Human Resource Management

Chapter 1
 The Strategic Role
of Human Resource Management
 Human Resource management has shed its old personnel
image and gained recognition as a vital player in corporate
strategy

 HRM departments not only support the organization’s strategic

objective but actively pursue an ongoing, integrated plan for
furthering the organization’s performance

●Higher employee productivity

●Stronger financial results
●Achieve organization’s strategic goals
●Key players on management team

Manager’s Challenge: UPS Buffalo, New York

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 Human Resource Management

Matching process,
All managers Employees are integrating the
are resource viewed as organization’s
managers assets goals with
employees’ needs

How a company manages its workforce may be single

more important factor in sustained competitive success
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 Current Strategic Issues
Determine a company’s need for skills and employees

 Becoming more competitive globally

 Improving quality, productivity, &
customer service
 Managing mergers & acquisitions
 Applying new information technology for
e-business
Experiential Exercise: Do You Want to be an HR Manager?

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 Human Resource Management Goals
HRM Environment
Company Strategy Legislation
Trends in society
International events
Changing
Attract an Effective Workforce technology

HRM planning
Job analysis
Forecasting
Recruiting
Selecting
Maintain an Effective Workforce
Develop an Effective Workforce
Wage and salary
Benefits Training
Labor relations Development
Terminations Appraisal

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 Environmental Influences on HRM

 Competitive Strategy
– Building Human Capital
– Information Technology
 Federal Legislation

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 Three Ways HR Is Changing

1 human capital
Focus on building

2
Development of
global HR strategies
3 IHRM

The using of
information technology
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 Human Capital - IHRM

 Human Capital = economic value of the knowledge,

experience, skills, and capabilities of employees

 IHRM = addresses the complexity that results from

recruiting, selecting, developing, and maintaining a
diverse workforce on a global scale

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 Information Technology

 Human resource information technology =

an integrated computer system designed to
provide data and information used in HR
planning and decision making
 Traditional HR to e-HR significantly affected
every area of human resource management
 Some organizations are close to a paperless HRM
system – saves time, money, frees staff

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 Federal Legislation

 Discrimination = hiring or promoting of

applicants based on criteria that are not job
relevant
 Affirmative action = policy requiring
employers to take positive steps to guarantee
equal employment opportunities for people
within protected groups

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 Major Federal Laws - HRM
Exhibit 12.3

 Equal Opportunity/Discrimination Laws

 Compensation/Benefits Laws
 Health/Safety Laws

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 The Changing Social Contract
New Contract Old Contract

Employee Employability, personal responsibility Job security

Partner in business improvement A cog in the machine
Learning Knowing

Employer Continuous learning, lateral career Traditional compensation package

movement, incentive compensation
Creative development opportunities
Challenging assignments Standard training program
Information and resources Routine jobs
Limited information
SOURCE: Based on Louisa Wah, “The New Workplace Paradox “ Management Review, January 1998,7; and Douglas T. Hall and Jonathan B. Moss, “The New Protean Career
Contract: Helping Organizations and Employees Adapt,” Organizational Dynamics, winter 1998, 22-37.

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 HR Issues in the New Workplace

 Teams and Projects

 Temporary Employees
 Technology

 Work-Life Balance
 Downsizing

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 HR Issues in the Teams and
New Workplace Projects

 Teams and Projects – major trend in today’s workplace

 With emphasis on projects, distinctions between job
categories and descriptions are collapsing
 Many of today’s workers straddle functional &
departmental boundaries; handle multiple
tasks/responsibilities
 Virtual team = made up of members who
– are geographically or organizationally dispersed,
– rarely meet face to face, and
– do their work using advance information technologies.
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 HR Issues in the Temporary
New Workplace Employees

 In opening years of the 21st century, largest employer

in U.S. was a temporary employment agency,
Manpower, Inc.
 Temporary Employees do everything from data entry
to interim CEO
 Contingent workers = people who work for an
organization, but not on a permanent or full-time
basis, including temporary placements, contracted
professionals, or leased employees

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 HR Issues in the
New Workplace Technology

 Telecommuting and virtual teams are related trends

 Telecommuting = using computers and
telecommunications equipment to perform work from
home or another remote location
 Work anywhere - wireless Internet devices, laptops, cell
phones, fax machines
 Extreme telecommuting = people live and work in
countries far away from the organization’s physical
location

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 HR Issues in the Work-Life
New Workplace Balance
Many European companies ahead of U.S. companies

 Telecommuting is one way organizations

help employees lead more balanced lives
 Flexible scheduling important in today’s
workplace – 27% of workforce/flexible hours
 Broad Work-Life Balance initiatives – critical
retention strategy – on-site gym & childcare,
paid leaves.
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 HR Issues in the Downsizing
New Workplace

 Downsizing = intentional, planned reduction in the size

of a company’s workforce
 Managers can smooth the downsizing process
– Regularly communicating with employees
– Providing them with as much information as possible
– Providing assistance to workers who will lose their
jobs
– Using training and development for remaining
employees
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 HR Issues in the New Workplace

 HR issues present many challenges for

organizations and HR managers as they
work toward the three primary HR goals
● Attracting
● Developing
● Maintaining an effective workforce

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 Attracting an Effective Workforce
HR Planning Choose
ChooseRecruiting
Recruiting Select the Welcome New
Retirements Sources
Sources Candidate Employee
Want Application
Growth Wantads
ads
Resignations Headhunters Interview
Headhunters
Internet Tests
Internet
Company Needs Employee Contributions
Strategic goals Matching Model Ability
Current & future competencies Education
Market changes Creativity
Employee turnover Match with Commitment
Corporate culture Expertise

Company Inducements Employee Needs

Pay and benefits Stage of career
Meaningful work Match with Personal values
Advancement Promotion aspirations
Training Outside interests
Challenge Family concerns
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 Human Resource Planning

 Forecasting of human resource needs and

the projected matching of individuals with
expected vacancies
● ? = New technologies emerging
● ? = Volume of business likely next 5-10 years
● ? = Turnover rate, how much is avoidable, if any

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 Recruiting

 Recruiting = activities or practices that define the

desired characteristics of applicants for specific jobs
● Internal – promote-from-within policies used by
many to fill high-level positions
● External = recruiting newcomers from outside has
advantage of multiple sources
● E-cruiting = use of Internet - fastest-growing
approach to recruiting

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 Basic Building Blocks
of HR Management

Job Analysis

Job Description

Job Specification

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 Selecting

 Selection = process of determining the skills,

abilities, and other attributes a person needs
to perform a particular job
 Application form - collecting information
about an applicant’s education, previous job
experience, and other information
 Research = biographical information
inventories can validly predict future job
success
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 Interviewing An Applicant

Know what you want

Prepare a road map
Use open-ended questions
Do not ask irrelevant questions
Do not rush interview
Do not rely on your memory
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 Inappropriate or Illegal Questions
Employment Applications and Interviews
 Race-related questions
 Age
 Religion
 National origin
 Marital/family status

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 Testing and Assessment

 Employment Test = written or computer-

based test designed to measure a particular
attribute such as intelligence or aptitude
 Assessment Center = technique for selecting
individuals with high managerial potential
based on their performances on a series of
simulated managerial tasks

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 Developing an Effective Workforce
Next goal of HRM is to develop employees
 Training and development = planned effort to
facilitate employees’ learning of job-related
skills and behaviors
 On-the-job training = an experienced employee
“adopts” a new employee to teach him or her how
to perform job duties
Cross training
Mentoring

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 Performance Appraisal

 Process of observing and evaluating an

employee’s performance, recording the
assessment, and providing feedback to the
employee
 Steps
● Observing and assessing performance
● Recording the assessment
● Providing feedback to employee
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 Making Performance Appraisals A
Positive Force

1. The accurate assessment of performance through

the development and application of assessment
systems such as a rating scale
2. Training managers to effectively use the performance
appraisal interview to provide feedback that
reinforces good performance and motivate employee
development

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 Maintaining an Effective Workforce

 Compensation

– Wage and Salary Systems

– Compensation Equity
– Pay for Performance
 Benefits

 Termination

Ethical Dilemma: A Conflict of Responsibilities

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 Termination

Value of termination for maintaining an effective

workforce is two fold

 Employees who are poor performers

can be dismissed
 Employers can use exit interviews in a
positive manner

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