Exploring Positive Action in Recruitment and Selection

The provided content consists of various academic and professional resources related to diversity, inclusion, and positive action. The sources include books, journals, and online articles that address topics such as managing diversity, age discrimination, work engagement, neighborhood attachment, best practices for using social media in recruitment, and equal opportunities in the workplace. Additionally, there are policy documents and procedure guidelines on positive action, recruitment, and selection, which aim to promote diversity and inclusion. The content also includes research methodology guides and academic papers that focus on qualitative research, quantitative models, and realism research. Overall, the assignment content is a diverse collection of resources that can be used for research purposes.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Diversity in positive action in recruitment for
West Lothian Council

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INTRODUCTION
A Critical Analysis of the impact of diversity in positive action for the process of
recruitment: A case analysis of West Lothian Council
Research Background
According to Bear et, al,. (2010) Human resource management (HRM) is the crucial and
most significant part of business operations. HRM functions focus on planning, developing,
coordinating and controlling the employees in order to attain organisational objectives. This
segment of the business unit creates a wide and significant impact on business growth and
development (Ghaye, 2010). The legal and regulatory framework of business, plan and develop
policies which regulates organisational functions under ethical considerations. Every business
irrespective of its purpose of operations develops structured and well defined policies and
procedures for organisational growth in the competitive economy. These policies are well
defined by HR department of the company for every employee. According to Saunders et, al,
(2012) business policies and procedures are developed in order to achieve consistency and
outline protocols. These are developed to reduce risks of misunderstanding of employment terms
and also to ensure fairness within the companies (Policies and procedures, 2015).
The term positive actions represent different methods and strategies designed and
implemented to minimise discriminatory actions and abolish stereotyping within the economy
(Stratigaki, 2012). This terminology has a significant impact on HR practices and policies of the
business. In the modern era of hyper-competition diversity of workforce is an effective option for
enhancing organisational growth and brand image within the market (Equality Act 2010 -
discrimination and your rights. 2015). Employing diverse range of people in the business reflects
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community talent efficiently. It helps the business in developing a strong and committed team of
employees as well. Diverse ideology developed an effective base for understanding unique
consumer requirements as well as strengthening group thinking which enhances decision making
process of the company.
(Bureau, 2011)
The equality bill proposed by parliaments enhances and supports diversity within the
organization by using positive actions using positive actions. The concept focuses on recruiting
more representative range of people in the business using practice of recruitment in positive
action. This strategy helps the business in attaining competitive and strong team of employees
(Madia, 2011). This framework helps a business in developing a strong positive brand image
within the community. It helps in developing equal opportunities and diverse practices for
businesses. A wide range of practices and procedures are adopted by organisations to provide
equal opportunities to individuals irrespective of their, age, gender, nationality, disability, race
etc (The Equality Act 2010, 2011). This helps in providing equal opportunities to applicants in
significant HR procedures such as recruitment and selection (Barak, 2013).
For the past decade, a number of positive actions initiatives have been seen around
Scotland including Police Scotland, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Crown Office and
Procurator Fiscal Services. The present study will develop an in-depth study about the concepts
and practices adopted by public sector organisations similar to those stated above. The case
analysis of West Lothian Council will help in understating the application of concept in public
sector industry. The Council is a publicly accountable organisation. West Lothian Council is one
of 32 Scottish unitary local authorities, serving a community of over 175,000 citizens in central
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Scotland (West Lothian Council, 2015). The main aim of the council is to develop quality of life
of the people residing there. It integrates its corporate objectives with community and
environmental needs to attain a positive outcome for the community. The major emphasis of the
council is to develop a positive change within the market through an effective decision making
process. Diversity is a key requirement of council. The study will examine the process and
practices adopted by the council in order to provide equal job opportunities for individuals. The
proposal herewith is going to assess the diversity in positive action in recruitment for West
Lothian Council.
Aims and objectives
The aim of HRM Research Project is to analyse the impact of diversity in positive action
for the process of recruitment: A case analysis of West Lothian Council
Objectives
 To critically analyse the concept of diversity in positive action to identify key concepts
and best practice
 To examine the impact of diversity in positive action in recruitment process for West
Lothian Council
 To identify the range of practices adopted by public sector organizations to recruit people
using diversity in positive actions
 To recommend the best practices for diversity in positive action for public sector
organisations to bring together the findings and make recommendations to establish the
best set of practices for West Lothian Council
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LITERATURE REVIEW
This section is developed with a motive to conduct discussion over existing literature so that
insight about the subject matter can be attained. With the help of it, conceptual information
is attained based on which research gaps are identified. This section of the study will focus
on analysing the gap between academic theories and practical application of the same in the
present study. In this context, books, journals and online content have been used to collect
necessary secondary information.
What is positive action
According to Bear et al, (2010) positive action can be defined as a strategy which is
designed just to minimise the discriminatory actions and stopping categorisation within the
economy. The stated practice mainly takes place in two areas i.e. in service provision and in
employment. In order to meet the special needs of particular community’s organisations can
adopt positive action practises. It can be used by employers in order to go through the various
measures that an organisation can take if it wishes to diversify its workforce and make it more
representative of wider society (Fullan, 2014). These are the actions which are not used in the
relation to disability as well. In current British Law positive action needs to be voluntary in the
part of the employer. It is all about providing equality of opportunities. This law highly allows
the training and encouragement as it provides access to job opportunities. Here, the meaning of
positive action is presented in any sense which does not allow for the any type of discrimination.
It is highly linked up with the equality law and tries to use all the measures through which
minority people can also get a chance to be selected. For the same, Disability Discrimination Act
operates differently because unique obstacles are faced by disabled people entering into the
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workplace (Makkonen, 2013). According to Wajcman, (2013), organisations can take positive
actions for the under-represented groups by providing them training and encouragement. It can
be easily presented by the set of examples such as: A police force covers recruitment open days
precisely for the possible females as well as ethnic minority groups. In addition to this, there
should be a scheme for minority group people. For the same a local planning authority creating a
trainee scheme for all the female town planners as well as ethnic minority group people.
Benefits to positive action
Leiter and Bakker, (2010) stated that positive action is all about equality and it also helps
in achieving greater diversity. Employment and occupational advancement are central to life of
modern era. There are a group of people who can benefit from positive action. In this regard, a
new provision for the positive action can be used which helps the people or a group of people
who share a protected characteristics. There are various voluntary organisations who always
been able to treat disabled people more favourably. One of the major benefit of using this tool as
it helps various countries in fight against the discrimination. It is highly beneficial for companies
these days by eradicating prohibited discrimination (Equality Act: positive action and changes to
discrimination law. 2010). In this regard, organisations may change their employment policies
and may do little to eliminate complex problems as well. Here, it is the best way to put a stop to
any discrimination which is taking place and develop equality in every sense. According to
Kirton and Greene, (2010) by taking positive actions companies can easily attract more
applications from disadvantaged groups of employment as well as entry into training or
educational courses. One of the major advantages of such outreach and development schemes is
that organisations can easily compensate with the obstacles faced by members of minority
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groups. This is one of the effective techniques which ensure increases the number of
participation and also ensure definite results.
According to Herring, (2011) all the ethnic minority group people require to give
preferential treatment in terms of employment. Positive action practice presents the alternative
strategies that have resulted into a considerable degree of gender equality throughout the society.
These are some of the major benefits of positive action which are justified by the goal of
achieving real and substantive equality for all in society. Moreover, the main benefit of using
positive actions at the workplace is developing a friendly work culture by getting involved with
all the workers, understanding their languages, race and ability.
Barriers to positive action
As far as benefits have been covered with the positive action, some of the main barriers are
also preceding with the same. At the time of developing positive actions there are various
difficulties which might be faced by the organisations. . According to Kunze et, al, (2011)
managing change after implementing the positive action is considered as a major barrier for the
organizations. In this regard, majority of workers are not satisfied with the changing process and
involvement of minority group people. However, they cannot easily accept such people within
their business firm.
Best practice within industry when using positive action
Within all those industries which are using positive actions it is essential to incorporate it
in a best possible ways. In this regard, Livingston, et, al, (2010) determines that making an old
employees aware about this technique is one of the most suitable way. It enables them to
encourage the level of participation and minimising the disadvantages. All the elderly employees
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must be trained about the latest technologies in the market so that they can easily acquire the
latest advancements. Through this, they can become more productive and enhance their skills.
Further, another most effective practice which can be entailed at the time of using positive
action is personal development classes. All those people who are involved in the positive action
technique belong to ethnic minority groups and they should have properly trained to groom their
personality. Moreover, the last and most appropriate practice is reverse monitoring which
presents the five stages i.e.:
 Developing a structure program
 Making this program first priority
 Screening of all the members of positive actions
 Providing them appropriate training
 Feedback and changes (Billsberry,2010)
Further, this technique helps the company in incorporating the positive action within the
organisation in a most effective way (Barak, 2013)
Using positive action in the recruitment process
Positive action means the steps that firm can take as an employer to encourage the people
of minority groups (Wajcman, 2013). Further, majority of companies nowadays are using this
concept at their recruitment process so that they can encourage all those people in an effective
way. The organisations here focus on developing well defined measures for recruitment and
section. According to this merit candidate must be appointed on the basis of merit as any other
candidate is appointed (Fullan, 2014). Moreover, the employer does not have a general policy of
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always favouring people. At the time of recruitment, companies need to take positive action in
which employer can take several steps that encourage people from groups with different needs.
Sometimes it has been identified that all those people who are sharing the protected
characteristics may be at a disadvantage and may also give rise to a different need and the low
level participation in particular activities. For appropriate recruitment process an employer need
to encourage all the people to overcome with these disadvantages as well as meeting different
needs.
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
Introduction
This is one of the crucial and most significant parts of the study. Research methodology
helps in providing a definite structure to the report in order to attain the research aim. The aim of
the current study is to analyse the impact of diversity in positive action for the process of
recruitment: A case analysis of West Lothian Council. In order to attain the research aim
research onion strategy has been adopted by the researcher. It will help in clearly structuring
research structure and design to meet its objectives.
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Figure 1: Research Onion Saunders et al, (2012):128
Research philosophy helps in defining the beliefs of conducting the research in order to
attain its aim and objective. This is the most critical layer of research onion. It develops a strong
foundation to conduct research and carry forward with it’s in an effective manner. Hereby the
researcher develops the assumptions and beliefs for the research in order to analyse which type
of data should be collected and how to carry forward with the research as well. Sobh and Perry,
(2012) defined research philosophies in two broad categories which are positivism and
interpretivism.
Interpretivism is a broad research philosophy which focuses on the subjectivity of
theories and actions. This philosophy undertakes human interests and choices widely to interpret
and evaluate the research. The present research aim is to analyse the impact of diversity in
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positive action in recruitments (Martin and Guerin, 2012). Human responses is a crucial factor
for the research hence the research will adopt intepretivism in the present research. In contrary to
this positivism is the concept whereby the researcher focuses on the objectivity of the research
study. This philosophy is rigid and is based on effective facts and figures. It does not consider
human behaviour or response to attain research aim. It focuses on developing a universally
applicable result. The results of a study such as this depend on the quantifiable results and facts.
Present research focuses on analysing the impact of diversity in positive actions. The
research topic focuses on analysing human behaviour within the organisation in order to attain
the results. The research results will be derived using responses of the employees of the council.
Moreover, subjective analysis will also help in attaining the research objectives. Therefore,
interpretivim approach will be adopted for the present research study.
Research approaches
According to Martin and Guerin, (2012) research approach is the method which provides
effective strategy to attain research objectives. This method helps in simplifying the study by
adopting a well developed approach to attempt it. Research approach is divided into two major
categories as shown in research onion diagram which are deductive and inductive. These
approaches suggest different methods of conducting the research to attain research aim.
Inductive research approach develops results which produce generalised results by interpreting
results collected through data collection. Deductive research approach on the other adopts
methods to test the validity of assumptions (Goddard and Melville, 2014). Both the methods
have their individual significance and approach.
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Inductive research approach is formulated by using theories and observation which helps
in attaining the reliable conclusions. The researcher develops research questions for these
studies. The present study will adopt inductive research approach hence research questions have
been developed to attain research aim. Deductive research on the other hand focuses on testing
the validity. Hypotheses are developed for these types of researches. This approach is not viable
for the present study as research topic is broad and will be based on data collection through
interviews from organizational employees.
Research strategies
After analysing research philosophy and approach for the study the next layer of the
research onion focuses on analysing effective research strategy to conduct the analysis. This
layer focuses on developing and defining research design which helps the researcher in
structuring it in a well developed manner. It develops a tactic to carry out the overall
investigation. According to Garner and Scott, (2013) there are variety of methods to attempt
research such as survey method, experimental research, case study analysis, exploratory
research, descriptive research etc.
The present research aim to analyse the impact of diversity in positive action in
recruitment for West Lothian Council, to attain the aim the researcher will use primary and
secondary data analysis. This clearly reflects that the research is exploratory research. Moreover,
the overall study is based on the central research questions. Data collection and analysis focuses
on developing a clear interpretation of the research questions as well. Hence, exploratory
research strategy will be adopted to conduct the present study.
Research choices
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On the basis of research onion research choices refer to finding an appropriate method to
conduct the investigation. This factor is supported by the availability of resources such as time,
money and people. There are various choices such as mono method where only one method is
adopted while multiple methods as the name suggests adopts more than one method to resolve
research problem. In order to conduct the present study the researcher will adopt the multiple
methods (Daniel and Sam, 2011). The present research will adopt and mixed method where both
qualitative and qualitative methods will be used in order to resolve research questions and deliver
well developed results for the study. This will help in developing authentic and reliable research
results. Both secondary and primary researches will be adopted to attain research aim (Goddard
and Melville, 2014). Qualitative method will help in effectively considering and analysing
human behaviour and preferences while quantitative measures will help in clearly analysing and
delivering results.
Time horizon
Time horizon is yet another significant part of the research study. This helps the
researcher in seeking effective and well developed measures to conduct and use the research
(Dekker and et.al, 2013). Time horizon is segregated into two broad categories which include
Cross sectional and longitudinal. Longitudinal horizon focuses on the researches which are very
broad and takes long time for completion. Such researches are conducted in broad time frame
and usually take more than 8 years to attain research objectives. Ongoing research, can
sometimes cross decades to attain research results. Cross sectional researches on the other hand
are those which are conducted for short span of time. These are the observational study and are
well developed in short time frame. The present study will be conducted in cross sectional time
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horizon as the topic of the study is specific and demands observational analysis for the study.
The research aims and objectives are not very broad. Moreover, the resource availability for
conducting the research is also limited hence cross sectional method is best for the selected
study.
Techniques and procedures
Data collection and analysis
According to Daniel and Sam, (2011) data collection is a crucial part of conducting and
analysing the result. This is the backbone of research study as no study could be developed
without collecting data. There are major two sources of data collect that are being used in
research such as primary data and secondary data. Primary data collection may be defined as the
method whereby the researchers collect and use the data for the first time. Proper representative
samples are selected and investigated in order to attain the research results. For the present study
the research will conduct primary research through survey method. The equality and diversity
officer of each local authority will be surveyed. Further to this member of the public sector
employers network, corporate working group on equalities and West Lothian equality forum
members will be used in the sample to not only give an accurate representation within West
Lothian but an overall representation of public sector organisations within Scotland. This
sample size will be selected due to time and cost constraints of the researcher in sampling.
Secondary data collection on the other hand is the process where the researchers use data
collected from past researches, surveys, news articles, books etc. In order to attain the required
knowledge, for the present study literature review will be conducted through secondary data
collection. On the basis of that data research questions will be attained.
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Sampling
Sampling is the effective and most crucial measure to attain research results. A sample
represents the overall population which can be represented for conducting research and attaining
results as well. According to Saunders, et al., (2012) Sampling is a specific principle used to
select members of population which should be included in the study. The present study will
adopt survey method in order to attain fresh and reliable research results. This will help the
research in generating facts and figures for the study. In order to conduct the research in an
effective manner the researcher will adopt non probabilistic sampling method. This measure will
give everyone interested in the study to express their opinion. Further to this, 4 representatives
from different charities of different disadvantaged groups will be interviewed. They will be
selected on the basis of their convenience and availability of time. They will be then interviewed
using structured and non structured questions in order to attain clear organizational practices and
individual perception as well.
Research limitation
Conducting a research report is a critical and tedious task. It demands high level of focus,
investment of time and funds and effective analytical skills to attain research results. The success
of the research focuses on the effective availability of resources and implementing the same on
the time measure. The limitation of the present study is that the topic of the research is broad
however the availability of the time will be limited. This restricted the researchers from adopting
broad and ineffective measures for the research. The data collection methods were also selected
based on the same. Moreover the limited cost factor is another constraint which will prove to a
major limitation for the research. Present investigation was the problem faced by the researcher
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for the collection of secondary data that will be resolved through having proper access to books,
journals and online sources. Including this, problems can be faced in relation to lack of time and
cost.
PLANNING AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Present research study will be carried in a well planned and structured manner. The
following step by step planning of the research will help in creating an effective and valid impact
on the overall research.
Activity/Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Writing the research proposal
Reading and understanding literature
Finalization of objectives
Drafting the literature review
Collection of secondary data
Analysis of the secondary data
Development of research approach
Drafting of research methodology
Formulating questionnaire
Arranging interviews
Conducting interview
Gathering of information
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Findings of the draft
Evaluation of data
Finalizing other chapters
Draft findings chapter
Submission to tutor and awaiting feedback
Revising the final draft
Printing and binding
Submission
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 biasness
done at the time of data collection and analysis. The information collected from various sources
will not be revealed to any other party and the data will not influence any one. 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. The researcher will focus on
structuring and formatting the report in adhering to the CIPD and university guidelines.
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