Selection: Occupational Tailoring

Considerations of Work Behavior

The evaluation of work behavior should begin with a consideration of the work behavior outcomes that the organization wants to achieve with the selection procedure. The organization's desired work outcomes may have a direct bearing on the information about the work that is relevant to the choice of selection procedures. Continuing the example of highly technical work, if an organization is satisfied with the technical expertise of its new hires but wants to select more loyal employees who will stay with the company, the analysis of the work would focus less on technical content and more on work context that influences employees' decisions to leave or stay.

Organizations may have any number of desired outcomes, including productivity, helpfulness, schedule adherence, retention, customer satisfaction, accountability, creativity, safety and security, and dependability. In general, the organization's desired outcomes can be organized into two major categories: work proficiency and contextual behavior. Work proficiency refers to the extent to which employees perform their work tasks quickly, accurately, and consistently and achieve the desired objectives of the work activity. Contextual behavior, on the other hand, refers to employee behavior that is valued by the organization but is not considered a specific task or element of the work itself. Examples include helping others, staying in the organization, showing up on time, not stealing, and being accountable for results.

The distinction between an organization's interest in work proficiency and its interest in contextual behavior is important to occupational tailoring because, with few exceptions, any selection procedure is likely to be more relevant to one type of interest than the other. To understand the relationship between selection procedures and organization interests, selection procedures may be classified into five major categories: (a) ability and aptitude; (b) personality, disposition, and temperament; (c) values, interests, and attitudes; (d) acquired skills and knowledge; and (e) work-related experience, training, and education.

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