ETHICAL DILEMMA

IN MANAGEMENT
THE STRESS
INTERVIEWS
 Human Resource
Management
• HRM includes all activities used to
attract and retain employees and
ensure their maximum productivity
• The HRM department is responsible
for recruitment and selection.
• Recruitment is a method of
establishing employment
relationship.
 INTERVIEW ?
• The Interview process is a method of
recruitment, a selection tool used to
attract appropriate job candidates to fill
job vacancies.

• Interviews are the most common

recruitment tool used hiring around the
world from something very small as
individuals for domestic work to key posts
recruitment in multi-national organization.

• Different types of interviews are used for

selection and hiring e.g. informal
interviews, direct interviews, indirect,
panel, group, behavior, and STRESS
Stress interviews:

• In a stress interview the interviewers deliberately lead

applicants into a fall sense of security by making the
candidate feel comfortable – then suddenly they change and
on the attack creating a stressful situation, In order to
observe how the candidates cope with sudden pressure and
stress

• Imagine for a moment that you are doing exceptionally well

in your job interview - until your interviewer asks you a
question totally irrelevant to your discussion, such as

"How would you improve the design of the hockey

stick?”

• While you fumble for an answer, inwardly you are thinking,

"What is wrong with this person? Why would I be asked such
an absurd question as part of a serious interview?"

• Such deliberate "stress question" are to get a glimpse of

your personality and character - perhaps impatience or a
glimpse of your creative abilities in coping with the
Interviewers might deliberately put you
in a difficult situation to see how you
handle something non textbook
 Constructive element
 Why should stress interviews be used?
 Should interviewers be permitted to asses
confidence on how one reacts under sudden
pressure?

• Stress interviews can be a good thing

• Stress interviews might give an insight to a
candidates personality and character
• By stress interview, It is easier for the company
to determine the attitude of an employee, which
helps it identifying the suitable person for the job.
• As employee is an asset for the company, so the
company needs to know if it had made the right
choice and perhaps is paying to the right person
who can cater with the extreme conditions and
• Every one can work under normal conditions but
the problem arises when a person is put under
extreme condition, it is then the true abilities of a
person are known. There is a famous quote about
this which says “Adversity causes a lot of people
to break and others to break records”
• there are examples about it such as there are
many cases when high scoring candidates have
been rejected after the interview due to there
disability of not catering with the stress.
 Advantages
• Stress interviews are appropriate for
certain types of jobs such as public
safety and customer complaint-
handling.
• The stress interviewing technique is
typically used for positions in which
the job-seeker will be facing stress
on the job e.g. when dealing with a
lot of people such as domestic sugar
mills, in businesses where time to
time panic situations arise.
• How good are you at keeping your cool under
pressure? This is exactly what employers are
attempting to figure out during the stress
interview. It may seem like cruel and unusual
treatment, but if you pass this grueling test, the
job is probably yours for the taking.
• So what happens during this type of interview?
Any range of odd behavior, from being held in the
waiting room for an excessive amount of time
before the interviewer greets you to being asked
offensive questions to being met with long
silences or cold glares. Verbal abuse is even
common. So what is the point of all of this?
Simply to see if you can handle a difficult
company culture and a potentially stressful work
environment. Do you have what it takes? Keep
these tips in mind:
• Stress interviews are not meant to hurt
your feelings. They are just meant to test
your mental strength.
• Keep your main message in mind, and
don’t let the interviewer shake you from
your goal of expressing that point.
• Stay calm. No matter what happens, do
not respond with rudeness.
 DECONSTRUCTIVE ELMENT
• Stress interviews can be brutal!
 Deconstructive Element
• Those with severe personality disorders may also
do well

• Due to stress in interviews a person can face

anxiety

• Increased heart rate, high blood pressure and

stomach cramps can also effect the person.

• An element of unpredictability in choosing the

correct person.
• It may lower self esteem.

• May cause emotional distress

• Due to panic the person can get confused and

may not be able to answer appropriately.
Should managers advocate the use of an
activity that could possibly get out of hand?
• In some cases stress question might get to
personal offending the candidate.
• The atmosphere might get unpleasant

• Its advised that managers should not go to

extreme lengths asking to personal or offensive
questions, offending the candidate or making the
situation confrontational.
• As this is also unethical
 CONCLUSION
• As discussed earlier stress interviews can be benificial
• Stress interviews are not meant to hurt your feelings. They
are just meant to test your mental strength.
• Keep your main message in mind, and don’t let the
interviewer shake you from your goal of expressing that
point.
• Stay calm. No matter what happens, do not respond with
rudeness
• how ever they could also lead to confrontation and have a
destructive effect.
• The best remedy is balance
• In to days highly competitive markets firms need to acquire
dynamic individuals who can go beyond their job
specification and handle time to time panic and stress
related to work, and stress interviews are a good tool.
• The interviewers also should try not to make the stress
interviews a brutal experience for the candidate, and