Managing Human Resources: Planning, Staffing, and Development

1. CHAPTER 8 Managing Human Resources

2. Learning Objectives • Define human resource management, discuss its strategic significance, and explain how managers plan for human resources • Identify the issues involved in staffing a company, including internal and external recruiting and selection • Discuss different ways in which organizations go about developing the capabilities of employees and managers • Explain ways in which organizations evaluate employee performance

3. More Learning Objectives • Discuss the importance of wages and salaries, incentives, and benefit programs in attracting and keeping skilled workers • Describe some of the key legal issues involved in hiring, compensating, and managing workers • Discuss workplace diversity, the management of knowledge workers, and the use of contingent and temporary workers as important changes in the contemporary workplace

4. Human Resource Management • Human resource managers are responsible for: • Recruiting • Training • Employee development • Design of evaluation • Compensation & benefits programs

5. Job Analysis • A detailed study of the specific duties in a particular job and the human qualities required for that job

6. Job Description • Outlines the objectives, responsibilities, and key tasks of a job • Describes the conditions under which the tasks must be accomplished • Explains the relationships between that position and others in the firm • Describes the skills required to do the job

7. Job Specification • Describes the type of attributes a person needs for the job • Skills • Abilities • Other credentials

8. Forecasting • Determining the firm’s demand for employees and the likely supply of employees • short, medium, and long-term, based upon existing demand and anticipated changes in demand • Must address the shortage or surplus of required skills in the labour market and within the organization itself • Internal Supply • External supply

9. Employee Information Systems • Computerized systems that contain information about employees, and which can be used to track availability and suitability for upcoming jobs • Information may include • Education • Work experience • Skills • Career aspirations

10. Internal Recruiting • Hiring from within the organization • Promoting or transferring existing staff • Closed promotion systems • managers choose the candidates for a promotion • Open promotion systems • allow individual employees to apply for positions of interest • Seniority may also be the basis for promotional consideration

11. External Recruiting • Hiring from outside of the firm • recruiting • selection

12. Application Forms • First step in recruiting • Allows employers to gather information relevant to the hiring decision • History • Education • Work experience • Job-related demographic information

13. Testing • Aptitude and ability tests • Video assessment • Drug screening • Tests must be job-related and a good indicator of future job performance • Tests cannot be used to discriminate against anyone for reasons unrelated to the job

14. Assessment Centres • Trainees perform work-related exercises under the supervision of expert appraisers • selection tests • simulated situations • presentations • group discussions • Allows appraisers to test trainees’ managerial behaviours under stressful conditions • Allows opportunity for criticism and support

15. Video Assessment • Use of videos to show potential new hires realistic work situations • Candidates are then asked to respond to various ways of handling the situations in the videos • As with all tests, the assessment must be relevant to the job and a useful screening tool

16. Interviews • Structured • Involves the use of a common set of questions • Unstructured • Questions may vary from candidate to candidate • More often used when interviewing managerial or professional candidates

17. Workforce Development • Orientation • Training and development • on-the-job • off-the-job

18. Orientation • Introduces employees to the firm and their position • policies • personnel • programs • nature of the job

19. Work-Based Programs • On-the-job training • Employees gain new skills while performing them at work • Vestibule training • Employees work in a simulated environment • Systematic job rotations and transfers

20. On-the-Job Training • Employees learn new skills while performing their duties • Advantages • it allows employees to learn under realistic circumstances • Disadvantages • trainees may be distracted by the workplace • lack of standardization • May be unplanned and informal, or planned and formal

21. Instructional-Based Programs • Trains workers through the use of classroom-based programs • Lecture or discussion • Computer-assisted instruction • Employees use personal computers and software to learn specific materials • Off-the-job training • Employees learn new skills at a location other than the work site

22. Training Technology • New technologies are reshaping the face of employee training • Video teleconferencing • Delivery of centralized training to branch offices allows for cost savings in travel and highly effective training • Interactive video • A combination of video and computer-based instruction

23. Performance Appraisal • Formal evaluations of employee performance • Actual performance is compared to objectives • Should be regularly scheduled • Performance expectations must be made clear • Results are used to determine training needs, promotion opportunities, compensation, and dismissal • May involve feedback from peers, supervisors, and subordinates (360 degree feedback)

24. Methods for Appraising Performance • Ranking Methods • Simple ranking (rank order from top to bottom) • Forced distribution (group into predefined frequencies of performance ratings) • Rating Methods • Graphic rating scale (statement with rating scale) • Critical Incident Method • Recall and discussion of especially good, or poor, performance

25. Compensation and Benefits • Wages and salaries • Incentive programs • Comparable worth consideration • Benefits programs

26. Wages and Salaries • Wages • paid based on number of hours worked or number of units produced • Salaries • paid at regular intervals regardless of the time or output involved • Wage and salary considerations • amount of total compensation • competitors’ compensation levels • compensation across various jobs and ranks

27. Job Evaluation • A method of determining the relative value or worth of a job to the organization so that individuals who perform it can be appropriately compensated

28. Establishing a Pay Structure • Useful for determining basic compensation • Develop a pay structure by linking a rational pay scale, level by level, to jobs • Linking should be based on the value of the job to the organization

29. Performance-Based Compensation • Merit Pay • Employees are paid based on their relative contribution to the firm for some of their compensation • Skill-Based Pay • Employees are paid for acquired skill level, rather than specific performance • Knowledge-Based Pay • Employees are paid for learning

30. Incentive Compensation Systems • Piece-Rate Plan • employees are paid a certain amount for each unit of product they produce • Individual Incentive Plan • employees receive a salary increase, or other similar reward, for outstanding performance • Sales Commission • salespeople are paid based on unit, or dollar, sales • Other Incentives • may be non-monetary, such as time relief or points

31. Team and Group Incentive Systems • Gainsharing programs • Employees get a bonus if the firm’s costs are reduced due to increased work efficiency • Performance increases • Awards directed to a team of employees to reward combined effort • Profit-sharing plans • The profitability level of the firm is used to determine the reward level for its employees

32. Indirect Compensation and Benefits • Benefits: non-financial rewards • Mandated Protection Plans: EI, CPP • Optional Protection Plans: health, dental, life insurance • Paid Time Off: vacation time, personal leave • Other Types of Benefits: wellness programs, child-care benefits • Cafeteria-Style Benefits Plan: employees choose their own benefits

33. Equal Employment Opportunity • Regulations protecting people from unfair, or inappropriate, discrimination in the workplace • Decisions are made whenever employees are hired or promoted • The regulations are there to prevent such decisions from being made on any basis other than job-related reasons

34. Canadian Human Rights Act • Ensures that any individual who wishes to obtain employment has an equal opportunity to apply • Key anti-discrimination legislation enacted in 1977 • applies to all federal agencies, federal Crown corporations, and firms that do business inter-provincially • prohibits discrimination based on: age, race, colour, national/ethnic origin, physical handicap, religion, gender, marital status, or prison record (if pardoned) • enforced by the Human Rights Commission

35. Bona Fide Occupational Requirement • Allows an individual to be chosen over another due to job characteristics • when only a particular type of candidate is acceptable because of the nature of the job • a washroom attendant in a luxurious hotel should be a female

36. Employment Equity Act • Federally legislated • Designates four groups as employment disadvantaged • women • visible minorities • aboriginal people • people with disabilities • Companies covered by the act are required to publish statistics showing their employment of individuals from the four groups

37. Comparable Worth • Principle • equal wages should be paid for work of equal value to the firm • jobs must be classified based on the qualifications needed to do the job • jobs with similar requirements must be paid the same • critics argue that such approaches ignore the supply and demand aspects of labour; more scarce employees are paid more than those with plentiful skill sets

38. Dealing with Sexual Harassment • Develop clear and enforceable policies • Inform all employees of the policies • Train employees to recognize and refrain from sexual harassment • Take complaints seriously • Establish a procedure to deal with complaints • Take action against those involved

39. Employee Health and Safety • Health and safety programs reduce absenteeism and labour turnover, increase productivity and morale, by making the workplace safer & healthier • Each province has its own regulations • Government inspectors come on-site, unannounced, to ensure that health and safety regulations are being met • Canada places behind other industrialized nations in safety for mining and construction

40. Retirement • Retirement plans may allow early retirement, usually after the age of 55 • Flexible plans allow those who wish to leave early to do so, while allowing those who are able and willing to work longer the opportunity to do so • Regular retirement age is 65 years, but many choose to work beyond that time • Health statistics show that workers over the age of 65 are more likely to suffer from work-related causes

41. Managing Workforce Diversity • Everyone in the workforce must be treated equitably • The workforce is becoming more diverse • Gender • Race • Age • Ethnicity • Physical ability

42. Managing Knowledge Workers • Employees who are experts in specific fields • technology, engineering, science • Identify with their profession rather than the firm • Prefer to work independently • Define performance based on their industry and peers, rather than their employer • Pose a special management challenge

43. Managing Contingent and Temporary Workers • Contingent Workers • work for a firm on a basis other than full or part-time • freelance, on-call, temporary subcontractors • Temporary Workers • Hired through outside agencies • Management Issues • fairness and cost issues