Successful recruitment of an employee as a new member of a company can greatly affect his or her performance, motivation, as well as retention in a position (Philips & Gully, 2015). Therefore, it is crucial to give the process of recruitment extra thought as to how the hired talent can add to the company’s strategic advantage and plan execution, influence the increase in productivity and overall capabilities, and build a framework of strong cooperation within an organization. This paper will present an action plan for the CEO of the company for how the hired Human Resource Manager can become a contributor to the success of the organization. The plan will encompass three aspects of fit for the position, namely person-job fit, person-team fit, and person-organization fit.
Step I. Person-Job Fit
The person-job fit occurs when the job demands and the needs of an individual coincide. As stated by Kristof-Brown (2007), a good fit between an individual and his or her surrounding environment contributes to the higher levels of physical and psychological well-being, as well as to higher levels of satisfaction with life. Drawing parallels with the workplace environment, a person will be able to adjust better to his or her job position if it corresponds with the personality type, related to the chosen career. Person-job fit may increase performance in the workplace, reduce the number of hiring-related mistakes, and increase retention.
The selected person for the position of an HR manager does have prior experience with working in the same field, which supports the criterion of job demand. However, it is crucial to account for the criticism the person-job fit approach received in recent years. The amount and the speed of change in companies often imply that the initial jobs for which employees were recruited change drastically to cater to the modifications in the workplace environment (Person-job fit or person-organization fit, 2013). It is crucial for the company’s CEO to communicate to the employees that they should be prepared for rapid changes in their responsibilities or objectives to maintain the balance between job demand and a person’s needs.
To see whether the chosen employee for the position of an HR manager fits the job, a CEO (a hiring body) should analyze the following four aspects related to the job itself:
- environment;
- expectations and responsibilities;
- goals and objectives;
- risks and benefits.
To determine whether the needs of an HR manager candidate coincide with the requirements of the position, a hiring body should take into consideration three components:
- abilities;
- values;
- interests (Psych Press, 2014).
By including the above-mentioned factors into the action plan, an employer will be able to find out whether the selected candidate for the role of a Human Resource Manager will fit in the organization. The results of the assessment will be beneficial for creating a network of connections between the job and the individual. For example, if what is the person is expected to do in the position does not match up with what a person is capable of professionally, the person-job fit will not occur.
Step II. Person-Team Fit
According to the in-depth research conducted by Seong, Kristof-Brown, Park, Hong, and Shin (2012), social categories and information diversity can positively influence complementary fit perceptions as to working in teams. The similarity of values helps an individual achieve effectiveness in interacting and building relationships within a team while the ability to meet job requirements supports the performance of task-related mechanisms. Various corporate environments require different personnel since the choice of their structure greatly impacts the nature of separate jobs within the organization (Hollenbeck et al., 1999).
Therefore, the CEO of the company should pay extra attention to the teamwork within the organization and assess the characteristics of the chosen HR Manager based on his or her possible contribution to the team (Werbel & Johnson, 2001). The effective usage of the person-team framework for hiring a new member of the organization will influence the development of more cohesive work units that will function efficiently and move the company towards achieving a set goal (Burch & Anderson, 2006). Therefore, employers should develop a system for assessing candidates as to their fit into the already existing team. On the other hand, it is important to eliminate the issue of bias that usually occurs in such selection processes. The company’s CEO is advised to employ the following strategy:
- Assess the characteristics of the team, already working in the company. Furthermore, it is important to measure team satisfaction as to trust, loyalty, respect, and transparency between team members. If the chosen candidate exhibited these characteristics based on recommendations from previous employers, it is highly likely that he or she will integrate well into any team environment (Fermin, 2015).
- Conduct a personality assessment test of the chosen candidate. Although some of the tests may present subjective or unreliable data, they may offer some understanding of whether a candidate will fit in the team. Personality assessments can also be useful for finding out how to create a smarter working environment if it has already been determined that the chosen candidate will become a great addition to the team.
- Perform a team analysis to find specific characteristics of the team working in the organization (Chartrand, 2015). By using a specialized analytics solution, an employer will get a better understanding of the subsystems and alliances present in the organization or determine the developmental needs and personal characteristics of team members. Team analysis can facilitate the decision-making process as to whether the chosen candidate will fit into the environment and maximize the performance of the group.
Step III. Person-Organisation Fit
According to the study conducted by Ahmad, Veerapandian, and Ghee (2011), person-organization (person-environment) fit has a “mediating effect on the relationships between organizational commitment and organizational culture” (p. 11). Therefore, the hiring body of the company should pay extra attention not only to the peculiarities of the organizational culture when recruiting a new professional but also to ensure that the company will play a role of a facilitator as to creating connections with the hired person and the organization.
As defined by Bell, Villado, and Doverspike (2006), the person-organization fit is the compatibility between employees and their organizations. Such compatibility occurs when one party of the relationship caters to the needs or requirements of another party and shares similar values. The meaningful relationship between an employee and the organization can become a successful predictor of overall attitudes towards work, turnover, retention, and job performance (DeGarmo, n.d.). It is also worth mentioning that the person-organization fit approach was coined from the attraction-selection-attrition theory, which suggests that employees tend to be attracted to those companies that share similar values while companies tend to hire such employees in their recruiting processes. Therefore, the action plan for hiring a new HR Manager to the company should encompass the following components:
- Ask the candidate for the position about his or her overall values as to corporate life. It has been concluded that teaching an employee how to comply with the organization’s values if he or she did not have similar values previously is counterproductive. Instead, the hiring body should focus on the values a candidate already has and assess whether they coincide with what the company promotes.
- Keep in mind that examining job-related outcomes based on person-organization (P-O) fit is a tricky task. Because the concepts of values and culture are abstract, measuring the compatibility between an employee and the company should rather be based on skills and abilities related to the job. However, just because the P-O fit is hard to measure it does not mean that it should be disregarded. Finding a balance between assessing the actual performance of an employee and his or her values will show whether the chosen candidate will fit the organization or not.
- Use the Organisation Culture Profile dimensions to find out whether a candidate is a good fit for the company. These dimensions include team orientation, attention to detail, innovation, a people orientation, outcomes orientation, stability, and ‘easygoing vs. aggressive’ (Handler, 2004). It is crucial to first establish the baseline for the organizational culture and then create a personal value profile of the candidate based on the mentioned dimensions. P-O fit will be determined by comparing the individual values with the organizational culture baseline to find overlaps between the values of the individuals and those of the company (Handler, 2004).
Concluding Remarks
The three-step plan presented in this paper will help the CEO of the company to make a reasonable decision about hiring a professional for the position of the HR Manager. By integrating three approaches towards the process of selection and hiring, the process of decision-making will be grounded on key characteristics of the employee, the peculiarities of the team environment, as well as the main values of the organization. The action plan will be of value if the company will decide to expand and hire more employees since the key aspects of the selection process have been examined in great detail.
References
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