‘The Right Match for The Right Job’:Understanding the requirement of Multiple Intelligence in the Cooperate Environment
No two persons are born exactly alike; but each differs from the other in natural endowments, one being suited for one occupation and the other for another – Plato
Organizations drive all resources to achieve their corporate goals. In this endless process human resource plays a vital role, as performance of the organization depend on the synergy of individuals working towards a common organizational goal. Organizations need different types of employees who possess different skills and competencies. Simply, organizational goals cannot be achieved if the organization consists only with employees who are having one set of skills. Therefore, any organization consists of human beings who are having a wide range of skills and competencies. Organizations recruit people considering different multiple intelligence requirements for different job roles.
Multiple Intelligence theory of human beings was introduced by the Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and a professor of Neuroscience from Harvard University in 1983. Gardner was able to fill the vacuum of understanding human intelligence only from the perspective of mathematical and Logical capability through his multiple intelligence theory which describes nine intelligences that make each individual unique. All human beings are composed with these nine multiple intelligences, Verbal- linguistic i n t e l l i g ence, Log i c a l - mathematical intelligence, Spatial- visual intelligence, Bodily- kinesthetic intelligence, Musical intelligences, Interpersonal intelligence, Intrapersonal intelligence, Naturalist intelligence and Existential intelligence in different combination and capacity level. The unique blend of these intelligences is useful in developing a person for a specific career. Still we are not using the support of multiple intelligence especially in fields directly involved in human development such as education and HR, to groom students and people for careers which are in par with their multiple intelligence combinations.
During the recruitment stage organizations use the term ‘ Right Match’ to find exactly suitable individual for the position from the perspective of duties of the job role. Further, they try to match skills and competencies required for the position through assessing the personality of the individual. But the best way to find the ‘ Right Match’ is assessing multiple intelligence combination of candidates and matching with the combination requirement of the job in addition to checking personality types. For a position like an architect, the best match would be a person who possesses a higher level in Spatial Intelligence and Mathematical Intelligence. To become a top marketing professional, higher capacity in Inter Personal and Linguistic Intelligences is essential. Likewise, through a proper analysis of the job, it is possible to determine the multiple intelligences suitable for the job. Organizations should assess candidates to match multiple intelligences of the candidate with multiple intelligence requirements of the job role. This is the effective way to find the Right Match for Right Job.
The responsibility ofthe education system is to groom individuals to master their unique intellectual capacities. Without this, the cooperate sector willfind it very hard to recruit the Right Match for the Right Job. Generally in Sri Lanka, students select their A/ L stream based on their O/L results. No one considers their multiple intelligence capacity to match with their suitable careers. Ultimately, a student may select a wrong A/L stream and that decides the entire future higher education path. Through this process, plenty of graduates will be generated but qualifications are not matched with their real intellectual capacity.
The cooperate sector will never get the Right Matches due to this mismatching. Therefore, it is an essential factor to harness multiple intelligence concept in the stage of selecting A/L stream where student can focus their career direction. This would be the only way to develop Right People for the Right Job; in return organization can find ‘the Right Match for the Right Job’.
Dr. Sampath Kannangara and Rajitha Fernando