Human Resources Exam 1

Ability and other factors

less trainable; people are born with them to some extent and changes occur slowly.

Cost Leadership Strategy

offering the lowest cost for products and services - Focus on efficiencies and cost reductions - Minimize overhead and costs - Economies of scale are realized - Only one cost leader in an industry - Outperform competitors - Ex: Walmart makes sure that their jobs are easy enough for their employees to handle

How to correct a shortage fast?

overtime, temporary workers, outsourcing

Knowledge and Skills

- are trainable; people are not born with these

Importance of doing job analysis

· The goal is to enhance organizational performance · Translate company goals to specific actions that employees perform in their jobs - Determine the specific tasks and responsibilities that employees should perform - And how they will perform them - Help employees focus on tasks/responsibilities to optimize their contribution.

Job specification

· specific competencies (KSAOs) a jobholder must posses to be able to perform a job successfully.

"One must bear in mind that one-half of organizations won't believe the connection between how they manage their people and the profits they earn. One-half of those who do see the connection will do what many organizations have done—try to make a single change to solve their problems, not realizing that the effective management of people requires a more comprehensive and systematic approach. Of the firms that make comprehensive changes, probably only about one-half will persist with their practice long enough to actually derive economic benefits. Since one-half times one-half times one-half equals one-eighth, at best 12 percent of organizations will actually do what is required to build profits by putting people first."

From the article "Putting people first" What is the "one-eight rule"?

Factors that will impact/change job and hence job analysis

- Changes in structuring of work - Computerization - Downsizing

Supply Forecasting

- Definition of labor supply- total hours that workers wish to work at a given real wage rate. -A quantitative method of supply forecasting that allows us to determine the percentage of employees who remain in the company across years (HINT: know how to track the number of employees in various jobs) -Transition Matrix: tracks movement of employees throughout an organization

Job element inventory

- JEI provides a list of 153 specific tasks and uses a novel and unique approach to rating task performance; it uses 3 questions to rate the importance of specific tasks ( on a scale from 1=very unlikely to 5= very likely) 1.) How likely is it that a barely acceptable worker could perform this task well? 2.) How likely is it that a superior worker could perform this task well (distinguish superior work from average work)? 3.) How likely is it that trouble will result from poor performance?

2 types of alignments

1.) Internal Alignment- refers to the pay relationships among different jobs/ skills/ competencies within a single organization 2.) External Alignment- matches the organizations products and services with the market and consumer needs.

Factors the inherent within the organization

- Strategy - Company characteristics - Organizational culture - Employee concerns- work-life balance; justice perceptions: employees expect to be treated fairly Distributive Justice- fairness in what individuals receive for their efforts Procedural justice: the process used to make decisions, rewards, etc is viewed as fair. Interactional Justice: How employees feel they are treated by their managers

Fleishman System

- deals only with abilities -provides a list of 52 abilities - rated with a 7 point scale that includes behavioral benchmark examples - Example: ability to understand written sentences and paragraphs

· Differentiation Strategy and managing employees implications

- jobs are geared toward creativity or customer service - employees are hired with specific skills and new perspectives - jobs require cooperation, creativity and knowledge sharing - pay is based on individual potential or team accomplishments - outperform competitors that offers something unique

Low cost strategy and managing employees implications

- jobs are narrow in focus, and emphasize standardized and repetitive actions - behaviors are fairly well understood - individuals are hired with basic skills and trained to understand expectations - employees are paid based on jobs they perform Ex: assembly line predicts how people will perform on a job

Demand Forecasting

- labor demand- number of labor hours that the employer is willing to hire based on the various exogenous variables it is faced with - The statistical method used to make demand forecasting (e.g., productivity ratio) - Level of firm's output relative to the inputs -inputs: employees, equipment, materials, etc -outputs: sales, final products, etc - Productivity ratio: number of employees (labor demand) needed to achieve a certain output level (e.g products) - Output/ employees= average ratio

ONET and DOT

- online resource that describes the tasks involved in many jobs, along with their KSAO's

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

- provides a list of 194 tasks that fall under these overall dimensions -information input -Mental process - work output -relationships with other people - job context -job related variables - The PAQ rates the importance of tasks using 5 scales 1.) Extent of use 2.) Amount of time 3.) Importance to the job 4.) Possibility of occurrence 5.) Applicability to job

Tools for Job Analysis

-Job element inventory JEI -Position analysis questionnaire PAQ -Fleishman system -Occupational Information Network O*NET DOT

Outcomes of the Motivational Approach

-Pay -Promotion opportunities -coworkers -supervision

Three goals of recruitment

1. Attract a lot of applicants: identify best participants Quantity 2. Attract applicants who "fit" the position Quality 3. Increase likelihood of acceptances

three decision-making strategies that candidates might use to decide which job to accept

1. Compensatory Strategy: rate according to strengths/weaknesses in all categories 2. Non-compensatory Strategy: if it dosent pay $50,000 forget it; If it's not close to home forget it 3. Implicit Favorite: evaluate other solutions against a perceived best decision

three personnel policies that affect vacancy desirability

1. Promoting from within: take people already working in the company to fill other higher positions 2. Lead the market pay 3. Image advertising: attract employees and applicants

Four broad factors that make organizations more or less attractive to candidates

1. Vacancy characteristics: ● pay #1, core job characteristics #2, Job security #3, advancement opportunities #4, location #5, benefits #6, and travel requirements #7 2. Personal policies: ● Promoting from within ● Lead-the-market pay ● Image advertising 3. Recruitment sources: ● Internal sources: cheaper but not practical in smaller firms ○ Promote within ● External sources: brings in fresh ideas, but is riskier ○ Referrals-> good fit for the job ○ Electronic recruiting-> indeed, LinkedIn 4. Recruiter characteristics: ● Recruits wants someone warm and nice ● Someone honest and informative

Three different approaches used to improve employee efficiency within the mechanical approach

1.) Micro-motion Analysis: record employees doing their job at slow speeds. Analyze the tape to eliminate or combine steps 2.) Memo- motion Analysis: record employees doing their job at fast speeds. Analyze the tape to orient the placement of equipment in the room. (reduce unnecessary movement to improve job functioning) 3.) Process Engineering: identifies the sequence of steps needed to fulfill a job. Seeks to discover which steps could be performed by machines, or which steps could be eliminated or combined to make work more efficient.

four broad approaches to job design

1.) Motivational- goal: maximize intrinsic enjoyment 2.) Mechanistic- goal: maximize efficiency and safety 3.) Biological goal: maximize efficiency and safety 4.) Perceptual- Motor goal: maximize efficiency and safety

HR challenges

1.) Organizational demands- internal factors, including strategy, company characteristics, etc 2.) Environmental influences- external factors, including labor force trends, globalization, etc - regulatory issues: a special subgroup of environmental influences that includes federal, state, and local legislation

The five core job characteristics (JCM)

1.) Skill variety- job has different activities and uses different skills 2.) Task Identity - job results in a whole, identifiable piece of work 3.) Task Significance- job affects the lives of other people 4.) Autonomy- job holder has freedom and discretion 5.) Feedback- the job itself provides feedback on performance

3 Methods to assess whether HRM matters

1.) Theoretical Arguments- the value of resources depends on several factors Resources: financial, physical, interpersonal Good people are rare and inimitable because they create history, culture and make numerous small decisions. None of these can be easily copied. 2.) Case Studies- examine companies that do well financially and see if they do a good job managing HRM. And examine companies that struggle financially and see if they do a poor job managing HRM 3.) Quantitative Analysis- look at companies who have been recognized for their HRM quality, to see if their practices have seemed to create sustainable competitive advantage.

3 Primary HR activities

1.) Work design and workforce planning- designing jobs and planning for the workforce needed to achieve organizational goals 2.) Managing employee competencies- identifying, acquiring, and developing employee talent and skills (training) 3.) Managing employee attitudes and behaviors- encouraging and motivating employees to perform in appropriate ways to contribute to organizational goals. Performance management, compensation and incentives, employee benefits, health and wellness.

Motivational

1.) maximize an employee's drive to work as hard as possible if jobs are designed to be intrinsically enjoyable; this places less pressure on many specific areas of HRM, including - Performance management - Retention -But if intrinsic enjoyment is lacking, then other areas of HRM must supply more of the extrinsic satisfaction needed to motivate and retain employees

Three critical Psychological states

1.Meaningfulness of work: belief that the job has a meaningful outcome 2. Responsibility for work: belief that worker controls the outcome 3. Knowledge of results: worker is aware of the job outcome

Job security

According to the article, "Outsourcing at Crux of Boeing Strike," what issue has emerged as perhaps the most crucial concern for employees

How to correct a surplus fast?

Downsizing, pay reduction, demotions, work sharing

Tradeoffs of the job design approach

Efficiency: when taking into extreme, efficiency can make employees feel boring and unfulfilling -Focusing on motivation along: neglects the potential benefits of efficiency

Responses to Injustice

Employees may respond by: speaking up, silence, neglect, leaving, destructive behaviors

psychological contracts

Expectations of employee contributions and what the company will provide in return

- Internal Advantage: cheaper Disadvantages: not practical in small firms External Advantage: brings in fresh ideas Disadvantages: riskier

From the slides and from the article "How to Minimize the Risks of Hiring Outside Stars," advantages and disadvantages of both internal and external hires

Football player recruits

It's better to have recruit B than recruit A because B has a very good personality and experience. They can gain the skills after they receive the scholarship

Uber leaders prioritize recruitment and hiring staff to keep up with their fast growth instead of legal compliance systems, audits, and leadership development

What is the main issue Uber has caused for themselves?

Rare and inimitable

What two factors contribute to making resources valuable and that, in turn, give companies a competitive advantage?

What results in human suffering

downsizing, pay reduction, demotions, work sharing

Perceptual Motor Approach

focuses on mental capacities and limitations rather than physical - Decrease amount of info and memorization - Increase lighting and make visual displays clear - Provide easy to follow instructions

Which options are revocable for a shortage

overtime, temporary workers, outsourcing, retrained transfers, turn over reduction

Differentiation Strategy

providing something unique for which customers are willing to pay. - Unique product or services may include features, location, innovation, reputation, status, customer service or quality - Offering something competing firms do not provide and customers value. - Ex: automotive industry - Provides something unique that customers are willing to pay a price.

competitive advantage

refers to an organization's ability to create more economic value than its competitors.

Biological

structure job tasks and the work environment to reduce physical fatigue and health problems

shortage

supply<demand

Yeild Ratio

the % of applicants who successfully move from one stage of recruitment and selection process to the next

Mechanistic

this approach stems from the scientific management thought: - Examine how work should be structured to maximize worker efficiency - detailed analysis of the specific tasks and worker actions to identify the ideal Method or procedure for carrying out each task.

Realistic job previews

tools a company uses as a way to communicate the good and the bad characteristics of the job during the hiring process of new employees, or as a tool to reestablish job specificity for existing employees. o What outcomes can they help improve - Initial turnover - Perceptions of employer fairness

HR departments are straying from the traditional HR professionals and tapping into managers from outside the human resources to run their HR departments. Executives who work outside of HR have a deep understanding of business and financial issues that occur in the business that HR employees don't recognize. Hiring executives who don't specialize in HR helps the company benefit by becoming better at training, recruiting and retention

· From both the lecture slides and the article "HR department get new star power at some firms": How the role of HRM is changing with regard to HR executives

Finance Function

· From the article "Uber is finally realizing HR isn't just for recruiting," o What business function should HR be treated like to demonstrate its priority in an organization?

Mechanistic

· From the articles "In New Office Designs, Room to Roam and Think," and "Google Got it Wrong. The Open-office Trend is Destroying the Workplace": o What job design approach is MOST applicable to these companies' switch from cubicles/private offices to an open office design?

Factors Outside the organization

· Labor Force trends:· Demographic diversity: - Women, Hispanics and Asians are fast growing ethnicities being employed - Companies must manage diversity to leverage the benefits and eliminate bias and discrimination· · Aging workforce: - Baby boomers approaching retirement - Competition limited supply of workers to replace them -Companies are recruiting older workers who Technology: ● Changes employees' and managers' work roles ● Computer proficiency may be required ● Enables workforce telecommunicating, video conferencing and email· Globalization: ● Expanding into foreign labor markets ● Expands countries boundaries in business activities ● Influenced by trade markets · Ethics and social responsibility ● Attitudes/ beliefs on what is acceptable or what is right ● How companies behave towards their stakeholders ● Builds up reputation and consumer support

The importance of Context

· Realize no two companies are alike · There is no one best way to manage employees · Using the wrong practice poorly can cause harm · Need to manage employees strategically and use HR tools and practices appropriately. · You have to deal with how large or small a company is and you have to deal with different cultures.

Steps in the workforce planning process

· Step 1: what kind of human resources do we have (labor supply), what kind are we likely to need (labor demand), and how do we bring those into alignment? · Step 2 Planning: goal setting and strategic planning - set specific goals - choose strategies to address labor shortages and surpluses · Step 3: Program implementation - the programs developed in the strategic planning stage are put into practice - Individuals must be accountable for achieving goals - Progress reports to maintain schedule · Step 3b: evaluation - check whether company avoided surpluses or shortages - identify parts of plan that were successful or failed

surplus

· Supply>Demand

Recruitment:

· the process of identifying potential employees, communicating job and organizational attributes to them, and convincing them to apply for available jobs - used to initially staff an organization, to replace workers, and to cope with a labor shortage

Job description

· written summaries of the specific tasks, responsibilities and working conditions of a job. - List every dimension of the job - List every task within each dimension - Rate all of those tasks according to importance - Include a list of those tasks according to importance

Pros and Cons of Fleishman System

■ Pros: measures abilities directly, helpful in making distinction between A's and S's ■ Cons: leaves out K's and O's

Pros and Cons of JEI

■ Pros: results in well-organized documentation of the job and the worker ■ Con: it can be difficult to explain the job element methods

Pros and Cons of Position analysis questionnaire:

■ Pros: the dimensions are linked to a general aptitude test, dimensions are broad ■ Cons: requires a reading level of a college graduate standard, leads to abstract characterization of jobs