Question

A major issue facing many organizations today is whether they can identify the "right" talent for their organizations. Talent often resides not just in what people know, but also in the intangibles such as personality traits and values. Take a couple of paragraphs to compare and contrast any of the following personality and values inventories (e.g., The BIG FIVE, Myers-Briggs, Schwartz, or Hofstede) from class and/or as discussed in the book. Explain how you might use them to identify talent differently in an organization and one to two ethical implications learned from our readings. Be sure to directly and explicitly reference that content.

Initial Posting (two rich paragraphs based on our in-class exercises and this prompt)

Answer 1

In an organization, the use of the word “talent” can be extremely subjective. Certain organization looks purely for a technical skills on the other hand there are organizations that focus more on cultural fit rather than the technical skills. Both these types of organizations would have different understanding of talent. Naturally, for both of them the natural challenge is to identify the right talent.

If we consider the first type of organization (focused on technical skills) then they may be able to apply technical evaluation methods and by assessing a candidate’s track records, identify the right fit for their organization. However, these organizations are often driven by profit and high extrinsic motivators (such as monetary incentives). When it comes to using OB models, the right approach for them will be to use Myers-Briggs model to identify an extroverted and driven personality with the right skillsets. Examples of these organizations could be venture capitalists, private equities, sales focused organizations, etc.

The main challenge lies with the second type of organizations that look to integrate their employees into their culture, motivate them through shared vision, goals and values. Merely the right technical skill may not be the only criteria for choosing an ideal candidate. These organizations will require a combination of various assessments to identify the right candidate. Myers-Briggs personality test, combined with the analysis using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are just some of the examples for this. The combination should be also be based on situation, knowledge based and experiential in order to identify the right candidate.