Visual

6
RECRUITMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
| Understand the nature, objectives and importance of recruitment

Case Studies
| Identify and describe the factors that affect recruitment
| Identify the recruitment process, delineate different stages in the process and
describe each of them
| Identify distinct philosophies of recruiting and understand implications of each
on employee hiring
In order to understand the real world issues
in HR, case studies have been provided at
the beginning and end of each chapter.
OPENING CASE

PROBLEM OF BOOMING B SCHOOLS

The city of Bangalore is agog, not with scorching
sun, not with frequent power cuts, not with two-
and four-wheelers jostling for space on the
overcrowded roads, but with headhunters scouting
around for MBAs.
The 1990s witnessed an alarming rise in the
number of institutes, schools and colleges offering
management education both at the undergraduate
as well as post graduate levels. There are about
90 of them offering BBM courses and 50 running
MBA programmes. All these need atleast 200
MBAs to be appointed as teaching faculty. Mere
MBA is not enough. The candidates must have
cleared NET (National Eligibility Test) or should
be doctorates.
All the students who join B Schools are not
locals. They come from the northern parts of India
and some from Dhaka. Teaching in English to
These cases (48 in number) center on live
these boys and girls is like talking to the wall.
They need to be instructed in Hindi or Urdu. MBAs
who are also linguists are highly preferable.
examples observed by the author personally
or have been narrated to him by HR
Managements are worried. They realise that
only good faculty will attract good students. Where
to find qualified and eligible MBAs? Most join
industries after graduation. Only a few come for
teaching and those that venture into it are in great
practitioners.
demand. They do not want the demand to slip
by. They are in one college today and are found
teaching in some other institute tomorrow.
Suddenly, retired executives, ex-servicemen
and not-so-successful consultants have found
themselves in great demand. With briefcases in
hands, these old men shuffle from college to
college and are laughing all the way to banks.
One retired bank manager confessed that he is
able to gross every month Rs 18,000 by teaching
at half a dozen colleges.

Recruitment #!

3. Bring out the internal sources of recruitment.

4. Explain the external sources of recruitment.
5. Explain the recruitment process.
6. What are the philosophies of recruitment?

Discussion Questions
1. Why is it important for organisations to do an effective job of recruiting?
2. Why is it important for recruiters to have a thorough understanding of labour markets and how they
work?
3. How can a company determine if its recruitment processes are working effectively?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various external recruitment sources? How do they
compare with the internal sources?
5. Suppose a key employee has just resigned and you are the department manager. After you have sent
your request for replacement, how could you help the recruiter to find the best replacement?
6. Write a recruitment ad for a job you have held.
7. Where would you run this ad? Explain.

CLOSING CASE

MORALE GONE BUST

Dinesh, the young executive in Softeck, has be-
come irritable, unpopular with colleagues and sub-
ordinates, and a problem for the boss. His perfor-
mance has started to slacken and mistakes plague
his every action and recommendation.
What is surprising is just three months back
Dinesh was quite opposite to all these. He also
has a brilliant track record. With a gold medal
from a prestigious B school, Dinesh entered his
vocational area of finance and proved instant
success. He has revamped the cost and budgetary
control systems, set up a management accounting
procedure and created a reliable and efficient
management information system. Dinesh received
awards and rewards and was slated to climb up
the organisational hierarchy further.
Yet, such a man has begun to go pieces all of
a sudden. Several things transpired against
Dinesh. His only son has turned out to be a spastic
child; he has been overlooked for a promotion,
with a less flamboyant outsider being preferred
for the number one slot by a management which
suddenly exhibited its preference to a traditional
accountant; and he has fallen foul of a powerful
line executive. To compound the problem further,
what has been a mild flirtation with an office
colleague has assumed the proportion of a major
sex scandal.
With his emotional relationships in a mess,
and worried over his son’s health and his own
future in Softeck, Dinesh’s morale has gone bust.
His self-confidence has been rudely shaken.
Question
1. What should Dinesh do?

References
1. William B. Werther and Keith Davis, Human Resources and Personnel Management, Fourth Edition,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993, p. 195.
2. Randall S. Schuler, et al., Effective Personnel Management, Third Edition, West Publishing, New
York, 1989, p. 106.
Walkthrough
Employee Remuneration '!

Minimum Wage
Minimum wage is the one which provides not merely for bare sustenance of life,
Minimum wage
but also for the preservation of the efficiency of the worker. For this purpose, the Providing for
minimum wage must also provide for some measure of education, medical sustenance of life plus
requirements and amenities. Minimum wage may be tied by an agreement between for preservation of the
the management and the workers, but is usually determined through legislation. efficiency of worker.
This is more so in the unorganised sector where labour is unionised. In the
fixation of minimum wages, besides the needs of workers, other factors like ability of the concern to
pay, nature of the jobs, and so on, are also considered.

Fair Wage
Fair wage is understood in two ways. In a narrow sense, wage is fair if it is equal Fair wage Marginal Notes
Equal to the rate
to the rate prevailing in the same trade and in the neighbourhood for similar work.
These notes on the text margins are brief
prevailing in the same
In a wider sense, it will be fair if it is equal to the predominant rate for similar trade and in the
work throughout the country and for trades in general. Irrespective of the way in neighbourhood. or
which fair wage is understood, it can be fixed only by comparison with an accepted
standard wage. Such a standard can be determined with reference to those industries
Equal to the
predominant rate for summaries or definitions of important
concepts and key terms. These would enable
where labour is well organised and has been able to bargain well with the employers. similar work throughout
the country.
Living Wage
Living wage is a step higher than fair wage. Living wage may be described as one
the reader to reinforce their learning.
which should enable the wage earner to provide for himself/herself and his/ her Living wage
family not only the bare essentials of life like food, clothing and shelter, but a Higher than fair wage.
Provides for bare
measure of frugal comfort including education for children; protection against ill essentials plus frugal
health; requirements of essential social needs; and/or measure of insurance against comforts.
the more important misfortunes including old age. A living wage must be fixed
considering the general economic conditions of the country. The concept of living
wage, therefore, varies from country to country. In the more advanced countries, living wage itself
forms the basis for the minimum wage.
In India, minimum wage is determined mainly for sweated industries under the provisions of the
Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Fair wage is fixed for other industries considering prevailing rates of
wages, productivity of labour, capacity of the employer to pay, level of national income and other
related factors.
Tribunals, awards and wage boards play major role in fair wage fixation. Many people are of the
opinion that living wage is a luxury for a developing country like India and can therefore be deferred.

SUMMARY
Employee remuneration has different connotations for different people. For an employee, it means
status and standard of living; for the employer it adds to the cost; and to the HRM administration of
remuneration is an important activity.
Remuneration comprises both financial as well as non-financial benefits. Only financial benefits
are considered in this chapter.

34 Human Resource and Personnel Management

the learning curve is that much shorter. For instance, in marketing, if the target audience is
women, it is an advantage if a woman is in charge of the brand,” says Prem Kawath, HR
Manager, HLL.6
The fact that mismanaging diversity shall result in dysfunctional consequences should not be
ignored. When not managed effectively, diversity tends to lead to higher turnover, heightened
interpersonal conflict and more difficult communication.

Exhibit 2.1 Management Diversity at Pacific Bell

Pacific Bell, a telecommunications company operating in California, realised for two basic reasons that it
had to change the way it traditionally recruited employees and managers. For one, the population of
Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans was increasing rapidly in California, but only a small
percentage of these minorities attended college. If Pacific Bell continued to hire only through college and
university campuses, its minority employees as a percentage of its total employees would most likely shrink.
This would be especially true for Hispanics, because their population was growing at the fastest rate.
Hence, while the percentage of Hispanics in California was growing, the percentage of Hispanics on the
payroll of Pacific Bell was decreasing.
The other reason, Pacific Bell decided to change its recruitment, was based on forecasts by the company’s
planners that its largest growth in management jobs would be in the high-technology areas of engineering,

Exhibits
marketing, and data systems. The work in these management jobs requires advanced technical skills and
formal education, and they had traditionally been filled via promotion from lower levels. But the company
recognised that promotions could not produce the number of skilled managers needed in the near future.
So Pacific Bell developed a new recruitment strategy comprising four components:

Exhibits and Examples reflecting HR practices 1. Internal networking by a group called the Management Recruitment District designed to generate
employee referrals; to establish networks of employees who had contacts in the minority communities;

in the Indian corporate sector have been

to identify employees who could serve as guest speakers for external presentations; and to make
presentations at regularly-scheduled department staff meetings.
2. Advertising directed towards specific ethnic groups. The advertisements showed a diverse group of
provided within the chapters. people employed in marketing, engineering, and management positions. These advertisements were
placed in local and national publications serving the targeted minority communities on a regular basis
to demonstrate the company’s interest in minority hiring and the fact that it valued employee diversity.
The same advertisements were placed in campus publications to announce appointment for employment
interviews.
3. Establishment of contact with small institutions in the California State University system, which tended
to enroll a higher proportion of minority students, as well as with Arizona State University and the
University of New Mexico, both of which have large Hispanic enrollments. The company established
relationships with minority student organisations and faculty (particularly those identified with business
or technical fields) to identify issues and to offer support. For example, Pacific Bell developed a video,
Engineering Your Management Future, to tell engineering majors about career paths in management.
4. At the local or national level of professional minority organisations, such as the National Hispanic
Council for High Technology Careers, Pacific Bell sought advisors to help develop management
candidates. The company even hosted a 2-day conference to address the alarming under-representation
of Hispanics in the teaching and practice of science and engineering.
Pacific Bell also established an internship programme (the Summer Management Programme) for third-
year college students, making them student ambassadors representing Pacific Bell’s career opportunities.
For managers from minority groups who were already employed, Pacific Bell offered 6-day, off-site training
programmes conducted by external consultants and designed to help further develop their skills. The
programmes also provided a safe place for participants to talk about sensitive issues such as covert racism
and prejudice, topics not likely to be discussed in the work setting.

Key Terms
Key terms represent important concepts
culled out from a chapter. These terms
help reader recollect contents of the chapter.
Review Questions
The Review Questions given at the end of
each chapter would help in gauging the
depth of understanding of the subject. The
answers for review questions could be found
in the text itself.
Discussion Questions
Discussion questions take the reader beyond
the book. They make the reader think,
reason out and apply. Answering these
questions will be a rewarding experience.
Visual
Online Supplement
The book has a web supplement (http://
highered.mcgraw-hill.com\sites\
007059930-0). Among the features listed in
this supplement include power point
presentations, answers to review and
discussion questions, objective type questions
with answers, tips to chapter end case
questions, group exercises, HR newsroom,
and hot updates.
Human Resource Planning &'
6. Non-involvement of operating managers renders HRP ineffective. HRP is not strictly an HR
department function. Successful planning needs a co-ordinated effort on the part of operating
managers and HR personnel.
SUMMARY  
Human Resource Planning (HRP) refers to the estimation of the number and the type of people
needed during the ensuing period. HRP is significant as it helps determine future personnel needs;
ensures protection to weaker sections; acts as a basis for other personnel functions; helps overcome
resistance to change; and so on.
HRP is influenced by several factors, such as the type and strategy of organisation; environmental
uncertainties; time horizons; type and quality of information; and type of jobs being filled.
The HRP is a five-step process. The steps are:
1. Defining organisational objectives and policies,
2. Forecast of personnel needs and supplies,
3. HR programming,
4. HRP implementation, and
5. Control and evaluation of programmes.
Key Terms
Delphi technique Management inventories
Downsizing plan
Flow models
Skills inventories
‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches
HRIS
HRP
Turnover rate
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Review Questions  
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
1. What do you understand by HRP? What is its importance?
2. Explain the various steps in the HRP process.
3. How are personnel needs and personnel supplies estimated?
4. Define HRP. Bring out the factors influencing such a plan.
5. Explain the techniques of employee demand forecasting.
6. Explain the barriers to HRP. Bring out the requisites for effective planning.
Discussion Questions
1.
2.
Comment on Fig. 4.3.
How can redundancies of labour in public sector units be removed? Discuss.
3. “As organisations become more global, HRP becomes more important and complex.” Elucidate.
4. Suppose HR planners estimate that because of several technological innovations your company will
need 25 per cent fewer employees in three years. What actions would you take today?
5. How is organisation-wide planning different from HRP? How are they similar?
6. How can organisations develop accurate HR plans when there are so many rapidly changing
environmental factors over which managers have little or no control?
Walkthrough

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEB RESOURCES

Agarwal, R.D., Dynamics of Personnel Management in India, New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub-
lishing Co., 1977.
. Dynamics of Industrial Relations in India, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New
Delhi, 1977.
Alvin Toffler, Power Shift, Bautom Books, 1992.
Arthur A. Thomson and A.J. Strickland, Strategic Management, TMH, 2003.
Aswathappa, K., Essentials of Business Environment, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, 1995.
Bibliography and Web Resources
. Organisational Behaviour, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, 1997.
Baer, W.E., Grievance Handling: 101 Guidelines for Supervisors, American Management Associa-
tion, 1970.
A comprehensive Bibliography has been
, Popplewell, Barry and Alan Wildsmith, Becoming the Best, Gower, London, 1988.
Bass, Barnard M. and Barret, Gerald V. Man, Work and Organisations: An Introduction to Industrial provided at the end of the book. This section
and Organisational Psychology, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1972.
Bass, Barnard M, and Vaughan, J.A., Training in Industries: The Management of Learning, Wordsworth would also give details on web addresses
Publishing Co., California Belmont, 1966.
Barnard, Chester, I., The Functions of the Executive, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massa- that could give more information on various
chusetts, 1938.
Baron, Robert, Psychology, Prentice-Hall of India, 1996. topics discussed in the book.
Basu, K.S., New Dimensions in Personnel Management, Macmillan & Co., New Delhi, 1979.
Belcher, D.W., Wage and Salary Administration, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1962.
Berliner, W. and M.C. Larney, Management Practice and Training, Homewood, 1974.
Berlo, D.K., The Process of Communication, Holt Rinchart & Winston, New York, 1989.
Black, James, M., Positive Discipline, American Management Association, 1970.
Bolar, Malati, Performance Appraisal, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1979.
Bolley, J.W., A Guide to Effective Industrial Safety, Gulf Publishing House, 1977.
Bowley, A.M. (Ed), Handbook of Salary and Wage Systems, Grover Press, New York, 1975.
British Institute of Management, Job Evaluation: A Practical Guide for Managers, 1970.
Brown, J.A.C., The Social Psychology of Industry: Human Relations in Factory, New York, Penguin
Books, 1954.
Calhoon, R., Managing Personnel, New York, Harper & Row., 1964.
Carroll, J., and H.L. Josi, Management by Objectives, Macmillan & Co., New York, 1973.
Carvel, Fred J., Human Relations in Business, Macmillan & Co., New York, 1970.

SUBJECT INDEX
A administration of 325-328
Ability tests 160 guidelines to make effective 328
Absenteeism 616 Bernsentor Personality Interview 160
Accelerated premiums (see incentive payments) Bidi and Cigar Workers Act 451
Accidents 616 Blind ads 1409
types of 465-466 Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction 5
rates of 473-474 Boilers Act 470
Achievement motivation theory (see motivation) Bombay Social Service League 451
Acquisitions 145 BPO 623-625
Adjudication 563, 577 BPRE 84,633

Index
Agency theory of remuneration (see remuneration) Broadbanding 287-288
AIDA 141 Burnout 492 (see also workstress)
AIDS 497-500, 594, 595 C
Air Act 471 Call Centres 625-627

Two comprehensive indices (i) Subject, and Alcoholissm 500

Amorality, theory of 584
California Management Review 197
California Psychological Inventory 160

(ii) Name and Organisation would aid the

Annual confidential reports 248 Campus recruitment 142 (see also recruitment)
Apitude test 160 Case study 210
Arbitration 562, 575 (see also industrial disputes) Central tendency 237
readers in locating the entries in the right Arthasastra, 17
Assessment centres 253 (see also performance appraisal)
Checklists 108, 243-244
Child Labour Act 134

context in an accurate manner. Attitude surveys 616

Autonomy 117
Code of Discipline 562, 569
Code of ethics 41
B Collective bargaining 399-400, 562-570
Babylonian Code of Hammurabi 17 Communication
Balance sheet approach to expat compensation 657 meaning of 414
Bandh 542 significance of 415-416
BARS 246 interpersonal 416-418
Barriers to communication (see communication) types of 418-419
overcoming barriers (see communication) barriers to 420-423
Barth variable sharing scheme (see incentives) overcoming barriers 423-427
Beadaux Scheme (see incentives) organizational 427-432
Benefits and services 655 networks of 432
meaning 319 roles of 432-434
why benefits and services 320-321 policies and audit 434-435
types of 321-322 informal 435-437
principles of 322-323 technology 437-438