Selecting Human Resource Manager

Selecting Human Resource Manager Executive Summary Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd is a company that requires recruiting a human resource manager urgently. The company is facing contract negotiations talks with two different union bodies that represent its workers. The suitable candidate needs to have strong negotiating skills to be able to negotiate on behalf of the company. The company has adopted panel interview system which is efficient and reliable in eliminating errors of a single interviewer. Four candidates with some of the appropriate qualifications have made it to the last stage of the interviews. Jane Reynolds is the most suitable candidate among the four to fill up the position because she is academically qualified, has strong interpersonal communication skills, and also has skills in negotiation. She can administer wages and salaries, has skills in handling stress, and is capable of undertaking staffing and training needs of the organisation.

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Her 11 years experience includes 4 years of service as an assistant human resource supervisor at the company. This effectively makes her the most qualified for the job. She, however, lacks knowledge on handling of human resource-related information system and change management.

Introduction Employee recruitment and selection in organisations is often a critical as well as demanding task which ought to be undertaken with a lot of caution. The recruitment process considerably consumes a lot of resources, including financial and manpower hours wasted during the interviews and evaluation procedures. Thus, it is prudent that on completion of the entire exercise, the most qualified candidate with the right combination of characteristics is selected to join the organisation and fill up the existing vacancy. This paper will discuss in detail the selection process, and in particular refer to Maple Leaf Shoes’ recruitment and selection of a new human resource manager at the firm.

The Evaluation and Selection Process Maple Leaf Shoes is facing the challenge of dealing with two different forceful and demanding workers union bodies which seek to negotiate contract terms for their members. The new human resource manager will be the company’s representative in the negotiations and, therefore, ought to have very strong negotiation skills to aid the company protect its interests and position. The candidate must have a reliable background in human resource management training, and have extensive work experience from serving in similar job positions that require the same expertise. The least academic qualification should be a bachelor’s degree in human

resource related fields, and should be strengthened by other personnel management-related training and courses.

In particular, the candidates need to have special skills in employee relations, organisational change management, human resource information systems, diversity management, staffing and training, wage and salary management, interpersonal communication, as well as stress management. These skills are important for the holder of this position because on the one hand, the human resource manager will be negotiating with union groups’ representatives, while on the other hand he or she will be managing the personal needs of the workers at the company.

Michael Anderson has the right academic qualifications, being a Bachelor of Commerce holder and with further relevant training in human resource-related courses. He also has acquired appropriate skills in negotiation, employee involvement, management of organisational change, and handling of human resource-related information systems. Michael has extensive experience in the field, having served for a total of 34 years with previous employers. However, his weakest areas include the lack of interpersonal communication skills, and management of critical staffrelated issues such as wage and salary, as well as staffing and training.

Arthur Dougherty has attained the minimum academic qualifications required, being a holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree. He has adequate training in human resource management; particularly in employee relations, HR related information systems, as well as diversity management areas. Arthur also has critical experience in supervisory roles and has served as an assistant human resource manager in a different company. In total, his experience in supervisory and HR management roles exceeds 24 years. His main weaknesses, however, is the fact that he lacks sufficient skills in organisational change management, wage salary management, staffing

and training, stress management, as well as interpersonal communication. These skills are very important for any human resource manager.

Jane Reynolds has attained the minimum academic qualifications required, being a holder of Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology. She has crucial HR skills in industrial relations, wage and salary management, staffing and training, organisational theory and design, as well as interpersonal communication skills. Jane has up to 11 years of experience in human resource management, having strategically served in different companies, 4 years of which she has spent at Maple Leaf Shoes serving as a human resource supervisor. Additionally, she has negotiation and stress management skills. However, Jane lacks the capabilities to manage organisational change and diversity. She also lacks the skills to handle human resource-related information systems.

Steven Robinson has the minimum academic qualification with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. His main areas of strength include handling of human resource-related information systems as well as the internet. He also has 10-years experience in serving as a human resource assistant manager with different employers. However, Steve’s weakest areas include lack of skills in employee relations, organisational change management, diversity management, staffing and training, interpersonal communication, negotiations, wage and salary administration, and stress management.

Best Choice of Candidate Jane Reynolds comes out as the most appropriate candidate to serve as the new human resource manager at Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd. Jane particularly has more human resource-related skills than any of her competitors. Her industrial relations skills will be significant in helping the company maintain cordial relations between the management and the workers, while the skills on

wage and salary administration will particularly help the company to maintain parity in compensating its workers. The staffing and training skills will help the firm recruit qualified workers to serve, and will consequently improve on their performance by adequately planning for their training and development needs.

Jane has efficient interpersonal skills which will be required particularly during the negotiations with the union representatives, and internally while communicating to her colleagues and subordinates. The stress management skills will help in ensuring workers do not slacken in their overall productivity and performance as a result of stress issues. Thus, this will ensure the overall performance of the firm is optimised at all times. Her strong negotiation skills will help the firm to protect its interests while negotiating contract terms with union representatives. The extensive years of experience that Jane has will also be profitable to the firm. In particular, she has spent 4 years as a human resource supervisor at Maple Leaf Shoes, and, therefore, she will not spend too much time trying to understand the company and fitting into its internal system.

Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd Employee Selection Process The system of selecting employees which has been adopted by the firm is particularly efficient and reliable. The use of panel interview underlines this efficiency because it gives chance to more people to make a verdict on the suitability of a candidate before hiring. This has the advantage of limiting errors which would have come about as a result of the interviewer making personalised judgements about a potential employee. It also saves resources and time because the process is condensed into one interview. The panel interviewing system also saves Maple Leaf Shoes from expensive litigations and complaints launched by candidates who may feel that the interview process was unfair to them in one way or the other. The possibilities of

human rights violations are also curtailed in the sense that all the panel members participate in the interviewing process at the same time (Fielding 141).

Robert Clark, therefore, is bound to secure the most appropriate services of an able and highly qualified human resource manager. Although he is torn apart between whom to hire among the four candidates, the evaluation and the reasoning from the rest of the panel members concerning the candidates will provide him with appropriate basis upon which to make the right decision.

The Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd can utilise other alternatives as well to fill up the vacant human resource management position, other than conducting interviews. The first alternative could be the direct promotion of the current serving human resource assistant or supervisor to take up the position. The viability of the internal appointment alternative is based on the fact that the assistant is already aware of the overall operations of the firm, and particularly the HR function. The internal candidate is also considered qualified having served under the former human resource manager. Thus, the experience and skills acquired during the duration of service enables the assistant to effectively handle the challenges that come with this new role.

The firm can also opt to outsource human resource management services from a professional agency. The agency will take up the entire human resource function of Maple Leaf Shoes and run it on behalf of the company. However, the professional agency will need to study the human resource objectives of the firm before aligning its services to accurately suit them.

Outsourcing such services from external agencies or companies provides the management with ample time to deal with other areas of the organisation and completely leave out the HR roles to the agency. It also enhances efficiency in performance in the sense that the internal management is often multi-focused on the multiple areas and functions of the organisation. This multi-focus,

in turn, limits the full attention required to efficiently handle the HR function Thus, such functions as recruiting staff, managing their wages and salaries, negotiating with unions, as well as determining staffing and training needs will squarely lie with the hired HR agency.

Conclusion The human resource function at any organisation is charged with the responsibility of hiring and selecting staff, as well as managing all the staff-related issues. Hiring and selecting the most qualified candidates to fill up positions in the organisation is often complex and challenging. Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd has chosen the most appropriate method of hiring its employees through the use of panel interviews. The company’s president and other senior managers, including the finance, marketing, and production managers sit in the panel and make personal judgements before the actual hiring is conducted. This method is efficient because it eliminates the possibility of an individual making personalised judgements concerning the hiring process. The method also saves time and company resources by condensing the process into a single activity, while it also limits errors likely to be committed by a single interviewer on the rights of the candidate. Jane Reynolds is the best placed candidate to fill the position because she posses most qualities considered appropriate for a human resource manager. She has served within the company for four years as the human resource supervisor and, therefore, has adequate skills and expertise to hold the position. The company can alternatively fill up the position either by internally promoting one of its workers, or outsource services from third party companies dealing in human resource management.

Work Cited Fielding, Michael. Effective Communication in Organisations. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd, 2006. Print.