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  • Employee selection in Start ups: A few useful pointers

    Entrepreneurship
    is often considered the pursuit of a goal without being restricted by
    the limitations imposed by resources. The goal could be limited only to
    financial gains, but could also include larger gains. Invariably, each
    of these goals has an end customer who benefits the most from the action
    of the entrepreneur.     Often, if one doesn’t think of the customer right from the beginning as suggested in the earlier post, one realizes this extremely practical learning at a high cost!  
    Translating the idea into a product/service without being restricted by the resources currently under control would imply seeking support from other sources. While co-founder (read about benefits/drawbacks and implications here) is definitely an option considered there are many other who do not like to cede control over their business and attempt going for an employee who could help realize the idea/concept into a product/service on offer.  
    My interactions with the start up ecosystems have helped me find some better approach that some entrepreneurs prefer. Here are a some of the pointers I believe would help lot of other entrepreneurs:

    What role am I hiring the employee for?
    Often the lack of structure could confuse the founder about the skills that one is trying to look out in his employee. Would it be apt to choose an employee for the IT development involves or for the sales side?
    My personal advice in this is to keep the business aspect with the founders always – not because it could be a business secret, but because there could be important decisions that need to be taken on the ground and direct customer interactions could help this process.
    The need to hire an employee begins from the need to accelerate the production to revenue cycle of the business. This gives a complete spectrum of activities and the notion of job-description wouldn’t make any sense here. Recollect the notion of uncertainty again here – would you prefer some one who is a sort of specialist in one area or a person with generic skills adaptable to the surprise scenario that is so common in the entrepreneurial journey.

    Clearly, independent of the dominant role for which you are hiring. looking for some one who is flexible is better – lets call them Jack of All Trades (JoAT). 
    Note:JoATs are better as long as there is no significant specialization that is to be needed in the product/service development. [We are still in the survival phase]. Working would JoATs for too long could in fact begin limit the growth of the business. Switching over to specialists at the right time is important as one navigates the growth stage.
    What am I looking for in the new employee joining?
    Flowing from the above aspect of preferring a JoAT to a specialist what needs to be understood is that ability to learn quickly is important. If you employee is not willing to bend his/her back and put in the effort with you in your pursuit it better stay away from the candidate. Many candidates come in with the notion of a fixed working time – if one are fixated with a notion of rigidity, it definitely an indicator of the inflexibility that is so essential to live through the survival phase.

    And remember to take note of the thumb rule – attitude is more important than aptitude – this is the ground on which any recruitment has to be based. 

    Reading this blog and thinking about it, is surely a precursor to the large issue of organization culture that is often ignored in start ups – this is definitely an issue for another blog!
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  • Stress: Physical Conditions

    In the last byte, we looked at the various interpersonal demands that could act as a potential source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at how the physical conditions in a work place could act as a source of stress.

    It would be a personal experience for almost all of us – invariably when we are tiered having worked for a long time on something, and it someone else asks for something we shout back! This is a common experience and shouting is a reaction that expresses the stress our body has had.

    Such stress would be higher if the individual has been working in an environment that doesn’t have a conducive atmosphere – say a temperature that is non ambient (could be working close to a furnace for long hours!), an extremely crowded space where lot of people are cramped and working on the production process etc. Such inhuman working conditions are the reason why factories with such harsh conditions are called “sweat shops”.

    It is important to realize that the physical demands of work are often occupation specific. In the case of military pilots who fly high-speed jets, the risk involved would be of gravitationally induced loss of consciousness; in the case of CEOs who globe-trotter pretty frequently, would complaint of jet lag and loss of sleep. All these form sources of stress that evolve out of the work environment.

    In the more common IT scenario, an ergonomic misfit between the person and work place would lead to stress too – the forms could be eyestrain, neck-stiffness and arm/wrist problems etc. So it’s time that we look back at these factors and think of improving the work environment to reduce physical stress.

  • Stress: Interpersonal Demands

    In the last byte, we looked at role related issues that act as a source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at Interpersonal demands that act as a source of stress.

    We could look at interpersonal demands in the following categories:

    1. Emotional Toxins
    2. Sexual Harassment
    3. Poor Leadership
    4. Trust Related
    We quite sometimes find an individual with abrasive personality and a find a set of emotions like anger, guilt, shame, fear etc come in immediately. These emotions make us feel “ill”. These spread through the work environment and cause a range of disturbances – this is one potential source of work stress.

    Sexual Harassment is a gender-related interpersonal demand that creates a stressful working environment both for the person being harassed and for others. A vast majority of sexual harassment is directed at women in the work place is a chronic yet preventable workplace problem.

    Employees who feel secure working with strong, directive leadership may be anxious when handling an open management style. Those comfortable with participative leadership style will not feel comfortable with a very directive leadership. Poor leadership in organizations and excessive, demanding management styles are one of the leading sources of work stress.

    Trust is an important characteristic in any leader-follower interpersonal relation. This is the reason why in most cases, a slight threat to the reputation of the employee with her or his supervisor may be especially stressful! Diversity amongst the project groups could act as a hurdle in building a trusting relationship.

  • Stress: Role related issues

    In the last byte, we looked at how task related issues act as a source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at how role related create a social-psychological demand in a work environment and act as source of stress.

    We can classify role related stress into 2 categories:

    1. Role Conflicts
    2. Role Ambiguity
    Role Conflicts result from result from inconsistent or incompatible expectations communicated to a person. Role Ambiguity is the confusion of a person experience related to the expectations of others. Role ambiguity may be caused by not understanding what is expected, not knowing how to do it, or not knowing the result of failure to do it.

    We can understand Role Conflicts better if we can categorize the same. We can classify these into:

    1. Interrole conflict: is caused by conflicting expectations related to two separate roles. Example: an individual could be as an employee and be a parent. In such cases work-family demands could lead to stress.
    2. Intrarole conflict: is caused by conflicting expectation related to a single role. Example: A manager would press an employee to work fast and also deliver a high-quality work – this in some cases could cause conflict for the employee!
    3. Person-role conflict: is caused when an employee is expected to behave in a way that violates personal values, beliefs or principles. Ethics violations are one source of such person-role conflicts.

  • Stress: Task Demands

    In the last byte, we looked categorized the sources of stress. In today’s byte, we look at the first category of the source of work related stress – Task Demands.

    We live in a world of change. Globalization has ushered in dramatic changes in the way we work (to know more about the drivers of the most recent wave of globalization read – World is Flat). With change comes a lot of uncertainty – which for an individual translates to the lack of predictability in the daily tasks and activities. Some manifestation of these changes in the work environment could be – job loss, or underemployment, monotony and boredom at work etc. These create stress in the individual who is facing these changed scenarios.

    Technology (in a colloquial meaning – not the business classification we discussed about earlier) is an important driver of business, and this the change of these technologies only compound the problem further. The change in technology brings along with the fear of being outdated – while training, education and skill development are ways to address this to a certain extent; none the less the uncertainty associated would cause stress.

    While working, there are certain critical factors that we feel are important to be controlled – lack of control could lead to the inability to influence the timing of tasks and activities (and other similar problems) – and create situations that are difficult and psychologically demanding – thus increasing the stress associated.

    Invariably, everyone has a career aspiration and when one gets into a career gridlock (pretty common in the middle management level) it build us stress – this is further compounded by the time pressures one has to address to at work place.

  • Stress: Work and Non Work Related

    In the last byte, we looked at what happens to the body when it is stressed. In today’s byte, we try to understand the source of stress and continue the discussion as we move through the next few bytes.

    We could broadly classify sources or stress into 2 categories – Work related and non work related. These categories are from the context of the origin of the stress. Following is a summary of this classification.



  • Stress: Psychoanalytic Approach 2

    In the last byte, we summarized the various approaches towards understanding stress. Out of these, the psychoanalytic approach highlights the relation between the ego-ideal and self-ideal; it would be interesting to see how the body and mind would trigger a set of responses; this is what we discuss in today’s byte.

    The response to any stress situation is characterized by a predictable sequence of mind and body events. Broadly speaking, stress triggers the release of chemical messengers, primarily adrenaline, into the blood stream. These messengers activate the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine (hormone) system. These 2 systems work together and trigger four mind-body changes to prepare the person for – fight or flight:

    1. the redirection of the blood to the brain and large-muscle group and away from the skin, internal organs and extremities.
    2. Increase alertness by way of improved vision, hearing, and other sensory processes through the activation of the brainstem (ancient brain)
    3. The release of glucose (blood sugar) and fatty acids into the blood stream to sustain the body during the stressful event
    4. Depression of the immune system, as well as restorative and emergent process (such as digestion)
    The combination of the above events, shift a person from being neutral or naturally defensive to an offensive posture.

    In some cases, the stress response could be very functional; it need not be inherently bad or defensive.

  • Stress: Approaches

    In the last byte, we looked at psychoanalytic approach. Just as a pointer to the discussion, it would be right to summarize the discussion on stress with the following diagram.

  • Stress: Psychoanalytic Approach

    In the last byte, we looked at person-environment fit as a source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at the psychoanalytic approach to understanding stress.

    In our formative years we create a set of expectations of our “prefect” self and improve on this perfect self as we mature. As time progresses, we begin realizing that there exists a self image that is pretty distinct from the ideal self that we had imagined. Here we talk of 2 distinct terms:

    1. ego-ideal: Is the embodiment of a person’s perfect self
    2. self-image: Is how a person sees himself or herself both positively and negatively.
    These 2 terms were coined by Harry Levinson who defined stress based on the Freudian psychoanalytic theory. He believes that 2 elements defined above interact to cause stress.

    Stress results from the discrepancy between the idealized self (ego-ideal) and the real self image. The greater the discrepancy, the more stress a person experiences. This theory helps us understand the role of unconscious personality factors as causes of stress within a person.

  • Stress: Person-Environment Fit

    In the last byte, we look at Cognitive Appraisal Approach towards understanding stress. In today’s byte, we look at the Person-Environment fit Approach towards understanding stress.

    It is not uncommon for us to see that people around us have various expectations from us. When we live up to their expectations, we feel happy about having lived up to the bar, but in other cases, it is not surprising that we feel sorry for not having been able to do it. In extreme cases, we feel a sort of strain – in extreme cases could result into depression!

    This area of study of the relationship of how confusing and conflicting expectations for a person in a social role could create stress in him/her was conducted by Robert Kahn. This evolved as a part of social psychology in the attempt to understand stress.

    The approach of studying the stress that gets created due to expectations which are confusing or conflicting between people was extended to include the person-environment. A good person-environment fit takes place when a person’s skills and abilities match a clearly defined, consistent set of expectations. This results in no stress for the individual. But when the role expectations are confusing or conflicting or when the person’s skills and abilities are not able to live up to the demands of the role, we find stress emerging up.