PERSON ORGANIZATION (P-O) FIT AND WORK OUTCOMES _____________________________________________________________

Abstract: Selection and placement of work forces is done by the organizations continuously in this competitive business world. Organizations always thrive to rise in their value chain to meet their bottom line with enhanced value and excellence. But existing environmental factors and inadequate person-organization fit hinders the organization to exploit their capabilities and core competencies. Poor fit create a dissonance between the employees need and organizations supply and thus make Organization less productive. Few subjective outcomes like lesser Organizational commitment, inadequate performance, and occupational Stress and turnover intentions are the reflection of these phenomena. This paper tries to link these work outcomes variables with person-organization fit variable. Person-organization fit is a Predictor and the outcome variables are taken as criterion in this review. The effect of Value system congruence, Organizational culture and Leadership style are also addressed in this connection. 1 INTRODUCTION New employees enter into an organization with specific and positive expectations about how they will fit with their new job and organization (Kozlowski, 2000; Wanous, 1972). They are endowed with different qualities such as knowledge, skills and attitude. In an organization one needs to channelize those inherent qualities to get the maximum out of them. That's why the concept of Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) under the suitable leadership style is the need of the hour in an organization for the optimum utilization of organizational resources. Research on person-organization fit has shown important implications for individual well-being and organizational outcomes. For instance, fit between a person's values and organizational values are associated with behavioral outcomes, such as longer job tenure, greater organizational commitment and better job performance (O'Reilly, Chatman, Caldwell, 1991).P-O fit studies showed that

researchers used different conceptualizations of P-O fit to solve their research problems. Most of the definition of fit incorporated the definition of P-O fit, as proposed by Kristof (1996).He defined that compatibility between people and organizations occurs when at least one entity provides what the other needs, or when they share similar fundamental characteristics. Smith (1994) suggested that employee identify and relate their characteristics to particular work settings and match their characteristics with organizational characteristics. Individual characteristics include knowledge, values, preferences and personality. Similarly organizational characteristics involve aspects such as structures, tasks, goal, technology, and organizational culture (Amy et. al, 2005). In some of the studies individual characteristics is defined as individual preferences for organizational cultures. Because people choose work environments based on some factors, such as their abilities to perform a job and the characteristics of the job. Moreover most of the P-O fit studies emphasized the match between people's values and the values of the organization, because values are conceived as fundamental and relatively enduring (Chatman, 1991). That's why value congruence and person-culture fit are often treated as equivalent terms (Kristof, 1996; O'Reilly et al., 1991). But researches also conceptualized and measured the fit in terms of personality and goal congruence as well. Apart from the conceptualization of fit earlier researches emphasized on different measurement of fit. The measurements of fit explain the different methodological styles adopted to measure the fit relationship between person and the organization. There are two predominant measurement of fit in the P-O fit research such as Direct and Indirect. 2

Objective of the Review To review the literature on P-O fit and work subjective outcomes (organization Commitment and turnover intentions). To identify the new developments and research issue in these related areas To identify the research gaps for future study

Scope of the Review

Review of literature is focused on conceptual and empirical study on Person Organization fit(P-O Fit), organizational commitment and turnover intentions.

Criteria for Selection

The research papers included in this study were found by searching the electronic databases like, Proquest, EBSCO. The studies were selected based on the following parameter. Landmark studies in the areas. Relevance of the topic. Peer reviewed Journals. High frequency of citation. Research development dealing with upcoming issues. The key words for searching research papers were Person organization fit, Transformational leadership, value system congruence, organizational commitment and turnover. 5 Conceptual Definitions

Person-Organization fit is defined as the degree of congruence or compatibility between an individual and the organization (Chatman, 1989; Kristof, 1996). Most of the definition of fit incorporated the definition of P-O fit proposed by Kristof (1996). He defined P-O fit as the compatibility between people and organizations that occurs when at least one entity provides what the other needs, or share similar fundamental characteristics, or both. It means when the organizations supplies (pay, working condition, organizational values, organizational culture etc.) Meets the abilities, need and preferences (knowledge, skills and career expectation) of the employees, P-O fit exists. When the new employees find the same values and preferences in an organization as that of them and vice versa, lead to more organizational commitment and less intention to leave the organization. Thus, the P-O fit exist.

Organizational Commitment is defined as the basis of an individual's psychological attachment to the organization (Chatman, 1989). But Mowday et al., (1982) defined organizational commitment as "the relative strength of an individual's identification and involvement with in a particular organization". Kristof (1996) explained that attitudinal commitment develops from combination of personal characteristic such as leaders and follower's experience, and organizational perception.

Employee Turnover is defined as the termination of a person's membership usually from employment with an organization. Employee Turnover and related variables such as

turnover intention, intention to leave, and intent to search for alternative jobs have been the stimulating factor of organizational commitment research. But out of other related variables Employee Turnover Intention is found to be the better predictor of actual turnover.

6 6.1

Review of Literature Person-Organization fit

Overview of the research on P-O fit Research on person-organization fit addresses the compatibility between people and entire organizations. It began with Tom's (1971) suggestion that individuals will be most successful in organizations that share their various characteristics or personalities. Research has emphasized individual-organizational similarity and preferences as the crux of P-O fit. P-O fit has been conceptualized in several ways (Kristof, 1996) and distinctions were made between supplementary and complementary fit. Supplementary fit occurs when an individual possesses characteristics that are similar to those of others in the environment. For instance, when a person has similar preferences and attitudes as the other members of his or her work team it is called as supplementary fit. Complementary fit occurs when an individual's characteristics adds to the environment what is missing inside it. This is the case when a person has special skills that are beneficial for functioning of the work team in the organization. In fact few researchers even conceptualized and distinguished between suppliesvalues and demands-abilities fit (French, Caplan & Harrison, 1982). From the Supplies-Values perspective, P-O fit occurs when an organization satisfies individuals' values (trust, commitment, satisfaction, personal development etc). Theory and research in this area explained that people are attracted to situations that fulfill their values (Locke, 1976). Values represent conscious desires held by the person and encompass preferences, interests, motives, and goals (Edwards, 1996). For instance, when an employee has high preferences for growth and these preferences are fulfilled by opportunities for growth offered by the organization. The supplies-value fit exist. Whereas Demands-Abilities perspective suggests that P-O fit occurs when an individual has the skills and abilities to meet organizational demands. These conceptualizations of fits have been incorporated in most of the researches where studies were conducted for the pre- entry level.

Some of the studies tried to integrate the supplies-values and the supplementary perspectives of P-O fit where newcomer's values were defined as their culture preferences. Example: I like to work in an organization in which competition is encouraged. Organizational supplies were defined as cultural characteristics what organization offer to employees. Example: Competition is encouraged in this organization. In some of the studies Supplies-value fit has been examined by comparing organizational supplies with the preferences of newcomers conceptualized as Organizational supply Newcomers Preferences fit. It was found that generalization of the finding is more as well as more predictive in nature when incorporating more than one type of fit Research on different Conceptualization or Operationalization of P-O fit There different operationalizations of P-O fit literature are discussed in the following section: 1) Supplementary fit was examined by comparing the preferences of other existing individuals in the work setting with the preferences of newcomers (Preferences others Preferences newcomer fit)(Annelies & Van Vianen, 2000). 2) Several researchers defined P-O fit as congruence between individual work values (job satisfaction, personal development) and organizational work values (innovation, work environment) and also as congruence between individuals' culture preferences( trust, cooperation, job description) and existing organizational culture (Bretz & Judge, 1994; Chatman, 1991; O'Reilly et al., 1991;Vancouver & Schmitt, 1991). Chatman (1991) found that the match between individuals' culture preferences and organizational culture supplies (Innovation, working condition, and employees work culture) is important for individual outcomes. He argued that fit in these conceptualizations displayed greater work motivation and job involvement, and showed lesser turnover intentions. It was found that the P-O fit measure is a better predictor of organizational commitment and tenure than either the person and the organization components of the fit measure alone. Researchers used aggregation of individual perceptions inside the organization for establishing the Organizational component of the P-O fit measure. Annelies & Van Vianen (2000) found high level of inter- rater agreement (the congruence between selected employees and organizational professionals) did not guarantee a measurement of actual organizational culture.

The level of inter-rater agreement depends on the specific sample of subjects that are asked about their organizational culture. It was observed that asking members of different hierarchical positions about their organizational culture resulted in different views (Vancouver and Schmitt 1991). A low agreement between principals and teachers on organizational goals was found out in that study. Thus, it could be inferred that it is often difficult to determine who to ask about organizational culture and how to consider the views of the different parties. This research problem could be further investigated in future studies 3) Study by Annelies E.M, Van Vianen (2000) found that an aggregated measure of the perceptions of different groups could be a more valid measure of organizational culture than the shared perceptions of only one group. They also found that researchers and practitioners often used the culture perceptions of individuals that are most relevant for the focal person. They found that those newcomers' perceptions of immediate peers and supervisors are most relevant for their own perceptions of organizational culture. Annelies et al, (2000) decided to use peers and supervisors' perceptions as an indicator of organizational culture supplies. A further restriction was made by including only the supervisor and peer who had been involved in the selection procedure of the newcomer i.e. the recruiter. They had made the decision to hire the newcomer and they are the one from which the newcomer is most likely to assess the values of the organization. Moreover, the socialization of newcomers that is their understanding of the culture of the organization is accomplished after several months of entry (Van Vianen Prins, 1997). Hence, the perspective of their most salient organizational members (e.g.,recruiters and supervisors) may be most important in evaluating initial fit. (Annelies E.M, Van Vianen, 2000). Person-culture fit was defined here as the similarity between a newcomer's culture preferences and organizational culture supplies as perceived by his or her recruiters. In accordance with the results of previous P-O fit studies, the expected relationships hold true between the person-culture fit measure and newcomer's organizational commitment and turnover intentions (Annelies E.M, Van Vianen, 2000). 4) Tom's (1971) conceptualized P-O fit as personality-climate congruence . (Christiansen, Villanova, and Mikulay, 1997; Ryan and Schmitt, 1996) found that personality-climate fit could be more justified where organization need very specific attributes from the employees to fit in to the specific organizational climate. They argued that this kind of fit be more consistent with the positive work outcome if precautions on methodological issues would be taken. But they also discussed that assessing personality and matching with the right organizational climate is time consuming and if not done carefully the finding could be

spurious.

Schneider et al (1998) found that organizations are relatively homogeneous with respect to the personality attributes of their managers. However, the culture of a work setting is not only constituted by means of the characteristics of manager. Many aspects of organization may be influenced by the personality and attitudes of employees in the organization. But it cannot be concluded that the climate of a work setting originates from the characteristics of employees only. The organization's strategic position and environment are, for instance, important determinants of shared culture perceptions because they impose constraints on structure and control systems within organizations (Joyce & Slocum, 1982). Ryan and Kristof-Brown (2003) found that personality traits are more stable because they are more proximal to behavior and visible in other's behavior than values. It is concluded that personality based P-O fit has strong influence on individual's attitudes and behaviors than values-based fit. Although similarity on values is believed to be universally desirable (Meglino & Ravlin, 1989), sometimes personality dissimilarity are preferable. It was discussed that people high on extraversion score feel more attracted towards their team than introvert people and vice versa. It was also found that similarity on only some traits were desirable rather than overall personality congruence. Otherwise personality- climate congruence conceptualization would be preferred compare to value-climate congruence for future research. 5) A lesser used but theoretically consistent operationalization is goal-climate congruence (Vancouver and Schmitt, 1991). They found that sharing goals with the organization makes it more likely that individuals would receive support and reinforcement for its attainment from the organization. Further it was found that goalclimate congruence measure would result in stronger predictor for the positive work outcomes than personality-based conceptualization, but less than values-based measures (Amy et al, 2005). The strength of fit resulting positive work outcomes in different conceptualization of P-O fit was found differently. The value-climate congruence P-O fit was found more strongly related with subjective work outcomes than goal -climate congruence conceptualization of P-O fit. The weakest work outcome relationships were found with personality- climate congruence conceptualization of P-O fit. Although a number of studies on P-O fit have been conducted on the basis of different conceptualization of fit, there is very little study done on the conceptualization of goal-congruence P-O fit.

Research on different measurements of fit. The measurement of fit was categorized into two major categories.
1)

Direct measures: when assessment of compatibility on different fit variable is

done by the subject himself. It is called direct measure of fit (Kristof, 1996).
2)

Indirect measures: when assessment of fit is done by the different rater other

than the subject himself .it is called indirect measure of fit (Kristof, 1996). Most scholars agreed that perceived fit is a direct assessment of compatibility between person and organization variables (French et al., 1974; Kristof, 1996). Later on Kristof (1996) distinguished the perceived measure of fit from actual fit. He used an inclusive term used to describe measures in which researchers indirectly assessed fit through explicit comparisons of separately rated Personal and Organizational variables. French et al. (1974) further differentiated such explicit comparisons into subjective fit, defined as the match between the person and environment as they are perceived and reported by the person. He defined objective fit as the match between the person and the environment as it exists "independently" of the person's perception of it. Over the years, the terms perceived and subjective fit have often been used interchangeably (e.g., Cable & DeRue, 2002; Kristof, 1996). However the cognitive processes underlying each may differ. That's why it is important to distinguish between these types of fit (Amy et al, 2005). (a) Perceived fit: when an individual makes a direct assessment of the compatibility between himself and organizational variables.
(b)

Subjective fit: when fit is assessed indirectly through the comparison of

Person and organizational variables reported by the same person.

(c)

Objective fit: when fit is calculated indirectly through the comparison of

Person and organizational variables as reported by different sources.

When an individual has a high degree of contact with reality (i.e., assesses the environment/organization accurately) then an accurate self-assessment of these three types of fit might have similar relationships with work outcomes (French et al., 1974). But in practice they were found to be only weakly related (Cable & Judge,

1997; Kristof-Brown & Stevens, 2001). This might be due to individuals' propensity to interpret environmental cues in ways that allow them to maintain a positive selfconcept (French et al., 1974). As both self-perception theory (Bem, 1967) and cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) suggest that individuals are driven to maintain internally consistent perceptions. It would produce cognitive dissonance for an individual to appraise a work environment as providing a poor fit but still report a high level of satisfaction with that environment. Therefore, it is likely that perceived, subjective, and objective fit differ not only in how they were measured but also in what they had represented conceptually (Amy et.al, 2005) Perceived fit allows the greatest level of cognitive manipulation because the assessment is all done by the respondents. It allows them to apply their own evaluating scheme to various aspects of the environment. This permits individual differences in importance of various dimensions to be captured in their ratings. Alternatively, indirect measures require separate ratings across specific person and environmental dimensions, where each dimension is evaluated equally. Indirect measures of subjective fit still have person and environment variables assessed by the same source, thus does not fully negate consistency biases. Perceived and subjective fit are assessed by a single source so, it is expected that they would have similar effects on outcomes, particularly on attitudes. Perceived fit allows a single individual to report a holistic assessment of fit, thus have consistency bias (Amy et.al, 2005). Compared to perceived and subjective fit, objective fit is a less proximal determinant of attitudes and behavior (Cable & DeRue, 2002).Unless people are completely removed from reality, the objective environment would have some influence on their perceptions of Environment. The objective environment may be made quite clear in experimental studies that use descriptions of the environment with more objectivity (Kristof-Brown, 2002). In addition, strong organizational cultures and the shared perceptions of coworkers constitute socially derived environments that have been found to have a meaningful impact on how people react to their work situations (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000).Objective reality must be filtered through individuals' perceptions; we expect that objective fit will have the weakest relationships with work outcomes variables. However, this weak relationship was less pronounced for performance criteria than for attitudes, because maximum performance might be limited by an objective demand-ability mismatch. Similarly the research on measurement of fit, Chatman et al. research work stands out from most other work on value congruence in measuring actual or objective fit. Culture dimension is not determined only by the environmental context. It is

frequently operationalized as the aggregation of characteristics of people or shared perceptions of organizational members. Measures of organizational culture are based on agreement among organizational members are specifically used when objective measures are not available, which is often the case (Starbuck and Mezias, 1996). High inter- rater agreement, however, is not always feasible in that culture conceptualization of fit because of organizational structure, selection, and socialization practices and the amount of social interactions (Koene, Boone, and Soeters, 1997). Furthermore, the literature on organizational culture recognizes the existence of subcultures rather than a single, unitary organizational culture. Both the strength of organizational culture and the existence of subcultures are neglected issues in P-O fit research. There are many situations where subjective P-O fit measures are not available in assessing culture fit, though recruiters want to predict applicant's future fit with the organization at the time of selection process (Adkins and Russell, 1994), where most applicants do not have a good perception of the existing organizational culture of that organization. In that case, they need to establish actual fit by comparing applicants' culture preferences with the culture of the organization. However, a relatively small number of organizations and only those with high interrater agreement scores were involved in these studies. In fact the results of these studies were found ambiguous because of the methods that were used for establishing P-O fit. The struggle to find valid measures for the Organizational component of the fit measure could be partly relieved by taking the characteristics of people into account. Matching the characteristics of the person with characteristics of similar others in the work setting could complement assessment of shared perceptions of organizational culture for establishing P-O fit. Last but not the least, in P-O fit research, factors like values, culture and climate are likely to have a direct impact on the traditional fit outcomes. Specially culture could influence more on the attitude and values of employees when they stays for a considerable period in that organization .The socialization concept is very important aspect for maintaining the better fit within the organization with positive work outcomes. This issue is still new and unexplored in P-O fit research (Autry et al. 's, 2005). 6.4 Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention

Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1982) defined organizational commitment as "the relative strength of an individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization". It consists of a strong belief in and acceptance of organizational values and goals, a willingness to exert extra effort for the sake of the organization, and a desire to retain membership in the organization (Mowday

et al., 1982). Organizational commitment defined by this approach was later referred to as "affective organizational commitment" (Allen and Meyer, 1990). Mowday (1982) found that organizational commitment exists when an individual identifies with the organization and individual has goals that are congruent with organizational goals. Specifically, transformational leaders were observed to enhance the commitment of their followers (Bass, 1991). But Chen (2004) found that apart from the Transformational leadership, organization culture also had a significant effect on how employees view their organizational responsibilities and their commitment. He found that leaders affect their subordinates directly through their interactions and also through the organization's culture. He examined the specific employee behaviors associated with transformational and transactional leadership. Significant findings were.

Idealized influence leadership with innovative culture is positively related to organizational commitment.

The mediating effort of organizational commitment in the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and job satisfaction is not influenced by the organizational culture.

Organizational commitment mediates the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and job performance in supportive and bureaucratic culture.

Dess and Shaw (2001) found that high performance in organizations is often accompanied by high dissatisfaction and low commitment level. These results in high performers became more likely to leave the organization voluntarily or lessen their commitment to the organization and begin to perform at a lower level. Analysis using expectation theory suggests that dysfunctional turnover may be decreased through assigning high-performing members of work team's job titles indicating high status. Researchers examined the impact of a high-status job title on the satisfaction, commitment, performance, and turnover of subjects who believed they were high performers on work teams. Members were led to believe that they were high performers and were then assigned titles indicating high status. These group members displayed greater satisfaction, commitment, and performance and lower turnover intentions than did high performers not given a high-status assignment. Thus, organizations may be able to increase satisfaction and productivity in workers by carefully monitoring status processes.

A comprehensive effort to model the turnover process was made by Mobley (1979).He made several general predictions. Such as:

Job attitude should be directly related to actual turnover behavior. The best predictor of turnover is intention to leave the organization. employees' behavioral

As turnover intention is defined as a conscious and deliberate willfulness to leave the organization. It is often described as last in the sequence of withdrawal cognition, a set to which thought of quitting and intent to search for alternate employment also belong to Mobley et al. model (1979). Following to Mobley model (1979) there is a Price model of turnover. The major contributions of these models are its emphasis on causal flow and process rather than the static correlation of variables on voluntary separation. The most relevant to the present research is the steer and Mowday model (1982) This model suggested that job expectations are conceptualized as met expectation and Values. Met expectation influence on individual's affective responses to a Job (job expectation, organizational characteristics and job performance).This affective responses (organizational commitment, Job involvement) effect employee desire's to stay or leave the organization. Hsu et al., (2003) investigated how leadership styles affect turnover intention based employee surveys from three major Internet companies in Mainland China. It was found that there was a significant negative relationship between leadership styles and turnover intention. It was also found that there were no significant differences between technical employees and no technical employees in the relationship between leadership styles and turnover intention as well as no significant differences between managerial employees and non-managerial employees. 7. Research gaps The research on Person-Organization fit(P-O fit) was found to be very significant and diverse in organizational context. Different studies have been carried out in different organizational setting, different methodology and with different cultural settings. Few landmark and significant findings were found inline with the present research where different operationalization and methodology has been used. But there are instances where the findings were quite different and need further validation for better understanding.

There were few noticeable gaps identified after going through the fit literature specially where P-O fit and work outcomes had been addressed. All perceptible gaps are important for future research and for further validation but start with the measurement of fit. 1) There are three type of measurement of fits, which were specifically addressed inthe PO fit literature. Such as perceived fit, subjective fit and objective fit. Interestingly outof the three conceptualization of measurement of fit, perceived fit was used extensively through out the literature. There were very few instances where subjective and objective fits were used as a measurement of fit. The predominance of that measurement of fit was mostly due to the advantage of getting formerly established questionnaire with better reliability. Apart from these advantages, there was also an ease of administering the questionnaire among individual in lesser time. But the perceived fit was always suffered from the personal bias and common method bias. Personal bias occurred because the individuals always wanted to rate themselves in a way so that their responses were universally accepted if proper administrating strategy were not used. In most of the study Common method bias was observed because those studies preferred single source reporting of fit outcomes relationships.

It was found that there was always a chance of relative measurement inaccuracy while going for the perceived measurement of fit due to the personal common and consistency bias. That's why the relative accuracy of the conceptualization of perceived organization fit need to be researched further. More emphasis need to be given to the other two conceptualization of measurement of fit such as objective fit and subjective fit to avoid the personal and consistency bias. Further a selective technique that assesses multiple type of fit need to be developed and validated against the outcome variables in future. 2) The person-organization fit literature was emphasized on the sample of

candidates and employees who were in the selection processes. The basic assumptions behind these specific samples were because organization wanted those employees whose preferences and choices were well commensurate with the organizations supplies. They wanted to retain them for a considerable time so that the cost incurred while recruitment, selection, and induction could be forfeited. They didn't want to lose them after investing considerable amount of time money and resources. In the process of investigating the implications with respect to the organizational context, relatively little emphasis were given to the more tenured employees. That's why relatively little research was carried out looking at the lasting effects of socialization processes with more tenured

employees. This is one grey area in present P-O fit research. Furthermore it was found out that a very few research examined the role of formal training on perceptions of P-O fit. There were very few instances where the researchers had investigated the relative change of fit and preferences before after the formal training. 3) The concept of congruence and compatibility is the main underlying phenomenon in Person-Organization fit. This is the basis of fit between the person and organization. While going through the vast literature of transformational leadership, it was found that Transformational leadership was also positively related to value system congruence. It was found that the concept of work value was taken as a conceptualization of Person-Organization fit. From the findings it is expected that transformational leadership can also influence the direct relationship between Person-Organization fit and work outcomes. Organizational citizenship behavior can also influence the fit in the long run. It is expected that the preferences of employees and the supplies of the organization (pay, reward, working condition, culture) based on which the Person-organization fit literature is based could be different when their employee exhibits organizational citizenship behavior. This grey research area could be validated in further research.
3)

Culture of the organization plays an important role for better

performance, organizational commitment and employee retention. In most of the literature, organization culture was conceptualized as shared perception about the organization from the existing employees. The culture actually reflects the perception about the supplies given by the organization. The objective measure to determine the organizational culture was still found very sparse in the fit literature of P-O fit. This research area should be addressed in future P-O fit research. Organization culture literature also conceptualized culture in terms of individual characteristic and belief as individualism and collectivism. In collectivist culture people see themselves an interdependent parts of their groups, where as individualistic emphasize their autonomy and independence from their group. A little evidence was found that the cultural variable could mediate the direct relationship between P-O fit and work outcomes, because the preferences and choices might be different with respect to their cultural orientation (Wasti, 2003). The collectivist orientated individual's preferences and work motivations were found to be different compare to the individualistic culture oriented individuals (Hofstede, 1990). Even preferences and work motivation were found to be one of the main dimensions over which the fit had been conceptualized. Thus it is expected that, if there is change in the preferences and choices of the employees, the direct relationship between P-O fit and work outcomes might get affected in either direction. The

positive and negative change also depends upon the type and location of organization. Further research should be carried out to find the exact direction of research in Indian context. A cultural difference exists in the different states of India because of the geographical location and the work culture inherited by them. Developed state and private organizations might represents the individualistic culture and vice versa. So the moderating effect could to be found out on work outcomes when leadership variables influencing the direct relationship between P-O fit and work outcomes.
5)

Despite of the agreement among researchers that multiple conceptualization

of fit exists, very little research was found that really focused on validating multidimensional approaches. Cable and Derue's (2002) three dimensional model addressed the three conceptualization of fit on P-O value congruence, P-J (person -job) need- supplies fit and P-J demand abilities fit, tried to addressed and explain this relationship. However they also could not included P-S (person-supervisor) and P-G (person-group) fit as well other types of P-O fit such as personality and goal -climate fit. Their model still leaves an opportunity to extend it by taking other more conceptualizations of fit to see the overall effect on work outcomes. In multidimensional approach various type of P-G (person group) and P-S (person- supervisor) fit could be included, which is an unexplored area in P E (person -environment) fit literature. A clearer picture of how overall fit would influence the final outcome variable could be observed by incorporating the above inclusion. At the same time the generalization of the result would be more significant compare to the study that had incorporated single or double conceptualization of fit. This type of comprehensive model could help the organization as well as future researcher to draw some concrete conclusion regarding P-O fit and work outcome variables.
6)

There is also need for future research on personal and situational

characteristics that moderate fit-outcome relationships. The P-O fit literature suggested that fit was most influential, if the dimensions/attributes measured were important to the individual employees. That's why personality traits and demographic variables were incorporated for the moderator analysis in some of the studies but found a very little support for their role as a moderator. Even then fewer studies had examined the impact of situational moderator on fit effect. Job performance and relationship with coworker and manager were taken as a moderator to know the influence on fit. These areas need some more attention for the future research as many manager face challenge of minimizing the effect of poor fit for their employees.

7)

Complexities were found in fit literature due to its various conceptualization

and operationalization. The P-O fits should be examined independently, rather than with the context of other independent variables. A few but notable studies in this area were found where perceived organizational membership was conceptualized as a measurement of fit. A small number of studies on the relationship between P-O fit and perceived organizational support (POS) were examined. More research is needed to find out the difference and similarity between these concepts.
8)

Methodologically too, there are areas that need additional research. First,

the research that assesses objective fit is needed to understand better that how level of analysis issues affect studies on P-O fit and work outcomes? When Personal and Environment variables are both reported by individuals, the level of analysis is called individual level. This individual level analysis was used in most of the P-O researches. When Personal variables are reported by individual and Environmental variables are reported by aggregate population, it is called cross measure level of analysis. This cross measure level of analysis was administered in very few studies. But the P-O fit results were found more authentic compare to the Individual level of analysis because of the less personal bias. More research is needed in this area to explore the right understanding of the established relationships.
9)

Apart from methodological issues on level of analysis, the content

dimensions based on which the various fits were conceptualized and accessed needed to study separately. The future study should consider both the criteria (attitude vs. behavior), and the context on which they were measured (pre-entry vs. post-entry). The underlying mechanism by which the researchers believe that fit exist while selecting a measurement approach should be investigated further for better understanding.
10)

Researchers found that perceived fits during pre-entry periods were not an

accurate reflection of objective fit relationship in long run in an organization. This implies that the decision by both applicant and recruiters were made on the flawed information or instruments. To improve decision-making during pre-entry period Fitbased instruments with demonstrated criterion validity should be developed for future studies.
11)

The reviews on P-O fit give conclusive evidence that fit matters to

applicant, managers and employee. It influences their attitude, decision and behavior in the work domain positively and negatively. The results suggest that fit is complicated

concept when multiple type of fit influencing all outcomes at the same time. A multifaceted approach study, which involves the demand and supplies of job, coworker characteristics and organizational element, is needed for better understanding for establishing P-O fit relationship in a long run. Although A few research findings were supported the importance of multiple type of fit for positive work related outcomes, the further validation of that complex research design is required.

8. Significance of P-O fit research for Organizations Organization should concern with proper person -organization fit methods and instruments before and after the selection procedure of candidate because, a significant amount of money and time is invested to attract and hire the right kind of people for their organization. New employees are hired either to meet the optimum requirement of manpower or to enhance the operational efficiency of the organization to meet the market demand effectively. But in spite of the different selection procedure adopted by the organizations, people leave the organization on a regular basis. This increasing employees' attrition rate in different organizations affects the bottom line as significant amount of money is invested for hiring and training the employee for their respective jobs. Not only the organizations get affected financially due to the attrition, the existing employee inside the organization face a tremendous workload and work stress due to the insufficient manpower. The continuous work stress leads to burnout where even competent employees fail to meet the minimum expected performance level inside the organization. Finally the organization faces the consequences in the long run with multiple problems such as involuntary absenteeism, lack of employee commitment, employee's turnover, substandard and low production and sometime strike to hike the salaries. Now, the question arises how long the organization runs efficiently with insufficient manpower? And how long the existing work force can sustain the work pressure to meet the demand with excellence? There are instances in organizations where due to the work load and stress the existing employees also leave the organization in due course of time. The gradual losses of manpower give rise to the problem of operational efficiency. To overcome these negative circumstances organizations incur man hour loss and finally production and financial losses. The inappropriate and inadequate manpower affects the employees'

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