The position of recruitment in human resource management.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Introduction

It is a widely held view that an organization’s human resources (HR) are its most important assets and among the resources available, may offer the only non-imitative competitive edge (Bennett 2003; Boudreau 1997; Dale and Finn 2003). Thus, an organization’s ability to attract and retain capable employees may be the single most important determinant of organizational effectiveness. The recruitment function, therefore, plays a critical role in enhancing organizational survival and success in the extremely competitive and turbulent business environment.

This paper reviews research on recruiting in the context of HR management, e-recruitment and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) issues related to recruitment are highlighted. The paper starts with examination on effects of e-recruiting on HR function of organization and explores the pros and cons of e-recruiting. Subsequently, some issues related to EEO are discussed, namely, gender and age discrimination in recruitment process. The paper concludes by addressing some areas that could be pursuit in future studies.

The recruitment process is a strategic component of the HR function, as it closely related to selection, training and development, performance management and workplace relation. (Bernie 2001, Broderick 2002, Hinton 2003, Lengnick and Moritz 2003). There are many recruitment processes, but as HRM has been undergoing dramatic changes as a result of information technology (IT) revolution, e-recruiting is widely used for the competitive edge in recruitment process by HR manager (Patterson 2000; Theaker 2002). E-recruitment is the “application of technologically sophisticated tools and techniques to facilitate staff recruitment” (Krawiec, Pedigo and Scott 2002:159). Back in 2000, only 68 per cent had used the internet to attract candidates, but the latest poll found that just 2 per cent of firms now ignored online recruitment (Patterson 2000; Piturro 2000, and Theaker 2002). By 2008, the Department of Labor (cited in Neil and Sherrie 2003) predicts, employers will spend 10 times as much on electronic recruiting as they do today.

Many literatures point out three main pros and three main cons of e-recruitment.

Bennett (2003), Fein (1998), Neil and Sherrie (2003) clarify that internet-based recruitment can increase the size of the applicant pool, as Internet provides communication medium can crosses regional, state, international that limit to more traditional print-based recruitment methods. Moreover, e-recruitment can cut the cost of sorting and other paper work thereby reducing the time and effort involved in recruiting staff. (Bernie 2001; Hinton 2003; Wilde 2004). Thomas and Ray (2000) also suggest employers are being more efficient in HRM practices by saving on hiring agency fees and using Internet to manage their own recruitment process. Lastly, small to medium size organizations may utilizing IT, make themselves appear more attractive to jobseekers through the use of well designed web sites (O’Leary 2002; and Piturro 2000).

Some studies, such as Dale (2003), Epstein and Singh (2003), Krawiec (2002), Thomas and Ray (2000) have taken a different perspective by looking at the cons of e-recruitment. Thomas and Ray (2000), particularly argue that Internet itself might be exclude some of people who do not use Intent regularly or do not have internet access by primarily requiring that applications be done electronically. That can create “disparate impact” which causes “certain groups to have less chance to be hired than others” (Thomas and Ray 2000:43). Dale (2003), Krawiec (2002) and Wilde (2004) argue, e-recuritment programs must be supported by increased investment in resources including staff who can service and support the web sites, technology which can be software development. Epstein and Singh (2003) clarify that many of the claims made by proponents of e-recruitment are naïve in failing to consider the challenges e-recruitment presents to recruiter along with the advantages. One challenge for recruiter is to “systematically plan and streamline the candidate identification and hiring process” (Epstein and Singh 2003:223).

There are a number of other literatures that arise from growing concern of EEO issues in recruitment process. Gender discrimination, age discrimination and disability discrimination are the three main issues in EEO. The paper gives detail on gender and age discriminations.

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There are two different opinions toward gender discrimination in the process of recruitment (Chang 2004; Teigen 1999). One is stereotype notion which contains “negative attitude and unequal employment opportunities of female workers” (Teigen 1999:24). The other is a different thought with positive point of view and equal employment opportunities of women labors. Chang (2004:13) points out that “the stereotyped thinking regards women as homemaker while men as income provider”. French (2001) and Teigen (1999) illustrate women suffer gender discrimination not only in male-dominated organization but also in women-dominated groups as well as in gender-balanced company. For example, a woman could be rejected from a job vacancy in male-dominated firm by the reason of the firm’s worry of other employees and customers’ distractions for having a female in a managerial position, because they traditionally bear in mind women are not strong and tough enough to be a leader (Teigen, 1999). In addition, French (2001) states a less qualified male candidate would be preferred rather than a well qualified woman in women-dominated organization such as banking business, because the business wants to create a gender-balanced working environment. In this case, the woman candidate is considered as a “chatty” woman instead of a qualified person (Teigen, 1999:24). Similarly, in gender-balanced company, the recruitment department pays more attention to male’s positive qualifications while neglects female’s outstanding due to the stereotypical notion (Russo and Ommeren 1998; Teigen, 1999). French (2001) points out many Japanese firms refuse to hire female candidates and promote them into management positions due to the stereotype belief that female workers will leave the company after their marriage or pregnancy Hodgetts and Luthans (2003:49) assert Chinese women face “glass ceiling” when they apply for managerial vacancy. As a result, the stereotyped social image of Chinese women is that they are disorganized, narrow-minded and hard to work with (Hodgetts and Luthans 2003).

However, there is a different viewpoint which supports women can work as well as men and they have about the same probability of employment as men (Bennington 1997; Chang and Temple 2004; Russo and Ommeren 1998). A supporting example of this idea is cited in Chang and Temple (2004), Hodgetts and Luthans (2003), Russo and Ommeren (1998). In Netherlands, gender discrimination is forbidden by the equal opportunity act. Moreover, no gender requirement is allowed to expressed in job advertising as well as no less salary to women than to men is permitted in similar jobs (Chang and Temple 2004). Furthermore, in the Dutch public sector, if a female candidate is as the same qualified as a male candidate for the job, the female candidate must be hired (Russo & Ommeren 1998). Similarly, in Great Britain, an increasing number of women are recruited and promoted into management ranks by many British companies. In particular, career development programs specifically for women are introduced to ensure women’s on going employment. Some big companies even allow female managers to return to manage position at their previous level after their 5 years left for raising their children (Hodgetts & Luthans 2003).

Discrimination on the ground of age in employment has been acknowledged as an issue in many countries (Bennington & Roberts-Calvert, 1997). Most of the surveys suggest that the problem mainly affects older workers, aged 45-65 (Bendrick et al., 1999). So nations have to issue kinds of legislations to prevent age discriminations (Bennington 1997). Bennington (1997) pointed out that in the process of recruitment; age discrimination in the advertising of jobs is prohibited by the anti-discrimination legislation in Australia. For example, age requirements, such as person 27-35 required, should be avoided. Most employers don’t prefer to hire workers above 45 because they regard they should spend more resources on training old workers (Posner 1995: 329) and can’t get back the investments from old workers (Gibson et al. 1993). And some employers are misled by bias to underestimate the capabilities of older people (Palmore 1990). In the contrast, someone argues that ageism is not related to age with following evidences. First is that the kind of “we-they” thinking that fosters racial, ethnic, and sexual discrimination is unlikely to play a large role in the treatment of the elderly worker (Posner 1995:49); second is that workers 65 or older can perform their jobs as well as younger workers in the same enterprise; it is the loss of employers when they use age as a means of recruitment; and employers are unlikely to harbour either serious misconceptions about the vocational capacities of the old or a generalized antipathy toward old people (Posner, 1995).

Not only old group receives negative treatments; any age group could be the target of age discrimination (Wood, Harcourt and Harcourt 2004). According to the survey, Duncan and Loretto (2004) argued that ageism has become less associated with older employees because of some factors. For instance, the range of “old worker” is hard to define in IT industry (Employers’ Forum on Age 2000). Based on Duncan and Loretto’s survey (cited in Jones 2000) concluded some unequal treatments of young and old workers in the following table:

Because of these stereotypes, it is necessary to restrict the coverage of legislation to carefully defined age groups (Institute of Directors 2001).

There are a number of other issues that are not covered in the literature but they need to be highlighted to encourage further discussion and research. For example, privacy implications for employer and job seeking when they use e-recruitment (Bemus 1998 and Kaphan 2002) Some legal risks, such as Unequal employment opportunity, discrimination may involve with e-recruitment, as internet itself may select against certain protected groups (Dwight 2002 and Kim 2001). It is clear that e-recruitment offers employer a comprehensive and diverse range of tools but what is not clear is whether it provides effective and efficient recruitment outcome.

Conclusion

This report illustrates that the position of recruitment in the human resource management is crucial. E-recruitment, as one of the recruitment methods, offers a fast, cost effective and efficient way to recruit staff. But it also drives some problems in the extremely competitive labor market. Gender discrimination and ageism are two main problems in equal employment opportunities. In order to overcome gender discrimination, employers need to understand that gender discrimination still exists and is influenced by social, cultural, and economic factors. Ageism is another issue full of arguments: some employers don’t like to employ old workers; someone doesn’t think so; and someone supports early retirement. Recently, another argument states that any age groups could be the target of ageism. To address this, the first step is to restrict the coverage of legislation to define age groups carefully.

Word Count: 1641 words (exclude reference)

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The position of recruitment in human resource management.

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