Before acquiring Unicru, Kronos had specialized in other segments of the human resources technology field, such as time-and-attendance applications and payroll systems.127 Its other products are relatively uncontroversial, but the Unicru acquisition has thrust Kronos into a vigorous debate about ethics in hiring for the first time. Unicru executives point to the high costs of new-hire turnover as an important reason for using personality tests. Indeed, Unicru’s CEO, Chris Marsh, even cites a value of testing for the applicant, noting that matching personality traits to job requirements is “not good just for the company, that’s good for the employee.” The company acknowledges, however, that the test does result in some “false positives”—applicants who would have turned out to be good employees but got flagged on the test anyway. Of course, “false positives” occur with any hiring method. Traditional employment interviews, often executed by untrained employees with little thought given to the questions, may overlook effective employees because of interviewer bias, applicant nervousness, or random events that alter the complexion of the interview.
Ironically, the economic downturn may wind up boosting Kronos’ business. As unemployment rises, the number of applications for open positions goes up, as does the time needed to process all those applications.128 At the same time, the number of employees available to handle staffing duties is also lower, as organizations downsize to grow as lean as possible. Kronos’ personality tests may therefore be seen as a more efficient, not just a more valid, screening option. Mike Roemer, chief operations officer of Blockbuster, points out the efficiency gains that personality testing can offer, noting, “We’ve taken a two-week hiring process and brought it down to 72 hours. Given that we hire, on average, one employee per store per month—and we have about 4300 company owned stores in the United States—this is a huge improvement.”129 Dennis Hannah, a Blockbuster store manager, also considers the recommended interview questions another benefit of the Kronos system, noting, “Having a guide for the interview phase takes away one-third of the time that I have to spend preparing for an interview.”130

Questions:-

9.1 Assume you ran a Blockbuster store and you didn’t use the Kronos personality test.
What kinds of interview questions would you ask potential hires?

9.2 If you did have access to their Big Five scores, what particular profile would you look for when deciding whom to hire at Blockbuster? Would MBTI or RIASEC data seem valuable to you?
9.3 Now assume you were granted access to the Kronos personality test, but you were skeptical of its usefulness. What could you do to “test drive” the system to examine its effectiveness in your own store?