HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM) Dynamics of Organizational Behavior Virginia Tech MBA Program Andrew Watson

Agenda Human Resource Management: Ch. 8 Erik Peterson at Biometra (A): case Break Erik, continued Stress and Work-Life Balance: Ch. 9 Looking forward

Psychological Contract George & Jones (p. 213) define as: An employee’s perception of his or her exchange relationship with the organization, outcomes the organization has promised to provide to the employee, and contributions the employee is obliged to make to the organization. Why is it useful to introduce the psychological contract? After all employment contract defines an exchange relationship Written and signed, sometimes read

Influences,Types, and Violations Influences on psychological contracts Written documents Direct communication Starts during recruitment, continues after hire Observation Types of psychological contract Transactional Tend to be shorter-term and specific, e.g., for contingent worker Relational Tend to be longer-term and more general, evolve over time Many contracts are neither fully transactional nor fully relational When psychological contracts are broken Motivation suffers And so, sometimes, do people (GJ’s Japan example)

Performance Appraisal Can employees’ performance be accurately appraised? If no, much OB theory is in trouble For example, recall Instrumentality from Expectancy Theory Perception of the performance-outcomes relationship Difficult to make this relationship strong if performance can’t be appraised! Performance appraisal has two main goals: Encourage employee motivation and performance Provides feedback, which contributes to intrinsic motivation Provide accurate information for decision making About pay, promotions, placement,… About plan for employee’s career

Designing Appraisal Systems The design of a performance appraisal system involves choices such as the following Mix of formal and informal appraisal What to appraise Behaviors vs. Results (vs. Traits, but the latter gets KO’d early) How to appraise Objective measures Subjective measures Using a scale? May reduce, but not eliminate, perceptual inaccuracies Who appraises? Immediate superior usually single most important appraiser Others? Self, peers, subordinates, customers,… (sum to 360 degrees)

Compensation Will follow GJ in focusing on pay Although there are many possible forms of compensation Some theories of learning and motivation suggest Merit Play Merit Pay Plans Based on individual’s performance? Group’s? Organizations? Merit pay usually comes as a bonus, rather than as a raise Difficult to implement if organization’s finances are tight Pay differentials: Principle of comparable worth Differentials between: Demographic groups Top and bottom levels of organization

Careers Career: sum of work-related experiences throughout lifetime Contrast with rest of Ch. 8 More about the individual than the organization Presented by group, rather than by AW…

Stress GJ definition (p. 245): The experience of opportunities or threats that people perceive as important and also perceive they might not be able to handle or deal with effectively Notable things about this definition: Importance of perception—again! Could highlight the words: experience, perceive (x2) Opportunities represent potential benefits But can be a source of stress Might remind us of something we’ve heard about certain Chinese words…

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity? Often said that the Chinese word for crisis combines the characters for danger and opportunity Said by JFK, Nixon,…

Consequences of Stress Physiological e.g., insomnia, elevated blood pressure Psychological Stress-induced feelings and emotions More negative attitudes than normal In extreme cases, burnout Behavioral and performance-related Positive stress Up to a certain point, increase in stress improves performance Negative stress After that point, increase in stress impairs performance

Stressors: Sources of Stress Work-life conflict Job-related Include role conflict, role ambiguity, overload, underload,… Group- and organization-related Include conflicts of personality and culture Personal Some arise from personal, rather than work, situations e.g., argument with family or friends Others arise from individual differences See next slide

Individual Differences and Stress Personality Neuroticism Openness to experience Locus of control Self-esteem Ability Self-efficacy is the perception of ability Hence varies between individuals and between behaviors

Coping Strategies for Individuals Problem-focused Time management Role negotiation Help from mentor Emotion-focused Exercise Meditation Social support Clinical help Nonfunctional

Coping Strategies for Organizations Problem-focused Job redesign Reduction of uncertainty Communication, including taking employee input Job security? Provide day care or similarly helpful facility Flexible work schedules Telecommuting Emotion-focused Provide exercise facility Organizational support Employee assistance program (EAP) Time off

Looking Forward Tomorrow I’ll send feedback on first presentations Or you call me on my cell ( ) in the afternoon Group 1 call at 1pm, group 2 at 2, etc. Next week JLL(A) case Org. design and culture: Ch. 16, 17 Week after Second presentations Not many more weeks after that… Usual closing