Achieving Core Competencies through Recruitment Plans

The Research topic is focused on Recruitment, Selection and competencies, which is a broad study area of human resource management. This research work focuses on an efficient Recruitment and Selection plan a Multinational Enterprise can have to gain competitive advantage. Firstly, the researcher will try to bring into the light the term effective Recruitment and Selection Plan a company can avail. Secondly, despite the importance of an organized Recruitment and Selection plan in global area, the real essence of Recruitment is still lagging behind through various obstacles and problems.

The Introduction of the research

During the last decade, new Human Resource management methods and employment policies emerged among different Multinational Enterprises. As a result, new forms of Recruitment and Selection patterns have been emerged and expanded throughout rest of the world (Kramar et al 1998, p 453). Besides global economy is being revolutionized gradually and new platforms of employment are arising due to rapid progression of technology and research & development in Information and Computer Technology sector. Therefore, hiring the astute and prosperous professionals through an effective Recruitment and Selection plan is necessary to build a strong labour force which could compete in the global market.

United Kingdom is the home of many international footwear companies, among all of these Clarks contains a significant place due to its versatility, innovative designs, affordable prices and quality issues. Clarks is no doubt one of the oldest and reliable name in UK shoes industrial history. It was a summer of 1825, in Somerset England, two brothers James Clarks and Cyrus were working in a small leather factory, where they made their first shoes in history by stitching up sheep leather cut pieces. Main speciality of Clarks is their massive range of slippers to high boots, casual to party shoes and desert boots to everyday office footwear in different colours and accessories for kids, adults and older ages. Whether it’s a high street chain outlet or an overseas store, Clarks shoes are fulfilling consumer needs by producing valuable footwear to almost every age.

UK footwear market was going through a recession in 1990 but after that people inclined to spend more on shoes than before. In 2001 shoes prices increased by 5.5 % but then after few years shoe prices reduced by a significant figure of 8 % due to shift of UK footwear manufacturers abroad in search of cheap labour and production cost. That shift reflected a huge labour force in UK because production units closed and also staff being redundant. Like other footwear companies Clarks also decided to move their production houses to those countries full of cheap labour force, raw materials, geographical and political stability. A news emerged on BBC website on 11th January 2005, that Clarks higher management has decided to stop shoes producing in Somerset. Clark’s managers informed that company contains no other solution except moving production houses to Far East.

No doubt work force is the real essence of any organization, whether its low production convenience shop on the high street or it’s a huge multinational enterprise across the globe, work force is the vitality of an organization competing into the market. Employees contribute their professional expertness towards organization’s goals and objectives and achieving upcoming targets. To design a competent workforce, appropriate and ingenious individuals should be selected through an intense recruitment criteria. The term employment defines a relation between an employer and employees in a workplace. Recruitment can be formal and informal, formal recruitment involves in employment contracts and procedural agreements, whereas informal defines psychological contracts which elaborate expectations and assumptions about what managers want from their workforce. (Kessler and Undy, 1996)

Human Resource management program focuses on hardcore competency system, which is based on informing and enhancing the mechanisms of recruitment, selection, staff development and rewards. The idea of competency is about attaining outstandingness because it is very essential about performance and it is also involved with factors of contributing to high levels of individual’s contribution and organizational capability (Armstrong, 2000). Prahalad and Hamel stated that “An obsession with Competency building will characterize the global winners of the 1990s”. The conceptualization of competency is connected to a basic aim of developing high class competent workforce who would achieve their goals and objectives and thus maximize their supplement to attain targets of the enterprise (Armstrong, 2000).

The purpose of the Research

The core purpose of the Research is to find out how a multinational enterprise can design an efficient Recruitment and Selection method which could bring competencies into that firm and enable that firm to get competitive advantage in the market. It also involves to search different effective ways to recruit and select the right manpower for the organization. Research also suggests preparing recruiter’s problems, how to tackle upcoming issues and obstacles and how that work force would compete in the global market for organization’s aims.

The Aim of the Research

To interrogate overall process of recruitment and selection in Clarks by hiring dedicated, competent and enthusiastic people who could then be shaped up into hardcore professionals to compete in the global market.

The Objective of the Research

It is very important to consider all the issues related to Recruitment and Selection plan which could help to meet the research aim. The researcher has considered the following research objectives :

To examine how Human Resource management can design an efficient Recruitment and Selection plan.

To find out how that plan can help the enterprise capabilities to acquire, attain and develop skills and strengths in work force.

To build a talented team of employees to authorize selection of best people for the enterprise.

To decide and manipulate present and futuristic approach to organization’s needs regarding with its personal and job analysis planning.

To make sure a strong and adequate workforce is established to achieve competencies in global market

Literature Review

There are many theoretical and factual researches have been done on Recruitment and Selection plan in earlier and recent years. Similarly, this section has been designed to review the theory, conceptual and contextual data from difference sources.

An overview of Recruitment and Selection

The term Recruitment and Selection is getting consequential for employers, trade unions, governments and researchers in work and organizational studies. However, it has become very difficult to define in one word. So, the term Recruitment and Selection has been defined by many writers in different ways for different purposes. The core objectives of the Recruitment and Selection process must be to attain at lowest cost the quantity and quality of the employees required to fulfil the Human Resource necessities in an enterprise. The main aim of selection is to matching people capabilities according to the work. It’s the most substantial factor in any enterprise’s management because optimising human resources efficiency is not possible unless there is an acceptable match (Roberts, 1997). In this matter, Human Resource managers should identify intense and innovative recruiting methods by filtering candidates and appoint them in the right place in enterprise.

Stages of Recruitment and Selection

The fact & figures and characteristics values required about people must be mentioned in the Recruitment process. Moreover, demands and needs for replacing new jobs to fill up will occur and these requirements should be checked to make sure that they are justified. Hiring for some specific vacancies are organized in a way of job descriptions and person specifications. This can help in many ways to Recruiters, who gather information to design advertisements, explain recruitment agencies or HR consultants and assess capabilities of candidates. Michael Armstrong elaborated that Recruitment and Selection process has three stages which are as follows :

Describing Requirements : Human Resource managers must have to prepare Job Descriptions and its specifications and also planning contractual terms, conditions and policies of employment.

Magnetizing Candidates : Human Resource management should be able to find all possible sources to attract candidates towards specified jobs. In situation of lack of manpower HR management must review and evaluate substitute sources of candidates, for example, internal and external sides of the enterprise, recruitment agencies, HR consultants and Advertisements.

Choosing Candidates : This stage involves in more practical issues by analyzing candidates applications, intense interviews, testing physical and mental capabilities, offering employment, acquiring references and maintaining employee’s contracts (Armstrong, 2000).

Recruitment and Selection plan leading to core Competencies

In 1990, Prahalad and Hamel stated in their journal “The Core Competence of the Corporation” that an enterprise might be able to hire some prominent employees but it does not mean that enterprise will get overall competence automatically. No doubt building a professional team is necessary for the enterprise but there should be enough coordination between all employees involved in designing and delivering products to the market, which then will bring core competency. According to their point of view, coordinating different productive skills and integrating multiple technologies will help core competence to arise.

An enterprise must be classified into an organized portfolio containing core competencies instead of a portfolio of a single business unit. Fully trained business managers should centralize on obtaining quick end products to the market. Managers should focus on outsourcing different ways to promote products and find competitive advantage. Achieving core competencies is an ongoing and continuous process which help enterprise’s workforce to compete in the global markets. Finally, core competencies hold all business sectors in a bond that attaches the business corners into a consistent portfolio. A huge enterprise is merely a bunch of discontinuous businesses if there is no core competencies (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990).

Therefore, it can be said that an effective Recruitment and Selection plan helps an organization to build a strong team but to achieve competencies there should be an ongoing and continuous process of coordination in team to make a global competitive advantage platform for their products. However, Clarks recruitment and selection process is quite intense and they make sure people who are entering the organization bring lots of good stuff among them. To keep their place up into the market and to gain competitive advantage they must have to perform outstanding on continuous basis. (Maharaja, 2010)

Research Methodology

Research Methodology can be manipulated in two huge areas such as Research Types and Research methods which are discussed as follows :

Research Types

Without taking a proper look on research qualification, conducting research would not be a valid one. The current research tracks some standards of research.

Research Philosophy

Research philosophy contains many different types which focuses how knowledge is developed in a specific place of study (Saunders et al, 2007). Positivism and social constructionism are two well known research criterions (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008). This research will highlight on former perspective, which is same as to the realism (Saunders et al, 2007). Philosophy of positivist research has been implemented here to reply research questions and to face the research objectives.

Research Approach

To develop research strategy, deductive approach has been used by researcher. There is a huge pile of literature available on Recruitment, selection and core competencies issues. As an adequate way of defining a theoretical sketch of research, the deductive approach has been used in the research. This approach is mainly related to positivists philosophy and it states that collecting data traces theory and finally allows for theory review. Deductive research is different from the inductive approach. Inductive approach mainly shifts from data to theory and assume that theory is the outcome of the research. Infact, deductive strategy is ultimately linked with quantitative approach by helping researcher to avail the statistical reliable result which may not be in qualitative work (Bryman and Bell, 2008, p 11).

Research Methods

To fulfil the requirements of the research objectives, it is very important to choose the research methods. Research methods will define the prominent ways to do the research.

Sampling Designs

A huge population can be managed in size and data can be manipulated from it but its not possible always to acquire data from it all the time. Similarly, the researcher will highlight the representative sampling of overall population. Though Recruitment, Selection and Competencies issues are slightly different in many companies, for example, some companies do online hire, some retail companies hire in store outlet but main scenario is pretty same of hiring right people and refine them to prepare competencies, so samples will be collected from any HR manager or HR officer working for that specific multinational organization in United Kingdom. There are hundreds of multinational enterprises are operating in UK, where around 50 local multinational enterprises will be selected for sampling.

Acquiring Data

Both primary and seconday is benefecient to collect data and to reply all questions in the research. Primary data will be collected with the help of questionnaires. To fulfil research’s objectives, questionnaires have been choosen to avail quantitative data. Infact, questionnaire is the most relative way to collect primary data, thatswhy researcher is using data collection tooklit to collect HR people’s views regarding Recruitment and Selection plan. There are different options to collect primary data, which are as follows :

To make sure reliable data collection, questionnaire like interview-administrated will be used. It also helps by avoiding unknown biases and to make sure higher response rates are availed than self-administered technique.

The person being interviewed should be Human Resource officer or manager.

There should be an adequate suitable environment apart of somone’s interference.

All relative equipment, for example notes and recording tools must be used to precision data.

From many different ways, secondary data will be gathered for this research. By providing literature and academic conceptions from secondary data, former research regarding Recruitment, Selection and Competencies will be required to support primary data. Known newspapers, journals, books, magazines, reports and website will be used to find information Recruitment & Selection and Core Competencies issues around the globe.

Ethical Issues

There is increasing pressure of ethical issues in Human Resource management, which cannot be ignored as those issues raise the questions regarding research integrity. The researcher will follow the ethical principles.

Chapter by Chapter Synopsis

Chapter 1 : Introduction

Chapter 2 : Contextual Literature

Chapter 3 : Conceptual Literature

Chapter 4 : Research Methodology

Chapter 5 : Analysis and Interpretation

Chapter 6 : Conclusion

Chapter 7 : Recommendations

Chapter 8 : Basis for further research

Chapter 9 : Reference

Chapter 10 : Bibliography

Chapter 11 : Appendixes

Gantt Chart

Activity

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Extensive Reading, Arrange Interviews/ Questionnaire

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Analysis on Recruitment &Selection, Competencies

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Conduct Interviews

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Analyse Gathered Data

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HR Management Interviews in London

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Company Interviews

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Public Interviews

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Focus on Literature

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Amalgamate findings from literature, interviews and questionnaires.

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Compile Final Version

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Ensure topic is addressed and remove unwanted data.

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Printing, binding and ready for submission.

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Sample Questionnaire

The broader scope of Recruitment and selection and how it boost competencies into a business has lifted many research questions, which are as follows:

How an effective Recruitment and Selection plan can be designed?

How a merit based Recruitment and Selection plan can be designed by avoiding internal or external interference?

Is there any future of applying an effective Recruitment and Selection plan into Clarks? How?

How that plan can effect core competencies into Clarks to achieve competitive advantage?

What should be done to make sure Recruitment and Selection plan efficiencies into Clarks?

Reference Books

Roberts G.(1997)Recruitment and Selection, 1st Edition

Dale M.(2003)A Manager’s Guide to Recruitment and Selection, 2nd Edition

Billsberry J.(2007)Experiencing Recruitment and Selection, 1st Edition

Compton et al(2009)Effective Recruitment and Selection Practices, 5th Edition

Taylor D., Fox G.(2000)The Complete Recruitment and Selection Toolkit, 1st edition

Reference Journals

Petersoninstitute(2010)Is there a Good Measure of Competitiveness?, available on : http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/chapters_preview/47/7iie2644.pdf

Porter M. et al(2000)Global Competitivness Report of the World Economic Forum 2000

Competitiveness(1999)Global Competitive Report 1999, Conceptual Framework, available on: http://www.competitiveness.gov.jo/files/Global%20Competitiveness%20report%20E.V%201999.pdf

Yochelson J.(1997)Can the US compete? A 10 year outlook-competitiveness of US economy, available on : http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4070/is_n124/ai_19694506/

Lim Y. S(2003)Global Knowledge Networking for the Multinational Enterprise, available on : dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/17563/52384108.pdf

Carter B. D.(2010)Dealing with Jealousy, available on : http://www.davidbonham-carter.com/jealousy.html

Georghiou et al(2003)Evaluation of the Finnish Innovation Supprot System

Kottler R.(2010)British Footwear news association for members and friends of the industry

Swinson T. G. & Ford J. V.(2003)Merit Based Recruitment and Selection Plan and Procedures:North Carolina Department of Administration

References :

Prahalad C. K., Hamel G.(1990)The Core Competence to the Corporation, p 1-15