Article On Recruitment & Selection Process in NGO
Article On Recruitment & Selection Process in NGO
Article On Recruitment & Selection Process in NGO
ABSTRACT
Recruitment and Selection is a foundation of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and its integration to business is
critical to achieve organisational strategic goals. Better recruitment and selection strategies result in improved organizational out-
comes. The basic objective of this research is to explore the recruitment and selection procedures of NGOs based on BRAC; with
analyzing these some recommendations are made to improve recruitment and selection practices. Here both primary and secondary
sources are used for data collection and a structured questionnaire/ check lists was used to keep the research. The findings suggest
that the largest NGOs emphasize professionalism and career orientations and implement long-term, forward looking approaches in
their selection, recruitment, and remuneration. The small and mid-size NGOs, however, do not possess HR/ personnel management
practices of their own; rather they follow and imitate larger members. The implications for HRM practitioners and scope for further
research are discussed here.
1 INTRODUCTION
order for the firm to build and sustain the competitive Therefore, Recruiting & Selecting is important for every
advantage, proper staffing is critical (Wright & Snell 1991, organization including NGOs, FPOs, GOs, etc because the
Boxall 1996). Recent technological advances, globalization, best qualified applicants must be found to fill vacancies.
social trends and changes within organizations have Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting quali-
brought new challenges for recruitment and selection fied or suitable applicants to fill vacancies (E. B. Flippo,
(Rowley & Benson 2002). To effectively face the new chal- Weeratunga 2003 block 6:6, Glueck 1978). The methods
lenges recruitment and selection needs to be integrated and procedures used to acquire an understanding about
with business strategies (Lam & White 1998). jobs are called job analysis. There are mainly two sources
of recruitment: internal and external (Aswathappa
Bangladesh has turned into a nation of NGOs, and it is 2008:150). On the other hand, selection is a process of hir-
argued humorously that in terms of the number of NGOs ing suitable people for job who can successfully perform
for every ten thousand people, Bangladesh ranks number the job (Byars and Rue 1997:172). Right man for right job
one in the world. NGO activities in this country have is the main goal of selection (Dessler 2007). The selection
gained momentum due to the failure of both the GOs process involves many steps (Decenzo & Robbins 1999:
(Govt. Organization) and FPOs (For-Profit Organization) 169) such as preliminary reception of application, screen-
to achieve their missions and objectives (Farrington & ing, interviewing, test, medical test, references and final
Bebbington, 1993; Nobusue, 2002; Ray, 1983; Siddiqui, decision of hiring.
1996). Consequently, NGOs have emerged as an alterna-
tive solution to the needs of the market and society. NGO For this study BRAC, the largest NGO of Bangladesh
activities occur in economic development, and poverty (most probably one of the largest NGOs in the world), is
alleviation through employment creation, micro-credit, selected. The basic objective of this research is to explore
gender disparity eradication, education, community the recruitment and selection procedures of BRAC; to
building, human rights protection and advocacy, social make out the differences between R & S procedures of a
and environmental development, marginally placed and NGO (BRAC) and GOs & FPOs; with analyzing these
outreach communities protection, and salvation from des- some recommendations are made to improve recruitment
titution, have generated enormous success as demonstrat- and selection practices. Recruitment and Placement unit is
ed by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Gram- the most important and largest unit of HRD of BRAC.
een Bank and its founder (Dr. Mohammad Yunus) in 2006 This unit is responsible for receiving requisition of re-
(Khondaker, Bhuiyan, Runa, Khanam, Nahar, Hossain, & cruitment of employees from different departments of
BRAC and taking necessary steps to fill up vacant posi-
Copyright © 2013, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 24 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 1/2013 (Issue 3)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
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tions with right persons at the right time in right quantity. employees hampers organizational performance enor-
The objectives of this unit are to attract the right person, mously (Dessler 2007:194). An ideal selection process
for right place, at the right time, according to the require- comprises some steps such as (Decenzo & Robbins 1999:
ment of the organization. 169) filling up application forms, initial screening, prelim-
inary interview, employment tests, written examination,
2. DISCUSSION comprehensive interview, background examination/ ref-
2.1 BRAC erence check, medical examinations, and job offer.
BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) start-
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
ed in 1972 as a short-term relief and rehabilitation project
following the war of independence with a vision “a just, An enormous literature was found to define and identify
enlightened, healthy and democratic Bangladesh free specific characteristics and importance of recruitment &
from hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and all selection, types and methods of recruitment & selection,
forms of exploitation based on age, sex, religion and eth- and proper management of recruitment & selection pro-
nicity.” Fazle Hasan Abed is the Founder and Chairper- cess. Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting
son of BRAC. Today BRAC is the largest development capable applicants for employment. It is the pool of appli-
organization in the developing world having the core and cants from which the new employees are selected (Edwin
the supporting programs. It is one of the largest Southern B Flippo). Actually recruitment links the employees and
development organizations. BRAC’s outreach covers all the job seekers. The success of the organization mostly
64 districts of Bangladesh and 78% of the total number of depends upon the effective and efficient use of recruit-
villages in Bangladesh and has been called upon to assist ment & selection process. But success may not occur due
a number of countries including Srilanka, Pakistan, Af- to some misconceptions or myths about recruitment and
ghanistan, Vietnam, the Middle East, and Africa, etc. selection practices (Taylor, P. 1998, Aswathappa 2008: 186,
Khan & Taher 2008: 110). Using appropriate techniques
With a goal ‘Enforce procedural justice to intensify trans- the suitable candidates are thus, able to be recruited and
parency and equity and facilitate and organizational envi- selected during their career development (Crawford
ronment to flourish potentials, promote innovation, 2004).
change and quality’ Human Resource Division is one of
the major support program of BRAC. BRAC HR, formally Bangladesh has turned into a country of NGOs. The NGO
known as the “Personnel Section”, renovated itself into sector with 40-65 thousand member organizations, both
“Human Resources Department (HRD)” in 2005, which registered and non-registered, is the biggest employer in
had centralized operation from the Head Office (HO). The this country (Daily Ittefaq, 2011; NGO Affairs Bureau
official site of BRAC is http://www.brac.net. (NGOAB)/Government of Bangladesh (GOB), 2011; Reg-
ister of Companies (ROC)/GOB, 2011; Khondaker, Molla,
2.2 Recruitment and Selection & Rahman, 2008; Potter, 2009), and employs people as
Edwin B Flippo defined Recruitment as the process of paid and honorary staff, professional management, con-
finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. sultant, and volunteers. Numerous studies on NGOs in
It is the pool of applicants from which the new employees Bangladesh focus on issues of micro-credit, job formation,
are selected. It can also be defined as a process to discover sustainable development, women’s issues, social and eco-
sources of manpower to meet the requirement of the staff- nomic issues, NGO interrelationships, NGOs-GOs-FPOs
ing schedule and to employ effective measures for attract- interface, project development and implementation issues,
ing the manpower in adequate numbers in order to facili- and project efficiency, etc., but do not deal much with issues
tate the effective selection of an efficient working force. on personnel management specially recruitment and selection
Recruitment can be defined as the set of activities for an (Ray, 1983; White, 1991; Farrington & Bebbington, 1993;
organization to attract job candidates who have the capa- Farrington & Lewis, 1993; Farrington & Bebbington, 1993;
bilities and attitudes needed to assist the organization Siddiqui, 1996; Holloway, 1998; Anaheier & Salamon,
accomplish its goals (Glueck 1978). The success of re- 1998; Holloway, 1998; Yunus, 2000; Nobusue, 2002; Khan,
cruitment depends upon its ability to create a large pool of 2003; Potter & Ahmed, 2005; Khondaker, 2006; Khon-
competent applicants. There are numerous sources of re- daker, Bhuiyan, Runa, Khanam, Nahar, Hossain, &
cruitment which may be categorized into two--internal Khoda, 2007; Potter, 2009).
and external (Aswathappa 2008:150).
Most research on recruitment and selection has been con-
Once candidates are identified, an organization can begin ducted in Western contexts, mainly in the United States
the selection process. Selection practices can also be linked (see e.g., Breaugh & Starke 2000, Wright, et al. 2005). It is
to organizational success. Byars and Rue (1997:172) de- evident that although rich resources of literature exist on
fined selection as "the process of choosing from among general aspects of NGOs, and human resource manage-
available applicants, the individuals who are most likely ment specially recruitment and selection of NGOs/NPOs
to successfully perform a job". Selection is one of the most in other countries like USA, UK, Finland, Nigeria, etc, but
important functions of HRM because wrong selection of
Copyright © 2013, Asian Business Consortium | ABR 25 | P a g e
Asian Business Review, Volume 2, Numebr 1/2013 (Issue 3)
ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)
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in the case of Bangladesh NGOs, research is still almost Staffs: (I) Permanence of the job depends on the duration
non-existent on selection and recruitment, placement and of the contract. (II) Benefits of the job are determined ac-
promotion, training and education, compensation and cording to the contract letter (III) Duration of the contract
motivation, performance appraisal, career development, is renewable. (IV) Will not get festival allowance, gratuity
and many other sub-domains of management. Although and Provident Fund benefits. (VI) Get earned leave like
Empirical evidence shows that strategic HRM practices the regular staffs. And the Part Time Staffs: Appointed on
vary significantly between countries, even within OECD hourly or daily basis, other benefits of the job except the
nations, and even nature of the organization (Betcherman, daily allowance are not applicable and the duration of the
et al. 1994, Guest 1997, Schuler & Jackson 1999) but in job will not exceed 11 months. Ratio of staffs in BRAC is
Bangladesh NGOs follow the trend of Human Resource given in Fig. 1.
Management in FPOs and GOs.
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This article is a qualitative research based on a case study
of an NGO. The rationale behind choosing a case study
based research is to depict the difference between
academic know-how and practical experience regarding
recruitment and selection procedures of an NGO
operating in Bangladesh like BRAC. Here both primary
and secondary sources are used for data collection.
Personal discussion and interview with employees are the
sources of primary data collection. Different books,
academic contexts, journals, exploratory research reports
and HR departmental manuals are used as secondary data
of the research. Though, it is not a quantitative research a
structured questionnaire/ check lists was used to keep the
research in an assembly and interview the respondents
based on employee recruitment and selection policies and
procedures as well. This check list is distributed among 30 5.2 Employee/Staff Recruitment & Selection Pro-
employees (Gen. Manager-1, Sr. Manager-2, HR cess
Manager-1, Sr. HR Officer-2, HR Officer-3, Program The Staff will be recruited according to the Table of Au-
Officer-10, Executives-10, Curriculum Specialist-1) of thority. The approval of the Executive Director must be
BRAC. The sample group consists of both male and taken in recruiting the staff of all levels of the Head Office.
female staffs from HRD and BEP. The check list For Urgent need of the program staff can be recruited di-
comprised total 18 questions focusing on some important rectly by the Chairman of the Executive Director.
issues like; importance of effective recruitment and
selection, types and methods of recruitment, steps used in In the beginning of the year all the Programs'/ Depart-
recruitment and selection. The answers reflected the ment's Head would send the requisition in the fixed form
recruitment and selection procedures of BRAC and also to the Head Office estimating the requirement of new staff
helped in detecting areas of further improvement. Charts for the whole year in their respective department. There
and diagrams are also used based on employee responses. would be opportunity to re-estimate the staff-requirement
in every three months. But by any means without a notice
5. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES IN of a month, staff recruitment processes cannot be com-
BRAC menced.
5.1 Classification of Employee/ Staffs in BRAC
HRD would make yearly plan to recruit staff on the basis
The BRAC Staffs are of five types. Such as: (a) Regular
of the received requisition. The staff will be recruited
Staff (b) Project Staff (c) Service Staff (d) Contract Staff (e)
through advertisement in the newspapers and other pub-
Part Time Staff. The Regular Staffs in BRAC go through
licity media where applicable. After recruiting the staff
the following conditions: (I) Staff level exists (II) Before
according to the requirement of the program HRD will
confirmation one is to work as apprentice for one year (III)
make a panel of the selected remaining candidates. After-
After confirmation may be brought under Provident
wards staff will be recruited from this panel if requires.
Fund. The Project Staffs: (I) Recruited according to the This panel will remain effective for the subsequent six
duration of the project for the project period (II) cannot be months. The TARC will send the CV filled up by the new-
transferred outside the project. The Service Staffs (for ly recruited staff to the Head Office where applicable and
example-Electrician, Security guard, Caretaker Liftman provide deployment individually in the name of each staff
and the grade-comprised staffs.) are under grade. Proba- mentioning the salary according to the list provided by
tionary period is not applicable for them. After joining the Head Office.
they may come under Provident Fund. The Contract
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