HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

PROJECT REPORT

ON

-1-
 Continental Biscuits Limited

1.0 Introduction
Initially in Pakistan, biscuit baking was more conventional where the baker sifted dough
with the basic ingredients and baked small portions of batter in an old-fashioned oven.
Through the years, it has progressed towards modern automatic plants, efficient assembly
lines and high quality attractive packaging. Continental Biscuits Limited (CBL) has been
a significant part of this modernizing and upgrading process. With the latest in superior
technology, an innovative range of quality products and an excellent distribution
network, CBL reigns supreme in the biscuit industry.

Continental Biscuits started in September 1986, when a joint venture agreement was
reached with General Biscuit-the manufacturers of the LU range. As a consequence,
large-scale investments were made, technical know-how and professional expertise was
imported, and over 200 employees were recruited, with the passage of time, the number
has increased steadily and now over 400 employees work for the organization.

At the beginning, innovative brands such as Prince, TUC and Candi were introduced and
proved to bit an instant success. With global merger of General Biscuit and the Danone
Group, a more comprehensive range of products and technical know-how became
available to CBL. So followed a spectrum of brands selected from the Danone portfolio,
claiming a sizable portion of the local biscuit market.

CBL's commitment of providing value to the consumers has paid dividends. The
Company was largely responsible for identifying and developing a huge potential market
of snack packs and ticky packs. This has created new consumption patterns and helped
increase the total biscuit market. Consumer demand is still increasing in spite of the
volatile and competitive business environment. This can be gauged from the current
production capacity of over 48,000 tons per annum-an increase of around seventeen times
from what it was during the initial phase.

-2-
1.1 Company Vision and Mission

1.1.1 Company Vision

Company vision is continued expansion in the biscuits manufacturing and marketing for
not only meeting the local demand but to prepare for WTO and SAFTA by becoming
capable of meeting the regional demand.

1.1.2 Company Mission

Throughout the world, to ensure that people can grow, live better and thrive to be full by
providing them daily with better food, a greater variety of tastes and healthier pleasure."

The purpose of this Mission is to guide and to inspire, rather than to distinguish us. What
does distinguish us is the way in which we fulfill this Mission. A way that is expressed
through our three core values: What does distinguish us is the way in which we fulfill this
mission. The way that is expressed through our three core values.

1.2 Innovations as a part of Growth Strategy

CBL's corporate philosophy is innovation, of products, strategies and packaging. This

passion with innovation has led CBL to introduce the finest brands from the Danone
portfolio in Pakistan.

Prince: Pakistan's premium range of sandwich biscuits is known for its soft, creamy
fillings. Consumers can select from a variety of flavors: chocolate, coconut, strawberry,
banana, vanilla, pineapple and prince power milk.

TUC: In the cracker segment, CBL reigns number 1 with TUC and TUC 50/50. TUC-one
of the first brands to be launched by CBL still stands as the number 1 cracker. Loved for
its light and crispy texture, TUC is enjoyed by all. With toppings or on its own, TUC is a
great snack.
Candi: One of the most innovative brands launched by CBL, the only brown sugar
biscuit in Pakistan; Candi: is, loved for its sweet taste and crunchy texture.

-3-
Gala: Is, full of the natural goodness of milk and eggs. A wonderful aroma, unique
design and great taste are what set this brand apart from the rest.

Zeera Plus: Fresh and tasty biscuits with the special taste of zeera.

Wah: The unique sugar glazed biscuit in a bite size.

2.0 About Human Resource Director

Col. (Retd.) Fazale Naeem - HR & Technical Director: Col. Fazale Naeem is an engineer
by profession and has served in the Pakistan Army for nearly twenty years. After
retirement as Lt. Col. in 1978, he worked for organizations in the private sector. He
joined Continental Biscuits Ltd. as Factory Manager at Sukkur in 1992 and was later
promoted as the H.R. & Technical Director of the company based at the Head Office in
Karachi; all the HR activity is done my Col. (Retd) Fazale Naeem.

2.1 The Role of Human Resource in Continental Biscuits

Continental Biscuits strategic Principals and a major goal are of profit maximization and
maximizing market share. They have HR policies regarding strategic fit and strategic
plan like business level strategy. To measure the HR functions effectiveness and
efficiency, LU focuses on organization learning and employee productivity and use HR
scorecard in evaluating employee performance. However, the company does not have
any advanced Human Resource Information System (HRIS) for employees’ database.

Recruitment and selection, and performance appraisal get consideration and are
incorporated in job analysis information, whereas organization chart process chart are
also important and used in the promotion of employee.

LU has the system of job enrichment and job rotation for the employees; it reviews job
description after very one year (for some particular job it could be two years).
Forecasting techniques for future vacant position in LU is usually done through trend
analysis.

-4-
LU basically depends over centralized recruitment system rather than decentralized, the
most suitable recruitment media is advertisement in newspaper and selection device to
choose the new employee are general mental ability test, integrity test structure interview.
Succession planning for filling the key position is present in the modern world i.e. the
world of internet provides CBL an advantage of internet recruiting like cost effectiveness
visibility and target only qualified respondent. General economic condition and ratio
analysis they have to forecast the supply of out side candidates. The method of interview
is structured sequential and based on situational job related questions.

3.0 Recruitment Method at Continental Biscuits

3.1 Person Specification

Whenever a vacancy is created for a particular job, a job description is prepared with the
consultation of the department. Department Head gives all the requirements of the job.
All this information is used to prepare the essential requirements to be included in the
press advertisement. The information is not documented; it is just a verbal discussion.

3.2 Company Recruitment Method

The Company uses ‘Company-self Recruitment’ method and also the outside agency
recruitment method for new employees.

Because CBL is a huge organization with a lot of employees, outsourcing of recruitment

is essential and very important for efficient and effective performance of organization
goals and objectives. Also, in order to provide opportunity to individuals from all walks
of life, it is very important that continental biscuits provide equal opportunity to
everyone, also to those who cannot be reached directly.

3.2.1 Internal Sources

Continental Biscuits follow internal source of hiring when the work related activity for
the particular job vacancy is at a higher level and requires a high level of familiarity with

-5-
the current operations and functions that the organization follows. External hiring would
be a second option because those chosen internally already know the organization and
can perform better and as quickly as possible that saves time and cost on getting familiar
with the company.

The Management provides growth and career diversity employees across the company
for open positions at various levels / job grades. Job openings within the organization
are announced periodically on the intranet and internal job boards for existing
employees as and when required necessary.

3.2.2 Internal Job Posting

The goal to ensure that all employees are made aware of and have the opportunity to
apply for open positions either before or concurrent with the Company's consideration of
external candidates for employment.
The following factors are informed about to employees as criteria for internal hiring:
1. Eligibility
2. Job Criteria

3.2.3 External Sources

The second option that CBL follows is the external source. It uses two of its features: the
referral approach and the external search approach which includes, press advertisements,
and e-recruitment. The main reason for referral approach is to find competent and self
devoting employees to carry forward the company goal of profit maximization and
growth strategy.

If there are any referrals, then those applicants are given priority but they also have to go
through the whole procedure, like submitting CV, initial interview and final interview.
However, if CEO asks HR to hire a particular applicant on his referral, then the particular
employee is hired without going through the whole process.

-6-
 3.3 Usage of percentage of internal vs. external

The Company uses both external and internal recruitment methods and their usage of
percentage is 60:40 i.e. external: internal which shows that external recruitment method is
preferred over the internal method. Press advertisements, and referrals are used because
new talent at continental biscuits is very necessary and imminent.

3.4 External Search application

Continental Biscuits uses CVs as a mode of application. Various skills of each applicant
are thoroughly read in order to make a final decision. This makes it convenient for
recruitment process to avoid any biasness. If application forms would restrict the
applicants to give out only information for which they have asked for and the applicant
will not be able to provide any additional information or skill that he/ she possess,
therefore, CVs are preferred over application forms.

3.5 Press Advertisements

Continental Biscuits use press advertisements as an external search of recruitment in

which they give out advertisement in the newspapers like Dawn, Jhang, Express, and
Business Recorder etc so that they can attract more applicants for the job as they are seen
by the wider audience than just the people who may apply for the job.

Analyzing the press advertisement in the newspaper, we analyzed:

• Size of the ad: the size of the advertisement for continental biscuits is dependent
on the designation for which the position is vacant. If the vacancy is for a high position,
then the size of ad is huge as compared to those of middle level vacant positions.

• Style of the ad:

The press ad is easy-to-read with enough whit space given and borders are also used to
make it distinct from the ads of other companies so that the attention of the readers can be
-7-
drawn into the ad. Moreover, appropriate font size is used so that reader could read the
press ad without facing any type of problem or hassle.

-8-
• Content of the ad:
The content of the ad contains the following elements:
Name and brief detail: The ad contains both the name and the brief introduction of the
company like.

4.0 Selection Process at Continental Biscuits Limited

The Selection criteria of the continental biscuit states that after pre screening process they
use to call the candidate who come up with their required criteria.

• They call the candidate after reviewing their CV, before taking interview in front
of committee.
• Committee comprises of departmental head, HR Director, HR manager and
sometimes CEO is also involved.
• In some cases there is direct hiring departmental heads are not involved.
• Basically in interview they check various things regarding personality, passions
(regarding job), consistency, communication, general knowledge and educational
skills.
• Then they calculate total score if he fulfills 70 percent of their required skill than
they short list that candidate and call him for second interview on that day or next
according to their need/schedule.
• In second interview they ask the person some general question regarding
company and then ask him for salary and then negotiate with him accordingly
• Calculate the final status point.
• Hire the person.

This is the general practice which continental biscuits are using in hiring efficient
employee for them.

-9-
4.1 Selection Tool Kit

This selection of competent employees is one of the most important activities a firm can
do.

The selection process will entail eight steps. These steps are:

• preliminary selection
• employment tests
• selection interviews
• verification of references
• medical evaluation
• supervisory interviews
• realistic job previews
• hiring decision

Step 1: Preliminary Selection

Preliminary selection of applicants involve

• Setting minimum standards for the job and communicating these standards to
your employees, and agencies.
• Some times some potential applicants may not apply because of their inability to
meet the minimum requirements serves as an initial screening device.
• Then, when reviewing resumes and CVs, firm (CBL) is further able to screen out
unacceptable job candidates. At this point, firms also assign priorities to the
resumes so that the most promising candidates may be seen first.

Step 2: Employment Tests

• Selection decisions are based on objective data is to use employment tests.

• Employment tests provide firm with objective data for purposes of comparing
applicants.

• Tests include; paper and pencil test, manual dexterity and strength tests and
simulation exercises.

- 10 -
Employment Tests: Validation

• Employment test should be valid. Validity requires that the test scores relate to
actual job performance.

• Hence, the use of tests is not necessarily a simple process. Whereas a firm may be
inclined to use an "off-the-shelf" product, such a test may bear little resemblance
to the job-related tasks a successful applicant might be required to do. Before
using a test, firms should ensure that they are, in fact, valid.

Employment Tests: Reliability

• Not only must employment test be valid, they must also be reliable. That is,
employment tests should yield consistent results. An employment test gives a
similar score each time the person takes the test.
• Paper and pencil tests are used to test knowledge. The firm uses a paper and
pencil knowledge test to ascertain an applicant's knowledge of computer
programming skills or to test whether or not an applicant understands government
regulations governing an industry.
• Knowledge tests have good reliability, but their validity must be tested before
they are used.
• A keyboarding test, testing an applicant's keyboarding speed and accuracy should
also have reliability factor.

• Performance tests measure the applicant's ability to perform some part of

the job for which applicants are to be hired.
• Firm also utilize psychological tests to measure an applicant's personality
or temperament.
• Of all the tests mentioned thus far, psychological tests are the least
reliable, and their validity is also weak, because the relationship between
personality and actual job performance may be unknown.

- 11 -
Step 3: Selection Interview

Eight Steps for Implementing a Valid Interviewing Process:

• Conduct formal job analyses

• Write job descriptions

• Interviewers review job-relatedness of potential question by consulting
appropriate job descriptions
• Interviewers write out all questions before the interviews
• Use panel interviews.
• Create rating forms for the interviews.
• Anchor interview questions to job behaviors (use Critical Incident Technique)
• Standardize interviews
• Selecting the best candidate for the job is the #1 priority of the selection process.
The employment interview is conducted to learn more about the suitability of
people under consideration for a particular job and is one further obstacle for the
applicant to overcome. The interview is one further means of reducing the number
of people who might be eligible for the job.

• The interview is therefore a formal, in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate

an applicant's acceptability for the job opening. The interviewer is interested in
answers to the following questions:

• Can the applicant do the job?

• How does this applicant compare with others who are applying?

Prior to the interview, other selection procedures (obstacles) should have narrowed the
selection to a manageable number of applicants that look promising for an interview. The
more applicants picked, the more time the process will take. For most jobs, less than six
candidates should be ample.

The selection interview proceeds in a series of stages.

• Initially, the interviewer needs to be prepared. Part of this preparation includes

deciding where to hold the interviews and which type of interview to conduct.

- 12 -
 • Preparation also includes carefully reading through and making notes on the
applicants' application forms and resumes. At this stage, interviewers should
make frequent reference to the job (job description) to compare the applicant's
background with the job's requirements. The preparatory stage also includes
developing a series of job-related questions.
• During the interview, the interviewer should have an outline of questions, on
which to take notes.
• Most basic among interviewing principles is the notion that the interview should
be "job-related". This means the interviewer should focus on the position being
interviewed for. Personal inquiries ought to be avoided.
• During the interview process itself, initially, the interviewer(s) should ensure the
creation of rapport between interviewer(s) and the interviewee. Next, the two
parties can engage in the exchange of information. Once the interview has been
terminated, the interviewer(s) must set aside some time to evaluate the notes they
have taken during the process.

Panel interviews

• After above process Company goes for panel interviews, in which three to five
persons meet together with each applicant The process of creating a group
consensus reduces the likelihood of individual biases influencing the final
decision, and is therefore likely to produce better decisions.

Using job descriptions

• Job descriptions help interviewers focus their attention on relevant, job-related

information. Job descriptions should be perused before the interview begins.

Rating Forms

Interviewers can use job-related information most effectively when their questioning and
assessing is guided by a rating form. In other words, the job's major behaviors should be
listed separately on a rating form, and each of these should be covered by a set of

- 13 -
appropriate questions. The rating form thus prompts each interviewer to rate the
applicants on all critical job behaviors as identified in the job description.

Behaviorally Anchored Questions

• Interviewers make more valid ratings of interviewees when their questions focus
on job-related behaviors rather than personal traits. The rating process can be
further improved by anchoring questions to specific behaviors. At this stage, the
interviewers develop a scoring system for each question.
• The scoring process involves developing examples of good, marginal and poor
answers to the questions (this could be done prior to the interview by using the
Critical Incident Technique). Next, numerical weights are pre-assigned to
particular responses (i.e. Good = 5, Marginal = 3, Poor = 1).

Interviewing using behaviorally anchored questions

• During the interview, applicants are asked identical, pre-determined questions,

and their responses to are written down. Later panel members rate the candidates'
responses using the numbers associated with the behaviorally anchored examples.

Behavioral anchoring is especially appropriate for situational questions which ask

applicants to explain how they would respond in a series of hypothetical situations.

Avoiding Discrimination

During the interview, it is important that discriminating questions not be asked. At times,
the information sought during interviews is not relevant to the job being filled and,
consequently, discriminatory elements may enter into the selection process.

Step 4: Verification of References: the references mentioned by the candidate applying

for the vacant position are then referred to and verified.

Step 5: Medical Evaluation: Some medical evaluation regarding the candidate health is
followed which is done after the candidate has been selected.

- 14 -
Step 6: Supervisory Interview

• Since the immediate supervisor is ultimately responsible for new workers, he or

she has to put into the hiring decision. The supervisor is better able to evaluate the
applicant's technical capabilities and is in a better position to answer the
interviewee's job-related questions. Further, the supervisor's personal commitment
to the success of the new employee is higher if the supervisor has played a role in
the hiring decision.
• In fact, in a majority of firms, the supervisor has the authority to make the final
hiring decision. In these cases, it is the role of the HR department to do the initial
screening and to ensure that hiring does not violate laws such as Human Rights
legislation or Labor legislation.

Step 7: Realistic Job Preview

• The realistic job preview involves showing the applicant(s) the job site in order to
acquaint them with the work setting, commonly used equipment, and prospective
co-workers. The realistic job preview is intended to prevent initial job
dissatisfaction with a job by presenting a realistic view of the job. Research shows
that job turnover is lower when realistic job previews are used.

Step 8: Hiring Decision

• The actual hiring of an applicant constitutes the end of the selection process. At
this stage, successful (as well as unsuccessful) applicants must be notified of the
firm's decision.

The applications of unsuccessful applicants are often kept on file and the applications of
successful applicants will be retained in the employees' personnel files.

• No matter what the form of the job offer, the principle is generally the same: do
not make promises or statements that you cannot or do not intend to keep. Such
statements can lead to expensive litigation if it is later decided to terminate the
employee.

- 15 -
 When job offer is made, it should include the following information:

• the position offered.

• location of the job
• salary (although sometimes salary must be negotiated before the applicant will
accept)
• benefits
• starting date
• any papers or information that should be brought on the first day of work
• a date (or time) by which the applicant must respond to your job offer, so you can
move on to the next candidate if your first choice doesn't accept

Reviewing the Hiring Process

After completing the hiring, the process ought to be evaluated. Here are some
considerations in the evaluation:

• What about the number of initial applicants? Were there too many applicants? Too
few? Does the firm need to think about changing its advertisement and recruiting to get
the result desired?
• What was the nature of the applicants' qualifications? Were the applicants too
qualified? Not qualified enough? Perhaps the advertisement needs to be re-worded to
attract more appropriate candidates. In this case, using a job description can help.
• How cost-effective was the advertising? A simple way to measure is to divide the cost
(not only in dollars but in your time) by either the number of total applicants or the
number of applicants that you considered seriously.
• Were there questions that needed to be asked but weren't?
• How well did the interviewers do? One way to determine this is to ask the new
employee to critique the interviewing process.
• Did employment tests support or help the hiring decision? If not, maybe the firm will
have to reconsider the kinds of tests it is administering. Further, the evaluation process
should help the firm decide if the cost and time involved in the testing is worth it.
Would you have come to the same hiring decision without testing?

- 16 -