A

INTERIM REPORT

ON

THE THESIS

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
PROCESS FOLLOWED
BY
BRITANNIA AND PARLE

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the

Master of Business Administration (MBA) program (The Class of 2010) in the

ICFAI National College, Pantnagar

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF- SUBMITTED BY-

Mr. VIKAS AGARWAL BEENA Pandey

(FACULTY GUIDE) MBA – IV SEM

ENROLL. NO.
-0801120318

PANTNAGAR
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction of the Topic

2. Research Methodology

2.1 Research Formulation

2.2 Research Methodology

3. Recruitment & Selection

3.1 Concept of Recruitment

3.2 Concept of Selection

4. Review of Literature

4.1 Case Study: 1- UNILIVER

4.2 Case Study: 2- 2. WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT –RECRUITING OR RETAINING

4.3 Case Example: Inducements

4.5 Article: 1- Recruiting suitable applicants-Mc Donald’s

4.6 Article: 2- Cummins: Using effective recruitment to retain competitive advantage.

5. Progress review

6. Bibliography
 INTRODUCTION

The human resources are the most important assets of an organization. The success or failure
of an organization is largely dependent on the caliber of the people working therein. Without
positive and creative contributions from people, organizations cannot progress and prosper.
In order to achieve the goals or the activities of an organization, therefore, they need to
recruit people with requisite skills, qualifications and experience. While doing so, they have
to keep the present as well as the future requirements of the organization in mind.

Recruitment is distinct from Employment and Selection. Once the required number and kind
of human resources are determined, the management has to find the places where the
required human resources are/will be available and also find the means of attracting them
towards the organization before selecting suitable candidates for jobs. All this process is
generally known as recruitment. Some people use the term “Recruitment” for employment.
These two are not one and the same. Recruitment is only one of the steps in the entire
employment process. Some others use the term recruitment for selection. These are not the
same either. Technically speaking, the function of recruitment precedes the selection function
and it includes only finding, developing the sources of prospective employees and attracting
them to apply for jobs in an organization, whereas the selection is the process of finding out
the most suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates attracted (i.e., recruited).Formal
definition of recruitment would give clear cut idea about the function of recruitment.
 RESEARCH FORMULATION

The research to be conducted can be formulated as:-

“A detail study on Recruitment and Selection process followed by Britannia Industries Ltd.
& Parle Biscuits Ltd., Sidcul”

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

1. The objective of the study is to have comparative analysis at the Recruitment &
Selection process at Britannia and Parle.

2. To study the recruitment and selection process in Britannia & Parle.

3. To analyze the awareness level of employees regarding recruitment and selection

process of the company.

4. Suggest ways to make it more effective.

5. To find out the employees views towards the present recruitment policies of the
company.
6. To analyze various factors affecting recruitment and selection process.

LIMITATAIONS OF THE STUDY:

1. Views of only few members could be included because of time limitation.

2. Limited availability of data.

3. This project is based on the method of recruitment and selection policies and due
to limited practical approach is not possible to work on all tools and techniques of
recruitment policies.

4. This report is based on my own perception and finding so it cannot use for
generalizing purpose.

5. Data are extracted from various employees and secondary sources so any error in
the statement will subsequent affect the company R&S process.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology refers to the various sequential steps (along with a rationale, of each
such step to adopt by a researcher in studying a problem with certain object or objectives in
view.

DATA COLLECTION:
When research problem has been defined or research plan has been chalked out, the task of
data collection begins.

There are two types of data-

1- PRIMARY DATA
2- SECONDARY DATA

PRIMARY DATA –

Primary data are those which are collected fresh and for the first time and original in
character.

METHODS OF COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA-

1- OBSERVATION METHOD
2- INRTVIEW METHOD
3- OUESTIONNAIRE

SECONDARY DATA-

Secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone and this data has
already been passed through a statistical process.

SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA-

• Technical and trade journals, books, magazines and newspapers.

• Reports prepared by research scholars, unadvertised, economists etc in different
fields.
• Internet
 CONCEPT OF RECRUITMENT

Recruitment is defined as, “a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the
requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that
manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient workforce.”
Edwin B. Flippo defined recruitment as “the process of searching for prospective employees
and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.” Recruitment is a ‘linking
function’-joining together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs. Thus, the recruitment
process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted.
The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.

Recruitment represents the first contact that a company makes with potential employees. It is
through recruitment that many individuals will come to know a company, and eventually
decide whether they wish to work for it. The recruitment process should inform qualified
individuals about employment opportunities, create a positive image of the company, provide
enough information about the jobs so that applicants can make comparisons with their
qualifications and interests, and generate enthusiasm among the best candidates so that they
will apply for the vacant positions.

The negative consequences of a poor recruitment process speak volumes about its role in an
organization. The failure to generate an adequate number of reasonably qualified applicants
can prove costly in several ways. It can greatly complicate the selection process and may
result in lowering of selection standards. The poor quality of selection means extra cost on
training and supervision. Furthermore, when recruitment fails to meet the organizational
needs for talent, a typical response is to raise entry-level pay scales. This can distort
traditional wage and salary relationships in the organization, resulting in avoidable
consequences. Thus, the effectiveness of a recruitment process can play a major role in
determining the resources that must be expended on other HR activities and their ultimate
success.
 CONCEPT OF SELECTION

Introduction
The size of the labour market, the image of the company, the place of posting, the nature of
job, the compensation package and a host of other factors influence the manner of aspirants
are likely to respond to the recruiting efforts of the company. Through the process of
recruitment the company tries to locate prospective employees and encourages them to apply
for vacancies at various levels. Recruiting, thus, provides a pool of applicants for selection.

Definition
To select mean to choose. Selection is the process of picking individuals who have relevant
qualifications to fill jobs in an organisation. The basic purpose is to choose the individual
who can most successfully perform the job from the pool of qualified candidates.

Purpose
The purpose of selection is to pick up the most suitable candidate who would meet the
requirements of the job in an organisation best, to find out which job applicant will be
successful, if hired.

The Process
Selection is usually a series of hurdles or steps. Each one must be successfully cleared before
the applicant proceeds to the next one. The time and emphasis place on each step will
definitely vary from one organisation to another and indeed, from job to job within the same
organisation. The sequence of steps may also vary from job to job and organisation to
organisation. For example some organisations may give more importance to testing while
others give more emphasis to interviews and reference checks. Similarly a single brief
selection interview might be enough for applicants for lower level positions, while applicants
for managerial jobs might be interviewed by a number of people.
 REVIEW OF LITERAURE

CASE STUDIES:

1. Unilever

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods. With a total
of 265,000 people worldwide and 90 percent of its managers recruited and trained locally,
Unilever is committed to embrace diversity in a working environment where there is mutual
trust and respect.

The Challenge

The challenge for Unilever is nothing less than making it the ‘ideal employer’. Unilever must
overtake some strong competition and offer the best in terms of careers opportunities,
personal development and rewards.

Strategizing Recruitment & Selection

Employer Branding

Unilever actively promotes its Unilever Employer Brand (UEB). A strong emphasis and
positioning in employee personal development and career opportunities gives Unilever an
edge in attracting candidates. Evident in its communication, Unilever is dedicated to help
employees plan their careers and achieve goals that are important to them. A browse in their
official web site will reveal the interest that Unilever takes in helping people plan their
careers. “Interactive personal evaluation toolkit” and “My Competencies” are examples of
the career tools offered to assist visitors make the right career choice.

Diversity in Hire

Unilever believes that having a diverse group of people who can adapt and grow in response
to changing market conditions is key to meeting its business objective of achieving
sustainable growth. When selecting candidates, recruiters and hiring managers carefully
consider if the candidates will contribute to the diversity of the existing work groups. There
is a tendency not to hire likes. The philosophy is to recruit and select outstanding candidates
with qualities that complement the existing work groups.
Competency-Based Selection

To build an Enterprise Culture and deliver sustainable growth, Unilever engaged the help of
external consultants to identify the competencies associated with growth achievement.
Integrating key findings from various sources, a ‘competency dictionary’ that is unique to
Unilever in achieving its organizational goal of building an ‘Enterprise Culture’ is developed.
The ‘dictionary’ provides a framework for growing desired leadership behaviour as well as
enables Unilever to select candidates who possess the desired competencies that brings
success.

Moving Forward

The importance of competency-based selection in Unilever has triggered a series of training

programmes for Human Resources and line managers to fully equip them with skills and
techniques to conduct competency-based assessment methods such as Behavioral Event
Interviews (BEI).

Unilever aims to enhance the UEB. Improving communications and making aspirations for
its UEB to be clearly understood inside and outside the company are Unilever’s key
objectives for the near future.
2. WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT –

RECRUITING OR RETAINING

Uptron Electronics Ltd is an internationally reputed electronics firm. It attracted employees

from internationally reputed institutes and industries by offering high salaries, perks, etc. It
had advertised for the position of an Electronics engineer some years back. Nearly 150
candidates working in various electronics firm applied for the job. Mr. Sashidhar, an
Electronics Engineer Graduate from Indian Institute of Technology with 5 years of working
experience in a small electronics firm was selected among those interviewed. The interview
board recommended an enhancement in his salary by Rs.500 more than his present salary at
his request. He was very happy and was congratulated by his previous employer for his
brilliant interview performance and good luck.

Mr. Sashidhar joined the company with great enthusiasm and also found his job to be quite
comfortable and challenging one. He found that his colleagues and superiors were friendly
and co-operative. But this didn’t last long. After one year of his service, he slowly learnt
about a number of unpleasant stories about the company, management, the superior-
subordinate relations, rate of employee turnover, etc. But still he decided to continue with
the promise that he made in the interview. He wanted to please and change the attitude of
management through his performance, commitment and dedication. Looking at his great
contributions and efforts, the management got the impression that he is well settled will
remain in the company for a long time. After sometime they all started taking undue
advantage of him and overloaded him with multifarious jobs and thereby ridded over him.
As a result, his freedom in deciding and executing was cut down to size; his colleagues
started assigning their responsibilities to him. Consequently, there were imbalances in his
family, social and organization life.

It was quite surprising to the general manager to see the resignation letter of Mr. Sashidhar
one fine morning. The general manager failed to convince him to withdraw his resignation.
The general manager wanted to appoint a committee to go into the matter immediately, but
dropped the idea later so that the company’s image doesn’t get spoiled.
ANALYSIS:-

Thus, from this case study it is clear that retaining is much more important than recruiting.
What’s the use and benefits of recruiting quality employees if they cannot be retained by the
organization in a proper manner? The purpose of recruitment is fulfilled when the employees
selected from a pool of qualified applicants are retained in the company by keeping them
satisfied in all aspects. They must be provided with better working conditions, better pay
scales, incentives, recognition, promotion, bonus, flexible working hours, etc. They should
treat the employees as co-owners and partners of the company.

3. CASE EXAMPLE (Inducements)

INFOSYS: The Software Powerhouse

Infosys Technologies Limited (ITL), one of the country’s best known software exporting
house, treats its employees as partners and co-owners. It provides them challenging
assignments, allows flexible working hours, rewards them solely on the basis of performance
and conducts regular training programmes to upgrade their skills. It has an “Employee Stock
Option Plan” (ESOP) to share its wealth with employees on the basis of their performance.
Even lower level employees are proud owners of the prized stock worth 25 to 40 lakh rupees,
according to Narayan Murthy, the CEO of ITL. Apart from increasing shareholder value,
ESOP has greatly enhanced the image of the company in the information technology industry
where employee attrition rates are very high. It is small wonder companies like Procter &
Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Citibank have reposed their faith in ESOP as a way of
attracting and retaining talent in a highly competitive environment.
ARTICLES:

1. Recruiting suitable applicants-Mc Donald’s

Under McDonald's recruitment policy, each individual restaurant is responsible for filling
hourly-paid positions. The Management Recruitment department in East Finchley co-
ordinates the recruitment of managers.

For recruiting hourly-paid employees McDonald’s use several avenues. Positions are
generally advertised in the restaurant. The company’s recruitment history shows this is the
best method of hiring quality staff e.g. people living locally and/or friends of existing
employees. McDonald’s also uses local job centers, career fairs and other local facilities. It is
vital to use effective hiring material with a clear message targeted at the right audience.

Typical Recruitment Methods

Advertising
Local Job Carrers
in Others
Centres Fairs
restaurants

A recruitment exercise often generates more applications than there are positions available.
The manager will select the applicants to be interviewed and will conduct the interviews.

Over 60% of restaurant crew are aged 20 or under and; for the majority of applicants, a job
with McDonald’s would be their first experience of employment. For many young people,
McDonald’s also offers a career opportunity. A well-run interview will identify an
applicant’s potential to be a successful McDonald’s employee.
To find people who will be committed to excel in delivering outstanding service,
McDonald’s scripts an interview guide that helps the company predict how an applicant’s
past behaviour is likely to influence future performance. It uses a fact-based decision-making
process. The questions look for actual events or situations rather than allowing applicants to
give a general or theoretical response. Interviewers look for behavioral evidence in the
applicant’s life history that fits with the requirements of the job. The interviewer rates
candidates on their responses and offers jobs to those who earn the highest ratings.

New employees will also meet their trainer, and tour the restaurant. The company operates a
3-week probationary period, after which employees are rated on their performance and are
either retained or have their employment terminated.

Conclusion:

McDonald’s believes that the success of the restaurants and the company is achieved through
the people it employs. The company aims to recruit the best people, to retain them by
offering ongoing training relevant to their position and to promote them when they are ready.
Its recruitment policies, procedures and practices reflect the company’s determination to
fulfill its aim.
2. Cummins

Using effective recruitment to retain competitive advantage.

Recruiting staff is a very costly exercise. It is also an essential part of any business and it
pays to do it properly. When organizations choose the right people for the job, train them
well and treat them appropriately, these people not only produce good results but also tend to
stay with the organization longer. In such circumstances, the organization’s initial and
ongoing investment in them is well rewarded.

An organization may have all of the latest technology and the best physical resources, but if
it does not have the right people it will struggle to achieve the results it requires. This is true
across the whole spectrum of business activity e.g. schools, hospitals, legal practices,
restaurants, airlines, and diesel engine manufacturers.

Cummins is well aware of the importance of ‘getting it right’. Poor choices at the recruitment
stage can prove expensive. The company needs to be sure of a candidate’s technical
competence. For example, if an engineer designs a component that fails and has to be
reengineered, the company loses both time and money and may incur penalty charges on any
delay in fulfilling particular contracts. Time and money spent in recruiting that particular
employee will have proved expensive and wasteful whilst a better candidate may not only
have ‘got away’ but gone to a competitor. Cummins was recently first to market with a
complete range of engines that met new stringent environmental legislation. Their technical
solution to meeting this legislation was completely different to the competitor’s approach.
Had it turned out to be ineffective or not to be approved by government authorities, it could
have led to the downfall of the company. The responsibility of making the correct decision
was shared by relatively few individuals.

In addition to technical competence and appropriate experience, an organization needs to be

sure that it can rely on candidates’ goodwill, loyalty and commitment towards the
organization and its aims. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Cummins

Group, ‘one of the most crucial decisions that a leader will make is the choice of those who
will support them.’
In a highly technological competitive market, Cummins requires people who are not only
technically competent, well informed, loyal and committed but also capable of showing good
judgments, often under pressure. When submitting a written tender for a contract, for
example, the team working on it has to decide just what the company can promise to deliver,
when and at what price. This can be particularly tricky when offering a new product for the
first time e.g. what level of ‘after sales service’ should the tender include, based on the
company’s assessment of the risks associated with its new venture?

Conclusion:

In order to maintain business performance and competitive advantage, organizations

competing in a global marketplace must recruit the best people they can. For such
organizations, recruitment becomes a key component of their overall business strategy.
Cummins provides an excellent example of a company that uses its recruitment procedures to
ensure that it meets its business needs in challenging and competitive circumstances.
 PROGRESS REVIEW

In my Interim report I have given a brief introduction about recruitment & selection. For
literature review I have studied case studies and articles from journals, magazines and
internet. I have collected primary data from the company and internet. And for the fulfillment
of my project I will interview the employees of my concerned companies and than I will do
the comparative analysis of the recruitment & selection process followed by the
BRITANNIA & PARLE through the questionnaire. I will prepare comparison charts,
hypothesizing and questionnaire for analyzing recruitment & selection process of my
concerned companies and for I would need the guidance of my faculty guide.
 Bibliography

• Icfai University press Training & Development.

• Icfai University press SHRM.

• Icfai University press HRM.

• www.scribed.com
• www.suite100.comJ
• www.amfiindia.com