Employers will always prefer more highly educated people for any job whether or not the higher qualifications are in fact necessary for efficient performance. Hence, students are motivated to acquire extra education in order that they may better compete in the rat race; but their education does not make them more productive and hence has no ultimate consequences, either for total output or for total equipment.
According to Phillips & Gully (2014:175) person-job fit is “the fit between a person’s abilities and the job’s demands and the fit between a person’s needs and motivations and the job’s attributes and rewards.” Hoffman & Woehr (2005:390) refer to person-organisation fit as “the compatibility between people and the organizations in which they work.
Furthermore, Cable & Judge (1996: 294) is of the view that “job seekers are affected by congruence between their personalities and organizations attributes”. It can therefore be deduced that in order to ensure optimal performance from individuals and groups in organizations towards its goals, the personality, traits, knowledge, experience skills and expertise of individuals must be reconciled with the organisational environment.
This will enable these individual attributes to actually count in favour of the organisation.
Hall, Schneider and Nygren (1970:178) list the following as important factors that produce strong identifications between employees and public organisations:
A strongly felt organisational goal of public service.
Strong external cross pressure exerted by various users of the public service, producing a kind of common enemy.
A one-organisation career pattern, supported by a policy of promotion from within.
The use of symbols, such as the badge and uniform.
A management philosophy of shared responsibility and decision making and smooth vertical information flow.
Phillip and Gully (2014:176) refer to the following possible dimensions of the person-job fit:
Person – Job fit is the fit between a person’s abilities and the job’s demands and the fit between a person’s desires and motivations and the attributes and rewards of the job. The possible dimensions of fit include; education, job-related competencies, job knowledge, previous experience, personality characteristics relevant to performing job tasks, team values, communication skills, conflict management style, integrity compassion and values to mention a few.
In summary, it is evident that there needs to be well thought through alignment of organisational and individual characteristics in order to mutually benefit both parties. In a highly competitive world, career success and accompanying rewards play a significant role in the lives of individuals. These rewards may of course take on many forms, what is important is that people want to feel appreciated in their environment.