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.

Key words: Right person, Pearson correlation, partial least square regression.