Evaluating the efficacy of focus group discussion †Free Samples

Questions: 1. What type of selection should be adopted by the company? 2. What is considered in time of screening the application forms? 3. What is the basic objective of the preliminary interview? 4. What should be the size of groups for final selection? 5. Why is a case distributed in advance amongst the candidates in final selection? 6. What is the information on the basis of which the personal interview is conducted? Answers: Introduction Hindustan Lever Limited or Hindustan Unilever is a reputed company and takes utmost care in selection process of its employees (Hul.co.in 2018). There are several stages involved in the selection process that includes evaluation of the candidates from academic, cognitive and logical analytical perspectives. The company has several divisions like Food, Homecare brands, personal care brands and water purifier brand, and the employment is done keeping in mind the several requirements of these departments (Hul.co.in 2018). Answer 1 The company selects its employees through several rounds of severe screening and evaluating. There are primarily three steps in which the selection process is completed, these are Screening of application forms, preliminary interview, and final selection. These are the basic and very common three stages of HR selection process (Harrison 2012). The candidates are asked to submit their Curriculum Vitae which are screened and shortlisted candidates are called for interview after which the final selection is done. The company should adopt the policy of selection through structured interviews in which specific knowledge based questions about the field in which the candidate is selected. These questions are predetermined and the candidates are marked according to their knowledge of work. This kind of selection process is very effective in understanding what can be the possible performance of the employees. The applicants will also come prepared for the interview by researching about the company from beforehand. Question 2 The candidates and the applicants send the application forms and CV according to the job requirement. The company follows a strict process where it is carefully observed whether the CVs are actually compatible to the job or not. Technology is primarily responsible for reducing the time and energy for the selection process. There are tools and software which can be used to shortlist the eligible candidates (Scarborough 2012). The software does this by matching the criteria and the applicants profile. If the required qualifications are found, then the candidate is shortlisted. This is called the candidate management and applicant tracking systems. The reduction of time in the screening of the application forms leave more room for dedicating to the candidates personal interviews in which in-depth analysis of the candidates abilities can be done personally by the HR manager. Question 3 The preliminary interview is just the next stage after the evaluation and screening of the application forms and CV. The curriculum vitae or the application forms are not the original reflection of the candidates ability and attitude towards work (Lipovsky 2014). Only knowing about the degrees of the candidate does not give a clear indication of behavioral traits like whether the candidate is flexible enough, team worker, and spontaneous or not. Therefore, after the first stage of selection of the forms, in the next stage preliminary interview is conducted with as many candidates as possible. The main motive or the basic objective of this preliminary interview is to understand the candidates personally and to comprehend whether the candidates are fit for the particular job or not. The preliminary interviews are not as in-depth as the final interview processes; however, it is deep enough to understand the potentials of a candidate to work in a particular company. Question 4 After the preliminary interview is conducted the next stage of the company for the selection process is to conduct group discussion session with the candidates and then to go for the final interview process. The group discussion process can be completed including small teams of 4 or 5 people. If the group is too big then the problems of speaking over each other and inability to differentiate between the points made by individual members may arise (Arthur 2012). Therefore, the group discussion teams need to be small so that every member may get the chance to speak, debate and explain their perspectives. The final interview, however should be one to one, and each individual must be assessed separately in order to understand the full potential of the individual in detail and accurate manner. The final interview is the stage where the final decision regarding whether the employee will be taken by the company or not is made, hence it is very crucial. Question 5 The group discussion process in the company is composed of two steps, one is to conduct group discussion on any political, social or economic issues of recent times (Boateng 2012). However, there is a second round of interview in which the candidates are supplied with a case study which is to be analyzed by the candidates and the discussion happens based on the case study. The candidates are given some time to analyze the case studies and comprehend. The reason behind giving the candidates the required case studies in advance is to let them use their analytical skills to understand the scenario properly and then participate in the group discussion with informed knowledge. The process not only helps in understanding the analytical skills of the applicants but also lets the manager understand the ability of explanation by the candidates. Answer 6 Before the final interview is conducted the candidates have already gone through several stages of the selection process. These are, the screening of the CV and the applications, the preliminary interview, and the two phases of group discussion. Therefore, already before the final interview considerable amount of information is already available with the management on the basis of which an opinion can be formed. The information that are already available are the general knowledge of the candidates and their knowledge about the work, their clarity in understanding, qualities of leadership, convincing power, tolerance level and ability to express. These are the heads under which each candidate is marked and taking into consideration the mark sheet the final interview is conducted. The team which selects the employees consist of the HR manager, and the manager of the department in which the recruitment is made. Conclusion It can be concluded that the company has an elaborate and effective process of Human resource selection in which each of the candidates have to go through rigorous multi-layered selection process after which they are absorbed into the company. Various departments play crucial role in the selection process and the respective heads of the department for which recruitment is done plays important role in the selection. References: Arthur, D., 2012.Recruiting, interviewing, selecting orienting new employees. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Boateng, W., 2012. Evaluating the efficacy of focus group discussion (FGD) in qualitative social research.International Journal of Business and Social Science,3(7). Harrison, R., 2012.Employee development. Universities Press. Hul.co.in., 2018.Apply now the start of an important journey. [online] Hindustan Unilever Limited website. Available at: https://www.hul.co.in/careers/student-opportunities/apply-now/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2018]. Hul.co.in., 2018.Brands. [online] Hindustan Unilever Limited website. Available at: https://www.hul.co.in/brands/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2018]. Lipovsky, C., 2014. The CV as a multimodal text.Visual Communication,13(4), pp.429-458. Scarborough, D.J., Chambless, B., Becker, R.W., Check, T.F., Clainos, D.M., Eng, M.W., Levy, J.R., Mertz, A.N., Paajanen, G.E., Smith, D.R. and Smith, J.R., 2012.Electronic employee selection systems and methods. U.S. Patent 8,265,977.