Personnel Selection - What Strengths and Shortcomings Do You See in New System?

a. What strengths and shortcomings do you see in new system?

I will discuss some key strengths of the new personnel selection system. First, a cross-functional team was formed that consisted of German and Chinese human resource experts that would provide a diverse perspectives and knowledge regarding making the right personnel selection (pg. 1). Ninety percent of the new management positions were filled by individuals who originated from the country they would be working in (pg. 1). This would help the company reduce training cost for teaching the candidate about local customs and cultures and result in a more smooth transition. Second, the new personnel selection system for APAC was part of the company's new objective to standardize all human resource instruments for selection purpose around the globe (pg. 1).

This would be very beneficially as standardization of human resource function would help reduced operating costs and provide HR managers with a clear and organized process methodology. Third, the personnel selection system was developed internally so not only to reduce operating costs but to make sure all internal human resource staff agreed on the most effective personnel selection system. Finally, all team members involved in the new system wants to contribute and offer ideas/recommendations, some of positive suggestions were using a "6-eye method", that is with three persons analyzing the applicant's documents regarding his or her suitability for the targeted position (pg. 10). In regards to the biography–oriented interview the interviewer and the candidate will have the same cultural background in order to prevent any possible misunderstandings during the interview. (pg. 11)

Given these positives of the new system, a significant number of weaknesses exist in the new system. With respect to cultural differences, Dr. Koch argued that a standardized personnel selection system would most likely ignore cultural differences and culture-specific circumstances. This would not only affect the individual modules of the system, but also the basic job requirements, the adaptation of modules to specific countries, and the use of specific personnel selection methods. Each country has its own unique economic and education situation, which would be problematic when creating a universal personnel selection system (pg. 4).

The cultural difference was evident in Koch's team, which consisted of German and Asian team member's. During the meeting to discuss the goals and progress of the new personnel selection system the difference in culture and ideology among German and Chinese team members lead to disputes. It would be beneficial for this group to have a mediator that can handle the disputes and try to reach a middle ground to satisfy both parties, since Dr. Koch was ineffective and ignored handling any type of disputes in his team. For example, when the Chinese