Session 5
Recruitment and Selection
3Selection
3.1Appropriate methods of selection
Selection is the process of choosing from a number of candidates the one most suitable for a specified position.
The methods of selection should be tailor-made for a particular organization and job.
The selection process can involve:
Reviewing application forms
Interviewing
Testing including medical exams, group selection methods and assessment centers
Obtaining references
3.2Selection interviews
The main aim of the selection interview process is to find the best person for the job and encourage him or her to accept the position with terms that are agreeable to both.
Other objectives of the interview are:
Confirming, expanding or obtaining further information than already given on the application form
Assessing the knowledge, personality and motivation of the candidate
Addressing any questions the candidate may have
There are various forms of interview:
Face to face interviews help establish rapport and are cost effective but the decision relies heavily on one person
Successive interviews are most costly and can be tiring for the candidate but it may enable a more balanced judgement to be made.
Group interviews (multiple interviewees) can identify personal qualities such as tact, dominance and persuasiveness.
Panel interviews (multiple interviewers) have the advantage of sharing judgements but take up many people’s time and may put the candidates ill at ease.
Effective selection interviewing requires the following skills:
Preparation
Analysing the application form
Questioning
Listening
Putting the candidates at ease
Evaluation
The limitations of interviews include:
Time needed and stress created
Subjectivity and bias
Unsuitable method of assessment
Typical interview faults are:
Cloning
Halo effect
Confusing verbal skills, education and natural intelligence
Prejudice
Lack of structure
Lack of skill, specialist training or experience of the interviewer
Lack of preparation
Hasty evaluation
Interviews have several useful purposes in that they:
Allow individuals to react person to person
Let two way communication develop
Allow information to be checked
Let the interviewees find out about the organization
Can be a useful public relations exercise
Are recognized and accepted as valid by candidates
Question 4
Required
a)What is the purpose of the selection interview? (3 marks)
b)Discuss the limitations of the interview as a selection technique. (6 marks)
c)How do inexperienced interviewers damage the effectiveness of selection interviews (3 marks)
d)Outline four key skills needed to carry out the selection interview successfully. (3 marks)
(15 marks)
Answer Plan
3.3Testing and Assessment Centres
A test is a standardized type of examination given to an individual.
Types of test include:
Intelligence tests
Aptitude tests
Competence tests
Personality tests
Medical examinations
Group selection methods
Assessment centers are used to bring together groups of candidates for one to three days of intensive assessment.
The advantages of selection tests are that they are standardized, objective accurate and well validated, precise and can be administered in groups.
Limitations of testing include the artificiality of the test, bias, coaching and practice effects, inability to measure candidates true potential, the time involved and over precision.
3.4References
References (testimonials) are a key part of the selection process, but are used mainly to verify facts about the candidates rather than as an aid to decision making.
Problems with references are:
Dependent on the referees attitude
Referees are not critical
Ambiguity or omissions
References are notoriously poor predictors of future performance. In seeking references employers should ask direct and meaningful questions.
3.5Decision-making and the selection process
Selection involves decision-making. Decisions should be measured against standards, which should be decided first. If they are not there is a risk that they will be selected afterwards to support or negate the decision.
The manager or supervisor making the selection decision will need the following skills:
Communication
Listening
Knowledge and experience
Analysis techniques
Creative thinking
Influencing skills
With selection testing interpretation of the test results is a skilled task where both training and experience are required.
Whichever selection method is used the manager must be able to discriminate between candidates when making the selection decision. In addition the method of selection must be reliable, enabling candidates to be assessed on a level playing field.
Question 5
Required
Describe and discuss the main selection techniques. (15 marks)
Answer Plan
4Management of diversity
4.1Equal opportunities
All employment decisions should be based solely upon a person’s ability, experience and potential to do the job in question rather than their race, religion or sex.
Two main reasons for adopting an equal opportunities policy:
It is morally wrong to treat parts of population as inferior or inadequate
Organisations do not benefit from excluding any potential source of talent.
Good working practices in relation to equal opportunities should cover all aspects of human resource management –
Recruitment
Terms and conditions of employment
Promotion, transfer and training
Benefits, facilities and services
Dismissal
Good practice can be demonstrated in procedures relating to job analysis, advertisements, interviews, selection and redundancy.
In the UK equal opportunities legislation exists to try and promote fair treatment. Legislation includes the following:
The Equal Pay Act (1970) Equal pay means women are entitled to equal pay with men and vice versa in respect of ‘like work’ or ‘work of equal value’.
The Sex Discrimination (1975) Making it illegal to discriminate in employment affairs because of marital status or sex.
Other legislation exists protecting people for discrimination on the grounds of race,disability or prior criminal record.
4.2Managing diversity in the workplace
Organisations need to create cultures in which all employees can develop their potential and flourish, regardless of sex, race culture, age, religion, disability and ethnicity.
An organisation’s workforce is representative when it reflects or exceeds the demographic composition of the external workforce.
A diversity assessment is a structured process to gather information about the experience of current employees and, if desired, former employees.
Plans to achieve a fair representation of designated groups in an organization must contain
numerical goals,
activities to achieve the goals, and
a monitoring and evaluation procedure to follow the implementation.
Numerical goals must be realistic, related to the workforce analysis and project opportunities for hiring, training and promotion.
Non-numerical goals are activities associated with creating a supportive environment.
Question 6
Required
Explain why a diverse workforce is beneficial to the organization. (7 marks)
What can an organization do to ensure its workforce ‘represents’ its operating environment? (8 marks)
(15 marks)
Answer Plan
CASE STUDY
Deborah Williams, the Finance Director of SMG Ltd, thinks that the staff in the accounts department are overworked and has asked the Human Resources Department for an additional accounts clerk, preferably two.
SMG Ltd has no formal procedures or processes to ensure that appropriate and qualified staff are appointed. In the past SMG Ltd has relied on agencies and informal contacts to recruit new employees.
SMB Ltd has recently appointed you as assistant Human Resources Manager. You have been asked to take charge of the situation, to see if Ms Williams has a case and then to manage the new appointments process if the vacancy is approved.
Required
a)Explain how you would establish whether Deborah Williams has a legitimate case for a new member of staff. (8 marks)
b)Given that the vacancy is approved, discuss the procedures you would take to appoint a qualified accounts clerk. (10 marks)
c)Describe the contents of a job description and person specification for the new accounts clerk. (7 marks)
d)Explain how you would carry out the recruitment and selection of the new clerk. (10 marks)
e)What might be the benefits of ongoing training and development to the clerk and the business. (5 marks)
(40 marks)
Answer Plan
Equal Opportunities
Organisations and businesses are made up of many individuals working together to achieve organisational success. These individuals bring different attitudes, perceptions and learning experiences to the workplace, as well as ethnic, gender and personality differences. These can be a source for developing creativity within an organisation. However they can also be the cause of problems. Over the last thirty years or so employment has changed beyond all recognition. This change has led to a fundamental re-thinking of the way employees are managed. Managers have had to recognise the need (or in many countries the legal requirement) to develop and enforce company policies aimed at reducing and eliminating discrimination. In addition, the increasing globalisation of business has meant that managers must be aware of cultural and race issues.
Equal opportunities is a universally used and understood term which describes the idea that everyone in an organisation should have an equal chance to apply and be selected for posts, to be trained or promoted and to have employment terminated fairly. Employers can discriminate only on the basis of ability, experience or potential. All employment decisions are based solely on an individual’s ability to do a particular job. No consideration should be taken of a person’s sex, age, racial origin, disability or marital status.
In addition, many organisations have adopted a Sex Discrimination Policy that requires gender equality in all areas of employment including the selection process, opportunities for training, promotion, benefit provision, facilities and dismissal. Such a policy deems it wrong to make any form of discrimination within employment matters because of marital status or sex and covers three main categories of sex discrimination: direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimisation.
Direct discrimination involves treating a person less favourably than others on sexual, racial or marital grounds. For example, a dismissal from employment upon marriage. One act of discrimination is sufficient and must be directed against an individual. Indirect discrimination describes a term or condition applicable to both sexes, but where one sex has a considerably lesser ability to comply with it than the other. For example, a condition that a candidate must be of a particular height. Finally, victimisation is discrimination against an individual who has brought proceedings or given evidence in another case involving discrimination or disciplinary matters.
A Race Relations Policy adopts the same approach as the sex discrimination policy. However, this policy looks at racial grounds and racial groups, phrases which refer to colour, race, nationality or other ethnic or national origins. The same three categories of direct and indirect discrimination and victimisation can be applied.
An Equal Pay Policy requires that both women and men receive identical pay in respect of what is described as ‘like work’, ‘work that is rated as equivalent’ or ‘equal value’.
‘Like work’ defines work of a broadly similar role where differences are not of a practical nature. ‘Work equivalent’ is where work has been evaluated and graded to be equivalent to other work in relation to effort, skill and decision-making. Work of ‘equal value’ is that of a woman’s to that of a man’s in the same organisation.
As well as issues affecting gender and race discrimination issues, employers are paying more attention to the rights of the disabled in the workplace. Many organisations have therefore adopted a Disability Discrimination Policy.
A disabled person is defined as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has substantial and long-term (more than 12 months) adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Severe disfigurement is included, as are progressive conditions such as HIV, even though the current effects may not be substantial. Factors affecting ability include mobility, manual dexterity, physical coordination, lack of ability to lift or speak, hear, see, remember, concentrate, learn or understand, or to perceive the risk of physical danger. In addition, the employer has the duty to make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of the workplace where they constitute a hazard to the disabled person. The Disability Discrimination Policy must also make it clear that it is wrong to discriminate against disabled people in the interviewing and selection process, for promotion, transfer or training and dismissal.
In some cases, managers can be confused between the ideas and requirements of equal opportunities and the more up-to-date idea of managing diversity. In many ways laying down policies and procedures to ensure that discrimination is eliminated from the workplace is admirable, desirable and indeed good for business. The new generation of managers regard the quality of their employees as the distinguishing feature of a successful organisation. People are the single sustainable source of competitive advantage – high performance through the development of people is essential if organisations are to remain viable and competitive.
The promotion of equal opportunities makes good business sense. Equal opportunities are promoted as a key component of good management as well as being a legal requirement. It is also socially desirable and morally right. Managing diversity on the other hand expands the horizons beyond equality issues and builds on recognised approaches to equal opportunities. It adds new impetus to the development of equal opportunities and creates an environment in which enhanced contributions from all employees works to the advantage of the business, employees themselves and society generally. It offers an opportunity for organisations to develop a workforce to meet business goals and to improve approaches to customer care. Managing diversity is about having the right person for the job regardless of sex, race or religion.
Essentially the management of diversity is a quality assurance approach. It helps identify hidden organisational barriers, which make it more difficult for people who are perceived as being different from the majority of their colleagues to succeed and develop careers. It also helps to effect cultural change and to create an environment in which people from all backgrounds can work together harmoniously. The management of diversity combats prejudice, stereotyping, harassment and undignified behaviour.
Dr John Ball is Examiner for Paper 1.3