Philip G. Benson

What is in a name: The impact of job titles on job evaluation results

The effect of job title status on job evaluation ratings was examined. Eighty-six personnel management students used the Factor Evaluation System (FES) to evaluate two job descriptions. One of three different forms of a secretary and accountant job description, differing only on the status of the job title, was randomly assigned to the subjects. The results showed that job title status significantly influenced job evaluation ratings for both the accounting and secretarial jobs. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations are made to avoid the contamination of job evaluation results by job title status.

The Impact of Rating Scale Format on Rater Accuracy: An Evaluation of the Mixed Standard Scale

Participants used either a behaviorally anchored rating scale format or a mixed standard scale format in evaluating seven dimensions of interviewer performance as exhibited in videotapes of eight different managers. Based on the correlation between observed ratings and a set of known true or target scores, overall accuracy scores were calculatedfor each subject. In Study 1, subjects (undergraduate students) who used behaviorally anchored rating scales were significantly more accurate than subjects who used mixed standard scales in overall rating accuracy. In Study 2, subjects (MBA students with a minimum of 2 years supervisory experience) who used behaviorally anchored rating scales were significantly more accurate than subjects who used mixed standard scales in overall rating accuracy. This suggests that use of the behaviorally anchored rating scaleformat results in more accurate ratings of performance than does use of the mixed standard scale format. Results are discussed in terms of implicationsfor methods used in rating the behavior of individuals, especially in performance appraisal of employees.

International human resource management: diversity, issues and challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue which considers the impact that the global world has had on the profession of HRM.Design/methodology/approach – In June 2009, the International Human Resource Management Conference was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Various IHRM papers were presented, and of these, many were subjected to a second round of reviews for this special issue. This special issue is made up of the best papers.Findings – The article highlights that as IHRM has emerged as an academic discipline, a variety of debates and issues have come to dominate the literature. For practitioners, a long‐standing issue has been the delineation of specific practices to be used in the management of people within international organizations. Over time, practices have emerged, and texts today can readily be found that represent such practices for those working in MNCs as HR managers.Originality/value – A number of concerns about HRM are raised in this issue, most of which are...

The effects of job description content on job evaluation judgments

This research investigated the impact of job description content on judgments made during job evaluation. Three experiments were conducted. In the first two experiments, task statements for an accountant position were written and scaled according to perceived value to an organization. In the third experiment, job descriptions were written using scaled statements generated in the first two experiments

An investigation of gender bias in the job evaluation process

This study investigated the potential impact of gender segregation of jobs on evaluation bias in judgments of the relative worth of those jobs. Four job descriptions were selected which were ambiguous as to gender mix; these were artificially labeled as predominantly male or predominantly female. In addition, two clearly gender-stereotyped jobs (clerk, mechanic) were included, and were labeled as predominantly female and male, respectively. Another job (juvenile probation officer) was included as relatively gender neutral. Finally, a matron or jailer job description was included; these job descriptions were identical except for gender-based pronouns. For the four gender-ambiguous jobs, no evaluation bias was found, which is consistent with previous research. For the less artificial matron/jailer manipulation, however, evaluation bias was found. Finally, for the mechanic job some evidence was found to suggest evaluation bias based on the gender of the job evaluator. Results are discussed in terms of appropriate manipulations for studies of gender bias in job evaluations.

Organisational justice climate, social capital and firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework in order to understand the impact of organizational justice climate on firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews the literature on organizational justice and social capital and theorizes their relationship with firm performance. The underlying argument of this paper is that a climate of organizational justice influences firm performance indirectly through its influence on social capital.Findings – The paper suggests ways through which different types of justice climate – distributive, procedural, interactional – are related to different dimensions of social capital. This paper also extends the findings of organizational justice research from an individual level to organizational level by proposing an indirect relationship with firm performance.Originality/value – This paper is unique, as no research to date has proposed a conceptual framework integrating organizational justice climate, social capital and firm ...

Aligning Performance: The End of Personnel and the Beginning of Guided Skilled Performance

For almost twenty years researchers have predicted the end of personnel as HRM practices increasingly became a line management function. However, while useful for describing shifts in human resource responsibilities, this practice-based view obscures the fundamental strategic reason for this shift – executive demands for effective means to manage performance. This paper contributes a new approach for HRM that may better predict which current practices will be most successful and suggests the characteristics of new practices that may be developed using an example of goal-setting and performance appraisal. The theory includes a model of human performance based on recent advances in cognitive neuroscience that suggests HRM may fulfill a strategic role by reestablishing its core competence as specialists in industrial psychology who create systems for guiding skilled performance. We conclude by proposing a measure that assesses the link between performance and customer perceived value across the value chain, thereby demonstrating the return on investment in human resources.

Job evaluation committees as small groups: implications of group dynamics for fairness in pay

This paper reviews the nature of group processes, and the implications that such group dynamics have for the setting of pay in organizational settings. Job evaluation committees, widely used in the setting of salary structures, are described as small groups. In particular, the nature of group tasks as related to job evaluation is discussed, the nature of intrapersonal dynamics within the job evaluation committee is reviewed, the implications of the composition of the job evaluation committee are considered, and the broader organizational context of job evaluation is noted. Finally, implications for the practice of job evaluation are discussed.

Psychometric Characteristics of a Preemployment Screening Device

Compu-Scan is a preemployment screening device which considers a job applicants potential for such undesirable behaviors as substance abuse, theft, and violation of company policy to assign an over-all risk score. A “theft” subscale score may also be derived. This study assessed certain psychometric characteristics of Compu-Scan. Data provided by a private security firm included 445 completed Compu-Scans; 48 persons had also undergone an independent polygraph examination. A coefficient alpha of .84 was obtained for the 91-item “over-all risk” scale; the 43-item “theft” subscale yielded a similar coefficient of .83. Compared with predictions from the polygraph, validity coefficients of .45 and .36 were found for the “over-all” and “theft” scores, respectively. While evidence for the convergent validity of the two scales was noted, substantial method variance was also indicated. These results compare favorably with those reported for similar honesty measures and support the view that preemployment honesty screening is potentially a viable personnel practice.

The evolution of devolution in HR

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a multi-level approach consisting of individual, human resource management (HRM) team, and organizational contingency factors when considering the efficacy of HR devolvement efforts. The authors accomplish this through a review of the relevant devolvement literature to show how outcomes are impacted by contingency factors, which highlights a gap in extant scholarship, and the authors organize the literature in a way that is meaningful to future researchers interested in the topic as well as practitioners involved with its implementation. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a narrative review approach to describe previous devolvement research (e.g. Hammersley, 2001; Harvey and Moeller, 2009). In contrast to a systematic review more commonly seen in quantitative meta-analyses, a narrative review allows for a more descriptive and detailed analysis and critique of quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical research (Bezrukova et al., 2012; Posthuma et al., 2002). This methodology produced over 300 books, journal articles, magazine articles, and discussion papers. In this review, the authors chose to focus only on those peer-reviewed papers reporting empirical findings or developing theoretical arguments surrounding devolvement. Findings While the studies reviewed herein are admirable and help call attention to an important topic in HRM, they nonetheless fail to provide a comprehensive understanding of contingencies affecting devolvement as they do not consider the multi-level nature of the phenomenon. Therefore, the authors’ contribution lies in the identification and categorization of contingency factors affecting the occurrence of devolvement operating at the individual, HRM team, and organizational levels. Originality/value As devolvement continues to be a viable means for assigning HR responsibilities from the human resources department to managers, its effects can have an impact on organizational performance, the strategic positioning of HR, and various job attitudes of line managers. Therefore, a clearer picture of devolvement in order to understand its continued significance is an important contribution.