the subject of human resourcesmanagement
Kinaxis is a software companyheadquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that sells to clients around theworld. Its specialty is software for supply chain management – allthe processes and relationships through which companies obtainsupplies as needed and get their products to customers on time andat minimal cost. This is a sophisticated type of product, tailoredto a company’s specific needs. Therefore, depends on salespeoplewho understands how businesses work, who listen carefully toidentify needs, and who provide excellent customer service tomaintain long-term business relationships. Recently, Bob Dolan,Vice President for sales at Kinaxis, needed to hire a sales team toserve clients in North America. The company had just onesalesperson serving the continent, and Dolan wanted to add fourmore. He received about 100 resumes and wanted to select fromthese. He started by reviewing the resumes against job requirementsand selected 20 candidates for a first round ofinterviews. The interview process helped Dolan cut thelist of candidates in half, so he needed another way to narrow hisoptions.
Dolan decided his next step would bepersonality testing. He hired a firm calledOpus Productivity Solutions to administer a testcalled PDP ProScan to remaining 10 candidates. Inaddition, Dolan himself took the test and had his current sales repdo the same. The existing salesperson was doing an excellent job,so the results of his test could help Dolan and Opus pinpoint thecharacteristics of someone likely to succeed in sales at Kinaxis.Based an analysis of all the results, Opus created a benchmark oftraits associated with success in the job. Representatives fromOpus also discussed the test results with each candidate, givingeach one a chance to disagree with the scores. No one did. Dolanobserved that all the candidates scored high in assertiveness andextroversion – not surprising for people in sales. In addition, twoof them scored above the benchmark in conformityand below the benchmark in dominance. Thoseresults suggested to Dolan that these candidates might be so eagerto please that they would be quick to give in to whatever customersrequested – a pattern that could become costly for the company.
Dolan eliminated those two candidates.That meant Dolan still had eight candidates to fill four positions.He asked each one to give him the names of major accounts he or shehad signed up in the previous two years. Four candidates were ableto come up with three or four large clients. Thosewere the candidates Dolan hired. Since then Dolansays his experience with personality testing has only reinforcedhis belief that this selection method helps Kinaxis identify thebest candidates. For Example, one sales rep had scored low on“pace”, indicating that the individual might lack the patienceneeded for the slow cycles required to close a sale of a complexsoftware system. Dolan hoped the issue could be overcome if heprovided enough coaching, but in fact, the sales rep sometimesbehaved impatiently, annoying prospects. After three years oftrying to help him grow into the job, Dolan laid him off.
The company’s commitment to carefulselection is expressed on its website: “As a growing and determinedcompany, we’re always looking for people eager to push the limitseach day of what’s possible”. Kinaxis was recently named one ofCanada’s top employees for young people.
Discussionquestions:
- What selection methods did Bob Dolan use for hiringsalespeople? Did he go about using these methods in the best order?What if anything, would you change about the order of themethods?
(at least 1 page)
2. Given the information gathered from the selection methods,what process did Dolan use to make his selection decision? Whatimprovements can you recommend to this process for decisions tohire sales reps in the future? (at least 1page)
please do not copy from the internet I needed uniqueans
