man5730 hrm fundamentals – task case study to facebook or not to facebook for the

For the past six months, you have been heading a committee in charge of hiring a new division manager. It is been a gruelling process – filtering through thousands of applications, seemingly endless meetings and discussions debating people’s qualifications, so many interviews in different cities that it’s hard to remember whom you met and where, and even more debates
about who should be flown to your headquarters for a day of final interviews.

But it is almost all over now. After so many interviews, meetings and discussions, the committee has settled on a candidate that everyone thinks is ideal for the job – highly educated, lots of management experience, a great personality, driven to succeed and willing to learn. He was near the top of your list when you began this process six months ago, and here he is now,
in first place at the finish line.

You head into the last hiring committee meeting with lots of relief. Not only are you happy that you found the right person for the job, but you are really glad that this meeting is just going be a formality. No more debates or arguments about applicants’ work experiences, education or hobbies. Just walk on in, take a quick vote and then make a call with the job offer.

But as you walk into the committee meeting, there is a strange vibe. Some people look quite worried, whereas others are just angry. When you ask what is going on, one of the committee members responds that in the past few days, she added the final candidate as a friend on Facebook, and what she found on his profile was quite disturbing. There were several photos of him passed out on the street after drinking too much. Other photos showed him smoking marijuana at a friend’s apartment. Another photo showed him wearing an inappropriate costume for what you assume was a dress-up party. And there is the language – almost all of his posts are filled with obscenities.

After seeing all of this, half the committee wants to go with another candidate. They cannot imagine that this is the kind of person they want leading your company’s most important division. The other half of the committee thinks it is not a big deal at all. They believe that how he spends his personal time is absolutely no reflection on his ability to manage, and they are angry that committee members would try to use it against him.

So here you are, faced with a split (and angry) committee. They are looking to you to break the deadlock – should we hire this guy or move on to someone else?

1. On what basis would you decide whether to hire this person or re-open the search?