Recruitment and Selection

Excerpt] In this chapter, we look to address the second issue by developing a theoretical model of the link between different staffing systems and firm-level performance. We first look to existing theory on organizational design and structure to better understand the role of recruitment and selection. Specifically, we argue that organizations are structured into unique subunits of employees based on the equivocality of available information in their jobs and the resulting need for organizational rationality or openness. Drawing on existing empirical work on strategic human resource management, we argue that unique systems of recruitment and selection practices are necessary to provide the level of employee knowledge, skills, and abilities to match the level of information equivocality faced by the employees in these roles. In particular, we put forth arguments that recruitment and selection systems that match with the mechanistic organizational structure are the best fit for subunits of employees facing low information uncertainty; whereas recruitment and selection systems that match with the organic organizational structure are the best fit for subunits of employees facing high informational uncertainty.