McGregor’s Theory X / Y in the context of Recruitment

As per McGregor’s theorizing, there are two diametrically different types of people at work which he recognized as Theory X and Theory Y (Lawter et al, 2015).

The Theory X discusses that the people are often averse to working and are lacking ambition and responsibility towards their job roles, thereby requiring close supervision and rigid controls to prevent the passiveness of employees (Gannon and Boguszak, 2013).

This incapacity of employees would lead the management to provide detailed instructions and to reduce the scope of work assigned to each employee to match their limited capabilities. As such, McGregor (1957) identified the aforesaid as the most pessimistic view of human nature which needs continuous supervision to get a job done.

In contradiction to the Theory X, McGregor proposed an alternative approach which is identified as Theory Y, where it assumes that people are not passive and in fact the organizational objectives can be achieved in a more fruitful manner with the right direction and provision of opportunities by the management (Gannon and Boguszak, 2013). 

Theory Y assumes that a) people can find work enjoyable provided, the work environment and conditions are suitable, b) people are capable of self- direction and self-control and c) people possess the ability of intellectual contribution towards their job roles (McGregor 1960).

DeCamp (1992) emphasizes that the causes for high employee turnover ratio in most of the organizations are mainly due to the failures in their recruitment processes as they are keen on verifying the compatibility of the candidate only with the interviewer and not with the actual people they get to work with. Further, DeCamp (1992) discusses that the interviewers should select Y type employees for managerial positions to ensure that the lower level staff are motivated and always achieve the set targets.

In this connection, I observe that the company I work for, always give preference for applicants who have the qualities of theory Y for all managerial positions. This is due to the increased level of responsibility, encouragement, successful delegation of authority which would be observed from their staff.  However, for certain job roles such as call centre executives, front line officers and back office functions, company would even consider candidates who possess characteristics similar to Theory X, considering the limitation of job profiles and costs.

References

DeCamp and Donald, D (1992).  "Are you hiring the right people?" Management Review, vol. 81, no. 5

Gannon, D and Boguszak, A, (2013). Douglas McGregor’s Theory X And Theory Y, CRIS Bulletin 2013/02.

Lawter, L., Kopelman, R. and Prottas, D., (2015). McGregor's theory X/Y and job performance: A multilevel, multi-source analysis. Journal of Managerial Issues

McGregor, D. M (1957). “Human Side of Enterprise.” Management Review 46: 622-628

McGregor, D. M (1960). The Human Side of Enterprise. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Employee Job Satisfaction

Employee job satisfaction is widely discussed at the present day world due to the fact that organizational workforce should be kept constantly engaged and motivated to achieve the desired goals of the entity (Singh and Jain, 2013). Locke (1976) defines job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. In simple terms, job satisfaction can be identified as a measure of contentedness with the tasks assigned to the employee.

Employees who have higher job satisfaction are treated as high performers with less absenteeism, highly productive and committed to organizational goals and moreover satisfied with their own lives (Lease, 1998). According to Singh and Jain, (2013) there can be numerous factors which can influence a person’s level of job satisfaction which include the level of pay and benefits, quality of the working environment and conditions, existing promotion strategies, leadership and the job related challenges, the variety of tasks involved.

However, Armstrong (2007) argues that it cannot be always concluded that there is a strong and positive relationship between job satisfaction and performance. Armstrong further emphasizes that a satisfied employee will not necessarily be a high performer and a high performer will not necessarily be a satisfied employee.

Job satisfaction is traditionally measured using either questionnaire or interviews out of which questionnaire is the most popular due to the ease in standardizing and quantifying the responses (Azri, 2011). However, with the advancement of technology, several alternative scales have come into play to measure the job satisfaction such as Job Descriptive Index, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Job Diagnostic Survey which are identified as facets measures of job satisfaction (Buchanan and Bryman, 2009).

The organization I am presently employed at, always makes sure that the adequate working conditions are provided at all times along with the payment of competitive salary packages and other benefits such as medical facilities. Further employees are always motivated to enhance their skills by conducting various training programmes which improves the job knowledge and thereby providing opportunities to achieve and develop their personalities. Further, company ensures that they obtain feedback from staff on a quarterly basis and also on the recent organizational or structural changes so that the staff members would feel valued.

References,

• Armstrong, M. (2007). A handbook of employee reward management and practice. London: Kogan Page.
• Aziri, B. (2011) Job Satisfaction: A Literature Review. Faculty of Business and Economics, South East European University, Ilindenska 1200, Tetovo, Makedonia.
• Buchanan, D. and Bryman, A., (2009). The Sage Handbook of Organizational Research Methods.
• Lease, S. H. (1998). Annual review, 1993–1997: Work attitudes and outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 53
• Locke, E. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.). Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology.
• Singh, J. K and Jain, M., (2013). A Study of Employees’ Job Satisfaction And Its Impact On Their Performance. Journal of Indian Research, [online] 1(4). Available at: <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/af3e/ d1e708ce148ebab2b05669cdcb91002a40a8.pdf> [Accessed 29 June 2020].

Meeting Candidate's Needs Through Recruitment Process

As we have already discussed, recruitment of employees refers to the ability of an organization to attract a suitably qualified pool of candidates for a vacancy in a cost-effective manner (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013).

However, if the offer made by the organization is to be accepted, they should posses a holistic understanding of the potential candidate’s needs.

In this connection, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs discusses one of the best known conceptualizations of human needs in an organization. Maslow theorized that individuals have five types of needs and these types are activated in a hierarchical manner (Kaur, 2013).

The needs are aroused from the bottom layer to the highest, such that the lowest need layer should be fulfilled before the next order need is triggered and the process continues (Benson and Dundis, 2003).

                               Figure 4 : Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

                                              Source : Sadri & Bowen, (2011)

Physiological needs

Before an individual thinks of his career development or contribution to the economy at large, certain basic needs have to be met such as food, shelter, water. As such, this level directly corresponds to the pay rate of potential candidates and while offering the job, the organization should ensure that the offered wage or salary is adequate for the candidate to make a living (Kaur, 2013).

The institution in which I am employed, offers considerable amount of pay considering the cost of living, travel costs to the designated office.

Safety Needs

This depicts the second level in the hierarchy and it is assumed that the same is activated once all the physiological needs are met (Jerome, 2013).

Employees do not intend to be cogs in a wheel and therefore it is necessary to stress on the investment during the recruitment process itself, that the organization is making a substantial long term investment on the candidate. This would enable the candidate to develop a sense of job security (Kaur, 2013).

Further it is vital that the organization takes health and safety measurements for the well-being of the employees such as conducting onsite health screenings, mental health days and the hirers may emphasize on such programmes during the recruitment process.

Belonginess and love needs  

The third level of needs are triggered when the individuals expect the acceptance and belonginess from others and to affiliate with them. For an organization to be successful, it should have a common corporate culture which binds diverse people together. Therefore, during the recruitment and selection process, it is important to emphasize the opportunities one would be directed to, if chosen (Benson and Dundis, 2003).

For an example, Recruitment committee can stress on the opportunities that would be provided to the candidates with regards to social gatherings, team work and other team activities of the firm.  

Esteem Needs

As the fourth level in the need hierarchy, once the bottom three layers are fulfilled, any individual would tend to go for the next layer, which gives an additional validation by others for their hard work (Kaur, 2013).

The management or the recruitment team should ensure to discuss throughout the recruitment process on the positive approach given by the organization with regards to the achievement of their current employees.

For an example, the company in which I work, recognizes the best employee of the month and publish their names along with photographs on ‘wall of fame’. Such practices can be discussed with the potential candidate during the recruitment, so that he/she will feel appreciated.

Self-Actualization needs

The top layer of the pyramid; Self- Actualization needs represents the potential and current employees reaching their full potential. It is evident that self-actualized employees represent valuable assets to the company as they learn new things, take risks and way more confident in what they do (Benson and Dundis, 2003).

And in the process of recruitment, the managers should make an effort to understand the ideas and views of the potential candidate on the ability to create organizational change, their risk appetite towards new things and the interest in education and growth potential.

As discussed above, the organizations should work their way up the hierarchy of needs in order to choose an enthusiastic candidate as the best fit for the organization. It is worthless to concentrate on self-esteem needs of current and future employees if the organization is not offering them with an adequate amount of pay and safety environment.

References,

•  Avneet Kaur, (2013). Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Applications and Criticisms. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, [online] 3(10), pp.1061-1064. Available at: https://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs_spl/gjmbsv3n10_03.pdf
•  Benson, S. and Dundis, S. (2003). Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, training and technology. Journal of Nursing Management, [online] 11, pp.315–320. Available at: https://www.qub.ac.uk/elearning/media/Media,264500,en.pdf [Accessed 12 June. 2020].
•    Jerome, N. (2013). Application of the Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory; impacts and implications on organizational culture, human resource and employee’s performance. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, [online] 2(3), pp.39-45. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b0bc/c8ca45193eaf700350a8ac2ddfc09a093be8.pdf
•    O'Meara, B. and Petzall, S., (2013). Handbook of strategic recruitment and selection: a systems approach. Dec ed. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
•  Sadri, G. and Bowen, C., (2011). Meeting employee requirements: Maslow's hierarchy of needs is still a reliable guide to motivating staff. Industrial engineer.

Evolution of Recruitment and Selection in the current context

Most organizations have begun to invest in online recruitments and other modern tools which facilitate a pool of qualified and skilled employees to the company who would generate the optimum level of value. Chapman & Godollei (2017) defines E recruitment as ‘the use of communication technologies such as websites and social media to find and attract potential job applicants, to keep them interested in the organization during the selection processes, and to influence their job choice decisions’.

                                   

                   

                                                    Source: (Techno Creats, 2017)

As described in the above video, E Recruitment and Mobile Recruitment methods are widely used in the present-day world as they inherit competitive advantages over the traditional methods and some of which have been listed below.

·         Ability to reach a large number of potential job seekers at a minimal cost.

·         Recruitment process is real time, thereby increases efficiency and effectivenes

·         Media content can be substantially richer and the same enhances the ability to          target the prospects better (Lievens & Chapman, 2019).

·         No geographic barriers and some potential applicants may get to work abroad

·        Job seeker can access the job opportunity on E-recruitment ‘24 x 7’ (Brahmana and Brahmana, 2013)

           Even though the internet has revolutionized the whole recruitment and selection process, there remain positives as well as negative results for organizations.

·         The flood of unqualified applicants that can result from online advertising and in absence of a comprehensive screening method, these applicants may be recruited to the organizations and result in substantial costs (Lievens & Chapman, 2019).

·         Difficulty in applying the practice for vacancies in senior positions as the prospect candidate base is lesser.

·         Technology issues that come from standardizing the application process (Armstrong, 2014)

The organization in which I am employed is a leading Telecommunication service provider in the country, uses e-recruitments for the selections & recruitments in respect of customer care agent vacancies and other non- managerial staffing needs, considering its cost effectiveness.   

References

•     Armstrong, M., and Taylor, S., (2014) Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice.
•      Brahmana, R. and Brahmana, R., (2013). What Factors Drive Job Seekers Attitude in Using E-Recruitment. The South East Asian Journal of Management, 7(2).
•      Chapman, D.S., & Godollei, A.F. (2017). E-Recruiting: Using Technology to Attract Job Applicants. In Hertel, G., Stone, D.L., Johnson, R.D. and Passmore, J. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of the Internet at Work. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., pp. 213–256
•     Lievens, F., & Chapman, D. (2019). Recruitment and selection (pp 123-150). In A. Wilkinson, T. Bacon, S. Snell, & D. Lepak (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management. Los Angeles: Sage
•   Techno Creats, (2017). E-RECRUITMENT. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84KCfGYFc2I> [Accessed 30 May 2020].

Methods of Selection

With the rapid advancement of world economy, technology and organizational culture, the selection process of human resources is becoming more sophisticated. Even though the traditional interviews remain the heart of selection process, entities opt for better techniques which are helpful in achieving the reliability on the whole selection exercise (Elsevier, 2009).

                                               Figure 3: Selection methods and job performance

Source: Torrington & Hall, (1995) 

The above figure describes the relationship between different selection methods and the ultimate job performance where a set of tests and assessment centres may provide a better solution than unstructured interviews, references or application forms (Koster, 2002). The reliability of an expected outcome from a selection process will be ensured based on the structured and consistent methods followed by the entity. 

In addition to the ‘Classic trio’ namely Application Forms, References and Interviews, organizations explore the possibilities of carrying out alternative selection methods such as Aptitude tests, Physical Ability tests, Assessment Centres, Psychometric tests, & Work Sample tests (Koster, 2002).

Aptitude tests

These tests are carried out to assess the potential and already demonstrated competence or skills of the candidate by way of math and IQ assessments and these measure applicant’s ability of reasoning, word fluency, memory and mathematical fluency (Mathis et al, 2015).

In connection with the company I work for, Aptitude tests are the primary selection method for clerical grades and non-executive vacancies such as Customer care executives, Collection officers, Device sales executives.

Physical Ability Tests

These are to measure an applicant’s physical endurance, mobility and other physical attributes which are related to the job. These tests are carried out for the labour-intensive job categories (Mathis et al, 2015).

Psychometric Tests

Amongst the aforementioned alternative methods, psychometric tests have become significantly popular among many industries as there was an alarming need for a better mechanism to choose the right person (Roberts, G.,1997). As such, psychometric test comes into play which evaluates a person’s emotional stability to perform a desired job role. This includes the evaluation of the employee’s leadership skills, stress management traits, decision making ability and relative response to any emotion (Djabatey, 2012).

The company which I’m employed at, practices psychometric tests when the vacancies are filled by external recruitments for middle and top level management such as Head of Retail Operations, Chief Managers.

Assessment Centres

Assessment Centres comprise of multiple methods of selection and often treated as one of the most complex methods as it may include one or more structured interviews, work sample tests and aptitude tests. Organizations should ensure that an effective evaluation process would be in place so that the results of all the methods used, can be amalgamated into one assessment (Roberts, G.,1997).

In practical world, the assessment centres come into play mostly in graduate recruitments considering the number of candidates and the selection work involved (Roberts, G.,1997).

Work Sample Tests

Work samples are carried out to ensure how far the candidates are capable of handling the task that would be assigned to them at work. A similar situation is created under realistic and standardized conditions where the individual is required to demonstrate his/her competency. Its primary purpose is to evaluate what one can do rather than what one knows (Cascio and Phillips, 1979).

The organization I’m attached to is a leading telecommunication service provider in the island and they practise the Work samples method to select call centre agents to the company.

References

Cascio, W.F., and N.F. Phillips, (1979). Performance testing: a rose among thorns? Personnel Psychology V32.

Djabatey, E., (2012). Recruitment and Selection Practices of Organisations, A Case Study of HFC Bank (Gh) Ltd. Commonwealth Executive Master Of Business Administration. Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Koster, M., (2002). Human Resource Management : Classical Selection Methods And Alternatives.

Mathis, R., Jackson, J., Valentine, S. and Meglich, P., (2015). Human Resource Management. 15th ed.

Pregamon Flexible Learning, (2009). Management Extra: Recruitment and Selection. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Ltd.

Roberts, G., (1997). Recruitment and selection. London: CIPD Publishing

Torrington, D., Hall, L. (1995), Personnel Management, Human Resource Management in Action (3rd edn)

Methods of Recruitment

Undoubtedly, every organization in this highly competitive context, tends to increase its profitability, market share and to secure and sustain their existence. Thus, organizations are in continuous search of new resources that would distinguish them from their rivals. Due to the high competitiveness, organizations functioning in the same industry may have access to similar nature of raw materials, plant and machinery, financial services, vendors and even the customer base (Djabatey, 2012).

However, it is evident that the human resources who are employed only differentiate the organization from its competitors and help it grow and achieve the strategic goals (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013). As such recruitment of employees refers to the ability of an organization to attract a suitably qualified pool of candidates for a vacancy in a cost-effective and a timely manner (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013).

Whilst there are numerous sources of recruitment, those can be broadly categorized into two major categories namely Internal and External (Aswathappa, 2008).

                                            Source: Gregg Learning, (2018)

As described, Internal Recruitment method is where the organizations seek candidates for the desired job roles from within the organization. According to Creedy and Whitfield (1992), internal labour markets have the following characteristics.

• Employment Stability: Employers want to ensure the maximum utilization of their investment on human resources by providing the best of opportunities of growth to their employees. And this has a significant contribution towards reducing the labour turnover. 
• Ports of entry: Opportunities to the internal labour market is from the lower levels and vacancies for higher levels are filled from within the organization, thus creating career opportunities for employees.
• Attachment of wages to jobs: Often the wages are paid based on the job classification rather than employee performance.
• Constrained wage adjustment: Typically, employers respond to labour shortages by reducing output and recruitment rather than increasing earnings.

Internal sources of recruitment include present employees, former employees, and employee referrals.

Present employees can be given either promotions to higher positions or transfers without promotions considering the avenues for future promotions. This has a significant impact on employee motivation. Former employees can also be a source of internal recruitment as some employees who have resigned or retired may be willing to join back and this is a cost effective, less time-consuming method (Djabatey, 2012). Employee referrals are when the internal employees themselves acquaint their friends and families to the company. A large number of potential employees can be reached at once and at a low cost (Aswathappa, 2008).

External Recruitment

           

Whilst External Recruitment processes can be more costly and time consuming, organization can choose the best fit from a larger pool of potential employees which promotes creativity and work place diversity. However, external recruitment may also demotivate the employees and orientation and subsequent training costs will also increase (Compton et al.,2009).

Figure 2 : External Recruitment methods

                                                   Source: Aswathappa, (2008).

According to the above diagram, sources of external recruitment outnumber the internal recruitment methods. This would pump in new blood to the organization and promote innovations due to the ability of access at a mass scale (Aswathappa, 2008).

The organization I work for, chooses walk in interviews, outsourcing agencies for entry level staffing needs while internal recruitment methods are being used for middle and senior management level requirements. 

References

• Aswathappa , K (2008), Human Resource Management, Text and Cases , Delhi, Tata McGrew-Hill Publishing Company Limited.
• Compton, R., Morrissey, W., & Nankervis, A (2009), Effective recruitment and selection practices (5^th ed.,).
• Creedy, J and Whitfield, K (1992), Opening the black box; Economic Analyses of internal labour markets, Journal of Industrial Relations, 34 (3), 455-471.
•  Djabatey, E., (2012). Recruitment And Selection Practices of Organisations, A Case Study Of Hfc Bank (Gh) Ltd. Commonwealth Executive Master Of Business Administration. Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
• Gregg Learning, 2018. Internal Recruiting Methods. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dYomsPpPNU> [Accessed 12 May 2020].
  
• O'Meara, B. and Petzall, S., (2013). Handbook of strategic recruitment and selection: a systems approach. Dec ed. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.

Introduction

For an organization to deepen its growth and propel towards establishing its market share, a mere reliance on its product portfolio will not be sufficient (Newell, 2005). The organizational growth can be highly dependent on its degree of retaining its best employees who contribute significantly towards its success. In this connection, any organization should possess an effective recruitment and selection process, which is designed to ‘select the right individuals and reject the wrong ones ‘ (Newell, 2005) .

The major purpose of selection process is to match the potential employees to the work. Even a well -established organization cannot ensure its survival in the long run, even after offering the highest pay and praise to its employees, as it cannot expect performances beyond the capabilities of its employees. Similarly, in an absence of the fundamental match of work with the people engaged, it is impossible to gain the return on investments made on the human resource programmes (Roberts, G., (1997).

Selection & Recruitment Process

Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates from within and outside an organization to begin evaluating them for future employment and selection begins when the right caliber of candidates are identified (Walker, 2009). In other words, it involves everything from the identification of a staffing need to filling it.

Figure 1 : Selection Process Flow chart

Source : Roberts, G. (1997)

According to the above diagram, firstly the organization should be clear about the job profile and the competencies it should possess. And depending on the labour market conditions, organization may opt for internal or external recruitment methods and advertise for the same accordingly. Once the responses are received from the targeted group, applications are screened and selection methods such as interviews, aptitude tests, psychometric tests are implemented. Based on the results, the correct pool of potential employees will be selected and the authenticity of information given on their educational, academic and other related areas will be checked and verified. Upon receipt of satisfactory references, the correct candidate will be offered the job role and directed for induction.

For an instance, the organization I am employed in, chooses external recruitment process for non-executive job roles considering its cost effectiveness and the ability to reach for a higher number of potential employees at once. Nevertheless, organization opt for internal recruitment for middle and senior management vacancies as the company has already done performance reviews, analysis on decision making and leadership skills of the employee.

A consistent process of selection and recruitment will ensure long term retention of employees, save time and money of the organization, thereby provide the good and right fit. Thus any organization should thrive to achieve such selection and recruitment process which is designed to obtain the number and quality of employees that are required to achieve the strategic goals of the organization, at a minimal cost (Ofori & Aryeetey, 2011).

References 

·   Newell, S. (2005) Chapter 5, 'Recruitment and Selection ', Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management In Transition. 4th ed. Blackwell, pp.115-147.

·    Ofori, D., & Aryeetey, M. (2011). Recruitment and selection practices in small and medium enterprises. International Journal of Business Administration, 2(3):45-60

·        Roberts, G., (1997). Recruitment and selection. London: CIPD Publishing.

·       Walker, James (2009), Human Resource Planning, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., P95