Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Monday, 19 January 2015 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Overview
The choice of connections over the competencies has been a perennial issue in the local political arena. The kith and kin of those who are at the helm appeared to be the favourites, with regard to filling the key positions. Whether we can see a change in this custom is remains to be seen.
As the Indian media reported, the Modi Government in its very first order, issued on the day he was sworn in Prime Minister, has barred ministers from handpicking “personal staff”. This was unprecedented and showed Modi’s intent to ensure that none of his ministers fancies a “hidden agenda”.
No one, not even Indira Gandhi, went to this extent to keep a check on ministers from overstepping their briefs. It also brings to an end the “appointment” of family members as personal staff, which has been a practice with many a minister over the years.
Can we say the same thing about Sri Lanka? Perhaps it is still premature. However, a significant fraction of the society is looking forward to it as a vital part of good governance.
Competencies vs. connections
I see a Human Resource issue at the macro level baffling the national leaders. How to pick the right person to the right position, especially with regards to the key ones from a national perspective. We have already seen some displeasure expressed by a section of the public through social media about certain appointments.
In this backdrop, I thought it is useful to revisit some fundamentals of selection.
Right selection
It is pertinent to mention what David Oglivy, the advertising tycoon, had to say with respect to hiring: “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs, but if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we will become a company of giants”. In order to hire people with potential, the hiring process has to be professionally designed and executed.
Selection decisions can have far reaching implications. Hiring is one of the critical people functions of any organisation. In the traditional jargon, it is known as recruitment and selection. Recruitment deals with getting enough applicants as a potential pool. Selection deals with picking the best from the pool. That’s where the matchmaking becomes significant.
Triple matches
I would argue that there are triple matches you need to ensure in selecting the right candidate to a job. For me, they are T-T match, P-P match and I-I match. Let’s discuss what they are.
T-T match
This is the first match a recruiter would look into. It stands for matching tasks with talent. This essentially refers to technical dimension. Any key task requires specific talent. Take a sales job for an example. Tasks associated with meeting customers require the talent of caring communication.
Talent is now more often used as a bundled word for knowledge, attitude and skills. Prof. Dave Ulrich in his recent work, referred to it as a combination of competence, commitment and contribution. Whichever the way you describe, there is a dire need of it.
There is an acute gap between required talent and raw talent. The market is abundant with raw talent, especially with school leavers. Are they geared to a demanding job in a target-driven environment? Sadly, the answer is no.
We teach complex subject matter but not how to gain confidence. Job-orientation in the academic courses has been recognised as important only of late. That is the way to overcome talent drought.
P-P match
What I mean here is the match between person and the position. It goes beyond the talent level. Primary focus here is psychological. Overall fit with regards to the personality of the individual and the key expectation of the position he/she is supposed to hold.
Let’s be clear about personality. The term originates from the Latin word, persona, which means a mask. In ancient Latin theatres, a mask was used to represent a character. In other words, it is what you show to the world, by way of your words and deeds.
There are a variety of ways of looking at personality. It is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioural response patterns of an individual.
The point I want to make here is simple. Different personalities suit different positions. An outgoing, talkative and a friendly person would be more suited for a sales position, whereas a quiet, thinking and analytical person would be better in handling a laboratory position.
I-I match
The final match is between the individual and the institution. Essentially it checks the fit between the prospective candidate and the “surroundings”. It can be the culture, climate or the overall style of management. Thus we can see the socio-cultural dimension in focus. As I have seen many times high performers in one setup would end up being lousy performers in another setup. This is sad but significant, in ensuring the long term wellbeing of people.
First key element here is the culture. Organisational or corporate culture is the pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that may not have been articulated but shape the ways in which people behave and things get done. In a more detailed manner, Edgar Schein defines culture as follows:
“A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration- that have worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.”
Stemming from culture comes the more visible element, climate. It refers to those aspects of the environment that are consciously perceived by organisational members. Hence, climate is something people see, hear and feel. That is why we see a difference when we enter a hospital, police station or a restaurant. In summary, climate is what we see and feel when we enter an organisation, whereas, culture is something much deeper as bedrock.
What is important here is the need of prospective candidate to appreciate the institutional culture. What one can do in a multi-national corporation might not be possible in a family-owned business.
The same gulf exists between private and public sectors. I have seen people who opted to work in non-governmental charity organisations have a higher sense of humanity with committed service is mind.
It might be the same with a brilliant management trainee joining a rapidly expanding global network. The obvious sign is the need to ensure individual-institutional match. Figure 1 contains the summary of the triple matches.
Ensuring triple matches
A properly designed assessment centre can be one solid way to ensure all three matches. It typically employs a variety of techniques and multiple observers in a closed setting to evaluate candidates. Key challenge is to design the centre to cover all three matches.
T-T match is the easiest to assess, provided you identify what talent is exactly required by the task. A process where candidates are given a set of questions to answer, situations to analyse or activities to perform would give a clear idea about where the candidate would stand.
P-P match can be done by a more in depth analysis using personality-type diagnosing instruments such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). One challenge is to clearly identify what type of personality is required for the position. A sad local scene is that companies heavily investing on psychometric testing, without getting the best use of the results obtained. I-I match can be found by a good set of interview questions that would assess the attitude of candidates. Particularly, referring to “what-if” scenarios show-casing organisations’ real issues would be a smart move. Case study analysis can also be handy to find the right fit.
Way forward
Sri Lankan organisations can enhance their hiring professionalism by way of ensuring the triple matches. It will pave way not only for higher organisational performance but also for better employee satisfaction.
Even in the national level, the key challenge of picking the right person to handle the right job can be meaningfully handled by adhering to some of the fundamentals of Human Resource Management. Then, competencies will be more significant than connections.
(Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri is the Acting Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Management and Entrepreneurship, Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, USA.)
