Wal-Mart Recruitment Process - Research Paper Example

?Wal-Mart Recruitment INTRODUCTION Recruitment is the process of inviting individuals on a timely basis in a significant number and with a suitable qualification to apply for a job within an organization. In simple words, it is defined as the process of ‘finding the right person for the right job in the right tight time and keeping them in the organization’. Recruitment process should be motivated by shared responsibility, accountability and clear policies sand most importantly by the professionals who have the authority. Finding quick fixes will not help the organization in the long run. Selection and retention should depend on the above policies as well. The recruitment and selection process should not be biased on the basis of age, gender, sex, religion and heredity among others. Biased recruitment leads to inefficient leaders which often create chaos in the whole organization. Similarly, the retrenchment process must be based on sound ground. The hiring of the new employees must be steadfast. Recruitment should be done only after careful consideration. Any wrong recruitment will lead to the organization’s downfall in the long run. Any recruitment process should be carried out only when the firm anticipates the need of additional labor. Careful Human Resources (HR) planning considers the complete organizational growth. Recruitment process begins only after the elimination of all the alternatives (Cooper, Robertson, and Tinline 6-10). With these considerations, the paper intends to evaluate the recruitment process at Wal-Mart, one of the globally leading retailers. Moreover, the way in which the organization can improve its recruitment practices with the aid of best HRM practices will also be evaluated. OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY Sam Walton bought a store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas, and started Walton's 5 & 10. In 1962, Sam Walton financed 95% of the capital to start the first Wal-Mart store. Wal-Mart has 4100 stores in the United States and 3100 in 27 other countries across the world. In accordance with the present day context, it is ascertained that Wal-Mart’s sales were US$374 billion in 2008 which is somewhat low than Denmark’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This signifies the enormity of the extent of dominance of the company in the global platform (Guardian News and Media Limited or its Affiliated Companies, “It All Began in a Small Store in Arkansas”). Wal-Mart has always remained committed to one mission that is helping “save people money so they can live better” (Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework, “A Brief History of Wal-Mart”). Sam Walton is that retailer who always managed to get bargain from its wholesalers. Sam Walton thought that he could do better by passing his savings to his customers and this unique business strategy facilitated him to become one of the largest and powerful retail industries in the world with a competitive advantage (Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework, “A Brief History of Wal-Mart”). There are three basic competitive strategies for any company, (1) competitive strategy (2) differentiation strategy and (3) focus strategy. Every organization uses these strategies to gain competitive advantage. Wal-Mart takes the cost leadership strategy to gain a competitive advantage over their adversaries (Thomson Reuters. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc.”). RECRUITMENT PROCESS OF WAL-MART The recruitment process of Wal-Mart starts by offering online application to the interested candidates. There is no other option apart from online application. One more alternative is to go to the store and hire the information kiosk. The next step starts with the assessment test where the presence of mind and problem solving capability of a person is examined. The test consists of a number of question where one has to select choices extending from strongly agree to strongly disagree. It is advisable to choose either strongly agree or strongly disagree and nothing in the middle because the main motive is to check the strong decision making capability in the interested candidate. Here, the candidates are being provided with a hypothetical situation and it is examined that how a candidate will react in certain situations concerning customers, supervisors and co-workers. Subsequently, the candidates are divided into two groups namely Tier 1 and Tier 2. People in Tier 1 are more preferred than people in Tier 2.The next step is interview round. Wal-Mart interviews three candidates for each post and chooses best of them but the main difference is that three people interview at the same time. Questions generally involve multiple parts that are thrown turn by turn by the panel members. Then, the candidates are requested to wait for 7 days with reassurance to call if a candidate is being selected. Consequently, the best candidate for the 2nd round of interview is called. The 2nd round of interview is almost the same as the 1st round, 3 interviewers and same questions. Finally, the shortlisted candidates are sent for drug screening. After the drug screening test which usually takes around 3 days, the candidates are called for the final round that is orientation. Orientation lasts for 3 days. First two days involve paper work and learning about Wal-Mart. The third day contains doing a series of modules on computer. These are called as CBL’s. Here, the subject matter is taught along with giving a little quiz which needs to be passed. After all of these procedures, when desired satisfaction is reached by the panel members regarding any candidates, they are provided with work schedule and sent to their place of operations (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “Welcome to the Hiring Centre”). RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING HRM FUNCTIONS Wal-Mart’s corporate strategies are intensely integrated with its HR policies. In the modern day business context, it is evident that no company is perfect, so always there is a chance for change or improvement. Although Wal-Mart has attained global recognition as the giant in the retail industry but few policies need to be changed. Wal-Mart always follows aggressive HR policies and activities fit to low cost. It refers its employees as associates and encourages managers to act as a servant leader. Wal-Mart tries to adjust its associates’ behavior to what the company’s strategies require through training which include night shifts in various stores. Wal-Mart also does not support shrinkage behavior (cigarette breaks or tea breaks) of its employees. Therefore, it is buried under enforced policies. Employees are regarded as the pillar of any company. They need to be treated fairly. Thus, Wal-Mart should remove its enforced policies and redesign them which involve pleasant working culture, small breaks and acceptable job timing (Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework, “A Brief History of Wal-Mart”). To meet the organizational goals, Wal-Mart always demands high standards and for that purpose it at times has forced its employees to work day and night without meals and breaks. It uses aggressive actions to bring down the cost. The employees are complaining its discrimination and low compensation policies. The time has changed and now governments and other communities are turning sensitive towards Wal-Mart’s aggressive policies. All these facets can bring big damage to Wal-Mart reputation or even bigger cost (Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework, “A Brief History of Wal-Mart”). The organization also allows minors working too late during school hours or for too many hours in a day for performance appraisal. Wal-Mart remains biased towards its female employees by denying their promotions and paying them less than men. Women could be the key factor in generating more revenue. Women have generally calm behavior and astute business acumen. Thus, it can be recommended that female employees should be treated equally and given equal opportunity to rise. Wal-Mart should avoid recruiting minors. Yes minors are dynamic but once Wal-Mart found guilty of violating state regulations. This type of allegations could hamper organization’s reputation (Harris, “Group of 500 Female Wal-Mart Workers File U.S. Bias Claims”). Wal-Mart always attempts to sustain competitive advantage over its competitors in respect of cost and for this purpose it has often forced its employees too much along with paying them very low wages. Nonetheless, human capital resources such as skills, judgment and intelligence of the firm’s employees could also be the core sources of competitive advantage for any firm. Loyal, intelligent and professional employees are hard to find and paying low wages as well as deploying intense pressure to them will result in the reduction in loyalty and dedication of those human resources in the company. HR manager in the organization should tender more active and long-term attention towards calculating future benefits. Employees and subordinates should be involved in top level decision making and should be encouraged to come up with new ideas (Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework, “A Brief History of Wal-Mart”). Designing various incentives including financial or non–financial such as bonus, outings, holidays and higher education can make the employees loyal to the organization. Moreover, arranging different programs like ’employee of the year or month’ could be beneficial for both employees as well as organization. Verbal praises such as “keep it up”, “well done” or “pat on the back” help in improving employees’ motivational level. CONCLUSION It has been evaluated that the recruitment process of Wal-Mart involves certain stages which signifies that it does not compromise in searching the best. The recruitment process aims to filter and select the best candidates. Wal-Mart always follows cost leadership strategy as its competitive advantage. Consequently, in order to ensure greater productivity and business profitability managers besides HR executives should pay attention to the employees’ problems and issues at Wal-Mart. This will bring two way communications between the managers and the employees. There should be effort to reach goal congruence (when the organization and the employee goals are the same) between organizations’ goals and employees’ goals. Managers should attain more dynamic responsibility in training along with using the human resources to cultivate better organizational culture. Works Cited Cooper, Dominic, Ivan T Robertson, and Gordon Tinline. Recruitment and Selection: A Framework for Success. United States: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2003. Print. “It All Began In A Small Store In Arkansas.” Guardian News and Media Limited or Its Affiliated Companies. 2009. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Harris, Andrew. Group of 500 Female Wal-Mart Workers File U.S. Bias Claims. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. “A Brief History of Wal-Mart.” Minimum Theme on Genesis Framework. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc.” Thomson Reuters. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. “Welcome to the Hiring Centre.” Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Read More