Human Resource Management Strategic Recruitment - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Management Strategic Recruitment 1. Introduction This paper is to propose a study on strategic recruitment in human resource management. The first part of the paper will consist of defining the aims of human resource management. This will then be consolidated with the aims and practices of United Arab Emirates University’s practices on HRM and strategic recruitment. HRM’s focus is on the success of the organization’s mission and objectives. There is a combination or link of HRM and business strategy, maximizing human potential through staffing whilst optimizing skill, talents, and capabilities of human resource for the fulfillment of the organization’s objectives. Since HRM focuses on the human factor, the main concern is to source the right staff or the right people for the right job. This can be attained through well-studied planning with strategic recruitment and staffing. HRM enhances the skills and capabilities through training, performance management, and other human development programs for the strategic competition of the organization. HRM is linking people to the strategies of the firm. ‘The concept of strategic HRM is based on the important part of the HRM philosophy that emphasizes the strategic nature of HRM and the need to integrate HR strategy with the business strategy’ (Armstrong, 2006, p. 13). An organization with a clear link between strategies and resources has a sure way of success. Human resource policies should be integrated with strategic business planning (Legge, 1989, cited in Armstrong, 2006, p. 13). But Sisson (1990) suggests that a feature increasingly associated with HRM is a stress on the integration of HR policies both with one another and with business planning more generally. It is said that recruitment and selection are vital for the success of the organization because they provide the foundation for a competitive advantage through effective and efficient human resources. 1.1 Reasons for the study This paper will focus on identifying strategic recruitment for the social workers of a university – the United Arab Emirates University. In studying the strategic recruitment, outcomes and benefits can be attained, for example a considerable amount of knowledge and information from the University regarding its programme of recruitment, selection and training, job designs, performance standards and appraisals. With the introduction of the internet and Information Technology, these are needed in the knowledge economy scenarios. Knowledge management requires studies and researches of databases and knowledge repositories. Universities and global organizations are sources of data, knowledge, information and expertise. This study is a planned project by itself with a clear topic for discussion. Selection of this topic was made after careful deliberation and consultation with the supervisor. (Gill & Johnson, 2010, p. 22) 1.2 Objectives The proposal focuses on the HRM functions but more specifically on strategic recruitment by way of a well-planned human resource and staffing. The objective of this dissertation is to conduct a study in Human Resource Management Strategic Recruitment. The population will be the workers of the United Arab Emirates University. 1.3 Aims This paper aims to provide a background and concept of strategic HRM in relation to the strategic recruitment of the United Arab Emirates University which provides employment opportunities for faculty, staff and management (Jobs@UAEU Employment Opportunities, 2007). 2. Methodology 2.1 Research Methods Methodology consists of a review of the literature from secondary sources and qualitative research using questionnaires. The literature can be sourced from books, journals, and the internet. Studies and researches from reliable sources, of different authors and experts, are sourced from the university library, online library and other print materials. From the literature, the next step is to study the findings, put them on proper perspective and arrive at a new understanding of the literature. The next step is to simplify things focusing on the responses of the participants to the questionnaires. First, a letter-request will be sent to the President of the University of Saudi Arabia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Once a channel of communication is established between the University and this Researcher, recommendations and suggestions will have to be asked or an arrangement with the University administration will be done on the possible population and sample. The mechanics of the questionnaires and interviews will be explained through emails and the internet: the main focus in this initial step is to get the required sample and population, acquire the names, and another channel of communication has to be established between this Researcher and the prospective sample or participants. It will be explained that the objective of the research is to conduct a study on HRM Strategic Recruiting and that the aims will be to provide a literature and future conclusion and recommendations to this Researcher’s university for further studies. Further, a touch of confidentiality will be enforced on the research and to be explained in the letter-request to encourage participation and to provide the impression that this research follows the norms of ethical standards in conducting qualitative researches. Those who will agree to complete the questionnaire and answer interview questions will be asked to sign or affix their signatures in the questionnaire forms. Those who will not return their questionnaires or answer their emails sent to them will again be sent an email and a second batch of questionnaire, with a follow-up letter. When possible problems would have been addressed, the finalized mechanics of the research, to include the questionnaires and interviews, will be provided to the participants and the administration and staff of the University of Saudi Arabia. 2.2 Methods of data collection 2.3 Sampling There will be only one case study population, and this will be focused on the social workers of the United Arab Emirates University; a sample will be taken from this population. Communication process will be initiated by this researcher with the United Arab Emirates University, and this can be done through emails and the internet. The instrument to be used will be through questionnaire. If it is possible, and if communication with the population would have been made successful, interviews will be set with the use of the internet or teleconferencing, upon proper scheduling with the participants. Analysis of the data will be executed through the traditional way of analyzing data. 3. Literature Review 3.1 Background In the research, we are concerned of the strategic recruitment and how HRM is practiced and conducted in the United Arab Emirates University. The survey looks into recruitment details, on how the University provides job opportunities to faculty, staff, and management, and other HRM concerns. HRM involves right staffing, working to attain the best employees for particular positions. It is the job of the HRM manager to see to it that business is appropriately staffed and that human resource is distributed equally among the different needs of the organization. In other words, human resource involves distributing the right people with the right skills to the different departments of the organization. Before recruiting, selecting and developing these people, there must be careful planning. It involves developing employment packages that are sufficiently attractive to maintain the required employee skills levels and, where necessary, disposing of the personnel who have been judged ineffective in the organization. (Torrington & Hall, 2008, p. 4) Recruitment and selection are an integral part of an organization’s overall HRM strategy. HRM emphasizes the integration of traditional personnel functions including recruitment and selection and their management towards the strategic goals and objectives of the organization. (Compton et al., 2009, p. 2) “HRM emphasizes that employees are critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage; that human resources practices need to be integrated with the corporate strategy, and that human resource specialists help organizational controllers to meet both efficiency and equity objectives.” (Bratton, 1999, p. 11) The method and effective ways of recruitment and selection will determine the kind of human resource the organization will be able to attain. The first step in recruitment, which is planning, involves ongoing environmental scanning and an analysis of organizational objectives, strategies and policies in order to ascertain the right quantity and quality of employees when and where necessary. This means forecasting HR needs to ensure that the organization has the right amount of human resources when they require them. Armstrong (2006, p. 363), says that human resource planning is important to the organization’s achieving its strategic goals. Bulla and Scott (1994, cited in Armstrong, p. 363) defines human resource planning as ‘the process for ensuring that the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements.’ Human resource relates to people and planning involves people. Human resource planning is concerned with identifying resources to the business needs of the organization. ‘It meets human resource both in quantitative and qualitative approach by answering the questions: how many are needed in the organization and how many are needed for a particular project or business, and what particular skills and capabilities do the people (or employees) should have?’ (Armstrong, 2006, p. 363) Moreover, top management plays a significant role in staffing: it should be concerned with identifying and selecting persons capable of implementing the organization’s plans. The manager should maintain employee morale and performance, to nurture customer goodwill, and to control costs. Benefits for human resource planning include: The provision of clear linkages between human resource functions and organizational objectives Effective demands on labour markets Cost-effective recruitment and selection strategies, and Systematic and responsive human resource policies and practices in all areas. (Compton et al., 2009, p. 9) The need for recruitment is determined by forecasting the number of employees needed in the future and making allowance for labour turnover rates during that period. The technique of recruitment as a means of closing supply / demand gaps must be compared for effectiveness with other alternatives, such as increased human resource development, more rapid promotions, automation, and (where there is difficulty obtaining suitable employees) the feasibility of reviewing plans to consider whether it is possible to operate without certain employees. In determining recruitment needs, there should be a categorization of recruits: Those needed to account for labour turnover Those needed for short-term growth, and Those needed for long-term growth of the organization. (Comptom, 2009, p. 9) After determining the appropriate numbers and types of employees required, the next step is to determine where the labour supply should come from. Existing employees can be trained, developed, redeployed, transferred or promoted for future skill needs. New recruits will need to be sought out, attracted and carefully selected to ensure suitability for future positions. 3.2 Staffing Successful staffing means getting the best qualified people for the jobs. A lofty staffing contributes to the manager’s hoarding people at the expense of the organization; this may foster promotions from within a manager’s own department or network of acquaintances without consideration of organization-wide candidates. These practices which display the traditional culture of cronyism and parochialism need to be overcome in order for the staffing process to be successful. The organization’s objectives play a critical role in the staffing process. Qualifications should play an important role in the selection of the right staff for certain job vacancies. Specification of the qualifications, identification of persons possessing those skills, and moving people into the jobs should be emphasized in the organization’s staffing strategy (Miller, 1984, p. 58). ‘Approaching the staffing process from a strategic perspective requires an integrated interpretation of the relationships between the various levels of human resource concerns in the planning process’ (Millier, 1984, p. 68). Apart from the need to closely link an organization’s recruitment plan with its business strategies, it is also important that the methods chosen to select the best applicants from its attracted labour pool are effectively linked as well. Selection techniques ensure that investments made in job design, advertising, career fairs and other recruitment activities bear fruit in the form of qualified, skilled and well-motivated new employees who will be able and willing to contribute to the objectives of the organization. (Compton et al., 2009, p. 12) 3.3 Training and Development The objective of strategic training and development focuses on the design and implementation of training systems to successfully impact organizational performance. The strategic process begins with identifying the business strategy, and the strategic learning imperatives (strategic training and development goals) to support the strategy are identified. The strategic learning imperatives are then translated into specific training and development activities. These may include formal and informal training. The final step involves evaluating whether training helped contribute to the goals of the organization utilizing appropriate metrics. Training should be carefully planned, designed, and evaluated in support of organizational goals and objectives. With respect to needs assessment, the emphasis is on aligning training systems with an organization’s business strategy and operating constraints. The strategic process begins with identifying the business strategy; the strategic learning imperatives (strategic training and development goals) to support the strategy are identified. These learning imperatives are then translated into specific training and development activities, that may include formal and informal training. The final step involves evaluating whether training helped contribute to the goals of the organization utilizing appropriate metrics. Training should be carefully planned, designed, and evaluated in support of organizational goals and objectives. With respect to needs assessment, the emphasis is on aligning training systems with an organization’s business strategy and operating constraints. 3.4 Performance management Performance management has been introduced in organizations’ HR practices “as a means of providing a more integrated and continuous approach than was provided by previous isolated and often inadequate merit rating or performance appraisal schemes” (Armstrong, 2000, p. 214). Performance management is a strategic and integrated approach that aims for the success of the organization by improving the performance of the organization’s employees. This is focusing on their capabilities and individual talents that should contribute to the entire performance of the organization. Performance management also aims to provide the means through which the staff involved in such an undertaking can provide better results in such a way that the customer or the community will be benefitted in the end. The organization’s role here is to provide the framework, including planned goals, standards and competence requirements. As a whole, the organization’s function is full support for the entire undertaking to make it a success. Armstrong (2000, p. 214) stresses that performance is strategic in nature in that it concerns with broader issues of the organization such as its functions and role in the community or environment to which it serves. The four features of integration of performance management are: 1. Vertical integration – this pertains to the organizational set up which links or aligns business team and individual objectives; 2. Functional integration – this links functional strategies; for example in the education set up, it links the organization’s role with that of the individual employee in delivering education to the masses. 3. HR integration – this links the different aspects of HRM to the individual’s development. 4. The last is integrating individual needs to the organization. (Armstrong, 2000, p. 214-215) The concept of performance management focuses on the role of employees and people within the organization and how to deliver better results to the community or customers to whom the organization serves. “It involves the development of processes for establishing shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to managing and developing people in a way that increases the probability that it will be achieved in the short and longer term. It is owned and driven by line management” (Armstrong, 2000, p. 215). Performance management strategy is concerned with: 1.) performance improvement in order to achieve organizational team and individual effectiveness. Organizations, as stated by Lawson (1995, cited in Armstrong, 2000, p. 215) have ‘to get the right things done successfully’. 2.) employee development because performance improvement is not achievable unless there are effective processes of continuous development. This addresses the core competences of the organization and the capabilities of individuals and teams. Performance management should really be called ‘performance and development management’. (Armstrong, 2000, p. 215) 3.) satisfying the needs and expectations of everyone in the organization including the owners, management, employees, customers, suppliers and the general public. Performance management treats employees as equal partners whose interests are respected and who have a voice on matters that concern them, whose opinions are sought and listened to. Performance management should respect the needs of individuals and teams as well as those of the organization. 4.) communication and involvement wherein a continuing dialogue between managers and the members of their teams take place to define expectations and share information on the organization’s mission, values and objectives (Armstrong, 2000, p. 215). Performance management is managing within the context of the business. The organization has to let every employee know that performance management strategy concerns everyone in the business – not just managers. (Armstrong, 2000, p. 216) Performance management also focuses on targets, standards and performance measures or indicators. But it is also concerned with inputs – the knowledge, skills and competencies required to produce the expected results. It is by defining these input requirements and assessing the extent to which the expected levels of performance have been achieve by using skills and competencies effectively, that developmental needs are identified. (Armstrong, 2000, p. 220) One of the first explicit statements of the HRM concept was made by the Michigan School (Fombrun et al, 1984, cited in Armstrong, 2006, p. 4), which specifies that HR systems and the organization structure should be focused on the organizational strategy. The human resource cycle consists of four generic processes or functions that performed in all organizations, which are: selection, appraisal, rewards and development, and managing people. Selection Methods and Criteria The areas of concern related to selection methods are: reliability, validity and legality. a.) Reliability – refers to the degree to which interviews, tests and other selection procedures produce comparable data over a period of time and the degree to which two or more methods produce similar results or are consistent. Reliability is even more important in qualitative (i.e. words) work than in quantitative (i.e. numbers) work because words are open to interpretation and there is a higher risk of error due to subjectivity. b.) Validity – refers to the extent to which something measures what it claims to measure. c.) Legality – a selection method should also be assessed against current employment legislation, particularly to employment opportunities legislation. (p. 287) 3.5 Policies of the United Arab Emirates University The University has a range of job titles or positions with full-time job type. These are the translator/interpreter, accounts officer, secretary, laboratory specialist, clerk II, Assistant Director, Infrastructure & Core Technologies, career counselor, network administrator, and veterinary medicine specialist, among others. The career counselor, for example, is responsible for providing career advising to students, counseling, and job placement. The person assigned to this position is a part of a team that will ‘provide comprehensive career and employment services for students in an array of disciplines’ (jobs@uaeu employment opportunities, 2007). Performance management at UAEU includes: Employee input and participation in developing performance expectations Communicating performance expectations before the performance review period starts Positive and constructive feedback The employee should show how he/she performs well. (UAEA Performance Guide, 2009, p. 2) 4. Limitation The limitation to this study is the distance between this Researcher’s university and the place of the population where a sample is taken. Considering that the this Researcher knows the pertinent culture of the country, United Arab Emirates, and the University, there is no recourse but to pursue the research. References Armstrong, M., 2000. Strategic human resource management: a guide to action (2nd ed). London: Kogan Page Limited. pp. 211-16. Armstrong, M., 2006. A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page Limited. pp. 363-4. Bratton, J., 1999. Human resource management phenomenon. In J. Bratton and J. Gold, Human resource management: theory and practice. London: MacMillian Press Ltd., pp. 3-11. Compton, R. et al., 2009. Effective recruitment and selection practices (5th ed.). Australia: CCH Australia. pp. 2-9. Fraenkel, J. R. and Wallen, N. E. (2006). How to design and evaluate research in education (Sixth Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. p. 267. Gill, J. & Johnson, P., 2010. Research methods for managers (4th ed.). London: Sage Publications Ltd. pp. 22-23. Miller, E., 1984. Strategic staffing. In C. Fombrun, N. Tichy, & M Devanna (Eds.), Strategic human resource management. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 12, 58, 68. Torrington, D. & Hall, L., 2008. Human resource management. England: Pearson Education Limited. pp. 5-8. United Arab Emirates University, 2007. Available from: http://www.uaeu.ac.ae/ [Accessed 11 May 2010] Appendix: Questionnaire: 1. Please on a scale of 1 to 5 evaluate your views of HRM strategic recruitment. 1 (very negative) 2 (negative) 3 (no firm view about HRM strategic recruitment) 4 (positive) 5 (very positive) Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What is your view of HRM strategic recruitment in general? Positive No firm view Negative Vital for the success of HRM in the organization Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Do you think strategic recruitment and selection connect with the objectives of the University? Yes No No firm view The programme advanced the University’s goals Additional comments: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. What is your view of HR Planning? Positive No firm view Negative Vital for the success of HRM in the organization Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Do you think UAEU has good programmes for HR Planning? Yes No Negative thoughts about it There could be some benefits for the University derived from HR Planning Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Please on a scale of 1 to 5, evaluate HRM strategies being implemented by the University. 1 (very negative) 2 (negative) 3 (no firm view about HRM strategic recruitment) 4 (positive) 5 (very positive) Additional comments: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. How beneficial would you regard the impact of HR strategic recruitment on your job with the UAEU? Beneficial Very beneficial No major impact Negative impact Additional comments: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Do you think the programme of recruitment promotes the aims and objectives of the University? Yes No It worked a little There is no connection between recruitment and the aims and objectives of the University. Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Please on a scale of 1 to 5, do you think there is a clear link with the University’s strategies and human resources? 1 (very negative) 2 (negative) 3 (no firm view about HRM strategic recruitment) 4 (positive) 5 (very positive) Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Does technology play a role in strategic recruitment and selection? How? Yes No Technology plays an important function in recruitment and selection Technology should not have a role on this. Additional comments: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Read More