Ethical hiring? Please help!

Cinderella · August 2002

Let's say you have a small department(under 10)headed by a manager who reports to the CEO (no director, vp or pres positions). The manager and CEO decide a VP of said department needs to be hired due to the magnificent growth of the company. Is it ethical for the manager to control all activities surrounding the hiring or this new employee (ie screening applications, interviewing, etc.)? While the CEO will have the "ultimate say", the manager is basically hiring his/her own boss. Any thoughts?

Hatchetman · August 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-21-02 AT 01:07AM (CST)[/font][p]Well, it may not be the best way of doing it. I don't know if there is really an ethical question here as much as the CEO making sure that the best person was chosen and will be able to deal effectively with the manager. Is the person that's being hired as the senior manager only going to manage the manager and that section. I've never liked one-to-one reporting like that. One of the indiviudals will become meaningless if that is the case.

Lois01 · August 2002

I agree. It doesn't sound like a good idea to hire your own boss. It puts the new boss in an uncomfortable position.

Gillian · August 2002

Me, too. The CEO is allowing the manager to restrict consideration to only those that the manager will allow in the door, for whatever reason, and is probably creating a future problem.

Margaret Morford · August 2002

I want to echo something Gillian said. Why isn't the person being promoted into the VP slot? Maybe because he/she is a mediocre performer. C Players only hire other C Players.

With that said, I have a very different view on this issue. I think it's a great idea for the people who are going to be working for the VP to participate in the interview process - not drive the process. It gives them some advance exposure level with the person they might be working for and gives candidates a perspective on who their staff will be.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Cinderella · August 2002

Thanks for your input everyone. The manager isn't being promoted to the VP position simply because the manager is not qualified. This is an individual who "fell in" to their position as a manager a few years ago without any prior education or experience. If I were in the manager's position, I would frankly be afraid of being demoted or even discharged when the new VP of the department is hired. This is why I have concerns about the ethics of the manager in question hiring their boss.

kwelzel · August 2002

I agree with Margaret, it's very effective to have someone on the search committe that will be working with the new candidate. I was in that position myself years ago when we needed to find a new HRD. I was the Asst. HRD and not ready to take it on fully myself at that time, but I knew what we needed in our department. Our committee consisted of the GM, the Controller, the DOS and myself.

It worked out very well because I had to work with the person we hired!

Paul in Cannon Beach · August 2002

Sounds like the VP is over-delegating. DO consider employee's views in the hiring process. DON'T ask the employee to hire their own boss.

This could create the unusual situation where the employee gets fired by the boss he hired! Sounds like "I am my own grandpa" a bit.

[email]paulknoch@hotmail.com[/email]

Ethical hiring? Please help!

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