1. Running Head: Employee Selection and Training
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Employee Selection and Training
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Employee Selection and Training
Shauna Davis
I/O Psychology/ Personnel psychology
Walden University
10/20/19
ABSTRACT

2. Introduction
Employers are facing several risks when it comes to
employment selection as well as training and development
programs. An organization must, therefore, ensure that
statements, overtures as well as advertisements are not suspect
as well as ensuring that there is no form of discrimination in its
selection process. There should be no references to age as well
as gender but instead, be based on the description of the job.
Selection is entailing all the activities aimed at choosing a
suitable candidate from the applicants to fill a given post while
training is consisting of the processes aimed at ensuring that the
job holders have the right skills, attitudes as well as knowledge
towards achieving the objectives of the organization. New
employees should be given an induction program where they are
capable of meeting other employees as well as showing the
skills they must learn. Organizations thus must have a detailed
training scheme which can either be on the job where skills are
acquired through experience at work or off the job where
learning is via attending courses (Larsen, 2017, p. 114).
Organizational, as well as industrial psychologists, usually use
a different process in selecting new employees regarding what
the organization needs. The selection is enabling the
organization to screen out individuals who are not suited for the
role. The goal of industrial or organizational psychology is to
give answers to a specified role such as how to select the best
employees, choosing the best training, mechanisms for the
employees as well as the way of determining the turnover cases
alongside ways of reducing it. The industrial psychology is

3. dealing with training, selection as well as placement while
organizational psychology is dealing with issues such as
increasing job satisfaction as well as determining how
employees can be motivated (Larsen, 2017, p. 110).
Literature Review
In Employee Selection and training, there seems to be a gap in
the selection part and the fact that, organizations need
psychologists to recruit the correct persons for the vacant
position. This is not a topic that is not discussed frequently as it
is not considered that Important; the only requirement is that
the employee needs to be qualified. There are specific factors
that contribute to organizations not focusing on employee well-
being in terms of industrial psychology. But it is crucial to
remember that the purpose of Employee Selection and Training
is recruiting the most suitable candidate who meets the
requirements of the organization, for better organizational
performance. Basically, determining the job applicants that will
be successful if they are hired. Which is true according to
Gelfand et al. 2017 looking at Cross-cultural industrial
organizational psychology and organizational behavior, in the
past 100 years. Through the journal of applied technology
whereby the article clearly shows that in the past 100 years
there is still work that needs to be done, then forecasting in the
next 100 years whereby according to Journal of Applied
technology things will be different. Landy et al. 2016 looks at
Industrial psychology looks at the factors that are involved in
this sector and at the same time looks at what the factors that
hinder this field of psychology. Landy et al. 2016 acknowledges
the fact that western culture of individualism is one of the main
factors that affect the development of Industrial Psychology
whereby organizations only focus on the recruiting the
“qualified employees but neglect the fact that Industrial
Psychology is important in the Employee and Selection Process.

4. The Problem Statement
Industrial Psychology is not an important aspect in the
conventional workplace, do some organizations consider this an
aspect not worth investing in;
Whereby According to Riggio 2017, the organization needs to
employ different motivation theories during the selection of its
employees. Riggio mainly focuses on the communication
process; Worker Issues; which deals with wok centered
processes. Whereby Industrial Psychology, which is an aspect
that is not considered to be relevant, can be very helpful if there
was more research on the same. Basically, Industrial
Psychology utilizes the principles and psychological theories to
the organization; for the main reason of increasing workplace
productivity and issues that are related to metal and physical
wellbeing of the employees. This ranges from studying worker
behavior, attitude and generally conducting leadership training;
thus, having the overall objective of studying workplace human
behavior.
Industrial Psychology covers a broad range of activities;
Training and development, Ergonomics in the workplace;
performance management, work life, organizational
development through improving organization structure and the
most important and relevant in this case being the Employee
selection (basically testing if an employee is qualified for a
job). Some jobs are more psychological demanding than others;
according to Schein 2015, he looks at the comparison of
Industrial psychology before and know. One thing is that this
field is fragmented and most of the issue have remained the
same. This are the qualities of a field that is developing which
means that with time maybe this field will improve and
organizations will focus on it. Industrial psychology is a field
that is vast and is considered a field of organizational
development and learning experientially. At the same time there
are other factors that explain why this filed has remained a gap
in Employee selection and Training. Decline of group
interventions, declining group dynamics, interdependency,

5. social responsibility, new forms of organizations and culture of
individualism are some of the factors that make this filed
challenging in the full implementation and concentration of
Industrial Psychology making the work of researchers and
consultants very hard.
Purpose of the Study
Having conducted a review of literature pertaining to the
importance of applying industrial psychology in employee
selection and training within the work place, it is important to
define research questions and highlight the purpose of the
research project in order to quantify and qualify the
effectiveness of industrial psychology as a tool for personnel
selection.
The purpose of this research project is to examine the
importance, if any, of industrial psychology in the selection,
recruitment and training process in organizations. The project
also assesses whether deploying industrial psychology in
selection of personnel is effective (yields quality newly hired
employees) compared to the traditional face to face interview
methods of employee selection.
Research Question(s) and Hypotheses
The study will also address the following questions;
• What are the reasons and motives behind the introduction
of industrial psychology in the selection and recruitment
process and its potential in identifying candidates for promotion
and training.
• What are the general trends of organizations that have
deployed industrial psychology strategies as a means of
personnel selection. The research will compare and contrast the
findings from organizations that utilize industrial psychology to
those organizations which utilize other techniques.
• What are the different psychology recruitment and selection
practices used within organizations.
• What is the long-term effectiveness of this mechanism in
terms of its cost
• How do the use of industrial psychology relate with other

6. selection tools as a reliable and invaluable method of
recruitment process. How can it be used in conjunction with
these other tools?
• What are the attitudes and experiences of the general towards
industrial psychology methods both from an administrator and
applicants’ point of view.
• What are the limitations of using various industrial
psychology selection techniques, in both from an organizational
and individual view?
The research questions herein are mainly qualitative and
quantitative in nature and for this reason the research gathers
data which will be representative of both. The research
objectives above can also be viewed as both exploratory while
others descriptive. Exploratory research provides information
that will help to define problems and suggest hypotheses
(Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders and Wong 2001). It is used to
investigate people’s attitudes, opinions, motivations and
behaviors. Descriptive research on the other hand, is based on
facts and figures and usually consists of quantitative
techniques.
An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or more
people. Semi-structured interview as a qualitative method is
important in this study in order to address the research
questions. Also, to gain to gain an insight into the thoughts and
experiences of a company that utilizes an alternative method of
selection. Quantitative method is also important in form of
statistically analysis (Malhotra, 1996). Questionnaires are the
best quantitative method hence it is chosen for the study.
Individual attitudes and opinions of groups could be measured
and analyzed using questionnaires. A total of 21 organizations
from 10 different types of organizations were chosen with
majority in the Service and manufacturing sectors- this serves
the purpose of the research.

7. Reference
Larsen, H. H. (2017). Critical issues in training and
development. Policy and practice in European human resource
management (pp. 107-121). Routledge.
Riggio, R. E. (2017). Introduction to industrial/organizational
psychology. Routledge.
Schein, E. H. (2015). Organizational psychology then and now:
Some observations. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ.
Behav., 2(1), 1-19.
Gelfand, M. J., Aycan, Z., Erez, M., & Leung, K. (2017). Cross-
cultural industrial organizational psychology and organizational
behavior: A hundred-year journey. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 102(3), 514-529.
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st century,
Binder ready version: An introduction to Industrial and
Organizational Psychology. John Wiley & Sons.
Malhorta, N.K. (1996). Marketing Research: An Applied
orientation, 2nd edition, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders Wong (2001) page 275,
Principles of Marketing, 3rd European edition: Prentice Hall.