London calling: selection as pre‐emptive strategy for cultural control
| Published date | 09 January 2007 |
| Pages | 178-191 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450710720002 |
| Date | 09 January 2007 |
| Author | Matthew J. Brannan,Beverley Hawkins |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
London calling: selection as
pre-emptive strategy for
cultural control
Matthew J. Brannan and Beverley Hawkins
School of Economic and Management Studies,
Keele University, Keele, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This article seeks to explore forms of selection practice, focusing on role-play techniques,
which have been introduced in many organizations in an attempt to “objectivize” the selection process
by offering a means of assessing task-specific aptitudes.
Design/methodology/approach – This article draws upon an ethnographic study of a call centre
in which the researcher underwent the recruitment and selection process to secure work as a precursor
to conducting fieldwork within the organization. Whilst there is little precedent for the employment of
ethnographic techniques in researching recruitment and selection, we argue such techniques are
appropriate to explore the social processes involved in practices such as role-play. The discussion
draws upon fieldwork which was conducted at “CallCentreCo”, who continuously recruit customer
service representatives (CSRs) to work in their call centre. CallCentreCo uses role-playing exercises
extensively in the selection of all grades of staff and are argued by CallCentreCo’s Human Resource
Manager to be essential in the recruitment of CSRs to ensure the selection of suitable candidates and
minimize initial attrition rates.
Findings – This article makes two contributions: first it provides empirical evidence to explore the
basis of structured interviews by revealing how the view that role-play can “objectivize” the selection
process is potentially built upon false assumptions. Second, the article argues that supposedly
“objective” practices such as role-play seek to legitimize the overwhelmingly subjective interview
process in order that it may serve purposes beyond initial selection: namely the control of future
employees before they even enter the organization.
Research limitations/implications – Although we make no attempt to generalize from such a
limited case study, this article raises issues that are likely to be relevant to organizations as they
increasingly search for more “effective” selection procedures, and to academic endeavors to critically
theorize the purpose and effects of selection for the employment relation.
Originality/value – The originality of this approach lies in the ethnographic study of the interview
as a social interaction, the richness of which may be lost in the quantitatively dominated approach to
analyzing selection.
Keywords Selection, Roleplay, Ethnography, Interviews,Organizational culture, Call centres
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This article seeks to explore empirically and theoretically forms of selection tech nique
based around role-play, which are increasingly implemented by organizations in an
attempt to objectivize selection practice. We first explore the dominance of
interview-based selection methods that, whilst being the focus of increasingly
critical attention, remain firmly entrenched as the preferred selection tool of HR
practitioners. We identify that concerns regarding the validity and reliability of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
ER
29,2
178
Received 7 December 2005
Revised 20 March 2006
Accepted 29 March 2006
Employee Relations
Vol. 29 No. 2, 2007
pp. 178-191
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450710720002
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