DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTERIZED EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION SHORT LISTING SYSTEM 

(A CASE STUDY OF GUINNESS NIGERIA PLC)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Computer activities have in recent past replaced virtually every form of operation this is because of the advent of information technology, which provides a global network connection for all such activities. With this technology, many organizations have their tentacles spread across the glob.  In line with this trend, employment application short listing search activities and job providers need to join the band wagon of the global community in shearing their information across the internet.  The Project work is based on this notion. This employment application short listing system of Guinness Nigeria Plc is centered on the way and manner new staff are being recruited into the organization by short listing their names using a computerized system rather than using the conventional method which involves typing and pasting of the paper on a notice board whereby applicants whose names are not short listed can be angry and easily tear off the paper. The process that was used before this research was carried out was not as effective as expected by the organization because of the limiting factors that was associated with the system in such a way that, applicant find it difficult to find their names on the notice board after all the necessary exams and interview have been carried out. This was because the means of displaying the short listed employee was not reliable and can easily be destroyed even though the paper is locked inside a notice board. And at the end of the day, the applicants will end up going back to the organization to lay complains by stressing the management after they most have pasted the short listed names.

In other to over come this problem, I felt is extremely necessary to design an automated system that will be used to short list employee that applied for a particular position.

The short-listing process involves determining which applicants meet the minimum key selection criteria to perform the job satisfactorily and/or ranking applicants to progress to the next stage of the selection process.

Short-listing candidates supports an efficient applicant assessment process through ascertaining whether candidates meet the relevant criteria to reduce the applicant pool to a manageable size.

Best practice techniques in short-listing applicants include:

  Using a standard application form. This form should:

1.     standardise the format and information collected from applicants to reduce potential subjectivity in the assessment process

2.     contain statements confirming that the form has been reviewed for fairness and equity

3.     communicate who will see the information, privacy and how information will be used in the recruitment and selection process and state that applicants may be required to verify the information provided

4.     using a scoring procedure to evaluate whether applicants meet the key selection criteria or determine ranking for the next stage of the process

5.      Developing, where possible, a talent pool (with applicants’ permission) of those who were not successful for this particular position, but who may be suitable for an alternative position.

1.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GUINNESS NIGERIA PLC

The firm Guinness Nigeria Plc came into existence in year 1950 with the sole aim of importing and distributing Guinness stout from Dublin for eventual sales in Nigeria. Due to the success of the product in the country it gave rise to a decision to establish a small brewery in the year 1962.The foundation stone of Guinness was laid at Ikeja on the 31st January 1962, by Arthur Benjamin Francis Guinness now the Earl of Irish to which titles he succeeded on his grandfather’s death until 1967 in active services during the 2nd world war.

Guinness Nigeria is a subsidiary of the prestigious Diageo Plc of the United Kingdom. The brewery was the first outside of Ireland and Great Britain. Other breweries have been opened over time – Benin City brewery in 1974 and Ogba brewery in 1982.

Guinness Nigeria produces the following brands – Foreign Extra Stout (1962), Guinness Extra Smooth (2005) Malta Guinness (1990), Harp Lager Beer (1974), Gordon’s Spark (2001), Smirnoff Ice (2006), Satzenbrau (1995).

Guinness Nigeria Plc is a company that believes in enriching its communities. This it has achieved by embarking on laudable Corporate Social Responsibility projects in several communities in Nigeria. These projects are Water of Life initiative, which currently provides potable water to over 500,000 Nigerians spread across several rural communities, from Northern to Southern Nigeria; scholarship and Guinness Eye Hospitals in three cities in Nigeria.

Nigerian Guinness is said to be twice as strong as Irish Guinness. In the 1800s, the Irish brewed the Guinness twice as strong, due to a fear of evaporation on the long voyage to Nigeria. However, the alcohol did not evaporate, and to this day Nigerians brew their Guinness twice as strong.

Guinness Nigeria limited became a public company In 1965 and was one of the first companies to be quoted in Nigeria stock exchange with shares being offered to Nigerian shareholders, 1200 Nigerian held 20% of the equity.

In 1971, a decision was taken to build a new Brewery at Benin at a cost 12million to brewery larger beer, this was the biggest brewery ever built in Nigeria.

The company believes that investment in the training and development of its staff are wise investments. This has resulted in the establishment of training centers in Benin and Lagos (Ikeja).

Following the ban on importation of methods barely the company has conducted research into the use of maize and sorghum in place of malt in production of the different brands of beverages.

In the Nigerian market, Harp lager beer gained a remarkable success alongside Guinness  stout, due to its good quality too hence received a wide patronage and now known as Guinness Nigeria PLC.

It was merely up to a decade of the brewery and marketing of harp that its brand loyalists started shifting their interest to the other hand. The complaint raised by Harp patronizes for gradually changing preference was as a result of the carelessness on the part of the brewers to eradicate particles discovered in the final product and these were major set-backs suffered by Guinness Harp.

In the year 1995 a new product line “satzenbrau” was in the market and it received attention in Lagos and west Ibadan to be precise for now.

In 1990 another product line “Malta Guinness”, was also in the market and it has received attention all over the country and outside the country.

It indeed received acceptance and as such requires effective management system, to guide against the future of all lines of product carried out by Guinness Nigeria Plc. (www.Guinnessnigeria.com).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The process of short listing applicant who applied for a particular position in the organization have created a big problem that the entire management can no longer contain due to the process involve in handling the applicant who are eligible for the positions. This some times take weeks to resolve the problem because the entire applicants will have to go to the organization and the management will start to attend to them one after the other. This problem was as a result of the paper method of short listing applicant who is eligible for employment. Due to the fact that, the paper can be destroyed by those people that are angry based on the fact that their name did not appear on the paper.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The practical objective of this work is to design and implement a computerized applicant short listing system for Guinness Nigeria Plc. One of the most important objectives of this project is to contribute to academic research work while the subsidiary objectives include;

i.        To enable easy access for employee or applicant short listing information on the computer either off line or online.

ii.      For easy update of applicant information.

iii.    To enhance the rate and speed of short listing applicant or employee information due to the fact that computer is a fast machine.

1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

If this prototype is fully developed it will be very useful in many areas such as:

i.                   It will ease the work of the personnel department of the institution.

ii.            It will bring about improvement in the organization management.

iii.        The government can also review and deploy it to other sectors.

iv.        Private individuals can also find it good to use

1.5     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is generally on the issue of a computerized employment application short listing system. It however covers such areas as employment application process, short listing process etc. the organization this project work is design for, which is the case study is Guinness Nigeria Plc, Benin City.

1.6 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

 A survey of individuals in this study involves with the management of a computerized employment application short listing system which was conducted in order to obtain relevant data for the study. In order to obtain demographic information about organizations using a computerized employment application short listing system, only one questionnaire was sent to Guinness Nigeria plc, which was the primary source of data used for this research work. The purpose was to get the organization’s views on a number of issues regarding a computerized employment application short listing system. In addition, was the secondary source of data which was considered most helpful in this study. The secondary sources from which data was collected include: textbooks from library, and different websites on the internet.

1.7     DEFINITION OF TERMS

Employee: A person who is hired to provide services to a company on a regular basis in exchange for compensation and who does not provide these services as part of an independent business ( Patrick Smith 1997)

Employers: They are the employer of labour, who might therefore be said the controller of the activities of the establishment.

Applicant: As anyone who expresses interest in a position (Jeo Smith 2011)

List: A series of names, words, or other items written, printed, or imagined one after the other: a shopping list; a guest list; a list of things to do (Charles Brain 2011).

Productivity: this can be defined as efficiency with which work is done, the amount of work done in a certain work.

Responsibility: this is the duty to perform certain assigned tasks in a satisfactory manner

Management: Organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of clearly defined objectives.

Employment: Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee

Selection: Is the process of identifying the most suitable applicant and persuades him/her for employment.

Recruitment: Is the process of filling in qualified persons into an establishment.

Responsibility: Is a person who is reliable and able to carryout various duties imposed on him/her by the establishment.

Service: A service is an intangible commodity. More specifically, services are an intangible equivalent of economic goods. Service provision is often an economic activity where the buyer does not generally, except by exclusive contract, obtain exclusive ownership of the thing purchased.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In the course of this study, a lot of limitation was met and these include the followings:

Time: - Time was a major limitation in this study because the time given for the work to be complete was very short and as such, there was no time to get all the necessary information and materials that is needed to carry out the research work. Finance:- High cost of traveling was also a problem that caused an obstacle to this research work. It was important to some locations that were used as the case study for this research work so as to get some necessary information that will help to prepare the research work.