In this chapter, relevant literature about the research topic will be provided along with a theoretical framework. Moreover, this chapter will, firstly, look at the important aspects that are considered at a recruitment procedure such as the skills, characteristics and qualifications, and the organizational culture. Secondly, potential causes for putting someone in the wrong position in a company will be discussed, followed by the obstructing and contributing factors to an effective recruitment procedure. Finally, a theoretical framework model will be presented.
1.1 Aspects that are Considered at a Recruitment Procedure According to Perry (2002), “some of the most important decisions a manager will make involve employee hiring. It is individuals that drive an organization, create the culture, and determine whether the organization succeeds or fails. The task of hiring staff, therefore, is one that should be taken very seriously. Wrong choices can be costly to an organization in more than just financial terms” (p. 154). Due to this, it is important to determine the aspects that are considered at a recruitment procedure.
1.1.1. Skills, Characteristics and Qualifications
When speaking of recruitment procedure, it is understood as “a proactive process of ensuring that the organization has the requisite skills and experience which cannot be easily built from within but sourced from outside the organization”
(Zinyemba, 2014, p. 29). In other words, attracting people who are interested in the job and organization, and are able to do this job in the organization. After attracting potential candidates, the organization will have a “pool” of candidates to choose from that they feel will be qualified for the job.
While analyzing the potential candidates, managers look at different aspects of the candidates to determine their qualification. In this research, the term qualifications, or more specifically a qualified person, will be defined as a person who possesses or fits the requirements of the job position.
According to Newton, Hurstfield, Miller, Page and Akroyd
(2005), employers would look at the skills, characteristics and qualifications of the candidates. Employers would seek candidates who are motivated, honest, reliable and possess certain skills that would be helpful or important for the job that they are hiring for. Furthermore, according to Bogatova (2017), “in order to hire the most suitable and talented employees, it is important not only to identify the best skills and specifications needed, but also to choose the most suitable sources where the candidates can be reached. Therefore, it is crucial to know the sources of recruitment and understand which of them could bring talented people to the company”
(p. 6). Moreover, according to Dictionary.com (2018) the term of Skills is defined as, “the ability, coming from one’s knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc., to do something well”.
1.1.2. Organizational Culture
The final step in the recruitment procedure is the selection of the best and right candidate for the job position. The right employee is usually selected because they possess the qualities that the company and the job require them to have.
Moreover, by choosing the right candidate(s) for the job means that the employer believes that they fit well into the culture and job of the organization. The fit at the organization is actually a key factor when it comes hiring new employees because the culture of an organization plays a crucial role in the company functioning effectively (Rollinson, 2008).
To understand the reason for this, it is important to define the term organizational culture. According to the book Organizational Behaviour and Analysis: An Integrated Approach, written in 2008 by Rollinson, organizational culture is:
A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valuable and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems. (p. 591).
In other words, the organizational culture is the way employees and managers act during certain situations.
Also, according to Bolman and Deal (2013), “Culture forms the superglue that bonds an organization, unites people, and helps and enterprise accomplish desired ends” (p. 248).
When speaking of organizational culture, it is understood as the organization’s visions, beliefs, values, norms, symbols, language, rituals, etc. Therefore, the culture of an organization is a key factor in creating a strong organization that functions more effectively due to the unity amongst the employees in the company. If there is conflict within the culture of the workplace, then this can lead to the organization performing poorly. Furthermore, “Poor ‘chemistry’ between a new addition to your team and your existing team (including yourself) sabotages the success of new hires more often than anything else – including incompetence” (Recruiting the Right People, n.a, n.d.). In other words, by selecting the final candidate for the job, the employer feels that the new employee is the best and most effective candidate for the company. According to Sun (2015), “’the best’ is not to say that achievement is the highest, but to require that personal knowledge level, attitude, motivation and emotion could be matched with the job and organization’s culture” (p. 44).
Furthermore, according to the book The Tracks We leave:
Ethics in Healthcare Management, written in 2002 by Perry:
In addition to knowledge, skills, talents, and experience, smart managers will seek out prospective recruits who reflect integrity and strong character. It is much easier to “teach” knowledge and skills than it is to “teach” integrity and character. Managers often look for new employees whom they feel will be a “good fit”
in the organization, who will “play well with others”. Equally important is the employee who is interesting and pleasant with a positive attitude about work and about life in general.
Positive employees of strong character contribute greatly to productivity, morale, and to an ethical work environment. (p.
155).
1.2 Causes for Putting an Employee in the Wrong Position According to the article “Exploring the Causes of Recruiting Failure”, written in 2015 by Sun, there are four key causes of
recruiting failure which are (1) lack of Human Resource Plan (HRP) and recruitment plan, (2) lack of choice of recruiting channels, (3) lack of a reasonable personnel test, and (4) lack of a recruiting feedback system. Firstly, HRP is an overall personnel plan which can ensure that all the decisions made are consistent with the strategic goals of the organization.
Therefore, without an HRP, the organization will not have a structure for their recruitment planning and procedure.
Secondly, through the process of recruitment advertising, companies will need to expand their ways of attracting new candidates through social media, for example. According to the article “Employee Recruitment: Current Knowledge and Important Areas for Future Research”, written in 2008 by Breaugh:
… numerous types of advertisements exist, and they can have different effects. For example, an individual who is not actively looking for a job may not see a newspaper ad, but may be
“reached” by a radio or television ad. In terms of the amount of information conveyed in a job advertisement, research has shown that ads with more information resulted in a job opening being viewed as more attractive and as more credible than ads that contained less information. Research also has shown that advertisement that contain more specific information about a position increased applicant interest in the position and may result in better person-organization fit. (p. 113).
In other words, the recruitment channels used and the way that the information about the position is brought forward can cause unfit people to come and apply for the job.
Therefore, the information that is brought forward must clearly explain the knowledge, skills, qualifications and characteristics that the company is looking for, which will in turn lead to attracting the right kind of people.
Thirdly, to hire the most effective employees for your organization, it is crucial to conduct a personnel test.
According to Baez (2013):
Many employers utilize personality tests in the employment selection process to identify people who have more than just
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176 the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in their jobs.
If anecdotes are to be believed, the work place is full of people whose personalities are a mismatch for the positions they hold. Psychology has the ability to measure personality and emotional intelligence (“EQ”), which can provide employers with data to use in the selection process. “Personality refers to an individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits” and “emotional intelligence consists of the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion”.
By using a scientific approach in hiring, employers can increase their number of successful employees. (Par. 1).
Therefore, by conducting a certain psychology/personality tests, it can be determined if the employee that is being hired truly fits into the job position and organization. Other than the required knowledge and skills, managers or employers can be able to determine if the employee possesses the right personality for the job and the company.
Additionally, information on resumes may sometimes be exaggerated or false. Once the applicants’ resumes have been reviewed, the next step is to select the best candidates for the job. Finally, after finding and hiring the candidates, it is important to conduct feedback on the recruitment to check the data of the procedure and knowing what could be better for next time.
Apart from the four above-mentioned causes, there are also two other causes that play a role in putting an employee in the wrong position, which are the labor market and inexperienced managers. When it comes to the labor market, according to Singh (2013):
Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will influence the recruiting efforts of the organization. If there is surplus of manpower at the time of recruitment, even informal attempts at the time of recruiting like notice boards display of the requisition or announcement in the meeting etc. will attract more than enough applicants. (par. 7).
In other words, depending on the demand and supply of employment at the organization, it can affect the recruitment process by making it easier or more difficult to hire employees.
For example, if there is a demand for workers with knowledge of Information Technology (IT) in a nearby organization and the supply for the specific IT knowledge is high, then the organization would have an easier and effective recruitment process due to the large pool of applicants.
Furthermore, another possible cause for putting employees in the wrong position may also lie on the managers who hire the employees, more specifically, the inexperienced managers.
For this research, an inexperienced manager will be defined as a manager who does not yet possess all the knowledge or skills to perform and execute important managerial tasks.
Inexperienced managers sometimes look to hire staff who may be easy to control. They may be afraid to hire someone
“smarter” than they are for fear of losing full authority. While experienced managers know that to achieve organizational goals, it is important to recruit and hire bright people for key positions who will bring needed skills and talents to the tasks at hand. (Perry, 2002, p. 155).
1.3 Contribution and Obstruction Factors to an Effective Recruitment
There are several factors that play a role in an effective recruitment. These factors can obstruct and/or contribute to the recruitment procedures. Contributing factors are factors that play a role in helping to make the recruitment procedure more effective, and obstructing factors are those that hinder or prevent an effective recruitment procedure. According to the article “An Analytical Study on Determining Effective Factors for Recruiting Right Person”, written in 2012 by Rahman and Islam, there are several factors mentioned that affect the recruitment and selection process which are both controllable (internal) and uncontrollable (external) factors.
This means that these factors are those that the organizations can or cannot control. In this thesis, the controllable (internal) factors will be known as the contributing factors,
When speaking of the labor market, it is about the availability of employment and work. It depends on the demand and supply of the labor market if the applicant pool will be effective in the sense that there will be a selection of effective people to choose from during a recruitment procedure or selection process.
Second of all, factors of social, cultural and political environment also play a role because sometimes when there are changes in these environments, it can have a direct influence on the recruitment policy of the organization. For example, when it comes to the social and cultural environment, it is important to mention that these environments are about the beliefs and behaviors of people and the society in which they live in. Society is constantly changing which results in people changing their beliefs and behaviors as well. As mentioned earlier, since more people have started to become interested in sustainable development, it makes that they would like to be employed by an organization that has sustainable development in its workforce culture and procedures. Such as society, the political environment also changes whenever the government changes which means that when the government changes, the laws change. These laws are those that are incorporated into the recruitment procedures that companies follow such as health regulations.
Finally, another obstructing factor for effective recruitment is the competition between companies within the same industry. “When competitors are few and roughly equal in size, they watch each other carefully to make sure that any move by another firm is matched by an equal countermove”
(Hunger & Wheelen, 2011, p. 39). Therefore, all companies, whether in the hospitality industry or not, will be competing to attract the attention of qualified candidates and in order to beat their competitors, they will need to have a better offer to avoid losing their best candidates.
1.4 Theoretical Framework
For this thesis, the above-mentioned literature review went over all the aspects, causes and factors for effective or ineffective and the uncontrollable (external) factors will be known as
the obstructing factors.
There are four internal factors affecting the recruitment and selection functions of a company, according to Rahman and Islam. First of all, the organizational recruiting policy needs to be clear and efficient. “Organizations with recruiting policies tend to spend relatively large sums on training and development programs so as to prepare employees for higher-level jobs” (Rahman & Islam, 2012, p. 52).
Second, the authors further mention that it is crucial for requirements to be known when hiring new employees because the company needs to know the set of knowledge or skills that the employees need in the company, and the characteristics the employees need to have such as personal attributes, good health, pleasant manners, no significant disabilities in voice, hearing and eyesight.
The third one is motivation. Motivation is something that the organization needs to have when it comes to recruitment because recruiting employees with no interest or motivation will only lead to the organization hiring the wrong people for the company.
According to the same authors, three external factors that affect the recruitment and selection functions of a company.
First of all, the labor market plays a major factor in the creating of the recruitment procedures for the following reason:
Labor market affects the size and quality of the applicant pool which in turn affects the choice of selection methods.
Labor market constitutes the force of demand and supply of labor of particular importance. For instance, if demand for a particular skill is high relative to its supply, the recruitment process evolves more efforts. Contrary to it, if supply is more than demand, the recruitment process will be easier. Both scenarios influence the recruitment process and activities.
(Rahman & Islam, 2012, p. 53).
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178 recruitment procedures. After reviewing and analyzing the literatures, key aspects, factors and causes were determined about designing effective recruitment procedures from which a theoretical model was developed. According to Maxwell (2013), “your conceptual framework is primarily a conception or model of what is out there that you can plan to study, and of what is going on with these things and why - a tentative theory of the phenomena that you are investigating” (p. 39).
In figure 1, the theoretical framework can be seen which shows how each factor plays a role in the design and implementation of an effective recruitment procedure.
However, it also illustrates how connected each key concept is with one another. This explains how if any of these factors were not to be taken into consideration then it could result in an ineffective recruitment procedure.