A job description is sent out to those who make enquiries about applying for the job to help them see if they are suitable for it.
These usually include:
- The title of the job.
- Part time/Full time.
- The role and duties of the employees.
- To whom and for whom the employee is responsible, if anyone.
- The working conditions of the job.
- Criteria for measuring performance.
Advantages of a job description
- It allows the firm to tell the candidate for a job what is expected of them.
- It also helps personnel officers to decide on the qualities that successful candidates must have.
- It can be used to settle disputes about the work an employee has to do by looking it up in the job description.
- The job description can be used to see whether the employee is doing the job properly by comparing their activities with the job description.
Disadvantages of a job description
- Suffers from the usual problems of misunderstanding and distortion.
- It is only a simplification, as it is rarely possible to include every feature of a particular job.
A person specification highlights the mental and physical attributes required of the person doing the job and really describe the ideal person for the job.
Areas that would be included in a person specification:
- Physical features for example age, health, appearance.
- Education, qualifications, training etc.
- Knowledge.
- Experience-how much experience the person should have.
- Aptitude-mechanical, verbal or ability to work under pressure.
- Personality-they may need to be a team person.
- Any special circumstances that the job requires of the candidate.
The business can then decide upon recruiting internally or externally.
Internal Recruitment
This is when a business organisation considers promoting employees it already has recruited and who currently work in the organisation.
Advantages of internal recruitment
- Shorter periods of time for ‘fitting in’ because the employee knows how the organisation operates.
- Someone who is used to working in that organisation may less disrupt the organisation.
- Internal promotion may act as an incentive to employees to work harder within the organisation.
- May allow an employee to move into a new area, which they feel they prefer.
- The strengths and weaknesses of a current employee will already have been obsessed.
- It is a cheaper and time saving method of recruiting.
Disadvantages of internal recruitment
- If an employee has been promoted, it is likely that he or she will have to be replaced and so external recruitment may be necessary for that replacement.
- A current employee may be less likely to criticise and get the organisation working more effectively.
- Promotion of one person in an organisation may upset others who feel that they should have been given the promotion instead.
- An external person can bring new ideas into the organisation-this will not happen if the organisation recruits internally.
- A current employee may find it difficult to be the superior of people alongside whom he or she has previously worked.
External Recruitment
This is an organisation recruits outside the business to replace a vacancy in their firm. Jobs that require more limited skills tend to be advertised locally, while more specialist or higher-level jobs are advertised more widely. Newspaper and magazine advertisements are the most common way of recruiting externally.
Advantages of external recruitment
- A new employee may be prepared to criticise and get the organisation working more effectively, as they do not have any friends within the firm or previous history of working there, they may be more objective.
- External people who might be excellent for the job have been considered for it.
- The external person can bring new ideas to the organisation.
Disadvantages of external recruitment
- The employment of someone from outside the organisation instead of the promotion of a current employee may upset people who feel they should have been promoted, while the other workers may also resent an outsider getting the job.
- An external person may need a longer period of time for ‘fitting in’ and becoming fully operational.
- The organisation may be more disrupted by someone who is not used to working in that organisation.
- A lack of promotion may act as a demotivator to employees within the organisation.
The strengths and weaknesses of a current employee will already have been assessed, but there is always the risk in employing someone from outside the firm.
Reasons for successful recruitment methods
To ensure that the best candidate is chosen to do the job required the business must have good methods of recruitment. If the wrong person is chosen, this person may find the job boring or too difficult and this may lead to lack of motivation and poor productivity. If the person decides to leave there will be administration costs, and also the business will have wasted a lot of time and money on advertising, interviewing and training. Although if the best candidate is chosen this can give the business a competitive edge over rivals.
Selection
There are many methods of selection, which an organisation can use to select new employees:
- Application forms, including letters, curriculum vitaes and telephone applications.
- Interviews.
- Psychological tests.
- Aptitude tests.
Application forms, letters, curriculum vitaes and telephone applications
The purpose of application forms, letters, CVs and telephone applications is to tell an organisation, which, if any, applicants for a job are worth seeing and talking to.
Advantages of telephone applications
- Very efficient, much quicker and easier.
- The candidate doesn’t have to worry about looking smart to impress the employers.
- The candidate doesn’t have to spend time filling out application forms.
- The organisation can see what their communication skills are like when talking over the phone.
Disadvantages of telephone applications
- The employer does not know fully what the person is like for example their appearance.
- Telephone applications only occur once therefore notes need to be taken accurately to make the correct decisions about who to employ.
Advantages of letters
- It allows the applicants to ‘sell themselves.’
- Personal presentation is shown.
Disadvantages of letters
- It is difficult to identify quickly the information that they are interested in and separate it from the other information the candidate has included.
Advantages of curriculum vitaes
- Gives candidates a chance to give a detailed account of their qualifications, career and interests in the way they want to present it.
Disadvantages of curriculum vitaes
- Don’t have information in the same order therefore they are not as easy to sift through and pick out suitable candidates quickly.
Advantages of application forms
- The form covers the information contained in a CV such as personal details, education and job experience.
- It helps the personnel department match a persons qualities, interests etc.
- Has the same information in the same order and can sift through them quickly.
Disadvantages of application forms
- Some questions may be illegal, offensive or not essential.
- Forms that take to long to complete may be completed haphazardly or at all.
Interviews
When applications are received, the organisation divides them into three categories.
- Seems to be suitable-this means these people will be interviewed.
- Possibly suitable-if there are not enough people in the ‘seems to be suitable’ category then people in this category will be asked for an interview.
- Unsuitable-a polite letter of rejection will be sent to them.
The selection interview is by far the most common technique used for selection processes.
Interviews can be held on a one-one basis, on a two-two basis or in the form of a panel. Panel interviews are always the hardest for the candidates as they will find it difficult to feel at ease in such a formal situation.
A poorly prepared candidate is less likely to be successful and so candidates should do their homework and find out as much as they can about the company.
Candidates and interviewers must also be aware of the four-minute rule. This suggests that impressions made in the first four minutes of the interview are likely to be the strongest and longest lasting.
The appearance of a candidate is one factor that makes a great impact on the interviewer. It is unlikely that a person who turns up for an interview in a pair of jogging bottoms and a tee-shirt will be successful, although turning up in a tracksuit and trainers may be successful if being interviewed for a job vacancy as a physical education instructor.
Advantages of interviews
- Allows information to be collected from candidates, which can be used to predict whether they can perform the job.
- Gives the candidate full details about the job.
- Gives the organisation a chance to see what the appearance and communication skills of the candidate are like.
Disadvantages of interviews
- Interviewers often decide whether to accept or reject a candidate within the first three or four minutes of the interview.
- Interviews seldom change the initial opinion formed by the interviewer seeing the application form and the appearance of the candidate.
- Interviewers place more stress on evidence that is unfavourable than on the evidence that is favourable.
- When interviewers have made up their minds very early in the interview, their behaviour betrays their decisions to the candidate.
Interviews are less useful for assessing the personal qualities of an individual, also they are not a particularly good way of determining the future potential of a candidate. This is why they are normally supplemented by a psychological, aptitude and/or attainment tests.
- Intelligence tests-These tests are to measure the candidates thinking ability.
- Personality tests-These are to identify individuals principal personality traits.
- Aptitude tests-These are tests of innate skills, for example, mechanical ability, clerical ability and numerical ability.
- Attainment tests-These test the depth of knowledge or grasp the skill learnt in the past, usually at school or college.
Advantages of testing
- Testing measures how well a candidate can cope when faced with business problems, for example, team situations, having responsibility over other employees and making decisions. Testing candidates lets the organisation see which candidates would be best at performing these tasks.
Disadvantages of testing
- The organisation must have a qualified person to carry out the tasks.
- There is unlikely to be a standard ‘ideal employee’ results to compare results with.
- The tests rely on the individual being honest.
- Some people try to pick the answers that they feel is wanted.
Reasons for successful selection methods
Although this is similar to the methods of recruitment, the best candidate will only be chosen if selection is based on ability, skills and knowledge rather than race or gender. The Equal Opportunities Act has improved selection methods to be fairer to candidates. Selection methods need to be successful so as not to choose the ‘wrong’ employee who will cause the organisation a great deal of time and money.
Training
A properly trained workforce at all levels is important to an organisation so that it can continue to survive and be successful.
Training programmes should be developed and put into practise according to a properly worked out plan:
- Areas of training need should be identified.
- Training programmes should be planned thoroughly.
- Training programmes should be implemented.
- The success of training programmes is reviewed and evaluated.
- The training programmes are modified in the light of the review and evaluation.
Induction Training
This is just simply introducing new employees to the organisation and making sure that they know about the organisation and its objectives, rules and regulations. Often the first few days at work will involve observation with an experienced worker showing the ‘new hand’ the ropes. The length and time of induction training really depends on the organisation, the job involved and on the experience of the worker.
On-the-job training
This means that the employee learns skills through experiences at work. It is based within the organisation and is the simplest form of training.
Advantages of on-the-job training
- It is relatively cheap
- The worker is learning in the working environment.
Disadvantages of on-the-job training
- The person from whom the trainee is learning may not be good at his or her job or may have the wrong attitude and so the trainee may learn bad habits.
- The trainee may make mistakes that cause the organisation money and time to fix.
Off-the-job training
This means learning through attending courses.
Advantages of off-the-job training
- Specialist instructors carry out the training and so the trainee should be properly trained in the correct way to do things.
- The trainee can make mistakes that don’t matter.
- The trainee can learn at his or her own pace and progress can be carefully managed.
- The costs of training are easy to establish.
- The trainee can gain a recognised qualification.
Disadvantages of off-the-job training
- It is more expensive than on-the-job training.
- The trainee learning away from the environment in which he or se will eventually be working.
- The equipment used may be different and so the trainee may have to re-learn on returning to the workplace.
There is a very clear link between training and motivation. If an employee is not properly trained he or she is likely to feel uncomfortable in the job and may suffer from lack of motivation. This will result in poor productivity. However a well-trained employee will be confident in his or her work and is therefore likely to feel more motivated to do a good job.
There is also a close link between training and health and safety. A worker who is properly trained in how to use machinery, or how long to stay at a computer screen is going to be more conscious of the health and safety risks involved in the job and how to avoid any problems. This also affects motivation as if the worker knows that the health and safety risk is minimised due to workers being well trained in using equipment and other materials, then he or she is likely to be more motivated.
There are several reasons why businesses undertake training and development for their employees.
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To provide flexibility - employees who possess a wide range of skills are more flexible, so introducing new systems or new products or services are likely to be easier.
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To promote change - training and development may make it easier for an organisation to introduce change. This, in turn, may help it to remain competitive.
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To upgrade skills – the changing environment faced by many organisations means that workers of all kinds must regularly update and improve their skills, for example, I.T.
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To improve employee satisfaction – training and development may help the workforce to become better motivated because they will have the chance to make use of a wider range of skills. This may also help their promotion prospects.
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To improve the image of the organisation – a good training and development programme may help an organisation to attract new members of staff. It may also reduce accident rates and help the organisation gain a good reputation with customers, for example, if employees have undertaken a programme of customer care training.
Advantages of successful training methods
- Well-trained workers should be more productive; this will help the business to achieve their overall objectives, such as increasing profit.
- It should help to create a more flexible workforce.
- It will help the introduction of machinery as they can be introduced more quickly if the employees are trained to use them effectively.
- It should lead to increased job satisfaction; well-motivated employees are more likely to be more productive.
- It should reduce accidents and injuries if employees are trained well.
- It may improve the image of the company.
- It can improve employees’ chance of promotion.
Appraisal
Appraisal is the process of assessing an employee’s performance in his or her job. The employee being appraised is known as the apraisee. The supervisor appraising an employee is known as the appraiser.
Reasons why employers carry out appraisal
- It helps to identify training needs.
- Helps to plan and develop the business human resource provision.
- Appraisal shows up staff strengths and weaknesses and helps the business use its employees to their full potential.
- Appraisal should improve the overall profitability of the business.
Methods of appraisal
Observation: The employee is watched by their superior while carrying out their work. This method is carried out in the employee’s normal surroundings. This therefore shows a true picture of the employee’s work.
Interviews: The interview is a one to one discussion between the employee and their supervisor. The interviewer has the opportunity to discuss the employee’s work and progress. This allows the employee to put forward his or her own ideas, identify problems in the workplace and try to improve them. Using interviews as a method of appraisal allows the employers to understand the level of initiative, ability to work as a team and the leadership skills of the employee.
Self-appraisal: Sometimes employees are required to appraise themselves, to look critically at their own work, improve their efficiency and quality. This however has the disadvantage that some employees may not be aware of their faults.
Employees benefit from appraisal because:
- It can provide opportunity for promotion.
- It helps set their pay levels.
- It ensures they receive necessary training.
- It provides regular communication with the employer on a one-one basis.
- It gives employees the opportunity to discuss problems with the employer.
- It sets clear objectives and acts as a motivator for the employee.
Reasons for successful appraisal methods
- Improve performance
- Provide feedback
- Increase motivation
- Identify training needs
- Identify potential employees for promotion
- Award salary increases
- Set out job objectives
- Provide information for human resource planning
- Assess the effectiveness of the selection process
Performance can be measured against criteria such as output, quality and speed. The business can therefore use all this information to improve the areas of the business that are the weakest, either by dismissing employees which are of no use to the business or by perhaps redeploying them to a different area of work where they will perhaps enjoy more and therefore be more motivated, therefore higher production.
Sarah V. Ferguson