Selection is the process by which all candidates are divided into two groups, viz. those selected and those rejected. While the policies and practices in regard to selection will naturally vary from place to place and agency to agency, it is possible to identify certain common principles and objective practices which if followed, would go a long way in ensuring open and fair selection.
In the initial scrutiny of applications, what is generally done is to weed out those that do not possess the minimum qualifications and requirements laid down, The most important at which are generally indicated through the “job description” given in the advertisements or by studying the details of experience, qualifications, special achievements, etc.
Confidential reports are called for and examined and a final list of candidates to be called for interview is prepared. It is a general practice to call for interview about three to six times the number of positions available so that, leaving aside those who for various reasons may not turn up for the interview, a reasonable number of eligible candidates are available to choose from.
Tests are likely to be used only for office staffer technical personnel in order to assess their proficiency in typing or the use of other equipment, say, for example, data processing. But in all cases, the final selection is generally done after an interview by a Committee or Board.
Interview
Though the most widely used, its success as a tool’ for selection will depend not much on the tool itself, but the effectiveness with which it is used. In order to be an effective step in selection, the interview should give a fair chance to the candidates to present themselves to the best of their ability in a free and fair manner, in conducive atmosphere which can draw out from them, not only what is in their heads but in their hearts as well.
The interviewer should be concerned With cross-checking on the important points given in the application, and to probe the general and professional background of the candidates so as to find out whether these were the things they were looking for in the candidates and whether they fit in with requirements of the jobs in question.
It is the duty of the chairman of the interview panel to see that the interview begins and proceeds in a friendly and relaxed manner. The candidates should be made to feel easy, particularly by beginning the interview with some enquiries of a general nature. The candidates should have a chance to ask some questions they may have in their minds mainly forgetting additional information or seeking clarifications.
Also before closing, it is necessary for the chairman to put some hypothetical questions, without in any way giving commitment about the appointment, as to whether they would be able to accept appointment even if it may not be possible to grant any special conditions they might have laid down.
After interviewing all, the general practice is to draw up.a list of selected candidates according to merit. Also the precaution of including more names in the list (popularly known as the Reserve List) is generally taken so that if some of those selected do not turn up, those next in line could be offered the job.
Compensation
One commonly does not think of someone accepting a job without a promise of pay in terms of wage or salary as compensation. Wages and salary compensation is the heart of the employment contract for most organisations and employees. And, it is provided in exchange for the skills, time, and effort expended in the employment relationship and it is a means to maintain a standard of living.
The employees see compensation as a return for effort or abilities and as a means to maintain a standard of living. The firm would like to keep expenses downs the employee would like to live well. A balance must be found between employer’s and employee’s view.
A comprehensive compensation, otherwise known as a “total compensation programme is primarily concerned with money payments in the form of a salaries and wages and indirect payments in the form of fringe benefits and the non-financial benefits such as the job a worker does and the nature of his environment. Wages usually refer to payment given on an hourly basis. The compensation of clerical, professional and administrative employees is generally described as a salary.
Unlike wages, they are figured out on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Wage earning employees qualify for overtime pay when working over forty hours a week. As long as the salaried worker does not lose too much time on the, job, the salary will be paid regardless of the number of hours worked.
Collective bargaining plays a major role in wage determination. Another method of compensation is piece work payment. Under it workers are paid for each unit, or piece of work they produce. With the piece-meal system, the faster employees work the mire they produce, the more they earn.
Another form of piece work incentive is A bonus for work done beyond the standard amount for A given period. A present trend is for companies to share some of their profits with employees. The chief forms these company-wide incentive programmes take are stock ownership and profit-sharing plans. Both plans give the employee A financial interest in how well the company does.
Incentive may or may not be included in the compensation programme, but fringe benefits generally are A part of it. The availability of fringe Benefit-benefits given employees in addition to wages or salary often depends on the nature of the employer, the philosophy of management or the strength of the union.
Medical, life and accident insurance, vacations, educational assistance, reduce prices on company products and services, recreational facilities, these are some of the indirect benefits companies provide. Some employers provide scholarships for the children of their employees. The basic non-monetary components of rewards employers provide for their workers include: (i) “good job” or the job itself which the employees are given to perform, and (ii) the job environment.
Having A good job has the potential of making the worker become an important part of the organisation, having-self pride and human dignity and above all, affording the worker sense of responsibility and feeling of achievement. The job environment has to do with providing comfortable working conditions, congenial co-workers, sound personnel policies and practices, flexibility, status symbol and competent supervision. Total compensation package is the heart of the employment contract for most organisations and employees.
Evaluation of Employees
Once a employee has been given a job to do in his organisation. his services must be measured and evaluated in order to be able to rate and rank his work effectiveness. The personnel managers are responsible for designing and overseeing the appraisal programmes. The basis of evaluation is the work rules and standards which are devised by personnel managers and are used evaluating performance.
Among the reasons for measuring and evaluating employee performance are:
i. To be able to provide employees the desired feedback on how they are doing.
ii. To help validate employee-selection techniques, be able to recognise and motivate high performance and punish poor performers.
iii. To be able to point out employees’ specific needs for additional education, training and development which will lead to improved performance and over all organisational performance, and
iv. To provide appraisal reports which will serve as the basis of job re-designing.
Research shows that job enrichment and enlargement which may improve desired employees’ performance and morale and reduce turnover rates have also been the concerns of personnel professionals resource.
Problems of Staffing Practices in both the Public and Private Sectors.
The acquisition function – recruitment, screening, interviewing, selection and placement of personnel is an important human management responsibility. Since the human resource represents the greatest cost element in many types of business and in virtually all government operations that the knowledge possessed by personnel specialists should be applied in every phase of management in order to attain a work force and a management team; then, sufficient care must be taken in employing suitable people.
In the private sector, the recruitment, selection and placement activities appear to be more objectively, rigorously and fairly handled than in the public sector. The private sector manager may insist, as a matter of policy, on hiring competent and qualified personnel irrespective of the person’s state of origin or creed.
The public sector organisation operator would hire competent people who satisfy additional consideration’s associated with geo-political, ethnic and federal character. In the public sector, there is the note – syndrome which allows A potential applicant to get notes from powerful personalities for presentation to organisation to influence one’s appointment.
Etukudo cited a study conducted in Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, which noted a prevailing culture of personalissimo among Africans. Personalissimo is defined as “the social process of knowing somebody, who knows someone, who knows the person from whom you need a service”.
Of course, three is the deliberate policy of the Federal Government aimed at ethnic balancing in the public sector. This has implications for human resource planning in the public sector in terms of employment distribution either to correct perceived or real imbalances in employment in the country.
For the multinationals, especially the oil companies operating in the country, pressure from host communities have in many ways influenced employment practices in such organisations. Selection processes suffer some. subjectivity in both sectors public and private – with higher incidents in public organisations. The human resource manager must, therefore, plan to control and accommodate emerging environmental influences as much as practicable.
Summary
The chapter has been able to present the body of knowledge surrounding the managerial function of staffing, its contribution to the achievement the organisation, as well as the employees’ rewards in the process. Above all, it has been able to emphasize employment procedures and employee compensation, as well as reinforcing the fact that employee performance evaluation requires joint involvement of all the managers in the organisation.
Problems of staffing in both the public and private sectors including the multinational organisations were highlighted. The conclusion was that selection processes suffer some subjectivity in both sectors, with higher incidents in public organisations.