CASE STUDY - MGTS2604
Nicolai Harvik
48272564
Word Count: 1940
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Executive summary
Recent demand forecasting has shown that our company needs to develop a new
recruitment and selection strategy, which is the subject of this report. According to Abbasi et
al., we urgently need a cogent hiring strategy that guarantees the company's expansion (2020).
The report presents a best practice model based on the Ivey Publishing approach to improving
our hiring process. It is currently flawed by its reliance on arbitrary techniques such as the "four
eyes principle." I want to address the ineffective decision-making that has arisen from this.
Effective recruitment is hampered by critical internal problems like a lack of trust,
miscommunication, and competing departmental visions. China's sociopolitical environment
offers employment opportunities and challenges from the outside. The report proposes a
method that balances cultural nuances and international best practices with local flexibility.
The HR department should be reorganized, thorough job analyses should be conducted, and
digital recruitment should be implemented to expedite the hiring process. It is suggested that
we evaluate candidates selectively to ensure the best people are hired.
Introduction
In response to being tasked with developing a new system for recruitment and selection
following the recent demand forecasting, our team quickly saw much disagreement on how to
proceed. The main HRM issue we face is the company's need for a proper strategy concerning
recruiting and selecting new possible candidates for vacant positions. A well-defined approach
to finding and choosing new employees is essential for the future success of our company
(Abbasi et al., 2020), as failing to meet this criterion may lead to stagnation in the growth of
our business. Upon your request to have me deliver my personal solution to this problem, I
will, in this report, provide a model of best practice plus the corresponding evidence and
reasoning behind why I believe the solutions I present ought to be favored for maximizing our
company’s human capital. I will aim to deliver an in-depth analysis of this prominent HRM
issue within our company that I and the rest of the HR department face. To solve this problem,
I have mainly followed the Ivey Publishing approach, as this is an appropriate analysis
framework due to its systematic and all-encompassing nature. Firstly, I will identify our main
issues regarding recruitment and selection and then analyze them, emphasizing antecedents and
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ethical implications. Furthermore, I will develop, evaluate, and critically discuss alternative
solutions before finally providing my recommendations. Additionally, throughout the report, I
will refer to research and elucidate the underlying theory to help support my arguments.
Problem Articulation
There are many things that could be improved following the current personnel selection
system within our company. Not hiring new employees based on objective measurements
suited to the corresponding work positions but instead following the four eyes principle, as
Stingl has preferred, is a severe shortcoming with our current system. Heibl (2015) found that
using the 4EP within fast-growing international firms can lead to suboptimal decision-making
and unfavorable managerial behaviors. As stated, our primary issue is the lack of a coherent
recruitment and selection protocol, but we must first highlight other subtle problems before
tackling our main one. I quickly discovered three primary concerns when getting orientated
with the situation: poor communication/information flow, non-coherent visions, and lack of
thrust. These problems may seem unrelated to our selection and recruiting problems. However,
I will argue that they are directly linked and further claim that addressing these three problems
sooner rather than later will improve Sinotrading Ltd overall.
The HR department and I often have information withheld from us. Whether it is done
on purpose or not is not crucial right now. Some examples are that we have no applicant pools
or databases available, and we do not even know the various job requirements. This is excused
by saying, “This is how China works. Get used to it,” or simply that that information is not
essential for us to know. This lack of openness hinders the HR department from finding the
best solutions, which I will elaborate on later. Additionally, in less open countries like China,
this can weaken its absorptive capacity, diminishing a firm's performance according to
Aliasghar et al. (2019). There is also a dissonance between the different visions and beliefs
within the HR department that must be addressed. To create one strategy for hiring, we must
first agree on what we are looking for. Everyone in the HR department knows we must improve
but disagrees on how. The Westerners of Hoffman, Smidt, and I vouch for objective criteria.
At the same time, our Chinese colleagues tend to prefer following their guts and the four-eye
principle. The team has lost faith in trying to coordinate their effort and develop one strategy;
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however, this is not sustainable in the long run. Lastly, Stingl’s lack of trust and constant
demands slow down and handicap our work. Trust between the CEO and the rest of the
company is essential for economic success (Ingenhoff & Sommer, 2010), and we must realize
how this problem can be avoided by hiring the right employees in the first place.
Analysis, Antecedents’ Evaluation, and Ethical Implications
By first considering the external factors, we can narrow down the possible strategies to
adopt by evaluating the constraints and the opportunities the HRM environment provides.
Ideally, aiming toward a geocentric model where the best people get the jobs is preferred, but
this is not possible in China as the nation is too closed off, so the goal will be a regiocentric
structure. The next constraint will be the political and legal context China finds itself in.
Luckily, there are anti-discrimination laws in China, which decreased the total discrimination
index after its implementation, making hiring the most qualified people regardless of
background easier. Still, some things could be improved. The TDI increased after China
entered the WTO and the globalized world (Chen & Zhang, 2018). This suggests that
discrimination is a common and accepted practice in China that Sinotrading Ltd must avoid
standing as a great example. This is due to the ethical failures of our company if we were not
to give everyone a fair shot. By understanding the historical antecedents of the current political
climate, we may comprehend why these policies are being proposed (Derfler-Bozin et al.,
2018). For example, when discussing how to recruit new employees, my Chinese HR
colleagues suggested calling family members.
This is where the political context meets the social context. Even though the Chinese
labor market is characterized as tight, there still are many qualified people, as millions of
students graduate each year. China has, in only two generations brought their population into
a proper working class, so within the Chinese mentality they are still used to favor family as
well as keeping other biases because a large proportion of Chinese may not have culturally
adapted to a Western system of hiring yet. Stingl has been clear that nepotism will not be
tolerated, and there is no need as there is no shortage of workers if we can recruit and advertise
our brand correctly. Relationship building and bribery have no clear distinction between them
in China; this is their corporate culture as it has developed over thousands of years (Wang,
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2016). The consequence of nepotism is that the most qualified people who would thrive in a
meritocracy are neglected (Zhang, 2015). Western HR workers must find a solution actively
incorporating an objective approach. One cannot depend on the Chinese doing this as cultural
and social constraints bind them. They have subjective judgment biases like Chen preferring
short hair, Peng preferring people who go to nightclubs, and Li saying, “Pick those who look
friendly.” Finally, from the technological context, China is a highly developed, technologically
advanced, and recourse-rich country. This lays the building blocks for possible digital solutions
I should explore.
Solutions and Justifications
Having the right people with the right skills is crucial, and thus is another reason why
addressing recruitment and selection problems is so important. This can be viewed as one form
of HR planning, given that hiring the right people avoids problems further down the pipeline
like firing and hiring or hiring a person not suited or qualified for the job. An organization's
success ultimately depends on its employees. My adaption approach will use a globalized HR
strategy using localized practices as this is the most effective in our situation. Before
developing a selection and recruitment strategy, I recommend doing some restructuring within
the HR department, especially regarding Peng. He has no prior qualifications for doing HR, but
with his Bachelor's in German, he could be a valuable resource in communications and
marketing. He has no future in the HR department, and for the company, it seems wise to
remove him.
The next step is to conduct a job analysis for each job: finance and production managers,
factory workers, interns, etc. We aim to make the best possible questionnaires and practice
problems for applicants to solve within the assessment centers Stingl has asked us to develop.
This will help us move from hiring and firing, which is the current model. This is costineffective and does not promote company loyalty, but instead loyalty to your manager for him
not to fire you, ultimately resulting in much corruption and more arbitrary power to the chiefs.
After mapping the skills, knowledge, and abilities new employees require to do their job
adequately, we must develop our recruitment and selection strategy. To me, Chen and Li’s
visions are too far away from what is optimal; as I have discussed, following their methods
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comes ethical failures such as biases, falsification, favoritism, and lookism (Jasper et al., 2020).
I believe Smidt and Hoffman are best suited to develop a strategy, and I will have Chen and Li
sort out the practical solutions to our problems.
Smidt, for example, has marketing experience, which we ought to utilize. A good start
is having reasonable recruitment solutions to save time in the selection process. Getting the
right people to apply is about our company’s brand, image, and myths. Moreover, to attract
these people, I think investing and outsourcing our marketing to a specialized e-marketing firm
that can show our ads to the correct people is worthwhile (Ordanini & Sivestri, 2008).
Implementing technologies like these in our recruiting gives unlimited reach and is relatively
cost-effective. On the other hand, Hoffman has the academic skillset to prepare the
questionnaires and think about the practical tests to give the applicants. I will recommend a
successive hurdles approach when selecting. She will oversee the creation of the assessment
centers. When we have selected and recruited the right people, we will also conduct knowledge
management for our employees.
Conclusion
This report has clarified that our recruitment and selection protocols must be revised
entirely. Our personnel selection process is undercut by three significant challenges we have
uncovered after a thorough analysis based on the Ivey Publishing framework: inadequate
communication, different visions within the HR department, and a lack of trust. In addition to
being an operational improvement, addressing these issues is strategically necessary to guide
our business toward long-term success. A robust recruitment strategy is established by the
planned reorganization of the HR department, which also includes the addition of assessment
centers and a job analysis-driven approach. Adopting a multinational viewpoint balanced with
localized understanding is crucial for navigating China's intricate socio-political landscape. By
implementing these ideas, we aim to improve recruitment efficiency and guarantee that new
personnel share the company's values and moral standards. It is expected that when we make
this strategic direction shift, our business will become stronger, equipped to make the most of
our people capital and prosper in the highly competitive environment.
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References:
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relationship between recruitment & selection practices and business growth: An
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Aliasghar, O., Rose, E. L., & Chetty S. (2019). Building absorptive capacity through
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Chen, Y. P., & Zhang, Y. (2018). A decomposition method on employment and wage
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.012
Derfler-Bozin, R., Baker, B., & Francesca, G. (2018). Compromised Ethics in Hiring
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