<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Title: First steps towards successful recruitment – A study about a small Swedish firm’s recruitment strategy</p><p>Course: Bachelor Dissertation - Leadership</p><p>Authors: Filip Agby, Damir Macanovic and Thomas Mennerdahl</p><p>Advisor: Anders Billström</p><p>Key Words: Recruitment in small firms, recruitment strategy, wrong fit recruitment, HRM, right staff</p><p>Problem enunciation: What pros and cons could the choice of recruitment strategy mean for a small Swedish firm. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give recruiters a better understanding of how a small Swedish company could use different recruitment strategies, together with systematic preparations, to affect the experienced recruitment result. Another purpose is to study if earlier mentioned international research about small firms’ recruitment strategies is applicable to a small Swedish firm.</p><p>Theoretical framework: The section initiates by introducing the reader to the subject through describing Human resource management with a focus on recruitment. Then we point out the importance of systematic preparations prior to recruiting. Thereafter we present five common recruitment strategies. The chapter ends with reasoning about successful recruitment and wrong fit recruitment.</p><p>Method: We have used a qualitative approach to gather profound data for the study.</p><p>Empirical perspective: The empirical framework presents the fallout of the interviews we had with the studied company.</p><p>Conclusion: Our study implies that earlier international research about the challenges in small firms’ recruitment is applicable to our studied firm. The study also demonstrates that our firm have had and has a lack of resources, structure and discipline which is pointed out by the researchers. Particularly the neglection of systematic preparations, which increases the risk of wrong fit recruitment. Our result also shows that the firm uses advertising, network recruitment, recruitment firms and recruiting through the own website. Network recruitment was earlier considered to be fitting when the staffing requirement was very high and speed was of importance. Recruitment firms were on the other hand considered to have many valueable advantages and tended to generate successful recruitments.</p>

Bakgrund: Projektifiering innebär att företag går från en stark linjeorganisation mot att betona projektdimensionen. Denna förändring skapar nya förutsättningar för medarbetare och torde även ha samband med företagets syn på sin personal som strategisk resurs. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga och analysera de förändringar som sker inom Human Resource Management i samband med företags projektifiering. Genomförande: Det empiriska materialet består huvudsakligen av intervjuer med nyckelpersoner på Posten och Saab Aerospace. Resultat: HR-funktionen har en viktig roll i projektifieringsprocessen. Två sätt att organisera HR-funktionen har identifierats, vilka påverkar möjligheten att anta denna roll. HR-relaterade problem får olika proportioner beroende på hur företag väljer att organisera projektverksamheten.

Bakgrund: Medarbetarnas kompetens får en allt större betydelse för företagens konkurrenskraft. Detta innebär att företag kontinuerligt måste investera i mänskliga resurser för att bibehålla och utveckla den samlade kompetensen. Beslut om utvecklingsinsatser har omfattande konsekvenser och påverkar en organisation under lång tid. Trots detta har HR-debatten först under senare år börjat kretsa kring den strategiska betydelsen av kompetensförsörjning. Delade meningar råder dock fortfarande om hur personalfunktionen bör organiseras för att stödja kompetensförsörjningen på bästa sätt. Decentralisering och outsourcing av HR-aktiviteter är aktuella tendenser som får konsekvenser för hur kompetensfrågor hanteras. Decentralisering innebär att uppgifter som traditionellt hanterats av personalavdelningar i allt större utsträckning delegeras till linjechefer, som därmed får större ansvar för kompetensförsörjningen. Outsourcing av HR-aktiviteter är kontroversiellt då det i hög grad påverkar företags strategiskt viktiga kompetensförsörjning. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förstå sambandet mellan HR-funktionens struktur och förutsättningarna att bedriva strategisk kompetensförsörjning. Metod: Studien bygger huvudsakligen på teorier som behandlar organisationsstruktur, HRM och kompetensförsörjning. Intervjuer har genomförts med två representanter från SAAB respektive två från Volvo för att illustrera den undersökta problematiken med två kontrasterande exempel från näringslivet. Resultat: Sambandet mellan HR-funktionens struktur och kompetensförsörjningen är ett företagsspecifikt och abstrakt fenomen. Detta försvårar förutsättningarna att göra normativa anspråk på relationen mellan HR-funktionen och kompetensförsörjningen. Anledningen är att HR-funktionens roll såväl som kompetensutvecklingen i hög grad är implicita fenomen som är"dolda"i företagskultur och arbetssätt. De strukturella förutsättningarna kan därför bara delvis användas för att förstå förutsättningarna för strategisk kompetensförsörjning. En djupare förståelse för kompetensförsörjningens förutsättningar kräver ett helhetsperspektiv som inbegriper företags affärsverksamhet, värderingar och omvärldssituation. En sådan förståelse kan i hög grad ses som förbehållen personer med nära anknytning till företaget, vilket delvis kan förklara varför outsourcing av kompetensförsörjning inte är etablerat i näringslivet.

Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur svenska rekryterare värderar meriter vid anställning av ny personal, då främst inom ekonomiutbildningsbaserade yrken. En jämförelse kommer att göras om den svenska rekryteraren värderar den finländska och den svenska arbetssökandens meriter olika och om så är fallet skall en förklaring försöka ges samt vilka konsekvenser detta kan få. Vi vill även tolka och förstå hur den finländska arbetssökandens mentalitet och egenskaper uppfattas av den svenska rekryteraren, dvs. om det förkommer skillnader i förhållande till den svenska arbetssökanden. Den problemformulering som låg till bakgrund för detta syfte är: Hur uppfattar svenska rekryterare finländare jämfört med svenskar samt vilka meriter värderas högst vid rekrytering av ekonomibaserade yrken? Denna studie är en kvalitativ undersökning bland sex stycken rekryteringsansvariga personer i Umeå. Vi har undersökt främst rekrytering av ekonomibaserade yrken och då sett till meritvärderingen. Vi har gått ut i verkligheten och frågat vilka meriter som väger tyngst vid eventuell anställning. Vi har även kartlagt om rekryterarna uppfattar finländare annorlunda än svenskar och om deras meriter värderas annorlunda. En kvantitativ förstudie har gjorts där enkäter har skickats ut till företag i Sverige och i Finland. Frågor ställdes om rekryteringsprocessen bland ekonomibaserade yrken och även frågor angående kulturella skillnader nationaliteterna emellan. Dock var bortfallet stort, 88 %, så en komplettering gjordes med en kvalitativ undersökning. I de svaren där det fanns skillnader mellan länderna har de använts i analysen för den kvalitativa undersökningen. Baserat på de svar som angavs har vi analyserat dem parallellt med teorier angående kulturella skillnader och rekrytering, då främst teorier angående rekrytering via Internet och HRM- strategier. Teorierna kring kulturella skillnader kan användas för att identifiera kulturella skillnader mellan olika nationaliteter utifrån olika egenskaper som personer besitter. Vi har tolkat och analyserat de olika HRM- strategierna och applicerat teorin kring kulturella skillnader på dessa. Vi har parat ihop olika HRM- startegier med olika egenskaper från teorin kring kulturella skillnader som är typiska för en specifik HRM- strategi. Vi har kommit fram till att Sverige och Finland arbetar utifrån olika HRM- strategier utifrån de uppfattningar som finns om finländare i Sverige. I Sverige känns en mer integrerad HRM- strategi som en självklarhet pågrund av vikten av en anställds och arbetssökandes personliga egenskaper. Medan i Finland utifrån svenskars uppfattning om dem så tror vi att en traditionell HRM- strategi är mer vanlig på grund av fokusen på produktivitet. Ytterligare slutsatser som vi kom fram till var att svenskar är kollektivister, medan finländare uppfattas som individualister i Sverige. Vidare konstaterades även att finländare är hårt arbetande och ambitiösa, i enlighet med vad som svarades vid intervjutillfällena. I övrigt konstaterades att finländare ej söker ekonomibaserade arbeten i stor utsträckning i Umeå. Till slutsatserna hör även att finländare uppfattas som en självklar del av dagens svenska samhälle. De upplevs inte som ”invandrare” längre detta kan även bero på den höga invandringen från andra kulturer till Sverige de senaste årtiondena. Vidare tror vi att status uppkommer på olika sätt länderna emellan. I Sverige uppstår detta genom en kombination av naturliga ledaregenskaper och hårt arbete, medan i Finland så uppkommer detta via hårt arbete. För detta hittar vi även stöd i förstudien. Vidare kom det fram att finländska och svenska meriter värderas lika, förutsatt att ekonomiutbildningen är relativt lika.

Micro businesses are the most common form of business in the world and they play an important role in the economic growth of every country. They are usually characterized by a lack of financial resources, which influences the management of such firms. The role of the owner manager is crucial in micro businesses and has a strong influence on every aspects of the business and one of these aspects is human resource management. Compared to the research about larger companies, the number of researches in the scope of human resource management (HRM) specifically within micro businesses is very small. Another fact which caught the attention of the authors is that the situation in Thailand regarding HRM within micro businesses remains a blank spot. This master thesis will try to provide more information about the situation on the Thai micro businesses and human resource management within them. In order to do so, a theoretical framework was created based on the literature available about human resource management within micro businesses. The second step was to interview the owners of nine Thai micro businesses and discover what their HRM practices are. After these steps we compared the literature and the data provided by the owners of micro businesses in order to find similarities and differences between the two. The conclusions of this study were that many similarities could be found between the theory chosen in our frame of reference and the reality of the nine Thai micro firms. Some differences were noticed but those could not overshadow the fact that the frame of reference was able to describe the situation of the Thai businesses. This thesis obviously evidences some limitations and recommends that more studies should be performed in order to generalize human resource management within micro businesses in Thailand.

ABSTRACT Title:First steps towards successful recruitment – A study about a small Swedish firm’s recruitment strategy Course: Bachelor Dissertation - Leadership Authors: Filip Agby, Damir Macanovic and Thomas Mennerdahl Advisor: Anders Billström Key Words: Recruitment in small firms, recruitment strategy, wrong fit recruitment, HRM, right staff Problem enunciation: What pros and cons could the choice of recruitment strategy mean for a small Swedish firm. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give recruiters a better understanding of how a small Swedish company could use different recruitment strategies, together with systematic preparations, to affect the experienced recruitment result. Another purpose is to study if earlier mentioned international research about small firms’ recruitment strategies is applicable to a small Swedish firm. Theoretical framework:The section initiates by introducing the reader to the subject through describing Human resource management with a focus on recruitment. Then we point out the importance of systematic preparations prior to recruiting. Thereafter we present five common recruitment strategies. The chapter ends with reasoning about successful recruitment and wrong fit recruitment. Method:We have used a qualitative approach to gather profound data for the study. Empirical perspective:The empirical framework presents the fallout of the interviews we had with the studied company. Conclusion: Our study implies that earlier international research about the challenges in small firms’ recruitment is applicable to our studied firm. The study also demonstrates that our firm have had and has a lack of resources, structure and discipline which is pointed out by the researchers. Particularly the neglection of systematic preparations, which increases the risk of wrong fit recruitment. Our result also shows that the firm uses advertising, network recruitment, recruitment firms and recruiting through the own website. Network recruitment was earlier considered to be fitting when the staffing requirement was very high and speed was of importance. Recruitment firms were on the other hand considered to have many valueable advantages and tended to generate successful recruitments.

This thesis explores the fields of contracting and competence agencies. Itfocuses on the relationship between contractors and their agencies, and aims toidentify the expectations that contractors have on competence agencies and theactivities that can be undertaken by the agencies in order to improve andstrengthen the relation. A case study was made of a Danish competence agencyand of the contractors within its network. The qualitative part of the studyincluded interviews with five contractors and a questionnaire directed to theorganization. From the conclusions of the qualitative study and relevant theories,a set of hypotheses were formulated. The quantitative part consisted of a surveythat was sent out to the contractors in the network. The survey aimed to test thehypotheses and the results from the survey were analysed in Excel.The conclusions that were drawn from the outcome of the quantitative studywere that contractors join agencies because of the access to big companies thatare granted by agencies, because they do not have time to promote themselvesso they need someone to do it for them and because of the possibility to createnetworks and that contractors join more than one agency because they do notbelieve that one agency alone can supply them with full time occupation.Further on, it was also concluded that certain HRM as well as SHRM activitieshad a positive impact on the relationship, and that employer brandingstrengthened the bonds between the contractors and the competence agency.

Since China opened up to the outside world in 1978, a tremendous economic development took place. China is today still a fast growing economy. With a huge population that makes up for an enormous market along with relatively low labor costs, China is very attractive for foreign companies. When foreign companies expand and establish in China, many aspects must be taken into consideration. Aspects like cultural differences must be considered by the foreign managers as well as how to manage the Chinese employees in human relations. Having innovative employees are beneficial to any company. However, the way to influence employees to be innovative can differ from one culture to another. There is little research done on Swedish companies operating in China and how they influence their Chinese employees to be innovative. The aim of this thesis is to provide some insight into this matter. The thesis takes a deductive approach, and the investigation is performed quantitatively by a survey. The survey is answered by the Chinese employees that are currently working in Swedish companies where they are to rank the presence of several Strategic Human Resource Management practices. Also, their perceptions on Chinese cultural aspects are investigated. The results from this thesis will point out the most successful practices in influencing the Chinese employees’ innovativeness, but also the cultural factors that can obstruct innovativeness. This research may be of value for Swedish companies, as well for Swedish managers hoping to establish themselves in China.

Foreign labors are important to Taiwan¡¦s manufacturing industries as most of them are taking 3D (Dirty, Dangerous, and Difficult) jobs or night shifts. Previous researches have put attention on the influences of human resource management (HRM) practices on foreign labors¡¦ adaptability or job performance. There is comparatively lesser researches focus on the mediating and moderating variables between foreigner labors¡¦ HRM practices and their performance. Based on the framework of hierarchical HRM, this study aims to explore the mediating effect of foreign worker readiness and the moderating effect of agent involvement on the relationship between foreign labor HRM practices and their job performance. Due to lack of empirical researches related to agent¡¦s involvement, hence this study first applied to qualitative research method to explore the construct and create the measurement and then used quantitative research method to examine the hypotheses. According to the data from Kaohsiung city manufacturing enterprises (total 50 sets of samples; including 50 HR heads and 373 foreign workers), the results revealed that: 1. The relationship between HRM practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (1) Training & education practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (2) Incentive practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (3) Accommodation management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. 2. The relationship among HRM practices, foreign labor¡¦s readiness and job performance. (1) Recruitment and selection management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job readiness. (2) Foreign labors¡¦ job readiness is positively related to their job readiness. (3) Recruitment and selection management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance through their job readiness. 3. The relationship among agent involvement, foreign labor¡¦s HRM practices, foreign labor¡¦s readiness and job performance. (1) Agent involvement positively moderates the relationships between training & education management practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (2) Agent involvement positively moderates the relationships between incentive practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance Base on these findings, we suggests that practitioners should improve the oversea recruitment and selection practices for promoting foreign labors¡¦ readiness and ensuring their job performance. Practitioners can also strengthen the magnitude of education & training, incentives and accommodation management to promote foreign labors¡¦ performance. For enhancing the management effectiveness, practitioners should work closely with the agent in education & training and incentive practices. For the future researches, we suggest that longitudinal research design could further inspect the causal-effect relationship between HRM practices and performance. Furthermore, researches can also expand the sources of data to enhance the generalizability of the results.

As the traditional sources of competitive advantage can no longer provide a sustainable edge for business; the contemporary approach to global business strategy point to core competencies, invisible assets, and organizational capabilities as key factors influencing MNC¡¦s long-term success in global markets. An organization¡¦s intellectual assets are said to be a pack of knowledge under that firm¡¦s ownership or control, through services and the embodiment in firm¡¦s outputs to flow over time period. Knowledge especially has become the most strategically important resource and the potential to compete for advantages among MNCs to advance themselves in the information-driven societies. Derived from theoretical origins of resource-based view and behavioral perspective, an integrative framework from a sample set of 129 further concludes six determinants that enable MNC to build layers of knowledge-based global competence to compete and sustain advantages globally using structural equation modeling (SEM). Human interface, ISO, and parent innovation are found to have direct effect to firm¡¦s knowledge-based global competence, while IT, transnational innovation, and substantial investment in human capital are found to link indirectly through mediating effect of learning culture. From the resource perspective of the firm, as emerging country in its early phase of internationalization as Taiwan, local capabilities for knowledge innovation at host await to be developed over time and hence focal units rely on knowledge inflows from parent to assist their needs. Such interdependence between globally linked and locally leveraged for innovation makes externalized knowledge important for effective knowledge diffusion across network of subsidiaries aside from use of personnel flows for transferring implicit knowledge, IT for transferring explicit knowledge, and ISO for transferring codified knowledge, each requires good integration mechanisms to keep culture, language, and communication barriers to the minimum in cross-cultural settings. Investment in human capital and implementation of learning culture can benefit company enormously from movement of people either horizontally or vertically in terms of learning and sharing through socialization, and building a network of cross-functional interdependence for transferring knowledge, expertise, and sets of common goals and values for synergy.