Recruitment and selection in small scale enterprises

By Priya Chetty on February 2, 2012

Recruitment and selection are two vital stages of staffing process in any organization, whether large or small scale. Recruitment takes place after the determination of manpower requirement for an organization and focuses on identification of sources of requisite manpower to attract adequate number of prospective employees.

Selection precedes the recruitment process and is considered as an important managerial task. The success of an organization is dependent to a large extent on the effectiveness of its selection process in recruiting employees who have caliber to provide high performance to achieve the desired organizational objectives.

Recruitment policy is the key to a successful recruitment program as it includes guidelines to be followed while recruiting the staff. Centralization or decentralization of the recruitment policy, recruitment of staff internally or externally, identification and recruitment of high potential employees, selection of sources of recruitment and evaluation of recruitment program are essential for development of a sound recruitment policy (Agarwal, 1983). In case of selection, techniques and procedures employed in selection process determine its effectiveness.

Though the process of recruitment and selection is present in both small and large scale enterprises but the degree of formality and systematic approach in implementation of these practices differ. In contrast to large organizations, small scale enterprises have less concern towards these HR practices.

Lack of resources coupled with ignorance and scarcity of efforts leads to the difference in the implementation of recruitment and selection practice or in some cases non existence of these practices too (Narware, 2011).

The assumption that smaller firms offer a less formal, more personal and close working environment is also questionable. Rainnie states that “ many small firms seem more like personal fiefdoms, paternalistic homesteads, backstreet workshops, temporary employment stopgaps, oppressive sweatshops and generally less desirable workplaces”. Also it has been found that the quality of employment in small scale enterprises is lower than the larger enterprises (Carroll, M., Marchington, M., and Earn Shaw, J., 1999).

References

  • Agarwal, R., 2008. Organization and management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.
  • Narware, P., 2011. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, July 2011 Issue.
  • Carroll, M., Marchington, M., and Earnshaw, J., Employee Relations, Manchester School of Management, 1999

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