THE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF BASHUNDHARA GROUP (BG).

THE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF BASHUNDHARA GROUP (BG).

1.1 Introduction: Human Resource Department arguably performs the most important task of recruiting the right personnel for the right job and it is not only responsible for recruiting personnel that are required by the company, but also for the training that may be needed to develop the employees. Human Resources Management department plays a vital role to any organization’s success. Now a day, Manpower is considered as a valuable part for the efficient productivity of an organization. But it is very tough & challenging job for efficiently dealing with various manpower’s. Human Resource Department does this challenging job for every organization through its regular and innovative HR activities. In This paper, we have tried to trace out one of the functions of HR i.e. Recruitment and Selection procedure of Bashundhara Group and tried to identify problem facing by them in terms of Recruitment and Selection Process.

1.2 History of the organization: The Bashundhara Group of Companies started off as a real-estate venture known as "Bashundhara" under the support of the Group's first concern - the East-West Property Development (Pvt) Ltd. This project turned out to be very successful and had helped foster the growth of trust and confidence of the urban people in "Bashundhara". Dhaka's growing population, combined with a conspicuously slow growth of housing - led to the landmark success of Bashundhara.

Driven by the result of this success, Bashundhara geared up to invest in new fields, including manufacturing and trading. More enterprises were established in the early 1990s, covering diverse activities involving the production of cement, paper and pulp, tissue paper, steel, LPG bottling and distribution, and a trading company, among others. All these had happened in a span of less than 10 years. During this period, additional schemes on land development and real estate were launched and these focused more sharply on increasing responsiveness to client needs. At present, the Group employs approximately 8000 people.

The Group's first publicly-traded company, the Meghna Cement Mills Limited, is currently listed on the two Stock Exchanges of Bangladesh.

The Group now has 14 major concerns located in different areas of the country. The mostrecent addition to the Group is a multi-faceted shopping mall-cum-recreation centre called the Bashundhara City (BCDL). The BCDL is one further step in our longstanding effort to strengthen our links with the general public through the unique offering of commercial operations and recreation facilities under one roof. It houses theme parks, food courts, multi-screen cinemas, fitness centers, space for over 2800 shops, basement-level parking for over a thousand vehicles, skating and bowling rinks, a supermarket, and office space spread over several floors.

The Group has come a long way in reaching these goals by listening to client needs, learning real-time lessons from past projects, innovating and partnering. Through major investment undertakings, Bashundhara has meaningfully contributed to the economy's stability in financial and capital markets. Underlying all of the Group's activities are the common threads of change, flexibility, and fostering closer ties with the Government, the City Corporation and our clients. Most of its projects have been success stories - this fact alone is enough to justify a sense of confidence in the Group's future.

1.3 Objective of the organization (Mission Statement) Bashundhara Group (BG) is a leading private-sector industrial corporation in Bangladesh. It currently has 14 on-going concerns, ranging from real estate development and management to manufacturing and services. The BG strives to work in partnership with the Government for promoting sustainable development, environment preservation, employment-generation and poverty reduction. The BG has a particular focus on urban housing, recreation centers, and commercial ventures. Thus, the motto of the Group is “For the People, for the Country”.

At the crux of all industrial processes deployed at the Group’s enterprises stands the need to ensure environmental stability. As a result, conscious efforts are made to use re-cycled material as industrial input.

1.4 The Group's Efforts Seek: •

Create affordable housing (developed land & homes) for people

•

Foster better living environments and pleasant surroundings

•

Ensure environmental balance and sustainability

•

Use re-cycled raw material in industrial production

•

Treat industrial effluents

•

Establish recreational and shopping facilities for people.

•

Develop a meaningful partnership with others for development

•

Provide better working conditions for its staff members

The BG works in close partnership with the City Corporations, the Government of Bangladesh, other private sector companies, multilateral institutions, the environment department, and myriad financial institutions.

The BG has its headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its Chairman and a Board of Directors frame the Group’s policies. The Managing Director acts as the Chief Executive Officer. The contact details of the Corporate Office are shown below.

Contact Details: Bashundhara

Group

Bashundhara

City

Tower

13/ka/1 Panthapath Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh Phone: (880-2)8158025- 34 Fax: 880-2-9128319 Web

Site:

www.bashundharagroup.com

E-mail: bgc@bdcom.com 1.5 Projects of the Organization: SL No.

Project’s Name

Establishment Year

Location Baridhara

1

East West Property Development Ltd.

1987

2

Bashundhara City Development Ltd.

2001

Panthapath

3

Meghna Cement Mills Ltd.

1995

Mongla

4

Bashundhara Paper Mills Ltd.

1993

5

Bashundhara Newsprint & Duplex Board Industries Ltd.

6

Bashundhara Tissue Industries Ltd.

7

Bashundhara Still Complex Ltd.

8

Bashundhara LP Gas Ltd.

9

Bashundhara Technologies Ltd.

10

Bashundhara Cement Sack Plant.

Riverview

1994

Narayangong

1995

Munshigong Manikgong

1997

Mongla

2000

Narayangong

11

Bashundhara Trading Company Ltd.

1993

12

Bashundhara Industrial Complex Ltd.

2000

13

Bashundhara Paver Manufacturing Plant.

14

Bashundhara Communication & Networks Ltd.

1.6 Projects as Location base East Wet Property.

Bashundhara City Development.

NewsPaper Paper&&Duplex DuplexBoard.

Board.

News Cement Sack Plant Cement Sack Plant Steel Complex Ltd. Tissue Industries.

Meghna Cement Mills.

LP Gas.

BANGLADESH

Figure 1 : Projects as Location base Organogram of the organization CHAPTER 2: Research methodology 2.1 Objective of the study •

To present an overview of Recruitment and Selection activities of Bashundhara Group.

•

To identify the problems facing by Bashundhara Group in case of recruitment and selection process and suggest remedial measures.

2.2 Data collection

We have collected both primary and secondary data with a pre-designed form to conduct our study. a) Primary data collected through•

Questionnaire method

b) Secondary data collected through i) Internal Sources •

Company HR Strategy

•

Company Statistics

ii) External Sources •

Journal & Internet

•

Other official sources & records

2.3 Data Analysis All data are analyzed by using MS Excel.

2.4 Data interpretation Data are presented and interpreted through tables, figures, graphs, diagrams, charts, photographs etc along with own legends (i.e. title) and serial number.

2.5 Limitation of the study HR policies are one of the most guarded secrets of a business company. We could not able to get though detail about Recruitment and selection process of Bashundhara Group because it was confidential and for the lack of the cooperation form the personnel of BG because their office suddenly moved form Bashundhara City to DOSH, Mohakhali.

CHAPTER 3: Recruitments & Selection Process 3.1 An eye on the future of Bashundhara Group (BG) Successful human resource planning is designed to identify an organization’s human resource needs. BG’s people are their most important asset. In Human Resources (HR), their culture is about empowering us, both to contribute to their business objectives and to achieve our own personal and career goals. They also keep an eye on the future, with their 'leadership behavior’s initiative aiming to identify the next generation of leaders.

HR's overall function is to devise and implement strategies and policies to ensure that they have the right people with the right skills. Within that, there are numerous options for us.

For example, it could be covering culture change, leadership development, strategic talent management, coaching and skills development or alignment of reward with performance The requirements for human resources •

Strong interpersonal and leadership skills.

•

The ability to see the big picture while delivering on day-to-day goals.

•

A real interest in how people drive business.

•

The strength and integrity to take tough decisions.

•

An interest in coaching and developing people

•

Culture/Strategic Awareness

3.2 Recruitment process of Bashundhara Group: We know, Recruitment is the process of discovering potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies. It is a process of discovering the people for vacant posts which involves recruitment planning, job analysis and matching between supply and demand of human resources.

Figure 3: Recruitment Process of Bashundhara Group.

Recruitment Process of Bashundhara Group is described briefly below: a) Human Resource Planning: This is the first step in the recruitment process of Bashundhara Group (BG). Every year BG determines the number of employees to be recruited and what qualification they must possess to avoid HR surplus or deficiency. b) Specific Request to the manager: After a successful HR planning The HP department than sends a requisition to the concerning manager for its upcoming HR needs. c) Job Openings Identified: Here HR department identify the job openings from the historical data, Statistical analysis, new-venture analysis and budget and planning analysis. d) Job analysis: In this step HR department defines the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of the jobs it has identified. e) Recruitment: In the fifth step they select the sources of recruitment i.e. internal or external for recruitment. f) Satisfactory pool of recruiters: Among the applicants applied foe the vacant post eligible candidates are selected.

Table I: Total number of employees of Bashundhara Group (BG).

n

%

Male

7100

88.8

Female

900

11.2

Total

8000

100

The above table shows the number of people employed in Bashundhara Group. It shows that out of 8000 employees the number of male employee is 7100 which is 88.8% of the total employee and rest 900 (11.2%) are female employee.

Figure 4: Bar diagram showing total number of employees of BG. Factors effecting recruitment process of BG: The recruitment function of the organizations is affected and governed by a mix of various internal and external forces. The internal forces or factors are the factors that can be controlled by the organization. And the external factors are those factors which cannot be controlled by the organization. The internal and external forces affecting recruitment function of Bashundhara Group are stated bellow:

Figure 5: Factors effecting recruitment process of BG External Factors: External Factors are stated below: a) Supply and Demand: The availability of manpower both within and outside the organization is an important determinant in the recruitment process. Bashundhara Group sometime depends upon its internal sources by providing them special training and development programs rather outsourcing when there is limited supply in the market for the professionals demanded by the company. b) Image/ Goodwill: Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. An organization with positive image and goodwill as an employer finds it easier to attract and retain employees than an organization with negative image. Bashundhara Group has built an image which has made their recruitment process much easier to handle. c) Political-Legal-Social Environment: Various government regulations prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment have direct impact on recruitment practices.

Sometime government rules & regulations and labor union restrict management freedom to select those individuals who it believes would be the best performers. d) Competitors: The recruitment policies of the competitors sometime have an effect on the recruitment function of Bashundhara Group. To stay ahead of the competition, many times BG had to change their recruitment policies according to the policies being followed by the competitors.

Internal Factors: Internal Factors are stated below: a) Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of an organization specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of recruitment program. It may involve organizational system to be developed for implementing recruitment programs and procedures by filling up vacancies with best qualified people. Though BG has its recruitment policy it does not follow as it should follow. b) Human Resource Planning: Effective human resource planning helps in determining the gaps present in the existing manpower of the organization. Every year BG determines the number of employees to be recruited and what qualification they must possess. c) Size of the organization: The size of the firm is an important factor in recruitment process. If the organization is planning to increase its operations and expand its business, it will think of hiring more personnel, which will handle its operations. d) Cost: Minimization of Cost is what every organization look for and recruitment incur cost to the employer, therefore, Bashundhara Group try to employ that source of recruitment which will bear a lower cost of recruitment to the organization for each candidate. e) Growth and Expansion: Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if it is expanding its operations.

Forms of Recruitment:

The organizations differ in terms of their size, business, processes and practices. A few decisions by the recruitment professionals can affect the productivity and efficiency of the organization. Organizations adopt different forms of recruitment practices according to the specific needs of the organization. There are two forms of recruitment; centralized and decentralized forms of recruitment: i.

Centralized forms of recruitment: The recruitment practices of an organization are centralized when the HR / recruitment department at the head office performs all functions of recruitment.

Benefits of the centralized form of recruitment are:

ii.

•

Reduces administration costs

•

Better utilization of specialists

•

Uniformity in recruitment

•

Interchangeability of staff

•

Every department sends requisitions for recruitment to their central office

Decentralized forms of recruitment: Decentralized recruitment practices are most commonly seen in the case of multinationals operating in different and diverse business areas.

As Bashundhara Group has its own HR department it uses Centralized forms of recruitment in their recruitment process.

Source of recruitment: Job openings can be filled internally or externally by the HR department. When job openings cannot be filled internally the HR department fill it form external sources, i.e. from paper Ads, job agency, educational institutions etc. Bashundhara Group (BG) prefers outsourcing its employee. The following table shows the sources of recruitment of BG. Table II: Source of Recruitment Source External Internal Total

n 7600 400 8000

% 95 5 100

Above table shows the sources of recruitment of Bashundhara group. We see that out of its 8000 employees Bashundhara Group recruits majority (95%) of the people from the external sources.

Figure 6: Pie chart showing source of Recruitment of BG. Table III: Number of people recruited from external sources in Bashundhara Group.

External sources

n

%

Press Ads Job Agency Educational Institution Internet Ads Employee Referrals Others Total

6400 400 0 0 400 800 8000

80 5 0 0 5 10 100

Above table shows the external sources from which peoples were recruited in Bashundhara Group. It has been found that majority 6400 (80%) peoples were recruited form the job advertisement given in the Daily Newspapers, followed by 800 (10%) form other sources and 400 (5%) from both job agency and employee referrals.

Figure 7: Bar diagram showing number of people recruited from external sources in Bashundhara Group.

Constrains of recruitment faced by BG: Every organization faces some barriers during the recruitment process. HR professionals of BG are not apart from that. The biggest challenge such professionals face is to source or recruit the best people or potential candidate for the organization. While asking them several questions about barriers about recruitment they have pointed out some factors which are stated below.

The major challenges faced by the HR department of Bashundhara group in recruitment are: •

Lack of motivation: Recruitment is considered to be a thankless job. Even if the organization is achieving results, HR department or professionals are not thanked for recruiting the right employees and performers.

•

Adaptability to globalization: The HR professionals of Bashundhara Group are expected and required to keep in tune with the changing times, i.e. the changes taking place across the globe. So sometime it becomes little bit difficult for the HR department to align themselves with the frequent change taking place around the world.

•

Process analysis: The immediacy and speed of the recruitment process are the main concerns of the HR in recruitment. The process should be flexible, adaptive and responsive to the immediate requirements. The recruitment process should also be cost effective.

•

Strategic prioritization: The emerging new systems are both an opportunity as well as a challenge for the HR professionals. Therefore, they have to review the staffing needs and prioritizing the tasks to meet the changes in the market which has become a challenge for the recruitment professionals of Bashundhara Group.

Selection process of Bashundhara Group: Selection is the process of gathering information for the purposes of evaluating and deciding who should be employed in particular jobs. There is a basic distinction between recruitment and selection. Recruitments is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organization WHEREAS the basic purpose of Selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various vacant positions in the organization. Selection process of Bashundhara Group is shown in the following figure.

Figure of

8:

Bashundhara

Selection Group

process

a) Preliminary reception of applicant: The initial reception of the application of the candidate. The HR department sometime arranges a preliminary interview as a courtesy. b) Employment tests: In the second step, the candidates have give some tests (Ability, knowledge etc) through which they compare applicants capability and skill level for the required job vacancy. c) Selection interview: A formal, in-depth conversation is conducted to evaluate an applicant's acceptability Two broad questions for the interviewer: •

Can the applicant do the job?

•

How does this applicant compare with others who are applying?

d) Verification of references: Verification of references is done in order to seek the answers of the following questions like: What kind of person is the applicant?

Is the applicant a good and/or reliable worker? e) Medical evaluation: generally a health checklist provides them information about the history health and accident (if any) of the applicant. It is used to determine whether the applicant can handle physical or mental stress. f) Supervisory interview: The ultimate responsibility for a new hired worker’s success fall to the worker’s immediate supervisor. So the supervisor often evaluates the applicant’s technical abilities. So, the supervisor decides whom to hire and whom to fire. Sometime supervisor leaves his decision making authority to the HR department. g) Hiring decision: This is the end of the selection process. After selecting the desired candidate HR department notifies both successful and unsuccessful applicants. They also file applications of unsuccessful applicants and retain application of successful applicants in the employee's personnel file.

Socializing, Orientation & Developing employees: Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees are referring to a process of helping new employees adapt to their new organizations and work responsibilities. These programs are designed to assist employees to fully understand what working is about in the organization, and to get them to become fully productive as soon as possible. This means that employees understand and accept the behaviors that the organization views as desirable, and that when exhibited, will result in each employee attaining his/her goals. Bashundhara Group does this job for the purpose of explore the arena of socializing, orienting, and developing employees.

For the past year BG have trained as well as promoted numbers of its employees which has gave them a competitive edge in the market. Data collected form Bashundhara Group is shown below.

Table IV: Number of people received training in Bashundhara Group

n % Male 170 85.0 Female 30 15.0 Total 200 100.0 The above table shows the number of people received training in BG where we can see that out 0f 200 people who received training majority (85%) of them were male and rest (15%) were female.

Data are presented in the following chat

Figure 9: Pie Chart showing Number of people received training in BG Table V: Number of people received promotion in Bashundhara Group Male Female Total

n 2750 450 3200

% 85.9 14.1 100.0

The above table shows the number of people received promotion in Bashundhara Group. Out of 3200 people who received training the number of male employees received training were 2750 (85.90%) and number of female employees received training were 450 (14.1%).

Data is presented in the following pie chat

Figure 10: Pie Chart showing Number of people received promotion in BG Some Specific Findings: •

BG believes that they offer candidates a strong company reputation and high-quality benefits and learning opportunities.

•

BG offer a positive culture and learning environment and thus has more satisfied employees and are more successful at retaining them.

•

BG use resumes and applications as part of their selection process.

•

Behavior-based interviews are used extensively in selection systems.

•

Applicant testing and assessment are not widely used in typical selection systems.

•

BG utilizes less internal resources when recruiting both internal and external candidates.

•

BG gives strong emphasis on training and experience evaluations—providing a checklist of specific skills and/or experiences, while selection process.

•

Though BG has its own recruitment policy sometime it does not follow as it was supposed to.

•

It gives emphasis on developing its own HR resources providing training and other facilities.

CHAPTER 4: Conclusion and suggestion Strategies for effective Recruitment and selection process: Effective recruitment and selection process can give an organization a competitive edge over its competitors by saving both time and cost. Bashundhara Group recruits major part of its employee form external source, especially form Newspaper Ads which cost them much.

However, we have recommended some ideas that might help them to improve their recruitment and selection process: •

Outsourcing firm:

The company may draw required personnel from outsourcing firms. The outsourcing firms help the organization by the initial screening of the candidates according to the needs of the organization and creating a suitable pool of talent for the final selection by the organization as per their needs.

•

Poaching/Raiding:

“Buying talent” (rather than developing it) is the latest method being followed by the organizations today. Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organization might be a competitor in the industry. A company can attract talent from another firm by offering attractive pay packages and other terms

and conditions, better than the current employer of the candidate. But it is seen as an unethical practice and not openly talked about.

Some other recommendations about Recruitment and Selection process of Bashundhara Group (BG) are as follows: •

In case of recruitment and selection process BG extensively use daily newspapers advertisement. But it should go for online and arrange program in educational institution to attract qualified people their entry and re-entry period.

•

The application form of BG is time consuming and isn’t easy to complete, so it should be easy to complete.

•

BG should consider different factors like cost of living, taxation, family requirements etc. in recruiting people.

•

Several days orientation program should be undertaken to provide a clear picture about the organization, its culture, rules & regulation, employees and management body.

•

They should exercise their recruitment policy and should focus on recruiting the best potential people.

•

It should ensure that every applicant and employee is treated equally with dignity and respect.

•

It should also focus to aid and encourage employees in realizing their full potential.

•

Selection should be made based on transparency, task oriented and merits.

•

Optimization of manpower at the time of selection process.

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Defining the competent authority to approve each selection.

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Recruitment and selection policy should abide by public policy and legislation on hiring and employment relationship.

Conclusion: The globalization of business is forcing managers to struggle with complex issues as they seek to gain or sustain a competitive advantage. Bashundhara Group is one of the large Group of Companies in Bangladesh. They enjoy outstanding recruitment and selection practices in each successful employee hired. So, their hires are better “fits” in their work groups. They also share values, traits and behaviors that are highly regarded for success in the organization. They reach the qualified applicants through the use of innovative recruiting channels. Traditionally, employers have focused on assessment methods that are highly correlated to the content of the job, hence most able to predict ability to perform the required duties and tasks. However, organizations have come to realize that success of the candidate hinges on more than just the ability to carry out tasks and duties well. The foundation of superior performance lies in the synergy created by a close fit with the work

group and with the organization’s culture. No process is complete without an evaluation of its success References: Books: 1. Professor Dr. M. Ataur Rahman, “Strategic Human Resource Management”, 2nd ed., 2009 2. W. B. Wherther, JR. K. Devis, “Human Resource and Personnel Management”, 5th ed., 2004 3. Gary Dessler; “Human Resource Management”; Seventh Edition; Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi-110001, India.