b) Terminal APM - Informe de la Recopilación y Verificación de las Informaciones de la Infraest

Learning outcomes

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• provide an underpinning rationale in support of the development and practise of strategically integrated recruitment and selection;

• identify and explain the major features of strategic recruitment and selection and summarise these through an explanatory model;

• analyse how recruitment and selection can be developed to fit a variety of strategic scenarios using illustrative examples to support your analysis;

• explain how recruitment and selection practice can be shaped to accommodate the demands of strategic change and unplanned change arising from an uncertain future;

• evaluate evidence to determine the extent of strategic recruitment and selection practice; • account for the apparent mismatch between the rationale for strategic recruitment and

selection and paucity of evidence of its practise.

Summary

• The pursuit of competitive advantage, interest in SHRM and the role of recruitment and selection in securing one of an organisation’s most valuable assets provide a powerful rationale for the development of strategic recruitment and selection.

• It is possible to construct a model of strategic recruitment and selection around three primary features: strategic integration; a long-term perspective; and the use of HRP as a bridging mechanism between strategy and HR practice. The strategic variant elevates the organisational importance of recruitment and selection and leads to the generation of a more demanding person specification. These two outcomes generate four consequential inter- related, secondary features that are likely to shape strategic recruitment and selection practise: the adoption of a front-loaded investment model; rigorous evaluation of outcomes; the use of high validity, sophisticated selection methods; and multi-stakeholder involvement.

• Far from being a simple notion strategic fit has been revealed as a multi-dimensional concept where it is possible to identify at least six different strands. This means that strategic recruitment and selection has potentially to be aligned with multiple interpretations of strategy if it is to satisfy its strategic credentials.

Millmore et al., Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Instructor’s Manual

• Despite uncertainties surrounding strategy implementation and the business environment as it unfolds over time, recruitment and selection practice can be shaped to support long-term changes in strategic direction.

• On balance and despite a powerful rationale to the contrary, organisational approaches to recruitment and selection practice appear to be dominated by traditional and not strategic approaches.

• The overall conclusion is that although the case for adopting strategic recruitment and selection may be seductively persuasive it is arguably another case in the HR arena where the rhetoric runs ahead of the reality.

Teaching and learning suggestions

Comment

The chapter begins by presenting a rationale for the adoption and practise of strategic recruitment and selection by organisations. In brief, it is argued that over the last two decades there has been considerable focus on strategic management and its crucial role in securing competitive advantage and that employees are a critical, if not the most important, resource for achieving an organisation’s strategic objectives. From this stance it is argued that it would therefore be rational for organisations to tailor their recruitment and selection practice to meet their strategic imperatives. On this basis the prime concern of recruitment and selection would be the employment of staff who can make a direct contribution to the achievement of an organisation’s strategic objectives. Whatever the merits of this argument, a review of research findings at the end of the chapter concludes that there is little evidence that strategically-driven recruitment and selection is being practised by organisations. In contrast, what was found was that traditional approaches to recruitment and selection, driven by the demands of specific job vacancies, continue to dominate organisational practice. This may account for why there is, like HRP, a paucity of literature on strategic recruitment and selection. The overwhelming majority of literature on recruitment and selection focuses on its traditional construction and delivery and not its strategically-driven variant.

Two particular difficulties facing the teaching of strategic recruitment and selection are, therefore, the wide chasm that exists between the apparent logic for its practise on the one hand and the absence of evidence of its practise on the other and its lack of coverage in the literature. For this reason the chapter explores the concept of strategic recruitment and selection in depth. It particularly draws on material from Chapters 1 and 7 to illustrate and explore the multiple meanings of strategic fit in relation to strategic recruitment and selection. This approach is supported directly by the self-check and reflect, and case study questions most of which require the reader to work through the conceptual construction of strategic recruitment and selection and/or apply it to a number of real organisational scenarios.

Student preparation

Prior to the class, we believe it is essential that students read and make notes from the chapter. We have found that producing mind maps of the chapter content is a useful approach to note taking and encourages students to reflect on the internal integration of the subject content of the chapter.

We use a variety of vehicles to bridge student preparation and class-based activities to enhance their understanding of the chapter content and its overall relationship to managing HR strategically. As standard, we would ask students to make a note of any queries arising from their reading and to come to the teaching session prepared to raise them. Sometimes this may be formalised by asking students to write down (as questions) the three issues addressed by the chapter where they would like further clarification and guidance.

Students may also be asked to do one or more of the following:

• address pre-set questions and write their answers briefly in note format;

• complete the self check and reflect questions and come to the session prepared to share and discuss their responses; and

• familiarise themselves with the chapter case study (or an alternative case supplied in advance) and come to the session prepared to tackle the case questions.

Our outline answers to both self check and reflect questions and case study questions follow in the next two substantive sections of this chapter guide. Pre-set questions that we have found useful for structuring student reading, preparatory activities and classroom discussion for the topic of strategic recruitment and selection include:

1. Based on prior learning and/or experience, how would you map out the entire recruitment and selection process in a flow diagram?

2. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment and selection process you have drawn up in response to Question 1?

3. What do you understand to be the key similarities and differences between the traditional approach to recruitment and selection focused on job fit and the strategic variant focused on organisational fit?

4. What problems are likely to be encountered by an organisation intent on developing and practising a strategic approach to recruitment and selection?

5. To what extent can a recruitment and selection exercise that you have encountered be classified as strategic?

In the classroom

Clearly the approach adopted to ‘student preparation’ can be followed through into the classroom. A starting point that we find useful is to surface and discuss the issues arising from students’ preparatory reading. This avoids providing lecture input that simply repeats what students have already grasped, reinforces the value of reading as an essential prerequisite for class-based discussion and provides a platform from which further class-based activities can be launched. However, when adopting this approach, we find it useful, once student queries have been exhausted, to provide a snappy summary of key issues.

Where preparing answers to self check and reflect questions has been set as part of preparation for the teaching session, at least two alternatives present themselves. First, students can be asked to contribute individual responses that are then subjected to plenary discussion. This is our preferred approach because it makes students more accountable for their personal learning and reserves any group work for case study analysis. Second, students can be formed into groups to share their individual answers and draw conclusions from their discussions. However, if preparing answers to self check and reflect questions was not part of preparatory work but

Millmore et al., Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Instructor’s Manual

consideration of the questions is to feature as part of the teaching session, we would favour the group approach as a more stimulating approach. In all cases student responses can be considered against our suggested answers, which themselves can be usefully critiqued.

Where case study work has featured as part of preparatory activities, similar approaches to those suggested for self check and reflect questions can be adopted. If coming to the case afresh, there is unlikely to be time for groups to consider all four questions. Here we would suggest that groups major on one of the case questions only moving on to others if they have time. Our answers to the four questions arguably present a degree of comprehensiveness and detail unlikely to be echoed within the parameters of a standard teaching session. However, they can be introduced into discussion of the case study and their validity critiqued. In addition there is scope for further detailed development of our answers and examples are provided as to how this might be put into operation.

For students who have not previously studied recruitment and selection before it is useful to spend more time on exploring the fundamentals of the ‘traditional’ process. Here the first question suggested for student preparation (Based on prior learning and/or experience, how would you map out the entire recruitment and selection process in a flow diagram?) can be used as the basis for group work. Groups can be asked to share their flow diagrams and draw up a composite flow chart before analysing it in terms of the second question suggested for student preparation (What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment and selection process you have drawn up in response to Question 1?).

For students who are adding a strategic focus to prior studies of HRM it is more useful to focus on their answers to Questions 3–5 of those suggested for student preparation. We have particularly found it useful to focus on students’ practical experiences of recruitment and selection and to analyse these to evaluate their strategic credentials against the conceptual models provided in the chapter. Even if this did not form part of ‘student preparation’ it is normally possible to get students to share and analyse their recruitment and selection experiences in this way.

Follow-up work

The pedagogic features adopted throughout this book are intended to offer a number of alternatives for follow-up work while at the same time leaving the lecturer free to add or substitute their own ideas.

If they have not already been used as part of class activities, self check and reflect questions and/or the chapter case study, ‘Recruitment and Selection at Southco Europe Ltd’, will serve as a useful reinforcement of chapter content. Our outline answers to both self check and reflect questions and case study questions follow in the next two substantive sections of this chapter guide.

There are also a number of follow-up study suggestions after the chapter summary that can be undertaken by students either individually or in groups and an extensive list of references provides many opportunities for directed further reading.

A further task for full-time students would be to utilise material on recruitment and selection practice gathered as part of any search for a ‘first destination’ job and analyse it for evidence of strategic practise.

A further task for part-time students could involve them researching their own company’s recruitment and selection activities in more depth with a view to analysing its strategic credentials against the conceptual referents provided in the chapter.

Answers to Self-Check and Reflect Questions

8.1 Imagine that you work as an HR officer for a company that is unhappy with the effectiveness of its current recruitment and selection practice. You have been asked to write a paper presenting a rationale for the development and subsequent implementation of strategic recruitment and selection.

Before you read on, take five minutes out to think through the main arguments that you would use to structure such a paper. Write them down now in note form. If you have already read Chapters 1, 2 and 7 you should find these helpful in developing your ideas.

This is one of two questions designed to engage the reader with the subject through a process of interaction. The authors’ answer to this question is summarised in Key Concepts 8.3 and you would have been able to compare your answer against this and weigh the significance of any differences. If you have not already done this you should now do so although the full value of this question will have been lost if it was not answered before reading on.

8.2 What potential features emerge from your reading of the section ‘What is the rationale for strategic recruitment and selection’? that you would expect to be incorporated into the development of a conceptual framework of strategic recruitment and selection?

This is another interactive question although here the answer is embedded in the rest of the chapter and is therefore not so obvious. It is argued that the themes below emerge from this section in the following order of appearance:

• a strategic focus so that recruitment and selection is linked inextricably with corporate objectives;

• the need to facilitate change in an increasingly turbulent business environment; • adoption of a long-term perspective consistent with the strategic focus;

• the need for HRP to match recruitment and selection activities to corporate strategy; • recognising the importance of recruitment and selection when human resources are

viewed as an organisation’s most valuable asset;

• the need for recruitment and selection to be internally integrated with other activities making up the HR bundle; and

• the need to adopt a broader organisational focus into the processes of job analysis. Further on in the chapter these themes take form through the development of a conceptual framework and model of strategic recruitment and selection. You might like to go back and see how the above themes have been reflected in these explanatory devices.

8.3 To what extent do staffing processes at the Dionysos reflect the strategic approach to recruitment and selection encapsulated by the conceptual framework and model depicted in Key Concepts 8.4 and Figures 8.3 and 8.4?

Before directly addressing this question it is arguably important to reflect on the contextual circumstances impacting on recruitment and selection practice at the Dionysos. In summary, the hotel:

Millmore et al., Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Instructor’s Manual

• is located in Turkey and not subject to the draft of legislation operating on recruitment and selection within the European Union;

• currently operates in a loose labour market where supply of labour exceeds demand; • essentially provides a single product that supports a relatively straightforward approach

to first, second and third order strategic decisions; and • can be classified as a small to medium family business.

Within this identified context, current recruitment and selection practice could be argued to reflect the strategic variant through at least two strands of strategic integration. There is a strong link between the personal attributes, or core competencies, required in staff and the business goal with particular emphasis on service quality and family fit. There is also evidence of horizontal integration through an inter-related bundle of HR practices including staff development, welfare, performance management, reward management, management style and employee involvement. The strategy itself suggests a longer-term focus of creating a market niche and, although not formalised, a degree of HRP is evident in the HR practices developed and their integration with strategic imperatives. Although not cited in the case, both Rim and Ahmet actively use their MBA qualifications to inform their business planning.

With respect to secondary features recruitment and selection at the Dionysos, although somewhat unconventional by UK standards, reflects a front-loaded investment approach and use of sophisticated selection with some evidence of multi-stakeholder involvement. The probationary period is tantamount to an extended, realistic and valid application of work sampling which costs a minimum of one month’s pay for each shortlisted candidate. There is also extensive and meaningful involvement of staff in making appointments to their work groups. In addition there appears to be significant attention given to evaluating organisational performance against key performance indicators. Although this evaluation is not explicitly linked to recruitment and selection, by implication it incorporates measurements of the quality of service provided by recruits. The hotel industry is very labour intensive and dependent on the quality and performance of its staff. Presumably therefore the success of the Dionysos in meeting its business goals has to be down in no small measure to the staff employed to deliver its vision.

8.4 To what extent does the process used to recruit Ryan Parry reflect a strategic approach to recruitment and selection? It is recommended that you conduct your analysis against the conceptual framework and model of strategic recruitment and selection presented earlier in the chapter (Key Concepts 8.4 and Figures 8.3 and 8.4).

An analysis of the Buckingham Palace example against featured templates of strategic recruitment and selection is clearly constrained by a lack of detailed information. However, despite reference to careful selection, a feature of Borucki and Lafley’s definition of strategic recruitment and selection, the signs are not good. While not privy to the corporate strategy of the Palace, if one exists, and although it does not fit neatly into the normal classifications of strategy, it is difficult to believe that the security of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family is not a central objective. Allied to this, particularly given the sensitivity to media relations, it might be expected that personal attributes such as commitment to the Royal Household, fidelity, honesty, integrity etc. would be fundamental attributes of personal specifications designed to recruit staff against this paramount concern for security.

On the basis of the reported events and their detailed exposure in the tabloids it would seem that the antithesis of strategic recruitment and selection is operating here. There was either no strategic connection or the recruitment and selection process blatantly failed to deliver it. Selection methods used appear to be very basic and far removed from sophisticated selection with no evidence of a front-loaded investment model or multi-stakeholder involvement. Ryan Parry resigned from his post, presumably so he could reveal all, but it begs the question as to

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