Recruitment First of All, Before

Recruitment

First of all, before even deciding on the selection mechanism and evaluating the results and CVs that the different individuals have sent, we need to have a brief discussion around the different requirements that such a position imposes, as well as about what is likely to make a good store manager. The tests will help in determining whether the chosen individuals actually fit the required parameters. The results will also help us shape an appropriate set of hiring practices for any future such action within the organization.

The position is that of a very important store manager. The store is important because of several different reasons, including the fact that this is close to the very first Tanglewood store (thus the symbolic value the store has) and the fact that this is a store with very strong revenues in the past couple of years (a variable which shows that a set of strong, loyal customers has already been formed and that the new manager will need to ensure the consumers' loyalty in the future as well, while at the same time attempting to increase the market share for the respective store).

At the same time, this store is also a store where different appearances and themes combine to make it a very elaborate store - this means that the store manager will also need to prove imagination and creativity to keep these additional features, improve them and blend them into the store activities. As we can see, the potential candidate will need to combine a set of different characteristics and attitudes in order to make a successful store manager.

The selection tests that have been used on the applicants closely follow the KSAO framework in that they attempt to cover and investigate four important areas of each of the candidates. These areas refer to knowledge, skills, abilities and other areas and should constitute themselves as an overall evaluation instrument. In terms of knowledge, we are testing how well each of the applicants is accommodated to the retail industry, what his background in the industry is and how well the candidate will be able to provide the necessary background for his employees, when this becomes necessary at some point. The knowledge part will also include a small part of managerial knowledge and it will be a plus if the candidate has worked in managerial positions in the past. This will come to show that he or she is used to the main human resources characteristics, that he or she has a background knowledge on motivational policies, selection and recruitment methodologies for further diversification of the team etc.

On the other hand, we are also testing skills and abilities. By this we are trying to cover essential parts of the activity as a store manager, especially one in such an important store. This ranges from abilities that would make a good manger (the capacity to interrelate with the employees, the capacity to promote and support ideas, the capacity to create the right working environment) to abilities and skills required for this particular job, including, for example, the capacity to be inventive and creative.

The biodata will measure the candidate's experience in different competency-related activities and tasks, while the Marshfield Applicant Exam is measuring the candidate's ability to solve problems and his or her mathematical and numerical process abilities. As seen, each of these tests will not necessarily point to the perfect candidate for the position, but will give us a better idea of how each of these candidates is performing on different segments that are important for the position.

I think we can use two different scoring methodologies, each potentially providing a result which reflects the candidate's abilities. These two scoring methodologies will include the weighted and the non-weighted version. The weighted version will tend to attribute a higher importance to some of the tests, mainly because we would assume that the respective characteristics and abilities that those tests reflect are more important for the current position. Each weight will need to add up to one, so a potentially weighting system can be the following:

biodata - 0.1. We attribute least importance to the biodata, because we find it too general and not reflexive enough of the candidate's abilities and skills.

A applicant exam - 0.1 retail knowledge 0.4. Most important test because it will show us the retail background of the candidate and will give us a good idea whether or not he will be able to assume a store manager position. Weighing the retail knowledge in this manner will mean that the position will basically be chosen based on the knowledge competency - note that this is twice as important as any of the other four tests.

A conscientiousness - 0.2 We want to see a candidate who is very interesting in doing his job right and very thorough in this sense. This is why conscientiousness is also weighed quite significantly high.

A extraversion - 0.2. Our candidate needs to be extrovert - to bond easily with the people around him, to communicate and interrelate with them. At the same time, we are also checking through the extraversion tests, his or her capacity to be imaginative and creative, as usually people who are creative and imaginative will also tend to be extrovert individuals.

The non-weighted score will simply add up all the scores obtained by a candidate and this will reflect the final score he or she has obtained on all the scores and his final total.

In both methods, James Heckman scored best, a total of 380 in the non-weighted approach and a weighted score of 74, the only candidate to obtain a weighted score of over 70. Given the fact that he came out with the highest total in both cases shows the consistency of both methodologies as compared one against the other. It is interesting to note, however, that James did not score the highest score in the category of tests which was weighted as the most important: retail knowledge. The other two candidates in the list are Thomas Reznor and Shauna Greer (weighted score) and Thomas Reznor and Max Renoir (non-weighted score).

In my opinion, the multiple hurdle selection procedure provides a more thorough approach to the selection process by taking into consideration a larger array of instruments and including different phases to the selection process. However, we also need to consider that this is a very time consuming methodology and that individuals in the upper management of the organization will need to find the time to go through the interviews and resumes. Given the importance of this particular store, the method is viable to be used. The final panel should probably include somebody from the top management of the company (maybe the COO would be a good idea), the marketing director (given some of the innovatory approaches of the store), the human resource manager and someone from the employees' side (maybe the union leader).

A short browse through the revenues does indeed show that James seems to be the most qualified to take on the store manager position. Besides the fact that he has managed to obtained the highest scores according to two different methodologies, his experience in retail, despite the fact that he has not scored so highly on the retail knowledge test, goes back almost 20 years, all the time he has spent with Tanglewood. He has moved through different retail and managerial positions with the company, performing as sales associate, but also as a department manager, for example, just a step before the store manager function.

The fact that he generally stayed a long period of time in each of these positions show the fact that he was able to interconnect well with the people working with him, qualifying him to be a successful manager.

The selection process for other store will include:

set of tests: retail knowledge, personality test, extroversion, human relations;

An assessment of the employees with a direct meeting with them - this will remain anonymous;

An interview with the human resource manager, the COO, the promotion director and the sales manager.

2) There are several conclusions that can be drawn even before starting an introspective analysis of some of the causes of the high turnover rates and before looking deeper into the signification of some of the satisfaction and turnover rate figures. First of all, the figures are anything but homogenous. Indeed, if we take, for example, the pay satisfaction, this ranges from a very satisfied Colorado (4.7) to a more than unsatisfied Northern Oregon (1.5) - it is difficult to believe that the living standards and price ranges vary so much from Northern Oregon to Colorado, so this is probably a reflection of the wide range of perception from the employees.

On the other hand, the variation for the supervisor satisfaction is significantly lower and, in general, it ranges around a 3.2-3.4 mean value. If we notice the figure in this category, none of the stores scored lower than 2.8 (Nevada), with only two scores under 3. This comes to show that the supervisor satisfaction is not one of the problems at Tanglewood: the money spent on training supervisors is well spent, the result being that the supervisors communicate well with their employees and have a good perception in the employees' ranks.

In general, this is also the same with the benefits satisfaction column - employees are satisfied with this, the high scores showing only two values under 3, in stores in Nevada and New Mexico. The work satisfaction figures are more generously distributed, with no values under 2, but quite a significant number between 2 and 3.

Another observation is important at this point: a region like Nevada can probably be excluded from the final evaluation and investigation of the causes of high turnover. Indeed, in a region like Nevada, the negative feeling seems to be significantly inconsistent throughout, with all scores being under 3. In my opinion, this is not significant for the analysis, as it rather reflects a particularity of the region.

Finally, analyzing the data, it is interesting to note that the high turnover rate is not always associated with the variables that analyze different segments of satisfaction. The highest turnover rate is in Northern California, a region where the scores are reasonably high, ranging from 2.8 (work satisfaction) to 4.1 (pay satisfaction).

The reason in this case is the competition in the region, with the economy booming and multiple incentives to leave for another company. This is supported by the competition index, which is 8.3 in this case, higher than in any other region. This is an example of how the matter is sometimes even outside of Tanglewood's hands, external factors combining to provide incentives for working in another company. The same correlation is also valid for the Colorado example, where a high competition index has also led to a high turnover rate.

The qualitative research and the exist interviews seem to show the same thing: many of the employees are leaving because of either better alternatives or because a significant even in their lives requires their presence elsewhere. The latter is not something that the company can actually control and some of the answers shown here show that it relates either to a family member being sick or to a spouse accepting a job in another region. There was only one example of an individual who left because the company was going in a bad direction.

These answers, the figures obtained and the exit interviews come to show that the problem with the high turnover rate is related to the fact that the company is not able to keep up with its competitors in terms of making offers that can keep employees in place. It does not have a problem in absolute terms, that is in terms of absolute dissatisfaction of the employees, it has a relative problem, in terms of dissatisfaction when it comes to the employees looking at other companies in the industry.

From this perspective, we can also say that the company has a dysfunctional turnover rate. The fact that the figures tend to show that individuals leave because of the high competition index means that the company is not competitive from this perspective with other companies and it also show that it has a difficulty retaining its well prepared managers. Many of the employees, as the exit interviews have shown, have left because they have received better pays. This means that they were considered an asset for the new companies and that Tanglewood lost by their departure.

In my opinion, the interviews can be improved by taking a more overall perspective on the activity within the company. All the exit interviews seem to be directed to reflect the individual's own experience with the organization. This is a good approach, however, more could be gained from the exit interview if things general to the organization could be tackled.