RECTSEL-347

Case Study #2: Ya Kun Kaya International

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. How would you forecast the manpower needs of Ya Kun?

ANSWER: We can use these few methods which can forecast the manpower needs of Ya
Kun Kaya. These are the Trend Analysis, Ratio Analysis and Computerized System.
Because Trend Analysis we can find new recruit by studying the variation of their past
employment levels which means that they can provide an initial estimate of future
staffing needs but employment levels rarely depend just on the passage of time. Other
forecasting method that we can use to forecast their manpower is Ratio Analysis. In this
method, the forecasting would be based on the historical ratio between some casual
factor and the number of employee required such salespeople. In this case, Ya Kun need
more employee because they need more salespeople to run the business in each of their
outlets. The sales volume for Ya Kun also one of the factor that Ya Kun need to recruit
employee. Compared to trend analysis, ratio analysis assumes that productivity remains
about the same. Computerized forecasting also is one way that can be used to forecast
their need of manpower. With programs like these, employers can more accurately
estimate how many employees that they need to projected productivity sales.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers?

ANSWER:

Advantages of hiring part-time workers include:

 Flexibility in scheduling as they help to fill in the gaps when the full-time workers
go on leave or are taken ill.
 Part-timers will complement the full-time workers.
 Allows Yan Kun to tap into large available pool of job applicants as many as many
more people may be willing and able to work part-time as opposed to full-time.
 They may be deployed strategically during peak hours.
Disadvantage of hiring part-time workers include:

 They may be less committed to the company.

 It may be more difficult to integrate them as they only work occasionally.
 Having too many part-time workers may affect teamwork.

3. Good attitude and commitment are the two important attributes that Ya Kun looks for
in prospective employees. Is a job interview an effective method to assess these two
attributes? How else can Ya Kun get reliable information about these two attributes?

ANSWER: A job interview may not be the most effective method to assess these two
attributes as they are not directly observable during the interview process. In order to
obtain reliable information on these two attributes, managers of Ya Kun may:

 Ask the job applicants for referrals in the application pack and contact the
referrals to obtain information regarding these two attributes.
 Use critical incidence interviews to test if the job applicants have past examples of
these attributes.
 Provide job applicants with a realistic job interview by telling them about all
challenges and worst case scenarios that their staff faces. This allows the
applicants to have a better idea of the job and make a better-informed choice of
whether to take up the job or not.
 Use role- playing exercise where the applicants play the role of the staff and
managers the customers, so that the managers may observed how the applicants
may potentially react when they are actually working for Ya Kun.

4. What suggestions would you make to Ya Kun to improve its recruiting process?
ANSWER: Ya Kun’s low turnover rate and large pool of hardworking committed workers
indicates that its recruitment processes are working well. However, to improve their
recruiting process, Ya Kun’s managers may choose to:

 Use more internal referrals as employees know what kinds what kind of
applicants will fit well with the prevalent company culture.
 Hire a larger ratio of part-timers to full-timers as this allows them greater
flexibility in scheduling.
 Convert part-timers to full-timers if they perform well and if they are open to the
switch.
 Maintain contact with those employees who have left the company so that they
can be informed of any new positions in the company.