[ITmedia Business Online] Aeon's “unbiased” selection of management candidates: What should we focus on?

As the business environment changes at a dizzying pace, how can we quickly find and develop the next generation of human resources who can be entrusted with management?

Aeon, a major retailer, is using AI to create its own human resource development system.

"Humans are said to have more than 100 cognitive and psychological biases. As long as we evaluate or choose people, we are bound to be biased. So the idea is to take the plunge."

Hajime Yoshida, Aeon's head of human resources development, says: Bias here refers to applying the company's cherished ideas and management knowledge as criteria for judgment.

When trying to select talented people, people who are similar to the person being evaluated are more likely to be selected. Therefore, the company decided to use AI to filter the factors that the company really values ​​before selecting personnel.

What should you focus on when selecting management candidates in a “biased” manner?

In order to develop management talent, it is necessary to identify future candidates and develop them in a planned manner even before they have a sufficient track record. On the other hand, it is difficult to judge whether a person is suitable for management based solely on quantitative indicators such as business performance. If the evaluator relies on his or her experience and intuition, he or she may unknowingly end up appointing a similar type of person.

"When it comes to evaluating talented people, the reasons tend to be similar. If we do that, we end up homogenizing them," says Yoshida.

Instead of narrowing down and selecting outstanding candidates, the company adopted an approach that filtered candidates based on whether they had the mindset that the company valued, and eliminated those who did not fit the criteria. After sharing the standards we value, we aim to retain diverse human resources in other areas.

The foundation of this system is ``Management Knowledge (Regulus),'' which systematizes the management philosophy and behavioral principles that Aeon has cultivated since its founding. This will be combined with the human resources assessment "DIA ver. 3.0" provided by ExaWizards to visualize the extent to which these ideals and principles are being embodied. In addition, we will use AI role-playing service ``exaBase Roleplay'' and other tools to develop the conversational skills and planning/proposal skills of executive candidates.

We are proceeding with a training program for management candidates that uses both ``visualization'' and ``training.''