Assessing Candidate Quality: Lessons From Ethnography (and Accountants). (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pratt, Michael G.
• Is Part Of: Journal of management inquiry. Volume 24:Number 3(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 340
• Page End: 344
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: quality -- hiring -- ethnography; Management -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; 658.005
• DOI: 10.1177/1056492615574230
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1056-4926

Abstract

This essay examines how we as academics assess the quality of our colleagues through the lens of how we hire them. I begin by reviewing some critiques that have arisen regarding the use of largely quantitative critieria for assessment, and suggest that we might learn something about assessing quality by viewing it as a cultural issue. Building on insights from ethnograpy, I then offer some suggestions for how to build upon, and hopefully improve, our current practices.