A new TOPSIS-based multi-criteria approach to personnel selection

Abstract

Selection of qualified human resources is a key success factor for an organization. The complexity and importance of the problem call for analytical methods rather than intuitive decisions. The aim of this paper is to support adequately the decision making process. The steps of fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) are considered, incorporating a new concept for the ranking of the alternatives. This is based on the veto threshold, a critical characteristic of the main outranking methods. The ultimate decision criterion is not the similarity to the ideal solution but the distance of the alternatives from the veto set by the decision makers. Additionally, a real life application on the selection of a top management team member shows the practical implications.

Introduction

It is a common belief that IT comprises a crucial factor for the development and growth of an organization. Nevertheless, in practice, the IT function acts often as a support role in business rather than as a leader and strategic partner (Ward & Peppard, 1996). This is true considering that scarcity makes a resource truly strategic, while IT resources have become available and affordable to all (Carr, 2003). Studies recognize that many components of IT infrastructure (such as off-the-shelf computer hardware and software) convey no particular strategic benefit due to lack of rarity, ease of imitation, and ready mobility (Wade & Hulland, 2004). What cannot be imitated are the managerial IT skills, in comparison to other IT resources. The study of Mata, Fuerst, and Barney (1995) empirically supported the link between managerial IT skills and firm performance. Powell and Dent-Micallef (1997) divided IT resources into three categories: human resources, business resources, and technology resources. In a study of the US retail industry, they found that only human resources in concert with IT contributed to improved performance. Firms with strong human IT resources are able to (a) build internal relationships between the Information Systems (IS) function and other departments of the firm, leading to integrated planning processes at corporate level, (b) manage relationships between the IS function and stakeholders outside the firm, (c) anticipate future business needs of the firm and innovate valuable new product features before competitors and in parallel manage effectively the resulting technology change and growth (Bharadwaj, 2000, Bharadwaj et al., 1998, Mata et al., 1995).

Literature on IT management has reported more cases of failed implementations than of success (Dhillon, 2008). Many communication and leadership inadequacies have been identified amongst senior IT managers and consequent breakdowns in the IT/business relationship (Willcoxson & Chatham, 2006). As Enns, Huff, and Golden (2003) demonstrated, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) usually lack the interpersonal and conceptual skills needed to influence others in the organization. For instance, CIOs spend much of their time attempting to convince other top managers to commit to strategic IT initiatives (Lederer & Mendelow, 1988), share in a vision for IT (Earl & Feeny, 1994), and allocate resources to IT projects (McKenney, Mason, & Copeland, 1997). Many IS/IT professionals speak in jargon that shows a basic ignorance of the rest of the world of organizational leaders (Service, 2005). Taking into account the above mentioned and the fact that technical qualifications should be considered as precondition, the critical dimensions of human IT resources include: (a) technical IT skills, such as programming, systems analysis and design, and competencies in emerging technologies, and (b) the “soft” IT skills, which include abilities such as information management skills, communication and negotiation skills, process and project management and leadership skills (Bharadwaj, 2000, Ward, 1999).

Selection of IT professionals is then a critical factor for successful IT management. In general, personnel selection, depending on the firm’s specific targets, the availability of means and the individual preferences of the decision makers (DMs), is a highly complex problem. The multi-criteria nature of the problem makes Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods and fuzzy logic ideal to cope with this, given that they consider many criteria at the same time, with various weights and thresholds, having the potential to reflect at a very satisfactory degree the vague – most of the times – preferences of the DMs.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: In the next section, the main MCDM methods are summarized while some relevant studies on the personnel selection problem are presented. In Section 3, the principles of the fuzzy sets are demonstrated in brief. Section 4 presents the proposed approach to support the decision making. Section 5 briefly presents an empirical application of the proposed approach for the selection of a senior IT officer. Finally, future steps and research challenges are discussed.