MOS1021 Midterm 1 PDF

Unit 1: Introduction to Human Resource Management Chapter 1: The Strategic Role of Human Resources Management Human Resources Management and the Management Process Human resources: The people who make up the workforce of an organization o Organization: A group consisting of peop...

Unit 1: Introduction to Human Resource Management Chapter 1: The Strategic Role of Human Resources Management Human Resources Management and the Management Process Human resources: The people who make up the workforce of an organization o Organization: A group consisting of people with formally assigned roles who work together to achieve a common goal Manager: Someone who is responsible for accomplishing the organization’s goals and who does so by managing the efforts of the organization’s people o Management Process: Planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling Human Resources Management: The management of people/employees in organizations to drive successful organizational performance and achievement of the organization’s strategic goals o Mutually beneficial between organization and employees o What (practices help regulate employees), how (these practices or systems impact outcomes), and why (specific practices are needed for each setting) of labour and talent management o Related to better organizational performance ▪ Resource-based view of the firm HR practices contribute to the development of embedded knowledge of a firm’s culture, history, process, and context o 3 HR practices ▪ Profit sharing ▪ Results oriented performance appraisal ▪ Employment security ▪ Have a statistically significant positive impact on important accounting measures of performance (financial, return on equity and assets) o High performance HR practices: Comprehensive employee recruitment and selection procedures, incentive- based compensation and performance management systems, extensive employee involvement and training ▪ Have a positive relationship with employee retention, productivity, and corporate finance performance (gross rate of return on capital) o Two major functions ▪ Operational: Oversee day to day operations (largely administrative) ▪ Strategic: Align employee efforts with organization’s strategic goals Formulating and implementing HRM systems that are aligned with the organization’s strategy to ensure that the workforce has the competencies and behaviours required to achieve the organization’s strategic objectives o Strategy: A course of action the company can pursue to achieve its strategic aims (ex. Mission, objectives, goals) o Strategic goals/objectives: Specific results an organization aims to achieve w/ a competitive advantage Strategic plan: The company’s plan for how it will match its internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats to maintain a competitive advantage o Must be aligned with HR strategy Different from a business model Business model: A company’s method for making money in the current business environment (ex. Who the company serves, what products it provides) Strategic management: The process of identifying and executing the organization’s strategic plan by matching the company’s capabilities with the demands of its environment  o Benefits ▪ Reduced costs Better HR systems (selection, training, compensation, etc.) Greater retention ▪ Greater engagement Emotional commitment to organizational goals Different from job satisfaction ▪ Better performance Better employee performance Better products Increased profits 8 major HR systems o Job analysis o Workforce planning o Recruitment o Selection o Training + Development o Performance Management o Compensation + rewards o Employee + labour relation Human capital: The knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of an organization’s workforce Evidence Based HRM Evidence Based HRM: Use of data to support HRM decisions o Use a variety of metrics o Evaluating HR practices against available research o Ensures that implemented practices are likely to have desired outcomes o Results in greater efficiency by avoiding trial-and-error learning Metrics: Statistics use to measure activities and results o Can come from different places (ex. Actual measurements, existing data, research studies) Types of research: Primary vs. Secondary research o Variable: Characteristics or features that researchers aim to study Experiments o True experiments ▪ Does the independent variable influence the dependent variable ▪ Conducted in controlled settings (ex. Labs) ▪ Participants are randomly assigned to groups (represents the IV) ▪ All participants are measured on the same outcome variable (DV) ▪ Causal conclusions can be made ▪ Results may not apply well to real world (i.e. less generalizable) o Quasi-Experiments ▪ Does the independent variable influence the dependent variable  ▪ Conducted in field/natural settings (ex. Workforce) ▪ Participants are randomly selected from existing groups (IV) ▪ All participants are measured on the same outcome variable (DV) ▪ Causal conclusions not recommended due to too many other variables ▪ Results apply to the real world easier o Survey research ▪ Are the two variables related ▪ No IV and DV ▪ Conducted in controlled or natural settings ▪ Surveys/questionnaires intended to measure each variable are administered to participants ▪ Analyses are carried out to determine whether a relationship exists between participant scores on the surveys Correlation: Provides information about the direction of a relationship between 2 variables o Positive vs negative (like slope) o Provides information about the strength of a relationship between 2 variables ▪ Benchmarks for strength: No relationship = 0 Weak = 0.1 Moderate = 0.3 Strong = 0.5 Perfect relationship = 1 What could correlation mean o Causation: ▪ Variable 1 may cause change in variable 2 ▪ Variable 2 may cause change in variable 1 o No causation: Relationship between variable 1 and 2 may be spurious ▪ Spurious: 2 variables appear to be related by are not (coincidence, 3rd variable, etc.) Enviornmental Influences on HRM External influences o Labour market issues: Changes to the workforce composition ▪ Canada’s four protected groups: Members of visible minorities, women, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities Occupational segregation: The existence of certain occupations that have traditionally been limited to employees of a certain demographic characteristic Equity: The fairness embedded in associated processes to ensure equal access to opportunities Diversity: Variations in group characteristics, including identity, cognitive skills, and personality traits Inclusion: An environment where individuals feel respected and accepted ▪ Generational differences ▪ Growth of Contingent/non-standard workers: Workers who do not fit the traditional definition of a permanent, full-time employment with the same employer on an indefinite basis (ex. Part time, self- employed) Employment relationship: If a company exerts direct control over the work that is done, where it is done, how performance is evaluated, and other employment considerations Direct employment: Individuals are hired and paid directly by the organization with the company independent exerting control over employment decisions Co-employment: The company and a third party (ex. Temporary employment agency) share directive control over employment decisions Contract work: Company does not have direct control over employment decisions o Direct contracting (ex. independent day labourers) o Subcontracting (ex. Vendor on premise to complete a certain work) o Gig workers: An agreement between the person completing the task, a customer, and an online intermediary platform)  o Economic conditions: Affect supply and demand for products, impacting quantity and quality of employees required, and ability to pay/give benefits ▪ If the economy is good, companies hire more workers and demand increases, increasing hired workers and demand for training and retention strategies ▪ Productivity: The ratio of an organization’s outputs (goods and services) to inputs (people, capital, energy, and materials) ▪ Shifting employment trends in sectors (as countries develop they shift into tertiary) Primary: Agriculture, fishing and trapping, forestry, and mining Secondary: Manufacturing and construction Tertiary or service: Public admin, personal and business services, finance, trade, public utilities, and transportation/communications o Biggest chunk, requires a lot of HR managing ▪ Many small businesses, most of them do not have HR experience, therefore important to teach o Technology: Controlling data and privacy now that everything (ex. Company laptop uses) can be tracked ▪ 5 main types of digital technologies that drive transfer of functionality from HR professionals to automation: mobile applications, gaming, cloud computing, data analytics, and talent analytics ▪ Increasing use of social media to recruit employees ▪ Talent analytics: When data analytics is applied in HRM ▪ Changes the nature of jobs so people can work at home o Government: Abiding by provincial and national standards (ex. Min wage) ▪ Different political parties have significant workplace impact o Globalization: Managing the workforce in an intense, hypercompetitive global economy ▪ Globalization: The emergence of a single global market for most products and services ▪ Hiring internationally, managing cultural differences ▪ Movement of people around the world leads to global pandemics like COVID o Environment: Managing sustainability and corporate social responsibility ▪ Developing strong environmental sustainability brand helps gain market share and retain employees Internal influences o Organizational culture: The core values, beliefs, and assumptions that are widely shared by members of an organization ▪ Value: Basic beliefs about what is right or wrong or about what a person or entity should and shouldn't do ▪ Managers should think about the messages they’re sending to their employees to create the correct culture ▪ Identity of the organization ▪ Developed intentionally, in part through HR systems ▪ Clarifies standards of behaviour ▪ Crafted intentionally by senior leadership and HR teams and stable o Organizational climate: The atmosphere’s impact on employee motivation, job performance, and productivity ▪ Employee’s perception of organization’s working environment In terms of dimensions such as concern for employee's wellbeing, supervisory behaviour, flexibility, appreciation, ethics, empowerment, political, behaviours, and rewards ▪ Influences mood, job performance, job satisfaction ▪ Impacted by leadership style, communication, HR policies and practices ▪ Can fluctuate, vibes, not intentional o Management practices: Organizational structure and employee empowerment ▪ Traditionally organizational goals are viewed from top down as a hierarchy of goals At the top is the organization’s leaders long term goals Being replaced by flatter organizational forms ▪ Empowerment: Providing workers with the skills and authority to make decisions that would traditionally be made by managers ▪ Two-way communication through focus groups, suggestion boxes hotlines, open door policies Chapter 2: The Changing Legal Emphasis The Legal Framework for Employment Law In Canada Responsibilities between employee and employer o Maintain employment relationship by fulfilling their own responsibilities o There may be informal expectations that are hard to manage which is why formal expectations are so important Government’s role is to balance both sides need o Employees: Protected from harmful business practices o Employers: Right to modify employee work terms and arrangements according to legitimate business needs Government sets legislation which is then interpreted o Precedent: The decision or interpretation of a court of another jurisdiction or similar case can act as a persuasive authority regarding how legislation is to be interpreted and applied in other jurisdictions or case Legislation Protecting the General Population Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Constitution Act of 1982 o Supreme law: Takes precedent over all other laws o Guarantees fundamental right and freedoms to all Canadians o Applies to government action o Exceptions ▪ Can be justified as reasonable limits in a free and democratic society Can be challenged in court due to ambiguous language ▪ When a legislative body invokes the notwithstanding provision which allows the legislation to be exempted from challenge under the Charter o Terms ▪ Freedom of conscience and religion; ▪ Freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other communication media; ▪ Freedom of peaceful assembly; and ▪ Freedom of association ▪ Multicultural heritage rights (First Nations, minority language education, equality, the right to live and work anywhere, etc.) o Equality rights: Found in Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the right to equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination ▪ Discrimination: A distinction, exclusion, or preference based on any of the prohibited grounds that has the effect of nullifying or impairing the right of a person to full and equal recognition and exercise of the human rights and freedom o Not directly relevant to workplace settings Human rights legislation: Jurisdiction specific legislation that prohibits intentional and unintentional discrimination in employment situations and in the delivery of goods and services o Directly relevant to workplace settings o Unequal or unfair treatment of a person based upon some personal characteristic ▪ Applicable in: ▪ The context of employment ▪ The provision of goods and services o Protects everybody residing in Canada o Supersedes the terms of any employment contract or collective agreement o Responsibility resides w/ provinces and territories ▪ The variety creates challenging situations when organizations operate in more than one jurisdiction o Canadian human rights act ▪ Federal government ▪ First nations government ▪ Federally regulated organizations (ex. Banks, trains, broadcasting) o Provincial + territorial laws ▪ Organizations that fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction o Ontario Human Rights Code (exhaustive list) ▪ Ethnic origin  ▪ Place of origin ▪ Ancestry, colour, race ▪ Citizenship ▪ Creed ▪ Age ▪ Sex ▪ Sexual orientation ▪ Gender identity/expression ▪ Marital status ▪ Family status ▪ Disability (inclu. Addiction) ▪ Record of offenses Employment Standards Legislation: Establishes minimum terms and conditions of the employment relationship within each jurisdiction (ex. Min wage) Ordinary laws: Protection under context laws affecting workplaces (ex. Occupational health and safety) Collective bargaining agreement: A legally binding agreement establishing minimum terms and conditions of employment affecting unionized positions Employment contract: A contract between an individual employee and their employer regarding specified employment conditions in specified roles Types of discrimination o Direct/Intentional discrimination: Except in specific circumstances an employer cannot directly refuse to hire, train, or promote an individual on any of the prohibited grounds ▪ Indirect: Employer may not ask someone else to discriminate on their behalf (ex. Ask employment agency to not hire a specific group of people) o Differential or unequal treatment: Treating an individual differently in any aspect of terms and conditions of employment based on any of the prohibited grounds o Unintentional/constructive/systemic discrimination: Discrimination that is embedded in policies and practices that appear neutral on the surface and are implemented impartially but have an adverse impact on specific groups of people for reasons that are not job related or required for the safe and efficient operation of the business o Permissible discrimination via Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR): Employers are permitted to discriminate if the discrimination is necessary for business (ex. Safety) ▪ BFOR: A justifiable reason for discrimination based on business necessity or a requirement that can clearly be defined as intrinsically required by the tasks an employee must perform (ex. Pilots must have good hearing) ▪ 3 questions as criteria (Meiorin Test) Question of rationale Question of good faith Question of reasonable necessity Duty to accommodate o Reasonable accommodation: The adjustment of employment policies and practices that an employer may be expected to make so that no individual is denied benefits disadvantaged in employment or prevented from carrying out the essential components of a job because of grounds prohibited in human rights legislation ▪ Combat social handicapping: Societal attitudes and actions create non-inclusive thinking against people who have no or few limitations o If discrimination does exist, then the company must demonstrate individualized attempts to accommodate to the point of undue hardship o Must accommodate until the point of undue hardship ▪ Undue hardship: The point to which employers are expected to accommodate employees under human rights legislative requirements ▪ Financial costs or health and safety risks make the accommodation too difficult Harassment Harassment: Unwelcome behaviour that demeans, humiliates, or embarrasses a person and that a reasonable person should have known would be unwelcome  Employer responsibility: Preventing from harassment o If the company knows they can be charged for not reporting it Sexual harassment: Offensive or humiliating behaviour that is related to a person’s sex, as well as behaviour of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, unwelcome, hostile, or offensive work environment or that could reasonably be thought to put sexual conditions on a person’s job or employment opportunities o Sexual coercion: Harassment of a sexual nature that results in some direct consequence to the worker’s employment status or some gain in or loss of tangible job benefits o Sexual annoyance: Sexually related conduct that is hostile, intimidating, or offensive to the employee but has no direct link to tangible job benefits or loss thereof Employment Equity and Provincial Employment Standards Act Employment equity program: A detailed plan designed to identify and correct existing discrimination, redress past discrimination, and achieve a balanced representation of members of the four designated groups in the organization o Step 1: Demonstration of senior management’s commitment and support which leads to data collection and analysis of the current workforce o Other steps: Monitoring, evaluation, and revising the plan Employment (Labour) Standards legislation (ESA/LSA): Law present in every Canadian jurisdiction that establish min employee entitlements and set a limit on the max number of hours permitted work a year o Cannot opt out even if both parties' consent o If there is conflict between ESA/LSA and another contract the principle of greater benefit is applied Enforcement of ESA/LSA: Complaint based o Filing formal written or electronic complaint against the violator to the appropriate authorities o Employees are required to give up their rights to sue an employer in civil court once a claim is filed o Protest employers from dual proceedings on the same issues and protects courts from being overwhelmed o Strict limitation periods establishing max time that can elapse between violation and filing date o Max claim limit (ex. 10k under Ontario ESA) for unpaid wages Unit 2: Job Analysis & Design Chapter 3: Designing and Analysing Jobs Basics of Job Analysis Job: A collection of related tasks, duties, responsibilities that are grouped together for the purpose of accomplishing work within an organization o Focus is on the things that people do when they are in the role (ex. Barista’s job is taking orders, preparing beverages, processing payment) Position: The collection of tasks and responsibilities performed by one person o How many individuals work the job o If the job is Professor, there can be 100 positions of different profs Job analysis: The procedure for determining the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of each job and the human attributes (knowledge, skills, abilities) required to perform it o Systematic process of collecting detailed information pertaining to a job o Carried out on continuous basis o Importance: Foundation for the other HR systems o Information collected (one or more) ▪ Work activities: Actual work activities and how, why, and when it is performed ▪ Human behaviours: Information about human behaviours the job requires (e. Sensing, communicating, heavy lifting, walking) ▪ Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids: information regarding tools used, materials processed, knowledge dealt with or applied, services rendered ▪ Performance standards: Information about the job’s performance standards ▪ Job context: Information about physical working conditions, schedule, incentives, number of employees the worker would have to interact with ▪ Human requirements: Knowledge of skills and personal attributes required Uses of job analysis information o Used for developing ▪ Job descriptions: What the job entails  ▪ Job specifications: What the human requirements are o Human resources planning: Planning future staffing needs and whether it can be done internally or externally o Recruitment and selection: More effective hiring because we know exactly who we want to hire which leads to greater employee retention, BFOR o Compensation and benefits: Determines relative value of each job o Performance management: Which criteria should be used in performance evaluation ▪ Allows assessment to be legally defensible o Labour relations: Unions must approve if the position is unionized o Training, development, and career management: Where do staff need training, gaps in current plans o Restructuring: Identifying overlap/missing parts Steps In Job Analysis 1. Review background info (Previous job analysis data, digital databases, organizational charts) o Digital databases: National Occupational Classification (NOC): A reference tool for writing job descriptions and job specifications ▪ Complied by federal government ▪ Contains descriptions of over 30k occupations (main duties, employment requirements, additional information which is normally where you can be expected to be promoted to) in standardized language ▪ Things to do after consulting w/ external sources Adjust info based on their organizational structure and strategy Update information as required to get rid of obsolete terms, etc. Engage in verification techniques in Step 4 ▪ Occupations: A collection of jobs that share some or all a set of main duties Categorized into Major Groups based on skill level/type (2 digits) Broken down into Minor groups (3 digits) Unit groups: Actual profile (4 digits) o Organization chart: A snapshot of the firm depicting the organization’s structure in chart form a particular point in time ▪ Organizational structure: The formation relationships among jobs in an organization o Types of structures Bureaucratic Top down management Many levels with hierarchical communication channels and career paths Highly specialized jobs with narrowly defined job descriptions Focus on independent performance Flat Decentralized management approach Few levels and multidirectional communication Broadly defined jobs with general job descriptions Emphasis on teams and product development  Matrix Each job has 2 components: Functional and product Finance personnel for product B are responsible to both the finance executive and product B executive o Process chart: A diagram showing the flow of inputs to and outputs from the job under study Step 2 but also not really??: Select jobs to be analysed o Job design o Jobs have been shifting to be more flexible 2. Chose sources of job info Identify Subject Matter Expects (SME): Individuals knowledgeable about the task, duties, responsibilities, and human attributes necessary to the job o Should talk to all 3 of the below but that does not always happen o Incumbent: Knowledgeable about job but misinformation possible (exaggerate) o Supervisor: Has charge over a workplace, knowledgeable about job importance, but less knowledge about day-to-day events o Job analyst: Can provide objective assessment, inside knowledge of organization may be limited allows for objective analysis 3. Gather Job info Interview o Types ▪ Alone ▪ Groups w multiple incumbents ▪ Supervisory interviews w 1+ supervisors o Supervisors should not be present during incumbent interviews o Structured format preferred (same questions in set order) o Misinformation possible o Guidelines: ▪ Job analyst and supervisor should work together to identify the employees who know the job the best and can be the most objective in describing their duties ▪ Rapport should be established quickly (use name, use easily understood language) ▪ A structured guide or checklist should be followed but some leeway can be allowed for open ended questions (ex. Anything else I didn’t ask?) ▪ When duties are not performed in a regular manner they should be listed in order of importance and frequency ▪ Data should be reviewed and verified by both interviewee and supervisor Questionnaire/Surveys completed by SMEs o Who will fill it out o Formats: Open or close ended o Use established questionnaires or develop your own  ▪ Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): Analyst decides whether each item out of 195 plays an important role and to what extent Provides quantitative score on 6 (but the slides say 5) dimensions (Information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with others, job context, other job characteristics) Pros: Standardized, easy to administer, Personal factors have little impact Cons: ▪ Functional Job Analysis (FJA): Rates a job on responsibilities for data, people, and things from simple to complex Observation o Record nature, frequency, duration, outputs, equipment o Ideal for jobs involving observable activities o Cons: ▪ Observation can influence job behaviour ▪ Some jobs include a lot of immeasurable mental activity (ex. Lawyer) o Often used with interviews Participant diary or log: Daily listings made by employees of every activity which they engage, along with the time each activity takes Using multiple sources of job analysis information Increases reliability and validity by o Further probe areas of inconsistency or concern o Participants will be more honest knowing that they will be held accountable by others 4. Developing key documents (Writing job descriptions and job specifications) Job descriptions: A written statement of what the jobholder does, how they do it, and under what conditions the job is performed o Job description ▪ Tasks ▪ Duties ▪ Responsibilities ▪ Also describe the environment, equipment, relationships, authority ▪ TDRs Must include o Job identification ▪ Position title ▪ Department and location ▪ Reports to: Title of the immediate supervisor o Job summary: General nature of the listings in terms of major functions or activities o Relationships ▪ Ex. Reports to, supervises, works with, outside the company o Duties and responsibilities: Detailed list of the job’s major duties and responsibilities ▪ Do not include “other duties, if assigned” because this clause can be abused o Authority: What authority do they have o Performance standards or indicators: The standards the employee is expected to acheive in each of the main duties o Working conditions and physical environment: ▪ Info about noise level, temperature, lighting, degree of privacy, amount of travel, etc. o Writing competency-based job descriptions o Job descriptions and Human rights legislation ▪ Job descriptions are not legally required but highly advisable ▪ Essential duties should be clearly identified in job description Listing percentage of time spent on each duty or listing them in order of importance can be helpful Job specifications  o Characteristics needed to perform a job (ex. Canine health, anatomy, grooming procedures) o Knowledge: Factual or procedural info needed to perform a task o Skills: Developed capacities (task specific) (ex. Haircutting, nail slipping) o Abilities: General enduring capabilities (not task-specific) (ex. Hand eye coordination) o Other characteristics: Personality traits, persona, qualities, licensing (ex. Sociable, caring o KSAO The Evolution of Jobs and Design Work simplification: An approach to job design that involves assigning most of the administrative aspects of work (ex. Planning, organizing) to supervisors and managers while giving lower-level employees narrowly defined tasks to perform according to methods established and specified by management o Can increase operating efficiency in a stable environment with low skill activities o Not effective in changing environments with workers that want meaningful work Competency-Based Job Analysis Competency-based job analysis: Describing a job in terms of the measurable, observable behavioural competencies an employee must exhibit to do well o Competencies: Demonstratable characteristics of a person that enable performance of a job Competency categories o Core competencies ▪ Characteristics that apply to all members of the organization (ex. Time management) ▪ Central to the organization’s culture and strategic direction o Cross-function ▪ Characteristics that apply to all members of a given job group (jobs linked by common purpose, skill sets, education) ▪ Promote collaboration o Functional ▪ Characteristics and key skill that apply to a specific job Competency modelling methods o Critical incident technique (CIT) 1. Critical incidents are identified in an organization ▪ Critical incidents: Behaviours that reflect either superior or inferior performance and promote or interfere with accomplishment of tasks ▪ Ex. Deals appropriately w/ sensitive info 2. Critical incidents are sorted into dimensions/ themes 3. Each competency is defined and paired with behavioural indicators (behavioural indicators are the critical incidents identified earlier) ▪ Communication: Clearly transmits information and communicates effectively with others, both verbally and in written form, by considering their points of view 3 reasons to use competency analysis 1. Traditional job descriptions may backfire if a high-performance work system is the goal Pushes employees to work in a self-motivated way and to take more responsibility personally 2. Describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge with a strategic emphasis on miniaturization and precision manufacturing should encourage some employees to develop their expertise in these crucial areas 3. Measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies support the employer’s performance management process Training appraisals, and rewards should be based on fostering and rewarding the skills which employees should understand In practice most requirements do not fit the competency requirements o Must be able to fit: “In order to perform this job competently, the employee should be able to...” Team job designs: Job designs that focus on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to do and empowering team members to decide among themselves how to accomplish work o Team: A small group of people with complementary skills who work towards common goals for which they hold joint responsibility and accountability o Best for flat and matrix team structures Job design: Process of establishing the roles and responsibilities associated with jobs o May entail developing new jobs (design) or revising existing ones (redesign)  o Goal is to maximize Job performance, job efficiency, job satisfaction Job satisfaction: Attitudinal state reflecting how an employee feels about their job o Indicators: Satisfaction with... ▪ Pay (correlation.28) ▪ Promotion policies (correlation.43) ▪ Supervisor (correlation.4) ▪ Coworkers (correlation.42) ▪ Work (correlation.78) o Factors affecting satisfaction with work ▪ Meaningfulness of work: Degree to which work is perceived as worthwhile and purposeful Variety: Assortment of activities and skills Identity: Completion of an identifiable piece of work from start to finish Significance: Impact on society and others ▪ Responsibility for outcomes Degree to which own efforts are seen as having an impact on key outcomes in the organization Affected by degree of autonomy (freedom, independence, discretion over own work) ▪ Knowledge of results Degree to which employees are aware of how well or poorly they’re doing Affected by the quality of feedback received Job design strategies o Job rotation: Temporarily moving employees between jobs/departments laterally ▪ Increases variety and identity ▪ Organization is more flexible and connected (Employees learn the business from 360 degree angle) ▪ Requires investment in training to ensure proper qualifications o Job enlargement (aka. Horizontal loading): Adding activities within the same level to an existing role ▪ Increases variety and identity ▪ Existing skills are broadened ▪ Positive effects diminish over time ▪ Quantity of work can be overwhelming (reduced job performance) o Job enlargement (Vertical loading): Involves increasing the depth and complexity of job tasks ▪ Includes: more supervision, more challenging work, responsibility for larger share of work, work with greater possibility of growth and advancement ▪ Maximize variety, identity, significance, autonomy, feedback Unit 3: Talent Acquisition Chapter 4: Recruitment The Strategic Importance of Recruitment Recruitment: The process of identifying and attracting potential employees o Generates an applicant pool for a job vacancy ▪ Applicant pool: Set of candidates who express interest in the position o If done well, the applicant pool will be filled with qualified candidates for subsequent selection Recruiters: A specialist in recruitment whose job is to find and attract qualified candidates Considerations of which recruitment method to use: o Human resource considerations: Number of HR team members, skills, competencies, familiarity with recruitment methods o Financial resources: Overall recruitment budget based on number, quality, and level of employee to be hired o Time o Technology: Ability to access (ex. Online job boards) Managing expectations in recruitment help manage employee expectations o Provides a Balenced view of the job (realistic job preview) and organization (promo of employer brand) o Employer branding: The image or impression of an organization as an employer based on the benefits of being employed by the organization  ▪ Job seekers view companies that they are familiar with better ▪ Establish reputation as employer of choice ▪ Favourable features: Compensation, flexibility, social responsibility, mental well being, etc. ▪ Can be controlled to some extent (ex. Websites, social media, recruiter discussing process) but is also formed by interactions with organizations o Realistic job preview: Tool that provides candidates with a realistic view of what a job entails ▪ Communicate positive and negative aspects of the job Typically done through a video walking through people of their day Improves retention rates ▪ Perception of trustworthiness, organizational commitment, retention The Recruitment Process 1. Job openings identified through HR planning (organization’s strategic plan) or manager request 2. Job requirements are defined 3. Appropriate recruiting source(s) and method(s) chosen a. Start with internal vs external recruiting 4. Pool of qualified recruits generated Internal Recruitment Internal recruitment: Recruiting from among individuals who currently hold positions in the organization o May be conscious or dictated by policy Advantages o Less taxing on time and resources ▪ Only post on internal website, cheaper ▪ These employees are already known, so extensive time is not needed to understand them o Lower risk ▪ Already know their current job performance and know on interpersonal level o Boosts employee morale ▪ Increases loyalty o Provides every qualified employee with an equal chance for a transfer or promotion. o Reduces the likelihood of special deals and favouritism o Demonstrates the organization’s commitment to career growth and development. o Human capital theory: The accumulation of firm specific knowledge and experience involving a joint investment by both the employee and employer, therefore both parties benefit from maintaining a long-term relationship Limitations o Unsuccessful job candidates may become demotivated, demoralized, discontented, and unhappy if feedback is not communicated in a timely and sensitive manner. o Tensions may rise if it appears that a qualified internal candidate was passed over for an equally qualified or less qualified external candidate. o The decision about which candidate to select may be more difficult if there are two or more equally qualified candidates. o Competition among potential candidates could disrupt team efforts o Managers may be required to post all job openings and interview all inside candidates even when they already know who they want to hire, wasting time and creating false hope for other applicants o Employees may be less satisfied with a boss appointed from within their own ranks and the boss may find it hard to adjust to newfound power o Since the boss is used to the way things are done, they may be inclined to not change anything Job posting: The process of notifying current employees about vacant positions o Notice outlining the job title, duties, qualifications, hours of work, pay range, posting date, and closing date o Most companies post on company intranet Job slotting: The process of notifying a preferred candidate about current or upcoming positions, with the intent to place the target employee into position o First search for potential candidates o Job posting might be better (no gatekeeping the pos!!)  o Human resources records are often consulted to ensure that qualified individuals are notified individually of vacant positions ▪ Typically include skills inventory which lists the core skills of each employee ▪ Often used as a supplement to job postings ▪ Limitations of recruiting from within: Non-entry level positions may have no qualified internal replacements External recruitment Seeking individuals who do not currently hold positions in the organization Active: Actively looking for new opportunities and are available to work immediately Passive: Not actively looking for new opportunities and are not available to work immediately but are open to positions that allow them a raise Advantages: o Access to a larger pool of candidates o Availability of a more diverse applicant pool o Acquisition of skills or knowledge not currently available within the organization which introduces innovation o Elimination of rivalry between employees o Cost savings from hiring employees who already have the skills and don’t need extensive training Limitations o May affect workplace morale o Higher risk o More taxing on resources Online recruitment o Electronic databases (job websites, corporate websites) ▪ Attracts passive job seekers ▪ Large and diverse applicant pool ▪ High cost to review but low cost to post o Problems: ▪ Older people and minorities (ex. People w/ disabilities) are less likely to use the internet ▪ Internet overload (of resumes sent in) o Methods ▪ Internet job boards: Companies post job openings online and job seekers can post their resumes for firms to search for Pros: Candidate assistance w/ self assessment, resume writing, and pre-screening Cons: Fake job postings, vulnerability to privacy breaches ▪ Corporate websites: Single platform for recruitment that promotes the brand and captures data about the applicant Pre-screening, tracking software ▪ Online networking sites: Connect individuals and businesses to enable recruiters to find candidates, share resumes, announce positions, etc. Traditional networking o Cold calls (walk ins to drop off resumes and write ins to send resumes): Retained and given to departments that fit when they are hiring: o Print advertising ▪ Newspapers, magazines, trade journals Consider lead times: Amount of time between submission date and release date o Newspaper short, magazine and trade journals long) Newspapers for applicants with local knowledge Trade journals for specialized work ▪ Guide for optimum results: Attract attention Develop interest Create desire  Instigate action ▪ Want ads: A recruitment ad describing the job and its specifications, the compensation package, the hiring employer, the address to which applications or resumes should be submitted ▪ Blind ad: A recruitment ad in which the identity and address of the employer are omitted ▪ Some people think its sketchy and unsafe, so they don’t send o Employee referrals ▪ Cons: Nepo, systemic discrimination o Former employees: Keeping in contact with people who have left the firm o Educational institutions (ex. Campus recruitment): Career fairs, partnering with schools, co-ops, summer internships, field placement programs (unpaid internships risky) ▪ Campus recruitment: Universities, colleges, technical schools Innovative and cutting edge Low experience which means they will need training and guidance May not be long term since many people will leave to search for better jobs Chapter 5: Selection The Strategic Importance of Employee Selection Selection: The process of screening, evaluating, and assessing recruited applicants until a final hire decision is made from the applicant pool secured in the recruitment phase Importance of selection: o Employees with the right skills or without obstructionist skills will perform better o Recruiting is costly so they want employees to all stay o Negligent hiring: Hiring workers with questionable backgrounds, ignoring concerns that indicate a higher likelihood for issues or workplace accidents ▪ Legal claim made against an employer ▪ Employer failed to verify details during screening ▪ Employer knowingly ignores important details about applicants' qualifications ▪ Through reference and background checks The selection process o Multiple hurdle strategy: An approach to selection involving a series of successive steps or hurdles with only the candidates that pass being permitted to move on ▪ Cut-off is established for each selection tool ▪ Applicants complete tools one at a time and proceed only when they meet or exceed the cutoff for the previous tool ▪ Applicants who meet or exceed the cutoff for all tools are retained o 6 typical hurdles 1. Preliminary applicant screening 2. Selection testing 3. Selection interview 4. Background investigation/reference checking 5. Supervisory interview and realistic job preview 6. Hiring decision and candidate notification o Multiple cut-off: A cutoff is established for each selection tool ▪ All applicants complete all tests/procedures ▪ Applicants who meet or exceed the cutoff are retained o Compensatory model ▪ Candidate is scored on each test/procedure ▪ Scores inputted into statistical equation that produces overall score (high scores can compensate for low scores) ▪ Candidates ranked on basis on overall score Questions to be asked when designing an effective selection process 1. Decide who will be involved in the selection process and develop selection criteria 2. Specify must and want criteria and reconsider the want criteria Must criteria: Requirements that are essential for the job, include a measurable standard of acceptability  Want criteria: Those criteria that represent qualifications that cannot be screened on paper or are not readily measurable, as well as those that are highly desirable but not critical 3. Determine assessment strategies and develop an evaluation form Strategies: behavioural questions, situational questions, written test, assessment centre 4. Develop interview questions to be asked of all candidates Developed to gauge knowledge, skill, ability (KSA) and willingness to work under prevailing work conditions 5. Develop candidate specific questions Open ended questions based on their resume Preliminary Screening Reviewing applications and/or resumes Eliminating candidates not meeting basic selection criteria which is linked to job description and specification for a legal purpose (no arbitrary criteria bc they will get lawsuited) Screening methods o Application form: ▪ Standardized ▪ May include: Contact info, education, work experience, certification, skills ▪ Avoid asking about prohibited grounds (ex. Age) o Resume: ▪ Not standardized ▪ Included information varies ▪ Often tailored to job ▪ Potential inclusion of problematic information The Basics of Testing and Selecting Employees Selection testing: Administering tests to retained candidates to assess knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes o Rooted in job analysis o Questions should not violate human rights legislation o Select tests that provide accurate information (reliable and valid) Reliability: The degree to which interviews, tests, and other selection procedures yield comparable data over time o Dependency, consistency, stability of measures used o Test-retest reliability: Test produces same/similar results across testing occasions with the same rater o Inter-rate reliability: Test produces same/similar results across raters at the same occasion ▪ Internal consistency Validity: The accuracy with which a predictor measures what it intended to measure o Differential validity: Confirmation that the selection tool accurately predicts the performance of possible employee subgroups o Criterion-related validity: The extent to which a selection tool predicts or significantly correlates with important elements of work behaviour ▪ Concurrent: Degree to which test scores are related to current performance ▪ Predictive: Degree to which test scores are related to a future performance o Content validity: The extent to which a selection instrument, such as a test, adequately samples the knowledge and skills needed to perform the job ▪ Test items should be representative of the construct being measured ▪ Judged by experts in the field o Construct validity: The extent to which a selection tool accurately measures a theoretical construct or trait deemed necessary to perform the job successfully ▪ Attribute of a person that cannot be measured directly but can be assessed using different indicators (ex. Math) ▪ Convergent validity: Degree to which scores from 2 tests that measure the same or similar constructs are related ▪ Discriminant validity: Degree to which scores from 2 tests that measure unrelated constructs are unrelated ▪ Need both o Face validity: Degree to which a test is subjectively viewed as measuring what it is supposed to measure ▪ Judged by test takers  ▪ Greater effort and perceived fairness and are more likely to put more thoughtful answers ▪ May not be helpful for undesirable characteristics (ex. Theft) because people will be actively changing their answers to hide those traits Aptitude test: Assesses how well an individual can learn a skill (potential) Achievement test: Assesses an individual’s existing knowledge and skills (ex. Technical) Tests of cognitive abilities o Tests of general level of intelligence and proficiency at processing thoughts and ideas o Includes: Problem solving, reasoning, ect. o Wonderlic Personnel Test: 50 MCQ in 12 mins and scored as the sum of correct responses provided ▪ Higher scores is the higher intelligence o Intelligence (IQ) tests: Tests that measure general intellectual abilities, such as verbal comprehension, inductive reasoning, memory, numeric al ability, speed or perception, spatial visualization, and word fluency o Emotional intelligence (EI) tests: Measure a person’s ability to monitor their own emotions and the emotions of others and to use that knowledge to guide thoughts and actions o Specific cognitive abilities: Tests that measure an individual’s aptitude or potential to perform a job once given proper training o Pros: ▪ Predictive of job performance ▪ Predictive of adjudgment ▪ Predictive of career trajectory ▪ Fast and easy to administer o Cons ▪ Tend to elicit negative reactions (must give clarification on importance) ▪ Adverse impact on minority groups (minorities tend to score lower) Personality tests: Instruments used to measure basic aspects of personality, such as introversion, stability, conscientiousness, neurotic tendency, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and sociability o Interest inventories: Tests that compare a candidate interest with those of people in various occupations o Personality: Patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are characteristic of a person ▪ Consists of a collection of traits that exist on a continuum with two contrasting poles o Big 5 personality model (spells OCEAN) ▪ Openness to experience: Intellectual curiosity ▪ Conscientiousness: Dependability, discipline, planning ▪ Extraversion: Sociability, assertive, energetic ▪ Agreeableness: Compassion and kindness ▪ Neuroticism: Tendency for negative emotions (ex. Easily anxious) o Advantages ▪ Predictive of job relevant behaviours and tendencies ▪ Fast and easy to administer o Cons ▪ Susceptible to faking and social desirability responding o Test of integrity: Assesses tendency to be honest, trustworthy, dependable (valid) ▪ Specific type of personality test ▪ Used to determine whether employees will engage in counterproductive work behaviour ▪ Can result in false positives (people who lie scoring well and vice versa) Only people who are consistently low get screened out Physical examinations o Medical examinations: Has decreased due to decreased physically demanding jobs ▪ Reasons for medical examination 1. To determine that the applicant qualifies for the physical requirements of the position and document accommodations 2. To establish a record and baseline of the applicant’s health for future insurance or compensation claims 3. To reduce absenteeism and accidents by identifying any health issues or concerns that must be addressed, including communicable diseases that the applicant may have been unaware of  o Polygraph tests (lie detector tests): Using a series of controlled questions while assessing physiological conditions to test responses ▪ Ontario Employment Standards Act prohibits use of polygraphs in pre-employment selection The Selection Interview Selection interview: A procedure designed to predict future job performance based on applicant’s oral responses to oral inquiries o Designed to predict job performance based on applicant’s oral responses to questions o May be conducted one-on-one, with numerous interviewers (panel), with numerous interviewees (mass) o One of the most used selection methods o Multi-purpose (qualifications, communication, interpersonal) o Opportunity to promote employer brand o Illusion of validity Structures o Unstructured interview: An unstructured, conversational-style interview where the interviewer pursuers point of interests as they come up in response to questions ▪ No standard scoring o Structured interview: An interview following a set sequence of questions ▪ Rated lower than other less structured interviews ▪ May be inflexible ▪ Responses are scored, allowing for comparisons o Mixed (semi-structured) interview: An interview format that combines the structured and unstructured numbers ▪ Candidate-specific and pre-set questions ▪ Responses are scored, allowing for comparisons ▪ Richer details ▪ Takes the pros of both other ones Content of the interview o Situational interview: A series of job-related questions that focus on the individual’s ability to project or hypothesize what their future behaviour would be in each situation o Behavioural interview or behaviour description interview (BDI): A series of job-related questions that focus on relevant past job-related behaviours, based on the assumption that past behaviour is a good predictor of future behaviour Common interviewing mistakes o Poor planning: Lack of planning leading to an unstructured interview with no cross-candidate job related information o Snap judgement: Jumping to conclusions of somebody’s character in the first few minutes such as small talk before the interview o Negative emphasis: Consistent negative bias from somebody’s aura and vibe o Halo effect: A positive initial impression that distorts an interview’s rating of a candidate because subsequent information is judged with a positive bias o Poor knowledge of the job: Making decisions based on stereotypes o Contrast or candidate-order error: An error of judgement in which the order of how applicants are seen affect how they are rated on the part of the interviewer o Influence of non-verbal behaviour (ex. Eye contact, energy level, voice volume) o Leading: Asking leading questions or using other verbal or nonverbal cues which lead candidates to expected answers o Too much/little talking from either side o Similar to me bias: Preferring people who are like oneself o Stereotyping: Ex. Racial profiling Background Investigation and Selection Decisions Basic background check: Independent verification of educational qualifications, verification of at least 5 years employment, checks of performance related references, credit check, criminal check Purpose: Verification of details provided through resume and application form Providing references  o Obtain applicant details from provided references o Standardized questions informed by job analysis o Level of details will depend on existing policies of the companies ▪ Reasons: Defamation: communication of false information about an individual capable of hurting their reputations Libel: When there is permanent proof Slander: When there isn’t To counteract can claim justification (proof) or qualified privilege (statement was non- malicious) ▪ Negligent misrepresentation: To avoid some companies have no reference policy o Obtaining written permission: To contact references o Can seek out public information without permission (ex. social networking sites) 2/3 top candidates typically return for an interview w/ immediate supervisor who makes final selection decision o Knows technical parts of the job the best Hiring decision and candidate notification o Statistical strategy: A more objective technique used to determine whom the job should be offered to ▪ Involves identifying the most valid predictors and weighting them through statistical methods, such as multiple regression