Human Resource Management Chapter 3

Job

Is a group of related activities and duties

How to Forecast Personnel Needs (Labor Demand)

A firm's staffing needs reflect demand for its products or services, adjusted for changes the firm plans to make in its strategic goals and for changes in its turnover rate and productivity

Job Family

A group of individual jobs with similar characteristics

Actively segments and manages employees

A talent management approach requires that employers proactively manage their employees' recruitment, selection, development and rewards For example, these employers pinpoint their mission-critical employees and manage their development and rewards separately from the firms' other employees

After You Receive the Application

After you receive the pplication, screening the applicants begins

Integrates/coordinates all the talent management functions

An effective talent management process integrates and underlying talent management activities such as recruiting, developing and compensation employees HR managers can simply meet as a team to visualize and discuss how to coordinate activities such as testing, appraising and training

Succession Planning Activities

Analysis of the future demand for managers and professionals by company level, function and skill Audit of existing executives and projection of likely future supply from internal and external sources Planning of individual career paths based on objective estimates and assessments of potential and career interests Training and development to prepare individuals for future expected roles Accelerated promotions Planned strategic recruitment, to fill short-term needs and to provide people to develop to meet future needs

Flextime Programs

Are 1-hour windows at the beginning or end of the day

Private Employment Agencies

Are Important sources of clerical, white-collar and managerial personnel Their fees are usually set by state law and are posted in their offices Most often, the meployer pays the fees

Inside Candidates

Are current employees Current employees may require training, development and coaching before they're ready to fill new job

Competencies

Are demonstrable characteristics of the person that enable performance

Executive Recruiters Advantages

Are good at contracting qualified employed candidates who are not actively seeking jobs They can also keep your firm's name confidential until late in the search process The recruiter can save top management time by doing the preliminary work of advertising for and screening applicants The recruiter's fee might actually be insignificant compared to the cost of the executive time save

Outside Candidates

Are people that are not currently employed by your organization Requires deciding what recruiting sources to use and what the availability will be

Executive Recruiters (also called headhunters)

Are special employment agencies that employers retain to seek out top-management talent They fill jobs in the $80,000 and up category

Questionnaires

Are structured checklists Each employee must indicate whether he or she performs each task and, if so, how much time is psent on each It may also ask the employee to describe the major duties of your job Might combine several open-ended questions with structured questions

Essential Job Functions

Are those duties that employees must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation

Executive Recruiters Disadvantages

As an employer, you must carefully explain the candidate you require and why Some recruiters may be more interested in persuading you to hire a candidate than in finding one who will do the best job Sometimes, what clients think they want isn't really what they need Therefore, be prepared for dissecting of your request Also, meet the person who will handle your search and get exact charges Make sure the recruiter checks candidates' references, but double-check the final candidate's references yourself

Virtual Job Fairs

At a virtual job fair, online visitors see a very similar setup to a regular job fair

Why Use profiles?

Because it's preferable to use profiles or models that list the sets of competencies, traits, knowledge and skills that someone would need to do the team's multiple jobs

Reasons Employers are Looking for Older Workers as a Source of Recruits

Because of recessions, buyouts and early retirements, many workers who retired early want to reenter the job market

Why is Recruiting Important?

Because the more applicants you have, the more selective you can be in your hiring

What can Help Reveal Impending Labor Force Needs?

Carefully studying employment history, demographics and voluntary withdrawals

Qualifications Inventories

Contain summary data, such as each current employee's performance record, educational background and promotability, compiled manually or in a computerized system

job Identification

Contains the job title

Reasons for the Trend Toward Using More Temporary Employees?

Continuing weak economic confidence Outsourcing Flexibility

A Filled-In Form Provides what Types of Information

Data on substantive matters Can draw some conclusings about the applicant's career progress Can draw tentative conclusions regardin the applicant's employment stability It provides information to check references and to asses the veracity (accuracy) of the applicant's answers Can use application information to predict employee tenure and performance

What Should Campus Recruiters Goals Be?

Determining whether a candidate is worthy of further consideration To attract (recruit) good candidates to your firm

Walk-Ins

Direct applications made at your office Are a major source of applicants

Observation

Direct observation is useful when jobs consist of observable activity Observation is usually not appropriate when the job entails mental activity Nor is it useful if the employe engages in important activities that might occur only occasionally

What is Interviewing's Main Problem?

Distortion of information

Recruiting and Selecting Process Steps

Do workforce planning and forecasting to determine the positions to fill Build a pool of candidates for these jobs by recruiting internal or external candidates Have the applicants fill out application forms and perhaps undergo an initial interview Utilize various selection techniques such as tests, background investigations and physical exams to choose job candidates Send one or more job candidates to the supervisor responsible for the job Have the candidate go through selection interviews and determine to candidate(s) to make an offer

Temporary Workers

Employers can hire such workers either directly or through temporary staff agencies The employer usually pays direct-hire temps directly It classifies them separately from regular employees, usually as casual, seasonal, or temporary employees Receive few if any benefits If you hire temps through agencies, the agency usually pays the employees' salaries and (any) benefits)

Recruiting Minorities and WOmen

Employers have to formulate plans for attracting minorities and women, including reevaluating personnel policies and developing flexible work options Sometimes the easiest way to recruit women and minorities is to avoid losing them in the first place

Equal Opportunity and Application Forms

Employers should carefully review their application forms to ensure they comply with equal employment laws

Distortion of Information

Employers sometimes exaggerate some responsibilities and minimize others

Methods of Collecting Job Analysis Information

Employers usually collect job analysis data from several job incumbents, using questionnaires and interviews

Computerized Forecasts

Enable the manager to build more variables into his or her personnel projections

O*NET

Enables users to see the most important characteristics of an occupation, as well as the training, experience and education it requires Also lists the occupation's skills, including basic skills such as reading, process skills such as critical thinking and transferable skills such as persuasion

What are the Most Common Exaggerations on Applications?

Exaggerations about education and job experience

Public State Employment Agencies

Exist in every state, aided and coordinated by the U.S. Department of Labor ARe a major source of blue-collar and often white-collar workers Are associated with nonprofit organizations

Factors that Contribute to Successful Recruiting

Flexible hours make it easier to attract single parents Using diverse ads Emphasizing inclusiveness in policy statements Using minority and female recruiters

What is the Most Familiar Use for Job Descriptions

For deciding what types of people to recruit and select for the company's jobs

Consistently uses the same profile of competencies, traits, knowledge and experience for fomulating recruitment plans for a job as for making selection, training, appraisal and payment decisions for it

For example, ask selection intervie questions to determine if the candidate has the knowledge and skills to do the job Then train and appraise the employee based on whether he or she shows mastery of that knowledge and skills

Understands that the talent management tasks are components in a single talent management process

For example, having employees with the right skills depends as much on recruiting, training and compensation as it does on applicant testing

What Should the Job Analysis Provide a Basis for?

For writing a job description

Succession Planning Process

Identify key needs Develop candidates Assess and choose those to fill the key positions

Forecast General Economic Conditions

Forecast the prevailing rate of unemployment The lower the rate unemployment, the more difficult it is to recruit personnel

What is Important in Succession Planning

Forecasting the availability of inside candidates

Participant Diary/Logs

Here workers keep diary/logs or lists of what they do during the day (along with the time) The detailed, chronological nature of the log tends to mediate against exaggerating some duties

Writing Job Specifications

Here you must specify qualities such as physical traits, personality, or sensory skills that imply some potential for performing the job or for being trainable

What Should Workforce Planning Culminate In?

In a workforce action plan

A Qualifications Inventory Can Help Facilitate Forecasting the Supply of What Candidates?

Inside candidates

What is the Goal of Job Specifications?

Is to identify those personal traits that predict which candidate would do well on the job

Interviews

Involve interviewing job incumbents or one or more supervisors who know the job Is simple and lets workers report activities that might not otherwise surface

Trend Analysis

Involves studying your firm's employment levels over the past 5 years or so to predict futureneeds

Application Form

Is a form for quickly collecting verifiable (and therefore reasonably accurate) historical data (education, prior work history and so on) from the candidate

Job Descriptions

Is a list of what the job entails Is a statement of the Tasks, Duties, and Responsibilities (Essential Functions) of a job

A Job Description

Is a written statement of what the jobholder does, how he or she does it and under what conditions the job is performed

Managerial Judgment

Is important in employment planning It's rare that any historical trend will cotinue unchanged Important factors that may influence your forecast include decisions to upgrade product quality or enter into new markets, financial resources and technological changes resulting in increased productivity

Talent Management

Is the goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing and compensation employees

Responsibilities and Duties

Is the heart of the job description here, list and describe in several sentences each of the job's major duties

Job Analysis

Is the procedure through which you determine the duties of the positions and the characteristics of the people to hire for them

Workforce (or employment or personnel) Planning

Is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill and how to fill them

Workforce Planning Process

Is to forecast the employer's demand for labor (needs) and supply of labor (supply) Identify supply-needs gaps Develop action plans to fill the projected gaps

The Local Newspaper or the Web

Is usually the best source of blue-collar help, clerical employees and lower-level administrative employees

Job Specifications (Qualifications)

Is what kind of people to hire for the job Is a statement of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) needed to perform the job

Predictive Workforce Monitoring

Is when the talent management philosophy to workforce planning requires paying continuous attention to workforce planning issues

What is the Heart of Personnel Planning Involve?

It involves predicting the skills the employer will need to execute its strategy

What does a Job Analysis Produce?

It produces information for writing job descriptions and job specifications

Recruiting Effectiveness

It's also important to assess how effectively the employer is spending its recruiting dollars

Campus Recruiting Problems

Its expensive The recruiter must be personable and effective

Applicant Exaggeration

Job applicants often exaggerate their qualifications Always ensure applicants complete the form and sign a statement on it indicating that the information is true

Workforce Action Plan

Lays out the employer's projected workforce demand-supply gaps, as well as staffing plans for filling the necessary positions

A Key to Succession Planning

List the competencies that the firm's evolving strategy will require the new CEO or other executive to have Then use that profile as the benchmark for formulating an integrated set of selection, training, appraisal and compensation standards for the job

Forecast Local Market Conditions

Local labor market conditions are also important

Recruiting Single Parents

Make the workplace user-friendly Many firms institute flextime programs, but these may not be sufficient to really make a difference

Makes sure talent management decisions such as staffing, training and pay are goal-directed

Managers should always be asking, what recruiting, testing, or other actions should I take to produce the employee competencies we need to achieve our strategic goals?

Relationships Statement

May show the jobholder's relationships with other inside and outside the organization

Competency-Based Job Analysis

Means describing the job in terms of the observable competencies (knowledge, skills and/or behaviors) that an employee duing that job must have to do the job

Offshoring

Means having outside employees abroad supply services that the company's own employees previously did in-house

Outsourcing

Means having outside vendors supply services or perform jobs that the company's own employees previously did in-house

Ratio Analysis

Means making forecasts based oon the ratio between some casual factor (such as sales volume) and the number of employees required (for instance, number of sales people)

Job Posting

Means posting theopen job - on company bulletin boards and/or Intranet - and listing its attributes, such as qualifications, supervisor, working schedule and pay scale

Succession Planning

Means the plans a company makes to fill its most important executive positions The process of ensuring a suitable supply of successors for current and future key jobs arising from business strategy, so that the careers of individuals' aspirations

Recruiting a More Diverse Workforce

More employees will be older, minorities and women This means taking special steps to recruit older workers, minorities and women

Complying with the Americas with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Most ADA lawsuits involve the questions what are the essential functions of the job?

Older Workers as a Source of Candidates

Older workers actually tend to have lower absenteeism and more reliability than younger workers do The most effecitve ads here emphasize schedule

Advertising as a Source of Candidates

Placing a help wanted print ad bring with deciding where to place the ad The best medicum dpends on the job

Applicant Tracking Services

Popular applicant tracking systems help employers by screening, categorizing, keeping tack of applicants and matching them to jobs They also help employers compile reports, such as applicants by reject reason

The Manager May Adjust Projected Staffing Needs to Reflect

Projected turnover (resignations or terminations) Quality and skills of your employees (in relation to your company's changing needs) Strategic decisions to upgrade the quality of products or services or enter into new markets Technological and other changes resulting in increased productivity The financial resources available

Job Summary

Should describe the general nature of the job, listing only its major functions or activities

What are the Most Effective Recruiting Sources?

Referrals by current personnel In-house job postings Rehiring of former employees

Employe Referral Programs Advantages

Referrals tend to generate more applicants, more hires and a higher yield ratio (hires/applicants) Current employees usually provide accurate information about the applicants they refer Those hired through referrals subsequently tend to be among the lower turnover employees The new employees have a more realistic picture of the employer after speaking with friends who work there Result in higher-quality candidates

Succession Planning

Refers to planning how to fill the company's most important top executive positions

Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

Requires forecasting general economic conditions, local market conditions and occupational market conditions

Personnel Records

Reveal individuals who have potential for further training or who halready have the background for the open job

Personnel Planning

Should be an integral part of a firm's strategic planning

The Staffing Plan

Should identify the positions to be filled Potential internal and external sources for these positions The required training, development and promotional activities moving people into the positions will entail The resources that implementing the staffing plan will require

Scatter Plot

Show graphically how two variables (such as a measure of business activity and your firms' staffing levels) are related If they are related, then if you can forecast the level of business activity, you should also be able to estimate your personnel requirements

Personnel Replacement CHarts

Show the present performance and promotability for each potential replacement for important positions

Position Replacement Card

Shows possible replacements for current employees as well as present performance, promotion potential and training required by each possible candidate for a position

Courtesy

Some employers develop expensive recruiting programs and then drop the ball by treating applicants discourteously Employers should be courteous towards applicants

Candidates' Warnings

Some of these firms may present an unpromising candidate to a client just to make their other candidates look better Some eager clients may also jump the gun, undermining your present position Do not confuse executive search firms with the many executive assistance or coaching firms that help out-of-work executives find job Also, know that recruiters are usually coy about revealing the full amount they're willing to pay

Alternative Staffing

Temporary employees are examples of alternative staffing - basically, the use of nontraditional recruitment sources Other alternative staffing arrangements include contract technical employees

Position

The different duties and responsibilities performed by only one employee

The Disabled

The disable typically suffer relatively high unemployment rates Disable employees provide an excellent and largely untapped source of competent, productive labor for jobs

Employee Referrals

The firm posts announcements of openings and requests for referrals on its intranet and bulletin boards It may offer prices for referrals that culminate in hiring

Using Internet-Based Data Collection

The human resource department distributes standardized job analysis questionnaires to dispersed employees via their company intranets, with instructions to complete and return the forms

Working Conditions and PhysicalEnvironment

The job description also lists the job's general working conditions, such as noise level, hazardous conditions and heat

What do Traditional Job Analysis Focus On?

The job's duties and responsibilities

Welfare-to-Work

The key to such programs' success is the employers pretraining assimilation program During these, participants receive counseling and basic skills training spread over several weeks

What does Forecasting External labor Supply Depend On?

The manager's own sense of what's happening in his or her industry and locale He or she then supplements these observations with more formal labor market analyses A qualifications inventory can help facilitate forecasting the supply of inside candidates

Employe Referral Programs Disadvantages

The success of the program depends on morale The program can backfire if any employee's referral is rejected Using referrals exclusively may also be discriminatory if most of your current employees (and their referrals) are, say, white

Mandatory Dispute Resolution Forum

These generally require applicants to agree to arbitrate certain legal disputes related to their application for employment or employment with the company

Standards of performance

This lists standards the employee is expected to achieve in each othe job's main duties and responsibilities

Authority

This section details the job's authority For example, the jobholder might have authority to approve purchase requests up to $5,000 and recommended salary increases

Employment Agency Types

Those operated by federal state, or local governments Those associated with nonprofit organizations Privately owned agencies

Internal Sources of Candidates

To be effective, this approach requires using job postings and personnel records

What do you Use the Information Regarding the Job's Duties For?

To decide what sort of people to recruit and hire and to select workers for the job

What is the Basic Aim of Diversity Recruiting?

To unearth diverse applicants with the desired qualities (such as cognitive ability and conscientiousness)

What is A Job Description Used For?

To write a job specification that lists the knowledge, abilities and skills needed to perform the job

When a Manager Takes a Talent Management Perspective, He or She

Understands that the talent management tasks are components in a single talent management process Makes sure talent management decisions such as staffing, training and pay are goal-directed Consistently uses the same profile of competencies, traits, knowledge and experience for fomulating recruitment plans for a job as for making selection, training, appraisal and payment decisions for it Actively segments and manages employees Integrates/coordinates all the talent management functions

How do Employers Identify the Job's Required Human Traits?

Using either a judgmental approach or statistical analysis

Traditional Personnel Planning Involves

Using tools such as ratio analysis or trend analysis to estimate staffing needs based on sales projections and on historical sales to personnel relationships The usual process is to forecast revenues first Then estimate the size of the staff required to achieve this volume, for instance, by using historical ratios

Recruiting Single Parents: Supervisor Training is Important

Very often, the relationships which the single mother has with her supervisor and co-workers is a significant factor influencing whether the single parent employee perceive the work environment to be supportive

What are the Least Effective Recruiting Sources?

Walk-ins Newspaper ads School placement services Employment agencies (government/private)

What do Competency Analysis Focus On?

What competencies or skills the worker must have to do the work

What Question does the Job Specification Answer?

What human traits and experience are required to do this job well? It shows for what qualities to test the applicants

Where does Forecasting Workforce Demand Start With?

With estimating what the demand will be for your products or services

For Professionals

You can advertise on the Web or in trade and professional journals

Middle-Or-Senior Management Personnel

You can place help wanted ads in papers to reach them

Forecast the Occupational Market Conditions

You may want to forecast the availability of potential job candidates in specific occupations

Why Might you Want to Turn to an Agency?

Your firm does not have its own human resource department Your firm has found it difficult to generate a pool of qualified applicants You must fill an opening quickly THere is a perceived need to attract a greater number of minority or female applicants The recruitment effort aims to reach employed individuals who might feel more comfortable dealing with employment agencies than with competing companies

The Complex Job of Recruiting Employees

Your recruitment efforts should make sense in terms of yoru company's strategic plans Some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on whom you're recruiting and what your resources are The success you have with your recruiting depends on nonrecruitment issues and policies There are the legal considerations