Recruitment and Job Selection - Literature review Example

?CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2 Introduction Recruitment and job selection are very important aspects of every company that believes in growth. Ascompanies grow and expand, vacancies become created for which people must fill. Growing companies that also open new branches and new sectors require the services of new employees. There may also be cases of dismissals, resignations and retirements that will all call for the need to recruit and employ new workers. Even though recruitment and selection are one of the very usual and inevitable corporate practices, it is very important to attend to them with great caution and in by following good recruitment and selection processes that would ensure the company does not suffer the consequences of poor recruitment. The researcher therefore seeks to review literature on what recruitment and selection processions are, how recruitment and selection can be done effectively and efficiently, how to ensure fairness in recruitment and selection processes, the risk in undertaking awful recruitment and selection exercises and finally how to maintain workers recruited into a company. 2.2 Human Resource Recruitment and Selection What is Recruitment? According to the People Management Magazine, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), www.cipd.co.uk, “Recruitment is the process of having the right person, in the right place, at the right time.” This definition however seems too broad as it goes beyond job vacancies. To narrow down the definition to the job sector, a business directorate journal, www.businessdictionary.com defines recruitment as the “Process of identifying and hiring best-qualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for a job vacancy, in a most timely and cost effective manner.” In relation to this research, which seeks to assess the recruitment and selection process within B&M, recruitment can thus be said to be the processes that companies go through to get new employees to work for them when there is vacancy at their work places or new positions created. Vacancies are commonly created by the exit of workers either voluntarily or by expulsion. Workers who find the need to stop working for a company apply for resignation and subsequently quit the company. Older workers also apply for retirement when their retiring age is due. Companies also dismiss workers for several reasons as defined by their code of operation. After years of operation too, certain companies open new departments, sectors and branches. All these situations necessitate the need to recruit new employees to fill the vacancies. What is Job Selection? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) define job selection as “short listing, and assessing applicants to decide who should be made a job offer.” Jarvis (2010) also gives a very similar definition of job selection as “decision stage, of choosing suitable applicants for a job or jobs.” Job selection the activity in which an organisation uses one or more methods to assess individuals with a view to making a decision concerning their suitability to join that organisation, to perform tasks which may or may not be specified (Lewis 1992, p17). The three definitions seem to suggest that the selection stage is the climax point of getting a candidate to fill a vacant position at a work place. It is however worth saying that as suggested by Lewis, the process should involve structured methods so that the ultimate aim of getting a suitable applicant as mentioned by Jarvis would be achieved. What are the various Recruitment and Selection Methods available to a Company? Recruitment and selection methods refer to the various means by which a company can attract applicants to come and seek for jobs. Doan (2010) outlines ten methods by which recruitment may be carried out. These methods include recruitment by campus method, recruitment by job centres, head hunting, recruitment by advertisements, database search on job site, employee referral, contract staffing, word-of-mouth recruitment, free online ad and internal recruitment. Though these methods are not disputed, the researcher observes that the method by which a company goes about recruitment and selection demands a great deal of Human Resource Management. Human Resource Management theories focus on methods of recruitment and selection and highlight the advantages of two broad recruitment and selection methods or schemes which are the internal and external methods of recruitment and selection. Writing on the two types of recruitment methods, tutor2u.net, an on line journal for Business People explain that “Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from within its existing workforce External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business.” However, it is important to note that the decision whether to choose internal or external recruitment largely depends on the policies of the company. Nevertheless, even if a company decides to choose from among its ranks, certain basic processes of recruitment that would be discussed in the next section are not passed over. There are several advantages of running an internal recruitment. Internal recruitment is often resorted to as a way of saving money that could be spent through advertisements and also to cut on training costs that an outside employee would need to become familiar with the system. (Abhishek A. 2010). Tutor2u.net adds that, with the internal method of recruitment, there is an added advantage where “people are already familiar with the business and how it operates” – referring to existing workers in the company. This way, less money is spent on orientation, familiarization sections and on-the-job training. Companies are however urged not to take so much joy in the cost effectiveness of this method of selection to close themselves up totally on the other form of selection which is the external selection. This is because the external method of recruitment also comes with its own advantages. In the view of Mushtaq A. (2008), “internal recruitment may lead to increased morale for employees; the organization is perceived to reward good performance or loyalty.” This accession is however not always the case because in situations where more than one person on the staff apply for the job, the losers may feel reluctant to work under the person who gets promoted. Not withstanding the advantages, internal recruitment my have some demerits. A company that makes it its policy to recruit internally will have to spend resources training personnel to take up vacant positions when such readily available knowledge and skill may be possessed by other people outside the company. Mushtaq A. (2008) adds that “It becomes even more costly if the chain-effect of successive internal promotions requires a series of training sessions to be implemented”. Again, as much as employees who are promoted to vacant position may feel happy and motivated, there could be internal fraught in the company when other employees feel that they have been neglected or discriminated against. This breeds organizational politics in the company. Companies that do not have a policy that restricts them to undertaking recruitment strictly by the internal method may opt for external recruitment when necessary and benefit from some its advantages. Commenting on the advantages of external recruitment, Katho S., argues that “external recruits also bring new ideas and external contacts to the firm hiring them.” This is particularly true as with external recruitment, only applicants with needed qualification and requirement are permitted to apply. Also, the coming of new employees into the company brings a rejuvenation of ideas and zeal for the promotion of the agenda of the company. As a matter of fact, every new employee has an ego to please his superiors. This results in dedicated service, bringing on board new ideas and transparency in business dealing. Despite the advantages, external recruitment has its own weaknesses. The major demerit of external recruitment is that it is time consuming and more expensive due to the fact that there are some costs that will be involved routines such as advertisements and interview. (Sanders 2010). Also, because of the size of potential applicants, the process of external recruitment and job selection is likely to be ineffective as the preservation of time and money may be selected by the recruitment team over thorough scrutiny of applicants to choose who the best is. Finally, the incubation period for new employees to learn the basic operations of their new job and familiarise themselves with existing clients and customer may be so long, leading to the loss of productive hours and in some cases, customers and clients who may not like the working approaches the new employee. (Stevens, M. 2010). Processes involved in Recruitment and Job Selection Recruitment and job selection processes vary from recruitment and job selection methods in the sense that whereas recruitment and job selection methods refer to how a company may get people to apply for jobs, recruitment and job selection processes describe the routines that the job givers take the jobseekers through before finally selecting a candidate for the job. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) out lines four major stages in the recruitment and job selection process. According to the CIPD website, www.cipd.co.uk, the four stages are defining the role, attracting applications, managing the application and selection process making the appointment. Defining the role involves job analysis, job description, person specification or job profile. Job description is “any systematic procedure for obtaining information about a job, task or role that will be performed or is currently being performed”(Pearn and Kandola 1993:1). Job analysis involves the task of investigating into the content of the job, job’s purpose, the outputs required by the job holder and how it fits into the organisation’s structure. Job description on the other hand “explains the job to the candidates, and helps the recruitment process by providing a clear guide to all involved about the requirements of the job” That is according to The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Marchington & Wilkinson (2008) is spells out some the guides as used by the CIPD as Title, Location, Responsible to, Responsible for, Main purpose of job, Key activities, Working conditions and Other duties. Concerning person specification, Marchington & Wilkinson again calls for the need to plan it in such a way that it Relates to human characteristics and attributes, define the attributes - skills, knowledge and experience required and defines - the attitudes - desired behaviour within the role. At the stage of attracting applicants, employers are advised to pay attention to their internal talent pool if they will be conducting an internal recruitment. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) admonishes that providing opportunities for development and career progression increases employee engagement and retention and supports succession planning. Apart sourcing for applicants internally, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service of UK (ACAS) (www.acas.org.uk) suggests other means of attracting applications which include the use of Job Centres of the Department for Work and Pensions, Learning and Skills Councils, Commercial Recruitment Agencies who often specialises in particular types of work such as secretarial, office work and computing, Executive Search Organisation who usually work in the higher management or specialists fields, National Newspapers, Specialist and Professional Journals, Internet, Local Schools and Word of Mouth. The agencies mentioned above are well acclaimed but it is worth noting that if an employer would resort to companies that deal in recruitment as a job, the employer should also have structures that ensure that applicants suggested by these agencies fall within the criteria set by the company. It is very likely that once a company puts up advertisement for vacancy, a lot more people more than the number the company needs will apply. It is at this stage the company has to resort to a means to manage the applications. Wakefield (2010), advocates for the use of a sifting tool to manage or cut down on the number of applicants who would actually be contacted by the company. She writes, “Sifting is a way of screening out candidates during the earlier stages of a recruitment process, with the aim of reducing the number of applicants down to a manageable number before inviting them to the next, typically more costly stage(s) in the selection process.” Two of such sifting tools Wakefield suggests are online test and telephone interview before the actual face to face interview. After the sifting is done, the company then goes on to shortlist and assess candidates to decide who to offer the job to. In selecting shortlisted candidates, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) cautions employers on the following; “Care should be taken to use techniques which are relevant to the job and the business objectives of the organisation. All tools used should be validated and constantly reviewed to ensure their fairness and reliability.” The final stage of recruitment and selection process is the making of appointment. The selection of applicants for employment is based on a job analysis of the position being filled. The decision rests with the board the company selects to take care of the selection process. According to the Department of Services of the State of Florida, (dms.myflorida.com) the appointment should be based on an assessment of the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for the successful performance of the duties of the position. The Role of HRM in Ensuring Efficient and Effective Recruitment and Selection Process A recruitment exercise is said to be efficient and effective if the exercise achieves its aim of selecting the best person to take up vacancy position without an excessive waste of money, time and other resources. Having knowledge about the methods and processes involved in recruitment and job selection is not enough to achieve an efficient and effective recruitment and job selection process. It is the role of the Human Resource Management (HRM) to ensure with strict supervision that the entire recruitment and selection process is effective. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service of UK (ACAS) admonishes that “if any stage of the recruitment process failed to produce the expected result … you may want to examine what happened and why in order to make it more efficient in the future.” To achieve an efficient and effective recruitment and selection exercise, ACAS advocates Human Resource Managers need to keep abreast of changes in the labour market to ensure that their recruitment efforts are not wasted or directed at too small a pool of labour. Since skill shortages and vacancies may occur unexpectedly, human resource management must ensure that recruitment and training processes are kept flexible to absorb vacancies as soon as they come. To this, ACAS believes that it is a good idea for any organisation to plan its labour force requirements, matching available supply against forecast demand. Marchington & Wilkinson (2008) on the other hand is concerned about who the responsibility of human resource management and for that matter recruitment exercises are given to in the company arguing that it is dangerous to leave the process in the hands of inexperienced practitioners. The concern of Bharti (2009) in the role of human resource management in achieving an effective and efficient recruitment is even widen to cater for the issue of globalization that has resulted that managers ensure that their recruitment caters for areas such as language, an issue that did not use to be of prime importance in time past. She states, “Globalization will impact HR managers by requiring new skills such as language capabilities. For e.g., in order to recruit employees from other cultures, HR managers will either have to learn new languages or else they will certainly have to have foreign speakers on staff.” To put all the fears of having an ineffective and inefficient recruitment to rest however, ACAS advocates the formation of human resource plan that addresses the issue of recruitments. In the view of the association, “implementation is likely to be most effective if it carries the support of the workforce, normally achieved through consultation with trade union or other employee representatives.” Even though consultations are generally good, managers should nevertheless be very careful with the people they consult. It is very common to have some trade union members who have their personal agenda and would give consultative advice that would see the materialisation of their agenda rather than the achievement of the overall agenda of the company. Not withstanding the risk of consultation in preparing a resource plan, it is generally a brilliant idea for the human resource management to have such a plan. ACAS is however concerned with what such a plan will be made up of. The association believes in including in the plan, forecasting staffing requirements against business objectives, assessing the available supply of people to meet those requirements and matching available supply against forecast demand. Again, it says reports that information on current employees, labour turnover and the labour market will help in the formulation of the plan. The success of the human resource management in ensuring an efficient and effective recruitment and selection process largely relays on having a workable plan that looks into the future and a dedicated implementation team to work according to the plan without meandering. (The full text of the resource plan as cited in this paragraph can be found at the appendix). 2.4 Fairness in Recruitment and Selection Processes Major Current Issues related to Recruitment and Selection One current issue that is taking up the air waves in UK in recent times in the area of recruitment and job selection is reports of unfairness against jobseeker. The reports of unfairness take diverse forms but commonly among them are unfairness in the areas of ageism, race, seism and disability. The 10 January 2008 edition of “Diversiton”, an online newspaper, the paper quotes a BBC News report that was headlined, “Man wins age discrimination case” in the news report, a County Down man, 58 was said to have won the first ever case of ageism in Northern Ireland brought under legislation introduced in October of that year. As a matter of fact, this is just one out of many cases reported in the UK media everyday. So, as much as employers would want to get the right people for their job vacancies, they are to be very careful not to breach the law. To protect the jobseeker from undue unfairness, The Employment Act 2008 was passed and it received royal assent on 13th November 2008 thus becoming operational as from 6th April 2009. The basis of the Act was to deal with workplace dispute resolution, the national minimum wage, employment agencies and trade union membership law. To avoid any violation of the Act, recruitment must be done in a manner that observes and protects the fundamental human rights of applicants. Right from the advertisement of job vacancy to the appointment, it is mandatory that the process avoids all forms of discrimination as relates to sex, age, race, or ability. This is because the ACAS code of practice spells on discrimination in these areas as unlawful. On discrimination on the grounds of disability, The Equality Act introduced on 1st October 2010 supersedes The Disability Discrimination Act. The most important change introduced under this new Act is that, with the exception of restricted circumstances, employers are not permitted to ask any job applicant about their health or any disability until the person has been offered a job. Questions relating to previous sickness absence count as questions that relate to health or disability (UK Employment Law, 2010). This law has however been criticized by most employers, citing job demands as the most important element they would want to see in an employee and so jobseekers should be open to assessment in terms of their health to know if they can meet the demands of the job they are seeking for. Some even raise concerns and ask if it is not the life of employees the law is putting at risk if people with unrevealed health problems are employed to do work that their health do not permit them to do. But what is most important in these arguments is that the law is superior to personal reservations and thus when the law matches with individual reservations, the law prevails. On discrimination on the grounds of sex, The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of sex or marital status in recruitment, promotion and training. In the job recruitment and selection process, sex discrimination occurs when a person of one sex is treated less favourably in the application and possible placement for a job on the grounds of sex. This means that all people regardless of sex must be treated equal in their quest to get employed into a company. The law however has a section that is interpreted by must people to be ambiguous. According to the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), indirect sex discrimination can occur where a requirement or condition is applied equally to men and women, but the proportion of one sex that can satisfy the condition is much smaller than the proportion of the other sex. Most employers however criticize this aspect of the law saying if both men and women would want equal opportunities in job recruitment, then when a requirement or condition is to be applied, it should be applied on both sexes equally without a measure of what one is capable of doing by virtual of the person’s sex. The law is equally vocal on racial discrimination. According to CEPR, The Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA) makes it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic or national origin. This Act covers recruitment, promotion and training. The 19 September 2007 edition of BBC News Post on its website titled “Racial divide 'deeper than ever'” however criticizes government’s efforts into fighting racial discrimination saying the practice is even in the Ministries. According to the report, “The Commission for Racial Equality report also said that 15 government departments are not meeting their own obligations on tackling discrimination.” When situations like this persist, jobseekers and employees will feel insecure, questioning how government can have the will power to sanction employers who default if government has not been able to clean its own house. Specific Stages of the Recruitment and Selection Process where Unfairness may be recorded ‘Bystart’, a UK based Internet Magazine (www.bytestart.co.uk) outlines five areas that fairness must be ensured to avoid breach of the law. These five areas include: Advertising Jobs, Interview Process, Right to Employment, Statement of Employment and Tax Responsibilities. On advertisement, employers are warned of carrying any advertisement that carries portions that suggest discrimination or unfairness in the areas of race, age, sex or ability. In the view of ACAS, it is the responsibility of the employer to for instance make provisions for disabled applicant. Organizations should be aware that the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 not only make it unlawful to discriminate against disabled individuals without justifiable reason but also require employers to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace or working arrangements. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service of UK (ACAS). The interview process itself must also be guarded against all forms of human rights violation. Most interviewers violate the fundamental human rights of jobseekers through discrimination, breach of privacy and verbal abuse. Interviewers must show great respect in how they talk to interviewees making sure they do not sound abusive, insulting, discriminatory, harassing or intimidating in their words. Tax responsibility is another area that most employers fall short of and are commonly tagged with unfairness. Managers of companies have been tagged by their new employees as been unfair because the managers either do not direct new employees to pay appropriate taxes and thus become culprits of tax invasion or overbill them with taxes. (Hearty et al, 2010). The recruitment laws of employee states, “when you process their pay, don’t forget that it is your responsibility as the employer to ensure that Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance deductions are correctly made, as well as any student loan payments.” 2.5 Motivation and Remuneration as a way of Attracting and Retaining Employers After securing the services of new employees through all fair means in the recruitment process, it becomes incumbent on company owners to do everything possible to maintain them. Researchers have suggested several ways by which this can be achieved. Common among the suggestions on how to maintain workers are motivation and good remuneration. As a matter of fact, a working force that is well motivated and remunerated feels encouraged to work and have quitting of the company as the last thing that crosses his mind. The Role of Motivation in Retaining Employees Several meanings, explanations and definitions have been given to the word motivation. Armstrong (2001) defines motivation as being concerned with behaviour instigated by need and directed towards the goals that can satisfy those needs. Sue (2010), defines motivation as “a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that goal.” Velez (2010), also explains motivation as “the characteristic that is required in order to achieve anything in life; without it you will give up at the first sign of adversity. It means to inspire, instigate and encourage a person to do their best.” To sum what the writers have said about motivation, it can be said that motivation is an inner inspiration that urges an individual to give off his best. The most important thing for employers to know however is the fact that different people are motivated through different means. This comes to the talk of theories of motivation. Armstrong (2001) lists three major theories that apply in motivation. These theories and their meanings reflect on how different people would want to be motivated at the work place. According to Armstrong’s Motivation Theories, there is the instrumental/behaviourist motivation, which says that people are only motivated by money. There is also content theory which is concerned with the specific needs of people as in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Finally, there is the process or cognitive theory which examines the psychological processes involved in motivation. Romando (2008) however argues that “Process theories of motivation provide an opportunity to understand thought processes that influence behavior”. It is incumbent therefore for employers to have a mechanism that would help them check the right and most appropriate form of motivation to give to their individual workers. Employers who want to sustain the growth of their companies and retain their staff base must think like Robert Owen. During the early years of the nineteenth century, Owen’s textile mill at New Lanark in Scotland was the scene of some novel ways of treating people. His view was that people were similar to machines. A machine that is looked after properly, cared for and maintained well, performs efficiently, reliably and lastingly, similarly people are likely to be more efficient if they are taken care of. Robert Owen practiced what he preached and introduced such things as employee housing and company shop. His ideas on this and other matters were considered to be too revolutionary for that time. (Shah & Shah, 2010). Though Owen’s idea was criticized at the time, it succeeded in getting Owen the result of improved productivity he wanted. The Role of Remuneration in Retaining Employees With reference to the instrumental theory of motivation, it is very important for employers to have a well structured system that ensures that all forms of monetary remunerations due their workers are duly honoured. Remuneration in a work setup comes in various forms including salary, pay, wages, compensation, royalties, bonus and income. The underlying point however is that all these come in monetary form. The salary and employee benefits a company provides serve a major role in recruiting, retaining, and motivating staff. As a matter of fact, every person who goes looking for a job does so because he must have something to live. Krattenmaker (2002) however fails to see monetary benefits as the most important aspect of running a company even though she admits it plays a role in recruiting and retaining employees. She says, “While salary and benefits are not the "most" important aspect of your jobs, they definitely contribute to recruiting, retaining, and motivating superior employees.” Krattenmaker T., (2002) addresses a very critical issue with remunerations by warning that paying different people who do the same job different salaries would spark fire at the work place. He says, “Human resources professionals believe—and the new survey confirms—that employees are particularly keen on knowing they're being paid fairly relative to their peers inside the organization.” It is a very serious administrative mistake to pay people who do the same thing differently. As soon as the other colleague who is receiving a smaller pay for the same work done finds out that he is being cheated, he will indirectly reduce the amount of work he does. If structures at the work place would not permit this, the employee would adopt negative working attitudes that would draw the progress of the company backwards. Compensation strategy is like a three-legged stool, with three critical components that must be in place, says Jerry Nelson, president and founder of HRN Management Group (www.hrnonline.com) in Salt Lake City. McKeon (2002) however reviews this point, advocating an holistic approach to the issue of compensation as a way of retaining employees and enhancing recruitment. There is a need for a holistic approach to the individual employee that will go beyond simply adjusting the employee’s compensation and benefits (McKeon). This means that funding the compensations of workers and seeing to their other needs must go hand in hand. What should be paramount is that an employer must be trusted by his employees as someone who would deliver up to the sum they are to receive and at the time they are to receive. There must also not be any issues of disparity in allocation of remunerations as the law is against paying different people different amounts for same job done. Where men and women are paid at different rates for the same, or similar, work, the employer must prove that there is a reason for it which is not gender-related. (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2.6 Summary of the Literature review The long term success and stability of a company rests on selecting the right employees to fill up vacancies. Even though the process is sometimes long and cost involving, there are the fruits to reap if it is done well. In fact, employers have no other choice than to ensure that recruitment is done appropriately if they want to ensure the growth of their company. This is because selecting the wrong candidate is often translated into a long term effect of loss for the organisation’s core mandate to its customers and clients – a situation that is likely to result in the collapse of companies. No company, including B&M should therefore take the process of running an efficient and effective recruitment lightly. Then after managing to get the right people in place, companies should endeavour to put up good employer-employee-relationship that would ensure that employees have a quest to stay in the company forever. Adopting the practice of motivation of workers and respect for their compensation entitlements would ensure that workers develop love for their companies and commit themselves to the success of the company. REFERENCE LIST "Recruitment" Business Dictionary, 2011 [Accessed 20 January 2011] http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/recruitment.html “Recruitment” Recruitment: An Overview, 2010, [Accessed 20 January 2011] http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/general/recruitmt.htm “Selection” What is the Process of Selecting a Candidate?, 2010 [Accessed 20 January 2011] Abhishek A. Internal Recruitment - Advantages And Disadvantages Explained, Ezine Articles, 2010 [Accessed 18 January 2011], http://ezinearticles.com/?Internal-Recruitment---Advantages-And-Disadvantages-Explained&id=1663907 Amofa, A.K (1999). Sociological Foundation in Education for Students – Ghana, Giundy Publications limited. Amofa, A.K (2008) “Doing it Right – Company Recruitment;” Kumasi: Ghana. University of Education, Winneba Press. Armstrong M, 2001, “A Handbook on Human Resource Management Practcie, 8th Edition; Kogan Page. BBC News Racial divide 'deeper than ever' 2007, [Accessed 20 January 2011] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7001371.stms Bharti V., "Challenges faced by Human Resource Managers in the Era of Gloablization" 2009, [Accessed 20 January 2011] Read More