Joining the Company

Joining the Company SWOT

By MICOLE IMPERIALI

The "Gender Analysis"

Gender Analysis, a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in male and female candidates, can be a useful tool in making the right hiring choice.

The first reason why SWOT Analysis can be a useful tool is that it enables those who manage the selection process to obtain valuable information that can improve recruiting strategies and efforts, thereby improving the sourcing of candidates. Although “in today's economy, the business of executive search should rethink its approach to improve their results,” admits Andrea Lamanna, Partner at Glasford International Italy.

MEN OR WOMEN?

As Alejandro Bagnato, Managing Partner at Glasford International Argentina says “the issue is determined by the type of market, since there are companies that prefer men in key positions. The concept of leadership and capacity in the business world has been masculinized. So this has led women to concentrate their efforts on show to society their ability and skill, to be evaluated in many cases with increased demand.” Undoubtedly there is an imbalance between women and men in terms of their management. Lamanna confirms that “less than a third of managers are women, and boards of directors of the fifty biggest listed European companies count only one woman for every ten men.”

MATTER OF MOTIVATION

But things may change, as Himanshu Bansal, Managing Director at Right Advisors Pvt. Ltd. – Glasford International India points out. “HR department of several companies have clear mandates from the top management to improve the female to male ratio in the organization.” But speaking of skills and abilities, Hélène Peingnez, Managing Partner at ANTHOS - Glasford International France says that “there are many details, experiences, knowledge of a specific market, or a specific company, which are far more important than gender.” In fact, the analysis and assessment processes should take into account some other particular aspects such as the candidate motivation and expectations. “These two are both critical in order to make a reliable estimation on the success of future integration,” says Jesús Espinosa López, General Director at RH Asesores en Recursos Humanos S.A. – Glasford International Spain.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

A COMPLEMENTARY TOOL

There are some cases in which this kind of analysis is not considered the best tool. Especially because, as Peingnez notes “gender is really a secondary argument nowadays for the level of position we are dealing with – managers and executives. People are usually well organized and aware for highly challenging situations, at this level. It may be different when family constraints are high and the salaries are low; in those conditions, equity between women and men is more difficult to apply.” Maria Reggiani, Managing Partner at Reggiani Hunting – Glasford International Brazil, agrees, saying she never used the SWOT analysis with this goal, even if she believes it can be adapted to the purpose of selection as a complementary tool. “The traditional tools for assessing candidates, such as psychological tests, competency interview, interest inventories and other, lead us to identify strengths and weaknesses (or points to be developed) in a candidate, confronted with the desired profile for the position which one is applying for. The external aspects related to threats and opportunities are more applicable to the 'coaching' or 'development' works than to the work of selection for hiring. In these two last contexts, the SWOT analysis may lead the candidate to reflect on their strengths and ways to develop his/her career, and to identify threats and opportunities for growth. Today, amongst the most modern and effective techniques of assessment to hiring is the Competency Interview (also referred to as a Situational, Behavioral or Competency Based Interview - CBI). In this technique, within the model CAR – CONTEXT, ACTION AND RESULT - the interviewer seeks to identify situations in candidate’s life when he/she had to use certain skills to achieve desired results and therefore assess whether these competencies are consolidated in his/her profile and available to be used in other situations.” In addition to that, according to Santi Campanella, Director Smart Search Recruitment – Glasford International Thailand, more and more companies with sophisticated HR departments are becoming less and less reliant on a SWOT analysis tool for assessment, while more small to medium size companies with less sophisticated HR departments still tend to use it. “Depending on the role of a sought after candidate, a SWOT analysis can be a useful assessment tool but

Glasford International

is a leading globally retained executive search group with a direct presence in 38 countries and 60 offices worldwide. Their 300 consultants span across Europe, Africa, North & South America and Asia Pacific.

normally it does not assess a candidate’s creative or technical knowledge.”

STRENGHTS & WEAKNESSES

But what are the actual differences between men and women candidates at the same professional level that a SWOT Analysis can help to focus? Mr. Bagnato says that STRENGTHS found and required by most organizations are those that demonstrate interpersonal skills and teamwork, strategic vision, leadership and both interpersonal organizational and communication. “The female leadership style has contributed to the development of management skills to create working environments where information is shared to generate consensus, collaborative and collegial, with regard to decision making, in other words, women develop teams working under a leadership that promotes inclusion and reconciliation, rather than a directive management, autonomous and controlling. Moreover, for somebody, the advantages are on the side of women and while men choose a transactional style, based on traditional methods of command and control, women tend to transformational leadership, based on the motivation and support.” According to Gail Burns, Managing Director at Target Search & Selection - Glasford International South Africa, women have the edge in collaborative environments (where listening skills, inclusive body language, and empathy are more highly valued), and men are seen to 'take charge' more readily (and viewed as more effective in environments where decisiveness is critical). It may be considered also that differences between men and women usually are more related to the “individual” rather than to “gender.” Successful professionals´ strengths are usually the same, “there are common ‘core competencies’ such as results´ orientation, tenacity, ability to predict the consequence of certain decisions and acts, capability to getting others involved, flexibility, etc,” Espinosa says, adding “however, there are some particular aspects which are more related to culture, education or gender that shape our personality and determine our own ‘way of acting’.” It’s

Managers Glasford International who help us for this article:

Andrea Lamanna

Partner

Italy

Alejandro Bagnato

Managing Partner

Argentina

Himanshu Bansal

Managing Director

India

Hélène Peingnez

Managing Partner

France

Jesús Espinosa López

General Director

Spain

Maria Reggiani

Managing Partner

Brazil

Santi Campanella

Director

Thailand

Gail Burns

Managing Director

South Africa

a matter of "focus on results" Reggiani adds. “The way that executives are successful in achieving their goals varies from person to person, regardless of gender. Each person chooses their own paths to reach the desired position.”

OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS

People who don’t influence, communicate, inspire or create teams are likely to be found quickly with a limit on their managerial career, no matter whether male or female. Bagnato explains, “opportunities are becoming fair as organizations begin to promote balance between work and personal life to set limits and priorities between the different roles without sacrificing one or the other, rather trying to balance them.” One of the biggest changes and actual opportunities nowadays is that jobs traditionally opened to women or men specifically, are now available for both, with a more and more respected equity. In Western countries for examples women are progressively accessing to higher roles within the management world. It is possible that they still have easier access to some industries (i.e., Services, IT, Banking and Insurance), and some roles (i.e., Marketing and Sales, Administration and Finances or Human Resources), as Mr. Espinosa says. “In Asia women are systematically more operationally minded but their male counterparts are generally more sales inclined and the traditional male dominance of senior positions in Asia is slowly decreasing. Female candidates are generally following the trend of their western counterparts but advancing in their careers and pursing a leadership role in the family where once was male dominated,” Mr. Campanella says. And what about threats? The most significant and visible one is currently the lack of job opportunities, both for men and women, which is due to the limited economic growth suffered by many countries. But we could consider also the “positive discrimination” in favor of women that leads in a real discrimination against men, or the lack of competency, which can be tackled with the continuous search for qualification in accordance with the candidates’ opportunities and interest in the activity. According to Gail Burns, “There will always be opportunities as the world evolves. But with the ageing global population, women outnumbering men in many countries, ‘role reversal’, technology, work-life balance, social and economic, environmental pressures, critical global skills challenges and talent mobility, both men and women, must stay constantly attuned to these gender differences if they are to effectively manage across the gender divide.”•