Finding the right person for a project

Abstract

Finding the right person for a project is challenging. To identify the right person, relevant qualification and work
experience are considered as primary determinants. In literature, the third determinant of the right person is the
assessment of personality for finding a match with the nature of the job. However, in practice, personality
assessment is complex. This study observed that in the IT industry of Islamabad, Pakistan personality assessment
of candidates was omitted. This identified the gap in the practice, which led 30% of the projects in the selected
sample to failure. Focusing on the third determinant of the right person that is neglected in the selected industry,
this study hypothesized that the right person for a job requires a personality that is compatible with the nature of
the work/environment. It further hypothesized that project outcome is correlated with assigning its tasks to the right
persons. Since January 2007 to May 2009, this study collected data about a stratified sample of 70 heterogeneous IT
projects from over 260 respondents in 24 different software houses. Analyzing the measures of frequency, the
Pearson correlation and partial least square regression, this study substantiated both hypotheses. The study found
that identifying the right person is significantly correlated with its third determinant than its correlation with the
other two determinants. It was further found that the right persons led 79% of the projects in the sample to success.
Hence, the study recommends finalizing, identification and selection of human resource after entertaining its third
determinant effectively. Since assessing the candidate’s personality is complex, this study contributes a user
friendly tool for personality assessment