#9 : Summary : Topic 4, 5 & 6

These days it is simple common sense to have all records computerised, making them easy to retrieve for reporting purposes and easy to keep up-to-date as employees’ circumstances change. HR online system shows both employees and customers that the organization has a sophisticated approach to the management of their businesses and the development of their staffs.

In general, e-recruitment helps to stop people from ‘flooding’ to the organization and resume in hand. Advertising in newspapers is still done, but it's expensive and slow. However, e-recruitment is low cost and person can generally easy to be found and hired. Posting the ad is usually free or very cheap too. So, it assists to drastically cut down on costs.

On the other hand, by integrating online induction, up-to-date messages from management and supervisory staff can be included in the induction program so that new employees become aware not only of roles and company structure, but also of the culture into which they are being inducted. In this way, a consistent approach to the ‘company ethos’ can be presented to all staffs.

Meanwhile, performance management is very significant in HR field. Thus, the organization needs to have clearly articulated goals. The entire staff should then establish individual goals that align with these organizational goals. Moreover, the manager must give employees a formal feedback as it helps both the employees and the organization know who’s performing, who needs development and who’s not a right fit.   (241)

#8: Topic 6 : Performance Management

Performance management can be defined as the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities (Armstrong, 2003). Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed and it ends when an employee leaves your organization.

According to Cardy and Leonard (2011), the purposes of the performance management are to driving results, building capability and growing talent. In my opinion, performance management can drive improvement in business results, through the individual and group’s measurement, performance coaching and performance information sharing. Moreover, by clarifying role-specific goals, competencies and feedback, individual capability can be developed. Plus, by providing career development programs, it may help to motivate and retain high performers in the organizations.

There are five crucial stages in performance management which are plan, monitor, develop, review and reward. Immediate supervisor will assess the performance. Besides, employee itself, peers, coworkers and internal and external customers will also make the performance assessment. Paired comparison, MBO and Graphic Rating Scale are the tools used by the organizations for performance appraisals of their employees (Robbins and Coulter, 2009).
 

Michael Armstrong and Angela Baron (2005) in Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action stated that an effectively implemented performance management system can benefits the organization, managers and employees.

· Organization’s benefits – improved organizational performance, employee retentiona and loyalty and cost advantages.
· Manager’s benefits – saves times, reduce conflict and ensures efficiency.
· Employee’s benefits – clearly defines career path and promotes job satisfaction.

Unfortunately, there are some conflicts happen in performance management. As mentioned by Robert Bacal (1999), discouragement and inconsistent message are two of arising potential conflicts. If the process is not a pleasant experience, it has the potential to discourage staff. The process needs to be one of encouragement and positive reinforcement of accomplishments. Moreover, if a manager does not keep notes and accurate records of employee behavior, they may not be successful in sending a consistent message to the employee.

Finally, there are three categories of role of technology in supporting the performance management. These are the web, third party vendors and ERP providers. (426)

References:

1. Armstrong, M. (2003). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

2. Cardy, R. L., Leonard, B. (2011). Performance Management: Concepts, Skills, and Exercises. USA: M.E. Sharpe.

3. Armstrong, M., Baron, A. (2005). Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action. London: CIPD Publishing.

4. Bacal, R. (1999). Performance Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.

5. Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M. (2009). Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

#7 : Topic 5 : Online Induction

According to Rainer and Cegielski (2009), online induction system is an online employee induction system which is easily manage and reporting of the induction process of new employees to expose new employee in their new environment organizations and promotion requirement. The purpose of the induction period (which may be a few hours or a few days) is to help a new employee settle down quickly into the job by becoming familiar with the people, the surroundings, the job and the business.

It is important to give a new employee a good impression on the first day of work. However, the induction program should not end there. It is also important to have a systematic induction program, spread out over several days, to cover all the ground in the shortest effective time. For me, several people who may include in the process of online induction are senior management, supervisors or line managers, personnel officers, health and safety managers, and also employee or trade union representatives who will be much information about the organization.

In the book of IT Induction and Information Security Awareness by Valerie Maddock (2010), he discussed about items should be covered in an effective induction program. These are Introduction to the business or department and its personnel or management structure, layout of the buildings such as factory or offices, terms and conditions of employment (explaining the contract of employment), relevant personnel policies, such as training, promotion and health and safety, business rules and procedures, arrangements for employee involvement and communication, and lastly is welfare and employee benefits or facilities. Hence, the induction provides a really good opportunity to socialize and brief the newcomer on the company's overall strategy, performance standards and impression of the culture of the organization.

Salmon (2004) mentioned that there are some advantages for the organization when implementing the online induction. Firstly, it is cost effectively provide new employees with online induction. If carefully done, it will save time and cost in terms of faulty products or poor services. For instance, reduce manual administration to decrease the cost of induction, deliver procedures, quizzes, tests, and surveys to the new employees online and also include documents, videos and other rich media in your induction process. In addition, in the article of Rapid Induct: Online Induction System, it stated that top management able to update the organizational content anytime and anywhere. With constant changes to regulations, company policies and worksite conditions, it gives them control to instantly update your information or any corrections can be made online before orientation.

However, there are also some drawbacks when executing the online induction. Patrick McGhee (2005) discussed about this in his book, titled of The Academic Quality Handbook: Enhancing Higher Education in Universities and Further Education Colleges, which online induction may be poor website. This is due to website is poorly designed or out of date, so, the new employees may not even relying on company website to gain additional information about the company, its mission and method of operation. There's also the possibility that the site won't have relevant information regarding the candidate's area of interest.

Last but not least, I can conclude that induction is very important part of welcoming process into the organizations for new employees as it gives the organization the opportunity to deliver the company message and standards before the new employees ‘hit the shop floor’. (561)

References:

1. Rainer, R. K., Cegielski, C. G. (2009). Introduction to Information Systems: Enabling and Transforming Business. USA: John Wiley and Sons.

2. Maddock, V. (2010). IT Induction and Information Security. UK: IT Governance Ltd.

3. Salmon, G. (2004). E-moderating: The Key to Leaching and learning Online. London: Taylor & Francis Books.

4. McGhee, P. (2005). The Academic Quality Handbook: Enhancing Higher Education in Universities and Further Education Colleges. New York: Routledge.

5. Rapid Induct: Online Induction System http://www.rapidinduct.com.au/docs/Rapid_Induct_low_res.pdf

#6 : Topic 4 : Recruiting and Staffing

The buzzword and the latest trends in recruitment is the ‘e-Recruitment’. It is also known as ‘Online Recruitment’. Edwin B. Flippo (1980) defined recruitment as a process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applications from which new employees are selected and then making an appointment for interview session. While, according to Schreyer & McCarter (1998) e-recruitment refers to

“the recruitment process, including placing job advertisements, receiving resumes, and building human resource database with candidates and incumbents.”

It is the use of technology or the web based tools to assist the recruitment process. Schreyer & McCarter (2000) stated that the tool can be a job website, the organization’s corporate web site or its own intranet. Hence, I can understand that the job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively, they will place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements.

Cushway (2011) mentioned some of the advantages of e-recruitment. Firstly, it is cost effective. It is usually considerably cheaper to advertise on the internet than in conventional paper based publications. Next, it gives the organization a better chance of success. Organizations have the ability to reach a much larger target audience as there will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, global access to their vacancy information. Plus, Rosita Mohamed Othman and Nadianatra Musa (2006) stated that it is easy and sophisticated. Most job sites and CV databases are very user-friendly and job seekers don’t need to have an in-depth knowledge of IT to post a vacancy advertisement.

On the other hand, Tanya Bondarouk, Huub Ruel and Jan Kees Looise (2011) in Electronic HRM in Theory and Practice stated that e-recruitment also has some disadvantages. E-recruitment may receive too many applications from too many candidates. Since the Internet is available around the world, it can be difficult to limit the amount of applicants. As a result, recruiters can waste valuable time weeding through applications and resumes of people not qualified for the position. Moreover, it is less face-to-face contact. Because of the distance involved, there might be a tendency to perform interviews by telephone instead of in person. Thus, the recruiter still may not get a good read on the candidate's personality or attitude without one-on-one interaction. Furthermore, e-recruitment is a time and cost consuming. It might be necessary to hire additional staff for handling the screening process, thus creating additional expense.

In my opinion, there are some suggestions that can be implemented to overcome these drawbacks. Firstly, the organization should make the job description as specific and detailed as possible to discourage the unqualified from applying. Thus, it will decrease the number of applicants and it also requires less time to review all applications. Secondly, e-recruitment can be used for only looking for junior positions and from recent university graduates. However, traditional recruitment can be used for recruiting top management. It is because executive job applicants still prefer personal contact as communication isn’t just about words. Only 7% of meaning is conveyed by the language used, 38% is transferred as a result of the way the words are spoken, while a massive 55% is down to body language. Lastly, organizations cannot be dependent solely and totally on the online recruitment methods. As I stated above, some executive positions are not suitable to use the e-recruitment because personal contact is necessary to manage the expectations and ensures feedback from the contact is positive. (603)

References:

1. Schreyer, R., McCarter, J. (1998). The Employer's Guide to Recruiting on the Internet Impact. Virginia: Impact Publications Manassas Park.

2. Schreyer, R., McCarter, J. (2000). Recruit and Retain the Best: Key Solutions for the HR Professional. Virginia: Impact Publications Manassas Park.

3. Flippo, E. B. (1980). Personnel Management. Columbus: McGraw-Hill.

4. Cushway, B. (2011). The Employer's Handbook 2011-12: An Essential Guide to Employment Law, Personnel Policies and Precedures. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

5. Bondarouk, T., Ruel, H., Looise, J. K. (2011). Electronic HRM in Theory and Practice. UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

6. Mohamed Othman, R., Musa, N. (2006). E-recruitment Practice: Pros Vs. Con : Public Sector ICT Management Review. 1(1). 35-40.

7. http://www.inpharm.com/news/careers-voice-online-recruitment-don-t-take-it-face-value