Introduction
Pallas Electronics is believed to be one of the largest companies in the United Kingdom. It indulged in the manufacturing of electronic equipment for telecommunication industries. Research indicates that the company carried out its organisation in a traditional manner. Its five departments included the department of production, the department of research and development, the marketing department and the finance department. The company has focused mainly on the Bristol factory of Pallas, whose management was reported to be made of a small team that included managers in the following departments: personnel, production, transport and accountant.
Research indicates that the company was established for more than two years with over one hundred and fifty women employees.
In this case, we find that the Pallas management came up with various decisions. They made the Bristol factory productive as they recognised an opportunity for expansion and supply of workforce in the factory. They had an ambition of having more than two hundred employees. From this, they expected the maximisation of production to be reached. Therefore, the management came up with a recruitment plan which required them to employ one hundred workers. This recruitment plan was to be implemented after six months. The organisation expected to have an increase in its labour turnover. It only had over 15 per cent labour turnover every year. It is also indicated that after six months, the management also came up with a plan to improve its organisational layout. This went ahead and became applicable, and they came up with new production, payment and incentive methods. This was done with an expectation of having more than 60 per cent utilisation in a year’s time.
From these implementations, we find that after six months, the company could get recruits of good quality who reported to have liked the company’s working conditions and its payment system. Regarding this, the factory reported having its build-up number and its utilisation fall below its target. This event led to the factory has a lot of debts. Thus, they needed to recover the factory’s output, which made the factory fail in its operations drastically.
Discussion
From this study, we find that the entire problem was pointed at the training department in the organisation. It was unable to cope with the large turnover of employees during recruitment where it was estimated to be more than forty per cent. With all these factors, the company needs to develop an action plan to reach an optimum labour force.
Employee Turnover and Retention
The rotation of workers around the labour market, whether between firms, jobs and occupations, or between the states of employment or unemployment, is called turnover. Accordingly, turnover is one of the most significant causes of declining productivity and sagging morale in both the public and private sectors. Excessive turnover may lead to jeopardising the organisation’s objectives and may negatively affect innovation and cause major delays in the delivery of services and the introduction of new programs. It may also lead to the loss of key employees, which, in turn, may harm the quality and innovation of services delivered, which in turn may negatively affect the satisfaction of customers of some departments or government agencies. For some government agencies or departments, customers include those who consume services and the employees working in their offices.
Retention of skilled employees is obviously important. They function well and stand out among the others. Furthermore, retentions save the company additional expenses. A company loses approximately $1 million with every ten managerial and professional employees who leave the organisation. A company also loses the critical knowledge necessary for better performance when a skilled employee decides to resign. Skilled employees are badly needed because they rarely come. If the organisation provided the training, skilled employees’ turnover would waste the training expenses.
Furthermore, the company’s mobility is affected greatly because every turnover puts tasks left behind by the employee to a halt. Even if there would be a temporary substitute before a new employee is hired, it is unsure if the substitute would perform the task faster and efficiently. Then, the hiring process also wastes a considerable amount of time. It also brings additional costs in advertising.
Therefore, for the Bristol factory to handle this issue of employee productivity. It should look considerably into its employee’s selection process, which is always regarded to be as important as it is a way in which an organisation ensures that it obtains the right human resource for a specific job. The management of the Bristol factory should put in mind that employee selection falls in the broader perspective of employee resourcing. Employee resourcing is very important in any organisation. It consists of administration, performance and staffing. All these are interrelated activities that are carried out in an organisation. Management and staffing activities help in ensuring that employees with the right or desired skills are recruited. The employees also have to be in the right numbers desired by the organisation. Employee resourcing aims at ensuring that employees are at the right place at the right time. In this case, management is concerned with ensuring that employees perform their best.
There are many methods of selection that the Bristol factory can utilise during the process of selection of employees for any vacant post in the factory.
Application forms
This is also another selection method that should be used by the Bristol factory. It requires the potential candidates to fill the application forms and then send them to the organisation. In these forms, the applicants give detailed information concerning their educational background and any experience that they have, among other things. Application forms as a method of selecting employees are very effective. This is because the Bristol factory management can look at them and make the right decisions. They also help in saving the time that is used in interviews. They are very effective when used because they always enhance quality decision making in the Bristol factory.
Application forms used in the Bristol factory should be very effective. This is because the selectors in such firms get sufficient data that helps them to analyse each application form, making an informed choice critically. Using application forms sent to the factory, selectors can easily prepare questions they need to administer to applicants during interviews. They help in informing the selectors who the potential employees are and what they are doing. It is very easy for the selectors in the factory to compare and contrast the applicants or candidates. This method is very effective because it is standardised in nature and not subjective. Selectors are not influenced by candidates’ dressing or appearance. This method is effective because it is very objective in nature. Filtration of unsuitable candidates is easily done when this method is used. This helps in giving selectors focus on promising candidates. Application forms can always be kept in the organisation for future references if the organisation needs other employees for the same post. This helps in saving advertisement costs. These forms can be kept in the human resource bank. However, this method has got its weakness. Applicants may carry canvass, thus ending up with unqualified candidates. Some applicants provide false information in their application forms so that they are short listed. That is why this method should not be used on its own.
Tests
The Bristol factory should utilise aptitude tests to select potential employees. This is usually done after using application forms to shortlist potential candidates. Tests are done in a written format. Question papers are given to candidates. They are given time to accomplish the work. Tests can be effective to the factory because they help in eliminating candidates who are not competent for the post. Research indicates that in any modern organisation, an aptitude test is administered to the applicants before selecting the best. It consists of mathematics and English questions, which are normally sixty in number. These questions are normally tackled within thirty minutes. This method is efficient since it can show fast thinkers and also those who can answer the questions effectively. Slow thinkers are easily eliminated. However, this method has its own weaknesses. There are high chances of cheating among candidates. A candidate may be unwell during the test, and this cannot be used to judge what they can do because their performance is affected by other factors.
Interviews
The Bristol factory management should also consider that Interviews are very important as they give more information to stakeholders hence helping them in decision making concerning the job. In this case, the managers in the factory will be in a position to know who the applicants are for the management trainee post. They will be in a position to know their specific personalities and to evaluate whether they were fit to work in the company or not. In most cases, an interviewer normally has prior information from application forms. This method used in this company for selection help employers to know some of the behavioural patterns of the potential employees.
Evaluation of this method shows that employers had the opportunity to introduce the company to potential employees. This will be a very good opportunity for the management in the factory to explain in detail what the company entails. This method is effective in the sense that potential employees can ask the employers any questions concerning this company. It is quite effective as any misunderstandings between the two parties can be aired.
Research shows that interviews as selection methods are not always a hundred per cent effective. This is because they are quite subject to bias. There are chances that interviewers in the Bristol factory can shortlist candidates they liked and not those that deserved the opportunities. This is one area where ineffectiveness is shown. This method is quite subjective to the ideal candidate stereotype. There are always chances that interviewers may not take their time to analyse the candidates. For instance, if an applicant is non-verbal, it may influence the interviewer not to select them. This may be due to the applicant being nervous.
Competency framework
Competency involves having a measurable pattern of abilities, behaviours, skills and knowledge that one needs to have in order to perform a task. The Bristol factory management should know that Competencies normally form the foundation of ensuring effective performance in any position in the organisation. This always involves values that have to be demonstrated by employees.
The Bristol factory management should come up with the following table, which shows a competency framework:
Leading change
In this section, many things are evaluated in the candidates for any post. This includes the creativity and innovation skills of the candidates. So the candidates in the Bristol factory will be evaluated to know whether they are creative and innovative in their work. This also will include their external awareness. In leading change, the management trainee candidates will be evaluated to know how flexible they are. Their degree of resilience will also be analysed. This is done to evaluate how they ‘bounce back’ in case something bad happens to them or in the organisation. They can also be evaluated to know their vision in life and in their job.
Leading people
This is whereby the candidate’s skills in leading people are evaluated. The candidate’s competency in managing conflicts is evaluated. This can be used in the interviews where the candidates are asked questions about their ability to manage conflicts. Candidates can be asked if they have ever been in a conflict situation and how they managed it. This can show whether they are good managers of conflicts or not.
This aspect of the leadership framework is very important because leadership skills in leading people are clearly evaluated in the candidates. This is because one can find that there are candidates who may have passed their examinations but do not have the skills to lead other people. Candidates can also be evaluated if they have the skills to develop others. This is because there are some people who are quite self-centred in nature. They work towards the downfall of other people. The candidates should also be evaluated whether they have the ability to leverage diversity. This is whereby a candidate is tested on their ability to create a common culture for different people. This is seen in leading people of different cultures and from different religions. Qualities like team building are also essential.
Business acumen
In business acumen, the financial management of the applicants has to be critically analysed. This is whether the applicants are good or they are poor financial managers. This will be very fundamental when the Bristol factory is carrying out the recruitment process. This is because if any organisation employs poor financial managers, then this will greatly affect the company financially. Human capital management is also important in management trainee responsibilities in any organisation. This is the ability to carry out planning in the organisation. Do the candidates have leadership skills in managing people of diverse characters? Human resource management skills are very important in this case as they will determine whether the organisation will be successful or not. We are living in a world of technology, and applicants should be screened to know whether they are technology compliant or not. For instance, selectors can look out for applicants who are computer literate in various soft wares.
Coalition building
Partnering is a very important aspect of coalition building. Applicants in the Bristol factory should have partnering techniques. This is because these candidates will end up being partners with this company. In partnership, stakeholders do business together. A partner would not want to see the downfall of the business because they will be affected too. When applicants have a partnership mentality, they will not work to the downfall of the organisation but to the betterment.
The political know how of the applicants is also very important. This is because every company is always affected by the political environment around it. This political environment could have a positive or a negative effect. Applicants should also have the ability to negotiate. This is because one of their tasks will be to carry out negotiations with their customers and also other stakeholders. This includes the ability to influence other people to make decisions or to carry out a task. This design will be used by selectors when screening application forms. This framework will also help interviewers to frame their questions for candidates. This design can also be used to make questions administered through the test method.
Employee Performance
Research indicates that modern organisations passed by the guild structures, and as organisations grew larger, skills become increasingly fragmented and specialised, and positions become more functionally differentiated. As such, the Bristol factory should stress people approaches which include alterations in attitudes, motivation and behavioural skills through new training programs, selection procedures, and performance appraisal schemes. Indeed, making a business successful in a particular setting demands crucial and detailed studies and examination of the factors that will generate the best results that will serve the aims and objectives of the company.
Ensuring employee performance requires establishing a level of competence which the employee should be aware of as a target to be achieved. This is the measure to be used by managers in determining compliance with the standard and in identifying problems met by the employees in meeting the standard. In developing a training program to enhance the productivity of employees, the manager in the Bristol factory will look at the competency problems of the employees and fashion the program to enable the employees to reach and even exceed the competency standard established for their work. This requires a great amount of perceptiveness on the part of the manager in determining what method of training will be most effective in improving employee competence. Some of the training includes computer software training, internet-based training and self-teaching by encouraging innovativeness in the workplace.
A considerable number of companies have developed into an essential part of the period of global competition, increasing development, improved business paradigms, and corporate re-organisation. The continuing transformation from the traditional industrial framework with its hierarchical companies to a worldwide, knowledge-founded financial system and intelligent corporations, altering ideas regarding the social contract involving employers and employees, an progressively more adaptable pool of talent and a body of workforce, necessitates human resource (HR) purposes to realign and relocate itself in the vicinity of these drivers. Studies have defined three approaches to organisation, which includes structure, technology and people. New formal guidelines and procedures like an organisation chart, budgeting methods, rules and regulations can also be structural approaches to inducing change. On the other hand, rearrangements in workflow through new physical layouts, work methods, job descriptions and work standards can be done as technological approaches.
Indeed, making a business successful in a particular setting demands crucial and detailed studies and examination of the factors that will generate the best results that will serve the aims and objectives of the company.
Conclusion
The employee selection process is very important in every organisation. Selection methods that are commonly used include interviews, tests, advertisements and application forms. All these methods have their strengths and weaknesses. Competency involves having a measurable pattern of abilities, behaviours, skills and knowledge that one needs to have in order to perform a task. The best method an organisation can directly improve its overall performance in the first place is to employ, select and train the right people. The best strategic practice to achieve this is to perform what is normally referred to as job-fit practice. This practice is useful to organisations that do not want to have their employees undergo extensive training but rather conduct their duties right away using their skills gained elsewhere. Another strategy is person-organisation fit practice. In this case, the organisation seeks to recruit and select persons with good morals who are able to meet the organisations’ values, culture and structure.