rporation, there are a number of ways in which they utilize recruitment efforts to support creativity.
First, they make their own employees an important part of the process, asking the employees to suggest possible new employees to the company. Employees are paid a bonus for each new hire that remains with the company for 90 days. Making employees part of the recruitment and referral process means that the population that can be reached expands, and also that creativity is supported because employees are likely to refer others who fit the corporate culture already. They are likely to refer those who are interested in similar things and have the same values. Obviously this only contributes to creativity if the organizational culture emphasizes creativity. In more conservative, static, organizations, employee referrals are likely to be conservative also.
Lotus Development Corporation also emphasizes affirmative action and diversity in their recruitment process. They have an outreach component built in to every aspect of their functioning, including the provision of minority scholarships, recruitment outreach, and recruitment of minority vendors to work with the company. In the reading about Janet Axelrod, she emphasized the importance of having a mixture of people involved in the company in order to create the richest kind of environment. She also noted, however, that it was important to have people who were similar to her and to Mitch as well for that balance.
Finally, Axelrod noted that recruitment was increasingly becoming more tied to actual organizational needs through the creation of job descriptions and hiring approval. This is another element of the recruitment process that can support, or impede, creativity. Job analysis, job design, job descriptions all contribute to the kind of recruitment that occurs and whether there is an emphasis on creativity and innovation or an emphasis on fixed skills and requirem...