HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

PROJECT REPORT

ON

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Continental Biscuits Limited

1.0 Introduction

Initially in Pakistan, biscuit baking was more conventional where the baker sifted dough

with the basic ingredients and baked small portions of batter in an old-fashioned oven.

Through the years, it has progressed towards modern automatic plants, efficient assembly

lines and high quality attractive packaging. Continental Biscuits Limited (CBL) has been

a significant part of this modernizing and upgrading process. With the latest in superior

technology, an innovative range of quality products and an excellent distribution

network, CBL reigns supreme in the biscuit industry.

Continental Biscuits started in September 1986, when a joint venture agreement was

reached with General Biscuit-the manufacturers of the LU range. As a consequence,

large-scale investments were made, technical know-how and professional expertise was

imported, and over 200 employees were recruited, with the passage of time, the number

has increased steadily and now over 400 employees work for the organization.

At the beginning, innovative brands such as Prince, TUC and Candi were introduced and

proved to bit an instant success. With global merger of General Biscuit and the Danone

Group, a more comprehensive range of products and technical know-how became

available to CBL. So followed a spectrum of brands selected from the Danone portfolio,

claiming a sizable portion of the local biscuit market.

CBL's commitment of providing value to the consumers has paid dividends. The

Company was largely responsible for identifying and developing a huge potential market

of snack packs and ticky packs. This has created new consumption patterns and helped

increase the total biscuit market. Consumer demand is still increasing in spite of the

volatile and competitive business environment. This can be gauged from the current

production capacity of over 48,000 tons per annum-an increase of around seventeen times

from what it was during the initial phase.

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1.1 Company Vision and Mission

1.1.1 Company Vision

Company vision is continued expansion in the biscuits manufacturing and marketing for

not only meeting the local demand but to prepare for WTO and SAFTA by becoming

capable of meeting the regional demand.

1.1.2 Company Mission

Throughout the world, to ensure that people can grow, live better and thrive to be full by

providing them daily with better food, a greater variety of tastes and healthier pleasure."

The purpose of this Mission is to guide and to inspire, rather than to distinguish us. What

does distinguish us is the way in which we fulfill this Mission. A way that is expressed

through our three core values: What does distinguish us is the way in which we fulfill this

mission. The way that is expressed through our three core values.

1.2 Innovations as a part of Growth Strategy

CBL's corporate philosophy is innovation, of products, strategies and packaging. This

passion with innovation has led CBL to introduce the finest brands from the Danone

portfolio in Pakistan.

Prince: Pakistan's premium range of sandwich biscuits is known for its soft, creamy

fillings. Consumers can select from a variety of flavors: chocolate, coconut, strawberry,

banana, vanilla, pineapple and prince power milk.

TUC: In the cracker segment, CBL reigns number 1 with TUC and TUC 50/50. TUC-one

of the first brands to be launched by CBL still stands as the number 1 cracker. Loved for

its light and crispy texture, TUC is enjoyed by all. With toppings or on its own, TUC is a

great snack.

Candi: One of the most innovative brands launched by CBL, the only brown sugar

biscuit in Pakistan; Candi: is, loved for its sweet taste and crunchy texture.

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Gala: Is, full of the natural goodness of milk and eggs. A wonderful aroma, unique

design and great taste are what set this brand apart from the rest.

Zeera Plus: Fresh and tasty biscuits with the special taste of zeera.

Wah: The unique sugar glazed biscuit in a bite size.

2.0 About Human Resource Director

Col. (Retd.) Fazale Naeem - HR & Technical Director: Col. Fazale Naeem is an engineer

by profession and has served in the Pakistan Army for nearly twenty years. After

retirement as Lt. Col. in 1978, he worked for organizations in the private sector. He

joined Continental Biscuits Ltd. as Factory Manager at Sukkur in 1992 and was later

promoted as the H.R. & Technical Director of the company based at the Head Office in

Karachi; all the HR activity is done my Col. (Retd) Fazale Naeem.

2.1 The Role of Human Resource in Continental Biscuits

Continental Biscuits strategic Principals and a major goal are of profit maximization and

maximizing market share. They have HR policies regarding strategic fit and strategic

plan like business level strategy. To measure the HR functions effectiveness and

efficiency, LU focuses on organization learning and employee productivity and use HR

scorecard in evaluating employee performance. However, the company does not have

any advanced Human Resource Information System (HRIS) for employees’ database.

Recruitment and selection, and performance appraisal get consideration and are

incorporated in job analysis information, whereas organization chart process chart are

also important and used in the promotion of employee.

LU has the system of job enrichment and job rotation for the employees; it reviews job

description after very one year (for some particular job it could be two years).

Forecasting techniques for future vacant position in LU is usually done through trend

analysis.

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LU basically depends over centralized recruitment system rather than decentralized, the

most suitable recruitment media is advertisement in newspaper and selection device to

choose the new employee are general mental ability test, integrity test structure interview.

Succession planning for filling the key position is present in the modern world i.e. the

world of internet provides CBL an advantage of internet recruiting like cost effectiveness

visibility and target only qualified respondent. General economic condition and ratio

analysis they have to forecast the supply of out side candidates. The method of interview

is structured sequential and based on situational job related questions.

3.0 Recruitment Method at Continental Biscuits

3.1 Person Specification

Whenever a vacancy is created for a particular job, a job description is prepared with the

consultation of the department. Department Head gives all the requirements of the job.

All this information is used to prepare the essential requirements to be included in the

press advertisement. The information is not documented; it is just a verbal discussion.

3.2 Company Recruitment Method

The Company uses ‘Company-self Recruitment’ method and also the outside agency

recruitment method for new employees.

Because CBL is a huge organization with a lot of employees, outsourcing of recruitment

is essential and very important for efficient and effective performance of organization

goals and objectives. Also, in order to provide opportunity to individuals from all walks

of life, it is very important that continental biscuits provide equal opportunity to

everyone, also to those who cannot be reached directly.

3.2.1 Internal Sources

Continental Biscuits follow internal source of hiring when the work related activity for

the particular job vacancy is at a higher level and requires a high level of familiarity with

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the current operations and functions that the organization follows. External hiring would

be a second option because those chosen internally already know the organization and

can perform better and as quickly as possible that saves time and cost on getting familiar

with the company.

The Management provides growth and career diversity employees across the company

for open positions at various levels / job grades. Job openings within the organization

are announced periodically on the intranet and internal job boards for existing

employees as and when required necessary.

3.2.2 Internal Job Posting

The goal to ensure that all employees are made aware of and have the opportunity to

apply for open positions either before or concurrent with the Company's consideration of

external candidates for employment.

The following factors are informed about to employees as criteria for internal hiring:

1. Eligibility

2. Job Criteria

3.2.3 External Sources

The second option that CBL follows is the external source. It uses two of its features: the

referral approach and the external search approach which includes, press advertisements,

and e-recruitment. The main reason for referral approach is to find competent and self

devoting employees to carry forward the company goal of profit maximization and

growth strategy.

If there are any referrals, then those applicants are given priority but they also have to go

through the whole procedure, like submitting CV, initial interview and final interview.

However, if CEO asks HR to hire a particular applicant on his referral, then the particular

employee is hired without going through the whole process.

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3.3 Usage of percentage of internal vs. external

The Company uses both external and internal recruitment methods and their usage of

percentage is 60:40 i.e. external: internal which shows that external recruitment method is

preferred over the internal method. Press advertisements, and referrals are used because

new talent at continental biscuits is very necessary and imminent.

3.4 External Search application

Continental Biscuits uses CVs as a mode of application. Various skills of each applicant

are thoroughly read in order to make a final decision. This makes it convenient for

recruitment process to avoid any biasness. If application forms would restrict the

applicants to give out only information for which they have asked for and the applicant

will not be able to provide any additional information or skill that he/ she possess,

therefore, CVs are preferred over application forms.

3.5 Press Advertisements

Continental Biscuits use press advertisements as an external search of recruitment in

which they give out advertisement in the newspapers like Dawn, Jhang, Express, and

Business Recorder etc so that they can attract more applicants for the job as they are seen

by the wider audience than just the people who may apply for the job.

Analyzing the press advertisement in the newspaper, we analyzed:

• Size of the ad: the size of the advertisement for continental biscuits is dependent

on the designation for which the position is vacant. If the vacancy is for a high position,

then the size of ad is huge as compared to those of middle level vacant positions.

Style of the ad:

The press ad is easy-to-read with enough whit space given and borders are also used to

make it distinct from the ads of other companies so that the attention of the readers can be

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drawn into the ad. Moreover, appropriate font size is used so that reader could read the

press ad without facing any type of problem or hassle.

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Content of the ad:

The content of the ad contains the following elements:

Name and brief detail: The ad contains both the name and the brief introduction of the

company like.

4.0 Selection Process at Continental Biscuits Limited

The Selection criteria of the continental biscuit states that after pre screening process they

use to call the candidate who come up with their required criteria.

They call the candidate after reviewing their CV, before taking interview in front

of committee.

Committee comprises of departmental head, HR Director, HR manager and

sometimes CEO is also involved.

In some cases there is direct hiring departmental heads are not involved.

Basically in interview they check various things regarding personality, passions

(regarding job), consistency, communication, general knowledge and educational

skills.

Then they calculate total score if he fulfills 70 percent of their required skill than

they short list that candidate and call him for second interview on that day or next

according to their need/schedule.

In second interview they ask the person some general question regarding

company and then ask him for salary and then negotiate with him accordingly

Calculate the final status point.

Hire the person.

This is the general practice which continental biscuits are using in hiring efficient

employee for them.

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4.1 Selection Tool Kit

This selection of competent employees is one of the most important activities a firm can

do.

The selection process will entail eight steps. These steps are:

preliminary selection

employment tests

selection interviews

verification of references

medical evaluation

supervisory interviews

realistic job previews

hiring decision

Step 1: Preliminary Selection

Preliminary selection of applicants involve

Setting minimum standards for the job and communicating these standards to

your employees, and agencies.

Some times some potential applicants may not apply because of their inability to

meet the minimum requirements serves as an initial screening device.

Then, when reviewing resumes and CVs, firm (CBL) is further able to screen out

unacceptable job candidates. At this point, firms also assign priorities to the

resumes so that the most promising candidates may be seen first.

Step 2: Employment Tests

Selection decisions are based on objective data is to use employment tests.

Employment tests provide firm with objective data for purposes of comparing applicants.

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Tests include; paper and pencil test, manual dexterity and strength tests and simulation exercises.

Employment Tests: Validation

Employment test should be valid. Validity requires that the test scores relate to

actual job performance.

Hence, the use of tests is not necessarily a simple process. Whereas a firm may be

inclined to use an "off-the-shelf" product, such a test may bear little resemblance

to the job-related tasks a successful applicant might be required to do. Before

using a test, firms should ensure that they are, in fact, valid.

Employment Tests: Reliability

Not only must employment test be valid, they must also be reliable. That is,

employment tests should yield consistent results. An employment test gives a

similar score each time the person takes the test.

Paper and pencil tests are used to test knowledge. The firm uses a paper and

pencil knowledge test to ascertain an applicant's knowledge of computer

programming skills or to test whether or not an applicant understands government

regulations governing an industry.

Knowledge tests have good reliability, but their validity must be tested before

they are used.

A keyboarding test, testing an applicant's keyboarding speed and accuracy should

also have reliability factor.

Performance tests measure the applicant's ability to perform some part of

the job for which applicants are to be hired.

Firm also utilize psychological tests to measure an applicant's personality

or temperament.

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Of all the tests mentioned thus far, psychological tests are the least

reliable, and their validity is also weak, because the relationship between

personality and actual job performance may be unknown.

Step 3: Selection Interview

Eight Steps for Implementing a Valid Interviewing Process:

Conduct formal job analyses

Write job descriptions

Interviewers review job-relatedness of potential question by consulting

appropriate job descriptions

Interviewers write out all questions before the interviews

Use panel interviews.

Create rating forms for the interviews.

Anchor interview questions to job behaviors (use Critical Incident Technique)

Standardize interviews

Selecting the best candidate for the job is the #1 priority of the selection process.

The employment interview is conducted to learn more about the suitability of

people under consideration for a particular job and is one further obstacle for the

applicant to overcome. The interview is one further means of reducing the number

of people who might be eligible for the job.

The interview is therefore a formal, in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate

an applicant's acceptability for the job opening. The interviewer is interested in

answers to the following questions:

Can the applicant do the job?

How does this applicant compare with others who are applying?

Prior to the interview, other selection procedures (obstacles) should have narrowed the

selection to a manageable number of applicants that look promising for an interview. The

more applicants picked, the more time the process will take. For most jobs, less than six

candidates should be ample.

The selection interview proceeds in a series of stages.

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Initially, the interviewer needs to be prepared. Part of this preparation includes

deciding where to hold the interviews and which type of interview to conduct.

Preparation also includes carefully reading through and making notes on the

applicants' application forms and resumes. At this stage, interviewers should

make frequent reference to the job (job description) to compare the applicant's

background with the job's requirements. The preparatory stage also includes

developing a series of job-related questions.

During the interview, the interviewer should have an outline of questions, on

which to take notes.

Most basic among interviewing principles is the notion that the interview should

be "job-related". This means the interviewer should focus on the position being

interviewed for. Personal inquiries ought to be avoided.

During the interview process itself, initially, the interviewer(s) should ensure the

creation of rapport between interviewer(s) and the interviewee. Next, the two

parties can engage in the exchange of information. Once the interview has been

terminated, the interviewer(s) must set aside some time to evaluate the notes they

have taken during the process.

Panel interviews

After above process Company goes for panel interviews, in which three to five

persons meet together with each applicant The process of creating a group

consensus reduces the likelihood of individual biases influencing the final

decision, and is therefore likely to produce better decisions.

Using job descriptions

Job descriptions help interviewers focus their attention on relevant, job-related

information. Job descriptions should be perused before the interview begins.

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Rating Forms

Interviewers can use job-related information most effectively when their questioning and

assessing is guided by a rating form. In other words, the job's major behaviors should be

listed separately on a rating form, and each of these should be covered by a set of

appropriate questions. The rating form thus prompts each interviewer to rate the

applicants on all critical job behaviors as identified in the job description.

Behaviorally Anchored Questions

Interviewers make more valid ratings of interviewees when their questions focus

on job-related behaviors rather than personal traits. The rating process can be

further improved by anchoring questions to specific behaviors. At this stage, the

interviewers develop a scoring system for each question.

The scoring process involves developing examples of good, marginal and poor

answers to the questions (this could be done prior to the interview by using the

Critical Incident Technique). Next, numerical weights are pre-assigned to

particular responses (i.e. Good = 5, Marginal = 3, Poor = 1).

Interviewing using behaviorally anchored questions

During the interview, applicants are asked identical, pre-determined questions,

and their responses to are written down. Later panel members rate the candidates'

responses using the numbers associated with the behaviorally anchored examples.

Behavioral anchoring is especially appropriate for situational questions which ask

applicants to explain how they would respond in a series of hypothetical situations.

Avoiding Discrimination

During the interview, it is important that discriminating questions not be asked. At times,

the information sought during interviews is not relevant to the job being filled and,

consequently, discriminatory elements may enter into the selection process.

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Step 4: Verification of References: the references mentioned by the candidate applying

for the vacant position are then referred to and verified.

Step 5: Medical Evaluation: Some medical evaluation regarding the candidate health is

followed which is done after the candidate has been selected.

Step 6: Supervisory Interview

Since the immediate supervisor is ultimately responsible for new workers, he or

she has to put into the hiring decision. The supervisor is better able to evaluate the

applicant's technical capabilities and is in a better position to answer the

interviewee's job-related questions. Further, the supervisor's personal commitment

to the success of the new employee is higher if the supervisor has played a role in

the hiring decision.

In fact, in a majority of firms, the supervisor has the authority to make the final

hiring decision. In these cases, it is the role of the HR department to do the initial

screening and to ensure that hiring does not violate laws such as Human Rights

legislation or Labor legislation.

Step 7: Realistic Job Preview

The realistic job preview involves showing the applicant(s) the job site in order to

acquaint them with the work setting, commonly used equipment, and prospective

co-workers. The realistic job preview is intended to prevent initial job

dissatisfaction with a job by presenting a realistic view of the job. Research shows

that job turnover is lower when realistic job previews are used.

Step 8: Hiring Decision

The actual hiring of an applicant constitutes the end of the selection process. At

this stage, successful (as well as unsuccessful) applicants must be notified of the

firm's decision.

The applications of unsuccessful applicants are often kept on file and the applications of

successful applicants will be retained in the employees' personnel files.

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No matter what the form of the job offer, the principle is generally the same: do

not make promises or statements that you cannot or do not intend to keep. Such

statements can lead to expensive litigation if it is later decided to terminate the

employee.

When job offer is made, it should include the following information:

the position offered.

location of the job

salary (although sometimes salary must be negotiated before the applicant will

accept)

benefits

starting date

any papers or information that should be brought on the first day of work

a date (or time) by which the applicant must respond to your job offer, so you can

move on to the next candidate if your first choice doesn't accept

Reviewing the Hiring Process

After completing the hiring, the process ought to be evaluated. Here are some

considerations in the evaluation:

What about the number of initial applicants? Were there too many applicants? Too

few? Does the firm need to think about changing its advertisement and recruiting to get

the result desired?

What was the nature of the applicants' qualifications? Were the applicants too

qualified? Not qualified enough? Perhaps the advertisement needs to be re-worded to

attract more appropriate candidates. In this case, using a job description can help.

How cost-effective was the advertising? A simple way to measure is to divide the cost

(not only in dollars but in your time) by either the number of total applicants or the

number of applicants that you considered seriously.

Were there questions that needed to be asked but weren't?

How well did the interviewers do? One way to determine this is to ask the new

employee to critique the interviewing process.

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Did employment tests support or help the hiring decision? If not, maybe the firm will

have to reconsider the kinds of tests it is administering. Further, the evaluation process

should help the firm decide if the cost and time involved in the testing is worth it.

Would you have come to the same hiring decision without testing?

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