HR Midterm - human resource chapter summary Gary Dessler 15th edition PDF

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human resource chapter summary Gary Dessler 15th edition...

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Chapter 1 Intro to HR 1.1 All managers should be able to answer, What is human resource management, and why is it important? Doing so helps managers avoid problems like hiring the wrong person for the job. And more important, it can help ensure that managers get results through people. Line managers’ human resource duties include placing the right per- son on the job, and orienting and training new employees.

1-2. The trends shaping human resource management are influencing what human resource managers do and how they do it. Globalization means more competition, and more competition means more pressure to lower costs and to make employees more productive and quality conscious. Technology is requiring more employees to be technologically well informed and pressuring employers to improve their human resource processes by applying new distributive technological tools. There is more emphasis on “knowledge work” and therefore on building “human capital,” the knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of a firm’s employees. Workforce and demographic changes mean that the workforce is becoming older and more diverse.

1-3. New digital technologies such as mobile and social media will make human resource management today more distributed. Traditionally, personnel/ HR managers focused on administrative issues such as running the payroll department. Today, employers expect their human resource management teams to focus more on big-picture issues, including instituting human resource policies and practices that support the companies’ strategic objectives, and to foster high performance through engaged employees.

1-4. To do so, the human resource managers need new competencies. They should be able to apply evidence-based human resource management, which means the use of data, facts, analytics, scientific rigor, critical evaluation, and critically evaluated research/case studies to support human resource management proposals, decisions, practices, and conclusions.

1-5. In understanding the overall plan of this book, keep several important themes in mind: that human resource management is the responsibility of every manager, that the workforce is increasingly diverse, that employers and their human resource managers face the need to manage in challenging economic times, and that human resource managers must be able to defend their plans and contributions in measurable terms—to use evidence-based management —to show they’ve added value.

Chapter 2 Equal opportunity and the law 2-1. Several of the most important equal employment opportunity laws became law in the period from 1964 to 1991  Of these, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was pivotal, and states that an employer can- not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This act established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and covers most employees.  Under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (amended in 1972), it is unlawful to discriminate in pay on the basis of sex when jobs involve equal work, skills, effort, and responsibility and are performed under similar working conditions.  The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 made it unlawful to discriminate against employees or applicants who are between 40 and 65 years of age.  The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires most employers with federal contracts to take affirmative action when employing handicapped persons.  The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits using pregnancy, childbirth, or hiring, promotion, suspension, or discharge or in any term or condition of employment.  The EEOC, Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, and Department of Justice together issued Uniform Guidelines that set forth “highly recommended” procedures regarding HR activities like employee selection, record keeping, and preemployment inquiries.  One of the most important cases during this early period was Griggs v. Duke Power Company. Here, Chief Justice Burger held that in employment, discrimination does not have to be overt to be illegal, and an employment practice that discriminates must be job related.

2-2. Equal employment law continues to evolve, with important new legislation being enacted since 1990–1991.  The Civil Rights Act of 1991 reversed the effects of several Supreme Court rulings—for instance, underscoring that the burden of proof is the employer’s once a plaintiff establishes possible illegal discrimination.  The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employment discrimination against qualified disabled individuals. It also says employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for physical or mental limitations unless doing so imposes an “undue hardship” on the business.  Although Title VII made sexual harassment at work illegal, the Federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 provided women with another way to seek relief for (violent) sexual harassment. Basically, sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that takes place, for instance, when such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment. Three main ways to prove sexual harassment include quid pro quo, hostile environment created by supervisors, and hostile environment created by coworkers who are not employees.

2-3. Employers use various defenses against dis- crimination allegations. In defending themselves against discrimination allegations, employers need to distinguish between disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparate impact (a policy that has an adverse impact regardless of intent). Plaintiffs show adverse impact by the standard deviation rule or by showing disparate rejection rates, restricted policy, or population comparisons, or by applying the McDonnell- Douglas test. Employers defend themselves by showing that the employment practice is a bona fide occupational qualification (for instance, gen- der is a BFOQ for a position such as model). Or they may defend themselves by using the business necessity defense, which requires showing that there is an overriding business purpose. Given this, it is useful to have a working knowledge of discriminatory employment practices. For example, in recruitment, employers no longer use “help wanted—male” ads and endeavor to ensure that educational requirements are necessary to do the job. Similarly, in promotion and transfer, the Equal Pay Act requires that equal wages be paid for substantially similar work performed by men and women.

2-4. All managers play an important role in the EEOC enforcement process. The basic steps in this process include filing the charge, charge acceptance by the EEOC, serving notice on the employer, the investigation/fact-finding conference, a finding of cause/no cause, conciliation efforts, and (if necessary) a notice to sue. The EEOC refers about 10% of its charges to voluntary mediation mechanisms.

2-5. With an increasingly diverse workforce, diversity management is a key managerial skill. Managing diversity means maximizing diversity’s potential benefits while minimizing the potential barriers. In one typical approach, the steps include providing strong leadership, assessing the situation, providing diversity training and education, changing the culture and management systems, and evaluating the diversity management program’s results. Affirmative action generally means taking actions to eliminate the present effects of past discrimination. Many employers still pursue voluntary, good-faith effort strategies in identifying and eliminating the obstacles to hiring and promoting women and minorities, while some employers are under courtmandated requirement to do so.

Chapter 3 HR management and strategy and analysis 3-1. All managers’ personnel and other decisions should be consistent with the goals that cascade down from the firm’s overall strategic plan. Those goals form a hierarchy, starting with the president’s overall strategic goals (such as double sales revenue to $16 million) and filtering down to what each individual manager needs to do in order to support that overall company goal. The strategic planning process’s seven steps include: (1) ask, “Where are we now as a business?” (2) evaluate the firm’s internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, (3) formulate a new business direction, (4) decide on strategic goals, and (5) choose specific strategies or courses of action; steps (6) and (7) are to implement and then evaluate the strategic plan.

3-2. We distinguished among three types of strategies: corporate, business/competitive, and functional/department strategies.

3-3. Each function or department in the business needs its own functional strategy, and strategic human resource management means formulating and executing human resource policies and practices that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its strategic aims. Human resource strategies are the specific human resource management policies and practices managers use to support their strategic aims. Important and popular strategic human resource management tools include the strategy map, the HR scorecard, and digital dashboards.

3-4. The manager will want to gather and analyze data prior to making decisions. Human resource metrics (quantitative measures of some human resource management activities such as employee turnover) are critical in creating high-performance human resource policies and practice

3-5. A high-performance work system is a set of human resource management policies and practices that together produce superior employee performance.

3-6. Employee engagement is important because it drives performance and productivity. For example, based on a Gallup survey, business units with the highest levels of employee engagement have an 83% chance of performing above the company median; those with the lowest employee engagement have only a 17% chance. Actually executing Kia UK’s employee engagement HR strategy involved six steps. These were: set measurable objectives for the program; provide leadership development, for example, send all managers for training to improve their management skills; institute new employee recognition programs, for instance, giving “Outstanding Awards” to selected employees quarterly; institute a new employee development program, for in- stance, using the company’s appraisal process to identify employees’ training needs and to create training plans for each employee; and change the compensation and other policies to ensure they are aligned with the new cultural values.

Chapter 4 Job analysis and the talent management process

4-1. Employers today often view all the staff–train– reward activities as part of a single integrated talent management process. We defined talent management as the holistic, integrated and results and goal-oriented process of planning, recruiting, selecting, developing, managing, and compensating employees. When a manager takes a talent management perspective, he or she should keep in mind that the talent management tasks are parts of a single interrelated talent management process; make sure talent management decisions such as staffing and pay are goal-directed; use the same “profile” for formulating recruitment plans for a job as you do for making selection, training, appraisal, and payment decisions for it; and integrate/coordinate all the talent management functions.

4-2. All managers should be familiar with the basics of job analysis. Job analysis is the procedure through which you determine the duties of the department’s positions and the characteristics of the people to hire for them. Job descriptions are a list of what the job entails, while job specifications identify what kind of people to hire for the job. The job analysis itself involves collecting information on matters such as work activities; required human behaviors; and machines, tools, and equipment used. Managers use job analysis information in recruitment and selection, compensation, training, and performance appraisal. The basic steps in job analysis include deciding on the use of the job analysis information, reviewing relevant background information including organization charts, analyzing the job, verifying the information, and developing job descriptions and job specifications.

4-3. There are various methods for collecting job analysis information. These include interviews, questionnaires, observation, participant diary/logs, and quantitative techniques such as position analysis questionnaires. Employers increasingly collect information from employees via the Internet.

4-4. Managers should know how to write job descriptions. While there is no standard format, most descriptions contain sections that cover job identification, a job summary, a listing of responsibilities and duties, the job incumbent’s authority, and performance standards. The job description may also contain information regarding the job’s working conditions, and the job specifications. Many employers use Internet sources such as www.jobdescription.com to facilitate writing job descriptions.

4-5. In writing job specifications, it’s important to distinguish between specifications for trained versus untrained personnel. For trained employees, the process is relatively straight- forward, because you’re looking primarily for traits like experience. For untrained personnel, it’s necessary to identify traits that might predict success on the job. Most job specifications come from the educated guesses of people like supervisors, and are based mostly on judgment. Some employers use statistical analyses to identify predictors or human traits that are related to success on the job.

4-6. Human traits and behaviors that may predict the job candidates’ likelihood to be engaged and that the manager might therefore want to include in the job specification include adaptability, passion for work, emotional maturity, positive disposition, self-advocacy, achievement orientation, and a work history that includes a demonstrated commitment to serve others.

4-7. Employers are using competencies models and pro- files in talent management. The aim is to create descriptions of what is required for exceptional performance in a given role or job, in terms of required competencies, personal attributes, knowledge, and experience. Each job’s profile then becomes the anchor for creating recruitment, selection, training, and evaluation and development plans for each job. Competency-based job analysis means describing the job in terms of measurable, observable, behavioral competencies (such as specific skills) that an employee doing the job must exhibit to do the job well. With the job of, say, a team member possibly changing daily, one should identify the skills the employee may need to move among jobs.

Chapter 5 Personnel planning and recruiting 5-1. Recruitment and selection start with workforce planning and forecasting. Workforce planning is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill, and how to fill them. This of- ten starts by forecasting personnel needs, per- haps using trend analysis, ratio analysis, scatter plots, or computerized software packages. Next forecast the supply of inside candidates. Here employers use manual systems and replacement charts, and computerized skills inventories. Forecasting the supply of outside candidates is important, particularly when unemployment is low and good candidates are more difficult to come by.

5-2. Managers need to understand why effective recruiting is important. Without enough candidates, employers cannot effectively screen the candidates or hire the best. Some employers use a recruiting yield pyramid to estimate how many applicants they need to generate in order to fill predicted job openings.

5-3. Filling open positions with internal sources of candidates has several advantages. You are familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, and they require less orientation. Finding internal candidates often utilizes job posting. For filling the company’s projected top-level positions, succession planning—the ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing, and developing organizational leadership to enhance performance—is the process of choice.

5-4. Workforce plans influence employee engagement. For example, plans to develop and retain employees and promote from within tend to foster engagement, while contrary policies may erode it. Recognizing this, at some companies such as FedEx, internal recruiting and promotion from within both play central roles in employee engagement. The promotion-from-within policy includes helping employees identify and develop their promotion potential. It also requires a coordinated system for accessing career records and posting job openings, one that guarantees all eligible employees are informed of openings and considered for them.

5-5. Employers use a variety of outside sources of candidates when recruiting applicants. These include recruiting via the Internet, advertising and employment agencies (including public and non- profit agencies, and private agencies), temporary agencies and other alternative staffing methods, executive recruiters, college recruiting, referrals and walk-ins, and military personnel.

5-6. Understanding how to recruit a more diverse workforce is important. Whether the target is the single parent, older workers, or minorities, the basic rule is to understand their special needs and to create a set of policies and practices that create a more hospitable environment in which they can work.

5-7. Employers develop and use application forms to collect essential background information about the applicant. The application should enable you to make judgments on substantial matters such as the person’s education and to identify the per- son’s job references and supervisors. Of course, it’s important to make sure the application com- plies with equal employment laws, for instance, with respect to questions regarding physical handicaps.

Chapter 6 employee testing and selection 6-1. Careful employee selection is important for several reasons. Your own performance always depends on your subordinates; it is costly to recruit and hire employees; and mismanaging the hiring process has various legal implications including equal employment, negligent hiring, and defamation.

6-2. Whether you are administering tests or making decisions based on test results, managers need to understand several basic testing concepts. Reliability refers to a test’s consistency, while validity tells you whether the test is measuring what you think it’s supposed to be measuring. Criterion validity means demonstrating that those who do well on the test also do well on the job while content validity means showing that the test constitutes a fair sample of the job’s content. Validating a test involves analyzing the job, choosing the tests, administering the test, relating your test scores and criteria, and cross-validating and revalidating. Test takers have rights to privacy and feedback as well as to confidentiality.

6-3. Whether they are administered via paper and pencil, by computer, or online, we discussed several main types of tests. Tests of cognitive abilities measure things like reasoning ability and include intelligence tests and tests of specific cognitive abilities such as mechanical comprehension. There are also tests of motor and physical abilities, and measures of personality and interests. With respect to personality, psychologists often focus on the “big five” personality dimensions: extroversion, emotional stability/neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Achievement tests measure what someone has learned.

6-4. With work samples and simulations, you present examinees with situations representative of the jobs for which they are applying. One example is the ...