Organizational Recruitment Failures for an Unnamed Retail

Organizational Recruitment

Recruitment Failures for an Unnamed Retail Giant

The quality of a professional organization will be deeply and directly contingent upon the quality of the personnel that it employs. Such is to say that a company's success begins with its recruitment strategy, where the manner in which it shapes and conveys its demands to applying candidates will be critical to the screening and vetting processes. It is this recruitment strategy that will determine not just who a company hires but, indeed, who among its employees are likely to become long-term assets or to advance within an organization. For the purposes of this discussion, we will consider the recruitment policies of a leading global retail chain. For proprietary reasons, we will refrain from identifying this firm by name, but the discussion will demonstrate how negative recruitment strategies can be connected to poor public image performance and a poor record on working conditions.

The retail chain selected for evaluation is one that has achieved a great deal of economic success by appealing to a low-cost, low-price model. However, many of the benefits of its operation "are offset primarily by [the company's] poor public image. This is also [the company's] biggest opportunity -- improving public image." (Nester 2006, p. 1) Findings suggest that improvements in recruitment could have a strong bearing on bringing about this improvement.

Quality personnel orientation begins with the designation of effective recruitment methods but these must also be connected to positive labor practices. The company selected for evaluation here has appealed for most of its existence to a recruitment strategy which courts low-wage workers who are willing to work long hours without benefits, at a poor pay rate when compared to other retailers and in a context where morale is routinely quite low. This denotes a strategy largely aimed at those on the bottom skill and motivation rungs of the employment ladder. However, evidence drawn from other retailers with a similar product orientation suggests that the company might yield better results by improving its labor orientation and, consequently, using this improvements to drive more ambitious recruitment.

For company in question, these are concerns which must be considered as directly affiliated with the parallel concerns of increased competition in the global mega-retail scheme as well as its much assailed reputation as a frequent offender of labor law and/or principle. These contribute to an overall spiral in quality, with its diminished market share reflecting the impression that employees with emergent competitors such as Target are treated far better, paid slightly better and more likely therefore to be knowledgeable, qualified and reflective of a positive brand image. (Clark et al. 2006, p. 4) While it is not empirically clear that this is factual, the existence of the impression tends to benefit Target, which is therefore seen ultimately as a chain of slightly higher quality and retail appeal than the unnamed competitor. This is illustrative of the opportunity currently being missed by the company in question, whose ultimate disregard for positive principles correlating to personnel recruitment with brand image and quality of retail experience is a major cause for its diminished market share.

This is so, even in light of its generally bargain-basement prices, which are its primary draw to customers. As a company which thrives on undercutting competition through low costs on materials and labor, it has often failed to retain an economic balance which provides opportunities for personnel excellence. The result is a diminished retail experience for the customer, who may find employees generally less motivated and therefore less helpful, knowledge, expedient, efficient or pleasant. (Hays 2004, p. 1) Naturally this will tend to compromise the customer's appreciation of the brand and its bargain prices. Such is to say that a customer might see fit to spend the extra money for a less unpleasant shopping experience.

This is where an improvement in the company's recruitment strategy comes into consideration. The clear weakness in our selected firm's recruitment strategy is that it emphasizes finding workers willing to labor in generally poor conditions. The consequence of attracting a poor level of employee is only compounded by the company's generally negative reputation with the public. Evidence suggests that individuals seeking employment "considered the job choice process to begin with an individual's evaluation of information obtained from recruitment sources, including printed advertisements, media messages, and friends." (Gatewood et al., 414)

This is an area where the selected company has fared poorly because its name is so largely connected to patterns of labor exploitation. This points to a condition observed in a source by Turban (1997), which helps drive recommendations for improvement. According to Turban, "a firm's 'corporate social performance'[CSP], may provide a competitive advantage in attracting applications." (Turban, 658)