Managing People and Organisations

Human Resource Management

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Abstract

This assignment is undertaken in partial fulfilment of the Managing People and

Organisations which is prescribed as part of the MSc course at Western University.
The assignment is to describe and critically appraise the recruitment process of a
selected organisation. The main objectives are to enable me assess knowledge of
the recruitment process in comparison with good practice and to evaluate the impact
of management style and organisational culture on the recruitment practice. For this
purpose, I have selected Maintenance Technology Limited, a technical services
company which I work for to be my sample organisation.

The assessment is made up of five parts, with two appendices and references to
other literature listed at the end.

Part - I

Description of Company/Organisation

Maintenance Technology Limited is a UK based organisation established in 2001 as

a Technical Management company, providing inspection and audit services to global
aircraft lessors. Maintenance Technology also handle administrative and
management aspects of aircraft maintenance including record keeping and planning
on behalf of their customers and to a variety of aircraft types located worldwide.

Maintenance Technology is a relatively small company with a fixed organisational

structure and headcount. It is made up of about 25 technical professionals who are
employed into 3 main technical positions, 3 Directors who undertake managerial
roles within the company including human resource management (HRM) functions
and an additional 5 employees in support roles within Information Technology and
Data Entry. (Appendix 1)

Part II

Overview of Recruitment Process

The entire recruitment process at Maintenance Technology is handled solely by the

Directors and usually begins with the need to fill a vacancy created by a resignation
or by expansion of its business. The Directors prepare a written job description,
which can be thought of as a blue-print of the position and is defined as “a concise
summary of the specific tasks and responsibilities of a particular job”1 together with a
job specification which can be thought of as the required personal characteristics and
is defined as “an outline of the knowledge, skills, education and physical abilities
needed to adequately perform a job”2. Maintenance Technology are not left out of
this modern e-cruiting trend. “Recruiting job applicants online dramatically extends
the organisation’s recruiting reach, offering access to a wider pool of applicants and
saving time and money”.3 The next stage in the recruitment process involves posting
vacancies on the Maintenance Technology corporate website. Maintenance
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Technology do not use commercial recruiting sites, college recruitment or job fairs,
however, the company has on occasion used the highly effective approach of getting
referrals from current employees.

Desired employees are selected from the pool of recruited applicants using the
application form, reference checks and an interview as selection tools. Applicants are
requested to complete a job application form (Appendix 2) which helps the Directors
in "deciding if applicants meet the minimum requirements of a position and also
assessing and comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of individuals
making applications”4. These are usually submitted together with a resume and form
the basis for a reference check where “employers collect information about
prospective job applicants from people who have had contact with the applicants”5.
Finally, “the interview serves as a two way communication channel that allows both
the organisation and applicant to collect information that would otherwise be difficult
to obtain”6. Although used by Maintenance Technology as a third selection tool, the
interview is not generally a valid predictor of job performance. Validity is defined as
“the relationship between an applicants score on a selection device and his or her
future job performance.”7 Maintenance Technology do not make use of personality
tests, mental ability tests or assessment centres.

Part III

Culture and Management Style

“The three broad Human Resource Management (HRM) activities are to attract an
effective workforce, develop the workforce to its potential, and maintain the workforce
over the long term.”8 The culture and management style adopted are focused more
on maintaining Maintenance Technology’s workforce than on the other two HRM
activities mentioned above.

Maintenance Technology’s business involves a lot of short notice travel and its
management thus encourage work flexibility to accommodate for sudden unexpected
changes to aircraft schedules. Telecommuting, defined as “using computers and
telecommunications equipment to perform work from home or another remote
location”9 is permitted and encouraged. This helps employees, who spend most of
their working lives travelling away from home, lead more balanced lives and avoid
the potential conflict between work and family responsibilities.

Although Maintenance Technology does not have a virtual team of geographically or

organisationally dispersed employees, the company does on occasion, use
contracted professionals who may be considered as contingent workers.

“Training and development represent a planned effort by an organisation to facilitate

an employee’s learning of job-related skills and behaviours.”10 Apart from Orientation
Training, “during which newcomers are introduced to the organisation’s culture,
standards, and goals”11, the only other form of employee training used by
Maintenance Technology is On-the-job Training (OJT). Other types and methods of
training such as Classroom Training, Self-directed Learning, Computer-based
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Training, Public Seminars and Corporate Universities are not used by Maintenance
Technology.

One method of employee development, the Performance Appraisal, which is “the

process of observing and evaluating an employee’s performance, recording the
assessment and providing feedback to the employee”12, is carried out annually for
each employee on the anniversary of his or her appointment to Maintenance
Technology. Workforce Optimization and Promotion-from-Within which are two
established methods of employee development are seldom used within Maintenance
Technology.

The main method of compensation within Maintenance Technology is through its

salary structure, which is job based. All employees at Maintenance Technology
regularly receive a standard level of annual increment in remuneration which is
independent of personal performance. A form of Pay-for-Performance (incentive pay)
remuneration system has recently been developed to compensate for each travel day
away from the office whilst on assignment. Although a number of benefits are offered
to employees by Maintenance Technology, the package is not much more than is
required by law.

Maintenance Technology is an equal opportunities employer and one finds people of

different ethnicities, races and religions at Maintenance Technology. This is a direct
reflection of Maintenance Technology’s diverse customer base which is made up of
airline operators located all over the world and also Maintenance Technology’s need
to obtain the best talent in the industry.

Maintenance Technology’s management believe in the law of effect which “assumes

that positively reinforced behaviour tends to be repeated and unreinforced or
negatively reinforced behaviour tends to be inhibited”13. The four reinforcement tools,
namely positive reinforcement, avoidance learning, punishment and extinction
derived on the Reinforcement Theory which is based on the relationship between a
given behaviour and its consequences”14 are employed by Maintenance
Technology’s management whilst ensuring conformity with employment legislation
and adhering to national labour laws.

Part IV

Appraisal of Recruitment Process and Employee Development Methods

Maintenance Technology’s recruitment process and employee development methods

continue to be very successful and effective in various ways. Worthy of note is the
extensive use of e-recruiting and telecommuting, encouraging diversity whilst
alienating ethnocentrism, and an exceptional staff disciplinary record characterised
by a relatively low staff turnover. In over eight years of operation as a business, there
have been no dismissals, suspension, verbal or written warnings. This can be
attributed to a strict but measured use of reinforcement techniques mentioned
previously.

Although Maintenance Technology’s recruitment and selection process follows a

pragmatic strategy in targeting, attracting and employing adequately qualified
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personnel it has on occasion failed to employ the right candidate. Maintenance

Technology’s use of application forms and the interview as a selection tool may be
improved firstly by using the weighted application blanks (WAB). This approach uses
"an empirical scoring key to score applicants on their answers to an application
form."15 Secondly, interview validity will be increased if the panel is carefully selected
to reflect the demographics (gender, age, ethnicity etc), functional background and
personality of the applicant. The perception of the interview panel has the likelihood
to influence the applicant about the culture of the organisation and influence his or
her acceptance of a job offer. For example; "women applicants have changed their
opinions about whether they will fit within an organisation when they are unable to
get an interview with a woman on a site visit, see no women in high positions in the
organization, or feel that company is a ‘men's club’."16 Although nearly 20% of
Maintenance Technology’s workforce is female job interview panels are always all
male.

Apart from speeding up the recruitment and selection process, e-recruiting is in some
cases not all positive, the organisation may be overwhelmed by the volume of
applications and résumés sent in and this may lengthen the short-listing and
selection process. Enhancement of the Maintenance Technology corporate website
as a means to attract and encourage potential job seekers whilst detailing company
work ethics and conditions may also reduce the number of unqualified or unsuitable
applications.

One problem Maintenance Technology faces in attracting an effective workforce is in

the determination of competitive salary levels for staff positions. The difficulty lies in
finding similar jobs within other organisations for comparative wage and salary
surveys. Maintenance Technology have, in the past, failed to hire suitable applicants
into a number of key positions due to unattractive pay offers at the interview stage of
recruitment. Some worry also exists of competition from similar organisations for its
talent. Increasing the potential for employee career advancement, offering
candidates a high-quality benefits package including share options whilst introducing
perks such as arranging corporate discounts and special mortgage interest rates are
ways in which Maintenance Technology may attract, nurture and keep such talent.
“Aegis Living, a chain of assisted living centres based in USA are proof that this is
good practice in keeping turnover of low-paid care staff low.”17

During the latter half of 2008, Maintenance Technology were compelled to downsize
to compensate for the effects of global economic downturn. Based on a reduction in
the number of lucrative long term contracts available, Maintenance Technology
reduced its headcount in comparison to save on salaries but greater reliance on short
term contracts led to an increased number of contracted professionals who
drastically reduced the profit margins Maintenance Technology had hoped to
maintain. It may be prudent for Maintenance Technology to take a more systematic
approach to workforce forecasting and optimization by utilising Human Resource
Planning (HRP); defined as “the process for identifying an organisation's current and
future human resource requirements, developing and implementing plans to meet
these requirements and monitoring their overall effectiveness.”18 and Workforce
Optimization; defined as “implementing strategies to put the right people in the right
jobs, make the best use of employee talent and skills, and develop human capital for
 0838656 MN5506 Assignment 1, July 2009 Page 6

the future”19 to overcome this problem. “Despite uncertainty, companies still have to
be able reasonably to predict labour demands.”20

Although On-the-job Training (OJT) “is considered the fastest and most effective
means of facilitating learning in the workplace”21, its effectivity is limited in any
workplace when the challenges encountered while executing ones duties are ever
changing as is the case at Maintenance Technology. The opportunity to enhance
ones skills and knowledge through modern methods of learning and development
such as Public Seminars, Web-Based Self-Study and occasional Classroom
Instruction should be introduced.

“The thinking of HR practitioners and other business leaders that an annual

performance appraisal is performance management must become obsolete.”22 The
Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) technique “which relates an employees
performance to specific job-related incidents”23 together with the 360-degree
feedback system, “a process that uses multiple raters, including self rating to
appraise employee performance and guide development”24 should be adopted by
Maintenance Technology. “A variation of this system used by US restaurant chain
Applebee is considered good practice.”25

Part IV

Conclusion

Recruiting the best staff has always been an important measure of an organisation’s
success. “It is imperative for human resource managers to understand the critical
nature and utmost importance of understanding the effectiveness of all human
resource activities in creating value for the organization.”26

A well-structured documented recruitment policy and systematic selection procedure

should be followed to ensure success to human resource managers. The human
resources available to any organisation should be developed to integrate the
individual’s objectives with the organisation’s overall mission and should be geared
towards achieving substantial growth. “Given the continuing changes in the global
economy, demands of customers, preferences and values of employees, a
necessary component of the HR strategy is to ensure that the organization is
adapting to the external and internal variables it currently faces and would likely face
in the future in order to meet its stakeholders' expectations.”27
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Appendices

Appendix 1

Maintenance Technology Organisational Chart

3 Directors:
(Management Position)

Undertake Managerial Roles

Including Human Resource
Management (HRM).

15 Aircraft Technical Services

4 Aircraft Project Engineers:
2 Information Technology Engineers:
(Main Position)
Professionals: (Main Position)
(Support Position)
Perform Physical Inspection
Oversee And Control The
Of Aircraft, Audit Aircraft
Support Computer Complete Maintenance
Documents And Write Detailed
Programmes. Function Of A Customer’s
Technical Reports.
Fleet Of Aircraft.

6 Technical Assistants:
3 Data Entry Clerks: (Main Position)
(Support Position)
Collate Aircraft Maintenance
Support Aircraft Data Data To Form An Up To Date
Management Function. And Back To Birth Record For
Each Component Of The
Aircraft.

Key requirements for the main positions are:

• Graduates of a recognised Aircraft Engineering Apprenticeship or

College/University Course.
• Work experience or be familiarity with the requirements of an Aircraft
Operators Technical Services Department.
• Minimum aircraft engineering experience ranging from 1 to 10 years.
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Appendix 2

Maintenance Technology Application Form

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References
1
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.331.
2
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.331.
3
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.332.
4
Gatewood & Field, 2002, pp.407.
5
Gatewood & Field, 2002, pp.444.
6
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.334.
7
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.334.
8
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.322.
9
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.328.
10
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.338.
11
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.338.
12
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.340.
13
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.528.
14
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.528.
15
Gatewood & Field, 2002, pp.426.
16
Gatewood & Field, 2002, pp.14.
17
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.344.
18
Beardwell, Holden & Claydon, 2004, pp.159.
19
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.339.
20
HR. Human Resource Planning Journal. New York: 2003. Vol. 26, Iss.1; pg. 54
21
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.338.
22
Human Resource Planning Journal. New York: 2003. Vol. 26, Iss.1; pg. 57
23
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.342.
24
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.340.
25
Daft & Marcic, 2009, pp.341.
26
HR. Human Resource Planning Journal. New York: 2003. Vol. 26, Iss.1; pg. 58
27
HR. Human Resource Planning Journal. New York: 2003. Vol. 26, Iss.1; pg. 56