1. Managing Human Resources in Organizations
Mgmt 371 Chapter Fourteen
Managing Human Resources in Organizations
Much of the slide content was created by Dr, Charlie Cook, Houghton Mifflin, Co.©

2. The Environmental Context of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management (HRM)
The set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective work force.
The Strategic Importance of HRM
HRM is increasingly important as firms realize the value of their human capital in improving productivity.
HRM is critical to bottom-line performance of the firm.
HR planning is now part of the strategic planning process.

3. The Legal Environment of HRM (Equal Employment Opportunity)
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Forbids discrimination in the employment relationship on the basis of race, color, religion. sex, or national origin.
Employers are not required to seek out and hire minorities but they must treat fairly all who apply.
Adverse impact
When minority group members pass a selection standard at a rate less than 80% of the rate of the majority group.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Federal agency charged with enforcing Title VII as well as several other employment-related laws.

4. The Legal Environment of HRM (Equal Employment Opportunity)
Affirmative Action (E.O.11246)
Intentionally seeking and hiring qualified or qualifiable employees from racial, sexual, and ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the organization
Several executive orders require federal contractors to develop affirmative action plans and take affirmative action in hiring veterans and the disabled.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
Specifically outlaws discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.

5. The Legal Environment of HRM (Equal Employment Opportunity)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
Outlaws discrimination against persons older than 40 years of age
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
Forbids discrimination on the basis of disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled employees.

6. The Legal Environment of HRM (Equal Employment Opportunity)
Civil Rights Act of 1991
Amended the original Civil Rights Act, making it easier to bring discrimination lawsuits while also limiting punitive damages that can be awarded in those lawsuits.
Prohibits race norming.
Places burden of proof on complaining parties initiating disparate impact charges.
Provides for extraterritorial application of Title VII.
Provides for jury trials

7. The Legal Environment of HRM (Compensation and Benefits)
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA)
Sets a minimum wage and requires overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours per week for non-exempt employees.
Salaried professional, executive, and administrative employees are exempt from the Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions.
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Requires men and women to be paid the same amount for doing the same jobs; exceptions are permitted for seniority and merit pay.

8. The Legal Environment of HRM (Compensation and Benefits)
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)
Sets standards for pension plan management and provides federal insurance if pension plans go bankrupt.

9. The Legal Environment of HRM (Compensation and Benefits)
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
Requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying family and medical emergencies.

10. The Legal Environment of HRM (Compensation and Benefits)
Eligibility Requirements for FMLA
Must work for a covered employer (private with 50+ employees, state governments and agencies, or the federal government.
Employee must have worked for at least 12 months for a covered employer.
Employee must have worked in excess of 1,250 hours to be eligible. [ work days, work weeks]
Work at a facility with 50 or more employees who live within 75 miles of the place of employment

11. The Legal Environment of HRM (Labor Relations)
The National Labor Code
National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act)
Set up procedures for employees to vote whether to have a union; if the vote is for a union, management is required to bargain collectively with the union.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the federal agency empowered to enforce provisions of the NLRA.
Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act)
Amended the NLRA to limit the power of unions and increase management’s rights during organizing campaigns.
Allows the U.S. president to prevent or end a strike that endangers national security.

12. The Legal Environment of HRM (Health and Safety)
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA)
Requires that employers:
Provide a place of employment that is free from hazards that may cause death or serious physical harm.
Obey the safety and health standards established by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Emerging Legal Issues
Sexual orientation harassment
Alcohol and drug dependence
AIDS

13. Social Change and HRM Temporary Workers Dual-Career Families
An increasing trend is to use more temporary workers without the risk that the organization may have to eliminate their jobs.
Dual-Career Families
Firms are increasingly having
to make accommodations for
dual-career partners by:
Delaying transfers
Offering employment to spouses
Providing more flexible work schedules and benefits packages

14. Change and HRM Employment-at-Will
A traditional view of the workplace in which an organization can fire an employee for any or no reason.
The new argument: an organization should be able to fire only people who are poor performers or who violate rules.
Recent court cases have placed limits on an organization’s ability to terminate employees by requiring just cause for firing or dismissal as part of an organization-wide cutback.

15. Attracting Human Resources
Job Analysis
A systematic analysis of jobs within an organization.
Job Description
A listing of the job’s tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDR); its working conditions; and the tools, materials, and equipment use to perform the job.
Job Specification
A listing of the knowledge, skills, abilities (KSA), and other credentials the incumbent jobholder will need to do a job.

16. Attracting Human Resources
Forecasting HR Demand and Supply
Replacement chart
A list of managerial positions in the organization, the occupants, how long they will stay in the position, and who will replace them.
Employee information system (skills inventory) (OCI)
A database of employees’ education, skills, work experience, and career expectations, usually computerized.

17. Human Resource Planning (HRP)

18. Recruiting Human Resources
The process of attracting qualified persons to apply for jobs that are open.
Internal Recruiting
Considering present employees as candidates for openings.
Advantage: promotion from within can help build morale and reduce turnover of high-quality employees.
Disadvantage: internal recruiting can create a “ripple effect” of having to successively fill vacated positions.

19. Recruiting Human Resources (cont’d)
External Recruiting
Attracting persons from outside the organization.
Realistic Job Preview (RJP) is considered a successful method to ensure person-job fit.

20. Selecting Human Resources
Validation:
Determining the extent to which a selection device is really predictive of future job performance.
Predictive validation
Correlating previously collected test scores of employees with the employees’ actual job performance.
Content validation
The use of logic and job analysis to determine that selection techniques measure the exact skills needed for job performance.
Used to establish the job relatedness of a selection device.

21. Selecting Human Resources
Application Blanks
Used to gather information about work history, educational background, and other job-related demographic data.
Must not ask for information unrelated to the job.
Tests
Ability, skill, aptitude, or knowledge tests are usually the best predictors of job success.
Must be validated, administered, and scored consistently.

22. Selecting Human Resources
Interviews
Interviews can be poor predictors of job success due to interviewer biases.
Interview validity can be improved by training interviewers and using structured interviews.

23. Selecting Human Resources
Assessment Centers
A popular method for selecting managers and are particularly good for selecting current employees for promotion.
A content validation of major parts of the managerial job.
Other Techniques
Polygraphs have declined in popularity due to passage of the Polygraph Protection Act.
Employers now use physical exams, drug tests, and credit checks to screen prospective employees.

24. Figure 14.2: The Training Process

25. Developing Human Resources (cont’d)
Training and Development
Assessing training needs
Determining what needs exist is the first step in developing a training plan.
Common training methods
Lectures
Work well for factual material.
Role play and case studies
Good for improving interpersonal relations skills or group decision-making.
On-the-job and vestibule training
Facilitates learning physical skills through practice and actual use of tools

26. Developing Human Resources (cont’d)
Performance Appraisal
A formal assessment of how well employees do their jobs.
Reasons for performance appraisal
Validates the selection process and the effects of training.
Aids in making decisions about pay raises, promotions, and training.
Provides feedback to employees to improve their performance and plan future careers.

27. Developing Human Resources (cont’d)
Performance Appraisal (cont’d)
Objective measures of performance
Actual output (units produced), scrap rate, dollar volume of sales, and number of claims processed.
Can become contaminated by outside factors resulting in “opportunity bias” where some have a better chance to perform than others.
Special performance tests are a method in which each employee is assessed under standardized conditions.
Performance tests measure ability and not motivation.

28. Developing Human Resources (cont’d)
Performance Appraisal (cont’d)
Judgmental methods
Ranking—compares employees directly with each other.
Difficult to do with large numbers of employees.
Difficult to make comparisons across work groups.
Employees are ranked only on overall performance.
Do not provide useful information for employee feedback.
Rating—compares each employee with a fixed standard.
Graphic rating scales
Behaviorally-anchored rating scale (BARS)

29. Figure 14.3: Graphic Rating Scales for a Bank Teller

30. Figure 14.4: Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale

31. Performance Appraisal Errors
Recency Error - most raters can only recall an employees last 30 to 60 days of performance (Critical Incident Method can reduce this error).
Central Tendency - rating all subordinates as average.
Common to Graphic Rating Scales when comments must be provided for below or above average ratings.
Leniency Error - everyone is rated above average (usually done to reduce or avoid conflict).

32. Performance Appraisal Errors
Strictness Error - rating all subordinates as lower than their actual performance indicates.
Rater Bias - personal prejudices cloud the evaluation (women are perceived as passive leaders, e.g.).
Leniency Error - everyone is rated above average (usually done to reduce or avoid conflict).
Halo Effect - one (or a few) characteristic the ratee possesses is generalized to the employee’s entire performance evaluation. (A negative halo is sometimes called the horns effect).

33. Performance Appraisal Errors
Contrast Error (Varying Standards)- rating employees performing similar jobs relative to one another rather than to established performance standards.
Similar performance is rated differently
A problem of all comparative methods.

34. Developing Human Resources
Performance Feedback
Is best given in a private meeting between the employee and immediate supervisor.
Discussion should focus on the facts:
The assessed level of performance
How and why the assessment was made.
How the employee’s performance can be improved.

35. Developing Human Resources
Performance Feedback
Properly training managers can help them conduct more effective feedback interviews.
“360 degree” (multi-source) feedback
Managers are evaluated by everyone around them.
Provides a richer array of performance information on which to base an appraisal.

36. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Determining Compensation
Compensation
The financial remuneration given by the organization to its employees in exchange for their work.
Wages
Salary
Incentives
Purposes of compensation
Provide the means to maintain a reasonable standard of living.
Provide a tangible measure of the value of the individual to the organization.

37. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Wage-level decision
The wage-level decision is a management policy decision to pay above, at, or below the going rate for labor in an industry or geographic area.
Factors that affect the wage-level decision:
the size and current success of the firm.
the level of unemployment in the labor force.
Area wage surveys
Can provide information about the maximum, minimum, and average wages for a particular job in a labor market.

38. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Wage-structure decision
Job evaluations
Wage surveys data and the wage structure
Individual wage decision
Factors such as seniority, initial qualifications, individual merit, and labor market conditions influence wage decisions.

39. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Determining Benefits
Benefits (Indirect compensation)
Things of value other than compensation that an organization provides to its workers.
The average company spends an amount equal to more than one-third of its cash payroll on employee benefits.
A good benefit plan encourages employees to stay with the company and attracts new employees.
Benefits do not necessarily stimulate high performance.

40. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Managing benefits effectively:
Shop carefully for the best-cost providers.
Avoid redundant coverage.
Provide only the benefits that employees want.

41. Maintaining Human Resources (Compensation)
Types of benefits
Pay for time not worked
Insurance
Employee service benefits
Cafeteria benefit plans
Flexible plans that provide basic coverage and allow employees to choose the additional benefits they want up to the cost limit set by the organization.
Other benefits
On-site childcare, mortgage assistance, and paid-leave programs.

42. Managing Labor Relations
The process of dealing with employees when they are represented by a union.
Organizations prefer employees remain nonunion because unions limit management’s freedom.
The best way to avoid unionization is to practice good employee relations all the time by:
Providing fair treatment with clear standards in pay, promotions, layoffs, and discipline.
Providing a complaint and appeal system.
Avoiding favoritism.

43. The Union-Organizing Process
Authorization Card Campaign
Recognition
[50% + 1]
Certification
[30%]
File recognition
petition
File Certification
Petition
Consent Election
Decree
Formal Election
Hearing
Collective Bargaining
Begins
Election
[Simple Majority of Ballots Cast]

44. Managing Labor Relations
Collective Bargaining
The process of agreeing on a satisfactory labor contract between management and labor.
The contract contains agreements about wage, hours, and working conditions and how management will treat employees.
Grievance Procedure
The step-wise means by which a labor contract is enforced.
Grievances are filed on behalf of an employee by the union when it believes employees have not been treated fairly under the contract.

45. New Challenges in the Changing Workplace
Managing Knowledge Workers
Knowledge workers
Employees whose contributions to an organization are based on what they know (e.g., computer scientists, engineers, and physical scientists).
Tend to work in high-technology areas
Are experts in abstract knowledge areas.
Like to work independently and identify strongly with their professions.
Have skills that require continual updating and additional training.

46. New Challenges in the Changing Workplace
Knowledge Worker Management and Labor Markets
Demand is strong for knowledge workers.
External labor market pressures
Internal labor market pressures
Contingent and Temporary Workers
Trends in contingent and temporary workers
There have been dramatic and consistent increases in contingent workers—10% of the U.S. workforce is either contingent or temporary.

47. New Challenges in the Changing Workplace
Contingent and Temporary Workers (cont’d)
Managing contingent workers
Careful planning allows for integrating contingent workers into the organization in a coordinated fashion for well-defined time periods.
Understanding contingent workers and acknowledging their advantages and disadvantages.
Carefully assess and document the true labor-cost savings of using contingent workers.
Decide early on how similarly contingent employees will be treated relative to permanent employees.