Explain how you would conduct a job analysis in a company

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

[ A u t h o r r e m ove d a t r e q u e s t o f o r i g i n a l p u b l i s h e r ]

U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I N N E S OTA L I B R A R I E S P U B L I S H I N G E D I T I O N , 2 0 1 6 . T H I S E D I T I O N A D A P T E D F R O M A W O R K O R I G I N A L LY P R O D U C E D I N 2 0 1 1 B Y A P U B L I S H E R W H O H A S R E Q U E S T E D T H AT I T N OT R E C E I V E AT T R I B U T I O N .

M I N N E A P O L I S , M N

Human Resource Management by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

This book was produced using Pressbooks.com, and PDF rendering was done by PrinceXML.

Contents

Publisher Information viii

Author Bio ix

Acknowledgments x

Dedications xii

Preface xiii

Chapter 1: The Role of Human Resources

1.1 What Is Human Resources? 2

1.2 Skills Needed for HRM 11

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 15

1.4 Cases and Problems 26

Chapter 2: Developing and Implementing Strategic HRM Plans

2.1 Strategic Planning 29

2.2 Writing the HRM Plan 40

2.3 Tips in HRM Planning 48

2.4 Cases and Problems 52

Chapter 3: Diversity and Multiculturalism

3.1 Diversity and Multiculturalism 55

3.2 Diversity Plans 61

3.3 Multiculturalism and the Law 68

3.4 Cases and Problems 77

Chapter 4: Recruitment

4.1 The Recruitment Process 80

4.2 The Law and Recruitment 89

4.3 Recruitment Strategies 95

4.4 Cases and Problems 107

Chapter 5: Selection

5.1 The Selection Process 111

5.2 Criteria Development and Résumé Review 115

5.3 Interviewing 120

5.4 Testing and Selecting 128

5.5 Making the Offer 134

5.6 Cases and Problems 137

Chapter 6: Compensation and Benefits

6.1 Goals of a Compensation Plan 141

6.2 Developing a Compensation Package 144

6.3 Types of Pay Systems 148

6.4 Other Types of Compensation 165

6.5 Cases and Problems 177

Chapter 7: Retention and Motivation

7.1 The Costs of Turnover 181

7.2 Retention Plans 187

7.3 Implementing Retention Strategies 201

7.4 Cases and Problems 212

Chapter 8: Training and Development

8.1 Steps to Take in Training an Employee 217

8.2 Types of Training 223

8.3 Training Delivery Methods 230

8.4 Designing a Training Program 237

8.5 Cases and Problems 253

Chapter 9: Successful Employee Communication

9.1 Communication Strategies 257

9.2 Management Styles 269

9.3 Cases and Problems 277

Chapter 10: Managing Employee Performance

10.1 Handling Performance 280

10.2 Employee Rights 296

10.3 Cases and Problems 307

Chapter 11: Employee Assessment

11.1 Performance Evaluation Systems 312

11.2 Appraisal Methods 319

11.3 Completing and Conducting the Appraisal 332

11.4 Cases and Problems 341

Chapter 12: Working with Labor Unions

12.1 The Nature of Unions 347

12.2 Collective Bargaining 359

12.3 Administration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement 365

12.4 Cases and Problems 369

Chapter 13: Safety and Health at Work

13.1 Workplace Safety and Health Laws 373

13.2 Health Hazards at Work 382

13.3 Cases and Problems 400

Chapter 14: International HRM

14.1 Offshoring, Outsourcing 404

14.2 Staffing Internationally 418

14.3 International HRM Considerations 423

14.4 Cases and Problems 440

Please share your supplementary material! 443

Publisher Information

Human Resource Management is

adapted from a work produced and

distributed under a Creative Commons

license (CC BY-NC-SA) in 2011 by a

publisher who has requested that they

and the original author not receive

attribution. This adapted edition is

produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing through the eLearning Support Initiative.

This adaptation has reformatted the original text, and replaced some images and figures to make the resulting

whole more shareable. This adaptation has not significantly altered or updated the original 2011 text. This work

is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Author Bio

Human Resource Management is adapted from a work produced by a publisher who has requested that they

and the original author not receive attribution. This adapted edition is produced by the University of Minnesota

Libraries Publishing through the eLearning Support Initiative.

Unnamed Author holds a master of business administration from City University of Seattle and a doctorate of

business administration from Argosy University. Unnamed Author is a tenured professor at Shoreline Community

College and teaches in the business department. She also teaches graduate and undergraduate management

and HRM courses for The University of Phoenix–Western Washington Campus. Before becoming a professor,

Unnamed Author worked for several small and large organizations in management and operations. She is also an

entrepreneur who has performed consulting work for companies such as Microsoft.

Unnamed Author has authored two books for McGraw-Hill and numerous supplemental materials. In her free

time, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, scuba diving, and snowshoeing. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her

husband and her two rescue dogs.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank each and every one of the reviewers for their contributions to this book. Their ideas,

feedback, and suggestions make this book one of the most innovative HRM books on the market, and I thank them

personally for their insight.

• Carol Decker, Tennessee Wesleyan College

• Melissa Gruys, Wright State University

• Lisa Stafford, Fairfield University

• Fred Kellinger, Penn State University–Beaver Campus

• Avan Jassawalla, SUNY Geneseo

• Cheryl Adkins, Longwood University

• James Tan, St. Cloud State University

• Niclas Erhardt, Maine Business School

• Valerie Wallingford, Bemidji State University

• Stanley Ross, Bridgewater State University

• Jack Walker, Texas Tech University

• Howard Stanger, Canisius College

• Tracy Porter, Cleveland State University

• Shirish Grover, College of Business, Ferris State University

• Josh Daspit, University of North Texas

• Robin Hoggins-Blake, Palm Beach State College

• Carlton R. Raines, Lehigh Carbon Community College

• Kees Rietsema, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

• Gemmy Allen, North Lake College

• Kim Lukaszewski, SUNY New Paltz

• Eddy Ng, Dalhousie University

• Adib Birkland, The City College of New York

• Allison Pratt, Saddleback College/Brandman University

• Christina Reis, University of New Haven, College of Business

I am grateful to Michael Boezi for bringing me on the FWK author team. His enthusiasm for the FWK model and

his vision is inspiring. Jenn Yee’s ability to get me started in the right direction and Melissa Yu’s follow-through,

lightning-fast e-mail responses, amazingly good judgment, and quiet encouragement is ultimately what created

the innovative finished product. I would also like to thank the talented people at FWK whom I don’t know, who

quietly work in the background, such as the rendering people, technical people, and others, who I know put a

great deal of effort into the final product and are a key component to FWK’s success. Also, thank you to Danielle

Loparco for editing my first round of work.

I would like to thank my friends and family, who have supported me through this process. This list is long, but

I hope they know who they are. I would like to specifically mention my husband, Alain, for understanding the

late nights and long days, and also for being my best friend. My parents, Emanuele and JoAnn, for their constant

encouragement and support of me professionally and personally not only today, but always. Lastly, thank you

to the professors who adopt this book and support this new model of textbooks, which inevitably supports our

students’ educational goals and success.

Acknowledgments xi

Dedications

I would like to dedicate the book to the students who will be using it. I wish you future career success and hope

you never stop learning.

Preface

Thank you for using Human Resource Management! Whether you are an instructor or student, by using this book

you are part of the revolution. As instructors, the ability to customize this book by changing, adding, deleting, and

moving text around, we are leveraging technology while making it beneficial (and cheaper!) for our students. If

you are a student, I think you will appreciate the conversational style and features designed to make reading the

book engaging.

Competing books are focused on the academic part of HRM, which is necessary in a university or college setting.

However, the goal with this book is not only to provide the necessary academic background information but also

to present the material with a practitioner’s focus on both large and small businesses. While the writing style is

clear and focused, we don’t feel jargon and ten-dollar words are necessary to making a good textbook. Clear and

concise language makes the book interesting and understandable (not to mention more fun to read) to the future

HRM professional and manager alike.

It is highly likely that anyone in business will have to take on an HRM role at some point in their careers. For

example, should you decide to start your own business, many of the topics discussed will apply to your business.

This is the goal of this book; it is useful enough for the HRM professional, but the information presented is also

applicable to managers, supervisors, and entrepreneurs. Besides these differences, other key differences include

the following:

• This book utilizes a technology focus and shows how HRM activities can be leveraged using

technology.

• We have also included a chapter on communication and information about motivational theories. Since

communication is a key component of HRM, it makes sense to include it as a full chapter in this book.

Human motivation is one of the cornerstones of HR, which is why we include information on this as

well.

• Rather than dividing certain chapters, we have combined some chapters to provide the entire picture of

related topics at once. For example, in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits” we discuss both pay

and benefits, instead of separating them into two chapters.

• The exercises and cases utilize critical thinking skills and teamwork to help the points come through.

• The Fortune 500 boxes focus on the concepts and how large companies apply these concepts.

However, we still focus on small- and medium-sized businesses.

• Practical application is the focus of this book. We want you to be able to read the book and apply the

concepts. We feel this approach makes the material much more useful, instead of only academic.

• We use several YouTube videos in each chapter.

• The author introduces each chapter in a video format.

• How Would You Handle This? situations in the book utilize critical-thinking skills to think about

ethical situations in HRM. Each situation also includes audio examples on how an HRM professional

or manager could handle the situation.

These features and pedagogical components make the book easy to read and understand while still maintaining an

academic focus.

Organization

The organization of the book is intuitive. The book follows the process HR professionals or managers will go

through as they ensure they have the right employees at the right time to make sure the company is productive and

profitable.

• In Chapter 1 “The Role of Human Resources”, we discuss the role of human resources in business and

why, in a constantly changing world, the HRM function is key to a successful business.

• In Chapter 2 “Developing and Implementing Strategic HRM Plans”, we discuss HR strategic plans and

how those plans should be developed. Strategic planning is necessary to tie company objectives with

HRM objectives, but it is also important to have a “people plan” and address the ever-changing work

environment.

• In Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism”, we discuss the diversity aspect of business and why

multiculturalism is so important to ensuring a healthy organization.

• In Chapter 4 “Recruitment”, recruitment, the process for getting the most qualified individuals with

diverse backgrounds, is the focus. We discuss some of the important laws to consider when hiring

people and methods to recruit highly qualified individuals.

• In Chapter 5 “Selection”, we talk about the selection process. Once you have recruited people, you

must organize the process that selects the best candidate. This can include interviewing, employment

tests, and selecting the criteria by which candidate performance will be measured.

• In Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”, we discuss how you compensate individuals through pay,

benefits, vacation time, and other incentives.

• Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation” discusses the talent management approach—that is, how you

can retain the best employees through retention strategies and motivation techniques.

• The training and development aspect of HRM is likely one of the most important aspects of HRM.

After you have gone through the time and effort to recruit, select, and compensate the employee, you

will need to ensure career growth through continuing training, which is the focus of Chapter 8

“Training and Development”.

• Since communication is a key component to any and all aspects of HRM, we have a detailed

discussion on communication and management style. While some of the information may be covered

in other classes on topics in which people (such as HRM) are the focus, a review on communication is

important. In Chapter 9 “Successful Employee Communication”, we also discuss management styles,

since this is an important form of communication, and in fact, many people leave organizations

because of their managers.

xiv Human Resource Management

• Chapter 10 “Managing Employee Performance” discusses some of the possible performance issues and

how to handle those performance issues. We also discuss employee discipline and how to handle

layoffs.

• Chapter 11 “Employee Assessment” focuses on how to assess performance of the employee. We

address performance evaluation systems and methods.

• Most HRM professionals will work with unions, the focus of Chapter 12 “Working with Labor

Unions”. The unionization process, how to negotiate union contracts, and history of labor unions are

discussed.

• Employee safety and health are necessary to a productive workplace. Chapter 13 “Safety and Health at

Work” addresses some of the health and safety issues, such as drug use, carpal tunnel, and other issues

relating to keeping employees healthy at work.

• Finally, Chapter 14 “International HRM” looks at the differences between international HRM and

domestic HRM. We discuss the recruitment, selection, and retention components of international

HRM.

Features

Each chapter contains several staple and innovative features as follows:

• Opening situation: The opening situation is used to show how the chapter topics have real-life

applications for HR professionals and managers. The short openings are straightforward and show the

practical application of the concepts.

• Learning objectives by section: Instead of a long list of learning objectives at the front of the chapter,

we divide the learning objectives by section and offer exercises and key terms for every section in the

book. This is a great way to “self-check” and make sure the key concepts are learned before moving to

the next section.

• How Would You Handle This? situation: These situations are created to utilize critical-thinking

skills that are necessary for strategic HRM. The situations are ethics-based in nature and also include

audio that discusses the situation.

• Introduction video: Every chapter includes an introductory video by the author, discussing the

importance of the chapter to HRM.

• YouTube videos: Since the book is technology focused, it makes sense to use the free technology

available to cement many of the concepts. Each chapter has at least two YouTube videos, with some

chapters including up to five or six.

• Figures: There are numerous figures in every chapter. I think you will find they are clear and focused

but are not a series of endless graphs and charts of statistics that are interesting but of little value to

learning the key strategic concepts in HRM.

• Case study: The case study at the end of every chapter is a good way to make sure students have

learned the material. The case presents real-world situations and utilizes HRM knowledge and skills to

Preface xv

complete. The case studies are often tied to not only the current chapter but also past chapters to ensure

continued application of past concepts.

• Team activities: The team activities will sometimes require students to work in small groups but may

also involve the entire class. These activities are designed to promote communication, teamwork, and

of course, the specific HRM concept, which are all valuable skills in HRM.

xvi Human Resource Management

Chapter 1: The Role of Human Resources

Human Resource Management Day to Day

You have just been hired to work in the human resource department of a small company. You heard about the job

through a conference you attended, put on by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Previously,

the owner of the company, Jennifer, had been doing everything related to human resource management (HRM).

You can tell she is a bit critical about paying a good salary for something she was able to juggle all on her own.

On your first day, you meet the ten employees and spend several hours with the company owner, hoping to get a

handle on which human resource processes are already set up.

Shortly after the meeting begins, you see she has a completely different perspective of what HRM is, and you

realize it will be your job to educate her on the value of a human resource manager. You look at it as a personal

challenge—both to educate her and also to show her the value of this role in the organization.

First, you tell her that HRM is a strategic process having to do with the staffing, compensation, retention, training,

and employment law and policies side of the business. In other words, your job as human resources (HR) manager

will be not only to write policy and procedures and to hire people (the administrative role) but also to use strategic

plans to ensure the right people are hired and trained for the right job at the right time. For example, you ask her

if she knows what the revenue will be in six months, and Jennifer answers, “Of course. We expect it to increase

by 20 percent.” You ask, “Have you thought about how many people you will need due to this increase?” Jennifer

looks a bit sheepish and says, “No, I guess I haven’t gotten that far.” Then you ask her about the training programs

the company offers, the software used to allow employees to access pay information online, and the compensation

policies. She responds, “It looks like we have some work to do. I didn’t know that human resources involved all

of that.” You smile at her and start discussing some of the specifics of the business, so you can get started right

away writing the strategic human resource management plan.

1.1 What Is Human Resources?

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the role of HRM in organizations.

2. Define and discuss some of the major HRM activities.

Every organization, large or small, uses a variety of capital to make the business work. Capital includes cash,

valuables, or goods used to generate income for a business. For example, a retail store uses registers and inventory,

while a consulting firm may have proprietary software or buildings. No matter the industry, all companies have

one thing in common: they must have people to make their capital work for them. This will be our focus

throughout the text: generation of revenue through the use of people’s skills and abilities.

What Is HRM?

Human resource management (HRM) is the process of employing people, training them, compensating them,

developing policies relating to them, and developing strategies to retain them. As a field, HRM has undergone

many changes over the last twenty years, giving it an even more important role in today’s organizations. In

the past, HRM meant processing payroll, sending birthday gifts to employees, arranging company outings, and

making sure forms were filled out correctly—in other words, more of an administrative role rather than a strategic

role crucial to the success of the organization. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric and management guru,

sums up the new role of HRM: “Get out of the parties and birthdays and enrollment forms.… Remember, HR is

important in good times, HR is defined in hard times” (Frasch, et. al., 2010).

It’s necessary to point out here, at the very beginning of this text, that every manager has some role relating

to human resource management. Just because we do not have the title of HR manager doesn’t mean we won’t

perform all or at least some of the HRM tasks. For example, most managers deal with compensation, motivation,

and retention of employees—making these aspects not only part of HRM but also part of management. As a result,

this book is equally important to someone who wants to be an HR manager and to someone who will manage a

business.

Human Resource Recall

Have you ever had to work with a human resource department at your job? What was the interaction like? What was the department’s role in that specific organization?

The Role of HRM

Keep in mind that many functions of HRM are also tasks other department managers perform, which is what

makes this information important, despite the career path taken. Most experts agree on seven main roles that HRM

plays in organizations. These are described in the following sections.

Staffing

You need people to perform tasks and get work done in the organization. Even with the most sophisticated

machines, humans are still needed. Because of this, one of the major tasks in HRM is staffing. Staffing involves

the entire hiring process from posting a job to negotiating a salary package. Within the staffing function, there are

four main steps:

1. Development of a staffing plan. This plan allows HRM to see how many people they should hire

based on revenue expectations.

2. Development of policies to encourage multiculturalism at work. Multiculturalism in the workplace

is becoming more and more important, as we have many more people from a variety of backgrounds in

the workforce.

3. Recruitment. This involves finding people to fill the open positions.

4. Selection. In this stage, people will be interviewed and selected, and a proper compensation package

will be negotiated. This step is followed by training, retention, and motivation.

Development of Workplace Policies

Every organization has policies to ensure fairness and continuity within the organization. One of the jobs of HRM

is to develop the verbiage surrounding these policies. In the development of policies, HRM, management, and

executives are involved in the process. For example, the HRM professional will likely recognize the need for a

policy or a change of policy, seek opinions on the policy, write the policy, and then communicate that policy to

employees. It is key to note here that HR departments do not and cannot work alone. Everything they do needs to

involve all other departments in the organization. Some examples of workplace policies might be the following:

• Discipline process policy

• Vacation time policy

• Dress code

• Ethics policy

• Internet usage policy

1.1 What Is Human Resources? 3

These topics are addressed further in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”, Chapter 7 “Retention and

Motivation”, Chapter 8 “Training and Development”, and Chapter 9 “Successful Employee Communication”.

Compensation and Benefits Administration

HRM professionals need to determine that compensation is fair, meets industry standards, and is high enough to

entice people to work for the organization. Compensation includes anything the employee receives for his or her

work. In addition, HRM professionals need to make sure the pay is comparable to what other people performing

similar jobs are being paid. This involves setting up pay systems that take into consideration the number of years

with the organization, years of experience, education, and similar aspects. Examples of employee compensation

include the following:

• Pay

• Health benefits

• 401(k) (retirement plans)

• Stock purchase plans

• Vacation time

• Sick leave

• Bonuses

• Tuition reimbursement

Since this is not an exhaustive list, compensation is discussed further in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”.

Retention

Retention involves keeping and motivating employees to stay with the organization. Compensation is a major

factor in employee retention, but there are other factors as well. Ninety percent of employees leave a company for

the following reasons:

1. Issues around the job they are performing

2. Challenges with their manager

3. Poor fit with organizational culture

4. Poor workplace environment

Despite this, 90 percent of managers think employees leave as a result of pay (Rivenbark, 2010). As a result,

managers often try to change their compensation packages to keep people from leaving, when compensation isn’t

the reason they are leaving at all. Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation” and Chapter 11 “Employee Assessment”

discuss some strategies to retain the best employees based on these four factors.

4 Human Resource Management

Training and Development

Once we have spent the time to hire new employees, we want to make sure they not only are trained to do the

job but also continue to grow and develop new skills in their job. This results in higher productivity for the

organization. Training is also a key component in employee motivation. Employees who feel they are developing

their skills tend to be happier in their jobs, which results in increased employee retention. Examples of training

programs might include the following:

• Job skills training, such as how to run a particular computer program

• Training on communication

• Team-building activities

• Policy and legal training, such as sexual harassment training and ethics training

We address each of these types of training and more in detail in Chapter 8 “Training and Development”.

Dealing with Laws Affecting Employment

Human resource people must be aware of all the laws that affect the workplace. An HRM professional might work

with some of these laws:

• Discrimination laws

• Health-care requirements

• Compensation requirements such as the minimum wage

• Worker safety laws

• Labor laws

The legal environment of HRM is always changing, so HRM must always be aware of changes taking place and

then communicate those changes to the entire management organization. Rather than presenting a chapter focused

on HRM laws, we will address these laws in each relevant chapter.

Worker Protection

Safety is a major consideration in all organizations. Oftentimes new laws are created with the goal of setting

federal or state standards to ensure worker safety. Unions and union contracts can also impact the requirements

for worker safety in a workplace. It is up to the human resource manager to be aware of worker protection

requirements and ensure the workplace is meeting both federal and union standards. Worker protection issues

might include the following:

• Chemical hazards

1.1 What Is Human Resources? 5

• Heating and ventilation requirements

• Use of “no fragrance” zones

• Protection of private employee information

We take a closer look at these issues in Chapter 12 “Working with Labor Unions” and Chapter 13 “Safety and

Health at Work”.

Figure 1.1

Caption: Knowing the law regarding worker protection is generally the job of human resources. In some industries it is extremely

important; in fact, it can mean life or death.

ReSurge International – Tom Davenport Operating On A Patient – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Communication

Besides these major roles, good communication skills and excellent management skills are key to successful

human resource management as well as general management. We discuss these issues in Chapter 9 “Successful

Employee Communication”.

Awareness of External Factors

In addition to managing internal factors, the HR manager needs to consider the outside forces at play that may

6 Human Resource Management

affect the organization. Outside forces, or external factors, are those things the company has no direct control

over; however, they may be things that could positively or negatively impact human resources. External factors

might include the following:

1. Globalization and offshoring

2. Changes to employment law

3. Health-care costs

4. Employee expectations

5. Diversity of the workforce

6. Changing demographics of the workforce

7. A more highly educated workforce

8. Layoffs and downsizing

9. Technology used, such as HR databases

10. Increased use of social networking to distribute information to employees

For example, the recent trend in flexible work schedules (allowing employees to set their own schedules) and

telecommuting (allowing employees to work from home or a remote location for a specified period of time, such

as one day per week) are external factors that have affected HR. HRM has to be aware of these outside issues,

so they can develop policies that meet not only the needs of the company but also the needs of the individuals.

Another example is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010. Compliance with

this bill has huge implications for HR. For example, a company with more than fifty employees must provide

health-care coverage or pay a penalty. Currently, it is estimated that 60 percent of employers offer health-care

insurance to their employees (Cappelli, 2010). Because health-care insurance will be mandatory, cost concerns

as well as using health benefits as a recruitment strategy are big external challenges. Any manager operating

without considering outside forces will likely alienate employees, resulting in unmotivated, unhappy workers. Not

understanding the external factors can also mean breaking the law, which has a concerning set of implications as

well.

Figure 1.2

1.1 What Is Human Resources? 7

An understanding of key external factors is important to the successful HR professional. This allows him or her to be able to make

strategic decisions based on changes in the external environment. To develop this understanding, reading various publications is

necessary.

One way managers can be aware of the outside forces is to attend conferences and read various articles on the

web. For example, the website of the Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM Online1, not only has job

postings in the field but discusses many contemporary human resource issues that may help the manager make

better decisions when it comes to people management. In Section 1.3 “Today’s HRM Challenges”, we go into

more depth about some recent external issues that are affecting human resource management roles. In Section

1.1.2 “The Role of HRM”, we discuss some of the skills needed to be successful in HRM.

Figure 1.3

8 Human Resource Management

Most professionals agree that there are seven main tasks HRM professionals perform. All these need to be considered in relation to

external and outside forces.

Key Takeaways

• Capital includes all resources a company uses to generate revenue. Human resources or the people working in the organization are the most important resource.

• Human resource management is the process of employing people, training them, compensating them, developing policies relating to the workplace, and developing strategies to retain employees.

• There are seven main responsibilities of HRM managers: staffing, setting policies, compensation and benefits, retention, training, employment laws, and worker protection. In this book, each of these major areas will be included in a chapter or two.

• In addition to being concerned with the seven internal aspects, HRM managers must keep up to date with changes in the external environment that may impact their employees. The trends toward flexible schedules and telecommuting are examples of external aspects.

• To effectively understand how the external forces might affect human resources, it is important for the HR manager to read the HR literature, attend conferences, and utilize other ways to stay up to date with new laws, trends, and policies.

1.1 What Is Human Resources? 9

Exercises

1. State arguments for and against the following statement: there are other things more valuable in an organization besides the people who work there.

2. Of the seven tasks an HR manager does, which do you think is the most challenging? Why?

1Society for Human Resource Management, accessed August 18, 2011, http://www.shrm.org/Pages/default.aspx.

References

Cappelli, P., “HR Implications of Healthcare Reform,” Human Resource Executive Online, March 29, 2010,

accessed August 18, 2011, http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=379096509.

Frasch, K. B., David Shadovitz, and Jared Shelly, “There’s No Whining in HR,” Human Resource Executive

Online, June 30, 2009, accessed September 24, 2010, http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/

story.jsp?storyId=227738167.

Rivenbark, L., “The 7 Hidden Reasons Why Employees Leave,” HR Magazine, May 2005, accessed October 10,

2010, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_5_50/ai_n13721406.

10 Human Resource Management

1.2 Skills Needed for HRM

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the professional and personal skills needed to be successful in HRM.

2. Be able to define human resource management and the certifications that can be achieved in this profession.

One of the major factors of a successful manager or human resource (HR) manager is an array of skills to deal

with a variety of situations. It simply isn’t enough to have knowledge of HR, such as knowing which forms need

to be filled out. It takes multiple skills to create and manage people, as well as a cutting-edge human resource

department.

The first skill needed is organization. The need for this skill makes sense, given that you are managing people’s

pay, benefits, and careers. Having organized files on your computer and good time-management skills are crucial

for success in any job, but especially if you take on a role in human resources.

Like most jobs, being able to multitask—that is, work on more than one task at a time—is important in managing

human resources. A typical person managing human resources may have to deal with an employee issue one

minute, then switch and deal with recruiting. Unlike many management positions, which only focus on one task

or one part of the business, human resources focuses on all areas of the business, where multitasking is a must.

As trite as it may sound, people skills are necessary in any type of management and perhaps might be the most

important skills for achieving success at any job. Being able to manage a variety of personalities, deal with

conflict, and coach others are all in the realm of people management. The ability to communicate goes along with

people skills. The ability to communicate good news (hiring a new employee), bad news (layoffs), and everything

in between, such as changes to policy, makes for an excellent manager and human resource management (HRM)

professional.

Keys to a successful career in HRM or management include understanding specific job areas, such as managing

the employee database, understanding employment laws, and knowing how to write and develop a strategic plan

that aligns with the business. All these skills will be discussed in this book.

A strategic mind-set as an HR professional is a key skill as well. A person with a strategic mind-set can plan far

in advance and look at trends that could affect the environment in which the business is operating. Too often,

managers focus on their own area and not enough on the business as a whole. The strategic HR professional is

able to not only work within his or her area but also understand how HR fits into the bigger picture of the business.

Ethics and a sense of fairness are also necessary in human resources. Ethics is a concept that examines the

moral rights and wrongs of a certain situation. Consider the fact that many HR managers negotiate salary and

union contracts and manage conflict. In addition, HR managers have the task of ensuring compliance with ethics

standards within the organization. Many HR managers are required to work with highly confidential information,

such as salary information, so a sense of ethics when managing this information is essential. We discuss ethics

from the organizational perspective in Section 1.1.2 “The Role of HRM”.

Dilbert and the Evil HR Director

” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCKOpJQI6Iw” class=”replaced-iframe”>(click to see video)

Ethics is perhaps one of the most important aspects to being a great HR professional. This humorous video shows

how unethical behavior can undermine motivation at work.

Human Resource Recall

Think of your current skills. Are there personal or professional skills you would like to work on?

Finally, while we can list a few skills that are important, understanding the particular business, knowing the

business strategy, and being able to think critically about how HR can align itself with the strategy are ways

to ensure HR departments are critical parts of the business. HR is a specialized area, much like accounting or

finance. However, many individuals are placed in HR roles without having the specific knowledge to do the

job. Oftentimes people with excellent skills are promoted to management and then expected (if the company is

small) to perform recruiting, hiring, and compensation tasks. This is the reason we will refer to management

and HR management interchangeably throughout the chapters. In addition, these skills are important for HRM

professionals and managers alike.

Having said that, for those of you wanting a career in HRM, there are three exams you can take to show your

mastery of HRM material:

1. Professional in Human Resources (PHR). To take this exam, an HR professional must have at least

two years’ experience. The exam is four hours long and consists of 225 multiple-choice questions in a

variety of areas. Twelve percent of the test focuses on strategic management, 26 percent on workforce

planning, 17 percent on human resource development, 16 percent on rewards, 22 percent on employee

and labor relations, and 7 percent on risk management. The application process for taking the exam is

given on the Human Resource Certification Institute website at http://www.hrci.org.

2. Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). This exam is designed for HR professionals who

focus on designing and planning, rather than actual implementation. It is recommended that the person

taking this exam has six to eight years of experience and oversees and manages an HR department. In

this test, the greater focus is on the strategic aspect of HRM.

3. Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR). This exam is for HR professionals who perform

many of their tasks on a global level and whose companies often work across borders. This exam is

three hours long, with 165 multiple-choice questions. A person with two years of professional

experience can take the certification test. However, because the test has the international aspect,

someone who designs HR-related programs and processes to achieve business goals would be best

12 Human Resource Management

suited to earn this certification.

The benefits of achieving certifications are great. In addition to demonstrating the abilities of the HR professional,

certification allows the professional to be more marketable in a very competitive field.

Figure 1.4

Caption: Perhaps one of the most important skills in any kind of management is the ability to communicate.

Baltic Development Forum – Kristovskis-meeting-41.jpg – CC BY 2.0.

Most companies need a human resource department or a manager with HR skills. The industries and job titles are

so varied that it is possible only to list general job titles in human resources:

1. Recruiter

2. Compensation analyst

3. Human resources assistant

4. Employee relations manager

5. Benefits manager

6. Work-life coordinator

7. Training and development manager

8. Human resources manager

9. Vice president for human resources

1.2 Skills Needed for HRM 13

This is not an exhaustive list, but it can be a starting point for research on this career path.

People Skills in HR

” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Jfo0Iym94″ class=”replaced-iframe”>(click to see video)

This chapter makes the point that communication and people skills, or “soft skills,” are necessary to be successful

in any job. This video addresses the importance of these skills.

Key Takeaways

• There are a number of skills crucial to human resource management. First, being able to organize and multitask is necessary. In this job, files must be managed, and an HR manager is constantly working in different areas of the business.

• Communication skills are necessary in HRM as well. The ability to present good and bad news, work with a variety of personalities, and coach employees is important in HRM.

• Specific job skills, such as computer skills, knowledge of employment law, writing and developing strategic plans, and general critical-thinking skills are important in any type of management, but especially in human resource management.

• A sense of fairness and strong ethics will make for the best HR manager. Because HR works with a variety of departments to manage conflict and negotiate union contracts and salary, the HR professional needs ethics skills and the ability to maintain confidentiality.

• Since one of the major responsibilities of an HR department is to align the HR strategic plan with the business strategic plan, critical and creative thinking, as well as writing, are skills that will benefit the HR manager as well.

• Many people find themselves in the role of HR manager, so we will use the term HR manager throughout this book. However, many other types of managers also perform the tasks of recruiting, selecting, and compensating, making this book and the skills listed in this section applicable to all majors.

• Certification exams can be taken to make you more marketable in the field of HRM. These certifications are offered by the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).

Exercise

1. What are your perceptions of what an HR manager does on a day-to-day basis? Research this job title and describe your findings. Is this the type of job you expected?

14 Human Resource Management

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges

If you were to ask most business owners what their biggest challenges are, they will likely tell you that cost

management is a major factor to the success or failure of their business. In most businesses today, the people part

of the business is the most likely place for cuts when the economy isn’t doing well.

Consider the expenses that involve the people part of any business:

1. Health-care benefits

2. Training costs

3. Hiring process costs

4. And many more…

These costs cut into the bottom line of any business. The trick is to figure out how much, how many, or how often

benefits should be offered, without sacrificing employee motivation. A company can cut costs by not offering

benefits or 401(k) plans, but if its goal is to hire the best people, a hiring package without these items will most

certainly not get the best people. Containment of costs, therefore, is a balancing act. An HR manager must offer

as much as he or she can to attract and retain employees, but not offer too much, as this can put pressure on the

company’s bottom line. We will discuss ways to alleviate this concern throughout this book.

For example, there are three ways to cut costs associated with health care:

1. Shift more of the cost of health care to employees

2. Reduce the benefits offered to cut costs

3. Change or better negotiate the plan to reduce health-care costs

Health care costs companies approximately $4,003 per year for a single employee and $9,764 for families. This

equals roughly 83 percent and 73 percent of total health-care costs for single employees and employees with

families1, respectively. One possible strategy for containment for health-care plans is to implement a cafeteria

plan. Cafeteria plans started becoming popular in the 1980s and have become standard in many organizations

(Allen, 2010). This type of plan gives all employees a minimum level of benefits and a set amount to spend

on flexible benefits, such as additional health care or vacation time. It creates more flexible benefits, allowing

the employee, based on his or her family situation, to choose which benefits are right for them. For example, a

mother of two may choose to spend her flexible benefits on health care for her children, while a single, childless

female may opt for more vacation days. In other words, these plans offer flexibility, while saving money, too. Cost

containment strategies around benefits will be discussed in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”.

Another way to contain costs is by offering training. While this may seem counterintuitive, as training does

cost money up front, it can actually save money in the long run. Consider how expensive a sexual harassment

lawsuit or wrongful termination lawsuit might be. For example, a Sonic Drive-In was investigated by the Equal

Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) on behalf of seventy women who worked there, and it was found

that a manager at one of the stores subjected the victims to inappropriate touching and comments. This lawsuit

cost the organization $2 million2. Some simple training up front (costing less than the lawsuit) likely would have

prevented this from happening. Training employees and management on how to work within the law, thereby

reducing legal exposure, is a great way for HR to cut costs for the organization as a whole. In Chapter 8 “Training

and Development”, we will further discuss how to organize, set up, and measure the success of a training program.

The hiring process and the cost of turnover in an organization can be very expensive. Turnover refers to the

number of employees who leave a company in a particular period of time. By creating a recruiting and selection

process with cost containment in mind, HR can contribute directly to cost-containment strategies company wide.

In fact, the cost of hiring an employee or replacing an old one (turnover) can be as high as $9,777 for a position

that pays $60,000 (Del Monte, 2010). By hiring smart the first time, HR managers can contain costs for their

organization. This will be discussed in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” and Chapter 5 “Selection”. Reducing turnover

includes employee motivational strategies. This will be addressed in Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation”.

In a survey reported on by the Sales and Marketing Management newsletter3, 85 percent of managers say that

ineffective communication is the cause of lost revenue. E-mail, instant messaging, text messages, and meetings

are all examples of communication in business. An understanding of communication styles, personality styles, and

channels of communication can help us be more effective in our communications, resulting in cost containment.

In HRM, we can help ensure our people have the tools to communicate better, and contain costs and save dollars

in doing so. Some of these tools for better communication will be addressed in Chapter 9 “Successful Employee

Communication”.

One cost-containment strategy for US businesses has been offshoring. Offshoring refers to the movement of jobs

overseas to contain costs. It is estimated that 3.3 million US jobs will be moved overseas by 2015 (Agrawal &

Farrell, 2003). According to the US Census Bureau, most of these jobs are Information Technology (IT) jobs

as well as manufacturing jobs. This issue is unique to HR, as the responsibility for developing training for new

workers and laying off domestic workers will often fall under the realm of HRM. Offshoring will be discussed

in Chapter 14 “International HRM”, and training for new workers will be discussed in Chapter 8 “Training and

Development”.

Figure 1.5

16 Human Resource Management

Caption: One of the biggest contemporary challenges in HRM is figuring out the balance between what benefits to offer versus the

impact those benefits have on employee motivation.

winnifredxoxo – balance scale – CC BY 2.0.

Of course, cost containment isn’t only up to HRM and managers, but as organizations look at various ways to

contain costs, human resources can certainly provide solutions.

Technology

Technology has greatly impacted human resources and will continue to do so as new technology is developed.

Through use of technology, many companies have virtual workforces that perform tasks from nearly all corners

of the world. When employees are not located just down the hall, management of these human resources creates

some unique challenges. For example, technology creates an even greater need to have multicultural or diversity

understanding. Since many people will work with individuals from across the globe, cultural sensitivity and

understanding is the only way to ensure the use of technology results in increased productivity rather than

decreased productivity due to miscommunications. Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism” and Chapter 14

“International HRM” will discuss some specific diversity issues surrounding a global workforce.

Technology also creates a workforce that expects to be mobile. Because of the ability to work from home or

anywhere else, many employees may request and even demand a flexible schedule to meet their own family and

personal needs. Productivity can be a concern for all managers in the area of flextime, and another challenge is the

fairness to other workers when one person is offered a flexible schedule. Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”

and Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation” will discuss flextime as a way to reward employees. Many companies,

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 17

however, are going a step further and creating virtual organizations, which don’t have a physical location (cost

containment) and allow all employees to work from home or the location of their choice. As you can imagine, this

creates concerns over productivity and communication within the organization.

The use of smartphones and social networking has impacted human resources, as many companies now

disseminate information to employees via these methods. Of course, technology changes constantly, so the

methods used today will likely be different one year or even six months from now.

The large variety of databases available to perform HR tasks is mind boggling. For example, databases are used

to track employee data, compensation, and training. There are also databases available to track the recruiting and

hiring processes. We will discuss more about technology in HR in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” through Chapter 8

“Training and Development”.

Of course, the major challenge with technology is its constantly changing nature, which can impact all practices

in HRM.

How Would You Handle This?

Too Many Friends

You are the HR manager for a small company, consisting of twenty-three people plus the two owners, Steve

and Corey. Every time you go into Steve’s office, you see he is on Facebook. Because he is Facebook friends

with several people in the organization, you have also heard he constantly updates his status and uploads pictures

during work time. Then, at meetings, Steve will ask employees if they saw the pictures he recently uploaded from

his vacation, weekend, or backpacking trip. One employee, Sam, comes to you with a concern about this. “I am

just trying to do my job, but I feel if I don’t look at his photos, he may not think I am a good employee,” she says.

How would you handle this?

Cyberloafing, a term used to describe lost productivity as a result of an employee using a work computer for

personal reasons, is another concern created by technology. One study performed by Nucleus Research found

that the average worker uses Facebook for fifteen minutes per day, which results in an average loss of 1.5

percent of productivity4. Some workers, in fact, use Facebook over two hours per day during working hours.

Restricting or blocking access to the Internet, however, can result in angry employees and impact motivation at

work. Motivational factors will be discussed in Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation”.

Technology can create additional stress for workers. Increased job demands, constant change, constant e-mailing

and texting, and the physical aspects of sitting in front of a computer can be not only stressful but also physically

harmful to employees. Chapter 13 “Safety and Health at Work” will deal with some of these stress issues, as well

as safety issues such as carpal tunnel, which can occur as a result of technology in the workplace. More on health

and safety will be covered in Chapter 10 “Managing Employee Performance”.

18 Human Resource Management

The Economy

Tough economic times in a country usually results in tough times for business, too. High unemployment and

layoffs are clearly HRM and managerial issues. If a human resource manager works for a unionized company,

union contracts are the guiding source when having to downsize owing to a tough economy. We will discuss

union contracts in greater detail in Chapter 12 “Working with Labor Unions”. Besides union restrictions,

legal restrictions on who is let go and the process followed to let someone go should be on the forefront of

any manager’s mind when he or she is required to lay off people because of a poor economy. Dealing with

performance issues and measuring performance can be considerations when it is necessary to lay off employees.

These issues will be discussed in Chapter 10 “Managing Employee Performance” and Chapter 11 “Employee

Assessment”.

Likewise, in a growth economy, the HR manager may experience a different kind of stress. Massive hiring to meet

demand might occur if the economy is doing well. For example, McDonald’s restaurants had to fill six hundred

positions throughout Las Vegas and held hiring day events in 20105. Imagine the process of hiring this many

people in a short period of time The same recruiting and selection processes used under normal circumstances will

be helpful in mass hiring situations. Recruiting and selection will be discussed in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” and

Chapter 5 “Selection”.

The Changing and Diverse Workforce

Human resources should be aware that the workforce is constantly changing. For example, in the 2010 census,

the national population was 308,745,538, with 99,531,000 in 2010 working full time, down from 2008 when

106,648,000 were working full time6. For full-time workers, the average weekly salary was higher the more

educated the worker. See Figure 1.6 for details.

Figure 1.6

The average weekly earnings for workers in the United States increase with more education.

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 19

Source: Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers,” Table 5, Economic News

Release, July 20, 2010, accessed August 19, 2011, http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2010/ted_20100726_data.htm.

Fortune 500 Focus

Multigenerational is here to stay, and Xerox is the leader in recruiting of Generation Y talent. This age group has been moving into the labor market over the last six years, and this major demographic change, along with the retirement of baby boomers, has many companies thinking. Fortune 500 companies know they must find out where their new stars are coming from. In recruiting this new talent, Xerox isn’t looking to old methods, because they know each generation is different. For example, Xerox developed the “Express Yourself” recruiting campaign, which is geared around a core value of this generation, to develop solutions and change. Joe Hammill, the director of talent acquisition, says, “Gen Y is very important. Xerox and other companies view this emerging workforce as the future of our organization” (Armour, 2005). Besides the new recruiting campaign, recruiters are working at what they term “core colleges”—that is, those that produce the kind of talent they need. For example, they developed recruitment campaigns with specific institutions such as the Rochester Institute of Technology because of its strong engineering and printing science programs. On their company website, they have a specific tab for the recent college graduate, emphasizing core values of this generation, including the ability to contribute, support, and build skills. With its understanding of multicultural generations, Xerox has created a talent pool for years to come.

It is expected that over the next ten years, over 40 percent of the workforce will retire, and there will not be enough

younger workers to take the jobs once held by the retiring workforce (Fernandez, 2007). In fact, the American

Society of Training and Development says that in the next twenty years, seventy-six million Americans will retire,

and only forty-six million will replace them. As you can imagine, this will create a unique staffing obstacle for

human resources and managers alike, as they try to find talented people in a pool that doesn’t have enough people

to perform necessary jobs. The reason for this increase in retirement is the aging baby boomers. Baby boomers

can be defined as those born between the years 1946 and 1964, according to the Census Bureau. They are called

the baby boomers because there was a large increase of babies born after soldiers came back from World War II.

Baby boomers account for seventy-six million people in the United States in 2011, the same year in which the

first of the baby boomers have started to retire.

The impact of the baby boomer generation on our country and on human resource management is huge. First, the

retirement of baby boomers results in a loss of a major part of the working population, and there are not enough

people to fill those jobs that are left vacant. Second, the baby boomers’ knowledge is lost upon their retirement.

Much of this knowledge isn’t formalized or written down, but it contributes to the success of business. Third,

elderly people are living longer, and this results in higher health-care costs for all currently in the workforce. It is

estimated that three out of five baby boomers do not have enough money saved for retirement (Weisenthal, 2010),

meaning that many of them will depend on Social Security payments to meet basic needs. However, since the

Social Security system is a pay-as-you-go system (i.e., those paying into the system now are paying for current

retirees), there may not be enough current workers to cover the current Social Security needs. In fact, in 1950 there

were 16 workers to support each Social Security beneficiary, but today there are only 3.3 workers supporting each

beneficiary (Wenning, 2010). The implications can mean that more will be paid by current workers to support

retirees.

As a result of the aging workforce, human resources should keep abreast of changes in Social Security legislation

and health-care costs, which will be discussed in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”. In addition, human

20 Human Resource Management

resource managers should review current workers’ skill levels and monitor retirements and skills lost upon

those retirements, which is part of strategic planning. This will be discussed in Chapter 2 “Developing and

Implementing Strategic HRM Plans”. Having knowledge about current workers and skills, as well as predicting

future workforce needs, will be necessary to deal with the challenges of an aging workforce.

Figure 1.7

Developing an HR strategy around retirement of workers is a key factor in working with a multigenerational workforce. In addition,

HR must understand the various psychologies of varying ages of workers and develop benefits and compensation that meet the needs

of all generations.

Christopher Schwarzkopf – Wikimedia Diversity Conference 2013 – CC BY-SA 3.0.

Human Resource Recall

Have you ever worked in a multigenerational organization? What were some of the challenges in working with people who may have grown up in a different era?

Another challenge, besides lack of workers, is the multigenerational workforce. Employees between the ages of

seventeen and sixty-eight have different values and different expectations of their jobs. Any manager who tries to

manage these workers from varying generations will likely have some challenges. Even compensation preferences

are different among generations. For example, the traditional baby boomer built a career during a time of pensions

and strongly held values of longevity and loyalty to a company. Compare the benefit needs of this person to

someone who is younger and expects to save through a 401(k) plan, and it is clear that the needs and expectations

are different(Capezza, 2010). Throughout this book, we will discuss compensation and motivational strategies for

the multigenerational workforce.

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 21

Awareness of the diversity of the workforce will be discussed in Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism”,

but laws regarding diversity will be discussed throughout the book. Diversity refers to age, disability, race, sex,

national origin, and religion. Each of these components makes up the productive workforce, and each employee

has different needs, wants, and goals. This is why it is imperative for the HRM professional to understand how

to motivate the workforce, while ensuring that no laws are broken. We will discuss laws regarding diversity

(and the components of diversity, such as disabilities) in Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism”, Chapter 4

“Recruitment”, Chapter 5 “Selection”, Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”, and Chapter 7 “Retention and

Motivation”.

Figure 1.8 Demographic Data for the United States by Race

Source: Map courtesy of the US Census Department.

Ethics

A discussion of ethics is necessary when considering challenges of human resources. Much of the discussion

surrounding ethics happened after the early to mid-2000s, when several companies were found to have engaged

in gross unethical and illegal conduct, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars from shareholders. Consider the

statistics: only 25 percent of employees trusted their CEO to tell the truth, and 80 percent of people said that

employers have a moral responsibility to society7. Based on these numbers, an ethical workplace is important

not only for shareholder satisfaction but for employee satisfaction as well. Companies are seeing the value of

implementing ethics codes within the business.

Many human resource departments have the responsibility of designing codes of ethics and developing policies

for ethical decision making. Some organizations hire ethics officers to specifically focus on this area of the

business. Out of four hundred companies surveyed, 48 percent had an ethics officer, who reported to either

the CEO or the HR executive (McGraw, 2011). According to Steve Miranda, chief human resources officer for

the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “[the presence of an ethics officer] provides a high-

22 Human Resource Management

level individual with positional authority who can ensure that policies, practices, and guidelines are effectively

communicated across the organization” (McGraw, 2011).

For example, the insurance company Allstate recently hired a chief ethics and compliance officer (CECO) who

offers a series of workshops geared toward leaders in the organization, because they believe that maintaining high

ethical standards starts at the top of an organization. In addition, the CECO monitors reports of ethics complaints

within the organization and trains employees on the code of ethics or code of conduct (McGraw, 2011). A code of

ethics is an outline that explains the expected ethical behavior of employees. For example, General Electric (GE)

has a sixty-four-page code of conduct that outlines the expected ethics, defines them, and provides information on

penalties for not adhering to the code. The code of conduct is presented below. Of course, simply having a written

code of ethics does little to encourage positive behavior, so many organizations (such as GE) offer stiff penalties

for ethics violations. Developing policies, monitoring behavior, and informing people of ethics are necessary to

ensure a fair and legal business.

The following is an outline of GE’s code of conduct8:

• Obey the applicable laws and regulations governing our business conduct worldwide.

• Be honest, fair, and trustworthy in all your GE activities and relationships.

• Avoid all conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs.

• Foster an atmosphere in which fair employment practices extend to every member of the diverse GE

community.

• Strive to create a safe workplace and to protect the environment.

• Through leadership at all levels, sustain a culture where ethical conduct is recognized, valued, and

exemplified by all employees.

Key Takeaways

• One of the most important aspects to productive HRM is to ensure the department adds value to the rest of the organization, based on the organization’s strategic plan.

• One of the major challenges of HRM is containment of costs. This can be done in several ways, for example, in the way health care and benefits are offered. Many companies are developing cafeteria plans that satisfy the employee and help contain costs.

• HRM can also contain costs by developing and managing training programs and ensuring employees are well trained to be productive in the job.

• Hiring is a very expensive part of human resources, and therefore HRM should take steps to ensure they are hiring the right people for the job the first time. Turnover is a term used to describe the departure of an employee.

• Poor communication results in wasting time and resources. We can communicate better by understanding communication channels, personalities, and styles.

• Technology is also a challenge to be met by human resources. For example, employees may request alternative work schedules because they can use technology at home to get their work done.

• Because technology is part of our work life, cyberloafing, or employees spending too much time on the

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 23

Internet, creates new challenges for managers. Technology can also create challenges such as workplace stress and lack of work-life balance.

• The economy is a major factor in human resource management. HR managers, no matter what the state of the economy, must plan effectively to make sure they have the right number of workers at the right time. When we deal with a down economy, the legal and union implications of layoffs must be considered, and in an up economy, hiring of workers to meet the internal demand is necessary.

• The retirement of baby boomers is creating a gap in the workplace, related to not only the number of people available but also the skills people have. Multigenerational companies, or companies with workers of a variety of ages, must find ways to motivate employees, even though those employees may have different needs. HR must be aware of this and continually plan for the challenge of a changing workforce. Diversity in the workplace is an important challenge in human resource management. Diversity will be discussed in Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism”.

• Ethics and monitoring of ethical behavior are also challenges in HRM. Setting ethical standards and monitoring ethical behavior, including developing a code of conduct, is a must for any successful business.

Exercises

1. Research the various generations: baby boomers, Generation X, and the Y Generation (millennials). Compare and contrast five differences between the generations. How might these differences impact HRM?

2. Review news articles on the current state of the economy. Which aspects of these articles do you think can relate to HRM?

1“Use Three Strategies to Cut Health Care Costs,” Business Management Daily, September 9, 2010, accessed

October 10, 2010, http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/articles/23381/1/Use-3-strategies-to-cut-health-

care-costs/Page1.html.

2“LL Sonic Settles EEOC Lawsuit for $2 Million,” Valencia County News Bulletin, June 23, 2011.

3“The Cost of Poor Communications,” Sales and Marketing, December 22, 2006, accessed October 1, 2010,

http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/4278862-1.html.

4“Facebook Use Cuts Productivity at Work,” Economic Times, July 25, 2009, accessed October 4, 2010,

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/Facebook-use-cuts-productivity-at-work-Study/articleshow/

4818848.cms.

5“McDonald’s Readies for Massive Hiring Spree,” Fox 5 News, Las Vegas, May 2010, accessed October 5, 2010,

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/23661640/detail.html (site discontinued).

6Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey Report, accessed July 7, 2011, http://www.bls.gov/cps/

earnings.htm#education.

7Strategic Management Partners, “Unethical Statistics Announced At Business Leaders Event,” news release,

http://www.consult-smp.com/archives/2005/02/unethical_stati.html, accessed August 31, 2011.

24 Human Resource Management

8“The Spirit and the Letter,” General Electric Company, accessed August 10, 2011, http://files.gecompany.com/

gecom/citizenship/pdfs/TheSpirit&TheLetter.pdf.

References

Agrawal, V. and Diana Farrell, “Who Wins in Offshoring?” in “Global Directions,” special issue, McKinsey

Quarterly, (2003): 36–41, https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Who_wins_in_offshoring_1363.

Allen, M., Benefits, Buffet Style—Flexible Plans,” Nation’s Business, January 1997, accessed October 1, 2010,

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_v75/ai_4587731.

Armour, S., “Generation Y: They’ve Arrived at Work with a New Attitude,” USA Today, November 6, 2005.

Capezza, M., “Employee Benefits in a Multigenerational Workplace,” EpsteinBeckerGreen, August 12, 2010,

accessed October 6, 2010, http://www.ebglaw.com/showNewsletter.aspx?Show=13313.

Del Monte, J., “Cost of Hiring and Turnover,” JDA Professional Services, Inc., 2010, accessed October 1, 2010,

http://www.jdapsi.com/Client/articles/coh.

Fernandez, A., “Training the Aging Workforce,” SharpBrains, August 10, 2007, accessed October 6, 2010,

McGraw, M., “The HR-Ethics Alliance,” HR Executive Online, June 16, 2011, accessed July 7, 2011,

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=533339153.

Weisenthal, J., “3 of 5 Baby Boomers Don’t Have Enough for Retirement,” Business Insider Magazine, August

16, 2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/boomers-cutting-back-2010-8.

Wenning, B., “Baby Boomer Retirement May Be a Bust,” Metrowest News Daily, March 21, 2010.

1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges 25

1.4 Cases and Problems

Chapter Summary

• Human resource management is the process of employing people, training them, compensating them, developing policies relating to the workplace, and developing strategies to retain employees. Three certification exams, which are offered by the Human Resource Certification Institute, can be taken to show HRM skills and become more marketable.

• Human resource management involves seven main areas: (1) staffing, (2) workplace policies, (3) benefits and compensation, (4) retention, (5) training, (6) employment laws, and (7) employee protection.

• Human resource managers need many different types of skills. Being able to organize, multitask, and communicate effectively, as well as having specific job skills, such as how to run a particular computer program, and a sense of fairness and ethics, is crucial to a successful career in HRM.

• There are many contemporary challenges associated with HRM. First, it is up to everyone in the organization to contain costs. HR managers need to look at their individual departments and demonstrate the necessity and value of their functions to the organization. HR managers can also help contain costs in several ways, such as managing benefits plans and compensation and providing training.

• The fast-changing nature of technology is also a challenge in HRM. As new technologies are developed, employees may be able to implement innovative ways of working such as flextime. HR managers are also responsible for developing policies dealing with cyberloafing and other workplace time wasters revolving around technology. Employee stress and lack of work-life balance are also greatly influenced by technology.

• Awareness of the changes in the economy allows the human resource manager to adequately plan for reductions and additions to the workforce.

• The aging and changing workforce is our final factor. As baby boomers retire, there likely will not be enough people to replace them, and many of the skills the baby boomers have may be lost. In addition, having to work with multiple generations at once can create challenges as different expectations and needs arise from multigenerational workforces.

Chapter Case

Changes, Changes

Jennifer, the owner and manager of a company with ten employees, has hired you to take over the HRM function so she can focus on other areas of her business. During your first two weeks, you find out that the company has been greatly affected by the up economy and is expected to experience overall revenue growth by 10 percent over the next three years, with some quarters seeing growth as high as 30 percent. However, five of the ten workers are expected to retire within three years. These workers have been with the organization since the beginning and provide a unique historical perspective of the company. The other five workers are of diverse ages.

In addition to these changes, Jennifer believes they may be able to save costs by allowing employees to telecommute one to two days per week. She has some concerns about productivity if she allows employees to work from home. Despite these concerns, Jennifer has even considered closing down the physical office and making her company a virtual organization, but she wonders how such a major change will affect the ability to communicate and worker motivation.

Jennifer shares with you her thoughts about the costs of health care on the organization. She has considered cutting benefits entirely and having her employees work for her on a contract basis, instead of being full-time employees. She isn’t sure if this would be a good choice.

Jennifer schedules a meeting with you to discuss some of her thoughts. To prepare for the meeting, you perform research so you can impress your new boss with recommendations on the challenges presented.

1. Point out which changes are occurring in the business that affect HRM.

2. What are some considerations the company and HR should be aware of when making changes related to this case study?

3. What would the initial steps be to start planning for these changes?

4. What would your role be in implementing these changes? What would Jennifer’s role be?

Team Activities

1. In a group of two to three people, research possible career paths in HRM and prepare a PowerPoint presentation to discuss your findings.

2. Interview an HR manager and discuss his or her career path, skills, and daily tasks. Present your findings to your class.

1.4 Cases and Problems 27

Chapter 2: Developing and Implementing Strategic HRM

Plans

The Value of Planning

James stumbled into his position as the human resource manager. He had been working for Techno, Inc. for

three years, and when the company grew, James moved from a management position into a human resource

management position. Techno, Inc. is a technology and software consulting company for the music industry.

James didn’t have a good handle on how to effectively run a human resources (HR) department, so for much of the

time he tried to figure it out as he went. When Techno started seeing rapid growth, he hired thirty people within a

one-month period to meet the demand. Proud of his ability to accomplish his task of meeting the business’s current

needs, James was rather pleased with himself. He had spent numerous hours mulling over recruitment strategies,

putting together excellent compensation plans, and then eventually sifting through résumés as a small part of the

hiring process. Now the organization had the right number of people needed to carry out its projects.

Fast forward five months, however, and it turned out the rapid growth was only temporary. James met with the

executives of the business who told him the contracts they had acquired were finished, and there wasn’t enough

new work coming in to make payroll next month if they didn’t let some people go. James felt frustrated because

he had gone through so much effort to hire people, and now they would be laid off. Never mind the costs of hiring

and training his department had taken on to make this happen. As James sat with the executives to determine who

should be laid off, he felt sad for the people who had given up other jobs just five months before, only to be laid

off.

After the meeting, James reflected on this situation and realized that if he had spoken with the executives of

the company sooner, they would have shared information on the duration of the contracts, and he likely would

have hired people differently, perhaps on a contract basis rather than on a full-time basis. He also considered the

fact that the organization could have hired an outsourcing company to recruit workers for him. As Jason mulled

this over, he realized that he needed a strategic plan to make sure his department was meeting the needs of the

organization. He vowed to work with the company executives to find out more about the company’s strategic plan

and then develop a human resource management (HRM) strategic plan to make sure Techno, Inc. has the right

number of workers with the right skills, at the right time in the future.

2.1 Strategic Planning

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the differences been HRM and personnel management.

2. Be able to define the steps in HRM strategic planning.

In the past, human resource management (HRM) was called the personnel department. In the past, the personnel

department hired people and dealt with the hiring paperwork and processes. It is believed the first human

resource department was created in 1901 by the National Cash Register Company (NCR). The company faced

a major strike but eventually defeated the union after a lockout. (We address unions in Chapter 12 “Working

with Labor Unions”.) After this difficult battle, the company president decided to improve worker relations by

organizing a personnel department to handle grievances, discharges, safety concerns, and other employee issues.

The department also kept track of new legislation surrounding laws impacting the organization. Many other

companies were coming to the same realization that a department was necessary to create employee satisfaction,

which resulted in more productivity. In 1913, Henry Ford saw employee turnover at 380 percent and tried to ease

the turnover by increasing wages from $2.50 to $5.00, even though $2.50 was fair during this time period (Losey,

2011). Of course, this approach didn’t work for long, and these large companies began to understand they had to

do more than hire and fire if they were going to meet customer demand.

More recently, however, the personnel department has divided into human resource management and human

resource development, as these functions have evolved over the century. HRM is not only crucial to an

organization’s success, but it should be part of the overall company’s strategic plan, because so many businesses

today depend on people to earn profits. Strategic planning plays an important role in how productive the

organization is.

Table 2.1 Examples of Differences between Personnel Management and HRM

Personnel Management Focus HRM Focus

Administering of policies Helping to achieve strategic goals through people

Stand-alone programs, such as training HRM training programs that are integrated with company’s mission and values

Personnel department responsible for managing people

Line managers share joint responsibility in all areas of people hiring and management

Creates a cost within an organization Contributes to the profit objectives of the organization

Most people agree that the following duties normally fall under HRM. Each of these aspects has its own part

within the overall strategic plan of the organization:

1. Staffing. Staffing includes the development of a strategic plan to determine how many people you

might need to hire. Based on the strategic plan, HRM then performs the hiring process to recruit and

select the right people for the right jobs. We discuss staffing in greater detail in Chapter 4

“Recruitment”, Chapter 5 “Selection”, and Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits”.

2. Basic workplace policies. Development of policies to help reach the strategic plan’s goals is the job of

HRM. After the policies have been developed, communication of these policies on safety, security,

scheduling, vacation times, and flextime schedules should be developed by the HR department. Of

course, the HR managers work closely with supervisors in organizations to develop these policies.

Workplace policies will be addressed throughout the book.

3. Compensation and benefits. In addition to paychecks, 401(k) plans, health benefits, and other perks

are usually the responsibility of an HR manager. Compensation and benefits are discussed in Chapter 6

“Compensation and Benefits” and Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation”.

4. Retention. Assessment of employees and strategizing on how to retain the best employees is a task

that HR managers oversee, but other managers in the organization will also provide input. Chapter 9

“Successful Employee Communication”, Chapter 10 “Managing Employee Performance”, and Chapter

11 “Employee Assessment” cover different types of retention strategies, from training to assessment.

5. Training and development. Helping new employees develop skills needed for their jobs and helping

current employees grow their skills are also tasks for which the HRM department is responsible.

Determination of training needs and development and implementation of training programs are

important tasks in any organization. Training is discussed in great detail in Chapter 9 “Successful

Employee Communication”, including succession planning. Succession planning includes handling the

departure of managers and making current employees ready to take on managerial roles when a

manager does leave.

6. Regulatory issues and worker safety. Keeping up to date on new regulations relating to employment,

health care, and other issues is generally a responsibility that falls on the HRM department. While

various laws are discussed throughout the book, unions and safety and health laws in the workplace are

covered in Chapter 12 “Working with Labor Unions” and Chapter 13 “Safety and Health at Work”.

In smaller organizations, the manager or owner is likely performing the HRM functions (de Kok & Uhlaner,

2001). They hire people, train them, and determine how much they should be paid. Larger companies ultimately

perform the same tasks, but because they have more employees, they can afford to employ specialists, or human

resource managers, to handle these areas of the business. As a result, it is highly likely that you, as a manager or

entrepreneur, will be performing HRM tasks, hence the value in understanding the strategic components of HRM.

HRM vs. Personnel Management

Human resource strategy is an elaborate and systematic plan of action developed by a human resource

department. This definition tells us that an HR strategy includes detailed pathways to implement HRM strategic

plans and HR plans. Think of the HRM strategic plan as the major objectives the organization wants to achieve,

and the HR plan as the specific activities carried out to achieve the strategic plan. In other words, the strategic

plan may include long-term goals, while the HR plan may include short-term objectives that are tied to the overall

30 Human Resource Management

strategic plan. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, human resource departments in the past were called

personnel departments. This term implies that the department provided “support” for the rest of the organization.

Companies now understand that the human side of the business is the most important asset in any business

(especially in this global economy), and therefore HR has much more importance than it did twenty years ago.

While personnel management mostly involved activities surrounding the hiring process and legal compliance,

human resources involves much more, including strategic planning, which is the focus of this chapter. The Ulrich

HR model, a common way to look at HRM strategic planning, provides an overall view of the role of HRM in

the organization. His model is said to have started the movement that changed the view of HR; no longer merely

a functional area, HR became more of a partnership within the organization. While his model has changed over

the years, the current model looks at alignment of HR activities with the overall global business strategy to form

a strategic partnership (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005). His newly revised model looks at five main areas of HR:

1. Strategic partner. Partnership with the entire organization to ensure alignment of the HR function

with the needs of the organization.

2. Change agent. The skill to anticipate and respond to change within the HR function, but as a company

as a whole.

3. Administrative expert and functional expert. The ability to understand and implement policies,

procedures, and processes that relate to the HR strategic plan.

4. Human capital developer. Means to develop talent that is projected to be needed in the future.

5. Employee advocate. Works for employees currently within the organization.

According to Ulrich (Ulrich, 2011), implementation of this model must happen with an understanding of the

overall company objectives, problems, challenges, and opportunities. For example, the HR professional must

understand the dynamic nature of the HRM environment, such as changes in labor markets, company culture and

values, customers, shareholders, and the economy. Once this occurs, HR can determine how best to meet the needs

of the organization within these five main areas.

Figure 2.1

2.1 Strategic Planning 31

To be successful in writing an HRM strategic plan, one must understand the dynamic external environment.

HRM as a Strategic Component of the Business

” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om-QOUNeWtM” class=”replaced-iframe”>(click to see video)

David Ulrich discusses the importance of bringing HR to the table in strategic planning.

Keeping the Ulrich model in mind, consider these four aspects when creating a good HRM strategic plan:

1. Make it applicable. Often people spend an inordinate amount of time developing plans, but the plans

sit in a file somewhere and are never actually used. A good strategic plan should be the guiding

principles for the HRM function. It should be reviewed and changed as aspects of the business change.

Involvement of all members in the HR department (if it’s a larger department) and communication

among everyone within the department will make the plan better.

2. Be a strategic partner. Alignment of corporate values in the HRM strategic plan should be a major

32 Human Resource Management

objective of the plan. In addition, the HRM strategic plan should be aligned with the mission and

objectives of the organization as a whole. For example, if the mission of the organization is to promote

social responsibility, then the HRM strategic plan should address this in the hiring criteria.

3. Involve people. An HRM strategic plan cannot be written alone. The plan should involve everyone in

the organization. For example, as the plan develops, the HR manager should meet with various people

in departments and find out what skills the best employees have. Then the HR manager can make sure

the people recruited and interviewed have similar qualities as the best people already doing the job. In

addition, the HR manager will likely want to meet with the financial department and executives who

do the budgeting, so they can determine human resource needs and recruit the right number of people

at the right times. In addition, once the HR department determines what is needed, communicating a

plan can gain positive feedback that ensures the plan is aligned with the business objectives.

4. Understand how technology can be used. Organizations oftentimes do not have the money or the

inclination to research software and find budget-friendly options for implementation. People are

sometimes nervous about new technology. However, the best organizations are those that embrace

technology and find the right technology uses for their businesses. There are thousands of HRM

software options that can make the HRM processes faster, easier, and more effective. Good strategic

plans address this aspect.

HR managers know the business and therefore know the needs of the business and can develop a plan to meet

those needs. They also stay on top of current events, so they know what is happening globally that could affect

their strategic plan. If they find out, for example, that an economic downturn is looming, they will adjust their

strategic plan. In other words, the strategic plan needs to be a living document, one that changes as the business

and the world changes.

Figure 2.2

2.1 Strategic Planning 33

A good HRM strategic plan acknowledges and addresses the use of software in HRM operations.

Howard Russell – Lefroy House – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Human Resource Recall

Have you ever looked at your organization’s strategic plan? What areas does the plan address?

The Steps to Strategic Plan Creation

As we addressed in Section 2.1.2 “The Steps to Strategic Plan Creation”, HRM strategic plans must have several

elements to be successful. There should be a distinction made here: the HRM strategic plan is different from the

HR plan. Think of the HRM strategic plan as the major objectives the organization wants to achieve, while the

HR plan consists of the detailed plans to ensure the strategic plan is achieved. Oftentimes the strategic plan is

viewed as just another report that must be written. Rather than jumping in and writing it without much thought, it

is best to give the plan careful consideration.

The goal of Section 2 “Conduct a Strategic Analysis” is to provide you with some basic elements to consider and

research before writing any HRM plans.

34 Human Resource Management

Conduct a Strategic Analysis

A strategic analysis looks at three aspects of the individual HRM department:

1. Understanding of the company mission and values. It is impossible to plan for HRM if one does

not know the values and missions of the organization. As we have already addressed in this chapter,

it is imperative for the HR manager to align department objectives with organizational objectives. It is

worthwhile to sit down with company executives, management, and supervisors to make sure you have

a good understanding of the company mission and values.

Another important aspect is the understanding of the organizational life cycle. You may have learned

about the life cycle in marketing or other business classes, and this applies to HRM, too. An

organizational life cycle refers to the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline of the organization,

which can vary over time. For example, when the organization first begins, it is in the introduction

phase, and a different staffing, compensation, training, and labor/employee relations strategy may be

necessary to align HRM with the organization’s goals. This might be opposed to an organization that is

struggling to stay in business and is in the decline phase. That same organization, however, can create

a new product, for example, which might again put the organization in the growth phase. Table 2.2

“Lifecycle Stages and HRM Strategy” explains some of the strategies that may be different depending

on the organizational life cycle.

2. Understanding of the HRM department mission and values. HRM departments must develop their

own departmental mission and values. These guiding principles for the department will change as

the company’s overall mission and values change. Often the mission statement is a list of what the

department does, which is less of a strategic approach. Brainstorming about HR goals, values, and

priorities is a good way to start. The mission statement should express how an organization’s human

resources help that organization meet the business goals. A poor mission statement might read as

follows: “The human resource department at Techno, Inc. provides resources to hiring managers and

develops compensation plans and other services to assist the employees of our company.”

A strategic statement that expresses how human resources help the organization might read as follows:

“HR’s responsibility is to ensure that our human resources are more talented and motivated than our

competitors’, giving us a competitive advantage. This will be achieved by monitoring our turnover rates,