Recruitment Techniques for Production Workers - Literature review Example

Recruitment Techniques for Production Workers Number Word Length: 2150 Research Method: Qualitative Recruitment Techniques for Production Workers Technically, recruitment is the process of attracting, identifying, selecting and hiring prospective employees from a pool of qualified applicants on a given labor market. In attracting and hiring employees, various recruitment techniques are employed. Among the most common recruitment techniques for production workers include but not limited to; staging of job fairs, use of profiled databases and campus recruitment exercises. According to Atkinson (2006), each recruitment strategy has unique merits and demerits. Despite being effective in enhancing direct conversations with applicants, job fairs and campus recruitments are often costly, both in terms of money and time. Profiled databases are less costly, but limit any form of engagement with prospective employees. Introduction Basically, success of an organization is largely dependent on the professional competency of its human resources. Employees lacking the requisite skills are highly likely to underperform in their respective workplace duties. Contrarily, skilled and experienced workers can deliver on their professional mandates, even when working under minimum supervision. In order to objectively identify and select potentially competent employees, organizations must adopt appropriate recruitment strategies. According to Hays (2004), recruitment and subsequent hiring of qualified employees feature as one of the primary responsibilities undertaken by human resource departments within organizations. Schmitt (2014) agreed that different organizations and departments require persons with distinct skills, expertise levels and technical requirements. For example, finance and accounting departments need skilled accountants with relevant academic qualifications. According to Luis (2009), production departments need persons with substantial conversance and experience in machine operation, equipment handling, and other production line related tasks. This means that recruitment techniques effective in sourcing accountants may not prove similarly effective in the sourcing of production workers. Therefore, human resource departments should use recruitment techniques that most accurately identify potential employees with tailored skills for specific organizational departments. Literature Evaluation Apparently, manufacturing and production jobs are becoming increasingly unpopular among new graduates from colleges and technical schools. According to Reich and Schneider (2006), previous research among the UK’s technical graduates shows that there is a general misconception harbored by young people about production jobs. One reason cited by the research’s respondents is limited professional progression within the production sector. In a report conducted by UK’s Fabrication and Manufacturers’ Association, potential production workers not only fail to apply for advertised positions, but also fail to turn up for recruitment exercises. 52% of those interviewed during recruitment exercises mentioned that production jobs are dead end tasks crippled with limited safety and frequent layoffs. Rohr (2011) mentioned that older employees are retiring at an alarming rate. On the other hand, younger workers express limited interests and are hesitant to join production fields. Therefore, the biggest challenge faced by the manufacturing and production departments of most organizations is a general lack of interest among potentially qualified employees in participating during conventional recruitment exercises. Hays (2004) insinuates that as a result, past research exercises on the topic of recruiting production workers have continually recommended changes and refinement of recruitment strategies as a means of enhancing interests and turnout of potential production employees during recruitments. Previously, the most common recruitment techniques for production workers included job ads and employee referral programs. In the past, these recruitment techniques were characterized by high applicants’ turnout. Therefore, a few qualified employees could be easily identified and hired through selection, testing and interviewing recruitment processes. According to Peterson (2009), it is becoming hard to even grasp the interests of prospective production employees whenever conventional recruitment techniques are employed. As a result, most human resource managers are encouraged to turn towards emerging recruitment methods like job fairs and campus recruitments, and use of profiled databases or job portals helps recruiters to actively engage with prospective production workers. Therefore, there is an increased advocacy for human resource departments to continually build and strengthen recruitment networks with relevant stakeholders like learning institutions, industrial databases, and other employers within the manufacturing chamber of commerce. Atkinson (2006) agrees that unfortunately, the use of job portals and campus job platforms for purposes of identification, selection and hiring of production workers are not only under-researched, but are also scarcely utilized. From previous research reports, these strategies are heavily used in sourcing prospective employees within presently popular professions like marketing, management, journalism, and public relations among others, but are rarely used in sourcing technical employees like engineers and machine operators. Admittedly, human resource departments in most organizations are yet to acknowledge and embrace the benefits of recruitment techniques like job portals/databases, campus recruitment exercises. According to Andy (2015), the limited adoption of these techniques in selecting and hiring employees is partly attributed to bureaucratic rigidity and dominant occupation of human resource management offices by conservative managers with limited knowledge and skills regarding the use of emerging technologies, especially website platforms. Guest (2011) mentioned that in addition, limited adoption of methods like use of job portals or databases is partly attributable to traditional misconceptions surrounding the recruitment techniques that can accurately identify candidates for production positions. Research Objectives Despite being not only cost effective but also technically efficient in sourcing new recruits within the aforementioned professions, recruitment of production workers is yet to benefit from the use of campus job fairs, and industrial databases as upcoming recruitment techniques. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to ascertain the potential effectiveness of the aforementioned recruitment techniques for sourcing production workers. According to Brian and Starke (2010), one challenge faced by HR managers in manufacturing firms involves the inability to access a considerably vast pool of qualified and interested production workers. Based on recruitment within other professions, it is agreeable that recruitment techniques like use of job portals can exceptionally increase connections between recruiters and potential talents in the job market. One practical aspect of these recruitment techniques is the provision and delivery of tailored job advertisements to target talents. Amanda (2010) agrees that based on previous research; there is a remote yet distinct possibility that limited presence of tailored job advertisements within online platforms and campus notice boards account for the challenges experienced by human resource departments in seeking audience with potential production workers. Therefore, this research will specifically seek to ascertain the frequency and intensity of targeted advertisements for production workers within common recruitment platforms like online sites and print media channels. Research Questions Therefore, the proposed research on the use of different recruitment techniques for production workers will be conducted within the parameters of the four research questions listed below; i. What are the main recruitment techniques used by HR departments in sourcing current production workers? ii. What are the managerial views regarding the use of emerging recruitment techniques for sourcing employees? iii. What are the employees’ views regarding the use of emerging recruitment techniques in sourcing production jobs? iv. What are the supposed implications of different recruitment techniques for the human resource departments during recruitment of production workers? Lee and Lings (2008) suggested that based on the outlined research questions, appropriate questionnaires will be synthesized and administered to participants. Also, the questions will act as guidelines in the structuring and presentation of interviews to sampled respondents. Research Designs Basically, the relationship between recruitment techniques and interests of prospective workers is a social inquiry exercise. In this case, the entire proposal will utilize a mixed methods approach. Therefore, the proposal will adopt both inductive and deductive research designs. Based on relevant theoretical frameworks, deductive design is suitably complementary with the use of research questions, whereas inductive approaches are suitable when research hypotheses or inferences are employed. According to Namey and McQueen (2005), the deductive research approach will prove instrumental in facilitating the exploration of the recruitment techniques under consideration. As a deductive approach, exploration of the research questions will be conducted from a rather open-minded perspective. On the other hand, an inductive design will complement strengths of the deductive approach by developing theoretical perspectives of the underlying phenomenon. According to Twin (2004), no pre-conceived notions will be used in investigating the relationship between the recruitment technique and resultant implications of using the technique for sourcing production workers. As an open-minded approach, inductive design will enable development of new insights on the new recruitment techniques. On the other hand, deductive design will facilitate explanation and interpretation of the observed insights. Bell (1993) agreed that the synergistic implications of blending deductive and inductive designs cannot be overemphasized. Technically, both designs prove instrumental simply because limited research and theoretical perceptions currently exist on the topic of recruitment techniques for production workers. As a means of enhancing validity of the research’s outcome, the deductive and inductive approaches will be complemented with an exploratory design. Basically, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires will feature as the main sources of data and information for the exploration. As an exploratory design, participants comprising of human resource managers and production workers will be studied through interviews and semi-structured research questions. As outlined earlier, the research questions are open-ended in nature; hence the respondents’ feedback on each question will be based on personal opinions on the research topic. Healy (2008) mentioned that the synergistic use of deductive-inductive approaches coupled with an exploratory design will not only provide respondents with freedom to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the topic, but will also facilitate acquisition of large amounts of insightful content for subsequent analysis and derivation of systematic conclusions. Also, complementary efforts of correlational studies and descriptive studies will be used as the main designs in conducting the research. Lindsey and Smith (2007) mentioned that with respect to correlational studies, a cross-sectional approach will be used in investigating the causal-effect relationship between relevant variables under study. In this case, the causal factor will be the use of distinct recruitment techniques in the sourcing of production workers. According to Maina and Olga (2006), repeated cross-sectional studies will be conducted on the relevant participants. Besides the use of cross-sectional study design, a case study design will also be used is a descriptive instrument for exploring relevant data. In this case, recruitment trends within the production industry will be sourced from primary sources. In addition, quantitative responses from interviews and questionnaires will be observed and critically described using statistical measures. Primary sources of information will include production employees and human resources managers within any manufacturing firm. Research Methods In seeking to answer the previously outlined questions, a mixed approach research methodology will be employed. Technically, both deductive and inductive designs formulate conclusions by deriving meanings from observed or identified patterns within a workplace environment. According to Bryman and Bell (2003), correlational and descriptive research approaches are complementary in constructing meaningful and realistic relationships between underlying variables. In this case, the research process will utilize mixed methods approach in investigating the distinct recruitment approaches for sourcing production workers. Daley (2008) mentioned that data and information to be used in establishing the relationship between variables will be obtained and documented in textual form. Primarily, data and information for the research will be sourced from 50 production workers and in-depth interviews with 3 HR managers. Each question outlined in the earlier section will be answered sufficiently by administering semi-unstructured questionnaires to sampled respondents. Technically, semi-structured questionnaires will preserve directionality and keep responses within the topic of the underlying recruitment techniques for production workers. Contrarily, interviews will allow sampled participants to express their varied responses with a substantial degree of freedom and spontaneity. As a means of maintaining feasibility of responses, all questions will be solely derived from the four previously outlined research questions. In addition, questionnaires will be delivered to respondents comprising of production workers from both genders. Saunders and Lewis (2012) agreed that as a means of enhancing the reliability of findings and sourcing of additional insights regarding the topic, in-depth interviews will be used to extensively explore participants’ tailored responses and opinions. Approximately 50 employees and 3 human resource managers belonging to both genders and different age groups will be sampled as participants for the study. At this juncture, it is agreeable that interviews and questionnaires will supplement more textual data than numerical data. According to Brewerton, P. and Millward (2001), the sourced responses in textual forms will be used to describe and correlate the variables surrounding the phenomenon of recruitment techniques in the sourcing of production workers. On the other hand, statistical analysis will be limitedly employed whenever necessary. Methodological Considerations In terms of reliability, sample representativeness will play a significant role in ensuring that independent findings and outcomes of similar studies are significantly consistent with resultant findings. As aforementioned, previous research exercises have indicated that use of job portals recruitment substantially increases the number of qualified participants during selection and hiring processes. In this case, use of representative samples in interviews and focus studies will enhance the reliability of findings. On the other hand, validity of the research’s findings will be maintained through directional acquisition of relevant information from participants. Ahmed (2010) mentioned that in order to ensure that the implications of recruitment techniques are objectively measured and described; only human resource managers and both prospective and employed production workers will be sampled as participants. This means that employees from other irrelevant departments will not be included among the sample population. According to Wisker (2001), the research findings will be applicably generalizable only within the narrow sector of productions labor force. This means that identified insights regarding the use of distinct recruitment techniques as platforms for sourcing production workers can be applied only within production and manufacturing settings. Constraints Among the probable constraints during the study may include limited finances and limited time for acquisition of all intended data and information from primary sources. According to Saunders, M, Lewis and Thorn-hill (2012), certain data collection exercises like interviewing and administration of questionnaires may require frequent travels and booking of appointments; actions that could be not only financially costly but also time consuming. Fortunately, financial and time constraints can be mitigated through proper scheduling and setting of realistic timeline goals prior to commencement of each research step. Reference List Ahmed, K. 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