Human Resource Management in Recruitment and Selection Practices - Essay Example

Human Resource Management in Recruitment and Selection Practices – A Cummis Case Study A Report for Recruitment and Staffing Recommendations for Cummis, UK To: Stakeholders From: Director of Human Resource Department Re: Recruitment and Staff Recommendation Report Date: 28/1/15 Executive Summary In view of the pressing demands of the manufacturing sector, the present study is an analytical essay of a representative company from the heavy value manufacturing sector in the UK. In the present scope, the existing HR practices and policies, in view of the staffing and recruitment patterns, are analysed to identify the scopes of betterment and suggest a recommendation for building a more competitive efficiency. The overall objective is to work towards creating efficient workplaces and explore flexible modes of communication to generate more commitment and efficient task-force within the company. Table of Contents 1.Introduction 4 1.1Aims of the Study 5 1.2Background to the Sector 5 1.3The Case Study Method – Effective Recruitment Practice for Competitive Advantage 8 2.Analysis 9 3.Conclusion 11 4.Recommendations 11 Reference List 13 1. Introduction In this era of globalization and organizational integration, adopting selective hiring strategies is necessary to achieve a huge competitive advantage over rivals. The employees are expected to contribute to extensive product development and process cycles, in which human resource plays a cardinal role for success (Bergwerk, 1988; Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). A constrained labour market in some economies creates a pressure on HR professionals to recruit the most-efficient task-force. Time becomes a challenging factor in establishing a sound and efficient internal recruitment system (Beaumont and Hunter, 1992; Hallier, 2001; Henderson, 2011; Beaumont and Hunter, 1992). Nowadays, demographic shifts across different economies are creating problems of getting the efficient labour force and the recruiting appropriate manpower. The problems of attrition and displacement of workforce happen almost every year. This leads to a high turn-over and shortage of talented candidates, to be retained for a long time in companies. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the recruitment and selection practices utilized in a heavy manufacturing sector of the UK. Knowing the good staffing practices by the HR department in an organization, it is necessary to procure employees with good academic record, knowledge, skills and attitude (Belbin, 1981; Bergwerk, 1988; Cook, 2009). This approach results in higher productivity from even newer employees in an organization. Therefore, knowing about the recruitment and staffing practices, particularly for a manufacturing sector, should be used as a frequent practice in organizations (Beaumont and Hunter, 1992; Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This paper therefore begins with trends in the high value manufacturing labour market of the UK and moves ahead to identify the gaps in the system. On the basis of the case analysis of a heavy diesel equipment manufacturing company in UK, Cummis, this paper discusses on the recommendations for improvement in recruitment and selection by HR department for gaining a competitive advantage of hiring the efficient taskforce. 1.1 Aims of the Study The overall aim of this study is to: Identify the nature of skill and the deficiencies in the heavy equipment manufacturing sector in the UK, related to identification of gaps among the existing workforce and their impact on organisational performance. Explore the skill-based needs in this sector and explore on how to achieve them. This sector is primarily a production-oriented process and embodies multiple elements of looking at its functionalities, such as employees, efficiency of production processes and the range of activities which connect the subsidiaries to the central core operating unit. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the most critical HR function or factors that affect the success of organization. Using the case of Cummis, a leader in the market for manufacturing high-performance diesel engines and some of its immediate competitors, the study would make a recommendation for recruitment and staffing practices for the manufacturing sector. 1.2 Background to the Sector The management philosophy and employee relation in the manufacturing sector in the UK leads to an over-emphasis on the HR functionalities as a success parameter. A knowledgeable and skilled taskforce would help procure competitive advantage for an organization (Bain and Taylor, 1999; Kundu, et al, 2012). An organization could obtain and retain its HRs to achieve its organizational goals, impacting the workforce in the specific organizational culture (Torrington, et al., 2009). The significance of recruitment and selection, the best strategy for recruitment and staffing has been conducted in this paper. There is no such common code-of-conduct to recruit and select employees as different organizations adopt different recruitment and selection of methods to select employees as different organizations practice different approaches to select their team (Taylor, 2010). Recruitment and selection in the UK is more person-related rather than based on job-orientation (Technology Strategy Board, 2012). Manufacturing organizations use various selection methods, such as aptitude test, assessment, work sampling, psychological sampling, depending on the nature of work and skill requirements, to recruit staff (Wickramasinghe, 2007). A number of variables have been identified through a study on 506 HR professionals that indicated the selection methods and the methods of staff selection, such as, field diffusion, legalizations, taking note of applicant’s reactions and the usefulness of self-promotion, their validity and the costs involved (Kundu, et al, 2012). The perspective of recruitment and staffing traditionally rests on a micro-perspective that emphasizes on assessment devises, such as structures interviews, cognitive analysis, and inventorying on employee background information (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2006). Application forms, skill or knowledge tests are often considered to be more applicable to manufacturing companies. Interviews appear to be the more preferred selection method, including preliminary interview, review of applicant and their resume, selection for interview and the final rounds of seeking employee information (Mazzarol, 2003; Jusoh and Ai, 2002; Ifill and Moreland, 1999; Iles and Salaman, 1995). Manufacturing companies differ on the basis of aggregate behaviour of firms as well as individual units themselves (Montgomery, 1996). The recruitment methods in manufacturing organizations relate to temporary staffing, newspaper advertisement and head hunting that are the major indicators of successful recruitment (Huang and Mak, 2012). Manufacturing companies rule out the competition by attracting and procuring talent using traditional as well as internet-based sources, such as maintaining own websites, job portals, head-hunting, temporary staffing and newspaper advertisement etc (Clark, 1992; Kundu, et al, 2012; Caroll et al., 1999) The key characteristics of the high value manufacturing sector in the UK are outlined below: The UK government aims to increase the role of manufacturing sector that presently contributes £6.7tr into the global economy (Huang and Mak, 2012). With a highly competitive market, the opportunities for high value manufacturing in the UK may arise through R& D, new technologies and approaching new markets (Clark, 1992). Accounting for 35% of the UK exports in 2010, the high value sector contributes to £151bn to the UK balance of payments (Huang and Mak, 2012). Nearly 2.5 million people are working in this sector, generating half of the UK exports and accounting for three quarters of business. Associated training and skills development in High Value Manufacturing gives the provision of imparting cross-disciplinary training to employees to combine knowledge with competency (Huang and Mak, 2012; Kundu, et al, 2012). 1.3 The Case Study Method – Effective Recruitment Practice for Competitive Advantage In order to identify the gaps and make recommendations on the industry best-approach for recruitment and staffing in a typical manufacturing company, a thorough analysis of the company’s recruitment and staffing has been made. Setting of the company: The Company has been established in the UK for 50 years. Size: It has 6 manufacturing plants located country-wide. Staff Size: Employs 5000 people. It has been predicted that in UK, the sector will grow at a rate of 6% in 2014. A temporary labour force in generated due to a demand in the need for contract workers in each sector of economy (Technology Strategy Board, 2012). It is observed that since the year 2013, the temporary hiring has doubled-up and has been steadily increasing. Vacancies for highly skilled and specialised employees are created, compelling more and more recruiters to look for quick fixes for their workforce gap, depending on the temporary labour (Baine and Taylor, 1999). The HR policy in Cummins uses a team-based approach to manufacturing. The company offers job opportunities at various different levels. Most of them join in at a junior level in positions, such as modern apprentices at the floor level. Cummis encouraged team-work by adopting an employee composition that reflects a wide variety of aptitudes and skills. Cummis team includes people with diverse knowledge, skills and experience in various sectors (Cummis Inc, 2013), such as: Manufacturing – Knowledge in manufacturing highest possible quality engines. Knowledge in skills, such as Six Sigma helps reduce waste and inefficiency. A multi-diversified approach is adopted for creating a mix of technically and administratively sound personnel. Administration: The employees of Cummis need to possess appropriate administrative skills, such as keeping records of customers orders, supplier’s orders, salary slips and payment receipt and invoices. Engineering – Skill and knowledge in designing of engines etc and developing full-scale prototypes are also necessary. Sales and marketing – Placing customer demands at the core of its operations, Cummis recruitment and staffing team recruiting, selecting and training staff to meet customer needs. Purchasing and logistics- Ensuring punctuality and timely delivery are the key to its success. The employees are generated awareness on this company trait. In Cummis, the recruitment of senior staff is mostly made through promotion but the company also looks profiles outside the company. At those times, Cummis applies a mix of diverse skills and abilities to gain competitive advantage. 2. Analysis The Director of Human Resources Department of the Cummis company, on behalf of the management, was concerned about recommending the best practices to be used for selecting appropriate candidates and identify the scopes of improvement for the company and similar others in the sector (Edenborough, 2007; Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2007). The challenge is to maintain a high level of competency by keeping in mind a candidate’s strength and weaknesses. The process on recruitment is a traditional interview and questions related to personal and academic skills are assessed (Caroll, et al, 1999). The competencies are awarded scores and for more senior positions, the central recruitment team undertakes aptitude tests to match critical competencies on assessing numerical, communicative, mechanical skills, and reasoning ability (Caroll, et al, 1999; Dineen and Soltis, 2011), Recruitment is cost-extensive, but Cummis prioritises on getting the technically, administrative and communicatively skilled personnel, in its recruitment drives. The company is also building a strong HR policy, looking into areas of being more responsible for standard protocols and practices. The decision making approach is not the charge of only a few people, but a shared practice. In order to build more technical competencies and a process flow-system, the organization relies on building more commitment, goodwill and loyalty towards the organization. Cummis maintains quality in business performance and organizational competency by concentrating on building a robust recruitment policy as a key component of their overall strategy. With regard to the manufacturing sector in the UK, competition is a serious concern (Technology Strategy Board, 2012), compelling companies, such a Cummis and its competitors to contemplate a long-term and sustainable strategy (Cummis Inc., 2013). However, the question remains on how to implement changes and potentially use resources is the concern. It is a costly practice to subcontract for coping with competitive demands and therefore the company needs to improve product quality, improve inter and intra-departmental teamwork and reduce costs by improving on creativity and building more morale among employees (Boothroyd, Dewhurst and Knight, 1994). The immediate sale and profits may not rise after implementing the changes, but it would be an appropriate strategy in terms of a sector-specific approach of Human Resource Management. 3. Conclusion Good working relationships are vital for every organisation. The UK manufacturing sector is welcoming competitive growth by improving performance of all organisations added together. This has a direct effect on the taskforce and implicates on the recruitment and staffing. As a traditionally manufacturing company, Cummis have been avoiding competition by revamping. While technological competence is vital, there are other skills and knowledge areas that also need to be stressed upon, other than timely training practices to orient and motivate the staff. 4. Recommendations From the previous case study and sector-wise analysis of the heavy manufacturing sector of the UK and identifying the gaps in the present HR system, in the form of technological, design-oriented, strategic, skill-based, workplace environment and collaborative requirements, the Director of the HR department of the Cummis will make board recommendations as a way-forward for improvement of company, as a representative of the heavy equipment manufacturing sector in the UK. Communication and consultation – This is necessary to build more integrity and a discipline of innovation in the workplace. Henceforth, employees are more commitment through a sense of motivation and satisfaction at work. Resolving disputes through collaborative conciliation – A team-based approach and pluralism in thought-process and ideologies, would include stakeholders at different levels within the company and build more commitment. Training – In terms of product and design improvement, the highly competitive manufacturing sectors need to upgrade themselves through in-house and workshop trainings for their employees, by getting experts from the field, from time –to-time. Catering advice and service information – In commitment to offering quality and timely service to its customers, Cummis needs to be more responsible to information sharing and employee responsibility. Maintaining equality, diversity and effectiveness in workplaces – Embrace diversity as a view to extend boundaries and capture the world view as a global village. This would also help access the most efficient team for building competitiveness. Reference List Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrongs handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Bain, P. and Taylor, P., 1999. Employee relations, worker attitudes and trade union representation in call centres. 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