Introduction
The selection systems of multinational corporations are critical human resource management aspects that augment the firms’ human skills as well as capabilities resulting in the success of the establishments. Within the perspective of international expansion in ComInTec Corporation, which is a worldwide industrial business, a cross-sectional project team has been obligated to devise an innovative personnel selection system to fill the organization’s regional management levels. Besides, ComInTec Corporation has various unoccupied positions ranging from regional head of purchasing and supply chain management to Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The firm also needs to hire a national head of operations in the Asian-Pacific expanse. The report intends to explore strengths and weaknesses existing in the new personnel selection system developed by ComInTec Corporation. Further, the report also examines the executions of the selection process as well as how the shortcomings of the system inflict ComInTec Corporation. Moreover, the report intends to offer recommendations to the project team regarding the new personnel selection system.
Strengths and Weaknesses of ComInTec’s Personnel Selection System
Strengths
The new selection system of ComInTec Corporation is to be utilized worldwide, particularly in the selection of new personnel within Asian-Pacific subsidiaries. In this regard, the project team, headed by Thomas Koch, proposes two-tier personnel selection procedures. Viewing of the applicants’ submission documents, telephone conferences with the interviewees along with tracking down three references from previous managers are the components of the first tier. On the same note, the components of the second tier include board interview, biography-oriented in-depth interview, and replicated group exercise as well as intelligence and personality tests.
Actually, the personnel selection system, adopted by the assorted and cross-functional team led by Koch, who is ComInTec’s human resource director based at the firm’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong, has wide-ranging strengths. To begin with, the selection system involves three individuals whose obligation is to assess the applicants along with qualifications. The six-eye methods adopted to provide the management team with numerous ideas regarding their applications.
Besides, through the six-eye method, the viewpoints and perceptions of the applicants are stretched. For instance, within the Asian-Pacific region, the personnel selection team effectively defines the requirements of the positions based on six scopes, including planning, initiative, adaptability, conflict management, decision-making, and goal-orientation as well as leadership. In principle, such dimensions significantly ensure that the corporation selects the most qualified candidates. Moreover, in the six-eye method, the three-person team assessing the documentation of the candidates plays a significant role in the selection process, because ComInTec Corporation is able to obtain full insight about applicants. In other words, the selection team is able to screen out nominees whose skills and capabilities do not match the requirements of the job.
Additionally, the strength of the personnel selection system arises from the telephone interviews. In reality, employers, as well as applicants, are able to incur less outlays pertaining to travel arrangements, since applicants can be interviewed from the places where they reside via telephone conferences. Further, phone interviews provide applicants with apple time to listen keenly to the questions posed by the selection panel and give feedback effectively. Moreover, through telephone interviews, the team is capable of validating the applicants’ appropriateness for the job as well as inspiration for increased performance.
Asking for references from former employers is a significant strength of ComInTec’s new personnel selection system. Essentially, the firm is capable of obtaining critical statistics pertaining to the applicants’ backgrounds from the references, including education, employment history, character, and interpersonal competence. Moreover, the firm is capable of ascertaining the aptitude to accomplish the job and the alacrity of the former along with a recent boss to re-employ the interviewee. Most importantly, asking for references would enable the firm to eliminate charlatans as well as provide invaluable data on the association of the candidate with coworkers along with the bosses.
The simulated group exercise is also a strong point of ComInTec’s new personnel selection process. In reality, through the ability tests, applicants are offered sufficient time to deliberate about the interview questions and provide responses accordingly. Additionally, cost-effectiveness is a major strength of the system since the entire personnel selection system is consistent with ComInTec’s aims and objectives. As such, the firm requires no variation in employee selection arrangement. Besides, the universal personnel selection process would make ComInTec’s recruitment processes simple and unambiguous. Interestingly, selection processes carried out in Europe, such as referrals, are popular even within the Asian job market.
Weaknesses
The new personnel selection system suggested by the project team is extensive and expensive, considering the resources needed in executing the system in terms of compensation procedures and time. Additionally, a number of modules in the proposed selection system fail to address cultural divergences within ComIntec’s operations. For example, considering the aspects of cultural dissimilarities between the Anglos and Asians, the Anglos are full of individualism, whereas Asians have a sense of collectivism. Further, competence forms the foundation of work allocation for Anglos. On the contrary, the Asians consider seniority as critical in job allocation. Generally, the new personnel selection system fails to address such aspects.
Besides, the uses of the six-eye method as well as individual telephone conferences, have a number of drawbacks. For instance, considering the number of individuals required to view the applications of the candidates, the process is burdensome and exorbitant. Moreover, the unstructured individual telephone sessions are a dearth of personal interactions with the interviewee. Through telephone interviews, the selection panel is unable to obtain apposite issues touching on the applicants’ idiosyncrasies as well as dispositions. Additionally, inadequate support from the executive levels of management is a major threat facing the implementation of the selection process.
Further, the module entailing a biography-oriented interview overlooks job necessities as well as the applicants’ qualifications, thereby eliminating interviewees on the ground of personality traits. The biography-oriented interview is also associated with extra costs. Additionally, the simulated group exercise has numerous shortcomings. For instance, the demeanor and sentiments, as well as behaviors of the candidates during the interview, can negatively sway the standpoints and perspectives of the selection panel.
Enduring Implementations that the Weaknesses Force on ComInTec
The comprehension of the lasting implementations that the weaknesses impose on the firm is discussed through the application of social, economic, and cultural aspects. To begin with, from the economic context, ComInTec’s worldwide personnel and sales were approximated at twenty-three thousand and 5.8 billion Euros, respectively. Additionally, the economic slump experienced between 2003 and 2006 did not affect the operations of the firm negatively. Most importantly, the firm anticipates the worldwide reorganization of its human resources to fill the vacant regional management positions within the Asia-Pacific region. With augmented levels of the firm’s sales, a remuneration ranging from over 40,000 to 150,000 Euros is put in place for the corporation’s regional management heads.
Secondly, the firm has considered various social aspects in the development of the selection system of multinational personnel. In this regard, the firm’s project team is composed of individuals who form a cross-cultural environment, and these individuals come from across the globe to head different departments of ComInTec in the Asian-Pacific Region. Indeed, the human resource team of the firm has an obligation of employing people from different republics ranging from China to Germany. Further, the organization’s human resource director is in charge of managing the unconventional behaviors of personnel.
Furthermore, ComInTec’s selection team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. For instance, Yue Yu is a Chinese and subservient to his German colleague Weitmann. Additionally, Andreas Mueller, an economist, and strategic human resource graduate trainee Dai Wei, hold different views on the personnel selection system that the establishment should adopt. Besides, it is evident that the Chinese colleagues in the team are opposed to the antagonistic inflexibility of the German colleagues. In general, the cultural mix in the selection team brings invaluable ideas concerning ideal personnel selection processes. Based on the squabbles, the firm has augmented levels of compassion and accommodative mindset on its executive management level in terms of cultural diversity.
Recommendations to the Project Team
The project team should include other aspects of personnel selection procedures, including recruitment, hiring, and acculturation. In other words, the team should detach the selected interviewees from the precluded applicants. Moreover, the project should recognize that the job performance component of personnel selection entails intricacy, dynamism, and multi-dimensions. As such, the team should apply different criteria in the selection system ranging from task proficiency to leadership behaviors in the selection procedures instead of only stressing on applicants’ qualifications.
The team should also ensure that the personnel selection system includes the requirements of cultural multiplicity across the firm’s operating boundaries. In essence, the selection system should be sensitive to cultural geographies in which the organization operates. In addition, ComInTec should expand its executive power in terms of cultural representation so that the selection process be accommodative of diverse cultures across the globe. The project team should also ensure that the personnel selection system takes into consideration aspects of cultural differences existing within the Asian-Pacific region. For instance, the selection should recognize that in the context of Asians, collectivism, and seniority are fundamental aspects when it comes to job allocation as opposed to the Anglos viewpoint that recognizes competence in job allocation.
Conclusion
In summary, the selection systems of multinational corporations are critical human resource management aspects that augment the firms’ human skills and capabilities, thereby ensuring the success of the establishments. Besides, ComInTec’s personnel selection system has numerous strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths is that the project team is provided with tangible information about the applicants. Nonetheless, the selection system has shortcomings, such as lack of personal interaction with the applicants.
The firm has long-term implementations, including social aspects in the development of the multination personnel selection system and drawing up salary scales for the regional heads. Moreover, the project team should ensure that the personnel selection system includes cultural multiplicity across the firm’s operating boundaries as well as other important aspects of the employee selection process.