Global Mobility Service Overview

Global Mobility Service Philippines Inc. is an IoT (Internet over Things) and FinTech company
that aims at providing financial assistance to unbanked individuals who are not able to get credit
for loans such as tricycle drivers. They are partnered with various financial partners such as
Aeon Credit Services who assist in the financing of these individuals. The current President/CEO
is Tokushi Nakashima who focuses more on GMS Japan HQ. The person currently handling
GMS Philippines is COO Kazumasa Nakashima. The company was established in 2013 with the
Philippine Branch gaining Incorporation in 2014.
Their vision is to create an environment where earnest workers can be evaluated properly as well
as a society where everyone has access to mobility, where everyone is encouraged to work and a
society without noise pollution or gas emissions. Their goal is to create a sustainable society
through the early realization of Happiness.
Looking at their Tricycle operations, they get clients without any credit and screen them under
there own guidelines. When they pass, they are provided loan assistance with the help of
financing partners to purchase a brand new tricycle with no downpayment and are only required
to pay their amortization weekly. This allows their customers to improve their life as they will no
longer have to rent old and outdated tricycles but will be owning their own unit and can use it as
much as they want. To ensure that their customers pay, a device called the Mobility-Cloud
Connecting System (MCCS) is installed which is connected to GMS servers via the internet.
This provides GMS the location as well as the status of the vehicle such as if the Engine is on but
the vehicle is Ide or if it is currently running. In the event that the customer fails to pay, the
servers send a signal to the MCCS attached to deactivate the engine, preventing the customers
from using their unit until they pay off their balance.

Purpose and Function of HRM

Human Resource Management is considered to be the strategic management of an organization’s
human resource as well as undertaking the operations needed to ensure that their human resource
is competent. In other words, they are concerned with their employees from their recruitment till
their retirement. As such, HRM’s main purpose is to ensure that employees are able to maximize
their performance based on their job role in the organization (Bhattacharyya, 2017). It usually
has 5 main functions; Recruitment and Selection, Orientation, Maintaining Good Working
Conditions, Managing Employee Relations, and Training and Development.
Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment is defined to be a process wherein potential applicants for a vacancy within the
organization are screened and selected through various processes ranging from resume screening
to interviews. This is done to ensure that the most qualified applicants are retained while
unqualified ones are let go off (Bhattacharyya, 2017).
Proper planning must be done before engaging in the recruitment process such as determining
what the vacancies are and what will their job description be. Then they will have to define what
would be the ideal applicant for the job as well as the screening process and interview questions
to ask when handling the interview (Bhattacharyya, 2017).
Orientation
The main purpose of the orientation is to give new employees an idea on what the organization is
truly about as well as what the work environment and their boss is like. This usually involves
telling the mission and vision of the organization as well as their goals (both long-term and short-
term). Other than discussing about the organization, the orientation is meant to be a program that
helps an employee have a better understanding of what their role in the organization will be
along with their job relationship with other positions (Bhattacharyya, 2017).
Maintaining Good Working Conditions
As the title suggests, one of the main responsibilities of HRM is to ensure that the current staff of
the organization has the right working conditions that is able to optimize their performance. This
includes both their physical workplace and the work environment. Another aspect regarding their
working condition they have to focus on is the system that will dictate the compensation of their
employees based on their performance; this compensation can be either financinal or non-
financial or both. This often focuses on their motivation as ensuring that their employees are
constantly motivated enables them to contribute more to the goals of the organization
(Bhattacharyya, 2017).
Managing Employee Relations
As the staff of the organization are considered to be one of its most important pillars, it has
become necessary to ensure that good relations between the employees is promoted. It has been
seen that employee relations can have a significant influence on their behaviors and performance,
with poor relations resulting in various conflicts taking place in the workplace (Bhattacharyya,
2017).
HRM helps control these relationships by being able to influence the organizational culture that
is present within the organization through policies and principles and acting as an intermediary
between two parties if conflicts arise. This helps ensure that employee relations are maintained
as positive (Bhattacharyya, 2017).
Training and Development
Training and development can be considered to be one of the most important aspects of HRM
because it is this function that ensures that employees are competent in their line of work. This
also ensures that any new hires are able to have a better understanding of the operations in the
organization, along with teaching them any skills they may require in their job (Bhattacharyya,
2017).

Evaluation of different approaches to Recruitment

Looking at the recruitment approaches of GMS, it is seen that they follow three main kinds;
Recruitment Agencies, Online Job Hiring Platforms, and Social Media postings.
Recruitment Agencies
Recruitment Agencies are described to be agencies in the private sector that focus on providing
placements to companies with vacancies, both temporary and permanent (HR Tool: Employment
Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.). There are several advantages and
disadvantages that come with using recruitment agencies.
One of the advantages that come with using recruitment agencies is that the candidates referred
by them are usually pre-screened and pre-referenced, improving the chances that the candidates
are qualified. In addition to this, if the applicant referred has not been hired, no fee needs to be
paid. In addition to that, it provides the organization with significantly less administrative tasks
as the agency will be handling everything from pre-screening to advertising (HR Tool:
Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.).
The main disadvantage of using a recruitment agency is that it is very costly, with fees often
costing around 20-30% of the appointee’s pay if they are hired. This makes it a very costly
method to use when mass hiring. In addition to that, there is the risk that the agency will
implement a “scatter gun” approach which refers to sending several applicants even if they do
not meet the requirements as a way of increasing their chances of a hire so they can receive the
fee (HR Tool: Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.).
Looking in the case of GMS, as the HR department has not yet been solidified (only 3 HR staff
present; HR supervisor and 2 HR assistant), using an agency has been of great value as they were
able to immediately hire individuals that were in urgent need. However, it has been seen that the
agency may have begun employing the scatter gun approach as they no longer conduct a pre-
interview before being interviewed by GMS HR based on the quality of applicants being
received being poor and a majority of them being rejected. In addition to that, the high costs has
made it impractical for GMS to use and as a result, GMS HR does not rely on the agency often.
Online Job Hiring Platforms
Online Job Hiring Platforms refer to online job boards wherein applicants can create a profile
detailing their qualifications and use the profile to apply to various job vacancies posted. The
advantage of using this platform is that it is very cost effective- employers simply post their
vacancies online along with the Job Description and then wait for applications to come in for
them to screen. This also helps speed up the recruitment cycle as often times mass number of
applications will be present. In addition to that, it acts as a database for the employer to see who
they had employed and which applicants they wish to hold on to for another vacancy (HR Tool:
Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.).
The main disadvantage of this is that there is the possibility that a majority of the applications
received will not be fit for the vacancy, especially if the job description posted of the vacancy is
not clear. Another disadvantage is that it limits the range of applicants that the HR can reach as
often times individuals with no access to the online job board or with no computer literacy will
not be able to apply there (HR Tool: Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket,
n.d.). This is commonly seen in cases where the job may be labor intensive such as collection
staff wherein just attaining a high school degree is enough.
In the case of GMS, this is their most popular form of recruitment as a majority of their hires
came from either Job Street or Kalibrr. As mentioned earlier, the HR department has no clear
platform and recruitment process and as such, have gone to Job Street and Kalibrr, It has greatly
helped with the screening process as the applicants can easily be sorted to bring out the most
potential applicants for interview. At the same time, it is very cost effective compared to their
recruitment agency. However, as they were not able to provide a detailed description of the Job
Description, it has attracted several applicants that are not qualified for their line of work,
especially in the cases of sales and collection.\
Social Media Postings
This recruitment approach revolves around the use of social media to hire potential candidates.
This is done through posting Job offerings in social media and using that as a means to collect
applications.
The advantage of this is that it provides a wide access to various contacts as the post can be
shared publicly. At the same time potential relationships can be built which in turn could
improve loyalty. Lastly, it can act as a way for marketing the company, improving the branding
of the firm (HR Tool: Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.).
The disadvantages to this is that there is not clear distinction between professionalism as it is
delves into a social platform often involving the private lives of the individual. At the same time,
there is a risk of bias that the applicants social media postings will create a negative first
impression, risking the loss of a potential candidate (HR Tool: Employment Advice, Tips & Case
Studies – WorkPocket, n.d.).
In the case of GMS, they mainly use social media to hire staff that is labour intensive such as
collection. As there is no need for a college degree, it is easier for them to find applicants on
social media as their target applicants are most likely to have one rather than a job board profile.
As it is also necessary for locals to be applicants for the job, it helps ensure that everyone within
a community is being targeted to apply. However, due to the lack of professionalism present, it is
difficult to hire trusted individuals to work for GMS, especially as collection staff.

Benefits of different HRM practices

There are several HRM practices that provide benefits to both employer and employee. In the
case of GMS, the ones employed are employment security, selective hiring, and training.
Employment Security
Employment security is the security that is created between employer and employee; employer
will not have to worry about their employee not working and the employee will not have to
worry about not being paid or losing their job without any compensation. This is done by setting
up a contract that dictates the terms and conditions of an employee’s employment and binds both
the employer and employee, requiring them to do their parts of the contract (Vulpen, n.d.).
Selective Hiring
As HR is in charge of the hiring process, they will have to focus hiring the best suited candidates
for the Job. The main benefit to the employer is that it will ensure that these individuals will
provide the greatest possible output they are capable of, allowing the employer to achieve the
goals he has set out for the organization. In the case of the employee, the benefit of a selective
hiring process is that it allows them to make the most of their skills and abilities. At the same
time, as the process also considers suitability of the candidate with the organization, there is a
high likelihood that the employee employed will be motivated and satisfied with their job
(Vulpen, n.d.).
Training
Looking at training, as mentioned earlier, it involves providing their employees the necessary
skills to remain competent in their job. One of the benefits this has towards the employer is that
they can be assured that their employees will always be competent for their job. This ensures that
their performance will get better or not fall as they are trained for the changing working
environment. In the case of employees, it provides them a chance of self-development; allowing
them to develop their skills and remain competent in their field (Vulpen, n.d.).

Evaluation of HRM Practices

Employment Security
Employing employment security measures such as contracts helps ensure that both parties,
employers and employees, follow and perform their main duties. As there is often a certain
expectation of performance along with the responsibilities these employees will hold, it can be
guaranteed that the employee will meet the standards of out performance that are needed to meet
the goals of the organization.
Looking in the case of GMS, the presence of a contract but the lack of set expectations and clear
job descriptions resulted in employees doing their job but it does not necessarily meet the
standards needed to meet the company’s goals. It was seen in the case of collection, there are
cases where their level of responsibility they are handling is low as it was not clearly set out what
responsibilities they should be handling. This resulted in inefficient use of their collection
resource. At the same time, it was seen that the inefficiency of the collection staff resulted in an
additional 10% rise in costs.
This makes employment security very useful but, in the cases where the set performance
expectations are clearly defined and job responsibilities are made clear.
Selective Hiring
As mentioned earlier, selective hiring involves getting people that are going to give the most
contributions to the company and are willing to stay long term. Ensuring that the HR is able to
selectively hire these individuals, it will help ensure that profitability and productivity are
positive since they will be making the most out of their hire. Recruiting and training is an
expensive task of HR and having a high employee turnover will only lead to increased costs.
Having low turnovers allows the organization to maximize their staff before they leave.
For the case of GMS, HR has a very selective hiring process wherein despite several vacancies
are present which need to be urgently filled up, HR does not compromise the selective hiring
process just to fill in positions. This has resulted in GMS turnover rate being less than 10% and
resulted in their employee costs being efficient.
Training
Although training can be very costly, it is seen that training employees and ensuring that they are
competent allows the organization to continually maximize their performance. It also allows
them to have opportunities to climb the corporate ladder, providing organizations a pool of
potential employees that they can easily evaluate for promotion. This reduces other costs
regarding HR as they can easily hire internally for upper positions.
In the case of GMS, there appears to be a lack of training present within the organization as new
hires are expected to learn whilst they are carrying out their responsibilities. This has resulted in
the new staff having poor performance at the start of their employment but improving over time.
However, this loss of performance at the initial phase of their employment results in increased
costs as their capabilities are not best used.
References
Bhattacharyya, B. (2017). 5 Major Functions of Human Resource Management. [online] Keka. Available at:
https://www.keka.com/5-major-functions-human-resource-management/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

HR Tool: Employment Advice, Tips & Case Studies – WorkPocket. (n.d.). Different Recruitment Methods:
Advantages & Disadvantages - WorkPocket. [online] Available at:
https://www.randstad.co.uk/workpocket/finding-candidates/different-recruitment-methods-advantages-
disadvantages/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

Vulpen, E. (n.d.). 7 Human Resource Best Practices | A Mini-Guide to HRM. [online] Digital HR Tech blog.
Available at: https://www.digitalhrtech.com/human-resource-best-practices/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].