CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.0 PRELIMINARIES

An online examination system for recruitment of staff is a web application that establishes a network between the organization and applicants. The organization enters on the site the questions they want in the exam. These questions are displayed as a test to the eligible students. The answers inputted by the applicants are then evaluated and their score is calculated and saved. This score then can be accessed by the institution to evaluate their performance. Questions are posted not by the site, but by owners of the site.

According to Yu, Hsiao and Cho (2014), online examinations are convenient, and fast. Online examination has three main purposes:

1. To allow test-takers at different places to take the test at the same time through the online examination website.
2. Through careful planning and proper coding, enable tests, grading and to check results on the website.
3. To integrate database with the program, allowing teachers easy addition of questions and creation of tests.

In a typical online examination system, the questions are strict and set with care. Although the exam questions is in the multiple choice format (objectives), the questions are chosen at random. All students have the same questions but the order of questions is different. Since the order of the question differs on each computer, the motive in students to cheat is reduced. Cheating at examinations is unacceptable. It is common knowledge that people are likely to cheat in a network environment but this is wrong as cheating at examinations is unacceptable as it affects the fairness of an examination. This situation implies that to overcome the tendency to cheat is the major challenge in online examinations. Despite the pitfalls, online examination is very important and useful as it breaks the barrier of distance and different geographical location. Applicants from all over the world can access the system thereby giving the examiners a good chance to identify highly intelligent prospective staff.

Every organization is made up of employees, and before employees are recruited, information pertaining to them is obtained, processed and analyzed after they have applied to determine their qualification for employment into a given position. For every position, there are certain skills and qualifications needed. The performance of the individual is a function of employee ability, motivation and opportunity (Boxall & Purcell, 2003).

Short-listing of employees also known as Recruitment and selection, forms a core part of the central activities underlying human resource management: namely, the acquisition, development and reward of workers. It forms an important part of the work of human resource managers – or designated specialists within work organizations. It has an important role to play in ensuring worker performance and positive organizational outcomes. It is often claimed that selection of workers occurs not just to replace departing employees or add to a workforce but rather to put in place workers who can perform at a high level and demonstrate commitment.   Recruitment is important for organizations since it performs the essential function of drawing an important resource, human capital, into the organization (Boxall & Purcell, 2003; Parry & Tyson, 2008;). It has a strategic aim as it focuses on the need to attract high-quality people in order to gain a competitive advantage (Parry & Tyson, 2008; Malinowski et al, 2005). Recruiting people with the right abilities reinforces the organizational goals (Boxall & Purcell, 2003).

Conducting examination before employees are recruited is very important as their level of success in the exams will reflect their level of competence or ability. Online examination widens the spectrum for organizations to reach out to more applicants and to get the best. It is on this premise that this research study is set to examine the design and implementation of an online examination system for recruitment of staff.

1.1 Statement of Problem

Many organizations do not have competitive personnel and this negatively affects the productivity and image of the organization. In addition, there is no effective structure to recruit staff that is able to stand up to the responsibility of their duties. Many organizations still adopt the manual method of recruiting and the applicants are limited to those in their immediate environment. Also, many applicants find it difficult to get to the examination centers due to distance and high cost of transportation. Organizations are unable to reach out to a wide spectrum of applicants so as to be able to recruit the best employees. The traditional examination for recruitment is usually characterized by cheating which hampers the credibility of recruited employees. There is need for a more effective system that is able to reach out to a wider spectrum of employees, breaking the barrier of distance and cost and thereby promoting the recruitment of well qualified staff.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The following are the objectives of the study;

1. To design and implement an online examination system for the recruitment of staff.
2. To identify the structure/characteristics of an online examination system for staff recruitment.
3. To identify the benefits of an online examination system for the recruitment of staff.
4. To find out the challenges/disadvantages of the adoption of online examination system for the recruitment of staff.

1.4 Significance of the study

The significance of the study is that it will bring to light the relevance of adopting online examination system for employee short-listing or e-recruitment system and the need for its adoption  by organizations. It will help organizations solve the present challenges they are facing in attracting eligible and professional employees by providing a software system that processes the application of different applicants. It will also save them time and cost of recruiting. In addition, other scholars seeking for valuable information on the subject will find this research material relevant.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study covers the design and implementation of an online examination system for the recruitment of staff.

1.6 Organization of Research

This research work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the preliminaries, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

Chapter two focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.

Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It presents the research methodology used in the development of the system, it analyzes the present system to identify the problems and provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system. The system design is also presented in this chapter.

Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation, the choice of programming language, analysis of modules, and system requirements for implementation.

Chapter five focuses on the summary, constraints of the study, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Online: Refers to a system connected to the internet that can be accessed remotely from any part of the world.

Examination: A test designed to assess somebody’s ability or knowledge in a particular subject or field

Employment – the condition of working for pay

Application – a formal and usually written request for something such as a job, a grant of money, or admission to a school or college

Short-list – to put somebody or something on a final list of candidates for a position or award

Recruitment – to enroll somebody as a worker or member, or to take on people as workers or members

Human resources – the field of business concerned with recruiting and managing employees

Management – the organizing and controlling of the affairs of a business or a sector of a business.