Abstract |
Human resource management affects every aspect of the workforce: management/ labor, employer/employee, student/professional. This thesis provides coverage of all the expected HRM critical topics such as analyzing jobs; planning; recruiting, selecting, training, developing, and compensating employees; managing performance; and handling labor relations. In addition, I tried to define ways to achieve extraordinary results in international organizations. The additional expectations of the proactive human resource professional and leader, such as managing human resources globally, adopting a total rewards approach to compensating and rewarding employees, and creating a high-performance work environment where employees hearts and minds are engaged. |
Table of Contents
Table of Contents……………………………………………5
Table of Figures……………………………………………..8
Analysing and Designing Jobs………………………………….17
Recruiting and Hiring Employees………………………………..17
Training and Developing Employees……………………………..18
Managing Performance……………………………………….19
Compensation and Rewards……………………………………19
Maintaining Positive Employee and Labour Relations………………….20
Establishing and Administering Human Resource Policies………………20
Ensuring Compliance with Legislation…………………………….20
Productivity Improvement……………………………………..22
Expanding into Global Markets………………………………….22
International Assignments……………………………………..24
Outsourcing……………………………………………….24
Mergers and Acquisitions……………………………………..25
Professionals………………………………………………26
Code of Ethics……………………………………………..28
A New Psychological Contract………………………………….35
Flexibility………………………………………………..36
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES 37
Work Flow in Organizations……………………………………39
Work Flow Analysis…………………………………………39
Work Flow Design and Organization’s Structure……………………..41
Job Descriptions……………………………………………43
Writing a Job Description……………………………………..43
Job Specifications…………………………………………..46
Fleishman Job Analysis System…………………………………47
Written Comprehension……………………………………….48
Importance of Job Analysis…………………………………….49
Designing Efficient Jobs………………………………………50
Designing Jobs That Motivate…………………………………..51
Self-Managing Work Teams……………………………………53
Flexible Work Schedules………………………………………54
Organization Analysis………………………………………..61
Person Analysis…………………………………………….62
Task Analysis……………………………………………..63
In-House or Contracted Out?……………………………………63
Classroom Instruction………………………………………..66
Audio-visual Training………………………………………..66
Computer-Based Training……………………………………..66
Electronic Performance Support Systems…………………………..67
E-Learning………………………………………………..67
Principles of Learning………………………………………..68
Evaluation Methods………………………………………….72
Development for Careers………………………………………74
Formal Education…………………………………………..75
Assessment……………………………………………….76
International Workforce………………………………………80
Employers in the Global Marketplace……………………………..81
Culture…………………………………………………..85
Education and Skill Levels…………………………………….90
Economic System…………………………………………..90
Political-Legal System………………………………………..91
Training Programs for an International Workforce…………………….96
Pay Structure……………………………………………..100
Table of Figures
FIGURE 1 : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES……………………………..11
FIGURE 2 : IMPACT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT……………………………..13
FIGURE 3 : AVERAGE LABEL PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH (%)………………………………23
FIGURE 4 : REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL CAPABILITIES BY FUNCTIONAL DIMENSIONS…………………..26
FIGURE 5 : STANDARDS FOR IDENTIFYING ETHICAL PRACTICES…………………………….27
FIGURE 6 : TYPICAL AREAS OF INVOLVEMENTS……………………………………30
FIGURE 7 : SALARIES FOR HRM POSITIONS……………………………………..31
FIGURE 8 : AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS IN HR……………………………………31
FIGURE 9 : DECLINE OF LABOUR FORCE……………………………………….33
FIGURE 10 : AGE DISTRIBUTION PROJECTION OF THE EUROPEAN POPULATION……………………33
FIGURE 11 : HRM PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT………………………34
FIGURE 12 : DEPLOYING A WORK-UNIT ACTIVITY ANALYSIS……………………………..40
FIGURE 13 : EXAMPLE OF ABILITY FROM THE FLEISHMAN JOB ANALYSIS SYSTEM…………………..48
FIGURE 14 : APPROACHES TO JOB DESIGN………………………………………51
FIGURE 15 : CHARACTERISTICS OF A MOTIVATING JOB………………………………..53
FIGURE 16 : ALTERNATIVE TO 8-TO-5 JOB………………………………………55
FIGURE 17 : STAGES OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN…………………………………..59
FIGURE 18 : NEEDS ASSESSMENT…………………………………………..60
FIGURE 19 : OVERVIEW OF USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS……………………………65
FIGURE 20 : MEASURES OF TRAINING EVALUATION…………………………………72
FIGURE 21 : THE FOUR APPROACHES TO EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT…………………………75
FIGURE 22 : STEPS IN THE TELUS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM……………………………..78
FIGURE 23 : LEVELS OF GLOBAL PARTICIPATION…………………………………..83
FIGURE 24 : FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS…………85
FIGURE 25 : FIVE DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE…………………………………….87
FIGURE 26 : EMOTIONAL CYCLE ASSOCIATED WITH A FOREIGN ASSIGNMENT…………………….95
FIGURE 27 : EARNINGS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS IN SEVEN CITIES………………………..100
FIGURE 28 : NORMAL ANNUAL HOURS WORKED IN MANUFACTURING……………………….103
FIGURE 29 : THE BALANCE SHEET FOR DETERMINING EXPATRIATE COMPENSATION…………………105
FIGURE 30 : CUSTOMER-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE OF HRM…………………………….108
TABLE 1 : RESPONSIBILITIES OF HR DEPARTMENT…………………………………..16
TABLE 2 : EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS…………………………………………..18
TABLE 3 : TRAINING VERSUS DEVELOPMENT……………………………………..57
TABLE 4 : WAYS THAT TRAINING HELPS EMPLOYEES LEARN……………………………..70
TABLE 5 : WHAT KEEPS FOREIGN WORKERS ENGAGED………………………………..89
TABLE 6 : EFFECTS OF CULTURE ON TRAINING DESIGN………………………………..97
What do PricewaterhouseCoopers, Research in Motion and Google Inc. have in common? They have all been recently recognized as excellent employers with progressive human resource management practices. The list of employment awards is growing, raising the bar on what it takes to attract, retain, and engage top talent. As labor markets become increasingly competitive, human resource professionals are being called upon to provide people management practices that not only support the organization’s priorities but also provide for competitive success in a global marketplace. Organizations also strive to create an employment brand that resonates with specific employees.
Perhaps no organization has received more attention or has a stronger brand than Google. Google is known for its people practices and employee-first culture that directly contribute to its success. The work environment provides “Googlers” unlimited amounts of free, chef-prepared food at all times of the day, lap pools, onsite massages, car washes, oil changes, dry-cleaning, laundry service, and haircuts. Google’s “20-percent time” gives employees 20 present of their day to “work on what they’re really passionate about”—and tangible organizational outcomes often result. For example, Gmail came about from one Google employee’s 20-percent time efforts. Perhaps it is no surprise that Google receives 1300 resumes every day and is able to attract and retain some of the world’s top talent.1 Organizations of all sizes and in all industries are increasingly recognizing the importance of people. This is a time of rapid change in the market—a time when Canadian organizations are constantly trying to keep pace and remain competitive. In today’s knowledge-based economy, I rely on people to generate, develop, and implement ideas and the human resource function has an important role in ensuring that organizations have the people capacity to execute strategic objectives.”2
1 Cowan, Janice Cooney and Allison. 2009. Canadian Organizations Continue to Under-Invest. Conference Board of Canada. [Online] 2009. www.conferenceboard.ca/ documents.asp?rnext=548.. 2 Wright, Ruth. 2008. The Strategic Value of People: Human Resource Trends and Metrics. Ottawa : Conference Board of Canada, 2008.. p 33
Figure 1 : Human Resource ManagementPractices
Human resource management (HRM) centres on the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance. Many companies refer to HRM as “people practices.” Figure 1 emphasizes that there are several important HRM practices that contribute to an organization’s ability to realize the full benefit of its talent: analysing work and designing jobs, attracting potential employees, choosing employees, preparing employees to perform their jobs and for the future (training and development), supporting their performance (performance management), rewarding employees (compensation), creating a positive work environment (employee and labor relations), and supporting the organization’s strategy. In addition, HRM has responsibility for providing safe work environments and assuring compliance with legal requirements. An organization performs best when all of these practices are managed systematically. At companies with effective HRM, employees and customers tend to be more satisfied, and the companies tend to be more innovative, have greater productivity, and develop a more favourable reputation in the community.3
3 M. A. Hitt, B. W. Keats, and S. M. DeMariei. 2006. Evaluating Human Resource Effectiveness . Human Resource Management. Washington, DC : BNA Books, 2006., p 152
A barrier to business expansion is not only availability of financial capital but also access to talent that is, human capital. In summary, people are crucial to organizational success and the human and intellectual capital of an organization’s workforce provides an opportunity for substantial competitive advantage. As the ‘resident people experts,’ HR leaders are ideally suited to advise their organization on the best means for realizing their objectives. Decisions such as whom to hire, what to pay, what training to offer, and how to evaluate employee performance directly affect employees’ motivation, engagement, and ability to provide goods and services that customers value. Companies that attempt to increase their competitiveness by investing in new technology and promoting quality throughout the organization also invest in state-of-the-art staffing, training, and compensation practices. These types of practices indicate that employees are viewed as valuable investments.5
4 Parker, Owen. 2006. Strategic HR Transformation Study Tour Report 2006. Ottawa : Conference Board of Canada, 2006, 2006., p 10
5 Greer, Charles. 2001. , Strategic Hwnan Resource Management, 2nd ed. . New Jersey : Prentice- Hall, 2001., p 520
The concept of “human resource management” implies that employees are re- sources of the employer. As a type of resource, human capital means the organization’s employees, described in terms of their training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insight the employee characteristics that can add economic value to the organization. In other words, whether it manufactures bicycles or forecasts the weather, for an organization to succeed at what it does, it needs employees with certain qualities, such as particular kinds of skills and experience. This view means employees in today’s organizations are not interchangeable, easily replaced parts of a system but the source of the company’s success or failure. By influencing who works for the organization and how those people work, human resource management therefore contributes to such basic measures of an organization’s success as quality, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Figure 2 shows this relationship.
Figure 2 : Impact of Human ResourceManagement
kind of resources that will give them such an advantage. Human Resources have these necessary qualities:
These qualities imply that human resources have enormous potential. An organization realizes this potential through its approach to human capital management, that is, how it practises human resource management.
Effective management of human resources can form the foundation of a high- performance work system and organization in which technology, organizational structure, people, and processes all work together to give an organization an advantage in the competitive environment. As technology changes how organizations manufacture, transport, communicate, and keep track of information, human resource management must ensure that the organization has the right kinds of people to meet the new challenges. Maintaining a high- performance work system might include development of training programs, recruitment of people with new skill sets, and establishment of rewards for such behaviors as teamwork, flexibility, and learning.
In all but the smallest organizations, a human resource department is responsible for the functions of human resource management. On average, an organization has one HR staff person for every 100 employees served by the department; however, this ratio may vary widely across organizations. Another general guideline is that a specialized HR role is often created when an organization has reached the size of approximately 40 employees. Table 1 details the responsibilities of human resource departments. These responsibilities include the practices introduced in Figure 1 plus two areas of responsibility that support those practices: (1) establishing and administering human resource policies and (2) ensuring compliance with legal requirements.
Although the human resource department has responsibility for these areas, many of the requirements are performed by supervisors or others inside or outside the organization. No two human resource departments have precisely the same roles, because of differences in organization sizes and characteristics of the workforce, the industry, and management’s values. In some companies, the HR department handles all the activities listed in Table 1. In others, it may share the roles and duties with managers and supervisors of other departments such as finance, operations, or information technology. When managers and supervisors actively perform a variety of HR activities, the HR department usually retains responsibility for consistency and compliance with all legal requirements. In some companies, the HR department actively advises top management. In others, the department responds to top-level management decisions and implements staffing, training, and compensation activities in light of company strategy and policies.
Analysis and design of work | Work analysis; job design; job descriptions |
Recruitment and selection | Identify needs; recruiting; interviewing and screening; deployment of staff; and outplacement |
Training and development | Orientation; learning strategies; design, deliver, and evaluate programs; career development |
Performance management | Integrate performance measures; performance appraisal systems; assist and coach supervisors |
Compensation and rewards | Develop and administer compensation and incentive programs; benefit program design and implementation; pension plans; payroll |
Employee and labour relations | Employee and labor relations; Terms and conditions of employment, communication; employee involvement; labor relations |
Strategy | Strategic partner in organizational effectiveness; change and development; workforce planning |
Human resource policies | Guide and implement policy; create and manage systems to collect and safeguard HR information |
Compliance with legislation | Implement policies to ensure compliance with all legal requirements; reporting requirements |
Table 1 : Responsibilities of HRDepartment6
6 Canadian Council of Human Resource. Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations National Standards for Human Resources Professionals. [Online] 2004. [Dátum: 22. February 2012.] www.cchra-caarh.ca/en/phaseireport. 2004.
To produce their given product or service (or set of products or services), companies require that a number of tasks be performed. The tasks are grouped in various combinations to form jobs. Ideally, the tasks should be grouped in ways that help the organization to operate efficiently and to obtain people with the right qualifications to do the jobs well. This function involves the activities of job analysis and job design. Job analysis is the process of getting detailed information about jobs. Job design is the process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires.
On the basis of job analysis and job design, an organization can determine the kinds of employees it needs. With this knowledge, it carries out the function of recruiting and hiring employees. Recruitment is the process through which the organization seeks applicants for potential employment. Selection refers to the process by which the organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that will help the organization achieve its goals. An organization makes selection decisions in order to add employees to its workforce, as well as to transfer existing employees to new positions.
At some organizations, the selection process may focus on specific skills, such as experience with a particular programming language or type of equipment. At others, selection may focus on general abilities, such as the ability to work as part of a team or find creative solutions. The focus an organization favors will affect many choices, from the way the organization measures ability, to the questions it asks in interviews, to the places it recruits. Table 2 lists employability skills, attitudes, and behaviors needed to participate and progress in today’s dynamic
Communicate | Demonstrate positive |
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