Notes, projects, reference material etc

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SUCCESSION PLANNING
Meaning of Succession Planning

Succession planning is the process or activities connected with the filling of key positions in the organization hierarchy as vacancies arise. Succession planning focuses on identification of future vacancies and locating the probable successor. For example in succession planning the key concern can be who will be next CEO or what will happen if the Marketing Manager retires in coming March. Grooming a person to fill an important position may take years. Succession planning involves identification of key positions in the company and then scouting for people who can effectively fill those positions at short notice.

Importance of Succession Planning

1. Succession planning helps when there is a sudden need due to job hopping/death of serious injury to a key employee.
2. There is little or no set back due to absence of key employee.
3. Acts as a motivator for the individual employee who comes to know of the impending promotion in advance.
4. Succession planning helps create loyalty towards the organization and improved motivation and morale of individual employees.
5. Organization gains stable workforce and low employee turnover.
6. Ultimately organization becomes successful in accomplishing its goals effectively.

CAREER PLANNING
Career as a concept means a lifelong sequences of professional, educational and developmental experiences that an individual goes through in his working life. It is a sequence of positions occupied by a person during his life.

Career planning is the process of identifying an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, aptitudes, inclinations, aspirations and attitudes and designing his job responsibilities to take maximum advantages of positive traits and minimising the effect negatives traits.

After identifying the personality traits of the individual begins the process of identifying suitable job billets for him. It may also involve training at times to strengthen his weak areas.

Career planning is a process of integrating the employees’ needs and aspirations with organizational requirements.

A typical succession planning involves the following activities:

1. Analysis of the demand for managers and professionals by company level, function and skill.
2. Audit of existing executives and projection of likely future supply from internal and external sources.
3. Planning of individual career paths based on objective estimates of future needs and drawing on reliable performance appraisals and assessments of potential.
4. Career counselling undertaken in the context of a realistic understanding of the future needs of the firm as well as those of the individual.
5. Accelerated promotions with development targeted against the future needs of the business.
6. Performance related training and development to prepare individuals for future roles as well as current responsibilities
7. Planned strategic recruitment not only to fill short term needs but also to provide people for development to meet future needs
8. The actual activities by which openings are filled





JOB ANALYSIS

Definition 1

“Job Analysis is a process of collecting and studying the information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are ‘Job Description’ and ‘Job Specifications’.”

Definition 2

“It is a basic technical procedure that is used to define duties and responsibilities and accountabilities of the job.”

PURPOSE OF JOB ANALYSIS: -
• Human Resource Planning (HRP): Job analysis helps in determining staffing needs, type, quality and quantity.

• Recruitment & Selection: Knowing the staffing needs is essential for Recruitment and Selection – Right person for each job. Sourcing of recruits also becomes easy and cost effective

• Training & Development: Job analysis is the key to determining Training and Development programs.

• Job Evaluation: Job evaluation means determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary. This is possible with the help of job description and specifications; i.e. Job Analysis.

• Remuneration: Job analysis also helps in determining wage and salary for the jobs.

• Performance Appraisal: Job analysis helps in fixing the bench marks of performance standards which in turn help in objective Performance appraisal, rewards, promotions, etc.

• Safety & Health: Job Analysis helps to uncover hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that corrective measures can be taken to minimize and avoid possibility of human injury.


JOB DESCRIPTION

“Job Description implies objective listing of the job title, tasks, and responsibilities involved in a job.”

Job description is a word picture of the duties, responsibilities and organizational relationships that constitutes a given job or position. It defines work assignment and a scope of responsibility that are sufficiently different from those of the other jobs to warrant a specific title. Job description is a broad statement of purpose, scope, duties and responsibilities of a particular job.

Contents of Job Description
1. Job Identification
2. Job Summary
3. Job Duties and Responsibilities
4. Supervision specification
5. Machines, tools and materials
6. Work conditions
7. Work hazards
8. Definition of unusual terms

Format of Job Description
1. Job Title
2. Region/Location
3. Department
4. Reporting to (Operational and Managerial)
5. Objective
6. Principal duties and responsibilities


JOB SPECIFICATIONS

“Job Specification involves listing of qualifications, skills and abilities required in an employee to meet the job description. These specifications are minimum required to do the job satisfactorily.”

In other words, it is a statement of minimum acceptable physical/psychological attributes and professional skills necessary to perform the job properly. Job specifications seek to indicate kind of persons who can be expected to meet the role requirements. Thus, it is basically concerned with matters of selection, screening and placement and is intended to serve as a guide in hiring.

Contents of Job Specifications
1. Physical Characteristics
2. Psychological characteristics
3. Personal characteristics
4. Educational Qualifications
5. Skill Set and Experience/Responsibilities
6. Demographic features
Job specifications can be further divided into three broad categories
1. Essential Attributes
2. Desirable Attributes
3. Contra-Indicators – Attributes which are likely to act as impediments to success of job













JOB EVALUATION

Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization.

Job Evaluation involves determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary differentials. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of Job Description and Job Specification only. Job Evaluation helps to determine wages and salary grades for all jobs. Employees need to be compensated depending on the grades of jobs they perform. Remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job. Ignoring this basic principle results in inequitable compensation and attendant ill effects on employees’ morale. A perception of inequity is a sure way of de-motivating an employee.

Jobs are evaluated on the basis of content and placed in order of importance. This establishes Job Hierarchies, which becomes the basis for satisfactory wage differentials among various jobs.

Jobs are ranked (not jobholders)

PROCESS OF JOB EVALUATION:
1. Defining objectives of job evaluation

(a) Identify jobs to be evaluated (Benchmark jobs or all jobs)
(b) Who should evaluate job?
(c) What training do the evaluators need?
(d) How much time involved?
(e) What are the criteria for evaluation?
(f) Methods of evaluation to be used
2. Wage Survey
3. Employee Classification
4. Establishing wage and salary differentials.
METHODS OF JOB EVALUATION
1. Analytical Methods

(a) Point Ranking Methods: Different factors are selected for different jobs with accompanying differences in degrees and points.
(b) Factor Comparison Method: The important factors are selected which can be assumed to be common to all jobs. Each of these factors are then ranked with other jobs. The worth of the job is then taken by adding together all the point values.

2. Non-Analytical Methods

(a) Ranking Method: Jobs are ranked on the basis of their title or contents. Like Managers, Supervisors, Workers, Peon, etc. All managers whether from production, planning, sales, stores or Allied Services (House Keeping) Deptt are treated equal. Job is not broken down into factors etc. It is easier to implement but not always satisfactory for the employees.

(b) Job Grading Method: It is based on the job as a whole and the differentiation is made on the basis of job classes and grades. Like in a hotel, Receptionist’s job may be graded higher than back office billing clerk’s job. Similarly, a production/sales manager billet may be graded higher than Allied Services Manager’s. In this method it is important to form a grade description to cover discernible differences in skills, importance to company’s core operations, responsibilities and other characteristics.

PITFALLS OF JOB EVALUATION:
1. Sometimes encourages employees to manipulate for promotion/internal placement when there may be limited opportunities for enhancement as a result of downsizing.

2. It promotes internal focus (office politics) instead of customer orientation

3. Not suitable for forward looking organizations, which may have trimmed multiple job titles into two or three broad jobs.














JOB DESIGN

In the most simplified form - The process of breaking/organizing work into specific tasks in order to perform a specific job is called Job Design. Job Design is the logical Sequence to Job Analysis. Job design involves conscious efforts to organise tasks, duties and responsibilities into a unit of work to achieve certain objective.

Steps in Job Design
1. Specification of Individual Tasks
2. Specification of Methods for Tasks Performance
3. Combination of Tasks into Specific Jobs to be assigned to individuals

FACTORS AFFECTING JOB DESIGN
1. Organizational factors
(a) Characteristics of Tasks (Planning, Execution and Controlling of Task)
(b) Work Flow (Process Sequences)
(c) Ergonomics (Time & Motion Study)
(d) Work Practices (Set of ways of performing tasks)
2. Environmental Factors
(a) Employee Abilities and Availability
(b) Social and Cultural Expectations
3. Behavioural Elements
(a) Feedback
(b) Autonomy
(c) Use of Abilities
(d) Variety
TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN
1. Work Simplification: Job is simplified or specialized. The job is broken down into small parts and each part is assigned to an individual. To be more specific, work simplification is breaking down the job to such small tasks that complexity is taken out of them. Like in a assembly line of car, one person only tighten wheel nuts with a pneumatic tool which tighten the nuts. The complexity of ensuring that each nut is tightened to required degree has been transferred to machine and the worker only applies the tool to the right place. He does not even put the wheel in place. In such cases, work becomes repetitive in nature. Work simplification is used when jobs are not specialized.

2. Job Rotation: Same job, same people, same surrounding, days over days, months over months, leads to boredom and even fatigue. And it manifests in higher error rate, fall in productivity, absenteeism, job hopping, etc. Job rotation is answer to such problems. While broadly the job may remain same, minor variations between jobs are enough to rejuvenate the employee. It not only benefits the personnel but also the organisation in equal measure

(a) Benefit to the Employee. It is a development tool since the employees get exposure to several jobs which develops their personality and employability. It improves their self-image and leads to personal growth. Such cross functional deployments often reveal hidden performance potentials/skills of many employees in the course of new job.
(b) Benefits to the Company: Such cross functional knowledge of employees provides the company with a fall back option in case of absence of any employee. It also gives flexibility to the management to reorganise the functional setup just in case of need like demand pattern shift or change in business model or any other eventuality. Also, periodic job rotation is the best method to avoid compartmentalisation of departments. Movement of personnel between departments and first hand knowledge of limitations and problems faced by other departments reduces frictions and leads to better cooperation between them. Interpersonal bonds developed during in the course of such cross functional job rotation further smoothens the interaction between departments. On the negative side, training costs rise and it can also de-motivate intelligent and ambitious trainees who might take it as their undesirability in their own department unless it is well laid down policy of the company.
3. Job Enlargement: It means expanding the number of tasks, or duties assigned to a given job. Job enlargement is naturally opposite to work simplification. Adding more tasks or duties to a job does not necessarily mean that new skills and abilities are needed. There is only horizontal expansion. It is with same skills taking additional responsibilities like increasing the number of machines operators under a supervisor from 10 to 15. Job enlargement may involve breaking up of the existing work system and redesigning a new work system. For this employees also need to be trained to adjust to the new system. Job enlargement is said to contribute to employee motivation but the claim is not validated in practice.

4. Job Enrichment: Job enrichment is to add a few more motivators to a job to make it more rewarding. A job is enriched when the nature of the job is exciting, challenging, rewarding and creative or gives the job holder more decision-making, planning and controlling powers. An enriched job will have more authority, responsibility, autonomy (vertical enrichment), more variety of tasks (horizontal enrichment) and more growth opportunities. The employee does more planning and controlling with less supervision but more self-evaluation. For example: transferring some of the supervisor’s tasks to the employee and making his job enriched. As per Hertzberg, who was the father of this term, an enriched job has eight characteristics:

(a) Direct Feedback: Employee should be able to get immediate knowledge of the results they are achieving.
(b) Client Relationship: An employee who serves a client or customer directly has an enriched job. The client can be outside or inside the firm.
(c) New Learning: An enriched job allows its incumbent to feel that he is growing intellectually.
(d) Scheduling Own Work: Freedom to schedule own work (autonomy) is job enrichment.
(e) Unique Experience: A enriched job has some unique qualities or features.
(f) Control over Resources: One approach to Job enrichment is for the each employee to have control over his or her resources and expenses.
(g) Direct Communication Authority: An enriched job allows worker to communicate directly with people who use his or her output.
(h) Personal Accountability: An enriched job holds the incumbent responsible for the results. He or she receives praise for good work and blame for poor work.
Problems with Job Enrichment
(a) Job enrichment is not a substitute for good governance. If other environmental factors in the business are not right, mere job enrichment will not mean much.
(b) Job enrichment may have short term negative effects till the worker gets used to the new responsibility.
(c) Job enrichment itself might not be a great motivator since it is job-intrinsic factor. As per the two-factor motivation theory, job enrichment is not enough. It should be preceded by hygienic factors etc.
(d) Job enrichment assumes that workers want more responsibilities and those workers who are motivated by less responsibility, job enrichment surely de-motivates them
(e) Workers participation may affect the enrichment process itself.
(f) Change is difficult to implement and is always resisted as job enrichment brings in a changes the responsibility.

5. Autonomous or Self-Directed Teams: Empowerment results in self-directed work teams. A self-directed team is a group of employees responsible for a whole work segment. They work together, handle day-to-day problems, plan and control, and are highly effective team.


JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction is self satisfaction derived by an employee in doing the job he has been entrusted to do. Job satisfaction is more a function of the various attitudes possessed by an employee towards his job, related factors and life in general than the job itself. The attitudes related to job may be wages, supervision, steadiness, working conditions, advancement opportunities, recognitions, fair evaluation of work, social relations on job, prompt settlement of grievances etc. A person with a kind heart will find high level of job satisfaction in working with some agency involved in charitable work though the salary might be relatively less. An over ambitious person will never find the job satisfaction.

In short job satisfaction is a general attitude towards the job, which is the result of many specific attitudes in three areas namely, job factors, individual characteristics and group relationships outside the job.

COMPONENTS OF JOB SATISFACTION
Personal factors: Sex, Dependents, Age, Timings, Intelligence, Natural affinity towards the job, Education and Personality.

Job Inherent Factors: Nature of work, Skills, Occupational status, Geography, etc.

Management Controlled Factors: Security, Payment, Fringe benefits, Advancement opportunities and Working conditions, Co-workers, Responsibilities, Supervision

WORK SAMPLING
Definition:
"A measurement technique for the quantitative analysis of an random/irregularly occurring activity."
MEANING OF WORK SAMPLING
Work sampling is based on the theory that the characteristics of a sufficiently large sample represent the actual characteristics of entire population. Work sampling operates by an observer taking a series of random observations on a particular "item" of interest (machine, operating room, dock, etc.) to observe its "state" (working, idle, sleeping, empty, etc.). When enough samples are taken, an analysis of the observations yields a statistically valid indication of the states for each thing analyzed.
Assume, for example, that you wish to determine the proportion of time a factory operator is working or idle. Also assume that 200 random observations were made of the operator and during 24 of these he or she was observed to be idle. From the random samples of his state you conclude that the individual is working 176/200 = 88% of the time.
ADVANTAGES OF WORK SAMPLING
It is relatively easy, simple and inexpensive to use and extremely helpful in providing a deeper understanding of all types of operations.
When properly used, it can help pinpoint those areas, which should be analyzed in further detail and can serve as a measure of the progress being made in improving operations.
QUESTIONS OF WORK SAMPLING STUDY
• What is our equipment/asset utilization?
• When we are not adding value to the product, how are we spending our time?
• How are our inter-dependent systems performing?
• Where should we focus our continuous improvement activities?
DISTINCTION BETWEEN WORK SAMPLING AND "TIME STUDIES"
Before we set out to analyse the distinctions between work sampling and time studies, let us understand that the two are as different as chalk and cheese. The purpose of each is different and one can not be substituted by the other in most cases. While work sampling is a broad analysis of trend, time study is microanalysis of the job and procedure. Time study is conducted with a view to improve the process/method where as work sampling is done to improve quantitative utilisation of resources.
• Work sampling is relatively cheaper because it uses random samples instead of continuous observations.
• Many operators or machines can be studied by a single observer
• Work sampling normally spans over several days or weeks, thus minimizing the effects of sudden variations on a particular day.
• Work Sampling tends to minimize operator behaviour modification during observation (operator, deliberately or otherwise, under or over performing while under observation).
• Work Sampling, in general, does not require a trained time-study analyst to take the observations. Also, stopwatches or other timing devices are not required. Many studies make use of off-shift technicians or operators to take the observations.
WORK SAMPLING METHODOLOGY
An analyst RANDOMLY observes an activity (equipment, operating room, production line) and notes the particular states of the activity at each observation.

The ratio of the number of observations of a given state of the activity to the total number of observations taken will approximate the percentage of time that the activity is in that given state.

Randomness of observations is very critical for a work sampling study. The observations should vary over the time of the day, days of the week and if possible, months to get he correct trend.



RECRUITMENT

Definition:

“Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for a job to create a pool from which selection is to be made of the most suitable candidates”.

The Process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. Though theoretically recruitment process is said to end with the receipt of applications, in practice, the activity extends to the screening of applications so as to eliminate those who are not qualified for the job. The result is a pool of applicants from which selections for new employees are made.”

PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE
1. To broad base the applicant pool in order to get the right talent at the affordable cost.
2. Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost
3. Help increase success rate of selection process by reducing number of under-qualified or over-qualified applications.
4. Meet legal and social obligations
5. Identify and prepare potential job applicants

FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT
External Factors:
1. Demand and Supply status of specific skills set.
2. Unemployment Rate (Area-wise)
3. Labour Market Conditions
4. Political and Legal Environment (Reservations, Labour laws)
5. Company’s Image

Internal Factors:
1. Recruitment Policy (Internal Hiring or External Hiring?)
2. Human Resource Planning (Planning of resources required)
3. Size of the Organization (Bigger the size lesser the recruitment problems)
4. Cost
5. Growth and Expansion Plans
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
1. Recruitment Strategy Development
(a) Trained or untrained (to be trained at company’s expense)
(b) Internal or external sourcing
Internal Recruitment (Source 1)
(i) Present employees
(ii) Employee referrals
(iii) Transfers & Promotions
(iv) Former Employees
(v) Previous Applicants
External Recruitment (Source 2)
(i) Professionals or Trade Associations
(ii) Advertisements
(iii) Employment Exchanges
(iv) Campus Recruitment
(v) Walk-ins Interviews
(vi) Consultants
(vii) Contractors
(viii) Displaced Persons
(ix) Radio & Television
(x) Acquisitions & Mergers
(c) Competitors
(d) Technological tools to be used for advertising
(e) Where to look
(f) How to look
2. Recruitment Planning
(a) Number of applicants sought (Based on past experience)
(b) Types of applicants to be called (Qualification, category, area, etc)
3. Searching
(a) Source activation
(b) Selling
4. Screening of Applications
5. Evaluation and Cost Control
(a) Salary Cost
(b) Management & Professional Time spent
(c) Advertisement Cost
(d) Producing Supporting literature
(e) Recruitment Overheads and Expenses
(f) Cost of Overtime and Outsourcing
(g) Consultant’s fees

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Recruitment and Selection

Theoretically speaking, Recruitment and Selection are 2 separate functions. Recruitment deals with the forming a pool of applicants for a particular job, whereas Selection deals with finding the best one of the lot.

MEANING AND DEFINITION
In simple terms, recruitment is understood as the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs, from among whom the right people can be selected. A formal definition of recruitment is:
“It is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.”

PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially qualified job candidates. Specifically, the purposes are to:

 Determine the present and future requirements of the organization in conjunction with its personnel planning and job analysis activities
 Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost
 Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the number of visibly, under qualified or overqualified job applicants
 Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected, will leave the organization only after a short period of time
 Meet the organizations legal and social obligations regarding the composition of its workforce
 Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates
 Increase organizational and individual effectiveness in the short term and long term
 Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job applicants

Recruitment represents the first contact that a company makes with potential employees. It is through recruitment that many individuals will come to know a company, and eventually decide whether they wish to work for it. A well-planned and well-managed recruiting effort will result in high-quality applicants, whereas, a haphazard and piecemeal effort will result in mediocre ones. High-quality employees cannot be selected when better candidates do not know of job openings, are not interested in working for the company, and do not apply. The recruitment process should inform qualified individuals about employment opportunities, create a positive image of the company, provide enough information about the jobs so that applicants can make comparisons with their qualifications and interests, and generate enthusiasm among the best candidates so that they will apply for the vacant positions.

RECRUITMENT PLANNING

The first stage in the recruitment process is Recruitment Planning.
Planning involves ht e translation of likely job vacancies and information about the nature of these jobs into a set of objectives or targets that specify the
(i) Number and
(ii) Type of applicants to be contacted.

Number Of Contacts
Organisations, nearly always, plan to attract more applicants than they will hire. Some of those contacted will be uninterested, unqualified, or both. Each time a recruitment programme is contemplated, one task is to estimate the number of applicants necessary to fill all vacancies with qualified people.
Companies calculate yield ratios (yRs), which express the relationship of applicant inputs to outputs at various decision points. For example, assume that an organisation attempting to recruit sales people ran a series of newspaper advertisements. The advertisement generated resumes from 2000 applicants, of which 200 were judged to be potentially qualified (yR = 10:1). Of these 200, 40 attended the interview for final selection (yR = 5:1). Of these 40, 30 were actually qualified and offered jobs (yR = 4:3); and of the 30, 20 accepted (yR = 3:2). In this case, the overall yR is 100:1. Thus, a requirement of 30 hires, during a specified period, would mean a recruitment target of 3000.
The yRs must be used with circumspection. No yRs will be available for recruiting employees for the first time, or for recruiting sources or methods that have not been tried. Recruiters in such cases have to depend upon their counterparts in other organisations or make their own guesses.

Type Of Applicants to be contacted
This refers to the type of people to be informed about job openings. The type of people depends on the tasks and responsibilities involved and the qualifications and experience expected. These details are available through job description and job specification.



EVALUATION AND CONTROL OF RECRUITMENT

Evaluation and control is necessary as considerable costs are incurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred are:
 Salaries for recruiters.
 Management and professional time spent on preparing job description, job specifications, advertisements, agency liaison, and so forth.
 The cost of advertisements of other recruitment methods, that is, agency fees.
 Cost of producing supportive literature.
 Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses.
 Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain unfilled.
 Cost of recruiting unsuitable candidates for the selection process.
Questions should always be asked as to whether the recruitment methods used are valid and whether the recruitment process itself is effective.
Statistical information on the cost of advertisements, time taken for the process, and the suitability of the candidates for consideration in the selection process should be gathered and evaluated. However, exercises seem to be seldom carried out in practise.

Evaluation of Recruitment Process
The recruitment process has the objective of searching for and obtaining applications from job-seekers in sufficient numbers and quality. Keeping this objective in mind, the evaluation might include:
 Return rate of applications sent out.
 Number of suitable candidates for selection.
 Retention and performance of the candidates selected.
 Cost of the recruitment process.
 Time lapsed data.
 Comments on image projected.

Evaluation of Recruitment Methods
The evaluation of recruitment methods might include:
 Number of initial enquiries received which resulted in completed application forms.
 Number of candidates at various stages of the recruitment and selection process, especially those short listed.
 Number of candidates recruited.
 Number of candidates retained in the organisation after six months.







Philosophy of Recruiting:

The traditional philosophy of recruiting has been to get as many people to apply for a job as possible. A large number of jobseekers waiting in queues would make the final selection difficult, often resulting in wrong selections. Job dissatisfaction and employee turnover are the consequences of this.
A persuasive agreement can be made that matching the needs of the organisation to the needs of the applicants will enhance the effectiveness of the recruitment process. The result will be a workforce which is likely to stay with the organisation longer and performs a higher level of effectiveness. Two approaches are available to bring about this match.
1. Realistic Job Previews (RJP):
RJP provide complete job-related information, both positive and negative, to the applicants. The information provided will help jobseekers to evaluate the compatibility among the jobs and their personal ends before hiring decisions are made. RJP's can result in self-selection process - job applicants can decide whether to attend the interviews and test for final selection or withdraw themselves in the initial stage. The following table contracts some of the outcomes that can develop from traditional and realistic job previews.

Research on realistic recruiting shows a lower rate of employee turnover in case of employees recruited through RJP's, particularly for more complex jobs and higher levels of job satisfaction and performance, at the initial stages of employment. RJP's are more beneficial for organisations hiring at the entry level., when there are innumerable applicants per position, and under conditions of relatively low employment. Otherwise, the approach may increase the cost of recruiting by increasing the average time it takes to fill each job.

2. Job Compatibility Questionnaire (JCQ):
JCQ was developed to determine whether an applicant's preferences for work match the characteristics of the job. The JCQ is designed to collect information on all aspects of a job, which have a bearing on employee performance, absenteeism, turnover and job satisfaction. The underlying assumption of the JCQ is that the greater the compatibility between an applicant's preferences for a job and the probability f employee effectiveness and longer the tenure.
The JCQ is a 400-tem instrument that measures job factors that are related to performance, satisfaction, turnover and absenteeism. Items cover the following job factors: task requirements, physical environment, customer characteristics, peer characteristics, leader characteristics, compensation preferences, task variety, job autonomy, physical demands, and work schedule.
The JCQ is administered to jobseekers who are very familiar with either a specific position to be filled and/or a target job under study. Respondents are asked to indicate the extent to which each JCQ item is descriptive of the job or position under study.


Recruitment process

Recruitment is a process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected. A well-planned and well-managed recruiting effort will result in high quality applicants, whereas a haphazard and piecemeal effort will result in a mediocre once. Several factors such as external factors like supply an demand unemployment rate, labour markets and political and legal considerations, internal factors like recruiting policy, size, cost of recruiting etc govern the recruiting process.

The process comprises of 5 inter related stages: -
1. Planning
2. Strategy development
3. Searching
4. Screening
5. Evaluation and control


I Planning

The first stage in recruitment process is planning. Planning involves translation of likely job vacancies and information about the nature of these jobs into a set of objectives or targets that specify the number and the type of applicants to be contacted.
Number of contacts: organisations always plan to attract more applicants than they plan to hire. Some of those contacted will be uninterested unqualified or both. Each time a recruitment process is contemplated, one task is to estimate the number of applicants necessary to fill all the vacancies with qualified people.
Type of contacts: this refers to the type of people to be informed about the job openings. The types of people depend on the tasks and responsibilities involved and the qualifications and experience expected. These details are available through job description and job specification.

II Strategy development

Once it is known how many and what type of recruits are required, consideration needs to be given to make or buy employees, technical sophistication of recruitment and selection devices, geographic distribution of labour markets comprising job seekers, sources of recruitment, and sequencing the activities in the recruitment process.
Make or buy refers to hire less skilled employees ad to invest in training and education programmes or hire skilled professionals. The second decision in strategic relates to the methods used in recruitment and selection. The advent of computers has made it possible for employers to scan national and international applicants qualifications. It has also made possible for job seekers to gain better access. In order to reduce costs, companies look into the national markets for managerial employees, regional or local markets for technical employees, and local markets for clerical and blue-collar employees.
The sources for recruitment may be internal or external. The internal sources would be present employees, referrals given by the employees, former employees or previous applicants. Whereas the external sources would be consultants, headhunters, advertisements, employee exchanges, campus recruitment, contractors, displaced persons, radio and television, acquisitions and mergers, competitors, international recruitment etc. then both the sources of recruitment are evaluated. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

III Searching

Once a recruitment plan and strategy are worked out, the search process can begin. It involves two steps:
1. Source aviation
2. Selling

1. Source Aviation:
Typically sources and search methods are activated by issuances of an employee requisition. This means that no actual recruiting takes place until line managers have verified that a vacancy does exist or will exist. If the organisation has planned well and done a good job of developing its sources and search methods, activation soon results in a flood of applications and/or resumes. The application received must be screened. Those who pass have to be contacted, and invited for interview. Unsuccessful applicants must be sent letters of regret.

2. Selling
The second issue to be addressed in the searching process concerns communication. Here, contacts are tightrope. On tone hand they want as many applications and on the other hand they must resist overselling of their virtues. In selling the organisation both message and the media need attention. Selection of medium or media has to be done with lot of care.

IV Screening

Screening of applicants can be regarded as an integral part of recruiting process. The selection process will begin after the applicants have been scrutinized and short-listed. Applications received in response to advertisement are screened and only the eligible applicants are called for interview.
The purpose of screening is to remove from the recruiting process, at an early stage those applicants who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective screening can save a great deal of time and money. Care must be taken that potentially good employees are not lost and women and minorities receive full and fair consideration.
In screening, clear job specifications are invaluable. Applications are judged on the basis of their knowledge, skills, abilities, and interests required to do the job. The techniques used to screen applicants vary depending on the candidate sources and recruiting methods used. Interviews and application blanks are used to screen walk ins. Campus recruiters and agency representative’s use in interviews and resumes. References checks are also useful in screening.

V Evaluation and control

Evaluation and control is necessary as considerable costs are incurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred are

 Salaries for recruiters
 Management and professional time spent on preparing job description, job specification, advertisements, agency liaison, and so forth
 The cost of advertisement and other recruitment methods like agency fees
 Cost of producing supporting literature
 Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses
 Cost of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies are remain unfilled
 Cost of recruiting unsuitable candidates for selection process

Questions should always be asked as to whether the recruitment methods used are valid and whether the recruitment process itself is valid. Statistical information on the cost of advertisements, time taken for the process etc should be gathered and evaluated. However, exercises seem to be seldom carried out in practice.

Evaluation of recruitment process:
The recruitment process has the objective of searching for and obtaining applications from job seekers in sufficient numbers and quality. Keeping in mind these objectives, the evaluation might include:

 Return rate of application sent out
 Number of suitable candidates for selection
 Retention and performance of the candidates selected
 Cost of recruitment process
 Time lapsed data
 Comments on image projected


Evaluation of recruitment methods:
The evaluation of recruitment methods include:
 Number of initial inquiries received which resulted in completed application forms.
 Number of candidates at various stages of the recruitment and selection process, especially those short-listed.
 Number of candidates recruited
 Number of candidates retained in the organization after six months.

Role of Selection (Selection Policy).

Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the organization. A formal definition of selection is

“It is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with a greater likelihood of success in a job.”

The role of selection in an organization’s effectiveness is crucial for at least, two reasons. First, work performance depends on individuals. The best way to improve performance is to hire people who have the competence and the willingness to work. Arguing from the employee's viewpoint, poor or inappropriate choice can be demoralizing to the individual concerned (who finds himself or herself in the wrong job) and demotivating to the rest of the work-force. Effective selection, therefore, assumes greater relevance.
Second, cost incurred in recruiting and hiring personnel speaks volumes about the role of selection. Here is one instance to prove how expensive recruitment has become. Pepsi had gone on a crash recruitment drive. Six people from the company took over the entire Oberoi Business Center in Bombay for six days. 3000 applications in response to an advertisement issued earlier were scanned, applicants were asked to respond by fax within 100 hours. Finally, the short-listed persons were flown in and interviewed. Quite an expensive affair by any standard!


Success

Failure


Failure Success
Predicted Predicted

Outcomes of the Selection Process

Costs of wrong selection are much greater. The figure shows four possible outcomes of a selection decision. Two of these—'true positive' ('high hit') and 'true negative' (low hit')—are right selection decisions. The other two out-comes represent selection errors. In the 'false positive error', a decision is made to hire an applicant based on predicted success, but failure results. In 'false negative error', an applicant who would have succeeded is rejected based on predictions of failure. In either case, selectors will have erred. They may remember that the selection successes will be written in sand and failures in stone.
An organization with a false positive error incurs three types of costs. The First type is incurred while the person is employed. This can be the result of production or profit losses, damaged company reputation, accidents due to negligence, absenteeism, and the like. The second type of costs is associated with the training, transfer or terminating the services of the employee. Costs of replacing an employee with a fresh one—costs of hiring, training and replacements—constitute the third type of costs. Generally, the more important the job, the greater the cost of the selection error.
In the case of false negative error, an applicant who would have succeeded is rejected because of predicted failure. Most false negative errors go unnoticed except when the applicant belongs to a reserved category and files a discrimination charge. Costs associated with this type of error are generally difficult to estimated
A careful selection will help an organization avoid costs associated with both false positive error as well as false negative error.

Explain the selection process

Selection is the process of picking individuals with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the organization. A formal definition of selection is it is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify those with a greater likelihood of success.
Selection is significant as it has its impact on work performance and employee cost. Selection is generally done by the HR department often in consultation with the line managers.

Selection Process

Selection is a long process, commencing from the preliminary interview of the applicants and ending with the contract of employment. In practice, the process differs among organizations and between two different jobs within the same organization. Selection procedure for senior managers will be long-drawn and rigorous, but it is simple and short while hiring shop-floor workers.

Environmental Factors Affecting Selection

Selection is influenced by several factors. More prominent among them are supply and demand of specific skills in the labour market, unemployment rate, labour-market conditions, legal and political considerations, company’s image, company’s policy, HRP, and cost of hiring. The last three constitute the internal environment and the remaining form the external environment of the selection process.

1. Preliminary Interview
The applications received from job seekers are subject to scrutiny so as to eliminate unqualified applicants. This is usually followed by a preliminary interview the purpose of which is more or less the same as scrutiny of applications, that is, elimination of unqualified applications. Scrutiny enables the HR specialists to eliminate unqualified jobseekers based on the information supplied in their applications forms. Preliminary interview, on the other hand, helps reject misfits for reasons, which did not appear in the application forms. Besides, preliminary interview, often called ‘courtesy interview’, is a good public relations exercise.

2. Selection Tests
Job seekers who pass the screening and the preliminary interview are called for tests. Different types of tests may be administered, depending on the job and the company. Generally, tests are used to determine the applicant’s ability, aptitude and personality. Ability tests assist in determining how well an individual can perform tasks related to the job. An excellent example of this is the typing test given to a prospective employee for a secretarial job. An aptitude test helps to determine a person’s potential to learn in a given area. An example of such a test is the General Management Aptitude Test which many business students take prior to gaining admission to a graduate business school programme.

Personality tests are given to measure a prospective employee’s motivation to function in a particular working environment.
There are various tests designed to assess a candidate’s personality. The Bersenter Personality Inventory, for example, measures one’s self-sufficiency, neurotic tendency, sociability, introversion and extroversion, locus of control, and self-confidence. The Thematic Apperception test (TAT) assesses an individual’s achievement and motivational levels. Other personality tests, such as the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), the Thurstone Temperament Survey (TTS), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Guildford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, have been designed to assess specific personality traits.
Aptitude tests indicate the ability or fitness of an individual to engage successfully in any number of specialized activities. They cover such areas as clerical aptitude, numerical aptitude, mechanical aptitude, motor-coordination, finger dexterity and manual dexterity.
Interest tests are used to measure an individual’s activity preferences. These tests are particularly useful for students considering many careers or employees deciding upon career changes.
Graphology test is designed to analyse the handwriting of an individual. It has been said that an individual’s handwriting can suggest the degree of energy, inhibitions and spontaneity, as well as disclose the idiosyncracies, and elements of balance and control. For example, big letters and emphasis on capital letters indicate a tendency towards domination and competitiveness. A slant to the right, moderate pressure and good legibility show leadership potential. Employers usually consult graphologists to supplement their usual personnel recruitment procedures. Polygraph tests are designed to ensure accuracy of the information given in the applications. Department stores, treasury offices and jewellery shops – that is those highly vulnerable to theft or swindling – may find polygraph tests useful.

3. Employment Interview
The next step in the selection process is employment interview. An interview is conducted at the beginning and at the end of the selection process. The emphasis here is on the latter.
Interview is a formal, in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate the applicant’s acceptability. It is considered to be an excellent selection device. Its popularity stems from its flexibility. Interview can be adapted to unskilled, skilled, managerial and professional employees. It allows a two-way exchange of information, the interviewers learn about the applicant, and the applicant learns about the employer.
However, interviews do have shortcomings. Absence of reliability is one limitation. No two interviewers offer similar scoring after interviewing an applicant. Lack of validity is another limitation. This is because, few departments use standardized questions upon which validation studies can be conducted. Finally, biases of interviewers may cloud the objectivity of interviews.
The employment interview can be one-to-one, sequential or panel. In one-to-one interview, there are only two participants – the interviewer and the interviewee. This can be the same as the preliminary interview discussed earlier. The sequential interview takes the one-to-one a step further and involves a series of interviews, usually utilizing the strength and knowledge-base of each interviewer, so that each interviewer can ask questions in relation to his subject area of each candidate, as the candidate moves from room to room.
The panel interview consists of two or more interviewers and the figure may go up to as many as 15. Any panel interview is less intimate and more formal than the one-to-one, but if handled and organized well, it can provide a wealth of information. If not handled carefully, the panel interview can make the candidate feel ill at ease and confused about whose question to answer and whom to address. Interviewers themselves are likely to experience nightmare, not knowing who will ask which question and in what order.

4. Reference & Background Checks
Many employers request names, addresses, and telephone numbers of references, for the purpose of verifying information and perhaps, gaining additional background information on an applicant. Although listed on the application form, references are not usually checked until an applicant has successfully reached the fourth stage of a sequential selection process. When the labour market is very tight, organizations sometimes hire applicants before checking references.
Previous employers, known public figures, university professors, neighbours or friends can act as references. Previous employers are preferable because they are already aware of the applicant’s performance. But, the problem with the reference is the tendency on the part of the previous employer to over-rate the applicant’s performance just to get rid of the person.
Organizations normally seek letters of references or telephone references. The latter is advantageous because of its accuracy and low cost. The telephone reference also has the advantage of soliciting immediate, relatively candid comments, and attitudes can sometimes be inferred from hesitations and inflections in speech.
It may be stated that the information gathered through references hardly influence selection decisions. The reasons are obvious:

• The candidate approaches only those persons who would speak well about him.
• People may write favourably about the candidate in order to get rid of him.
• People may not like to divulge the truth about a candidate, lest it might damage or ruin his career.

In several cases, references are a formality and are seldom verified by the employer.

5. Selection Decision
After obtaining information through the preceding steps, selection decision – the most critical of all the steps – must be made. The other stages in the selection process have been used to narrow the number of candidates. The final decision has to be made from the pool of individuals who pass the tests, interviews and reference checks.
The views of the line manager will be generally considered in the final selection because it is he who is responsible for the performance of the employee. The HR manager plays a critical role in the final selection.

6. Physical Examination
After the selection decision and before the job offer is made, the candidate is required to undergo a physical fitness test. A job offer is, often, contingent upon the candidate being declared fit after the physical examination. The results of the medical fitness test are recorded in a statement and are preserved in the personnel records. There are several objectives behind a physical test. Obviously, one reason for a physical test is to detect if the individual carries any infectious diseases. Secondly, the test assists in determining whether an applicant is physically fit to perform the work. Third, the physical examination information may be used to determine if there are certain physical capabilities which differentiate successful and less successful employees. Fourth, medical check-up protects applicants with health defects from undertaking work that could be detrimental to themselves or might otherwise endanger the employer’s property. Finally, such an examination will protect the employer from workers’ compensation claims that are not valid because the injuries or illnesses were present when employee was hired.


7. Job Offer
The next step in the selection process is job offer to those applicants who have crossed all the previous hurdles. Job offer is made through a letter of appointment. Such a letter generally contains a date by which the appointee must report on duty. The appointee must be given reasonable time for reporting. This is particularly necessary when he is already in employment, in which case the appointee is required to obtain a relieving certificate from the previous employer. Again, a new job may require movement to another city which means considerable preparation and movement of property.
The company may also want the individual to delay the date of reporting on duty. If the new employee’s first job upon joining the company is to go on training, the organization may request that the individual delays joining the company until perhaps a week before such training begins. Naturally this practice cannot be abused especially if the individual is unemployed and does not have sufficient finances.
Decency demands that the rejected applicants be informed about their non-selection. Their applications may be preserved for future use, if any. It needs no emphasis that the applications of selected candidates must also be preserved for future references.

8. Contracts of Employment
After the job offer has been made and the candidates accept the offer, certain documents need to be executed by the employer and the candidate. One such document is the attestation form. This form contains certain vital details about the candidate which are authenticated and attested by him. Attestation form will be a valid record for future reference. There is also a need for preparing a contract of employment. The basic information that should be included in a written contract of employment will vary according to the level of the job, but the following checklist sets out the typical headings.

 Job Title
 Duties, including a phrase such as “The employee will perform such duties and will be responsible to such a person as the company may from time to time direct.”
 Date when continuous employment starts and the basis for calculating service
 Rate of pay, allowances, overtime and shift rates, method of payments
 Hours of work including lunch break and overtime and shift arrangements
 Holiday arrangements
 Length of notice due to and from employee
 Grievance procedure
 Disciplinary procedure
 Work Rules
 Arrangements for terminating employment
 Arrangements for union membership
 Special terms relating to rights to patents and designs, confidential information and restraints on trade after termination of employment
 Employer’s right to vary terms of the contract subject to proper notification being given

Alternatively called employment agreements or simply bonds, contracts of employment serve many useful purposes. Such contracts seek to restrain job hopers, to protect knowledge and information that might be vital to a company’s health bottom line, and to prevent competitors from poaching highly valued employees.
Great care is taken to draft the contract forms. Often, services of law firms are engaged to get the forms drafted and finalized.
Most employers insist on agreements being signed by newly hired employees. But high employee turnover sectors such as software, advertising and media are more prone to use such contracts.
The drawback with the contracts is that it is impossible to enforce them. A determined employee is bound to leave the organization, contract or no contract. The employee is prepared to pay the penalty for breaching the agreement or the new employer will provide compensations. It is for this reason that several companies have scrapped the contracts altogether. Lintas and Ogilvy and Mather are examples.

Concluding the Selection Process
Contrary to popular perception, the selection process will not end with executing the employment contract. There is another step – a more sensitive one- reassuring those candidates who have not been selected. Such candidates must be told that they were not selected not because of any serious deficiencies in their personalities, but because their profiles did not match the requirements of the organization. They must be told that those who were selected were done purely on relative merit.

9. Evaluation of the Selection Programme
The broad test of the effectiveness of the selection process is the quality of the personnel hired. An organization must have competent and committed personnel. The selection process if properly done will ensure availability of such employees. How to evaluate the effectiveness of a selection programme? A periodic audit is the answer. Audit must be conducted by people who work independent of the HR department.
Two alternative methods of selection are participative selection and employee leasing. In participative selection, subordinates participate in selection of their co-employees. Employee leasing represents the leasing of employees by a client company from a third party.

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What are the Sources of Recruitment.

The sources of recruitment can be broadly categorized into internal and external sources-

(I) Internal Recruitment – Internal recruitment seeks applicants for positions from within the company. The various internal sources include

a. Promotions and Transfers –
Promotion is an effective means using job posting and personnel records. Job posting requires notifying vacant positions by posting notices, circulating publications or announcing at staff meetings and inviting employees to apply. Personnel records help discover employees who are doing jobs below their educational qualifications or skill levels. Promotions has many advantages like it is good public relations, builds morale, encourages competent individuals who are ambitious, improves the probability of good selection since information on the individual’s performance is readily available, is cheaper than going outside to recruit, those chosen internally are familiar with the organization thus reducing the orientation time and energy and also acts as a training device for developing middle-level and top-level managers. However, promotions restrict the field of selection preventing fresh blood & ideas from entering the organization. It also leads to inbreeding in the organization. Transfers are also important in providing employees with a broad-based view of the organization, necessary for future promotions.

b. Employee referrals-
Employees can develop good prospects for their families and friends by acquainting them with the advantages of a job with the company, furnishing them with introduction and encouraging them to apply. This is a very effective means as many qualified people can be reached at a very low cost to the company. The other advantages are that the employees would bring only those referrals that they feel would be able to fit in the organization based on their own experience. The organization can be assured of the reliability and the character of the referrals. In this way, the organization can also fulfill social obligations and create goodwill.

c. Former Employees-
These include retired employees who are willing to work on a part-time basis, individuals who left work and are willing to come back for higher compensations. Even retrenched employees are taken up once again. The advantage here is that the people are already known to the organization and there is no need to find out their past performance and character. Also, there is no need of an orientation programme for them, since they are familiar with the organization.


d. Dependents of deceased employees-
Usually, banks follow this policy. If an employee dies, his / her spouse or son or daughter are recruited in their place. This is usually an effective way to fulfill social obligation and create goodwill.

(II) External Recruitment – External recruitment seeks applicants for positions from sources outside the company. They have outnumbered the internal methods. The various external sources include

a. Professional or Trade Associations –
Many associations provide placement service to its members. It consists of compiling job seeker’s lists and providing access to members during regional or national conventions. Also, the publications of these associations carry classified advertisements from employers interested in recruiting their members. These are particularly useful for attracting highly educated, experienced or skilled personnel. Also, the recruiters can zero on in specific job seekers, especially for hard-to-fill technical posts.

b. Advertisements -
It is a popular method of seeking recruits, as many recruiters prefer advertisements because of their wide reach. Want ads describe the job benefits, identify the