical method known as Item Response Theory (IRT), the program interactively selects test items which are at the appropriate difficulty level for the individual being tested, thereby allowing a considerable reduction in test length without forfeiting measurement accuracy. The study was undertaken to investigate the equivalence of results obtained with three versions of the GSAT: A paper-and-pencil version, a standard computerised version, and a computerised adaptive version. The standard computerised GSAT was included to study the effects of computerization apart from adaptive testing. The results were used to make adjustments to the GSAT computerised adaptive test to ensure equivalent measurement.