Human Resource Selection

By Robert D. Gatewood, Hubert S. Feild, Murray Barrick

Book Overview

Human Resource Management (HRM) is a set of decisions systems that organizations can design and implement
to increase the performance and productivity of their workforce. The major activities in HRM are
recruitment, selection, training, measuring performance, and compensating workers for their performance.
The first two of these, recruitment and selection, focus on bringing high-ability individuals into the organization
and placing them in the appropriate jobs. Everyone agrees that having high-ability employees is
essential to a successful organization. Recruitment activities inform appropriately skilled applicants external
to the organization about available positions within the organization. Successful recruitment presents information
about the organization and the job to people in such a way that they become interested in possible
employment. Recruitment should result in applications from people who have the appropriate abilities for
the available job. Selection is the set of activities that gathers systematic information from the applicants
and identifies those with the highest ability levels in order to offer employment. Training encompasses the
activities that both the new employees and existing employees complete in order to further develop the most
important abilities for the job. In the present global, competitive economy, excellent and frequent training is
necessary to make sure that employees can continue high performance. Measuring performance and compensating workers are the two fundamental principles for motivating employees. Measuring performance
clearly specifies to workers the main outcomes of their work. It also makes goal setting possible, which
research has found to be highly motivating in itself. Compensation should be designed so that employees
are rewarded at levels reflective of their performance. Think of this as the application of the psychological
principle of reward/reinforcement.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0999554743
• ISBN13: 9780999554746
• Release Date: October 2018
• Publisher: Wessex, Inc.
• Length: 784 Pages
• Weight: 3.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Strong, versatile textbook appropriate for any level

This is one of the strongest selection textbooks available in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. However, what really sets it apart is the accessibility in writing. I know many PhD-level academics and practitioners who have a copy of this book on their shelves, but I would also have no qualms about assigning it to a class of upper-level undergraduates in a selection course. The writing is polished and clearly directed toward students, and any controversial issues are given a good, balanced treatment. It also helps that the authors are quite willing to poke fun at themselves and the intensity with which they approach a topic that, to a student, probably seems obsessively nerdy. A major strength area for the book is its coverage of job analysis, which includes a "core" chapter that provides a firm grounding and introduces some of the better-known JA methods, followed by a "supplemental" chapter that goes into additional methods that are not as widely used for those who need more detail. The chapter on cognitive ability testing is also quite good and earns points for the frankness with which the authors address the controversies surrounding this topic.

The bible of selection! A must have!

Gatewood and Feild have definitely written the authoritative volume on selecting employees. They cover everything: legal issues, measurement, selection decision making strategies, job analysis, and the whole gamut of selection devices: application forms, biodata, interviews, ability tests, personality tests, assessment centers, integrity testing, and so on and so forth. And they cover these topics IN DEPTH -- not just a brief overview. The countless examples are very helpful. And the authors display a great dry humor -- the author bios and dedications are priceless (also be sure and check out the graphologist's interpretation of Gatewood's personality, and his responses)! I definitely recommend this book as a text for graduate and undergraduate classes, and also for the HR person who needs to beef up their selection know-how. A great reference source full of the latest selection research -- a must have for every practitioner's and student's collection.