Efficiency and Effectiveness of Recruitment Method and Process - Dissertation Example

?CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION CONCLUSION This research was set out to look into all processes that are involved in the recruitment and selection of employees at B&M Company. B&M is a non profit organisation that offers free advice on issues relating to housing, money, debt, and welfare of community members. It is located in London. As a way of finding answers to the research questions that were set by the researcher, the researcher embarked on detailed review of related literature to assess what previous researchers and writers have said about the topic in question. The researcher also adopted the use of interview as a research instrument to sample views from workers of the company. The research instrument was used on five out of six members of the company, which represents 83.3% of the staff strength of the company. The data that was collected was well presented and analysed. With information from these primary and secondary data collected, the researcher has drawn the following conclusions about the recruitment and selection process at B&M Company and other pertinent organisational issues that relate to the company. Efficiency and Effectiveness of Recruitment Method Because of the size of the company’s staff, it employs external recruitment method. Pillar (2011), ‘External recruitment is when organizations looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside organizations.’ To attract applicants for vacant positions, the company advertises in local community newspaper. The company restricts itself to the local community newspaper in order to minimise the number of prospective applicants because of the size of the company. It was also said that the company did not have enough funds to embark on mass publicity. This mode of advertisement however affected the effectiveness of the recruitment process. This is because it did not expose the company to reaching a large human resource base. The company should have known that the wider the range of jobseekers, the wider the range of human resource with abilities and knowledge they would have attracted. ‘Promotion and advertisement are directly linked to marketing because the promotional campaigns tend to have a huge effect on the reception of the product. Good marketing is something that helps your business grow bigger.’ (McCollister, 2007) The company however had a very detailed job description and job specification. Job description is a written statement showing job title, tasks, duties and responsibilities involved in a job. It also prescribes the working conditions, hazards, stress and relationship with other jobs. Job specifications, also known as man or employee specifications, is prepared on the basis of job specification. It specifies the qualities required in a job incumbent for the effective performance of the job (Prasad, 2007). Because the job description and job specifications were very detailed, prospective employees had a very good idea of what the company was looking for. This approach, in no uncertain terms reduced the chances of the company having to waste resources and time interviewing people who did not have what the company was looking for. Efficiency was therefore recorded here. Efficiency and Effectiveness in Recruitment Processes The major recruitment processes involved giving feedback on candidates who were shortlisted and the interview itself. The feedback process was very effective. Most workers interviewed said they had feedback on their application was well communicated to them and they were made aware of all that to expect in the interview. It was also confirmed that the feedback was very prompt. When interviewees receive prompt feedback on their candidature to attend interviews and the interview requirements are well communicated to them, it enhances efficiency during the interview itself because it reduces the incidence of time wastage because the interviewees come well prepared. It also ensures efficiency of man power as interviewers do not do a lot of talking, explaining the interview routine to the candidates who may be so many on the day of the interview. ‘Conduct your job interview follow up with enthusiasm, determination and in a professional manner and provides the interviewee with further evidence of your sustainability.’ (BestJobInterview.Com) Interview conducted at B&M can also be concluded as being very effective. This is because the company adopts the panel interviewing method. Even though the size of the company is very small, all people who are interviewed appear before a panel of at least two interviews. This is a way of ensuring effectiveness. When two or more people are involved, distribution of questions becomes very broad and varying. Again, fatigue is reduced because the work will not be centred on only one person. Also, efficiency of time is ensured because the process becomes quicker. For instance one person did not have to ask questions, listen to answers and finish to compile results. These activities could be done simultaneously to save time and energy. ‘If you want to increase assessment accuracy and save time, conduct more panel interviews. These are much better than an all-day series of one-on-one 45-60-minute interviews’ (Adler, 2007). Fairness in recruitment and selection Management of B&M ensures fairness in their recruitment and selection exercise to some extent but they fall short in other areas. It is highly questionable why all workers at B&M are females. This is a serious breach of the law on gender discrimination. In a new law passed in November 2007, gender discrimination is prohibited in no uncertain terms. The law defines key aspects of gender equality in all areas of social and family life, measures to promote gender equality, responsibilities of all public and private agencies, and oversight of violations (UN General Assembly, 2007). As a matter of fact, B&M is a community company which serves a very customer base of both sexes. To make their staff base all females is therefore not acceptable. Again, the advertisement method used to publicise vacancies is a cause for worry when talking about fairness. By limiting the number of people who could apply through the use of local community newspaper exclusively shuns the chances of equally qualified people elsewhere. It was also reviewed by one of the participants in the research that interview sections are not done in private. This breaches the privacy law of applicants and puts them under unnecessary pressure to perform. The company however ensures fairness by giving interview candidate prior knowledge of some of the areas to expect in the interview. The panel system of interviewing is also an assurance of fairness as it reduces the incidence of bias and favouritism. When interviewees leave the interview ground with a sense that the decision making is going to be balanced, fair and devoid of any biases, it gives them a feeling that their dignity has been respected. In this case, they accept rejection with a good heart and without any heartaches and when they pass, they rejoice because they know they deserved what they earned. Motivation at B&M What motivates workers at B&M is the fact that they are provided with all resources they need to work with. Workers confirm that they have a very good working condition that meets their pay rate, working environment, role, responsibilities and holiday entitlements just as were published and informed them at the interview. Workers at B&M are generally happy with their pay rate as people doing equal with equal qualification take equal pay. What kills the motivation of workers however is the fact that they have no promotional opportunities. Because of the size of the company, there are no higher positions to be filled by hardworking and long serving employees as promotions. ‘As a form of personnel selection, promotions are subject to the same close legal scrutiny afforded potential employees to guard against discrimination’ (Snyder, 2001). In the UK, the Employment Equality Regulations 2006 that ban employee discrimination also touches on promotion, banning discrimination on promotion of any sort (CIPD, 2011). It is therefore not surprising that even though B&M has been in existence for forty (40) years, there is no worker there who has worked for more than five years. Clearly, after employees work for a while and they feel they want to upgrade their status, they leave for places they would have this avenue. Review and appraisal systems are also not working in B&M and it is a factor of demoralisation for employees. Employees complain they would want a fair assessment system in place to help them know how well or worse they are performing as workers. Strengths of B&M The conclusions above and other data discussed in this research work makes the following strengths clear about B&M Company: 1. A very good job description and specification is in place 2. Panel interview in place is good way of ensuring efficient and effective recruitment 3. There is an excellent working condition that ensures that workers do not work under pressure and are not cheated in terms of compensations 4. The use of student-workers is commendable as it gives the students enough internship experience and prepares them for their future jobs. 5. Fairness in the pay rate at B&M is commendable as people doing equal job take the same pay. Weaknesses of B&M The following however are concluded to be the weakness of B&M Company: 1. The reach of candidature for jib recruitment is too limited and unreliable for the best of human resource the company requires. 2. Gender imbalance is a serious weakness on the part of the management of B&M. 3. The vastness of work done at B&M and the proportion of workers available to deliver the work is unfair. It puts too much pressure on workers. 4. The absence of promotional opportunities for workers is a cause for worry 5. The company does not put in place enough measures to retain workers. There is therefore always a new person on the job – a situation that makes delivery of work very slow. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the strengths and weaknesses listed above, the researcher makes the following recommendations to government, the community in which B&M is located and the management of B&M Company. These recommendations are geared towards ensuring that the company practices effective recruitment and selection process and that the company is run on well structured administrative principles. First, the company must revise its mode of advertising for vacancies. According to Sands (2010) mass advertisement also serves as a means of publicising the company to the wider masses. This form of advertisement has the tendency of attracting prospective investors to the company when they learn about the company through the job descriptions and job specifications the company puts up in advertisements. The mass advertisement would also ensure that a very large human resource base is reached for recruitment. Secondly, interview session taken at B&M should be more private to give interviewees some privacy. Interviews conducted in the open put interviewees under unnecessary pressure that may hinder some good performers from performing up to their utmost best. When this happens, the company may loss good candidates. Again, Induction programs organised for new employees should be improved. This is important because B&M renders social service. New employees, especially those who come directly from school should be given enough orientation into the structures of the work and more especially into their roles as social workers. Even though these people may have theoretical knowledge on the rudiments of social work, practical work on the grounds is totally different. If proper orientation is not given to new graduates, it is possible existing clients may find it difficult adjusting to their style of working and some who may not be able to stand the changes may part ways with the company. As a way of attracting more student-workers into the company to help with the day-by-day running of the company’s duties, it is recommended that the management set aside funds that would be used in rewarding these student-workers on regular basis. Presently, the student-workers offer their services purely on voluntary grounds, not having access to any fix reward package. Reward is however an important element in raising the morale of workers to work extra hard and so management should put in place a scheme that would ensure a constant allowance for student-workers. A recent study shows that Promotional Items and employee reward rank high in value when rewarded in employee recognition programs. (Ramjee, 2011) There should be a lot of refresher courses organised for workers. These refresher courses should be both within and without the company whereby workers would be given the chance to go and equip their knowledge through attachments in companies that have higher administrative positions, which do not exist at B&M. This was a major area of concern to employees who were interviewed. As a matter of fact, even though there are no promotional opportunities for workers at B&M, management should realise that workers there are competing with the bigger world so that they should not be put at a disadvantage when it happens that they will have to go to other places to work. This is to say that there should be refresher courses to equip employees both for the benefit of B&M and in case any of them would have to go and apply for work elsewhere. Company managers are advised to implement their policies on employee appraisal and reviews. Employee review is a surefire way of opening the communication lines between you and the rest of the people working under you. All effective managers should make sure that all parties should be aware of each of their own roles so that the business will run like a well-oiled machine (Kruger, 2011). Since B&M is a community based social work, it can adopt such informal appraisal and review system as relying on their customers for feedback. This can be done by giving literate clients questionnaires to fill on their impression about services rendered to them. Unstructured but purposive interviews may also be used in some cases and especially to cater for illiterate clients. It is also recommended that government increase funds that it directs to B&M. Since B&M is a non-profit making organisation and yet, not a non-governmental organisation (NGO), they have the government as their major funder. Government is admonished to channel funds into expanding the company so that it can reach a lot more people with its services. Such funds may also be channelled towards expanding the administration of the company to include corporate executive positions such as general managers, finance officers, auditors, public relations officers and human resource managers. These portfolios are needed to make the running of company business more and more effective. In the time being, government is advised to reduce the scope of work of B&M. Currently, B&M serves as advisors on issues relating to housing, money, debt, and welfare of community members with only four permanent workers and two student-workers. This is certainly outrageous and may result in efficiencies when workers cannot live up to the task of the work demands on them. Finally, the company is also advised to depend more on itinerate workers to take up some of the responsibilities if the company is not in a position to hire any new permanent workers. The services of itinerate workers are cheaper and readily available – a situation that is suitable for such a small company with a huge responsibilities. REFERENCE LIST "Job Interview Follow Up Guide" Best Job Interview.Com 2010 [Accesed 19th January, 2011] http://www.best-job-interview.com/job-interview-follow-up.html Adler, L., "Using Job Interview to Save Time and Accuracy" The Adler Group. June 21, 2007, [Accessed 23rd January, 2011] http://www.adlerconcepts.com/resources/column/newsletter/using_the_panel_interview_to_s.php CIPD "Age and Employment" 2011 [Accessed 24th January, 2011]] http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/dvsequl/agedisc/ageandemp.htm Kruger, R. "Importance of Performance Review and the Employment Review Template" Ezine Articles, 2011 [Accessed 21st January, 2011] http://ezinearticles.com/?Importance-of-Performance-Reviews-and-the-Employee-Review-Template&id=5141686 McCollister, J. "Importance of Advertising in your Business" Articles Base2009, [Accessed 22nd January, 2011] http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/importance-of-advertising-in-your-business-750277.html Pillar, A. G., "External Recruitment" Human Resources. 2011, [Accessed 23rd January, 2011] http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com/external-recruitment/ Prasad, L.M. "Job Specifications" 2007, [Accessed 18th January, 2011] http://www.superjobsonline.com/interview/interview_basics/job_description_and_job_specification.html Ramjee A., "Recent Study Shows Importance of Investing in Employees Through Promotional Products" Ezine Articles. 2011 [Access 20th January, 2011] Sands, M., “The Communication Mix” 2010 [Accessed 20 January 2011] Snyder, J.R "Sidestep legal pitfalls in employee promotion" Health Publications, 2001 [Accessed 18th January, 2011] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3230/is_n9_v24/ai_13332902/ UN General Assembly, "New Law on Gender Equality" Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 2007 [Accessed 24th January, 2011] Read More