Exam 3 - Chapter 9: Creating and Maintaining High-Performance Organizations
Knowledge Sharing - Key Features of Learning Organizations
1. Continuous learning 2. Shared knowledge 3. Critical, systematic thinking 4. Learning culture 5. Valued employees
Outcomes of a High-Performance Work System
1. Higher productivity and efficiency that contribute to higher profits 2. High product quality 3. Great customer satisfaction 4. Low employee turnover
Which of the following is a benefit of using e-HRM? Employees can research information about their collegagues without violating privacy rules Employees can research outside job openings using the company's intranet Employees can post negative comments about the company without being identified Employees can help themselves to information when they need it instead of asking an HR staff person.
A benefit of e-HRM is that employees can help themselves to the information they need when they need it, instead of contacting an HR staff person. For example, employees can go online to enroll in or select benefits, submit insurance claims, or fill out employee satisfaction surveys. This can be more convenient for the employees, as well as more economical for the HR department. Employees also appreciate the convenience of getting their training online, at the time and place of their choosing, preferably in short chunks as needed.
HR Dashboard (Human Resource Information Systems)
A display of HR-related indicators showing human resource goals and objectives and the progress toward meeting them
Which of the following scenarios demonstrates an effective use of decision support system? A manager researches company policy regarding which training expenses are reimbursable. A manager reviews the gender breakdown of employees in a specific department. A manager obtains exact turnover rates in a specific geographic location to determine how many employees need to be hired. A manager tests a range of assumptions about the availability of a specific skills in the local labor market.
A manager tests a range of assumptions about the availability of a specific skills in the local labor market. Decision support systems are computer software systems designed to help managers solve problems. They usually include a "what if?" feature that managers can use to enter different assumptions or data and see how the likely outcomes will change. By applying internal data or research results, this type of system can help managers make decisions for human resource planning. The manager can, for example, try out different assumptions about turnover rates to see how those assumptions affect the number of new employees needed. Or the manager can test a range of assumptions about the availability of a certain skill in the labor market, looking at the impact of the assumptions on the success of different recruiting plans
A formal review of HRM outcomes based on key functions and measures of business performance is called an HRM ______________
An HRM audit is a formal review of the outcomes of HRM functions. To conduct the audit, the HR department identifies key functions and the key measures of business performance and customer satisfaction that would indicate each function is succeeding
HR _________ refers to calculating a program's success in terms of how close it came to both achieving its goals and whether it delivered value in an economic sense.
Another way to measure HRM effectiveness is the use of HR analytics. This process involves measuring a program's success in terms of whether it achieved its objectives and whether it delivered value in an economic sense. For example, if the organization sets up a training program, it should set up goals for that program, such as the training's effects on learning, behavior, and performance improvement (results). The analysis would then measure whether the training program achieved the preset goals
HRM Applications
As computers become ever more powerful, new technologies continue to be introduced. These range from software for individual tasks performed on a mobile device to complex systems that enable the analysis of HR data gathered from a multinational workforce. At any scale, the systems typical take the form of : transaction processing decision support systems & expert systems
The process of ensuring that HR policies, programs, and practices bolster and are in line with an organization's overall culture is called __________. brand alignments continuous learning shared knowledge employee engagement
Brand alignment is the process of ensuring that HR policies, practices, and programs support or are congruent with an organization's overall culture or brand, including its products and services. One way to ensure that HR policies align with a company's strategic vision is to educate employees about the company's "brand" and their role in bringing that brand to life as part of everyday work activities. Some companies discuss brand alignment as part of employee orientation programs while others develop in-depth training programs about the company's brand and how each employee is an important contributor to the company's overall success.
A company that uses a system of off-site servers hosted on the Internet to save, protect, manage, and process data uses __________ computing.
Cloud computing involves using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data. These services are offered by data centers around the world (and not within an organization's offices) and are collectively called "the cloud." These services offer the ability to access information that's delivered on demand from any device, anywhere, at any time
Decision support systems
Computer software systems designed to help managers solve problems by showing how results vary when the manager alters assumptions or data.
expert systems (HRM Applications)
Computer systems that support decision making by incorporating the decision rules used by people who are considered to have expertise in a certain area.
Which of the following guideline should a company follow in order to make a performance management system support the company's goals? Correlate performance measures to historical trends Define and measure performance in precise terms Link performance measures to customer needs Disregard economic conditions when measuring employee performance
Define and measure performance in precise terms Link performance measures to customer needs
Teamwork and Empowerment
Design work so it is performed by teams Managers coordinate roles and provide resources contribute to high performance when they improve job satisfaction and give the organization fuller use of employees' ideas and expertise.
Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement (Contributes to High Performance)
Employee engagement is the degree to which employees are fully involved in their work and the strength of their commitment to their job and company Brand alignment is the process of ensuring that HR policies, practices, and programs support or are congruent with an organization's overall culture or brand, including its products and services. Passionate people are fully engaged with something so that it becomes part of their sense of who they are. Feeling this way about one's work has been called occupational intimacy. • HR has a significant role in creating these conditions.
The extent to which workers are fully involved in their tasks, assignments, and productivity is called __________ ___________.
Employee engagement is the degree to which employees are fully involved in their work and the strength of their commitment to their job and company. Being fully engaged tends to require that employees experience their jobs as fulfilling or allowing them to fulfill important values. Research supports the idea that employees' job satisfaction and job performance are related
Which of the following elements are part of a high-performance work system? Employee training Task design Education level Competitive alliances Information systems
Employee training Task design Information systems in a high-performance work system, the elements that must work together include organizational structure, task design, people (the selection, training, and development of employees), reward systems, and information systems, and human resource management plays an important role in establishing all these.
Technological systems can incorporate decision rules used by individuals considered to have specialized knowledge in certain areas are referred to as __________ systems.
Expert systems are computer systems that incorporate the decision rules used by people who are considered to have expertise in a certain area. The systems help users make decisions by recommending actions based on the decision rules and the information provided by the users. designed to recommend the same actions that a human expert would in a similar situation. For example, an expert system could guide an interviewer during the selection process. Some organizations use expert systems to help employees decide how to allocate their money for benefits (when the company offers a set of choices) and help managers schedule the labor needed to complete projects. Expert systems can deliver both high quality and lower costs. By using the decision processes of experts, an expert system helps many people to arrive at decisions that reflect the expert's knowledge. An expert system helps avoid the errors that can result from fatigue and decision-making biases, such as biases in appraising employee performance. An expert system can increase efficiency by enabling fewer or less-skilled employees to do work that otherwise would require many highly skilled employees.
An organization whose culture enables all employees to continually acquire and share knowledge is called a __________ organization. learning liberal living complex
For more than a decade, managers have been interested in creating a learning organization, that is, an organization in which the culture values and supports lifelong learning by enabling all employees to continually acquire and share knowledge. The people in a learning organization have resources for training, and they are encouraged to share their knowledge with colleagues. Managers take an active role in identifying training needs and encouraging the sharing of idea
Human Resource Management Audits
Formal review of the outcomes of HRM functions: - Staffing, compensation, benefits, training, appraisal and development, and overall effectiveness - Compliance with equal employment opportunity laws, succession planning, maintaining a safe workplace, and positive labor relations
Each aspect of a company's performance management should be related to the organization's _________. problems goals profits employees
Goals Some guidelines for performance management. First, each aspect of performance management should be related to the organization's goals. Business goals should influence the kinds of employees selected and their training, the requirements of each job, and the measures used for evaluating results. Generally, this means the organization identifies what each department must do to achieve the desired results, then defines how individual employees should contribute to their department's goals. More specifically, the following guidelines describe how to make the performance management system support organizational goals:
Analyzing the Effect of HRM Programs
HR analytics: Measures HRM efficiency and effectiveness and a program's success Economic approach: Measures the dollar value of the program's costs and benefits
One of the most creative developments in HRIS technology is the ___ ____________ , a display of a series of HR-related indicators, or measures, showing human resource goals and objectives and the progress toward meeting them. Managers with access to the HRIS can look at the HR dashboard for an easy-to-scan review of HR performance.
HR dashboard
What types of information would be included in a human resource relational database? Check all that apply. Hiring date Employee name Tax filing status Job history
Hiring date Employee name Job history A standard feature of a modern HRIS is the use of relational databases, which store data in separate files that can be linked by common elements. These common elements are fields identifying the type of data. Commonly used fields for an HR database include name, Social Security number, job status (full- or part-time), hiring date, position, title, rate of pay, citizenship status, job history, job location, mailing address, birth date, and emergency contacts. A relational database lets a user sort the data by any of the fields. F
HR Management Online: E-HRM
Improving HRM effectiveness through online technology • Speed requirements of business force HRM to leverage technology for delivery of HRM activities • With Internet, E-HRM enables all employees help themselves to HR information whenever needed • E-HRM uses social media applications • Cloud computing enables access to information that's delivered on demand from any device 24/7
How has the HR function in some organizations responded to the quest for total quality manangement? By taking a consumer-oriented approach By taking a managerial-oriented approach By outsourcing more HR functions to external companies By reducing the number of people in the HR department
In recent years, human resource management at some organizations has responded to the quest for total quality management by taking a customer-oriented approach. For an organization's human resource division, "customers" are the organization as a whole and its other divisions. They are customers of HRM because they depend on HRM to provide a variety of services that result in a supply of talented, motivated employees. Taking this customer-oriented approach, human resource management defines its customer groups, customer needs, and the activities required to meet those needs, as shown in Table 9.2. These definitions give an organization a basis for defining goals and measures of success.
Which of the following outcomes is NOT part of a high-performance work system? Increased employee turnover Increased productivity Increased costumer satisfaction Increased product quality
Increased employee turnover
John told all of the new hires that they could learn about the health benefits associated with their job title by accessing the company website and looking under the "benefits" tab. Which aspect of a high-performance work system is John providing? Information systems Task design Organizational structure Reward system
Information systems Managers make decisions about the types of information to gather and the sources of information. They also must decide who in the organization should have access to the information and how they will make the information available. Modern information systems, including the Internet, have enabled organizations to share information widely. HR departments take advantage of this technology to give employees access to information about benefits, training opportunities, job openings, and more,
Which of the following are key features of a learning organization? Employees are valued Knowledge is measured by profits Knowledge is shared The organization has a learning culture
Knowledge is shared The organization has a learning culture Employees are valued Knowledge is shared. Critical, systematic thinking is widespread. The organization has a learning culture—a culture in which learning is rewarded, promoted, and supported by managers and organizational objectives. Employees are valued.
What is the manager's role in employee empowerment? Managers minimize the amount of proprietary knowledge their teams share with other groups. Managers ensure that communication flows in one direction. Managers provide teams with resources to carry out their work. Managers help teams avoid interacting with other departments
Managers provide teams with resources to carry out their work. The organization may charge the team with making decisions traditionally made by managers, such as hiring team members and planning work schedules. Teamwork and empowerment contribute to high performance when they improve job satisfaction and give the organization fuller use of employees' ideas and expertise.
At Kelly's company, there are ten different divisions and within each of these there are four departments. Which aspect of a high-performance work system does this demonstrate? Reward systems Information systems Organizational structure Task design
Organizational Structure
Human Resource Information Systems
Relational Databases and HR Dashboard
High-Performance Work Systems
Right combination of: people, technology, and organizational structure that makes full use of the organization's resources and opportunities in achieving its goals.
relational databases (Human Resource Information Systems)
Stores data in separate files that can be linked by common elements identifying the type of data to sort by fields - Can track employee benefit costs, training courses, and compensation
As a component of a high-performance work system, ___________ design organizes the details of the organization's necessary activities into groups.
Task design determines how the details of the organization's necessary activities will be grouped, whether into jobs or team responsibilities. In a high-performance work system, task design makes jobs efficient while encouraging high quality.
What is a high performance work system? The right combination of management and resources that helps an organization become the market leader The combination of technology, people, and organizational structure that fully utilizes an organization's resources and opportunities. The combination of technology and finances that helps an organization achieve high profits. The right combination of people and marketing that helps an organization expand its business globally
The combination of technology, people, and organizational structure that fully utilizes an organization's resources and opportunities. The challenge facing managers today is how to make their organizations into high-performance work systems, with the right combination of people, technology, and organizational structure to make full use of resources and opportunities in achieving their organizations' goals. To function as a high-performance work system, each of these elements must fit well with the others in a smoothly functioning whole. Many manufacturers use the latest in processes, including flexible manufacturing technology, total quality management, and just-in-time inventory control (meaning parts and supplies are automatically restocked as needed), but of course these processes do not work on their own; they must be run by qualified people. Organizations need to determine what kinds of people fit their needs, and then locate, train, and motivate those special people
Which of the following HRM functions promotes ethical behavior? Training Compensation Recruitment Benefits
The systems that promote ethical behavior include such HRM functions as training, performance management, and discipline policies. A reputation for high ethical standards can also help a company attract and engage workers who share those high standards
As an assistant in the HR department, Jason is responsible for filing all of the paperwork associated with government reporting requirements. Jason's job is an example of ____________. transaction processing brand allsignment recruitment measures job enlargement
Transaction processing computations and calculations involved in reviewing and documenting HRM decisions and practices. It includes documenting decisions and actions associated with employee relocation, training expenses, and enrollments in courses and benefit plans. Transaction processing also includes the activities required to meet government reporting requirements, such as filling out EEO-1 reports, on which employers report information about employees' race and gender by job category.
Customer-Oriented Perspective of Human Resource Management
WHO ARE OUR CUSTOMERS? Line managers Strategic planners Employees WHAT DO OUR CUSTOMERS NEED? Committed employees Competent employees HOW DO WE MEET CUSTOMER NEEDS? Qualified staffing Performance management Rewards Training and development
Training (HRM Practices)
When organizations base hiring decisions on qualities like decision-making and teamwork skills, training may be required to teach employees the specific skills they need to perform the duties of their job. Part of a learning organization.
Which of the following conditions does not underlie the formation of a high-performance work system? Work design encourages workers to use a variety of skills. Employees participate in selection of new workers. Ongoing training is rewarded. Work processes are unstructured
Work processes are unstructured Certain conditions underlie the formation of a high-performance work system: Teams perform work. Employees participate in selection. Employees receive formal performance feedback and are actively involved in the performance improvement process. Ongoing training is emphasized and rewarded. Employees' rewards and compensation relate to the company's financial performance. Equipment and work processes are structured, and technology is used to encourage maximum flexibility and interaction among employees. Employees participate in planning changes in equipment, layout, and work methods. Work design allows employees to use a variety of skills. Employees understand how their jobs contribute to the finished product or service. Ethical behavior is encouraged.
Ethics - Ethical systems include:
a written code of ethics reinforcement of ethical behavior performance measures that include ethical standards channels for employees to seek help training in ethical decision making
Recruitment and selection (HRM Practices)
aim at obtaining employees who are enthusiastic about and able to contribute to teamwork, empowerment, and knowledge sharing. Qualities such as creativity and the ability to cooperate as part of a team may play a large role in selection decisions
Job design (HRM Practices)
can enable the organization to benefit from teamwork and employee empowerment, two of the work conditions associated with high performance. aimed at empowerment includes access to resources such as information technology.
HR departments can improve their organizations' performance by using technology that usually involves automation and _____________. computation arbitration coordination collaboration
collaboration Human resource departments can improve their own and their organization's performance by appropriately using new technology. New technology usually involves automation and collaboration—that is, using equipment and information processing to perform activities that had been performed by people and facilitating electronic communication between people.
Transaction processing
computations and calculations involved in reviewing and documenting HRM decisions and practices. It includes documenting decisions and actions associated with employee relocation, training expenses, and enrollments in courses and benefit plans
Reward systems
contribute to high performance by encouraging people to strive for objectives that support the organization's overall goals
A successful HR program can be evaluated with HR analytics by demonstarting whether the value of the program is greater than its _____________. efficiencies profits rewards costs
costs The analysis can take an economic approach that measures the dollar value of the program's costs and benefits. Successful programs should deliver value that is greater than the programs' costs. Costs include employees' compensation as well as the costs to administer HRM programs such as training, employee development, or satisfaction surveys. Benefits could include a reduction in the costs associated with employee absenteeism and turnover, as well as improved productivity associated with better selection and training programs.
One of the most creative developments in HRIS technology is the HR __________, a display of a series of HR-related indicators, or measures, showing human resource goals and objectives and the progress toward meeting them. Managers with access to the HRIS can look at the HR ___________ for an easy-to-scan review of HR performance.
dashboard
Task design
determines how the details of the organization's necessary activities will be grouped, whether into jobs or team responsibilities. makes jobs efficient while encouraging high quality with job analysis and job design
The analysis can take an economic approach that measures the dollar value of the program's costs and benefits. Successful programs should deliver value that is greater than the programs' costs. Costs include:
employees' compensation* as well as the costs to administer HRM programs such as: training employee development or satisfaction surveys. Benefits could include a reduction in the costs associated with employee absenteeism and turnover, as well as improved productivity associated with better selection and training programs.
information systems
enable sharing information widely
Performance management (HRM Practices)
ensures that employees' work contributes to achieving the organization's goals. In a high-performance organization, this requires making sure that employees know the organization's goals and what they must do to contribute to goal achievement.
The rewards component of a high-performance work system includes performance measures, performance methods, and _________ linked to success. company benefits job efficiencies incentive pay seniority levels
incentive pay Reward systems contribute to high performance by encouraging people to strive for objectives that support the organization's overall goals. Reward systems include the performance measures by which employees are judged, the methods of measuring performance, and the incentive pay and other rewards linked to success. Human resource management plays an important role in developing and administering reward systems
The _________ systems component of a high-performance work system involves making decisions about what data to gather and what sources the data will be gathered from.
information
When recruiting employees for a high-performance organization, HR professionals need to find people with technical skills and _________________. previous management experience innovative thinking a college degree job design
innovative thinking high-performance organizations need selection methods that identify more than technical skills like ability to perform accounting or engineering tasks. Employers may use group interviews, open-ended questions, and psychological tests to find employees who innovate, share ideas, and take initiative.
Tara is a sales representative for an office furniture manufacturer. Her company recently provided all salespeople with an ipad so that they could have quick access to changing product information and shipping details when meeting with customers. This provided empowerment to the sales staff and demonstrates how ___________ contributes to high performance. a reward system recruitment continuous learning job design
job design
Organizational structure in a high-performance work system encourages and enables continuous improvement, cooperation, and ____________. miscommunication dysfunctional managers learning individual performance
learning
high-performance work system, the elements that must work together include:
organizational structure task design people (the selection, training, and development of employees) reward systems and information systems and human resource management
Compensation (HRM Practices)
supports high-performance organizations when it is linked in part to performance measures. An example is paying bonuses to reward innovation and knowledge sharing. Compensation also can be tied to performance-related conditions such as successful teamwork or—for a manager—job satisfaction among employees in the manager's department
To engage in ongoing efforts to gather and apply information through continuous learning, employees must ultimately comprehend the scope of __________. their own job description their supervisor's job responsibilities their department's role in the organization the entire work system
the entire work system In many organizations, the process of continuous learning is aimed at improving quality. To engage in continuous learning, employees must understand the entire work system they participate in, the relationships among jobs, their work units, and the organization as a whole. Employees who continuously learn about their work system are adding to their ability to improve performance.
Organizational structure
the way the organization's people are grouped into useful divisions, departments, and reporting relationships
(The right) people
well suited and well prepared for their jobs. Human resource personnel help the organization recruit and select people with the needed qualifications. Training, development, and career management ensure that these people are able to perform their current and future jobs with the organization.
how to make the performance management system support organizational goals
• Define and measure performance in precise terms—Focus on outcomes that can be defined in terms of how frequently certain behaviors occur • Link performance measures to meeting customer needs—"Customers" may be the organization's external customers, or they may be internal customers (employees receiving services from a co-worker). Service goals for internal customers should be related to satisfying external customers. • Measure and correct for the effect of situational constraints—Monitor economic conditions, the organization's culture, and other influences on performance. Measures of employees' performance should take these influences into account.
Conditions That Contribute to High Performance
• Teams perform work. • Employees participate in selection. • Employees receive formal performance feedback and are actively involved in the performance improvement process. • Ongoing training is emphasized and rewarded. • Employees' rewards and compensation relate to the company's financial performance. • Equipment and work processes are structured, and technology is used to encourage maximum flexibility and interaction among employees. • Employees participate in planning changes in equipment, layout, and work methods. • Work design allows employees to use a variety of skills. • Employees understand how their jobs contribute to the finished product or service. • Ethical behavior is encouraged.
Elements of a High-Performance Work System
• organizational structure • task design • people (the selection, training, and development of employees) • reward systems • and information systems