Human Resources

Module 8
LIS 580: Spring 2006
Instructor- Michael Crandall

Roadmap

The Human Resources environment

The Human Resources management
process
Recruiting
Interviewing
Training
Disciplining
Legal and ethical concerns
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Human Resources (HR)

Management
Human Resources (HR) Management
The management function devoted to
acquiring, training, appraising, and
compensating employees.

Strategic Human Resource

Management
The linking of the human resource function
with the companys strategies to
accomplish that strategy.
G.Dessler, 2003

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WorkUSA 2002 & Malden Mills

WorkUSA 2002 study showed:
Trust levels dropping within organizations
HR functions emphasizing effectiveness of
employees key to increased trust.
Less than half of employees say businesses
manage changes well.
Communication is miserable, especially related to
pay.
Employees dont get linkage between corporate
strategy and their jobs.
Linkage of performance rewards to business goals
is not effective.

How is Malden Mills different?

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The Human Resources

Management Environment

Prentice Hall, 2002

April 20, 2006

LIS580- Spring 2006

The Basic HR Process

FIGURE 91
G.Dessler, 2003

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Personnel Planning

The process by which management ensures

it has the right number and kinds of people in
the right places at the right time, who are
capable of helping the organization achieve
its goals
Steps in the planning process:
1. Assessing current human resources
2. Assessing future human resources needs and
developing a program to meet those needs
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Steps in the Recruitment and

Selection (staffing) Process

FIGURE 92
G.Dessler, 2003

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Management Personnel Replacement Chart

FIGURE 95
G.Dessler, 2003

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Writing Job Descriptions And

Recruiting Employees
Staffing
Filling a firms open positions; also, the
personnel process that includes six steps:

job analysis
personnel planning
recruiting
interviewing
testing and selection
training and development
G.Dessler, 2003

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Job Analysis
Job Analysis
The procedure used to determine the duties of
particular jobs and the kinds of people (in terms of
skills and experience) who should be hired for
them.

Job Specification
The human qualifications in terms of traits, skills,
and experiences required to accomplish a job.

Job Description
A document that identifies a particular job, provides
a brief job summary, and lists specific
responsibilities and duties of the job.
G.Dessler, 2003

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Checklist 9.1
Job Analysis Questions

What is the job being performed?

What are the major duties of your position?

What exactly do you do?

What are the education, experience, skill, and

[where applicable] certification and licensing
requirements?

In what activities do you participate now?

What are the jobs responsibilities and duties?

What are the basic accountabilities or

performance standards that typify your work?
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Checklist 9.1 (contd)

Job Analysis Questions
What are your responsibilities?
What are the environmental and
working conditions involved?
What are the jobs physical demands?
Its emotional and mental demands?
What are the health and safety
conditions?
Does the job expose you to any
hazards or unusual working
conditions?
G.Dessler, 2003

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Employee Recruiting
Recruiting
Attracting a pool of viable job applicants.

G.Dessler, 2003

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Sources of Recruits

Current employees
Advertising
The Internet
Employment agencies

College recruiting
Recruiting for a
diverse workforce

Public
Private

Contingent workers
and temporary help
agencies
Executive recruiters
Employee referrals
Walk-ins
G.Dessler, 2003

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Testing for Employee Selection

Uses of Tests
Reliability (repeatability of test results)
Validity (measures what it purports to measure)

Types of Tests

Intelligence
Mechanical comprehension
Personality and interests
Ability/achievement (current
capabilities/knowledge)
Aptitude (performance potential)
Management assessment center
G.Dessler, 2003

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Conducting Effective Interviews

Plan the interview

Structure the interview
Establish rapport
Ask effective questions
Delay your decision
Close the interview

G.Dessler, 2003

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Guidelines for Interviewees

Prepare
Make a good first impression
Uncover the interviewers needs
Relate your answers to the interviewers
needs
Think before answering
Watch your nonverbal behavior
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Potential Biases in Interviews

Prior knowledge about the applicant will bias
the interviewers evaluation
The interviewer tends to hold a stereotype of
what represents a good applicant
The interviewer tends to favor applicants who
share his or her own attitudes
The order in which applicants are interviewed
will influence evaluations
The order in which information is elicited
during the interview will influence evaluations
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Potential Biases in Interviews

(contd)
Negative information is given unduly high weight
The interviewer may make a decision concerning the
applicants suitability within the first four or five
minutes of the interview
The interviewer may forget much of the interviews
content within minutes after its conclusion
The interview is most valid in determining an
applicants intelligence, level of motivation, and
interpersonal skills
Structured and well-organized interviews are more
reliable than unstructured and unorganized ones
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Orienting Employees
Orientation
The introduction of a new employee to the
job and the organization

Objectives of orientation
To reduce the initial anxiety all new
employees feel as they begin a new job
To familiarize new employees with the job,
the work unit, and the organization as a
whole
To facilitate the outsiderinsider transition
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Training Employees
Training Program
The process of providing new employees
with information they need to do their jobs
satisfactorily.

Training Program Steps

Needs analysis
Instructional design
Validation
Implementation
Evaluation and follow-up
G.Dessler, 2003

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Employee Training
What and Why?
Changing skills, knowledge, attitudes, or behavior.
Changing what employees know, how they work; or their
attitudes toward their jobs, co-workers, managers, and the
organization

On-the-Job Training Methods

Job rotation
Understudy assignments

Off-the-Job Training Methods

Classroom lectures
Films and videos
Simulation exercises
Vestibule training
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Determining if Training Is Needed

Prentice Hall, 2002

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Performance Management
and Measurement
Performance management system
A process of establishing performance standards
and evaluating performance in order to arrive at
objective human resource decisions and to provide
documentation to support personnel actions

Adjective rating scales

Rating an individual on each job performance
factor on an incremental scale

360-degree appraisal
An appraisal device that seeks feedback from a
variety of sources for the person being rated
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Performance Management
and Measurement (cont.)
Group-order ranking
Requires the evaluator to place employees into a particular
classification such as top fifth or second fifth

Individual ranking approach

Requires the evaluator merely to list the employees in order
from highest to lowest

Paired comparison approach

Each employee is compared with every other employee in the
comparison group and rated as either the superior or weaker
member of the pair
Each employee is assigned a summary ranking based on the
number of superior scores achieved

MBO
Employees are evaluated by how well they accomplish a
specific set of objectives determined to be critical in the
successful completion of their jobs
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Performance Appraisal Form

Source: Gary Dessler,

Human Resource
Management, 9th ed. (Upper
Saddle River, NJ: PrenticeHall, 2000), p.90.

April 20, 2006

FIGURE 913
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Checklist 9.5
How to Conduct the Appraisal Interview
Prepare for the interview.
Be direct and specific.
Dont get personal.
Encourage the person to talk.
Dont tiptoe around.
G.Dessler, 2003

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When Performance Falls Short

Performance impediments
Mismatched skills
Inadequate training
Employees personal problems

Discipline
Actions taken by a manager to enforce an
organizations standards and regulations

Employee counseling
A process designed to help employees
overcome performance-related problems
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Jack Stack and Scott Berkun

What does Stack point out about the problems with
most performance reviews?
How does he use his reviews to help his staff improve
performance?
Stack is a CEO, reviewing high-level directors. How
do you think his approach would work at lower levels
of the organization?
He doesnt file any paperwork or other documentation.
Do you see any issues with this in the long term?
What does Berkun see as the main job of a manager?
How does Berkuns advice compare with Stacks
approach?

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Compensation And Benefits

Compensation administration
Determining a cost-effective pay structure that will
attract and retain competent employees, provide
an incentive for them to work hard, and ensure that
pay levels will be perceived as fair

Factors influencing pay levels

Employees job
Kind of business
Environment surrounding the job
Geographic location
Employee performance levels and seniority
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Types of Employee Benefits

Social Security
Workers and unemployment
compensations
Paid time off from work
Life and disability insurance
Retirement programs
Health insurance
Non-financial rewards designed to
enrich employees lives
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Discipline and Grievances

FRACT Model
A multi-step procedure for assessing the
need for discipline:

Get the Facts

Find the Reason
Audit the records
Pinpoint Consequences
Identify the Type of infraction.

G.Dessler, 2003

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Discipline and Grievances

(contd)
Discipline without Punishment
A multistage disciplinary technique that uses oral
reminders of the violated rule; then written
reminders; followed by a paid one-day leave; and
finally, if the behavior is not corrected, dismissal.

Grievance
A complaint that an employee
lodges against an employer,
usually one regarding wages,
hours, or some condition of
employment, such as unfair
supervisory behavior.
G.Dessler, 2003

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Checklist 9.6
Guidelines for Disciplining an Employee
Make sure the evidence supports the charge.
Protect the employees due process rights.
Warn the employee of the disciplinary
consequences.
The rule allegedly violated should be
reasonably related to the efficient and safe
operation of the work environment.
Fairly and adequately investigate the matter.
Be sure there is substantial evidence of
misconduct.
G.Dessler, 2003

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Checklist 9.6 (contd)

Guidelines for Disciplining an Employee
Apply rules, orders, or penalties evenhandedly.
Make sure the penalty is reasonably related to
the misconduct and to the employees past
work history.
Maintain the employees right to counsel.
Dont rob your subordinate of his or her
dignity.
Remember that the burden of proof is on you.
Get the facts. Dont base your decision on
hearsay or general impression.
Dont act while angry.
G.Dessler, 2003

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Summary of Important Equal

Employment Opportunity Legislation

Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights

Act, as amended
Executive orders
Federal agency guidelines
Supreme court decisions:
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.,
Albemarle v. Moody

Equal Pay Act of 1967

Age Discrimination in
Employment Act of 1967
State and local laws
Vocational Rehabilitation
Act of 1973

Pregnancy Discrimination
Act of 1978
Vietnam Era Veterans
Readjustment Assistance
Act of 1974
Wards Cove v. Antonio;
Patterson v. McLean Credit
Union
Morton v. Wilks
Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990
Civil Rights Act of 1991

Source: Gary Dessler, Human Resource Management, 7th

ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2000), p.52.

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Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action
A legislated requirement that employers
make an extra effort to hire and promote
those in a protected (women or minority)
group.

G.Dessler, 2003

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Improving Workforce Diversity

Widen the recruiting net to broaden the
pool of applicants
Ensure the selection process is
nondiscriminatory
Assist new employees in assimilating
into the firms culture
Conduct specialized orientations and
workshops for new employees
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Diversity as Policy
What do these statistics point out about
the current state of diversity in our
organizations?
Have you seen evidence of this in your
own work?
Why is marketing seen as so important
in encouraging diversity? Do you
agree?
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LaborManagement Relations
NorrisLaGuardia Act
Guarantees each employee the right to bargain with
employers for union benefits.

Wagner Act
Outlaws unfair labor practices such as employers interfering
with, restraining, or coercing employees who are exercising
their legally sanctioned rights of organizing themselves into a
union.

The TaftHartley Act

Prohibits unfair labor practices by unions against employers
(like refusing to bargain with the employer).

The Landrum-Griffin Act

Protects union members from unfair practices perpetrated
against them by their unions.
G.Dessler, 2003

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Layoffs and Downsizing

Layoff-survivor sickness
The set of attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of
employees who remain after involuntary staff
reductions

Dealing with the Survivor Syndrome

Provide opportunities for employees to talk to
counselors about their guilt, anger, and anxiety
Provide group discussions for the survivors to vent
their feelings
Implement employee participation programs such
as empowerment and self-managed work teams
Prentice Hall, 2002

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Next Time
Guest Lecturer: Cara Wilson from
Teams and Leaders
Well be looking at some practical cases of
organizational dynamics, and some
techniques consultants use to examine
and change them
Read the assigned article for some ideas
for questions, and bring your own from the
past weeks readings and discussions
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