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SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, TOURISM AND CULINARY ARTS

BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

HTM 3203/HRM 60103 – HOSPITALITY HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

BH 6 / GROUP 3 & 4

GROUP PROJECT

EMPLOYEE SELECTION

NAME STUDENT ID

NUMBER

Evelyn 0312300

Jesica Silviani 0310857

Silvia Chandra 0311317

Tong Xiu Lyn 0307613

Vinny Priscillia Lim 0307829

ZhangKuo 0306181

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 4

PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................................................ 5

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................. 6

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS ................................................................................................... 10

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION / ACTIONS ......................................................................... 12

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN .................................................................................................. 19

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 24

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HUMAN RESOURCE: EMPLOYEE SELECTION

Executive Summary

This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current and prospective of employee

selection that has increasingly come in conflict as many of organization realized this matter after

the issues have become prominent.

The purpose of this report is to emphasize on the importance of employee selection to match the

selected candidates and those who meet the requirements of the job and the organizations. It is

found that there are many problems arise due to improper employee selections and therefore,

analyses and discussions are carried out to identify the solutions accordingly to minimize the

impact to the organization profitability, reputation, efficiency of productivity, guest satisfaction,

and quality of the labor.

The root of the problem to be addressed is the unhappy employees who do not suit the job will

lead to poor performance. Due to that reason, the poor selection procedures and processes lead to

various unnecessary costs in the organization. Consequently, recommended actions along with

the strength and weakness will be explained to solve the issues from basic training concepts,

preparation of selection, work samples and simulations, background investigations and selections

methods.

All in all, the full efforts of identifying and finding solutions will be meaningless without the

proper application and sustain control. There are six stages in total for practicing the

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recommendation actions. From deciding on what company is looking for, design of selection

process, initial interview, background investigations, training practices, and the final evaluation.

Results of this project is hopefully useful for the organization who are in needs to review their

employee selection and able to bring out the best of improvements for further development of the

organization in the near future.

Introduction

Employee selection is an important factor in predicting how company will perform. Employees

are the asset of the company. Strong self-motivated employees who are productive and actively

involved can be a benefit to support the company in the long run and create a good impression

toward guests/clients. On the opposite, unmotivated and unproductive employees will only bring

more burdens toward day to day operation which leads to slower company progress and bad

reputation.

In the hospitality industry, selecting the right employees for each position is very essential to

create memorable guest experience and help to bring new guests and retain the existing guests.

Moreover, the management needs to carefully select employees who are able to work under

pressure and able to manage conflict well since the employees will need to deal with high

amount of guests daily. Selection criteria should be designed well and meticulously to achieve

only staffs that are highly committed on their job. However, most of the hotels don’t put special

attention in this area. Having enough number of employees to serve the guest needs is all that

matter for them. Therefore, by addressing this issue, the hotel will be able to perform better.

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Problem Statement

Mostly, in our internship hotels, we found out that the turnover rate is quite high. There would be

some employees leaving where their positions will be quickly filled for each month. On the other

hotel in Kuala Lumpur, the staffs feel unsatisfied with the heavy workload. On the other resort,

some of the employees weren’t doing the tasks assigned seriously. It could be seen by how they

were busy playing with their gadgets when the supervisor wasn’t around. In Kuala Lumpur hotel,

some employees in housekeeping department keep coming late to the hotel, using coffee maker

in the guest’s room, doing one simple task for 2 hours, and sitting leisurely in the guest’s room.

These unfit candidates with bad behavior had been employed which could have been avoided if

better selection methods had been used.

In conclusion, the root problem here is employees feel unhappy because they were not well-

suited for the job which leads to poor job performance in the organization. One of the reasons

that may have contributed to this situation is improper employee selection.

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Analysis or Discussion

1. Insufficient selection methods

The problem here is in the most of hotels & resorts, selection method wasn’t designed

complete enough to cater what the hotel searching for. Applying only one or two

selection method is insufficient and does not maximize the effort to search for the best

potentials that the candidates have. The basic selection methods for most of the job

position will be resume screening and followed by interviews which are mostly done by

Human Resource Department alone. The existing selection methods that have been used

by the organization might attract inappropriate employees which caused them to leave the

organization in a short working period. Even though there are still a lot of practice that

can be done, assessments such as personality tests are not given during the interview most

of the time. Moreover, background checks on the potential candidates are not done

strictly.

2. Interviews were misleading

After the resume screening, the interview processes will be held in the company.

Unfortunately, most of the candidates have practiced their interviews over and over again

for several times so they can perform better. Sometimes, the answers that they gave were

simply said for the purpose of impressing the interviewer (in this case Human Resource

Department and other manager from respective departments such as Food & Beverages,

Housekeeping, etc). Usually in the end of the interview, the candidates will be given

some case studies question regarding to their future tasks. But it also wasn’t the accurate

measurement on how they will behave on the same crucial conditions in the future.

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3. Interviews weren’t designed to properly measure essential skills such as technical skills,

team skills, intelligence, attitude, and physical skills

There are no effort in re-modifying and improving the selection methods from Human

Resource Department. There are no special assessments and tests designed to measure the

important skills needed for the job. Even though candidates can perform the best in the

short amount of time during the interview, in the long run, their lack of important skills

might be shown through their job performance and give trouble to the company. Some of

them don’t have good people skills so they ended up being harsh toward the guests, not

fitting in with the team and creating office politics among colleagues in an organization.

Some of them required long amount of time to hand in the tasks they were assigned.

There were also staffs who love to make the best use of their Medical Leave entitlement.

The other employees were having low competence in language especially English so it

was common for them to misunderstand guests’ request and slow at responding their

command. These problems certainly can be solved by providing trainings which incurred

additional costs, but how easier it would be for the company if they just choose the right

employee from the scratch by accurately measuring their overall talents & attitudes.

4. Inconsistent questions, No weights, No scoring sheet

There were no certain set of questions set for the interview by Human Resource. The

interview process last for only 3-4 minutes and the questions are changed frequently so

there was no consistency in measuring one’s answer against the others. Therefore, the

hiring decision made was inaccurate which later result in hiring unsuitable employees

that bring no benefit to the company.

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5. Candidates chosen depends on the “gut feeling” and simply to fill any empty vacancies as

fast as possible

There are no clear standards made on how the employees were chosen. Unfortunately,

most of the selections made by Human Resource were based on the first impression made

by the candidates including number of answers provided which match the Human

Resource Manager way-of-thinking without any further considerations. Therefore,

sometimes this is ineffective method for picking the best candidates, yet at the same time,

unfair way for choosing employees. Candidates are often selected based on gut instinct.

For example, candidate’s qualification is fact based while looking more than qualification

such as whether wills the candidate be able to fit into the organization’s culture and will

he be motivated to work for long term is a question to interviewer. Thereby, candidates

chosen are most likely depending on the ‘gut feeling’.

6. The one with good communication skill will get accepted /promoted.

There will always be two types of people in this world which are categorized as extrovert

and introvert. Yet, mostly those employees who are either easily accepted or easily

promoted are those who can communicate their strengths and market their capabilities

very well. In short, extrovert people can have more benefits than the introvert people.

This case can be seen in most of our hotels. Yet hospitality industries need people who do

not only do well at communicating but also able to get the job done. Only a few minutes

of interview conducted by the Human Resources mostly likely are not able to identify

employees who are good in their job, responsible and are able to blend in well with their

colleagues. Interviews only engage in the skills of socially confident people and

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candidate’s position may not necessarily need that as a skill. Interviewers are not able to

see far more than candidate’s confidence and presentation.

7. Candidates provide invalid information on their resume. They take credit for professional

experience they did not do or claim educational background that may not exist.

There were some candidates as well who were coming into the company with educational

background and working experience related to the field they were applying. However,

they never apply the knowledge or skills that they have. Hence, when they started

working for the company, they ended up not knowing several important things such as

how to use the front office OPERA system and POS system for the F&B department.

Some of them wrote several languages with the fluency level of spoken and written on

their resumes, while in fact they only know the simple expressions with limited

vocabularies. Some of them have an endless list of achievements proven by certificates

where they just simply involved in without gaining everything.

8. Interviewers are not trained

This one can be classified as the core problem behind mistakes in hiring process.

Interviewers are not educated and trained professionally in the field of recognizing talents

and choosing the best candidates. Most of the interviewers have no knowledge in the

field to recruit an employee therefore they have no idea what to look for in employees.

They ended up picking up people based on their historical information and appealing

answers given solely in interviews. Interviewers who do not ask detailed questions are

most likely do not bother enough to know the candidate’s talents. Instead, they spend

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most of the time answering the candidate’s questions because they are unskilled and do

not know how to conduct the interview effectively.

Alternative Actions

The alternative actions that can be taken are;

Personality test:

Personality test is a test to measure the traits or characteristics of the applicants which affect the

job performance. It is utilized by employer who identifies potential employees with more than

just skills and knowledge to make sure he is best fitted for the job. The test measures the

personality which provides the data that employer needs to analyze during the selection process.

The most commonly used in employment screening measures five basic factors of personality

which are openness to experience, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional

stability.

Aptitude test:

An aptitude test can be used when there is a big group of applicants applying for a certain job. It

can assess the applicant’s knowledge, capabilities, reasoning skills, logical thinking and many

others. Comparison between applicants is difficult to make especially when the particular job

position attracts a big group of applicants. Therefore, aptitude test is one of the alternatives to

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help to reduce the big group applicants to a manageable size. The main idea is to determine what

career is suitable for you.

Work Samples and Simulations

With the work samples, you present examinees with situation representing the job,

applying to the daily work and evaluating their responses. This test is different with most

tests, because they measure the job performance directly.

Work samples;

Work Sampling for Employee Selection

This is done to predict the job performance by requiring job candidates to perform

one or more samples of the job’s basic tasks.

Basic Procedure

The basic procedure is to select a sample of several tasks crucial to performing the

job, and to then test applicants on them. An observer monitors performance on

each task, and indicates on a checklist how well the applicant performs. For

example; in Housekeeping department, there will be simulation exercises on how

to make up the bed based on the organization standard.

Background Investigations and other Selection Methods

To prevent the wrong information, this is one crucial part on selecting employee

Whereby, testing is usually only part of an employer’s selection process. Other tools may

include:

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background investigations and reference checks, reemployment information services,

honesty testing, graphology, and substance abuse screening.

Most employers try to check and verify the job applicant’s background

information and references. How deeply you search depends on the position you

seek to fill. For example, an education and criminal records (current and last

residence) and more in depth investigation would be more important for hiring a

groundskeeper.

Recommended Solution/Actions

1. Personality test

Strengths:

Reduce employee turnover as long as there is a high correlation between the trait of an

employee and the employee’s loyalty to the company

The organization gets to know more about the employees such as their dreams in the next

five years, their interests, capabilities and many others.

A simple and faster way to be able to identify traits that are needed for certain jobs in the

hotel especially the front line staffs in housekeeping, food and beverage and front office

department. For example, front office personnel must have a love for people to serve

guests genuinely. Traits that

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Weakness:

Lack of validity. The result of the same personality test last month and this month which

was taken by the same employer was not the same.

Lack of diversity in the organisation if the traits of the employees are the same.3. High

cost for the qualified psychologist to analyse the results

Difficult to measure personality traits that may not be well defined

applicant's training and experience may have greater impact on job performance than

applicant's personality

responses by applicant may may be altered by applicant's desire to respond in a way they

feel would result in their selection

lack of evidence to support validity of use of personality tests

2. Aptitude test:

Strengths:

Able to know the general knowledge and thinking skill of an applicant

Able to know ascertain the the skills and knowledge stated in the resume or during the

interview session.

Offer efficient, objective comparisons – The main reason companies use aptitude testing

is to improve the quality of hiring and promoting. Tests are often much more efficient

than interviews for determining if a person has the potential to do a job well. And when

designed properly, aptitude tests can fairly and objectively compare and contrast the

potential of different candidates.

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Reputable tests are standardized – With standardization, it helps us to know the

test is both valid and reliable, so it can be assured of a fair process. And if the candidates

recruitment practices are legally challenged at some point, the tests may help prove that

you provide equal opportunity employment.

Help candidates 'screen in' aptitudes for key competency areas – For example, in a retail

setting, customer service aptitude is crucial. Some numerical ability is also good if you

want your salespeople to run the cash register. With an aptitude test, it can quickly

identify the training needs of your staff and determine how successful the training will

likely be. Aptitude tests help to show whether the training program will be suitable or too

difficult for the applicant.

They're easy and cost-effective to deliver – Many of the original 'pencil and paper' tests are now

scored by computers, making them a very efficient testing resource.

Weakness:

It may have a cultural bias – to develop the abilities and achievements through

experience. The experience includes background, education, opportunities, and home

environment. All of this can affect testing results. For instance, most aptitude tests

involve reading, so if the candidates lack experience in reading, they’re at a disadvantage

when taking the test. If the test is given in English, and that's their second language,

they're disadvantaged.

Previous experience impacts performance on any given task – For example, if the person

is fluent to talk and friendly with many people because of her/his experience from

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previous job, it will be unfair for the new candidate that doesn’t had any experience

working in the industry.

There's not a perfect connection between aptitude and performance – having an aptitude

for a certain skill doesn't guarantee that a person will perform that skill well. Many other

factors affect performance, including interest, motivation, and training.

The best way to reduce the chance of problems with aptitude tests is to use them as only

one part of your overall hiring and promoting process. These tests, by themselves, cannot

show a person's potential. You need a balanced approach to your recruitment and

development systems.

3.Work Samples and Simulations

Decisions to use a work sample or simulation should be made with these considerations in mind.

Regardless of the type of exercise used, all simulations will be most effective if they

Are based on thorough and accurate job information

Are constructed with a consideration of guidelines for quality test development

Are highly structured, so that all individuals are given the same opportunities, and all are

evaluated on the same basis

Include some type of standardized rating scale to score responses

Include multiple raters where appropriate and possible

Strength:

Have been demonstrated to produce valid inferences regarding ability to perform the job.

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Can reduce business costs by identifying individuals for hiring, promotion or training

who possess the needed skills and abilities.

Are less likely to differ in results by gender and race than other types of tests (depends on

particular skills being assessed).

May be more accepted by test takers due to the obvious link between the test and the job.

Less likely to be influenced by test taker attempts to impression manage or fake

responses.

Can be used to provide specific developmental feedback.

Can provide test takers with a realistic preview of the job and the organization.

Weaknesses:

Does not assess aptitude to perform more complex tasks that may be encountered on the

job.

May not assess the ability to learn new tasks quickly.

Often not conducive to group administration.

May require some level of job knowledge and therefore may be inappropriate for jobs

where knowledge may be obtained via a short training period.

May be difficult to keep updated.

May be expensive to administer.

May be time consuming to develop and to administer.

4. Background Investigations and other Selection Methods

The content of background investigation has varies widely, and may include such areas as

leadership, teamwork skills, specific job knowledge and specific skills for example, knowledge

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of certain software, specific mechanical tool use, interpersonal skills, extraversion, creativity,

etc. It basically base on biographical data typically uses questions about education, training,

work experience, and interests to predict success on the job.

Strengths:

Can be administered via paper and pencil or computerized methods easily to large

numbers.

Can be cost effective to administer.

Have been demonstrated to produce valid inferences for a number of organizational

outcomes (e.g., turnover, performance).

Are typically less likely to differ in results by gender and race than other types of tests.

Does not require skilled administrators.

Can reduce business costs by identifying individuals for hiring, promotion or training who

possess the needed skills and abilities.

Weaknesses:

May lead to individuals responding in a way to create a positive decision outcome rather

than how they really are. For instance, they may try to positively manage their impression

or even fake their response).

Do not always provide sufficient information for developmental feedback. For instance,

individuals cannot change their past.

· Can be time-consuming to develop if not purchased off-the-shelf.

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It will be better if HR department use more than 1 method to selecting the employees for a

specific job. Overall, based on the strengths & weakness of the alternative action above, the best

alternative that we recommend improving the selection process and method is work sample and

simulations, followed by aptitude test, personality test and lastly background investigations and

other selection methods. For the first method, work sample and simulations, it may require

expensive administer since they need to provide short training and also does need a time

consuming. However, this method does based on thorough and accurate job information, hence it

produce valid inferences regarding ability to perform the job. As a result, it may reduce a high

turnover for the hotel. In other word, t may give a satisfied job for employees and also a good

feedback form customers rather than using the other method.

Furthermore, at the same time it reduce the business costs to identifying individuals for hiring,

promotion or training who possess the needed skills and it less likely differ results by gender and

race rather than other types of tests. And also, it is more realistic and reliable for the organization

to select the candidates. If we compare between work sample and simulation with aptitude test,

aptitude test is not really reliable to see between aptitude and performance since many other

factors affect the performance. Moreover, if we compare work sample simulation with

personality test and also background investigations, it has reduced the employee turnover, but it

somehow has lack of the validity and lack of evidence to support validity.

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Implementation Plan

In order to ensure the right employee is on the right job position, a company should have a

proper and systematic selection process. And which will be implemented as following stages:

1st Stage: Decide What Company Want

Before the employee selection implement, the related-department manager, supervisor and HR

manager should have a meeting in meeting room to discuss the following three sections:

Determine whether a temporary employee is needed.

Sometimes a new employee is urgently needed. Hiring a temporary worker is a good

alternative to employing a less suitable replacement under pressure. Written employee

contract will be prepared by HR manager to protect hotel benefits. And exceptional

temporary workers can be encouraged to apply for permanent position.

Develop or update the job analysis that includes a comprehensive overview of the job.

Before employee selection start, related-department manager and supervisor have to

complete a job description as well as job specification to describe job responsibilities,

competencies, relationship, benefits, salaries and working condition, etc. Hire the

employees who fit the job description or who can be trained. Based on the job description

and specification to screen employee; it will help Human Resources Department save

time and money to select employees.

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Access the internal and external source. Before advertising a job, the HR department or

related -department top position person should determine whether there is a growth

opportunity for someone already on your team, which can improve employee retention

and commitment.

However, if company advertises externally, it should post the job in a number of different

ways to get the top applicants. For example:

-Employee referrals can be a rich source of potential candidates.

-Colleges and universities yield a great source of candidates.

-Good recruiting firms or headhunters provide a valuable service by conducting the

search on your behalf.

2nd Stage: Design the Selection Process

This stage should be designed by HR and related- department manager before selection in

meeting room. Since they have sufficient selection experience and they may know the proper

selection methods much well.

Determine the selection tools that will use in interview. Based on the job analysis, choose

the most effective selection method to access employees` abilities and aptitude.

Prepare questions and situations for written and practical tests, which are reflect the

major job duty and important job content. Predict the future performance of employee

by refer the interview and reference checks.

Make time to recruit and hire. The human resources training manager need to arrange the

schedule for the related employers, make sure they have enough time to know and access

employee’s ability.

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3rd Stage : Initial Interview

During initial interview, training manager and HR manager should have the first screen of

candidates in the interview room. Since they(employers) are professional and already qualified to

the test and be able to analyze it well.

Ask questions based on the resume given. Let the candidates talk his work experience

and life to know their basic information.

Personality and interests test will be conducted by asking their hobbies, habits and

lifestyle to assess their characteristics and mental initially, such as attitude, motivation

and temperament

Situation role play will be conducted to assess their problem solving skills, interpersonal

and intrapersonal skills. For example, ask the candidates to handle aggressive guest

complaints.

Relate the test scores and criteria

Determine if there is a relationship between the scores and the criteria of performance

through “correlation analysis” which shows the degree of statistical relationship. To do

this, split the employees into several groups according to scores. Then compute the

percentage of high job performers in each of these test score groups. This can help on

selecting the employee

4th Stage: Background Investigations & reference checks

On this stage, training manager, HR manager and related -department manager should conduct

this during initial interview in the interview room. Since these employers are the direct people

who concern the background of their working partners.

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Compare the application to the resume, since there are some people tend to be more

imaginative on their resumes than on their application forms, where they must certify the

information.

Check candidates` background. Base on the information he given, ask him to describe his

certain experience, either work or personal life. Through checking social networking site

or searching from Google to explore applicants` qualification. If we find some legal issue

of applicant, we should be careful about that information but we will not refuse the

applicants because of the past experience. A criminal record does not mean he or she can

never get a job. We will ask some open questions to know his current attitude and

observe his following performance to make decision.

5th Stage: Short Training Practice.

Related-department manager, supervisor or some seniors who have the sufficient work

experience to guide the candidates to learn and work during short training period on their work

position.

Work Sample will be given to assess candidates` initial abilities and based on their

performance level to distribute different tasks and record their improvement in every

certain period, which will be used to compare with their later performance and assess

their potential.

Simulations will be given by Management assessment centers during training. Each of

them will be distributed to related-department manager, supervisor or senior who has

sufficient product knowledge and work experience. The employees will be asked to

perform realistic management tasks by observing experts` work. The experts will

evaluate each candidate potential ability and leadership.

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Retest estimate can be conducted regularly to measure the reliability. For example

employees take online test about product knowledge or Opera system in different day and

evaluate the result. Also online test will save cost and labor.

6th Stage: Final Evaluation

After short training, the final evaluation is necessary to be conducted by HR manager, related-

department manager as well as director to give them some assessment either in the interview

room or on working position. Since they are the top management person of the hotel, who are

also start from the lower position. They understand what kind of staff the hotel need and how to

access a staff in right way and how to improve them.

Achievement Test will be conducted to measure the development that what the employee

learned during the training period. After the short training and work period, they may be

given this test, to measure their performance and compare it in previous time. We will

assign a job to let them finish individually and evaluate their performance. Compare with

their previous performance to see their improvement and predict their potential ability as

well as improvement room.

Personal Presentation: for the candidates who have passed all selection stage then they

will be gave a personal presentation to express their career plan. Through his or her

career plan, the employers will know their aims and how they will work for this hotel.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, a proper employee selection process will help hotel to select a right employee to

achieve hotel's goal which is to earn more profit and save cost and time to recruit new

employees. Therefore, before conduct an employee selection, hotel HR and related department

manager have to come out a perfect selection process to ensure they can recruit the right person.

In order to prevent the similar problems happen in the future that we mentioned before, the HR

department and the related-interviewers should follow the implementation plan at every stage

strictly. The interviewers should be those who are loyal to the hotel and highly motivated to

achieve the organization’s goals, therefore this kind of interviewers is able to try their best to

help hotel to select the right employees for right job positions. If a right employee was selected,

this will help hotel to save money. A right employee will help hotel to have a great improvement

in the performances, and achieve its goal and objectives effectively.