M02 Knowledge Check - Principles of Employment

To maximize an employer's investment in staffing it should focus on the jobs that are critical to _____________.

obtaining its competitive advantage

can pressure managers to suppress their ethical concerns in pursuit of profits.

shareholders

Locating qualified individuals and labor markets from which to recruit is ________.

sourcing

How should firms identify key jobs on which to focus additional attention and resources during the staffing effort?

All jobs do not warrant equal investment in recruitment or staffing activities. A company's key jobs are those that in some way create value for the organization by contributing to the generation or retention of clients' business or generating new capabilities or products for the organization. Whenever there is performance variability across people working in the same position, there is the potential to improve that position's contribution to the organization by raising the average performance level of those employees. For example, if some salespeople sell substantially more of a company's product than do others, staffing (as well as training) improvements may be identified that result in the hiring of a greater number of higher performing salespeople and fewer lower performing salespeople.Firms must identify which capabilities are the most critical to establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. An organization's capabilities include human resources, manufacturing, engineering, research and development, marketing, and management information systems. It must then identify which jobs and roles are critical to its competitive advantage. Focusing on strategic staffing and critical positions should help the company execute its business strategy and enhance its competitive advantage.

Describe the organizational and product life-cycle and explain how it can influence a firm's choice of strategy.

During the growth stage, new companies or products must set themselves apart from competitors to gain customers and market share. Growth companies often pursue innovation or differentiation strategies to distinguish themselves from their competition. Because they are less established and thus higher-risk employers, they often need to invest more money and resources in staffing to attract the talent they need to grow. Because they lack a large and strong internal talent pool and they need to add new employees as they grow, they frequently need to hire from outside the organization and tend to have an external talent focus.During the maturity stage of a firm's life cycle, products and services have fully evolved, and the product's market share has become established. The focus now shifts to maintaining or obtaining further market share through cost leadership, often by streamlining operations and focusing on efficiency. Because mature companies have a larger pool of internal talent from which to draw, the talent focus becomes more internal.Companies in decline are facing shrinking markets and weaker business performance. A company in decline can pursue a cost-leadership strategy and allow the decline to continue until the business is no longer profitable or it can try to make changes to revive the product or service. If it chooses to try to change its product or service, the firm typically adopts a specialization or differentiation strategy.

A call center has adopted an expansionist strategy. It has taken on a number of big contracts from clients and is on a tight schedule to supply customer support services by the deadlines promised. Which of the following statements, if true, will result in the staffing goals being best aligned to the organizational strategy?

The time taken to fill a position should be tracked for each recruiting source and the fastest possible source of at least minimally qualified talent should be utilized.

Explain the seven components of strategic staffing. How will compensation affect each component?

There are seven staffing activities that, if done well strategically, create a staffing system that supports business strategy and organizational performance. The level of pay an organization is willing and able to invest in salaries can both determine and be determined by its ability to hire people with the necessary qualifications.1. Workforce Planning: Strategically evaluating the company's current lines of business, new businesses it will be getting into, businesses it will be leaving, and the gaps between the current skills in the organization and the skills it will need to execute its business strategy.Organizations need to assess the availability of their sought-after competencies in the labor market and use recruitment and effective selection practices to ensure that new hires have the requisite skills, background, and motivation so the firm's compensation system works as it's intended.2. Sourcing Talent: Locating qualified individuals and labor markets from which to recruit.If an organization is willing to pay premium wages, its staffing effort can focus on identifying and attracting the most qualified candidates. If an organization would like to pay lower wages, but is unable to hire the candidates it would like at its preferred salary levels, then it may be forced to raise its salaries to be competitive in the labor market or to make investments in training and development.3. Recruiting Talent: Making decisions and engaging in practices that affect either the number or types of individuals willing to apply for and accept job offers.Often, paying top dollar to hire the highest quality candidates is not always the best strategy if the company doesn't really need top talent and average talent will do. In other words, sometimes the greater productivity of the most talented applicants is not enough to offset their higher salaries.4. Selecting Talent: Assessing job candidates and deciding who to hire.When the labor supply is tight, the firm might need to increase its salaries just to be able to hire candidates with minimum skill levels and qualifications. If higher pay is not an option, recruiting from nontraditional sources might allow the organization to overcome its compensation challenges. If hiring from nontraditional labor pools is unsuccessful, automating the job, increasing the training the organization provides its employees, or reducing the required qualifications of new hires may be the only alternatives.5. Acquiring Talent: Putting together job offers that appeal to chosen candidates, and persuading job offer recipients to accept those job offers.The employment contract, or written offer to the candidate, formalizes the outcomes of the negotiations. This specifies the job's compensation, such as salary, bonus, long-term accounting, and stock-based compensation.6. Deploying Talent: Assigning people to appropriate jobs and roles in the organization to best utilize their talents.Ensuring that new hires have the potential to succeed is one of the primary goals of staffing. Performance incentives will be ineffective unless workers are given jobs suited to their skills. An organization that wishes to motivate its employees to be more productive by using a pay-for-performance or merit pay system will not be able to fully leverage its programs if the skills of the workforce are lacking. Performance incentives are only effective if the individuals have the potential to perform well in the first place.7. Retaining Talent: Keeping successful employees engaged and committed to the firm.It can be frustrating to locate and hire the right talent only to watch these people leave after a short time. Turnover is expensive, especially when it is the best performers who are leaving. Retaining successful employees means that the organization spends less time and fewer resources filling job vacancies. Performance incentives are one tool that employers can use to retain talent.

best allows an employer to create a consistent and strong image as an employer.

centralized staffing

Idiosyncratic jobs are

created around a current new employee's unique skills

Although a company can better match employees with jobs they like, staffing does not influence organizational performance.

false

Companies that use the same recruiting strategies are likely to experience similar results.

false

Proactive staffing is done in response to situations or issues.

false

Recruiting large numbers of applicants is always the best way to ensure quality hires.

false

Reducing the turnover rate of high performers is an example of a staffing process goal. Group of answer choices

false

Promotions are likely to be fastest in organizations in the ________ stage of their life cycle.

growth

is/are most responsible for an organization's ability to gain and keep a competitive advantage.

its employees

Strategic staffing is a(n) _________ process.

matchmaking

Hiring people who are entrepreneurial, creative, and have a high tolerance for ambiguity would support a ________ competitive advantage. Group of answer choices

product leadership

Staffing professionals are expected to act as an agent of _________.

their employer

A company using a low-cost strategy is least likely to focus on efficiency.

true

Even if a staffing system hires talented people, without performance goals and accurate performance feedback employees won't perform their best.

true

Sourcing is locating qualified individuals, appropriate talent sources, and labor markets from which to recruit.

true

The final hiring decision is usually made by the hiring manager.

true

Valuing the ideas and contributions of people with diverse ideas and perspectives is a possible component of a company's talent philosophy.

true

Viewing employees as an asset to be managed generally leads to a low-cost approach to staffing.

true