my respond (1) In my opinion, Pat has been selecting the correct traits/ charact
ID: 413107 • Letter: M
Question
my respond
(1)
In my opinion, Pat has been selecting the correct traits/ characteristics in people whiling hiring. The most important positive traits for this finance industry are intelligence, self-confidence, ethical orientation i.e. integrity, and interpersonal skills which Pat is looking for. However, if a person has sufficient integrity and orientation, he/ she may not be leaving the company just after one year of training knowing that the company has invested a lot of dollars for training purpose. So, what is more, crucial is the 'method' Pat is using during the hiring process and not the characteristics themselves.
(2)
Yes, it is possible that the two things are uncorrelated. The attrition rate may depend on a bunch of external factors including the existing supply and demand in the given industry, and the difference in offer attributes between this company and the competition. It may also be related to the internal environment of the company. For example, if the existing employees are not happy with the present work environment, they can communicate their feelings to the new joinees and that could create a repulsive effect. The training experience and the way newcomers are treated and managed in the company can also have negative effects.
(3)
As mentioned earlier, I would not have changed the traits which I am looking for. I would have focussed on the 'method' by which I decide that people have a particular trait. I would have researched and implemented the best practices related to finding these traits in human beings to make the hiring process more effective. I would have consulted with other leaders of the same industry regarding these best practices and developed a benchmark.
(4)
It is true that all of the greatest leaders in the World has/ had some of the positive traits common in them but it is not true that all of them inherited these traits from their birth time. For example, Buddha took birth in a lavish background/ family which didn't have any form of servant leadership role in the society. But later in his life, Buddha developed certain qualities determination, self-confidence, conscientiousness, and honesty which led him to become one of the greatest servant leaders of all time. This was developed through his continuous behavioral changes by his intermingling and socializing in the society when he became a monk. So, in my opinion, both behavioral component and trait play simultaneous roles in shaping a leader's personality.
classmate #1 response
Based on ideas described in the trait approach, do you think Pat is looking for the right characteristics in the people he hires? Why or why not?
According to Pat's hiring criteria, he clearly focuses more on the personal skills of his targeted candidates: the ability to get work done and the capability to communicate with people, highly matching Scogdill's trait approach, which is out of date in some way. Pat needs to modify his hiring criteria and make it more fit for candidate hunting in the future.
Could it be that the retention problem raised by upper management is unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria?It's possible that the problem raised by upper management is unrelated to Pat's criteria. The upper management aren't the ones that work most closely with new hires and they might not be familiar with the whole process. However, Pat could meet with the upper management to see if it's necessary to modify the succession plan a bit or to understand what kind of new hires are the management people really looking for.
If you were Pat, would you change your approach to recruiting? Why or why not?I would change my approach to recruiting if I were Pat because clearly there's something wrong with the hiring criteria, which is not all-round enough to test all the candidates.
What are your thoughts regarding the Trait Approach to Leadership? Do you agree with what the research indicates?I actually agree with some of Stogdill's researches even though some of which are out of date. Still, drive for responsibility, vigor in pursuit of goals, risk taking, etc are essential factors for making a successful leader. Moreover, Mann's survey and results are more all-round and detailed.
classmate #2 response
1. Based on ideas described in the trait approach, I do think Pat is looking for the right characteristics in the people he hires. He seems to be thinking about several aspects of the job that require many different characteristics - strong interpersonal skills, confident, poise, initiative, proper ethics, strong sense of importance of confidentiality, strong analytical and technical skills, skilled in computers, and commitment (page 36). These characteristics not only describe skills needed to do the job from a technical/task standpoint but also ones that can be described to have leadership potential. If we refer back to Table 2.2 on page 23 we can see the major leadership traits listed are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability.
2. In my opinion, the retention problem raised by upper management can be unrelated to Pat's recruitment criteria. Based on the characteristics he considers above, he is looking for traits that also pertain to leadership. There could be other factors involved in the retention problem including job satisfaction, compensation, employee value, etc. While it seems Pat is looking at the right characteristics, it does say he usually ends up hiring about 20 new people, most of whom come from the same school, year after year. Perhaps if he did want to make a change to see if there would be a difference in retention he should try hiring students that have the same qualifications but from schools he normally doesn't hire from.
3. The only approach I would change, as mentioned in #2, is maybe consider students from schools I haven't been normally hiring from.
4. As our textbook mentions, the Trait Approach to Leadership has credibility because of the longevity of the research done thus far. I do think that there are certain traits that may give a person more of an advantage of being a leaders, however I do agree with the criticisms regarding trait leadership in which it does not consider the relationship among leader and followers or the situation. Table 2.1 shows the various studies and traits different researchers found that could define a leader. They are not uniform amongst the researchers and there are a lot of them. So, in my opinion, these traits may describe a leader, however the situation and relationships play an equally important part.
Questions ;
Part II: Responses to Classmates
After reading your classmates responses to the case study questions, do you agree or disagree with their point of view? Why or why not?
Did you find any similarities in your point of view, if so how are they similar?
Explanation / Answer
I agree with the viewpoints of my classmates that Prat needs to be changed and well adapted to the present situation. There is more focus given by Pat on the hiring criteria of personal skills and if they have the capability to get the work done. The work environment of a company and the leaders who motivate them set a strong standard for employees to get work done and be strongly motivated to better their performance. There have been instances wherein employees have drastically shown improvement and leadership skills based on the model behavior set in the organization. I agree with the students that Pat is trying hard to match Scogdill's trait approach. However it is outdated and there is need for modifying the hiring criteria so it becomes more fit for the hiring process in the future.
There are similarities in the point of view pertaining to the importance and effect of work environment of the employees. The effect of training experience and how it has an effect on the management of the company. The students were also of the opinion that it is necessary to implement a successful hiring process which will set a benchmark. My suggestion of making hiring process more effective is similar to the viewpoint of the employees to change the hiring style.
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