Task1: Recruitment, selection and retention
Recruitment Procedure
Tesco, the leader in this field, states clearly that the reward it gives users of the Tesco Club card is a thank you for sharing information. It is also obvious to the Tesco customers that it is a better store. It may not be obvious to everyone that this is the result of their customer information, but, if asked, Tesco managers can give a straight answer. Most applications of customized branding methods concern established brands or extensions of established brands. Tesco used customer data to launch Tesco personal finance, a unique venture as such, but from a brand marketing point of view a range extension; presumably customer data to support the launch plan came from Tesco's retail customers (Nilson 2003). The reason is that, first, customizing the brand is easiest if customer data is available, and customer data is of course not available, unless the brand is already on the market. The second aspect is that to customize a brand there must be a brand platform to customize. However, this is not necessary. It is perfectly possible to start with a customized plan from the beginning but it is highly unusual. In retailing Tesco knows a lot more than the discount chain Netto, British Airways know more than the low-price airline Ryanair. This has nothing necessarily to do with ability but with business strategy. If the brand platform is based on a low price alone, most companies with that kind of strategy just wait for the bargain hunters to come, as the business model does not allow for customer analysis (Nilson 2003).
Tesco, the UK retailer and master of customer information, used its customer database as a fountain of information when developing the Tesco finest range. A range of superior, quality-food products aimed at taking the high ground in food retailing. Understanding the customers meant that the right products could be developed and the end result was a highly successful launch.Tesco instead attempted to change the whole bundle of characteristics, bringing all aspects of its operations in line with its desired new position over a short period of time. It introduced a much wider range of fresh produce, and increased the proportion of private label goods. It raised the quality of merchandise generally and shifted the centre of gravity of its operations from city centers to out-of-town supermarkets (Kay 1995). Tesco's success reflected the different basis of its competitive advantage. The company had established an internal and external architecture in its retailing systems. This is a distinctive capability which could be exploited in many different market positions. Its reputation was of modest value. Such a reputation is easy to acquire. So Tesco sacrificed little of the company's existing distinctive capability, and exploited its new one more fully. Tesco's shift of product position was successful in the sense that it achieved its aims (Kay 1995). The recruitment process would focus on print advertisements. There would be posters that would be placed on authorized walls. The posters would be in conspicuous places so that people would see the need for staffs. There would also be newspaper advertisements. It would be a quarter of the page of a newspaper. This would be done so that the cost would be minimized but it does not prevent the advertisement from being seen by applicants. All advertisement would contain the logo of Tesco. The header of the advertisement would contain a huge text that has the words “staff needed”. The advertisement would also contain the positions needed, the requirements for the positions and the qualifications needed for the position. The advertisement would clearly state that previous work experience is a big plus.
Selection procedure
Tesco Stores is currently the leading UK food retailer. Its competitive advantage is built around a focus upon high quality as well as low cost. Using an Efficient Consumer Response operations strategy, they offer a high quality service and product availability, but at the same time keeping waste and costs low. They also recognize that different operations strategies should be used for different product groups and characteristics. They increasingly seek competitive advantage from niche operations by tailoring the goods supplied to the needs of the geographic region (Lowson 2002). Hiring new people from outside is one kind of membership decision; candidates are recruited, their qualifications are assessed, and some of them are hired. Applicants often specify the position or kind of position they seek, and they are rarely considered for other roles. A first screening may be a preliminary interview, completion of an application form, or both. If an applicant is to be seriously considered after the preliminary screening, assessment of applicant characteristics follows. This may begin with subjective assessments of behavior during interviews or of information on an application blank or résumé. In earlier times it included writing to or calling people listed as references; now, when organizations are so often sued, calling a previous employer will rarely elicit more than confirmation of the dates of prior employment (Guion 1998).
Formal assessment procedures used in some organizations include written tests, performance tests, structured and scored interviews, assessment centers, carefully developed personal history forms, and the like. These examples all provide numerical values to represent assessments, values that can be used in research to determine the value of the procedure for the selection enterprise. Procedures are sometimes casual, sometimes very systematic; usually, job analysis concentrates on one job at a time, one where the need and opportunity for improvement seems greatest. Job and organizational need analysis should consider whether relatively poor performance on a job is a selection problem or is approached better by other organizational interventions (Aguinis 2004). Need analysis asks whether the best approach is likely to be to redesign the job and immediate work environment, to change people already on the job through training or improved management, or to improve selection procedures. No new selection procedure can solve a problem that springs primarily from inadequate equipment or inept management. People look for employment in organizations that already exist; they are attracted to some organizations more than to others and apply to the most attractive ones. Whether the basis for attraction is factual or exists only in rumor, organizations can choose only among those who are attracted enough to apply to them. If the basis for attraction was wrong, and people once in the organization find that the fit is poor, they leave (Aguinis 2004). The selection process would focus on the use of one written exam, one practical exam and a character based interview. The written exam would help in identifying the knowledge skills of the personnel. It would confirm what they learned in school and it would identify their strong points. The practical exam would check the applicant’s skills and knowledge of Tesco. The practical exam would determine how the applicant can contribute to Tesco. It will determine whether the applicant can perform multiple tasks. The interview would determine how the applicant relates with others and will help in determining how the applicant will respond to circumstances.
Staff retention
Employees, especially the most capable ones, have an increased confidence in their ability to work under conditions that fill their own needs. They can negotiate the terms of employment that suit them and change jobs and careers to secure better conditions. The movement of power to the employee will continue over a long time, despite fluctuations associated with the economic cycle and specific labor markets. That is why retention is so important today and why a company will continue to find it difficult to retain the employees they want to keep (Dibble 1999). Retention is a serious and ongoing issue. It is a problem that a company will continue to face for the foreseeable future. The employees they want to retain are always in short supply and always have alternatives. As a firm develop their own plans and programs to increase their ability to retain the employees they want to keep, the three factors of identifying who they want to keep, quantifying costs, and assigning responsibility, will help a firm focus on the essentials. Employees will no longer endure what they do not like in their employment situation. They have power in the knowledge of their abilities and confidence in their value in the marketplace. With greater loyalty to their career and their skills than to their employer, they move on (Dibble 1999).
The twenty-first century employment relationship puts enormous pressure on organizations to lay a solid foundation for the employment relationship. New employee orientation is one of the foundations of retention. The company needs to be prepared for employees at different locations; in different levels of the organization, and most importantly, with different individual needs. A company needs careful planning and preparation to identify all the individualized paperwork they need to sign and the specific information required for their circumstances. Options play a different role in retention in larger, established businesses. Here, options are part of the overall pay strategy. They are a way of distributing pay based on the success of the company in the stock market. There is less risk in the stock of an established company and therefore less reward compared to a start-up. Options can be granted selectively to the individual employees want to retain (Arthur 2006). Benefits cannot help a company retain only the employees they want to keep. But they need to be competitive with their benefits when they recruit employees. Businesses are unlikely to attract employees because they have many more choices in healthcare coverage or offer more life insurance than the competition. Employees value their benefits, but they may not realize all that the company provides for them. A company gives employees booklets and forms when they first come to work for them and additional information as changes are made. Employees often think that benefits are complicated and give up reading about them until they have a specific need or want to file a claim. One way to remind employees what a company offers is to distribute annual, personalized benefits statements. Typically these list each benefit, accompanied by a brief description and reference to more information (Arthur 2006). To retain employees, the management must make sure that the relationship with the personnel is strong. Lines of communication should always be open between the management and the personnel. There should be a time for bonding and strengthening relationships. The management need to be open to any comments from the employees and must know how to motivate the personnel. The store should provide the necessary financial and non financial method of motivation.
Legal and Ethical issues during recruitment and selection
Each organization must recruit and select the appropriate talent for the positions vacant within an organization. The process of recruitment is usually guided by perspectives of equitable treatment. Affirmative action and equal employment laws significantly govern what public and private organizations do to fill vacancies. To ensure equitable treatment, test creation, test validation, interviewing techniques, assessment centers, performance-based exams, and other strategies have become techniques used by organizations to ensure equity while simultaneously providing a method of evaluation and narrowing candidates to effect a selection within the organization. This is often the most visible and most contentious area for HR directors and managers (Williams 1996). Organizations have outcomes that are often different from applicants; therefore, actions that may be perfectly legitimate and legal on the side of the organization may also receive enormous scrutiny from the public and other entities because it is hard to rationally state that fairness was achieved in the hiring process. Because lawsuits and complaints are usually filed through external agencies against organizations, a rigidness forms within corporations around the hiring process that often breeds distaste and establishes unrealistic expectations of the selected applicant for positions. The strategies for the field of human resources encompass approaching each area within the field from the perspective of balance (Williams 1996).
Strategies for personnel, recruitment and selection, compensation and classification, labor relations, training, health benefits, and health promotion must begin to focus on the issue of balance rather than focus on specific requests from within the organizations. This is not a statement of indifference or insubordination; rather, it is a statement that strongly suggests that HR professionals stop discounting their own gifts and their own focus as they hear requests from organizations for strategies to respond to issues from within the organization (Nie & Young 1996). HR professionals must filter all information with their professional filter, not their political one. Currently the area of recruitment and selection focuses on getting employees on board in an organization to meet the specific needs of the organization in a specified job. Where organizations are heavily regulated, rules of fairness and equity are frameworks that structure how the organization recruits and selects individuals for the position through some selection criteria. These has the earmarks of being successful unless the organizational leadership is more focused on getting the person that matches their own style, thereby potentially thwarting a fair and equitable process in the recruitment and selection cycle. Recruitment and selection also encompass testing and validation as critical to the appearance of equity. Issues of adverse impact, fairness, and closeness of the item on the test to the actual issues of the job are always at question (Nie & Young 1996). The ethical issue that the company should be wary of is unfair methods of recruitment and selection. The company should make sure that its process of recruitment would be transparent and free from doubts. It should not hesitate to recruit or select people regardless of their race or disability. As long as the applicant is qualified, the company should still hire the personnel even if they have disability or has a different race. The legal issue that the company should be wary of is the violation of UK employment laws. The firm should make sure that it will follow the laws on Hiring, selecting and retaining employees.
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