Avoiding inbreeding during human resource planning

In the run-up to the 2008 political showdown in the USA, a young lawmaker from Illinois dared the existing status quo, redefined politics and, for the first time in many decades, was going to bring on board new voters, younger voters and people who had given up on the boring policy polarity in United States politics.

By the time dust was settling, a new dawn had been born and a young charismatic leader had been elected as the chief commander of the world's most powerful nation, the USA.

The positive transformation of the psyche of the American voter, caught between the Republican and Democrat polarity, and the generation of renewed political interest among young Americans, for whom politics was not the business, was a testimonial that radically new ideas are necessary in the life of every institution.

Companies that have been around long enough to see the remarkable transition of some of their employees who entered as trial materials but who soon became phenomenally talented because of the new ideas they helped introduce are cautious when screening prospects. Every human resource (HR) department and practically every institution must endeavour to welcome novel ideas from new employees.

Avoiding old school values Unfortunately, a lot of the HRs running the shows in most of the companies have a difficulty identifying and even after they have discovered the talents, have a hell of time affording them an opportunity.

Old school is one of the major hindrances that stand in the way of getting onboard radically new ideas, whose introduction often cause uncomfortable stirs on the other set but later become the beginning of a new dawn in the life of the business. When the bulk of leadership of a business essentially comes from a certain so-called great school, the temptation to falsely believe in the superiority of such a school is often so overwhelming that candidates from rival or unknown backgrounds get marginalised and neglected.

Although old school may be great and immersed wit talents, the challenge has often been that old students from the same background and grooming share parochial school values that practically bring no radically different thing except the same old ideas that have been around for decades.

When the HR running the talent department is the person with such fanatical belief and fetishist adoration for the superiority of materials from a set of schools, the independent mind that should be at work in times of recruitment may be seriously compromised.

And for every single such error, the company leaves one woman at the gate with the ideas to give the company a newer, more refreshing and endearing image that it has been longing for in order to remain relevant amongst its peers.

The religious aspect Religious consideration is another major setback with the potential to squeeze out the coming onboard of new ideas. With employment prospects becoming glimmer every day, religious institutions with some crop of following have added a certain function to their core jobs of seeking spiritual salvation for their people to securing the school leavers great jobs.

In some churches, employment festivals are held annually to create an interaction platform between the business executive wing of the church and it's teaming youth who have just walked out of school. These loads are unleashed unto the HRs, who are often members of the congregation, and who usually have a moral responsibility to shoulder such burden, especially if they are known to be holding such a position in a company.

Where an HR is swayed to such religious considerations, there is a subtle temptation to preclude some of the groups that are non-members of the church yet may hold the kind of character and views that may make the company nervous.

These people can be at the beginning of a new, positive era for the business. The detestable thing about recruiting from a local clan like the church is that the church and its philosophy about life and practically every other thing may not be easily applicable to the very urgent, tough and often strictly competition-inspired environment of the business. Yet, this church community members may have fully imbibed these philosophies to the level where turning them out is almost impossible.

Where such tenets run counter to the dictates of the business environment and stifle the progress of the organisation, clearly, new ideas would be needed.

And this is where the non-members of the clan can play a crucial role in the reinvention of the corporation because these newcomers may have escaped the trappings of the church community.

Ethnicity Another tricky and quite rampant factor that can stifle the drive towards crossbreeding is ethnicity. Whatever you decide to call it, an erroneous belief in the absolute mental stamina of a certain crop of people from a certain region of the world or country is as mistaken as the belief itself.

There are countless number of small and, in some cases, large businesses, where the only valid license to securing employment is to hail from a certain part of the country and/or speak a certain dialect.

Such companies have even gone to the extent of officialising a tribal language at the workplace and, in the process, succeeded in rerouting others out of the mainstream business and activities.

The bid to get the ‘alien’ out of the environment is sometimes vigorously pursued to the neglected of the real needs of the business essential.

The admission of people from other walks of life when neglected, improves inbreeding but squeezes out any chances of fresher, radically alien ideas that question the way we do things and that usually charts a new road for the business.

Every business or organisation will someday be in need of radical ideas that redefine it and give it a newer identity. The old school, the religious community and regional or tribal considerations are often not the factors that encourage the release of new ideas. These are usually brought about by elements that stir the nausea in us, which make us nervous, uncomfortable and even angry.

By allowing an inexperienced lawmaker from, say Illinois, to ‘stage his coup’,a young African-American now sits in the White House. And by allowing people who are not very much like you to jump onboard, you could be avoiding inbreeding and welcoming newer ideas from people you may not necessarily like.