| staffing decisions | Decisions associated with recruiting, selecting, promoting, and separating employees.
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| high performance work practices | Practices that include the use of formal job analyses, selection from within for key positions, merit-based promotions, and the use of formal assessment devices for selection.
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| power distance | The degree to which less powerful members of an organization accept and expect an unequal distribution of power.
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| uncertainty avoidance | The extent to which members of a culture feel comfortable in unpredictable situations.
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| multinational staffing | Procedures that involve staffing for organizations in more than one country.
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| validity | The accurateness of inferences made based on test or performance data; also addresses the issue of whether a measure accurately and completely represents what was intended to be measured.
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| criterion-related validity | Validity approach that is demonstrated by correlating a test score with a performance measure. Improves researcher's confidence in the inference that people with higher test scores have higher performance.
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| selection ratio (SR) | Index ranging from 0 to 1 that reflects the ratio of positions to applicants; calculated by dividing the number of positions available (i.e., the number of hires to be made) by the number of applicants.
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| false positive | Decision in which an applicant was accepted but performed poorly. The decision is false because of the incorrect prediction that the applicant would have performed successfully and positive because the applicant was hired.
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| false negative | Decision in which an applicant was rejected but would have performed adequately or successfully. The decision is false because of the incorrect prediction that the applicant would not have performed successfully and negative because the applicant was not hired.
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| true positive | Decision in which an applicant was accepted and performed successfully. The decision is true because of the correct prediction that the applicant would be a good performer and positive because the applicant was hired.
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| true negative | Decision in which an applicant was rejected and would have performed poorly if he or she were hired. The decision is true because of the correct prediction that the applicant would not be a good performer and negative because the applicant was not hired.
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| cut score | A specified point in a distribution of scores below which candidates are rejected; also known as a "cutoff score."
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| criterion-referenced cut score | Cut score that is established by considering the desired level of performance for a new hire and finding the test score that corresponds to that desired level of performance; sometimes called "domain-referenced" cut score.
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| norm-referenced cut score | Cut score that is based on some index of the test-takers' scores rather than any notion of job performance.
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| Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures | Official government guidelines designed to assist employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and licensing and certification boards to comply with federal requirements prohibiting employment practices that discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
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| base rate | The percentage of the current workforce that is performing successfully.
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| utility analysis | A technique that assesses the economic return on investment of human resource interventions such as staffing or training.
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| comprehensive staffing model | Model that gathers enough high-quality information about candidates to predict the likelihood of their success on the varied demands of the job.
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| clinical decision making | Decision making that uses judgment to combine information and to make a decision about the relative value of different candidates or applicants.
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| statistical decision making | Combines decision-making information according to a mathematical formula.
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| compensatory system | Model in which a good score on one test can compensate for a lower score on another test.
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| hurdle system | A noncompensatory strategy in which an individual has no opportunity to compensate at a later assessment stage for a low score in an earlier stage of the assessment process.
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| multiple hurdle system | Constructed from multiple hurdles so that candidates who do not exceed each of the minimum dimension scores are excluded from further consideration.
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| multiple regression analysis | Analysis that results in an equation for combining test scores into a composite based on the correlations among the test scores and the correlations of each test score with the performance score.
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| cross-validation | Process used with multiple regression techniques in which a regression equation developed on a first sample is tested on a second sample to determine if it still fits well; usually carried out with an incumbent sample, and the cross-validated results are then used to weight the predictor scores of an applicant sample.
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| score banding | Approach in which individuals with similar test scores are grouped together in a category or score band, and selection within the band is then made based on other considerations. The logic is that if two individuals have similar, but not identical, scores, it is likely that the differences are a result of measurement error rather than true differences in the attribute being measured.
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| standard error of measurement (SEM) | Statistic that provides a measure of the amount of error in a test score distribution. The function of the reliability of the test and the variability in test scores.
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| fixed band system | System in which candidates in lower bands are not considered until higher bands have been completely exhausted.
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| sliding band system | System that permits the band to be moved down a score point (or to slide) when the highest score in a band is exhausted.
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| subgroup norming | Approach that involves developing separate lists for individuals within different demographic groups, then ranking the candidates within their respective demographic group.
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| termination for cause | Situation in which an individual is fired from an organization for a particular reason. The individual has usually been warned one or more times about a problem, and either cannot or will not correct it.
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| layoff | Job loss due to employer downsizing or reductions in the workforce; often comes without warning, or with a generic warning that the workforce will be reduced.
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| expert witness | Witness in a lawsuit who is permitted to voice opinions about organizational practices.
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| adverse (or disparate) treatment | Type of discrimination in which the plaintiff attempts to show that the employer actually treated the plaintiff differently than majority applicants or employees; intentional discrimination.
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| adverse impact | Type of discrimination that acknowledges that the employer may not have intended to discriminate against a plaintiff, but a practice implemented by the employer had the effect of disadvantaging (i.e., had an adverse impact on) the group to which the plaintiff belongs.
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| "80 percent" or "4/5ths rule" | Guideline for assessing whether there is evidence of adverse impact. If it can be shown that a protected group received less than 80 percent of the desirable outcomes (e.g., job offers, promotions) received by a majority group, the plaintiffs can claim to have met the burden of demonstrating adverse impact.
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| adverse impact ratio | Obtained by dividing the selection ratio of the protected group by the selection ratio of the majority group. If this ratio is lower than 80 percent, then there is evidence of adverse impact.
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| discovery | Process in which lawyers are given access to potential witnesses who will be called by the other side, as well as any documents relevant to the complaints.
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| class certification | Judge's decision based on several criteria that help determine whether individual plaintiffs can file together under a class action suit.
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| deposition | An interview under oath taken by an opposing attorney in a lawsuit.
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| settlement discussions | Discussions that are often conducted by the parties in a lawsuit in an attempt to reach a mutually satisfying resolution of the complaint before proceeding with all of the other steps that lead to a trial.
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