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THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING THE BEST FIT WHEN PLACING THE HUMAN RESOURCE

By Kholwaphi Mdziniso | 2018-04-24

Organisations have needs just like the people that work for it.

The organisations need to attract people who are able and willing to do the work required to achieve objectives of the organisation. On the other hand, the people need to work so to practise their skills and knowledge as well as get paid so that they are able to make a living.

Both the organisation and the people hope to match the needs through finding an organisation that has values that are in line with that of the person and virsa versa.

Job fit

Person-job-fit is a term used to describe how well the abilities and motives of an individual fit the job demands and reward offered by the organisation. When people enter an organisations or jobs, they bring their expectations of what they will receive in response to services rendered. The set of expectations the person has is called the ‘psychological contract’. Individuals may not even be fully conscious of the contract. Usually it is implicit and unwritten. People will feel satisfied as long as the contract is fulfilled but if it is not, they are likely to feel tension and behave in ways that either even up the contract or change it.

The exchange

platform

To the organisation, individuals contribute such things as their: skills, effort, time, loyalty and commitment. In return the organisation offers such things as pay, benefits, security and opportunities to satisfy such motives as the need for achievement, power, status and affiliation. Both the individual and the organisation will feel satisfied if they perceive the psychological contract as fair. If not, either party can initiate a change. For instance people can withhold effort or quit if they do not get an expected return such as a pay rise. On the other hand, the organisation can require employees to exert more effort to learn a new skill where necessary.

The psychological contract is dynamic because the expectations and contributions of both the individual and the organisation change over time. An awareness of psychological contracts can remind leaders and managers of the reciprocal relationship between individuals and organisations and the need to keep those contracts fair, equitable and up to date.

One of the leader or managers key challenges is to help make the best possible fit between individuals and the job. To meet this challenge, leaders must understand the employees’ abilities as they pertain to their daily job tasks. People’s performance depends on their abilities and motives. Ability is about ‘can do’ and motives are about ‘will do’. Both are important for performance, and leaders need to know the difference. Some people are able to perform specific tasks but are unwilling to do so, others compensate for their lack of ability by being motivated to learn and work hard.

Ability as opposed

to aptitude

Ability is the capacity to perform physical and intellectual tasks. Aptitude is the capacity to learn ability. People differ both in their abilities and aptitudes. For tasks that require natural talent, most of us do not have the aptitude to match people such as artists. Leaders should know what abilities are required to perform various jobs and should try to match the job or appointment with the people who have appropriate abilities.

Physical ability can be distinguished from intellectual ability. Physical ability includes such factors as strength, agility, coordination, stamina, and quickness.

Intellectual ability is the capability to learn, reason, and apply knowledge to new situations. Intelligence is sometimes thought to be a single factor but it has been stated in research that there are multiple intelligences such as musical, logical-mathematical etc. and to such (psychological) tests have been designed to measure both physical and intellectual skills.

It is useful for leaders and managers to understand the difference between ability and aptitude. People who lack either the ability or aptitude to perform a job are likely to fail and feel dissatisfied.

Those who have the aptitude but not the ability to perform a certain job can learn to do so.

Too much ability, however, can also be a problem. Those who are qualified for certain jobs can become bored and unmotivated so the key is to find the best person – job fit possible. Managing the person-job fit involves more than simply matching a person abilities and motives with the job requirement and rewards.

How an individual performs is also impacted by variables such as perception, learning, attitudes and personality which that is a topic for another day. Productivity is as at the core for institutions, and matching the needs of employees to that of an organisation help optimise productivity without increasing costs to the company.

Finding a person job fit also helps an organisation attract and keep talent that may be critical for organisational growth especially for technical skills.

The other benefit of a person job fit is that,both parties, the organisation and the employee get mutual satisfaction from the relationship because each party’s needs ‘are met.

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