A recent American study of first names* showed that the name an individual carries has a significant impact on how he or she is viewed, and conceivably, whether or not the individual is hired for a job.
More specifically, researchers found that common names were seen as least unique, best liked, and most likely to be hired. Unusual names were seen as most unique, least liked, and least likely to be hired.
The findings may not necessarily relate to the real world since the study was conducted in a laboratory situation. But, it is also worthwhile to keep in mind that research exists showing a strong correlation between an individual's attitudes and subsequent behavior.
Importantly, there are several practical implications of the study’s findings. These may also be considered in countries like China.
Because of bias in how people perceive names and for easier communication, Chinese employees routinely choose Western names when dealing with foreigners. Thus, when selecting a name, they may want to reconsider choosing distinctive or unique names as Purple, Sugar, Jelly, Fish, Candy, or Shellboy to name a few, so as to avoid any possible dislike of the name during their professional career.
For HR professionals, they need to be aware that there seems to be a clear bias in how people perceive names. When CVs are screened for hiring purposes names (just like pictures) should be left off to avoid potential discrimination. Alternatively, applications and CVs could be routed to hiring managers with initials only or applicant numbers.
*Cotton, John L.; O'Neill, Bonnie S.; and Griffin, Andrea (2008). The “name game”: affective and hiring reactions to first names. Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 23. No. 1. pp. 18-39.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
From Cultures by Accident to Cultures by Design
When it comes to marketing, companies are prompt to adopt the rule of “thinking globally and acting locally”; but, in talent management, they tend to promote values and working styles of the company’s home country.
Nevertheless, despite ongoing efforts to encourage uniform productivity, process standards, management style, performance expectations, etc., a significant degree of misalignment occurs between organizational cultures in China and global agendas. Consequently, hybrid cultures emerge from cultures carried over by expatriates, cultural dynamics of local Chinese, and the divergent third-cultures of returnees and overseas Chinese. These cultures are very much “by accident” and not “by design”.
Specifically, reasons for the development of cultures by accident include:
• People management practices can remain defunct because other methods exist for management to increase shareholder value.
• A “come and go attitude” of expatriates. Expatriates’ job embeddedness is relatively low since their connections to the community and the local organization are weak.
• High attrition rates among senior managers and employees. As the majority of employees seem to be quite new to the organization, there is no one to pass along company values and socialize new hires into the established culture. Consequently, every individual applies their own set of values when working with internal and external stakeholders.
• An inability of HR to engage in the organization from a strategy perspective and design a system to develop a desired culture. The role of strategic partner is overshadowed by the role of administrative expert.
• Scarcity of talent precludes recruiters from assessing candidates’ values and whether a cultural fit exists.
Cultures in China will become by design and play an increasing role when the following changes occur:
• Companies will run out of options for bottom-line improvements. Cost effectiveness and quality standards become uniform and will no longer differentiate the company substantially from their competitors.
• The selection of expatriate candidates becomes more rigorous. The candidates will have the “right” skills, cultural attitudes, and a long-term intention to live there.
• Companies develop strategy to effectively retain leaders and ensure their high commitment levels.
• HR professionals learn tools to uncover organizational self-perception and develop skills in culture management and change management.
• With the growing number of qualified candidates, knowledge and skill sets quickly become redundant.
Nevertheless, despite ongoing efforts to encourage uniform productivity, process standards, management style, performance expectations, etc., a significant degree of misalignment occurs between organizational cultures in China and global agendas. Consequently, hybrid cultures emerge from cultures carried over by expatriates, cultural dynamics of local Chinese, and the divergent third-cultures of returnees and overseas Chinese. These cultures are very much “by accident” and not “by design”.
Specifically, reasons for the development of cultures by accident include:
• People management practices can remain defunct because other methods exist for management to increase shareholder value.
• A “come and go attitude” of expatriates. Expatriates’ job embeddedness is relatively low since their connections to the community and the local organization are weak.
• High attrition rates among senior managers and employees. As the majority of employees seem to be quite new to the organization, there is no one to pass along company values and socialize new hires into the established culture. Consequently, every individual applies their own set of values when working with internal and external stakeholders.
• An inability of HR to engage in the organization from a strategy perspective and design a system to develop a desired culture. The role of strategic partner is overshadowed by the role of administrative expert.
• Scarcity of talent precludes recruiters from assessing candidates’ values and whether a cultural fit exists.
Cultures in China will become by design and play an increasing role when the following changes occur:
• Companies will run out of options for bottom-line improvements. Cost effectiveness and quality standards become uniform and will no longer differentiate the company substantially from their competitors.
• The selection of expatriate candidates becomes more rigorous. The candidates will have the “right” skills, cultural attitudes, and a long-term intention to live there.
• Companies develop strategy to effectively retain leaders and ensure their high commitment levels.
• HR professionals learn tools to uncover organizational self-perception and develop skills in culture management and change management.
• With the growing number of qualified candidates, knowledge and skill sets quickly become redundant.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Do Not Apply
When advertising positions, companies attempt to prevent unqualified candidates from applying through setting different bars.
Recently, a position for the Head of Human Resources at an “established Foreign Bank, upholding its long tradition of providing value-added services for both institutional and private investors in the region” was advertised by a third-party recruiter.
The most interesting requirement was, "candidates currently earning less than RMB 700,000 do not apply."
Obviously, this point implies that the bank is seeking a professional:
• … with experience at an established and more bureaucratic company as opposed to a smaller and more entrepreneurial company. In most cases, younger and entrepreneurial companies are much less likely to offer high salaries.
• … who has worked for an international company as opposed to a local Chinese company. Again, international companies are more prone to pay higher salaries.
• … who is older as opposed to younger. Older professionals earn higher salaries than younger ones. Ogilvy's Matthew Anderson says successful executives earn 80 percent of their net worth after the age of 40.
One cannot resist thinking of other motives behind this restriction.
• First, the assumption that the more one earns, the more valuable and pivotal one is. Unfortunately, compensation is not always commensurate with contribution. Furthermore, compensation does not necessarily correspond to strengths and talents, especially in cultures in which leaders are promoted based on age and status.
• The bank follows the belief that one has to climb the career ladder step-by-step instead of leaping over steps.
• The bank yearns to attract a person who has the same role at another organization. The bank probably motivates, encourages, and rewards people performance mainly with money. Consequently, the organization seeks to hire people motivated by money more than intangible elements of EVP.
• The bank is “trying to kill two birds with a single shot”. Upon completion of the recruitment process, the bank owns benchmarking data on compensation packages among professionals with similar qualifications and experience at competitor organizations (within financial or professional services industry).
The only question remains, how likely is it that professionals earning RMB 700,000 will find this job offer since they tend to be passive candidates in China’s job market. An alignment of the medium and the message is inevitably critical.
Recently, a position for the Head of Human Resources at an “established Foreign Bank, upholding its long tradition of providing value-added services for both institutional and private investors in the region” was advertised by a third-party recruiter.
The most interesting requirement was, "candidates currently earning less than RMB 700,000 do not apply."
Obviously, this point implies that the bank is seeking a professional:
• … with experience at an established and more bureaucratic company as opposed to a smaller and more entrepreneurial company. In most cases, younger and entrepreneurial companies are much less likely to offer high salaries.
• … who has worked for an international company as opposed to a local Chinese company. Again, international companies are more prone to pay higher salaries.
• … who is older as opposed to younger. Older professionals earn higher salaries than younger ones. Ogilvy's Matthew Anderson says successful executives earn 80 percent of their net worth after the age of 40.
One cannot resist thinking of other motives behind this restriction.
• First, the assumption that the more one earns, the more valuable and pivotal one is. Unfortunately, compensation is not always commensurate with contribution. Furthermore, compensation does not necessarily correspond to strengths and talents, especially in cultures in which leaders are promoted based on age and status.
• The bank follows the belief that one has to climb the career ladder step-by-step instead of leaping over steps.
• The bank yearns to attract a person who has the same role at another organization. The bank probably motivates, encourages, and rewards people performance mainly with money. Consequently, the organization seeks to hire people motivated by money more than intangible elements of EVP.
• The bank is “trying to kill two birds with a single shot”. Upon completion of the recruitment process, the bank owns benchmarking data on compensation packages among professionals with similar qualifications and experience at competitor organizations (within financial or professional services industry).
The only question remains, how likely is it that professionals earning RMB 700,000 will find this job offer since they tend to be passive candidates in China’s job market. An alignment of the medium and the message is inevitably critical.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
All Talk
Over the past couple of days, I read several articles on “employee retention” in China based on research data with insight into why employees stay or leave.
In short, employees are simply looking for sound interpersonal relationships, a healthy organizational culture, a sense of contribution, and opportunities to learn and grow; all of which have been considered primary retention drivers (fair compensation is classified as a secondary retention driver).
One can assume that many companies in China under deliver on these factors because of the rising attrition rates and relatively short average tenure of employees (about two years) and leaders (between 1-2 years).
Even so, when providing recommendations to subdue the attrition problem in China, the authors advise to “select the right people”. Accordingly, the candidates should be the right fit to the job, the organization, and the leadership in order to increase retention.
Yes, this is a significant challenge to find talent that not only has the skills, experience, and knowledge, but also does not mind a poor relationship with his/her boss, weak leadership, lack of recognition for their contribution, growth opportunities, and dull work.
In short, employees are simply looking for sound interpersonal relationships, a healthy organizational culture, a sense of contribution, and opportunities to learn and grow; all of which have been considered primary retention drivers (fair compensation is classified as a secondary retention driver).
One can assume that many companies in China under deliver on these factors because of the rising attrition rates and relatively short average tenure of employees (about two years) and leaders (between 1-2 years).
Even so, when providing recommendations to subdue the attrition problem in China, the authors advise to “select the right people”. Accordingly, the candidates should be the right fit to the job, the organization, and the leadership in order to increase retention.
Yes, this is a significant challenge to find talent that not only has the skills, experience, and knowledge, but also does not mind a poor relationship with his/her boss, weak leadership, lack of recognition for their contribution, growth opportunities, and dull work.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Birds and HR
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" says an English proverb. In addition, the Polish adage goes like this: "Lepszy wrobel w garsci niz golab na dachu" (German equivalent: "Besser ein Spatz in der Hand, als eine Taube auf dem Dach"); literal meaning: "A sparrow in your hand is better than a pigeon on the roof".
In all three languages, this proverb relates to decision-making and risk-taking even though the English proverb suggests taking a chance for quantitative gain and the Polish and German proverb focuses on the qualitative win.
The current HR practice is just the opposite of the wisdom espoused in the proverb. It implies to see many candidates before hiring the “best”. So, the hiring decision is postponed until interviews are held with a handful of candidates. Even though HR will meet highly qualified candidates, it tends to continue the process by bringing in yet another candidate for an assessment and interview. Indeed, this entire process is a poor use of time and a gamble toward losing qualified candidates on-hand because HR is trying to secure better candidates (more qualified or less expensive, please decide on the one you prefer) though they may be out of reach anyway.
Thus, although well known and passed on from one generation to another, the “bird” proverb has been overruled by indecision in HR. Instead, an applied proverb would cause action once HR finds a suitable candidate. Just-in-Time HR instead of the typical 60-day recruitment cycle would be a real breakthrough.
Lastly, birds are indeed a good metaphor to help shape thinking in contemporary HR because of the way talent is flying around these days between employers as discussed in DDI’s article “Flight of Human Capital”; which I referred to in one of my earlier blog entries.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
HR should report to the CEO
In about 13 percent of companies (for smaller companies the number is 22 percent), the head of HR reports to the CFO (CFO Research Services, 2003).
Per job description, the CFO represents a primarily financial orientation and creates value by saving money or cutting costs. In such an arrangement, it is easy for HR to simply become an extension of accounting with HR programs and processes being implemented for their cost-effectiveness and ease of administration.
Reporting to a CFO is reasonable when HR is focused on transactions, strives to cut costs, and/or works well with metrics. But, the first two conditions are losing relevance since HR has automated and outsourced the majority of transactional processes to various vendors thereby improving efficiency and lowering costs. In fact, HR function expenditures currently account for less than 1 percent of the company’s total operating costs (BNA/SHRM Survey and analyses of 740 publicly held firms).
Instead, HR should focus on maximizing the strategic value of the workforce. After all, total payroll expenses equal between 60 to 70 percent of operating costs.
Thus, the best firms separate the HR function from Finance and require the HR Director to report to the CEO, who, per job description, seeks to generate money by investing in high ROI resources.
Per job description, the CFO represents a primarily financial orientation and creates value by saving money or cutting costs. In such an arrangement, it is easy for HR to simply become an extension of accounting with HR programs and processes being implemented for their cost-effectiveness and ease of administration.
Reporting to a CFO is reasonable when HR is focused on transactions, strives to cut costs, and/or works well with metrics. But, the first two conditions are losing relevance since HR has automated and outsourced the majority of transactional processes to various vendors thereby improving efficiency and lowering costs. In fact, HR function expenditures currently account for less than 1 percent of the company’s total operating costs (BNA/SHRM Survey and analyses of 740 publicly held firms).
Instead, HR should focus on maximizing the strategic value of the workforce. After all, total payroll expenses equal between 60 to 70 percent of operating costs.
Thus, the best firms separate the HR function from Finance and require the HR Director to report to the CEO, who, per job description, seeks to generate money by investing in high ROI resources.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Internal Blogging
Besides stay interviews, internal blogging is an excellent communication platform to increase performance and retention.
Internal blogging encourages business conversations, team building, project management, knowledge sharing, cross-shift communications, and provides a window of opportunity to learn what employees think about their company*.
Companies that support internal blogging have seen improvements in their products, processes, and quality of service as a result of employees being more communicative, more involved, and more outwardly focused. Other benefits of internal blogging include:
• Employees enjoy their work more,
• Employees connect more with people outside their teams, and
• Employees share and receive information on a whole in a new scale.
Furthermore, the best employee blogs allow for open brainstorming and problem-solving and thereby improve efficiency across the organization.
For these reasons, internal blogging has a great potential to become another “HR best practice”. However, before your organization can deploy internal blogging, it must be considered either this framework is appropriate given your organizational circumstances.
* Wright, Jeremy (2006). Blog Marketing. New York: McGraw Hill.
Internal blogging encourages business conversations, team building, project management, knowledge sharing, cross-shift communications, and provides a window of opportunity to learn what employees think about their company*.
Companies that support internal blogging have seen improvements in their products, processes, and quality of service as a result of employees being more communicative, more involved, and more outwardly focused. Other benefits of internal blogging include:
• Employees enjoy their work more,
• Employees connect more with people outside their teams, and
• Employees share and receive information on a whole in a new scale.
Furthermore, the best employee blogs allow for open brainstorming and problem-solving and thereby improve efficiency across the organization.
For these reasons, internal blogging has a great potential to become another “HR best practice”. However, before your organization can deploy internal blogging, it must be considered either this framework is appropriate given your organizational circumstances.
* Wright, Jeremy (2006). Blog Marketing. New York: McGraw Hill.
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