The Role of Induction in an Effective People Resourcing Strategy - Case Study Example

Human Resources THE ROLE OF INDUCTION IN AN EFFECTIVE PEOPLE RESOURCING STRATEGY Introduction Induction is defined as a process of “receiving and welcoming employees when they first join a company and giving them the basic information they need to settle down quickly and happily and start work” (Armstrong, 2003: 453). Induction is the final stage of the recruitment and selection process. The induction of new employees begins once the letter of appointment or job offer letter has been sent and the basic terms of the contract agreed. Induction is a general term describing the whole process in which new employees adjust or acclimatise to their new jobs and working environments. This includes orientation which refers to a specific course or training event that new starters attend; and socialization by which new employees build up working relationships and find roles for themselves within their new teams (Taylor, 2005: 261). Thesis statement: The purpose of this paper is to explain the role of induction in an effective people resourcing strategy undertaken by organisations. Discussion Induction is important from a human resources management perspective. The procedure is undertaken for the purpose of good practice rather than legal compliance. The main forms of induction include one-to-one briefings from the line manager or human resources, group briefings for new staff, and provision of a copy of the staff handbook (Memo, 2005: 47). The Importance of Induction Reduces the Cost and Inconvenience of Early Leavers: Employees are far more likely to resign in the first month after joining the organisation. The cost of the employee’s resignation to the firm can include: “recruitment costs of replacement; induction costs of training, and other inputs, costs of temporary agency replacement, cost of extra supervision and error correction, gap between the employee’s value to the company and the cost of the employee’s pay and benefits” (Armstrong, 2003: 454). Increases Commitment: A committed employee is one who identifies with the organisation, wants to stay with it and is prepared to work hard for the organisation. The first step to achieving commitment is to present the organisation as one that is worth working for, and to ensure that this first impression is reinforced during the first weeks of employment (Armstrong, 2003: 454). Pettinger (1998: 65) supports this view, stating that successful flexible working is dependent upon effective induction. The required attitudes, values and methods of working are reinforced during the induction period. It is important for all staff, hence neither part-time, unskilled nor management, technological and administrative staff should be neglected. Strengthens the Psychological Contract: This consists of implicit unwritten beliefs and assumptions about how employees are expected to behave, and what responses they can expect from their employer. It is concerned with norms, values and attitudes. Induction strategies can indicate the behavioural norms and values expected by the organisation from the employees. Induction provides an opportunity to inform people of the manner in which work is carried out in the organisation, so that misapprehensions are reduced even if they cannot be eliminated. “The psychological contract provides the basis for the employment relationship, and it is better to define it clearly from the beginning” (Armstrong, 2003: 455). Accelerates Progress in Learning: New employees usually are on a learning curve, they take time to reach the required level of performance. The length of the learning curve and rates of learning vary, but it is important to provide for it, to take place in a planned and systematic manner. This is required to occur from the first day to maximise individual contributions as quickly as possible (Armstrong, 2003: 455). Assists in Socialization: A smooth process of socialization helps new employees to settle in more quickly and enjoy working for the organisation. The social aspects of work such as relationships with colleagues are very important (Jacques et al, 1994: 212). Induction arrangements related to “reception, documentation, initial briefing, introduction to the workplace, formal induction courses, and formal and informal training activities” should integrally include socialization (Armstrong, 2003: 455). It is important to realize that starting a new job is highly stressful for an average employee. Adjusting to a new environment and taking in and committing to memory new procedures and terminology while building up relationships with new colleagues is a burdensome, confusing and tiring process. Marchington & Wilkinson (2005: 190) state that induction should be prioritized in the company’s people resourcing agenda, due to its significant contribution to the productivity of the new employee and the well-being of both employee and the organisation. Employees have wide varying requirements when they join a new organisation, due to which there are dangers in making blanket assumptions about what they need to know and how much assistance they will need in adjusting. An identical, centrally controlled induction programme can well be counterproductive if it is applied to all new employees regardless of rank or experience, since it will be inappropriate for some of the participants (Taylor, 2005: 252). On the other hand, induction may need to be organised and provided for all new starters on a collective basis: for example, “fire regulations, security arrangements, canteen facilities, distribution of organisation handbooks, setting up of payment arrangements and completion of forms with details of next of kin in case of emergency” (Taylor, 2005: 262). There is thus a good case for running a general induction session covering these issues on a weekly basis, and ensuring the attendance of all new members of staff. Some Additional Issues Pertaining to Induction in Larger Organisations In larger organisations, other important issues that are traditionally dealt with at orientation sessions held in the first few weeks include a formal welcome from senior management, the setting up of occupational pension arrangements, and general tours of the premises. Also, employees have to be apprised of current organisation-wide trends, centralised administrative arrangements such as wage and salary, expense claims, welfare service, and rules covering absence, disciplinary procedures, grievances and holidays. HR specialists are usually responsible for this part of the induction programme (Marchington & Wilkinson, 2005: 190). In larger organisations, the new employees can be separated into different groups such as school leavers, graduate recruits, senior staff and junior employees, and they can be invited to different sessions. Matters specific to each department are the responsibility of line managers. The induction period should be utilized by the employers to also inculcate the organisation’s values and culture (Taylor, 2005: 262). Induction in Smaller Organisations According to research conducted by Jameson (2000: 47-48), the gap in knowledge on training in small firms and more specifically on training in small tourism and hospitality firms needed to be filled. This research on the extent and nature of training in small tourism and hospitality firms has revealed that recruitment is mostly carried out on an informal basis. Informality, however, may imply a breach of current employment law and may also result in recruiting people who are inappropriate in the long run. Informal recruitment practices and inappropriate selection can lead to high labour turnover. When compared with other industries in the United Kingdom, hospitality and tourism have higher than average skills shortages, labour turnover and hard to fill vacancies at every level. Firms rely heavily on the secondary labour market. High levels of recruitment are believed to be capable of affecting the level of training in a firm; with large numbers of recruits receiving less training. Managers may sometimes prefer to recruit rather than train (Jameson, 2000: 47-48). According to Muir (2008: 15), reseach was conducted, in which the induction process was considered to be vital to engage new starters with the destination brand. The DVD presentations of the new brand were replayed, but this time posing customer-centric questions for the new starters. After an initial orientation programme, the next few days the induction was conducted with a full programme of training for six weeks. The results of this induction programme was that reaction was positive and some new starters migrated quickly into more senior roles, such as team leader. The results of this induction programme was that reaction was positive and some new starters migrated quickly into more senior roles, such as team leader (Muir, 2008: 15). Measuring Emotional Intelligence During Induction A range of effective training and development applications for measuring Emotional Intelligence (EI) exist, including those targeting customer service skills, conflict management skills, stress management and coping skills, and communication and empathy training. Both theory and research suggest that emotional intelligence not only directly affect employees’ skills and behaviour, but may also “moderate the effect of other factors on employees and their performance on the job” (McEnrue & Groves, 2006: 33-34). Jordan et al (2002: 195) agree that Emotional Intelligence (EI) moderates employees’ reactions to job insecurity and their ability to cope with associated stress. Hence organisations would do well to consider and address the emotional capacity of employees to deal with job insecurity and resulting stress, rather than dealing with such issues solely through stress management interventions. Emotional intelligence thus plays an important part in the manner in which employees function, their levels of efficiency and productivity. Researchers have provided evidence of a relationship between sales performance and emotional intelligence (Deeter-Schmelz & Sojka, 2003: 211; Rozell et al, 2004: 405). Additionally, there exists a strong, positive relationship between EI and customer service orientation. Rozell et al (2004: 405) recommend that sales-oriented organizations incorporate EI into daily organizational life, and use it as a selection and human resource development tool through training, selection and placement practices, counseling and design of the organization’s performance and reward structure. Many other researchers have argued convincingly that EI components such as emotional perception, appraisal, expression, and understanding emotions, are conceptually related to customer service orientation as well (Babakus et al, 1996: 345; Pilling & Eroglu, 1994: 427). They also support the importance of using recruitment, selection, training, and development processes to enhance EI abilities. Research indicates that enhancing EI abilities would result in positive performance results in a range of emotion-laden jobs and work contexts. Human resource development researchers and practitioners have focused on managerial personnel for all training and development applications of emotional intelligence measures. Similar to other human resource development applications, emotional intelligence measures are used to provide participants with accurate self-tests and other assessments of EI dimensions to diagnose improvement areas and create developmental activities accordingly. Many of these applications use different types of emotional intelligence measures (Gowing et al, 2005: 246). Many leadership scholars have examined the emotional content of leadership theories, particularly transformational, charismatic, visionary, and other change-oriented perspectives. Feelings, moods, and emotions play a central role in the leadership process. Emotional intelligence contributes to leadership effectiveness through the development of collective goals and objectives. It instills in others the importance of work activities while generating and sustaining “enthusiasm, confidence and cooperation; encouraging flexibility in decision-making, and maintaining a meaningful organisational identity” (George, 2000: 1027). Conclusion This paper has discussed the role of induction in an effective people resourcing strategy. Induction programmes aim to ensure that new recruits settle into the company quickly and easily so that they can become effective employees as soon as possible. The role and purposes of induction, its application on large and small organisations, and the importance of measuring emotional intelligence as a part of induction have all been determined. An effective induction process can encourage closer identification with and increased knowledge of the company. It improves productivity and well-being of both employee and the organisation, and leads to higher efficiency and success. Induction also reduces staff turnover (Memo, 2005: 47). The importance of the part played by emotional intelligence in inducting new employees has been determined. Future prospects for further understanding, measuring and developing emotions in the workplace form an immense research agenda. Longitudinal, cross-disciplinary efforts may be the most effective means for addressing complex issues concerning the measurement of EI abilities and for formulating effective induction strategies. Concurrently, the measurement and assessment of emotional intelligence also needs to evolve over time, to achieve optimum results from induction (McEnrue & Groves, 2006: 37-38). Word Count: 2000 Words. References Armstrong, M. (2003). A handbook of human resource management practice. The United Kingdom: Kogan Page Publishers. Babakus, E., Cravens, D., Grant, K., Ingram, T. & La Forge, R. (1996). Investigating the relationships among sales, management control, sales territory design, salesperson performance, and sales organisation effectiveness. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13: 345-363. Deeter-Schmelz, D. & Sojka, J. (2003). Developing effective salespeople: Exploring the link between emotional intelligence and sales performance. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 11: 211-220. George, J. (2000). Emotions and leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. Human Relations, 53: 1027-1055. Gowing, M., O’Leary, B., Brienza, D, Cavallo, K. & Crain, R. 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