EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION AS A TOOL FOR ACHIEVING HIGHER EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN AN ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER TWO
Literature review
2.1   DEFINITION OF RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
An organization of its size must be  conscious of the fact that for its continuous growth, it must adopt good recruitment and selection techniques. By carrying out a good recruitment programme, the organization will be able to boast of competent staff who will be achiever in their respective jobs. 
      
Of all resources available to an organization, human resources occupies a unique position. Laurace (2000) once wrote that “all the activities of any enterprise are initiated and determined by the persons who make up that establishment. Plants, offices, computers, equipment and all that a modern firm also are in introduction except for human effort and direction. This, in the words of Drucker (1988) shows that “human being has one set of qualities possessed by no resource, it has the ability to coordinate, to integrate, to judge and to imagine”.

Rue and Byars (2004) on the other hand stated that “human resource available to management in an organization are only one part of resource which must be coordinated. But it is through combine  efforts of people that monetary and material resources are utilized for organizational objectives. in essences are utilized  for organizational performance itself is a function of the  quality and quantity of human resources charged with the coordination of “itself and other resources.

Bohlander  and sherman (1998) wrote that the personnel of any organization constitutes of most important resource, and one that can be acquired only by  means  of effective recruitment and selection efforts.

According to Bernard Unperson (1982) “Executive recruitment is a costly, time consuming process”. It can be dangerous if competitors learn prematurely of replacements, and it is often embarrassing since it violates the  principle of promotions from within, yet an American Management Association (AMA) survey shows  its use is steadily growing. There are so many reasons advanced by companies for expansion of recruitment, the simple reasons being business growth and diversification.

Hence below (1984), pointed out that recruitment is the preliminary phase of the employment procedure which aims to attract people to the company to be reviewed for possible employment. In his opinion, the procedure of employing efficient and satisfied workers begins with recruitment. Emphasis here is placed on proper tapping of recruitment sources to achieve effective selection of available manpower. In considering recruitment sources therefore, the composition of the labour market is of consideration importance.

According to Chruden (1987), recruitment is the process of attracting qualified personnel, matching them with specific and suitable jobs and assigning them to those jobs. The aims being to develop and maintain adequate manpower resources upon which an organization can depend when it needs additional employees.

One has little to wonder why therefore Bohlander & Sherman (1998), opined that recruitment is the positive counter part of selection.

Yoder (1960) indicated that finding recruits is a positive action, whereas the act of eliminating  all, but the most desirable from a group of candidates makes the selection function negative, from all  indications, recruitment is a continuing effort involving daily application.

Fashoyi’s (2002) statement to that the objective of recruitment is “to screen as many applicants as necessary to select one whose qualifications fits the job most closely however viewed recruitment as the  complete process of filling a vacancy. In the same vein, Graham (2008) view that objective of any recruitment process is to attract as many qualified candidates as can to produce the one candidates that cannot only do the job but also excel  at it. From these views, one could easily be misled into thinking that recruitment encompasses selection and placement of employees. Success of any enterprise can depend on recruiting the right personnel. This should be so since most of our activities are still labour oriented as a development nation. This labour orientation has placed the lost of labour turnover at a proportionate high rate among other cost. In this regard, employment stability should be one of the utmost objectives of the manpower policies of any organization.

Any recruitment method can be successful only to the extent that the environment is right. The following questions come to ones mind for an effective recruitment, do the working condition, salary levels, career paths, and promotion prospect attract  people?

Recruiting workers require many considerations among  which are manpower needs for knowledge of the type of  person who best fits the needs of the organization, knowledge  of the previous labour turnover rate and a prediction of the future labour turn over and understanding the promotional ladder in the  organization.

After prospective applicants have been recruited, a systematic effort is made to identify the most suitable candidates to fill identifies positions. Selection is a very important process which requires planning and objectivity. No organization is better than the people who make it up. A selection exercise should not be left in the hands of amateurs or the less initiate in the art of selection C.C. Nwachukwu (1988).

2.2    PROCEDURE FOR RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
The procedures for recruitment and selection have been aptly identified to include: (Appleby; 1999)

1. Completion of a staff requisition form.
2. Placement of advertisement
3. Short listing of candidate.
4. References can be taken and use as yardstick for determining final selection at interviews.
5. Interviews are conducted
6. Test for specific skills are conducted during interview.
7. Medical examinations are made and appointment conditional to candidates is informed of the decision.
8. Successful candidates are informed and company records updated.

The figure below clearly explains the above procedure of recruitment and selection in various organizations. ...