Human Resource Management Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Human Resource Management

• Human Resource Management (HRM): The process of determining human resource needs, recruiting, selecting, developing, motivating, evaluating, compensating, and scheduling employees to achieve organizational goals.
• HRM's role has grown due to increased recognition of employees as a valuable resource and changes in laws affecting workplace practices.

Chapter Contents

• Working with People is Just the Beginning
• Laws Affecting Human Resource Management
• Determining a Firm's Human Resource Needs
• Recruiting Employees from a Diverse Population
• Selecting Employees Who Will Be Productive
• Training and Developing Employees for Optimum Performance
• Appraising Employee Performance to Get Optimum Results
• Compensating Employees: Attracting and Keeping the Best
• Scheduling Employees to Meet Organizational and Employee Needs
• Moving Employees Up, Over, and Out

Learning Objectives

• Explain the importance of HRM and current issues in managing human resources.
• Illustrate the effects of legislation on HRM.
• Summarize the five steps in human resource planning.
• Describe methods companies use to recruit new employees and explain recruitment challenges.
• Outline the six steps in selecting employees.
• Illustrate employee training and development methods.
• Trace the six steps in appraising employee performance.
• Summarize objectives of employee compensation programs and evaluate pay systems and fringe benefits.
• Demonstrate how managers use scheduling plans to adapt to workers' needs.
• Describe how employees can move through a company (promotion, reassignment, termination, and retirement).

Working with People is Just the Beginning

• Service and high-tech manufacturing require employees with highly technical job skills.
• Such workers are scarce, making recruiting and retention challenging.
• HRM is now the job of all managers.

The Human Resource Challenge

• Uncertainty in global politics.
• Technology.
• Multigenerational workforce.
• Shortages of trained workers in growth areas and construction trades.
• Growing percentage of undereducated and unprepared new workers.
• Baby Boomer brain drain.
• Increasing number of single-parent and two-income families.
• Change in attitude towards work.
• Increased demand for temporary or part-time work.
• Expanding global markets with low-wage workers.
• Increased benefit demands and low costs.
• Concern over child and elder care, health and mental well-being, workplace violence.
• Changing health care regulations.
• A decreased sense of employee loyalty.
• Automated HRM systems.

Laws Affecting Human Resource Management

• Civil Rights Act of 1964: Title VII prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, compensation, apprenticeships, training, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on race, religion, creed, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
• 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA): Strengthened the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by giving it broad powers. Mandates specific recordkeeping procedures and enforces affirmative action.
• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP): Ensures that employers doing business with the federal government comply with nondiscrimination and affirmative action laws.
• Civil Rights Act of 1991: Amended Title VII and gave victims of discrimination the right to a jury trial and possible damages.
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA): Requires employers to give applicants with physical or mental disabilities the same consideration for employment as people without disabilities.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA): Protects workers 40 and over from employment and workplace discrimination.

Determining a Firm's Human Resource Needs

• Human Resource Planning Process:
  1. Preparing a human resource inventory of employees
  2. Preparing a job analysis
  3. Assessing future human resource demand
  4. Assessing future labor supply
  5. Establishing a strategic plan
• What's a Job Analysis: A study of what is done by employees in various job titles.
• Job Description: A summary of job objectives, work type, responsibilities, duties, working conditions, and relationship to other functions.
• Job Specifications: A written summary of minimum qualifications for workers in a particular job.

Recruiting Employees

• The process of acquiring qualified job applicants needed for the specific time
• HR managers use internal and external sources for recruiting, with small businesses often relying on online sources like Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn.

Selecting Employees

• The process of gathering information and hiring qualified employees under legal guidelines.
• Steps: complete application forms, initial and follow-up interviews, employment tests, background investigations, physical exams, and trial periods.

Hiring Contingent Workers

• Contingent workers (e.g., part-time workers, temporary workers, seasonal workers, independent contractors, interns, and co-op students) are common.
• Companies hire contingent workers during periods with high employee absences, peak demand, in uncertain economic times, or to save on benefits and screen candidates.

Training and Development

• All attempts to improve productivity by increasing employee skills to perform.
• Training focuses on short-term skills, and development focuses on long-term abilities.
• Three steps: Assess org and employee skills, design training, and evaluate training effectiveness.
• Most training and development activities include orientation, on-the-job training, apprenticeships, off-the-job training, online training, vestibule training, and job simulation.
• Management Development: The process of training and educating employees to become managers. Includes on-the-job coaching, understudy positions, job rotation, and off-the-job courses and training.
• Networking: Establishing and maintaining contacts with key managers to gain informal development. Mentors guide lower-level employees.

Diversity in Management Development

• Women and minorities are gaining networking advantages.
• Reasons for developing female and minority managers:
  • Bringing talent into the organization.
  • Increased competitiveness in attracting the best employees.
  • Better serving customers who are women and members of minority groups.

Appraising Employee Performance

• Performance Appraisal: An evaluation measuring employee performance against standards, used to decide promotions, compensation, training, or termination.
• 360-degree review: Gathering opinions from various levels within an organization, providing a more accurate evaluation of employee abilities.
• Six Steps: Establishing measurable standards, communicating standards, evaluating performance, discussing results, taking corrective action, using results in decision-making.

Compensation

• A main tool for attracting qualified employees, and a large operating cost.
• Managed, competitive compensation programs attract the right employees, build incentives, limit losses to competitors, maintain competitiveness, and provide financial security.

Compensating Employees

• Pay Systems: Methods for calculating wages.
• Salary: Fixed compensation for a set period.
• Hourly Wage/Daywork: Based on hours worked, common for blue-collar workers.
• Piecework System: Based on number of items produced.
• Commission Plans: Pay based on a percentage of sales, common for salespeople.
• Bonus Plans: Extra pay for exceeding goals; can be monetary or non-monetary.
• Profit-sharing Plans: Bonuses tied to company profits.
• Gain-sharing Plans: Increases in pay based on performance improvements compared to past performance.
• Stock Options: Right to buy company stock at a certain price for a specific time.

Fringe Benefits

• Benefits like sick leave, vacation pay, pensions, health plans, company cars, paid sabbaticals, day care or elder care, student loan repayment.

Scheduling Employees

• Flextime Plans: Employees choose their work hours, but some core time is required.
• Compressed Workweek: Employees work full hours but over fewer days, increasing leisure time.
• Home-based Work: Working from home at least once per week, allows flexibility.
• Job Sharing: Two or more part-time employees share one full-time position.

Moving Employees

• Promoting & Reassigning: Moving employees to other roles and responsibilities.
• Terminating Employees: Layoffs and firings, which are more challenging from a legal perspective.
• Early retirement or golden handshakes: Payments for employees leaving before retirement.
• Losing Valued Employees: Conducting exit interviews and offboarding procedures.

Test Prep Questions

• Five steps in human resource planning.
• Factors making qualified employee recruitment difficult.
• Six steps in the selection process.
• Definition and rationale for contingent workers.
• Four training techniques.
• Purpose of a performance appraisal.
• Six steps in a performance appraisal.
• Five alternative compensation techniques.
• Advantages of profit-sharing, flextime, telecommuting, job sharing.
• Benefits and challenges of these flexible employment options.

Explore Chapter 11 of Human Resource Management, which covers essential topics such as recruiting, selecting, training, and compensating employees. Understand how HRM evolves with changes in workplace practices and employee recognition. This quiz will help you grasp the critical elements that contribute to a successful human resource strategy.