Personnel Management at Datapool Pte Ltd

Question: Discuss about thePersonnel Management at Datapool Pte Ltd. Answer: Introduction DP Information Group is a company that managing business and credit information bureau. Datapool (S) Pte Ltd is part of DP Information Group, which is expertise in the field credit management and debt collection (dpgroup.com). Datapool has abundant experience of recover corporate and consumer debts and manage account receivable for financial institutions, telecommunication service providers and many others industry. Datapool provide the arrangement of cash management and consultancy services like overseas debt collection, legal consultancy, field visit and collection expertise, and also negative list posting to DP SME Commercial Credit Bureau. This paper presents a job analysis, recruitment and selection plan for the company for the post of credit collection officer. Job Analysis HR manager is responsible for ensuring that proper human resource demand and supply is managed within organization, without any oversupply or under supply for workforce. Job analysis is the first step to evaluate job requirements, this process involves analysis of various responsibilities, skills, and task required to complete assigned job. According to Cultural Human Resource Council (2009) job analysis is a strategic tool used by personnel manager to gather, synthesize and implement the information available regarding the workforce in the concern (Cultural Human Resource Council, 2009). Job analysis facilitate HR manager in understanding crucial activities and contributions required from the position, help in deciding organizational structure, autonomy, evaluating employee performance and career planning. Two primary outcome of job analysis include job description and job specification(Collingsa Sculliona, 2009). Job Description As stated by Collingsa Sculliona, (2009) job description can be defined as descriptive factual statement that includes contents of the job including duties and responsibilities associated with it. This document facilitate in establishing relation between employee, subordinates and supervisors to monitor their work performances (Collingsa Sculliona, 2009). Below is the job description for debt collection officer in Datapool Pte Ltd. Task To collect debt from various debtors To call for negotiation Managing records Duties Making payment plans Collecting payment Organizing customer files Chasing debtors, negotiating Recording payment received Responsibilities A debt collection officer will be responsible for all debt collection activities Responsible for managing activity through for call, home visits etc. Responsible for coordinating, negotiating, managing, administrating, and monitoring the entire debt recovery process Debt collection officer also need to drive the corporate activity to achieve debt collection target Responsible for documenting and recording information regarding amount collection in IT system immediately for all the collection activity undertaken everyday Will be responsible for resolving conflicts, negotiating, managing complaints, resolving disputes, grievances etc. How JA will be done Job analysis interview is a method that helps in collecting information from incumbents at the position to describe the task, duties and responsibilities of the position planned. To understand the requirements for job analysis interview technique will be used. Interview from top level manager and one person from the same post will be taken. Top management will be able to help in understanding their job expectations from the decided job positing, further person at the same post will help in understanding duties that one needs to execute at the specified job designation. Interview technique help in collecting detailed information regarding duties and responsibilities, whereas observation and other techniques are based on judgment but this technique helps in getting hands on true information regarding job expectations. Job Specification It can be defined as detailed analysis on qualities required performing the task successfully. It includes information on personal, physical, mental, psychological, social characteristics(Ivancevich, 2007). This information helps in conducting preliminary screening during employee selection process. Job specification for selected job category is discussed below; In terms of qualification candidate must possess at least a GCE N level Need to have good interpersonal and communication skill to deal with debtors with persistence Ability to communicate in English / mandarin / Malay languages Job skills required candidate to have strong listening skills to deal with people in dent and collection process; it also require effective negotiation skills to resolve disputes and payment settlement. Need to have strong computer skills and knowledge Employees at this post need to possess skills such as self-motivated, pro-active, enthusiastic, initiative, mature and target driven Job Design Job design is the process used to integrate job requirements, employee skills, rewards and organizational goal in a specific job. It facilitate in understanding key elements associated with job success. There are three style of job design, it includes scientific method, that involve time, motion and fatigue study, aims to standardize task to ensure maximum output in minimum time and cost (Schuler Jackson, 2008). Second is motivational job design that help in enhancing difficulty, reducing standardization by adding skill variety, task identity and significance to the job that help in enhancing psychological satisfaction from the job. Third is mechanism job design that is planned according to task complexity and number. Job design helps in better employee motivation, productivity and retention (Buller McEvoy, 2012). Design for Efficiency It aims to increase task simplification, enrichment and enlargement to ensure high productivity in less time without making employee fatigue. It aims to include industrial engineering principles to structure work in simplest manner to maximize efficiency. For this position, credit control officer is provided full autonomy and power to execute the process of data collection, power to take decisions and make strategies will help in fast data collection process. Design for Motivation Different techniques used for designing motivation among employees include job enrichment, job enlargement, flexi working hours and team work. For this job profile job enlargement is done by adding wide range of job activities to be done by credit collection officer. Employee at this position will be responsible for call debtors, negotiating, planning, visiting for debt collection, recording details, coordinating with supervisor. This task includes a complete process to be done by collection officer. Apart from this, five factors that impact motivational level among employee include skill variety, this job require different skills for accomplishing different tasks; there is presence of complete task identity, huge significance is made by credit collection officer by settling dues to both company and society; there is high degree of autonomy and decision making power given at this position. This job includes coordination with subordinates and other team members(Armstrong, 2008). Design for Mental Capital Different strategies that can be used to simplify total demand for mental capabilities include limiting the amount of information that needs to memorize by adding proper software and IT system that store all data; providing adequate lighting facility. Proper training will be given to employees to understand the job completely, use of computers; data management softwares to filter the information received (Choo Bowley, 2007). Recruitment After deciding on the job demand in the organization, the HR department is responsible for attracting potential candidates for the position. Recruitment is the process that involves various strategies, activities undertaken by organization to attract applications from potential employees for the job. According to Raymond J. Stone (2005) recruitment involves seeking and attracting pool of applicants from candidates who are potential to get selected by the organization for their vacancy. It aims to search potential talent and stimulate them to apply for the job to ensure that organization hire best available talent in the market (Stone, 2005). Various factors impact recruitment process, it includes external and internal factors. Labor market have strong impact on employee availability, in case of high unemployment, there is abundance of labor supply and easy to recruit candidates, where as in Singapore unemployment is very low, therefore organization have to advertise extensively to attract talent pool. Internal factor include organizational policy, availability of internal talent to fill position, its attractiveness. Datapool is a renowned organization in Singapore, it is a subsidiary of the most prominent credit rating company, and therefore strong brand image helps in attracting talent. First step is recruitment planning that involve demand analysis by analyzing number of positions need to be fill and type of applicant required through job analysis. Second step is strategy development that includes different decisions regarding technological sophistication, geographical reach, sources of recruitment etc. Third step is searching through source activation or selling(Brown, 2011). Applications can be attracted using various strategies, internal methods such as selecting from present employee, employee referral, previous applications; it is a cot effective method. External recruitment process include using trade associations for attracting application, advertisements on newspaper, company website, social media, job sites etc. campus recruitment, walk-ins, hiring through third party, consultant, contractors, employee exchange programs etc. Recruitment strategies that will be used for hiring credit control officer in Datapool are as follow; Internal Referral Present employees of the company can really aid the recruitment process by recommending suitable candidates for the position. According to research, internal referral candidates are of high quality as internal employee generally doesnt recommend candidates who cannot perform well. HR can also reward employees for helping company in hiring efficient workforce. In this process, present employees act as an introducer of the company to potential candidate, inform them about job and organizational advantages and requirements (Ivancevich, 2007). Job Vacancy Post on Jobstreet / Jobsdb E-recruitment strategy is a widely use method as it facilitates in recruiting from global market, various geographies in less time and cost. Job portals help in attracting potential talent through advertisements; they also offer additional services of job screening. External recruitment strategy used by Datapool is to advertise their job vacancy on two renowned job searching websites, Jobstreet.com and jobsdb.com; these two online job portals are among largest online employment companies, with huge data. These sites help in attracting talent from different geographical markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Selection Selection is the process of selecting right candidate for the job vacancy from pool of applicants received by the company. It can be defined as the process used to differentiate between various candidates to select the best suitable candidate with highest possibility of success in the job role. Selection process starts with preliminary interview and end with agreement of employment(Nankervis, Compton, Baird, 2008). Stages of Selection Screening Prior to selection screening is conducted by organizations, screening involves segregation of various applications received and dividing them according to minimum criteria required to appear in the interview. These criteria might include minimum education level, work experience, or any other knowledge or skill(Nankervis, Compton, Baird, 2008). Selection process Preliminary Interview First step of selection process is to verify the information provided by applicants, it is done over the phone. Over a telephonic conversation, crucial information regarding candidate qualification, work experiences are collected, reviewed and evaluated. Here a brief information about the company is also provided, it help in eliminating the misfit candidates, which help in saving interview time and cost to the company. Selection Test Different types of tests are designed by the organization to evaluate technical, theoretical, skills and psychological potential of candidate. It facilitate in understanding their ability, aptitude and personality. It can also be defined as a standardized method used to evaluate all candidates on common ground. These test help in selecting candidates who fit to the job requirements, possess key skills required to execute the task (Mathis Jackson, 2002). Personality tests which help in measuring employee motivation in given working environment, different test include the Thematic Apperception Test, California Psychological Inventory etc.; however personality test needs to be combine with other ability test to get valid results. This job also require aptitude test as it helps in gauging technical knowledge of the candidate, it will evaluate accounting knowledge, debt management system etc. by candidates. Different tools that can be used for result analysis include predictive validity, ranking, average test score etc. Interview After clearing the test, candidates are called for interview. It involves formal in-depth conversation between the interviewer and interviewee. It can be of various types such as one to one interview, panel interview, situational interview, structured interview, stress interview etc. This strategy help in collecting in-depth information regarding candidate, collecting additional information, it help in providing detail analysis on any factor that company would like to stress upon while employee selection. However, there are drawbacks also associated with this strategy, results are based on general opinion of the interviewer, generally it happens that different interviewer give different score to candidates (Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, Thornhill, Morrow, 2007). Reference and Background Check After selecting candidate referral check is conducted to get an insight about the applicant from people who have previous experience with them. After this selection decision is taken, to accept or reject the applicant. If selected, candidates generally need to undergo basic medical test and paper formalities. Job offer Final step is to give letter of appointment to selected candidates, it include information on date of joining, followed by singing of contract of employment. Conclusion Above stated job analysis, recruitment and selection plan will help the company in hiring best talent and assigning right job to the right candidate. Such action might take some more time at initial stage but it will ensure long term employee retention, higher productivity, efficiency, motivation to employee and finally a better return on investment. These strategies will ensure that company design an effective work plan, recruit employees in cost effective manner and conduct selection process that evaluates all required knowledge and skill among candidates. Instead of quickly hiring a candidate, it is better to analyze, evaluate and select the best. Bibliography Armstrong, M. (2008). A handbook of human resource management practice. Great Britain: Kogan Page. Brown, J. N. (2011). 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