Chapter 16

Steps in Assessing Strategic Alignment

1. Managers diagnose horizontal fit by assessing whether particular HR practices reinforce one another or work at cross purposes. 2. Managers assess whether the HR practices significantly enable key workforce deliverables such as employment stability and teamwork. 3. The degree of vertical fit is evaluated by assessing the degree to which the workforce deliverables are connected with key strategic performance drivers.

Competitive Challenge

After disappointing sales under its new CEO, Ron Johnson, J.C. Penney fired Johnson and replaced him with former J.C. Penney CEO Mike Ullman in hopes of turning around the company's profitability.

Employee Concern

After employees completed the company's extensive training, their career prospects brightened.

Competitive Challenge

Allied Guru implemented a high-performance work system that moved them to first place for loss control in their industry.

Organized

Combine the talents of employees and rapidly deploy them in new assignments with maximum flexibility

Suppose that Luke, director of human resources for Intermountain Healthcare, wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of the high-performance work systems that the organization is using. Which of the following activities should he undertake first in this endeavor? Establish the goals of the high-performance work system Conduct a process audit to see how the system was implemented Look at metrics including quality-of-life measures Make small changes to the high-performance work system

Conduct a process audit to see how the system was implemented

Difficult to Imitate

Design team processes and capabilities that cannot be transported, duplicated, or copied by rival firms

Rare

Develop and harness skills, knowledge, and abilities that are not equally available to all organizations

Kyle Bolstrom, operations officer for Intermountain Healthcare, says that the organization gains buy-in by including employees in the process of decision making with the right amount of accountability. Including employees in the process of decision making coincides with which principle of high-performance work systems? Egalitarianism and employee engagement Egalitarianism and employee engagement Performance-reward linkage Shared information and trust Knowledge development

Egalitarianism and employee engagement

Which of the following principles of a high-performance work system is Whole Foods specifically emphasizing by decentralizing decisions and allowing team members to vote to determine if a new employee deserves a spot on their team? Performance-reward linkage Shared information and trust Knowledge development Egalitarianism and engagement

Egalitarianism and engagement

Valuable

Establish ways to increase innovation and efficiency

Difficult to Imitate

High-performance work systems are designed around team processes and capabilities that cannot be transported, duplicated, or copied by rival firms.

Organized

High-performance work systems combine the talents of employees and rapidly deploy them in new assignments with maximum flexibility.

Rare

High-performance work systems help organizations develop and harness skills, knowledge, and abilities that are not equally available to all organizations.

Valuable

High-performance work systems increase value by establishing ways to increase innovation and efficiency, decrease costs, improve processes, and provide something unique to customers.

Employee Concern

Jose could attend his children's sporting events and choir concerts because his company implemented an option for flexible scheduling and telecommuting.

Which of the following principles of a high-performance work system is Whole Foods specifically emphasizing by treating teams as separate profit centers and rewarding them with monthly bonuses if their profits exceed a certain level? Knowledge development Performance-reward linkage Egalitarianism and engagement Shared information and trust

Performance-reward linkage

Which of the following principles of a high-performance work system is Whole Foods specifically emphasizing by opening up its books to its employees? Performance-reward linkage Knowledge development Egalitarianism and engagement Shared information and trust

Shared information and trust

You are the head of HR at an organic foods manufacturer. Your goal is to enable HR to transform the functioning of the company to a dramatically higher level of productivity, quality, and efficiency through HRX—your HR excellence program. In mapping out the design of HRX, you know that having a good action plan for implementation will be key to the long-term success of the program as well. Which of the following actions would be critical to the successful implementation of HRX? a. Allocate sufficient resources and support for the HRX initiative. b. Implement a 10% increase in the base salary of all employees. c. Do not institute the use of teams with this initiative. d. Make sure to keep track of total expenditures on the HRX initiative.

a. Allocate sufficient resources and support for the HRX initiative.

Kyle Bolstrom, operations officer for Intermountain Healthcare, says that the clinical program teams have both high-level executives and lower-level employees. His perspective is that this structure allows Intermountain Health Care to provide engagement and accountability when they roll out a new strategy. Which of the following HR department activities will do most to help employees handle the changes proposed by the clinical program teams? a. Redesign job descriptions so the formal paperwork matches the new structure b. Create an implementation road map c. Make sure that senior employees are compensated for their tenure with the company d. Let the employees manage the process without interference from HR

b. Create an implementation road map

You are the head of HR at a sports apparel company. Your goal is to enable HR to transform the functioning of the company to a dramatically higher level of productivity, quality, and efficiency through HRX—your HR excellence program. In mapping out the design of HRX, you know that having a good action plan for implementation will be key to the long-term success of the program as well. Which of the following actions would be critical to the successful implementation of HRX? a. Make sure to keep track of total expenditures on the HRX initiative. b. Ensure that HRX is "owned" by senior and line managers c. Implement a 10% increase in the base salary of all employees. d. Do not institute the use of teams with this initiative.

b. Ensure that HRX is "owned" by senior and line managers

Luke, director of human resources for Intermountain Healthcare, says that the HR department helps to hire, develop, and retain the talent needed for the organization to be successful in patient care and to support the noble mission of healthcare. This statement indicates Intermountain Healthcare's approach to: a. Making a case for change b. Linking HR practices with strategy c. Linking technologies with strategy d. Evaluating outcomes

b. Linking HR practices with strategy

You have been hired as an HR consultant by a commercial aircraft manufacturer who has been implementing a high performance work system (HPWS) for the past two years. Senior management would like you to conduct a formal evaluation of their HPWS to determine its effectiveness and how it could be improved. You decide to conduct a survey of employees as part of the audit of the program. Given this, which of the following questions would it be appropriate to ask as part of the audit? a. What is the employee turnover rate? b. What is the overall satisfaction rate of employees? c. What is the sales growth and expansion of the organization? d. Are employees being treated fairly so that power differences are minimal?

d. Are employees being treated fairly so that power differences are minimal?

You have been hired as an HR consultant by a commercial aircraft manufacturer who has been implementing a high performance work system (HPWS) for the past two years. Senior management would like you to conduct a formal evaluation of their HPWS to determine its effectiveness and how it could be improved. You decide to conduct a survey of employees as part of the audit of the program. Given this, which of the following questions would it be appropriate to ask as part of the audit? a. What is the employee turnover rate? b. What is the overall satisfaction rate of employees? c. What is the sales growth and expansion of the organization? d. Are quality of goals being achieved by employees?

d. Are quality of goals being achieved by employees?

You have been hired as an HR consultant by a small grocery store chain that is considering the implementation of a high-performance work system (HPWS) in the future. Management would like you to conduct a formal assessment of employee engagement with its workforce of 40 employees. You decide to conduct a survey of employees as the foundation of the assessment. Given this, which of the following questions would be appropriate to include in your assessment of employee engagement in this situation? a. What job have you disliked the most and why? b. Is your personality more contentious or free-flowing? c. How important is it to you that your manager works in the same physical location as you do? d. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

d. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

You have been hired as an HR consultant by a small grocery store chain that is considering the implementation of a high-performance work system (HPWS) in the future. Management would like you to conduct a formal assessment of employee engagement with its workforce of 40 employees. You decide to conduct a survey of employees as the foundation of the assessment. Given this, which of the following questions would be appropriate to include in your assessment of employee engagement in this situation? a. How important is it for you to be able to work from home at least two days per week? b. When you retire from this company, in what job would you like to be working? c. Is your personality more introverted or extraverted? d. In the past seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?

d. In the past seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?