Hiring for Organization not Job

Conventionally, when people are hired for the job, the criteria are set to determine whether the candidate is suitable for the job irrespective of which organization jobseekers joined. This is called job fit. For an instance, the accountant in both Computer Company and Beverage Company will be selected based on similar criteria like subject knowledge and required experience. This way, many other aspects of personal and organizational attributes are ignored like characteristics of the organization and characteristics of person which may not be technical relevant to present job but will be helpful in long run. Due to this shortcomings, the new method of recruiting called ‘hiring for organization not job’ was initiated where the person having required technical knowledge and experience is not enough. For person to perform well under climate and conditions of given organization, one should take into consideration many other attributes excluding KSA (Knowledge, skills and abilities). Before coming up with method of organizational fit, old age person-situation controversies are revisited   ‘such as job performance, a function of the person (attributes of an employee), the situation (characteristics of the work setting), or the interaction of the person and situation.’ One side argued that ‘individual behavior is largely a function of the person’  and it is better to choose person best suited for the job whereas the rival opinion argued that the situation is the principal determinant of individual behavior  and one should look attempt to mold through ‘training and socialization’. But realist can use mixed mode of selection. But one should know that recruiting organizational fit employees doesn’t mean the skills for job handling is also required.

Various steps are taken to hire the person fit to Organization which is also called as person-organization fit. The first step is to assess the work environment which means assessing the organizational analysis like organizational culture, physical environment, climate, values and the person’s compatibility like interests, values, needs and personality that may be in sync with the organization. The other part of environment assessment includes analysis ‘between the KSAs of the individual and the task demands or critical requirements for the job.’ In short, in the first step, organizational and job analysis is done.

The second step is to infer the type of person required. The focus is on the applicants side. The compatibility and competency of the applicants is analyzed with respect to job analysis and organizational analysis. The job analysis inference includes analysis of knowledge, skills and abilities which mean applicants should be technically qualified for the job. Their values, needs and interests must also be compatible with the organizational needs. If organization needs team work, the person should not only know how to do job but also how to do job as a team.

 The third step is called “Rites of Passage" that allows the organization and the

Individual to assess fit. The extensive selection criteria are recommended by researchers. The chances of getting right person are much higher than we get through simple methods. ‘Multiple screenings not only allow the organization to select employees, but also provide applicants with sufficient realistic information about the work environment so that they can make an informed choice about whether they even want the job’. The satisfaction of selected candidates after vigorous selection procedure is greater. The test of cognitive, motor and interpersonal abilities is done through interview by potential co-workers, through personality tests, through realistic job sample and realistic job. This is to test their skills, their personal attributes and team spirits or the expectations of the organization. This is to investigate where person is qualified enough to do job in given organizational setting. It is hoped that selected candidates work in organization with commitment and realistic expectations.

The fourth and final step is to reinforce the person-organizational fit at the work.

‘The objectives of the hiring process were reinforced by various organizations design features that emphasized high involvement and team functioning’. Extensive training for enhance technical skills and socials skills are given to the people. It also rewards fast learners or those who can meet the objectives either monetary wise or through other means. The team performance are also rewarded, communications among employees and management are encouraged. ’Employees were also involved as needed in task forces of various kinds to solve business, personnel, and other problems.’ These all are done to reinforce person-organizational fit.

As any other recruitment process, hiring for organization too has its pros and cons. The benefit of such process are 1) employees attitude like job satisfaction, work involvement and organizational commitment improved greatly. 2) There is marked improvement in desirable behavior like job performance, lower turnover and lower absenteeism. 3) There is also reinforcement of organizational design like support for work design and desired organizational culture. However, this process is not the perfect process. Due to intensive recruitment process, the expenditures are doubled or tippled. Also ‘a change in hiring practices for person-organization fit may well involve a change in how every new employee is hired.’ The selection technology is relatively underdeveloped. ‘One problem is the still-thin track record of successfully validating personality tests against job performance’. 3). the research shows that people selected through such methods where high employees involved are needed showed high level of stress. 4) There are other problems like lack of organizational adaptation which means employees cannot adapt to other companies or work places as it will have same personality. The fifth problem could be ‘Difficult to Use the Full Model Where the Benefits are Greatest. A new hiring model may offer the greatest potential benefits to new organizations, such as new plants and startup companies. This is because hiring the right kinds of employees can help establish the desired culture of the organization from the very beginning.

In existing organizations that are attempting to change their culture, there may be a long period in which the proportion of employees with unwanted attributes drops through attrition, while the proportion of employees with desired attributes gradually increases due to an improved hiring process.’ As any other recruiting process, the hiring for the organization not job has positive as well as negative sides. However, the hiring for organization goes one step further from hiring for job as it also takes into account the personality and other aspects.

In Bhutan majority of the public sectors are run by civil servants. The management of few public sectors is also former bureaucrats as Bhutan is in early phase of autonomization. The trend of newly selected public servants other than civil servants is relatively new. As a matter of fact any public sectors in Bhutan run in similar ways of that of civil servants. In public service, it is important to hire for organization rather than hiring for job. As mentioned assessing the environment is very important. Central Personnel Agency should give importance to the organization fit on top of job fit after assessing the environment. The bureaucracy is a complex work place. The inter-agency or ministry transfer for a planning officer will take lot of adaptability. The planning at Agriculture and Home will be completely different. In the first paced world how well job is done is important but more than that how well people think job is done. So the job skills are important but social skill cannot be neglected.

The second process is inferring the type of person required. The right person for the organization is very important. As of now, people are recruited mostly for jobs. All S2 and below seemed to be recruited for the job. Even at the S1 level, except for eligibility criteria from common examinations, the jobs they are given are irrelevant. A procurement job is given to English background students to cite examples. Even at the professional level, the courses given in Royal Institute of Management especially in the general category are too general but trainees are sometimes placed at completely different jobs than they trained for. The job-fit is often not used in positions other than technical category. Do central personnel agency used organization fit then? As mentioned earlier, the organization fit has additional criteria from job fit. The 15 minutes interviews and 2 hours writing tests is not enough even to judge whether person fit the job requirements forget about the organizational fit.

The third step is called “Rites of Passage" that allows the organization and the

Individual to assess fit. But in Bhutan’s public sector, the most intensive recruitment process for professional at the entry level at P5 and P4 category. The exams consist of three national levels of examinations written, viva and preliminary examination. Then only right to passage is granted for those toppers. This gives satisfaction for those selected after seemingly vigorous selection. But this may not be adequate to scrutinize the person of his technical and social skills. The selection criteria can only select based on basic qualification not really on organizationally competent skills, knowledge and ability.

The fourth and final step is to reinforce the person-organizational fit at the work. Till five years after the recruitment, the training and development opportunities are almost nil. This may erode even initial commitment and satisfaction recruited person had. The long development and trainings are also limited. This may not suffice to training and skills development needs of the personnel in concerned agencies while it may exceeds training needs in some other agencies.

The RCSC as central personnel agency must use vigorous procedure to select qualified and skilled employees. The multi-screening process must be made more vigorous as it will be the one of the best methods to get right employees while maintaining the policy of compact and efficient civil service. This will be a daunting task but without this, the getting of efficient and effective civil servants might just be a policy on papers. As civil servants are supposed to work in impartial and unattached manner, the efficiency and effectiveness may well go down the drain. As a matter of fact it important to plan HR practices in such a way that people are hired suitable to organizational and its needs more than needs of a specified jobs.