Reference no: EM133211367

Question: Evaluating a Selection System

There are different ways to ensure that a selection system is working. One important method focuses on legal compliance. As indicated in the reading material, there are two types of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact (also known as adverse impact).

Disparate treatment discrimination refers to treating applicants differently based on a protected characteristic (for example, age, sex, national origin, religion). Disparate impact discrimination may be unintentional because the intention was for all applicants to be treated equally; however, this equal treatment had an unequal effect related to a protected characteristic. The most common approach to identify adverse impact is to apply the four-fifths rule. The four-fifths rule states that adverse impact exists if the selection ratio of the minority group is less than four-fifths (or 80 percent) of the selection ratio of the majority group. The simplest way to calculate adverse impact is to divide the selection ratio of the minority group by the selection ratio of the majority group. If the result is less than 80%, then adverse impact exists.

The retail clothing store collected the following hiring data over the past seven years for Department Manager positions:

Males applied: 75; Males hired: 15

Females applied: 115; Females hired: 20

Caucasians applied: 150; Caucasians hired: 30

Minorities applied: 40; Minorities hired: 5

Calculate the selection ratios for the two groups:

Males: ----------------

Females: --------------

Minorities: ----------------

Non-Minorities: ___________

Does adverse impact exist when you compare the minority applicant pool with the non-minority applicant pool? Does adverse impact exist when you compare the female applicant pool with the male applicant pool? Show your calculation for both questions.

2007 SHRM. Marc C. Marchese, Ph.D.