Evolution Of Human Resource Management Functions

During the early stages of the industrial revolution, employees who worked in factories had to undergo extremely harsh conditions where they were underpaid and had to work for long hours under very poor conditions of hygiene. These conditions outraged the employees who worked in such factories and they initiated labor riots. As a result of these riots the government intervened to provide basic protection for labors or employees of such factories. This was done through the introduction of statutory regulations and all factory owners were required to comply with these statutory regulations. As a result the factory owners were forced to set up a department to look into employee wages, employee welfare and to address other issues concerning labor. This led to the development of Personnel Management.

The evolution of Human Resource Management could be said to have started with the industrial revolution when factories had established personnel departments to look in to wages and welfare of employees. It could be said that the Personnel Management approach gave way to the Human Resource Approach.

Personnel Administration: Personnel Administration concerns day to day activities and existing problems of employees. Personnel Administration could be identified as a reactive tool.

Scientific Management: Scientific Management suggests there is a specific or a best way of doing things. In Scientific Management human beings were considered as machines, their feelings and attitudes were disregarded. The main aim of Scientific Management was only to maximize the productivity of the organization.

Human Relations Movement: Human Relations Movement always anticipated the future unexpected occurrences before considering the current issues and believed in synergy.

Government Regulations: Government Regulations were put into place so that all employees would at least get basic protection from basic forms of unfair treatment. There are mainly four acts which were put into place for this purpose.

Equal Pay Act (1970) – This act prohibits and less favorable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment. Here, the term pay is interpreted in a broad term and covers areas such as holidays, pension rights and company bonuses.

Sex Discrimination Act or Gender Discrimination Act (1975) – This act exists to protect men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex. The Sex Discrimination act is mainly in relation to employment, training, education, harassment, provision of goods and services and in the disposal of premises.

Race Relations Act (1976) – This act exists to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. The act also covers discrimination on the grounds of color, nationality, ethnicity, provision of goods and services, education and public functions. This act also established the Commission for Racial Equality.

Disability Discrimination Act (1995) – This act makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect of their disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods and services, education and transport.

Human Resource Movement: With the Human Resource Movement greater attention was given towards social responsibility and social well being. There was more emphasis give to the relationship between employers and employees. Employee ideas and initiatives were encouraged.

Strategic Human Resource Management: In Strategic Human Resource the importance of human resource considerations in long range strategic planning has been recognized. Under Strategic Human Resource Management not only one section or department of the organization would be considered but instead the organization as a whole would be considered.

The Personal Management Approach (Early 20th Century)

The usage of Personnel Management Approach was prominent throughout the early 20th century even though it remained administrative in nature. The Personnel Management Approach mainly concerned itself with,

Keeping employee records

Ensuring compliance with stated policies

Implementation of functions such as recruitment, training and wage administration

Taking welfare oriented measures such as providing medical care and vaccinations

Attempting to increase productivity through wage increases and training, and enforcement of standards

Dealing with trade unions and trying to solve industrial disputes through collective bargaining and other industrial relations approaches

Conducting performance appraisals

The Personnel Management Approach tried to convince workers of the business interests, and convince management of workers interest and also increase awareness of business about social responsibility. Personnel Management was mostly not involved in the company’s strategy and operations aspect.

The Traditional Human Resource Approach (Late 20th Century)

The Traditional Human Resource Approach evolved during the late 20th century with the development and introduction of new theories such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. In the Human Resource Approach the employees of an organization were considered as valuable resources. Unlike the Personnel Management Approach the Traditional Human Resource Approach was not merely a staff function but it was more and more involved with business operations. The following could be identified as the main differences between the Personnel Management Approach and the Traditional Human Resource Approach.

Motivation was given to employees through various forms such as free holidays, creating an active and social community within the workforce besides monetary incentives.

Training and Development was not only focused on providing work related skills but also focused on changing attitudes and development of basic skills

Wage and Salary Administration became more complex with the introduction of performance related payment schemes

The Strategic Human Resource Approach (21st Century)

The Strategic Human Resource Approach aligns individual goals and objectives with corporate goals and objectives, and rather than enforce rules or dictate terms, acts as a facilitator and promotes a participative approach. The following could be identified as the main differences between the Traditional Human Resource Approach and the Strategic Human Resource Approach.

Increased reliance on performance based short term contracts instead of long term employment

Direct linkage of compensation to the profitability of the enterprise and the employee’s contribution towards such profitability

New dimensions for training and development function by encouraging and facilitating innovation and creativity

How Personnel Management and Human Resource Management Differ

Personnel Management can be viewed as a tool and it concerns organizational rules and regulations and also ongoing issues. Whereas, Human Resource Management first looks in to the long lasting future and analyzes Human Resource needs. Further, Human Resource Management uses an integrated approach to achieve those needs with the congruence of corporate objectives.

Role, Tasks and Activities of a Human Resource Practitioner

A Human Resource Practitioner has the opportunity to help shape the success of any organization. There are many roles, tasks and activities that a Human Resource Practitioner should do such as,

Maintain and implement an effective HR data system and also manage the filing system and records for the department.

Document and update job profiles for all employees.

Maintain and review approved manpower plan with the relevant stakeholders on a continuous basis as per the identified needs and requirements.

Develop and implement a Project Employment equity plan as champion / driver of the function.

Ensure timed contracting and processing of employment and compensation matters.

Ensure all terminations are processed timorously in that structured exit interviews are conducted for employees, leaving and relevant documentation completed.

Distribute records to and liaise with all relevant departments within the Company.

Assist in developing and implementing new and reviewing existing policies and procedures. Conduct roll-out sessions with staff.

Handle all HR / personnel related queries and correspondence timorously and escalate if needed.

Ensure orientation and induction for all new employees on HR related issues are conducted.

Implement, support, advise, coordinate, monitor and report on Performance Management System.

Reporting – compile and distribute reports on HR activities.

Maintain leave records and execute leave audits when required.

Employee relations.

Employee wellness.

Role of a Line Manager

Line managers are managers who are responsible for an employee or work group. Many organization’s line managers now carry out activities, which were traditionally within the remit of HR such as providing coaching and guidance, undertaking performance appraisals and dealing with discipline and grievances. In many cases, they also carry out recruitment and selection in conjunction with HR.

First, it is important for line managers to keep a positive relationship with their employees, so that the employees will have higher level of job satisfaction, commitment and loyalty, which are associated with higher levels of performance or discretionary behavior. A line manager can also attend to the above-mentioned if he or she does performance appraisal. In addition, Line managers also play a strong part in structuring people’s actual experience of doing a job.

Never the less, it is important that line managers see through the weaknesses of the work force and guide, train or coach them with proper directions where the employees can perform their work in a higher manner. In the role of a line manager, they always involve the employees in communication, especially when it comes to taking decisions or solving a problem in the line – this also known as “employee engagement”.

When working as a line manager and playing its role, the employees should feel easy and comfortable to discuss matters with their line managers. Therefore, the line managers should be opened to his or hers loyal work force. Last but not the least it is very important for a line manager to recognize the contribution of an employee to his work place.

Line Management Responsibilities

To have a good working relationship with the people who works under the line managers they will have to have some responsibilities that would make it effective. There are some factors that should be taken in to consideration such as,

The Line Manager should make an effort to build a relationship with the workers under him that would be productive to the company. When the manager builds a good relationship with the workers, the workers will be happy to work and they can have discussions and gain more ideas through the workers knowledge as well. The team work with the workers will be very effective and this will increase the productivity of the company.

The Line Manager should very careful when he conducts the performance of the employees since it might affect the employee positively or negatively.

The Line Manager must provide more opportunities to the employees to have more discussions, more work, and responsibilities of the activities they do in order to get them more confident on a regular basis. This will help the employees know what the targets are and they will be kept remembered. This will help them stay focused and work in order to achieve the target.

The focus on the performance and the work that the employee and manager do must be a two way process and both of them should be able to discuses and express their opinion about the performance and what are the factors that affect the final outcome.

The Line Manager should set an example in a way that he would be the first one to reference by any employee when a problem arises or when a decision must be made. This also means gaining the respect that is needed by a manager must be earned by the Line manager.

The Line Manager should provide regular updates on information and knowledge to the employees in order to keep them sharp. Some information and knowledge can be only accessed by the manager and it is up to the manager to ensure he updates on employees on their employees significant areas.

The manager must make sure he has regular meeting and discussions in order to inform the employees on the development, problems and also remind them the goals and objectives of the company. So the employees know what is happening around the company and how they must act to overcome the issues.

The Line Manager must identify the employee’s strength and weakness personally and must be able to make use of it for the benefit of the company. If an employee has a particular strength the manager must use it to the advantage of the company and if the employee has a weakness then the manager must help the employee to overcome this weakness.

The Line Manager should appreciate the employees on their good work and as well as advice them on the inappropriate work. The manager must be able to send the message straight and make himself clear for the employees.

The Line Manager should provide advice and support when it is needed by the employees.

The Line Manager should support the fact that some employees need training and he must help them gain it.

To carry out all these responsibilities efficiently the Line Manager needs to know all the employees job description and work specification. So when the Line Manager has a clear view on that the clarity will exist when making decision and as well as the Line Manager will know the limits of each employees.

So being a Line Manager the managers responsibilities are mainly having a good relationship with the employees and understanding their needs and wants and leading them to do the activities that the manager requires them to do. Making the employees work in a way that they are satisfied with their work and letting them know that the company does care about them in order for them to work with their heart. Any manager must know how to get to any employee since not all the employees are the same and not everyone will be satisfied with the way the manager treats the employees. Hence, understanding the employee’s demands and understanding a way to gain their respect is very vital.

Human resource planning

Human resource planning is the term used to describe how companies ensure that their staff is the right staff to do the jobs. It is a systematic process of matching the interest, skills, and talents of individual community members with the long term goals and economic opportunities in the community. This process anticipates and maps out the consequences of business strategy on an organization’s human resources. It is reflected in planning of skill and competence needs as well as total headcounts. For resourcing strategies to be implemented they must be translated into practical action. The strategic process can be organized logically. For these decisions to be taken, information must be obtained, consequences gauged, political soundings taken and preferences assessed.

A clear Human resource plan includes benefits such as:

Highlighting opportunities for strategic partnership that allow communities and other partners to share the benefits, risks and training costs.

It provides for small successes that are encouraging and motivating for the community members and others that the program is on track.

Making it easy to evaluate progress (especially client feedback) and to present funders, partners, and community members with effective information about the progress.

The Human Resource Planning Process

In order to compartmentalize the Human Resource Planning process, it will be broken down under five main general headings, under which each company will be analyzed against, so that the contrast in how they differ in planning processes can be identified

Environmental Analysis

The first step in the human resource planning process is to understand the context of human resource management. Human resource managers should understand both internal and external environments. Data on external environments includes the following: the general status of the economy, industry, technology and competition; labor market regulations and trends; unemployment rate; skills available; and the age and sex distribution of the labor force. Internal data required include short- and long-term organizational plans and strategies and the current status of the organization’s human resources.

In Standard Chartered, Human Resource Managers have surveyed the environmental arena and have undertaken activities that enhance their business performance now and for the long-term. They have also look for ways to ensure the economic development of the countries Standard Chartered Bank operates in, how to have a positive impact on the environment and society, as well as contributing to good governance. Human Resources have helped maintain an integrated view of how Standard Chartered does business – that takes into account economic factors, the environment, community, and good governance.

They have identified seven sustainability priorities by consulting key stakeholders such as government, academics, socially responsible investors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and peers. They now deliver on this agenda by using the core skills and talents of their employees; providing quality financial services; and leveraging Standard Chartered Bank’s geographical footprint and international status to be a ‘force for good’. Standard Chartered Bank’s Human Resource Managers have thus analyzed its environment and have enhanced their labor and employment practices through collective bargaining agreements with the Local Unions and focused interaction with all labor regulatory authorities and agencies thus demonstrating the promotion of the principles of human and labor rights. The Bank also has a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Council.

Designing the Management System

A proper concise system is a vital necessity and needs to be in place, in order to handle the Human Resource process. The overall aim of this system is to manage human resources in line with organizational goals. The system is in charge of human resource plans, policies, procedures and best practices.

For example, the system should track emerging human resource management trends, such as outsourcing certain non-core functions, adopting flexible work practices and the increased use of information technology, and, if appropriate, implement them.

Standard Chartered Bank has signed a seven-year outsourcing contract, worth US$200 million, with Atos Origin for the management of its data services infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. The agreement covers the bank’s data services in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Atos Origin says it will aim to deliver improved performance levels and costs to the bank through the deployment of new technology and the standardization of processes.

Commercial banks Human Resource system took a different approach and identified a more lucrative benefit can be made by outsourcing their existing pension scheme. Thus it resulted in the bank hiring Hewitt Outsourcing Services (India) Ltd, to convert its existing pension scheme, from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. As a result the group post-tax profits rose 39.46 percent to 2.37 billion rupees during the nine month period, compared with the same period last year.

Analyzing Supply

Organizations can hire personnel from internal and external sources. The skill inventories method is one of the techniques used to keep track of internal supply. Skill inventories are manual or computerized systems that keep records of employee experience, education and special skills. A forecast of the supply of employees projected to join the organization from outside sources, given current recruitment activities, is also necessary.

For example, Standard Chartered, during the recession, Human Resource analyzing the surplus in employees, and having to cost cut to coincide with the new survival strategies of the company started to take attrition approach. Attrition is the process whereby the existing employees leave their jobs for various reasons or gets downsized. Those jobs will be kept vacant or unfilled. Attrition or hiring freezes or ban on employment can be implemented organization-wide or department-wise or job-wise if the Human Resource Manager forecasts a surplus manpower in the organization. But if the attrition rate is continuous and high then it is high time the concerned authorities in the organization have introspection and take remedial actions. High Attrition is a sign of bad reputation for the organization as a working place.

Under the analyzing supply in terms of Human Resource planning process Commercial Bank operates on a different avenue. If future surplus is estimated, Commercial Bank has to plan for redeployment, redundancy etc. If surplus is estimated in some jobs/department, employees can be redeployed in other jobs/departments where the deficit of employees is estimated. Commercial Bank also makes plans for training or reorientation before redeployment of employees. Redeployment takes place in the form of transfers. If the deficit is not estimated in any job/department and surplus is estimated for the entire organization, Commercial Bank then, starts consultation with the trade unions and plans for redundancy or retrenchment.

Reconciliation and Planning

The final step in human resource planning is developing action plans based on the gathered data, analysis and available alternatives. The key issue is that the plans should be acceptable to both top management and employees. Plans should be prioritized and their key players and barriers to success identified. Some of these plans include employee utilization plan, appraisal plan, training and management development plan and human resource supply plan.

A good example of this would be to go back to the times where recession hit, and Standard chartered had done extensive research on employee utilization plan, and more importantly the downsizing to keep them afloat. The HR identified key managers and put into action a redundancy plan which was as followed:

Standard Chartered redundancy plan

This plan covered type and number of employees, time of and place of retrenchment, type of help to be extended to retrenched employees in the form of compensation, help in getting new job, priority in filling future vacancies.

Redeployment, Redundancy/Retrenchment Programs:

1. Outplacement:

Outplacement programs also intended to provide career guidance for displaced employees. This programs covers retraining the prospective displaced employees who can be redeployed elsewhere in the organization, helping in resume writing, interview techniques, job searching.

2. Layoffs:

Layoffs can be temporary or permanent. Temporary layoffs are due to the slackness in business, machinery breakage, power failure etc. Workers are called back as soon as work resumes to the normal position. Permanent layoff is due to liquidation of the company. Proper human resource planning leaving the workforce at proper level can help to reduce this effect.

3. Leave of Absence without Pay:

This technique helps SC to cut the labor cost and the employee to pursue his self interests. This technique also helps the company to plan for eliminating the unnecessary job in a phased manner. This concept serves or a productive method to help employees prepare for future changes.

Work Sharing:

Some areas of SC offer employees the opportunity to share jobs or two employees working one-half time each. This technique solves the problem of retrenchment in the short run. This is in vogue in advanced countries but not acceptable to workers unions especially within the Asian region.

Reduced Working Hours:

Under this technique, each worker, works less hours, and receives less pay, so that two jobs are saved. Again this is not prevalent in the Asian region and other developing countries.

Voluntary/ Early Retirement:

Another issue is early retirement. SC has taken a page from the Government of India who introduced Voluntary Retirement Scheme under the caption ‘Golden Handshake’ in order to solve the problem of overstaffing in Public sector. This technique solves the problem of excessive supply of future inventory over the demand for the human resources. In short it is popularly called as VRS.

Evaluation of the Recruitment & Selection Procedure of Both Standard Chartered Bank and Commercial Bank.

Recruitment: The aim of the recruitment is to ensure that the Organization’s demand for employees is met by attracting potential employees (recruits) in a cost effective and timely manner.

Selection: Employee Selection is the process of putting right men on right job. It is a procedure of matching organizational requirements with the skills and qualifications of people. Effective selection can be done only when there is effective matching. By selecting best candidate for the required job, the organization will get quality performance of employees.

Standard Chartered Bank

Recruitment process of Standard Chartered Bank

The bank’s Management Development Scheme takes place in Colombo, where they recruit management trainees. Never the less, Standard Chartered Bank has provided the opportunity for those candidates who are interested in this scheme to apply to their local cities. Per year around 40 management associates are been recruited. The aim of the management is to recruit graduates and post graduates with different backgrounds and experiences yet, the best and the brightest talent in market.

Whom do they recruit?

Young and talented graduates or postgraduates, who are willing to start their career in the financial service industry

Career-oriented person

Consistent academic performer throughout his/her education

Innovative, ambitious, energetic and business oriented person

Recruitment criteria

Standard Chartered Bank recruits the most talented individuals from the external market to supplement their internal pipeline of talent. Their Human Resources department provides guidance on the use of psychometric tests and has robust recruitment criteria to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly, equally and with respect. It has a global Graduate Recruitment Program; where in the region of 150 graduates are recruited each year on a management trainee program across all businesses, functions and countries.

Analysis for Standard Chartered Banks recruitment

Human Resource Recruitment is defined as any practice or activity carried on by the organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees. The goal of an organizational recruitment program is to ensure that the organization has a number of reasonably qualified applicants (who would find the job acceptable) to choose from when a vacancy occurs.

Selection Process of Standard Chartered Bank

Employee selections at Standard Chartered Bank are based on knowledge, skills and talent. The bank is committed to provide the equal opportunities to all employees regardless of gender, race, age, disability, nationality, ethnic origin or material status. Never the less, Standard Chartered Bank also identifies what unique strengths each individual brings, to the roles they carry out and the development of these strengths.

Standard Chartered Bank mostly uses face-to-face interviews as their selection method. Therefore, when suitable applicants are been chosen through the recruitment process the bank set appointments for interviews with them. Afterwards, upon arrival, have each interviewee fill out a job application form and give them a copy of the position’s written job description. After interviews are completed, human resource manager of Standard Chartered Bank selects two or three candidates that fits for the vacant job and have them come in for a follow-up interview. This is where the management discuses about salary, benefits etc. Thereafter, the final employee selection takes place based upon these second-level interviews and makes an offer to the Human Resource Manager’s first choice.

Analysis for Standard Charted Banks selection

Any organization that intends to compete through people must take the utmost care with how it chooses organizational members. Personnel selection is the process by which companies decide who will or will not be allowed into their organization. Several generic standards should be met in any selection process, which are reliability, validity, utility, and legality.

Standard Chartered selects employees based on knowledge, skills and talent. They are committed to providing equality of opportunity to all employees, regardless of gender, race, nationality, age, disability, ethnic origin, or marital status.

Commercial Bank

Recruitment Process of Commercial Bank

The human resources staff at Commercial Bank first makes sure recruitment plans are set based on business goals and analyzing of history. Then looks at the job a requirement and list the skills, knowledge, experience and ability needed. Mainly the recruitment activities of the bank are carried out at least four times per year. Shown below are some figures, which have been taken from a past year.

Five employees retired under normal retirements.

Fifteen resigned under voluntary retirement.

Four resigned

Four dismissed.

Three expired during the period under view.

Commercial Bank has also come up with new recruitment opportunities due to the expansion of the bank. Therefore, to fill these vacancies Commercial Bank follows the internal and external recruitment methods. Whereas, it should be noted that when there is a vacancy the bank first tries to fill the space with an existing employee by following the internal recruitment method. If the requirements cannot be met by the internal method then they move into the external recruitment. In addition, it is clear that the bank follows both ways to select the best candidate.

The internal procedure

This method is used to fill a vacancy of Commercial Bank, using an existing employee with the right requirements and qualifications. Therefore, if there is any vacancy the management of the bank will advertise it in the internal newsletter, which is handed over to all the employees making more space for opportunities. Within one week’s time if the bank finds a suitable person from the company itself to fill the vacant position, most probably they are given the job. Commercial Bank faces many advantages due to the internal recruitment method. They are as show below,

Cost effectiveness – the bank should invest money upon recruitment, selection and training & development when picking an employee externally. This can cut off by the internal method of recruitment.

Gives more motivation to all the employees and leads to promotions.

Increase commitment to the company by the employees.

The external procedure

Commercial Bank depends on external labor market, when they do not find existing employees who has the required knowledge, experience or skills for the vacant opportunity. The human resource department of the bank will be informed by the management of the respective departments, which has job vacancies and will be provided with the description of the job and other information.

The job description contains the following information,

Job title

Title of immediate supervisors’ job

Purpose of the job

Number of subordinates

Responsibilities of the job

Limits of authority

Vocation of the job

Advertising is a crucial step when it comes to recruiting and attracting the best candidates. By identifying the social and intellectual skills, the Human Resource department will prepare the advertisements. When it comes to advertising vacancies Commercial Bank mainly uses the newspaper advertising method and their website. Commercial Bank uses the following principles for effective advertising,

Explains the details about the company

Advertises under the company name

Provides sufficient details about the vacant position

Points out personal requirements

States the main terms and conditions of employment

States whom the application should be directed

After the applications are been handed out, the human resource department will divide the applications as required into relevant categories. Thereafter, the divided application forms will be given to the relevant departments with the vacancies.

The recruitment procedure takes quite a long time since the human resource department has entangle in a load of work and should put a lot of effort.

Summary of the recruitment process of Commercial Bank

The human resource department receives request for recruitment of employees from respective departments of the bank

Job analysis

The human resource manager gathers information.

The recruitment method (internal or external) is been decided by the management

A list is prepared with the required qualifications, skills and knowledge

Preparation of job notices

Collecting the received applications

Reducing and picking the appropriate candidates

Evaluation of external & internal methods of recruitment

Both the organizations that have been discussed above uses both internal and external recruitment methods. Yet, it should be noticed that for an organization it is more cost effective to use the internal method. It is clear that a company has to put aside a certain amount when it comes to the processes of recruiting selecting and training & development. Therefore, if the company can find an existing employee with the right requirements to fill up a vacancy, the cost will be less as for the above processes would not have to be practiced.

However, the internal method can also hold a disadvantage. By recruiting, a candidate externally may bring more knowledge, skills and diversity to the organization. In certain instances, the internal method would not be eligible to do so. Therefore, by external recruitment the organization will be able to find the best candidates for the vacant job than from the internal method. Hereby, it is clear that both internal and external methods are valuable for an organization in the recruitment process.

Selection Process of Commercial Bank

Commercial Banks management explores both internal and external sources for replacement needs. Internal recruitment is where the bank is supplied with the work force within the company itself. This can be an action of either transferring or promotion. There are many uniform ways Commercial Bank uses their internal recruitment method. Mostly the bank uses the inventories, which is also known as a computerized database that is contained with the basic information of all the employees. The inventory carries the information about each employee’s skills, knowledge, performance and other relevant characteristics.

Commercial Banks selection process is an attempt to find the qualified and best candidates for vacant jobs in the organization. Therefore, once the recruitment process is taken place the management of the bank finds the best fitting people to fill the available spaces through the selection process. For this, several different methods such as selection tests, preliminary screenings and comprehensive interviews are held at Commercial Bank.

Selection Techniques

Selection can be defined as the process of choosing the most suitable candidates from those who apply for the job or the pool of applicants. For this purpose, organizations use various selection techniques such as,

Interviews

Presentations

Psychometric Tests

Aptitude Tests

Psychological Tests

The reliability of these selection techniques depends on the extent or the degree to which the selection technique measures the same point consistently. It should be noted that these selection techniques can either be written or in the form of interviews. However, in all situations, for the evaluation to be accurate and to select the best candidate same questions should be put forward.

Further, the validity of information gathered about the candidates through various selection techniques would depend on certain factors. These factors are,

The relationship between the selection technique and the appropriate criterion

What the selection technique measures and the quality of the technique

The selection technique must be relevant to the job

Interviews

An interview could be defined as; a selection procedure designed to predict the future job performance on the basis of applicants’ oral response to oral inquiries. These interviews could be either conducted by an individual person or a panel. Interviews can be categorized based on their structure or the level of standardization, i.e. Unstructured, Semi – Structured and Structured.

Unstructured Interviews: Unstructured interviews involve a procedure where different questions would be asked from different applicants. They are unplanned, non – directed, uncontrolled and flexible. Open ended questions would be asked in such interviews.

Semi – Structured Interviews: Semi – Structured Interviews are usually pre – scheduled, have some level of flexibility and the major areas which are analyzed would be controlled.

Structured Interviews: Structured Interviews are also known as Guided Interviews. They are pre – planned, standardized and pre – formatted. There is no flexibility in such interviews. The questions asked would not be open ended questions.

Beyond this there are four types of common selection interviews which are used for the selection process. These interviews are,

Situation Interviews: Situational Interviews would analyze the hypothetical performance of a candidate. This would be done through situation oriented questioning based on the job. These interviews would be conducted by specialized people.

Job Related Interviews: Job Related Interviews are usually conducted by Human Resource Managers. In this type of interview the interviewee’s behavior during previous jobs would be analyzed.

Psychological Interviews: Psychological Interviews exist to asses personality traits of interviewees.

Competency Interviews: Competency Interviews are an expansion of Psychological Interviews. These interviews analyze the competencies of an interviewee. Competencies such as interpersonal skills, leadership and other such areas would be analyzed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviews

Presentations

Presentations could be used for the selection process depending on the way how presentations will relate to the job description and the normal working practices expected of the post. In presentations it would be very important to have decided criteria against which each candidate will be marked. This criteria may include items which would be assessed at an interview too, for example through a presentation the candidates communication skills could be assessed where as this could be done through an interview as well. Also, the candidate’s ability to presents facts to an audience could be assessed using a presentation but this could be done at an interview through the usage of a panel of interviewers as well.

However, a presentation could be used to analyze how a candidate would be able to present his ideas to a wider audience than which will be present at an interview. Presentations could also be useful to understand how quickly a candidate will be able to understand and interpret a topic given to him. Beyond this, presentation could be a very good method to measure the level of self confidence a candidate has.

Since presentations would generally consume a lot of time it could be said to be a major disadvantage of presentations and also since a presentation would be regarding a particular given topic it will tend to limit the areas in which an individual’s knowledge could be analyzed. Whereas, interviews would be less time consuming and a wide area of the candidate’s knowledge could be analyzed through oral questioning. Further, unlike interviews, since presentations could be used only for a job which would require presentations skills this would not be a very suitable method for the selection process.

Psychometric Tests

Psychometric Tests would provide information regarding how a candidate would behave towards his managers, peers and subordinates; basically relationship building skills. These tests would contribute about 10% towards the final decision and would usually require verification from the candidate itself. This could be considered as a disadvantage as certain information could be forged. Further, for these tests to be carried out properly trained assessors are required. By considering the level of contribution towards the final decision it is clear that this type of test alone would not be sufficient for the selection process and therefore this would have to be used in combination with some other selection techniques such as interviews. Hence it is possible to arrive at the conclusion that interviews could be more reliable than such tests and is a better selection technique with respect to psychometric tests.

Other Tests

There are various tests which could be used to asses a candidate’s capability when information gathered through interviews and Curriculum Vitae become less reliable. However, one major drawback of such tests is that these tests do not provide any information regarding the personality of the candidate or regarding his communication skills and also these tests would only measure aspects such as knowledge.

Based on the above information it was possible to arrive at the conclusion that from among the above mentioned selection techniques, interviews would be the most appropriate method of selection for many situations. This could be said on the basis that interviews cover up a wider range of aspects of a candidate such as the knowledge, communication skills, attitude, personality and etc. when compared to other methods. Further, unlike other techniques of selection such as psychometric tests, interviews could be used alone without using a combination of selection techniques. Therefore, interviews could be identified as one of the most suitable selection techniques. However, it could be recommended that if in depth information is required regarding some particular area of a candidate a combination of selection techniques could be used.

Job Evaluation

Job Evaluation could be defined as the process which is used to assess the relative worth of different jobs on the basis of a consistent set of jobs and personal factors such as qualifications and skills. The objective of Job Evaluation is to determine the pay for a job in comparison to other jobs. There are mainly three methods which are used for the Job Evaluation process. These methods are,

Job Ranking – This method is one of the simplest methods which are used to evaluate a job. Jobs are compared to each other based on the overall worth of the job to the organization. This is usually decided on skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.

Job Classification – Jobs are classified into an existing grade/category structure or hierarchy. Each level in the grade/category structure has a description and associated job titles. Each job is assigned to the grade/category providing the closest match to the job. The classification of a position is decided by comparing the whole job with the appropriate job grading standard.

Factor Comparison – A set of compensable factors are identified to determine the worth of the job. These factors could be skills, responsibility, effort and working conditions. The weight of the factors to the job will decide the pay.

However, even though there are various methods for Job Evaluation, such as those mentioned above, according to research each method is nearly as accurate and reliable as the other in ranking and pricing different jobs. These Job Evaluations form the basis for wages and salary negotiations.

Job Evaluation at Standard Chartered Bank

A systematic and a scientific method of job evaluation have been followed at Standard chartered Bank. In fact, it has been possible to identify that the method of job evaluation which is followed at Standard Chartered Bank is the factor comparison method. Even though this maybe one of the most difficult methods of Job Evaluation it could be identified as a consistent and an appreciable method. Under this method of Job Evaluation, instead of ranking complete jobs each job would be ranked according to some factor such as skill needed, know – how, accountability, etc. Using this method, payment and wages would be decided considering weight – age of the factors required for the job. The Bank aims at hiring specialized people and their recruiting criteria are based on their knowledge, expertise, past working experience and their exposure to the professional fields. Employee wages are set in accordance with the aforesaid recruitment criteria and most of them are content with what they earn at Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered has some principles in evaluating the job and these are some of their principles in job evaluation.

All jobs in the organization will be evaluated using an agreed job evaluation scheme.

Job evaluation is concerned with jobs, not people. It is not the person that is being evaluated.

Jobs are assessed as if it were being carried out in a fully competent and acceptable manner.

Job Evaluation at Commercial Bank

The need for a position to be formally evaluated occurs as a result of significant changes or growth in the role or to the work required to be performed in a position. Commercial Bank uses the job classification method to evaluate their employees. In this method, employees would be basically separated in to various classes depending on their job and salary for that particular group would be in a nearly same range. Applications for evaluation may be submitted to the Human Resource Department for this purpose.

The Job Evaluation application must be based on one or more of the following criteria:

Ongoing significant change(s) to the scope or function required of the position;

Change(s) to the position following a restructure of the immediate organizational area;

Change(s) to the position as a result of redesign or change(s) to other jobs that directly affect the functions and/or focus of the position;

Change(s) to the position as a result of the restructure of another organizational area that directly affects the function and/or focus of the position.

Applications are not accepted on the basis of general dissatisfaction with the current position classification or the volume of the work undertaken.

The salary of an employee would be decided base on mainly the class to which an employee falls. Other than that Commercial Bank considers aspects such as the skills, training and development, practical working experience in similar fields and also education or knowledge in relevant fields. This would help Commercial Bank to place their employees in a more suitable class and also to decide on a fairer salary of which the employee would be satisfied.

When considering the job evaluation process at Commercial Bank it is clear that the bank follows the job classification method. When considering the other three methods of job evaluation this could be classified as the easiest method. Beyond this, it could be seen that the bank follows a more strict approach which would not allow all employees who think that they have been unfairly compensated to apply for a job evaluation. This could be considered a drawback as employees would tend to get dissatisfied and leave the organization.