Does strategic fit result in better fitting and more successful employees?

Author: Malin Björkhem

Tutor: Bertil Hultén Program: The Economy Program Subject: Business Economics Level and semester: Master level, spring 2008 Baltic Business School

Foreword This master level thesis has been written within the scope of the master program of Business Economics at the University of Kalmar. The thesis presents ideas about recruitment that are not yet very widely discussed, ideas about strategic fit of employees.

With this thesis I aim to bring forth a discussion about the connection between a company’s business strategy and the selection of employees. It has not been an easy subject to research but it has been very interesting and developing.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me to make this possible by taking the time for interviews, helping me with connections and providing me with facilities for interviews.

The time during which I have been writing this thesis has been one of the most challenging periods in my life. There were many moments along the way when I doubted that I would ever gather enough energy to finish the thesis which I am now proudly and happily presenting. I could never have been able to finish this thesis without the positive support that I have received from my family, friends and colleagues. I would like to direct two special thanks to my fiancé David André for all the support and help, and to my tutor Bertil Hultén who has always been positive and encouraging, and who has helped me make this thesis become as good as it could be.

Brussels the 28 th of May 2008

Malin Björkhem

Abstract

Title: Does strategic fit result in better fitting and more successful employees?

Author: Malin Björkhem

Tutor: Bertil Hultén

Subject: Business Economics

Purpose: The main purpose of this thesis is to bring forth the discussion about the possible connection between the business strategy and selection of employees.

Method: This thesis is based on inductive reasoning and the research is done with a qualitative research method. The study has been done in the form of a case study and the collection of data has mainly been done through semi-structured qualitative interviews.

Conclusions: At the studied company the personnel working with recruitment are not intentionally looking for a strategic fit, and the respondents were not sure if strategic fit would be beneficial for the studied company. The highest focus in the recruitment process in this company is given to the job specific requirements and the company values. But after analysing the factors that the respondents are focusing on during the selection process, and the reasons why, my conclusion is that aiming for strategic fit is generally of interest in the selection for all positions in the studied company, although it is more relevant for some positions.

The job specific characteristics are of higher importance though. Without the technical knowledge and skills, and the personality needed to carry out a specific job the strategic fit is not of importance. Due to practical limitations you have to identify the most crucial requirements. Therefore it is necessary to prioritise the requirements to use in the selection, and in this process the strategic fit might get a lower priority and therefore fall out of the scope of the selection.

I believe that strategic fit could lead to both a higher chance of retention and to alignment with the business strategy. The connection between strategy and selection is present, at least at Borealis, through the company values. But this connection is not something that the people are aware of. I believe that it is important to be aware which factors that are affecting the selection and why. Without the awareness and conscious considerations in the choice of requirements, and in the selection, there is a higher risk of mistakes and mismatches. Strategic fit should therefore always be a part of the discussion before recruitment according to me, just like all other factors, even if the strategic fit might not have a place in the final requirements.

Content

1. Introduction ...... 6 1.1. Human resources in a strategic perspective...... 6 1.2. Problem discussion...... 8 1.3. The significance of the problem ...... 11 1.4. Research question...... 12 1.5. Purpose of the thesis...... 12 1.6. Restrictions ...... 12 1.7. Concepts ...... 13 1.8. Disposition of the thesis ...... 15 2. Method...... 16 2.1. Research strategy...... 16 2.2. Qualitative research method ...... 16 2.3. The research process...... 18 3. Frame of references...... 25 3.1. Strategic fit?...... 25 3.1.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? ...... 25 3.1.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? ...... 26 3.2. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? ...... 28 3.2.1. Competence ...... 29 3.2.1.1 Knowledge and skills...... 30 3.2.1.2 Values, attitudes and behaviours ...... 31 3.2.2. Motivation ...... 34 3.3. The connection between the concepts ...... 36 4. Results...... 38 4.1. Case Borealis ...... 38 4.2. Strategic fit?...... 38 4.2.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? ...... 38 4.2.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? ...... 40 4.3. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? ...... 42 4.3.1. Knowledge and skills...... 43 4.3.2. Values, attitudes and behaviours ...... 44 4.3.3. Motivation ...... 47 5. Discussion ...... 49 5.1. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? ...... 49 5.1.1. Knowledge and Skills...... 49 5.1.2. Attitudes, Values and Behaviours ...... 50 5.1.3. Motivation ...... 51 5.2. Strategic fit?...... 52 5.2.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? ...... 52 5.2.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? ...... 52 5.2.3. Does Borealis aim for strategic fit? ...... 53

6. Conclusions...... 58 6.1. Case Borealis ...... 58 6.2. The research question ...... 58 6.2.1. Which factors are important to focus on in selection? ...... 58 6.2.2. Is there a connection between the business strategy and selection?...... 59 6.2.3. Is strategic fit more important for some positions? ...... 59 6.2.4. Is strategic fit different from cultural fit? ...... 60 6.2.5. Does strategic fit result in better fitting and more successful employees?...... 60 6.3. Suggestions for further research...... 61

Figures and tables

Figure 1.2.1 The connection between strategy and strategy implementation ...... 9 Figure 2.3.1 The research process ...... 18 Figure 3.2.1 Conditions which an employee brings with him/her to a professional context. ..28 Figure 3.3.1 Connections between strategy and selection...... 37

Table 2.3.1 List of respondents ...... 21 Table 2.3.2 Examples of interview questions...... 22

Appendixes

Appendix 1. Interview templates ...... 65 Appendix 2.Worksheet for determining motivational job factors...... 67 Appendix 3. Interview results ...... 68

~ Introduction ~

1. Introduction

In this first part of the thesis I will introduce the subject and the scope of this thesis. I will start by presenting how the personnel have become such an important strategic resource for the companies. In order to do this I will shortly describe the development of business strategies from the 1940’s until today.

After that I will discuss the central problem of this thesis, namely the selection of employees in relation to the business strategy. The discussion will be followed by a discussion of the significance of the problem. In the end of this chapter I will define the research question and the purpose of the thesis.

1.1. Human resources in a strategic perspective For a long time it has been publicly accepted that strategies are important to companies in order to survive in the long term. Strategies help companies to establish a focus in their activities. Strategies help develop and manage the business in a way that creates competitive advantages for the companies which supports their survival in the long term.

Because of the changing environment today with rapid technology development, globalisation and changing ways of organising businesses and jobs, the personnel has become a main resource for creating competitive advantage for companies today (Dessler, 2005). It is the internal activities and the competencies of the people performing them that can create competitive advantage today. Because those, in difference from technology and ideas, are hard to copy and be used by other companies (Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001). Sears presents this by saying that “ more often than ever, talent is itself a pivotal competitive differentiator in business strategies ” (2002, p. 28).

As Sears is implying, the human capital part of the businesses has not always been as important for companies as it is today. How to develop the strategy and what kind of strategy one should develop has changed during the years, especially since the middle of the 20 th century. The strategic focus on human capital and competences is a result of a century of economic and social development. As society has changed so have the companies and the way to do business. (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001)

Since the late 1940s many theorists have been analysing and researching about strategies and presented their points of views in order to repeat strategic success or avoid previous business failures. These strategies have developed as society and the economy have changed. New strategies have been created in order to make the companies survive in new competitive environments (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001). Besides changes in society and the economy strategies have also been used because of popularity. Researchers have been able to find fashion patterns in business strategies (Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001).

In the middle of the 20 th century companies started to be run in a more “scientific” way. People thought that it was possible to predict the future and they used strategies built on this idea. They formulated goals and made action plans in order to exploit the predicted possibilities. The time horizon for the strategies was a couple of years in the future. (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001)

In the end of the 1960s the long time planning strategies were very popular and trusted (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001). There was also a belief at this time that if you

6 ~ Introduction ~ have a good general management technique then you can manage any company. Some companies therefore used these planning strategies to spread the economic risk and sustain the business growth by adding other industries to their business. (Sears, 2002)

The diversification strategies lost their popularity quite fast though so in the beginning of the 1970s companies moved towards a more systematic and selective diversification. This was done with the strategy model created by Boston Consulting Group, the growth share matrix. With this matrix companies could analyse their products or different businesses in terms of market growth potential and relative market share. By identifying what kind of products or businesses the company had according to the four kinds presented in the matrix, companies could prioritise, make resource allocations and make decisions about acquisitions or sales (Sears, 2002). The belief during this time was that the key to success was a business decision based on external analysis.

Both the long time planning strategies and the diversification strategies seemed to give a poor result as the business environment changed and the predictions of the future failed. A part of these prediction failures was because of the oil crisis and the enduring inflation in the middle of the 1970s. In the beginning of the 80s significant structural changes took place in the international economy which led to lowered demand on the market and bigger competition from south-Asian countries. This made companies turn to strategic plans with shorter time range and to focus more on the external factors in the business environment; the new trend became positioning strategies. (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001)

The belief during the 1980s was that the structure of the business environment and the business competition determined in which industries one could run a company and what kind of strategy a company could use within that industry sector. The key to success was a strategy based on competitiveness and positioning of the business in the new tougher market. The strategy theorist Michel Porter created a model for generic strategies. This model says that a company can either compete within an industry sector based on cost advantage, on differentiated and unique product offers or by focusing on a certain customer segment either by cost advantage or differentiation (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001).

In the end of the 1980s and during1990s a lot of things happened in the international economy. Among other things the global competition tightened, the product life cycles became even shorter, and the pressure to deliver shareholder value enhanced. As a result of that also a lot of changes took place in the field of business strategy. Instead of looking at external factors the companies now started to look inward for strategic success and a lot of different strategy theories emerged. These strategies where based on different ideas about what is the most important for companies to focus on; core competencies, efficiency, customer value, and core processes. (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001)

What all these strategies and ideas have in common is that the base for competitive advantage no longer lies in technical superiority or “the right” business decisions in regard to positioning and action plans. Instead the key to success is the internal competences and processes; what a company can offer the customer that no other company can (Sears, 2002; Bengtsson and Skärvard, 2001). With this change in society and the world of business the focus has turned from technical solutions to human capital solutions. The main resource for creating competitive advantage is now the personnel. (Dessler, 2005)

7 ~ Introduction ~

As the importance of the personnel has grown, so has the importance given to the human resource functions and departments. This enhanced importance of the personnel and the human resource functions are shown in two ways. First of all by the fact that human resource management (HRM) theories have emerged. These theories are covering everything about personnel management matters from the importance of advertising new positions through suitable channels to developing competences and performance compensation.

It can be seen in the way the role of the HR functions has changed. For the bigger part of the history of human resource management the work of the personnel departments have been focused on administrative tasks. Companies have changed that the latest years. (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003; Evans, 2003). In the 1980’s and 90’s companies realised that the human resource function is more important than that. They realised that the HR department has an important role in for example recruiting the right people and developing them, developing job roles and organisational structures. (Bersin, 2006) The tasks of human resource departments have now become broader and the human resource management has changed direction more and more towards becoming a partly or full strategic business partner for the company. Being a full strategic partner involves being more active in organisational design and development and it also involves an enhanced focus on employee development. (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003; Evans, 2003)

1.2. Problem discussion If the HR function in a company is fully engaged in the company’s performance in the way that Gary Dessler suggests then the HR function can have a considerable effect on the strategy implementation and company’s performance. Dessler suggests that the HR function should have an active part in making the employees focused on the strategically important activities and behaviours. He believes that the HR function, in addition to recruiting employees and do administrative tasks, should be active in developing and motivating the personnel in order to achieve the strategic goals. (Dessler, 2005) From that point of view and the fact that for many companies the personnel is the most important resource for getting competitive advantage today, the HRM is a crucial issue for companies. But there is still a limit in Dessler’s and many other theorists’ presentations of strategically important HR issues.

The HRM literature has a strategic approach in the way that it is underlining that companies have to make the business strategy pervade all personnel management and that the business strategy should underlie all personnel activities and policies (Dessler, 2005). This is in line with general management theories which also say that the business strategy has to be implemented all through every part of the organisation. (Bengtsson and Skärvard, 200; Dessler, 2005; Olve et.al, 1999) In the HRM literature the strategic approach is limited to implementing strategy through daily processes and reward systems. But when it comes to recruitment this literature is mainly focusing on the technical part of the recruiting process (Arthur, 2005; Dessler, 2005; Lawler and Mohrman, 2003; Outlaw, 1999). After my first literature study I get the impression that the link between strategy and a strategic approach to HRM is missing some of its parts when it limits the strategic part of recruitment to technical issues. From my point of view this creates a gap between the development and the implementation of the business strategy.

Model 1.2.1 shows how I experience the connection between strategy development and strategy implementation in the management literature. I get the impression that the recruitment part of HRM is outside the “focus” of the business strategy and connects to the

8 ~ Introduction ~ strategy implementation first when a new employee has arrived to the company. This is where I see a gap between the development and the implementation of the business strategy in the literature. In the management literature there are no detailed discussions about how to manage the personnel questions. That is probably because this is covered in the HRM and the leadership literature. But in the HRM literature the discussion about getting the personnel aligned with the company’s strategic goals first starts when the employees are already hired. From my point of view the issue about strategy alignment should be discussed already in the recruitment process in order to avoid a gap in the implementation. The lack of business strategic discussions in the literature in relation to the recruitment process is what creates the gap.

Figure 1.2.1 The connection between strategy and strategy implementation

Vision

Candidate search

Selecting Strategy

Hiring

Strategy implementation and business performance

Source: Own

Since the latest trends in strategy development point out the internal resources as the most important ones for the companies’ survival, I wonder if the theory about making the strategy pervade the entire organisation and all the processes shouldn’t also include the recruiting process. After all, the internal resources are built or maintained by the personnel. In a business economic perspective it should therefore be of interest to include the discussion about recruitment and selection as a part of developing the human capital.

The importance of the personnel makes it important for the company to recruit fitting personnel to be able to acquire the competences and personalities that are important for the company (Warner, 2004; Gubman, 1998; Leigh, 2005; Klinvex, 1998). By definition fit means being compatible with or similar to something, or meeting adequate standards for a purpose (wordnet.princeton.edu 1). In regards to recruitment of employees achieving fit therefore means finding employees that are compatible with the company and the job and who are meeting adequate requirements to perform the job. But what is not clear and certain is how you know that a candidate is compatible with the company and what the adequate requirements are in order to achieve fit.

9 ~ Introduction ~

Some theorists in recruiting believe that what is important to focus on are the competences and behaviours a candidate should have in order to be good fit in the company and the job. Pure technical skills and knowledge are given less importance by these authors. Instead the focus is on how people are as individuals and how they can turn their skills and knowledge into job related competences. (Leigh, 2005; Klinvex, 1998; Dye, 2007; Gubman, 1998). This also seems to be in line with strategy theories saying that it is the competences rather than technological superiority that are important for getting competitive advantage today.

But how do you determine which competences and behaviours are compatible with the company and adequate for being able to do a job? In the search for an answer to this question theorists have been splitting the notion of fit into a few narrower and more easily manageable parts. Many authors write that one should strive for a fit between the employee and the job, the employee and the company, and/or the employee and the culture (Klinvex, 1998; Leigh, 2005; Gubman, 1998). This means that they believe that when recruiting you should search for candidates who have characteristics that are compatible with the requirements for the job, with the characteristics of the company and the company’s culture. By splitting the determination of what kind of competences and behaviours that are compatible and adequate for a fitting employee into job fit, company fit and cultural fit the task becomes clearer and easier. But I am not convinced that these are the only parts that together can lead to finding fitting employees.

The way a company has decided to compete on the market affects what the company decides to do and how activities are carried out. Whether a company decides to compete by being the most cost effective producer of a product or by providing the best quality and product related service makes a big difference on how the business activities are carried out. Thereby it affects the competences and behaviours that the organisation needs its employees to have. I think that this makes it interesting to see if we should also include strategic fit in the search for the fitting employee. With strategic fit I mean to have a personality which is compatible, similar or consistent with the characteristics of the company’s strategic personality.

At this point of my literature study I have only found one theorist who is discussing this idea and that is Edward L Gubman. Gubman (1998) presents a theory where he says that if one truly wants to align the workforce with the strategy, companies should identify their strategic personality and create a culture consistent with the customer environment. He also says that companies should hire people with the same kind of personality as their strategic personality. The strategic personality is how a company operates and presents itself on the market; the characteristics of the company’s way of competing for the customers. Is this the way to integrate the recruiting process in the strategy implementation? Gubman’s theory is one idea of how to link the overall business strategy with recruiting and selection of employees. Maybe the strategic personality of a company affects the answer to what competences and behaviours a candidate needs in order to be a fitting employee.

Even though Edward Gubman presents his theory which says that strategic fit is of interest to a certain level I keep wondering if there is a reason why the idea of strategic fit is not more discussed in the literature. Maybe the combination of cultural fit and company fit automatically include a strategic fit? For instance, if a company has successfully implemented their strategy does that mean that the company also has culture which is supporting the strategy? If that is the case a company and culture fit together with job fit might give the full answer to what competences and characteristics that is needed to be a fitting employee. But if

10 ~ Introduction ~ there is a mismatch with the strategy and the culture should one then consider only the culture when hiring, or only the strategy? Or is it in fact a combination of both?

So, what I find of importance in this discussion is to explore the importance of letting the way the company has decided to compete be a base for the recruiting process too. Is Gubman (1998) right when he says that you should hire employees which are in line with your company’s strategic personality? Is the majority of literature excluding the business strategy from the recruitment discussions because it doesn’t affect the choice of employees or is there a gap between strategy development and strategy implementation?

1.3. The significance of the problem From what I have seen so far, theories about recruiting seem to have a very technical approach and find it more important to discuss how to recruit and select new employees than to discuss how to identify the competences and behaviour an employee should have. Ignoring the possible connection between business strategies and recruiting fitting employees can be a problem for management theories but most of all for companies and also the affected employees.

For management theories this gap between strategy development and implementation can make this field of theory incomplete. If it turns out that taking the strategy into consideration when selecting and hiring new employees leads to better hiring results then this part of the management theory field would benefit from further development.

If considering the strategy when recruiting would result in better fitting, and therewith more successful, employees for companies, then the way I so far have seen companies and theorists approach recruiting might affect the success of the companies negatively. If striving for a strategic fit leads to better fitting and more successful employees then companies which are not doing that today are missing out from something that can give them a stronger competitive advantage. It might also lead to problems to implement strategies if one happens to hire a person who doesn’t agree with the strategy that the company has chosen and therefore doesn’t support it.

The cost for a non successful recruitment can be high for both the employee and the company. A hiring mistake is said to cost between two month salaries up to two annual salaries (Carson, 2007; Leigh, 2005; Sujansky, 2007). The economical cost can vary depending on the position which is to be refilled, the amount of training that is needed, which recruitment methods you use or other factors. The need for a new recruitment also affects the effectiveness of the department and affects the company’s performance during the learning period for the new employee.

For the employee the costs for a mismatch can contain several factors. If the person stays at the job despite the mismatch he or she might not be satisfied or comfortable at work. If the person gets fired or decides to leave the company due to the mismatch this might be a cost for the person both economically and personally. The person might be without income for a period after loosing or quitting the job. But he or she might also have been giving up a satisfactory job in order to accept the new offer which will also be a loss for the person. If the person, and his or her family, moved in order to get this job the personal costs of the mismatch becomes even higher.

11 ~ Introduction ~

1.4. Research question Based on the problem discussion I have identified that the question which should lead my research is:

Will companies be able to hire better fitting and more successful employees if they strive for a strategic fit while creating the candidate profile and selecting the new employees?

From this main question a couple of more specific questions can be derived: • Which factors are important to focus on when selecting employees? • Is there, and/or should there be, a connection between the business strategy and the kind of personalities a company chooses to hire? • Is a strategic fit more important for some positions in a company than other? • Is strategic fit different from cultural fit?

My contribution My contribution with this thesis is to help filling the theoretical gap between management theories and human resource theories. Human resource strategies are a part of the implementation of business strategies and I think that there should therefore be a clear connection between those two theoretical fields. I also hope that this thesis will contribute with some new ideas and angles of approach to the recruitment discussions at the studied company and also elsewhere.

1.5. Purpose of the thesis The main purpose of this thesis is to bring forth the discussion about the possible connection between the business strategy and selection of employees.

The purpose of the thesis is to get more knowledge and insight in this subject by bringing forth the discussion about it. In order to do that I will examine which characteristics of the candidates’ one should focus on when selecting new employees in order to choose the best fitting employee for the company. I will examine that both from the management theories’ and from a practicing company’s points of views.

A third purpose of the thesis is to look for signs that could give more knowledge about whether adapting the candidate profile to the company’s business strategy, when selecting new employees, can result in better fitting and more successful employees. Those signs could then be the base for theses and suggestions for further research.

1.6. Restrictions The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether it is important or not for companies today to consider the business strategy when recruiting new employees. The recruiting process is a very extensive process which in general includes recruitment planning, job analysis and creating job descriptions, creating profile of what requirements and competences candidates should have, advertising, selection, interviewing and testing and finally hiring (Dessler, 2005). The parts of this process which I find being of interest, when it comes to the connection between recruiting and business strategy, are the creation of the candidate profile

12 ~ Introduction ~ and the selection of who to hire. These steps of the process are crucial for who a company eventually hires. The candidate profile determines what kind of candidates a company is searching for and it also affects the final selection. Of course all the other steps also affect the result but I consider those two steps to have the clearest connection with the business strategy. I also believe that the profile creation is the step where the business strategy can be discussed and analysed the easiest and thereby be taken into consideration. I am therefore restricting my investigation to the creation of the profile of what competences and personality the company considers is important for the new employee to have and what companies focus on in the actual selection. By doing this I am restricting my thesis to only discuss what kind of people the companies want to recruit and leave out the practical problems of actually finding and recruiting them.

When it comes to strategies and businesses there are always difficulties to execute and communicate the strategy. Whether a company is succeeding to implement their strategy throughout the company or not is of course affecting the actual strategy used in the company and the way things are done. Therewith it is also affecting how a person fits in the company. To be able to focus on the core subject of my thesis I am choosing not to give much weight to this eventual problem and therefore restrict my research to mainly consider the written and planned strategy of the companies.

I will also restrict the thesis to selection of employees and leave out the selection of any level of managers. I have decided to make this restriction because the selection of employees and managers are naturally different and have different kinds of focus. My impression is that the link between strategy and selection is weaker the further down you come in an organisation but I believe that the behaviours and attitudes of employees are important since they have a big influence on how the actual processes are performed and how the companies’ products end up.

1.7. Concepts Alignment – “… pointing your people in the right direction to do the right things” (Gubman, 1998, p. 31).

Behaviour – “ the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances, manner of acting or controlling yourself, the way a person behaves toward other people” (wordnet.princeton.edu 2).

Business strategy – How to compete within the chosen set of industries (Bourne, 2002, p. 8). “A term used in business planning that implies a careful selection and application of resources to obtain a competitive advantage in anticipation of future events or trends” (www.smbtn.com).

Candidate profile – a description of the different requirements a job candidate should meet or exceed (Source: Own definition) .

Competence – “…clusters of related knowledge, skills, abilities, motivations, and other requirements necessary for successful job performance” (Klinvex, 1998, p. 4). “Competence is the proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and/or methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and/or personal development” (www.euro-inf.eu).

13 ~ Introduction ~

Company fit – Company fit is when the personality of a candidate/employee is compatible with the structure, the politics, and the reward systems of the company (Source: own definition).

Corporate strategy – the decision of what set of businesses the company should be active in (Bourne, 2002, p. 8).

Culture – “shared norms and values” (Gubman, 1998, p. 33).

Cultural fit – Cultural fit is when the personality of a candidate/employee is compatible, similar or consistent with the characteristics of the company culture (Source: own definition).

Fit – “be agreeable or acceptable to” “be compatible, similar or consistent, coincide in their characteristics” “meeting adequate standards for a purpose” (wordnet.princeton.edu 1).

Human resource management (HRM) – “the policies and practices involved in carrying out the ‘people’ or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, screening, training, rewarding, and appraising” (Dessler, 1995, p. 4).

Human (Resource) Capital – “the skills and knowledge possessed by workers. Workers acquire these skills both through formal education and through on-the-job and life experiences” (www.economicadventure.org).

Knowledge – “knowledge is part of the hierarchy made up of data, information and knowledge. Data are raw facts. Information is data with context and perspective. Knowledge is information with guidance for action based upon insight and experience” (servicedesk.unimelb.edu).

Motivation – “the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behaviour”. (wordnet.princeton.edu 3)

Personality – “the complex of all the attributes - behavioural, temperamental, emotional and mental - that characterize a unique individual” (wordnet.princeton.edu 4). “Personal beliefs, expectations, desires, values, and behaviours that derive from the interaction between culture and the individual” (oregonstate.edu).

Skills – “an ability that has been acquired by training” (wordnet.princeton.edu 5). “The abilities acquired by workers through education, training, and experience that permit them to be more productive. Essentially the same as human capital” (www-personal.umich.edu).

Strategic personality/style – “... the characteristic way your company strategizes, operates, goes to market, and treats employees...” (Gubman 1998, p. 22-23).

Strategic fit – Strategic fit is when the personality of a candidate/employee is compatible, similar or consistent with the characteristics of the company’s strategic personality (Source: own definition).

14 ~ Introduction ~

Strategy – “…building sustainable competitive advantage that in turn creates above-average financial performance” (Becker and Huselid, 2006, p. 898).

Successful employees – the employer is satisfied with the employees and they are happy and stay within the company (Source: own definition).

Talent – “endowment: natural abilities or qualities, a person who possesses unusual innate ability in some field or activity” (wordnet.princeton.edu 6).

Team fit – Team fit is when the personality of a candidate/employee is compatible with the group of colleagues with which the he or she is/will be working with (Source: own definition).

Values – “beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something)” (wordnet.princeton.edu 7). “Representing an organisation's deeply-held and enduring beliefs, an organisation's values openly declare how it expects everyone to behave and are often embedded in its vision” (www.issel.co.uk).

1.8. Disposition of the thesis

The thesis will be presented in the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction – to give the reader an understanding of the context of the thesis, its relevance and the reasons behind the chosen “path”.

Chapter 2: Research method – to give the reader insight in the research process and the validity and reliability of the thesis.

Chapter 3: Frame of references – in this chapter I will present some of the theories that exist in regards to recruitment and selection. This is the theoretical platform which I later on will compare to the empirical research.

Chapter 4: Results – in this chapter I will present the results from the conversations held with different people in connection to the recruitment and strategy within Borealis.

Chapter 5: Analysis – in this chapter I will connect the presented theory and my results by interpreting my results in relation to the theoretical platform.

Chapter 6: Conclusions – here I will present the conclusion I have reached with my research.

15 ~ Method ~

2. Method In this chapter I will present and explain the way in which the research for this thesis has been conducted. The way the research has been conducted affects the kind of results you get and the extent to which you can generalise them. The presentation and explanations of the way the research has been conducted includes; the research strategy and method and the research process. The research process includes presentations of the development of the research question, the literature study, collection and interpretation of data, and a discussion about the validity and reliability of the research results.

2.1. Research strategy The purpose of my thesis, “ to bring forth the discussion about the possible connection between the business strategy and selection of employees ”, implies that I consider that no generally accepted or thoroughly discussed theories exist in this theoretical area. To use an inductive reasoning in my research was therefore obvious to me. To use an inductive reasoning means that one starts by analysing the practical experience in order eventually side with general knowledge and theories or develop new theories. To turn to the practical field for an answer to my research question was in my point of view the best approach based on the purpose and the research question of this thesis. (Andersen, 1998) Inductive reasoning is a common approach when performing qualitative research and case studies (Bryman et.al, 2005; Andersen, 1998).

A part of my research must be defined as deductive reasoning though. Before I carried out the interviews I did an extensive literature research in order to develop necessary knowledge in the theoretical area. Without this knowledge I would not have been able to know what to really look for in the interviews and there would have been a big risk of not finding any answer to my question. So when conducting the interviews I did have some knowledge about existing theories and an idea about where to look for and find the answers.

From my own reasoning and the theories I had been studying I tried to find answers to a couple of questions which I believed could help me in my research. I also used the theory of Edward Gubman (1998) as a starting point for discussion about strategic fit during the interviews. But the lack of theories in the specific field of research that I was focusing on makes me consider my research as being based on inductive reasoning despite the extensive literature study pre-interviewing.

In order have a discussion about the possible connection between business strategy and selection we need an understanding of the factors that affects the selection of employees. To be able to reach an understanding in the matter a qualitative research method was necessary to use.

2.2. Qualitative research method The qualitative research method normally focuses on interpretation and understanding of a socially constructed phenomenon. For a qualitative research the question why and the context of the phenomenon is of high importance. Many qualitative researchers believe that you cannot truly understand a phenomenon without analysing it in the light of its unique context. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

16 ~ Method ~

Within the qualitative framework I decided to do a case study of one single organisation. The reason why I decided to do a case study instead of interviewing people from several organisations is that I believe that a more thorough study within the same organisation gives a deeper understanding and a more reliable result. By conducting several interviews within one company it was possible for me to get a good understanding of the context in which these respondents were working. I could therefore analyse the results both based on their explicit opinions and their responses in relation to the context. The case study also allowed me to get a more complete view of the existing ideas and opinions in one organisation instead of a wide range of random samples.

Qualitative research is in most cases unstructured in order to not create wrong limitations in the research. The researcher wants to understand the participants’ roles in the context, understand the phenomenon from the participants’ point of view and eventually develop notions that are derived from the empirical data rather than theories. That’s why the qualitative researcher wants to use unstructured methods; in order to not miss out on aspects which he or she didn’t think about in advance. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

What is positive with the unstructured way of working is that it’s flexible. It is possible to change the focus and the direction during the research depending on the findings in the study. This makes it possible to have a more general approach to the subject in the initial stage of the research and then develop a more focused direction of the research as the study goes on. As the study continues the researcher can develop more specific questions base on the previous data collection. This is how my empirical research developed. During the first interviews the interview template was rather unstructured with open ended questions. As the study went on the interviews became more and more structured and focused due to the data collection and the understanding that I developed. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

Qualitative research sometimes receives critique for being too subjective, being hard to replicate, lacking transparency and lacking the possibility to generalise the results. These critiques are results of the qualitative research’s interpretative approach. The fact that qualitative research is hard to replicate is due to the importance of the researchers experience and interpretation of the collected data which is coloured by that person’s unique theoretical background and past experiences. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

Critics say that the unstructured ways of qualitative research and the personal relationships with the respondents lead to subjective decisions of what is important or not for the research. This accusation of too high subjectivity is also based on the difficulty of following the reasoning behind the final subject of the research which the critics say is common for presentations of qualitative research. This last reason is also a base for the critique that qualitative research is lacking transparency. The critique is then directed to the lack of information about how the research was planned, conducted and analysed. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

The problem to generalise the results of quantitative research is due to the small amount of respondents which is usual for these kinds of studies. When there are only a few respondents or situations studied it is impossible to generalise these results to a population. Instead the results should be generalised to theories or to side with already existing theories. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

17 ~ Method ~

These are all factors that I as a researcher have had to have in mind when conducting the research, analysing the data and coming to conclusions. And every researcher who is conducting qualitative research need to take all the steps possible to minimize the effect of these problems.

2.3. The research process In this chapter I will discuss the different steps in the research process. The model is an overview of the different steps in the process (figure 2.3.1).

Figure 2.3.1 The research process Research question Choice of In the initial stage of the research I chose a subject subject and formulated a preliminary research question. This subject and research question was based on my impression that there was Theoretical something missing in the literature in the field orientation of business economics. What I though was missing was a complete connection between development and implementation of the Research business strategy. From what I had seen at that question point the strategic discussions excluded recruitment of employees in regards to strategy implementation. This eventual gap interested

Literature study me and made me want to investigate whether it

exists or not.

Based on my preliminary research question I Creation of did a first general theoretical research to orient interview template myself in the theoretical field of Human

Resource Management. That orientation let me edit my preliminary research question into a

Data collection clear and relevant research question. and interpretation Based on this research question I did a thorough literature study. During this study I

Discussion found a theorist, Edward Gubman (1998), who presented similar ideas to what I had based my research question on. After the literature study I made a first interview template and had two

Conclusions first interviews with respondent number one. After that I analysed the interviews and tried to identify notions that the respondent was using. Source: Own

The analysis of the first two interviews led me to revise the research question again. By comparing the interview result with my theoretical findings I created a new interview template with more relevant questions for the subject of my research.

18 ~ Method ~

After that step I went through with the rest of the interviews. After every interview I analysed the results and fine tuned the interview template. Some of the questions stayed the same during all the interviews while other questions where altered or exchanged in order to find an answer to the research question.

Literature study The literature study that I conducted for this thesis was done in three steps. First I did an initial literature study in order to orientate myself in the subject of employee selection and the related factors in recruitment. This initial step was done in order to specify my research question and make it relevant in relation to the existing theories. After the theory orientation I conducted the main study where I let my interest and findings guide me in my search. Ideas that I read about in some sources led me to change my search approach along the way. After all the interviews were done I did a complementary final literature study based on the results of the interviews and the understanding I had reached during the interviewing process.

I started my search in the general HRM literature but realised quite fast that I wouldn’t be able to find much information about the reasons to select personnel based on certain factors in that field of literature. Instead I turned to search for all the kinds of literature that I could find that mentioned recruitment of personnel in general and in connection to strategy. Since my research question is focused on the connection between strategy and selection I also searched for information in management literature regarding different aspects of strategy implementation.

It was not easy to find any literature in which the authors discussed much about how to identify which requirements that one should set up when selecting employees. The focus in the literature that I found concerning recruitment had two main areas of interest; how to attract the candidates that would be good for your company and how to conduct the selection in regards to interviewing and testing.

All the sources that I found turned out to give a very limited room for discussions about the different factors that are used as selection requirements and the reasons why they are used. And the discussions as such were in my point of view rather poor, especially in regards to discussing why one should pay attention to certain factors. Even in the book which later became my main reference in regards to the strategic connection between business strategy and selection this subject was given a rather limited space. The main part of the book was giving attention to how to manage your personnel in order to align them with the strategy.

The literary references that I have used are mainly books published between the years 1998 and 2008 and articles published in management and HR magazines between the years 1999 and 2007. I have also been using internet sites as references for definition of notions and general information about the company n the case study, and also two electronically published articles. The search for literature has mainly been limited to the electronic library Ebrary and the search engine for articles Elin@Kalmar which both are available through the website of the University of Kalmar. A part of the literature search has also been conducted at the library at the University of Kalmar.

Critique regarding the literary references When you use secondary data, already existing data collected by someone else (Andersen, 1998), you have to take into consideration when and why the data was collected and presented. Although some of the sources I have used are relatively old (from 1998) I don’t see

19 ~ Method ~ any difference between the ideas in these sources compared to the more recent sources which makes me consider these older sources as valid as the recent ones.

Due to the limited sources of theoretical references that I could find in this area I have not been able to really select among the sources. For the main part concerning recruitment the theorists are presenting similar ideas, and I therefore consider the references reliable. Concerning the connection between strategy and selection not many theories have been presented though, so I find it hard to judge the correctness of the source I used as main reference in this theoretical area. But the ideas Gubman (1998) presents are well argued for and I am using his theories as a reference for an alternative way of thinking which is not well represented in this field of science. For the purpose I am using this reference I consider his book a reliable source.

When using websites as references you need to be even more critical towards the sources. The electronic sources that I have used as references do not seem to have been created for any special purpose that could make the information doubtful. The electronic sources have been used mainly for definitions of notions, but also two times for confirming a piece of information. I have also used the website of the studied company as a reference for the company presentation. I also consider the websites I have been using reliable for the limited purpose they have been used.

Empirical study The empirical study for this thesis was done by conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews. A part of the data collection also consisted of power point presentations and some other written material for company internal use. These internal documents were mainly used as a basis for my own understanding though.

Selection The selection of respondents for this study was partly done by the “snowball or chain effect” and partly by theoretical selection. The “snowball or chain effect” means that one respondent suggests further persons which the researcher can contact for more interviews. Theoretical selection means that it’s the theoretical development during the interview process that determines the selection of respondents. When using this approach selection and theoretical reflections are done continuously and you continue to do interviews until the study is considered to be saturated. The theoretical reflections determine whether further data collection is needed or not. When another interview doesn’t seem to contribute with more information to the study the study is considered saturated. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

When I started the interviewing phase of the research I got in contact with an employee in the HR department at the studied company who had the best overview of the local HR department. I had two interviews with her and she then referred me to some other persons in the company working within HR whom I could contact for further interviews.

After the two initial interviews I got some information which made me realise that in order to get all the information I that seemed important I had to interview both HR personnel, managers and some external consultants. This was needed since at some of the company locations of the studied company external consultants are used for the initial selection, and it seemed that the managers are taking most of the decisions regarding requirements and final selection in most cases. In order to see if there were any differences on the different work locations of the studied company I decided to interview two employees at four different

20 ~ Method ~ locations. At each location I interviewed one person working within HR and one manager or employee working in the production with experience from recruitment within the studied company.

Further along in the interview process I realised that I also needed to talk to two other persons; one person who knew a lot about the creation of the “Borealis Behaviour Dictionary” and one person who knew more about the strategic work within the studied organisation. The reason for this was that many of the respondents said that they used this behaviour dictionary when selecting behaviour requirements. So I thought that it was of importance to know how and why this behaviour dictionary was developed. The reason why I thought that it was important to talk to someone working with strategic questions was to get a clear definition of the strategy of the studied organisation. I also wanted to see what opinion he had in the subject since he probably had a more theoretical point of view than the persons who actually works with the selection.

At one point of the study I thought I saw indications that there was a difference of opinion between the office in Mechelen, where only office personnel are working, and the production sites. I therefore decided to have one more interview with someone from the HR department in Mechelen. This interview turned out to be an important interview because the result showed that there are no real differences in opinions depending on working place or the positions to which they were used to recruit personnel.

This way of selecting respondents lead to the following list of respondents:

Table 2.3.1 List of respondents

Number Position Location Gender 1 HR officer Belgium; Beringen and Mechelen Female 2 HR specialist; Recruitment and Austria; Vienna Female Projects 3* Project Manager Belgium; Mechelen Male 4 HR Consultant Finland; Porvoo Male 5 HR specialist; Recruitment Austria; Linz Female 6 HR Area Manager Sweden; Stenungsund Female 7 HR Manager Belgium; Beringen Female 8 External Consultant Belgium; Mechelen Female 9 Research Manager Finland; Porvoo Female 10 Production Support (Including Sweden; Stenungsund Male Recruitment for Production) 11 Training Coordinator and Belgium; Mechelen Female Recruitment 12** Business HR Manager Austria; Vienna Male 13 External Consultant Austria; Linz Female 14*** Manager, Business Intelligence Austria; Vienna Male Business Planning and Analysis 15 Team Leader, Central Belgium; Beringen (and Kallo) Male Development Team

* Main subject of the interview was job descriptions but also questions regarding selection were discussed. ** Subject of the interview was the behaviour dictionary. *** Subject of the interview was Borealis strategy and its personnel implications.

21 ~ Method ~

Qualitative interviews The interviews were done with a qualitative approach since the aim of the research was to reach an understanding of the subject. This means that I asked quite open ended questions and let the respondents partly decide the direction of the discussion. But I still had a set of prepared questions which I aimed to cover during the interview which means that the interviews were semi-structured. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

During semi-structured interviews the order of the questions is not important and instead it is the respondents answer and the discussion that leads the way during the interview. This creates a flexibility which makes it possible for new subjects to enter into the discussion which can turn out to be very important for the study. The semi-structured approach to the interviews also means that the questions were not formulated in the exact same way in all the interviews and all questions were not always asked. (Bryman et.al, 2005) In table 2.3.3 you can see some examples of questions used during most of the interviews.

Table 2.3.2 Examples of interview questions

How does the recruitment procedure look at your site? Which factors do you focus on when you select candidates? -Why? Which factor is the most important and determining one in the selection process? Do you think that personality is an important factor in the selection of new employees? Do you use the Borealis Behaviour Dictionary? -In which way? How does Borealis strategy affect your work? Do you think that Borealis hires different kinds of people compared to other companies in the same industry? Do you think that the culture at Borealis is in line with the strategy? Do you have any examples of successful and not successful employees? -Do you know why one was successful and not the other? * One theorist has said that you should hire people with the same personality as the company’s strategic personality. What do you think about that idea?

* In connection to this question a more detailed description of Gubman’s definition of strategic personality and different general personality categories were given. (Gubman, 1998; see chapter 3.1.2)

Most of the interviews were done via telephone due to the location of the respondents. The interviews with respondents working in Mechelen were done at the office there. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed word by word after the interview. I chose to record the interview instead of taking notes so that I could focus on what was said during the interview and ask follow up questions when I found something interesting. This was also done in order to not loose information and to minimise the risk of misinterpretations after the interview.

Critique regarding the empirical references I don’t see any risk in this specific case that any of the respondents felt the need to alter the answers to my questions for any reason, neither personal nor career reasons nor corporate reasons. The respondents seemed very relaxed during the interviews and the only hesitation in the answers that I could see were in my opinion due to the difficulty and complexity of the questions.

22 ~ Method ~

When you record interviews there is always a risk that the respondents restrain themselves (Bryman et.al, 2005). But I could not see any signs of restraint or nervousness in the respondents and I don’t think this choice changed or limited the responses I got.

Where I do see a risk in the empirical study though is that the notions used in this research and discussions were not always well understood by all respondents and were not always used with the same definitions by the respondents and me as a researcher. This is due both to the notions close relations to each other and the amount of slightly different definitions that exists for notions in this science field.

Interpretation of the interviews Analysis is about categorising collected data with the purpose of describing the results of an empirical study. When we analyse data we simplify it in order to make it understandable. The analysis is always affected by the research question in the sense that the research question identifies the limits of what part of the data that is of importance in a certain context. In qualitative studies the categorising, analysis and interpretation of data are interrelated and done continuously during basically the whole research process. (Andersen, 1998)

I have read through the entire interview transcripts several times in order to avoid missing important information and misinterpreting the data by removing it from its context. During the analyses and interpretation of the interviews I had to try to understand what the respondents meant with their answers rather than only looking at the explicit statement. This is connected to what I mentioned earlier that the notions used were not always well understood or defined. The interpretation was done by thoroughly and repeatedly also analyse the context in which something was said and comparing the responses with the other answers given by the same respondent earlier or later in the interview.

I have let the chapters in the frame of references and the result part of the thesis get their form based on the interpretation of the interviews and the different parts that seem to be important for the purpose of the thesis. The only chapter that has been more shaped by me than the interview result is the chapter about strategic fit. The reason for this is that this subject of discussion did not come naturally for the respondents when talking about selection.

In cases where I have felt insecure about how to interpret a response I have kept the text as close as possible to the original statement or made a quote. Interpreting the interviews and splitting the information into different categories and patterns was necessary in order to reach the understanding I aimed for with this research.

Reliability and relevance For qualitative research the requirements for reliability and relevance are a bit different compared to quantitative research. Some authors suggest that for qualitative research we should rather be talking about trustworthiness and authenticity. Trustworthiness is about giving correct descriptions, illustrations and interpretations. By letting the studied or interviewed persons confirm that the presented results are correct, and by giving detailed descriptions one can enhance the reliability of the results. (Bryman et.al, 2005)

In order to enhance the reliability of the results that I presented in this thesis I sent copies of the results to all respondents and asked for their opinion on whether I had interpreted their responses correctly. Out of 15 respondents 10 replied to this request (2-6, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14). Two of them expressed wishes to get one or two statements adjusted in order to give the right

23 ~ Method ~ picture of their opinions. During both the data collection and interpretation, and during the analysis of the results I have tried not to let my own opinions affect the process.

Authenticity is about giving a true and fair view of the results (Bryman et.al, 2005). In order to give a true and fair view I have tried not to cluster opinions to a single statement if I haven’t felt totally sure that they all had the same meaning. Instead I have chosen to show the respondents different opinions when there have been some differences between them. I have also to the biggest extent possible tried to keep the presentation of the results as close as possible to the respondents own ways of expressing their opinions. Out of the same intention I created a result table for the most central questions for the thesis where you can see what the respondents answered. By doing this I give the reader a chance to form his or her own opinion in the matter based on the respondents answers.

24 ~ Frame of references ~

3. Frame of references

In this chapter I will present what some theorists say about the connection between strategy and selection. After that I will present what the literature says about which factors to take into consideration during the creation of candidate profiles and the selection of new employees. I will also present the reasons why the literature considers these factors important in order to find good and fitting employees for the company.

3.1. Strategic fit?

3.1.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? Strategy implies certain employee behaviours Edward Gubman (1998) says that the key to long term value for a company is to focus on the people in the organisation. He says that “ If talent is scarce and valuable, companies win when they are smarter than the competition in creating an attractive work environment, picking the right people, and getting the most out of them ” (Gubman, 1998, p. 3-4). Gubman is a strong believer in aligning the work force with the company’s strategy. In order to become successful you have to manage the talent according to the strategic style of the company and you have to build a strategic workforce. This should, according to him, be done through creating a work environment and managerial style according to the company’s strategic style and to employ the kind of people who have the same mindset as the company. According to Gubman this will lead to better fit to the job and the company and therefore a greater success in the job. (Gubman, 1998) A more detailed explanation of this theory is presented in sub- chapter 3.1.2.

Sears (2002) believe that in order to strategically manage an organization’s talent resources one need to understand the business strategy. The business strategy directly affects the organization’s priorities and performance focus and the specific behaviours which are important for the organization in order to achieve its strategic goals. One therefore has to translate the business strategy into talent issues and needs in order to achieve strategy success. (Sears, 2002)

Strategy implies certain jobs which implies certain employee behaviours The connection between strategy and selection can also be seen as a connection between the organisations strategic goals and ensuring that the company has the competences needed to achieve those goals (Lindelöw, 2008; Granberg, 2003). In the competency based theory that Malin Lindelöw has developed for strategic management of the personnel it is not the company’s strategic personality that is of importance when defining the personnel needs of the organisation, but the goals which the organisation has set up to reach success. Instead of looking at the competences and personality needed to be in line with the company’s strategy, as Edward Gubman does, Lindelöw looks more narrowly at the competences and personality needed to be able to achieve the goals that are connected to specific positions. The connection between the strategy and the selection as she sees it is thus that the strategy results in organisation wide goals and you need to perform certain tasks in order to achieve those goals and for those tasks you need certain knowledge, competence and behaviours. (Lindelöw, 2008) Lindelöw thinks about “what” the organisation does while Gubman thinks about “how” it is being done.

25 ~ Frame of references ~

Lindelöw and Gubman both consider personality as an important factor for job success and through that company success, but they have different approaches on how to define the personality characteristics that will lead to success. While Gubman thinks that all companies have strategy characteristics that are specific to the company and that affects the kind of people who should be hired Lindelöw says that companies might have some certain behaviours and values that they consider important that all employees have regardless of position. (Lindelöw, 2008; Gubman, 1998) The different approaches might have the same result but they certainly lead to different ways of looking at the connection between the strategy and the selection of employees. The approach that Lindelöw presents says that one should start with looking at the company’s goals and break them down to position level. She says that one good way to identify the purpose and the goals of the organisation is to look at it from a customer point of view; what is the organisation supposed to deliver and to whom? After defining what goals a person should reach in a certain position with its specific responsibilities you should identify the tasks that need to be carried out in order to achieve those goals. Based on those tasks you define the knowledge and competences that a person need to possess in order to achieve the goals. Then you can create a requirements specification on which you should base your candidate selection. (Lindelöw, 2008)

HR policies and practices should derive directly from and support the company’s corporate and business strategy according to Dessler (2005). HR policies and practices have got into focus for companies’ strategic planning. This enhanced focus is a result of the increased competition due to globalisation and the technological development which makes the employees competences more important than the companies’ technological resources. Dessler means that the HR system should be designed so that it helps to produce strategically relevant employee competences and behaviours to be able to execute the company’s strategy and achieve its strategic goals. The company’s strategic plan communicates the broad guidelines within which the managers make decisions. It thereby explicitly or indirectly implies certain requirements for its execution like employee skills, competences and behaviours. Although Dessler talks about the importance of developing employee competences and behaviours that are relevant for strategy achievement he does not mention the strategy in connection to defining candidate profiles and selecting employees. When he explains how you should handle the recruitment and the selection of employees he presents the job description as the source of information regarding what kind of person you should search for and hire. How the job description is connected to the strategy and supporting the achievement of the strategic goals is not explicitly mentioned though. (Dessler, 2005)

Lawler and Mohrman (2003) say that the HR functions can make big contributions to companies by creating an organisation which is staffed by the right human capital which makes it possible to achieve the company’s strategic goals. This contribution is done by “developing competency models and by focusing on recruiting, staffing, and developing individuals ” (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003, p. 16). Lawler and Mohrman do not present any ideas of what “the right human capital” is though. Neither do they present any ideas of how to identify what the right human capital to achieve the strategic goals is. They merely state that there is a link between the accomplishment of the business strategy and acquiring “right human capital”. (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003)

3.1.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? According to the theories that Edward Gubman presents in his book Talent Solution: Aligning Strategy and People to Achieve Extraordinary Results (1998) the answer to the question is yes. He says that “ The key is to manage your people strategically in very different ways

26 ~ Frame of references ~ depending on how you want to deliver value to your customers ” (Gubman, 1998, p. 28). Gubman has developed a model for aligning, engaging and measuring your workforce in order to improve your business results. The model shows how to go from defining the company’s strategy and the outcomes that the company strives to reach to define what kind of people you need in the organisation and how to manage and measure your personnel in order to reach alignment and good performance. The base for his model is that depending on what kind of strategic style your company has there will be different workforce strategies and management practices that will be the most suitable for your organisation. A company’s strategic style represents the organisations way of dealing with decisions and managing people. The strategic style is the company specific characteristics for how it plans its strategies, operates, goes to market and manage the employees. A company’s strategic style is to a company what personality is for a person; it can grow and develop and become better but it does so within the limits of that strategic style. The basic character, the basic personality features, doesn’t change easily. Gubman says that to be able to manage talent well and become successful you need to know your company’s strategic style. (Gubman, 1998)

Aligning your workforce with the company’s strategic style starts by identifying your company’s strategic style and based on that identifying the specific business capabilities that are important for your particular organisation. Based on the results you get from identifying your organisations style and capabilities you can then identify the kind of cultural values employee competencies and employment conditions you need to have in order to align your business. By adapting your company practices to the company’s strategic style you will create an organisational environment which gives a clear message of “who” your company is. This will attract the kind of people your particular organisation needs. (Gubman, 1998)

Gubman divides companies into three broad generic strategic styles; • “Operational excellence – low-cost, reliable, and easy-to-use products or services” • “Product leadership – leading-edge products” • “Customer intimacy – highly customized solutions and services” (Gubman, 1998, p. 23)

Each of those three strategic styles has a different way in which it is fitting to align and engage the employees, and for each style there is a certain kind of people who are fitting for the organisation. By adapting the way of managing talent to the strategic style of a company the work environment will become consistent with the customer environment. This will lead to clear signals to employees and job candidates about who or what the company is and what is, or will be, expected of them. This makes it easier to attract, motivate and retain the “right” people for your organisation. Gubman gives the example “... a company who is focused on low cost production creates a culture and hire people with this mindset and train people to always look at the financial paybacks of what they do ” (Gubman, 1998, p. 27). If you hire people who have the same personal style as your company’s strategic style it will be a lot easier for you employees to fit in the organisation. If you hire people who are not in line with your strategic style personality wise, it will be much harder for both your organisation and the employees to reach a fit. (Gubman, 1998)

Gubman explains further that there are in general three kinds of people; the ones who like things, the ones who like ideas, and the ones who like people. People who like things are according to Gubman good at making things happen and they like methods and they like to be able to see results. The people who like things are therefore very suitable for companies who strive for operational excellence. The people who like ideas they like inventions, possibilities

27 ~ Frame of references ~ to discuss ideas freely and to pursue new and different solutions. This kind of personality is therefore fitting in product focused companies. The third category people category, the ones who like people, they give high value to relationships, understand motivation and like to do things for other people. This kind of people is very fitting in customer focused companies. Gubman explains that getting the right people who fit your strategic style is especially important for customer focused companies because people who become very good at delivering service seem to be born more than made and to find the right people is the key to a successful service business. Service companies therefore usually spend a lot of time trying to see whether a candidate has the kind of behaviours that are valued in the company. For these companies fit are more important than technical competences. (Gubman, 1998)

These explanations of what kind of personalities that fit with certain kinds of companies are just generic rules; these personalities are not the only ones which fit into different companies. And people are not purely one of these generic types of personalities. Also, companies are not homogenous throughout the organisation, so a company who is having a product focused style also have parts of the organisation where the focus also lies on customers and operations. In all companies it’s important not to have a too homogenous workforce, it is also important to have diversity in regards to mindset, background and experience. (Gubman, 1998)

3.2. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? There are some groups of factors which many theorists mention in regards to searching for and selecting new employees. Those factors are education, working experience, competences, knowledge, company culture, values, behaviours and motivation. There are some differences in which kind of factors different theorists emphasises as the most important factors to focus on though. Some theorists, for example Gary Dessler (2005) and Alan Giles (1998), mainly focus on the technical requirements and experience when they discuss selection while other like Diane Arthur (2005) and Malin Lindelöw (2008) emphasises that these factors combined should form the candidate profile and be a basis of selection. In the figure below it is illustrated how the different factors in a person’s life affect the way a person acts and performs in a work related situation.

Figure 3.2.1 Conditions which an employee brings with him/her to a professional context.

Source: Lindelöw, 2008 p. 46

28 ~ Frame of references ~

This model shows how different sides of a person and the external factors are interrelated and affects how a person acts. A person’s intelligence, abilities, personality, interests and motivations are affected both by genetic heritage and the life he or she has lived. But the attributes of a person is also affected by the life situation he or she is in at the present moment; personality, motivations and interests of a person when she is a mother might be different from before she became a mother for example. (Lindelöw, 2008) When a person is placed in a job situation there are even more factors affecting the person and his or her behaviours. The job situation have several factors; job tasks, the boss, colleagues, physical environment, working routines, culture, group formations etc. Since an employee’s performance is affected by all these factors many selection tools never reach high prediction value for future job performance. But this is also the reason why it is so important to look beyond the work tasks an employee is thought to carry out when evaluating the candidates. (Granberg, 2003)

3.2.1. Competence Many theorists agree that what is important in the search and selection of employees today is to look at their competences. Competence is something that goes beyond knowledge and skills. According to many definitions competence is the ability to use knowledge, skills and behaviours to perform a job (en.wikipedia.org, Klinvex, 1998, www.euro-inf.eu). A similar definition is that competence is a combination of skills, behaviours and attitudes which we use in order to achieve professional performance (Lindelöw, 2008) while another definition says that competence is only a result of technical knowledge and experience (Giles, 1998). An example of a competence is managerial competence which “ includes the traits of systems thinking and emotional intelligence, and skills in influence and negotiation ”. (en.wikipedia.org)

The fact that there are some different definitions of competence and that the definitions in general are quite broad invites confusion in the discussion of what you should look for in job candidates. The categorising of competences and defining what kind of knowledge, skills and behaviours that are connected to a certain competence is subjective and different companies might define the same competence differently. Therefore it is very important to make sure that all the people who are involved in the recruitment of a new employee agree upon the definitions of the competences they are to look for in the candidates. A good way to do this is to have thorough discussions in the company of which competences are important for your company and which definitions of those competences you should have. Then you can put together a competency model which suits your company and which can make the recruitment process clearer and more successful. The competency model serves as a common language when talking about, and evaluating, competences. (Lindelöw, 2008)

In order to avoid confusion in the following presentation of different theories in the area of selection I will not use the notion competence. Instead I find it sufficient to mention that the most commonly used interpretation and use of the notion competence is that it is something more than technical skills and knowledge, that it is an ability to use knowledge, skills and behaviours in a way that makes it possible to do a certain job. From now on I will only discuss the factors that affect the selection of employees in terms of knowledge, skills, behaviours, values, attitudes, and motivation.

29 ~ Frame of references ~

3.2.1.1 Knowledge and skills Many recruiters look at education and experience to select people with the right knowledge and skills. But education requirements should only be defined if they are really necessary, for example when a certain diploma is a formal requirement to be able to join a certain profession. Both education and number of years of relevant experience doesn’t say much about a person’s capability to do a job. (Lindelöw, 2008) School grades have shown to have a low prediction value for future job performance and the older the grades are the lower value they have for the prediction (Granberg, 2003). What is important is instead to analyse what the person learned during their education and previous work experience. You have to go deeper than just looking at the CV to see what kind of education and experience a person has. You have to question what the person in fact really did during this time and what knowledge he or she acquired and which competences he or she developed. So before defining education and experience requirements you should first think thoroughly about the purpose of the requirements. Some recruiters define unnecessary education requirements because they believe that that would be some sort of quality insurance of the candidate. Other recruiters use the education requirements as a rationalisation tool which makes it easier to select among the applicants. Neither of these situations is good for the quality of the selection. (Lindelöw, 2008) The requirements for education and previous experience have to make sense in relation to the content of the job (Arthur, 2005).

Klinvex and Lindelöw say that when creating a job description on which you will base selection decisions you should divide the job description into critical requirements and preferred requirements. Work experience and education should then be listed under preferred requirements which are the criteria that you would like candidates to have but which are not determining for performing the job successfully, in contrast to the critical criteria. (Klinvex, 1998; Lindelöw, 2008) As stated earlier; what is in fact determining for the job performance is instead the actual knowledge and skills, no matter how it has been acquired. For all jobs there’s certain knowledge required in order to do the job, it can for example be languages, a computer program, knowledge about certain areas of law or certain technical knowledge. But not all knowledge and skills, or behaviours and attitudes, should be listed as critical requirements. In order to be able to focus on the most important requirements all requirements have to be divided into these two categories. Only requirements that are absolutely needed to perform a job should be listed as critical criteria. All criteria that are wanted to improve and enrich the job performance but which are not determining for carrying out the work should instead be listed as preferred requirements. (Lindelöw, 2008)

It is a good idea to set flexible requirements so that you don’t miss out on possible good candidates who might be lacking experience and education but who have other good and beneficial competences (Arthur, 2005). When you define education requirements you should also make sure that the definition of the requirement is not to narrow so that you don’t exclude people with other kinds of educations that are equal or similar to the specific education you have in mind. Simply adding “or equivalent education” to your education requirements can solve that problem. The same goes for requirements regarding previous experience, you have to make sure that you do not exclude candidates because the definition of the requirements is to narrow. (Lindelöw, 2008)

You should also be careful not to dismiss a candidate who is lacking certain training and skills that are not very complex and therefore can easily be taught on the job (Lindelöw, 2008; Klinvex, 1998). Sometimes lack of education can also be complemented with working

30 ~ Frame of references ~ experience which has given the person the same knowledge and competences as the education would have. To not have a too narrow definition of requirements are true for all the factors that can be considered in the selection of new employees. (Lindelöw, 2008)

But there is one more dimension to these requirements. Not all companies can afford to or have the ability to train new employees who are lacking some skills. If you for example have a small or young business with very limited assets it can be very good to hire people which are very experienced so that they can support the business immediately. (Warner, 2004)

3.2.1.2 Values, attitudes and behaviours Personality Personality is another notion that is defined in several different ways but the definitions mostly say that personality is a built by behaviours, values and attitudes (oregonstate.edu; wordnet.princeton.edu). Some researchers say that our personality is stabile over long periods of time while other researchers say the opposite; that our personality can develop over time and due to events in our lives. When evaluating a candidate’s personality it is important to take into consideration that people act differently in different social situations. (Lindelöw, 2008) A common way to evaluate a person’s behaviours and values is to have behavioural interviews where you ask questions about past experiences. With the answers about how a person has acted in the past the recruiters try to predict future behaviour. (Lindelöw, 2008; Dessler, 2005; Giles, 1998) When looking at past behaviour to predict how the candidate will act in the future you have to take into account the specific situations in which the person has shown these personality characteristics. In certain working situations a person is not able to show the whole width of its personality because of the specific situations’ limitations. So instead of looking strictly at how a person have behaved in the past you have to look at the indications of personality which the person has shown and try to find the potential behind the pattern of behaviours. But despite the limitations we still have choices and we can still affect our situation significantly, we are not just victims of the situations we are in. (Lindelöw, 2008)

Another common way to analyse personality is to use psychometric tests, but the validity of those tests is argued about. Some studies where they first let people fill in standardised forms and later on observed their behaviours showed that how a person answered the questions in the form did not predict how the person would act in a real situation. The study showed that it is the situation and the consequences a person can expect from a certain way of acting that determines how the person will act. Evaluating candidates’ personality to predict future performance is therefore a complex and difficult matter with many influencing factors. (Lindelöw, 2008) A method with higher prediction value is using assessment centres. During these sessions candidates are being tested in a lot more situations and with different methods (for example interviews and behaviour observations in different simulated situations) which leads to higher prediction accuracy. (Granberg, 2003)

Personality and selection A person’s personality affect the way he or she fits in the organisations culture and the team in which he or she will work. In order to find a fitting employee you therefore have to evaluate the candidates’ personalities to see if they would enjoy working in your company and if they would be able to perform well under the working conditions, in the team and within the company culture. (Lindelöw, 2008; Klinvex, 1998) Another reason why personality is important to take into consideration when selecting new employees is that job content and the context of the jobs are not always stable. In these cases personality rather than the ability

31 ~ Frame of references ~ to do a certain set of job tasks will be determining for future job performance within the company. (Granberg, 2003)

Most theorists talk about the match of the candidate’s personality with the culture and working conditions of a specific company, but in difference to this Alan Giles seem to believe that there are certain personal traits that are good for all companies. In some cases he says that attitudes and behaviours need to fit the organisation but most of the time he presents certain behaviours as beneficial without any regards to different company cultures or job requirements. (Giles, 1998) Also Dessler believes that there are certain behaviours that are important to all jobs but he also says that there are also behaviours that are important for only some jobs.

Edward Gubman agrees with the opinion that different personalities fits within different organisations. Gubman takes the idea one step further though; he believes that depending on the company’s strategic personality different kinds of people will fit within the organisation. He says that one should hire people with the same personality and mindset as the company’s strategic personality. (Gubman, 1998)

According to Umit Bititci 70-80 percent of the qualities you want a person to have for a certain position relates to attitudes. He describes a test where you ask people to make a list of attributes they consider that the ideal candidate for their own job should have. The results from these kinds of tests usually are lists where between 20-30 percent of the qualities on the list are related to skills, experience and knowledge and 70-80 percent are related to attitudes. (Bititci, 2007) For some jobs the attitudes of a person are very important and directly affecting the way the job is carried out. Lindelöw gives examples as; what kind of attitude does the prospective police officer have towards drugs? What kind of attitude does the prospective HR-manager have towards alcohol abuse? For jobs where attitudes are determining for the way the job is done this is a very important factor in the selection. (Lindelöw, 2008)

In different working conditions you need to have different attitudes and to act in different ways in order to perform well. In working situations where you need to be much organised you would be better equipped if you are a structured person who is a careful planner with a good organisational ability than if you are a person who has a more laid off attitude. If an employee is in situations where the behaviours and attitudes demanded from the employee are natural for him or her, the employee will both work more efficiently and enjoy his or her job. (Lindelöw, 2008)

Dye (2007) presents in an article that there are five common hiring mistakes; overemphasising the chemistry, poor and badly prepared interviewing techniques, avoiding the hard questions in the interview, poor use of references, and failure to be objective during the hiring process. To overemphasize chemistry is the most common and affecting mistake. In order to avoid these mistakes Dye says that it’s important to focus on the behaviours that are important for the candidate to have for the position. The behaviours should be identified from the skills and competences needed for the job and one should make sure that the list of behaviours doesn’t become too broad because then the chemistry will become the determining factor any way. (Dye, 2007) Lindelöw agrees that overemphasising chemistry is a big risk in recruiting. If you let your judgement be affected too much by the chemistry the risk is that you look for factors to confirm your initial impression rather than looking at who the candidate really is. (Lindelöw, 2008)

32 ~ Frame of references ~

To reduce the risk of mismatch between the employee and the job or the employee and the organisation and the expectations the organisation have on the employee Branham suggests that the employer should think more in terms of “fit” rather than trying to get the “best in class” candidates. Many companies strive to hire the best available candidates without considering whether these candidates can and will fit the kind of role which he or she is supposed to fill. A behavioural fit is more important and will more likely lead to employee retention and more successful employees than a focus on technical skills. The natural abilities are the ones which in the end determine whether an employee is successful or not in a job. Branham says that natural talents can make people achieve “true competence” in a way that people who are merely trained to reach a certain competence level can never achieve. (Branham, 2005)

Recruiters are often focusing on the minimum requirements during the recruitment process and therefore many of them tend to miss the natural talents and behaviours which determine success in a job. One should create realistic job descriptions including just a few critical competences. These critical competences should be stated as behaviours and/or natural talents instead of technical skills or knowledge according to Branham. (Branham, 2005)

Cultural fit When a person gets hired there are many and high expectations placed on the person. He or she is not only supposed to be able to do a specific job but the employee is also supposed to be a part of and support a culture; ” the way in which things are being done is as important as having the tasks done correctly ” (Lindelöw, 2008 p. 45). To find fitting and successful employees you have to think through what kind of attributes your company has, which culture and values and what you as a company can offer the candidate (Brandon, 2005). Even if you find a person who has the perfect qualities to do a job he or she also has to fit the culture in order to be a real fit for the position and the company (Arthur, 2005).

Klinvex also gives heavy emphasis on focusing on fit beyond technical competences. The most skilled candidates might not be the ones that would be the most successful in your organisation. When analysing how well a person would fit in the job you should try to imagine how well this person would fit in terms of personality and motivation. Imagine how the person in question would fit in the work environment and in the culture, how he or she would do in the job. (Klinvex, 1998)

To get the best employees for your company you have to give attractive information about the company but you have to be careful not to give a wrong or biased view since this can result in getting employees that don’t really fit with the company’s actual culture (Arthur, 2005, Brandon, 2005; Giles, 1998). If you don’t give a fair and right view of your organisation you can end up having disappointed employees or employees who don’t feel comfortable in their position and the company and who after just a short period leave the company because of that. In an even worse scenario you can end up with a person who has lost his or her motivation and trust because of unmet expectations but who still continues to work in the company with bad performance as result. (Lindelöw, 2008) By openly discuss the job, the work environment, the company in general, and what the company can offer one reduces the risk of a mismatch between the employee and the job and the organisation (Branham, 2005; Klinvex, 1998).

33 ~ Frame of references ~

The sooner a non matching person leaves the recruitment process the better it is for the company in terms of costs and performance. It is therefore better to be open about the company from the beginning. Candidates that are a good fit for the organisation and culture will probably not back off from the chance of getting the position if you reveal the truth. Instead, in many cases the ones that are good fits seem to become more motivated to meet the eventual challenges. (Branham, 2005; Klinvex, 1998)

A survey done by Malcolm McCulloch and Daniel Turban showed that achieving a fit between employees and the company culture does not result in better performing employees. It does however lead to employee retention which is beneficial for companies. But the survey showed that cultural fit results in employee satisfaction which is related to good job performance. So indirectly they could see a connection between cultural fit and employee performance but they say that it cannot be proved by their survey whether job satisfaction leads to good job performance or if it is the other way around or even mutually affecting each other. (McCulloch and Turban, 2007)

Team fit It’s important to consider a prospective employees social environment when considering whether the candidate will be a good fit or not. Even if a person can adapt his or her behaviours for a while to the way the employer wants the employees to act or to fit in the team it is hard to do it in the long term. Therefore you also have to consider whether the person will fit to the team within which he or she will be working as well as the job and the company culture. Before defining the candidate profile you therefore also have to put a considerable amount of time on analysing and understanding how the work team looks. (Lindelöw, 2008)

Usually you don’t know why you like or dislike a person and therefore it might not be easy to predict team fit. Granberg therefore suggests that members of the work team should be invited to be a part of the selection process. (Granberg, 2003) But as mentioned before; you have to be careful not to overemphasise the chemistry between the candidate and the people in the selection process. (Dye, 2007)

3.2.2. Motivation Motivation theories What motivates people is very individual and there are many different theories about what triggers motivation. A thorough discussion about motivation theories would not suit the purpose of this thesis. But before I present what some theorists think about the connection between motivation and selection I will briefly present some different theories in the area to give an idea about what can trigger motivation.

Some theorists believe that psychological needs are the base for motivation. These needs are according to Maslow safety and security, belonging to a social group, self-esteem and self- fulfilment. (Maslow, 1943 in Lindelöw, 2008) Aldefer believes that the psychological needs are existence, relations and development (Aldefer, 1972, in Lindelöw, 2008). Yet another theorist believes that the motivation is based on the need to succeed in different things (Murray, 1938, in Lindelöw, 2008). These theories all say that a person gets motivated to do something when one of our needs is not met (Lindelöw, 2008).

Another theory about motivation says that a person gets motivated when the person believes that he or she will succeed with a possible action, and when the person believes that the

34 ~ Frame of references ~ possible action will lead to the wanted result and when the person values this wanted result highly. That means that a person will be motivated if he or she expects a certain result from an action and if the person the person really values the result in which he or she believes. (Vroom, 1964, in Lindelöw, 2008) A third category of motivation theories is the theory about fairness. This theory says that a person is motivated as long as the person feels that there is a balance between his or her own effort and the reward he or she receives for it in comparison to what other people get. (Adams, 1965, in Lindelöw, 2008)

Motivation and selection No matter how well a person fits the job or the company culture as such he or she won’t be successful and fit the position if he or she is not motivated to do the job. This is a factor that is not very easy to evaluate in the selection process. (Arthur, 2005) Different people are motivated by different things and therefore some people will be more motivated by a certain job and its environment than other people. Kelvin Klinvex has put together a worksheet which can be used to help determining job related factors that can affect a person’s motivation (see appendix 2). These different factors can be experienced as positive for some people while for other people the same factor can have a negative effect on their motivation. (Klinvex, 1998)

Together with abilities and personality a person’s motivation completes the picture of who a person is. Motivation is a factor which can make a person who has less knowledge and skills perform well. It directs a person’s energy and makes him or her work harder to perform well. Motivation can therefore compensate if a person is lacking something of the other factors mentioned earlier because a motivated person can develop his or her weaker sides through hard work and exercise. One way to sort out the people who won’t be interested and motivated to work in a certain position and company is the same as for cultural fit; to make sure to give correct and comprehensive information already in the advertising of the job opportunity. In that way people who are not interested in what the job really means will not apply for the job. (Lindelöw, 2008)

According to Branham people perform some activities better than other just because they are more naturally motivated to do so. Therefore it’s important to have in mind that just because a person has the technical skills to perform a job that does not mean that the person will automatically become successful at this job if the person lacks motivation for it. (Branham, 2005)

A survey done by Leigh Branham showed that the seven most common identifiable reasons for leaving a job are the following: the job or workplace not living up to expectations, mismatch between job and person, too little coaching and feedback, too few growth and advancement opportunities, feeling devalued and unrecognized, stress from overwork and work-life imbalance, loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders. (Branham, 2005) If we look at the theories about motivation that were presented earlier, these reasons can all be connected to motivation, or rather the lack of motivation due to unmet needs and expectations (Lindelöw, 2008). This means that Branham shows that lack of motivation is having a big effect on employees’ decision to leave a job and is therefore also important to take into consideration during the selection (Branham, 2005). But as mentioned above, to identify the level and the motivational fit of candidates is not an easy thing to do (Arthur, 2005).

Kevin Klinvex also says that motivation is the key determining factor for whether or not a person stays on a job. He says that motivational fit is more important than whether a person actually can perform the job or not. Besides that, motivation also affects a person’s presence

35 ~ Frame of references ~ at the job. Employees who are lacking motivation might do their job well but they look for reasons to avoid doing it and might for example use more sick days. In order to get the real picture of whether or not a person has a good fit to the job and the organisation you have to look at the competences, behaviours, and values as well as the persons interests and motivations. Klinvex says that there is no real “fit” without the motivational fit. (Klinvex, 1998)

Interest Lindelöw also brings interests into the discussion. She says that if a person has a natural interest for certain things he or she will work more effectively and develop within the areas of his or her interests. Interests make learning and developing fun and makes people more engaged. Besides triggering motivation, having a genuine interest in what you are working with makes the employment more stable and long lasting. The more the organisations needs are in line with the interests and plans of a candidate the longer time the person is likely to stay within the company. (Lindelöw, 2008)

3.3. The connection between the concepts Based on this frame of references I have identified some notions that are important in the discussion about strategic fit. In figure 3.3.1 I have created a model which shows the connections between those notions in the way I believe that they are connected.

The company values and the business strategy are interrelated and mutually affecting each other. Bourne (2002) defines business strategy as how to compete within the chosen set of industries. Based on that definition I think that you can divide the business strategy into what to do in order to compete and how to carry through the activities. The part of the business strategy which defines how to compete is what Gubman express as “ how you want to deliver value to your customers ” (Gubman, 1998, p. 28).

What to do and how to do it isn’t easy to separate from each other. But in order to identify the strategic fit it is necessary to do. The way I see the difference is that what to do mostly has an internal effect and defines what activities and processes that the business should have. How to do it has a more external effect and is the message you want to send to the customers. It is how you give the customers the impression and experience you want them to have of your company.

When looking at the frame of references and Bourne’s (2002) definition of business strategy I can see two different ways in which to find out what skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to succeed in a job. The left side of the model shows the way which seems to be the most common way to derive the job requirements. Based on the business strategy the company knows what to do and that leads to a certain business set up and certain positions in the company. The positions are created to support the strategy and when recruiting new employees the requirements are derived from what is needed to carry out the job. Cultural fit, team fit and company fit are additional fits that are important for employee retention but which, from my point of view, are not directly connected to the strategy.

The right side of the model is the way I see Gubman’s ideas. The part of the business strategy that describes how to carry out the activities is the part that defines the company’s strategic personality. To achieve strategic fit some of the requirements should be derived from the strategic personality of the company.

36 ~ Frame of references ~

Figure 3.3.1 Connections between strategy and selection

Company Values

Business Strategy

What to do How to do it

Needed positions to Strategic personality carry out the strategy

Wanted Competences

Skills and Attitudes, Values Job fit Strategic Knowledge and Behaviours fit

Motivation

Company / Cultural Structural Team fit fit fit

Source: Own

37 ~ Results ~

4. Results To be able to do a more thorough investigation of the possible connection between business strategy and selection of new employees I did a case study in the international company Borealis. In this chapter I will present the information I got during interviews with employees within Borealis and two external recruitment consultants with long experience of working with Borealis.

As with the theorists the opinions expressed by the respondents were partly different for most of the questions. It is therefore not possible to present any majority opinions of the personnel at Borealis regarding the subjects discussed in the scope of this thesis. In the presentation of the result I will therefore try to show some clusters of opinions together with a reference to who and how many of the respondents that explicitly expressed a certain opinion. This is done with the purpose of presenting the result of the interviews as clearly and accurately as possible.

4.1. Case Borealis Borealis is an international company with more than 5000 employees. Borealis produces plastic materials with a focus on the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging markets in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia. Borealis has physical presence all over the world but the biggest part of the production sites and the innovation centres are located in different countries in Europe. (www.borealisgroup.com 1)

Borealis competes on the market by offering the customers innovative plastic solutions. They focus on creating customer value trough innovation, quality and commitment to its customers. This makes Borealis compete differently than some of the other companies in the plastics industry which are producing plastics for general purposes. Although Borealis focus on innovation and value creation there is still a focus on cost efficiency. (14) Borealis mission is “To be THE leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions” (www.borealisgroup.com 2).

Borealis has a set of company values which are; responsible, respect, exceed and nimblicity TM . The values are created to “ …support our mission and strategy and transform us into ‘one company ’ (14: ppt presentation 2005). The company values describe how Borealis conducts business and carries out the daily work. (www.borealisgroup.com 2) The values also help in strategic decision making when Borealis has to choose between various options (14).

The culture in Borealis is open, honest and international (1; 15) with a big focus on innovation and teamwork (2). People are expected to take initiatives and express ones’ opinions, and also be open and listen to others’ ideas (15).

4.2. Strategic fit?

4.2.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? 14 of the 15 respondents were asked how the strategy affects the recruitment or selection. Out of these 14 answers I can see two different ways of thinking. One way is that the strategy affects the selection indirectly because the positions are created in order to achieve the business goals. The other way if thinking that I can see is that the focus on innovation and value creation is affecting the need for employees in some positions to be flexible and/or creative and the need to find the best available candidates.

38 ~ Results ~

Indirect effect 50 percent of the respondents who work at Borealis answered that the strategy is affecting the recruitment by the positions they need to recruit people to (1; 2; 3; 4; 10; 11). There are some different projects running for the moment at Borealis; creation of a new cracker in Stenungsund and Abu Dhabi, and development of the innovation centre in Linz (1; 10; www.borealisgroup.com 3). This has lead to additional recruitment and relocation of experienced engineers and operators (1; 2; 10).

The way that some of these respondents see that the strategy is affecting the selection through the positions that need to be filled is that the role in it self is indirectly connected to the strategy. To implement the strategy different roles have been set up and those roles serve a business purpose which serves the strategy. And they believe that you therefore just have to look at what competences and behaviours that are needed for those positions since they are designed to support the strategy. (2; 3; 14)

One of the respondents said that the strategy can be good to have as a base for decision but when you come down to the lowest level in the production you have to think about that the candidates need to fit where they work. And the candidates need to be able to learn and perform and that’s what is the most important in the production. (10)

Nimblicity TM One respondent said that the strategy is connected to the need to be flexible at Borealis in order to support the strategic decisions. The employees that they select need to work according to the strategy and the company values and therefore are the characteristics that they look at in the selection partly connected to the strategy. (6) Another one of the respondents said something similar which is connected to the flexibility that respondent six talked about. For some positions they need to recruit people who are internationally mobile because the strategy requires that. But she also said that you cannot focus too much on the strategy and the mobility requirement. A person who is internationally mobile at the time of the recruitment might not be mobile any more after six months due to changes in his or her private life. (11)

One of the managers that were interviewed works with business planning and analysis. He agrees on this last presented opinion. He says that you have to hire people who will be able to support the strategy and achieve the business goals. For some positions that means being internationally mobile in order to support Borealis global strategy. He also says that at Borealis they need to hire people who are able to reach the high targets which Borealis sets. They look for people who can understand their role in the job and who are able to constantly deliver good results and a high value; people whom you can rely on to do their job in a very efficient way. (14)

But at the same time respondent 14 said that if you have built up a company according to the strategy and you show your company for people then those who are comfortable with that kind of company will be attracted to work there and support the company. So the fit to the company’s way of doing business will come naturally in the selection process because the candidate is also trying to find a fit for his or her style. (14)

39 ~ Results ~

Innovation One third of respondents said that the innovation which Borealis strategy is built upon affects the selection for some positions. One person said that the sales personnel in a company like Borealis might need a bit more technical background in order to understand what Borealis is selling. (3) Another respondent said that she believes that it is important that everyone keeps aligned with the strategy and try to translate the strategy into the daily work. For engineering positions the innovation should therefore affect the selection in the sense that the recruiters should look at whether candidates are creative or not. (7)

Three of the respondents said that because of Borealis focus on innovation and value creating solutions Borealis need to attract the best available candidates (4; 9). If you want to compete by being an innovative company you have to attract the best candidates; “ If you are recruiting average you will be average ” (13). Hiring the best available candidates is also a way to live up to the value exceed (4).

4.2.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? Out of the 15 respondents 10 have given their opinion on what they think about the idea of aiming to hire persons who has the same kind of personality characteristics as the strategic personality of the company. All of those respondents gave a positive or partly positive response to the idea but they also gave a comment of why it could be a negative thing to do.

The need for diversity The respondent who works with strategic matters (business planning and analysis) said that aiming for a strategic fit can be positive depending on the company and the business activities. His response does not reveal which companies that would benefit from strategic fit though. This respondent also said that “ Some HR experts have suggested that most companies tend to select similar people which conform to the company personality ” (14). But this, according to the experts, is something to be cautious about because too many similar personalities can lead to stagnation and inability to change. Companies which are exposed to rapid changing environments tend to aim for diversity and select a wider range of personalities. (14)

More than half of the respondents who answered this question have said that they think that strategic fit might be beneficial for the company but that they are also hesitant and believe that too much similarity in personalities is bad for the company. Just like respondent 14 these respondents believe that there is a need for diversity in order to avoid stagnation and inability to change and develop. But at the same time they do believe that some common ground is good to have and that the employees need to agree with the strategy to a certain degree and support and work in accordance to the strategy. (4; 6; 7; 9; 11)

One of the respondents expressed the need for diversity by saying that you need the difficult people too because they will question other peoples decisions and ask why something has to be done in a certain way instead of another. These “difficult” persons make people think and they enrich the ideas of other people. (4) Another respondent said that especially within the research teams it’s important to have diversity. But if it was possible to find a candidate who would contribute to get diversity and who the same time has personality characteristics that are compatible with the strategy then that would be the best candidate if you disregard the technical requirements. (9)

40 ~ Results ~

One respondent said that the different departments in Borealis are different and look for different kinds of people. And then when the different departments are working together in projects they have different views and challenge each other and that is what creates the final outcome. (4)

Strategic compatibility One respondent gave an example of why it can be of interest to aim for strategic fit. She said that if you have a company which is very process-focused the processes as such are very important. In that situation you should recruit people to that company who are having a structured way of thinking and doesn’t take too much initiative. A very motivated person who likes to take initiative to change things won’t fit in a company where he or she just has to follow the mass. (8)

Respondent 2 believes that finding employees with the right knowledge, education and experience is very important when recruiting new employees. But she says that the persons mindset is as important “ …especially in Borealis where we have a quite a strong culture in terms of openness, innovation, teamwork ” (2). She says that if you find someone who both has good technical competence and is creative or has good leadership skills for example then they have a greater potential to be successful in Borealis. “ Because on top on doing the customer care job they will also try to find new ways to improve and so on ” (2). The behaviours that can be derived from the company values are the ones you should always try to look for according to this respondent. (2)

Respondent 2 also said that in general they should have innovation in mind when recruiting people and try to find candidates with innovative mindset but that it of course is more important for R&D jobs (2). Another respondent said that a person who fits in Borealis is a person who thinks “outside of the box”, who is open to changes and is flexible because Borealis is a changing company (11).

One respondent who works in the production says that for some job categories it might be good to strive for strategic fit. But he him self mostly looks at the specific job in which the candidate should fit. He says that at the cracker the job is mostly about production of a certain product and the production continues in the same way most of the time. So the focus there is more on production and costs. If anything would go wrong it would become very expensive for the company and therefore they keep the focus on what is the most important in the production. (10)

For which positions is strategic fit of interest? The respondents who thought that strategic fit might be, or is, a good factor to consider in selection also got the question if it would be more interesting for some positions than others. In this question the opinions of the respondents varies. Some of the respondents then said that they think that strategic fit is more important for higher positions where you have to take strategic decisions. In the lower and more executive positions they didn’t find it being of high importance. (1; 5; 7; 8) One recruiter said that for the manager positions both strategic fit and cultural fit is of high importance. But for the lower position the cultural fit is of highest importance. In those positions she believes that it is enough that the employees follow the managers and will then indirectly follow the strategy. (7)

Some respondents said that whether strategic fit is of importance or not depends on the position. Instead of looking at the level of the position they said that one have to look at the

41 ~ Results ~ more specific content of the position. (8; 9; 11; 13) They believe that the positions which are more outward facing are the ones where strategic fit can be of greater interest. An example of these positions is sales. (8; 9) But they also say that strategic fit is not only interesting for the outward facing positions. The way they see it, it all depends on what kind of role a certain position has in the company and you have to look at each position separately to judge whether strategic fit is of importance or not. (8; 11; 13)

One of the external recruiters explained how even the back office personnel can be affected by the way the company competes. If a company is competing with cost effectiveness for example this will also affect the back office positions by the attitude towards costs. In a cost effective company also those departments will have a pressure to run the activities with as low costs as possible. (13)

When the culture is not in line with the strategy My overall impression of how the respondents experienced the situation at Borealis in the beginning of this year is that the culture seems to be somewhat in line with the strategy on the sites. Some persons expressed that there is a slight mismatch between culture and strategy in some departments though. During some of the interviews we therefore came to talk about what the recruiters and the managers do in situations when they need to hire a new person to a department where the culture is not in line with the strategy. One of the managers said that they in that case would try to hire a person who could change the mismatching culture and support the strategy; a person who could set an example for the rest of the work force. (15) One of the external consultants explained that this was a common mistake in companies. She said that giving the responsibility of changing the culture to one person is a mistake because it will never work. One person alone cannot change the culture. (13)

One of the internal recruiters said instead that in situations like these she takes the opportunity to try to affect the culture when they need to hire many new employees. When there are many open positions in the same department she looks for candidates who are in line with the strategic personality rather than the present culture. (6) The external consultant pointed out though that when the culture is not in line with the strategy there are a lot more actions that need to be taken to change the culture than to just hire new people. (13)

4.3. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? In order to try to find an answer to whether strategic fit is of importance or not in the selection of employees I tried to find out both which factors the respondents look at during the selection and why they look at these factors.

As an external consultant in human resources you get experience from several different companies. One of the external consultants said that she can see differences between companies in which factors they find the most important to base the selection decision on. For some companies the technical skills and knowledge is the most important factor. Other companies consider personality and motivation more important than a perfect technical fit. (8)

Which factors that are the most important to focus on in the selection in Borealis is varying a bit depending on the position. In the production and the research and development departments the technical knowledge and skills are crucial to be able to do the job. To be able to work in those departments it is therefore necessary to have a certain minimum level of technical knowledge and skills. (4; 13) Despite that, all persons whom I have been talking to

42 ~ Results ~ have emphasized that it is the combination, or the balance, with other factors such as behaviours and interests that are the most important factor for selection. The external recruiters confirmed that Borealis is a company which wants their employees to have both technical competences and a fitting personality.

No matter the level of technical minimum requirements it is clear that at Borealis they don’t hire people who have the wrong behaviours and values relatively to the Borealis company values. If a candidate has superb technical skills and knowledge the candidate still won’t be hired if he or she is not respectful enough. Being a team player is also something that is crucial in most situations in Borealis and is therefore a strong determining factor in the selection. (4; 5; 9)

4.3.1. Knowledge and skills All recruiters and non-HR personnel participating in the selection at Borealis always look for a basic degree of technical skills and knowledge in the selection. But the weight that the persons give to the technical requirements varies. More than 50 percent of the respondents who were asked questions regarding selection said that technical skills and knowledge is a main criterion for selection. (4; 5; 6; 9; 10; 13; 15) The rest of the respondents also have technical competence as important criteria but did put more emphasis on the importance of behaviours and values than the first mentioned group (1; 2; 4; 7; 11).

For jobs in the production and innovation centres at Borealis the technical background of a person is of high importance. The level of technical competence might not be the determining factor of who will be chosen in the final selection though. But it is an important selection factor in the first initial screening of candidates and the candidates need to have a certain minimum level of technical skills and knowledge in order to work in these fields in Borealis. (4; 5; 6; 9; 10; 13; 15) The candidates need to have at least a minimum understanding of the engineering and the chemistry which is the base of Borealis production (9).

The level of knowledge and skills that is required for a position depends on how easy or hard it is to learn the needed knowledge and skills at work and the possibility to do so. For jobs at the innovation centre the technical requirements are very high and the profiles they search for are quite special . (5) The external consultant who works with recruiting people to the innovation centre in Linz said the following in regards to the technical requirements: “If you want to be an innovative company you really need to attract the best in the market, you really need to attract good talent. You’re looking at expert people who understand what they’re talking about and you’re looking to attract the best in class. If you’re not able to do that you will also have difficulties to say that you know, that you’re known as an innovative company and we’re going to make a success out of this. If you are recruiting average you will be average ” (13).

But the personality is still an important factor in the selection for these positions. If a person has the right technical fit but doesn’t show the right behaviours it is not a preferred candidate for most recruiters. (4; 5; 7; 8; 9; 10; 15) But in order to be considered as a candidate a person who applies must at least have technical skills and knowledge that are good enough (4; 5; 6; 9; 10; 13; 15).

In some situations candidates with less skills and knowledge are accepted due to other good characteristics (1; 13). But if Borealis is searching for a candidate to take over the job from a

43 ~ Results ~ very experienced employee they won’t select someone without experience because that would have a too big negative impact on the department.

Since Borealis is an international company, language requirements can be very important for many positions. In these positions the language is therefore a determining factor for selecting or rejecting candidates. A good example of a position like that is working with the customer service. Here Borealis is looking for people with very specific, and usually extensive, language skills in order to serve the customers as well as possible. (1) In the production in Stenungsund age is also a factor of importance in the selection. Since there is a lot to learn when getting a job at the production at Borealis younger candidates are preferred. The reason for this is that the younger candidates are better at managing the amount of things to learn. (10)

4.3.2. Values, attitudes and behaviours A candidates’ personality is a very important factor in the selection at Borealis. The personality is important for job fit, team fit, cultural fit and fit to Borealis and its values. Not all the persons whom I talked to said that they considered the Borealis values when selecting new employees but most of the respondents said that a fit to Borealis and/or its values are important. One of the external consultants confirmed this by saying that compared to other companies Borealis is very true to its values. Many companies say that respect is an important value that candidates should have. But Borealis, in difference to many other companies, really sticks to its values and won’t hire personnel who do not value respect. (8)

80 percent of those asked which factor they find being the most important factor for the selection answered that it is the combination of technical requirements and personality (attitudes, values and behaviours) that is the most important (See appendix 3). Four respondents explicitly said that if a candidate has a questionable personality or doesn’t show enough of the values and behaviours that they find important they won’t hire the person (4; 5; 7; 13). Not all recruiters and managers actively look if candidates are in line with the Borealis values in the selection. But they investigate the candidate’s behaviours if they doubt a person’s personality and values. (4; 11)

It is more difficult to hire someone who doesn’t have the preferred behaviours than a person who doesn’t have as high technical skills as you would have wanted. People who lack technical skills can always learn if they show potential for that. (4; 13) If a person doesn’t match Borealis or the team in which he or she will work personality wise it’s neither good for the department nor the company because the person won’t stay in the company for a long time (11).

During the interviews I could see a slight difference between the attitudes of the respondents working with the production and innovation and the HR personnel in the way they emphasised the values. Although almost all respondents said that values and behaviours are as important as technical skills the non-HR personnel emphasised high technical skills and knowledge more than the behaviours. And when they talked about behaviours that they consider important it was in three cases of four job specific behaviours and not behaviours that would be a fit with Borealis in general. (3; 9; 10; 15) But one respondent mentioned that compared to her previous experience at other companies, managers at Borealis take the company values more into account when selecting employees (7).

44 ~ Results ~

Which factor that is the most important one depends a bit on the position you recruit for. For operators and engineers for instance the technical skills and knowledge is very crucial and therefore has a higher weight than the personality characteristics. (5; 6; 9) But for leaders Borealis looks more at the behaviours today and lately in Stenungsund they have hired group leaders who doesn’t have any experience within the industry at all but who has other important competences (6).

The Borealis Behaviour Dictionary In the end of the 90’s Borealis developed the “Borealis Behaviour Dictionary”. This is a reference document with definitions of 24 different behaviours. Each behaviour has five different levels of rating with each a description of what the level of the behaviour means for a person. This behaviour dictionary was developed as a tool to increase the effectiveness in HR by creating a common language for behaviours in the company. (12) Today when recruiters and managers decide the behavioural requirements for new employees they select the behaviours from the dictionary that are the most relevant for the position in question. This facilitates the selection since there are definitions for the behaviours which makes it clear to everyone who are involved what kind of behaviours that are wanted. The behaviour dictionary also puts a focus on the behaviours and sends the message that the behaviours of the people working at Borealis are important. (6)

The behaviour dictionary originally comes from a consulting firm and Borealis has then adapted the language in the dictionary to the terminology used in Borealis. So the behaviours are not in essence “Borealis behaviours” but it has, as I see it, enhanced the focus on behaviours as an important part of the evaluation of candidates. (12)

“The Borealis Values and Behaviours” Most respondents said that Borealis hires the same kind of personnel as other companies in the industry. One reason for this is the limited pool of candidates which makes the companies fight for the same candidates. But two of the respondents said that they can see a difference in the kind of people who are working at Borealis compared to other companies and that you can see that the employees have “ a common flavour ”(7). (7; 15) One of the respondents said that they are hiring the nonconformists at Borealis. (15) As a result of a conversation one of the respondents were asked what kind of personality that would be a match with Borealis. She answered: “ …somebody who has an open mind, who is not really only focusing on procedures and structure but also look out of the box, who is open minded for other things, changes. Borealis is a changing company, somebody who is flexible. It depends of course from the vacancy because sometimes real flexibility is asked and sometimes is it less asked for the function. But it always has to be there in a small amount ” (11).

The attitudes, values and behaviours that the respondents look at when selecting employees for Borealis are a bit different depending on the position. But there are also a lot of common values that the respondents find important. Almost 50 percent of the respondents said that Borealis’ four company values are important factors in the selection in Borealis. (1; 4; 5; 6; 7; 9; 14) But one person explicitly said that he does not look at the company values in the selection. He focuses on the values and behaviours that are needed to do a good job in the production. (10)

Many respondents mentioned respect as a very important value for working at Borealis. One reason for this is that Borealis is an international company with physical presence in many countries and there are people from all over the world working together. This means that there

45 ~ Results ~ are many different cultures meeting in Borealis and therefore it’s very important that all employees are respectful. (1) Respect is also one of Borealis four company values which is another reason why respect is of high importance in Borealis (15; 9). Some of the respondents also mentioned openness and honesty as important for working at Borealis. These are values that they connected with respect and which they find important for employees both to be able to do their job and to fit into the culture at Borealis. (1; 8; 15)

Another one of Borealis values is being responsible. A part of this value is safety which is a very important matter in the whole company but most of all in the production. Only one of the respondents mentioned safety in relation to selection though. He said that during the interviews they explain to the candidates Borealis’ view on safety. (10)

For some positions it is also important that the employees have an international mindset and are flexible. This is because Borealis sometimes want their employees to move abroad for a period in order to get the best competence possible for a certain project or department. Being flexible, or nimble, is also a Borealis value and is important to be able to achieve the strategic goals. (1; 5; 6; 11)

Another characteristic that is important for Borealis’ employees to have is being a team player. Team work is very important in Borealis and is therefore something that employees have to be good at. (4; 7; 9; 10) There has been a case where a technically talented person was hired but after a time he had to leave the company. The reason for this was that the person wasn’t good at working in projects and working with other people. (4) Some other personality characteristics that were mentioned as important specifically for the production and innovation are independence and initiative (15), creativity/innovation (2; 4; 7), analytical thinking (9), conceptual thinking and stress tolerance (4).

Finding candidates that will fit in the company and its culture is very important. It’s important both for the company, in order to find employees that will perform well and stay in the company for a longer time, and for the candidates, in order to be satisfied and happy at work and to not regret the decision to accept the job. (13) “...it’s not about putting warm bodies on seats, it’s to understand requirements, it’s to understand companies, it’s to understand politics of companies. Because there are no bad people, there are just people who are sometimes mismatched... ” (13).

Cultural fit One of the external consultants said that if you understand a company’s culture you immediately know what kind of people that will be of interest to hire for this specific company. If the consultants are having a new client they therefore do a thorough analysis of the company. They analyse and try to get as much information as possible about the organisation, the job and the work environment, the colleagues, the company politics and the culture. With this information they try to get a picture of the kind of situation in which a candidate will have to fit. (13) When you have external consultants working with recruitment for your company, which some of Borealis locations have, it’s therefore very important that they know your company’s culture well (1).

Almost 80 percent of the respondents said, explicitly or inexplicitly, that they think that it is important to look at a candidate’s personality characteristics and see if there will be a fit with Borealis culture (1; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 11; 13; 14; 15). One person expressed it as “ I think you should go for this, what this person should have that fit’s in to borealis way of thinking ” (3).

46 ~ Results ~

According to two of the respondents Borealis culture is very open and honest; it promotes initiatives and gives people power to make decisions even at quite low levels (10; 15). In order to fit in the culture a candidate should have respect, interpersonal skills (13) and an international mindset (1).

Some respondents said that if you hire employees that are in line with the Borealis values then you will find people who fit the Borealis culture (1; 7). But the culture in Borealis might not be totally in line with all the company values yet. The CEO of Borealis, Mark Gareth, has quite recently said that in Borealis they are good at working according to their values respect and responsibility but not as good at exceeding and being nimble. (7)

One of the external consultants said that in order to hire persons who will fit in the company culture you need to be open and give a realistic view of the characteristics of your company. You should not only present your company’s positive characteristics but also the negative ones. By doing that you will attract the people who will thrive in the kind of culture that exists in your company. One of the external consultants explained that she has placed 40 to 50 candidates in companies with very tough environment. In these companies you could get really good salaries and fast promotions but you could also be fired from one day to another. Some people would not cope in those kinds of companies but some people get motivated by those kinds of situations. (13)

Team fit There are two different kinds of team fit that has been mentioned in regards to selection. Sometimes recruiters and managers look to recruit a person who will contribute with something that is missing in the team. Sometimes the missing part in the team is certain experience or language skills. Depending on the existing team some recruiters search for candidates that can contribute to create a god mix of people and competences in the team. (1)

The other kind of team fit is the one which has been mentioned the most; to have a fitting personality with the existing team members. Since a lot of work is done in teams in Borealis it is important that the personnel can work well together. Team fit is therefore an important factor in the selection at Borealis and lack of team fit can be a reason for rejection. (5; 8; 13) Inability to work with the team has also been the reason for unsuccessful employments (9).

4.3.3. Motivation More than one third of the respondents who in some way are working with recruitment said that motivation is a crucial factor in selection. But it has only been HR employees who have been mentioning it explicitly as an important factor. The respondents who did talk about motivation as a factor in the recruitment all said that they try to investigate if and why a candidate is motivated by a job. (4; 5; 8; 11)

One person explained that she looks at what the candidate has been working with before and ask the candidate what they liked with that job or why he or she didn’t like it. In this way she tries to identify what motivates the candidates in order to see if that will match with the position that the candidate is applying for. The candidate might like to have many different things to do while the position which the candidate is applying for means specialising in a certain area. Then there is a risk of a mismatch between the job and the person when it comes to motivation. (11)

47 ~ Results ~

Sometimes the motivational factor can make a recruiter choose a candidate who is not totally fulfilling the requirements for the position instead of a person who according to the requirements is the perfect candidate. This can happen if a candidate is so competent to do the job that the job will be too easy for them. If there is no challenge in doing the job the candidate might not be motivated by the job but rather by the benefits of the job. Under these circumstances a person who is lacking some experience or knowledge but who is very motivated might actually do the job better than the “perfect candidate” after some training or coaching. (8)

If a person is motivated to do a job or not is not only affected by the job and the job environment. One of the respondents, who is working with production support, explained that candidates who live too far away can be less interesting to hire due to the distance. Candidates who live too far away might not have enough motivation to travel long distances to work every day. Some employees have been resigning after a period of time due to the travelling time. It is not the job itself but external factors that have made them loose the motivation to continue working for Borealis. Other people have left because they couldn’t handle working during the night. That is another example of a factor that is not directly linked to the job as such but which affects the person’s motivation to work there. (10)

These indirect factors are important to look at too because it is highly affecting the risk of retention. In the production in Stenungsund it takes five to six years of education at work before the employees become fully adequate technicians. If they lose a technician after a few years of education they lose millions of SEK (hundred thousand of Euros) in education investments. (10)

Interest Both one of the HR employees and the respondent who works with production support mentioned that besides motivation to do the job it is also important to be interested in technology. People who work in the production and the research and development have to learn a lot of things when they start working at Borealis. A genuine interest in technology will both make it easier to learn all the things they need to learn and make them motivated to keep learning and develop themselves and the products. (4; 10) The respondent working in the production support even said, when he was asked to choose the most important factor, that the technical interest is the most important factor in the selection for him. (10)

48 ~ Discussion ~

5. Discussion In this chapter I will compare the results of the empirical study with the theoretical platform. In the comparison I will look at whether the results are in line with any of the different ideas presented in the frame of references in chapter three.

In contrast with chapter three and four I will start the discussion by first analysing the individual factors. After that I will turn to thoroughly analysing the main focus of the thesis; the connection between strategy and selection. The reason for this is that I find it more beneficial to analyse the specifics first in order to build up a discussion about the big picture step by step. Although the steps in reality are more similar to the order of the previous chapters it’s easier to discuss the big picture after analysing the parts first.

5.1. Which factors are considered in the selection of employees? From the diversity of both the result and the theories we can see that how to approach selection is not obvious and usually comes down to subjective opinions and decisions. In general if we look at the factors that Borealis takes into account in the selection they are totally in line with the factors presented in the theoretical framework; education, working experience, competences, knowledge, company culture, values, behaviours and motivation. Borealis is not in any way having different opinions compared to the ideas presented in the theoretical framework when it comes to the factors of selection.

When I look at the diversity among the respondents’ expressed opinions, it is quite interesting to see that the spread in opinions on what is the most important factor is quite similar to the theoretical framework. Some people emphasise technical skills, some emphasise motivation and some emphasise behaviours. But in general there is a strong focus in Borealis to find the candidates who has a good balance of skills and behaviours, an approach which the theorists Diane Arthur (2005) and Malin Lindelöw (2008) emphasises. Just like Lindelöw (2008) shows in her model (figure 3.2.1) there are several factors affecting how a person will act and perform in a work situation. You can therefore not isolate the knowledge and skills or the personality when evaluating a candidate and its possible future performance in your company.

This is something that most of the respondents have been taking into consideration in the selection, at least to a certain degree, when they say that the balance or combination is the most important to focus on. They also take this into account when they emphasise the motivation, interests and other possible factors like travelling distance and time schedules.

From the interviews that I have held I cannot see any common opinions among the non-HR personnel. Neither could I see any common opinions within the group of HR personnel. In general in this subject people have developed their own opinions and procedures regarding recruitment and the answers to my questions vary from person to person.

5.1.1. Knowledge and Skills I cannot form any opinions on whether the education, experience or knowledge requirements at Borealis are set with flexibility or set up with the right reasons since these factors are not the ones that I have put the focus on in this research. What I can say though is that for some positions the requirements for technical skills are set very high. But according to some of the respondents this is necessary if Borealis is to compete with innovation. In both the production and the innovation centres a high basic level of knowledge and skills are important.

49 ~ Discussion ~

I totally agree on this. In order to be innovative, exceed and give value to the customers some positions need to have high technical requirements. Branham (2005) says that a behavioural fit is more important and will more likely lead to employee retention and more successful employees than a focus on technical skills. He says that you should look for fit instead of the candidates that are best in class. Despite the high technical requirements Borealis does look for a fit rather than the highest level of skills. The recruiters and managers are still emphasising the importance of having the right behaviours. At Borealis there is a high level of understanding of the importance of the personality characteristics effect on job fit and job performance.

5.1.2. Attitudes, Values and Behaviours That behaviours as such are important for job performance is obvious if you look at both the theoretical platform and the empirical results. But just as the theorists the employees at Borealis mainly based their behavioural requirements on what was needed for a certain job and the company culture.

During the interviews I could see a slight difference between the attitudes of the HR and the non-HR personnel in the way they emphasised the values. Although almost all respondents said that values and behaviours are as important as technical skills the non-HR personnel emphasised high technical skills and knowledge more than the behaviours. And when they talked about behaviours that they consider important it was, in three cases out of four, job specific behaviours and not behaviours that would be a fit with Borealis in general. But one respondent mentioned that compared to her previous experience at other companies, managers at Borealis take the company values more into account when selecting employees.

The behaviours that have been mentioned as important for employees at Borealis are: respect (open and honest), team work, flexibility (more for some positions), international mindset, innovation (more for positions in the production and innovation centre), nonconformist, thinking out of the box, independence and initiative, stress tolerance, analytical thinking, safety thinking (mentioned only by one person).

Borealis Behaviour Dictionary is a good tool for creating mutual definitions and understanding for certain behaviours and competences. But the dictionary is not connected to strategically fitting behaviours although some respondents seemed to have strong beliefs that these are really Borealis Behaviours. After looking at the behaviour definitions in this “dictionary” I must agree thought that the behaviours are in line with Borealis strategy although they are not specifically put there as strategically fitting behaviours.

Cultural fit According to many theorists and most of the respondents it is important that the employees fit into the company culture. Lindelöw says that “ the way in which things are being done is as important as having the tasks done correctly ” (Lindelöw, 2008 p. 45). But exactly how cultural fit affects the employees’ performance is not confirmed according to Malcolm McCulloch and Daniel Turban (2007). Their survey gave the result that cultural fit leads to employee satisfaction and retention. But they say that it cannot be proved by their survey whether job satisfaction leads to good job performance, or if the causality is in the other direction, or even if they are mutually affecting each other. (McCulloch and Turban, 2007)

Even though cultural fit might not lead to higher performance the enhanced chance of employee retention is very important for the companies due to the big costs of loosing

50 ~ Discussion ~ employees. Therefore it is very important to find the candidates that will fit into your company culture. One of the external consultants said that if you understand a company’s culture you immediately know what kind of people that will be of interest to hire for this specific company. And almost 80 percent of the respondents said that they think that it is important with cultural fit.

Some respondents said that if you hire employees that are in line with the Borealis values then you will find people who fit the Borealis culture. This indicates that the reason why the respondents take the company values into consideration is for achieving cultural fit and not strategic fit with the candidates. But not all the company values are regularly taken into consideration during the selection as far as I can see. The values respect and nimblicity TM , which is considered through flexibility, are the company values that seem to be taken mostly into account in the selection.

This means that the values of exceed and responsibility are not taken into account to the same extent. The CEO has said that the company values exceed and nimblicity TM are the ones that the company is not totally living up to. This might be correct, even though flexibility is mentioned as a personality characteristic that is important for some positions it is not sure that flexibility is really achieved in the company in general and has become a part of the culture. And even though safety and responsibility is not actively taken into account when looking at the behaviours and attitudes of candidates I know that at least in the production sites these values are very important and strictly followed.

This shows that the culture at Borealis is not totally in line with what the company emphasises as important and that all aspects of the company culture might not always be considered in the selection. The connection between the values and strategic fit will be discussed later.

Team fit Team fit isn’t something that has been emphasised much, neither in the literature nor in the interviews. But what is emphasised though is the importance that the employees feel comfortable at work so that they won’t leave the company after just a short time. Here team fit can have a big effect. What has been emphasised though is the importance of being able to work in teams. Borealis is not a company where people work a lot individually so the ability to work in teams is very important. Being a good team player is also supported by Borealis value respect. Without respect it is hard to have good team work.

5.1.3. Motivation Theorists seem to agree that motivation is a factor that highly affects an employee’s performance and retention. Without the motivation it doesn’t matter how perfect the candidate seems compared to the requirements, the performance won’t be as good anyway and an employee is not likely to stay long in a situation where he or she is not motivated. The motivation is therefore another very important factor in the selection. (Klinvex, 1998; Branham, 2005) Klinvex (1998) even goes as far as to saying that motivation is more important than whether a candidate would be able to do the job or not.

More than one third of the respondents said that motivation is a crucial factor in the selection. One of the respondents mentioned that if an employee in the production leaves after a couple of years they loose lose millions of SEK (hundred thousand of Euros) in education investments. Besides the loss in competence and costs to recruit personnel it is a huge

51 ~ Discussion ~ economical cost for the company because of the training that is needed for every new employee in the production due to the specialised knowledge and skills needed.

This factor is a general factor which is important to all companies and all positions. But it is also a factor which is very hard to identify (Arthur, 2005) which is partly shown by the amount of different kinds of motivation theories that exist.

5.2. Strategic fit? After discussing some of the different factors in the selection I will now turn to discuss the connection between strategy and selection.

5.2.1. How does the strategy affect recruitment? The discussion about the strategy’s connection to recruitment didn’t come very naturally to the respondent so I had to bring this subject into the discussion. Both in the frame of references and the results we can see that the main way that recruiters and managers take in order to find the needed requirements for a position is the way on the left side in my strategy connection model (figure 3.3.1). For most people the most obvious way that the strategy connects to selection is that the strategy implies a need for certain jobs which in turn imply certain employee behaviours. When the respondents were asked how the strategy affects recruitment 50 percent answered that it affects by the positions they have to recruit people for.

This strategy connection is natural and obviously necessary in order to carry out the business. Using the left side of the model in the selection means deriving the selection requirements from the positions that are needed to fill in order to support the strategy implementation. This way is what I consider aiming for job fit which is the most common and maybe the most natural way to identify requirements. Besides this the recruiters and recruiting managers also look for a behavioural fit to the company culture and the colleagues.

5.2.2. Should companies aim for strategic fit? Two of the theorists that I have referred to in chapter three have presented some different ideas about the strategy connection. They say that the business strategy directly affects the organisations priorities and performance focus and thereby implies important behaviours for the employees. While one of these theorists only mentioned this very briefly (Sears, 2002) the other theorist (Gubman, 1998) presented a well developed theory about this connection. He said that you should manage your people in different ways depending on how you want to deliver value to your customers. A part of this human resource management is to hire employees with “the right mindset” for the company.

Gubman says that if you hire people who have the same personal style as your company’s strategic style it will be a lot easier for you employees to fit in the organisation. If you hire people who are not in line with your strategic style personality wise, it will be much harder for both your organisation and the employees to reach a fit. (Gubman, 1998) This means that if you have a strategic fit of your employees it will be a lot easier to make them work in accordance with the strategy. But Gubman also says, just as most of the respondents, that it is important to also have diversity to be able to develop as a company.

All the respondents who were asked if companies should aim for strategic fit were initially positive to the idea. But they were also quite hesitant and said either that it might be

52 ~ Discussion ~ interesting for certain positions or that it’s good to have a common ground and that the employees should work in the same direction but that it’s good to also have diversity.

For which positions is strategic fit of interest? In general the respondents thought that the importance of strategic fit depends on the content of the position; that you have to look at each position separately to judge whether strategic fit is of importance or not. (8; 11; 13) The higher and the more outward facing positions are the ones that most of the respondents believe have a higher need for strategic fit. Gubman (1998) didn’t discuss this matter, instead he said that strategic fit is more important for customer focused companies than for companies in the other two categories. This indirectly says that the content and the purpose of a position affect the importance of strategic fit.

5.2.3. Does Borealis aim for strategic fit? From the previous two sections we can see that the personnel at Borealis do not actively look for strategic fit but they are partly positive towards the idea. Although some of the behavioural characteristics that they look for are in line with the strategy their approach to selection and way to derive the behavioural requirements are more connected to the left side of the strategy connection model (figure 3.3.1).

Since the respondents have been partly positive when discussing strategic fit and I have seen some indications on a possible strategic fit at Borealis, it is of interest to analyse the factors that the respondents are looking at to see whether there can be a strategic fit

So what do these different factors discussed above give in regards to strategic fit? Strategic fit is when the personality is compatible, similar or consistent with the characteristics of the company’s strategic personality. So what is then the strategic personality of Borealis? Let’s have a look at Gubman’s three generic strategic styles again:

• “Operational excellence – low-cost, reliable, and easy-to-use products or services” • “Product leadership – leading-edge products” • “Customer intimacy – highly customized solutions and services” (Gubman, 1998, p. 23)

Gubman said that companies are not purely one of these styles and from my point of view Borealis is a mix of two of the styles; it is focusing on innovative products which are customized to create high customer value. In the production there is at the same time a big focus on operational excellence and cost minimizing. But based on what I have seen of Borealis and what the business planner (respondent 14) said, I think that the main characteristic of the strategic personality of Borealis is customer focus. Borealis focuses on value creation through offering its customers value added solutions based on leading innovation. The company values are of big importance when looking at Borealis strategic personality since that is a big part of how Borealis wants to compete for the customers. Although the daily activities and the culture is not always living up to all the company values the company does have a big focus on trying to live up to them.

So from my point of view the main characteristics of Borealis strategic personality is: focusing on value added customer solutions, innovation, responsiveness (nimblicity TM ), and continuous improvement (exceed), and the business is carried out with a big focus on responsible and safe actions and respect. This is Borealis right side of the strategy connection model (figure 3.3.1); how they carry out their business. The left side of the strategy

53 ~ Discussion ~ connection model for Borealis is that they produce high innovation plastic solutions to customers.

Behavioural characteristics which support strategic fit So are these characteristics represented in the employees that Borealis select? I would say that they partly are. Parts of these characteristics show in the factors that the recruiters and managers focus on in the selection, especially respect. All characteristics are not in the focus in all selections though. Which characteristics the recruiters focus on seem to depend on the position to which they are recruiting and it also partly depends on who is doing the recruitment.

The personality characteristics that are in focus in the selection of new employees at borealis are as mentioned earlier: respect, team work, flexibility, international mindset, innovation, nonconformist, thinking out of the box, independence and initiative, stress tolerance, analytical thinking, safety thinking.

Respect is one of Borealis company values and is a part of the strategic style of Borealis. This is one of the main values that almost all respondents mentioned as an important and absolute necessary value. Flexibility and safety thinking are also characteristics that are a part of the company values and the strategic personality. But flexibility is not always taken into account, it partly depends on the decision to which a person is being recruited, and safety thinking was only mention by one respondent. As I said earlier, safety and responsible actions are important and highly respected in Borealis, especially in the production. But it is not something that the respondents actively look for in the selection.

Team work, international mindset and stress tolerance are important in Borealis and in its company culture. But these personality attributes are not, from my point of view, part of the necessary factors in relation to the strategic personality. Innovation on the other hand is a part of Borealis strategic personality. Some respondents mentioned innovation or creativity as an important personality characteristic for employees in the production and especially the innovation centre. But one respondent said that in general one should take innovation into account for all positions at Borealis.

Being nonconformist, thinking out of the box, being independent, taking initiatives and analytical thinking are all attributes that are good for innovation. One can also say that these attributes are good to have to be able to be responsive, or nimble. These characteristics could therefore be seen as indirectly supporting a strategic fit although the reasons some of the respondents focus on these behavioural attributes might not be that.

Which strategically relevant characteristics are not considered? The focus on continuous improvement in order to exceed is always present for the employees at Borealis. But this is not a personality characteristic that I have seen that any of the recruiters focus on in the selection though. Some respondents said that they are aiming at recruiting the best candidates on the market and that this is a part of the value exceed . My impression though is that the reason for hiring the best is more connected to the fact that innovation demands the best candidates possible. In order to select people based on the company value exceed I believe that they would need to see if the candidates are people who strive to become better and do their absolute best instead of only looking at the candidates present competences. This is not something that I have noticed in any of the interviews.

54 ~ Discussion ~

In regards to the value exceed respondent 14 said that Borealis needs to hire people who are able to reach the high targets which Borealis sets. He said that the recruiters and hiring managers look for people who can understand their role in the job and who are able to constantly deliver good results and a high value; people whom you can rely on to do their job in a very efficient way. This is taking the value exceed into consideration in the selection. But this respondent is not working with recruitment and this way of thinking has not been expressed by any other respondent.

To focus on value added customer solutions is a more general description of the strategic personality of Borealis and is already taken into account through the personality characteristics discussed above. Those characteristics is what makes the value added customer solutions possible.

When the culture is not in line with the strategy One of the things I was thinking about before I started this research was whether you automatically get a strategic fit if you have a cultural fit. This reasoning was based on the fact that what is presented the most in the literature is to look at the job, the colleagues and the culture when selecting employees. So I was thinking that if you have a candidate who has the right behaviours in relation to what the job and the culture requires maybe you automatically have a strategic fit too.

In order to investigate this thought I asked all the respondents if they thought that the culture was in line with the strategy in Borealis. In the cases when the respondents answered that it wasn’t totally in line I asked them to explain why and what they then would look for; a strategic fit or a cultural fit.

In the only reference that actually talked about, what I have named, strategic fit didn’t mention that there was a possibility of having a mismatch between strategy and culture. But the respondents answered that in case of a mismatch they would try to aim for strategic fit in the selection and try to change the culture by introducing people with a more “correct” mindset according to the strategy.

These answers show that there is a difference between cultural fit and strategic fit. Also if we look at the general culture at Borealis (see chapter 4.1) we can se that there is a difference between the characteristics of the culture and the characteristics of the strategic personality (see chapter 5.2.3). But there are characteristics of the culture which are also characteristics of the strategic personality, for instance respect and inventiveness. This means that a cultural fit at Borealis also means a partial strategic fit.

So, the result I have got from the research is that there can be a difference between cultural fit and strategic fit. But I haven’t been able to get an answer to whether you get strategic fit if you have cultural fit and the culture is totally in line with the strategy.

One thought that I presented in the introduction was that maybe job fit together with cultural fit would result in strategic fit if the strategy is successfully implemented and the culture is in line with the strategy. In Borealis we can see that there are at least one characteristic in the strategic personality that keep being neglected in the selection even if they achieve job fit and cultural fit; the value exceed. But the job fit and cultural fit often result in at least a partial strategic fit. Even if Borealis would add strategic fit as a factor to consider in the selection the

55 ~ Discussion ~ result might not be different from the recruitment results today which will discussed a bit in the next sub-chapter.

The relevance of strategic fit How important is strategic fit in the light of all the other factors that affect the recruitment? As some respondents have said the pool of candidates is often limited so it is not often possible to get a candidate which is a match with all preferred requirements. The time limit and the monetary resources available for the recruitment are also two big limiting factors.

But even if you have the time, the money and a big pool of candidates to choose between, choosing the best fitting candidate is still not easy. As some theorists have pointed out there are many risks of mistakes in the selection process. Besides the risks involved in the interviews neither tests nor assessment centres are 100 percent reliable for predictions of future performance and the behaviours the candidate will show in the real work situation.

There is also a factor which affects the selection of candidate requirements. Many theorists say that you have to identify the most important requirements before a selection because it’s not possible to check too many skills and behaviours during the selection. Secondly, if you set to many requirements you limit your search too much. But choosing a few critical competences means that you have to exclude some requirements that you might find important but which you have to remove when prioritising the requirements. This means that even if one would find it of interest to aim for strategic fit, prioritising requirements might mean excluding the strategic fit in favour for other more critical requirements for the position.

Gubman says that companies are not homogenous throughout the organisation. A company who is having a product focused style also have parts of the organisation where the focus also lies on customers and operations. (Gubman, 1998) This is easy to see at Borealis. At the production sites there is a big focus on processes and cost minimisation while at the innovation centres there is a big focus on the product and inventing new and better solutions. This of course affects the kind of people you should hire, but could it still be of interest to have a basic strategic fit for all positions? Or is it enough, or even only possible, to get partial strategic fit in a company with big differences between departments?

The definition of strategic fit says that a candidate should have a personality which is compatible, similar or consistent with the characteristics of the company’s strategic personality. This means that it’s not necessary that a candidate has all the personality characteristics that the company has, but that the attributes that the candidate has should be in line with the strategic personality. This should mean that a partial match is a strategic fit as long as other personality characteristics of the candidate are not contradicting with the strategic personality of the company.

Gubman also says that it is more important for customer focused companies to have a strategic fit. This is probably correct but it doesn’t mean that it’s not important for process focused companies. One of the respondents said that a person who likes to see changes shouldn’t work in a process focused company where it is important to follow the mass. I believe that this is said from a retention point of view, meaning that this person probably wouldn’t stay for long in that company because he or she wouldn’t be happy in that kind of environment. But I also see it from a performance point of view. A person who thinks too differently compared to the company style might also prioritise in the wrong way compared to the company’s strategic goals. In the situation presented above the employee might put too

56 ~ Discussion ~ much energy into trying to change things for the better that he or she might not be as productive as other employees.

I think that it is important to look for strategic fit when it’s possible. I think it’s important in order to make the recruitment successful in terms of retention and also in terms of performance when it comes to positions where the employee will have to be able to prioritise and take decisions. I also find it important because a person might not stay at the same position during the whole time he or she works for one company. And if the person later on moves to positions where it is more important with strategic fit it might be important to look for strategic fit already from the beginning. But as the respondents and Gubman says, there should not be too many similar people in the organisation. But having common ground and to making sure that the candidate would support the strategy is important.

57 ~ Conclusions ~

6. Conclusions In this last chapter of the thesis I will present the conclusions I have reached with the case study and answer the research question based on those conclusions. I will also discuss this research’s theoretical and practical consequences. Finally I will complete this thesis with some suggestions for further research.

6.1. Case Borealis After studying the profile creation and selection process at Borealis I can see that they are not intentionally looking for a strategic fit. What have the highest focus in Borealis are the job specific requirements and the company values.

I can also conclude that the employees working with the recruitment at Borealis are not sure if aiming for strategic fit will be beneficial for the company: Their hesitation is based on the worry that a too big focus on the behaviours that would lead to strategic fit would lead to a lack of diversity among the personnel.

After analysing the different factors which are considered in the selection at Borealis I can see that most of the personality characteristics that can lead to strategic fit at Borealis are considered in the selection any way. But all of the characteristics are not considered in every selection, different persons focus on different strategically important characteristics. Based on why these characteristics are considered in the selection I draw the conclusion that the strategically fitting behaviours and values are of importance for Borealis to a certain extent although the respondents are hesitant towards strategic fit.

6.2. The research question The research question for this thesis is:

Will companies be able to hire better fitting and more successful employees if they strive for a strategic fit while creating the candidate profile and selecting the new employees?

From this question I derived four more specific questions:

• Which factors are important to focus on when selecting employees? • Is there, and/or should there be, a connection between the business strategy and the kind of personalities a company chooses to hire? • Is a strategic fit more important for some positions in a company than other? • Is strategic fit different from cultural fit?

I will now present my conclusions for each of these questions.

6.2.1. Which factors are important to focus on in selection? As the world of business is today most companies cannot afford to train their employees from scratch. Therefore they cannot hire good personalities without any basic technical skill and knowledge. So in all cases at least some technical requirements are needed in the selection. But at some point where the technical competences are at least good enough companies start to weigh attitudes, values and behaviours into the decision. Also motivation and interest are very important factors in the selection.

58 ~ Conclusions ~

Different companies put different weight on these factors. For some companies technical requirements are the most important factor in the selection whiles other companies, and theorists, find the behavioural attributes more important. But according to the respondents at Borealis all the factors are important to consider in order to find a candidate who will fit in the job, in the culture, in the team and in the company structure.

6.2.2. Is there a connection between the business strategy and selection? The literature study and the case study showed that there is in fact a connection between the business strategy and the personalities a company hires. The most common connection is that the company is built up in a certain way to support the achievement of the strategy. The different positions are therefore a result of the business strategy and to those positions companies tries to find the best fitting employees.

But there can also bee a direct connection between the business strategy and the personalities a company hires; that the characteristics of the strategy implies certain behavioural requirements for the personnel. This connection is not widely discussed and in the studied company it is not a connection they consciously take into account in the selection. But by trying to achieve cultural fit and job fit the company still seems to partially achieve a fit between the company’s strategic characteristics and its personnel’s personality attributes.

6.2.3. Is strategic fit more important for some positions? After reading about this subject and listening to the respondents’ opinions I think that strategic fit is of interest for all positions although it might be of more interest for some positions than other. But the big focus on company values at Borealis makes me think that having employees with at least the same basic values and ways of thinking that are in line with the strategic personality can be good for all positions for a few reasons.

First of all, people work better when they are motivated and feel comfortable with what they are doing. If they don’t agree on the way the company does things and competes on the market the employees will probably not be totally motivated and comfortable in the position and in the company. This can indirectly lead to less good performance compared to employees with strategic fit and can make an employee leave the company after just a short period of time.

Also, if you look further in the future and consider the fact that people often change position in companies, then it will also be of interest to have a strategic fit. Once a person is hired the testing of the personality of the person is not as thorough if the person applies for another job within the same company. Therefore it might be of interest to make sure that you have a strategic fit already in the beginning, before hiring the person.

Even though it might be more beneficial for customer focused companies than for other companies to aim for strategic fit of the employees I still believe that it is of importance for all companies. Otherwise the employees might not be motivated to do their job for a longer time or they might not feel comfortable in the company. They might also prioritise badly and take incorrect decisions compared to the business strategy.

59 ~ Conclusions ~

6.2.4. Is strategic fit different from cultural fit? Based on the case study I can draw the conclusion that cultural fit can be different from cultural fit. But this doesn’t mean that cultural fit always is different from strategic fit. Since the company values at Borealis are a big part of the company’s strategic personality, it seems that a cultural fit would lead to a strategic fit if the culture was totally in line with the strategy. If the situation is the same in all companies is impossible to say based on this study.

6.2.5. Does strategic fit result in better fitting and more successful employees? Like I said earlier my conclusion is that aiming for strategic fit is generally of interest in the selection for all positions, although it might have higher relevance for some positions than other. I believe that people with a strategic fit will make the right priorities in relation to the strategy in their daily job. Also people who are not working with the customers or with strategic decisions make decisions every day about which task they should prioritise and put more effort into. If they know the strategy and also believe in that way of working their priorities and decisions will more often be in line with the company’s wishes.

But there are also job specific characteristics that are of high importance that varies from position to position. Without the technical knowledge and skills and the personality needed to carry out a specific job the strategic fit is not of importance. During the selection you then have to identify the requirements that are the most crucial ones because you don’t have time to control all of them during the selection. And secondly, no candidate can have everything you would like it to have so you have to prioritise the most important factors for that reason too. Therefore it is necessary to prioritise the requirements to use in the selection and in this process the strategic fit might get a lower priority and therefore fall out of the scope of the selection.

Although only two theorists say that it is beneficial to look for strategically fitting characteristics in job candidates I believe that strategic fit could lead to both a higher chance of retention and alignment to the business strategy. The connection between strategy and selection is present, at least at Borealis, through the company values. But this connection and the fact that they do look, at least partly, for strategic fit is not something that the people are aware of. I believe that it is important to be aware of that and to be aware of which factors that are affecting the selection and why. Without the awareness and conscious considerations in the choice of requirements, and in the selection, there is a higher risk of mistakes and mismatches.

Of course there are many other factors that are affecting the selection and the effect of the strategic fit or misfit might not be very high compared to other factors. But after analysing my results of the literature study and the case study I believe that this is an important subject of discussion and that strategic fit is important to consider in the selection. When the limitations of reality comes into the picture (resources, candidate pools, the need to prioritise) then at least you know that your choice is based on conscious decisions and priorities and you know that you took all possible actions to identify the best fitting candidate for the company. Strategic fit should therefore be a part of the discussion before recruitment according to me, just like all other factors, even if the strategic fit might not have a place in the final requirements.

60 ~ Conclusions ~

6.3. Suggestions for further research This research can only show some indications that strategic fit might be important to achieve in the selection. These indications, although they are not very strong, makes me believe that it could be of interest to make further and more thorough research in this area to see if strategic fit can be beneficial for companies in general.

61 References

Books: Arthur D, 2005. Recruitment, Interviewing, Selecting and Orienting New employees . USA: AMACOM.

Bengtsson L and Skärvard P-H, 2001. Företagsekonomiska Perspektiv. Studentliteratur AB.

Branham L, 2005. 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late . USA: AMACOM

Bryman A, Bell E and Nilsson B, 2005. Företagsekonomiska forskningsmetoder . Malmö: Liber ekonomi.

Dessler G, 2005, 10e upplagan. Human resource management . Pearson Prentice Hall.

Evans C, 2003. Managing Knowledge for HR’s Strategic Role . Oxford: Butterworth- Heinemann.

Giles A, 1998. Att fråga: 40 frågor vid anställningsinervjun . Stockholm: Fakta info direkt.

Granberg O, 2003. PAOU . Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.

Gubman E.L, 1998. Aligning Strategy and People to Achieve Extraordinary Results . McGrawHill Professional Book Group.

Klinvex K, 1998. Hiring Great People . McGrawhill Professional Book Group.

Lindelöw M, 2008. Kompetensbaserad personalstrategi . Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.

Olve N-O, Roy J and Wetter M, 1999. Performance drivers: a practical guide to using the Balanced Scorecard . Great Britain: John Wiley & Sons LTD.

Sears D, 2002. Successful Talent Strategies: Achieving Superior Business Results Through Market-Focused Staffing . USA: AMACOM.

Warner, R, 2004. How to Run a Thriving Business: Strategies for Success and Satisfaction . USA: Berkley, CA.

Bourne, M, 2002. Strategy and Performance: Creating a Winning Business Formula. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

Articles: Becker B.E. and Huselid M.A. Journal of Management, 2006; 32; p. 898. Strategic Human Resources Management: Where Do We Go From here?

Brandon C. HR Magazine, November 2005; 50; 11; p. 89-94. Ebsco. Truth in recruitment branding: the key to success in honestly portraying your organization’s strengths and culture .

Dye C.F. Healthcare Financial Management, March 2007; 61; 3; p. 116. ABI/INFORM Global. Hiring: get it right the first time.

Lawler E.E III and Mohrman S.A. HR. Human Resource Planning; 2003; 26; 3; p. 15. ABI/INFORM Global. HR as a Strategic Partner: What Does It Take To Make It Happen?

McCulloch M.C and Turban D.B. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, March 2007; 15; 1; p. 63-71. Blackwell. Using Person-Organization Fit to Select Employees for High-Turnover Jobs .

Outlaw, W. HR Focus, June 1999; p.8. ABI/INFORM Global. Results-Oriented Approach Improves hiring process .

Other: Small Business Town Network, 2008. Small Business Dictionary of Business Planning Terms. Available at: http://www.smbtn.com/smallbusinessdictionary/ (Accessed 10 November 2007)

Pearson Education Ltd, 2008. Glossary. [Online] Available at: http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/wps/media/objects/1452/1487687/glossary/glossary.html. (Accessed 6 April 2008)

Euro-Inf. 2007. Euro-Inf Glossary. [Online] Available at: http://www.euro-inf.eu/content/view/16/16/ (Accessed 5 April 2008)

Princeton University. 2006 Definition of the word fit. [Online] 1) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=fit (Accessed 6 April 2008) 2) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=behaviour (Accessed 6 April 2008) 3) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=motivation (Accessed 6 April 2008) 4) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=personality (Accessed 6 April 2008) 5) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=skills (Accessed 6 April 2008) 6) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=talent (Accessed 6 April 2008) 7) Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=value (Accessed 6 April 2008)

Deardorff A. V. & Sweetland J. W, 2008. Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics. [Online] Available at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/s.html (Accessed 14 March 2008)

Intranet Software Solutions Europe Ltd, 2008. Performance management glossary. [Online] Available at: http://www.issel.co.uk/resources/pm_glossary.htm (Accessed 30 March 2008)

Wikimedia Foundation, 2008. Article on Competence (Human Resources). [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competence (human resources) (Accessed 6 April 2008)

63

University of Melbourne, 2006. IT & ITIL based glossary of terms. [Online] Available at: http://servicedesk.unimelb.edu.au/knowledgebase/itservices/a-z/k.html (Accessed 6 April 2008)

Wardrip L, 2008. Definitions of anthropological terms. [Online] Available at: http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html (Accessed 6 April 2008)

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 2003. Glossary of economic growth terms. [Online] Available at: http://www.economicadventure.org/teachers/glossary_econ.cfm (Accessed 2 May 2008)

Borealis AG, 2008. About Borealis. [Online] 1) Available at: http://www.borealisgroup.com/about/about-borealis/ (Accessed 17 May 2008) 2) Available at: http://www.borealisgroup.com/about/about-borealis/values-and- mission/?view=Standard (Accessed 17 May 2008) 3) Available at: http://www.borealisgroup.com/about/about-borealis/history/ 5Accessed 17 May 2008°

Sujansky J.G., PhD, 2007. The sustainable non-profit. [Online] Available at: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/tsn/tsn.jhtml?id=188000012 (Accessed 14 May 2008)

Bersin J, 2006. Talent Management. What is it? Why now? [Online] Available at: http://www.bersin.com/tips_techniques/06_apr_talentmgt.asp (Accessed 6 May 2008).

64

Appendix 1. Interview templates

A summary of questions asked to external consultants:

• What are you working with on a daily basis? • How long have you been working with recruitment? • How is the procedure when you get a request to search for people for a certain position? • Are there any differences between different companies how the procedure is done? • What kind of information do you get or ask for at the company, so the client? • Do you see any differences there between companies, what kind of information they are giving you? • And what kind of factors do you look for in the recruitment? • Are there any differences in what different companies emphasise? • What does Borealis emphasise? • Do you see any differences between different companies in what kind of personality they are looking for? • Do you ever get any information about the companies’ strategy? • In which purpose do you usually get that? • Do you think that the competitive strategy, so in the way companies are competing, affect the people that you’re looking for? • One theorist has presented three different categories of companies; companies that are process focused, customer focused companies and also product focused companies. And he was arguing for the fact that you should hire people with different personalities depending on which category your company belongs to. What do you think about that idea? • And do you think that applies for all positions or are there some positions that are more affected? • Do you see this connection in Borealis?

65

A summary of questions asked to employees at Borealis: (All questions have not been asked to all respondents)

• What are you working with on a daily basis? • How long have you been working with recruitment? • How does it work when you decide what kind of person to look for? • What kind of factors do you look for in the recruitment? Why? • Which factor do you think is the most important one? • Do you think that personality is an important factor in the selection of new employees? • Do you use the Borealis Behaviour Dictionary? • How does Borealis strategy affect your work? • Do you think that Borealis is competing differently than other companies in the industry? • Do you think that is affecting the kind of people that you are looking for? • Do you know if Borealis hires different kinds of people compared to other companies? • Do you have any examples of successful and not successful employees? • Do you know why one was successful and not the other? • Do you think that the culture within Borealis is in line with the strategy? • One theorist has presented three different categories of companies; companies that are process focused, customer focused companies and also product focused companies. And he was arguing for the fact that you should hire people with different personalities depending on which category your company belongs to. What do you think about that idea? • And do you think that applies for all positions or are there some positions that are more affected?

66

Appendix 2.Worksheet for determining motivational job factors.

Most Factor Comments Important Variety (same task every day, job rotation, multitasking required) Autonomy (very little autonomy, very little supervision) Feedback (customer feedback, quality checks on own work, track own sales figures) Part vs. whole (assembly line vs. cells, up-front sales vs. start-to-finish sales) Interaction with co-workers (teams, individual, both) Work environment (office, plant warehouse, outdoors, temperature and cleanliness, physical requirements, safety issues) Compensation (commission, salary, hourly, bonuses, pay-for-performance vs. seniority, rate of pay) Growth opportunities (on-the-job training, promotional opportunities) Supervisory style (traditional vs. empowering) Work schedule (shifts, shift rotation, hours/day, hours/week, overtime, week work, flex time) Benefits (health, retirement, day care) Location (transportation, parking) Job stability (company’s financial status and reputation in community) Other

Source: Klinvex, 1998 p. 123

67 Appendix 3. Interview results

Question* HR-personnel Managers** External HR cons ultants*** What is the most - Both technical skills and behaviours. (2; 5) - Depends on the position. But team - I think motivation is a very big item. important factor in the - The whole package. (4) work is important for everyone. For (8) selection? - Depends on the position but in general I operators technical skills are a must, - There need to be a given minimum really believe that the more personal plus team work and independence. (9) of technical skills of course but the competences and the values are very - Always a combination, plus being match is of most importance. (13) crucial in a position. People with potential careful and think about safety. (10) and generic skills can learn, while people - It’s a balance. Initiative I value most. with the right technical skills but not the Initiative, self dependence and right behaviours are not ok. (7) openness also. (15) - It depends on the position. For engineers the technical knowledge and skills are the most important but for leaders it’s the characteristics. (6) - The combination, it depends on the other persons in the team. You have to have a good mix. (1) - The match. Some issues can be compensated with good things in other areas. But the match with technical and personality and team. (11) Which factors do you - Technical competences are of course very - We are always looking for a Borealis - A multiple of the experience, the consider in the selection? important, and then depending on the job profile type of person; someone who’s background and skills and what kind of competences we are looking open, honest and independent. But they competences which can be both for. Then of course international also have to have a diploma from the technical and softer skills like experience because we are trying to get highest university level. (15) interpersonal skills, leadership skills international scientists to Linz. (5) - We basically use the job descriptions. etc. (13) - Technical background and skills, (They include requirements of - Knowledge, experience, cultural fit. motivation and personality. (4) education, skills, competences and (8) - Technical job specific things and behaviours) (3) behaviours. (1) - Both technical and also the behaviour. - Technical skills, behaviour and motivation. (9) We focus really on the behaviours. (11) - It is education that we require, and then - First of all I think we really look also to the some other criteria like team work. (10) values of Borealis. Competences and 68

behaviours. (7) - Competence, education, experience and candidate characteristics. (6) How does the strategy - For example, we have now recruitments for - Strategy flows down to the different - The way you are placed in the affect the selection of the Borouge to-project. It means that we dimensions in the company (customer market will by definition affect your employees? are sending people with a technical profile dimension, supply dimension etc.) strategy as a business or as a whole. like engineers and operators, that we send down in the departments and the So it definitely will affect the type of them to Borouge for a certain period. (1) positions needed to carry out the work. person you’re looking for. (13) - The role is connected to the strategy; the The need for a function comes from the - The strategy of the company and the role serves a business purpose which serves top and down so there is a link between way of working is more important to the strategy. But what you’re really looking roles, the strategy and eventually the convince the people than to find the at is what’s the role, what’s the position, people we hire. (3) right people. (8) what’s the person going to do? (2) - In a way yes but the effect is very - I can say that we have a strong focus in indirect. We want to have in a way best R&D, it means that we are now for available people so from that point of example looking for some additional view it is there. I mean we want to be researchers as we are expanding also in the best. (9) Porvoo so that’s how it affects. And of - It doesn’t really affect, the company is course then what type of people we are so old that we know what kind of really looking for, I think we are putting a people we need. It affects us in the way lot of effort on recruitment. We really like that we need to hire more people to find the best available guys, really the because we are going to let people go right persons and I think that we really do to Abu Dhabi to start up the new exceed in our business all in all. (4) cracker there. (10) - They are all connected; the company - We are trying to get people on board purpose and the goal setting and the who will be able to support and drive mission and strategy and values they are all our business goals. Values and strategy connected to each other. So in that way it’s is a clear decision factor in the probably affecting my work but I’m not selection process. (14) thinking about the strategy when I’m doing - Not really at all when you come down my work. (5) to floor level. People have to fit in the - It affects in sense that we have to think working place. (15) about that the co-workers that we take in need to be flexible. It’s included in our strategy that we support and help to build those parts that Borealis invest in. So the ones we take in have to be committed to

69

contribute and not just say that they are doing their job where they are. We have to be flexible and we need to think about that in the recruitment. (6) - I think that this is important and that we also see that we keep alliance with the strategy and that we try to translate that strategy also to our actual work. In the sense for example around innovation which is an important point in the strategy that we also look with this background and with these eyes to certain positions. For instance if I need to hire an engineer that I take that into account in the sense: “is this person a creative person? Is this a person, has this person already shown some evidence on that area, that we really take that into account. (7) - Not direct I think. But of course when a company changes you have new vacancies. (11) Should companies aim to - If what you are trying to say is that on top - Indirectly yea, culture is pretty much - It depends on the position. But the hire people with the same of finding people who have the right determined by the leading people and process is really important if you personality as the knowledge and education and work in the culture you try to fit the best have a company who is really strategic personality? experience you also try to find people who people. I guess the culture is reflecting process focused. If you have a are innovative, creative or who have very the behaviour and characteristics of the candidate who is very motivated and strong people maybe leadership skills, then leading people. (15) wants to see changes you don’t need yes they have a greater potential to be - In a way I see the point. But at least in to set them in a company where you successful in Borealis, in the role and in research and development you benefit just have to follow the mass. So it Borealis. Because on top on doing their job from diversity. We benefit from having can influence the recruitment yea. (8) they will also try to find new ways to both diversity and the right behaviours. improve and so on. (2) (9) - So that of course, that is important that the - In some categories yes. (10) person is kind of promoting the similar - Some HR experts have suggested that type of attitude or strategy. But I think that most companies tend to select similar still you need those who are a bit people which conform to the company challenging you, who have a bit different personality. This can be positive

70

ideas and opinions. I really believe that you depending upon the particular company should have a kind of some mixture, a little and its business activities. However, bit different types. (4) experts caution that this could lead to - I think that’s good if one doesn’t hire to stagnation and inability in the company similar persons who think in the same way. to make change should there be a sharp But at the same time the persons that you change to the environment. hire need to at least think that the Alternatively, in companies where the company’s strategy is somewhat ok and business model requires quick changes work in that direction. But one needs some these companies tend to select a wider diversity. (6) range of personalities. This coupled - I think you need some common ground with a strong management process can certainly but you need to be aware to not result in these companies rebuilding make too many clones of each other. (7) themselves to outperform competition. - Partly I think it’s correct, but it has to do (14) with the function of course. When you have a customer service function people have to be customer minded, and for example what I said that people have to be flexible and has to take on challenges that’s also in line with innovation but also not true for each function. I think it’s not true for every job opportunity we have. But in general we should have a good mix I think. (11) * The question has not been asked exactly in this form in all the interviews and the answers are not exact quotes, they have been shortened. All questions have not been asked in all interviews. ** In this group there are both managers and group leaders with recruiting responsibility. *** The answers from the external recruiters in this table are their own personal opinions. In their work they have to follow the wishes of their clients. All though they can give consults the client is the one having the final decision.

71

The University of Kalmar

The University of Kalmar has more than 9000 students. We offer education and research in natural sciences, technology, the maritime field, social science, languages and humanities, teacher training, caring sciences and social service.

Our profile areas in research are: biomedicine/biotechnology, environmental sciences, marine ecology, automation, business administration and informatics, but we have research proceeding in most subject areas of the University.

Since 1999, the University of Kalmar has the right to accept students in postgraduate studies and to examine doctors within the subject area natural sciences.

Baltic Business School, at the university of Kalmar Visiting address: Kalmar Nyckel, Gröndalsvägen 19 SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden Tel: +46 (0)480 - 49 71 00 www.bbs.hik.se