Exam 1- Chapter 1 - 4 Review Notes by Troy Shu Week 5

Chapter 1: The World of Human Resources Management

·Why study HRM:
1.People (human resources) are the essential resource of all organizations.
2.These human resources create organizational innovations and accomplishments.
3.Organizational success depends upon careful attention to human resources.

·Definition of HRM:
The process of managing human talent to achieve organization’s objectives.

·Group of HRM activities:

1.Planning Human Resources.
2.Attracting Human Resources.
3.Placing, Developing, and Evaluating.
4.Motivating Employees.
5.Maintaining High Performance.

·ORGANIZATION of human resource management:

1. Small organization:
- a separate and small HR department.
- DUTIES: Maintaining employee record & Recruiting.
- report to a middle manager.
2. Large organization:
- the department become more important and complex.
- DUTIES: Employment, Compensation and Training & Development etc.
- report directly to the chief operating officer.
3. Service role of HR department:
- Develop and Utilize the talents of employees to their greatest potential.

·CHALLENGES of human resource management:

1. Economic:
- Surviving a Recessionary Cycle.
- Global Trade Challenge.
- Challenge of Productivity Improvement.
2. Technological:
- Computerization.
- Automation (自自自).
3. Demographic Trends:
- Increasing number of women in the workforce.
- Shift toward knowledge workers.
- Educational attainment of workers.
- Employment of older workers.
- More part-time, contract and contingent workers.
4. Cultural:

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Exam 1- Chapter 1 - 4 Review Notes by Troy Shu Week 5

- Work related attitudes.

- Ethic diversity.
- Attitudes toward governments. (Reduced faith in government)
5. Legal

*Critical Thinking:
A firm has requested your assistance in ensuring that their multigenerational workforce functions
effectively as a team. What strategies and/or programs would you recommend? Why?
In a word, we need different strategies to motivate the multigenerational people.
1. For Young people:
Interested in change and challenge. (new)
2. For Middle-aged people:
Need flexibility work time. (for their priorities such as dependent children, aging parents)
3. For the aged people:
Provide recognition for them.
After they all happy to work, as a result, we can easily set up many different group activities such
as sports, picnic and concert to develop the connections among them. But make sure that these
activities are best related to the culture and interest of the coworkers. Consequently, every single
person could work effectively and collaboratively and the productivity in the workforce could be
improved.

Chapter 2: Strategy and Human Resources Planning

·Steps in formulating strategies:
*Strategies is a fundamental business decision that an organization has made in order to achieve
its strategic objectives.
1. Organizational Mission & Value.
2. Environmental Analysis.
(Porter Five Forces)
- Competitive Rivalry within an industry.
- Bargaining power of supplier.
- Bargaining power of customers.
- Threat of new entrants.
- Threat of substitute products.
3. Internal Analysis.
Internal analysis is the systematic evaluation of the key internal features of an organization.
Internal resources: Human, Financial, Physical, Technological, Informational.
4. Choice of Strategies.
- Business strategy: Differentiation (Focus on offering unique goods or services) & Lowest cost
(Focus on being lowest cost producer/seller of goods or services)

5. Implementation. (自自自自自)
Mckinsey 7S: Strategy, Structure, Systems, Staff, Style, Skills, Superordinate goals.
6. Review & Evaluation.
Rumelt’s Criteria:

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Exam 1- Chapter 1 - 4 Review Notes by Troy Shu Week 5

-Consistency. (自自自自自自自)
-Consonance. (自自自自自)
-Feasibility. (自自自自自自自)
-Advantage.

·Human Resource Planning:

1. Definition of HR planning: Systematically forecasts an organization’s future demand for and
supply of employees and matches the supply with demand.

2. Strategic importance of HR planning:

- Achieve economies in hiring new workers.
- Anticipate (自自自自自) and aviod staff shortages/surpluses. (自自)
- Control/reduce labour costs.
IF the HR planning is inadequate (自自自自自自自自自):
- inefficiencies. (vacant positions)
- higher cost. (mass layoffs requiring severance pay)
- reduce morale and productivity. (simultaneous[自自] layoff and hiring)
- inability. (can’t meet operational and strategic plans).

3. Processes in HR planning:

4. Forecasting Future HR Needs:

for Human Resource:Internal Workforce
HR Needs
Causes of damand
-External: Economic developments, Social-political legal challenges, Technological
changes, Competitors.
- Organizational (Internal): Strategic plan, Budgets, Sales & production forecasts,
HR Gap
New ventures(自自自), Orgnizational & job design.

Methods:
-Expert Forecasts: Informal and instant decisions & Formal expert survey.
HR Action Plan
-Trend Projection Forecasts: Trend analysis, Indexation (ratio[自自] analysis) &
Statistical analysis.

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-Other Forecasting methods: Budget and Planning analysis, New venture

analysis(making comparisons to firms with similar operations), & Computer-
based simulation models(multiple factors).

5. Forecasting Future HR supply:

The supply of Human Resources:
-External supply estimates: Labour market analysis, Community attitudes,
Demographic trends.
-Internal supply estimates: Skills inventories(自自自自), Management inventories(自 自自
自自自), Replacement charts & summaries, and Transition matrices(自自自 自) &
Markov analysis(自自自自自自自)

Methods:
-Markov analysis: tracking the pattern of employee movements through various jobs
and developing a transitional probability matrix(自自自自自).
-Skills/Management Inventories:
Summary of each employee’s education, experience, interest, skills & for
managers, also includes managerial responsibilities, duties in current/previous
positions, management training.
-Replacement Charts/Summaries

*Dealing with a Labour Surplus:

Hiring freeze, attrition, early retirement, reducing work hours, more umemployment benefits, stop
severance package(自自自自自), layoffs.
*Dealing with a Labour Shortage:
Overtime, hiring temporary employees, subcontracting work(自 work 自自), external recruitment,
transfers, promotions.

*Critical Thinking:
1. Suppose human resource planners estimate that several technological innovations indicates that
your firm will need 25 percent fewer employee in three years. What actions would you take today?
I think I would take both short-term and long-term actions to deal with this kind of problem. In the
short-term, I will first freeze hiring and use attrition. After that, I will reduce the overtime or part-
time works. If it is necessary, layoff could be one of my choices that I will take. By rating the
employee’s performance, I will probably fire some low-performing employees. In the long-term, I
will change the retirement programs so that some of the aged employees will retire earlier. In this
way, I can reduce the amount of employees effectively.

Chapter 3: Meeting Legal Requirement and Diversity Management

·The legal framwork for employment law.
Canada’s Employment Law Framework:
1. Multiple Legal Jurisdictions for Employment/Labour Law.
-Provincial/territorial(自自自自自自自) laws govern 90% of workers.
-federal laws(自自自自) govern 10% of workers in federal civil service(自自自自自), Crown(自自)

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corporations and agencies, transportation, banking, communications...

2.Multiple Layers of Canadian Legislation Affecting Workplace Practice.

For general population:
-Canadian Charter (自自自自自) of Rights and Freedom.
-Human Rights Legislation.
-Employment Standard Legislation.
-Ordinary Laws.
-Collective Bargaining(自自自自自自自自自自) Agreement.
-Employment Contract.

·Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

For specific employees and employers:
-Freedom of conscience and religion.
-Freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and
other media of communication.
-Freedom of peaceful assembly(自自).
-Freedom of association.
-Section 15-equality rights-provides the basis for human rights legislation

·Human Rights Legislation.

-Based on Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
-Affecting almost all aspects of HRM.
-Superseding (自自自自自) the terms of any employment contract and collective agreement.

1. Discrimination: distinction, exclusion (自自自自自自自), preference based on a prohibited ground

nullifies(自自自自自自自) or impairs(自自自自自) an employee’s rights to:
-Full and equal recognition.
-Exercise of human rights and freedoms.

Prohibited Ground of Discrimination: race, colour, age, sex, marital/family status,

religion/Creed(自自自自自), physical and mental handicap(自自自自自), ethnic/national origin.

Types of Discrimination Prohibited:

-Intentional: direct, differential/unequal treatment, indirect, based on association.
-Unintentional(constructive/systemic): apparently neutral policies have adverse(自自自自自自自)
impact on protected groups.

Examples of Systemic Discrimination:

-Minimum height and weight requirement.
-Internal hiring policies that have not embrace(自自) diversity.
-Culturally biased or non-job-related employment test.
-Limited accessibility to company premises.
-Job evaluation systems that are not gender-neutral.

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-Lack of harassment policy or guidelines.

Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR):

-a justifiable reason for discrimination.
-based on business necessity for safe and efficient operations.
-intrinsically(自自自自自) required by job tasks.

2. Harassment: includes unwelcome behaviour that demeans(自自自), humiliates(自自), or

embarrasses a person and that a reasonable person should have known would be unwelcome.

Harassment Policies:
1. Have a clear workplace harassment policy.
2. Provide company-wide harassment training.
3. Require signed documentation of: receipt of harassment training & familiarity with harassment
policy
4. Investigate all harassment complaints thoroughly.
5. Consider all relevant factors before taking reason: when harassment is proven & when a false
allegation of harassment is filed
6. Provide support/counseling for harassment victims.
7. Monitor the workplace for signs of harassment.
8. Retaliation(自自自自自) against complainant is a criminal offence.

·Enforcement and Remedies

1. Enforcement:
Canadian Human Rights Commission and provential/territory commissions: deal with complaints
concerning discriminatory practices.

2. Remedies:
-Compensation for: lost wages, general damages and expenses, pain and humiliation.
-Restoration of rights denied.
-Written letter of apology.
-Mandatory(自自自) training sessions/workshops.
-Required employment equity program.

Employment Equity:
-based on Charter of Rights.
-proclaimed in 1987, amended in 1995.
-protects women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, aboriginal people: removes
employment barriers & promotes equality.

Implementation Steps of Employment Equity Program:

Exhibit commitment(自自自自) & Appoint(自自) director, Publicize Commitment, Survey the
workforce, Develop goals & timetables, Design specific programs, Implementation.

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·Employment/Labour Standards Legislation.

-Provides minimum entitlements for employees: minimum wage, holidays and vacation,
maternity/parental leave.
-Provides maximum obligations(自自自自自). Eg: hours of work.
-Requires equal pay for equal work (male and female workers)

*What should HR professionals do?

-Obey the law
-Ensure all policies and rules account for legal aspects.
-Follow employment equity requirements
-Be a good corporate citizen
-Training

·Diversity Management.
1. Definition:
Diversity: Human characteristics that make people different from one another.

2. Strategic Importance of Diversity Management:

Changing Workforce, Importance of Human Capital, Diversity as a Competitive Advantage,
Increasing Role of Work Teams.

3. Current Industry Practices:

-Diversity Training Program: Awareness training & Skill-building training.
-Mentoring Program: Senior manager provides guidance & Formal or informal.
-Alternate Work Arrangements: Non-traditional work arrangements & Provide more flexibility to
employees.
-Career Development: Pay attention to each
Job
individual,
Analysis Rely on older employees’ experience,
& Career development dialogues.
-Support Groups: Provides emotional support & Group shares a common attribute(自自自自自).
-Communication Standards: Formal internal protocols(自自) & Eliminate biases in
communication.

Chapter 4: Job Analysis and Design

·Job Analysis:
JobDescripti
1. Definition: The process of obtaining(自自)onsSpecifica
information about jobs by determining the duties,
tasks, or activities of jobs. tions
* Job analysis terminology:
-Job specification: A statement of the needed knowledge, skills and abilities of the person who
is to perform the job.
-Job description: A statement of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job to be perfomed.

2. Why Need Job Analysis: HR activities rely on job analysis.

Training,
JobEvaluatio
Recruitment LabourRelat Developmen
n –Wage and Performance
And 7 ions/Legal t,
HR Planning Salary Appraisal Job Design
Selection Compliance Career
Decisions
Mgmt
Exam 1- Chapter 1 - 4 Review Notes by Troy Shu Week 5

3. Steps in Job Analysis:

-Phase 1: Preparation for Job Analysis.
Familiarize, Determine uses of job analysis information, Identify jobs to be analyzed.
-Phase 2: Gathering Job Analysis Information. (Data)
What information is needed, Methods for data collection.

What Data is need:

-Data related to job: Job identification & Job content.
Job identification: title, department in which job is located, number of people who hold job.
Job content: tasks, activities, performance criteria, critical incidents, working conditions,
roles.
-Data related to employee: Employee characteristics.
Employee characteristics: professional/tech knowledge, manual skills, verbal skills, written
skills, quantitative skills, mechanical skills, conceptual skills, managerial skills, leadership
skills, interpersonal skills.

Methods of Data Collection:

-Conventional Methods: Interviews, Questionnaires, Observation, Participant Diary/Log
-Quantitative Methods: Website questionnaires with statistical analysis.
Eg: *National Occupational Classification (NOC) :
-reference tool for writing job descriptions/specifications.
-complied by the federal goverment.
-for 30,000 occupations, provides: standardized job descriptions & job requirements
-Career Handbook counseling component (自自,自自).

Recommendation:
-Use more than one approach.
-Use several job incumbents (自自自自自).
-Use multiple raters (自自自自自自).

-Phase 3: Use of Job Analysis Information.

Job description, Job specification, Job design.

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Job description: Provides an outline of the essential functions, major duties, and accountabilities
(自自) of a job.
-Job identification (job title).
-Job summary.
-Essential functions.
-Job specification section.
-Working conditions (physical environment).

Job specification: Competency-based approaches growing in popularity.

*Guideline for Writing A Job Description (including job specifications) :

-Be clear and brief.
-indicates scope of authority.
-Be specific, use action verb sentences
-Include the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAOs) required of an employee to do the job.
-Qualifications must be justifiable(自自自自自自自自), particularly education and experience.
Problems with job analysis and job description:
-Job Analysis that is neither updated nor reviewed.
-Job description or specification that is too vague (自自自,自自自自).
-Time and costs of job analysis.

Writing Job Description/Specification of Human Rights Issues:

-Job descriptions are not legally required (but advisable).
-Clearly identify essential job duties (must accommodate disabilities).
-Knowledge, skills, and abilities should be the sole (自自自自自自自) criteria for decisions regarding:
selection, promotions and transfers, training.

·Job Design:
1. Definition: An outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs through technological and human
considerations to enhance organization efficiency and employee job satisfaction.

2.Key Considerations in Job Design:

-Organizational Considerations:
Objective, Efficiency, and Workflow
-Ergonomic Considerations:
Consider the physical relationship between the worker and the work.
Fitting the task to the worker rather than forcing employees to adapt to the task.
Can lead to significant improvement: efficiency and productivity & workplace safety.
-Employee Behaviour Considerations:
Autonomy, Variety, Task Identity, Feedback, Task Significance.
-Industrial Engineering Considerations.
-Environmental Considerations.
Workforce Availability: Abilities and availability of people to do the work.

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Social Expectations: Expectations of society and workers.

Work Practices: Set ways of performing work.
*Other Job Design:
1. Designing Work for Groups and Teams.
-Employee Involvement Groups (EIs) : Group of employees who meet to resolve problems or
offer suggestions for organizational improvement.
-Also known as quality circles (QCs)
-Success with EIs requires: Comprehensive training, Recognition, Continuing input &
encouragement, Participative/Democratic leadership style.
-Benefits: Increased individual skills, Better solutions, Reduced delivery time, Reduced turnover
and absenteeism, Accomplishments among team members.

2. Flexible Work Schedules.

-Compressed Workweek: less days in the workweek, more working hours per day.
-Flextime: Employee choose daily starting and quitting times, but work a set number of
hours.
-Job sharing: one job, two part-time employees instead of one full-time employee.
-Telecommuting: To do work in the home by using of PC, network, and fax machines etc.

Short Answer Questions

List the methods to forecast human resource needs.
Answer:
(Pg.4)
1. Expert Forecasts: Informal and instant decisions & Formal expert survey.
2. Trend Projection Forecasts: Trend analysis, Indexation (ratio[自自] analysis) &
Statistical analysis.
3. Other Forecasting methods: Budget and Planning analysis, New venture
analysis(making comparisons to firms with similar operations), & Computer-
based simulation models(multiple factors).

Why is HR planning important

Answer:
(pg.3)
Because HR planning systematically forecast the organization’s future demand for
and supply of employees and match the supply with demand. A successful HR
planning could achieve economies in hiring new workers, anticipate and avoid staff
shortages or surpluses, and reduce labour costs. Otherwise, if the HR planning is
inadequate, it may cause inefficiency, higher cost, and reduce morale and productivity
for the organizations. Most importantly, a inadequate HR planning cannot meet the
operational and strategic plans of the organization which would cause inability in the
workforce.

Why isn't it always desirable or appropriate to use job enrichment or include the
five core dimensions when designing jobs? How would you determine how

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enriched an individual employee’s job should be?

Answer:
Job enrichment programs are more successful in some jobs and settings than in others.
1. Moreover, not all employees want additional responsibility and challenge of
enriched jobs or those including the five core dimensions. Some people prefer
routine(常常,常常常常) jobs and may resist job redesign efforts.
2. In addition, job redesign efforts almost always fail when employees lack the
physical or mental skills, abilities, or education needed to perform the job.
3. Furthermore, neither approach will correct job dissatisfaction problems related to
inequitable compensation, inadequate benefits, or lack of job security.
-Unions have sometimes resisted job enrichment, fearing that management will
expect Workers to take on more responsibility and challenge without additional
compensation.
-Managers, fearing a loss of authority and control, or worried about possible
elimination of supervisory jobs, have also been sources of resistance.

The strength of the linkage among job characteristics, psychological states, and work
outcomes is determined by the intensity(自自自自) of an individual employee's need for
growth. Thus, the key to determining how enriched an individual employee’s job
should be is assessing the intensity of his or her need and desire for growth. For
individuals with high growth needs, enriched jobs or those including the five core
dimensions lead to high internal motivation, high-quality work performance,
high satisfaction with their work, and low turnover and absenteeism

3. Assume that you are the job analyst at a bicycle manufacturing company in
British Columbia, and have been assigned responsibility for preparing job
descriptions (including specifications) for all of the supervisory and managerial
positions. One of the production managers has just indicated that he will not
complete the job analysis questionnaire you have developed. (a) How would you
handle this situation? (b) What arguments would you use to attempt to persuade
him to change his mind? (c) If your persuasion efforts failed, how would you go
about obtaining the job analysis information you require to develop the job
description for his position?
Answer:
(a) I would try to discover the cause of his resistance. If it is simply a matter of not
understanding the importance of this information and/or the reasons why it is being
collected, providing additional information may be advantageous. Perhaps he is
confusing this process with some type of “efficiency evaluation.” In such case,
explaining that job analysis is the procedure firms use to determine the tasks, duties,
and responsibilities of each job, and the human attributes (in terms of knowledge,
skills, and abilities) required to perform it (page 93), may be all that is required to
overcome his resistance. If that tactic failed, I would seek advice from my boss, since
he or she might have additional hints regarding how this situation should be handled.
Presumably, completing the questionnaire has the support of senior management and

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is required of all employees. Perhaps an explanation from the HR Manager would

overcome the production manager’s resistance.
(b) Arguments to attempt to persuade him to change his mind include:
First of all, job analysis is the cornerstone of a wide range of HRM activities. It is
used to develop job descriptions and job specifications. Having accurate information
about jobs and their human requirements is essential for legal compliance in a number
of areas. For example:
Human Resources Planning,
Recruitment and Selection,
Compensation,
Performance Appraisal,
Training, Development, and Career Management,
Job Design.
(c) If all of my efforts at persuasion and those of the HR Manager failed, with the
permission of my boss and support of senior management, I would use observation or
the PAQ technique. Since his job likely involves a fair number of unmeasurable
mental activities, and some important activities that might occur only occasionally,
my preference would be PAQ.

4. Since the top job in a firm (such as president, executive director, or CEO) is by
nature broader in scope than any of the other jobs, is there less need for a job
description for the president? Why or why not?
Answer:
While it is true that the job descriptions for lower-level positions tend to include more
detailed explanations of duties and tasks, job descriptions are equally critical for
senior management positions, including president or CEO. Such descriptions tend to
include broader responsibility statements, rather than an outline of specific tasks.
Having a job description and job specifications for the most senior-level position are
absolutely essential for HR planning, recruitment and selection, compensation,
performance appraisal, and succession planning purposes. Even the most senior-level
person is accountable to others, such as a board or stockholders. Shareholder activism
is combining with other changes to tighten up the restrictions on what firms pay their
top executives, thus increasing the importance of having a job description. Further,
boards of directors must disclose how they make executive compensation decisions,
and hence must act responsibly in reviewing and setting executive pay. That includes
determining the key performance requirements of the executive’s job; assessing the
appropriateness of the firm’s current compensation practices; conducting a pay-for-
performance survey; and testing shareholder acceptance of the board’s pay proposals.

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