Strategic Human Capital Leadership

Strategic Employee Selection, Employee

Motivation, and Productive Work
Environments
 Introduction
Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D.
Visiting Fulbright Scholar
Belarusian State University
School of Business and Management of Technology MBA Program

Assistant Professor of Management, Woodbury School of Business

Email: jon.westover@gmail.com; jonathan.westover@uvu.edu

About Me: about.me/jonathan.h.westover
 What we will Cover
This session will address the following 3 topics:
• Proven best practices and principles of effective employee
selection with a focus on effective interviewing and an
application of the “Moneyball” approach to strategically
meeting your organization’s staffing needs.
• Proven best practices and principles of employee motivation
with a focus on how to leverage employee capacity to
optimize workplace potential and overall firm success.
• Proven best practices and principles of productive work
environments with a focus on creating a high performance
work culture.
 What we will Cover—Cont.
We will:
1. Identify the elements of the selection process and define ways to measure the
success of the selection method.
2. Describe the "Moneyball" Strategy for HR and Hiring Managers
3. Discuss how to conduct effective interviews.
4. Explain the importance of human capital maximization.
5. Identify approaches to designing a job to make it more motivating.
6. Explain how dissatisfaction affects employee behavior and firm performance.
7. Describe how organizations contribute to employees’ job satisfaction and
retaining key employees.
8. Define high-performance work systems, conditions to create such a system, and
summarize the outcomes of a high-performance work system.
9. Explain how human resource management can contribute to high performance
and the purposes of performance management systems.
10. Explain how to provide performance feedback effectively and summarize ways to
produce improvement in unsatisfactory performance.
Self-Assessment: How Are We Doing?
–We are confident that:
1. We consistently attract the best available talent to fill our human
capital needs.
2. We know who our most talented performers are and that we hire
“like talent.”
3. We have a handle on future needs for leadership and an
outstanding strategy for filling these needs.
4. All of our employee’s job assignments “fit” their unique talents and
skill sets.
5. Employee turn-over is low, particularly with our best people.
6. Morale is high and that our people are happy in their jobs.
Self-Assessment: How Are We Doing?
–We are confident that:
7. We know the dreams and aspirations of our people and have
developed career planning tools to match these desires with
opportunities for development.
8. We have put in place strategies whereby we will lose fewer of our
talented people this year than we did last year.
9. We know where strategic improvements are needed and we ARE
making them.
10.We have a performance appraisal system that is both accurate and
fair.
11.When our best employees choose to leave, our exit evaluation
process identifies with great clarity why we suffered this loss.
12.Our middle management supervisors possess the skills required to
develop the people entrusted to them and have earned the trust of
those they serve.
 The Challenge of Utilizing Human
Capital
• How can I get the right people into
the right job?
• How can I reduce employee
turnover?
• How can I improve my
performance management
process?
• How can I create a high-
engagement work culture?
• How can I best tap the full
potential of my employees?
Maximizing Your Human Capital
Potential
 Personnel Selection
• Personnel Selection: the process through which organizations make
decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization.
• Selection begins with the candidates identified through recruitment.
• It attempts to reduce their number to the individuals best qualified to
perform available jobs.
• It ends with the selected individuals placed in jobs with the organization.
Criteria for Measuring the Effectiveness of
Selection Tools and Methods
“Moneyball”—Asking all the Wrong
Questions
“Moneyball”—A New Way of Thinking
 "Moneyball" Implications
for Managers

What they did:

• Billy Beane also used statistics to identify the
talents that really made the difference in
winning.
• He selected players based on hidden talents
and their talent "fit" within the ballplayer's
roster.
 "Moneyball" Implications
for Managers
What you need to do:
• Managers who seek to fill their bench with talent need to first understand
the talents of their current staff.
• Next, they need to evaluate what talent they need to do the job and
accomplish the goals.
• Then, they should look at the difference between the talent and skills they
have and the talent they need.
• They can also assess what talents, skills, and other characteristics helped
employees work effectively in the roles in the past. Then, they need to find
the players who fill their gaps.
• This is the secret to hiring a superior workforce. It is not always the
individual player who must shine on your staff. The individual player must
bring your organization the skills and characteristics that are keeping you
from hitting your home run.
• What is your key element that your not looking at that could predict a
successful hire?
The Legacy of “Moneyball”
 The Legacy of “Moneyball”
• Global giants like IBM, Amazon and Google have
already begun importing predictive performance
analytics to manage their human capital portfolios.
• Judgment and personal experience will matter less.
Statistical context will matter more.
• Smarter and savvier employers are going to look for
ways to get more useful and useable value from the
data their employees are generating anyway.
• Harvard Business Review: “How Companies Will
Googlefy Your Career”
 "Moneyball" Implications
for Managers—What will you do?

• How does the “Moneyball” approach apply to

your organization?
• Which concepts do you think are most helpful
and what are the first steps to implementing
them?
• What can you do immediately to start making
a difference?
 Interviewing Effectively
1. Be prepared and take good notes
2. Assign responsibilities
Credentials
3. Start with a warm-up phase; Put the Experience
applicant at ease
4. Ask about past behaviors (use probing Skills & Knowledge
questions and behavioral questions Self Image
appropriately)
5. Be a good listener Traits
6. Figure out what your employees Motives & Values
do, and ask questions that look for
similar behaviors
7. At the end of the interview, make sure
the candidate knows what to expect
next
 Competency Examples

• Problem Solving: Defines Problems and causes; Applies Problem Solving

Techniques
• Tenacity: Ability to persevere over an extended period of time, overcoming
significant obstacles to achieve an objective.
• Interpersonal Sensitivity: Accurately interprets others feelings and attitudes;
Effective listener
• Efficiency Orientation: Concern for getting things done with a minimal use
of time, money, and resources; Awareness of cost v. benefits, and able to
find ways to do things more quickly and easily at a lower cost.
• Analytical Thinking: Analytical Thinking; Ability to break down complex
problems, identify causes and develop recommendations.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to analyze an organization’s
strengths, weaknesses, and competitive position in the marketplace and to
develop strategies based on a long term future perspective.
• Flexibility: Adapts to situations or assignments; ability to alter plans
• Influence: Ability to develop and use effective strategies to gain others’
support and commitment.
• Customer Oriented: Takes the perspective of the customers in planning and
decision making. Seeks the suggestions and feedback of customers;
Anticipates and is assertively responsive to their needs.
• Initiative/Results Orientation: Originates action; Finds ways to get things
done.
 Competency Examples
• Self Control: Shows grace under pressure; the ability to keep ones emotions
under control in difficult circumstances
• Detail Orientation: The ability to keep track of significant amounts of
information and logistics; Does the little things well; Does error-free work.
• Judgment: Maturity in decision-making; a sense for the appropriate in work
situations; professionalism
• Self Confidence: Belief in one’s own ability to accomplish a task and select an
effective approach to a task or problem; Willingness to trust one’s
independent judgment.
• Directing Others: Ability to use one’s position in an effective way to enforce
rules, confront performance issues, set boundaries for behavior or tell others
what they must do.
• Calculated Risk Taking: Able to weigh the costs, possible benefits, and
likelihood of success of a course of action and to commit oneself to that
course of action.
• Motivating Others: The ability to motivate people individually or in groups by
actions such encouraging people, giving recognition, creating symbols of
group identity and using group meetings to inspire and instill pride in the
work unit.
• Teamwork: Effective at Working in team situations.
• Customer Responsiveness: Responds well to internal/external customer
needs.
• Global Thinking: Makes the effort to learn about and modifies behavior in
other cultures; Is able to conduct business effectively in other cultures.
 Competency Questions
1. Tell me about a time in your work when you needed to show leadership (initiative, strategic
thinking, influence skills etc...)
2. Tell me about a time when you were asked questions to which you did not have answers.
3. Has there ever been a time when you challenged a policy or procedure?
4. Tell me about a time when you had difficulty with a team member. Why do you think that
was?
5. Give me a specific example of a time when an employee objected to an assignment you
asked her to do. How did you handle the situation?
6. Describe your responsibilities when it comes to…
7. Describe the most challenging aspects of your responsibilities in …
8. Tell me some things you did to…
9. Tell me about your role in implementing…
10. Describe how you …
11. You said ‘we.’ What did you do specifically?
 Effective Interviewing
—What will you do?

• How do these principles of effective

interviewing apply to your organization?
• Which concepts do you think are most helpful
and what are the first steps to implementing
them?
• What can you do immediately to start making
a difference?
Approaches to Job Design
 Designing Jobs That Motivate:
The Job Characteristics Model
1. Skill variety – the extent to which a job requires a variety of
skills to carry out the tasks involved.
2. Task identity – the degree to which a job requires
completing a “whole” piece of work from beginning to end.
3. Task significance – the extent to which the job has an
important impact on the lives of other people.
4. Autonomy – the degree to which the job allows an
individual to make decisions about the way work will be
carried out.
5. Feedback - the extent to which a person receives clear
information about performance effectiveness from the
work itself.
Characteristics of a Motivating Job
The Truth about Motivation
 The Truth about Motivation

Mastery
Autonomy
 Job Withdrawal and Dissatisfaction
Job withdrawal – a set of behaviors with which employees try to
avoid the work situation physically, mentally, or emotionally.
 Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction – a pleasant feeling resulting from the perception that one’s job
fulfills or allows for the fulfillment of one’s important job values. The three
important components are: (1) Values, (2) Perceptions, and (3) Ideas of what is
important
 Employee Empowerment
• Employee Empowerment – Giving employees responsibility and
authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product
development or customer service.
• Employee Engagement – Full involvement in one’s work and
commitment to one’s job and company. This is associated with higher
productivity, better customer service, lower employee turnover
Pike’s Place Fish Market
 Pike’s Place Fish Market

1. Play
2. Make Their Day
3. Be There
4. Choose Your Attitude
 Designing Motivating and
Empowering Jobs—What will you do?

• How do these principles of designing jobs that

are both motivating and empowering apply to
your organization?
• Which concepts do you think are most helpful
and what are the first steps to implementing
them?
• What can you do immediately to start making
a difference?
The Importance of Effective
Performance Management
 Performance Management

• Performance management: Stages of the Performance

the process through which Management Process
managers ensure that
employees’ activities and
outputs contribute to the
organization’s goals.
• This process requires:
– Knowing what activities and
outputs are desired
– Observing whether they occur
– Providing feedback to help
employees meet expectations
Performance Management
 Basic Approaches to
Performance Measurement
Performance Management Done Right
 Types of Performance Measurement
Rating Errors
• Contrast errors: the rater compares an individual, not against an
objective standard, but against other employees.
• Distributional errors: the rater tends to use only one part of a
rating scale.
– Leniency: the reviewer rates everyone near the top
– Strictness: the rater favors lower rankings
– Central tendency: the rater puts everyone near the middle of the scale
• Rater bias: raters often let their opinion of one quality color
their opinion of others.
– Halo error: when the bias is in a favorable direction. This can mistakenly tell
employees they don’t need to improve in any area.
– Horns error: when the bias involves negative ratings. This can cause employees
to feel frustrated and defensive.
Principles of Justice
 Progressive Discipline

Hot-Stove Rule Progressive Discipline

Principle of discipline that says
discipline should be like a hot
stove, giving clear warning and
following up with
consistent, objective, and
immediate consequences.
A formal discipline process in
which the consequences become
more serious if the employee
repeats the offense.
Improving Performance
Outcomes of a High-Performance
Work System
 Key Features of Learning
Organizations
1. Continuous learning – each employee’s and each group’s ongoing
efforts to gather information and apply the information to their
decisions.
2. Knowledge is shared – one challenge is to shift the focus of training
away from teaching skills and toward a broader focus on generating
and sharing knowledge.
3. Critical, systemic thinking – is widespread and occurs when
employees are encouraged to see relationships among ideas and
think in new ways.
4. Learning culture – a culture in which learning is
rewarded, promoted, and supported by managers and organizational
objectives.
5. Employees are valued – the organization recognizes that employees
are the source of its knowledge. It therefore focuses on ensuring the
development and well-being of each employee.
 High Performance Work Culture
—What will you do?

• How do these principles of performance

management and creating a high performance
work culture apply to your organization?
• Which concepts do you think are most helpful
and what are the first steps to implementing
them?
• What can you do immediately to start making
a difference?
 QUESTIONS?
Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D.
Visiting Fulbright Scholar
Belarusian State University
School of Business and Management of Technology MBA Program

Assistant Professor of Management, Woodbury School of Business

Email: jon.westover@gmail.com; jonathan.westover@uvu.edu

About Me: about.me/jonathan.h.westover