Alicia Sisk Morris CPA | Hiring Dilemmas in the Work Place
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Hiring Dilemmas in the Work Place

21 Sep Hiring Dilemmas in the Work Place

The human element is key to any business’ success and growth. Hiring the right (or wrong) people can have a major impact on the long term success of a company. According to Noam Wasserman’s The Founder’s Dilemmas here are some of the dilemmas in the work place.

Founder/CEO vs Investors’ Hires: When founders hire non-founding executives, they tend to rely on their personal network of business associates and friends. This builds a workforce that is loyal and cohesive. Research shows that personal networks received valuations that were 37% higher than those received by start-ups that barely tapped the founder’s network (Aldrich et al., 2006). If the investor does the hiring they tend to find people who are more aligned with the investors’ goals than with the CEO goals. These people can create issues and challenges to the loyalty of the CEO-founder.

Casting a Wide Net vs Getting a Cultural Fit: According to The Founder’s Dilemma (Chapter 8) “As the team grows beyond the founders, its dynamics change dramatically. The tight-knit founding team has to integrate executives and employees who may have very different motivations and skills…” Those wide net employees can bring in skills not previously held within company management. However, company culture can also be challenged causing strife or unrest.

 

Risk of Hiring Friends and Family:   Noam Wasserman later states in chapter 8 that “Teams whose members have prior personal relationships may be less likely to discuss sensitive issues and may also face major damage to those relationships if things go sour in the startup.”

When Should I Upgrade Existing Positions:   As a company grows and changes so does its type of employee talent. A sales manager who is serviceable in a $1,000,000 company may not be experienced enough to manages sales of $100,000,000. Noam Wasserman states in Chapter 8 of The Founder’s Dilemmas that “By any normal business standard, upgrading the quality of the person in the position makes more sense”.

 

7 Comments
  • Maria-Elena Surprenant
    Posted at 02:24h, 22 September Reply

    The “Casting a Wide Net vs Getting a Cultural Fit” is intriguing to me the most for some reason. If a business is seeking to grow and flourish, there comes a point when the “tight-nit founding team” are no longer the only ones around town. It is important for the culture of the business to be communicated and lived out, that way it can attract the correct candidates. Even though someone may have years of experience in one particular area, doesn’t mean they will culturally fit, and that’s where the rubber meets the road-this process of hiring should never be taken lightly! This is when having a farm team would be helpful.

    Maria-Elena

  • Adam Renkiewicz
    Posted at 15:45h, 23 September Reply

    This blog brings up a good point which is constant evaluation of employees. I don’t mean creating a hostile workplace by always second guessing, but constantly assessing what type of personality and person you want hired in each position. this also includes company growth, that when the company grows you need to evaluate where to place people as their job changes. Good post

    • asmcpa@yahoo.com
      Posted at 17:38h, 27 September Reply

      Thank you for your comment.

  • Joe Alvarado
    Posted at 19:22h, 29 September Reply

    Alicia,
    The quote about, “Those wide net employees can bring in skills not previously held within company management. However, company culture can also be challenged causing strife or unrest.”
    I feel it can go different ways. At my company we embrace diversity in the workforce. For example, we cycle in next bosses every few years. When our new bosses come in they use their previous experiences to improve the work center and our mission. However, I do agree it can be challenging for people who don’t accept the changes. I feel it can bring good value to your company in bringing in new people to the workforce.
    V/r,
    Joe

    • asmcpa@yahoo.com
      Posted at 16:02h, 02 October Reply

      Joe, Thanks for sharing your personal experience with management changes. Growing by embracing diversity of talents.

  • Mitchell McDowell
    Posted at 00:28h, 07 October Reply

    Alicia,

    An unwilling to discuss difficult or uncomfortable topics is certainly a risk associated with the hiring of family members, and the family dynamics will most certainly transfer to the business. My own personal experience is to avoid hiring family members at all cost, especially siblings. Every family has givers and takers. The givers do all the work and take all of the responsibility. The takers take more than their fair share and cause resentment and schisms within the clan.

    Mitch

    • asmcpa@yahoo.com
      Posted at 13:49h, 07 October Reply

      I agree 100% about your idea of givers and takers. I see that professionally quite often.

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