Sample Dissertations | University Dissertations | Dissertation Examples
Category: HRM Dissertations
Our sample HRM dissertations will prove helpful in formulating your own dissertation topic, objectives, literature review, methodology and analyses.
Our sample HRM dissertations are an ideal tool for any student struggling to start their own HRM dissertation. Human Resource Management is an essential part of any organisation and there are many components of HRM. Human Resources Management (HRM) can encompass a wide range of topics:
Training and Development, HR in Practice, HR Theory, Employee Welfare, Staff Turnover, Recruitment, Performance Management, Appraisals, Motivation, Strategic HRM, Job Satisfaction, Staff Retention, Culture and Diversity.
The Role of Human Resource Management in the Workplace
Human Resource Management is a term used to describe how organizations acquire, manage and motivate employees. It also involves the processes and activities put in place to help establish good relations and avoid conflict between coworkers, as well as employee and management staff. A multi-faceted discipline, it is consists of several elements that need to be coordinated in order to create a productive workplace.
Statement of the Problem
This paper aims to examine two important aspects of human resource management in the workplace, namely Employee Motivation, and Employee Development and Training. These aspects will be analyzed within the context of JCB UK, a construction equipment manufacturer. Employee motivation and staff development and training have been selected as the two under performing areas in this company. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, John Stacy Adams’ Equity Theory and other need-based theories, the paper will discuss how the under performing elements influence motivation, conflict and overall job performance. Recommendations of possible solutions will also be provided.
Definitions
Motivation: According to Moorhead and Griffin, motivation refers to the factors that lead people to engage in a certain behavior rather than the alternative. In an organizational setting, it describes forces that encourage employees to work harder, set goals to increase profit, etc.
Conflict: The business dictionary defines conflict as “friction or opposition resulting from actual or perceived differences and incompatibilities”.
Conflict Resolution: Processes established within an organization that help to resolve conflict between employee and employee, and employee and management staff.
Needs: Something needed for individuals to survive and to be comfortable in life.
Equity: The Oxford dictionary refers to equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial”.
The Purpose of Human Resource Management in the Workplace
Human resource management focuses on the methods, processes and techniques that can be used by an organization to make the best of its workforce. HRM sees people as the company’s most valuable resource and aims to develop employee skills in order to achieve business goals. Human resource management requires management staff to coordinate several elements, some of which include communication, employee motivation, employee training and development, employee relations, remunerations and incentives, change management and other functional areas.
Human resource management is not a standalone activity, but an ongoing process that is part and parcel of the general management of an organization. In other words, it is a small part of what managers need to do to run a successful enterprise. Improper or ineffective management of human resources ultimately leads to unmotivated staff members, lower job performance, misuse of physical resources and a decrease in profit.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Abraham Maslow’s theory has been one of the most popular human resource management theories since the 1940s. Maslow claims that individuals are motivated by the pursuit and/or fulfillment of certain needs. Needs follow a hierarchical structure, and when one level of needs is met, the individual then progresses to the next. According to the hypothesis, there are 5 levels or types of needs. These ranges from what human beings need for survival to achieving one’s full potential. For an organization to keep staff motivated, it has to fulfill these needs to a certain extent.
Types of Needs
Please note that “needs” refer to individual or personal needs and not organizational goals. These two, however, are closely related. In other words, the fulfillment of an individual’s need will ultimately result in the person being motivated to meet organizational goals.
Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are the basic necessities of human life. These include the need for food, shelter, air and other survival requirements. The lack of these necessities makes it impossible to live.
Safety Needs
The need for security and protection against threats are a bit more complex than physiological needs. To fulfill these needs, employees require remuneration, access to health care and other life benefits.
Need to Belong
The next level of needs is centered on a person’s need to belong. Generally, this need manifests as a desire to be part of a family, group, organization or community. It is social in its orientation and a crucial motivating factor in the work place.
Esteem Needs
Individuals strive to be recognized, respected and valued in their place of work. Employees that are perceived to be important to the function of the organization tend to be more motivated and driven to achieve company goals.
Self-Actualization Needs
Self-actualization refers to the process where one realizes his or her potential and capabilities. To Maslow, it is the highest need and one that can cause employees to be increasingly productive when fulfilled.
The Equity Theory
In the early 1960s, John Stacy Adams pioneered a theory that focuses on the fair treatment of staff members. Dubbed The Equity Theory, it is a justice-oriented hypothesis and one that has been adopted in the legal framework of Human Resource Management systems and unions around the world. The basic premise of this theory is that management needs to be consistent in the reward or punishment of employee input and behavior.
Employees are likely to perform better in an organization that aims to treat same-level staff members equally and reward input appropriately. Same-level employees, for instance, are expected to earn the same salary. However, if one invests in working overtime, he or she should be entitled to more pay for performing additional work. Fairness should also be applied in conflict resolution. Employees want to be assured that conflict will be resolved fairly without the arbitrator extending favor to one party.
Human Resource Management Workplace
Employee Motivation: JCB UK Case Study
At the most basic level, motivation is the willingness of employees to do what is required and to invest extra effort into achieving organizational goals. In an article titled ‘Need-based Perspectives on Motivation’, Moorhead and Griffin maintain that there are three major factors that influence overall job performance: motivation, skills and having access to resources needed to get the job done.
As mentioned earlier, motivation is affected by the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of needs. In the case study of JCB UK, although employees’ physiological needs are met, the need for safety and security still persists. Because of the high rate of immediate dismissals and a company structure that does not support union laws, staff members cannot secure an ongoing, contractual income that guarantees financial safety. Without this proverbial safety net, most employees are not motivated to invest time and effort into work as employment might end abruptly and lay all their efforts to waste.
Because dismissals are mainly based on the employees’ inability to execute tasks related to the job positions, this indicates a vital flaw in the planning, recruitment and selection processes used to acquire staff. Hiring employees who are not adequately skilled to fulfill job requirements is cost effective to the company because specialized skills generally demand higher pay. As a result, JCB UK has resorted to a business model and strategy that involves hiring fewer specialists and more staff members with general skills in order to cut labor costs and increase the bottom line.
Untimely dismissals and minimal union acceptance also calls the fairness of the organization’s system into question. The rejection of union laws and support by the company further de-motivates employees because the terms of employment include forfeiting certain legal rights. By not being given the opportunity to contest unfair dismissals, staff members perceive a lack of protection from national laws and a higher threat to job security.
Uncontested dismissals also foster feelings of being disposable instead of valued. As seen earlier, individuals have a need to be valued members of the organization. When this need is encroached, it can cause a negative impact on motivation. Inequity in the workplace has many undesirable effects, some of which include unmotivated workers, conflict and a decline in job performance.
Employee Development and Training
The second underperforming area of the analysis is the company’s willingness and ability to train and develop employees. Training and development refers to the opportunities provided by an organization that staff members can take advantage of, with the aim of acquiring new or improving existing skills. It also involves giving staff members resources and opportunities for career advancement.
The absence of advancement opportunities, resources and infrastructure is closely tied to the low level of employee motivation experienced by JCB staff. One of the purposes of Human Resource Management systems is develop employee potential and improve educational levels. As a result, employees learn to use non-human resources more efficiently to achieve the organization’s goals. Without the necessary infrastructure, employees are not only limited in the skills needed to perform tasks well, but they are also unable to progress in their careers to the stage of self-actualization.
Maslow’s theory can be applied effectively here. If a company’s structure does not permit employee needs of esteem and self-actualization to be fulfilled, much less pursued, it can have significant impact on staff motivation and consequently performance. Victor H. Vroom proposed The Expectancy Theory, which argues that employees are less likely to be motivated when they cannot perceive the rewards they can obtain through excellent performance. In other words, if staff members are required to improve their performance without much possibility of promotion, incentives and rewards, the desire to excel diminishes.
Recommendations to Director
Job security is a high-level priority for employees. If staff members feel they can lose their jobs at any point, motivation to accomplish organizational goals decreases. To remedy this situation, the director should consider rendering immediate dismissals illegal and opt to adopt union laws that can provide better safety and security for employees.
The director should also consider amending screening and recruiting methods to avoid hiring employees that do not possess the appropriate skills for the job. Although cheaper labor might be appealing to the company’s bottom line, it will hurt the profit margin in the long run. Human resources can take up most of the organization’s budget and hiring unskilled employees can result in a waste of valuable resources that can be invested in candidates with specialized skills instead.
It is the responsibility of the employer to device fair processes and methods of dismissal. The danger of uncontested dismissals is that they can induce fear and uncertainty in not just the employees dismissed, but the remaining staff. Fearful and uncertain employees tend to perform poorer than those who know that errors can be corrected without resulting in job loss.
There is much truth in Maslow and Adams’ theories about the type of needs and expectations that employees have about the company they work for. When employees fulfill basic needs, such as earning an income, they progress to the more complex needs of esteem and self-actualization. It is recommended, therefore, that the company invest in infrastructure, resources and opportunities that offer career advancement. Rewarding hard workers with incentives and decision-making positions is an effective way to motivate those who have strong needs for power, influence and affiliation.
The director should strive to increase employee educational levels and invest in skill training. Developing human resources is important because they are responsible for allocating and using non-human resources as efficiently as possible. Also, advancements in technology require modern employees to be tech-savvy in order to keep up with a constantly changing world. Without appropriate education and training, employees will be unable to adapt to new ways of doing business and lack the creativity to give the organization an innovative edge.
Conclusion
Human resource management in the workplace highlights the value of motivated employees to organizations. There are several factors that keep staff motivated and driven to accomplish organizational goals, such as skill training, job security and opportunities for career advancement. Without these factors, employees’ extrinsic and intrinsic needs cannot be met. When needs are not met, it results in lack of motivation and poor job performance. This vicious cycle is best broken by an effective human resource management system. Organizations need to come to a realization that, by developing, educating and striving to fulfill employee needs, employers can create a productive, efficient and willing workforce in return.
References
Kreitner R. (1986), ‘Motivating Job Performance’. In Kreitner R. , ‘Management’, (3rd edn), Houghton Mifflin Company: USA
Moorhead G. & Griffin R. (1998), ‘Need-Based Perspectives on Motivation’. Houghton Mifflin
Company, USA.
Oxford English Dictionary. (2005), ‘Equity’, 7th Edition.
Vroom V.H, 1964, Work and Motivation, Wiley
Mabey C, Salaman G, 1995, Strategic Human Resource Management, Blackwell
Buchanan, D, Huczynski, A, 1997, Organizational behaviour, Third Edition.
HR Performance Issues and Motivation – “Do not discipline employees who are unable to perform a task. Discipline those who are able to perform a task, but are unwilling or unmotivated to succeed” – SANS Leadership and Management Competencies course book (Bong, 2014)
Understanding the motivations of employees in order to identify and correct performance issues is fundamental to effective Human Resource management.
Because of this, there is a wealth of research related to understanding the underlying causes and effects of good and bad employee performance. The goal is to figure out where the problem originates and to develop ways to correct those problems.
Motivation theories are abundant but all originate from the experts considered to be fathers of motivation theory; Maslow and Herzberg. Early motivation theorists like Abraham Maslow and Frederick Hertzberg, laid the foundation upon which modern motivation theory is built. Their work has guided research in this area of study since the late 1950’s and early 60’s (Hendriks, 1999).
Yet as the workplace has evolved and diversified over the last several decades, so have the perspectives on motivation theory. The foundation has remained the same, but the perspectives are changing and elaborating what was original hypothesized by Maslow and Herzberg.
Take for instance Maslow’s need hierarchy theory. Maslow theorized that human motivation is driven by five needs: the need for shelter or safety, food and water, love and respect, recognition and fulfillment. These needs are organized in a hierarchy based on basic needs and “higher-order” needs; food and shelter are basic needs, recognition, love, fulfillment and respect are higher-order needs (Hendriks, 1999).
Hertzberg, on the other hand, proposes just two categories in his motivational theory. Herzberg concludes that people are motivated by either extrinsic or intrinsic motives (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Mainly, this theory says that either a person is motivated because they like what they are doing, or, they are motivated based on the expectation that they will be rewarded in some way for the work they are doing.
Both theories suggest that employee satisfaction is important to motivation and that in order to keep employees motivated, their needs must continue to be satisfied. Maslow’s theory falls short of prescriptive answers to questions of employee motivation, whereas Hertzberg suggests that employers can maintain employee satisfaction by considering the intrinsic and extrinsic motives of their employees when adopting rewards incentives (Davoren, 2013).
HR Performance Theories
While Maslow and Herzberg’s theories in their broader applications have become less applicable as the workforce and workplace has changed, the fundamental basis of these theories is still sound and relevant to current motivational theory.
Among some of the more recent expansions on motivation theory include the Commitment and Necessary Effort (CANE) motivation Model, Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET). Motivation theory has been applied to understanding motivation in many different areas, including in sports, academic achievement and business. These theories applied in business can help solve HR performance issues and improve employee motivation.
The CANE motivation model tries to incorporate the many different aspects of motivation theory. It takes the best approaches of modern research, and combines them into one all-encompassing theory that can be used to understand the motivations of professionals with knowledge based jobs (Clark, 1998). These types of jobs, white collar jobs that require some expertise and professional knowledge, usually involve incentives for attracting highly educated professionals. Understanding the interaction of rewards systems and motivators that guide those professionals is very important for HR recruitment.
Clark argues that some strategies in the area of organizational development overestimate the effect that employee incentives like contests and performance recognition have on employee motivation (Clark, 1998). These strategies are widely used as a means to increase worker productivity. However, some research studies have suggested that studies that show that these strategies work to improve motivation are “fatally flawed” and that these strategies may not have as much power to influence employee behavior as previously thought (Clark, 1998).
The CANE Model says that motivation is two-pronged and intertwined. First, motivation is based on commitment to a goal. The second is the amount of effort that goes into achieving that goal (Clark, 1998). If an employee is motivated by a commitment to achieving their goal, he or she will remain focused on that goal even if they are tempted to focus on other less important goals. Once that level of commitment is achieved, the effort needed to achieve the goal, or the “Necessary Effort”, will sustain the motivation to complete the task. If the task is perceived as important, then the necessary effort to complete the task is tied to its importance.
HR Performance Dissertations
Though Maslow and Herzberg’s theories are becoming outdated, the CANE Model falls short of unifying motivation theory into one model because of its limitations in broad application. It is too broad to explain the nuance effects that culture and diversity have on individual definitions of commitment, effectiveness and control (Clark, 1998). Not to mention that broad solutions to problems of motivation in the workplace can only be identified by this model; applying those solutions to specific job performances is more difficult and requires more specialized solutions.
Self-Determination Theory has evolved not only through theoretical analysis but has also held up in empirical studies. SDT relies heavily on needs based theory, but the needs are more psychological in nature. Satisfying these psychological needs, according to Self-Determination Theory, motivates behavior and also elucidates the processes that direct action (Gagne’ & Deci, 2005).
In this theory, by determining underlying psychological needs, employers can appeal to the intrinsic motivations of employees to correct performance issues and to increase motivation. Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal satisfaction. This involves the motivation that comes from being engaged in an activity that brings personal satisfaction. It is unrelated to any material reward. An employee is motivated by a psychological need to be challenged or to feel a sense of accomplishment (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Since all behaviors are at their core driven psychologically, research in the area of Self-Determination Theory has tried to discern which of these psychological needs are being fulfilled by intrinsic motivation. What has been concluded is that intrinsic motivation can be encouraged and facilitated by environment since intrinsic motivation is not caused but rather “catalyzed” into action when the conditions are right (Ryan & Deci, 2000).”
Lastly, Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) which is one aspect of Self-Determination Theory finds that intrinsic motivation can be produced by offering encouragement and feedback that satisfies a sense of accomplishment and competence in employees (Ryan & Deci, 2000). This can be done using rewards for achievement; a bonus for timely turnaround or for reaching a sales goal. But employees can also be intrinsically motivated by words of encouragement that satisfy the same psychological need for feeling competent; a pat on the back or a ‘good job’ goes a long way.
HR Performance and Job Satisfaction
Work performance is directly affected by job satisfaction and motivation. The work performance is the outcome. When working from the intrinsic motivation model, appealing to the internal psychological needs of employees can increase job satisfaction, which in turn sparks motivation and finally produces an improved work performance. Understanding the means to increase job satisfaction is the crux of resolving performance issues and positively motivating employees.
Solutions to performance issues should be evaluated at all levels. Just because an employee is not performing satisfactorily doesn’t mean that the problem lies with the employee. Sometimes, the problem is in management style or a lack of resources to do the job right. These things can exacerbate poor performances when the employee feels that they are not being given the proper tools to complete their job or receiving the necessary feedback to do the job correctly (Lister, 2012). By simply rewarding exceptional behavior or providing constructive feedback for poor performance, an employer can improve job satisfaction and thereby resolve performance issues.
Therefore, assessing the needs of the group can allow employers to predict how those assessments will effect “job satisfaction and work outcome” (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Also, evaluating the types of needs that are being satisfied can affect job satisfaction and outcome. Herzberg presents two different factors in employee motivation. There are hygiene factors, the more superficial needs, and the motivation factors, which include more intrinsic motives.
Among hygiene factors that Herzberg identified are things like salary and work conditions. Motivation factors on the other hand, include things like personal achievement, opportunities for promotion, and a sense of responsibility (Hendriks, 1999). These factors have a direct and indirect effect on job satisfaction and performance. Hygiene factors according to Herzberg’s theory mostly affect motivation in a negative way; by the very absence of things like good working conditions and status, job satisfaction is decreased (Hendriks, 1999).
Consider a garbage man whose job performance has gone down. His work has slowed and he seems clearly dissatisfied with his job. Upon evaluation, HR has discovered that the employee is dissatisfied with his salary. He has been on the job for several years without promotion and without pay increases. According to both Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of motivation, his job dissatisfaction is rooted in one of his intrinsic and basic needs not being met; salary, food and shelter.
But further analysis supports Herzberg’s theory that there is a second prong to this employee’s dissatisfaction. He has not received a promotion, which is more than mere dissatisfaction with his salary; it implies that he is dissatisfied because he is not receiving the recognition that he feels that he deserves for the time and commitment he has given to his employer. By not relating to the psychological need for recognition, which has its own intrinsic reward for the employee, the employer is partly to blame for the performance issue and lack of motivation.
To resolve the problem, the employer must first identify the causes of the problem and then seek to improve job satisfaction through proper motivation. In this scenario, showing that management cares about his input and recognizes his many years of contribution by giving him a raise or a new promotion or job title, can help to resolve those performance issues by appealing to the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of the employee.
Work Cited
Bong, K. (2014 ) Management Laboratory. Retrieved from Sans Technology Institute:
Clark, R. E. (1998). Motivating Performance: Part 1 – Diagnosing and Solving Motivation Problems. Performance Improvement. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.
Davoren, J. (2013) What Types of Rewards Would Motivate Workers in an Organization?
Gagne’, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 331-362.
Hendriks, P. (1999). Why Share Knowledge? The Influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing. Knowledge and Process Management , 91-100.
Lister, J. (2012). Examples of a Motivational Issue in an Organization.
Pintrich, P. R. (2000). An Achievement Goal Theory Perspective on Issues in Motivation Terminology, Theory, and Research. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 92-104.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54-67.
The emergence of Internet technology has virtually changed the way humans execute their functions in all phases of activities. The Human Resources Department is not left out, as the adoption and implementation of web technology has revolutionalized the functions and responsibility of the HRM. Thus, web technology, through e-recruitment is now being used in the recruitment of potential workers in every organization. E-recruitment has been proved to be an efficient, quick and cost effective means of hiring quality workers into an organization. This paper is aimed at understanding the concept behind e-recruitment technology. These include the origin, types and elements of e-recruitment. The paper also discussed the effects of e-recruitment on the cost, time and efficiency of an organization. The relationship existing among the three variables (cost, time and efficiency) as well as their collective impact on organization is also discussed in this Electronic Human Resource Management paper.
Introduction to Electronic Human Resource Management
For the past ten years, E-recruitment has continued to attract the attention of Human Resource Managers, all over the globe. This relatively new technology that makes exclusive use of the internet is now being recognized as a cheaper and wide-reaching methodology, for recruitment of workers. This is shows that the revolution of internet technology is currently spreading over the world of job hunting and hiring. The term e-recruitment, which is also known as online recruitment, cyber-cruting, or internet recruiting, is used to describe the formal sourcing of job information on the vast World Wide Web. The term was first mentioned in articles during the 1980s. There are two major methodologies for e-recruitment. The first one is the use of corporate web site for recruitment. In this case, companies have corporate websites in which specially designed recruitment web pages are maintained for employment of people. The second methodology is the posting of jobs vacancies on online commercial jobs boards like monster.com. In this case, companies advertise vacant positions on other website that specialize in recruitment. Some good examples of these websites are naukri.com, timesjob.com, monster.com. Nowadays, a growing number of companies and organizations are resorting to these two methodologies for recruitment of skilled and talented workers.
Electronic Human Resource Management (E-HR)
According to Jim (2013), “Electronic human resource management (E-HRM) is the process of integrating components of information technology into the structural design of the human resource department”. Such components of information technology are specifically designed to help with tasks associated with human resources”. Adoption of E-HR is one of the best ways through which an organization can streamline its human resources. This goes a long way in making the human resource department to become more efficient and effective, thereby minimizing its operational and production costs. A typical E-HR suite is capable of handling many important tasks such as staffing, training, and payroll. These customized software suites is particularly suitable for handling all those tasks times that are time-consuming. This gives HR employees more time to concentrate on strategic processes that will improve the organization (Bondarouk and Ruël, 2006).
The Human resources department is a very important section in every organization. The department serves as the communication link between management of an organization and its employees. They are responsible for maintaining a satisfied workforce. Thus, if they ever err in any of their objectives, the company involved is going to have a bunch of disgruntled employees as its workforce. The department is also responsible for recruiting workforce for the organization. At times, carrying out all these tasks can be very difficult and time-consuming. This is the major reason why an ever increasing number of Human Resource Departments have begun the process of installing various forms of electronic human resource management to help out their HR managers (Buckley et al, 2004).
However, it is very important to note that Electronic Human Resource Management cannot replace the traditional human resource departments completely, rather it can serve as a very valuable supplement for the department (Jim, 2013) By installing E-HRM software, a business can streamline the more detailed tasks associated with the HR department.
In every organization, the E-HRM plays great role fulfilling the immense responsibilities of the Human Resource Manager. For instance, E-HRM can include software devoted to payroll issues thereby saving the Human Resource Manager, the time required to attain payroll issues. E-HRM can also be supportive in terms of staffing. During recruitment, the suite through its e-recruitment components can eradicate the stress and time-consuming processes associated with selecting the most suitable applicants..
E-HR also plays significant roles in the management aspect of the Human Resource Managers where it is actively involved in drafting policies and controlling both the traffic and collection of electronic information. Still under the management aspects, E-HR helps in controlling and organizing data within an organization. Accomplishing this requires the creation of effective record management policies. Such policies facilitate lean data storage which involves maintaining pertinent information while removing data as it becomes irrelevant (Jim, 2013).
So in summary, E-HR is a very clear example of using technology to boost the productivity of an organization. The fact that E-HR software suite are technologically secured means that the security of any organization that implement and interact with this piece of technology is also secured. The application of E-HR suite in Human Resource Department can boost the sustainability of the organizations. As already pointed out, one area in which E-HR has been successfully implemented is in the recruitment of the organization’s workforce.
E-recruitment definition
E-recruiting can be defined as the use of the World Wide Web and its peripherals, to attract suitable candidates for employment purposes (CIPD, 2011). In other words, E-recruitment is a process through which electronic resources were used to draw the attention of job seekers to vacant positions in corporations (Stone, 2006). Over the years, e-recruitment has recorded unprecedented growth and its applicability has continued to expand in many sectors of human endeavors. Many reasons have been attributed to the tremendous success recorded by this relatively new technology. Recruitment is a process that connects employers to prospective employees. It’s a process in which capable employees are located and incorporated into the workforce of organizations. Recruitment usually begins with the searching of prospective employees and ends when the job applications are submitted. E-recruitment is one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways of recruiting staff for an organization as it can play active roles in each phase of the recruitment exercise.
In practice, there are numerous ways through which E-recruitment can be implemented. It may be conducted through the use of the official website of the organization. Alternatively, the company may decide to go through a third-party job site or job board. E-recruitment can also comprise the use of CV database, search engine marketing or social media platforms to fill vacancies. The common factor here is the use of internet in each of these methodologies. This is clearly in conformation with the definition of E-recruitment, which is the use of the internet in conducting recruitment exercise.
Also, there are different ways through which job seekers can take part in an e-recruitment exercise. The job seekers can log in on the employers’ recruitment website and submit their CVs online. Alternatively, they can submit their CVs on special database for prospective employers to assess. Today, many company and recruitment agents have moved much of their recruitment process online so as to improve the speed by which candidates can be matched with live vacancies, and reduce the cost and time duration of these exercises.
Historical Background
Barber (1998) defined recruitment as; “those practices and activities carried on by the organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees”. Recruitment is almost as old as the mankind. However, e-recruitment is a relatively new term that has just attained significant success within a short duration of time. As have already stated earlier, e-recruitment is simply the conduction of job advertisement, job application and selection of new employees on the vast internet world. Historically, e-recruitment can be traced to the existence in 1980s, of independent job boards popularly known as bulletin board systems. Since then, this method has a recorded an unprecedented increase in its acceptability and implementation among several organizations of the whole world. The United States of America was credited as starting the global trend, with the launch of monter.com in 1994. The significant success of e-recruitment prompted Edgley (1995) to declare that, “the future of the recruitment industry is on the internet”. An analysis conducted by Onrec (2005) showed that between 2003 and 2005, 94 percent of the world biggest companies have adopted e-recruitment methods, as the major means of recruiting new employees. A survey conducted by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) revealed that up to 64 percent of the UK organizations used e-recruitment as far back as 2006 (Parry and Tyson, 2008). Cappelli (2001) declared that 90 percent of US companies were already doing recruiting by internet then. Today, the internet has been globally recognized as the sustainable avenue for recruitment of prospective employees and practitiomers of Electronic Human Resource Management.
How E- recruitment is linked with Technology and Management
Having defined e-recruitment, it is very important for us to understand how this system is linked to technology and Management. The technologies we are talking about here are the HR systems, while the management includes Line Managers and Human Resource manager who are actively involved in recruitment exercise.
Naturally, the Human Resource Manager has essential roles to play in e-recruitment. Of course, the Human Resource Manager is responsible for facilitating and coordinating the recruitment exercise. Thus, the use of e-recruitment can go a long way in reducing the burden of the Human Resource Manager which will in turn; enable the Human Resource manager to operate on a strategic level within the organization. Just like the Human Resource Manager, the Line Manager also has a very important role to play in the recruitment exercise. The Line Manager is mainly concerned with the selection of applications submitted by job applicants. The selection is usually in relation to the vacancies that are listed in accordance with the job role. The roles of the two managers help to boost the effectiveness of the recruitment exercise (Research Advisory Panel, 2006).
The discussion conducted so far shows that the Human Resource Manager acts as the bridge that link the Line managers with the job applicants. However, the roles of the two managers can be greatly facilitated with the introduction of Information Technology tools, such as the application tracking software. Details of these tools are discussed under “Elements of e-recruitment”.
Types of E-recruitment
There are two main methodologies for conducting employment on the vast internet world. These are: (1) Posting vacancies on the official websites of the organization and (2) Making use of Third party websites which enabled a huge marketplace for recruitment. The two processes serve the same purpose of using the internet to get the best suitable candidates that have the right skills, knowledge and abilities required for vacant positions in organizations.
The first method of e-recruitment is particularly popular among organizations that have strong IT culture. It is also the best alternative for organizations that conduct regular recruitment exercises. In that case, it is more economical for such organizations to invest on their own website and equipped it with the necessary modules to handle e-recruitment internally.
The second method of e-recruitment is used primarily by organizations that lacked online presence on the vast internet world. In this case, the job of online advertisement of vacancies in such organizations is conducted by companies that are specialty in that area. These companies range from the fully specialized ones like Monster.com to the less specialized ones like social networks site and online forums.
Even though the two methods generally differ in their modus operandi, companies that have vacant positions can use the two methods at the same time. Organizations that have strong online presence can also include a “link of apply” on the third party website. When a prospective employee click on this “link of apply”, he or she will be redirected to the company’s website to start the application process. E-recruitment is source of huge revenue for owners of these third party websites. According to Silber (2012), “International data corporation (IDC) estimates $5.3 billion was generated in the US in 2011 through online recruitment industry and it is roughly increasing by 4 percent until 2015”.
Elements of E-recruitment
For any e-recruitment platform to be reliable and sustainable, there are certain elements that must be integrated into its operational structure (Parry and Tyson, 2008). These elements of e-recruitment have their place individually within the online recruitment strategy of every company. The main elements of recruitment include:
Applicant Tracking
Employer Web Site
Job Boards
Online Testing
According to a publication by Online Recruitment Marketing Council (2004); “the effectiveness of combining several of these elements in a cohesive strategy is a genuine example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts”. Many organizations have recorded significant success in integrating these elements into the operational structure of their e-recruitment module. This is because; a combination of these elements enables the recruitment processes to be fast, effective and cheap. It also reduce the manpower required to oversee the whole procedure, thereby enabling staffs of the Human Resource Department to concentrate on strategic operations that are specifically meant to move the company ahead. According to a publication by Online Recruitment Marketing Council (2004), “a clear understanding of these elements is very necessary when designing an online recruitment strategy”
Applicant Tracking
This is also known by several other names such as: Candidate Tracking, Candidate Management, Candidate Relationship Management and Applicant Database. Just like the name sounds, applicant tracking is a specially designed feature that enables the personnel responsible for the recruitment exercises to identify the status or progress of each candidate with respect to the jobs for which he or she has applied. In other world, the applicant tracking system help those in charge of the recruitment exercises to identify the number of applicants that have submitted applications for a particular position as well as those that waiting for interview. This customized system includes “an analysis of business processes within the end-user company from which will be derived a system configuration for the chosen Applicant Tracking system” (Online Recruitment Marketing Council, 2004).
Some of the features that are contained in a typical tracking system include:
Full history of the applicant
Ability to send e-mails to the applicants. The system must be capable of sending emails individually or in batches
Ability to conduct a search on the applicant’s database
Ability of every worker that is involved in the recruitment process to make use of the same system, For instance, the Applicant Tracking System will enable reviewers to review the CV, while interviewers will also have the ability to provide feedbacks for candidates that were interviewed for a vacant position.
It will also have reporting features that will enable the Human Resource Manager to identify the pipeline supply of candidates for key positions and measure time to hire.
Employer Website
This is also known Job page, Careers site and Recruitment pages. It is the most important aspect of an organization’s online recruitment strategy. It is the platform through which the full details of the job opportunities are communicated to the whole world. It is also the platform through which important data are collected from prospective employees. So in a nutshell, the employer website is the heart of an organization’s online recruitment strategy. The Job pages are updated with new vacancies or amended job details through simple web-based forms that are only accessible through the admin panel. It is very important to point out here that the Employer Website must have the same branding as the official websites of the organizations.
Some of the important features which a typical employer website must have include:
Ability to enable visitors to conduct job search
It must also enable prospective employees to create a profile, submit core personal details as well as CV
Apply for jobs online
It must have set-up job ‘alerts’ that will notify applicants of any changes to the jobs they applied or the availability of new job offers. Such notifications are usually conducted through e-mails.
Enables both applicants and non applicants to view the status of all on-line applications
It must allow a single application to be submitted for multiple job vacancies
It will enables applicants and even administrators to send job details to their friends
Job Boards
This is also known as Job sites. It performs the same function as the recruitment advertising section of a newspaper or magazine. Hence, this element of e-recruitment enables applicants to access several job vacancies that exist in different organizations. Generally, job boards feature jobs in different sectors and geographies, each carrying different branding. This means that job boards are mostly restricted to a particular class of jobs (such as the health service), region or even levels of seniority. It may also include additional information, which could be in form of articles or editorials. This additional information helps to attract the specific class of visitors that are needed by the organization.
There are some factors that must be considered before selecting job boards to use. Some of these factors are: cost, sector, location of the organization, etc. Thus, it is very important for the Human Resource Manager to obtain audited figures for the relative popularity of different job boards before making a choice.
Apart from the services mentioned above, some job boards also render additional services that are specifically aim at helping job seekers. For instance, some of these agencies are known to maintain CV databases which can be access by prospective employers and agencies. There is a variety of charging models for this kind of service which aim to make it cost-effective and quick for you to find suitable candidates. The features of job boards are exactly the same as those of Employer Websites.
Online Testing
Another name for online testing is Psychometric testing. The term is used to describe the process of conducting some kind of assessment of candidates over the internet. This internet-based assessment can be “factual (for example numeracy, comprehension etc.) to the assessments of personality and identification of most appropriate kinds of work” (Online Recruitment Marketing Council, 2004). This is the main reason why employers use online testing as a selection tool as well as a special tool that help job seekers to identify another career opportunity.
Others
Apart from the four elements of e–recruitment discussed so far, there are still other elements that can be of great help to the recruiter. However, these extra elements normally require one or more of the major elements to function. Some examples are as follows:
Intelligent CV parsing tools: These are online- based tools that validate the submitted CVs. This validation exercise, which is usually automatic, involves the extraction of unstructured data, and modifying them into a ‘structured’ format. The data that are usually targeted by this tool include: name, address, skills, employment history, education etc. The CV parsing tool may either be designed as a standalone system or incorporated into the functional and structural design of an Applicant tracking system.
Multiple posting tools: – These are special tools that simplify the tedious process of posting job details of vacant positions on multiple job boards. These tools also include the utilities for managing the purchasing of advertising from the job boards. It also enables the recruiter to evaluate the success rates of the job boards.
New Trends in E-Recruitment
Information Technology is very dynamic and progressive. The fact that e-recruitment is a product of Information Technology also means that its methodology is constantly changing and expanding. Certain new trends in e-recruitment are currently emerging in the vast internet world. It is very important for Human Resource Managers to identify this new trend and take advantage of digital tools and resources in order to find the best talent.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a networking platform that now doubles as an e-recruitment tool. This online platform that has more than 150 million users is a reliable alternative to the popularly known job-boards. The main features that enable LinkedIn to serve as an e-recruitment tool include: ability of employers to post jobs, receive applications, and recognize ideal candidates. This networking platform also has recommendation and introduction capabilities in its functional structures.
Twitter
This is also another online networking platform that has recruitment ability. However, twitter is not strictly for recruitment and is therefore less effective. Nevertheless, twitter enables employers looking for job seekers to get the word out quickly. Apart from allowing organizations to maintain an online presence, twitter also enable them to manage their company’s image successfully. This is always an important consideration for new hires. Thus, it’s advisable for recruiters to engage more in conversations with potential hires in twitter rather than relying only on posting details of job vacancies.
Video assessment
Video assessment is a relatively new recruitment tool that is yet to be embraced by many organizations out there. In this case, applicants are required to submit video formats of their introductions and answers to certain questions, together with their applications. This tool helps the recruiters to review the shortlisted applicants, prior to the interview. This saves time and cost for the recruiter.
Mobile Recruitment
This technology is also very new and has not been accepted by a great number of organizations. It involves the development of recruiting applications for different mobile platforms, such as IPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows. There are wide varieties of such apps. Some allow recruiters to develop questions and send to applicants, who then answer by video and send back. There are also certain mobile apps that enable recruiters and applicants to fix interview dates that can be updated on both their calendars. Other mobile apps allow recruiters to do sophisticated web searches for applicants, identify the most suitable candidates for the vacant position and then contact them instantly. There are also other mobile apps that allow employers to post details of job vacancies to multiple web job boards simultaneously with just a single click.
Advantages of E-recruitment
Studies conducted by several recruitment experts’ show that an increasing number of organizations are using e-recruitment for identifying the most suitable candidates for open vacancies. Lang et al. (2011) identify 14 major advantages of e-recruitment. These advantages are in agreement with the opinions of many scholars (Lang et al, 2011). The advantages are as follows:
Cost efficiency and relative affordability
Time saving
Efficiency (Hiring Efficiency)
Ability to expand the geographical scope of recruiting measures
Corporate policy
Targeting of the right group of candidates
Increase in number of qualified applicants
Independence of place and time, as everything is conducted strictly online
Portrays a better image of the organization
Provision of adequate information about the organization as well as additional workplace
Realization of competitive advantage
Recruiting qualified staff more easily
Updating of job and applicant data
Usability
Disadvantages of E-recruitment
Despite the immense benefits accruable from the use of this piece of information technology, a number of disadvantages do occur and many of these challenges are synonymous with the normal challenges encountered in the use of Information Technology (Thompson et al., 2008). To start with, most people are still of the opinion that the internet is not the first port of call for job seekers (Galanaki, 2002). However, the major challenges of e-recruitment revolve on the likely effects its implementation is going to have on company’s overall performance, especially in terms of its effectiveness and behavioral influences.
The main challenge that faces e-recruitment exercises in our today’s contemporary world is mainly on the trade-off between quantity (increasing) and quality (decreasing) of the job applicants. Of course, one great advantage of e-recruitment is attraction of huge number of job seekers. But the higher the number of job applicants, the higher the number of unqualified job seekers (Pearce and Tuten, 2001; Chapman and Webster, 2003; Barber, 2006). Unfortunately, this negativity is capable of raising the cost and time duration of the processing.
Also, e-recruitment can change the social interactions of the job applicants and this can even cause the job seeker to lack the ability to present his or her own KSAOs to the employer (Stone et al., 2006). For instant, it is very important for a marketing manager or assistant to be outgoing and a little bit talkative. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to perfectly measure these attributes through e-recruitment. Indeed, what Pin et al. (2001) called “Lack of Human touch” can have negative effect on e-recruitment processes.
This method of recruitment also lack the features needed to perfectly address the issue of discrimination in course of selection (Barber, 2006). This claim is confirmed by the result of a research conducted by Garcı´a-Izquierdo et al (2010) on companies listed on Spanish Stock Exchange. The result of the survey conducted by this team shows that the level and type of information which some of these companies ask in their application forms, is capable of giving rise to discrimination. Barber (2006) also pointed out the possibility of disable people applying for positions that are impossible for them to handle.
Another survey conducted by Pin et al. (2001) in Europe revealed two other disadvantages of e-recruitment. These are poor segmentation and higher rate of employees turn out. As pointed out in the last section, one of the advantages of e-recruitment is “targeting of the right group of candidates.” However, the result of the survey conducted by Pin et al. (2001) contradicted this claim. According to the result of the survey, about 59 percent of the companies interviewed listed “targeting of the right group of candidates” as the main reason for not using e-recruitment. Pin et al (2001) blamed this on the fact that “matching the position with the candidates is impossible” because of the broad accessibility offered by the internet technology. This put companies at the risk of having less qualified applicants with the cost of losing qualified ones. Even though the level of classification of contents on the internet has been improved and it is now possible for companies to find the related domain, the footprint of the problem pointed out by Pin and his team still remains observable (Suvankulov et al., 2012)
The second disadvantage of e-recruitment, discovered by Pin et al. (2001) is higher rate of employees’ turnover. This claim is confirmed by Smith and Rupp (2004) in their study on managerial challenges of e-recruiting. For instance, an employed person can get interested in a vacant position in an organization. This is possible since all information is freely accessible through the internet.
Finally, the low level of internet accessibility in certain parts of the world is another major disadvantage of e-recruitment. The absence of internet connectivity and its lack of awareness will surely keep qualified job seekers in the dark.
Recommendation
Even though e-recruitment has so many advantages over the orthodox methods of recruitment, it is not advisable to completely replace the recruitment process of an organization with the electronic methods. Similarly, it will be a very costly mistake for an organization to continue to depend solely on the traditional method for its recruitment exercise. The best alternative will be to supplement the traditional method of recruitment with the electronic method. The loopholes of e-recruitment can be covered by the traditional methods while the whole process can be made faster, cheaper and more efficient by incorporating electronic technology into it. When two vacancies are there and two candidates are available the companies do not have much choice, thus they prefer to widen their search and attracts numerous applications. Indeed, receiving application manually can be time-consuming. Manual sorting of applications is not only tedious, but is a sheer wastage of resources. E-recruitment is the surest way through which organizations can facilitate the smooth flow of recruitment process in today’s competitive world. This technology provides a straightforward and stressful way through which employers meet their prospective employees. Thus, it won’t be wise to discard this wonderful piece of technology. Rather, e-recruitment should be use to make the traditional method of recruitment to be faster, cheaper and more efficient. It’s also the best alternative that can be used to minimize the huge cost of job advertisement.
How e-recruitment affects cost, time and efficiency
As already pointed out, there are many advantages that endear e-recruitment to the heat of many Human Resource Managers. Top on the list are: cost efficiency, time saving and efficiency. These three advantages can collectively boost the effectiveness of the overall recruitment process.
Cost Efficiency: E- recruitment is generally cost effective and thus, can help companies to save huge amount of money. Unlike other form of media e.g. newspaper, it is relatively cheaper to post job vacancies on website. This enables recruiters to advertise job vacancies at very low cost. According to Othman and Musa (2006), the four main ways through which recruitment cost are reduced with the use of online methodology are:
Costs saved directly from the advertisements posted on other medium of communication e.g. Newspapers
Reduces mail costs from paying fees to the head recruiters or Job fairs
Reduces the workload of the of the Human Resource Department
Posting through emailing is relatively cheaper than Phone calls and fax
Even though the communication methods used in e-recruitment is cheaper, the whole process is still faster and easier. Also, developing a career website is also cheaper when compare to the cost require in tracking down the details of every applicants that applied for a vacant position. Of course, this reduces the number of manpower required as there would be no need for manual sorting of applications (White, 2008).
Time: E-Recruitment has more effective advantages in saving time. The fact that recruiters can use the E-Recruitment processes together with the traditional recruitment methods means that the submitted applications can be sourced and processed quickly and yet adequately (Marr, 2007). This saves long hours of sourcing and processing applications. According to the study of Barber (2006), “the ease of completing online application form and the time taken to process applications are done in minutes faster than weeks”. This also saves time for both the recruiters and job seekers. The structural design of e-recruitment platforms allows recruiters to pre select an application as well as obtains quick response electronically. All these feature save time for the recruitment process.
Efficiency: Hiring efficiency is another major advantage of e-recruitment. As we have seen so far, the internet technology reduces the cost of recruitment by ‘reducing employee turnover as well as the staffing costs (Stone et al., 2006). All these increase the hiring efficiency of the e-recruitments.
The three aforementioned variables, namely cost, time and efficiency are closely relation in terms of operation. For instance, reducing the cost of conducting recruitment exercise as well as the time duration sorting, selection and processing of job applications will surely go a long way boosting the hiring efficiency of the organization. As already pointed out, these three variables are very important the success of any organization.
The relationships between the three variables (Cost, time and efficiency) and their importance to the organization
The highly competitive nature of today’s business world has made it very necessary for businesses to seek the most cost effective way to recruit new employees as well as for employees to seek employers (Ratling 2012; Vera etal, 2009). Many organizations now prioritized the recruitment of the most optimum employees because of the overall effect such a workforce will have on the progress of the organization (Vera etal, 2009). Obtaining the best workforce for an organization can be easily accomplished through e-recruitment. Indeed, e-recruitment is known to be very effective in attracting administrative positions (Dictionaries, 2000). In the last section, we stated that, the three variables; cost, time and efficiency are closely relation in terms of operation.
To start with, the cost of e-recruitment is relatively cheaper than other methods of recruitment. Despite the growing cost of running business in our society today, it is still very necessary for organizations to adopt effective methods that will enable the obtainment of high quality employees that are required to attain a competitive advantage over others. E-recruitment offers a cost-effective way of achieving this goal. A cost-effective, but reliable means of recruitment can go a long way in boosting the efficiency of any organization. This option is exactly what e-recruitment is offering.
A cost effective method of recruitment should also be time efficient. In other words, it must be capable of saving lots of time for both employers and job-seekers. Such system must provide round the clock services at a very fast rate, without compromising the quality of the work that is being rendered. The process of sorting out both eligible and ineligible candidates must be done quickly and efficiently, without the involvement of any middle persons. Thus, both cost effectiveness and time-efficiency are two great factors that help organization to be more efficient in rendering of services.
Significant strides have been recorded by the adoption and subsequent implementation of e-recruitment. This is seen in the statistical figures of some researchers. According to a survey conducted by iLogos.com, about 92% of Fortune 500 companies now have websites that are specifically meant for careers, while 96% of recruiters now publicize their vacant positions on their websites (Borstorff et al , Marker, and Bennett 13). Verhoeven and Williams (2008) attributed this significant rise to the following advantages: “reduced costs, faster processes, wider accessibility, improve reputation and brand, higher quality of applicants, better match of the position, 24/7 running ability, and reduction of unqualified applicants”
Generally, the efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and profitability of every organization can be greatly enhanced by information technology (Looise, 2004; Fredric, 2001). These are exactly the effects e-recruitment has on organizations. Apart from these, the adoption and implementation of e-recruitment also save costs and maintain quality of customer service by reducing the time and resources dedicated to administrative tasks (Richards-Carpenter, 1996). So in summary, the adoption and implementation of e-recruitment enables an organization to achieve its strategic alignment, boost its business intelligence and enhance its overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Methodology
Even though e-recruitment is a relatively new terminology, a lot of researches have been conducted to unravel its immense potential and advantages. Thus, many authors have employed several methodologies in analyzing the effects of e-recruitment on the cost, time and efficiency of an organization. Holm (2010) conducted a research in which he determined whether the adoption and implementation of e-recruitment has any positive impact on the process and underlying tasks, subtasks and activities of the recruitment exercise. He made use of three large organizations that have well-established e-recruitment practices in his research. These case studies were conducted using qualitative research methods. One great advantage of this methodology is that it enables researchers to study processes of recruitment in their social context. The data used in the research were collected from multiple sources that are readily accessible for the analyst and these data were predominantly qualitative (Holm, 2010). In order to get a more comprehensive idea of how online recruitment methods were used at the studied companies, the researcher analyzed the content of corporate recruitment web pages and the job ads that the case companies placed on their websites (Holm, 2010). Thus, Holm (2010) utilized a blend of qualitative methods, techniques, and data sources in his study. The overall data analysis was deductive. At the end of the analysis, Holm (2010) discovered that e-recruitment had significant impact on the recruitment processes of all the companies that were used in the study.
Electronic Human Resource Management
Similarly, Gopalia (2010) in his own study which was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of e-recruitment used Tesco as his own case study. His research methodology includes an exploratory, theory building approach. In other words, an exploratory and qualitative research approach is used by Gopalia in his study. The methods used in collection data were via literature review and case study. After his analysis, Gopalia (2010) discovered that e-recruitment is effective in terms of saving cost of recruitment and selection. According to him, “Case exploration about the effectiveness of online recruitment and selection depicts that it saves time to hire and reduces recruitment cost”. The methodologies used by Holm and Gopalia can be employed collectively in a different research that will enable us to understand more about the effects of e-recruitment on the cost, time and efficiency of an organization.
Facts and statistics about e-recruitment
Even though e-recruitment is a relatively new technology, a significant rise in its adoption has been recorded. About 95% of the Global 500 companies now use e-recruitment as the main method of employing new workers (Barber, 2006; Kim et al, 2009). In Asia and America, the percentage of organizations that uses e-recruitment is put at 96%, while that of Europe is estimated to be 94% (Barber, 2006; Kim et al, 2009). The wide acceptance of e-recruitment by many agencies of the world has made it possible for employers to increase their capability of sourcing and meeting their recruitment objectives much faster.
A statistical analysis conducted by Greenspan (2003), shows a breakdown of those that uses e-recruitment as follows: 26% for executives or managers, 26% for technical workers, 19% for professionals and a mere 5 and 7% for fulltime students and blue collar workers respectively. Evidence of about 43% of job seekers, who seek jobs online claim to have at least 10 years of work experience and half of those are looking to score jobs in the range of mid to senior level management (Gill, 2001). The databases of many online agencies are currently overflowing with resumes. Monster.com alone has about eleven million resumes that are very much available for employers. This explains why about 90% of those businesses that make use of the services offer by these online agencies are willing to renew their subscriptions annually. Gill (2001) observed that this is a great way for business to save their operational costs. He believed that between $ 50,000 and $60,000 can be save yearly by organizations that made use of these online agencies (Gill, 2001). About 56% of prospective employees that are interviewed by majority of companies are now known to be generated by these online agencies (SkillRoad Inc, 2012). About 46% of those interviewed are usually hired (SkillRoad Inc, 2012). This shows the high success rate of using online methods of recruitment.
Conclusion
The highly competitive nature of today’s business world means that every organizations, companies and business establishment must strive to attract and retain the best and brightest employees. One of the surest ways of accomplishing this feat is by making use of the internet. E-recruitment is currently being adopted by an ever increasing number of organizations because of its cost effectiveness, fastness and efficiency. Despite its immense benefits, e-recruitment should not replace the traditional methods of recruitment. Rather, it should serve as a supplement to carter for the loopholes of the traditional recruitment methods. However, a lot still need to be done to make e-recruitment more effective and reliable. For instance, despite the technical strength of e-recruitment, it is also very important to incorporate a deep understanding of human resources into the structural designs of recruitment websites. It is also necessary for e-recruitment websites to have strong ability of market planning and promotion so as to be able to attract high quality applicants. Online recruitment service system is still in the early stages of development and needs further development to improve.
Appendix 1
Summary of previous research into the main effects of e-recruitment on the recruitment process as compiled by Holm (2010)
Changes in the recruitment process
Changes in the recruitment process performance
The recruitment process turns into a marketing process of selling jobs, with more activities and resources dedicated to building company reputation, Internet communications, and relationship marketing. Automation of the entire recruitment process. Introduction of sophisticated on-line screening systems. Automated systems for contacting applicants.
Shorter recruitment cycles. Bigger pool of experienced candidates. Efficient selection of best candidates.
Change from batch mode to continuous mode, with some activities being performed concurrently. Automated pre-screening. Long-term candidate relationship management.
Cost savings, better efficiency, increased convenience for recruiters and clients, and shift of focus on effectiveness
Introduction of new processes, e.g. web-based pre-screening. “Just-in-time” recruiting on demand.
Lower costs per hire. Shorter recruiting lead times. Improved quality of candidates
Appendix 2
Case Studies of companies used by Holm (2010)
Fictitious name
Primary Industry
Ownership
Number of Employees
ScandifinDanadrinco
Banking and investmentAlcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
Shareholding companyShareholding company
33,000+45,000+
Energowing
Design, production, and installation of energy systems
Shareholding company
20,000+
Bibliography
Barber A. E. (1998), Recruiting employees (CA: Sage Publications, 1998).
Barber L., E (2006). Recruitment Developments (Brighton: The Institute for Employment Studies, 2006).
Barber, L. (2006) e-Recruitment Developments, The Institute for Employment Studies, IES Research Networks, University of Sussex
Bondarouk T. and Ruël H. J. M. (2006), “Does e-HRM contribute to HRM Effectiveness? Results from a quantitative study in a Dutch Ministry” Paper presented at the 4th International Conference of the Dutch HRM Network: The Netherlands.
Borstorff, Patricia C., Michael B. Marker, and Doris S. Bennett.“Online recruitment: Attitudes and behaviours of job seekers.”Allied Academies International Conference.(2006): 9-15. Business Source Premier. Web. 11 Feb. 2011
Buckley P., Minette K., Joy D., and Michaelis J. (2004), “The use of an automated employment recruiting and screening system for temporary professional employees: A case study”, Human Resource Management 43(2/3): 233−241.
Cappelli P. (2001), “Making the most of on-line recruiting”, Harvard Business Review 79(3): 139-146.
Chapman D. S. and Webster J. (2003), “The use of technologies in the recruiting, screening, and selection processes for job candidates”, International Journal of Selection and Assessment 11(2-3): 113−120.
CIPD. (2010). What is E-recruiting? Online {Available} http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/onlnrcruit/onlrec.htm?IsSrchRes=1 Retrieved 15th November, 2013
Dictionaries, C. I. (2000). Cambridge International Dictionaries. Cambridge University press.
Edgley K. (1995), “The best job in the world may be one click away”, The Times, 11 October.
Galanaki E. (2002), “The decision to recruit online: a descriptive study”, Emerald Career Development International 7(4): 243-251.
Garcı´a-Izquierdo A. L., Aguinis H. and Ramos-Villagrasa P. J. (2010), “Science–Practice Gap in e-Recruitment”, International Journal of Selection and Assessment 18(4): 432-438.
Gill, J. (2001). Bloomberg Business week. Retrieved from Now Hiring
Gopalia, A. (2010). Effectiveness of Online Recruitment and Selection Process : A Case of Tesco. Aakash GopaliaOxford Brookes University
Greenspan, R. (2003). Job Seekers have Choises
Hawking P., Stein A., and Foster S. (2004), “e-HR and employee self-service: A case study of a Victorian public sector organization”, Journal of Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology 1: 1019−1026.
Holm. A. (2010). The Effect of E-recruitment On the Recruitment Process: Evidence from Case Studies of Three Danish MNCs. Individual Paper. Anna B. Holm, Aarhus University, Denmark annah@asb.dk
Jim B. (2013). What Is Electronic Human Resource Management?
Kim, S. P., & O’Connor, J. G. (2009). Assessing Eiectronic Recruitment Implementation in State Governments: Issues and Challenges. Public Personnel Management, Vol 38 No.1 47-66
Lang S., Laumer S., Maier C., Eckhardt A. (2011), “Drivers, challenges and consequences of E-recruiting: a literature review”, Proceeding: SIGMIS-CPR ’11 Proceedings of the 49th SIGMIS annual conference on Computer personnel research, ACM New York: 26-35.
Lengnick-Hall M. L. and Moritz S. (2003), “The Impact of e-HR on the Human Resource Management Function”, Journal of Labour Research XXIV(3): 365-379.
Lepak D. P. and Snell S. A. (1998), “Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in the 21st century”, Human Resource Management Review 8(3): 215−234.
Marler J. H. and Fisher S. L. (2013), “An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management”, Human Resource Management Review 23(1): 18-36.
Marr, E.R. (2007) “E-Recruitment: The effectiveness of the Internet as a recruitment source”, Unpublished, Master of Business (Research) Dissertation, Queensland University of Technology
Martin, G., Reddington, M. and Alexander, H., (2008) Technology, outsourcing and transforming HR . London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008
Onrec (2005), Statistics ñ the growth of online recruitment, The Online Recruitment Magazine, June 29
Online Recruitment Marketing Council (2004). Elements of Online Recruitment.
Othman, R.M. and Musa, N. (2006) E-Recruitment Practice: Pros & Cons, Public sector ICT Management Review, Vol.1(1), pp. 35-40
Parry E. and Tyson S (2008), “An analysis of the use and success of online recruitment methods in the UK”, Human Resource Management Journal 18(3): 257–274.
Parry E. and Tyson S. (2011), “Desired goals and actual outcomes of e-HRM”, Human Resource Management Journal 21(3): 335–354.
Pearce C. G. and Tuten R. L. (2001), “Internet recruiting in the banking industry”, Business Communication Quarterly 64(1): 9–18.
Pin J. R., Laorden M., and Sáenz-Diez I. (2001), “Internet Recruiting Power: Opportunities and Effectiveness”, International Research Centre on Organizations (IRCO), Research Paper no. 439, July.
Rathling, S. (2012). The Recruiters Lounge
Research Advisory panel (2006) e-Recruitment Practices and Trends in Ireland, Public Appointments service
Ruël, H., Bondarouk T., and Looise J. (2004), “E-HRM: innovation or irritation. An explorative empirical study in five large companies on web-based HRM”, Management Revue 15(3): 364–381.
Ruta, C. D. (2005), “The application of change management theory to HR portal implementation in subsidiaries of multinational corporations”, Human Resource Management 44(1): 35−53.
Silber J. M. (2012), “Online Recruitment”, US Business Services Research: BMO Capital Markets Corp.
SkillRoad Inc. (2012). Recruiting marketing effectiveness Meaningful matric straight from the source. Skillroad Inc, Skillroad.com
Smith A. D. and Rupp W. T. (2004), “Managerial challenges of e-recruiting: extending the life cycle of new economy employees”, Emerald online information review 28(1): 61-74.
Snell S. A., Pedigo P. R., and Krawiec G. M., (1995) “Managing the Impact of Information Technology on Human Resource Management” Pp. 159-174 in Handbook of Human Resource Management, edited by G. R. Ferris, S. D. Rosen, and D. T. Barnum (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995).
Snell S. A., Stueber D., and Lepak D. P. (2001), “Virtual HR departments: Getting out of the middle”, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS Working Paper #01-08), Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
Srivastava S. K. (2010), “Shaping Organization with e-HRM”, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology 1(1): 47-50.
Stone D. L. , Stone-Romero E. F. , Lukaszewski K. (2006), “Factors affecting the acceptance and effectiveness of electronic human resource systems”, Human Resource Management Review 16(2): 229–244.
Stone, R.J. (2006). Human Resource Management (edition 2006)
Strohmeier S. (2007), “Research in e-HRM: Review and implications”, Human Resource Management Review 17(1): 19–37.
Suvankulov F., Lau M. C. K., Chau F. H. C. (2012), “Job search on the internet and its outcome”, Emerald Internet Research 22(3): 298-317.
Vera, B., & Norris, J. B. (2009). Employers’ Online Search: An Empirical Analysis. Industrial Relations, Vol 48 684-705.
Verhoeven, Helen, and Sue Williams. “ Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Recruitment: A UK Study into Employer’s Perceptions.” International Review of Business Research Papers.4.1 (2008): 364-373. Business Source Premier.Web. 11 Feb. 2011.
Thompson L. F., Braddy F. W., Wuensch K. L. (2008), “E-recruitment and the benefits of organizational web appeal”, Computers in Human Behavior 24(5): 2384–2398.
Walker, A. J. (2001) “How the Web and Other Key Trends Are Changing Human Resources”, In Alfred J. Walker, ed. Web-Based Human Resources (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001).
White, W. (2008) E-Recruitment, The Journal of Organizational Leadership & Business
Wright, P. and Dyer, L. (2000), “People in the e-business: new challenges, new solutions”, Working paper 00-11, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University.
Title: Recruitment And Selection Dissertation – A successful occupation in Human Resources Management (HRM) begins with your ability to draw the best candidates for any given vacancy. There are many principles, issues, trends and legislative requirements that will improve your organization’s recruitment and selection processes. Improve your overall business effectiveness and prevent potential HRM issues from the outset by identifying, reaching and employing the people best suited to your organization. I hope you find this post on Recruitment And Selection Dissertations useful.
GE Consumer Finance is concerned with card and payment protector insurance for private label credit cards. They have over 10 million active cardholders with their major clients consisting of the Arcadia Group, House of Fraiser, Debenhams, and Harrods. GE Consumer Finance has 5 different departments: Auto, Risk, Operations, Front End and Finance. Auto consists of the sales centre, Risk involves quality and legal aspects, Operations is concerned with collections, call centres / customer services and new accounts, Front End is concerned with marketing, card services and client management and finally Finance incorporates all the IT processes.
Psychometric tests are tools which have been developed by psychologists in order to gain an insight into aspects of human psychology that are not immediately apparent. Psychometric tests can work very differently from each other. Some, for example, are purely concerned with looking in detail at a particular individual and how that individual sees their world. These are known as idiographic tests that allow therapists to gain insight into an individual’s ideas or problems. Other types of psychometric tests are used to compare individuals with each other and therefore involve measuring individuals on scales. These types of psychometric tests are known as nomothetic tests and it is these tests which are used in employee selection which is the focus of this study.
Psychometric tests consist of personality tests and ability tests. The focus in the selection process at GE Consumer Finance is on the ability tests. Ability tests are concerned with innate mental facilities. They are designed to test intelligence, skills and aptitudes. Due to the high validity, they are used widely in the selection of employees. There are many different types of ability tests such as job specific tests, for example short hand tests for secretarial positions, or more general tests, such as verbal, numeric, spatial and perceptual skills. This dissertation focuses in particular on the verbal and numeric tests that are used in the selection process at GE Consumer Finance.
Currently at GE Consumer Finance, the verbal and numeric tests are used as part of an assessment centre for candidates applying to the company. The group of candidates that this dissertation focuses on is Interns. Interns are undergraduates who are employed by the company for one year as part of their university course.
They are incorporated into the company and are on a salary. They are usually given a mentor when they start to enable them to integrate into the organisation with as much ease as possible. Interns have to apply for their position in the same way as everyone else. They are required to attend assessment centres where they have one to one interviews, ability tests and group tasks to carry out. They are marked on a range of aspects and the results from these various selection methods are gathered together and used in order to make decisions as to who is best for the job. It is the use of the ability tests in the selection process for interns that is being investigated here in terms of whether they add value to the process.
This will be done by conducting interviews with assessors from the various departments in the company in order to find out what the current system of ability tests entails and their opinions on the areas. Ability tests scores for the interns will then be obtained and these will be compared to their current performance in order to determine if the tests were able to successfully predict job performance. Finally, if necessary, suggestions will be given as to changes that are required in the company.
In recent times, some development took place in recruitment and selection practices. These include the E-recruitment which is a good way to deal with some problems that arise during recruitment and selection practices. E-Recruitment is very effective for all organisations but those that fall under the IT sector in India need further development because the older practices are not good enough to find capable candidates for organization. New techniques should be found to screen capable candidates. Similarly, small companies are now looking to stand and compete with big firms. These small organizations are conducting more researches in recruitment and selection practices. Aligning the current HR practices with the global standards is indispensable for survival in highly competitive business environment.
IT firms have to chose and recruit highly sophisticated and capable candidates. Small firms could use recruitment and selection methods in a better way as compared to multinational firms. As previously mentioned, recruitment practices and processes were not effective for many IT firms. Also, in recent times, new development in HR practices will provide a good chance to small firms to play their role more effectively in industry and establish a strong position in the field of human resource practices. In the past, small organizations were not getting positive attention for their recruitment processes. The small and medium IT firms overlooked the importance of best HR practices. An effective recruitment and selection process plays a vital role to enhance the success ratio of a small and medium business organization lacking a good HR structure and framework.
Many management article reviews provide evidence of poor follow up of best recruitment practices. Furthermore, only a few out of the two hundred academic HR journals take small organisation as a research sample and conducted any research on recruitment and selection practices in small organizations. An observation suggests that small organizations like to have an informal recruitment procedure. On the other hand, big organizations like to go with formal way of selection. A formal way of selection attracts more and more job applications and gives wide and better options to HR team screen out suitable candidates for the available job.
Recruitment and selection forms a core part of the central activities underlying human resource management. It frequently forms an important part of the work of human resource managers or designated specialists within work organisations. However, and importantly, recruitment and selection decisions are often for good reason taken by non-specialists, by the line managers. There is, therefore, an important sense in which it is the responsibility of all managers, and where human resource departments exist, it may be that HR managers play more of a supporting advisory role to those people who will supervise or in other ways work with the new employee.
As Mullins (2010) notes that ‘If the HRM function is to remain effective, there must be consistently good levels of teamwork, plus ongoing co-operation and consultation between line managers and the HR manager’. Recruitment and selection is often presented as a planned rational activity, comprising certain sequentially-linked phases within a process of employee resourcing, which itself may be located within a wider HR management strategy. The overall aim of the recruitment and selection process should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource needs of the company.
The recruitment and selection process constitutes the most important aspects of HRM because the cost of poor Recruitment and selection process is tremendously high. If an organisation fails to select right person, it has to suffer as long as those persons in the organisation. Moreover, the quality of service is strongly influenced by the recruitment and selection process of the organisation concerned. Sunseekers Tours Limited is not an exception to this truth. It recruits different categories of professionals who influence the company’s products. Recruitment and selection are two important aspects of the overall manpower planning of Sunseekers Tours Limited.
Generally, Manpower planning is the process by which an organisation ensures that it has the right number of people with right skills at the right time. The objectives of manpower planning are to ensure the use of human resources currently employed and to provide for future manpower needs of the organisation in terms of skills, numbers and ages.
Research on HR functions shows that recruitment and selection is the most important function performed by HR professionals and ineffective performance of this HR function results in serious business related issues. The HR management process of the company starts with recruitment and selection of team members after that orientation and appropriate training is given to the employees according to the job requirements and after training the employees will be working in their respective departments for which they were hired. If the HR department will not recruit quality employees according to the organizational requirements then the cost associated with the recruitment of the employees will be wasted.
The organizational resources will not only be wasted but also the employees which are being recruited will become a burden on the organization. Therefore, it is essential the HR professionals who are involved in the recruitment and selection function are capable enough to ensure scrutiny of the best candidates from the available pool so that those employees can play their part in the growth and development of the business. Academics have highlighted the importance of the recruitment and selection function by stating that the role of the recruitment function in the organization is same as role of the heart in the human body. The heart is supplying blood to different parts of the body in order to ensure the effective functioning of the human body and same the case with recruitment function as it is providing human capital to different departments of the organization.
If the heart in the human body will not supply blood to different parts of the human body effectively according to the requirement then the human body cannot be alive. Similarly, if recruitment and section function of HR department is not providing effective people to different sectors of the organization then it would be impossible to ensure the survival of the firm. An important aspect which needs to be considered before finalizing the recruitment strategy of the organization is organizational resources because if the organization does not have sufficient resources then the desired outcomes of the recruitment strategy cannot be achieved. Therefore, it is important that leadership of the organization should consider the different aspects before formulating and implementing the recruitment strategy because of its serious impacts on the organizational outcomes.
Research shows that a well developed recruitment strategy of the organization can results in significant improvement in business outcomes. Therefore, organizational focus in order to ensure the effective performance of the recruitment section function will impact the business of the organization positively and will support the management in the long run because employees being recruited by the HR professionals could be working in the organization for a quite longer period of time and if they are capable then they will be a source of continuous profit for the organization in the long run.
Recruitment and selection is the most important part of the HR planning of the firm and can assist the management in order to achieve competitive advantage over the competitors by ensuring the availability of high performing individuals. The recruitment and selection function not only hires the high quality individuals to achieve business objectives but also creates a pool of candidates which are readily available to take up the business challenges.
The recruitment activities are also helpful in selecting the high profile individuals for the firm. By realizing the increasing importance of recruitment and selection function of the firm and its direct link with the organization’s objectives, the researcher has selected this topic. Another important reason which motivates the researcher to select this particular topic is that there are few researches which are focused on the implementation of recruitment strategies in the retail industry. This research will provide a broader perspective about the recruitment and selection function and importance of effective implementation of the recruitment strategies.
This dissertation consists of total five chapters which include Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology, Research Findings and Conclusion and Recommendations. In the first chapter of the study, an introduction about the importance of the recruitment and selection activities of the organization is provided and the researcher has tried to identify the link between recruitment activities and business profitability of the firm.
The background of the study is also provided by the researcher in the first chapter of the study and the researcher states that that recruitment activities of the firm are not only helpful in fulfilling the staffing needs but it also help to improve the employee retention level and minimizes the staff turnover.
The research objectives and questions of the research are also provided in the first chapter of the research. In the second chapter of the research, the investigator has presented a literature review and the conceptual framework of the study. The point of views of different authors are presented and discussed in the second chapter of the study. In the third chapter, the research methodology is presented and the researcher has presented the different research methods which could be deployed in order to conduct the research and collect the research information. In the fourth chapter of the study, the final research findings are presented and analysis of the first hand information is discussed. In the last chapter, the final conclusion of the research is presented and researcher has also provided some recommendations in the last chapter of the research.
I do hope you enjoyed reading this post on HRM recruitment and selection dissertations. There are many other titles available in the HRM dissertation collection that should be of interest to human resource management students and CIPD professional. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of HRM such as employee engagement, HRM Theory, absenteeism, training and development to name a few. It took a lot of effort to write this post and I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.
