In the first post in this series (see The OD Quest: Part 1- Mapping the terrain) we did a cartography of the Human Resources (HR) and
Organization Development (OD) domains to map out the current world (the
terrain) inhabited by HR and OD and also the evolving worldviews in HR and OD
(ways of looking at the terrain). Now, let us come back to the statement made by
our Senior HR Leader – about ‘doing recruitment in the OD way’.
Prima facie, OD and Recruitment appear to be ‘strange
bedfellows’. Aren’t they at the opposite ends of the spectrum of HR activities
in terms of their nature? Isn’t OD supposed to be much more strategic and
evolved as compared to Recruitment? Aren’t the skillsets required for OD and
Recruitment dramatically different? However, when I thought about
underlying issues a bit more quite a few possibilities started to emerge in
addition to paradoxes! The crux of the issue here is ‘What is meant by
the OD way?’.
While OD is typically defined as a planned effort to
increase organization effectiveness using behavioral-science knowledge, the
domains that are typically associated with OD are Culture, Vision, Mission
Values, Employee Engagement, Coaching, Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, dealing
with hidden issues and biases etc. Also the traditional OD approach has been
that of action research (the
process of systematically collecting data about an ongoing system relative to
some need of that system, feeding thee data back into the system, taking action
by altering selected variables within the system and evaluating the results of
actions). Similarly, while recruitment can be defined as the process
of bringing the right talent into the organization, the domains that
are typically associated with recruitment are Attracting/sourcing talent,
Selection, Offer, Joining and Onboarding.
Based on
the above descriptions, it can be seen that OD can help in increasing the
effectiveness of recruitment in many aspects including the following:
· Increasing
the person-organization fit (culture fit) during the selection process by mapping and evaluating fit on the relevant cultural and personality dimensions. Culture can be considered to be the personality of the organization and the fit of the personality of the candidate with that of the organization is something that is better addressed at the hiring stage as personalities (both individual and organizational) tend to be relatively stable (resistant to change)
· Facilitating enculturation during the onboarding process (enhancing alignment with the organization values, vision and mission)
· Ensuring greater shared
understanding of ‘what good looks like’ and hence avoiding unpleasant surprises
· Helping
in the formation and effective management of the psychological contract during
the recruitment process (see ‘Of salary negotiationsand psychological contact : before joining’
for more details)
· Solving
problems related to the recruitment process like early attrition
(through the action research process mentioned above and by enabling ‘sense making’)
· Dealing
with hidden biases in recruitment and thereby building a more diverse and inclusive organization.
· Crystallizing
the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that embodies the essence of the organization to attract the right candidates and repel the wrong candidates.
· Driving
‘bottom up culture change’ by identifying talent with the right ‘cultural DNA’ to be hired into the organization
Now, it can be argued that all these are integral parts of any good recruitment process. May be, that is exactly the point. OD is essentially a helping profession that enables individuals and groups to become more effective. At a fundamental level, OD is essentially about ‘process consulting’ - helping a client system to diagnose and solve their own problems. May be, we can just say that the application of OD makes recruitment better just like ‘sugar sweetens milk’ in the famous story* about Parsis.
Let’s come back to our Senior HR professional. What he was really advocating was to look at recruitment through the OD lens. There is a lot of merit in this. However, the danger in this situation was that the candidate might have interpreted it as a back-door entry into OD or might have inferred that there is a mandate to do a major overhaul of the recruitment process.
So, where does this leave us? Can Recruitment be done in the OD way? Yes, and that is just enlightened recruitment using what is considered to be the OD lens and OD skills! With Recruitment moving from 'being more like Procurement' to 'being more like Sales' to 'being more like Marketing', the relevance of the OD lens and the OD skills in Recruitment has definitely increased!
*The story goes something like this.: Parsis came to India
fleeing from persecution in their Motherland Iran and landed in Gujarat. There
they approached the local king Jadi Rana and requested asylum. Jadi Rana motioned to a vessel of milk filled to the very brim to
signify that his kingdom was already full and could not accept refugees. In
response, one of the Parsi priests added a pinch of sugar to the milk, thus
indicating that they would not bring the vessel to overflowing and indeed make
the lives of the citizens sweeter. Jadi Rana gave shelter to the emigrants and
permitted them to practice their religion and traditions freely. Parsis are
still adding “sugar” to our lives!
Any comments/thoughts?!
