Summary
Maryland Technology Consultants (MTC) is an organization that uses IT and management approaches to offer quality services to its customers. It provides its customers with unique consulting services and recommendations through highly skilled consultants. MTC is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, and has two satellite locations. In addition, the organization employs more than 450 employees. To meet the growing demand for its services, the company wants to expand its operations by getting additional contracts which will demand an extra 75 employees within a short period of time. However, the management believes it would be challenging to attain the strategic goal with the current manual hiring system. This report aims to demonstrate how IT-based solutions will enhance the hiring process. It will provide an implementation plan for applicant tracking software for MTC.
Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology
Business Strategy
MTC’s main strategy is offering its customer’s consulting services, business concepts, and recommendations. The organization is focused on ensuring that its customers are satisfied by meeting their needs. They believe that the changing needs of their clients can be achieved when their employees are skilled and work closely with their customers (Turner, 2019). For example, active listening makes it easy for employees to understand what customers need and signals that the consultant is paying attention and is concerned with what they are saying. The people who work for MTC should understand its customers’ products and services. They should be familiar enough with the company’s rules and regulations that they can fully explain them to clients. Therefore, the organization’s strategy is to ensure the customers’ needs are met.
MTC intends to make sure that it remains up-to-date with technology. The organization’s ability to thrive is based heavily on its adoption and use of modern technology. MTC ensures that its operations are effective and efficient to stand out in the industry. In the contemporary environment, businesses are improved through the efficient and effective use of available resources (Turner, 2019). Technological advancement is needed to make the flow of business operations as smooth as possible and reduce costs. Additionally, MTC wants to eliminate tasks that slow down the practices, streamline administrative work, and adopt better ways of working. With technology, the consultants are able to provide sound advice and effective solutions to MTC’s different clients. Thus, staying up-to-date with technology benefits the company by increasing efficiency and lowering the operation cost.
The Impact of the Current Manual Hiring Process on MTC
Low Productivity
The manual HR process reduces the productivity of the MTC. With a slow and challenging hiring process, the employees tend to spend more time than they require. Some of the critical tasks, such as recruiting and organizing training programs, take much time when they are done manually (United Nations, 2019). Tom, an administrative assistant, says, “As you can imagine, when hiring volume is up, I am buried in paperwork and trying to keep all the applicants and their resumes straight, track their status in the process, and ensure everyone has what they need is very challenging” (Case Study). This directly influences productivity because the employees will spend most of their valuable time on work that is far less helpful and profitable than the duties for which they are paid. As a result, the productivity of MTC is at risk when the employees waste time using the current manual hiring system.
Poor Quality of Work
The current hiring process at MTC adversely affects the quality of work. When an HR department uses a manual system, and the company grows, it will likely be harder to track more employees and keep records (United Nations, 2019). Manual processes that do not work and a high turnover rate in the HR department can negatively impact MTC and HR talent. Employees who spend too much time on administrative tasks lose interest, which can be bad for the whole team and cost them money. According to Peter, one of the recruiters at MTC, “Everything is very time sensitive, and the current process is not nearly as efficient as it could be” (Case study). The hiring team finds it challenging to effectively deliver on their role because the manual system is time-consuming. Therefore, the quality of work done by employees at MTC is at risk due to the use of the current hiring process.
Possible Mistakes in The Hiring Process
Using the manual hiring system may lead to errors that might lead to the ineffectiveness of the process. The HR team’s dependence on manually entering applicants’ data can result in serious mistakes (United Nations, 2019). Due to the size of MTC, they are maintaining tons of paperwork with the system, which causes a high risk of human error. Peter, one of the recruiters, acknowledges the problem by stating, “Applications and resumes can get lost in interoffice mail or buried in email; and, when a hiring manager calls us, we often cannot immediately provide the status of where an applicant is in the process” (Case Study). In the absence of this information, the hiring team is unable to continue with the process. Based on this, they can decide to start the process or abandon the whole operation.
Financial Burden
The manual hiring process may have a financial impact on MTC. The delays in the recruitment process adversely affect the company’s reputation, and unfilled jobs often hurt a company’s productivity and revenue (United Nations, 2019). When a job goes unfilled for a long time, it can put too much stress on the current team because of the extra work, the lack of knowledge, and the lack of skills. Additionally, MTC loses money when empty positions lead to lower sales and poor performance because there are no projects. In support of this, Evelyn, the CEO of MTC, posits, “I recognize that the current manual hiring process is inefficient and not cost-effective” (Case Study). As a result, the organization may lose money through a delayed hiring process because the workforce cannot meet customers’ needs.
The Benefits of Improving the Hiring System
References
Elfenbein, D. W., & Sterling, A. D. (2018). (When) is hiring strategic? Human capital acquisition in the age of algorithms. Strategy Science, 3(4), 668-682.
Silva, M. S. A. E., & Lima, C. G. D. S. (2018). The role of information systems in human resource management. Management of Information Systems, 16, 113-126.
Turner, P. (2019). Employee engagement in contemporary organizations: Maintaining high productivity and sustained competitiveness. Springer Nature.
United Nations (2019). Manual Staff Selection System. Web.