Published research should withstand scrutiny so as to show both validity and reliability of the conducted research. One can conclude whether a particular research is trustworthy and relevant or not. I will, therefore, evaluate a research study entitledThe Person Specification – A Problem Masquerading as a Solution?,by van Zwanenberg& Wilkinson, which was published in thePersonnel Review volume 22 number 7 from pages 54 to 65 in 1993.

In the introduction of the work, there are three questions that should be answered to simplify the whole process of recruitment and selection.They are ‘‘do we know anyone?do we know for whom we are looking? and how would we recognize such a person?’’ the Pearson is the solution to the questions. The most used Personnel Specification systems are the Seven Point Plan and the Five Fold Framework. In many recruitment and selection texts, job analysis results transfer to person specification isn’t dealt with completely. However, there is a lack of research on the issue according to Smith and Robertson (1993). The article critically examines the Person Specification’s nature and the ways through which they have been used in addition to identifying some associated problems.

Personnel Specification, Person Specification, and Person Description are terms used in selection literature like labels for the description of ideal candidates. Person Specifiers and Specification are terms used when referring to ideal candidates while Person Descriptors and Person Description are used when referring to the actual person. Taxonomy is among some of the central problems in the process of Person Specification. The measurement of descriptors can be done in various ways with the results expressed in normative, comparative or absolute forms. Such has a potential for confusion when a mixture of measures used in the selection process, which is another problem with for Person Specifications.

In arriving at a Person Specification, the literature encourages to start by finding out the job requirements, which can help in describing the required person. In short, you start with the job analysis then job description and finally Person Specification an approach called “job first – person later’’. Another approach is the ‘‘person first – job later’’ and a combination of the two ap In addition to the two systems, there are numerous Person Specification systems with their associated taxonomies and they vary Functional Job Analysis (FJA),Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) and Task Abilities Scale (TAS) and the UK Work Profiling System (WPS).

On the other hand, the major aim of getting Person Descriptors is to predict the personal future performance of an individual. The problem that arises when using the specification process is that selectors often use descriptors that aren’t identical to the specifiers used.A Model of the Process of Person Description addresses various aspects of person specification and the key thing to the model is the relationships between the two sets of variables: the descriptors or person attributes and the degree to which the context is specified. The model has benefits as well as challenges when used during the recruitment and selection process. The chief benefit is that it allows the selector locate different descriptors or attributes at different points.However, the problem in the process of Person Specification isn’t solely from the taxonomy, but also the effects of disaggregation when one moves between the holistic person and the holistic job. Disaggregation in Person Specification and Description systems often happen in terms of the components of the person and the context.

In regard to the discussion and conclusion of the article, there are many connections between disaggregated activities and disaggregated person attributes, yet it’s not clear how the connections are made. The authors propose broad decision rules to help. First, should there be a need for a candidate to do the whole job on entry; one has to write specifications at or near level 1 of the model. Second, the specifications need to be written near or at level 0 if timely development competence or institution is the sole requirement. Third, two parts of the Specification need to be written as well as assessed independently if both immediate competencies and long-term development are required. Early tests of utility and validity are whether Person Specifications produced by the system can reduce unsuitable candidate percentage at the shortlisting stage or not. The author asserts that further research on this, as well as other systems of the system, will later be reported in a future paper.

In critiquing this study, the study topic isn’t very clear and self-explanatory in that it doesn’t give a meaning of what is in the article. The topic doesn’t show how the Person Specification and Description, which are in the article, are used in the process of recruitment and selection. Such gives the reader a hard time to know what is in the content through a title analysis. In addition, the article doesn’t have an abstract, which could summarise the contents of the article, forcing the reader to go ahead to read the whole article before they know what’s addressed by the authors.

When it comes to the introduction, the article has precisely introduced the process of recruitment and selection very well in addition to giving examples of systems that can be used in the process, of which one is the Person Specification that is discussed in the whole article. In the introduction, the authors have also given a clear direction of what the article will address. That can give the reader an outline of what the article structure will look like as well as the content that will be discussed and how it will be done. However, the introduction doesn’t show what could be the aim or objective of the work.

After that, the authors failed to show the tools and methods used in coming up with the information discussed in the article. Therefore, it’s hard for the reader to imagine what methods were used when they aren’t clearly stated. Due to this, there’s no discussion of the ethics involved in collecting data, and if the participants were recruited in the study, one can’t tell the sample size or the research design. Ethical issues in any study should be paramount so as to safeguard the rights of the participants and limit their possibility of being harmed (Shamoo & Resnik, 2003).

On the other hand, the issue of Person Specification and recruitment has been deeply analyzed, discussed, and even a model used. The authors have managed to discuss how to arrive at the person specification, issues of taxonomy, and the two approaches such as the Job first and Person firstamong others. Furthermore, theModel of the Process of Person Description has been discussed well and the benefits and challenges of using it explained. Disaggregation and its challenges are well explained in the article.

In regard to the discussion and conclusion, the authors discussed the issues of disaggregation whereby they proposed three broad rules. The limitation, in this case, is that the authors didn’t discuss the findings from whatever sources they could have obtained information from. Instead, the proposed rules, which could have been come in place as recommendations. More so, they failed to acknowledge any shortcomings from their work and propose any likely improvements that could have been done including the recommendations for further research. However, they assured the readers that in the future paper, there will be a research on the validity and reliability of Person Specification. The article has added to more knowledge in the section of recruiting and selecting employees as a function of the human resource departments in organizations

                                                               References                                                  

Shamoo, A. E., & Resnik, D. B. (2003). Responsible conduct of research. Oxford University Press.

Van Zwanenberg, N., & Wilkinson, L. J. (1993). The Person Specification-A Problem Masquerading as a Solution?. Personnel Review, 22(7), 54-65.

CLICK BUTTON TO ORDER NOW