People And Organizations: The Selection Issue Reading Answers

Nov 10, 2023

People And Organizations: The Selection Issue Reading Answers is a general reading topic. People And Organizations: The Selection Issue Reading Answers have a total of seven IELTS questions in total. The specified topic generates a single question type: fill in the blanks with no more than three words. Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly in order to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS reading practice papers, which feature topics such as People And Organizations: The Selection Issue Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

People And Organizations: The Selection Issue Reading Answers

In 1991, according to the Department of Trade and Industry, a record 48,000 British companies went out of business. When businesses fail, the post-mortem analysis is traditionally undertaken by accountants and market strategists. Unarguably organisations do fail because of undercapitalization, poor financial management, adverse market conditions etc. Yet, conversely, organisations with sound financial backing, good product ideas and market acumen often underperform and fail to meet shareholders' expectations.
The complexity, degree and sustainment of organisational performance requires an explanation which goes beyond the balance sheet and the "paper conversion" of financial inputs into profit-making outputs. A more complete explanation of "what went wrong" necessarily must consider the essence of what an organisation actually is and that one of the financial inputs, the most important and often the most expensive, is people.
An organisation is only as good as the people it employs. Selecting the right person for the job involves more than identifying the essential or desirable range of skills, educational and professional qualifications necessary to perform the job and then recruiting the candidate who is most likely to possess these skills or at least is perceived to have the ability and predisposition to acquire them. This is a purely person/skills match approach to selection.
Work invariably takes place in the presence and/or under the direction of others, in a particular organisational setting. The individual has to "fit" in with the work environment, with other employees, with the organisational climate, style of work, organisation and culture of the organisation. Different organisations have different cultures (Cartwright & Cooper, 1991;1992). Working as an engineer at British Aerospace will not necessarily be a similar experience to working in the same capacity at GEC or Plessey.
Poor selection decisions are expensive. For example, the costs of training a policeman are about f 20,000 (approx. US $30,000 ). The costs of employing an unsuitable technician on an oil rig or in a nuclear plant could, in an emergency, result in millions of pounds of damage or loss of life. The disharmony of a poor person-environment fit (PE-fit) is likely to result in low job satisfaction, lack of organisational commitment and employee stress, which affect organisational outcomes i. e., productivity, high labour turnover and absenteeism, and individual outcomes i.e, physical, psychological and mental well-being.
However, despite the importance of the recruitment decision and the range of sophisticated and more objective selection techniques available, including the use of psychometric tests, assessment centres etc., many organisations are still prepared to make this decision on the basis of a single 30 to 45-minute unstructured interview. Indeed, research has demonstrated that a selection decision is often made within the first four minutes of the interview. In the remaining time, the interviewer then attends exclusively to information that reinforces the initial accept or "reject" decision. Research into the validity of selection methods has consistently demonstrated that the unstructured interview, where the interviewer asks any questions he or she likes, is a poor predictor of future job performance and fares little better than more controversial methods like graphology and astrology. In times of high unemployment, recruitment becomes a "buyer's market" and this was the case in Britain during the 1980s.
The future, we are told, is likely to be different. Detailed surveys of social and economic trends in the European Community show that Europe's population is falling and getting older. The birth rate in the Community is now only three quarters of the level needed to ensure the replacement of the existing population. By the year 2020, it is predicted that more than one in four Europeans will be aged 60 or more and barely one in five will be under 20. In a five-year period between 1983 and 1988, the Community's female workforce grew by almost six million. As a result, 51 % of all women aged 14 to 64 are now economically active in the labour market compared with 78% of men.
The changing demographics will not only affect selection ratios. They will also make it increasingly important for organizations wishing to maintain their competitive edge to be more responsive and accommodating to the changing needs of their workforce if they are to retain and develop their human resources. More flexible working hours, the opportunity to work from home or job share, the provision of childcare facilities etc., will play a major role in attracting and retaining staff in the future.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 12-16

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs A-G.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-E and G from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 12 -16 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. You may use any of the headings more than once.

List of Headings

The effect of changing demographics on organisations.
Future changes in the European workforce.
The unstructured interview and its validity.
The person-skills match approach to selection.
The implications of a poor person-environment fit.
Some poor selection decisions.
The validity of selection procedures.
The person-environment fit.
Past and future demographic changes in Europe.
Adequate and inadequate explanations of organizational failure.

Paragraph B

Answer:iv
Supporting statement: “.....candidate who is most likely to possess these skills or at least is perceived to have the ability and predisposition to acquire them. This is a purely person/skills match approach to selection.....”
Keywords: perceived, selection
Keyword Location: para B, line 4
Explanation: It is given that it is very important to hire a person who has the skills required to do the job. Hence it was considered purely a person and skills match.

Paragraph C

Answer:viii
Supporting statement: “..... The individual has to "fit" in with the work environment, with other employees, with the organisational climate, style of work, organisation and culture of the organisation......”
Keywords: climate, culture
Keyword Location: para C, line 2
Explanation: It is given that a person generally works under or with a group of persons. Hence it is important to note that the person should have a good work environment. Hence it could be called person environment fit.

Paragraph D

Answer:v
Supporting statement: “.....The disharmony of a poor person-environment fit (PE-fit) is likely to result in low job satisfaction, lack of organisational commitment and employee stress, which affect organisational outcomes i. e., productivity, .....”
Keywords: stress, productivity
Keyword Location: para D, line 4
Explanation: It is given that the person who is in a poor environment will have a slow and low esteemed life. He/she will not have a job satisfaction and commitment to work.

Paragraph E

Answer:iii
Supporting statement: “.....many organisations are still prepared to make this decision on the basis of a single 30 to 45-minute unstructured interview .....”
Keywords: basis, interview
Keyword Location: para E, line 3
Explanation: It is given that the organisations are still judging the candidates based on the 45 min interview. It is not enough to judge the candidate. Hence it is called unstructured.

Paragraph G

Answer:i
Supporting statement: “.....The changing demographics will not only affect selection ratios. They will also make it increasingly important for organisations wishing to maintain their competitiveness.....”
Keywords: selection, organizations
Keyword Location: para G, line 1
Explanation: It is mentioned that the changing demographics will affect a lot of things for a candidate. Most of the points discussed in the paragraph are about the demographics, hence i is the correct choice.

Questions 17 -22
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 17 -22 on your answer sheet write

YES - if the statement agrees with the writer
NO - if the statement does not agree with the writer
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information about this in the passage

Organisations should recognize that their employees are a significant part of their financial assets.

Answer:YES
Supporting statement: “.....An organisation is only as good as the people it employs. Selecting the right person for the job involves more than identifying the essential or desirable range of skills.....”
Keywords: involves, skills
Keyword Location: para B, line 1
Explanation: It is given that the organisation is as important as its employee. The organisation is run by the employees and they are the ones which bring financial profits to the company.

Open-structured 45 minute interviews are the best method to identify suitable Employees.

Answer:NO
Supporting statement: “....research has demonstrated that a selection decision is often made within the first four minutes of the interview. In the remaining time, the interviewer then attends exclusively to information that reinforces the initial accept or "reject" decision.......”
Keywords: interview, attends
Keyword Location: para E, line 4
Explanation: It is given that unstructured interviews are not a good way of hiring. As it doesn’t says much about the skills of the candidate. But it is not implied that the open structured interviews are the best method to select employees.

The rise in the female workforce in the European Community is a positive trend.

Answer:NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There has been no mention of the rise in female workforce hiring leading to a positive trend. It just implies that women are being involved in the workforce more than earlier.

Graphology is a good predictor of future job performance.

Answer:NO
Supporting statement: “......where the interviewer asks any questions he or she likes, is a poor predictor of future job performance and fares little better than more controversial methods like graphology and astrology. .....”
Keywords: predictor, methods
Keyword Location: para E, line 10
Explanation: It is given that the unstructured interviews are also poor in getting good candidates for the role. But methods like graphology have been proved to be worse than it.

In the future, the number of people in employable age groups will decline.

Answer:YES
Supporting statement: “.....By the year 2020, it is predicted that more than one in four Europeans will be aged 60 or more and barely one in five will be under 20.....”
Keywords: aged, barely
Keyword Location: para F, line 4
Explanation: It is given that the people who were in the working or employable age group will become around 60 after 2020. Hence the people present in the employable working group will decline.

In 2020, the percentage of the population under 20 will be smaller than now.

Answer:YES
Supporting statement: “.....By the year 2020, it is predicted that more than one in four Europeans will be aged 60 or more and barely one in five will be under 20......”
Keywords: predicted, europeans
Keyword Location: para F, line 4
Explanation: It is given that after 2020 only one in five people will be under the age of 20. Hence it will decrease with time.

Questions 23 -25
Complete the notes below with words taken from Reading Passage 2. Use NO MORE THAN ONE or TWO WORDS for each answer.

alt tags

Ques: 23

Answer: ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOMES
Supporting statement: “.....poor person-environment fit (PE-fit) is likely to result in low job satisfaction, lack of organizational commitment and employee stress, which affect organizational outcomes.....”
Keywords: satisfaction, stress
Keyword Location: para D, line 4
Explanation: It is given that the poor person and environment fit will lead to low job satisfaction, lack of commitment to work and stress which will affect the organizational outcome.

Ques: 24

Answer: INDIVIDUAL OUTCOMES
Supporting statement: “.....and individual outcomes i.e, physical, psychological and mental well-being......”
Keyword Location: para D, line 7
Keywords: outcomes, mental
Explanation: It is given that the bad work environment will also affect the individual in many ways. The individual outcomes include - physical, psychological ,mental well being and many more.

Ques: 25

Answer: ABSENTEEISM
Supporting statement: “....productivity, high labour turnover and absenteeism, and individual outcomes i.e, physical, psychological and mental well-being......”
Keywords: physical, mental
Keyword Location: para D, line 7
Explanation: It is given that the poor person-environment fit will lead to high labour loss and low productivity. It will also lead to absenteeism.

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