Submitted to: Submitted by:

Azizinder Sekhon Alisha Garg

Lecturer MBA-1(B)

School of Management Studies

Punjabi University, Patiala
1. March 26, 2010
 Applicant Claims Bias When Not Called for
Interview
When a job applicant was not called for an interview, she claimed that race and gender
discrimination, as well as retaliation for a former lawsuit, were the reasons. A federal district
court in Pennsylvania recently examined all of her claims.

What happened. “Jillian,” an African-American woman, applied to the City of Pittsburgh

department of emergency medicine services for a job as a paramedic. The job application
asked if she had ever sued anyone. Jillian noted a lawsuit she had brought against a former
employer, Transcare. In that case, which was ultimately settled, Transcare had claimed that
Jillian was terminated for failing to follow protocol on the job, but Jillian claimed she was
terminated for attempting to unionize co-workers. Jillian also answered questions on the job
application for the City about her previous bankruptcy.

The person in charge of hiring contacted Jillian’s former employers and co-workers and
received negative recommendations and comments about her performance. The City did not
contact Jillian for an interview. Jillian claimed this was because of racial and gender
discrimination, and retaliation for bringing the former complaint against Transcare. Jillian
argued that the City had hired other male and white female employees with similar credit and
legal histories.

What the court said. The court denied the City’s motion for summary judgment, stating
that there are material facts in the case still to be decided. The court specifically noted an e-
mail between City employees involved in hiring paramedics, stating that Jillian should not be
interviewed or hired because of her credit problems and former lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Jillian produced evidence that the initial reason she was given for not being hired
was because of her “criminal background check” (even though Jillian had no criminal
record). She claimed that after she filed a charge of discrimination, the City provided new
reasons for not hiring her—namely her past work history and negative recommendations.
These inconsistencies were enough to raise genuine questions as to whether the City’s stated
reasons for not interviewing Jillian were pretext for discrimination. Salisbury v. City of
Pittsburgh, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, No. 2:08-cv-00125
(2/23/10).

Point to remember: In this case, one of the City’s problems was an e-mail sent about the
applicant’s former lawsuit. To prove retaliation, Jillian has to show that she engaged in
protected activity, she suffered an adverse action, and that there was a connection between
the two. Train supervisors regarding the wide range of actions that may be considered
retaliatory to avoid these types of situations.
 2. How HR Works To Get The Job Done
Human Resources is just what it says: resources for humans – within the workplace! Its main
objective is to meet the organizational needs of the company it represents and the needs of the
people hired by that company. In short, it is the hub of the organization serving as a liaison
between all concerned. Depending on the size of the company, the HR Department might be
called Personnel with a manageable workforce that can be handled by a personnel manager
and a small staff. For larger, more complex organizations with hundreds of departments and
divisions, the task is much more demanding, taking on a life of its own.

Some companies have more than one HR Department - Corporate and Union. For example, a
food service industry might have a Corporate HR Department that oversees “white collared”
employees and an HR Department that oversees the “blue collar” workforce with an
emphasis on labour relations. With such diverse needs, the organization will institute these
two HR Departments to manage the unique needs of both union and non-union employees.
Some of the many core functions of the Human Resources function involve the following:
Organizational Development: To ensure its success, a company must establish a hierarchal
reporting system. Picture an organizational chart with boxes representing each position
starting at the top with the first and single-most important being the highest-ranking role.
Following the lines, more boxes are branched off to define each department head and their
direct reports. As the company expands, so will this chart. The funnel of responsibility is
critical to the efficiency of a smoothly operating business entity in which there is a clearly
defined understanding of who is responsible for what. This is what HR does for a company.
They provide consultation to a company’s management team to identify what the company’s
core business and culture is about, and proceeds to plan and map the company’s
organizational infrastructure to support those needs.

Employee Recruitment and Selection Process:

There are many steps to recruiting and selecting qualified employees. First, a department
head must inform the HR manager of an opening in their department. Then the HR manager
must obtain the job description to formulate a Job Description Sheet for publication either
internally, publicly, or both. Then HR must field the (many) responses to that job
announcement to weed out the qualified from the unqualified applicants. Once that is
completed, the interview process must be coordinated. This is a full time job! If one job ad
generates 80 responses, there’s a good chance that only 10 applicants are highly qualified for
the position. If the department’s hiring manager were to interview the other 70 less-than-
qualified applicants, their department would come to a complete standstill because there
would be no time for anything else! That’s where HR, a.k.a. Fort Knox, comes in. They
prepare the job description, contact the newspaper, run the ad, field the calls, faxes, and
emails, compile a list of potential candidates from dozens of in-coming resumes, submit their
list of potential candidates to the department’s hiring manager for approval and selection,
contact the chosen candidates to set up preliminary interviews, and interview the candidates!
Yes, that’s right. Preliminary interviews! Although most interviews are with the hiring
manager or their associates, not all applicants get to meet with the department’s hiring
manager right away. It is not uncommon for a company to filter out those who fail to impress
the HR manager first. For those select few who make it through, the HR manager schedules
interviews between the department’s hiring manager and potential candidates, and follows up
with the hiring process to establish the new hire with the company. Not unlike the screening
process for American Idol, a job seeker needs to perform their best to impress the “judges.”
Employee Training & Development: As a company and the requirements of a position
evolve, a company needs to take certain measures to ensure a highly skilled workforce is in
place. The Human Resources Department oversees the skills development of company’s
workforce, acting as an in-house training centre to coordinate training programs either on-
site, off-site, or in the field. This might include on-going company training, outside training
seminars, or even college, in which case an employee will receive tuition reimbursement
upon earning a passing grade.

Employee Compensation Benefits:

This covers salaries, bonuses, vacation pay, sick leave pay, Workers’ Compensation, and
insurance policies such as medical, dental, life, and 401k. The Human Resources Department
is responsible for developing and administering a benefits compensation system that serves as
an incentive to ensure the recruitment and detainment of top talent that will stay on with the
company. When an employee is hired, the company’s Benefits Coordinator is required to
meet with employees one-on-one or in small group settings to explain their benefits package.
This often requires an employee to make an informed decision and to provide their signature
for processing purposes.

Employee Relations:
With the increased rise in unethical practices and misbehaviours taking place in today’s
workplace such as age, gender, race, and religion discrimination and sexual harassment, there
needs to be mandatory compliance with governing rules and regulations to ensure fair
treatment of employees. In short, employees need to know they have a place to turn when a
supervisor abuses his or her authority in anyway. Whether corporate or union, the HR
Department will get involved to act as arbitrator and liaison between legal entities, regulatory
agencies such as Human Rights, supervisors (who might be falsely accused), and employees
to properly address and resolve the issue at hand.

Policy Formulation:

Regardless of the organization’s size, company policies and procedures must be established
to ensure order in the workplace. These policies and procedures are put in place to provide
each employee with an understanding of what is expected of them. Similarly, these policies
and procedural guidelines will assist hiring managers in evaluating their employee’s
performance. These policies can be established company-wide or used to define each
department’s function. It is Human Resource’s responsibility to collaborate with department
managers on the formulation of these policies and regulations to ensure a cohesive
organization. A common practice is the development and implementation of an Employee
Procedure Manual or Employee Handbook that is either distributed to each employee at the
time of hire or a master copy allocated one to a department.
HRIS – Human Resources Information Systems:

To keep track of the vast amount of data, a human resources department must have a good
HRIS in place to automate many functions such as planning and tracking costs, monitoring
and evaluating productivity levels, and the storing and processing of employee records such
as payroll, benefits, and personnel files.

It is very important that you, the job seeker, understand how the HR function works –
specifically in the area of candidate recruitment. If you are considering a career in human
resources, you can choose to become a Generalist or a Specialist. Some titles include HR
Manager, HR Recruiter, HR Administrator, Payroll Coordinator or Assistant, PeopleSoft HR
Project Manager, Benefits Administrator or Coordinator, Labour Relations, Training
Coordinator, HRIS Specialist and HR Consultant.

Whether a job seeker or a HR professional, research a company well before applying for a
position.
 
Written By - Ann Baehr
 3. Essential Recruitment Tool - Campus Recruitment
Campus Recruitment is one of the most common and widely used recruitment methods for
hiring the best and most suitable talent while still in college. Most colleges have a designated
College Recruitment season during which time recruiters from various Companies visit
specialized colleges and meet students with an intern to screen, interview and select talented
individuals to join their Company.

Job websites like 123oye.com are quite popular with students and working professionals who
visit the website to know more detailed Co Information.

Entry Level Hiring: Most campus recruiters interview college students with an aim of
filling up entry level positions in various departments.

Long Term Benefits: Such early association with suitable candidates can also open up
avenues for hiring individuals who may go a long way with the current Company.

The Placement Cell: Most colleges have a placement cell that takes care of campus
recruitment as well as other aspects of hiring and job opportunities. Start by familiarizing
yourself with the Placement Cell and its people. Enquire and get importance information
about -

How students prefer to collect Co information, upcoming college events, what is the best
method of getting co information across to students, student groups etc.

Other resources to tap include -

Faculty: Involve teachers who may be teaching vocational subjects or are involved with the
placement cell.

Alumni: Alumni often prove to be useful and effective counsellors for those students who
are about to pass out and graduate from college.

Internships: Offer Internship opportunities to screen potential candidates.

 4. Corporate Culture and Change Management
Saifulla Khan

Media Catalyst

Every organization has its own unique culture or value set. Most organizations don't
consciously try to create a certain culture. The culture of the organization is typically created
unconsciously, based on the values of the top management or the founders of an organization.
The importance of corporate culture is growing as the result of several recent developments.
Companies are encouraging employees to be more responsible and act and think like owners.
In exchange for more flexible work schedules, employees are expected to always be "on-
call." With the demise of more traditional communities (e.g. neighborhoods, etc.), companies
are filling employees' need to belong to a community. At the same time companies are
encouraging teamwork and the formation of teams.

Culture plays a vital role. Leaders must learn to harness the positive aspects of a culture in the
change efforts. Culture is much like the water in an aquarium. While it is largely invisible, its
chemistry and life-supporting qualities profoundly affect its inhabitants. An organization
requiring transformation is like an aquarium polluted by too many algae, and requires
restoration. Leaders effecting an organizational transformation must understand the vital role
that corporate culture plays in any change efforts. The biggest problem with such a task is
that the most powerful individuals stand to lose the most. Often, they will resist the changes
necessary to move ahead in order to avoid losing power.

Corporate culture can help in bringing about change in the following ways:

Provide the key to mastering change. - Corporate culture is an ever-evolving process

and invariably it is a part of change that takes place in an organization. Corporate culture if
implemented properly will help in Mastering change so that whatever the change may be, it
can be incorporated into the organization without creating any huge difficulties / neglect from
employees.

Build new standards of communication that get better results - Agreement on

beliefs and values facilitates communication. If Management wants to connect with all of
their staff, they need to combine three styles of effective communication: emotional, factual,
and symbolic. These can be built into the corporate culture, thus making it a part of the
organization itself.

Create greater customer satisfaction - Customer satisfaction has become the most
important aspect of any service industry; corporate culture can help you by preparing you to
give the customer what they must have i.e. build a communication that allows your people to
succeed and increase the speed and value of organizational learning.

Cooperation between employees - Shared values may enhance goodwill and mutual
trust, encouraging cooperation. This will help in any new implementation, as there would be
a coordinated and collective effort from all.
Decision-making - Shared beliefs and values lead to more efficient decision making since
there are fewer disagreements about which premises should prevail.

Employee Commitment - Strong cultures foster strong identification and feelings

through beliefs and value the employee can share with others. This would help the company
accommodate change or implement anything new keeping in mind that they have a set of
committed employees. Therefore they need not worry about attrition as a result of any change
that may be implemented.

Corporate behaviour - Culture helps organization members make sense of their

behaviour by providing justification for it. This would enable a smooth implementation of
any change that might be proposed.

In the end we need to keep in mind that corporate culture could be used as a perfectly crafted
tool to implement any change. A good corporate culture will by all means help in change and
a perfect implementation would fasten and ease the change implementation that is required.

So, while practice may never make perfect when it comes to organizational change,
understanding and managing corporate culture can influence the final outcome of your
change efforts.
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