Recruitment Process

In recruitment, the implications of equality law allows employer to take out the positive action in the stages of recruitment and before it. In the prior stage the candidates and groups are encouraged for applying the vacant post. It will be also helpful for people who are having  protected characteristics to show their capabilities by performing well so that position can be given to the desired candidates. This  is to be bring into notice that employer have to decide to chose that positive actions  are brought out in a recruitment process where to choose the best one among various capable candidates. To the aspect of positive actions in recruitment process it is required to make up local population for this encouragement of individuals who share particular under-represented secure characteristics to apply for available jobs is the most required manner. The meaning of positive action in any sense does not allow ‘positive discrimination’ because it is strictly not allowed by equality law (Fuchs and et. al., 2007). It has also been witnessed that the positive action are voluntary as employer can decide on whether use it in recruitment process or not.

The  West Lothian Council is one of 32 local authorities within Scotland which has 32 elected members. The different services of this council includes education, development and maintenance of highways, street lighting, social work, housing as well as cleansing. In addition to that the council is responsible for  co-ordinating and planning public services within West Lothian, Scotland (West Lothian Council. 2015). To fulfil such tasks the organizational requires people who can fulfil such task in a positive manner. The local council required to create a positive climate where employees feel confident and able to discuss equality matters with superior authorities. West Lothian council is  identifying where positive action is most needed, and target action in those areas. The proposal herewith is going to assess the diversity in positive action in recruitment for West Lothian Council.

Aim and Objectives

Aim: The aim of present report is to identify the role of positive action in recruitment for West Lothian Council. Furthermore, this proposal is prepared with aims to identify how can West Lothian Council use positive action in their recruitment process.

Objectives: The objectives framed for the present investigation are as follows:

• To assess the concept of  positive actions in recruitment.
• To identify the diversity in positive action in recruitment for West Lothian Council.
• To recommend the various use of positive action in their recruitment process.

LITERATURE REVIEW

What is positive action?

The positive actions can be defined as the elements that can be done so far in the recruitment process of an company so that the organization can ensure selection of the best candidate at the workplace  (Fuchs and et. al., 2007). As per the words Kalev, Dobbin and Kelly (2006) positive action is seen as way of trying to historic disadvantage through providing chance to under-represented groups for getting employments. The mentioned information in Positive action (2011) represented that in 2011 new positive action provisions on recruitment and promotion came into existence in which employers were free to come up with the law relating to positive action and there come some guideline in respect with the provisions.

To the view point of Positive action (2011) Positive actions put various impacts to the companies such as it motivate people and also encourage them to give their best at work. Nebbioso and et. al. (2005) evaluated that some of the common people which have protected characteristics involves age, marriage and civil partnership, race, sex and any kind of sexual orientation.

One of the best examples where positive action is used is suppose a band is having vacant position in its top level which is completely filled by men. At the time of recruitment two candidates have been shortlisted in which one is male and another one is female and both of them are well qualified and experienced.  From a past decade, number of positive actions have been seen around Scotland including Police Scotland, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services. According to authorities, there have been implemented number of positive actions interventions such as careers fairs, recruitment days, days or evening sessions. In such sessions, the potential applicants were able to get overview of the selection and training process as well as they can ask questions related to job  (Positive action, 2011). However, it has been witnessed that colleagues working on a marketing strategy for Police Scotland that is going to pull together various initiatives as well as it going to better focus on priority areas. Positive actions are applicable to all the above stated protected characteristics. One of the main impact of such action is that it promotes equality at workplace and make it free from any kind of biasses (Nebbioso and et. al., 2005).  In accordance with, Positive action (2011) positive action also helps an employer to have a well qualified and diverse range of workforce. It further supports in increasing the degree of customer satisfaction and sales. Positive actions are required to incorporated as a part of employer diversity policy and it is required to compliment other diversity policies (Positive action, 2011).

Benefits of positive actions

The applicability of positive actions at the workplace has presented number of benefits to  local councils. To the view point of study  (Positive action. 2011) the local councils can help people in more effective manner with the help of positive action. It can also bee seen that positive action would only serve to strengthen the workforce of local councils. As per the views of many authors including, Nebbioso and et. al. (2005) the benefits of positive action can be seen in the manner as it makes council more responsible for the people of their region. In case a council provides effective services to local people who belongs to minority groups then they will feel more protected, represented and visible within their region. The benefits of positive actions are seen in the form trust their of people towards local council more. The people will have a sense of comfort about the fact that local council is able to do the things they said instead of broking their promises. According to the data, West Lothian council is the biggest employer hence, it has to set an example for using local council as it is going to benefit them in terms of making inclusive and representative to the local community. The positive implications of using positive actions at the workplace is seen in the form of getting better mix of  people of both genders, all faiths, languages, race and ability. The best candidates for the positions can be appointed at the workplace. In other words there must be a balance of all cultures and abilities in the work place that is being possible after using positive action in recruitment. With the passage of time, most of them became aware about the role and significance of positive action in businesses and how they can benefit the employer. However Verloo (2006) argued that most of the businesses entity were aware about the benefits of talking positive actions for their protected characteristic. The major benefit is that it will support the employer in addressing people with any kind of disability in an effective manner. Other than this, positive actions will also support in attracting the people which are in minority group which will further help in attracting more  effective and skilled workers (Verloo, 2006).

However, it has been witnessed that there are some points where the councils are not going to get benefit to be able to take positive action. In this regard, it has been seen that positive discrimination towards one group may lead to negative discrimination towards other groups. In case the disable community will have benefits from such positive actions on the other side, the able community is going to be neglected from such aspects. It has been seen if local council do not take positive actions in terms of their recruitment they are going to miss out on a significant proportion of people who are  incredibly well suited for the available job positioning. WL Equality Forum Members: Positive Action in Recruitment (2015) if the local councils are not going to take positive action then council will be behind with progressive time as other councils within Scotland  are seen more focused towards  their minority groups  and are treating them more equally and fairly. Overall , it can be said that the council will fell disconnected with the people in their region.

Barriers to positive actions in recruitment

In order to implement positive actions in recruitment process there may be some significant barrier faced by the company. It has been witnessed that a council has to bear some monetary cost for the same. When an corporate entity includes positive actions in recruitment process it has to put financial resources for the same. On the other hand, local councils have to face the issues regard information available to incorporate the positive actions in business. The company requires the information for incorporating positive actions in recruitment and unavailability of proper information may lead to barriers to positive actions in recruitment. However, it has been seen that the company may face some issues regarding Organisational attitudes, in which it becomes difficult to incorporate the policies regarding to positive actions. The research study conducted Positive action (2011) have been witnessed that the local council is going to face barriers in change that has been incorporated after implementing positive actions. Nonetheless, council is going to face issues with convening board to implement positive action in the recruitment process. There were some researches have been conducted years ago in which authors have suggested that certain minority communities are very negative about the police and would not consider such a career for themselves or their children. This has been seen as a barrier to the local council. However, some of authors have suggested the ways to overcome such barrier that are faced to implement positive action. It has been suggested that free of cost  advertising will be a significant way to overcome the barrier. The local councils have to try to get better data on how different groups fare in the recruitment process  so that a new recruitment package can be shown for making the process easier (Positive action, 2011). According to the author, the attitude of people have to be changed towards the police so that they show interest in such services and can apply for the vacant post. The local councils have to train 'role models' and have to make them easier to promote how working with such local councils is  good and how people form all communities are welcomed.

Good practise use of social media to promoting positive action

According to Gnecchi and et. al. (2005) there is no such disadvantage of positive actions for employers which is one of the major characteristic of such kind of actions. In modern era,  businesses have adopted positive actions and they now place advertisements specially to attract disabled people for the vacant position in an organization. At the time of implementing such actions there is no issues or challenge which is faced by businesses and these actions are very easy to implement. In terms of recruitment, positive action can be used when any of the employer reasonably thinks that all the people which have protected characteristic are under-represented in the entire workforce and they suffer from many disadvantages at workplace.  Along with this the employer will be required to carry out intensive research in order to identify  whether any of the protected characteristic is exploited or not. With the help of such positive actions the council can take imitative and encourage individuals. There are various social media platforms  from where people can follow the council such as Flicker, Youtube, LinkedIn and Google search. However, there are some reason for following the council on the various social media platforms. One of the famous reason is that it keeps up to date with local travel news and various updates- strong community engagement. The use of social media platforms keeps people up to date with the available positions in council and also provide views/comments/suggestions. The information can also be posted posted on Facebook page to reach a wide audience with our news. In the investigation of Sekido and Lovell-Badge (2008) stated that  social networking sites are used for  search different services such as strong content and interesting news and information in respect with services provided by council. The local council can use social media platforms for providing ease in  readily available advertisement of jobs. It has been identified that local councils are making use of "my council app" to keep local people up to date with the latest information in local area.

METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Research methodology is the most crucial aspect of an organization that represents the use of various research tools and techniques. The research tools are used to identify the methods that will be more suitable for attaining the objectives of a firm. The  following points represents the information of possible research methods that are going to be used to attain the objectives of present research:

Research Philosophy: Research Philosophy is used to identify the way of conducing investigation in the most suitable manner. It can be further said that the research philosophy used for gaining sufficient knowledge for the pertaining research problem. In other words , it can be said as the method that gives a clear path to the investigator for completing the present investigation as well as collecting the relevant information. In the research world, there are seen three major philosophies such as positivism, realism and interpretivism (Chapman and McNeill, 2004). The major aim of this investigation is to assess the diversity in positive actions in recruitment for West Lothian Council. The need of vast literature and deep investigation allows researcher to use  interpretivisim philosophy. This research is going to make use of interpretivism  philosophy so that sufficient data can be collected from the range of sources. With the use of this research the researcher can conduct an in-depth analysis in available research, thus, it can be said that the use of interpretivism philosophy is the most suitable.

Research Approach: Research approach is considered as a path which supports in conducting research in a very effective and desired manner. Along with this, approach also helps to evaluate the right tools which can be adopted in  order to carry out the study. Inductive and deductive are the two most common type of approaches which are used while carrying out any kind of researcher. At the time of selecting right approach a researcher is required to careful evaluate the nature and objective of study (Kothari, 2011). In some study, specific results are required and in those studies deductive approach is employed. On the other hand, when general information is required then inductive approach is used. In the present research, inductive approach will be used as the main aim of  this study is to identify the role of positive action in recruitment for West Lothian Council. The data will be collected from and thus inductive approach will be more suitable one.

Strategy: Research design is the a particular pattern which supports a scholar at the time of data collection and analysis. In addition to this appropriate research design also supports in getting the desired and best possible outcome of from the study. Some of the common research design includes exploratory, case study, descriptive etc (Chapman and McNeill, 2004).. The selection of appropriate research design relies on the need and objectives of study. Further every researcher has the right to choose suitable design in order to carry out the research in effective manner. In the present research exploratory research design will be used. One of the main reason for selecting this study is that it will help in exploring all the different elements associated with study. The benefit of this is that more better and accurate findings will be gathered (Bryman, 2008).

Data Collection Tools: Data collection is the most important process of search that allows research to gather data from the range of sources. This research tool allows research to collect data for maintaining validity and reliability of entire research depends upon. Furthermore to  conduct a proper investigation, it is crucial to collect the information relating to problem and research area (Chapman and McNeill, 2004).  There are major two sources of data collect that are being used in research such as primary data and secondary data. Primary data collection involves collection of data for the first time on the other hand secondary data collection is the sources in which the data have also been collected previous. For the present research both kinds of data collection sources are going to be used such as primary and secondary. In order to collect primary data interview is taken as a source of primary research (Miller And  Birch, 2012). The interview will be taken in which the questions will be asked from the respondents. In order to collect the information of various secondary information books, journals and  online sources will be used. Further, to gather secondary data physical and online sources will be used. The use of both kind of sources will allows researcher to collect large amount of authentic and reliable information.

Sampling: Sampling is also an crucial aspect that allows researcher to select the suitable population for collecting the data. The applicability of sampling mentioned can be seen in the studies where primary data are to be collected. This can be said as the most important method that is useful in gathering data from the right population. There are two major kinds of sampling such as probabilistic and non probabilistic, in addition ,there are many sub sections. In respect with the present research population will be the managers who are working in human resource departments of West Lothian Council in different areas (Bryman, 2008). The use of random sampling method will be suitable for the present research that will allow researcher to give equal chance to the population for selecting in research process.

Data Analysis: It is the section of research in which the information collected from various sources is analysed in order to derive accurate and correct findings. At the time of analyzing the data one has to be very careful as it directly affects the results and findings of the entire research. Qualitative and quantitative are the two common forms of data analysis which are used by any of the researcher. When the information is present in numeric form then quantitative technique of data analysis is used (Kothari, 2011). On the other hand, when the data is present in non-numeric form then qualitative technique is used. In the present study, the information will be available in non-numeric form and therefore qualitative technique will b used. Other than this, tools such as Microsoft excel will be used in order to analyse the information collected. Charts and diagrams will be used in order to present the information collected. Along with this the thematic analysis of the information will be done in which the analysed data will be presented in the form of various themes. In addition the graphical representation of data will be there.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

Every scholar is required to make sure the fact that all the ethical aspects are taken into consideration in the best possible manner. In order to make the study more reliable and valid,  ethical aspects need to well taken care of. In the present research will cover all the areas of ethical consideration. The data will be secured in effective manner and there will be no baisness done at the time of data collection and analysis. The information collected from various sources  wont be revealed to any other party and the data will not influence any one. The scholar will also make sure that the data will be destroyed after use (Kothari, 2011). Therefore, it can be stated that during the entire study, all the ethical aspects will be well taken care of. In addition to that the act of plagiarism will be followed and taken into consideration in the entire research course of work.  The whole work will be cited with the proper references and appropriate authors.

REFERENCES

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