Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations Department

An efficient work force is important to the overall success of any organization and this also has implications for the overall success of a country’s economy.

Not only do organizations require adequate numbers of workers to fill essential positions, these workers need to be highly productive so that the organization makes optimal use of the capital it invests in labour. It is evident therefore that the overall productivity of the workforce will go a far way in determining the eventual viability of the organization.

Analysts have tended to link worker productivity with increased living standards, arguing that increased efficiency leads to increased remuneration which therefore improves individual as well as national living standards (Monthly Labour Review, 2007).

The counter to this position is that employees who are producing below a certain minimum standard may affect the productivity of the entire organization, so much so, that organizational productivity decreases over time.

In these days of harsh competition, organizations cannot afford to make such grave mistakes when it comes to recruiting new staff members. All current, new and aspiring employees must have in mind the vision and goal of the company and work towards their accomplishment in the most efficient way possible.

Seeing the importance of a productive workforce in determining organizational success, it is evident that organizations have to adopt appropriate strategies to attract the best employees to fill all positions within the organization.

While it is difficult to predict, at the initial stages, the level at which a potential employee will produce, it is essential that organizations ensure that mechanisms are put in place which ensure that the recruitment and selection process results in the hiring of employees that will contribute to the overall productivity of the firm by bringing to the job high productivity.

Recruitment and selection of employees to a firm cannot be a light matter but must be dealt with by individuals who are themselves highly productive and committed to the overall vision and goals of the organization.

Recruitment and selection are functions over which the human resource manager has universal control. It is this category of employees in an organization who are closely conversant with the overall goals of the organization and who are in the best position to decide on appropriate candidates for employment.

Management is a process of effectively taking advantage of manpower, materials and resources as well as financial power, to realize the aims of an organization. Since the 1990s the science of management control has witnessed significant changes at both the governmental and organizational levels.

The society seems now to be evolving from one that has traditionally been hierarchical to one that features plural management. Nowadays various managers function within a single organization to carry out certain specific functions, decentralizing control.

Management science as a field of enquiry developed within large corporations. In the western world the management control literature was piloted at the beginning of the 19th century by theorists such as Taylor and Fayol among others (see Taylor, 1911).

In this early era control was seen as an essential aspect and function of management. Control primarily involved the management control of activities, cash flows, people, organizational units and managers. However, as time progressed, the concept of Human Resource Management emerged as an improvement on previous management control models.

The HR department is the locus through which the organization is able to meet and sustain its employment needs. Continued and improved worker productivity is therefore one of the primary objectives of the HR department.

This department needs to be aware of the organization’s employment strategy, in order to assist by looking for the right talents to help this strategy. It is becoming increasingly clear that the job market is much like the market for goods and services. Employee recruitment has therefore become a mechanism whereby potential employees market their capabilities on the one hand and businesses attempt to recruit the best workers in the particular field (Breaugh, 1992).

At the same time, it is of outmost importance that the Human Resources are managed in the most effective way possible in order to achieve the final goal of management control.

HR management, through processes such as recruitment and selection provides aspects that link its activities with the strategy of the business itself (McKenna & Beech, 1995). Recruitment and selection therefore represents the first step in the management control processes. Although successful recruitment and selection are not hereby means towards achieving successful management control, there must be a good recruitment and selection system in place to contribute towards this end.

This dissertation will attempt to address the twin issue of recruitment and selection. Taking the form of a Case Study, this paper will explore and discuss the various methods and procedures of recruitment and selection being used in a specific company – the Yintao Golf Club Co., Ltd. located in China.

Aspects pertinent to recruitment and selection, including job descriptions and interviewing practices will be examined in this case study. By examining a single, Chinese company, the researcher will be able to broaden understanding of the Chinese characteristics of HR management. The researcher will attempt therefore to produce an understanding of the nature of Chinese management control at a miniscule level.