Recruitment

One of the biggest challenges for successful start-ups is the growing pains that come with scaling. Meeting customer demand is a problem many struggling entrepreneurs actually wish they had. But, once you get over the hurdle of building brand awareness, keeping up with the demands can be daunting.

When you’re just starting out, your team consists of passionate, happy warriors who believe in your cause and/or the lucrative future of the business. As you start recruiting from the broader labor force — whose primary motivation is a bi-weekly paycheck — finding great additions to the team can become a real challenge. It doesn’t help that according to some , the hiring process is taking twice as long as it did just a few years ago; 23 days, on average, after the initial interview.

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So, if your firm is going to spend at least a month trying to find someone to fill a position, you need the best candidates possible. The last thing you’ll want to do is repeat the process a few months down the line. Give the person with HR responsibilities in your organization four major attributes to seek out. To be honest, three out of the four in a single candidate is still a pretty big win. 

1. Local
2. Cost-effective
3. Passionate
4. Experienced

Local employees who are passionate will be hard to find, but could prove more beneficial to the brand over the long-haul and represent a lower up-front investment. Local employees who are cost-effective can be found, but the churn rate is going to be higher. Or, you can broaden your net to find passionate hires that are cost-effective, but you’ll likely need to relocate them, or offer a telecommuting option.

The unicorn in hiring is an experienced recruit that is already nearby, willing to accept a wage that is below the market average and is passionate about your mission. These take the longest, and in many cases they’ve proven too elusive.

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Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in today’s market are facing some serious challenges in finding great talent:

• Recruiting, done right, requires a huge investment of time and resource.
• One-third of new hires within the first 6 months.
• The recruiting process increases the cost of delivering quality products and services to the consumer, while at the same time decreasing the focus on the customer.

Reaching the ideal candidate.

It doesn’t take a mathematics degree to understand that the more people who see your job listing, the higher your chances are of actually finding the perfect candidate. The internet is a powerful tool for getting the word out, but the problem is that everyone knows about it. More than are posted on Monster.com every week.

It just isn’t possible for a single listing on a single site to capture all of that volume, or even stand-out and reach every potential candidate for an SMB’s open position. To understand how SMBs are competing in this environment, I reached out to an old friend with first-hand experience helping SMBs connect with future employees.

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Adam Seabrook, the co-founder of Betterteam, offered these words of advice: “The online employment field is changing by the minute. The ability to reach and to more than 100 job boards with a single platform is a game changer for SMBs, and it’s something they clearly value, based on the popularity of our tool. We’ve seen how the recruiting process can be shortened to days, instead of weeks, by amplifying the visibility of an SMB’s job posting.”

Online job postings are a great tool, but they need to be given their time in the light. There’s a lot of competition out there for eyeballs. To quickly reach the perfect candidate, a job posting needs to be featured everywhere and anywhere.

Give your HR team the guidance they need to focus their efforts. The four attributes I laid out earlier have been used by my team to successfully find candidates. The more noise you can make with a well-defined target in mind, the faster and more reliable your recruitment efforts will become. 

Benefit of the Offshore Outsource 1) Improve the customer service Using high-quality specialist external providers can allow companies to capitalize on their strengths and, indirectly, help to improve customers’ experience of using such companies’ products or services. External providers can help a company’s competitiveness by delivering greater flexibility and responsiveness than would be available in-house. 2) Swiftness and Expertise Most of the times tasks are outsourced to vendors who specialize in their field.

The outsourced vendors also have specific equipment, technical expertise, better experience and skills. Most of the times better than the ones at the outsourcing company. Effectively the tasks can be completed faster and with better quality output. 3) Concentrating on core process rather than the supporting ones Outsourcing the supporting processes gives the company more time to strengthen their core business process. The company will have more time to put more effort, develop ideas and plan the strategies on the core business activity. ) Risk-sharing Usually the main factors to outsource the company is risk-analysis. Outsourcing certain business activity process helps the company to shift certain responsibilities to the outsourced vendor. Since the outsourced vendor is a specialist, they plan your risk-mitigating factors better and recommend several method to improve the operations. 5) Reduced Operational and Recruitment costs Outsourcing prevent the need to hire individuals in-house; hence recruitment and operational costs can be decreased to a great extent.

This is one of the prime advantages of offshore outsourcing to make the company operation cost-effective. The Disadvantages/ Weaknees of Offshore Outsourcing Even though offshore outsourcing gives advantage mainly on cutting the cost site but the other way offshore outsourcing sometimes bring disadvantage to the company. A company must identify what is the risk to offshore outsourcing to avoid loss. The disadvantage are : 1) Loss of the managerial control Once a company sign a contract to outsource all or several part of the department, the company are turning the managerial function to other company.

The managerial control will belong to the different company and its function will not be driven by the same standards and mission of the main company. The outcource company will only focus on how to gain profit rather than to meets the main objective of the management. 2) Loss of gain knowledge and information When a company outsourcing the business activity, the company will loss the opportunity to get knowledge and information that could benefit other company. Knowledge provide competitive advantage to sustain the strengthness of the company.

As a result, when a business activity been given to the other company, the company will have more skills, knowledge regarding to manage the activity. 3) Threat to security and company secret Data and information related to the company will given to the outsource company for the operation matter. The information can be threat to the company because the other company can use the information to compete with our company. Most of the outsource company their goals are only to make more profit rather than to follow the objective oforiginal company.

At the end, both of the company compete each other to conquer the market. 4) Quality problem The outsourcing company will be motivated by profit. Since the contract will fix the price, the only way for them to increase profit will be to decrease expenses. As long as they meet the conditions of the contract, you will pay. In addition, you will lose the ability to rapidly respond to changes in the business environment. The contract will be very specific and you will pay extra for changes.

Introduction

Aerator, headquartered in Hanover, Md. , is a leading provider of technical, professional and industrial staffing services. Established in 1983, Aerator is an operating company of Alleges Group, the largest provider of staffing services in the U. S. Aerator operates a network of more than 200 non-franchised offices throughout the U. S. , Canada and Europe. SWOT analysis provides a structure for analyzing either your own strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats you face, or in a work context for analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and wreaths a business or event faces.

Ideally it is one step in a process which helps you to . Appreciate the strengths of a situation, and you may then decide to build on these. Define the weaknesses, which you might choose to minimize . Make the most of the opportunities that present themselves, and  Recognize the possible threats and treat them in a planned and organized way. Has around 200 office locations in and around USA, Canada and Europe. It has a good network of non- franchised offices which provide high level services at arioso locations of Washington DC and Virginia.

Aerator is a group of industry- specific recruiters serving to find the perfect fit for each Job seeker and also each company. After a brief research about their origin and growth in the field of business, it is that, ” is a recognized leader on the local market, and they have every right to be proud of this fact. The driving force behind their reputation is their employees who have invested a lot of energy in the development of the business. They place primary importance on the personal and professional placement of each of them, and also try to give the employees every opportunity to better themselves.

Aerator Industry Focus and Expertise

As one of the leading staffing agencies, finding you the right people is their business. At Aerator they deliver people who fit the needs perfectly. They offer access to an established network of candidates and provide the resources to fulfill all the staffing needs. To achieve this, they apply their proven Perfect Fit Program concept to offer customized staffing services. What makes them one of the top staffing agencies, is that their industry-focused expertise, which enables them to understand the complexity of the business.

Whether one needs short-term or permanent, Aerator can fulfill contract, contract-to- hire and direct placement staffing needs in the following areas: Accounting & Finance Staffing soot analysis of aerator By Vanish-Tails Administrative Staffing Aerospace & Defense Staffing Architecture Staffing Automotive Staffing Aviation Staffing Lab Call Center Staffing Clinical Staffing Construction Staffing Energy Staffing Engineering Staffing Environmental Staffing Manufacturing Staffing Mortgage Staffing Scientific Staffing

Aerator also offers professional accounting and finance recruitment services through Stephen James Associates. It is specialized in providing professional and managerial accounting and finance talent across all industries. They work together as a team, there are many staffing agencies out there, but few offer the recruiting expertise that Aerator provides. They always evaluate the positions and skills that are most valuable in the industry. By leveraging the staffing industry knowledge, Aerator can find the perfect Job opportunity or manage your workforce demands. Aerator also provides

Customized Solutions for the Government

It works with small and large businesses to secure federal contracts throughout the U. S. And overseas. With nearly three decades of experience, Aerators government team works directly with government agencies and large- and small-business prime contractors and subcontractors. Their customized services include personnel recruitment support, transition management, security clearance processing and full-cycle COCOON deployment across the following business areas: Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence, Aircraft and Ground, Vehicle Maintenance and Repair, Biotechnology and Life Sciences,Construction and Environmental,Services Energy, Services Engineering and Specialty Engineering Information, Technology Life-cycle Systems, Support Logistics, Support Services Professional and Administrative, Support Services (PASS), Quality and Information Assurance, Health and Human Services, Naval Support, Services Space, Technology and Missile System. Support SWOT analyses are not ends in themselves but a step before some action planning. SOOT analyses usually benefit from discussion, get other people’s perspectives.

Due to the complexities involved in the staff hiring process, most of the large organizations under the guidance of their human resources managers detect. Through the media, these organizations advertise the vacant positions and paste the required qualifications they demand from the interested candidates.

To add to that, they later invite the chosen candidates who are interviewed by established panel/s of experts to asses the necessary traits required for the specific position/s.

This system is highly effective in filling major senior positions in an organization due to effective prior-scrutiny and use of experts to establish the best candidates. Besides, it is done under close supervision of the human resources manager a notion that aids in reducing errors and possible biases in the process (Robert, 96-99).

It is worth noting that the process is usually lengthy and cannot be used in filling different positions urgently. The process is also costly in that organizations use panels of experts to reduce the chances of bias and therefore less effective for lower manual positions. This system has often been combined with others to act as a final filter for the candidates that have been assimilated through other systems like employees agencies.

Thatcherism and Reaganomics, it “could not help but look more desirable than personnel management” (Hope-Hailey et al 1997: 5). The attractiveness of the theory of managing personnel led to a proliferation of HRM language. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if there is more to HRM than only a new and shining rhetoric. A number of authors stress the difficulties of identifying clear differences between personnel management and HRM, and maintain that the most obvious change is a “re-labelling process” (Legge 1989: 20).

Torrington (1989: 64) agrees that “a change of label” is obvious, though one cannot be sure that the content of differentiates to any extent. However, the new terminology may at least rid personnel management from its unfavourable welfare image and other “negative connotations” (Sisson 1990: 1) and thus, save the ailing function of managing personnel from marginalisation. Keenoy (1990: 8) stresses another aspect: he sees personnel management caught in ambiguity as it is torn by managing the tension between organisational demands and needs of employees.

The clear strategic orientation of HRM provides an “escape route from ambiguity”, because it has “sharply refocused the attention on the organisational loyalties of the personnel function. ” Thus, its full organisational legitimacy may be regained. Accordingly, some HR academics maintain that new labels on old bottles may have their uses, even if it is only for marketing purposes (Armstrong 1987: 35; Guest 1989: 48). Furthermore, a valuable contribution of HRM is to direct the attention to regarding people as the key resource of organisations and lending the management of personnel increased importance (Armstrong 1987: 31).

Differences The outstanding strategic character of HRM is claimed to be one of the differences in emphasis between personnel and HR management. While conventional personnel management is criticised for its only loose link with business objectives, the formulation of HRM policies should explicitly take place at a strategic level within the organisation (Storey 1989: 6). This implies that the integration of HRM strategy with business strategy is not a pure specialist task within the HR department, but should be driven by senior management – in the best case at board level.

Similarly, there is more emphasis in HRM approaches on the importance of line managers. HRM models clearly highlight the line management’s responsibility for the management and development of the human resources, especially with regard to their contribution to bottom line results (Legge 1989: 27; Keenoy 1990: 8). This goes together with the generally more strategic and “demand -driven” (Torrington 1989: 61) approach of (‘hard’) HRM, which focuses on organisational needs and, finally, profit at the bottom line.

A major element of (‘soft’) HRM approaches is the involvement of senior managers in the creation of organisational culture and values. The culture should be designed for gaining the employees’ commitment. Commitment is an eminent goal of HRM, as it is seen as a crucial precondition for high performance (Guest 1989: 49). Besides high trust and commitment, another part of organisational culture as promoted by HRM is a more direct form of communication. HRM advocates a turn from collectivism to individualism (Sisson 1990: 5).

It neglects collective bargaining and unions, and promotes individual relations with direct forms of communication between management and employees (Storey 1989: 2; Keenoy 1990: 3). Storey and Sisson speak of an ongoing replacement of “industrial relations” by “employee relations. ” (1989: 170) While personnel management often finds itself in an intermediate position between organisational demands and individual needs, (‘soft’) HRM models maintain a coinciding relationship of organisational and individual interests. Read about Evolution of Job Design

HRM policies and practices that are desirable for the employee are also beneficial to the achievement of organisational goals. Moreover, individuals can only contribute to organisational success effectively when their personal needs are met on the job. Therefore, individual development – including the development of managerial staff (Legge 1989: 27) – and satisfaction are emphasised in HRM. Consequently, training and other means of development gain more importance and managerial attention than in personnel management (Torrington 1989: 66).

At the same time, (‘soft’) HRM models grant more autonomy and self-responsibility to individuals (Torrington 1989: 56), because a higher degree of autonomy is regarded as prerequisite for the organisation’s adaptability to change, i. e. , the organisation’s flexibility (Guest 1989: 49). ‘[1] The historical development and changing context in which they operate ‘The evolution of Personnel Management has occurred in an unplanned, uneven and random way. It was mostly forced by environmental changes in society, businesses, industry rather than a rational, incremental process. (Hendry 1991).

Starting from the point of the mature phase of Personnel Management in the 1960s and 1970s where we have the introduction of various services into organizations and management development, training and manpower planning. We observe the existence of selection, training, salary administration and appraisal (MBO). Then in the 1980s the concept of HRM emerged from US, and personnel was seen more like business oriented. With the declining of trade unions also Industrial relations became less significant and HRM starts to be considered as a more specialized tool for the needs of an organization and its employees.

Finally in the 1990s as the interest is more onto team working, empowerment, quality, development, flexibility, efficiency and effectiveness, the role of HRM became more important. Now terms as culture management, performance and reward systems or management development have been given great importance along with the notion of being strategic in all aspects. The major sources of changes are the Environmental firstly, taking the shape of economic and political change where we had the rise of enterprise economy and market led economies.

Moreover, concern for environment and society widely has appeared. Then, the social trend towards individualism substituting collectivism and the arising customer expectations so as to the requirements being higher than ever before. The recession of the 1990s have made investment and expansion much more difficult and risky than before in the business environment, and changing demographics since the 80s impacted as problems into the offer of various skilled employees.

New work patterns have emerged where more pat-time workers and permanent employees are used nowadays, and with the rise of competition from Europe, Japan or multinational corporations has made it difficult to cope correctly with employees. Finally we must note the various and fast technological advancements which take place and the shortening of product life cycles that lead to short range strategies and increased flexibility.

The impact of all those factors was and still is great onto people, the manpower employed by a firm, which have to learn to cope with change as it takes the form of role ambiguity and role conflict and leads to stress. (Peters 1988). Managers have now to learn to reshape their exercising of power in every form so as to co-operate with and assist their colleagues to better themselves and act properly for the good of the enterprise. That was the time where HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT was needed to take place as a more specialized function in the organization to handle employee matters and generally manpower planning.

The purpose of each job and role had to be specified narrowly and accurately. Performance and results are clearly identified with employee actions and extend to motivation and rewards. Inner-Qualities from managers are needed such as a leader, an analyst, a motivator; a colleague, a planner, and a reinforcer; so as to cope cross-departmentally with every employee, and weaken in turn ambiguity and confusion. Straight forward lines of action are needed from the start of a business and HRM is the answer to all of these issues. ‘ [2]

What factors should be taken into account to determine the most appropriate recruitment and selection methods? Discuss how the process of interviewing can be improved in organisation to strengthen the validity and reliability of the method. In the era of globalisation and fast changing business conditions, organisations are looking for effective management and employee recruitment and selection. The current situation demands a complete strategic approach to HRM. Therefore it is important to look at the traditional methods and modern approach in the recruitment and selection process.

Growing evidence suggests that employee selection and recruitment involves accuracy and predictability in order to achieve better talent management. While recruiting candidate’s organisation need to adapt right selection method to get right candidates for the right post. This warrants a thorough analysis of vacancies, job description, job analysis, accurate selection method, interviewing techniques to recruit right candidates. In the recruitment and selection and selection process interview method is considered to be the most popular method in ever changing times due its accuracy, reliability, validity and convenience.

While looking at the benefit and risks of interview method benefit outweigh the risks. A complete analysis of contemporary approach and modern approach in the recruitment and selection process would be an ideal approach. Recruitment and selection process are same process it can be consider separately. A system approach to recruitment and selection is base on the systems has inputs, processing unit and output. Here inputs are candidates, the processing unit consists of different method and output is effective candidates. The source of recruitment takes place within the labour market.

This includes a mass of available people who have the skills to fill open position. Sources of recruitment depend upon the availability of the right kind of people in the local labour market as well as on the nature of the position to be filled. An organisation ability to recruit employees often hinges as much on the organisation reputation and the attractiveness of its job offer . Human resources seek and demand for the personal qualities and skills among the personal candidates human resources plans in the organisation to select the people within the organisation.

HRP looks to attract people with right skills and experience. They are trained to adopt the change in environmental. The design of a job such as introducing more flexible working system. Flexible working system reduce costs, increased productivity and competitiveness, improved customer service, improve ability to recruit and staff improved motivation and commitment . “Human resource planning is a process for identifying an organisation current and future human resource requirement, developing and implementing plans to meet these requirements and monitoring their overall effectiveness”.

The general process of the human resources planning is basis step to recruitment to avoid future problems, wastage and through planning training program to asses not only in the quantity also involved quality skills in the organisation. Human resource planning is a process with demand and supply and good plan lead to understand the future changes, demographic, social changes in the organisation human resource plans plays important role in the organisation .

Human resources planning (Torrington et al 2002) is termed as “Man Power Planning”. Human resourcing planning is related to recruitment and selection and retaing of an employee. It is one of the most important function in organisation human resource department normally has primary responsibilities for recruitment and selection of qualified employee. The purpose of recruitment and selection process is to achieve goals by appointing right person at the right job. Armstrong says that traditional HRP to reflect aims more appropriate for contemporary circumstances.

Strategic planning requires to the social economic, political and technological how the organisation is processing. The internal circumstances are strength and weakness; external circumstances are threat and opportunities. Resourcing strategy is also value statement. The aim of the strategy achieve the goal in organisation. Scenario planning is used to find the demand and forecast of the organisation. In the organisation HRP is responsible to senior management needs. The objectives of these units are to find demand for human resources in various departments.

Demand is estimated with quality and quantity of human resources need. In this several method of forecasting in regular uses like technical and non-technical methods we can analysis internal and external environment . Recruitment can be defined as the process of locating identifying and attractive prospective and capable employees to the organisation. Before the employees can be recruited the manager must have a clear idea about the activities and responsibility required in the job being filled.

Therefore job analysis is an early step in recruitment process the accuracy of the individual specification and of all the subsequent stages in selection will depend on the quality of the job analysis. A meeting between the person responsible for selection and the head of the people who will fit it and a time for selection based on the urgency with which the vacancy has be filled up . Once the job description has been determined and accompanying hiring or person specification is developed.

Hiring or person specification defines as the education, experience skills that an individual should have in order to perform effectively in the position. The characteristics specified should be relevant only those which or failure in the job should be specified and independent. Any over lapping elements should be avoided and assessable. The attributes that can be assessed with the selection tools available should be included (Cornelius, 2007; 39). Job specification includes knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests, specific qualifications.

Job specification is main function in the management of employee at work. Analysis that during the selection process insufficient level of knowledge necessary for effective performance of the person (Weddle; 2008). The various selection techniques are carried in the selection process. For example Screening application forms are wealth of information and should be used wisely. It should be interpreted correctly. The primary objective would be to eliminate failing to meet minimum, qualifying requirements. Work sampling- It is an effort to create a miniature replica of a job.

The applicants demonstrate that they possess the necessary skills by actually doing the tasks. Assessment centre- In assessment centres, line executives, supervisors and qualified psychologists evaluate candidates as they go through two or four days of exercises that stimulate real problems that the candidates are likely to encounter on the job. Psychological test- These tests are considered extremely beneficial. They can, however can be easily misused and misinterpreted by untrained people. Good tests are useful in the circumstances because they can provide objective measures of people’s abilities.

These tests are a most sophisticated tool for measuring human characteristics tool for measuring human characteristics and are unbiased as compared to other tests and are therefore extensively used in selection decision (Torrington and Hall, 1998; 228). Some psychological tests are, Intelligence tests- Certain intelligence tests that are used now a day to measure the learning capacities of the candidates (Binet simson test and Thurstone tests). MATRIX (Management Trial Exercise) designed by proctor and gamble. CAT (Clerical Aptitude Test) it is to assess vocabulary, spelling, arithmetical ability, details checking.

PAT (Pilot Aptitude Test)

It is to assess coordination between hands and feet movements. Computer Aptitude Test- It is to assess power of reasoning and analysis. Interest tests- These tests are designed to find the interest of an applicant in the job he has applied for. Two of the most widely used tests are as follows, Strong vocational interest blank- In the test the applicant is asked whether he likes, dislikes or is indifferent to many examples of occupations, amusements, peculiarities of people and particular activities.

The answers given are compared with the answers earlier given by successful people in specific professions and occupations. Kuder preference record- A questionnaire tests the interest in mechanical, scientific, clerical, social service, computation, persuasive, artistic, literary and musical abilities. Personality tests- This is of great important and should be conducted for all posts. Individuals possessing intelligence, aptitude and experience for certain job have often been found unsuccessful because of their inability to get along with others.

Some of the personality tests are given below, Thematic apperception test (TAT)- this is one of the most popular projective tests in which the candidate is shown a series of pictures, one at a time and asked to write a story for each of the pictures. Rorschach inkblot test- In this test the candidates are asked to organise unstructured inkblots into meaningful concepts. An integrated picture of the candidate’s personality is then formulated. Interview is designed to probe into areas that cannot be addressed by the application form or tests.

These areas usually consist of assessing candidate’s motivation, ability to work under stress, inter-personal skills and ability to fit-in the organisation. The use of the interview in selecting executives makes sense whereas for lower level jobs appear questionable . Finally selection decision will be probably be three or four candidates; it is unlikely that any of the three or four remaining applicants meet the person specification in every way. The personnel specialist together with line management will now have to depend on management judgment.

Labour turnover can be both positive and negative it is a measure to find the rate of change in an organisation. Cost of waste according to Marcose et al  if the employees have not required skills or knowledge in the particular fields the wastage will be high. There are two types of labour market internal and external market. Internal market refers to operation runs inside the organisations like labour turnover, work force, and profile and cohort analysis. Interview is more popular method of selecting the person for jobs  interview is one of the in disposable and objective assessment technique.

Interview method seems to be most acceptable in the selection process due to its accuracy for any kind of job. Reasons for its accuracy and predictability can be stated due to its flexibility and accuracy. The change of failure of these methods is rare because selection of question and interaction with candidates during interview process enables the interviewer to select the right candidates on the basis of face to face interaction. Candidates are evaluated on the possible approach to the given situation these methods perhaps helps to predict the suitability of particular candidates for a given role or job.

It has been observed that the interviewing technique in selection process helps to analysis communication skills of a candidate’s body language, enthusiasm and commitment level for a particular job. Hence interview method attains the top position in the pyramid of selection process due to its accuracy and predictable . The interview method can be more reliable in the process of selecting candidates. The key attributes of reliability could be the right selection method maintaining consistency regardless of environment more importantly interviewers are will equipped and trained to conduct interviews.

By and by enlarge more than one interviewer conducts interview to arrive at accurate are select right candidates . Interview method can be considered to the reliable because the questions asked during the interviewers are well structured and prepare hence this can be more reliable. The validity of interview method can be justified by evaluating the candidates knowledge level for the define job. For example an interviewer can ask to define the key element required to accomplish a particular task. The interviewers are conducted after through job analysis by the interviewer.

This kind of preparation helps the interviewer to conduct interview in a structured manner and minimise the chance of errors. Looking into the interview process and its validity and reliability, it can be best concluded that amongst the various selection methods available for the employer, interview method seems to be more accurate, predictable and also flexible. The theoretical basis of interviewing methods like system approach and contemporary approach supports the current practices of interviewing techniques to achieve better outcome in terms of reliability and validity.

The key attributes could be broad structure, measurability of candidate’s fitment for a particular job and his/her overall capability to execute the assigned task. Very importantly interview method helps organisation to leverage the pool of talent to fit in a particular job function more accurately. This helps the organisation to achieve better performance and productivity not only in the short run but also in the long run. Hence, it can be concluded that interview method is the most suitable method for selecting the right candidate for the right job with more accuracy and predictability.

References

1. Beardwell, J & Claydon, J (2007). Human resource management, a contemporary approach; United Kingdom: prentice hall.
2. Bratton, J & Gold, J (2003). _Human resource management theory and practise (3rd ed. )_; United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
3. Corbridge, M & Pilbeam, S (1998). Employment resourcing; United Kingdom: prentice hall. Cornelius, N (2001). Human resource management, a managerial perspective (2nd ed. ); London: Thomson learning.
4. Maund, L (2001). An introduction to the human resource management, theory and practice; United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
5. Mckeen, E & Beech, N (2002). Human resource management a concise analysis; United Kingdom: prentice hall.
6. Nieto, L. M (2006). An introduction to human resource management, an introduction approach; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
7. Pilbeam, S & Corbridge, M (2006). People resourcing, contemporary HRM in practice; United Kingdom: prentice hall.
8. Torrington, D & Hall, L (1998). Human resource management; United Kingdom: prentice hall.
9. Werick, K. (2008). ‘The perfect interview’. _HR Magazine_, 53(4), 85-88. Weddle, P. (2008). ‘Developing a positive recruitment

1. Basic Business Model The business model of SAS is such that it in general it offers services coupled with software. Unlike typical firms in the industry it follows an annual software subscription model. Rather than sell its software, SAS leases to its customers – a strategy of immense importance in understanding the company’s relationship to its users. The fact that leases must be renewable annually creates a tremendous emphasis on customer satisfaction and quality in addition to stabilising its revenue.

Furthermore, its products are made based on what customers require and its developmental process is almost wholly customer driven. There is also a strong focus on employee satisfaction leading to customer retention and loyalty which SAS believes is directly linked to customer satisfaction. As seen by the SAS Institute, the leasing strategy helps keep the company sharp by ensuring that technological advances are driven solely by customer needs. 2. Capabilities and Core Competencies to execute its Business Model SAS possesses many capabilities and competencies to help execute its business model effectively.

These include flexibility from being a private company, an effective tacit leadership, unique corporate culture, strong brand, dedicated human capital and a considerable amount of financial resources which they efficiently allocate to certain projects whenever required. Being private, it is able to focus on the long term, continue to implement activities which have a strong focus on employee satisfaction and focus on slower but steady growth, something that would have most likely have not been possible had SAS been a public company.

With a strong leadership spearheaded by CEO Jim Goodnight, coupled with a strong brand, SAS is able to recruit and retain the key talent it requires to execute its business model. Having a corporate culture which is egalitarian and based on mutual trust and respect also plays a significant role in retaining talent and keeping employees loyal and happy. With a dedicated human capital striving to continue the company’s growth, SAS does not only come up with innovative products which increase its revenue, it also saves more than $100million due to its low attrition rate. Key Success Factors The key factors are its unconventional management philosophies, customer driven developmental process and it being a private company. Unlike other software companies that focus on monetary benefits, SAS’s management philosophy is mainly employee centred with the provision of many intangible benefits. It also believes in a long term view of all issues and does not actively strive to reach specified short term financial goals. These have led to a build up of a loyal and talented workforce and sustainable long term growth.

Moreover, its products are built on customer needs and customer feedback is taken very seriously. Using the Voice of the Customer (VOC) approach, customer opinions and suggestions are compiled and used to guide the development process. Being a private company with no debt has allowed Goodnight to have a long term view of issues and also implement the abovementioned policies to provide employee satisfaction and consequently customer satisfaction as well. . Building of Capabilities and Core Competencies via People Management Practices With attraction and retention of talent central to the company’s continuing success, it has developed certain principles in its recruitment, compensation, employee benefits and outsourcing policies. It has a stringent recruitment process to ensure the cultural fit of its new hires and thereafter gives its employees as much autonomy as possible.

It also actively promotes a work life balance and egalitarian culture with a promotion of non financial incentives, unlike other software firms thus creating a unique corporate culture, “One of cooperation, teamwork and mutual respect” . Moreover its flat organization structure, open door policy and informal work environment encourages communication at all levels of the organization.. This has also led to the development of a strong brand and increased employee satisfaction which not only enables the company to attract but also retain talent.

As shown in the diagram above, this leads to increased customer satisfaction and thus increasing revenues. All in all, these practices have helped promote the building of its capabilities and competencies to a large extent ?Is the SAS Model perfectly in balance? With SAS focussed on long term growth and emphasizing non monetary benefits for its employees, this model has been almost perfect for them. It is not fair to say that the model is perfectly in balance as a firm’s model is largely determined by its capabilities and core competencies. A public company for instance would not enjoy the flexibility that SAS enjoys.

It would not be able to provide such extensive employee benefits or focus on long term growth at the expense of short term profitability. No model can fit all organizations and be perfectly in balance and SAS is not different. For example, if its model is in balance, its attrition rate despite being low would be 0 and not 4%. 4. Difficulties in imitating SAS’s approach Being such a differentiated company compared to the rest of the industry in many aspects, it is difficult to duplicate SAS’s approach which is based heavily on intangible assets. “…intangible assets almost never create value by themselves.

They need to be combined with other assets. ” Hence, not only do these intangible assets such as SAS’s unique corporate culture take years to implement, it is also hard to imitate as the social complexity of a company’s culture is so ambiguous that it is almost impossible to find out how it works and combines with each other. ?Why few firms have tried to implement many of its People Management Practices Big companies with strong brands such as IBM could follow its stringent recruitment process but would not be able to imitate its unique culture as easily.

With most companies providing incentive compensations and stock options, it would not be easy to eliminate that and emphasize non-monetary incentives. This is especially so when public companies would have to go through its board just to provide employee benefits on a similar scale as SAS. It would also be unfeasible to bring outsourced functions back in-house as it would most certainly drive up labour costs and hence be blocked by a hard-nosed board. 5. Extent to which SAS is dependent on continuation of its CEO With a flat organization structure and having 27 direct reports, Goodnight also appears o be very much on top of all the details of the organization. Conversely, he appears to give his direct reports a clear direction of where SAS Institute is going on the product or technology front, and then let them run their own areas. Even though Goodnight is no longer directly involved with most decisions related to SAS’s work culture, his original vision has spawned a self-perpetuating culture, and “new” decision makers now share his vision, which governs the variety of philosophies, strategies, and practices adopted by the company since its inception.

Even though the culture looks so strong that it would survive a change in leadership, the new CEO would not only have to possess business leadership ability but also shares the same values as Goodnight so that SAS does not deviate from its current approach to its business and management. Hence, with no formal succession planning and still being heavily involved in almost all aspects of the organization, the SAS institute approach to its business and management is heavily dependent on Goodnight’s continuation. . Theory of Human Motivation and Behaviour underlying SAS’s Management Approach Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy seems to underlie SAS’s approach to people management. 7. Barriers in implementing knowledge of how SAS manages its people Firstly, a barrier in trying to implement freedom and autonomy coupled with possessing employees with intrinsic motivation is not only the lack of talent but finding talent with the required characteristics.

Secondly, extensive employee benefits such as a gym, day-care and the absence of commission-based pay for its account representatives would most likely not been possible if a company is public. Thirdly, a lack of explicit support and encouragement from top management would be another barrier as this is important for the promotion of an egalitarian culture based on trust and mutual respect on top of a family-friendly atmosphere. 8.

Major Challenges SAS may face in the next 5 years and its Impact Due to the changing dynamics of the software industry and increasing global competition, the company has to expand its talent pool which is already in shortage. Hence, there might be a need for the company to come out with new ways to attract talent. Practices such as providing more career advancement opportunities would be important in retaining them. Another challenge would be to develop current staff to meet future needs whilst nurturing its talent to fulfil their potential.

SAS might have to change its current unstructured approach where employees are free to come up with and develop their own projects and idea. A more structured approach to its job design could be considered to help nurture and develop staff. In general, SAS’s practices have been working for them and look to be able to continue to help them succeed. However, certain aspects could be improved in the future to overcome potential future people management problems such a new generation of workers demanding a different set of benefits than the one SAS currently offers. . Lessons drawn By paying extraordinary attention to its customers and employees, the company has differentiated itself from other companies in the competitive industry, and subsequently has created this “wheel of loyalty” which resulted in both employee and customer retention. For various HRM practices such as recruitment and selection, great care must be taken to ensure all practices are designed to fit the company’s business model and culture and at the same time also highlights its strengths, to promote a competitive advantage.

For instance, during recruitment, SAS took great care to hire people to ensure a cultural fit. In addition, its job design was such to fit into its philosophy of trust and autonomy between its employees. There should also be a strong relationship between management and employees to produce competitive advantage, hence SAS’s promotion of an egalitarian culture. ?Future of HRM in firms like SAS The future of HR should be one that is committed to working with line managers to improve SAS’s bottom line, create service value for customers and create workplace value for employees.

Leadership and management training should be initiated for senior managers while knowledge sharing within the HR function would be vital for SAS to move forward and expand globally. HR should also become a champion for employees while working to increase employee contributions, specifically commitment and ability to deliver results, be an agent for continuous transformation, and cultivating a culture that will improve SAS’s capacity for change.