Management Decision Purpose The purpose of this case is to consider whether a company should use information gained from an applicants personal web site to make hiring decisions. TO FACEBOOK OR NOT TO FACEBOOK For the past six months, youve been heading a hiring committee in charge of hiring a new division manager. Its been a grueling processfiltering through thousands of applications, seemingly endless meetings and discussions debating peoples qualifications, so many interviews in different cities that its hard to remember whom you met and where, and even more debates about who should be flown to your headquarters for a day of final interviews. But its almost all over now. After so many interviews and meetings and discussions, the committee has settled on a candidate that everyone thinks is ideal for the jobIvy-league educated, lots of management experience, a great personality, driven to succeed, willing to learn. He was near the top of your list when you began this process six months ago, and here he is now, in first place at the finish line. You head into the last hiring committee meeting with lots of relief. Not only are you happy that you found the right person for the job, but youre really glad that this meeting is just going be a formality. No more debates or arguments about applicants work experiences, education, or hobbies. Just walk on in, take a quick vote, and then make a call with the job offer. But as you walk into the committee meeting, theres a strange vibe. Some people look quite worried, whereas others are just angry. When you ask whats going on, one of the committee members responds that in the past few days, she added the final candidate as a friend on Facebook, and what she found on his profile was quite disturbing. There were several photos of him passed out on the sidewalk after drinking too much. Other photos showed him smoking marijuana at a friends apartment. Another photo shows him wearing a Nazi costume for what you assume is a Halloween party. And theres the languagealmost all of his posts are filled with obscenities. After seeing all of this, half the committee wants to go with another candidate. They cant imagine that this is the kind of person they want leading your companys most important division. The other half of the committee thinks its not a big deal at all. They believe that how he spends his personal time has absolutely no reflection on his ability to manage, and theyre angry that committee members would try to use it against him. So here you are, faced with a split (and angry) committee. Theyre looking to you to make break the deadlockshould we hire this guy or move on to someone else? Questions 1. What decision would you make? Would you hire this person or re-open the search? 2. In your opinion, are companies justified in using an applicants Facebook or Twitter accounts when considering them for a job? 3. Do you believe that a company should be concerned with how a potential employee spends his or her personal time?