Individual differences matter in the workplace

 During week two of BUS 4402, I learned that individual differences matter in the workplace. While employees bring in their personality, physical and mental abilities to work, it is a test for all business owners. From interviewing a candidate to what they expect their employees to demonstrate. Unfortunately, most of them only focus on expectation, particularly, how much money they can earn by doing their job well enough. I think it is similar to a chess game. Suppose your pieces are the employees, how you move them and how you place them at the right square on the board, is your strategy. Although a Queen may be more powerful than a Knight, the Queen is still in danger if you put it in the wrong place. That caused me to wonder, how do we know such private information of each employee we hire, to definite them as each piece on a chessboard? Usually, we collect tons of data as much as we can to better understand who we are hiring. However, it seems like predicting the future based on past experiences which are not always effective. Oftentimes, the behavior you may expect from someone proactive, creative, and willing to take risks will depend on the situation. 

In Taiwan, I reckon that most business owners only care about the Person–job fit rather than Person–job fit when hiring employees. If you only care about a person’s skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands, they will only do "what the job demands". Personal values, personality, goals may seem unnecessary at first while recruiting. However, it will become significant in the long term. I think it is reasonable that companies are often interested in hiring candidates who will fit into the company culture since they tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their companies.

In addition, faking tests during interviews is also what I was trying to understand. Does any of these tests all consider lies and honesty? Candidates who are faking better than others, are more likely to perform their jobs well? Or, they are just loose cannons that will accidentally blow in the future. If we give an aspirational answer to a friend, that probably means we want to build a good relationship with him/her. However, it is still a lie. When it becomes a habit, it will spill over and affect how they will behave. Although business owners all want to completely know who they are hiring, it is still a strenuous task. Therefore, if I choose to use these tests for selection, I must understand the limitations. Relying only on personality tests is a bad idea, I think. 

An example of hiring was Elon Musk's favorite question to ask during job interviews which leave people stumped. Elon Musk asked this question to people that interviewed at SpaceX and Tesla. "You're standing on the surface of the Earth. You take a walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?” Musk doesn't actually care whether you got the correct answer. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to check whether prospective applicants approach problem solving and process information.

Reference

REUTERS), (I. (2021, June 17). Riddle Elon Musk asks during job interviews for spaceX leaving people stumped. mirror. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/elon-musks-favourite-question-ask-24328522