In mid-May, two of my seven employees announced they were leaving the company, a major curve ball because we are already a lean organization that has to operate as efficiently as possible. This small team serves as the primary media relations contacts for an $8 billion enterprise with a workforce of approximately 17,000 people. Indeed, it’s a challenging task that keeps us on our toes every day.
Consequently, the search was on! The challenge: Recruit and hire two dynamic communicators in
a timely fashion who possessed the requisite skills, experience and talents
necessary for success in a rapidly changing field; critical thinkers who can work
effectively and efficiently with limited resources and distinguish between what
should be done, verses what could be done.
As a result, I was extremely interested in this
week’s readings from The Evolution of Management Thought (Wren & Bedeian, 2009),
especially the chapters that covered Fredrick Taylor’s concept of Scientific
Management and his notion of the “first-class man” as well as Henri Fayol’s work
on management theory.
Because of my recent experience in interviewing and
selecting job candidates, I was particularly struck by the similarities that Taylor
and Fayol had on the attributes essential to effective management. According to
Taylor, the qualities for well-rounded foreman included, “brains; education;
special or technical knowledge; manual dexterity or strength; tack; energy;
grit; honesty; judgment or common sense; and good health” (Wren & Bedeian, 2009,
p. 130)
This was consistent with Fayol who felt that
managerial ability also depended on physical, mental and moral qualities
including, “health, vigor, ability to learn, judgment, mental vigor, energy,
loyalty, tact and dignity” (Wren & Bedeian, 2009, p. 215)
These descriptions reinforced for me the importance
of the importance of selecting people with the right fit for the job and it’s
clear to me that the work of Taylor and Fayol is relevant to talent acquisition
challenges we face at Lockheed Martin.
But I wanted to see what other companies may be doing
to improve efficiency in terms of talent acquisition and if their practices are
aligned with the findings of Taylor and Fayol.
After a quick search, I came across some recent
online articles that discuss how former Google executive and the new CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer is personally reviewing
the resumes of serious job candidates, indeed a major task for a lead executive
with 17,000 employees. According to the reports,
her goal is to eliminate those who don’t meet her exacting standards as she
takes on the challenging goal of improving the company’s posture in a highly
competitive marketplace.
“Apparently when La Mayer
eyeballs those CVs, she uses her critical eye and high standards to weed out
“C-players” — which is no easy task, and may even hamper the pace of new hires
at the company. But maybe that’s a good thing; the company has been known to
hire people who weren’t exactly the most enthusiastic employees” (Lee, A. 2012).Clearly Yahoo is placing utmost importance on its people, which also represented a major focus area for both Taylor and Fayol.
In my view, the Yahoo example of avoiding “C-players”
– employees with low performance who don’t seem to want to work at the company –
also reflects Taylor’s notion of “the first-class man,” someone who can work
but won’t.
Certainly it’s understandable that the term “first-class
man” would cause Taylor much grief (Wren & Bedeian, 129). No doubt, the term would be even more divisive
in today’s economic environment, especially given the ongoing protests by the “occupy”
movement.
Nevertheless, much of Taylor’s work, as well as that
of Fayol, was ground-breaking, paving the way for many modern management
techniques used today, including human resource practices of matching the right
person with the right job.
The new members on my team are in the process of
coming up to speed, learning the company’s processes, standards, structure and
culture, but I’m confident they are on a solid path to perform with excellence
in the long run.
It will also be interesting to see if the changes
underway at Yahoo will have a positive impact on the company’s future performance.
References
Wren, Daniel. A,. & Bedeian, Aurthur. G. (2009).
The Advent of Scientific Management,. The Evolution of Management Thought, 6,
p.129-30
Wren, Daniel. A,. & Bedeian, Aurthur. G. (2009).
The Emergence of the Management Process and Organization Theory. The
Evolution of Management Thought, 6, p.215
Lee,
A. (2012, September 5). Yahoo CEO
Mayer Eyeballs Resumes For Every New Hire. TechnoBuffallo.com,
Retrieved from: http://www.technobuffalo.com/news/yahoo-ceo-mayer-eyeballs-resumes-for-every-new-hire/
Costanza,
T. (2012, September 13). Marissa Mayer’s first 60 days as Yahoo! CEO.
SiliconRepublic.com, Retrieved from: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/item/29187-marissa-mayers-first-60/
Steve, you make a great case for the continuing applicability of some of Taylor and Fayol’s principles in contemporary organizational practices. The principle of person-job fit is certainly one that remains extremely important. When selecting new employees do you think you were unconsciously relying on Taylor’s principle of the “first class man” (or woman)? Do you think inherent ability or enthusiasm is more important?
ReplyDelete-Dr. Neff
Dr. Neff -- You know, to some extent I probably was unconsciously incorporating some of Taylor's principles into the process. I think ability and enthusiasm are both very important in our function. We need people that are not only qualified in terms of skills, knowledge and talents, but also have the energy and drive to contribute to the team and our shared objective do deliver results. Of course it's very hard to find candidates who have the full package. Thank you for your feedback. Steve
ReplyDeleteYour post was a great read, and I'm glad you reverences Ms. Mayer. While my organization, is not nearly as large as Yahoo, the CEO insists on being the final interview for every employee in a rigorous, four to seven-tier interview process. It certainly eats up the majority of his time -- close to 40% of his workday is consumed with interviews -- but he prides his organization on the high-touch service it offers, beginning with his own handshake and personal welcome to the company. On the other hand, there have been some employees who have made it to the final interview, only to be deemed an inappropriate cultural fit by the CEO himself. While Ms. Mayer and my own CEO feel they have a crucial role in keeping the cultural fit and high standards of their respective companies -- and I wholeheartedly agree that they do -- their involvement comes at an expense in the form of time. But, it is clear that these two CEOs believe it's the staff members, not themselves, that create change; therefore, they spend much of their time ensuring that the right people are on the bus.
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