Management: Recruitment and Selection - Term Paper Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Rationale 3 Conclusion 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 Introduction ‘Change’ is one of the most used words in the business fraternity of today. The developments of information technology along with the communication process has affected the terms of trade by a huge extent. The increasing impact of globalisation also has influences the scheme of things. The traditional tricks of doing business are no longer the best method. The value for the share holders are not treated the sole objective of any business house. The modern concept suggests that it is the value for the stakeholder that is of prime significance. In such changing times, the policies of the recruitment and selection have also experienced paradigm shifts. The corporate industry as well non-corporate fraternity, both have changed the methods of recruitment with time. The institutions and the organizations have identified the recruitment process as one of the most important processes and are found to utilize considerable amount of scarce resources to develop, design and implement a robust method of recruitment and selection. Rationale In order to recruit the best of the talents available in the industry, the institution or the organization (as the case may be) should be able to identify the organizational objectives at the first place. As Margaret Dale observes that the requirement of the organization and the definition of the job hold the fundamental importance for effective performance. Dale further maintains that there are few initial questions that are to be answered at the outset which are as follows: What is the reason behind the job or the role to be set up What exactly is expected to achieve from the particular role How would the job contribute towards the organizational objective (Dale, M., 2004). In this particular case of recruitment of assistant teachers too, due emphasis should be laid to chalk out the exact objectives that the assistant teachers would be expected to accomplish. Such emphasis would help to identify the candidates with the right traits. As the particular objectives are identified for which the recruitment and selection is to take place, the next step is about designing such methods of recruitment. But prior to that, there lies another important aspect. The recruitment process should essentially be fair and should be free from all sorts of discriminations. Discriminations can be of various types. As Gareth Roberts opined, discrimination can be direct, indirect and victimized. The direct discrimination is such a situation where the particular person is outwardly rejected because of their certain activity or belief or any other reason. The indirect discrimination is not so expressive. Rather, it is basically targeted towards a group of people and is often not personal. The third method i.e. the victmisation is said to occur when a person is treated less favourably compared to others because of certain act or behaviour of the person that was protected or prohibited (Roberts, 1997). The appropriate measures should be initiated by the organization (the school, in this case) so that it ensures that there are no discriminating elements within the strategies of the recruitment and selection. The discrimination can take place within the work place in various forms. Some of the important and most well acknowledged discriminating factors include: Gender – Gender is one of the major discriminating factors at the work place. Traditionally, it was observed that females were never considered at par with the males and one or the other excuses were developed to write them off from the job. Gender, as a discriminating factor, can take either the forms of direct discrimination or the indirect discrimination. Gender based discriminations also deals with the lower pay for the females for the same work with their counterparts. Various laws have been initiated to overcome this social stigma like Equal Pay for Equal Work or the Sex Discrimination Act. Pregnancy – Pregnancy has been one of the major factors of discrimination. It has often been observed that as women requires extra care during such phase of their lives, the employers often are reluctant to provide with the required amenities as it results in dip in productivity. Many a times, even employers are found discouraged to employ women employees for such reason. Such discrimination should not be tolerated at all. Sexual Orientation – Discrimination on the basis of the sexual orientation also should be prohibited in the truest sense and spirit. The work should be the optimum focus and the orientation of a man towards a fellow man or a woman towards a fellow woman should not be consideration for recruitment in any way. Race – Race has been one of the most used discriminating factors by the employers. Often people belonging to certain races are found to be dismissed from the jobs or not at all called for interview of the job. Measures have been initiated to make the process of recruitment free from racial discrimination with the laws like The Race Relations Act 1976. Disability – The disability factor, physical as well as the mental, have been largely influenced the recruitment process. Often people were out rightly rejected because of the disability. Legal measures have taken to ensure that the disabled people also get jobs and certain jobs like that of liftman have been scheduled for the disabled persons. Religion – Religion has been basically a source of victimization and not used as the direct or indirect discrimination. The incumbent often get undue favour if he belongs to the desired religion but such should not happen at all. The best person should have the job whatever his or her religion might be. All the above factors suggest that the strict methods should be in place to ensure that the proper and robust methods of recruitment are in place so that the organizational objectives are served in the best of the interest and spirit. The method of recruitment and the policies pertaining to the human resource in an organization can take various forms. Some of the notables and the robust methods of the human resource policies include that of equilibration (coined by Jean Piglet and deals with Constructivism), error factor theory (by Harry Harlow which is basically behaviorism) and experience based learning (which is again more like constructivism and concept laid by J.M. Caroll). For the job of the teacher, the incumbent should ideally be constructive in nature and should preferably also possess certain experience and therefore traits of experience based learning would be the key to design the robust recruitment method (Leonard, 2002). The job of teaching would also require the incumbent to have adequate interpersonal skills as well as technical skills. As the person would come for the job of the teacher assistant, it is must that the person have fair knowledge in his subject as he has to impart the education to the young learners. Again, the theoretical technical knowledge is not enough. The person also should possess efficient interpersonal skills as he has to transfer the knowledge to the students (McGill & Brockbank, 2004). The method of recruitment and selection should also take into account the various reflective models to judge the candidates in best possible way. Reflective models basically deals with the process of learning and the representation of such learning and therefore it is of optimum importance for the prospective teachers. Reflections are very important in the interview sessions because it essentially involves certain complicated mental states in terms of processing of issues which has no obvious solutions. Therefore, the importance of having proper reflective models in place can be easily assessed to design a robust recruitment and selection strategy (Moon, 1999). Conclusion In order to have the best of the recruitment and selection techniques in place the rationale has been discussed in the previous paragraphs along with the relevant theories. But the theory would not serve the entire purpose until and unless, the practical problems are not attached with it. Therefore, the incumbent who comes for the interview at the position of the teaching assistant should be asked certain technical questions as how he is planning to meet the organizational objectives or can he meet the specific needs of the pupils. The job of the teacher would not only be limited to imparting education to the students but also to take care of their well being and to keep their records. The interviewee should also be judged in these aspects. It is expected that with such thorough rationale and the process, the desired level of recruitment strategy can be devised. References Dale, M. Manager's Guide to Recruitment and Selection. Kogan Page Publishers. 2004. Leonard, D. C. Learning Theories, A to Z. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Moon, J. A. Reflection in learning and professional development: theory and practice. Routledge, 1999. McGill, I. & Brockbank, A. The action learning handbook: powerful techniques for education, professional development and training. Routledge. 2004. Roberts, G. Recruitment and Selection: A Competency Approach. CIPD Publishing, 1997. Bibliography Cole, G. A. Organisationl Behaviour. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2001. Elsevier, No Date. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620184/description [Accessed 06 January 2010]. Hayes, D. Primary education: the key concepts. Taylor & Francis, 2006. Jacques, K. & Hyland, R. Professional Studies: Primary and Early Years. Learning Matters, 2007. Pugh, G. & Duffy, B. Contemporary Issues in the Early Years. SAGE, 2009. Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Clarke, P. Supporting identity, diversity, and language in the early years. Open University Press, 2000. Wiley, No Date. Children & Society. Willey & Blackwell. [Online] Available at: http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0951-0605 [Accessed 06 January, 2010]. Read More