Chapter 6 WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?

Human resource management is the function concerned with getting, training, motivating, and keeping competent employees. HRM process helps to identify performance goals, correct performance problems, and sustain a high level of employee performance. Note: The external environment influences the entire employment process

Exhibit 6-1 introduces the key components of the human resource management process.

Orientation, training, and development assist new hires in adapting to the organization and ensure the fit of their job skills and knowledge.

WHAT ARE SOME LEGAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?

Today's employers must ensure that equal employment opportunities exist for job applicants and current employees.

o Hiring decisions must be made without regard to race, sex, religion, age, national origin, or disability.

Employment Equity - equal opportunities for people of designated groups who had been historically disadvantaged in employment, organizations are expected to treat people in a fair and unbiased fashion.

o This approach focuses on setting goals and action plans to achieve a workforce composition that is reflective of demographic patterns in the geographical area of the company.

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HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR EMPLOYMENT?

Employment planning is the process by which management ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people in the right places, and at the right times, who are capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives.

Employment planning translates organizational mission and objectives into a personnel plan.

ASSESSING EMPLOYEES

Human resource inventory to assess what talents and skills are currently available in the organization.

Job analysis which is an assessment of the types of skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to successfully perform each job in the organization. Information gathered during job analysis allows management to develop: a written job description that states what a jobholder must do, plus how and why it is done.

The job description will contain a job specification which is statement about the minimum knowledge, skills, and abilities that a worker must possess to perform the job successfully.

DO WE NEED MORE EMPLOYEES? (PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE)

Future human resource needs are determined by the organization's strategic direction.

Demand for human resources is a result of demand for the organization's products or services.

The overall organizational goals and the resulting revenue forecast provide the major input determining the organization's human resource demand requirements.

After assessing current capabilities and future needs, a program can then be developed that matches these estimates with forecasts of future labor supply

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION

Recruitment - Process of locating, identifying, and attracting capable candidates. It can be for current or future needs.

The source that is used should reflect the local labor market, the type or level of position, and the size of the organization.

Downsizing has become a relevant means of meeting the demands of a dynamic environment. Employer Downsizing options include:

1. Firing 2. Reduced workweeks3. Layoffs 4. Early Retirement5. Transfers 6. Job Sharing

Selection - The selection process seeks to predict which candidates will be “successful” if hired. Any selection decision can result in correct decisions and incorrect ones.

A decision is correct when the applicant was predicted to be successful and later proved to be. Problems occur, however, when we make reject errors or accept errors.

o Reject errors can open the organization to charges of employment discrimination.

o Accept errors include the cost of employee training, profits forgone because of the employee's incompetence, severance costs, etc.

What is reliability - addresses whether a selection device measures the same thing consistently. No selection device can be effective if it is low in reliability. To be effective, selection devices must possess an acceptable level of consistency.

Validity is the proven relationship between the selection device used and some relevant measure.

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INTERVIEWS & JOB HUNTING

Managers can use several selection devices to reduce accept and reject errors. The best-known devices include written tests, performance-simulation tests, and interviews.

Typical written tests include tests of intelligence, aptitude, ability, and interest.o Tests of intellectual ability, spatial and mechanical ability, perceptual

accuracy, and motor ability are moderately valid predictors for many semiskilled and unskilled jobs.

o Intelligence tests are reasonably good predictors for supervisory positions.

Performance-simulation tests are selection devices that are based on actual job behaviors. The best-known performance-simulation tests are:

o Work sampling – a miniature replica of the job. (Routine jobs)o Assessment centers – simulating real problems that one may face on the job.

(Managerial positions)

Because test content is essentially identical to job content, performance simulation should be a better predictor of short-term job performance.

ORIENTATION & TRAINING

Once selected, the job candidate needs to be introduced to the job and organization.

The major objectives of orientation:a) Reduce the initial anxiety.b) Familiarize new employees with the job, the work unit, and the organization.c) Facilitate the outsider-insider transition.

Job orientation clarifies the new employee’s specific duties and responsibilities.

Work-unit orientation familiarizes the employee with the goals of the work unit and clarifies what his/her job contributes toward these goals.

Organization orientation informs the new employee about the organization's objectives, history, philosophy, procedures, and rules.

Employee training is a learning experience in that it seeks a relatively permanent change in employees such that their ability to perform on the job improves. Most training takes place on the job.

o On-the-job (OJT) training is a simple and low-cost method.o However, some skill training is too complex to learn on the job.

Some of the typical methods used: (See Exhibit 6-7.)a) On-the-job training methods include job rotation and understudy assignments.b) Off-the-job training methods include classroom lectures, films/videos,

simulation exercises, and vestibule training.

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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

A performance management system is a process of establishing human resource standards and evaluating performance to arrive at objective human resource decisions, as well as to provide documentation to support any personnel actions.There are several performance appraisal methods (see Exhibit 6-8).

1. The written essay requires no complex forms or extensive training to complete

2. Critical incidents focuses the evaluator's attention on those critical or key behaviors that separate effective from ineffective job performance

3. Graphic rating scales are one of the oldest and most popular methods. This method lists a set of performance factors.

4. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), combine the major elements from critical incidents and graphic rating scales.

5. The 360-degree appraisal seeks performance feedback from oneself, bosses, peers, team members, customers, etc.

Multi-person comparisons compare one person's performance with that of others; it is a relative, not an absolute, measuring device. The three most popular forms are group order ranking, individual ranking, and paired comparison.

a) Group order ranking – the evaluator places employees into a particular classification such as "top one- fifth."

b) Individual ranking approach – the evaluator merely lists the employees in order from highest to lowest. Only one can be "best."

c) Paired comparison approach – each employee is compared with every other employee in the comparison group and rated as either the superior or weaker member of the pair.

If an employee’s performance is unsatisfactory, the manager needs to find out why.If the problem is associated with the desire to do the job, it becomes a discipline problem.

o Discipline – actions taken by a manager to enforce an organization’s standards and regulations.

o Employee counseling is a process designed to help employees overcome performance-related problems.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The goals of compensation administration are:a. To design a cost-effective pay structure that will attract and retain competent

employees.b. To provide an incentive for these individuals to exert high energy levels at

work.c. To ensure that pay will be perceived as fair by all employees.

Pay levels may be influenced by the kind of business, the environment surrounding the job, geographic location, and employee performance levels and seniority.

Employee benefits are non-financial rewards that are designed to enrich employees' lives. Organizations may provide other benefits such as life and disability insurance, paid leaves, company pension plans, medical and dental insurance, etc.

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CURRENT ISSUES

Workforce DiversityImproving workforce diversity requires managers to widen their recruiting net and utilize non-traditional sources.

Once a diverse set of applicants exists, efforts must be made to ensure that the selection process does not discriminate.

Many organizations provide special workshops to raise diversity consciousness and increase our understanding or individual differences.

Sexual HarassmentSexual harassment is defined as any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual's employment.No action should be taken against someone until a thorough investigation has been conducted.

Family-Friendly OrganizationFamily-friendly benefits are so named because they are supportive of caring for one's family. These include such benefits as:

a. flextimeb. child carec. part-time employmentd. relocation programse. summer campf. parental leaveg. Adoption benefits

Unions and ManagementManagement has become increasingly aware that successful efforts to increase productivity, improve quality, and lower costs require employee involvement and commitment. Some labor unions have come to recognize that they can help their members more by co-operating with management rather than fighting them.

Workplace ViolenceOrganizations must also train their management personnel to identify troubled employees before the problem results in violence. Employee assistance programs (EAPs) can be designed specifically to help these individuals.

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