1. Registration Number-FGS/MBM/2017/001
Registration Number-FGS/MBM/2017/001
Registration Number-FGS/MBM/2017/001
Registration Number-FGS/MBM/2017/001
Registration Number-FGS/MBM/2017/001
Master of Business Management of Marketing
Human Resource Management
Department of Marketing Management
University of Kelaniya

2. Content
Page Number
Content 1
Executive Summary 2
Bank Profile 2-2
Human Resource Management 2-2
Recruitment & Selection 2-2
Selection Procedure 2-2
Challengers & Suggestions for Improvement 2-2
Conclusion 2-2

3. 1. Executive Summary
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC is the largest private bank in Sri Lanka, and the only Sri Lankan
bank listed in the world’s Top 1000 banks. It operates a network of 255 branches in Sri Lanka and
a network of 657 ATMs. The bank has operations in Bangladesh, Maldives and Myanmar. It has
been rated as the Best Bank in Sri Lanka by "Global Finance" for the 14th consecutive year and
also as the Bank of the Year by "The Banker" Magazine on seven occasions.
The following; provides a concise high level overview about the bank, its HR management, how
the selection procedure for middle level managers affects long term sustainability of the bank and
challenges of overcoming draw backs of selection procedure in the banking environment.

4. 2. Bank Profile
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC
Commercial Bank Of Ceylon Plc was incorporated in 1969 and has been licensed to operate as a
Commercial Bank under the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988 from December 21, 1989. The gradually
evolved to what it is today, standing as a one of the leading commercial banks in Sri Lanka with
255 branches and 657 ATMs. The bank has operations in Bangladesh, Maldives and Myanmar. It
has been rated as the Best Bank in Sri Lanka by "Global Finance" for the 14th consecutive year
and also as the Bank of the Year by "The Banker" Magazine on seven occasions. They are the first
Sri Lankan bank to be listed amongst the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’ in 2008, is the only Sri
Lankan bank to has been included in that prestigious group of banks consecutively for the past six
years.
Today, the bank stands in a very strong position in terms of assets, profits and no of employees.
The bank’s business performance and employee contribution can be demonstrated as follows;
Gross Income Total Employees
Rs. 41.960 Bn 4,987
Assets Investment in training
Rs. 341.515 Bn Rs. 107.9 Mn
Profit per employee
Rs. 4.0 Mn
3. Human Resource Management
Human resource management (HR) is the management of human resources. Commonly referred
to as the HR Department, it is designed to maximize employee performance in service of an
employer's strategic objectives.HR is primarily concerned with the management of people within
organizations, focusing on policies and on systems. HR departments are responsible for overseeing
employee-benefits design, employee recruitment, training and development, performance
appraisal, and rewarding. HR also concerns itself with organizational change and industrial

5. relations, that is, the balancing of organizational practices with requirements arising from
collective bargaining and from governmental laws.
HR is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century, when researchers
began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the
workforce. It was initially dominated by transactional work, such as payroll and benefits
administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advances, and
further research, HR as of 2015 focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent
management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and diversity and inclusion.
Human resources focuses on maximizing employee productivity. HR professionals manage the
human capital of an organization and focus on implementing policies and processes. They can
specialize on recruiting, training, employee-relations or benefits. Recruiting specialists find and
hire top talent. Training and development professionals ensure that employees are trained and have
continuous development. This is done through training programs, performance evaluations and
reward programs. Employee relations deals with concerns of employees when policies are broken,
such as in cases involving harassment or discrimination. Someone in benefits develops
compensation structures, family-leave programs, discounts and other benefits that employees can
get. On the other side of the field are Human Resources Generalists or business partners. These
human-resources professionals could work in all areas or be labor-relations representatives
working with unionized employees.….
Human Resource management is of vital importance for bank management. Human resource
recruitment involves evolving an appropriate planning process to move the bank from its particular
human resource position to desire human resource position and placement of right of people at the
right place at the right time.
Human Resource Management is part of the organization that is concerned with the “people”
dimension. HRM can be viewed in one of two ways. First, HRM is a staff, or support in the
organization. Its role is to provide assistance in HRM matters to line employees, or those directly
involved in providing services. HRM is a function of every manager’s job. Whether or not one
work in a “formal” HRM department, the facts remain that to effectively manage employees
requires all managers to handle the activities.

6. Human Resource Planning helps to determine the number and type of people an organization
needs. Recruitment of middle level managers follows Human Resources Planning and goes hand
in hand with the selection process by which organizations evaluate the suitability of the prospective
Candidates for the job.
Human Resource planning & Manpower Requisition
Based on the HR Planning respective Branch /Division/Department Head informs HR on
personnel requirement through manpower requisition form, after obtaining necessary approvals
from the Regional Managers / Assistant General Manager.
4. Recruitment & Selection
Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. Whereas
Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with requisite
qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the organization
An organization large or small, profit or service oriented, whether it is, the ultimate aim is to
achieve organizational goal. This achievement can only be possible through skillful and effective
management of manpower. Selection is a key component in the acquisition of human resources.
Without a reliable and erective selection mechanism, a business can never flourish, especially in
the present world of market economy, which is fiercely competitive. Usually after successful
completion of recruitment, selection and introduction process the new employee must be
developed to better fit the job and the organization.
5. Selection Procedure
It is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify those with a greater
likelihood of success in a job.
The objective of selection process is to determine whether an applicant needs the qualification for
a specific job and to choose the applicant who is most likely to perform in that job. The selection
procedure is not a single act but it is essentially a series of methods or steps or stages by which
additional information is secured about the applicant. At each stage, facts may come to light, which
lead to the r ejection of the applicant.
A procedure may be considered to a series of successive hurdles or barriers, which an applicant
must cross.

7. These are indented as screens and they are designed to eliminate an unqualified applicant at any
point in this process. That technique is known as the successive hurdle technique. Not all selection
process includes all these hurdles. The complexity of process usually increases with the level and
responsibility of the position to be fulfilled.
A well-organized selection procedure should be designed to select sustainable candidates for
various jobs. Each step in the selection process should help in getting more and more information
about the candidate. There is no idle selection procedure appropriate for all cases.
Steps in the selection process
I. Application Evaluation
II. Employment Tests
III. Selection Interview
IV. Back Ground Investigation
V. Medical or Physical Examination
VI. Checking Reference
VII. Final Approval
I. Application Evaluation
This is essentially to check whether the candidate fulfills the minimum qualification. Based on the
provided information in the Application /CV they scrutinized applications.
After the scrutiny more suitable candidates among the applicants are short-listed for written tests
and others are rejected.
II.Employment Tests
The short listed candidates are asked to appear for written or other tests. Tests have become popular
screening devices.
The main types of tests are
 Intelligence tests
 Aptitude Test
 Proficiency Test

8. III. Selection Interview
It involves a face-to-face conversation between the employer and the candidate, the selector asks
a job related and general questions. The way in which a candidate responds to the question is
evaluated. The objectives of the interview are as following;
 To find out the candidate’s overall suitability for the job
 To cross-check the information obtained through application and tests
 To give an accurate picture of the job and the company
Interview is the most widely used step in employee selection. However, interview suffers from
several drawbacks. Further errors of interviewer can be listed as flows;
 Halo effect
 Personal prejudice
 Overemphasis on one criteria
 Lack of rapport
 Pseudo-scientific premises
 Leading Questions
 Interviewer domination
IV. Back Ground Investigation
This is used to find out background of an applicant or back ground information of an applicant.
It includes Character and Academic history, Finance and Employment history and etc.
V. Medical or Physical Examination
Candidates who are found suitable after interview are called for physical examination. A Panel of
doctors to insure that they are healthy and physically fit for the job does a medical check-up of
such candidates. A proper medical examination will also ensure that the candidates selected do not
suffer from any serious desirous which may create problems in future.
VI. Checking Reference
Generally, every candidate if required to state in the application form, the name and address of at
least two responsible persons who know him. The reference may not give their Frank opinion
unless promises made that in all information will be kept strictly confidential. Moreover the
information given by them may be biased in the form of candidate.

9. VII. Final Approval
The candidates who are found suitable after the medical check-up and background Investigation
is formally appointed by issuing appointment letter to them. They are asked to join duty by the
specified date. No selection procedure is foolproof and the best way judge a person is by observing
him working on the job. Candidate who gives satisfactory during the probationary period are made
permanent.
6. Challenges and Suggestions for Improvement
I. Application Evaluation
Effective employee selection involves matching the requirements of a job to the skills of job
applicants. The Application should provide full information about their age, qualification,
experience and family background. Currently the bank doesn’t have a specific application format
and applicants apply through their own CV formats. Therefore, it is difficult to collect all required
information from the candidates.
We here suggest implementing a proper application format for the bank. Then it will be an easy
process of application evaluation since it contains the required full information.
II. Employment Tests
This is one of the methods to find out whether the applicants have required knowledge, skills and
proficiency to do the job in an expected manner.
Features of a good test
 Validity-test should measure what is needed to measure
 Reliability-Consistency of data (Free from errors/free from bias)
 Practicability-Test can be applied practically
The bank also uses employment tests mainly to evaluate applicant’s knowledge, intelligence,
experience and language proficiency. This gives an insight about the candidate’s skills and bank
can select right employees for the positions.
When selecting employees for middle level positions, the bank should identify the candidates with
right experience, attitude and who’s having team management skills. Employment test doesn’t
evaluate the employee’s experience, attitude and team management skills.

10. III. Selection Interview
It involves a face-to-face conversation between the employer and the candidate, the selector asks
a job related and general questions. The way in which a candidate responds to the question is
evaluated. Base on the number of interviewers, interviews can be divided in to two categories;
 Individual Interviews
 Group Interviews
Depending on the nature of the questions asked in the interview, it can be divided in to flowing
categories.
 Structured Interviews
 Unstructured Interviews
 Mixed Interviews
 Problem Solving Interviews
 Stress Interviews
It is a time consuming and expensive device. Secondly, it can test only the personality of the
candidate and not his skill for the job. Thirdly, the interviewer may not be an expert and may fill
to extract all relevant information from the candidate. Fourthly, the personal judgment or bias of
the interviewer may make the result of the interviews inaccurate.
Interview should be properly conducted in a proper physical environment. The interview room
should be free from noise and interruptions. The environment should be confident and quite.
People generally talk freely and frankly when there is privacy and comfort.
Therefore, candidates should be put at ease. The interviewer should pay full attention to what the
candidates have to say.
IV. Back Ground Investigation
This is used to find out background of an applicant or back ground information of an applicant.
Sources to obtain information can be identified as flows;
 Character certificates
 Police Reports
V. Education Reports

11.  Employment history reports
 Bank details
A few things to be flowed to handle background investigations properly;
 Information must be treated in a confidential manner
 Avoid getting information from political people
 Use more than one source to get information
 Acknowledge the used sources to get information
A bank, mainly concentrates as a service provider and the staff have to deal with customer’s funds
mainly deposits with trust. Therefore, background investigation gives an insight about candidates
profile based on past data. But, sometimes people can change with the situations and background
information can be biased.
7. Conclusion

12. Selection could be identified as a process of rejection as it rejects more applicants and selects only
a few numbers of applicants to fill the vacancy.
The main objective of selection is to get a right person to the right job. If the organization is unable
to fulfill the main objective of selection, there may be unfavorable consequences such as;
 Associated cost to replace the correct person again
 Grievances and disputes in future
 Cultural conflicts
 Expected performance cannot be achieved by the organization
 Finally organization cannot archive it’s goals.
Selecting middle level manager/ officer plays a significant role of any service oriented organization
such as banks. Therefore, bank should implement proper selection procedure to evaluate
candidates who fits for the relevant roles.