Student 2

Compensatory model recognizes that people have multiple talents and that more than one talent is needed for a job. However, the levels of proficiency for one talent often cannot be compensated for lack of talent in other areas. There four methods used to make decisions using the compensatory model which differ in how the predictor scores are weighed for a total compound score (Heneman III, Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller 550).

Clinical prediction is based on expert decision of the decision makers. The weighing is assigned according to the managers’ judgement. It may be inconsistent and subjective as with other qualitative methods. However, this method makes use of the managers’ expertise to weigh and combine the scores (550-552).

Unit weighing method assigns the same weight to each predictor. This technique allows the scores to simply be added together. The simplicity is the advantage of unit weighing, however, it may produce distorted conclusions because it assumes each predictor is of equal value. It is the best method to use, however, in the situations where the contribution of the predictors is almost the same (552).

Rational weighing is one step more advanced than previous method as it differentiates among the importance of the predictors. Subject matter experts (SME) assign the weighs to each predictor and then multiply them to obtain final result. It is similar to clinical prediction but a consistent method where the SMEs must agree on the score weighs which are used then across the board. The disadvantage is the work that must be put upfront by SMEs to agree on the ranking of the predictors. To its benefit though, the rational weighing allows to consistently apply different importance to different predictors (552-553).

Finally, the multiple regression dives one step further into statistics. The weighs are obtained through use of statistical procedures as opposed to SMEs’ judgments. Two factors are taken into calculation of score weighing: the correlation between predictor and criterion, and the correlation among the predictors. It is the most scientifically advanced method which allows for the highest utility and validity among all four used methods. To its disadvantage, the multiple regression cannot be applied to all situations, and unit or rational weighing must be used instead. In the circumstances where the method can be used, it has advantage over other methods if the decision makers do not have much experience (553-554).

According to the article on psychology.iresearchnet.com, compensatory scoring assumes that there is only one type of the successful employee, while often different employees may be successful (Selection Strategies, Selection and Assessment Consulting). This is because, especially with the rational weighing, the combinations of scores resulting in highest ranking are very limited.