Purpose: This article examines the importance of selecting for “flair factors,” or those differentiating personal qualities that make the critical difference in achieving superior outcomes in modern organizations.Design/methodology/approach: Conceptual research about flair factors, key predictors of performance, and effective selection tools are reviewed and propositions related to improving the personnel selection process are developed.Findings: This review reveals six flair factors—grit, execution, general intelligence, emotional intelligence, personal integrity, and communication effectiveness—as well as three selection tools—structured interviews, situational assessment writing assignments, and assessment centers—that can improve the selection process.Originality/value: This article highlights the overlooked concept of flair factors in the selection process, identifies six factors that are vital for successful employee selection, suggests three tools to improve selection processes, and presents five propositions for practitioners and scholars.
Engaging in multiple tasks is a common and important issue in many achievement settings. This research examined task type (quantitative and qualitative) and resource allocation (time) trends in this context. Prior research has focused largely on quantitative tasks and general predictor-allocation relationships, neglecting qualitative tasks and the potential for multiple distinct allocation trends. These issues were examined in two studies (N 5 75 and N 5 118) involving quantitative and qualitative tasks. Results indicated that over time participants reduced resource allocation to the qualitative task but not to the quantitative task. Both studies also revealed multiple distinct allocation trends in addition to these general patterns. These findings highlight the importance of examining different task types and exploring for multiple distinct trends underlying broader patterns in multiple task research.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.