The Effectiveness of Systematic and Competency-Based Approach Contrasting to Recruitment - Literature review Example

The Effectiveness of Systematic and Competency-Based Approach Contrasting To Recruitment and Selection By of 2031 Words [Date] Literature Review Introduction Systematic and competency-based approaches of recruitment are the subject of many studies and literatures, pointing to their importance in the hiring of workers in organizations. According to Dubois & Rothwell (2004), as organisations develop and implement recruitment and selection strategies, goals, visions and processes, they should strive to maximize effectiveness of recruitment and selection (Dubois & Rothwell, 2004). For instance, organizations are advised to develop and implement systematic and competency-based recruitment and selection that sre effective. For the effectiveness of these two approaches to recruitment, an organisation should use a checklist of the indicators of the successes of these methods (Shippmann et al., 2000). Advisably, organisations should choose, design and facilitate the use of tools and indicators for the process of selecting workers (Spencer, 2004). This paper discusses the effectiveness of competency-based and systematic approaches to recruitment, contrasting to recruitment and selection. Competency-Based Recruitment and Selection To understand best the effectiveness of competency-based recruitment and selection, it is of great importance to understand what competencies are. In particular, the distinction between competencies and competence should be made apparent. Generally, a competence refers to a role or task or function that someone is to do or achieve. On the other hand, a competency is the behavior or a characteristic through which an individual or an organisation effectively achieve quality products or high performance in its entire operation (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). In other words, competency refers to the manner in which a person behaves in implementing his or her duties to achieve the set objectives. The four categories into which competencies are grouped are Cognitive competencies, affective competencies and conative competencies. Whereas cognitive competencies regard an individual’s thinking, affective and conative competencies relate to a person’s feeling or relations and manner of action respectively (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). Competency-based recruitment targets two main dimensions of an applicant for a job. These categories are skills, knowledge and technical qualifications in one group and behavioral characteristics, personality attributes and individual aptitudes on the other (Horton, 2000). Regrettably, the conventional approach to recruitment has often focused more on the skills, knowledge and technical qualifications, largely ignoring the candidates’ personality, aptitudes and behavioral attributes. According to Homer (2001), Strength of the competency-based approach is that it offers a framework for the assessment of a candidate’s behavioral attributes and technical experience. As a result of its effectiveness in addressing all the aspects of a candidates’ suitability, competency-based approach to recruitment dominates modern literatures on recruitment and selection (Homer, 2001). Hence, competency-based recruitment is the preferred approach. The Effectiveness of the Outcomes of Competency-Based Recruitment An aspect of competency-based approach to recruitment and selection covered in quite a good number of studies is its effectiveness (Bartram, 2005). Generally, competency-based recruitment helps organisations achieve the effective use of their resources such as finance, time and expertise (Holton II & Trott, Jr., 1996). To achieve these investment successes, competency-based recruitment yields other constituent benefits to an organisation (Dubois & Rothwell, 2004). First, an organisation that uses this approach in its recruitment and selection is clear about the skills and competencies needed for executing its jobs. Second, there is poised to be good fit between jobs on one hand and workers, managers and other members of the staff on the other regarding skills and competencies. Shippmann et al 2000) assert that besides matching the individual workers’ skills and abilities to the requirements of the jobs to be done, competency-based recruitment and selection helps in the accurate evaluation of work demands and staffing needs (Shippmann et al., 2000). The effectiveness of competency-based recruitment has been established by studies that seek to unearth the common mistakes or errors that organisations solve with the help of the approach. First, through competency-based recruitment, an organisation is better placed to minimise the chances of the mistake of the halo or horns effect (Sanchez & Levine, 2009). Halo or horns effect occurs whenever the overall evaluation of a candidate is concluded as either positive or negative. Once such a judgment is made, it subjects subsequent judgments by clouding the judges’ view of the actual performance, abilities and experiences of a candidate (Sanchez & Levine, 2009). Competency-based recruitment also helps solve the problems associated with cloning. In human resource circles, cloning is a situation of a heightened tendency by recruiting officers to have a preference for candidates with traits that are similar to theirs (recruiters). Thus, candidates with similar personality traits, appearances, styles and background are highly likely to be recruited. Consequent to this problem, an organisation may have a reduced diversity in its workforce. In addition, cloning may result in lack of innovativeness in an organisation. Through competency-based recruitment, these negative effects of cloning are reduced or eliminated (Cheng & Dainty, 2005). The effectiveness of competency-based recruitment is also evident in its prevention of the problem of inconsistency (Rausch, Sherman, & Washbush, 2002). In case where competency is not the basis for recruitment and selection, assessors or hiring personnel are likely to go for different behaviours or parameters in the potential candidates (Rausch, Sherman, & Washbush, 2002). This practice results in inconsistencies. The inconsistencies may be evident in the rating of applicants’ responses to interview questions. Non-competency-based recruitment is often characterized by human resource personnel involved in recruitment having different degrees of leniency, harshness and different assumptions (Rausch, Sherman, & Washbush, 2002). These tendencies by assessors may then reflect on candidates’ scores, jeopardizing the influence of candidates’ real competencies on the scores. The effective of competency-based recruitment is also supported by the elimination of the mistakes associated with first impressions. The first impression effect occurs when the first encounter between a job applicant and a human resource personnel is either positive or negative thus influencing the subsequent judgment made by the recruiting officer (Rausch, Sherman, & Washbush, 2002). The first impression clouds the subsequent judgments, regardless of the actual information available for assessment. The effectiveness of competency-based recruitment is also evidenced by its reduction or elimination of the problems of the primacy or recency effects. Primacy and recency effects imply that evidences brought at the start or at the end of a recruitment process may cloud other judgments made during the process (Catano, Darr, & Campbell, 2007). These evidences may have been over weighted, compared to their actual significance. Competency-based recruitment is also effective in dealing with the issues of stereotyping and the resultant prejudice. Stereotyping refers to the tendency of recruiting personnel to prejudge applicants without evidence (Catano, Darr, & Campbell, 2007). Prejudice refers to recruitment situations in which stereotyping results in negative evaluations of applicants, notwithstanding the nature of the available information (Catano, Darr, & Campbell, 2007). The most extensively covered technique of competency-based recruitment is competency-based interviewing. This type of interview consists of structured questions that educe evidences of candidates’ behavioral and cognitive fit into the requirements of a job (Cheng & Dainty, 2005). Competency-based interview questions are related directly to the behaviours that would result in the successful execution of the job at hand and organisational successful. The questions prompt applicants to describe their experiences, core behaviours that have been instrumental in their success and any situations and events that can prove the effectiveness of these behaviours (Cheng & Dainty, 2005). Systematic Recruitment Processes Systematic approach is the other commonly used method in selecting and recruiting staff. Some organisations use or develop systematic processes by which their staffs are recruited. Through these systems or processes, an organisation is able to identify, attract and keep the best talent for its operations (Anderson, Flynn, & Spataro, 2008). The establishment and use of these recruitment systems entails the use of technology and human resource processes, which enable an organisation to retain its staff, consequently ensuring the achievement of its short-, medium- and long-term objectives. A systematic approach to recruitment and selection could accrue numerous benefits to an organisation. These benefits are talent sourcing, efficiency, cost reduction, risk reduction and enhanced processes. Regarding the sourcing of talents, an organisation should strive to have the right talent, which is a huge asset. According to Carroll & White (2002), through systematic recruitment and selection processes, an organisation enhances its chances of attracting the right talent. These talents ensure that each employee has significant personal contribution at their levels of operations. This individual contribution largely impacts on business and organisational productivity (Carroll & White, 2002). Thus, for an organisation to land the right pool of talents, an organisation should optimize these chances through the best systematic strategies possible. In systematic recruitment processes, an organisation’s human resource personnel normally scrutinize the applications received to establish if the applicants have the needed experiences and skills (Carroll & White, 2002). In other words, the human resource personnel have to ascertain that the skills and experiences enlisted in the applications and resume are actually in the applicants (Klerck, 2009). To source for talents successfully, an organisation should have a proprietary talent pool. In the systematic approach to recruitment, the recruiting personnel have the responsibility of selecting and hiring the best candidate via an intensive evaluation (Swenson, 2014). The intensive evaluation requires that the human resource personnel examine the confidence and competence of the applicants (Carroll & White, 2002). On cost reduction, systematic recruitment and selection approach enables organisations to save unnecessary costs. The first way in which this approach saves costs is by the use of agencies to meet the human resource needs of an organisation. Notably, cost reduction is among the characteristics of an effective outsourcing recruitment and selection because it provides the best talents, skills and experiences (Swenson, 2014). Effectiveness of Systematic Recruitment Systematic recruitment and selection is also associated with improved efficiency, which refers to the optimal use of resources with minimal wastage. The efficiency is not only observed in hiring processes but also in terms of production. Whenever an organisation attracts and hires the right talents and experience, the production level increase and the brand image improves (Carroll & White, 2002). Employees with the right skills and experience also have values such as cooperation, customer care, honesty among other soft skills that increase efficiency (McMichael, 1978). Systematic recruitment also improves communication by assisting managers in the co-ordination of supervision processes at all organisational levels. In the opinion of McMichael (1978), by incorporating technologies and ensuring compliance with recruitment laws, policies and guidelines, systematic recruitment promotes efficiency by minimizing costs and costly risks. As mentioned earlier, risk reduction is the other benefit of systematic recruitment and selection. Compared to their new counterparts, long-term employees or recruits are more likely to stay at their workplace for long periods (Deligiannis, 2012). Moreover, new recruits are more vulnerable to workplace pitfalls associated with organisational processes and protocols. An advantage of systematic recruitment is that it does not conclude with the hiring; instead, recruits are monitored after they are hired (Deligiannis, 2012). This continued monitoring ensures recruits’ vulnerability to risks is minimized. Deligiannis (2012) further states that systematic recruitment also enhances processes as human resource personnel get conversant with the intricate processes through which staffs are hired. Following shortcuts instead of the established process could prove quite costly and risky for an organisation. Through the systematic recruitment processes that a firm has put in place, potential employees are in a position to manage the application process and hit a rapport with the human resource agency or personnel (Cable & Parsons, 2001). In addition, potential applicants stay abreast with any vacancies that an organisation may have. Systematic recruitment also promotes proper documentation, which promote effective communication across an organisation and with potential applicants. Conclusion From the discussions on competency-based and systematic recruitment, it is evident that these approaches emphasize the identification of candidates whose behaviours, skills, experiences and cognitive abilities can result improve performance and quality of products. In both approaches, the hiring personnel focus on different reference points to gather data or information to ascertain an applicant’s suitability for the job. The reference points used include application forms, competency-based interviews, referee report and work sample tasks. Others are group discussions, verbal comprehension test, and numerical computation test and customer contact styles questionnaire. The effectiveness of both approaches depends largely on organisations’ unique circumstances, needs and the seriousness of recruitment and selection processes. If practised well, as opposed to being merely theoretical, competency-based and systematic recruitment are quite effective in attracting the best skills, experiences and behaviours to increase performance. References Anderson, C., Flynn, and F., Spataro, S. (2008) “Personality and Organizational Culture as Determinants of Influence.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 53(3), 42. Bartram, D. (2005) “The Great Eight Competencies: A Criterion-Centric Approach to Validation.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 203 Cable, D. M., & Parsons, C. K. (2001) “Socialization Tactics and Person–Organization Fit. Personnel Psychology, 54(1):23, Spring. Carroll, J. F. X., AND White, W. L. (2002) Theory building: Integrating individual and environmental factors within an ecological framework. In Paine, W. S. (Ed.). Job stress and burnout. Beverly Hills: Sage. Catano, V., Darr, M., and Campbell, C. 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