CASE STUDY

MODULE II
Name : D.M.U.I. Dissanayake
PQHRM 22-13
CASE STUDY 01

Recruitment, Selection, Induction, Orientation & Placement

Question No 1

Issues and Weaknesses

1. Recruitment
a. Macro – An appropriate Recruitment process has not been
followed.
b. Micro
i. Selection

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 ii. Job placement
iii. Induction
iv. Orientation

2. Communication
a. Macro – Miscommunication
b. Micro
i. Channel
ii. Strategy
iii. Individual Behavior

3. Management Style
a. Macro – Bureaucratic Management
b. Micro
i. Administration
ii. Resistance to change
iii. Centralized Leadership

4. Organizational Culture
a. Macro – Proper procedures and methods are not been followed.
b. Micro
i. Indiscipline

Question No 2

The case has built around Mr. Weerasena who has newly joined a Large
Organization and the difficulties he had to encounter on his first day at work.
The main findings and the reasons are as follows,

 The Organization is well reputed for its Impersonal and Bureaucratic

Management style
 Weaknesses in the Recruitment and Selection process
 Weakness in the Induction and Orientation process
 Miscommunication
 Organizational Culture
 Lack of proper procedures and methods within the Organization

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This Company is reputed as a formal organization with defined objectives, a
hierarchy of specialized roles and systematic processes of direction and
administration which cannot be easily adopted with changes. The initial step
which should be taken to get over all the above mentioned factors is to
implement a Flat structure of Management in this Organization. But it should
be done professionally and methodically because the mindset of its employees
who have got used to the Bureaucracy will not be willing to accept changes as
soon as they are introduced.

Given below are several situations that show the Bureaucratic style of this
Organization.

1. Mr Weerasena was anxious to know what was expected of him &

what kind of company he was going to be working for;

The above situation shows that Mr. Weerasena was not given his Job
Description. We cannot expect a proper Job Analysis procedure when there is
no Job Description or Job Specification is given. Therefore this clearly indicates
that this Organization does not follow a Human Resource Planning process. May
be they have just filled a vacant position of an employee who has left the
Company even without understanding what that particular role is and what
kind of a person they need and what is the importance of that role. In brief
they have hired Mr. Weerasena just for the sake of a replacement.

2. No one greeted him when he came in;

This is all about the Culture of this Organization and of its employees. This
might be because they are not willing to accept the new things in to the
Organization. This also could be a result of the lethargic methodologies they
follow in the Bureaucracy. At present the employees are only concerned about
their personal tasks and goals and not about the Company as a whole. People
are not friendly and they do not seem to be having a Team Spirit. This
organization culture should be changed from Top to the Bottom. This can be
done by introducing Workshops, Training programs on Team work and Team
Building, Interactive events etc. Also the Top Management should encourage
their subordinates to be friendlier and to work as a team or a family.

3. Remembering the man’s name he was replacing, he found the office

that he assumed was to be his. The desk still contained a few candy
bars and a rather worn blotter;

It is evident that Mr. Weerasena has not been given a proper Induction. He at
least was not aware of his own office room. That also he had to assume and to
find by his own. The ideal scenario should be Human Resources personnel’s
should contact the candidate & direct him to the department for the
documentation, when it is completed the HR personnel should accompany the

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candidate to the department, additionally the training department can
introduce induction session to introduce the organization to the new recruit.

It is the responsibility of the Human Resource Division to introduce the new

recruit to the rest of the staff and to direct him to his place of work. But
instead of that he was just left out of the blue and he had to find his own way.
This can be avoided by implementing a proper Induction process in this
Organization.

The candy bars and the blotter indicate the indiscipline of its employees and
the untidiness of the premises. It shows that proper work environment
conditions are not there. This also could be a result of improper janitorial
services. The Company has to get over this problem by hiring a better janitorial
staff and by introducing new work conditions which will not allow people to
keep their work places untidy.

4. Mr. Rajapakse said “Oh, yes, don’t forget to go down to the

medical office….”

The selection methodology practiced is also questionable because if an

Organization requires a Medical Report it should be for the purpose of deciding
whether this particular person is physically and mentally fit to do this job or
not. But here it states that the immediate supervisor request Mr. Weerasena to
go for a medical test just because they need to complete his records.

The appropriate Selection process should be,

 Initial Interviews
 Selection Test
 Final Interview
 Medical Examination
 Reference Checks
 Selection Decision
Following the above mentioned method will avoid the unsuitable candidates
joining the Organization and it will also help to make a clear-cut decision in
selection process.

5. The way he was informed about the Lunch Break and the Work
methods.

This again indicates the weaknesses of Human Resource Management because if

he had given a proper Induction and Orientation before starting work he would
have been aware of the Lunch Break and the work methods and he would not
have made the other appointments as such.

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The manner that Mrs. Nanayakkara spoke to him again shows the indiscipline
and the attitude of the employees. These things can only be corrected through
proper Training and Development procedures.

6. Mr. Weerasena was given a half a dozen of manual to be read by

him self on his first day of appointment.

The Orientation is the process of introducing the actual work to the candidate.
This cannot be considered as a proper Orientation. This should be done
personally by the Immediate Supervisor or the Immediate Boss. Should that
person whom Mr. Weerasena replaced was there by the time he joined he
would have been the ideal person to hand over the work and to do the
Orientation.

HR & business lines should have appropriate procedures / methodologies to

communicate the vacancies in the future, therefore the people resigning will
have time to teach to the replacement staff member. In a sudden resignation
or Termination having a mentor or a senior staff member who is equipped with
the required knowledge can be assigned to train new comers to office. Also
provide interactive e-learning concepts.

7. As the secretary she was not aware of the manuals that were
promised by her boss.

This situation indicates the miscommunication between the Boss and the
Secretary. To overcome these communication issues HR department can
introduce a booklet which states about the company rules, regulations & the
required code of conduct, can be given to new recruits therefore there will be
no difficulties for the new recruits.

Practicing the suggested ideas in long run & short run will enable to overcome
the issues of improper Management Style, Recruitment & Communication. It
needs to be implemented as whole & not as isolated activities since all
processes are linked with each other.
CASE STUDY 02

Recruitment

This Case Study has built around a Super Market chain which is facing high staff
turn over in the position of Director of Marketing.

In order to introduce a new Scheme of Recruitment we should initially identify

the issues and the weaknesses of the existing process.

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  Accuracy of the Job Analysis process
 Methods used in Recruiting
 Methods used in Selection

The new Scheme of Recruitment should also include the corrective actions for
the above mentioned issues.

Given below is a summarized graph of a proper recruitment process and it

clearly indicates how each and every function of this process is inter-related.

Identify Job Vacancies

Collect background information with

regard to a job

Ascertain Job Requirements

Job Analysis

Job Description (JD) Job Specifications

(JS)

Recruitment Selection Performance Training & Rewards

Development
Job Analysis is a systematic process of Collecting, Analyzing and Recording all
important information related to a specific job in order to make certain
judgments. It is inclusive of 02 stages,

 Data collection and Analysis

 The preparation of Job Description and Job Specification

Job Description (JD) is the documents which describes the Job and is a
collection of job duties, responsibilities, reporting lines & working conditions.
The required human skills personality details are listed under Job specification
(JS). Rather it describes the person or the Job Holder.

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Given below are some consequences which indicate that those procedures have
not been followed. For example,

1. The selected candidates failed to fit in to the style and culture...

2. Approaching their tasks in the light of their own experience &
upsetting the people…
3. Some of them had not worked in the same Industry…
4. Some Candidates had “sold themselves”…

The above mentioned issues defines that the candidates are not aware of the
job responsibilities & the selected candidates do not match the skill required.
Therefore when the candidates are exposed to the real job or the placement of
the candidate they will not survive in the Organization & will not perform to
achieve the organization objectives.

The following corrective actions can be taken,

 Head hunting the resources who are currently in the same Industry
 Carrying out effective Job Analysis methods such as: conducting
interviews with the existing staff who know what tasks are carried out &
the support they require
 Asking creative questions at the Interviews with related to the practical
side of the job
 Gathering data from competitor organizations
 Studying the reasons given in the exit interview for a particular grade of
staff Ex : Director of Marketing
 Conducting proper Induction and Orientation program

Practicing the above methods will eliminate the errors in the job analysis
process & in return it will be beneficial for recruitment & selection also other
areas as displayed in the graph.

The next area in concern is recruitment; it is the process of attracting suitably

qualified candidates to apply for a vacancy. The Recruitment can be done in 02
ways.

 Internal Recruitment
o Job Posting
o Referral
 External Recruitment
o Job Advertising
o Employment Agencies
o Company Website

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Out of the 02 methods Internal Recruitment is the easiest and the cheapest and
also it is not as time consuming as External Recruitment. But there are
disadvantages too.

As the Head of HR his system can also be used as a motivator and by

maintaining the following methods & providing adequate Training &
Development the existing employees can be promoted to the vacant positions.

 Qualification Inventory

An Inventory of the Skills, Qualifications and Talents of the existing

employees to be used as a reference at the time of Training,
Development and Promotions.

 Personal Replacement Charts

Such as a Career Development Plan for the Individual. Company records

showing present performances & promotability of internal candidates.

 Position Replacement grid

Prepared for each position in a company to show possible replacement

candidates & their qualifications.

The benefits of Internal Recruitment would be that they are already exposed to
the organization culture and familiar with the Industry. So it will be easier to
achieve organization objectives and the period of time which takes a new
recruit to get adjusted to the Organization is also saved. This option of internal
labour will reduce the staff turn over and it will definitely work as Motivating
factor.

If we use the External Recruitment method we should definitely have a proper

and accurate Job Analysis process.

The selection process is the vital event that selects the most suitable candidate
& the process deals with interviews, testing the candidates & verification of
reference.

The Interviews should be creative, professional and more specific because this
is a higher Position of the Organization and if a wrong selection has been made
it affects the whole process of the Business as well as the subordinates who
comes under that particular position. The interview can be conducted as
structured & situational which deals with job analysis , rating the main duties
then create interview questions and benchmark answers & finally appoint a

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panel to conduct the interviews. The Interview panel should be consist of HR
Personnel, Representatives of the Top Management as well as a person who is
clearly aware of the role of this position.

Introducing the practice of Management Assessment centers will help to

identify potential candidates, also it will help the candidates to perform
realistic tasks in hypothetical situations, and it will give an idea about
candidate’s capabilities to perform tasks.

As well as the mental ability test and reference check we should also examine
the candidate’s previous employment records and the reasons for leaving the
previous employment.

The new Recruitment Scheme will look at the Internal Recruitment as well
which was not taken in to consideration before and will introduce new
concepts for selection along with accurate Job Analysis to help the smooth
working of the Organization and to achieve Organizational goals & objectives.
And this will definitely help to reduce the Employee turn over because with
this new process we can hire the right person to the right position at the right
time to be doing the right thing.