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HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 1 - THE WORLD OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Covid 19 has changed the world in a dramatic manner. Almost everything has been seismically impacted, including how we manage people in organizations. People are very important in organizations...

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 1 - THE WORLD OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Covid 19 has changed the world in a dramatic manner. Almost everything has been seismically impacted, including how we manage people in organizations. People are very important in organizations; in fact, sometimes we hear phrases such as “our people are the most important assets”…. The terms human resources, human capital, intellectual assets and talent management, imply that people drive the performance of their organization. This is the essence of human resources management: the process of managing human talent to achieve an organization’s objectives. Specialized HR roles tend to be found in larger organizations because they have more positions that require specific and technical skillsets. The most popular areas of specialization include workforce planning and employment (fullcylce recruitment, promotions, terminations), HR development (training and development responsibilities), total rewards (compensation planning, conducting performance evaluations, completing job analysis), employee and labour relations and risk management (creating and administering health and safety programs). What does HRM do? - Help organizations recruit, select, train, develop members and ensure they are properly compensated - HR departments also assist in employee discipline and exit HUMAN CAPITAL AND HRM The term human capital describes the economic value of employees’ knowledge, skills, capabilities to an organization. Although the value of these assets might not show up directly on a company’s balance sheet, it nevertheless has a tremendous impact on an organization’s performance. Human capital is intangible and cannot be managed the way organizations manage other forms of capital. One reason why is because employees, not the organization, own their own human capital. If valued employees leave a company, they take their human capital with them and any investment the company has made in training and developing these people is lost. However, HRM practices such as selection and training can develop replacements for these people, so the real strategic advantage for organizations is a high-quality HRM system. Beyond the need to invest in employee development, organizations must find ways to better use the knowledge of their workers. Too often employees have knowledge that goes unused. COMPETITIVE ISSUES AND HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ISSUE 1: RESPONDING STRATEGICALLY TO CRISIS, CHANGES, AND DISRUPTIONS IN THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL MARKETPLACE Given the pace of commerce, organizations can rarely stand still for long. In today's highly competitive environments, in which competition is global and innovation is continuous, the ability to adapt has become the key to capturing opportunities and overcoming obstacles, as well as the very survival of organizations. Consider what happened to every organization, to some extent, since COVID-19 shattered lives globally. 1   Covid 19 and HRM COVID-19 has resulted in one of the most extreme organizational transformations in the past century. Amidst the pandemic, HR professionals have played and continue to play a lead role in assisting organizations to brainstorm, evaluate, and significantly revise their organization's people strategy while attempting to continue to operate efficiently. The role of the HR has become more significantly complex. Many HR responsibilities have either changes or have been added since the covid outbreak began. HRM professionals have also been required to rewrite company policies and quickly adjust business plans. Now, HR has quickly become responsible for adjusting policies frequently with the pandemic. In addition, HR's role in compensation planning has become more crucial and challenging amidst COVID-19. Not only have salaries and bonuses been affected, but HR must also tackle a multitude of new compensation needs, including unemployment, work-sharing programs, commission-based positions, and other concerns. Finally, there has been a shift in talent requirements due to COVID-19, and HR has had to amend its talent strategy. While some departments, positions, or skillsets within the organization may no longer be as relevant, others may be increasingly more critical and in demand. HR must rearrange the workforce, develop employees to possess newly required skills, and work on integrating gig-economy employees. HR managers and business strategies In decades past, HR departments were often focused on performing administrative tasks, dealing with unions, and complying with labour laws. But HR management is vastly different today. HR professionals can improve the top line by redesigning work to foster innovation, forecasting labour trends, recruiting and motivating employees, and measuring their effectiveness. HR managers also help their firms with business strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and ways to enter new and global markets. HR managers need an intimate understanding of their firms’ competitive business operations and strategies. During what has been called the “great recession” in 2008, many companies pursued cost-cutting strategies, often in part by trimming workers’ benefits. Others improved their benefit programs to attract top talent from other companies. Six Sigma is a set of principles and practices whose core ideas include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first time, and striving for continuous improvement. Reengineering has been described as "the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, and speed”. Downsizing is the planned elimination of jobs and outsourcing simply means hiring someone outside the company to perform business processes that were previously done within the firm. A common denominator of these strategies is that they require companies to engage in change management. Change management is a systematic way of bringing about and managing both organizational changes and changes on the individual level. Some of the strategic changes companies pursue are reactive changes that result when external forces, such as the competition, a recession, a law change, or an ethical crisis, have already affected an organization's performance. Other strategies are proactive change, initiated by managers to take advantage of targeted opportunities, particularly in fast-changing industries 2   Competing, recruiting and staffing globally The strategies companies are pursing today increasingly involve one or more elements of globalization, the trend to opening up foreign markets to international trade and investment. The integration of world economies and markets has sent businesses abroad to look for opportunities and fend off foreign competitors domestically. Consumers around the world want to be able to buy "anything, anytime, anywhere," and companies are making it possible for them to do so. As a result of globalization, the national identities of products are blurring, too. BMW has traditionally been a German brand, but now the automaker builds cars in the United States, China, and elsewhere. Numerous free-trade agreements forged among nations in the last half-century have helped quicken the pace of globalization. The first major trade agreement of the twentieth century was made in 1948, following World War II. Called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), it established rules and guidelines for global commerce among nations and groups of nations. Free trade has, however, come under the microscope in many countries and has experienced some roll- back, as political leaders try to protect the businesses and jobs in their countries. How globalization affects HRM For all the opportunities afforded by international business, when managers talk about "going global," they have to balance a complicated set of issues related to different geographies, including different cultures, employment laws, and business practices. HR issues underlie each of these concerns. They include such things as dealing with employees today who, via the Internet, are better informed about global job opportunities and are willing to pursue them, even if it means working for competing companies. ISSUE 2: SETTING AND ACHIEVING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY GOALS Globalization has led to an improvement in people's living standards in the last half-century. People in low-wage countries that make those goods and services are becoming wealthier and are beginning to buy North American-made products. Some people worry that free trade is creating a "have/have not" world economy, in which the people in developing economies and the world's environment are being exploited by companies in richer, more developed countries. Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of the firm to act in the best interests of the people and communities affected by its activities. Sustainability is closely related to corporate social responsibility. It refers to a company's ability to produce a good or service without damaging the environment or depleting a resource. Achieving complete sustainability is nearly impossible, but companies are making strides to reduce their "carbon footprints.” Doing business in a way that does as little harm to the environment and depletes as few natural resources as possible. ISSUE 3: ADVANCING HRM WITH TECHNOLOGY Advancements in information technology have enabled organizations to take advantage of the information explosion. Collaborative software that allows workers anywhere, anytime to interface and share information with one another electronically systems-have changed how and where people and companies do business. The Internet and social media are also having an impact on HRM. Social media networking has become the new way to attract employees and check them out to see if they are acceptable candidates. 3   Companies are hiring firms such as Social Intelligence, which combs through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and "thousands of other sources" to create reports about the "real you" — not the "you" you have presented in your résumé. Social media can be used for external purposes to attract the right employees and gather information about them, build the company's brand, and give a face to a company. Internally, key social media leaders by default become more engaged and connected to the organization's culture, mission/vision, and overall goals. Knowledge workers, virtual learning, automation and artificial intelligence Advanced technology tends to reduce the number of jobs that require little skill and to increase the number of jobs that require considerable skill. In general, this transformation has been referred to as a shift from "touch labour" to knowledge workers, in which employee responsibilities expand to include a richer array of activities, such as planning, decision making, and problem solving. Knowledge-based training has become so important that Manpower, the largest employment agency in the United States, offers free information technology training through its online university. Virtual learning is increasing as well. Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Webex, Teams, and Hangouts have led to a workplace and HRM digital transformation. Training can now be conducted virtually and more efficiently. Many software features can enhance the experience, including audience chat tools and polls, private chats, transcription capabilities, and the blackboard function. Automation is affecting not only blue-collar and routine jobs, but others as well. News organizations are using web robots ("bots") to gather information and write basic stories about corporate earnings and sports recaps. Influence of technology on HRM Perhaps the most central use of technology in HRM is an organization's human resources information system (HRIS). It is a computerized system that provides current and accurate data for purposes of control and decision making. The most obvious impact has been operational -that is, automating routine activities, alleviating administrative burdens, reducing costs, and improving productivity internal to the HR function itself. The second way in which information technology is affecting HRM is relational in nature — connecting people with one another and with the HR data they need. For example, companies are using software to recruit, screen, and pretest applicants online before hiring them, as well as to train, track, and promote employees once they have been hired. The third effect of the HRIS is transformational in nature - changing the way HR processes are designed and executed. Employees can look online to see their own goals and mark their progress as well as see everyone else's goals in the command chain, from the CEO down to their immediate supervisors. One of the newer HRIS applications is the use of big data. Traditionally, big data is described as the massive amounts of data that are too large for conventional database tools or statistical software to collect, save, manage, and examine. However, more recent research has extended the definition to entail not just large amounts of data, but also the "smartness" of the data, which essentially describes the degree to which longitudinal data can be used for detailed analyses to interpret and forecast behavior and outcomes. Marketing departments have very successfully used big data to detect peoples' buying patterns. 4   Now companies are doing the same thing to analyze HR information, a process that's referred to as workforce (HR) analytics. Big data is useful for recruitment and selection. Recruitment and selection will benefit from big data in a variety of other ways in the near future. One area that will likely be pursued, and which LinkedIn is already working on rolling out, uses big data for targeted recruitment strategies and figuring out the organizations that may attract the applicant away from their current jobs. This information will help organizations secure candidates and determine how to retain those who could leave the organization. HR can also use big data for a variety of other reasons. In terms of performance appraisal and management, organizations can track smartphones, computers, or tablets to assess real-time performance. It can also evaluate and predict how leadership behaviors and employee attitudes can ensure higher organizational performances' and which leadership attributes will foster higher retention. HR can use big data to assess organizational climate and culture. One method of doing so is by analyzing electronic interactions and social networks. When an effective HRIS is implemented, perhaps the biggest advantage gained is that HR personnel can concentrate more effectively on the firm's strategic direction instead of on routine tasks. This can include forecasting personnel needs (especially for firms planning to expand, contract, or merge), planning for career and employee promotions, and evaluating the impact of the firm's policies to help improve the firm's earnings and strategic direction. Although the initial drive to adopt HRISs was related to cutting HR costs, HR managers have since discovered that the systems have allowed them to share information with departmental managers, who, by having access to it, have been able to come up with better production practices and cost control solutions. ISSUE 4: CONTAINING COSTS WHILE RETAINING TOP TALENT AND MAXIMIZING PRODUCTIVITY For years, most HR managers have been under pressure to cut labour costs. Stretching a company's labour dollars while gaining productivity from workers is a challenge for managers. Organizations take many approaches to lowering labour related costs, including carefully managing employees' benefits, downsizing, outsourcing, offshoring, furloughing employees, and engaging in employee leasing in an attempt to enhance productivity. Downsizing: Whatever the reason, whereas some firms improve efficiency (and lower costs) with layoffs, many others do not obtain such benefits. Advocates of a no- layoff policy often note that layoffs may backfire after considering hidden costs, such as the following: severance and rehiring costs; accrued vacation and sick-day payouts; pension and benefit payoffs; potential lawsuits from aggrieved workers; loss of institutional memory and trust in management; In contrast, companies that avoid downsizing say they get some important benefits from such policies: a fiercely loyal, more productive workforce; higher customer satisfaction; 5   readiness to snap back with the economy; More than one executive has concluded that you do not get dedicated and productive employees if, at the first sign of trouble, you show them they are expendable. To approach downsizing more intelligently, some companies have made special efforts to reassign and retrain employees for new positions when their jobs are eliminated. Furloughing: An alternative to downsizing is furloughing. A situation in which an organization asks or requires employees to take time off for either no pay or reduced pay. Some companies are using creative furlough strategies to avoid downsizing and losing talent to competitors. Although furloughs might sound preferable to downsizing, they have their drawbacks too. Costs are not cut as significantly as they would be with downsizing because employees generally retain their benefits while they are furloughed. Employees who are not furloughed often end up with more work and feel resentful, and product and service quality, as well as innovation, suffer as a result of the higher workloads. Outsourcing: a business practice in which a company hires a third party to perform tasks, handle operations or provide services for the company or create goods. Offshoring: The business practice of sending jobs to other countries. But hidden costs can sometimes chew up much of the financial gains from offshoring, including those associated with finding foreign vendors, productivity lost during the transition, domestic layoff costs. Though COVID-19 has caused many executives to reconsider the heavy reliance on offshoring as a low- cost labour method, given the realized global instability, offshoring will continue to be a key employment strategy as global economies continue to shift. Another new trend is "nearshoring." Nearshoring is the process of moving jobs closer to one's home country (For example, rising labour costs in China are now making it attractive for North American firms to offshore work to Mexico and Central America). Yet another new way companies are both economizing and bringing jobs back to their domestic markets is by "homeshoring." Call centre jobs are a notable example. When a company homeshores call centre jobs, it outsources the work to domestic independent Employee leasing: As an alternative to downsizing, outsourcing, offshoring, and furloughing, many companies, especially small ones, have decided to sign employee leasing agreements with professional employer organizations. “The process of dismissing employees who are then hired by a leasing company (which handles all HR-related activities) and contracting with that company to lease back the employees” Productivity enhancements: Employee productivity is the result of a combination of employees' abilities, motivation, and work environment and the technology they use to work. Because productivity can be defined as "the output gained from a fixed amount of inputs," organizations can increase their productivity either by reducing their inputs (the cost approach) or by increasing the amount that employees produce by adding more human and/or physical capital to the process (the investment approach). Many companies are finding that providing fork flexibility is a good way to improve the productivity and motivation of valuable employees, especially when giving them larger benefit packages is not an option. 6   ISSUE 5: RESPONDING TO THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND DIVERSITY CHALLENGES OF THE WORKFORCE Demographic changes: amongst the most significant challenges to managers are the demographic changes occurring in Canada. Because they affect the workforce of an employer, these changes— in employee background, age, gender, and education — are important topics for discussion. Diversity/immigration challenge: Age distribution of employees: Canada’s population was 38 million in 2020. About 18% are 65 or over. The number of seniors in the Canadian population is expected to increase to 24% of the population by 2050. The echo boom generation in Canada, also known as millennials, include people born roughly between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, and represents about 30 percent of the population of Canada. The imbalance in the age distribution of the labour force is having a significant effect on employers. Companies are finding that large portions of their workforces are nearing retirement. Beyond the sheer number of employees they will have to replace, managers are concerned that the expertise of these employees is likely to be drained too rapidly from the company. Many baby boomers say they expect to work past traditional retirement age. Good health and longer life expectancies play the biggest role in extended work lives. But some retirees have returned to the workforce because of economic needs. Recruiting older workers may sound counterintuitive because they incur higher healthcare costs. But older workers also have fewer dependents and offer other cost savings. The newest generation entering the workplace is Generation Z. The members of Generation Z were born in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. However, in 2020, Generation Z encompassed approximately 12 percent of the workforce. The lower employment level is likely partly due to COVID-19. The pandemic caused an unemployment crisis in 2020, and members of Generation Z were among those hardest hit. Nonetheless, the members of this age group are and will increasingly be an important part of the workforce. These workers have never known life without smartphones and social media and they expect to be trained and managed with digital tools. They are also more comfortable with racial, cultural, and sexual diversity than other generations and want to change the world for the better. Managers can find themselves challenged in terms of getting the various generations to work well together. Baby boomers sometimes categorize younger workers as having a poorer work ethic. Some younger workers have the perception that older workers are set in their ways and technologically challenged. Gender distribution of the workforce: Women make up nearly half of the workforce in Canada, and the educational attainment of women is also increasing relative to men. Today, more than 60 percent of university graduates are women. Employers are taking measures to ensure that they are treated equally in the workplace in terms of their advancement opportunities and compensation. As we have suggested, harnessing a company's talent means being aware of characteristics common to employees while also managing these employees as individuals. Many organizations struggle to sufficiently attend to the needs and issues that transgender and gender-nonconforming people face. The current gender equality efforts often overlook the 7   approximately 1.5 million adults in the United States and Canada who are transgender. The unemployment rate for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals in Ontario is approximately 20 percent. There are initiatives underway to improve the conditions for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. For example, Trans Workforce debuted in Toronto in 2017 as the country's first job fair explicitly for transgender job applicants. ISSUE 6: ADAPTING TO EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL SHIFTS AFFECTING THE WORKFORCE Education of the workforce: The 2016 Census shows that more than half (54.0 percent) of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had either college or university qualifications. The 2016 Census confirmed that higher education is a gateway to higher earnings, as did all previous censuses. The data suggest that for women between 25 and 64 years old, who worked full-time, full-year, with a high school diploma earned $43,234; those with a college diploma earned $48,599, and those with a bachelor's degree earned $68,342. Cultural changes: The attitudes, beliefs, values, and customs of people in a society are an integral part of their culture. Their culture affects their behavior on the job and the environment within the organization, influencing their reactions to work assignments, leadership styles, and reward systems. HR policies and procedures therefore must be adjusted to cope with this change. Employee rights: federal legislation has radically changed the rules for management of employees by granting them many specific rights. Among these are laws granting employees the right to equal employment opportunity, union representation if they desire it, a safe and healthful work environment, pension plans regulated by the government, equal pay for men and women performing essentially the same job, and privacy in the workplace. Concern for privacy: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is a federal law that deals with the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. This law requires federally regulated organizations holding personal information on customers or employees to obtain their consent before they use, collect, or disclose this information. Although PIPEDA protects people's electronic communications, such as their email, the rules are different when it comes to the privacy that employees can expect with regard to their electronic communications at work. The changing nature of the job: The era of the full-time, permanent job seems to have disappeared. The number of self-employed is also increasing, accounting for 15.6 percent of employment. The number of Canadians self-employed increased by 41,100 in January 2015, accounting for almost 54 percent of total new job growth. Changing attitudes toward work: Employees today are less likely to define their personal success only in terms of financial gains. Many employees, especially younger ones, believe that satisfaction in life is more likely to result from balancing their work challenges and rewards with those in their personal lives. People appear to be seeking ways of living that are less complicated but more meaningful and with richer interpersonal relationships. These new lifestyles cannot help having an impact on the way employees must be motivated and managed. Employees' changing attitudes contribute to higher employee turnover. Younger employees especially have new expectations from their employers10 and are also much more willing to leave their positions to pursue other opportunities if they feel unsatisfied. 8   Balancing work and family: Because of the forms that the family now takes-such as the two- wage earner and the single-parent family - work organizations are finding it advantageous to provide employees with more family-friendly options. "Family friendly" is a broad term that can include flexible work hours, daycare, eldercare, part-time work, job sharing, pregnancy leave, parental leave, executive transfers, spousal involvement in career planning, assistance with family problems, and telecommuting. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HR MANAGER Managing people is every manager’s business, and successful organizations combine the experience of line managers with the expertise of HR specialists to develop and use the talents of employees to their advantage greatest potential. Although line managers (non HR managers who are responsible for overseeing the work of other employees) and HR managers need to work together, their responsibilities are different. The major activities for which an HR manager is responsible for are: 1. Strategic advice and counsel. The HR manager often serves as an in-house consultant to supervisors, managers, and executives. Given their knowledge of internal employment issues, HR managers can be an invaluable resource for making decisions. 2. Service. HR managers also perform a host of service activities, such as recruiting, selecting, testing, planning and conducting training programs, and hearing employee concerns and complaints. 3. Policy formulation and implementation. HR managers generally propose and draft new policies or policy revisions to address recurring problems or to prevent anticipated problems. 4. Employee advocacy. One of the enduring roles of HR managers is to serve as an employee advocate-listening to employees' concerns and representing their needs to managers- to ensure that the interests of employees and the interests of the organization are aligned with one another. 5. Business mastery. HR professionals need to know the business of their organization thoroughly. 6. HR mastery. HR professionals are the organization's behavioral science experts. HR professionals should develop expert knowledge in the areas of staffing, development, appraisals, rewards, team building, and communication. 7. Change mastery. HR professionals must be able to manage change processes so that their firms' HR activities are effectively merged with the business needs of their organizations. 8. Personal credibility. Like other management professionals, HR professionals must establish personal credibility in the eyes of their internal and external customers. 9   CHAPTER 2 - STRATEGY AND HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING Strategic planning is a set of procedures for making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies. The plans especially focuses on how the organization will position itself relative to its competitors to ensure long-term survival, create value and grow. Human resources planning its the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into (hire people from the outside), within (how we move people from position to position inside the firm) and out of an organization. It’s an essential activity of organizations. Strategic human resources management combines strategic planning and HRP. It’s the pattern of human resources deployments and activities that enable an organization to achieve its strategic goals. HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS An avenue by which an organization can maintain a competitive advantage is through its human capital, which is an intangible asset that is unique and not easily duplicatable. Therefore organizations often look to high-performance work systems to capitalize on employees as a distinctive source of competitive advantage. High performance Work Systems is a group go HR practices that have been proven to increase an organization’s ability to attract, select, hire, develop, and retain high-performing employees. HPWS stresses employee involvement and a culture of commitment rather than control. Research has outlined sets of specific activities that encompass the HPWS that have been organized into different subsystems: - The first system involves engaging employees by bringing to their awareness the organization's vision and providing employees with a personal stake in the vision and its success. - The second subsystem involves acquiring and developing talent by attending to the attraction, selection, and development processes. These practices include rigorous recruiting such as referral incentives, employee branding, and workforce planning. - The third subsystem encompasses employee empowerment, such as developing policies and practices for employment security so that employees can speak up without repercussion. - The final subsystem involves aligning leaders so that leaders can support the growth and evolution of the organization. STRATEGIC PLANNING AND HRP: LINKING THE PROCESSES Good HR managers marry HRP to the strategic planning process for their organizations as a whole. HRP relates to strategic planning in several ways but at a fundamental level we can focus on two issues: strategy formulation and strategy implementation. HRP provides a set of inputs into the strategic formulation process in terms of what is possible; that is, whether a firm has the types and numbers of people available to pursue a given strategy. What human resources are needed and what are available? In addition to strategy formulation, HRP is important in terms of strategy implementation. In other words, once the firm has come up with its strategy, the company's executives must make resource allocation decisions to implement that strategy, including decisions related to the firm's structure, processes, and human capital. Although the firm's business strategy establishes the context for its HR strategy, it is not a one-way street. The type of people an organization has, and the culture and climate of the company, in turn will constrain what the firm is able to achieve strategically. So, HRP and strategic planning are 10   integral to one another. The value and relationship between HRP and strategic planning has become even more evident amidst the global pandemic. A firm's business strategy, along with its overall purpose, goals, and values, establishes the context for its HR strategy and the number and types of people, the skills they must have, and the like. In other words, the firm's HR strategy follows the business strategy and helps implement it. Example: If you wanna start a small restaurant, what human resources are needed? Probably a chef. What are available? This is an example of how the resources you have can be used in the right way. Ex: I want to find a chef that can make pasta, because it’s an Italian restaurant. I’m not going to look for a Chinese chef, but for an Italian chef that can cook pasta and be a great addition to my restaurant. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS STEP 1: MISSION, VISION AND VALUES The mission is the basic purpose of the organization, as well as its scope of operations. It is a statement of the organization’s reason for existing and the shared purpose of the people in the organization. The strategic vision of the organization moves beyond the mission statement to provide a perspective on where the company is headed and what the organization can become in the future. The vision statement ideally clarifies the longterm direction of the company and its strategic intent. The organizational core values are the strong, enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as a foundation for its decisions. These are the underlying parameters for how the company will act toward customers, employees and the public in general. STEP 2: EXTERNAL ANALYSIS Firms, on an ongoing basis, analyze external opportunities and threats. Environmental scanning is the systematic monitoring of the major external forces influencing the organization, including forces in the business, remote and competitive environment. The business environment A business environment consists of all the external factors in the general environment. The remote environment is part of the business environment. It includes forces that generally affect most firms. economic and ecological changes All firms must react to changes in the economy, including general, regional, and global conditions. During economic booms, firms are more likely to expand. During recessions, they generally contract. But this isn't true for all businesses. It depends on their strategies. 11   Closely related to the economy are ecological conditions. The catastrophic tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 affected thousands of different types of businesses there, as well as their supply- chain partners worldwide. technological changes Like economic and ecological changes, technological changes such as automation have a broad effect on businesses - changes that they have had to adapt to strategically. The Internet, of course, has affected businesses in nearly every industry and in nearly every country. Think about travel agents. Likewise, newspapers have had to adjust from print to digital subscribers and alter their sales and revenues strategies to match the new medium or go out of business. demographic changes Changes in the labour supply can limit the strategies available to firms. High-growth companies may find it difficult to find the talent they need to expand their businesses. social changes Legal and regulatory changes Competitive environment The competitive environment includes the firm’s customers, rival firms, new entrants, substitutes and suppliers. Firms analyze their competitive environment to adapt or to influence the nature of the competition. customers A firm’s strategy should focus on creating value for customers, who often want different things. The point is that, increasingly, "one size does not fit all" and organizations need to know how they will provide value to customers. That is the foundation for strategy. rival firms Who is the competition? new entrants New companies can sometimes enter an industry and compete well against established firms, and sometimes they cannot. To protect their position, companies often try to establish entry barriers to keep new firms out of the industry. However, when new firms do enter an industry, it is often because they have a different — and perhaps better — way to provide value to customers. New entrants can change the rules of the game in an industry substitues At times, the biggest opportunity or threat in an industry is not from direct competition but from buyers substituting other products. This implies that firms may need to adjust their employee skill bases to support different technologies, 12   suppliers Organizations rarely create everything on their own but instead have suppliers that provide them with key inputs. stakeholders Stakeholders are key people and groups that have an interest in a firm's activities and can either affect them or be affected by them. A firm's primary stakeholders include its investors, employees, customers, suppliers, and creditors. Primary stakeholders have a direct stake in the firm and its success. A firm's secondary stakeholders have less of a stake but nonetheless can affect or be affected by the company. Firms must analyze and balance the interests of their various stakeholders. For example, laying off employees will often result in lower costs for a firm, at least in the short term. But if the cuts are too severe and affect a firm's service, for instance, customers are likely to suffer, as will investors and creditors. HR’s external supply of labour At an operational level, labour-supply changes directly affect hiring plans in the area where the organization is located or plans to locate. STEP 3: INTERNAL ANALYSIS Core capabilities: the key to a firm’s success is based on establishing a set core of core capabilities: integrated knowledge sets within an organization that distinguish it from its competitors and deliver value to customers. Value creation: what the firm adds to a product or service by virtue of making it; the amount of benefits provided by the product or service once the costs of making it are subtracted. Processes, systems, and people are key components of a company's core capabilities. At Intermountain Healthcare (IHC), executives found that less than 10% of processes drove over 90% of healthcare costs, time, and quality, so they focused on improving these. Systems, like Amazon's advanced technologies, can provide significant competitive advantages. People, especially in knowledge-based industries, are critical to success, as their skills and expertise are often hard to replicate. Companies are now designing personalized recruitment and management plans to better align employees with company strategies. For example, Microsoft allows software engineers to choose between management or technical career tracks and move between them. SUSTAINING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH PEOPLE Organizations can achieve a sustained competitive advantage through people if they are able to meet the following criteria: 1. The resources must be valuable: Employees must enhance company efficiency or effectiveness by reducing costs, providing unique offerings, or a mix of both. Companies like RBC and Enbridge use programs like employee empowerment and flexible work arrangements to boost creativity and performance. 2. The resources must be rare: Employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities should be hard to find among competitors. Companies like Microsoft and Four Seasons Hotels invest heavily in hiring and training top talent to gain an edge 3. The resources must be difficult to imitate: The capabilities of employees should be difficult to replicate. Companies like Disney, Southwest Airlines, and Starbucks foster unique cultures that maximize employee potential and are hard to imitate. 13   4. The resources must be organized: Talent must be organized and mobilized efficiently. Companies like IBM and GE use technology to manage employee assignments and foster teamwork and cooperation. Types of talent and their composition in the workforce A related element of internal analysis for organizations that compete on capabilities is determining the composition of the workforce. Managers need to determine whether people are available - internally or externally - to execute an organization's strategy. Managers must make tough decisions about whom to employ internally, whom to contract externally, and how to manage different types of employees with different skills who contribute in different ways to the organization. Evidence from research suggests that employment relationships and HR practices for different employees vary according to which segment they occupy in this matrix: - strategic knowledge workers: employees who tend to have unique skills that are directly linked to the company’s strategy and are difficult to replace. Companies tend to make long-term commitments to these employees, investing in their continuous training and development - Core employees: employees whose skills are quite valuable to a company but are not particularly unique or difficult to replace. Employed in traditional types of jobs. Their skills are transferable so it is quite possible that they could leave to go to another firm. - Supporting workers: employees whose skills are of less strategic value to the firm and are generally available in the labour market. Individuals in these jobs are hired from external agencies on a contract basis to support the strategic knowledge workers and core employees. - External partners: individuals whose skills are unique but are not directly related to a company’s core strategy. Skills that are specialized and not readily available to all firms, so companies tend to establish longer-term alliances and partnerships with them. CORPORATE CULTURE Managers increasingly understand that their employees are critical to their success, so they often conduct cultural audits to examine the values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations of their workforces as well. They can help firms decide on the strategic investments necessary to build and sustain a culture. A cultural audit is conducted by surveying employees to understand how they feel about various organizational issues. For example, questions may focus on how business is conducted, communication methods, and conflict resolution. Some companies, like Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, have used audits to measure diversity, equity, and inclusion, while others assess if pressure to meet goals leads to unethical behavior. The audit helps identify different organizational subcultures. For instance, SAS uses it to gather feedback on pay, benefits, hiring, and diversity efforts. The most popular audit tool is the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), which classifies companies into four types of cultures: clan culture, in which employees are closely knit and exhibit great concern for one another and their customers, and loyalty and cohesion are highly valued Adhocracy culture, which is a culture characterized by risk taking, innovation and a spirit of entrepreneurship 14   Market culture, which encourages competitive, result-oriented behaviors. Hierarchical culture, which is characterized by formal structures and procedures and in which efficiency and stability are greatly valued. FORECASTING Managers must continually forecast both the needs and the capabilities of the firm for the future to do an effective job at strategic planning. Managers focus on: forecasting the demand of labour, forecasting the supply of labour and balancing supply and demand considerations. Forecasting a firm’s demand for employees Forecasting the number and types of employees needed to meet an organization’s goals depends on various factors, such as its competitive strategy, technology, structure, productivity, and external factors like economic and seasonal trends. For instance, retailers like Hudson's Bay and Canadian Tire hire many temporary workers during the holiday season. There are two approaches to HR forecasting: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative approaches to forecasting use statistical or mathematical techniques, such as trend analysis, which predicts staffing needs based on organizational data (A quantitative approach to forecasting labour demand based on an organizational index such as sales). More advanced statistical planning methods, such as modeling or multiple predictive techniques, combine several factors like interest rates, gross national product, disposable income, and sales to forecast employment needs. These methods can also include a firm's strategy and "what if" scenarios, such as determining how many additional salespeople are needed to achieve a 10% sales increase. While traditionally used by larger companies with the help of analysts, advances in data collection and software are making these sophisticated forecasting techniques more accessible and affordable for smaller businesses Qualitative approaches to forecasting are often more art than science, providing approximations rather than exact results due to the constantly changing environment. Estimating shifts in demand for products or services and anticipating economic changes are key concerns. Internal changes, such as technology upgrades or organizational shifts, also affect staffing needs. These approaches are less statistical. Management forecasts are the opinions of supervisors, department managers, experts or other knowledgeable about the organization’s future employment needs. Delphi technique attempts to decrease the subjectivity of forecasts by soliciting and summarizing the judgements of a preselects group of individuals. Forecasting the supply of employees An organization must also determine whether sufficient numbers and types of employees are available to staff the openings it anticipates having. Staffing tables and Markov analysis An internal supply analysis can begin with preparation of staffing tables. Staffing tables are graphic representations of all organizational jobs, along with the numbers of employees currently occupying those jobs. Another technique, called Markov analysis, shows the percentage (and actual number) of employees who remain in each of a firm's jobs from one year to the next, as well as the proportions of those who are promoted, demoted, or transferred or exit the organization. Forecasting the supply of human resources available to a firm requires that its managers have a good understanding of employee turnover and absenteeism. 15   Quality of fill is metric designed to assess how well new hires are performing on the job. Skill inventories and management inventories Staffing tables, Markov analysis, and turnover rates typically focus on the number of employees in specific roles. However, other techniques emphasize the types of employees and their skills, knowledge, and experiences. For instance, skill inventories are files of personnel education, experience, interests and skills that allow managers to quickly match the job openings with employee background. When such data is gathered specifically on managers, it is referred to as a management inventory. Keeping these inventories well-prepared and up-to-date ensures efficient staffing decisions. Replacement charts and succession planning Skill and management inventories can be used to develop employee replacement charts, which are listings of current jobholder and people who are potential replacements if an opening occurs. A replacement chart can be used side by side with other pieces of information for succession planning, which is the process of identifying, developing and taking key individuals for executive positions. Executive replacement chart ASSESSING A FIRM’S HUMAN CAPITAL READINESS: GAP ANALYSIS Once a company has assessed both the supply and the demand for employee skills, talent and know-how, it can begin to understand its human capital readiness, the process of evaluating the availability of critical talent in a company and comparing it to the firm’s supply STEP 4: FORMULATING STRATEGY After managers have analyzed the internal strengths and weaknesses of the firm, as well as the external opportunities and threats, they have the information they need to formulate corporate, business and HR strategies for the organization. A comparison of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is referred to as a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis helps executives summarize the major facts and forecasts derived from external and internal analyses. CORPORATE STRATEGY Includes the markets in which it will compete, agains whom and how. Corporate strategy focuses on domain selection, that is, the markets in which it will compete. Growth and diversification Emerging and growing companies approach strategy differently from mature or declining firms. As they expand, their focus is on geographic, volume, and product growth, with Human Resource 16   Planning (HRP) playing a key role. Growth relies on increasing employee productivity, hiring more workers, and developing or acquiring new skills. Therefore, staffing, training, and motivation are crucial for enabling growth or potentially limiting it. When diversifying into new areas, managers face a "make or buy" decision—whether to develop capabilities internally or contract them externally. Mergers and acquisitions Many mergers in Canada, like the Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart merger, have occurred recently. However, some fail due to cultural clashes and management conflicts, negatively impacting ROI and shareholder value. A notable example is the failed merger between Daimler- Benz and Chrysler, where the German firm’s reluctance to share technology with its American counterpart caused issues. Such problems highlight the need for effective Human Resource Planning (HRP) before and during mergers to address potential cultural and management conflicts. Strategic alliances and joint ventures Instead of merging or acquiring, some firms opt for cooperative strategies like strategic alliances or joint ventures. In international joint ventures, cultural issues—both company and national—become crucial. HR plays a key role in assessing cultural compatibility and potential challenges upfront. During the formation of the alliance, HR helps select key executives and fosters teamwork between the workforces. HR is also involved in designing performance assessments and mutual incentives, ensuring the alliance operates smoothly and efficiently. BUSINESS STRATEGY Business strategy is more focused on how the company will compete against rival firms to create value for customers. Low cost strategy: compete on productivity and efficiency A low cost strategy means keeping your costs low enough that you can offer an attractive price to customers. Organizations like McDonalds try to exploit economies of scale in production and distribution. Their large size allows them to sell their products and services at a lower price, which leads to higher market share, volume and profits. A low-cost strategy is often linked to Human Resource Planning (HRP) through productivity. Contrary to the belief that it always involves cutting labor costs, some companies pay their employees well but achieve cost advantages through high productivity. These firms either produce more with the same workforce or maintain output with fewer employees, maximizing the value they get from their workforce while keeping overall costs competitive. The second link between low-cost strategies and HR is outsourcing. Companies aiming to reduce costs may contract external partners to perform certain tasks more efficiently and at a lower cost. This decision ties strategic planning to HRP, often leading to layoffs or transfers. However, outsourcing decisions should not be based solely on cost. If a company loses essential skills or erodes its core capabilities, it can have negative long-term effects. Firms must understand their core processes and skills to make informed outsourcing decisions that preserve their competitive advantage. A low-cost strategy tends to weaken the positive relationship between High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) and employee, HR, and organizational performance. Studies have shown that organizations using a low-cost strategy score lower on HR areas like selection, training, appraisal, salary, and benefits compared to other strategies. Despite this, HPWS and strong HR practices 17   remain crucial for the success of companies pursuing a low-cost approach, as they can still drive performance and efficiency. Differentiation strategy: compete on unique value added A differentiation strategy provides something unique and distinctive to customers. It is often based on high product quality, innovative features, speed to market, or superior service. An organization can differentiate itself by offering firm-specific training, a strong climate, total compensation and benefits, and work-family balance. Employees are a crucial resource and an integral source of competitive advantage. Without employee commitment, organizations cannot successfully implement a differentiation strategy and reap the benefits of HPWS. Companies that focus on service, for example, need to identify and support ways to empower employees to serve customers better. In contrast to the company that emphasizes low cost and efficiencies, you may find that differentiating companies will bend the rules a bit more, allow more flexibility to let you "have it your way," and customize products and services around the customer's particular needs. A differentiation strategy can better support the objectives of entrepreneurial orientation. Therefore, there is a better entrepreneurial orientation-firm performance relationship with a differentiation strategy, thus highlighting that it is essential to consider the competitive strategy when setting firm innovation and risk-taking objectives. FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY: ENSURING ALIGNMENT Managers need to translate strategic priorities into functional areas of the organization. This involves all aspects of the business, but in particular there needs to beo be a clear alignment between HR and the requirements of an organization’s strategy Vertical fit/alignment It focuses on the connection between the business objectives and the major initiatives in HR. As we noted earlier, if a company’s strategy focuses on achieving low cost, its HR policies and practices need to reinforce this idea by emphasizing efficient and reliable behavior on the part of employees and enhanced productivity. Horizontal fit/alignment Managers need to ensure that their HR practices are all aligned with one another internally to establish a configuration that is mutually reinforcing; this is horizontal fit STEP 5: STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION Managers must ensure that the new plans are implemented effectively. Strategy implementation is difficult. There is a significant amount of confusion regarding the difference between strategy, implementation and execution. The picture shows the classic 7-S framework and reveals that Ham is instrumental to almost every aspect of strategy implementation. In the “hard S” category is the strategy, which lays out the route that the organization will take in the future; the organizational structure is the framework in which the activities of the organizations members are coordinated. Also in the “hard S” category are systems and processes. These include formal and informal procedures that govern the everyday activities of a firm. In the "Soft S" category are shared values, or core values, which relate to implementation as well. HR managers play a central role as guardians of the corporate culture, the principles on which the 18   company is founded. This is tightly connected to style, which refers not only to the leadership approach of top managers, but also the way in which employees present themselves to the outside world. Skills and staff elate directly to HRM TAKING ACTION: RECONCILING SUPPLY AND DEMAND Through HRP, organizations strive for a proper balance between demand considerations and supply considerations. Demand considerations are based on forecasted trends in business activity. Supply considerations involve determining where and how candidates with the required qualifications can be found to fill a firm's vacancies. Dealing with surplus employees Several options are available to employers when it comes to dealing with surplus employees: layoffs, attrition, and termination. ✴ layoff strategies: employee layoff decisions are usually based on seniority and/or ability. In unionized organizations, layoff eligibility is typically determined by the collective agreement, with seniority often playing a key role. Nonunion employees, however, may not receive the same consideration. As technical skills and the ability to adapt become increasingly important, performance and competencies are heavily factored into layoff decisions. Seniority is favored for its objectivity, as it relies on years of service rather than subjective evaluations of ability. Under the umbrella of layoff strategies are several work-reduction options: reduced workweek, reduced shifts, and transfers to related companies. ✴ Attrition: refers to the natural departure of employees through quits, retirements, and deaths. Attrition must be supplemented by other practices: hiring freeze means that organizations will not hire new workers as planned or will hire only in areas critical to the success of the organization ✴ Termination: is a practice initiated by an employer to separate an employee from the organization permanently. It’s different from firing, in which an employee is released for such causes as poor performance, high absenteeism or unethical behavior. A termination strategy begins with the identification of employees who are in positions that are no longer considered useful or critical to the company's effectiveness. Employers cannot terminate without some form of compensation to the employee. Severance pay, a lump-sum payment given to terminated employees, is calculated on the basis of years of service and salary. 19   STEP 6: EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT To evaluate their performance, firms need to establish a set of "desired" objectives as well as the metrics they will use to monitor how well their organization delivered against those objectives. The objectives can include achieving a certain level of productivity, revenues, profits, market share, market penetration, customer satisfaction, and so forth. Benchmarking is the process of identifying best practices in a given area and then comparing your practices and performance to those of other companies. The metrics fall into two basic categories: human capital metrics (assess aspects of the workforce) and HR metrics (assess the performance of the HR function itself) 20   CHAPTER 3 - EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT Employment equity has received considerable attention in HRM in recent decades. Employment equity or the treatment of employed individuals in a fair and non biased manner, has attracted the attention of the media, the courts, practitioners and legislators. It is the proactive programs to ensure that the organization’s workforce is representative of the population. THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS The Constitution Act of 1982, which contains the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is the cornerstone of equity legislation. The Charter guarantees some fundamental rights to every Canadian, including: - fundamental freedoms (s. 2) that comprise the standard rights of freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion; - democratic rights (ss. 3 to 5), covering franchise rights; - mobility rights (s. 6), concerning the right to move freely from province to province for the purposes of residence and/or employment; - legal rights (ss. 7 to 14), conferring standard procedural rights in criminal proceedings; - equality rights (s. 15), guaranteeing no discrimination by law on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, Aboriginal residence, or mental and physical ability; and - language rights (ss. 16 to 23) PAY EQUITY Pay equity makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against individuals on the basis of job content. Pay equity helps address the discriminatory portion of the historical wage gap between men and women and to ensure that salary ranges reflect the value of the work performed. By definition, pay equity means equal pay for work of equal value. It is based on two principles. The first is equal pay for equal work-pay equality." This is usually covered in labour standards legislation. Male and female workers must be paid the same wage rate for doing identical work. The second is equal pay for work of comparable worth, or equal pay for work of comparable value. This is the focus of pay equity legislation. Pay equality (in which employers are required to pay women the same as men doing the same job) is about fair pay for individual women employees. 21   Pay equity is about fair pay for entire occupations, which are dissimilar, usually within an organization, such as comparing nurses (as a group) to electricians. EMPLOYMENT EQUITY Women, Indigenous Peoples, members of visible minorities, and people with disabilities make up over 60 percent of Canada's labour force, and their numbers continue to rise. Equity means fairness and impartiality. In a legal sense, it means justice based on the concepts of ethics and fairness and a system of jurisprudence administered by administrative tribunals. There are four designated groups in Canada (women, indigenous people, visible minorities, people with disabilities) thwart have historically not received equitable treatment in employment. women: women are underrepresented as semi-professionals and technicians, as supervisors in trades, and in natural and applied sciences. Indigenous people: the unemployment rate for Indigenous individuals is higher than the national unemployment rate. the research suggests that Indigenous people earn less than non- Indigenous people. However, many Indigenous people face major barriers to employment, including underfunding of on-reserve education and lack of good educational supports. These barriers are often compounded by low educational achievement and lack of job experience, as well as by language and cultural barriers. People with disabilities: It is estimated that at least 22 percent of Canadians aged 15 and over have a disability. This rate increases with age. Further, individuals with disabilities earn less than Canadians without disabilities. Those with less severe disabilities make 12 percent less than average, and those with more severe disabilities earn 51 percent less than the average population. People with disabilities face attitudinal barriers, physical demands that are unrelated to job requirements, and inadequate access to the technical and human support systems that would make productive employment possible. Visible minorities: Visible minority groups vary in their labour force profiles and in their regional distributions. Systemic barriers that negatively affect employment for visible minority groups include culturally biased aptitude tests, a lack of recognition of foreign credentials, and excessively high language requirements. The implementation of employment equity in organizations The implementation of employment equity in an organization follows the precepts of any change management program. The process generally involves six main steps: STEP 1: Senior management commitment: A more supportive culture is created when the CEO or owner-operator publicly introduces written policy describing the organization's commitment to employment equity and enact a strategy to champion diversity. The policy statement should be supplemented with a communiqué explaining what employment equity is. This commitment to employees and candidates for employment applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, work assignment, training opportunities, compensation, promotions, transfers, and terminations. Assignment of accountable senior staff: Employers covered by the Employment Equity Act are legally obligated to consult with designated employee representatives or, in unionized settings, with bargaining agents. STEP 2: Data collection and analysis: The development of an internal workforce profile is an important tool in employment equity planning. It helps determine where the company stands relative to the internal and the external workforce. Profiles must be based on both: 22   - stock data: data showing the status of designated groups in occupational categories and compensation levels - flow data (data that provide a profile of employment decisions affecting designated groups. Equity planning relies on personnel files for key data, but employees must voluntarily self-identify as part of designated groups. Employers can boost participation by training managers and recognizing their efforts. Cameo Corporation in Saskatchewan supports Indigenous employment through mentoring, training, education, and family assistance programs. STEP 3: Employment system review: Employment systems or employment practices are the means by which employers carry out personnel activities such as recruitment, hiring, training and development, promotion, job classification, discipline, and termination. Employers are legally responsible for unintentional discrimination, known as systemic discrimination, when employment systems hinder certain groups' progress for reasons unrelated to qualifications, merit, or business needs. Systemic discrimination is the exclusion of members of certain groups through the application of employment policies or practices based on criteria that are not job related. Hidden employment barriers, such as limited physical access, biased recruitment practices, and undervalued job descriptions, can unintentionally cause inequity. These barriers may affect individuals based on group membership rather than their ability to perform the job. Another example of systemic discrimination occurs when an employer's workforce represents one group in our society and the company recruits new employees by posting job vacancies within the company or by word of mouth among the employees. This recruitment strategy is likely to generate candidates similar to those in the current workforce, thereby unintentionally discriminating against other groups of workers in the labour market. Special measures are initiatives designed to accelerate the entry, development, and promotion of members of designated groups from among the interested and qualified workforce. reasonable accommodation is the attempt by employers to adjust the working conditions or schedules of employees with disabilities or religious preferences STEP 4: establishment of a workplan: A workforce analysis and review of employment systems help employers create a workplan with realistic goals. The plan includes a summary of conclusions from the analysis, noting hiring restrictions due to factors like collective agreements or specialized skill needs. Identifying these restrictions aids in developing an overall employment equity strategy. STEP 5: implementation: the implementation of employment equity is idiosyncratic. The success of plan implementation depends on senior management’s commitment to the process, how the roles and responsibilities are defined, the resources available… STEP 6: evaluation, monitoring, and revision: by monitoring progress, the employer will be able to evaluate the overall success of the equity initiatives used to achieve a representative workforce, as well as to respond to organizational and environmental changes. The monitoring activity is an essential component in the planning cycle. If the employer finds that there are negative results, alterations to existing plan will have to be made with new goals. MANAGING DIVERSITY Diversity management: the optimization of an organization’s multicultural workforce to reach business objectives. 23   Organizations must make determined efforts to ensure their workplace is inclusive and can advance inclusion by using the following strategies: 1. Educate your leaders 2. Develop an inclusion council 3. Celebrate employee differences 4. Listen to employees 5. Hold effective meetings 6. Communicate goals and measure progress CEOs in canada recognize that ethnic groups possess expertise such as language sills, knowledge of foreign culture and business practices and natural trade links with overseas markets that can be used to capture market share in emerging economies. Albeit the strengths of diversity, there may be certain challenges. Culture misapprehension caused by a lack of understanding of cultural differences and a failure to adapt is frequent. It might impede the workplace’s functioning, the welfare of employees, and the integration of employees that might be new to the country. Inclusionary practices: creating an environment for success Transforming an organizational culture to embrace diversity and inclusion is a complex, gradual process requiring patience and realistic expectations. It involves significant time, effort, commitment, and risk. While identifying diversity gaps and setting goals is relatively easier, fostering inclusion demands a deeper mindset shift. A diverse workforce alone is not enough— employees must also feel valued, treated equally, and experience fairness. The distinction between diversity and inclusion remains evident in many organizations. Leadership is one of the most important variables in an organization’s ability to successfully incorporate diversity and inclusion into its business strategy. Training is essential to the success of diversity and inclusion implementation. In terms of internal measures, the program collects information on employee demographics and hiring rates in comparison to objectives per group, recruitment, retention, attrition, employee advancement, and the amount of completed diversity and inclusion training. In terms of external information, the program collects data on customer demographics, clients and service users and their engagement and retention rates, media exposure, community surveys, and partnerships with community organizations. The program then creates performance scorecards to track progress regarding its diversity and inclusion goals, measures organizational performance and the change post-implementation. An added advantage of implementing a diversity and training initiative relates to its impact on employee retention. Retention of well-qualified and skilled employees is an important goal, considering the amount of resources— in both time and money-spent on recruiting and hiring new employees. Much the same as is required under employment equity, and an overall review of policies and employment practices must be considered. A final element in achieving success is monitoring progress and providing qualitative and quantitative evidence of change. 24   CHAPTER 4 - JOB ANALYSIS AND WORK DESIGN RELATIONSHIP OF JOB REQUIREMENTS AND HRM FUNCTIONS A job consists of a group of related activities and duties. The duties of a job should consist of natural units of work that are similar and related. A job can be defined as an activity people do for which they get paid, as part of the trade or occupation they occupy. A position consists of different duties and responsibilities performed by only one employee. For example, four employees (four positions) may be involved in reference work, but all of them only have one job. A job family is a group of individual jobs with similar characteristics that are grouped all together for the purposes of recruitment, training, compensation or advancement opportunities. Recruitment and selection Before they can find capable employees for an organization, recruiters need to know the job specifications for the positions they are to fill. A job specification is a statement of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of the person performing the job. In addition to job specifications, managers and supervisors use job descriptions to select employees and orient them to jobs. A job description is a statement of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job. all job descriptions must be reviewed annually or whenever there are substantial changes in the organization's direction to guarantee that they are congruent with the strategic direction and structure of the organization. JOB ANALYSIS A workflow analysis helps a firm determine the best processes, types, an mix of jobs and how they should be ideally organized to execute the firm’s mission. Job analysis is the process of obtaining information about jobs by determining the duties, tasks or activities of those jobs. The procedure involves systematically investigating jobs by following a number of predetermined steps specified in advance of the study. When completed, job analysis results in a written report summarizing the information obtained from the analysis of 20 or 30 individual job tasks or activities. HR managers use these data to develop job descriptions and job specifications. GATHERING JOB INFORMATION Job data may be obtained in several ways: interviews: the job analyst may question individual employees and managers about the job under review Questionnaires: the job analyst may circulate carefully prepared questionnaires to be filled out individually by jobholders and managers. These forms will be used to obtain data in the areas of job duties and tasks performed, purpose of the job, physical settings Observation: the job analyst may learn about the jobs by observing and recording on a standardized form the activities of jobholders Diaries: jobholders themselves may be asked to keep a diary of their work activities during an entire work cycle If job analysis is to accomplish its intended purpose, the job data collected must be accurate. Care must be taken to ensure that all important facts are included. A job analyst should be alert for employees who tend to exaggerate the difficulty of their jobs to inflate their egos and paychecks. 25   APPROACHES TO JOB ANALYSIS Several different job analysis approaches are used to gather data, each with specific advantages and disadvantages: the position analysis questionnaire system: is a quantifiable data collection method covering 195 different worker-oriented tasks. A questionnaire covering 194 different tasks that, by means of a five-point scale, seeks to determine the degree to which different tasks are involved in performing a particular job. The individual or team completing the PAQ rate how much each item on a standard list of PAQ job elements is relevant to that job. The critical incident method: A job analysis method by which important job tasks are identified for job success. Information about critical job tasks can be collected through interviews with employees or managers Task inventory analysis: An organization-specific list of tasks and their descriptions used as a basis to identify components of different jobs. Functional job analysis: A job analysis approach that uses an inventory of the various types of work activities that can constitute any job. Basic activities called worker functions are used to describe what workers do regarding "information, people, and things" as part of this system. Competency based analysis: Traditional job analysis assumes jobs are static, but rapid technological and global changes make this outdated. In fast-moving environments, a competency-based approach is better, focusing on key skills like communication, decision- making, and adaptability to help organizations stay agile. JOB DESCRIPTIONS There is no standard format for job descriptions, so they tend to vary in appearance and content from one organization to another. However, most of them will contain at least three parts: A job title: choosing a job title is important for several reasons. It gives employees a sense of status, such as "sanitation engineer" being more appealing than "garbage collector." A good title also hints at the job's duties, like "salesperson" or "engineer." Additionally, the title should indicate the employee's rank in the company, such as "junior engineer" versus "senior engineer." A job identification section: The job identification section of a job description usually follows the job title. It includes items such as the departmental location of the job, the person to whom the jobholder reports, and the date the job description was last revised. A job duties section: Statements covering job duties are typically arranged in order of importance. These statements should indicate the weight, or value, of each duty. The statements should stress the responsibilities all the duties entail and the results they are to accomplish. Job specification section: this section covers two areas: (1) the skill required to perform the job and (2) the physical demands the job places on the employee performing it. 1. Skills relevant to a job include education or experience, specialized training, personal traits or abilities, and manual dexterities. 2. The physical demands of a job refer to how much walking, standing, reaching, lifting, or talking must be done on the job. Job descriptions are of value to both the employees and the employer. From the employees' standpoint, job descriptions can be used to help them learn their job duties and to remind them of the results they are expected to achieve. From the employer's standpoint, written job descriptions can serve as a basis for minimizing the misunderstandings that occur between managers and their subordinates concerning job requirements. 26   PROBLEMS WITH JOB DESCRIPTIONS Managers consider job descriptions a valuable tool for performing HRM functions. Nevertheless, several problems are frequently associated with these documents, including the following: 1. If they are poorly written, using vague rather than specific terms, they provide little guidance to the jobholder. 2. They are sometimes not updated as job duties or specifications change 3. They may violate the law by containing specifications not related to job success. 4. They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing organizational flexibility. A job description should be concise, direct, and clear. To attract suitable candidates, some employers use competency-based job descriptions, which focus on the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed for the role. This type of job description is created through job analysis, matching duties with organizational responsibilities. It lists both general and job-specific competencies, helping employers find the right candidates, establish staffing levels, guide employee advancement, and assess performance objectively. It also helps determine necessary training for employees to succeed in their roles. JOB DESIGN It is not uncommon for managers and supervisors to confuse the processes of job analysis and job design. Job analysis is the study of jobs as currently performed by employes. Job design, which is an outgrowth of job analysis, is concerned with structuring jobs to improve organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction. Job design is concerned with changing, modifying, and enriching jobs to capture the talents of employees while improving organizational performance. MOTIVATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Job design methods seek to incorporate the behavioral needs of employees as they perform their individual jobs. The two methods discussed below strive to satisfy the intrinsic needs of employees and motivate them in their work environments. job enrichment: enhancing a job by adding more meaningful tasks and duties to make the work more rewarding or satisfying. Managers can use five factors (achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and performance of the whole job versus only parts of the job) to enrich the jobs of employees by: 1. increasing the level of difficulty and responsibility of the job, 2. allowing employees to retain more authority and control over work outcomes, 3. providing unit or individual job performance reports directly to employees, 27   4. adding new tasks to the job that require training and growth, 5. assigning individuals specific tasks, enabling them to use their particular competencies or skills. These factors allow employees to assume a greater role in the decision making process and become more involved in planning, organizing, directing, and controlling their own work. Job characteristics model: A job design theory that purports that three psychological states (experiencing meaningfulness of the work performed, responsibility for work outcomes, and knowledge of the results of the work performed) of a jobholder result in improved work performance, internal motivation, and lower absenteeism and turnover. The five job characteristics are as follows: 1. Skill variety: the degree to which a job entails a variety of different activities, which demand the use of a number of different skills and talents by the jobholder. 2. Task identity: the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work, that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome. 3. Task significance: the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people, whether in the immediate organization or in the external environment. 4. Autonomy: the degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out. 5. Feedback: the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job results in the individual being given direct and clear information about the effectiveness of their performance. Employee empowerment is a technique of involving employees in their work through the process of inclusion. Empowerment encourages employees to become innovators and managers of their own work and involves them in their jobs in ways that give them more control and autonomous decision-making capabilities. Another type of empowerment technique that occurs at the individual level is job crafting. Job crafting is a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby employees mould their tasks to better fit their individual strengths, passions, and motives. INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS Industrial engineering focuses on analyzing work methods and setting time standards (A field of study concerned with analyzing work methods and establishing time standards). It involves studying work cycles to identify elements that can be modified or eliminated to reduce time. Time standards are set by timing each task element, then adjusting for worker skill, effort, and potential interruptions. The adjusted time becomes the standard for completing the work cycle. ERGONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS Ergonomics is the study of people at work and the practice of matching the features of products and jobs to human capabilities, preference, and the limitations of those who are to perform a job. Ergonomics focuses on ensuring that jobs are designed for safe and efficient work while improving the safety, comfort, and performance of users. In short, it seeks to fit the job to the person rather than the person to the job. 28   JOB CRAFTING AND CARVING Job crafting can be defined as a self-driven pursuit to change aspects of an individual's own position to improve the fit between the job and their needs, skills, and preferences. Employees can engage in job crafting in three main ways: 1. Task changes: Employees can add, redesign, or emphasize tasks that are personally meaningful, like a dentist focusing more on patient education. 2. Relational changes: They can build or adapt relationships, such as a school principal forming personal connections with teachers instead of just monitoring them. 3. Cognitive changes: Employees can shift how they perceive their job, either broadening their sense of purpose or narrowing focus to emphasize meaningful aspects, like a zookeeper viewing their role as a moral duty to care for animals. Employees can also align their job with personal identity, like a customer service rep using humor to connect with customers. Job carving is a method used to adapt jobs for individuals with disabilities, such as autism, by modifying tasks to suit their abilities. Unlike job crafting, this adjustment is made by an employer or vocational specialist. It involves analyzing a job, breaking it into smaller tasks, and identifying which ones the individual can handle. Tasks from multiple jobs may be combined to create a personalized role, promoting the individual's independence while meeting the employer's needs. DESIGNING WORK FOR GROUPS AND TEAMS Group techniques in organizations share two common goals: enhancing collaboration and increasing synergy. These approaches improve work processes, decision-making, and foster group synergy, where combined efforts surpass individual contributions. Research shows that group work strengthens commitment to organizational goals, boosts acceptance of decisions, and promotes cooperation. Two key techniques are employee involvement groups and employee teams. employee involvement groups (EIGs) are groups of employees who meet to resolve problems or offer suggestions for organizational improvement. Employee teams: an employee contributions technique whereby work functions are structured for groups rather than for individuals and team members are given discretion in matters traditionally considered management prerogatives, such as process improvements, product or service development, and individual work assignments. To compete in today's national and international markets, managers increasingly form virtual teams. Virtual teams use advanced computer and telecommunications technology to link team members who are geographically dispersed, often worldwide. Management may form a project 29   team (see Figure 4.7) to develop a new pharmaceutical drug and have the team operate in a virtual environment to achieve its goal. FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES Flexible work schedules aren't considered part of job design since they don't change tasks or responsibilities. However, they modify the typical five-day, eight-hour workweek by allowing employees more control over their work hours. Employers adopt flexible schedules to boost productivity and morale. The more common flexible work schedules are the compressed workweek, flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting compressed workweek: the number of days in the workweek is shortened by lengthening the number of hours worked per day. This schedule is best illustrated by the 4-day, 40-hour week, generally referred to as 4/10 or 4/40. Flextime: flexible working hours that permit employees the option of choosing daily starting and quitting times provided that they work a set number of hours per day or week. Flexible work schedules can reduce tardiness and absenteeism by allowing employees to adjust their hours to fit their lifestyles, increasing job satisfaction and productivity. Flexibility can also ease commuting by reducing congestion during peak hours. However, flextime has drawbacks, such as being unsuitable for jobs requiring constant staffing, complicating communication, and potentially extending managers' workweeks to supervise employees. Telecommuting: is the use of personal computers, networks, and other communications technology to do work in the home that is traditionally done in the workplace. A variant of telecommuting is the virtual office, which is a business that is located only in cyberspace. A virtual office permits employees to work from a virtual location. 30