Job Design, Recruitment and Selection Strategies for Wal-Mart in Singapore - Essay Example

Job Design, Recruitment and Selection Strategies for Singapore: Wal-Mart. Job Design, Recruitment and Selection Strategies for Singapore: Wal-Mart Introduction Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world’s largest retail company operating chains of large discount stores and warehouses in various parts of the world. Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, the American multinational retail corporation has significantly expanded its presence in the international market and is currently operating more than 11,000 stores across 27 countries (Stanley, 2006). The business enterprise is famous for low-cost structure plus an outstanding performance amidst the contemporary market instability. Being one of the largest retail companies in the world, Wal-Mart has always strived to expand its supermarket chains in the emerging markets such as Singapore. The impending launch in Singapore is particularly consistent with the company’s long standing strategy of extending its scope of operation in the developing countries by establishing additional stores and explore into new markets. However, by venturing into Singapore, Wal-Mart will require effective human resource strategies in order to help create a motivating and engaging work environment that will enable the company to attract the best talent team in its new outlet. As a result, the new adventure should be accompanied by necessary support to realize the overall organizational objectives. The needed support encompasses different aspects of the anticipated Singapore branch including recruitment strategies. This paper discusses the appropriate recruitment strategies for the positions of the marketing manager and the operations manager. Job Design Formulation Although the Company will have a number of staffing needs in view of its impending outlet launch in Singapore, the two most urgent ones that need to be filled at the moment with talented personnel to ensure the successful launch of our operations in the region include the positions of a marketing manager and operations manager. i. Marketing Manager The basic job description of a marketing manager for Mal-Mart’s upcoming outlet in Singapore will be to determine the products offered by the company and our potential competitors and then identify potential customers as well as oversee pricing strategies and product development with the goal of ensuring customer satisfaction while at the same time maximizing the company’s profits. With regard to the duties and responsibilities, the operations manager will be charged with a number of duties some of which include: Coordinating marketing, promotional and advertising activities promotional activities throughout Singapore. Developing effective pricing strategies and balancing the need for customer satisfaction with the company’s objectives. Assessing, promoting, and enriching Wal-Mart’s position and image within Singapore by making constant efforts to fulfill different marketing objectives defined by the top management. The marketing manager at our upcoming outlet in Singapore will be working for up to 37 hours every week, between the hours of 8am to 5pm. However, the occupant of the position shall be required to be ready to work for additional hours from time to time to ensure that the company targets are achieved. In addition, the position may require a lot of travelling considering that Wal-Mart is a multinational company. Considering the demanding nature of this position, the starting salary will be around $40,000 annually. Finally, some of the skills and qualification requirements for the position shall include: Excellent communication skills Relevant degree training with diverse knowledge of marketing concepts and techniques Ability to work under pressure ii. Operations Manager The operations manager shall be typically required to oversee the smooth operation of various processes within the outlet as well contribute to the development of short and long term organizational strategy for the region. The particular roles of the holder of the position will encompass a wide range of operational areas some of which include: Oversee and analyze the present system of product adopted within the anticipated Singapore store. Support Wal-Mart’s overall objectives through the management of daily operations and analyzing of the branch statistics. Present the stakeholders and the top management with the updates records of the company’s state of operation. Researching on alternative ways of achieving efficiency in the company’s operations in the region. The operations manager will be earning around $60,000 a year, working full time office hours. However, the holder of the office shall be sometimes required to work overtime during the evenings or weekends if necessary. Recruitment for the officer shall be purely based on merit and experience and the successful candidates may be required to have the following qualifications and requirements: More than 3 years experience in a relevant field Knowledge of the region that will be covered with our outlet and the culture of the people of Singapore Masters degree in business administration or similar subjects Excellent communication skills Strong leadership skills Recruitment Strategy for Singapore The recruitment strategy for Singapore will entail attracting and carefully screening potential qualified individuals for the required staffing needs while at the same incorporating employment best practices and equity principles. Unlike many parts of the world where job seeking candidates may be plentiful, Singapore is a unique country with an almost complete employment (exceedingly low rates of unemployment) (Martini, F. (2001). As a result, Wal-Mart’s foremost priority shall be to attract highly skilled and talented persons for the required positions and develop mechanisms of retaining them. In order to attract the most talented staff to our soon to be launched outlet in Singapore, the organization will not only use the traditional tactics such as job fairs and advertisements but will also incorporate less traditional methods such as use of bill boards, social media adverts and referral incentives. Wal-Mart will particularly take advantage of the diverse range of localized online job application websites currently available in Singapore for hiring such as JobStreet, JobsDB and Jobs Central or the more function specialized sites such as LinkedIn among others (Teo, 2010). The increasing competitiveness and level of skills in the job market requires that Wal-Mart adopts proper recruitment strategy. A recruitment process will present Wal-Mart with a set of prospective candidates out of which a well-though a set should be identified to fill the marketing and operations manager positions in the anticipated Singapore station (Larson & Hewitt, 2005). A successful recruitment should commence with appropriate predictive measures. At this stage, Wal-Mart should formulate plans to occupy the aforementioned job openings basing on a detailed exploration of the future needs to gain competitive advantage within Singapore. To support this, the management should be ready to assess internal plus external talents that are available alongside the availability of the current and the anticipated resources that will be used to attract then retain the available talents. Selection Strategy for Singapore The selection strategy will be largely designed to ensure that the organization is able to sel3ect the best possible candidate who meets all the specific requirements of a given role. Once applications from the right candidates have been received, a careful screening will be carried out through a competitive process without any bias to ensure that equity, diversity as well as due consideration of all the applicants is observed. For example, multiple assessment tools such as interviews, skill tests and personality tests shall be administered to help identify the best suited candidates for each position. The key selection strategy for Singapore outlet will entail matching the abilities and skills of the applicants with the right jobs, selecting the most qualified persons for the advertised positions, Implementation and Detailed Plan of the Job Design Recruitment could be conducted internally via promotion of present employees or through the use of the employee referrals (Wolf, 2011). Wal-Mart could adopt internal recruitments by advertising the aforementioned posts via organization-based electronic and physical job postings or through the internal memos. Adoption of these approaches will allow Wal-Mart’s recruitment managers to gain full control of the recruitment process, and in most cases the employee selection strategy that is adopted will be in line with the enterprise-wide goals and mission. In case the management of Wal-Mart feels that adoption of internal recruitment strategies is not bound to produce the quality of personal required to fill the stated positions, it would be appropriate seeking the service of external recruiters (Cheese, Thomas & Craig, 2008). This can be attained by publicizing vacancies within different periodicals, newspapers as well as internet sources. Similarly, the company could source for the services of the third party recruiting agencies. It is worthwhile for the organization to bear in mind that use of the third party organizations will require that the third parties stay informed of the organization’s strategic goals. Finally, as part of its talent/employee retention strategy, the management of the Singapore outlet will engage in a number of employee reward and ,motivation practices in order to boost the employees’ morale. Motivation to the employees will basically involve provision of vocational trainings, insurance cover, presents as well as giving all the employees holidays whenever need arises. All these will see the company propel to greater heights in Singapore and improve its profit margins. Conclusion In conclusion, corporate organizations venturing into emerging economies like Singapore require effective human resource strategies in order to help create a motivating and engaging work environment. Generally, effective and balanced recruitment and selection are critically in ensuring that an organization is able to attract the best talent. References Cheese, P., Thomas, R. J., & Craig, E. (2008). The talent powered organization: Strategies for globalization, talent management and high performance. London: Kogan Page. Larson, S. A., & Hewitt, A. S. (2005). Staff recruitment, retention, & training strategies for community human services organizations. Baltimore, Md: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co. Martini, F. (2001). Singapore: A Study of Spatial Organization and Pragmatic Cultural Change". Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 16, 161-164. Stanley D. (2006). Wal-Mart world: the worlds biggest corporation in the global economy. New York: CRC Press. Teo, M. (2010). Welfare in Singapore: Singapore government response. The Economist (London). 17 February 2010. Wolf, J. A. (2011). Organization development in healthcare: Conversations on research and strategies. Bingley: Emerald Group. Read More