Selection Strategy for Merino Textiles - Case Study Example

Report on a Selection Strategy for Merino Textiles For the General Manager Prepared by Insert Your Name Here Insert Your Student Number Here Date to be inserted here Executive summary Merino Textiles (MT), a company dealing with the production of woollen and worsted textile products in Australia is faced with dilemma of selecting qualified staff due to its HR poor strategies in the process. This task is being undertaken by Louise who is the only staff in HR and Brian who has been general manager of MT for the past four years and has been employed with MT for 20 years rising form an apprentice textile mechanic to become a general manger. Louise has been in her position for just 12 months and she has always wanted the management to look at the issue of hiring a qualified graduate to be assisting in the HR office. This paper will be looking at various strategies that a HR professional would provide for the new selection strategy of the staff for the MT organisation. The proposal will be used to convince the management on the recommendations of the selection of employees. In addition, the paper will be looking at the new selection strategy for hiring the HR graduate and blanket machine operator as specific examples to clearly demonstrate to Brian the benefits of such an approach. There are various strategies that will be analysed among them being, offering enough time during the interview, being legal in the hiring process i.e. following all the legal procedures in the process, offering equal employment opportunities in the hiring process and selecting the candidates based on their expertise and merit. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Purpose 3.0 Scenario 4.0 Offering enough time during interviews 5.0 Be Legal during the hiring and selection process 5.1 Formal Contracts of Employment 5.2 Temporary employment or fixed term contracts? 6.0 Equal opportunity employment strategy 7.0 Selecting employees based on their expertise and merit 8.0 Interviewing people with a vision for the future 9.0 build a Standardized Hiring Process and Use It 10.0 Structured Behavioral Interview 11.0 Understand the Job as an interviewer 12.0 Job-seeker Satisfaction during the hiring process. 13.0 Conclusion 14.0 Recommendations 1.0 Introduction Human resources are all individuals involved in one way or another in the effective running of a business, organization or group (Bohlander, G, and Snell, S., 2010) . At MT (Merino Textiles), the company has recently been acquired by an investment company. This has company has committed 20 million dollars towards expanding the blanket-making section of the mill. This expansion will see production capacity to triple the current production in this section. The existing machinery will also be given a complete overhaul by the maintenance staff and the number of employees employed in this department will rise from 20‑70. At the moment, MT is due to commence a recruitment drive that has never been experienced before. Brian and Louise have been mandated with the process of ensuring a successful hiring and selection of new staff in the human resource department and blanket –machine operator. There task will include interviewing and hiring of the candidates in order to select the best candidates to fill the positions. This report will discuss some of the important strategies that should be applied by the management during the interview and the selection process. 2.0 Purpose The purpose of this report is to make recommendations to the management on the selected strategies that are to be used by the management in the process of the new selection for the MT staff. The report will be focusing specifically on the hiring on th new human resource graduate and the blanket –machine operator. 3.0 Scenario In the Merino Textiles case study, there seems to be a problem on the interview process. As much as Brian wants people to be hired for the vacant positions, he seems to be in a hurry to perform this task. This is not taken well by Louise who despite being with the company for short time sees a problem of making a haste selection that can harm the company in the long run. ‘Brian, can I speak with you about the short listed applicants for the two jobs recently advertised?’ asks Louse, the HR Manager of Merino Textiles. ‘Sure Louise, although I'm not sure what needs to be discussed. We’ve shortlisted six people for the graduate HR job and five for the blanket machine operator, now all you need to do is to arrange a quick interview with each one. Have you done that yet?’ questions Brian with a concerned look on his face. Louise had arranged interviews providing each candidate 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes an issue that Brian found to be inappropriate. ‘Why would you want to allow so much time?’ asks Brian ‘fifteen minutes is ample time to tell the applicant about the company, and usually we can “sum up” the person within the first few minutes by their appearance and how interested they seem in the company. We’ve got their résumé so their is little questioning usually necessary.’ Louise is concerned that the hurried interview might not bring out the required information. The management needs to know whether the HR Graduate is a team player and what sort of personality they have. In addition, she is arguing that they may not analyse if the HR have the desired people skills to deal with unions or an employee who needs disciplining or counselling. Relatively, she adds that on the issue of the blanket machine operator, it will be hard to establish if the candidate have the basic dexterity skills to learn to operate the blanket making machine and what are strengths and weaknesses do they posses. She is concerned about many issues relating to how well the management will learn if the candidate fits with the organisation’s values. ‘We wouldn’t be able to find out all that in an interview anyway’, says Brian. ‘Well perhaps instead of basing our selection decision just on one interview we also could use other selection techniques such as ….’ Louise begins. ‘Louise!’ Brian interrupts, ‘we don’t have time for any other “techniques” apart from a quick interview with the manager in charge of the section where the new staff member is required. We need them on the job ASAP (as soon as possible) so production continues with minimal interruption. …………………… Brian on his part seems to be impatient with the hiring process. There is a communication breakdown and the only solution is for a report to be forwarded to the management providing advice on a new selection strategy for the organisation to assist Louise with the development of the proposal to convince Brian to adopt Louise’s recommendation for selection of employees. 4.0 Offering enough time during interviews In every interview process, the panel of interviewers should ensure that there is enough time for the interview. Brian should refrain from allocating the potential employee little time during the interview as they might not get enough time to understand the company policies. ‘We’ve shortlisted six people for the graduate HR job and five for the blanket machine operator, now all you need to do is to arrange a quick interview with each one. Have you done that yet?’ this was wrong. Although there is n specific time allocation for the interview process, a quick interview can yield different results than the expected. Enough time during the interview is good to tell the applicant about the company, “sum up” the person’s interest for the job, the qualifications and expertise of the potential employee and go though their resume understanding it well. When done in a hurry, the interview session can fail to meet all the above requirements. All these concerns that Louise has can only be met if the process is not hurried. 5.0 Be Legal during the hiring and selection process The management should follow all the legal requirements during the hiring process. This ensures that there are no illegalities in the process and that the process is free and fair. Below are some of the legal procedures that an employee should follow in the hiring and selection process. 5.1 Formal Contracts of Employment In the process of hiring and section for a potential employee, a formal “Contract of Employment” is very important for managerial positions. This is in particularly to those positions involving senior managers. The contract should contain similar matters raised in a “letter of offer of employment” above. It should however focus upon issues of performance management and leadership obligations. It may also contain set out bonus and other reward based remuneration schemes. 5.2 Temporary employment or fixed term contracts? In Australia, most employment positions are for indefinite periods. Some employers only require fixed term service in some circumstances such as replacing an employee who is on parental leave. In case where employees continue past the agreed termination date, the Industrial Relations Commissions often decide that their employment has become permanent. 6.0 Equal opportunity employment strategy No person should be discriminated in employment (AHRC, 2011). If the management offers equal job employment, they will be in line with AHRC laws (Australian Human Rights Commission) that prevent discrimination. This will boost the company’s reputation an equal employer. One of the key areas will be on gender equality. This strategy details the effective equal employment of staff disregarding their gender types (UNSW, 2010). In meeting the gender agenda, MT should amicably integrate the various genders in their workforce for equality. For example, equality in job opportunities provides an avenue for effective service delivery. However, job segmentation should be put into consideration when employing individuals for the blanket machine operator positions. This might be a job that requires a man for operation as the machine might be hard to operate and it might be unrealistic to employ women owing to their physique. 7.0 Selecting employees based on their expertise and merit The best selection strategy involves the selection of employees based on their expertise and academic merit (yong zhu, 2011) academia, In this strategy, various applicants have specific merits both in academic and expertise. While it will be good to check both academic and expertise in the potential employees, it will be of great important to note the blanket machine operator expertise besides academic qualifications. This is a sensitive job that required full knowledge of how to operate a machine as it cause accidents in the organisation. For example, it would be ideal to employ experienced personnel in a bid to reduce the hiccups that arise by training newly employed individuals with at times no experience on the job. However, it is also crucial in employing new individuals based on remuneration bottom line. An experienced person might ask for huge payments unlike inexperienced one who is out to gain experience. 8.0 Interviewing people with a vision for the future The management should select and hire people with a vision for the future. While a new employee has to make economic sense for today’s tasks, tits good to note that the best people that are hired are those who position you to profit for the company’s future. In addition, new employees should provide the skills that MT will need in the future, but not just match the job demands for today. While interviewing people, the management should be clear on the strategic direction for the future of the company and then hire the best people that will help the company achieve it. 9.0 Standardize the hiring process During the interview process, the management should not count on its conversational skills to choose between candidates. At a basic level, the hiring process have a criteria based on screening the adequate number of candidates and organizing structured interviews. Many assessment and interview tools are available and they provide much more reliable results than the traditional interview. It’s good to note that the more important the position is, the more rigorous the hiring process should be. The right person for any job will make contributions to your company’s productivity and profitability that far exceed salary cost. Relatively, choosing the wrong person can harm the future of the company. 10.0 Structured Behavioral Interview There is no universal process for conducting interviews. A structured interview involves asking potential employees standard questions. When a structured approach is used, the outcomes can be as powerful as such proven techniques as ability tests. Forward-thinking organizations conduct several interviews before making a conclusion. This eventually ensures that the candidate is right for you. 11.0 Understand the Job as an interviewer Finding the right people to hire is much easier when the management first analyze the kind of job that is required to be filled. Be sure that the position you are offering is there by analyzing the position that you offering the candidate. Relatively, it should ask several questions like, what kind of people best fit this kind of job. This will give the management an opportunity to find a top performer for the job and observe the persons behavior before hiring them. Relatively, questions should be asked to get a clear understanding on what characteristics make them effective in their job. At the end of the interview, you will find that this kind of job analysis drives the management selection standards. Its good to be perfect at the initial stage of selection and the rest of the hiring process will be faster, easier and yield a better employee. 12.0 Job-seeker Satisfaction during the hiring process. Companies should work harder to attract large and high quality applicants (businessweek, 2008). Candidates have increased confidence about receiving choice job offers. However, some organizations still forgetting to factor in job-seeker satisfaction during the hiring process. Hiring of employees should never be a one way affair and applicant happiness should be considered from initial interaction until the end of the hiring process. This should be in regardless of whether the hiring process should lead to employment or not. Contacting the candidate for interview on time is essential candidate. If the candidate is not contacted quickly enough this can make the person feel as if the manager is not interested. Candidates today have multiple offers on the table from prospective employers. A potential employee can be offered another opportunity with a different variable. Be professional during the interview 13.0 The interviewer should be professional in his work. During an interview, a recruiter should create a warm atmosphere. He/she can opt instead for a condescending or unprofessional tone. This is sometimes without even realizing it. During the interview, the recruiter should treat the potential employee treated more like a friend than a potential employee. One should be less intrusive on the candidate. The candidate fails to be more confidence when the recruiter becomes intrusive. 14.0 Conclusion In conclusion, selection and hiring of employees should not be taken lightly. Collective participation of all parties involved is very important in order to realize a company’s or organizations overall success. Good employees hold the company well in its profitability and productivity. When a company get the best employees, it translates to better yields even in manpower. By following all of the above steps during the hiring of the new staff, Brian and Louise will be able to hire the best and retain the profitability of the company. 14.0 Recommendations The report recommends that in future the task of hiring and selection should be analyzed well by the management. This should involve the general manager, the HR department and the relevant departments that require the positions to be filled. By doing so, the company will eliminate the problems that have been encountered during the hiring process and this seems to overwhelm the people that are mandated to lead the process and especially Brian. The report recommend that the company should adopt good communication strategy in order to effectively attend to each concern that is raised by the HR department. In addition, all the above strategies should be followed so as to get the best candidate in case where there is a need for a new selection. This report can be used in any future interview and hiring process for the Merino Textiles (MT). it will offer useful strategies a HR is supposed to apply for any new selection of the staff for the MT organisation List of References aussielegal, (2010). DOCUMENTATION TO HIRE AN EMPLOYEE, (2010) http://www.aussielegal.com.au/informationoutline~nocache~1~SubTopicDetailsID~906.htm Balva R.(2011), What Importance of Communication Means For Organizations http://www.articleclick.com/Article/What-Importance-Of-Communication-Means-For-Organizations/1029023 Bohlander, G, and Snell, S. (2010). Managing Human Resources, MA: Cengage businessweek, (2008) Best (Hiring) Practices http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/aug2006/ca20060810_662254.htm hreoc, (2011). The Australian Human Rights Commission http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/publications/brochure/info_sheet2009.html Indu R. 2005. Probation Periods Underperforming employees 14 Jul 2005 Viewed 20 May 2010http://www.workplacelaw.net/forums/listComments/thread_id/1049 UNSW, 2010 Women’s employment strategy, the UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 2010http://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/equity/pdStrat_women_employ08_10.pdfOATEGYRSIT Yong Zhu, 2011, How the Organic Design Organization cooperates with the Mechanistic Design Organization in Global Setting Viewed 20 May 2010 http://au.academia.edu/yzhu/Papers/152544/How_the_Organic_Design_Organization_cooperates_with_the_Mechanistic_Design_Organization_in_Global_Setting Read More