Custom «Absenteeism, Motivation and Recruitment Introduction» Essay Paper Sample

Introduction

Organizational retention involves management of both, the intrinsic and extrinsic organizational environment of the employees. Intrinsic organizational environment of  the employees,  refers to  the  cognitive , individualistic  behavior of  an  employee  in  an  organizational  context. Extrinsic environment involves the interaction between an employee, with both the human resource components, and other factors of production in an organization. It also extrapolates to other organizations, which are analogous, in their human resource constituent to that particular organization. Management of the intrinsic, organizational  requirements, requires  the  fostering  of  the  employees  morale  in  doing  his  job  and the  maintenance of the emotional wellbeing of an  employing in the work place. This involves managerial input to foster, a good relationship amongst the subordinate staff in an organization and between the subordinate staff and their seniors (Cook, 2009). It also involves the creation and maintenance of a sense of belonging, contribution, security and control in an organizational context.

It also requires appreciation and recognition of the employees input, in celebrating an organizational success. Extrinsic intervention to an organizational environment involves synchronization of the employee payment to that of similar organization on a competitive basis. It also involves offering opportunities for professional development, where opportunity advancement is offered in terms of both, performance and professionalism. Creation of alternative work environment, scheduled flexibility from work and improvement of the organizational environment are also extrinsically important, in organizational management. In this essay, the writer looks at the intrinsic and extrinsic organizational environment common weaknesses and how those weaknesses can be improved. The notable organizational weaknesses in a business include: "Policing" managerial approach in addressing employees infractions and shortfalls, disgruntled employees, patronizing of employees, job unfitness and difficulty in staff recruitment. All these are important aspects of the Quick Spend Company and as the absentee level is around 20% it is the HRM's job to formulate a method to control it effectively and understand the need of motivation in this context.

The problem of Absenteeism in Quick Spend Co

The company is experiencing the problem of a high rate of absenteeism, about 20%, at the moment. Additionally, it intends to open a new outlet in 6 months time. So, it needs to consolidate and rectify the existing problem as soon as possible. As a HR personality it is essential to identify the existing problem and find a solution in quick time before the commencement of the new unit. The process of rectification would start with an analysis of the reasons behind this absenteeism and propose a solution to Quick Spend Co. Later, it is also the responsibility of the HR to formulate a well developed plan to recruit the most eligible candidates for the job openings. 

Analysis of solution of absenteeism

According to Valsecchi, (2006) absenteeism and lack of commitment are characteristic of the sales industry if there are not enough incentives and it is applicable for Quick Spend Company. Loss of employee benefits, financial difficulties, relocation costs, stress on the new job, and career problems are some of the unfavorable consequences the individual would have to face as a result of absenteeism (Phillips and Connell, 2003).

According to Hom and Griffeth, (1995) cited Morrell et al., (2004) more than 800 studies have been based on absenteeism. This only emphasises the fact that organisations as well as academics are equally investing their time and resources to study employee turnover. According to a study conducted by Mehta et al., (2006), the lower level staff and managers are faced with the challenges of meeting targets, dealing with customers and maintaining work life balance, while the challenges faced by the middle level managers are to motivate employees, handle attrition and all these result in absenteeism. Thus the sales manager's role traditionally limited to people management has grown wider to encompass leadership and ability to lead more than one team simultaneously (Calvert, 2004). The upper management level is concerned with the meeting the client demands, competition and cost. Thus, at every level, though not explicitly stated, there is significant emphasis on the employee retention issues.

Morrell et al., (2004) draw from various authors to explain that some of the factors which can be used to study employee absenteeism are job satisfaction, the various forms of commitment, psychological contract, external market conditions etc. With respect to the sales industry like Quick Spend Co, we can see that autonomy or empowerment is also important. This research to investigate employee absenteeism in the sales industry will focus on job satisfaction, empowerment, job stress, and various forms of commitment.

According to George and Jones, (2000), job satisfaction is a direct consequence of employee's feelings and beliefs, their attitudes about working for the particular organization, or the current job. Such attitudes can be influenced by either the job as a whole or by individual factors such as pay, job design, flexibility in working hours and content of work etc. It would seem obvious that job satisfaction leads to an increased job performance and reduced absenteeism. Koh and Boo, (2004) from their study conclude that higher job satisfaction leads to higher productivity, and elicit positive reactions from employees when confronted with problems. But according to van Dick et al., (2006) some studies have actually found a weak relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. When faced with problems or challenges at work, negative reactions by the employees could be assumed to be absenteeism, indifferent behavior and turnover.

Koh and Boo, (2004) draw on wide literature and explain that job satisfaction is a determinant of organizational commitment and results in reduced absenteeism. This is consistent with the findings of Lok and Crawford, (2001), which emphasize on the importance of the study of job satisfaction to provide an extensive understanding of employee commitment. Also, job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important in explaining absenteeism and employee turnover in organizations (Dailey and Kirk, 1992 cited Koh and Boo, 2004). Thus, it is clear that it is essential to enhance motivation to enhance job satisfaction to reduce absenteeism in Quick Spend Co.

Method to reduce absenteeism rate in Quick Spend Co

In our present days, there is an increase demand on human resources. Many firms spend much of money in recruiting and training to reach their goals and augment profitability. There is no exception of those organizations that belong to the public sector. Adopting polices that guide to satisfied and motivated members are essential. The relationship between companies and employees can be determined through measuring the satisfaction level of members and to what extent they are motivated. The motivation is entitled with studying a member's behavior for acting in a specific manner and for what reasons the employee continues with such actions (Mullins, 2007: 249-250). Employees are being influenced by job satisfaction factors that might affect on their performance such as working hours, working climate, lack of job security et cetera.

In our days, motivation and job satisfaction factors need to be adopted by firms to create a good climate to work in order to improve employees' satisfaction, which leads to low staff turnover. Moreover, customers will be satisfied with low turnover and results high profit return (Putizer, 2001: 104). Browell argues that there is a link between dissatisfied employees and their decision to leave (Browell, 2003:37-38). High staff turnover is an obsession for many organizations that affects on their performance. Actions being taken to limit employees leave. This problem can be found in most industries; communication, transportation, and banking in private and public sector and Quick Spend Co is no exception.

According to Browell, there are factors that drive employees to leave. These factors are to be considered from member to another. Organization' policies, training and development, career advancement, feedback, stress; supervision low rewards are what might affect on the individual for resignation. Besides, there are other reasons such as health problem, nature of the firm' work and home sick if the employee is an expatriate. (Browell, 2003: 38)

There are several theories about motivation which highlight on the significance of the vocation then specific needs that motivate the individual. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of needs which focuses on enabling and encouraging employees to be able to realize their potential can be used as a model to design a motivational strategy and giving incentives to the workers. This hierarchy comprises of five different stages. The first one is 'biological and physiological needs', that would include, food, health, drink, sleep, shelter, air, warmth, sleep, sex, et cetera.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Chart, (abraham-maslow, 2009)

The second stage of the hierarchy is based on safety needs, such as, limits, security, order, stability, and law. It is important that when recruiting employees, managers be sure about the capabilities and potential of the selected staff. They should trust them and give them job security on the condition of delivering desired output.  The third stage covers 'belongingness and love needs' that would comprise of family, work group, relationships, and affection. For this, it is important, that there be effective communication between the managers and the employees. 

'Esteem needs', which are the fourth, include factors like independence, prestige, self-esteem, managerial responsibility, achievement, dominance, and status. When workers are treated with respect, there is a psychological effect, and they are more inclined to work with honesty (Taylor, 2005). Once they have been clearly explained the goals and all their queries have been answered, meeting the goals will become much easier. Training and learning new skills, and the feeling of pride for being a part of something big and influential also encourages people to work hard. (Businessballs, 2008, and Steve Penny, not dated)

Last on Maslow's hierarchy is 'self-actualization needs', that is, seeking personal growth, realizing own potential, peak experiences, and self-fulfillment, Employees should have the liberty to decide how they are going to accomplish it. Fringe benefits and bonuses should be offered to the top ones. 

Frederick Herzberg (1968) argues that satisfaction has two scopes; hygiene and motivation. The first is concerned with issues such as salary, command and minimizing the dissatisfaction among staff. While the second scope works as satisfier such as achievement, responsibility and career advancement (www.aafp.org, 1999). The table below shows the notion of Herzberg for Hygiene and motivation factors. He has developed six factors of satisfaction and another six for dissatisfaction.

Job satisfaction is known to be concerned with what the staff feels about the place they are working for. It is believed by managers that more people satisfied in the company, the more productivity and mission the workers will accomplished. Thus, some of organizations draw policies that include rewarding plans, determining the relation between the workers and management, promotions, responsibilities and working environment, to satisfy their members and in return a high performance and low turnover of employees (Cook, 2009).

Locke claims that Job satisfaction can be defined as; "the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one's job values" (Locke, 1969). On the other hand, Szymanski and Hershenson (1998) have defined job satisfaction as conclusion resulting of a number of variables (Journal of Rehabilitation, 2004). Being not dissatisfied, dose not refers to be that the worker is satisfied.

It is suggested by Browell that employers should not consider the money as the only way that satisfies the employee but other issues such as housing, stress, management treatment. Therefore, likely leavers will not accept probably an offered for staying (Browell, 2003:42). According to Mullins (2007) that 'Job satisfaction is being affected by several variables that is relating to social , individual, cultural, organizational, and environment factors'(Mullins, 2007: 277).

Vecchio (2000) argues that attitudes and feelings of the employee have impact on his/her job satisfaction and study three major reasons; members' psychology and physiology, job satisfaction is essential to a company's capability for attract and retain employees, number of firms' problems result  in a low job satisfaction with high turnover and absenteeism. Thus, once these elements are met the absenteeism in Quick Spend Co can be reduced. However, an important aspect to reduce absenteeism in Quick Spend Co is new and proper recruitment in order to enhance motivation.

Recruitment in Quick Spend Co

For the purpose to reduce absenteesism it is essential to motivate the workers and thus, Quick Spend Co needs to recruit 2 General Managers and 2 Deputy General Managers to run the new unit. Thus, from the point of view of the HRM, a thorough recruitment strategy is needed for the Quick Spend Co.

Recruitment strategy

Human resource selection and recruitment is regarded as a vital process in any business organization since it's a way through which an organization gets competent and the right workforce that will ultimately achieve organizational goals through effective participation in their specific duties and it is applicable to Quick Spend Co. Effective recruitment and selection strategies, thus, assume a greater significance in the above context. Recruiting the right person for the right job is crucial to organizational growth as ineffective recruitment affects employee performance, results in loss of business opportunities and triggers higher levels of labor turnover. All these have higher cost implications for the organizations (Taylor, 2005).

Proper recruitment and selection processes not only enable the organizations to find suitable candidates with required competencies to help them meet the organizational goals but also contributes to employee retention. Effective recruitment and selection ensures that suitable candidates are selected who would continue to serve in the best interest of the organization for a longer period of time. With rapid globalization, employee retention has emerged as a matter of serious concern for the organizations nowadays (Sussland 2006). 

The process of recruitment involves identifying the needs of the organization to employ persons with specific competencies. "Selection refers to the processes involved in choosing the right candidate for the desired post" (Sussland 2006: 54). The selected candidates are then initiated into various training programs in order to prepare them meet organizational needs. Determination of recruitment strategies that would comply with organizational objectives, thus, forms an indispensable part of HR planning.

Background

Recruitment and selection in the human resource of Quick Spend Co is a vital part. A methodical and able recruitment is the fundamental strategy of a company's future success and sustainability. Thus, it is necessary to find out whether recruitment plays a key role in achieving firm's objectives. Other objectives will include; finding out the various recruitment and selection approaches in organizations that can be utilized by the management, to find out the best ways of linking recruitment and how an organization can best evaluate the performance of a motivated workforce. This is the primary objective of the study. The aim of study is to shed more light on the issue of recruitment and selection as one of key components that organizations have to engross in order to enhance there effectiveness towards attaining the set goals. The research is also aimed at equipping managers particularly those from Human Resource department to look critically on the best ways of recruiting employees.

Recruitment Strategies:

Recruitment strategy, thus, involves the following components:

• Target group
• Means of approaching the target group
• Recruitment processes and sources

Identifying the target group and the means of approaching the target group with the intention of hiring are done much before the actual recruitment process starts.

Recruitment Process:

An effective recruitment process involves a number of stages which specify the nature of the job and the skills necessary to meet the job needs. The first one is 'Job Analysis'.

Job Analysis:

The process involves a detailed evaluation of the nature of the job. This implies analyzing not only the content of the job but also the purpose of the job, the key requirements for it as well as the implications of the job in the organizational structure. "This task is usually accomplished by observing the employees at work, gathering information from interviewing job holders and referring to 'training manuals' or any such documents" (Barney 2008: 99-120).

The completion of Job Analysis leads to the next stage of the recruitment process, that is, 'Job Description'. In the case of Quick Spend Co it would be General Manager and Deputy General manager.

Job Description:

It involves the detail description of the job in the form of a legally binding, written document. It helps the employers as well as the candidates understand the kind of job expected out of them. It also specifies the skills, competencies, knowledge and experience expected from the desirable candidates as well as responsibilities of the job (Skyttner 21).

Job Specification:

This is something more than mere job description. It highlights specific skills and attributes expected in a particular job. E.g. certain jobs require industry specific training or specific years of experience in a particular capacity.

"It also highlights the mental and physical attributes expected from the job holders" (Skyttner 22). This is essential as the particular job holder will not only work for himself but also for the team and organization at large. This also has a direct impact on employee retention.

Methods of recruitment:

"Recruitment processes are carried out either internally within the organization or externally by recruiting candidates from outside" (Skyttner 22).

Internal recruitment:

In this case, recruitment is made within the organization from among the existing staff. This recruitment may be in the form of promotion, referral or relocation. The primary advantage of internal recruitment is that it is cost-effective as it is build up on the existing knowledge and skills of the employees. However, the biggest challenge lies in the fact that the organizations often do not have enough options to choose from. Moreover, it leaves scope for favouritism and discrimination.

One of the popular modes of internal recruitment is the use of the employee referral schemes where employees suggest suitable candidates using their respective networks. The employee referral scheme is being extensively used in the last few years as it is cost-effective and helps the applicants gain a better perspective of the job profile as well as organizational goals (Brown 2003).

External recruitment: 

In this case, candidates are recruited from outside thereby providing the organization with a vast pool of talent to select from. External recruitment facilitates the growth of the company by generating new ideas and experiences within the organization. However, the process is costly and time-consuming. Moreover, the organizations run the risk of recruiting someone who may be competent enough on paper but not in person. External recruitment may be via recruitment agencies or consultancies or through advertisements, campus selections etc.

Selection:

Selection of candidates is the next crucial step after the recruitment process. Selection process involves short listing the potential candidates and selecting the candidate most suitable for the required job. Depending on the organizational goals and objectives, various selection tools are used. Sometimes, a combination of two or more selection tools is used to make the selection process more effective. Some of the commonly used selection tools are application forms, interviews, psychometric tests, curriculum vitae etc.

Application forms: 

Application form is the most popular selection tool around the world, especially in UK. This selection tool enables the employers obtain information regarding the applicant that is relevant for the particular job. This information helps them in deciding the suitability of the candidate for the particular position.

Interview:

This is considered to be an effective selection tool in the sense that there is a direct interaction between the selector and the candidate. This gives the selector an opportunity to assess not only the knowledge and intelligence of the interviewee but also his/her cognitive, oral and social skills which would help him/her fit into the organization (Gambles 2006).

However, this is an extremely time-consuming process especially when conducted in large numbers. Furthermore, the subjectivity of the interviewer assumes prominence in this selection mode.

Psychometric tests:

These tests are conducted to test the psychological aspects of the candidates. These tests are usually in the form of attainment, aptitude and intelligence tests conducted to analyze a person's ability, personality and motivation. However, these tests are prone to misinterpretation of results.

Curriculum Vitae (CV):

This is another popular selection tool which is basically used for short listing. It is actually a sort of summary history written by the candidates themselves. Recruiters often face the challenging task of filtering the proper CVs as these often contain irrelevant information.

The recruitment and selection processes to be adopted by different organizations are determined keeping the organizational goals and objectives in mind. Effective recruitment not only fulfils immediate organizational needs but also ensures the development of optimum organizational resources which would act as catalysts in the future organizational performance.

Thus, it can be stated that the labour body states that organizations are encountering difficulties when searching for human capital and this comes up as a result of a competitive environment through which we find that many companies compete for talented workforce. Companies believe that having a talented workforce enhance the success of an organization. It should also be noted that most organizations engage in attractive selection, recruitment and payment processes that will allow them to select the most qualified and competent candidates (Robbins, 2005).

Analysis of recruitment in Quick Spend Co

Sales industry is essentially an industry that thrives on human performance. Naturally, for Quick Spend Co, its emphasis is on the employment of potential human resources. Recruitment and selection processes, therefore, have always been an integral part of the human resource activity.

Till the early 1990s, traditional recruitment and selection processes were put to use to recruit and select suitable candidates. These included advertisements in national and local newspapers, use of job centres, structured interviews, assessment centres, tests for specific skills etc.

However, the development of competitive market economy and globalization led to acute shortage of specialized skills. The organizations found recruiting individuals possessing niche skills pretty challenging. Shortage of specialized skills became the primary recruitment difficulty faced by a majority of Sales organizations.

Consequently, efforts were made to find alternative means of addressing the problem. This included adoption of effective recruitment and selection strategies in order to match the availability of potential labour with the skill needs of the organization (Kesler 2004). "Moreover, as more and more companies started realizing the importance of talent and skills of its employees in accelerating business performance, a new process emerged in the 1990s which has come to be adopted by a majority of organizations" (Kesler 2004: 26-37). This process is known as the talent management system.

Talent management system: 

The process involves taking initiatives to source, attract, recruit, develop, advance and retain highly skilled individuals. The main aim of this process is to develop the leadership and management skills and competencies in the employees which would be crucial in ensuring organizational success. The process of talent management, thus, helps the organizations achieve strategic objectives.

Nowadays, a large number of companies are devising a talent management strategy in alignment with it's the business strategy. Organizations adopting the talent management strategy include the following:

a. Sourcing, attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining individuals with the required competencies

b. Managing and devising competitive salaries

c. Providing training and development opportunities to the employees

d. Devising performance management processes

e. Developing employee retention programs

f. Creating opportunities for promotion and transitioning (Lawler 2007)

In the context of talent management, evaluation of an individual is based on two factors: performance and potential. The current performance of an individual helps in evaluating his/her potential. However, another important consideration from the point of view of talent management is predicting an individual's performance, that is, the potential of the individual to perform if proper training and development opportunities are provided.

Emerging talent management practices:

The development of the talent management system has given rise to a number of new talent management practices. These include effective recruitment, selection and retention practices that cater to the different aspects of the talent management process. The easy and rapid acceptance of these practices within the organizations may be attributed to the fact that they have gained an edge over the traditional recruitment and selection processes. Some of these are discussed below:

Emphasis on use of competency-based interviews: 

'Competencies' are qualities/attributes that the organizations look for in their suitable candidates. Competencies differ from organization to organization and are determined by organizational needs. A competency-based interview, also known as competency interview is used to judge a candidate's competence which gives an insight into his/her working style or behavior in specific situations. A competency-based interview is therefore, also known as situational or behavioral interview (Porter 2008).

A competency interview is an effective tool for judging those candidates who are fresh from their colleges and possess no prior experience in the particular industry.

However, many are of the opinion that competency-based interview is not an effective tool for evaluating candidates since it is organization-specific and often a reflection of the values and interests of a selected few.

a. Use of Internet recruitment:

However, the recruitment process that has found a favor with most of the companies is internet recruitment. Its sudden emergence into one of the primary recruitment processes has a lot to do with the rapid technological advancement.

Internet recruitment has proved to be an effective recruitment tool especially in the selection of IT and technical professionals although it is also widely used in other industries like sales in this context.

This recruitment method has provided the employers with a wide range of options to choose from. Some companies encourage direct applications through their own website; some prefer to create their own recruitment websites; still others may post their requirements on specific internet recruitment sites like Monster, Top Jobs, Gold Jobs and Guardian Jobs Unlimited.

This recruitment process has a number of advantages which has resulted in its rapid popularity. Primarily, it is cost-effective and provides the recruiters with a vast pool of talent to choose from. Moreover, it helps in the reducing the time required in the entire recruitment process and provides a greater flexibility to the applicants by matching the job requirements with the organizational needs (Ramlall 2007).

b. Use of the Employee referral schemes:

The employee referral scheme has been in use in the sales industry for quite some time. However, a reference to this recruitment process emanates from the fact that it has developed into one of the most effective internal recruitment methods globally. In fact, according to the CIPD Recruitment and Retention survey, the use of the employee referral scheme in US has shot up pretty rapidly.

Employee referral scheme offers a lot of benefits to the organizations. Firstly, it reduces the expenses involved in the recruitment process. Secondly, it helps the applicants in gaining a better insight into the nature of the job. Thirdly, involving the existing employees in the recruitment process has long-term implications. The fact that the employees suggest their organization to others implies their contentment with and commitment to the organization.