Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature
In this chapter companies that recognized all over the world and operated in different countries are being subject for their process in hiring and selecting employees for the open position in their company. This chapter shall tackle the strategies of companies selecting their potential applicants.
Recruiting the right people on the job is a critical phase in a company’s quest for a productive, efficient and profitable short-term and long-term goal. Human resource is the locomotive of the company thus; the emphasis in selecting the desirable employee in the job carries with it the responsibility of gearing the company to its future. Further, the artificial shortage of laborers lies not in the lack of qualified applicants but on the inability to find the right people on the job.
The early part of this century witnessed a burgeoning concern about how to organize the efforts of individuals in the large organizations that resulted from the industrial revolution. Previously, productivity was regarded as a function of technology and access to raw materials (O’Neil, 1997). Increasingly, according to O’Neil (1997) however, the human factor came to be recognized as critical to productivity. Frederick W. Taylor (1916 cited in O’Neil, 1997), considered the father of the field of American management, recognized the limitations in skills of most workers in these organizations. His answer to the deficiency in worker skills was to emphasize the need for an extensive managerial structure to organize and supervise the workers, leaving as little responsibility and discretion as possible to the common worker.
In contrast to the traditional approach in the United States, management now recognizes a need to have workers take on more responsibility at the points of production, of sales, or of service rendered, if we are to compete in rapidly changing world markets. In order to adapt to the need to introduce new products and services quickly with high quality, new directions in management emphasize participative management, flatter organizational structure, just-in-time management, and team work (O’Neil, 1997) . This development means that much more is expected of even entry-level members of the American workforce. The cry of American management for workers with greater skills and who can take on greater responsibility has spawned many commissions, task forces and studies, including the five studies previously mentioned. All of them have contributed to the vast evidence documenting the need for a more highly skilled workforce. What remains largely undone is the development of methods to assess the necessary skills that have been identified (O’Neil, 1997).
Concerns about the condition of the economy and the skill requirements of the modern workplace have driven education reform for at least a decade and a half asserts Bailey (1997). As the U.S. economy lost its dominant economic position in the world, many began to blame the country’s education system. The public perception grew that young Americans were not as well educated and prepared for work as their European and Asian peers and that those deficiencies accounted for growing trade deficits and a loss of jobs to foreign competitors (Commission on Skills in the American Workforce, 1990; U.S. Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983).
Employers frequently complain that they have great difficulty convincing employees to relocate to fill vacancies (Doeringer, et al, 1991).
From childhood until old age, two activities dominate the lives of most Americans: education and work (Olson, 1998). Yet educators and employers, despite their obvious interdependence, communicate poorly–or not at all. The gulf between them handicaps business, wastes the talents and energies of millions of young people, and threatens our future prosperity as a nation (Olson, 1998). Companies with good jobs, career ladders, and fringe benefits don’t even like to hire young people. Instead, they let most 20somethings cycle through dead-end jobs, schooling.
Reengineering, restructuring, even rethinking approaches to organizational design have proliferated in recent management literature (Keidel, 1994 cited in Nelson, 1997). Purported to underlie hundreds of these and other innovative approaches is a fundamental paradigmatic shift called the boundaryless organization (Nelson, 1997). A boundaryless organization is one that focuses on permeating all internal and external boundaries (e.g., those between functions, the organization and its suppliers, even between nations) with free movement of ideas, information, decisions, talent, rewards, and action (Ashkenas et al., 1995).
Frank Doyle, the senior vice president of corporate relations at General Electric, asserts that for U.S. corporations, tomorrow’s competitive battle will be won or lost on the strength of their ability to build and retain a skilled work force (Richman 1990, 76). Everyone is talking about the labor shortage, but it seems to be a matter not of shortage but of finding and keeping the right people. There are always people, but not necessarily ones that meet our needs. Once they are found, it is a matter of being able to keep them.
Increasingly, recruiting is an essential tool; competitors recognize that it is a competitive weapon. To land a production job at Toyota, for instance, takes at least 18 hours (Kraar 1989). Once prospective employees complete a general knowledge exam and they are tested in their attitude toward work, the company then takes the top 30 percent and scrutinizes them the way American companies do their managers. These promising candidates go in groups of 12 to interpersonal skills assessment centers run by Kentucky State University for a session on problem solving. Prospects are then given a hypothetical problem and told, for example, “that a lawn mower manufacturer has production problems. The winners ask the right questions and work together to find solutions” (Kraar 1989, 104). Candidates also go through a manufacturing exercise and are asked to improve on the method they were taught. Less than 10 percent of applicants survive the final probing interviews.
Most American firms do not go through such an extensive recruiting process as Toyota, but they are getting more serious about it. For instance, Motorola’s case is fairly typical. It used to chart the productivity of its communication-sector employee-recruiting department by the amount of money recruiters spent hiring individuals. Its goal was simple–spend as little as possible. In fact, its recruiting department’s productivity did go up, but without much thought about quality. Bill Smith, Motorola quality manager and vice president, said, “If you hired an idiot for 39 cents, you would meet your goal” (Henkoff 1991, 76). To improve quality and effectiveness, the company realized that something would have to change. Now the recruiting department measures how well its recruits subsequently do at Motorola.
One company that has a good track record on both of these accounts is a medical organization that is one of the best managed in the United States: Merck & Co. Arthur F. Strohmer, executive director of Staffing and Developments, emphasizes that Merck places heavy emphasis on meeting very high standards in its recruiting activities, for example, targeting certain schools as being the “best” for the disciplines it needs. Merck, like Motorola, bases much of its campus recruiting on the past performance of employees who have come from certain schools. Many companies try to do the same thing. Whether they are truly successful or at the mercy of random selection depend on how organized they are. Many managers make choices based on assumptions rather than knowledge about which types of individuals actually do better than others. All too often the selection process is highly subjective, with applicants recognizing this and trying to play the part they need to play. Companies need some way to recruit those who are best for their particular organization.
DIRECT COLLEGE HIRES
Almost everyone recognizes the importance of the initial interview. On the forefront of this movement is Merck. It developed a new Interview Skills Workshop, which has helped redefine the interview process. Art Strohmer notes, that to find the best candidates in disciplines they need, interviewers must be able to develop better skills for identifying the best. Candidates have become increasingly sophisticated at interviewing. Some even take seminars in how to interview and how to present themselves.
Merck’s hiring process begins when the hiring managers determine what technical skills, aptitude, and behavioral characteristics will be necessary to do the job. When a candidate arrives, the hiring manager evaluates the person’s technical skills. The interviewer then evaluates the behavioral or personality traits of the candidate and also tries to evaluate intangibles like interpersonal skills, motivation, initiative, leadership, and so forth.
In most cases, as with Merck, this process begins with the 30 minute interview of prospective employees. The wrong decision can and does result in turnover and thousands of dollars in training, travel, and interview time. To help reduce this risk, many companies, like Hewlett-Packard, are using an interviewing technique called behavioral interviewing, developed by organizational psychologist Paul Green. It is based on the assumption that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. Interviewers using this technique try to design questions that elicit past behavior that is closest to that needed for the job that the employee would hold.
To do behavioral interviewing, managers are expected to understand thoroughly the job requirements for prospective employees. Assuming they do understand them, they next read the resume and try to identify areas in it that need further explanation, including any weak or unclear points. Interviewers identify the behavioral skills needed for a job. They then identify the elements of these skills to see which ones will be needed for those jobs. Behavioral interviewing identifies 21 skills that are sometimes needed on jobs. These include coping, decisiveness, and assertiveness, tolerance of ambiguity, written communication skills, creativity, commitment, team building, versatility, and leadership. For each of these skills eight job behaviors help define that skill. Like have varied duties, deal with diverse groups, respond to others’ needs, be socially flexible, “roll with the punches”, understand individual differences, make others comfortable, exhibit wide range of social behaviors ( “More” 1988).
MANAGING DIVERSITY It has been reported that between 1990 and 2003 only 15 percent of the entrants will be white adult males. New workers will be predominantly women (60 percent), blacks, and immigrants ( Bunke 1990). Thus about 30 percent of the additional work forces are blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities.
Companies like Merck, Hewlett-Packard, and SRC have done a tremendous job of creating a reputation as outstanding places to work. These reputations did not occur by accident. Each of the companies has worked hard to ensure that it gets the best applicants available.
A Boston factory called Digital Equipment Corporation may signal the hiring conditions of the future. The 350 employees at the plant come from 44 countries and speak 19 languages (Dryfuss 1990). The factory issues written announcements in English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Haitian Creole. Perhaps all facilities will not be this diverse, but there are significant changes occurring in the workplace.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the work force growth in the United States will slow from 2 percent between 1976 and 1988 to 1.2 percent from 1988 to 2000. More significantly, only 32 percent of the new workers will be white men. Their share of the labor force will shrink from 51 percent in 1980 to 45 percent in the future. Women will make up 47 percent of our workers, and minorities and immigrants will hold 26 percent of all jobs (“Diversity,”135). Such a diverse work culture will require greater managerial expertise.
Aggressive recruitment is important, but it may come down to one’s reputation. Reputation helped Merck and SRC, and the same can be said for recruitment of minorities. “Companies that don’t have a reputation for a level playing field are going to have a tough time recruiting,” notes Avon’s CEO, James E. Preston (Dryfuss 1990).
CHANGING ATTITUDES
Managing diversity is more than making scheduling changes; it involves a change in attitude. Greater tolerance for differences will be essential in the culture of the twenty-first century. In the near future, employees are a lot more likely to have different backgrounds. Some ethnic groups may have unorthodox styles, different values and motivation, and, most importantly, new perspectives. Dupont is adjusting to this new perspective, but it was not always that way. Mark Suwyn, a middle-aged white male and the vice president of medical products division, noticed something. During a personal review of his department in early 1987, he noticed that women and blacks, which were highly rated when they were hired, either left the company or dropped in their ratings after a decade at the company (Maraniss 1990). He knew something was wrong, but he did not know what it was.
Through this and other work through a committee called Achieve Cultural Diversity, they found blacks and women were largely relegated to the lower end of the scale in performance. Several proposals were made to Dupont’s leadership, which were quickly accepted. These included setting up mentoring and career development systems for both blacks and women. They also eliminated rating of one’s potential for the first few years. Other departments also took black-white awareness courses.
The key to making Dupont’s work force more sensitive to diversity issues was training and education ranging from basic skills training to educating the entire organization to accept more diversified behavior. In this new recruiting world, the most immediate need is for remedial education. Aetna Life, for instance, decided to train its filing, word processing, and secretarial employees after applications for clerical jobs dropped by 40 percent. Now it has classes for inner-city residents in basic office skills at its Hartford location. Applicants need to pass an aptitude test and must be able to do basic math, write a memo, and compose a business letter by the time they finish (Dryfuss 1990). Donald Stewart, president of the College Board, predicts that companies will need to shift more of their billion a year on training to remedial education, including helping employees learn to read and write. Ford already spends 0 million a year in remedial and in-house training programs.
Aggressive Recruitment for Entry-Level Workers
Organizations compete intensely for entry-level workers, especially in the food service and hotel industries. Particularly in short supply is the 16- to 24-year-olds. Much has been said about the “baby bust.” In 1984, there were approximately 24 million 16- to 24-year-olds. By 1995, that number of young adults will have shrunk to about 20 million. Also consider the fact that in 1980 young workers made up a quarter of the U.S. labor force and that by 1995, this same group will make up only 16 percent of the labor force ( “Marriott”).
The National Restaurant Association projects a shortfall of as many as 1 million workers in the food service industry by 1995. It is for this reason that this industry, along with the hotel industry, has been so aggressive with its recruitment methods. In particular, Marriott Corporation has been one of the most successful and aggressive organizations. Most importantly for other industries’ point of view, its methods are appropriate for a wide range of industries.
PREPARING A COMPETENT WORKFORCE
Adopt-A-School programs are national programs that create a partnership between business and schools. Sometimes these programs are called “Join-A-School.” As the name implies, these programs involve a business’s forming a partnership with some school. The school itself may be a high school or even an elementary school, vocational school, or university. The main value of an Adopt-A-School program is that it helps establish a closer relationship with a particular school. In the process you create a better understanding of your business and industry.
There are some solid reasons for such a program. It helps make it easier to recruit some personnel, it can improve your image and increase the chance that some choose your business as a career, and it increases the chance of creating a broader labor pool.
For instance, Marriott has enhanced its ability to recruit and retain employees through the Adopt-A-School program. Each organization runs its Adopt-A-School program differently, but Marriott begins by hosting a two-day seminar called “A Workshop with Professionals,” for high school students of its Edison Career Vocational Center at corporate headquarters ( Stephens, 11). At these workshops the staff at the center speaks to the students about various aspects of the food service industry.
The benefits of such programs are not one-sided. Students gain critical work experience, since they move through different positions within the Marriott facility. They can also hone their job skills, because Marriott’s staff then evaluates student performance and an instructor who is on the property at all times. Thus, they are allowed to make mistakes and correct them before their job and career depend on their performance.
Formal programs like these can be of invaluable aid to recruiting people but by no means exhaust your vehicles for aggressive recruiting.
REFERENCES
Bailey, Thomas, “Changes in the Nature of Work: Implications for Skills and Assessment”, In O’Neil, Harold, Workforce Readiness: Competencies and Assessment, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997
Doeringer, Peter, Christensen, Kathleen, Flynn, Patricia, Hall, Douglas, Katz, Harry, Keefe, Jeffry, Ruhm, Christopher, Sum, Andrew and Useem, Michael, Turbulence in the American Workplace, Oxford University Press, 1991
Nelson, Jodi Barnes, Implications for job analysis, recruitment, and selection, Human Resource Planning, Vol. 20, 1997
O’Neil, Harold, Workforce Readiness: Competencies and Assessment, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997
Olson, Lynn, The School-To-Work Revolution: How Employers and Educators Are Joining Forces to Prepare Tomorrow’s Skilled Workforce, Perseus Books (Current Publisher: Perseus Publishing), 1998
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