Recruitment and Selection at Unilever Assignment Sample

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1. Background and rationale

I had completed my MBA post-graduation studies, and I was looking out for career opportunities. In the meantime, I had completed few courses and done a few internships in marketing positions in few organizations. After that, I secured a job as a financial and marketing team analyst in Unilever England, where I have to look at the financial and marketing aspects of the company. However, my role also includes the pre-assessment, on boarding and cooperating with potential clients.

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After a year of working in that organization, the recruitment team fell short of the employees and they were looking for suitable candidates to fill up the positions. I received an email from the human resource department with an offer to move to the hiring team. I was offered more opportunities in that designation, and I accepted the role and within a month I shifted to the new position. The new role required me to recruit new efficient candidates for the organization. The organization needed fresh candidates with a creative mindset that will enhance the effectiveness of the company. The organization also started to encourage innovation and merits, creative minds were getting acclaimed to encourage the employees as the company was changing from the inside.

I was offered the new role mainly due to my people-friendly nature as well as the determined mentality. I was admired for my cordial nature and was efficient in handling different jobs at times. The news required me to engage with the potential candidates and seek the talents that my organization requires. My talent of easily bonding with people helped me a lot in this process.

The concept of Learning Theory can be described as the procedures of reviving, processing and retaining knowledge while learning. As per the view of Arun et al. (2020), this cognitive theory defines learning as a change in behaviour, and it studies the learner, not the environment. Experiential Learning Theory concludes that learning that is achieved through experimentation is effective. The theory consists of four stages which are, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation, and concrete learning. From the viewpoint of Baltaci and Balcı (2017), each person has separate tendencies and gives more weightage to certain stages of the process.

2. My role as a Leader

I have to bear the leadership attributes in order to manage a team in the organization. I needed to maintain the cooperation within the team, bring out the best efforts from the members. I am a great admirer of having adversity within the team as it makes the team more dynamic.

2.1. Aims and Objective

I was an employee of Unilever and as an employee of that organization, the first and foremost thought was to understand the mission and vision of the organization. The mission statement gave the idea of the goals of the organization in a broader sense. It helped to gain the perspective that the organization is developing and to incorporate the aims into the daily works in the office. As per the view of Chow et al. (2017), the vision of the company helped to understand and realize the bigger picture remaining behind. My works were completely aligned with the aims and the goals of the organization. The understanding mindset helped me to channel my efforts in a way that the organization benefited from my job.

As a team leader, my job was to inspire the members of the team and motivate them in a way that they become more effective. The team consisted of several individuals working as a whole and everyone in the team equally participated in any project. As per the view of Madanchian and Taherdoost (2019), a team always performs efficiently with a greater sense of responsibility, cooperation and hard work. As a team leader, it was my job to infuse the values and ethics of the organization within the team. The team must grow conscience within themselves as it enables them to enhance the level of urgency, eagerness and motivation (Osman-Gani and Hassan, 2018).

2.2. My leadership Style

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In Unilever, the values and ethics that existed were prioritized the most as it enables the organization to build trust in the society and resolve critical problems. I aligned my style of leadership with the existing values and ethics of the organization. I always believed in the Inclusive Theory of Leadership, as fond of adversity I nurture different views within the team but always aware of the preferences and biases. As per the view of Madanchian et al. (2017), this leadership style encourages the members to think differently, welcomes distinct views from them and widens the mind of the members. This leadership style concentrates on the goals of the others too, rather than solely focusing on self-goals. It helped me in empowering the team members, which enhanced the level of effectiveness of the individuals, increasing the overall performance of the team (Riaz et al. 2017).

I always followed the Transformational Style of Leadership, which refers to work actively along with the members, also by motivating and inspiring them. From the viewpoint of Rudolphet al. (2018), the Transformational Theory of Leadership can be described as a leader working with the member of the team by hand in hand for identifying problems within the team. This leadership introduces a focused and positive attitude of the members that accommodate the innovation, identifies the problems, looks for solutions, and concentrates on the future. This style of leadership enables me to work alongside my team to identify the change needed and guide the team through the change. Looking for a change and identifying the problems enhances the efficiency of the team, and increases productivity (Arun et al. 2020).

The transformational Leadership style consisted of 4 factors that consist of inspirational motivation, idealized influence, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation. Inspirational motivation can be referred to as motivating associates to fully commit towards the vision of the organization. The managers can influence the employees by becoming a role model to them; this factor is considered as an idealized influence. As per the view of Scott et al. (2018), individualized consideration can be implied as mentoring the members and the employees. Encouraging creativity and innovation by challenging the generalized views can be described as intellectual stimulation. The leadership trait influenced the associates effectively and emphasized the values and requirements of employees (Osman-Gani and Hassan, 2018).

2.3. Strategy Adopted

Several brainstorming sessions were organized to enhance the level of innovation and creativity of the members. I encouraged the associates in drawing out a personal development plan through the identification of the strengths and the weaknesses of an individual. From the viewpoint of Collinson et al. (2018), personal development assists in enhancing the personal effectiveness of an individual. It helped them in understanding the potential opportunities and identifying threats and setting up proper goals they wish to achieve. We as a team worked on several situational analysis sessions that helped everyone by enhancing the critical-thinking and problem-solving capabilities.

2.4. Authenticity

Working at Unilever shaped me as a professional and helped me to develop my professionalism and mindset. I became fully aware of my surroundings and my consciousness enabled me to behave in a proper way. I have identified my strengths, values, and weaknesses and through my personal development plan I have sorted out my dreams and goals to achieve. As far as authenticity and transparency are concerned, I am honest in maintaining relativity between my actions and commitments. On the contrary, I did not let others know about the key elements inside or that would rather make me vulnerable in the corporate sector. However, I always introspect on my leadership styles that developed an eagerness to evolve with time. The experience gained at Unilever helped me to obtain knowledge about my capabilities and limitations.

3. Further Recommendation

3.1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional quotient or emotional intelligence can be referred to as the ability to recognize own emotions as well as that of others and identify distinct feelings. A greater emotional quotient enables us to relieve stress, empathize with others, resolve conflict, overcome barriers and challenges, and communicate effectively. As per the view of Baltaci and Balcı (2017), emotional intelligence helps in building stronger relationships and achieving career and personal goals. It also assists an individual to realize his/her feelings, transforms the wishes into action and makes sound decisions. From the work experiences at Unilever, have helped me to enhance my level of the emotional quotient as now I have greater control over my emotions. I have attained higher intelligence through self-management, self-awareness, relationship management, and social awareness (Madanchian and Taherdoost, 2019).

Emotional intelligence holds a strong position in the area of leadership as it is very crucial in decision-making. A strong conscience if decision-making helps in obtaining correct leadership decisions. As per the view of (), emotional intelligence helps in identifying the values of an individual helps in self-regulation. Responding to the feelings of others and empathizing with them enables them to become better leaders. A higher emotional quotient enables them to concentrate on the body language and facial expressions of others (Riaz et al. 2017).

Reference List

Arun, K., Şen, C. and Okun, O., 2020. How does Leadership Effectiveness related to the Context? Paternalistic Leadership on non-financial Performance within a cultural Tightness-Looseness Model?. JEEMS Journal of East European Management Studies25(3), pp.503-529.

Baltaci, A. and Balcı, A., 2017. Complexity leadership: A theorical perspective. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management5(1), pp.30-58.

Chow, T.W., Salleh, L.M. and Ismail, I.A., 2017. Lessons from the major leadership theories in comparison to the competency theory for leadership practice. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies3(2), pp.147-156.

Madanchian, M. and Taherdoost, H., 2019. Assessment of Leadership Effectiveness Dimensions in Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Procedia Manufacturing32, pp.1035-1042.

Madanchian, M., Hussein, N., Noordin, F. and Taherdoost, H., 2017. Leadership effectiveness measurement and its effect on organization outcomes. Procedia Engineering181, pp.1043-1048.

Osman-Gani, A.M. and Hassan, Z., 2018. Impacts of spiritual and cultural intelligence on leadership effectiveness: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Islamic Management Studies1(2), pp.12-23.

Riaz, H., Akhtar, N., Moazzam, A., Luqman, R., Naz, H. and Tufail, H.S., 2017. Leadership effectiveness, turnover intention and the mediating role of employee commitment: a case of academic institutions of Pakistan. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences6(4), pp.pp-526.

Rudolph, C.W., Rauvola, R.S. and Zacher, H., 2018. Leadership and generations at work: A critical review. The Leadership Quarterly29(1), pp.44-57.

Scott, C.P., Jiang, H., Wildman, J.L. and Griffith, R., 2018. The impact of implicit collective leadership theories on the emergence and effectiveness of leadership networks in teams. Human Resource Management Review28(4), pp.464-481.

Collinson, D., Smolović Jones, O. and Grint, K., 2018. ‘No more heroes’: Critical perspectives on leadership romanticism. Organization Studies39(11), pp.1625-1647.

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