HRM Book
HRM Book
HRM Book
Qualification
Table of Contents
Part 1
Introduction to HRM 7
Chapter 1: The HRM Framework
Introduction 8
Concept of HRM 8
Main components of the HRM system 10
Chapter 2: Role of HRM in Financial institutions
Introduction 12
Need for Human Resource Department (HRD) and HR
Management in Banks 13 Building efficiency in Banks
With The Help of HRM Human Resource Management
In Practice 14
Chapter 3: Global View of HRM
Introduction 19
What is The Global Village? 19
Workforce Diversity 21
The Implications for HRM 21
Changing Skills Requirements 22
Corporate Downsizing 23
The Rationale Behind Downsizing 24
The HRM Implications 26
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Part 2
Functions of HRM 25
Chapter 1: Functions of HRM Introduction 28 Selection
and Placement 28 Performance Appraisals 28
Compensation and Benefits 29 Training and
Development 30 Employee and Labor Relations 31
Safety and Health 31 Human Resource Research 31
:f Contents
14
Introduction 49
How HR Programs Save Money 50
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Part 4
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131
130
Pricing Jobs
Incentives and Gain
133
Sharing
139
Gainsharing Approaches
Chapter 4: Employee Relations and Assessment
Employee Relations ChaI lenges 142 UnionManagement Relations Introduction 152 Labor Unions
and HR Management 154
Why Are Unions Formed?
158
Management
164
Part 5
HRM Challenges
Chapter 1: Workplace Diversity
Workplace
Diversity
173
Employee
Engagement
174
Talent
Management
Succession planning
177
181
"3Die of Contents
197
211
233
Part 1
Introduction to HRM
e ^r is Part
Introduction
Need for Human Resource Department (HRD) and HR
Management in Banks
Building efficiency in Banks With The Help of HRM
Human Resource Management In Practice
Introduction
What is The Global Village?
Workforce Diversity
The Implications for HRM
Changing Skills Requirements
Corporate Downsizing
The Rationale Behind Downsizing
The HRM Implications
Part 1
Chapter 1
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Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
*
List and briefly explain five most important components of the HRM
framework
Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the organization and control of a firms employees. An
organizations success is dependent on the effective management of its human resources. For success, it
is prudent that personnel policies and procedures of the firm are in line with and contribute greatly to
the achievement of the firms corporate goals and strategic plans.
A companys culture, values, its environment and managerial behavior
stemming from its culture affect the firms operational excellence greatly.
Therefore, an organizations culture and values must be revised, reinforced,
improved and implemented to achieve excellence, with the efforts of every
member of the firm from top to bottom. HRM involves integration where
every member of the organization works to achieve a common goal.
Concept of HRM
HRM is an approach that manages, develops, trains and motivates an organizations human resource. It
creates a proper corporate culture, ensures the companys success and brings out programs reflecting
the organizations core principles. HRM is proactive and believes in immediate actions in handling
employee relation problems and other tasks that come under HRM (recruitment, training). Manpower
planning, performance appraisal, selection, salary administration, management development and other
personnel management related functions are included in the implementation techniques of HRM and
will be executed through special programs designed to improve communication system, commitment
and productivity.
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it the work and the employee practices required for performing that work.
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HRM is not solely about the Human resources, but the management of
people and their work, thus committing to managing people in both collective
and individual basis. Traditional personnel management is non-strategic,
short-term, reactive, separate from business and constricted by its limited
dealings with mostly unionized or low level employees. HRM being more
preventive focuses on the development of -* people and their expertise
w^hile traditional personnel function being
curative only focuses on personnel management.
HRM, with its differentiating role of strategic management, attempts to ^ fulfill
and carry out the functions traditional personnel management
Jf does not. Structures and roles like performance appraisal, potentiality appraisal and
development, career planning, training and development, organization
development, research and systems development, rewards, employee welfare
and quality of work life, industrial relations, and
human resource information are integrated into one major super set of HRM. Under HRM, the
following major assumptions are taken into account, which are different from traditional approach of
personnel management:
1.
cooperation,
and
collaboration
among
different
groups
of
individuals,
open
communication, and most importantly, incorporation of the goals of the organization with the needs
of the employees.
2. Top management takes the initiating step for HRM, devises crucial procedures and tactics and
finally creates an environment required for the implementation of those plans.
MaijLComponents
The HRM System
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Staffing/recruitment strategy provides a structure that ensures that the right staff is available at the right
place in the right quantity and follows the organizations strategic priorities. It ensures that the workforce
hired is suitable, competent and possesses the skills required according to the needs of the organization.
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Part 1
Chapter 2
Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
Explain how the role of HRM in a financial institution differs from its
role in other organizations
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Introduction As Human Resources represent the wealth of a country, they are the most
important natural resource for the economy and play a vital role in the
banking system. For a bank to be successful, efficient Human Resource
Management is essential. Human Resource Management is the employment
of
human
resources
with
proper
strategic
selection,
training
and
development.
Due to the major overall transformations in the world economy and in the
financial structure of economies, since rgyos, a large change has been seen in
the w'avs banks contend, shape their corporations and administer their
human resources. Banks, based on the new situation now' are revising its role.
The financial sector in various countries is now analyzing with deregulation
and liberalization, a collection of external and internal forces causing the
competition of the sector to build up, thus causing rivalry in the sector.
The essential reformation in the division of labor and the latest stress on the
decentralization of functions and administrative responsibilities are some of
the demands created by the pressures of external forces of change and the
means with which financial functions are presented to customers. Therefore,
it is generally observed that banks all around the world invest more in HRM
problems and school the employees to commence a wide range of errands,
especially the employees more inclined towards service delivery aiming to
provide their clients a high quality service to satisfy their needs.
The external forces of change have resulted in a classical response of
geographic and customer segment specialization. Bringing into lime light the
concept of specialization, external pressures have led to the weakening of the
liaisons' financial role. Currently, the major decision that the banks face today
is the choice between universal banking and specialization. Due to these
developments, large finance firms have gone
through some changes in their rankings country wise and globally- taking
into consideration both the performance and turnover. On the other hand, in
certain situations the major players of a market remain the same but their
position in the significant markets have drastically changed.
HRM is an approach that manages, develops, trains and motivates an
organization's human resource. It creates a proper corporate culture, ensures
the companys success and brings out programs reflecting the organizations
core principles. HRM is proactive and believes in immediate actions in
handling employee relation problems and other tasks that come under HRM
(recruitment,
training).
Manpower
planning,
performance
appraisal,
For the growth and competitive performance of a firm, it is necessary that its
HR department functions efficiently, especially in case of banks.
Following are the reasons why the need of an effective HRD is of vital
importance for banks:
Due to the increasing new entries of private sector banks in the financial
market and the emerging global developments, the banking pattern has gone
through various qualitative changes thus making it prudent for banks to
recruit, train and organize people at all the stages of an organization for a
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more effective performance and success. This function is what HRD is all
about and is derived from HRM.
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Recently, the political scenario and situation has drastically changed, causing
the banking industry to anticipate heavy changes in the near future. After all
the mergers and amalgamations, only a few banks will be left behind in the
banking sector. This change will not only be seen in the Pakistani market but
also in the world market having a global affect.
For banks. Human Resource Management has become a crucial need due to
the emergence of new private banks, disintermediation, competition and selfdirection in supervision of banking.
Building Efficiency
attitudes among people working in the banks, especially the frontline staff
Help of HRM
and employees of the branches of the bank, are some of the most essential
factors for triumphant banking.
Building efficiency in banks through HRM is achievable by bringing in
disciplines
like
technology,
law,
operations,
foreign
exchange,
Human Resource
Management In
Practice
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First, Human Resource Management should be derived from the vision, mission
statement and Strategy andflowfrom the business plan of the organization. In
absence of such integration and flow there is bound to be a tension between the
achievement of business objectives and optimal utilization of human resources.
In the SBP, the vision. mission statement, values and business plan were
formulated collectively through a bottom-up approach. This has led to
f/ie assumption of the ownership of the change program by the rank and file,
thus improving the chances of successful implementation of the new Human
Resource policies and programs.
Second, the management responsibilities for Human Resource management in
SBP have been given to a group of highly motivated and qualified HR
professionals. The practice of manning these departments with rejects from the
core departments have done a great deal of disservice to the nurturing of human
resources. We have, therefore, brought in experts from outside to assist us,
train the younger officers in the tools and techniques of HR management and
also strengthened the department by attracting the talent from the core
departments. The respectability and acceptance of this department by the staff
will reinforce credibility in the system.
Third, the attraction, retention and motivation of high caliber persons are key to
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success. SBP recruits 50 young men and women from all over Pakistan out of
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level managers and professionals such as Chartered Accountants have also been
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inducted in the organization. New skills for which there is emerging demand are
appointed on fixed-term contracts and external advisers and consultants are hired for
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short durations to set up systems and train the staff. The retention and motivation of
the staff is a difficult challenge as the market offers higher remuneration to those who
have acquired experience at the SBP.
Fourth, a process of continuous trainine and skill up-eradation has been put in place whereby all
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so far been sent abroad for overseas training, attachment, study tours,
seminars, etc. On their return, each participant is expected to share and disseminate his learning
with the larger group to which he/she belongs. Liberal policies for study leave, deputation, advanced
degree courses encourage the staff to acquire knowledge and keep themselves abreast of
developments in their professional fields.
Fifth, the Performance Management System (PMS) has been completely revamped incorporating a
competencies based model in which achievements, behavior, professional growth and assessment of
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potential are the essential ingredients for measuring uejformance and career progression
path. The \p appraisal is carried out by two supervisors on the basis of an objective scoring
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model and the findings aredfsafssed with the staff member. The PMS is utilized
for the individuals development plan in which the training needs are identified
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and planned.
Sixth, the compensation policies have been revised to reflect the comparator norms and
align closely with the market practices. Although as a public sector
organization, we cannot pay as much as the private sector does, the relative security and prestige
of thinking at the Central Bank do, to some extent, make up the shortfall. A reward and recognition
system has also been put in place which ranges from a simple thank you note to a monetary reward
for innovative ideas, product development and process re-engineering.
Seventh, a pro-active succession-planning program has been introduced under which managerial
jobs are internally posted and applicants are screened, interviewed and short-listed. Those who
make the final list are sent for on-the- job training, rotational assignment and managerial training.
The successful candidates from this process are then given management positions. This plan is
essential for preparing the managers of the future.
Eighth, the SBP has a severance package for early retirement that allows the individuals to exit the
organization with full monetary benefits. This package enables us to recharge the organization
with new skills that are needed and to let go those whose skills are no longer in demand. This
continuous rebalancing of skills will keep the organization in good shape in responding to new
challenges.
Ninth, an HR audit was carried out by an externaljconsulting firm under which job descriptions
were prepared for each job describing the content and competencies required. This was followed by
the preparation of an inventory of skills present in the SBP. Jobs and skills were matched and
mismatches identified. .4 rotation policy has attempted to reduce these mismatches but a more
aggressive policy can result in disruption of the Banks business and operational activities.
Tenth, each organization has to develop and practice its own value system. The SBP staff has
adopted integrity, trust, teamwork, openness, courage, commitment to excellence and problem
solving approach as its rallies and each staff member is committed to practice these values in every
day work. But for these values to sink in, the top leadership has to demonstrate the role model
behavior which can than be followed down the line. If there is a disconnect between the values and
behavior of the Head of the organization. the results are an abandonment of the value system by
the staff and reversal of the change process.
Eleventh, it is incumbent upon the head of the organization to keep in touch with the staff on the
shop floor and communicate with them at regular intervals. I meet with the staff of every
department each quarter, listen to their problems, issues, grievances, suggestions and respond to
their questions, concerns and reservations. I try to explain to them the rationale and logic behind
the decisions taken or policies adopted. At the same time, any staff member can send me an email
or come and see me. The easy accessibility of the top leader to the ordinary staff member, even if it
is not used, reinforces confidence and trust in the organization. Internal stakeholder surveys are
conducted every year to ascertain the views of the staff members in a more systematic manner.
Twelfth, we have delegated powers to various tiers of the organization and institutionalized
decision-making process. A Corporate Management Team (CMT), with the Governor as its
Chairman, meets every Monday morning, considers and makes decisions on policy matters and the
minutes of the Meeting are posted on the internal electronic notice board for the information of all
staff. Similarly, Group Management Teams and Departmental Management Teams act as the
collective decision making vehicles at the lower tiers. Individual discretion has, therefore, been
curtailed and consensus building given more scope.
Thirteenth, regular monitoring of policy implementation, business plans and other decisions taken
by the organization does provide a strong feedback to the managers and enables them to take
corrective actions. The CMT meets at six-monthly intervals to monitor the progress in the
implementation of business plans while the CMT and Heads of Departments meet once a month. A
Change Management Conference is held every year at which the managers take stock of the
progress and set the goals for the next year.
Fourteenth, the use of information technology across the spectrum has improved the efficiency of
our operations. There was no PC with any of our staff members in /999- Today, we have at least
Soo workstations with desktops. E-mailing and access to internet, use of website and electronic
data have become the ordinary tools of business. When data warehousing is completed, the banks
will no longer have to send thousands of pages of reports and returns to the SBP. Data acquisition
will be done electronically and the required variables will be downgradedf rom the data marts to
generate the reports. The real time on-line surveillance of banks will improve the enforcement
capability of SBP and detect weaknesses and variances promptly.
Finally, we had to remodel our offices to upgrade the physical environment in which the staff
spends most of their day. Almost all the floors of the SBP will be remodeled by end of December this
year. The staff who has occupied the new floors report that their morale has gone up and they
eagerly look forward to coming to work.
The above cataloging of changes that have been introduced in the last few years, by no means,
suggests that we have reached the state of perfection. We have a long way to go in changing the
organizational culture that is strongly entrenched in history and traditions but the human beings
are quite rational in thinking and approach. /15 long as they are convinced that the change is in
their larger interest the resistance breaks down and a slow and gradual movement begins. This
Case Study of SBP shows that, contrary to the popular belief that
the public sector organizations are hard to turn around, it is possible to bring about transformation
- structural and behavioral - provided there is a broad- ftased ownership.
We would like the human resource practitioners to look at the SBP and make suggestions as to how
we can do a better job.'
All over the world, organizations arc going through immense operational
changes. The most common changes experienced are deregulation,
internationalization and the prevailing use of information technology.
-
What is The Due fo increasing multinational and transnational corporations, new Global
7
programs
for
employees
stems
from
the
language
19
prudent that the message is understood completely thus ensuing the necessity
of learning the required languages. When employing a person apt in communication, it must be made
sure that he\she can speak and understand the required foreign languages for effective N global
r
skills
for
job
is
they understand and know the culture of the host-country. This is highly
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issues,
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^. 1 taboos, their rules, regulations and how their society functions in order
y \ to comfortably work in that environment. This training would help
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n/.- resource managers must understand how the host country would react to
these mobile emplovees.
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groups
h The final point related to globalization stems from the following idea.
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is not enough. Companies like Engro Corporation, Pfizer, and Hewlett- Packard to eradicate this
problem are hiring nationals of the countries in which they operate. The one benefit this has is the
readymade supply
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language. Another benefit is the spillover effect through training as individuals from different
backgrounds work together, learning JN differences between themselves and their cultures. In
compliance to this strategy, managers need to be taught flexibility as they will have to deal with
workers from different nationalities, race, colors and cultures etc; this will help them to keep a
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flexible attitude and ways of dealing w ith staff Thus training managers to recognize differences in
workers and celebrate, acknowledge those differences according to the workers many
requirements based on different cultural backgrounds, customs, and work schedules. A positive
outcome can be achieved through compulsive training for identifying these differences and
changing the way managers think about people unlike themselves.
Forty years back, human resource management was a simple task considering
the available homogenous workforce available at that time. Human resource
management was then a simple task of getting the employees in the door,
signing them up, informing them about the uniform benefit program and
workforce
Diversity
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The rigorous government policies related to employment
discrimination
are the major cause of the changes that occurred in the workforce. These laws
resulted in a path to open up for minorities, females and immigrants. Since
then, these groups have taken up the majority of the workforce with its fast
growth and thus have become the most important sector to look after for
human resource managers. An enormous rise in the workforce in local firms
has been projected due to this diverse group and its development.
plications Due to an increase in the organizations female workforce, and them for HRM becoming
the dominant part of the workforce, HRM had to change its practices and struggle
harder to maintain and appeal a diversified workforce. This can be achieved
through the corporations benefit bundle that incorporates the HRM offerings of a
family-friendly organization. This is a type of an organization that provides
flexible working conditions and other employee benefits to workforce like
Mature workers: They are committed to work ethics and are securityoriented. They are conventionally considered the basis of the workforce.
However, young generation considers them to be inflexible and have
obsolete expertise.
2. Baby Boomers: This is the largest group of the workforce. The organizational
growth during the commencing years of baby boomers employment was
unparalleled reflecting the rapid advancement in their careers, thus making
them career-climbers. Despite this, they are considered workhorses and are
said to have naive views.
3. Generation X: This generation came into being after the Western post
Second World War baby boom ended. With them came some new
perceptions into the workforce. They were less committed, less rule-bound,
more into self fulfillment and personal gratification and prejudiced towards
baby boomers and their attitudes.
4. Generation Y: This is the current generation. They arc said to be the children
of baby boomers. The individualities ofthis generation differ according to the
region, liable to the social and economic conditions. On the other hand they
are more accustomed to communications, media and digital technologies.
Additionally, the increase in a neoliberal methodology towards economics
and politics has largely affected the upbringing of this generation.
Thus, HRM, being a successful associate in blending in these groups together,
reflects that HR would need to train these groups on how to efficiently cope up
with each other and how to celebrate and accept diverse ideas and opinions of
each other.
On the other hand, when in such situations work attitude conflict occurs, due to
the diverse views, participative approach to FIRM is the most effective as it helps
keep the problem to the minimum.
Changing
Skills
Requirements
the community. With time, technology entered the world. During the
industrial revolution, commencement of machine power, assembly lines and
mass production led the people to move into cites and work in factories. For a
few generations, the economies flourished with high quality production by
workers. Now, machines have replaced humans up to a great extent being
more cost effective and the economy is more prevalent towards the use of
services rather than manufacturing.
According to the jobs of the twenty-first century, the workforce available
lacks the required skills. In some cases, the new entrants are not
adequately prepared. The high-school alumnae applying for the hightech jobs at present are at some times deficient in the required reading,
.Writing and mathematic skills for the jobs. Additionally, other members
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of the workforce are computer illiterate. Visualize a future aerospace ^ engineer who
is unable to decipher a blue print and elucidate how the wind icing affect lifts an
airplane. This could have severe consequences and connotations for many of the
industries and public services future operational safety and efficiency.
A massive loss experienced by an organization due to poor work quality, lower
productivity and rising employee accidents which further stems into customer
complaints and finally loss of customer is called Skill deficiency. This is a
massive problem that needs to be addressed as it can lead to a loss of billions
of dollars and would need more than one entity to other than the
organization itself. The remedy for the eradication of functional illiteracy is
the collaborative use of the companies and the gove rn men t ageneies^-resou
rces.
--An instance explaining this situation is the course offered by ABC Life for the
inner city residents for enhancing their clerical and mathematic skills, just to
ensure a productive workforce. ABC Life states that this implementation of
the course has led to significant improvement in the productivity of its
employees. However, considering that a substantial portion of training budget
is allocated for training the functionally illiterate, this program is quite
expensive.
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positions were produced. The cost of these measures was transferred to the consumers in the
form of hidden cost additions who took them for granted. However, the changed corporate
industry milieu can now be seen due to wavering world economies, increasing inflation at
home and reducing profit levels. This compelled the organizations like NAFA, PTCL and
Indus Motors to reduce the number of jobs and reassign 'employees for efficient functioning
of
their
firm.
An
Downsizing
higher
of
efficiency.
Efficiency
exemplifies
the
foundation of downsizing as it means getting maximum output from minimum input. Main
purpose of downsizing is reducing the number of employees taken in the organization.
However, recently downsizing is majorly being practiced on the managerial positions despite
the fact that workers producing the goods and services are not impervious to layoffs as well.
Organizations began this practice after taking into consideration the additional value to
productivity contributed by management and how contracted management affects the
organizations level of productivity, thus reflecting the organizations use of a greater span of
control.
Span of control is the amount of employees a manager can efficiently handle. A simple related
assumption could be that an efficient manager is apt at handling a greater number of
employees. Figures 3-1 and 3-2 highlight two types of span of control-prior economization and
post downsizing. Figure 3-1 shows a span of control of four employees showing that four
employees come under each managers control, thus making it six layers of management,
total 1,365 managers and 4096 employces-people producing goods and services. However, this
indicates an inefficient span of control as can be seen through the managers to employees
ratio, thus signifying the companys decision to double the span to eight.
First-line Supervisors
Employees
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2S6
The result of downsizing has been shown in Figure 3-2. After downsizing, the organization has
four layers of management, with 585 managers controlling 4,096 employees. This helped the
company cut down two layers of management and reduce 780 positions. Moreover,
considering an average pay scale of PKR 600,000, the company successfully saved more than
PKR 468 million in direct pay. This massive reduction in cost is an immense achievement and
relief for a company facing financial ill-health.
4096
Employees
Although downsizing helps the organization in cost saving, it brings out certain issues with it
as well. Downsizing has caused the job of the managers to double as now the managers who
prior th is change handled four employees now have eight employees under their
responsibility. Moreover, downsizing does not only affect the managers but also influence the
employees. Consequently, it is plausible that majority employees nowadays are expected to
generate an output equal to the output produced by three employees in the past. So,
restructuring of the organization (downsizing) without proper revamping of jobs and training
of employees is more of an expense increaser than a cost saver, resulting in failure to achieve
the goal of cost saving. Moreover, this change is implemented by Lhe companies without
considering the interests of the people working.
What about the people who had been let go? How have they been compensated for being let
go? Were they already informed about this decision or were they grouped into a place,
informed and ushered out of the organization there and then? Was the organization prepared
to handle the reaction of the remaining employees over their dismissed friends? Did the
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employees fear their own expulsion from the organization? W ould the remaining employees
undergo high levels of stress from the extra work now imposed on them? These are the
common issues that the human resource management goes through while the restructuring of
the organization.
So
how
can
The HRM
successful? Human
Implications
Human
Resource
Management
make
downsizing
Appropriate communications should be ensured during this period. They should ensure the
minimization of negative effects caused by rumors and the availability of all the related factual
information to the people. Moreover, HRM must also handle the actual layoffs and should
conduct and commence programs for helping the employees been laid off. For instance, when
employees are delivered the news of their lay off, they usually face the aroma of uncertainty
and are struck with the concern of coping with this change. In such a situation, anticipating
the answers of the following questions might help the organization in achieving and
implementing such assisting programs successfully:
Will they be paid any compensation and in what form?
How will the health insurance plan be handled?
Will they be given any retirement benefits and in what form?
In short, neither can an organization ignore human resource management when conducting
the downsizing discussion nor can it abandon its obligation towards employees. However,
when human resource managers are themselves influenced by the cutback, this becomes
difficult to happen. Despite being susceptible to this action, HR managers should remain
poised during the whole process.
Although downsizing has been quite rampant in the past years, it is still anticipated that
significant reduction in this cutback policy will be seen in the future. In fact, certain
organizations, after the current progress in economic conditions, have hired some employees
back due to the profound implementations by the corporations of this cutback. Although not
across the board, the new positions arise in the service sector organizations and contain
professional-level skilled jobs. In such a situation, employing full-time staff for accomplishing
the organizations goals and employing without any deleterious effects on the companys
productivity becomes crucial. This can then ensure the re-hiring of the lost jobs on the
condition that these positions are efficient enough to achieve the companys goals. To
conclude, the executive body of the organization must ensure to entice and retain highly
capable and dedicated employees.
Functions of HRM
Chapter 1: Functions of HRM
Part 2
Functions of HRM
Chapter 1
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Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
List and explain
the functions of HRM
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Selection and
Placement
The HR department is responsible for enticing the qualified candidates for a job
with the required skills through job postings and different types of advertising as
well as screening the resumes of those candidates and short listing the candidates most suitably
qualified for the interview. l ine managers usually take the final employment decision of the
candidates. Planning of the new and changing positions and evaluating the current job analysis
and job description to make sure that they precisely reflect the current position are some other
continuing recruitment responsibilities.
For staff selection process, job specifications and job descriptions are the most
useful tools. The need to employ a new worker is identified by someone (like
the department manager) or by some event (like resignation of an employee)
within an organization. Large corporations carry out this process by
submitting an employee requisition to the HR department mentioning the job
title, the department and the date the employee is required. This requisition
can then be helpful in creating the job description which can be referred for
the specific job-related qualifications for advertising the details of the position
both internally and externally.
Performance
Appraisals
Another role of HRM after the employment ofthe suitable candidates is to create a
motivating and acknowledging environment, where employees exemplary
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evaluated firstly by a formal periodic review, usually annually, which ' jailed
performance appraisal. Customarily, line managers conduct :nese assessments as
they are in continuous contact with the employees 'in daily basis and thus are best
evaluators. Subordinates, peers, group, ind self or a combination of one or more of
these are some of the other employee performance evaluators. Depending on the
job being assessed, irious appraisal methods can be used.
Following are a few appraisal systems used by corporations:
1.
2. Above average, average and below average performance assessed using rating
scales
3. Critical incidents-recording of favorable and unfavorable performance
4. MBO-Managing By Objectives
Various roles are played by performance appraisals:
1.
Compensation (hourly wage and annual salary payment) and benefits eaefits
insurance, pensions, vacation, modified workweek, sick leaves, stock options, etc.)
can have a major influence on a personnels performance. When an employee is
satisfied with his/her pay scale, believes that he/ she gets enough benefits and are
to some extent intrinsically satisfied good work environment, interesting work,
etc.), it is considered an ideal situation. Compensation must be authorized and
ethical, passable, encouraging, just and impartial, cost-effective, and able to offer
employment security.
compensation and benefits and it helps individuals discover the various methods of improving
their current positions as
ities.
Training
and
the organizations go on to
Training
and
Development
downsizing. One of the elements of the HRM function of training and development is the
facilitation of developing new skills or enhancing the existing skills.
The difference between training and development can be explained in the following way: major
focus of training is learning the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed for the initial
performance of a job or improving ones performance in the current position. On the other
hand, development focuses on broadening the employees horizons and is not job related.
Training and development also includes education acquired to learn new skills, knowledge and
attitudes to be used in future works.
As current jobs are the major highlight here, we will discuss only training and development.
Training can be utilized in the following
ways:
1.
30
ious
for
ams
heir
Employee and -
ts of
in of
abor Relations
two reasons; to increase salaries and/or to exterminate unjust working conditions. Improved
medical plans, augmented wages and extended vacation time are a few ending products of
lined
skills,
a job
other
is
union involvement. HR managers handle the contracts, collective bargaining issues, along
with the responsibility to deal with the unions. This contract covers aspects like compensation
and benefits, working conditions, job securit;.. disciplinary procedures, individuals rights,
managements rights, and contract length. Collective bargaining is a peaceful resolution of
employee related issues before the employees retaliate or besiege and or the management
and
catio
n sed
in
s
only
lowin
g
;.rr?
esource Organizations not only identify workplace perils but also track health- Isscarch
related and security problems and report the findings to the suitable sources.
Every single detail stemming from evaluating the company'; high turnover
and identifying the present number of workers in the corporation and
leading to making the statistics of the percental of women, minorities and
other demographic characteristics in th organization is with the human
resource department of the firn thus rightfully calling HRD the warehouse of
a companys histon The research data can be collected from various sources
e financial
will go
elopment's
help then:
>me of the
Part 3
In This Part
Introduction
How HR Programs Save Money
Outcome
Resource
Planning
spend around 2,000,000 rupees. Therefore, detailed planning efforts for 2.500
rupees cannot he rationalized by the local food chain manager if the
employment planning saves 25 percent. On the other hand, the organization
can still afford an expert for 500,000 rupees and after removing the planning
expenses can still save a large amount of money.
/
Yet for HR specialists, human resource planning is still crucial in both the small
and large organizations. HRP shows small employers the importance of human
resource consideration in case they expand rapidly. For large organizations,
HRP is beneficial as it helps organizations like IBM, which struggles to avoid
layoffs, to identify the different ways of making personnel function more
efficient. This chapter focuses on two aspects of human resource planning;
starting from the ways organizations find and identify future job opportunities
and concluding with the way FIR experts recognize the prospective sources of
employees to match with the vacancies available.
Sescurces
The crucial challenges affecting the human resource demand include the
changing environment, organization and workforce. These factors not only
affect the short-range plans but also influence long-range plans of employment.
Moreover the organization is able 10 manage some of these factors while is
unable to handle the others.
External challenges
organizations
have
affirmative
action
plans
and
compliance departments.
Technological changes are hard to anticipate and assess. For example, people
believed the technology to be replacing people. However, now
ive can see that information technolog) is the fastest growing industry and
employs a huge number of employees both directly and indirectly.
Technology makes human resource planning intricate as it tends to reduce
employment in one department (like bookkeeping) while i ncrcase
employment in another department (1 ike computer operations).
One other external challenge that influences the organizations demand for
human resources is competitors. Foreign competition is partially responsible
for hardly any growth in employment in the automobile and steel industries.
However, electronic industries experience lower prices, larger markets and
increasing employment due to competition.
Organizational decisions
may include the matching of skills with jobs, keeping key personnel after a
merger, and solving the human problems that arise from introducing new
technology or closing a plant.
Workforce factors
f*r?cisting The organizations efforts of anticipating the future demand of "S-TT- cues
employees is called human resource forecasts. As shown in Figure 3-1, the
forecasting techniques range from informal to sophisticated and proper
techniques. However, the sophisticated needs are not always precise and are
thus considered estimations. Majority of the firms carry out estimations in an
informal way. The organizations may possibly use more sophisticated
techniques (if they can use specialized staff) using their experience of
forecasting human resource needs. The forecasting methods mentioned in
Figure 3-r are explained below.
OTHER
Extrapolation
Indexation
Statistical analysis
Compuier models
Delphi technique
Expert forecasts
As:
A survey can be in various forms; it can be an informed poll, a written questionnaire or a
nominal group technique (NGT) being used for a focused discussion. NGT is a technique that
presents a group of managers with a problem statement, for instance What will result in a
change in our future staffing needs? After this all the members write down the answers to this
question that he/she can think of. Following this, these ideas are presented in front of everyone
in a round-robin manner until the written ideas and the newly discovered ideas are recorded.
These ideas are further discussed and categorized by getting the five most important ideas
voted by the members in the meeting.
In case the nominal group technique turns out to be a failure, the organization could add more
classiness to the survey by using the Delphi technique. This technique implores estimation
from a group of professionals, typically managers. After this the H R department planners act as
intermediaries, abridge the numerous responses and report the discoveries back to
connoisseurs. The experts are surveyed again even after the receiving feedback from employees.
These summaries and surveys are continuously conducted until the experts consent with the
idea of future development (mostly four or five surveys) for instance, HR might continuously
survey production supervisors and administrators until they sign an agreement on the number
of substitutes required in the coming year.
Trend projection forecasts
This is the most rapidly fast anticipation systems for projecting the past trends or patterns.
Extrapolation and indexation are the two uncomplicated methods for this purpose.
Extrapolation is the expansion of the past gradient into the future. For instance, an
organization usually hiring 20 workers into the organization when extrapolate this rate into the
future would append approximately 240 new employees in the coming year.
Indexation, on the other hand, involves approximating the future employment needs by
bringing employment growth in line with some type of index. The usually example of this
matching is the ratio of employees to sales. For instance, planners may identify the production
departments need of ten new assemblers on every million dollars increase in sales.
These two methods are just basic estimations in the short run on the assumption that the
causes of demand, like external, organizational and workforce factors, remain unchanged,
which happens rarely. However, these methods are not suitable for long-ranged human
resource projections. More sophisticated statistical analysis creates a situation for changing
basic and core foundations of demand.
Other forecasting methods
Planners can estimate the future demand for human resources with many other methods, one
of which is through budget. Human resource planning is required by the organizations with
comprehensive budgets and long-range plans. Studying the department brings into light a need
for financial agreement for more employees. The human resource needs can be estimated for
short-run using these forecasting methods and extrapolation of workforce changes. For longterm estimates, departments and divisions long-range plans can be utilized.
Planners use the new-venture analysis technique in the situations where employment planning
is made complex by new ventures. New-venture analysis allows an organization to estimate its
future human resource demand by comparing the organization with other firms carrying out
'imilar operations. For instance, a petroleum company opening up a coal mine can estimate its
employment needs by looking at other coal mining firms.
Computers make the forecasting techniques more sophisticated and intricate. This is because
computer models contains a string of formulae that can be used for estimating the future
employment needs and attempt to do this by concurrently using extrapolation, indexation,
survey results, and estimates of workforce changes. The real changes in human resource
demands are update the computer formulae as time passes by.
Human resource forecasting involves four levels of intricacies summarized in Figure 3-2. These
stem from informal discussions and eadingto the use of largely complex computerized
forecasting systems. Large organizations with a huge human resource planning experience the
most sophisticated and intricate techniques. While small firms or firms just beginning to
estimate human resource requirements mostly begin with stage 1 and then progress to further
stages as planners attempt to achieve precision.
itations. For instance, Arabic nations avoid employing women in certain jobs and work
and religion is usually profoundly surrounded by country specific limitations. So, human
resource plans that are unable to consider and include these changes are useless.
Figure 3-2: Stages of Complexity and Sophistication in Human Resource Forecasting
HH STAGE m
Managers discuss goals,
Using computer-
HHHHI
budgeting include
generated analyses,
computer simulation
examine causes of
process
stage tv
in short term
of
updating
and
subjective
managers of routine
far as possible
managerial decisions.
forecasting tasks (such as
vacancies or turnover)
Identify problems
requiring action:
individual or general
government (such as
economic, employment and
social data)
Human Resource
Requirements
Itgp
WsM
MSiik ->
sho
Cteman'd
;;
'
111
Trend
Expert
-
'v* . \ '>
:
Other
sMNi
Demand
Human
Resources
For
Long Range
iilSMI
Considering the accuracy of the fundamental forecast, the recording of the human resource
needs may be in a form of a specific number .T a particular range. Staffing tables are not
considered completely accurate and reliable, they are simple estimations. However these help
~ matching the short-range supply and demand of employment, assist me operating
departments to carry out its functions efficiently and help -'.prove HR departments image.HR
officials will be more positive and rganized if then approximations of human resource needs
are explicit.
The Supply of Human Resources
7re next step of HR department, after the identification of prospective cemand of human
resources is to fill up the vacancies created with this ccmand. There are two sources of supply,
external and internal. Internal - urces include employees who are currently working in the
organization _ can be promoted, transferred, or demoted to fill expected openings.
instance, the vacancies in a police department can be filled with
employees of another city who want to transfer to police work from \-.r:r present jobs.
This is internal supply. In contrast, external supply ".eludes people who do not work for the
city like the unemployed or _ .?!oyees of another organization.
Estimates of internal supply
are committed to have lasting careers with their : ~ r : yers rather than going into the blind
alley of unemployment.
Human Resource Human resource aud its and replacement charts are some other i mportant Audits
information sources that have been added for HR departments assistance. HR
department can plan out activities like recruiting, training, and career
Figure 9 -4: Factors that determine the future supply of Human Resources
planning more effectively with greater knowledge of the employees. By finding
internal applicants for the job vacancies, this knowledge can help employees
achieve and implement their affirmative action plans. Audits and replacement
charts are crucially essential for the proactive personnel work and thus are
expla ined below. Human resource audit is responsible for summarizing every
employees skills and capabilities. Skills inventories are the audit of nonmanagers while management inventories are the audit of managers. Ibis
signifies that the inventory catalogues the skills and capabilities of employees.
The summary helps the planners comprehend the potential of an
organization's workforce.
jaffer Ahmed, after working hours, moonlighted by assisting his brother in
performing maint enance work in a large pavnt factory. Ihis experience helped
[after disc :over his talent and he completed various courses in plumbing and a
ir conditioning. The HR manager at the National Bank was unawan ; of Jaffers
1
Replacement charts is a visual illustration of who will replace whom when certain job openings arise.
Human resource audit provide the information needed to construct the charts. An ordinary
replacement chart might demonstrate only certain jobs status in administration. Usually these charts
include minimum information despite the fact that different firms might summarize different
information in their replacement charts. Just like an organizational chart, this chart represents various
jobs and shows the status of probable employees.
Two variables are highlighted in replacement; present performance and promotion. Supervisory
evaluations are the major component in determining present performance. Views of other managers,
peers and 'ubordinates also donate to the evaluation of present performance. Present performance
and the approximations by a superior of the future success in a new job are the key pillars of future
promotions. Psychological tests, interviews, and other methods of assessment may be used by the HR
department to contribute to these estimates.
A claim of age discrimination can be made if the replacement charts nclude the ages of the
candidates. This has caused the omission of this ietail from the charts. For HR and management
decision makers, these charts supply a quick reference. Due to its limitation of containing imited
information, HR experts have developed replacement -cmmaries as supplements to replacement
charts. These supplements provide a list of probable replacements for each job and specify their :rengths and weaknesses. These help the decision makers to make more
rowledgeable decisions as they provide a considerably greater amount of information than the
replacement charts.
Yost sophisticated companies that use detailed human resource planning usually computerize their
personnel records, including reman resource inventories. This helps planners update and assemble
replacement summaries when required. They also help the companies 'ce uhat positions lack human
resource backups.
For instance, a convenience store chain-one of-thuse'"that made exceptionally quick career progress computerized its search for fast trackers. The managers of the store semi-annually file the names of
the employees most worthy of promotion. By consolidating the reports on a computer, we find out
whether there will be a deficit of people coming up through the ranks, says the manager of HR
research. A separate development program assists in producing career development plans,
pinpointing weaknesses and suggesting solutions (for instance university courses, in-house training, a
different job, or a special assignment).
With the help ofth is, in long run, HR department motivates its employees to enhance their abilities
and be prepared for future vacancies. In short- run, in case a suitable job replacement is not available
for the vacancy that has arisen, people belonging to the external labor market arc hired. The
information of whether replacement charts and summaries are used while hiring from an external
source is confidential. This confidentiality helps safeguard the privacy of employees as well as avoid
disappointment for people not immediately promotable.
Estimates of external supply
It is obvious that every job vacancy cannot be filled with current employees as companies cannot
possibly have replacements available for every job. Additionally, some jobs are entry-level jobs. These
are newly introduced jobs that employ people who are not current employees of the organization. In
such a situation where the job created is an entry- level job and has no replacements, the organization
uses external supplies of human resources.
External needs
The requirement of the external supply of human resources is mainly determined by the employer
growth and efficiency of HR department. Growth mainly determines the number of entry-level job
vacancies, particularly in case the company promotes the job vacancies to be filled from within the
organization. The ability of the HR department to help the employees enhance their skills and
capabilities is one factor affecting the number of non-entry-level jobs available. If the organization
does not encourage its employees to enhance their abilities, lesser amount of replacements will be
available for future jobs, thus creating a necessity to fill these jobs externally.
Labor market analysis
The skills of the human resource department employment experts and the labor market determine
the success of finding new appropriate employees. The required expertise of a particular job
determines the appropriate labor ma rket. Yet the entire country would serve as a relevant labor
market for highly skilled jobs. In contrast, local community serves
the appropriate labor market for unskilled jobs. It is seen that many 5 : I led
jobs are hard to fill regardless of the employment rates offered. For instance,
during a recession, the classified section of the newspaper denotes the fact
that many jobs go unfilled every week. The national _nemployment rate in
short run is a good measure of estimating the difficulty of finding suitable
employees for jobs. Nevertheless, the HR experts believe and understand that
this rate varies among different uroups, different regions and different cities.
Some researchers believe that a scarcity of managerial talent which -cmewhat
might be due to the attitudes of the workforce. Regardless J: the high or low
levels of unemployment, an organization will face 'hortage of managerial
talent if the prospective managers are not committed to the hierarchal
organization structure.
An organization can successfully meet external needs if they aim to irtract
employees who work for others, even if the unemployment rate ' high. The
labor markets are influenced majorly by local developments community
growth rates and attitudes) and demographic trends in the long run. For
instance, many mid-western farm towns face a declining population. When
investing in these towns, the organizations due to the rear of facing a future
shortage in local labor market decide not to open up businesses there and
thus go elsewhere. One more reason of people leaving the labor markets is
the deficiency of jobs. In contrast, employers '.r more prospective growth in
sun-belt cities as they see large future labor markets.
Demographics
These trends are long-term development trends that influence the availability
of external supply of employees. Luckily, the planners are aware of these
trends way before they actually strike.
1 :r America and Europe, the baby boonr during the late 1940s and 1950s rrought with it huge increases in population after the low birth rates e
rerienced in 1930s and early 1940s. The 1930s low birth rates created a
'Irortage of college professors when the Post World War II babies began :heir
college in 1960s. These demographic trends were already in motion r;. 1950.
The demographic development sensitive long-range human resource
planning could have predicted soon enough this shortage for r " 'active
colleges to take remedial measures.
r:iire 3-5 represents a summary of the main conccpts of this chapter. At the left side,
the figure highlights the external, organizational, "ass : id workforce factors, which are
the major causes of human resource uemand. Experts, trend data, and other methods
anticipate these
causes of demand to define the long-range and short-range demand for human
resources. This demand is fulfilled either internally with existing employees or
externally with new comers. Replacement charts, based on the audits of the
organizations human resources, show the internal supply. While the analysis of the
relevant labor market shows the externa! supply. Results present the short and longrange HR plans fulfilled by internal and external employment procedures.
After the estimation of the employee supply and demand, there might be a need for
adjustment. In case the internal supply of workers exceeds the demand of employees in
a firm, it is said to have human resource su rplus. This causes the employers to adopt
the h i ring freeze which helps them fill in the vacancies with existing employees by
reassigning their jobs and avoid external supplies. Voluntary departures, called
attrition, slowly reduce the surplus. The continuation of this trend'encou ragesthe leave
of absence. For instance, after a summer holiday season, airlines provide their
employees leaves of absence on their request. This practice helps to reduce the
workforce during winter season and slack fall.
re companys human resource plan shows that the company will be -ducing
mem-
of the human resource information system. One other crucial part of this system is
the details about the specific jobs in the organization. The way in which HR officials
learn the content of their jobs is covered later. The HR professionals, after being
equipped with the knowledge of job vacancies (through human resource planning)
and the content of the job (through job analysis) can begin the employment process
in a proficient, effective and proactive manner.
Significant time, staff, and financial resources are required for human resource
planning. Large organizations use human resource planning very frequently.
However, the return on investment of this planning for small firms is not sufficient
enough to cover the expenditures.
The HR budget is the operational budget within the Human Resources department.
Adequate investment in human resources of a companys ncome is absolutely
necessary when compiling the budget. All the rferent components of labor costs
have to be taken into consideration: -aiaries, social security fees, fringe benefits and
reimbursement of . oenses, allowances for travel and transfers, training,
kindergartens for children of employees, cafeterias, etc.
Generally, the HR budget includes the following major items:
. Overhead Costs
*
Salaries Overtime
Allowances
Bonuses
*
Selection Costs
-
Welfare Costs
*
Uniforms
Medical facilities
* Group insurance
Allowances -
Sports Club
*
The budget will be based on the overall objectives and business targets of the
organization for the coming year. If there are no such specific objectives or targets,
next years budget can be based on the current years budget, with 20-30% increase.
However, depending on the HR functions of different companies, the HR budget may
also include other items, such administration costs. The HR budget can impact on the
organizations financial budgeting both directly and indirectly. HR needs to work
alongside the financial management to accurately budget and forecast hard and
soft costs and demonstrate the value of staff investment. HR managers need to be
attuned to the financial language and demonstrate both capability am: foresight in
supporting organizational objectives.
It is extremely important to establish the link between organizations, finance and HR
budgets. The HR budget must be aligned with corporate strategy and the overall
company objectives. Investment in HR results directly in the productivity and growth
of the organization. This has huge implications for how the HR budget is planned. If
proper!;- planned, it will lead to surpassing the goals the organization has set for itself.
If it is not planned properly, this can lead to actual loss for the organization, financially
and otherwise.
How HR Programs
Save Money
outside consultants to perform HR tasks surras recruiting, at possibly a higher rate and
r
These indirect cost savings more than offset any short-term savings achieved by cutting
or outsourcing HR staff, programs and functions, although those savings may be harder
for CEOs to see on the financial ?:atements and attribute directly to HR investments.
The HR budgeting process becomes critical to ensure that the right : mount of
investment is made in the right areas for the long-term vision : the company.
Part 4
In This Fart
Career
Development
Protection
Compensation Management Wage and Salary Surveys
Pricing Jobs
incentives and Gain Sharing Incentive System Gainsharing
Approaches
' ~:roduction
Twining
1
Learning Outcome By
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g
Introduction to
List and describe the inputs and challenges of the selection process
Recall the best practice in each of the steps involved in the selection
process
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Collection of Job
Analysis
matters. Since line managers are familiar with the job, they genera!;;, do not
Information
require job information. They can identify the characteristics- standards, and
human abilities required to do a job. With the growth in the scope and
complexity of HR activities, many of these duties, such as recruiting and compensating, are delegated to
the Human Resourc; Department. However, HR employees do not usually have sufficien: detailed
knowledge of the jobs in the other departments. Therefore the;, need to conduct job analysis in order to
collect the relevant information
Job analysis is a technique for systematically collecting, evaluating and
organizing information about jobs. These actions are mostly done b;.
specialists called job analysts, who gather data about each job but nc: about
every person. The major HR management actions that rely on jot analysis
information are:
1.
Discover job elements that help or hinder the quality of work life
4. Plan for future human resource requirements v Match job applicants and job
openings
6. Determine training needs for new and experienced employees Create plans
to develop employee potential
5. Set realistic performance standards
9. Place employees in jobs that use their skills effectively
10. Compensate jobholders fairly
order to understand the nature of the job, the analysts first study :he
organization - its purpose, design, structure, inputs (workforce, ~iterials and
procedures) and outputs (products or services). They also re\ ew the company,
industry and government reports related to the job has to be analyzed. On the
basis of the general understanding of the r^nization and its functions, the
analysts:
Identify the jobs to be analyzed
2.
ob Identification
:?ors. If job analysis has been done before, analysts may be able to rrevious
records to identify the jobs of a similar nature.
I .estionnaire Development
purpose is to seek for variations in job information to differentiate one job from
another, not differences in the questions asked.
The major components in developing a questionnaire are as follows:
1.
Status
and
identification
Duties
and
responsibilities
standards
The job analysis questionnaire also seeks information about :-r standards
that are used to evaluate performance. This information 5 collected on jobs
with obvious objective standards of performance. Where such standards are
not immediately apparent, job anal;.-ni may ask supervisors or industrial
engineers to develop reasonre standards of performance.
Data Collection
There is no one way to collect information found on the job analysis
questionnaire. Therefore, analysts must evaluate trade-offs between : me. cost
and accuracy associated with the various methods explained 7:ow that are used
to collect data. Analysts can also use more than one :e;hnique for data collection,
if required.
Interviews
Face-to-face interviews are an effective way to collect job information. The
analysts have a job checklist guide but more questions can be added.
of
experts
questionnaires
log
5. Observation
Observation is the most time consuming, costly and less accura:e method
to collect job information, although it is the most preferred method in
certain situations. Observation can be used to confirm or remove any
doubt after collecting data using any other technique.
Application
Job
of
The information collected by analyzing the job can be used to formulate job
Analysis
Information
Job performance standards serve two functions. First, they bee targets for
employee efforts. The challenge or honor of mee objectives may serve to
motivate
employees.
Once
standards
are
employees
may
feel
5. Observation
Observation is the most time consuming, costly and less accura:; method to
collect job information, although it is the most preferred method in certain
situations. Observation can be used to confirm or remove any doubt after
collecting data using any other technique.
Application
Job
of
The information collected by analyzing the job can be used to formulate job
Analysis
descriptions and job specifications and in setting job standards. The usefulness of
Information
and
mental capabilities. Since the job description and the job specific;, both have
the same focus, i.e. job requirements, they are often comb into one document
under the heading of Job Description. The d used to compile specifications
also come from job analysis informa collected using a questionnaire or a
checklist.
Job Performance Standards
Job performance standards serve two functions. First, they be; targets for
employee efforts. The challenge or honor of mee objectives may serve to
motivate
employees.
Once
standards
are
employees
may
feel
The appropriate structuring of job is very critical as it can affect the productivity
and quality of work life. The only link between the organization and an
employee is the job itself hence a thorough review of the characteristics of the
:
job is essential. While designing a ob, three major elements are needed to be
taken into consideration: Organizational elements, environmental elements and
behavioral elements. The management involved in designing the job needs to -.sure that the elements are included to make job more productive and
satisfying.
JO
Organizational Elements
E-.-.ironmental elements
Skill
Variety
identity
significance
- :~e degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or ** :rk
of other people.
Vjtonomv
It is the degree of independence and discretion the employee has scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in
carrying it out.
Feedback
It is the degree to which carrying out the work activities required r a job
results in the individual obtaining direct and clear informat cc about the
effectiveness of his or her performance.
Techniques of job
Jobs are often redesigned to decrease boredom that may arise due t; repetitive
Redesign
tasks or to make the job more challenging, stimulating a c interesting, jobs are
often redesigned to assess whether a particular ;cos should have higher or lesser
specialization. Job redesigning technic-r- give more autonomy to the employee
and help in increasing employee* motivation and productivity. Some of the ways
to implement or redesigning techniques are:
Job Rotation
If employees suffer from an overly routine type of work, one altemat e is to use
job rotation (or what many now call cross-training). Job rota: :r is the periodic
shifting of the employee from one task to anotre: When an activity is no longer
challenging, the employee is rotate: to another job, usually at the same level. The
organization beneoes because workers become more competent by learning and
perform various tasks. Knowing a variety of jobs helps the employees self intiTz.
provides personal growth, and makes an employee more valuable to tbe
organization.
Job Enlargement
Job enrichment refers to the vertical expansions of jobs. It incr the degree to
which the employee controls the planning, exer_~ and evaluation of the work.
1
The phrase recruitment and selection is often used with the inference :~.at
both of these words mean the same. However, there is some i -Terence in
meaning between the terms recruitment and selection:
Recruitment refers to the analysis of a job and the features the organization
will look for in a potential employee, attracting candidates - which could be
internal, external, or a combination of "oth - to apply, and the offering of
various terms and conditions of employment to a chosen potential
employee.
ecru it men t is therefore the process of finding and attracting potential -- iates
for employment and selection is the step ahead of recruitment
-ere an employer chooses from the list of recruits the best fit for organization. Hence the recruitment and selection process are "reconnected. If
the company fails to recruit the right people for the
r : will result in selection of the wrong person.
__
- - _rce
fsou,ce
analysis
informatio
n
Affirmative
Plans
Specific
Requests
of
Satisfacto
ry pool
of
recruits
Managers
comments
Managers
Channels of potential candidates for the job. In reviewing the most common Recruitment
channels, recruitment managers must be aware of the constraints in each approach, and the
need for creativity if the recruiting effort is to be effective and efficient. The most widely used
channels by applicants anc recruitment managers are discussed below:
Walk-ins and Write-ins
One way of recruiting applicants is through screening the resumes tha: are
sent by the applicants themselves or by asking the applicants who visit the
organization to apply for the job.
Employee Referrals
7:;hed with employers requests and are told to report to the employers HR department for
an interview. The matching process conducted r private agencies varies widely. Some of them
carefully prescreen -7? icants, while others may simply provide a stream of applicants to :~e HR
department.
Professional Search Firms
_
~ ::essional search firms are much more specialized than placement ;---7;ies. Search firms recruit
only specific types of human resource for : :ee paid by the employer. For instance, some research
_
_:ational institutions are suitable if the employer is targeting to ~zzrj.it fresh graduates. Several
_
universities, colleges, and vocational >: .ools offer placement assistance to their current students
-
and . ni. Distributive education programs, counselors and vocational . _. er> may also provide
recruitment managers with leads to desirable .-e dates in local educational institutions.
Professional Associations
regional associations can also be a source of job seekers. Several . 7:10ns conduct placement
activities to help new and experienced 7- e^ionals to get jobs, especially at job fairs during meetings
and . ~ .-'tions. Professionals belonging to appropriate associations are deredmore likely to remain
informed about the latest developments
. - respective fields; therefore, this channel of recruitment may lead *-7 * gher quality
applicants.
.a--or Organizations
;
Tment managers in the organizations seeking candidates with i~-7: :11s can contact the local
labor unions or labor organizations. ~organizations maintain rosters of members who are looking
for -~ 7 -nent. The local union of plumbers, for example, keeps a list ar - - ?ers who are seeking
jobs. In the construction industry, many . " -77075 get skilled labor from the local labor
organization. Since c r_-i7tors hire on a project basis, a union hiring hall is a convenient for
attracting large number of potential recruits for new
~ - --:::ment institutes a variety of programs that train unemployed 7 Government concern stems
from the belief that some
unemployment is structural in nature. Structural unemployment occurs when
people are ready, willing and able to work, but their skills do not match the
jobs available. Through government-sponsored training and retraining
programs, unemployed workers are given skills to make them employable in
todays labor markets.
International Recruiting
- iVHuma
n
Resour
ce
Affirmativ
e
Action
Plans
Specific
Requests
Of
Manager
s
Organizational Policies
- _ most
level of
candidate
thinks ' r ray being offered is not at par with the market rate.
Lpioyment status policies
policies may require foreign job openings to be staffed with ix- :::izens.
- .man Resource Plans
: iienge for recruitment managers is to comply with the human _-;e plan which outlines
which jobs should be filled by recruiting
- : - J _ y and which are to be filled internally. A little foresight by
rment managers can lead to considerable economies for the
need to recruit a
Therefore, when affirmative action needs suggest
the mix of employees, recruitment managers must
The recruitment manager's successful career may make him/her ignore the
mistakes made in the past. Even though recruitment managers require
1
positive and negative feedback, they must guard against self imposed
constraints in the form of habits.
Environmental Conditions
Leading economic indicators
Since human resource plans are partially based upon the firm's forecasted
sales, the difference between actual and forecasted sales ma\ force the
recruitment manager to change the human resource plans accordingly.
Job Requirements
expense
through
recruiting
for
multiple
jor
openings
The Selection A series of steps are involved in choosing suitable candidates from i. Process pool
of potential recruits. This involves a series a time consuming steps that lead on to the decision to
hire a particular applicant. This is an
mportant aspect, but its nature is such that can result in frustrating applicants as well as the
organization.
Many HR departments combine the recruiting and selection process, renaming it the
Resourcing. For large HR departments, this function is :he responsibility of the employment
manager. In smaller departments, HR managers handle the recruiting and selection
responsibilities. Employment is often assumed to be the primary reason for the HR department's
existence.
' proper selection can cause HR departments to fail at achieving their set targets and can also
negatively affect candidate self-esteem and violate employment laws. Subsequent HR process
can lose their effectiveness :ue to improperly selected workers. Thus, recognizing recruitment as
:e~:ral to the success of a HR department is no exaggeration.
Trends in recent times, make employers fear that they may be held re-ronsible for the unlawful
acts of the employees they hire. This failure : recruit the right employees may leave the
_
employer at risk in the ear future. Ensuring the employment process is effective is one of the
: -t important aspects of a HR department, and it may be one of the
important decisions made by a line manager. No organization can rebrm better than the
people it employs, and if the recruitment and 'i ererion process proves ineffective, the
company may be exposed to
-: _re financial and legal damage.
~ puts to Selection
HR uses the selection process to find new workers. As Figure 4-3 .__ests. this process relies
on three helpful inputs.
r analysis information provides the description of the jobs, the -.man specifications, and the
performance standards each job
requires.
: Human resource plans tell employment managers the job openings :~a: are likely to occur.
These plans allow selection to proceed in a _ cal and effective manner.
:
choose from.
Figure 4~3-
Inputs
Challenges
HR Activities
job analysis
Human
resource plans
-> j
Selection
Process
Recruits
Despite the nature of some vacancies, it is pivotal that there be a fitting list of
applications for each vacancy. Low-skilled jobs and extremeh specialized roles
are examples of positions with small selection ratios. A selection ratio is the
relationship between the number of applicants hired and the total number of
applicants available. A large selection ratio is 1:25. whereas a small selection
ratio is 1:2. This, a small selection ratio implies there are fewer applicants
from which to select. It may also mean a relatively low quality of recruits.
Ethical Challenges
Farhad Khan had been working for a multi national audit firm for almo'*. 3
years. He claimed to have a management degree from I BA - one of the top
business schools in Pakistan. When investigated in further detail. : was
discovered that was all false. The firm had to immediately termini:; Farhads
employment with them.
This is a classic example of embarrassment to the HR, due to the lack their
thorough investigation into checking the credentials of all prospeet recru its.
Credential distortion is a frequent occurrence for the human resource-?
department. When applying for a position, it is a known fact tr_t applicants
tend to brush up their resume to make their experien.:
-"car better and more suitable than other candidates. To do this., often . udemic details arc enhanced, as are job experience and existing salary
packages.
Organizational Challenges
: : y
. - -i utical attempted to sue the employers for not taking any SLZ:< _::cr she was raped by a fellow employee. Although eventually I": : "r^ny did
not incur any financial loss, this incident did lead to r-...: e';. affecting their
repute. Had they psychologically screened tre r re at the time of recruitment,
the situation could have been
avoided altogether. If not careful, legal challenges may also arise when a HR
department tries to thoroughly scrutinize current employees or potential
candidates.
The selection process comprises several steps through which all candidates are taken through. These
Steps in The
steps help determine the most suitable applicant for the position, by
Selection Process
eliminating out the rest. When used to fill openings internally, the process
becomes a lot simpler and more affective.
At Citibank, these steps electronically match present employees with internal
openings. The Job Match selection system contains profiles of all employees,
as well as the job description for the vacancy. The current abilities of the
employees are scanned, and a list of potential matches is then determined by
the system for consideration. This system does not consider whether or not
the employee is actually interested in the vacancy.
To ensure all relevant factors are considered, all HR departments adopt a
more involved procedure when recruiting internally, as shown in Figure 4-4
When selecting internally, preliminary checks - employment test, reference
verification or medical evaluation - are skipped. However, all the steps are
generally applicable when recruiting from an external pool of candidates.
E~ plovment aptitude test helps to assess the suitability of all applicants " the
ongoing recruitment. Based on the vacancys requirements, tests are derived
to check the applicants knowledge and grasp of v ~at they would generally be
encountering in the position. Tests are
-
used more frequently when recruiting for hourly paid jobs than
permanent openings, because hourly jobs usually have a limited
~Z5~. Validation
- 77 gained momentum during the times of the World War 1 when
e gence tests were given to army recruits. Since then, tests have been . . _
extensively for employment purposes, but many of these tests were . - ried to
be valid without sufficient proof. For results to be relied on,
- : -.ould be declared as valid. Validity means that the context of the
- ' 7, a:es to key elements of the job it is conducted for. The stronger t relationship is, the more effective the test is as a selection tool.
Lr 7 - approaches to test validation relate test scores with a job- r. ;-;terion. If
the test does measure a relevant criterion, the two rave a positive correlation
between o and 1.0. The higher the QB r~e a: on is. the better the match.
easuring their performance once they have been employed ar.: trained
into the job. This measurement and the test score are ther . orrelated.
-
~:_ rent validity tests present employees and correlate these oore^-
Rational When there arent too many applications to process, it is more feasible
Approaches to use a rational approach in lesting. These approaches aim to validate content
There is a wide range of employment test options, but each one has it>
limitations. The Lesting purpose of each one, its design, its format and
applicative uses are all recorded for later reference. The tests reliability and
validation results are also recorded. All Human Resources department should
develop and conduct their own studies to plan out tests for different uses.
Psychological Tests
Involving measuring personality tend to be the least effective :n churning out
reliable results. This is because there tends to be a ve~ vague and fuzzy link
between personality and performance.
Knowledge Test
These tests are more dependable because they determine the levels ct ones
level of knowledge. This is helpful as it adds on to their ab:.;t-r to being ability
to perform well in their tasks. However, it should rc ensured that only the
ability and awareness needed for the job are testri.
Performance Tests
Measures the aptitude ofapplicants to perform some important elemerri of
their work. It is declared valid when the test includes a represents: ; sample of
the work the applicant is to do upon being hired.
Graphic response Tests
These tests are a recent development seeking to test physiol changes
within people as they respond to questions. The polygraph ' detector) is
the most common, with over a fifth of all firms in one reporting its use.
The background is that when a person exaggerr.r? lies, the conscience
usually causes involuntary physiological reir that are detected by the
polygraph. However, there are serious qu
:
72
jt the ability of most lie detector operators interpreting results, as r " as the ethical
standing on their use.
-::itude Tests
L>ed to learn about peoples attitudes with regards to work related ~_::ers. They test their
values, moral characteristics and what they are
- to contribute into the work environment.
v edical Tests
~'t>es are recently gaining popularity. Through medical checks and c screening, the presence
of drugs and other substances can be Testing for genetic defects or predispositions has
become
- - .callv and financially feasible. This may also alert employers --ding candidates who
may have higher chances of developing
7r::nc diseases. Careful monitoring also helps keep them informed . - the health and safety
shortcomings in work environment.
- :roversies over the use of such modern technological tools confront
- specialists with ethical and moral obligations. They do help -r ers assess and determine
an ideal workforce, but they can also be
..L to errors and bias. In some countries, those diagnosed with the
- IS irus are protected by new laws intending to provide them equal
-
to employment.
- >: such extensive testing is not always feasible. Some positions may
even justify the amount of money involved in carrying out such : 'r-.iive testing. Even
when being used, there needs to be flexibility; i" fj should only be implemented if and when
deemed appropriate.
^ ier the comments of an experienced HR manager for a chain of -- stores.
"Many HR managers in other industries use testing only after other steps
in the selection process. In the grocery business you must test first. Why
waste time interviewing a grocery clerk who doesnt know that three for
90 rupees is 30 rupees a piece? Besides, when we take applications on
Tuesdays, we may have 300 f them. Interviews would take 75 hours a
week, and my staff consists of a clerk and myself. But through resting, we
can test the entire group in an hour. Then we interview only those who
score well."
See:* :n Interview
; employment testing is only one of the several steps involved : *--'_;:ment process, and
possesses limitations as it cannot always
taken into consideration all personal factors that can be brought into a position by each
candidate.
The selection interview is a formal, in-depth meeting that helps employers to evaluate the
applicants ability and knowledge; keeping in mind the requirements of the vacancy. The
interviewer looks for answers to three broad questions: Can the applicant do the job? Will the
applicant do the job? How does the applicant compare with others who are being considered
for the job?
This method is one that is most commonly used in recruitment. It is a very flexible method and
can be adapted to suit each position that is being recruited for. It also allows for a two-way
interaction, where both the employer and candidate can gain further information. Its
limitations raises questions on reliability and validity. Reliability means that results of this
process should not vary from interviewer to interviewer, but different interviewers are likely to
form different opinions about eacr potential candidate. This can be improved when the exact
questions are and interviewers are trained to record all responses.
Further validation of interviews is needed because they may relate more to personal features of
candidates than to the candidates potentt.il performance. For example, one study reported
that two of the mcsc important variables that influence an interview are fluency of spees and
composure. Based on this, interview results are based more c-tt personal impressionable
factors and not potential performance.
Types of Interviews
_
The unstructured interview allows interviewers to ask question' is interview proceeds. The
interviewer goes into more detail on tot
: - arise, in a more friendly conversation. Unfortunately, this method ' in terms of reliability
because each applicant is asked a different srri es of questions, and there can be no level of
comparison determined.
may actually even overlook pivotal areas of the applicants skills or ra.kground.
;:'jctured Interviews
within the context of the vacancys job description. The are evaluated based on the
background and approach used by ;-g:Jate in reaching to the conclusion. This technique has a
very scope. and is only suitable to a limited list of positions.
' . : ' ' more likely if the hypothetical situations are similar to those in. . the job. The actual
interview might consist of various questions SET ei^iupJe:
l-
Ipir ; verative, punctual, and hard-working. Candidate B is a complainer jrg 5 j-.- and
discourteous, but is the best producer in your department.
-i you recommend for promotion to supervisor? Why?
r received and the answer given is made noted by the r- -n evaluate the
applicant.
how
the
Such
applicant
help understanding
Stress interviews- In jobs that involve being in stressful situations, such interviews help
determine how the applicant copes under pressure. This concept was originally developed
during the times of World War. to see how recruits would react to stress when faced by the
enemy. For example, applicants for police work are sometimes put through a stres? interview
to see how they might react to problems they encounter in the streets.
The process is in itself intense and distant, with the candidate bein faced with a constant
string of questions. This format should however be used alongside other formats, to avoid
negative reactions from the respondents. Reliability and validity are hard to demonstrate since
tre stress on the job may differ from the stress posed in the interview.
Beyond the different types of interviews, the interview process h:- sequential steps that should
be followed.
The Interview Process
The five stages of a typical employment interview are listed * Figure 4-5. These stages are
interviewer preparation, creation of rapp ~. information exchange, termination, and
evaluation. They are discu>sec to illustrate how the actual interview process occurs.
Figure 4-5; Stages of a Typical Employment Interview
Interviewer preparation
Interviewer Preparation Before any interview process is initiated, the interviewer mu-:
a specific list of questions. These must address all key -^T-e. need to be evaluated
about the individual, and it is the refr these questions that will decide whether or not
the applies be taken any further. Since they use the interview to per-
How do you spend your spare time? What are your hobbies?
What community or school activities have you been involved in?
Describe your ideal job. In what type of work are you interested?
4- Wh. do you want to work for ou r company?
W hat were your favorite classes? Why?
a. Do >ou have any geographic preferences?
B
When preparing, the interviewer must be careful not to ask air discriminatory questions.
Questions asked from a protected gro_T but not from members of the majority are usually the
ones thit cause violations. Similarly, questions about gender, age, nationl origin, handicaps,
religion, race, or color are likely to be consider: discriminatory.
The interviewer should also review a blank application form, for a further understanding of
what exactly they are looking for. Research shows thz. the quality of the interviewers decision
is significantly better when application blank is present. Regardless, interviewers take between
to to ten minutes to reach a conclusion. The longer the interview lasts ini the more potential in
the candidate, the longer it takes the interviews to reach a decision.
The average cost of hiring new employees is estimated to Fee PKR 40,000/-, and more for
highly skilled positions, the interview* should aim to make the interview process efficient and
constructive.
The interviewer is likely to be the first person the applicant faces :'::
This is also a task for the interviewer, as they must initiate conversation and establish a
comfort level. This can be done by init:; the interview with friendly questions like, Did you
have any pari problems? Simultaneously, non-verbal communication can also made use
oftoxonnect with the applicant.
Information Exchange
The whole interview process is basically an exchange of informa To help establish an initial
-
rapport while learning about the canc: some interviewers begin by asking the interviewee if he
or she * any questions. This establishes an interactive ambience and allows ~ interviewer to
start his evaluation of the candidate.
Interviewers aim to ask question that will allow them to learn as as possible about the
candidate. Questions that begin with how'. w- 'why, describe or could you tell me more
about are more likely an open and detailed response.
Interviewers tend to terminate the session by inviting any questions conclusion. They will also
inform the applicant of the next stage oc process, and when should they expect to be informed.
There shoe e indication of how the interviewer found the candidate to be. as *
may still be more candidates to interview and the opinion might change it the time of the final
selection.
E. aluation
As soon as the interview is concluded, the interviewer should record their general opinion
about the candidate. Using a checklist is an effective i> of recording where exactly the
particular interviewee stands in the -.ole process.
nterviewer Errors
7.tere are still some limitations of the whole process, primarily due to human error. These add
onto lowering the effectiveness of the whole
- ;ess. If an applicant is judged according to the halo effect or personal : ises. the results of the
interview are misinterpreted. Applicants can be ;::epted or rejected for irrelevant reasons that
will in no way have any it ition to their actual performance in the job.
ng questions and an indication of answers will also now allow the -terviewer to learn anything
new about the applicant. This will also the reliability of the whole process. Regardless of what
the errors ft. it brings down the validity of the whole process and results in time
- - : resources being wasted.
V
not look the interviewer directly it is interpreted as lacking self- . ^ ience. However, in
e.vees make errors too. Some errors may be made to covcr up i *-; -ted weaknesses. Others
may emerge due to nervousness. While
e.
fers, especially those in the human resource department, may : -. _r. hundreds
i -. " that the candidate is not interested. Although the candidate a - :: ted or nervous, talking
too much, especially about irrelevant XT -.-as sports or weather, may entertain the interviewer,
but is
A Summary of HALO Effect Typical Interviewer Interviewers make use of restricted information
about an applicant :o Errors bias their evaluation on the rest of their characteristics.
Examples:
An applicant who has a pleasant smile and firm handshake bl considered a
leading candidate before the interview begins.
An applicant who wears blue jeans to the interview is rejected mentally.
Leading Questions
Interviewers who indicate the desired response lose out on further insight
into the applicants mind.
Examples:
Do you think youll like this work?
*
Personal Biases
Some jobs are for men and others for women Interviewer Domination
Using the interview to tell the applicant how important interviewers job is
not appropriate. Instead applicants should stick to the subject at hLikewise, boasting also is a common mistake. Of course applicants to
sell themselves, but distorting credentials, even if just ember r" about
responsibilities and accomplishments or simply braggirt- much, can turn
off the interviewers interest. Failure to listen ma> from anxiety about
the interview. Unfortunately, it usually r missing the interviewers
questions and failing to maintain r^rr
What type of person is the applicant? Is the applicant a good, reliable worker?
Arc the job accomplishments, titles, educational background, and other facts on
the resume or application true?
As a response to these questions, background and reference checks are made
use of. These checks are of immense importance as they help validate the
information gained about the applicant throughout the process.
Many people remain uncertain of the use of these checks and their credibility.
Personal references attesting the applicants character are often provided by
friends or family, in which case their reliability remains questionable.
Employment references tend to differ, as they are more focused on discussing
the applicants past work and educational background. As privacy legislation
continues to expand, many supervisors and HR departments are growing less
willing to provide employment references because they fear potential lawsuits.
Even though supervisors or HR specialists are protected under what the law
calls qualified privilege, that protection ends if there are any doubts about the
truth of the recommendation.
This uncertainty has caused most process to remove this step almost entirely
from the selection process. It has also been substituted at times with telephone
referencing, which is faster and more cost-effective. It is also more likely to
indicate how certain the referee is about their answers with regards to the
applicant.
it compan)
A study reveals that 48 percent of reference checks are used to verify application
information and 30 percent are used to gather additional data.
Medical Evaluation
The process may also include a medical examination of the applicant before the
hiring decision is made. Normally, this is done making use of a health checklist
that gathers health and accident information. This questionnaire may be
complimented with a physical examination by a company doctor.
Be useful to evaluate whether the applicant can handle the ph>' or mental
stress of a job
The line manager is ultimately responsible for newly hired won therefore
they are allowed to have a final say in the selection pr They are
considered to be the best judge of the capabilities of respondent, and can
also best address any concerns that the cand may raise.
As a result, one study reported that in over three-fourths of organizations
surveyed the supervisor has the authority to make final hiring decision.
When it is the line manager who is makir_' final decision, the human
resources must ensure they produce a well qualified and relevant applicant to
be chosen from.
In some companies, the final decision is left to be made by the h resources,
especially when applicants are hired into a training pr instead of a specific
job (for example, Management Trainee posi
c-P: the supervisory interview also comprises a realistic job preview. I 5 ;> to
allow the candidate to understand the job and the environment t ruld be
based in, to see how well they manage to fit in.
7 ' > done to help prevent job dissatisfaction and de-motivation once
_.."t y hired employees who have had a realistic job preview are less ; > to be
shocked by the job and are more likely to easily settle in as 'tart working.
Research has shown that employee turnover tends
re higher if realistic job previews are not used. As two researchers ;:rr; _ded:
"Telling prospective employees about unpleasant working
conditions may improve the probability that they will
remain on the job in comparison to those who are not
told about the conditions. However those who are told
about less pleasant conditions will be no more satisfied
with them once they are experienced than will those who
are not told. To improve satisfaction and the quality of
work, ultimately some changes must be made in those
aspects of the work environment with which employees
are dissatisfied.'
- - -,g Decision
--- the final decision is made, assuming the job offer is accepted,
the selection process. To prevent any negative reactions, all . -
- .
T': _rr .ration form begins the employees personnel file and contains
ii str.: r personal and confidential information.
Part 4
Chapter 2
Learning Outcome
Introduction to
Orientation and
Placement
nitial concerns.
are not recorded as turnover expenses, but are part of the : for
they arc quickly told about the company and its frir.^r benefits. They filled
out relevant forms, and were then dispatched to their supervisors to start
working. Barely was any time ever dedicates t. introduce the new employee
to the rest of the team. The supervisor the" delegated them to a work station
with nearby workers helping him e_t in case of any problems.
And as can be expected in such an environment, the experiertr' workers have
a little ritual for newcomers to go through - Ragging. T~c new employees
were told of them unfair treatments the workforce ris to endure, and how the
supervisor was the worst of them all. All or
-
did nothing but add on to the already anxious newcomer, resulti^ them not
-
even wanting to fit in and probably making the decisio quit soon after.
In reaction to this situation, the HR department employed an e - larger
number of new employees to offset the high initial turnover, looked into, the
whole orientation process was then revamped. N_ employees were now given
a proper orientation session, that exp.: the background and HR policies of the
company. Some forms had be filled at the session, but objective of the session
-
was to create a r positive attitude about the organization among the recently
hired.
The new employees were informed of how likely they were to successful at
their jobs, and were then taken into a secluded a:t. the cafeteria to have lunch
with their future supervisors. Towards end of the day, their supervisors would
take them to their r departments and introduce them to the rest of the team.
Even t the other employees tried to pull them down, their initial ex with the
organization was so positive that it made settling in a lot
This new approach also led to some significant changes at the c
- initial turnover rates dropped significantly, and the new reenrt- also
able to learn their jobs a lot more quickly. All of this u:> J how initial
anxieties amongst the employees were resolved. at ease they became
with their work environments. They proba? more relaxed and more
motivated to stay with the organizatk r_ seems to explain why they
mastered their jobs sooner than t the shorter and more superficial
orientation.
Socialization Process
ues of the rest of the workforce, and helps answer some ot the -v ons that
Process
_
Individual's
personality
atsn =nc .?
l=s
f- . on programs are a very effective socialization tool that can . -sh rr used for
new employees. As in most cases, newcomers tend to tjtt ;'-.e desire to be
accepted, this process can ensure they actually learn
-
- rrvrm the desired behavior. During this process, the person gets
x* :he
are pivotal. This chapter discusses how orientation -'r- the placement
of employees into productive roles within the -: n. The following section
outlines the content, responsibilities, . ~c~ts of orientation programs.
Orientation Programs
Orientation Follow-Up
mat was taught to them in the initial orientation session. So the HR mply pre-schedules a time
- - on. It comprises initial assignment for new employees and fee : :r.ion/transfer of present
employees. Regardless of their status
me organization, all employees must be recruitcd, selected and m before they can be placed
in different positions. However, me activities are not as elaborate, when recruiting internally,
reemse the HR department already has employee records with
- mi application, references, and work history. This makes -IT:-: of internal candidates is
easier, particularly if employee nave been recorded and computerized. Time and effort is . ..
~en in orienting internal recruits, as they do not really need
- m m me basic values and beliefs of the organization.
r
m-. decisions are made by immediate supervisors, along with ? _m* - magement. The role
relocation involves more than just the employee; the spouse is affected too. This prohe can be
tackled by HR. because they tend to be well connected with ~ a local network that gives them
access to other professionals in other companies. A suitable role for the spouse can thus be
_
found, by ui: z these informal channels of communication. In certain cases, the ~e i recruit might
actually be offered a higher salary to compensate for :t loss of income of the spouse.
With these constraints in mind, there are three major classes af placement decisions: promotions,
89
Seniority-based promotions
m some situations it is senior most employees who get the promotion. The advantage of this
approach is that there can be no bias, as all that : required is to compare the seniority records of the
candidates to -r.crmine who should be promoted. Seniority-based promotions are _' jallv limited to
hourly employees. For example, a promotion from ~--manic second class to mechanic first class
may occur automatically r m-niority whenever an opening for mechanic first class occurs. Labor
rmnizations often seek this type of promotion to prevent employers
m discriminating among union members.
?t HR experts are concerned about the competency of those r* moted solely because of seniority,
since not all workers are equally . mmie. Under seniority-based promotions, the best person can
possibly imied the job unless the individual happens to be the most senior
* -<er as well. This approach to promotion causes HR departments to
their efforts on training senior workers to ensure that they are rmmred to handle future
promotions.
* a-'sfers and Demotions
7mrisfers and demotions are the other two major placement actions m: ;an be taken by the
organization. A transfer is when an employee moved from one job to another that is relatively equal
in pay,
. nsibility, etc. Demotions occur when an employee is moved from
- . ? to another that is lower in pay, responsibility, etc.
_ ~ -mrs may even be beneficial to jobholders. The transfer might just ... to provide a person
with new skills and a different perspective, . ~is-ed on experience. These may even add on to ones
motivation and
-mm on. especially when a person finds little challenge in the old :<- 7 m new position, may
offer them new technical and interpersonal . m ermes. These can prove to be a growth opportunity
for the ~imferee.
Dfc- - "ns seldom hold positive outcomes for the individual. Usually m- associated with discipline
the individual is demoted for
* x-- ? performance or for inappropriate behavior. A problem with
: m is that the demoted employee may become demotivated or . - - e towards those
responsible for the demotion decision. Besides m _ negative influence on the morale of others, this
person is B m a poor producer. Sometimes these can be an alternative to h
employee who
Job posting programs inform employees about unfilled job openings and qualifications. The
announcement of the opening invites qualified employees to apply to notices usually posted on
company bulletin boards or placed in the company newspaper. Then through self-nominations or
the recommendation others, employees who are interested in the posted opening report to the HR
department and apply.
Job posting is most common among lower-level clerical, technical. ar._ supervisory positions. When
lower-level jobs are filled without postir.i them, employees may believe that they should have been
allowed :: apply through the posting program.
Although most job bidders seek promotions, some self-nominations ire likely from those who seek a
transfer. Even self-nominated demotions art possible if the person is frustrated by their present job
or if the pers:' secs the demotion as a means to a job with more favorable promoticc possibilities.
Self-nominations may also be used by management trainees. M- organizations hire recent college
graduates that allow for little than an extended job rotation throughout each of several departme
Separation
A separation is a decision for the individual and the organization to It may be initiated by
disciplinary or personal reasons. Regardless c-r reason, the HR departments role is to find the
most satisfactory met of conducting the separation. Separations can take several forms ?
attrition, layoffs, and termination.
Attrition
projected surplus.
A special form of attrition is early retirement. It is one form of ser that the HR department can
actively control. It is used to reduce levels and to create internal job openings. Early retiremerx
are designed to encourage long-service workers to retire b traditional retirement age of 60.
If the employer is anxious to reduce the number of senior workers, the early retirement provisions
may be supplemented so that there is no reduction in retirement benefits. The advantage of this
form of separation is that it can start a chain reaction of promotions for several layers of junior
workers. Moreover, senior workers tend to be the highest paid employees; when they resign, the
employers labor costs may decline.
Layoffs
Layoffs are the separation of employees from the organization for economic or business reasons.
This separation may last only a few' weeks : its purpose is to adjust inventory levels or to allow the
factory to retool for a new product. When caused by a business cycle, the layoffs may last
- much longer period.
~en the layoffs are expected to be of a short duration, they may not re of the usual pattern of
forcing the most recent ly hired employee to -;;ept unemployment. If the senior worker w'ants to
accept the layoff,
-
::p their jobs. Senior workers are likely to accept layoffs of short
ration because they receive almost the same take-home pay without working.
'efmination
T_ 0yees
the organization for any reason. Sometimes, however, the employer ~ to separate some
employees for business reasons and has no plans xr- re them. In these cases, the employees may
receive severance pay .'. .replacement assistance.
0p<;niirrp
and OrnAnizatinnfll
Rphavior
- ?. that ft r ;r to employees who are
. mn-ce pay isHuman
money
oftenMananpmpnt
equal to one
or more weeks
salary
being permanently separated. Many ; a: ions give severance pay only for involuntary separations and
prfc - employees who have been performing satisfactorily.
ement assistance
Miller, Inc., the worlds second largest manufacturer of . -- :ure. developed a novel approach to
r
severance pay, called I t: rarachute. Unlike the golden parachutes offered only to : c: _::ves at
firms likely to be targets of a takeover, the silver fcte-r extend to all 35,000 of the companys
employees. The jld be activated in the event of a hostile takeover, and the -_ld be pulled if a
workers job were eliminated, salary reduced ~ n d i t i o n s or benefits altered.
This unusual form of severance pay would be paid in ten days :: terminations occurred. Those
employees with between one and fhe years would receive twice their previous twelve-month
compensation l.onger-service employees would receive 2.5 times their salary for the previous twelve
months. Besides assuring employees of severance p_- should they lose their job in a hostile takeover,
this benefit makes the company a less attractive takeover target.
Outplacement assistance includes efforts made by the employer throu_r a firm to help the recently
separated worker find a job. Althou_~ outplacement is a relatively new benefit, it gained widespread
support in the 1970s and early 1980s and is offered by 73.6 percent of employ according to one study.
Issues in Placement
Two placement decisions that are overriding concerns to a hur~^~ resource department are
effectiveness and prevention of separations
Effectiveness
The effectiveness of a placement decision depends on minimi' disruption to the employee and
the organization. To reduce disrur promotions and transfer decisions should be made in
accordance v. the selection steps. Likewise, all demotions should be well recorder - in
accordance to the rules and procedures.
Prevention of Separations
One of the more creative areas of HR management is the preve of separations. This is when HR
departments can prevent organizations from losing valuable human resources, the invested in
recruitment, selection, orientation, and training is no:
To reduce the loss of valuable human resources, HR department undertake a variety of actions.
Through proactive programs, er; losses through voluntary resignations, death, layoffs, and term: can
be reduced.
Voluntary Resignations
Voluntary resignations are reduced by a satisfying work envirer a challenging job, and
personal opportunities for growth. For e the HR department can play an especially powerful
role as an ad line managers who seek better ways to redesign the jobs they sur Realistic job
previews and orientation programs are two other v>~ department may reduce voluntary
turnover.
Equitable Life Assurance Societys part-time program for re called Retiree Talent Bank.
Salaried employees who ha\e are used to staff temporary openings instead of hiring workers
temporary help providers or consultants.
... ..
nmani
7 tinnal R p havjgr | k _
;
Death
Even death as a source of separation is a target for progressive HR departments. Sentry Insurance
Company, for example, installed a multi-million-dollar recreational complex in its western regional
office in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. Part of the plan for this combination of weight rooms, jogging
tracks, tennis courts, and other athletic-oriented facilities is to encourage employees to maintain
better physical health in order to continue working longer.
Layoffs
Layoffs are minimized in some companies by careful human resource planning. By projecting
employment needs several years into the future, employers like IBM and State Farm Insurance
Company have avoided layoffs even during the worst recessions.
*rr:-: .ction to
"nance Mani-
gement
Performance management is a feature in almost all organizations now, so you will almost certainly
have personal experience of this. While your organization will have its own framework, it is likely
that the main components of the framework or system will not be markedly different from that in
other organizations. Also the 'soft skills that are necessary to help manage the performance of an
individual employee are the same across all organizations.
Information provided by a performance management system Performance management can be
T
used for the study of competences needed to perform a particular job to the required level. W hen
used in this context, documentation should include descriptions of good and poor performance
levels so that a persons level of competence can be judged.
An effective performance management system should provide valuable ir'.d relevant information to
both the organization and the individual.
For the organization:
Information about employees for manpower decisions
To reveal the adequacy of other HR procedures, such as selection and training; if there is a poor
match between people selected for a ,'b and the job itself, this will be revealed in the poor
performance :: the employee to indicate improvements in performance due to ning or development
programs
: .--end appraisals are used by some organizations as the basis for z.-;-mining salary reviews
and performance-related pay/bonuses
To identify potential and lead to recommendations for the next job and training.
This feedback should increase the motivation of the individual through a combination of praise
and suggestions for improvements.
Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal is the process by which organizations evaluate job performance. It benefits
employees, their supervisors, the MR department, and, ultimately, the organization itself.
Employees working for a longer time period with an organization want positive feedback on their
good performance, although they may resent corrective feedback.
Performance Improvement
Performance feedback allows the employee, manager, and HR specialist to intervene appropriate
actions to improve performance
Compensation Adjustments
Performance evaluations help decision makers determine who receives pay raises. Many firms grant
part or all of their pay increases and bonuses based up6n merit, which is determined mostly through
performance appraisals
Placement Decisions
Promotions, transfers and demotions are usually based on past or anticipated performance. Often
promotions are a reward for past performance
Training and Development Needs
Poor performance may indicate the need for retraining. Likewise, good performance may indicate
untapped potential that should be developed.
Career Planning and Development
Performance feedback guides career decisions about specific career paths the individual should
investigate.
Staffing process deficiencies
Poor performance may indicate errors in job analysis information, human resource plans, or other
parties of the HR management information system. Reliance on inaccurate information may have
led : ' inappropriate hiring, training, or counseling decisions.
job Design Errors
Poor performance may be a symptom of ill-conceived job designs. Appraisals help diagnose these
errors.
Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior | Reference Book 2
Accurate performance appraisals that actually measure job-related performance ensure that internal
placement decisions are not discriminatory.
Eternal Challenges
Sometimes performance is influenced by factors outside the work environment, such as family,
financial, health, or other personal matters. If uncovered through appraisals, the HR department
may be able to provide assistance.
order to overcome the problems of the old system, a new process -- :-d Performance Feedback and
Development was created by a task :c of senior HR managers and middle-management
representative. 7~,h required employee objectives to be set at the outset of the year and --proved by
a second-level manager.
.\ v 2-2 shows the elements of an acceptable appraisal system. The _:rr.'ach must identify
performance-related standards, measure those .- :tria, and then give feedback to employees and to
the human resource i apartment.
- - \ 2-2: Key Elements of Performance Appraisal Systems
7feedback
WmmSMm
Performance
measures
+
Performance
related
standards
4^
The human resource department usually develops performance appraisals for employees in all
departments. This centralization is done to ensure uniformity, and to allow for comparisons
amongst similar groups of employees.
The employees immediate supervisor performs the evaluation. Although others may rate
performance, the immediate supervisor is often in the best position to make the appraisal. However,
multiple ratersincluding peers and even subordinatesoffer additional perspectives.
Preparation Of Performance Appraisals
The appraisal should create an accurate picture of an individuals job performance. To achieve this
goal, appraisal systems should be job related and practical, and should have standards and use
dependable measures. Job related means that the system evaluates critical behaviors that constitute
job success. These behaviors normally are identified as part of the job analysis process, described
earlier.
A practical system is understood by both evaluators and employees. A complicated, impractical
approach may cause resentment, confusion and non-use.
A standardized system within an organization is helpful because it allows uniform practices to be
established by the HR department. The method of identifying these elements would most likely be
through job analysis procedures. But whatever method is used there must be a record of the
standards.
Before specific approaches to performance appraisal can be examined, however, c6mmon elements
of most performance systems should be discussed. These include performance standards,
performance measures and rater biases.
Performance Standards
Performance evaluation requires performance standards. They are the benchmarks against which
performance is measured. To be effective, they should relate to the desired results of each job. They
cannot be set arbitrarily. Knowledge of these standards is collected through job analysis. As
discussed previously, job analysis uncovers specific performance criteria by analyzing the
performance of existing employees.
It is important that management carefully examine the characteristics of effective performance. Job
analysis, coupled with a detailed performance analysis of existing employees, should begin to
identify what characteristics are required by job and which of those are exhibited by successful'
employees.
From the duties and standards listed in the job description, the analyst can decide which behaviors
are critical and should be evaluated. V. hen this information is lacking or unclear, standards are
developed from observation of the job or discussions with the immediate supervisor.
Performance Measures
Performance evaluation also requires dependable performance measures. They are the ratings used
to evaluate performance. To be useful, they must be easy to use, be reliable, and report on the
critical behaviors that determine performance. For example, a telephone company supervisor must
observe:
Use of company proceduresstaying calm, applying tariff rates for phone calls, and following
company rules and regulation
99
Figure 2-3 compares the accuracy of objective and subjective measure-. It shows that subjective
measures are low in accuracy. When subjective measures are also indirect, accuracy becomes even
lower. For examp;, measurement of an operators phone manners is done subjective/: supervisors
must use their personal opinions of good or bad manners. Since the evaluation is subjective,
accuracy is usually low even if the supervisor directly observes the operator.
Objective
Subjective
Rater Biases
The problem with subjective measures is the opportunity for bias. This is caused by raters who
failed to remain emotionally unattached whi c they evaluate employee performance. The most
common rater biases include the following factors:
The Halo Effect
This occurs when the raters personal opinion of the employee sways the raters measurement of
performance. For example, if a supervisor personally likes or dislikes an employee, that opinion may
distort the supervisors estimate of the employees performance.
The Error of Central Tendency
Some raters do not like to rate employees as effective or ineffective, and so the performance rating
is distorted to make each employee appear re be average. They place their marks near the center of
the rating sheet . Thus the term error of central tendency has sometimes been applied to HR
departments unintentionally.
The Leniency and Strictness Biases
Leniency results when raters tend to be easy in evaluating the performance of employees. Such
raters see all employee performance as good and rate it favorably. The strictness bias is just the
opposite. It results from raters being too harsh in their evaluation of performance.
Cross Cultural Biases
Every rater holds expectations about human behavior based upon his or her culture. When people
are expected to evaluate others from different cultures, they may apply their cultural expectations
to someone who r i- _ different set of beliefs, in many oriental cultures like Pakistan, the . . are
treated with greater respect and are held in higher esteem
- ' n many western cultures. !f a young worker is asked to rate an et-ubordinate, this cultural
value of respect and esteem may bias the
radng.
-rsonal Prejudice
:
- rr=7 s dislike for a group or class of people may distort the ratings ' r^ople receive. For example,
some HR departments noticed ~ale supervisors give undeservedly low ratings to women who I* :
'Traditionally male jobs. Sometimes raters are unaware of their :e. which makes such biases even
more difficult to
overcome.
Human
Resource Management and Organizational Behavior | Reference Boc* I
r.eiess, HR specialists should pay close attention to patterns in b:*. ' that suggest prejudice.
H ' - ' ng subjective performance measures, ratings are affected ?y employees most recent actions.
Rccent actionseither jaacc - bad are more likely to be remembered by the rater.
i flteb: g Rater Biases
subjective performance measures must be used, human E specialists can reduce the
distortion from biases through
srs. -Redback, and the proper selection of performance appraisal
. -r'. Training for raters should involve three steps. First, biases -c r ::jses should be
explained. Second, the role of performance : ; n employee decisions should be explained to
stress the need
-
has a different set of beliefs. In many oriental cultures like Pak:?z_.n. the
elderly are treated with greater respect and are held in higher esteem than in
many western cultures. If a young worker is asked to rate _ ~ older
subordinate, this cultural value of respect and esteem may bias the rating.
Personal Prejudice
A raters dislike for a group or class of people may distort the ratings those
people receive. For example, some HR departments noticed that male
supervisors give undeservedly low ratings to women who hold traditionally
male jobs. Sometimes raters are unaware of their prejudice, which makes
such biases even more difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, HR specialists
should pay close attention to patterns in appraisals that suggest prejudice.
The Recency Effect
Past-Oriented The importance of performance evaluations has led to the creation Appraisals of
many methods to appraise past performance. Past-oriented approaches have
the advantage of dealing with performance that has already occurred and, to
some degree, can be measured. The obvious disadvantage is that past
performance cannot be changed, but by- evaluating past performance,
employees can get feedback about their efforts.
101
The most widely appraisal techniques that have past- orientation include: Rating Scales
Perhaps the oldest and most widely used form of performance appraisal is the rating scale, which
requires the rater to provide a subjective evaluation of an individuals performance a long a scale
from low to high. The evaluation is based solely on the opinions of the rater, and in many cases,
the criteria are not directly related to job performance. Although subordinates or peers may use
it, the form is usually completed by the immediate supervisor, who checks the most appropriate
response for each performance dimension.
Disadvantages are numerous. A raters biases are likely to be reflected in a subjective instrument
of this type. Specific performance criteria may be omitted to make the form applicable to a
variety of jobs. T~e descriptive evaluations are also subject to individual interpretation 'ftvaWary
w&fhy, anti vvnen specific performance criteria are hard identify, the form may rely on irrelevant
personality variables dilute the meaning of the evaluation. The result is a standardized and
procedure that are not always job-related.
Checklists
The checklist rating method requires the rater to select state- words that describe the
employees performance and characte rater is usually the immediate superior. Without
the rater's the HR department may assign weights to different ite~: checklist, according
to each items importance. The result is weighted checklist. The weights allow the rating
to be quan total scores can be determined.
The advantages of a checklist are economy, ease of ad. limited training of raters, and
standardization. The disadvar* susceptibility to rater bias (especially the halo effect),
use oc criteria instead of performance criteria, misinterpretation - items, and the use
of improper weights by the HR departr disadvantage of approach is that it does not
allow the relative ratings.
Forced Choice Method
The forced choice method requires the rater to : descriptive statement in each pair
of statements about being rated. Often both statements in the pair are poi For
example:
I.
lation include:
anee appraisal e
Sometimes the rater must select the best statement (or even pair of statements) from four
subjective
choices. However the form is constructed, HR specialists usually group the items on the form
glow to high,
into predetermined categories such as learning ability, performance, interpersonal relations, and
r. and in many
the like. The effectiveness can be computed for each category by adding up the number of times
nee
each category is selected by the rater. The results can be reported to show which areas need
Although
npleted by the r
further improvement.
response for
The forced choice method has the advantages of reducing rater bias, because some employees
must be rated as superior to others. This approach is also very easy to administer and fits a wide
:o be reflected
variety of jobs. Although practical and easily standardized, the general statements may not be
na~.;e criteria y
specifically job-related. Thus it may limit usefulness in helping employees improve their
of
performance.
jobs.
The
r:e*rretations
ire
hard
variables
to
The critical incident method requires the rater to record statements that describe extremely
that
good or bad employee behavior related to performance. The statements are called critical
iarc ed form
incidents. These incidents are usually recorded by the supervisor during the evaluation period for
each subordinate.
The critical incident method is extremely useful for giving employees job-related feedback. It
statements
or
also reduces the recency bias. Of course, the main drawback is that supervisors often do not
fcnr-istics. The
record incidents that occur. Many start out recording incidents faithfully but lose interest, and
rs nowledge,
then just before the evaluation period ends, they add new entries.
Behaviorally anchored rating scales are a family of evaluation approaches that identify and
evaluate relevant job-related behaviors. Specific named behaviors are used to give the rater
reference points in making the evaluation. Since job-related behaviors are used, validity is more
i strati on,
nrafc> include
or personality K
:: checklist re-:.
Another
rater
to give
likely than with adjectival rating scales or forced choice methods. The most popular approaches
are called behavioral expectation scales and behavioral observation scales.
Behavioral expectation scales (BES) use specific named behaviors as benchmarks to help the
rater. This method attempts to reduce some of the subjectivity and biases found in other
approaches to performance measurement.
Behavioral expectation scales are expressed in terms with which the rater and the employee are
familiar. The rater, usually the supervisor, can review the identified behavioral anchors and
indicate those items the employee needs to improve. Since these scales are anchored by
specific behaviors within each category, the supervisor is better able to provide specific feedback
to each employee. One serious limitation is that raters only look at a limited number of
performance categories. Each of these categories has only a limited number of specific behaviors.
Behavioral observation scales (BOS) use specific named behaviors as bench-marks and require
the rater to report the frequency of these behaviors. These differences between the behavioral
expectation scales and the behavioral observation scales can best be seen by contrasting Figures
2-4 ami 2-5.
b
You can expect this manager to calm clown arguments before they erupt into rights.
5
You can expect t hi> manager to use discretion about whether to continue serving
troublesome customers who are with other patrons.
You cun expect this manager to stop catering to troublesome customers.
Acceptable Performance
?
You can expect this manager to make idle conversations with customers who are alone
Poor Performance
1
You can expect this manager to check identification of young customers on their first time
in the hotel
I
You can expect this manager to present the check to the customer at closing time even
ifthe manager even has not finished eating
In Figure 2-5, the anchors used in Figure 2-4 have been converted into frequency ranges.
One pair of researchers found that a year after BOS were installed in a company, senior
management reported satisfaction with this method. They believed it minimized personality
disputes, enabled raters to explain low ratings, led to comprehensive reviews, and improved
feedback between raters and workers.
. 1 II V*%' ''/J.'
SSmsK&zisMzs-, -
finished eating
Almost Never
1
Almost Always
2
34
Whenever subjective performance measures are used, differences in rater perceptions cause
bias. To provide greater standardization in reviews, some employers use the field review
method. In this method, a skilled representative of the human resource department goes into
the field' and assists supervisors with the ratings.
The HR specialist solicits from the immediate supervisor specific information about the
employees performance, and then the expert prepares an evaluation based on this
information. The evaluation is sent to the supervisor for review, changes, approval, and
discussion with the employee who was rated.
sVvWs,
tbs.
w\eX>5 cvc axv
ol
"Wvvs VvisX_
be reliable and validated to be useful. In order for the method to be job-related, observations
should be made under real circumstances likely to be encountered. Practicality may suffer
when the cost of test development is high.
Comparative Evaluation Approaches
Comparative Evaluation Approaches are a col lection of different methods that compare one
person's performance with that of coworkers. They are useful for deciding merit pay increases,
promotions, and organizational rewards because they can result in a ranking of employees
from best to orst. Although these methods are practical and easily standardized, :ney are
subject to bias and offer little job-related feedback. Usually, they ere based on the raters
overall, subjective evaluation of the employee's r erformance.
specific
information
about
the
Almost Never
1
The evaluation is sent to the supervisor for review, changes, approval, and discussion with the
employee who was rated.
Performance Tests and Observations
With a limited number of jobs, performance appraisal may be based upon a test of knowledge or
skills. The test may be of the paper-and- pencil variety or an actual demonstration of skills. This
test must be reliable and validated to be useful, in order for the method to he job-related,
observations should be made under real circumstances likely to be encountered. Practicality may
suffer when the cost of test development is high.
Comparative Evaluation Approaches
Comparative Evaluation Approaches are a collection of different methods that compare one
persons performance with that of coworkers. They are useful for deciding merit pay increases,
promotions, and organizational rewards because they can result in a ranking of employees from
best to worst. Although these methods are practical and easily standardized, they are subject to
bias and offer little job-related feedback. Usually, the\ based on the raters overall, subjective
evaluation of the employees reribrmance.
Almost Always
5
Biases are reduced by using an elaborate group evaluation method as multiple raters are used,
and some feedback results when managers and professionals learn how they compared with
others on each critical factor. However, many of the comparative examples described in this
section offer employees little, if any, feedback.
Ranking method The ranking method has the rater place each employee in order from best to
worst. The HR department is generally aware of the certain employees who are better than
others. However, HR cannot measure how good an employee is at his or her work. The employee
ranked second may be almost as good as the one who was ranked first, or perhaps considerably
worse.
Forced distribution Forced distribution requires raters to sort employees into different
classifications. Usually a certain proportion must be put in each category. Figure 2-6 shows how a
rater m ight classi fy ten subordinates. The criterion shown in the figure is for overall
performance (but this method can be used for other performance criteria such as reliability and
control of costs). As with the ranking method, relative differences among employees are
unknown, but this method does overcome the biases of central tendency, leniency, and
strictness errors.
lillMlllli
HI llllilllls; / '
%of
Best 10% of
Next 20% of
Middle 40% of
Next 20% of
Subordinates
Subordinates
Subordinates
Subordinates
Subordinates
Ali Ahmed
M.Arif
Shuja Khan
Sarah Lodhi
Sabi h Yousuf
Abdul Sami
Hira Sheikh
M. Ali
Lowest 10
Mahendar Gupta
Khalid Mir
Point allocation method The point allocation method requires the rater to allocate a fixed
number of points among employees in the group, as shown in Figure 2-7.
Good performers are given more points than poor performers. The advantage of the point
allocation method is that the rater can recognize the relative differences between employees.
Points
Employee
17
Ali Ahmed
14
M.Arif
13
Abdul Sami
11
Sliuja Khan
10
Hira Sheikh
10
Mahendar Gupta
Khalid Mir
Sarah Lodhi
M. Ali
SabihYousuf
100
Instructions: Allocate
TOO
Employee
Ali Ahmed
M.Arif
Abdul Sami
Shuja Khan
Hira Sheikh
Mahendar Gupta
Khalid Mir
Sarah lodhi
M. Ali
10
10
10
10
10
9
SabihYousuf
_2tion
107
process
subjects
selected
employees
to
in-depth
interv
These activities are usually concentrated over a rev. d; - e :*;e: m physically removed from the
jobsite. During this time, the r?;. and managers who do the rating attempt to estimate the strengths,
weaknesses, and potential of each attendee at the center. They then pool their estimates to arrive at
some conclusion about each member of the group.
Assessment centers are both time-consuming and costly. Not only are the candidates away from
their jobs with the company paying for travel and lodging, but the evaluators are often company
managers who are assigned to the assessment center for short durations.
From the results obtained, a report is prepared on each attendee. This information goes into the
FIR management information system to assist human resource planning (particularly the
development of replacement charts) and other HR management decisions.
)fassessment centers are the sole determinant of future career progress in the organization, people
will see the assessment process as threatening. However, if it is used to appraise an individuals
strengths and weaknesses and the person has a way of improving areas of deficiency, the center
can be a positive force for developing future talent within the organization.
109
fit. Consider how the HR manager at an oil and gas company viev.ei implementation of his firms
program:
With the new appraisal process and related forms in place, the : major step was educating
managers and supervisors in the use program. Mandatory one-day training workshops were
-
given, pro , each manager with an opportunity to review, discuss, and under- the objectives of the
program. The appraisal forms were reviev. e_ detail with an explanation of how to use the various
sections :r. form. A videotaped appraisal discussion was presented to demor.-- how performance
appraisal worked. Finally, during the work>b managers were given role-play situations using the
new ap; forms. As a result, managers knew how to complete the forrr - few delinquencies
occurred. The human resource department a > valuable data that allow it to anticipate and
respond to training and employee concerns.
Once raters are trained, the appraisal process can begin. Howe\r~ results of the appraisal do little
to improve employee per:'. unless employees receive feedback. This feedback process is f_
evaluation interview.
Evaluation Interviews
Evaluation interviews are performance review sessions i~z: employees feedback about their past
performance or future r The evaluator may provide this feedback through several ar. tell-and-sell,
tell-and-listen, and problem solving. The tel-; approach reviews the employees performance and
tries to cor-, employee to perform better.
The tell-and-listen method allows the employee to explain excuses, and defensive feelings
about performance. It at* overcome these reactions by counseling the employee or. perform
better. The problem-solving approach identifies pro? are interfering with employee
performance.
Then through training, coaching, or counseling, goals for performance are set to remove these
deficiencies. Regardle^ - approach is used to give employees feedback, the guided in Figure 2-9
can help make the performance review s effective. The intent of these suggestions is to make the
positive, performance-improving dialog. By stressing des.r.:- - of employee performance, the
evaluator can give the emplc;. re confidence in her or his ability to perform satisfactorily. T~m
approach also enables the employee to keep desirable anj _ performance in perspective because it
prevents the inc
':
^ L e A performance formally at least annually and more frequently i r .\ employees or those who
are performing poorly.
criticisms specific, not general and vague.
Sxus criticisms on performance, not personality characteristics.
5 .y ;e'.m and do not argue with the person being evaluated, fcr-rry specific actions the
employee can take to improve
7crrmance.
: ~ r - esize the evaluators willingness to assist the employees efforts : :c improve performance.
ETJ* evaluation sessions by stressing the positive aspects of the r : vees performance.
c~:e appraisal serves as a quality control check. If the . . rrocess indicates that poor
performance is widespread, many <cr ;e- ere excluded from internal placement decisions. They
will " noted or transferred. In fact, they may be excluded from zetion through termination.
(Jnacceptably high numbers of . _ ,ers may indicate errors elsewhere in the HR management
function
now promotions
ao l get ahead inaround
this company?
Are
here based on seniority or on perform^n;-''
Dont you think that most promotions are based on luck and knov. n the right people?
appropriate training and developme : guidelines. This understanding helps the employees sees how
relevant actions could benefit their career.
A career is the total number of jobs that are held by an individual during their working life. While
some people carefully plan out their career moves, for others its just a game of luck. People who fail
at establishing their careers lay responsibility on the shoulders of other influencers. like their line
manager or their organization. However, what they do not is that they themselves are unaware of
some very basic concepts, as described in Figure 2-10.
Career A career is all the jobs that are held during ones working life.
Career path A career path is the sequential pattern of jobs that forms ones career.
Career goals Career goals are the future positions one strives to reach as part of a career. These
goals serve as benchmarks along ones career path.
Career planning Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to
those goals.
Career development Career development is those personal improvements one undertakes to
achieve a personal career plan.
Without an understanding of career goals and objectives, planning out a career path is unlikely.
Although the HR can play a role in educating and informing the employee, it is they who remain to
ultimately be responsible for their career progression.
The HR departments role is publicizing, and maintaining the career progression program through
training and information, but the main responsibility lies with the employee alone.
After graduation from college and three years in the Merchant Navy, Babar Ali joined National Bank
as a teller trainee. At that point in his career, his goal was to become a banking executive. He had no
idea of the career path he would follow, but Babar realized that his first step was to become a
supervisor. This career planning caused him to enroll in the banks management training program.
After being promoted to teller, he enrolled in other training programs and also took some noncredit courses from the Institute of Bankers Pakistan. These programs were the first of many career
development actions that Babar undertook. He received two more promotions and at age 30 was
made head teller. After four years, Babar felt his career plan was stalled, and so he accepted a
transfer into the banks new account department. Although the transfer was not a promotion and
did not even include a raise, Babar knew that some diversification in his background would increase
his chances of becoming an assistant branch manager. In three years he was made assistant branch
manager for loans.
After three years as an assistant branch manager for loans, Babar again felt that his career progress
was too slow, and so he took educational leave and finished his Master of Business Administration
degree (M.B.A.). With the M.B.A., he returned to the bank as an assistant manager in a new branch.
A year later he was promoted to a branch managers job. To gain a wider breadth of skills, Babar
transferred to another branch as manager and then to the home office as a loan officer. After five
years he became chief loan officer, and then three years later he achieved his goal by accepting a job
as vice president in a competing bank. His success as an executive led to two more promotions
before he retired as an executive vice president at age 65.
Babars career plan involved well-timed transfers and educational leave. When Babar started as a
teller trainee at age 24, there was no way he could have predicted the career path he would follow,
but through periodic career planning, he reassessed his career progress and then undertook
development activities to achieve intermediate career goa>. such as becoming a supervisor.
113
Career Planning
And Employee
Needs
During the forty years of Babars career, human resource derc in banks and in other large
organizations gave little support :: planning. For additional human talent, HR chose to
-
But what do employees want? A study of one group of emr . revealed five factors of concern.
These include:
Career equity Employees want to perceive equity in organizations performance and
Employee interest Employees need different amounts of information and have different
degrees of interest in career advancement depending on a variety of factors.
Career satisfaction Employees, depending on their age and occupation, have different
HR Department
And Career
Planning
The I-IR department needs to take an active interest and play a role in employee career planning. It
is the HRs future plan that is indicative of the organizations future employment needs and related
upcoming career opportunities. In addition, HR experts are more likely to be aware of training and
other developmental opportunities, due to the various benefits involved:
Develops promotable employees Career planning helps to develop internal career planning
114
Lowers turnover The increased attention and concern for individual careers generate more
organizational loyalty and, therefore, lower employee turnover.
Taps employee potential Career planning encourages employees to tap more of their potential
Career planning causes employees, managers, and the HR department to become aware of
employee qualifications.
*
Satisfies employee needs With less hoarding and improved growth opportunities for employees,
an individual's esteem needs, such as recognition and accomplishment, arc more readily
satisfied.
Assists affirmative action plans Career planning can help members of protected groups prepare
for more important jobs. This preparation can contribute to meeting affirmative action
timetables.
l^-eer Education
Surprisingly, despite all of this many employees still know very little about career
planning. Either they are unaware of the need for and advantages of career planning, or they lack
the necessary information to plan their careers successfully.
Workshops and seminars on career planning increase employee interest by pointing out the key
concepts and gains associated with career planning. They help them set career goals, identify career
paths, and encourage a more fulfilling career for the employee.
When the HR department lacks the necessary staffto design and conduct educational programs,
public programs conducted by local colleges or consultants may help.
Information on Career Planning
115
The most important action an individual can undertake to further his or her career is through
improving job performance.
Exposure Career
Progression is also fueled by exposure. Without exposure to the industry, good performers may not
get a chance at the opportunities needed to achieve their career goals.
Resignations
If an individual finds a better career opportunity and he/she is able to capitalize on it, then a
resignation may be the only way to acquire the desired job.
Organizational Loyalty
There are several people who prefer loyalty over career progression. Mentors and Sponsors
Mentors can help employees in career development. These are people in senior positions having a
vast experience who offer informal career advice to his or her protege. The mentor can guide the
junior worker and help him or her in finding out the most effective ways for career progression.
Key Subordinates
Successful managers rely on subordinates who aid the managers development and performance.
The subordinates may possess highly specialized knowledge or skills that the manager may learn
from them, or the employee may perform a crucial role in helping the manager achieve good
performance.
Growth Opportunities
When employees expand their abilities, they complement the organizations objectives.
118
Learning Outcome
Protection
118
Career Counseling To help employees establish career goals and find appropriate career
paths, some HR departments offer career counseling. These could simply be
people who listen and understand the employees interests and guide them
towards job-related information. However, to be truly successful, career
counselors must encourage employees to assess themselves on their own, as
there is no better judge.
Employee self-assessment Career counselors realize that a career is only a part
of ones life, and plays only a part in ones life plan. A life plan is an ill-defined
series of hopes, dreams, and personal goals that each person carries through
his or her life.
Together all of these roles form ones life plan. Ideally, a career plan is an
integral part of ones life plan. Otherwise, career goals become ends rather
than means toward fulfilling a life plan.
Besides a life plan, self-assessment includes a self-inventory. If a career
counselor can get employees to complete a detailed and honest selfevaluation, it helps to focus their thinking about themselves.
Environmental assessment A career plan that matches employee interests
with likely career paths may actually do a disservice to the employee if pivotal
environmental factors are overlooked. Regardless of the match between ones
skills and the organizations career paths, counselors need to inform
employees of likely changes that will affect their occupational choices.
Career counseling process One of the problems often encountered by career
counselors is employee reaction to the counseling process. Employees may
see only parts of some jobs that pay much better and think that they are
qualified.
Career The implementation of career plans requires career development Development generally
comprises personal improvements one undertakes to achieve a career plan. These actions can be
sponsored by the HR department, or they may be activities that employees undertake independently of
the department.
explains the decision-makers rationale in taking the action, or evidences communications between
supervisors and their subordinates can prove helpful. When things are documented, they are less
likely to be disputed by a current or former employee, and when they are challenged, they are much
easier
to defend. Specifically, employers would be wise to document the following:
Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior | Reference Book 2
Documentation should include records obtained from the employee at the outset of employment: the
application, any authorizations obtained from the employee (i.e., background check), and any benefit
election/ waiver forms.
Signed Acknowledgment
A critical piece of documentation that should be obtained at the inception of the employment
relationship is a signed acknowledgment from the employee stating that he/she received the
employers important policies and/or employee handbook. It is critical that certain policies such as the
companys equal employment opportunity and harassment policy, the at-will employment policy and
the Family and Medical Leave policy he communicated to employees at the inception of employment.
Proof that employees received certain policies is essential in some kinds of employment cases and is
helpful in virtually every employment case.
Updated Acknowledgments
When policies or handbooks are updated and distributed, acknowledgments of receipt should be
obtained from existing employees and kept in the personnel files.
Training Documentation
Proof of attendance at key training events can be important in employment litigation. Employers
should document employees' attendance at harassment training, safety training and training on other
important aspects of an employees job.
Attendance
Attendance records should be accurate, current and maintained consistently for all employees who are
subject to a companys attends r.ee policy. Unexcused absences should be documented as such.
Excused absences should be documented to ensure that they are not considered in connection with
discipline arising out of attendance issues.
Performance Evaluations
Make certain that managers consistently carry out employee evaluations at the scheduled intervals
and that those evaluations are maintained in the employees files.
Misconduct
Regardless of whether one thinks an employees isolated actions will lead to discipline, all misconduct
must be recorded. Documentation that is created contemporaneously with the event is more reliable
than documentation created after the fact.
Discipline/counseling Records
All oral and written discipline or counseling should be documented in the employees file. Employers
should document performance and discipline problems carefully, contemporaneously, consistently
and thoroughly. It is important to make certain that performance-related documentation in the
employees personnel file appears consistent with that of other, similarly-situated employees.
Employee Change Forms
Include records showing changes in title, responsibilities, pay, transfers and other terms and
conditions of employment in the employees file.
Investigations and Complaints
Chapter: Compensation and Protection
Document investigations and complaints relating to or rose by the employee. Employers should retain
documents that reflect the nature of the complaint, what action the company took in response, which
the witnesses were, and the ultimate disposition of the complaint or investigation. For minor issues,
maintaining related documents in the personnel file is acceptable. For more serious or sensitive
complaints or investigations, the employer should maintain a separate file.
Records Relating to Medical or Disability Issues:
It is important to maintain records containing medical information, but they should he maintained
separately from the personnel file and treated as confidential.
Post-termination Records
The employer should maintain a copy of the employees separation notice and a copy of any
correspondence or documentation relating to the return of company property.
The documentation of employee records is clearly useful for the employers; however, it also has a great
deal of significance for the employees. The foremost document is the employee contract.
A contract of employment is a category of contract used in labor law to attribute rights and
responsibilities between parties to a bargain. On one side stands an employee who is employed by
an employer on the other.
The contract of employment is a vital document as it regulates the terms and conditions of
employment between the employer and the employee.
It stipulates what the employer will provide in terms of benefits, and in terms of labor legislation, and
it specifies what the employee is entitled to receive in terms of company policy, company benefits, and
labor legislation.
It also regulates the behavior of the employee in the workplace, because all company policies and
procedures, as well as the disciplinary code, form a part of the employment contract.
An employment contract generally covers:
an overview of job responsibilities
reporting relationships
salary
benefits
paid holidays
paid vacation
paid sick leave
paid time off (PTO)
sales commissions
bonus pay potential and how bonus is determined
profit sharing and how profit sharing is determined
stock options and stock buy-back provisions
employment contract signing bonus
phone allowance
car mileage and travel allowance
moving and transition expenses
any additional negotiated perks
Details of employment termination including cause, severance package, and notice.
Many different types of employee agreements are used by organizations, some of which are:
Collective Bargaining Agreements
A collective employment agreement means an employment agreement between at least one union and
one employer. A union must be registered. A group of employees cannot be covered by a Collective
121
Bargaining Agreement unless they are union members. There are mam minimum terms for Collective
Bargaining Agreements and specific requirements for the CEA bargaining process.
Individual Employment Agreements
An individual employment agreement (IEA) is an agreement between one employer and one employee
and does not cover union members. They are specific in their requirements and have bare minimum
terms.
Fixed Term Agreements
Fixed term agreements expire at a certain time, whether it is when a particular project ends, or at the
conclusion of a season, etc. They are only used in limited circumstances where there is a reason for
having the fixed term, for example, seasonal workers, farm workers and other employees who are
replaced from time to time.
The employer has to advise the employee of the reason for making the fixed term and they have to
explain why the employment will come to an end at a later date. These agreements cannot be used to
avoid obligations the employer has to an employee (in good faith). For example, an employer cannot
evade the responsibility of acting fairly and following through proper procedures in an employee
dismissal situation.
Probationary Period
Another type of contract is the probationary period during which the employer usually has more
rights. Even if an employee is under a probationary period, the good faith obligations for dismissal etc.
will still apply, and an employer has to comply. A probationary period does not mean, however, that an
employer cannot get rid of somebody without notice, or after consultation at the end of the period.
Casual and Part-timer
Employment agreements have to be in writing and this includes casual and part-time staff. The
minimum rights applying to all employees also apply to casual and part-time workers.
The contractual obligations of the employees differ according to the type of agreement. Contractual
obligation refers to the obligation on the employer or the employee as per the contract/agreement
signed by them. The obligations laid out in the contract are usually legally binding.
The legal obligations of temporary and permanent employees may differ based on their contracts.
Companies usually have lesser benefits for temporary employees while permanent employees enjoy
more benefits and perks.
Regulators play a vital role in employment documentation. Organizations in most of the countries in
the advanced world have to conform to employment legislation and regulation and devise forms and
documents that are specified as being necessary to be included in employee documentation. In
addition, industry-specific rules and regulations may apply to specific industries.
The documentation requirements by regulators ensure that employers are obliged to meet a certain
level and standard of documentation. This should lead to proper documentation being compiled and
maintained.
Compensation
Management
Compensation is the way employees are rewarded for the work to do. It is vital that this aspect is
managed well by the organization to ensure they retain a competitive and motivated workforce.
Objectives of Compensation Management
There are several objectives with regards to compensation that must be met:
Acquire Qualified Personnel
Compensation should be sufficient enough to acquire and retain the right caliber of employees. Since
all organizations are competing in the labor market, pay levels must be relevant to what is expected in
general. For some employees, who the organization specifically wants onboard, an additional
premium may be offered to attract them.
Retain Present Employees
If .the compensation is not competitive, present employees will find themselves better work packages
and will move on beyond the organization. To save this from happening, competitive pay rates must
be maintained for the right employees.
Ensure Equity
Pay rates in the work place must not only be externally competitive - that is, be in line with the
average expected in the labor market - but should also be internally aligned. Within the same
organization, the same level of jobs must be equally compensated for.
Reward Desired Behavior
The very concept of compensation is that it should be sufficient enough to trigger certain actions and
attitudes from all employees. It should be an incentive for increased performance levels, high
motivation, organizational loyalty and high productivity
123
Control Costs
If this is not correctly implemented, organizations may end up not correctly compensating its
employees. This could either result in a loss of all bright employees, as they gain better pay rates
elsewhere. It could also mean employees are being paid too much, and the firm is actually losing a lot
more money than they should be based on average market rates.
Comply With Legal Regulations
The HR department can actually face strong legal challenges if the compensation plan is not managed
as they claimed it would be. It must also be in line with all governmental regulations.
Further Administrative Efficiency
The plan should also be devised such that it can effectively and easily be managed and monitored by
HR. It should not only be efficient and effective, but must also not be excessively time consuming.
These objectives should be used as guidelines for the effective management of the compensation
element of recruitment. All jobs, salary expectations and labor market averages needs to thoroughly
be scrutinized in order to ensure optimal pay costs are incurred by the organization.
Job Analysis
This phase is about understanding jobs in more depth via surveys and meetings with members of the
actual workforces. This information is then used to design job formats and writing down their
description and specifications. Compensation is then derived based on this analysis.
job Evaluation
This procedure is undertaken to understand the worth of all the jobs that are to be done. This
evaluation helps determine what levels of compensation need to be given to the various different jobs
present in the organization. This task is carried out by a team of job analysts, who are primarily
responsible to determine compensation scales based on the working environment and the
responsibilities allotted to each of the job titles.
Job Ranking
Jobs are evaluated through this step. All job titles are analyzed and then ranked in accordance to their
importance when compared to the rest of the jobs. They are rated based on their responsibilities
attached, the skills required as well as the work environment.
This method is not said to be the most effective, as it may not give importance to all the substantial
factors. These rankings also dont
differentiate between the relative importance with each of the jobs for an organization. Different jobs
may be significantly more important than those below them, but chances are they are not rated with
the precision that is needed in this method, and therefore do not benefit from the correct
compensation levels.
Job Grading
This method assigns a grade to each of the jobs within an organization. These grades are determined
by a specialized committee who focuses on understanding the significance of each of the roles within
the organization and then ranks them accordingly.
Factor Comparison
This method requires specialists to compare all the crucial elements that make up a job. By doing this
for all the jobs in consideration, each position is evaluated by a common set of factors such as
responsibility, skill, work environment, etc. by doing so, all the positions are compared on an equal
scale and compensation plans can then be derived more effectively.
Figure 3-1: A job classification schedule for use with job grading method
Directions: To determine appropriate job grade, match standard description with job description
Toiil 5~
> WXvlv
Grade
I
Work is simple and highly repetitive, done under close supervision, requiring minimal training and little
responsibility or initiative.
Examples: Janitor, file clerk
II
Work is simple and repetitive, done under close supervision, requiring some training or skill. Employee is expected
to assume responsibility or exhibit initiative only rarely.
Examples: Clerk-typist I, machine cleaner
III
Work is simple, with little variation, done under general supervision. Training or skill required. Employee has
minimum responsibilities and must take some initiative to perform satisfactorily.
Examples: Parts expediter, machine oiler, clerk-typist 11
IV
Work is moderately complex, with some variation, done under general supervision. High level of skill required.
Employee is responsible for equipment or safety; regularly exhibits initiative.
Examples: Machine operator I, tool and die apprentice
V
Work is complex, varied, done under general supervision. Advanced skill level required. Employee is responsible for
equipment and safety; shows high degree of initiative.
Examples: Machine operator Ii, tool and die specialist
125
Step
1 comparison method involves the following five steps:
The
factor
Determine the critical factors elements across all jobs: The critical factors shown in Figure 3-2 arc the
ones most commonly used. Organizations tend to make use of different factors across different levels
of jobs for a more comprehensively understanding of each position.
Figure 3-2: The appointment of wages for key jobs
Kt;Y JOBS
illHH
I
Critical Factors
Machinist
Forklift Driver
Secretary
Janitor
File Clerk
Responsibility
PKR 22.0
18.0
18.0
6.60
Skill
4.00
1.50
1.60
0.60
1.20
Mental effort
2.00
0.80
1.30
0.30
0.90
Physical effort
2.00
1.10
0.70
1.70
1.00
Working conditions
0.70
0.60
0.60
1.50
0.60
Total
PKR 30.70
21.90
22.20
10.70
12.20
Wage rate
PKR 30.70
21.90
22.20
10.70
12.20
9.5
Step 2
Determine key jobs: These are key positions that are commonly found across all organization, and are
also seen in the labor market. These jobs are used because it is easier to determine the demand and
supply rates for them in the market. They comprise a range of critical factors that need to be taken
into consideration.
Step 3
Apportion present wages for key jobs: Compensation plans are then allotted to each job, based on the
factors taken into consideration. The relative importance of each critical factor and its contribution
within each position is what determines the overall wage rate. For example, assuming a janitor
receives PKR 10.70 an hour. This amount is apportioned in Figure 3-2 as follows:
6.60 rupees for responsibil ity, 60 paisa for skill, 30 paisa for mental effort, PKR 1.70 for physical effort,
and 1.50 rupees for working conditions.
When determining the overall wage rate, the committee takes into consideration how the amount
allotted to each factor should reflect its importance when compared with other factors of the job. For
example, if PKR 4 is assigned to skill and PKR 2 is assigned to physical effort for a machinist, this
implies that the skill factor is two times as important as the physical effort. Also, the amount allocated
to a single factor should reflect its relative importance among the different jobs. For example, if
the responsibility of a secretary is three times that of a janitor, then the money allocated to a secretary
for responsibility (PKR18.0) should be three times that allocated to a janitor (PKR 6.60).
Step 4
Place key jobs on a factor comparison: After wage rates are assigned based on the importance factors
within each job, these positions are placed on a factor comparison chart. Key jobs are placed in the
columns according to the amount of wages assigned to each critical factor.
Step 5
Evaluate other jobs: Each job title in each column in the factor comparison chart serves as
benchmarks. Other jobs are then evaluated by fitting them based on relevance on the scale in each
column.
For the job of senior maintenance mechanic, the evaluation committee compares the responsibility of
the mechanic with the responsibility of other key jobs already on the chart. It is decided subjectively
that the mechanics responsibility is between that of the forklift driver and the file clerk. And since the
mechanics job requires about three-fourths of the machinists skills, the skill component of this job is
placed just below that of the machinist in the skill column. This procedure is repeated for each critical
factor. When the task is completed, the committee can determine the worth of the mechanics job,
which is:
msihilitv
PKR 14.5
Skill
3.00
Mental effort
2.70
Physical effort
i.40
Working conditions
1.30
PKR
22.9
By using this same procedure, the committee can evaluate every other job in the organization. When
the evaluations are completed, the job evaluation committee can rank every job according to its
relative worth as indicated by its wage rate. These rankings should be reviewed by department
managers to verify their appropriateness.
Point System
Research has shown that this method has been made use of more than any other. It evaluates the
critical factors present within each of the jobs, but instead of using wages, it uses points. It is more
difficult to develop initially, but is actually more precise than the factor comparison method because it
can handle critical factors in more detail. This system requires six steps and is usually implemented by
a job evaluation committee or by an individual analyst.
Step 1
Determine critical factors: The point system tends to use the same factors as the factor comparison
method, but adds on to them by further breaking down all these factors into sub-factors. For example,
Figure 3-3 shows how the factor of responsibility can be broken down into (a) safety of others, (b)
equipment and materials, (c) assisting trainees, and (d) product and service quality.
127
Step 2
Determine levels of factors: The points system also creates several levels that are to be associated with
each factor, based on how they differ for each of the positions. Figure 3-3 shows four levels, although
more or fewer may be used. These levels help analysts to reward different degrees of responsibility,
skills, and other critical factors.
Figure 3-3: A Point System Matrix
LEVELS
CRITICAL FACTORS
MINIMUM
s Responsibility
LOW II
H -W
MODERATE III
j:
HIGH IV
yv/ \
a. Safety of others
25
50
75
100
20
40
60
So
c. Assisting trainees
20
35
50
d. Product/service quality
20
40
60
So
a. Experience
45
90
135
b. Education/training
25
50
75
, -k,n
| Effort
pit H
180
m
100
A:4vv''
a. Physical
25
50
75
too
b. Mental
35
70
105
150
a. Unpleasant conditions
20
40
60
80
b. Hazards
20
40
60
80
4 Working conditions
Total points
1,000
128
Astern
rc
quire;
COrr
>rnitteeor
materials cleaned or in proper order.; and maintaining, repairing, or modifying equipment and materials
according to individual job duties. The company recognizes that the degree of responsibility for
equipment and material varies widely throughout the organization.
Level I. Employee reports malfunctioning equipment or defective materials to immediate superior.
Level II. Employee maintains the appearance of equipment or order of materials and has responsibility for the security of such equipmem or materials.
* * same . V further
&
-r*l levels
differ f0r
more or
de
grees
Level 111. Employee performs preventive maintenance and minor repairs on equipment or corrects minor defects in materials.
Level IV. ' Employee performs major maintenance or overhauls of equipment or is responsible for deciding type, quantity, and quality of materials to be
and
used.
Step 3
Allocate points to sub-factors: With the factors listed down one side of Figure 3-3 and the levels placed
across the top, the result is a point system matrix. Starting with level IV, the job evaluation committee
subjectively assigns points to each sub-factor. This allocation allows the committee to give very precise
weights to each element of the job. For example, if safety (100) is twice as important as assisting
trainees (50), then it is assigned twice as many points.
Step 4
Allocate points to levels: Once the points for each job element are assigned under level IV, analysts
allocate points across each row to reflect theimportance of the different levels. For simplicity, equal
point differences are usually assigned between levels, as was done for safety of others in Figvre 3-3. Or
point differences between levels can be variable, as shown for assisting trainees. Both approaches are
used depending on the importance of each level of each sub-factor.
Step 5
Develop the point manual: Analysts then develop a point manual. It contains a written explanation of
each job element, as shown in Figure 3-4, for responsibility of equipment and materials. It also defines
what is expected for the four levels of each sub-factor. This information is needed to assign jobs to
their appropriate level.
Step 6
Apply the point system: When the point matrix and manual are ready, the relative value of each job
can be determined. This process is subjective. It requires specialists to compare job descriptions with
the point manual for each sub-factor. The match between the job
description and the point manuai statement reveals the level and points for
each sub-factor of every job. The points for each sub-factor are added to find
the total number of points for the job. Here, for example, is the matching
process for a machine operator I:
The job description of a machine operator I states that the operator is
responsible for performing preventive maintenance (such as, cleaning, oiling,
and adjusting belts) and minor repairs. The sample point manual excerpt in
Figure 3-4 states, Level III: Employee performs preventive maintenance and
minor repairs. Since the job description and the point manual matches at
level III, the points for the equipment sub-factor are 60. Repeating with this
matching process for every subfactor yields the total points for the job of
machine operator I.
After the total points for each job are known, the jobs are ranked. As with the
job ranking, job grading, and factor comparison systems, this relative ranking
should be reviewed by department managers to ensure that it is appropriate.
Beyond the four job evaluation methods discussed in this section, many other
variations exist. Large organizations often modify standard approaches to
create unique in-house variations. Although other job evaluation approaches
exist, all effective job evaluation schemes attempt to determine a jobs relative
worth to ensure internal equity.
Wage and Salary job evaluations generally tend to result in a ranking of jobs based on Surveys their
contribution into the organization. This ensures jobs are paid according to the value attached to them
in general. The question now is how much should they be paid? And what seems like fair
compensation?
To determine fair wage rate, wage surveys are conducted. These are done to
understand what the average rate is like in the labor market. Generally, the
market surveyed is that within a commutable distance; where the firm is
likely to be hiring from. However, for some exceptional employees,
organizations will have to pay more competitive rate in order to have them on
board.
Consider how the president of one large university viewed the labor market:
Our labor market depends on the type of position we are trying to fill. For
the hourly paid jobs such as janitor, clerk, typist, and mason, the labor market
is in the surrounding metropolitan community. When we hire professors, our
labor market is the entire country. We have to compete with universities in
other parts of the country to get the type of
faculty member we seek. When we have the funds to hire a distinguished professor,
i points
added
^ is the
rator is
government; who conducts similar surveys in all major areas. They can also be
waning,
purchased from agencies that specialize in compiling such data. It can also be
point
rforms
ription
ipment
ry sub-
These surveys however, do not allow for comparisons between similar organizations.
They are only provided as a benchmark based on which organization must
determine their own wage scales. However, sometimes even matching job titles can
be misleading. Some positions may have entirely different job descriptions, and so
pay rates must differ. Organizations must also keep an eye out for what other firms
Ed.
As
is. this
ensure
of their genre are doing in the labor market in order to remain competitive.
Survey Procedures
To overcome the limited use of obtained surveys, some organizations conduct their
own. These are generally done for key jobs only, and wage rates for the rest are then
acti
derived from the results obtained. A sample of organizations is selected, who are
on,
then contacted for information on pay scales. It is important that similar job roles
ind
are contrasted and not only job titles, as the work that is required from a role is
ard
er
job
tem
pt
In international scenarios, a survey may not be effective at all. as there are only
limited comparisons available. Most firms general;-, pay a similar wage rate for an
overseas position adding on a relocation premium.
Thus, all jobs are ranked according to their worth and surveys then help determine
pay scales for similar role in the labor market. What now remains is the final
element: the important aspect of compensation - pricing the jobs.
ed on
' paid
ow is
Pricing Jobs When setting wage rates - that is, the price of a job, it must be matched to its value in
ttion?
Pay Levels
are
arfcet.
It is the pay level for any job that reflects its worth. This is determined by its ranking
ance;
set by a team of specialists and then by looking a: what similar jobs are being paid in
ional
ite in
labor
Tg
to
ason
,
took 2
Vhe
n fe
to
peof
To set the right pay level, the internal rankings and the survey wage rates are combined through the
graph called a Scattergram. As Figure 3-5 shows, the vertical axis is for pay rates. If the point system is
used to determine the ranking of jobs, the horizontal axis is for points.
This is created by plotting the total points and wage level for each key job. Thus, each dot represents
the intersection of the point value and the wage rate for a particular key job. For example, key job A,
in is worth 500 points, and is paid PKR 60 an hour. Through the dots that represent key jobs, a wage
trend line is drawn as close to as many points as possible.
The wage-trend line helps determine the wage rates for non-key jobs that are those jobs that have not
been surveyed for. To do so, a point value for the non-key job is located on the horizontal axis. A line
is then traced vertically to the wage-trend line, then horizontally to the rupee scale. The amount on
the vertical is the appropriate wage for the non-key job.
For example, non-key job B is worth 700 points. By tracing a vertical line up to the wage-trend line
and then across to the vertical (rupee) scale, it can be seen in Figure 3-5 that the appropriate wage
rate for job B is PKR 70 per hour.
Figure 3-5: The development of Wage - Trend line
Non-key Job Key Job ^
100 200 BOO 400 500 600 700 800 900 Point Values
into job classes. Thus, all jobs in the same class receive the approximately the same wage rate.
However, a problem with this approach is that exceptional performance cannot be rewarded. In order
to be able to do so, workers must be moved into a higher job class. This then also affects all other
employees working within the same class. A solution used is when organizations adopt a set of rate
ranges for each class.
These ranges are simple pay ranges within each job class. So this means, there is no single flat rate to
be paid to all employees within the same class, but there is actually a range based on which some can
outperform the rest and actually earn more based entirely on merit.
There is a range between which employees can compete, but once they reaches the top of the rate
range, no more wage increases will be forthcoming. It is at this point where the organization will
decide to reward them with either a promotion, or increase the range for the job class in general.
This is a method that employers use to link compensation with employee performance and its
contribution in the organization. The costs of compensation, bonus, etc all fluctuate
s and Gain
Sharing
Ahmed Electronics hasnt laid off a worker in more than three decades. Even during the
severe recession of 2007, when the companys sales plummeted by 40%, employment stayed steady.
Workers reduced their hours, and bonus payments fell from a total of PKR 25million in 2005 to PKR
io.2million in 2007. The combined result: the average production workers pay fell from PKR 50,000 in
2005 to 25,000 in 2007
Although it for allows a lot more flexibility in managing the cost of labor, there are still issues that
need considering before this method is adopted into the overall compensation plan. The HR should
taken into consideration the purpose, payout levels and the overall administration of this approach
Some of these issues are summarized in Figure 3.6 on the following page.
133
traditional compensation
Eligibility
Coverage
Payout standard
What will trigger an incentive or gainsharing bonus? When will it be paid?
Administration
How will the program be administered? By HR department? By line management? Both?
Incentives Gain sharing are compensation approaches that reward specified outcomes. Incentives are
linked to individual performance and reward them accordingly. Gain sharing is meant to target
groups (or classes) of employees simultaneously, and reward them for their overall performance and
contribution.
Such methods have over the years boosted employee morale and motivation levels. They are also a
way to build upon employee loyalty. Many different incentive systems exist, and they take into
consideration several criteria before allowing employees to qualify for the additional benefits they
can receive as a form of compensation.
Other incentive methods that can be used are merit raises, piece-work, production bonuses,
commissions, maturity curves, pay-for-knowledge compensation, and non-monetary and executive
incentives.
Gain sharing is a means of sharing the additional earnings of the organization and a boost in its
performance by rewarding the employees who have contributed to it. These approaches include
production- and profit-sharing plans. Also popular are cost-reduction methods such as Scanlon,
Rucker, and Improshare.
The Purpose of Non-traditional Compensation
Incentive systems link compensation and performance and reward employees for their actual results,
and not for the hours they clock in and the years they have worked for. Employees then realize that is
their level of productivity and their performance that determines their income, it is a more efficient
and frequent way of boosting employee productivity, as rewards can be reaped on pay day every
month.
Since workers gets to see how they can improve their pay scales, they are bound to remain motivated
and productive. It is also beneficial for the employer, as rewards are given out when the organization
is performing better and not for extra hours worked, regardless of the outcome.
As one economist observed:
With fixed wages individual workers also have little incentive to cooperate
with management or to take the initiative in suggesting new ideas for raising
productivity. At the level of the individual worker, higher productivity has no
immediate payoff as wages are fixed for the length of the contract. The
immediate effect of higher productivity is, in fact, negative. Less labor is
needed, and the probability of layoffs rises.
134
System Incentive methods are used in all types of job roles. They can either make up all
me Protection
135
Commissions
In sales positions, a certain percentage of every sale made or a fixed amount is paid
to the sales person who makes the deal from every unit sold. This may or may not
make up the employees full wage for the period. Real estate agents and automobile
salespeople are often on this form of straight commission.
Maturity Curves
Some employees can end up reaching the top end of their rate range. In such
situations, they can either be promoted further as a form of reward or they can be
placed on a maturity curve. These make adjustments for people who are top of the
rate range in selected job roles. Employees are rated on productivity and
experience, and the best performers are placed on top of the curve, as shown in
Figure 3-7.
The relatively less outstanding workers are then placed below them, and so on. It
is by this method, that all high performers can be continuously rewarded for their
dedication and motivation even after reaching the top of their rate range.
Figure 3-7: Maturity curves for professionals with varying degrees of performance
Point Values
Merit Raises
The most commonly used form of reward in the incentive system is merit raise.
These are pay rises given to employee based on a performance evaluation. These are
normally decided by the line manager, in consul'
with other members of the management. They are rewarded to high performing
individuals, but are not restricted to any standards or limits.
r
Their limitation is in their execution - w hich can be affected by bias. In such scenarios,
exceptional performance can go unrewarded, and average performance might just be
rewarded. It also communicates to the workers that instead of quality, quantity is what is
expected of them. Also, if almost the entire workforce is rewarded with a merit raise at
the same time, it loses its meaning and can be seen as a general pay rise instead.
Dissatisfaction by those who have not received a merit increase can also be a source of a
Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior j Reference
The new reward systems are being built around performance measures that will constantly
propel managers to obtain long-term benefits for the companies.
According to compensation experts, a top managers salary should be based on:
Company size
Profitability
Due to the volatile nature of the stock market, incentives might be more effective if they
are linked to improvements in aspects of the organization that executives do control. For
example, weighted incentive systems reward executives on the basis of improvements in
multiple areas of business performance.
Deferred stock incentive systems award stock to executives over a period of time. This
not only acts as an incentive for the executive to stay onboard until the stock is owned,
but its value is also derived from what the executive has contributed in improving the
companys performance during this time.
Gainsharing
Approaches
Gain sharing matches an improved company performance with some sort of financial
distribution amongst the employees. For increased feelings of equality, gainsharing
also tends to include supervisors and managers. Employers with gainsharing are also
much more likely to share their financial and non-financial information with employees,
thus making them feel more involved.
In recent times, the use of this method is rapidly increasing - as it can be customized
based on individual plans or specific groups. Most gainsharing tends to falls into four
broad categories:
Employee Ownership
This is the most motivating, as employees begin to own a share in the company they work
for. Many companies now have stock purchase plans that allow workers to purchase
shares in the company. This results in these employees owning a stake in the company,
and thus sharing in its achievements dividends and stock appreciation.
An approach that is now company used by organizations is called ESOPemployee stock
ownership plan. These can be formulated in several ways, with the main idea that
employees can buy or hold stock in
139
the company. Stock may be sold to employees, who may pay for the stock by
accepting stock shares instead of pay or pay raises. Sometimes employees might just
buy stock as a way of helping a company pay off a debt.
ESOPs can be used in other ways that can be called creative financing. The ESOP as a
separate legal entity may:
Buy the stock with borrowed money secured by the stock and employee pledges
Buy the stock with the funds from a tax-deductible contribution made by the
company (an owner wanting to sell his or her interests may authorize a taxdeductible contribution to the ESOP so it can buy the stock, leaving the owner
with cash)
* Create a new employee benefit when a company contributes new stock issues to
the plan
Make public companies private, spin off or divest subsidiaries, or even save failing
companies
Production-Sharing Plans
Production-sharing p\ans aWow groups of workers to receive bonuses when they go
beyond the levels of output that were expected of This is a short-term approach and
is quite restrictive in nature related to very specific production goals.
However, by using this plan, workers are motivated to act as a team collaborativdy
work towards improving overall productivity.
Profit-Sharing Plans
Profit-sharing plans are when an increase in company profits is with the work force.
Although this may result in a motivated work it may also mean that those who have
not contributed to the su~- are also reaping benefits from it. Some companies further
r the effectiveness of the incentive by diverting the employees share profits into
retirement pians. By doing so, its affect - of achieving ~ motivation levels, is lost and
becomes more subdued.
If this plan works out as envisaged by any organization, it can having a
positive impact on the overall organization, and can considerably on
employee dedication and morale.
One example comes from the XYZ Velvet Company, a leading of velvet.
Located in the rural seacoast town of Sindh, XYZ Velvet is largest
manufacturers of velvet cloth in Pakistan. Within a .
stable industry whose product and process have not changed substantially since
inception, XYZ Velvet has become a model of economic efficiency and effectiveness
through the development of a people-oriented organization. The company has
experienced great success through the mechanisms of a profit-sharing plan (on top of
high wages relative to the industry average) and open, sincere, personal communications
based upon a healthy and cooperative management-union relationship.
Cost-Reduction Plans
Group incentive plans are criticized to not always reward the employees efforts. If profits
decrease despite the contribution of the employees, - due to recession - it is the workers
who will suffer.
Another method that can be used is to reward workers for something they can control labor costs. The idea is to reduce costs, by allowing a committee of employees to be
formed that may facilitate the communication of new ideas. This also allows workers to
make a more involved contribution in the firms day-to-day operations.
The best and most popular approach to use is Scanlon Plan, which bases bonuses on
improvements in labor costs, as compared to past trends. Employees can work towards
reducing labor costs, and then have a share in the savings made. If employee productivity
increases, while labor cost decreases - this savings is then shared with the employees as a
bonus.
Rucker and improshare plans us a similar approach to Scanlon, but differs in how
bonuses are calculated. All of these methods differ from profit sharing as they focus on
labor cost reduction, which is something the employee can have influence over, instead
of that which can only indirectly affect overall profitability.
All of these methods aim to reduce costs, alongside gaining increased loyalty and
commitment from the workforce. Improshare, for example, focuses on reducing labor
hours as a means of reducing costs. Rucker seeks reduction in labor and material costs by
including these reductions in the calculations of gainsharing bonuses. The Scanlon Plan
focuses primarily on labor costs and quality of work.
141
Part 4
Chapter 4
Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
List and describe the employee relations challenges affecting
workplace productivity
142
belonging and worth hence greater motivation. The companies HR policies and practices also help create
an environment of motivation. Safety and health policies, compensation policies and other incentive
plans go a long way in either making or breaking a workplace where employees feel worthy and
contented, compensated enough to give their all. Proper safety measures/ policies take away the fear for
personal safety through accidents and industrial hazards, so workers work freely and comfortably.
Generous health policies in times of such inflation play a large role in keeping workers enthusiastic about
work. Liberal pay raise encourages and inspires workers to work whole heartedly, where as poor to no
incentive plans - low pay raises, salary freezes, no health coverage for hospitalization etc - have the
completely opposite affect. The level of employee satisfaction is a true estimate of the degree of success
the organizations QWL program enjoys.
Motivation, a complicated concept is not easy to apply or use, especially in a work place with hundreds of
workers. What motivates an individual depends on their personality, unique feelings and individual past
experiences. Hence the difficulty that more than one or even two motivational approaches are required to
keep the staff of any firm motivated. Even psychologists have different ideas about motivation.
Organizations are forced to rely on some basic guidelines that can help in certain situations only.
Motivation is a desire to do something that comes from within a person, in other words a man does
something because he wants to not because he is compelled to. If an individual is pushed to take an
action, he or she does it only in reaction to the pressure, like companies are forced to lower prices due to
competition; they dont want but have to. Motivation is when you encourage some one enough to awaken
a wish, a longing to do or achieve something. They do it because they feel that the action is important for
them and would satisfy some urge or need of theirs.
Job satisfaction is about how much gratification or pleasure a worker derives from his or her work and like
motivation it is influences by the environment. Job satisfaction is based on job design, meaning jobs
providing greater behavioral gratification; such as more freedom or autonomy, greater task variety,
important tasks assigned, and pleasing feedback from the supervisor, are personally more satisfying or
fulfilling for a worker. Similarly, great importance is assigned to orientation, as being accepted by the
workgroup, is a source of great satisfaction for the worker. Each of the above mentioned factors either add to
or deprive the employee of the anticipated pleasure and fulfillment. Figure 4-1 also looks into level of job
satisfaction and employee is expected to get from the tasks. This is important for any firm as it directly
affects absences, turn over and other personal issues, like grievances or felicitous events. For gauging
employee satisfaction, firms and their HR specialists use some indices and also hold regular surveys. These
show the employees feelings and thoughts and also what could be done to heighten their sense of
satisfaction. However, it must be kept in mind that the way specialists carry out the surveys or handle
employees also influences their gratification levels.
HR departments that adhere to rules in a bureaucratic or over zealously religious fashion attract employee
discontent. However departments that run the program on a humanitarian basis are successful in garnering
contentment, motivation, growth and approval from the staff. This leads us to the question Does
satisfaction lead to better performance or vice versa. What comes first? Actually, the relationship between
the two is a bit intricate as they are interdependent. Studies have shown that high and low performance can
be linked to high and low level of satisfaction, but which causes which is hard to say. Studies also indicate
that this lack of knowledge about the cause is not strange as contentment and success are not the only
players; motivation also holds an important place in the equation. Satisfaction and motivation are two
different things. The fact that a worker is satisfied does not mean that he is motivated. He may be satisfied
because he does not have to commute to great distances, or because the tasks assigned are easy, or he is
comfortable in the workplace environment etc. Similarly, a hard working person may not be satisfied. The
reason he works hard could be his strong work ethic, fear of punishment or discipline or most importantly
his religious belief about honesty at work. Why is the relationship between performance and satisfaction so
undecided? The answer is another factor, REWARDS.
145
Rewards
Reinforcement
Performance
Environmental System
job Itself Small Groups
Organization External
Environment
Employer
Satisfaction
Self
image Self-
Motivation
Inner drives
esteem
Self-expectations
Needs and desires
As the bottom of the figure shows, all employees come to their job with
certain expectations, needs and desires. If the rewards provided match the
employees expectations than satisfaction is achieved. When an employee
performs well he or she is rewarded, if the reward is viewed as just and fair
return for his/her efforts, then improved satisfaction is the result. Conversely,
if the employee feels the reward does not equal his effort level, it leads to
dissatisfaction. As, the rewards bestowed affect their self image so it also
influences his or her motivation level. If the employee feels appreciated and
worthy he would be motivated and would perform better. But if he feels
neglected or unappreciated he which get de-motivated leading to a dip in
performance level. The relationship of these factors is continuous and its
difficult to judge what affects what and how.
QWL through Employee Improvement
QWL uses a number of methods to enhance productivity but the most
commonly used one is Employee involvement or (El). In this firms involve
them or take their input for various issues related to production, issues that
affect them and their relationship to the organization. El makes the employees
develop a sense of ownership and hence a heightened sense of responsibility
towards the company, its products and its policies, everything they
participated in. This is one feeling that ensures better performance from the
employee hence indirectly ensuring enhanced company productivity. But to
make full use of it companies should ingrain it into their organizations culture
and the s ys o\V
Human Resource
Management and
Organizational
Behavior | Reference
Boo*. 2
Workers today are far more intelligent and aware of their opportunities and
rights then they ever were in the past. They seem to have far more choices and
due to the increased awareness, they dont take any order without question,
they decide for themselves if they would follow the order or not. In short
QWL has gained immense importance in the workers as well as an
organizations life. QWL of a workplace can be judged by the feelings of the
employees for the organization. According to a study a long term hike in
productivity should be matched by an increased level of QWL, if the
management of the company wants it to flourish. However in short term,
some despotic firms manage to achieve higher productivity while leaving the
level of QWL in a continuous downward spiral. In the long term they suffer
for this as they are unable to maintain their productivity standard. The falling
standard of QWL leads employees to leave the company for better prospects.
This withdrawal contributes to an increase in absenteeism and turnover rate,
poor QWL rate. Even if an employee does not withdraw physically, he
withdraws emotionally and does not put in his hundred percent. In such cases
employees limit themselves to their assigned tasks and dont bother with
anything extra, they stop caring and dont share the companys interests.
Eventually this results in falling productivity, thus proving that Employee
Productivity and QWL go hand in hand.
Another observation in the same study was that at times workers report
higher plane of QWL for their own satisfaction and create a false sense of
value. The reason, people want to make a contribution and want to know that
they made a difference. This should be an indication to the company
managers to create an environment where everyone is treated as an expert at
their jobs. Managers create the Pygmalion effect; share their high
expectations from individuals. The employers good opinion motivates the
employees and they do their best to fulfill those high hopes, thus increasing
employee productivity. If the management is clever about it they can take
advantage of this heightened motivation to upgrade not only QWL, employee
productivity but also the raise the level of ideas, decisions made in the firm.
This can be done by inviting ideas and opinions from workers, hence giving an
elevation to their sense of belonging and worth. Common approaches for
enhancing QWL, via El are given below.
Quality Circles
Quality circles were first started in Japan, to perk up the quality of products
produced in Japan, they were called, Quality Control circles. They are small
groups which comprise of a handful of employees andan elected leader. The
employees schedule regular meetings with the leader to discuss and overcome
their work related problems.
147
Origins of circles
In the after math of World War II, Japan faced a shortage of raw materials,
finance etc. the only thing they had in abundance was human resource. Up
until 1950 and 60s the term Made in Japan carried no weight as it was of very
poor quality. The Japanese government had realized that to progress they
needed to export and for that they had to overcome the shortfall in raw
material and the only way to do that was to import it from abroad. This would
help them make products that were of a suitable quality and would be saleable
in the world market.
In 1960, based on behavioral research done in universities and factories,
Japanese, with the help of US experts, developed the concept ofQuality circles
which they applied in Japanese factories. They started using it as a means for
improving quality, but later became part of the routine procedures at most
firms. In 1980s most medium and large sized companies had started employing
them.
Unique characteristics
QC membership, for all, starts as a voluntary activity. The leaders, who are
usually supervisors, are briefed about them and are asked if they are interested
in starting a group. If yes, they then brief their (usually hourly) workers about
the group and again extend the invitation of membership. The leaders then go
through a two to three day workshop, where they are made aware of the
philosophy behind the group, small group dynamics are discussed and leader
ship skills are taught. A day is spent discussing the different approaches to
problem solving, brainstorming, cause-and- effect diagrams and other
techniques, as explained in Figure 4-3.
Brainstorming
A topic is provided and the groups have an open ended discu session.
Some circles do request that members present their ideas in to ensure
that each one participates.
Pareto Analysis
Data about types and causes of production problems is collected
presented in the form of a Bar chart. It is collected by the workers the
supervisor and provided to the workers. Workers arrange the problems in
descending order of frequency. The bar chart helf identify the most
pressing problems, and they are then listed in order.
there
is
relationship
between them
Statistical Tools
Workers are taught statistical tools which they use to identify production
problems, objectively. Some of these preferred tools are random and
probability sampling, computation of arithmetical mean and variances.
___
One day is reserved for an intensive training program about the
abovementioned problem solving techniques. Also, the workers get :o know
about the role of their supervisor as their discussion leader and an explanation
of the concept behind Quality circles. Next step is for the employees to select a
problem they want solved. At times the management might saddest some
problems but even then the workers :hoose the one to tackle first. The
selection process does not involve voting, everyone has to agree for the
problem to be brought under consideration. Any urgent, pressing problems
the management has should be solved by the management itself. The groups
purpose is not :: ~nd solutions for the companys problems; its purpose is to
solve the v r rkers troubles. That is why consensus is used, so workers can
work on : he >sues that bother them the most.
A lowing employees to select the problem also has other benefits, as i r such
as; it keeps them motivated, gives them a sense of belonging. enrually they
want to remain a part of the circle so they can solve rr important issues.
9C Process
Wer ;::on of the training then leads to weekly meetings of the circle. T5-:
ir_es the group is allowed to address are ones that are part of their IKS i: . ark.
They range from; Company pay policies to union contracts, iflt7i~~ent specific
issues. Personality issues are of no concern to the 03Lt is hey are there to
decrease their work stress and make their job : But before they start some
basic ground rules for the discussion ta . j n by the team leader.
fecal solution is presented to the management as a suggestion for i BE the
issue and it is now up to the management to accept or n - ;ase of rejection
the management is suppose to explain the rthind and in case of
acceptance they give the circle a time
frame for implementing the solution. After this the circle shifts focus onto
another pressing matter. It is an ongoing cycle that continues until, either all
issues are resolved or the group decided to call it quits. Normally workers
disband the group when the leader becomes over bearing and starts ordering
them around, not listening to their suggestions. In short when the leader starts
acting as their boss. Also repeated rejection of suggested solutions from the
management tends to dishearten the workers and they decide to disband the
group.
Facilitators and Circle Coordination
The expenses incurred on the circle are limited. They indud| developing
material for teaching and training all related person supervisors, facilitators
etc. The largest chunk of this expend the salaries paid to the workers,
supervisors, and coordinators they are in training. However, managers
dont consider the : in the hourly meetings, a loss or expense because these
work to complete the same amount of work in 39 hours that they hours. So
the circle meetings dont interrupt or hinder their
The use of these circles tends to improve the relations between and
workers as they are meeting in a democratic enviroi of an
autocratic one. Thus in the long run QWL is improv these
employees learn to be more systematic in their work process. This
is because when solving a problem, they s> out or include solutions
and then work out the cost effe. proposed solution. These circles
also serves as employee program as the employees participation in
the ho'-irtoj managers spot and pick out potential future superv
Such systems are used to further the QWL efforts by firms. They aim at
modifying the work environment and at times very radical changes are
witnessed, where this process is used. It is used to restructure the tasks, the
work group itself, and the relations between the worker and the technology
being used.
Indus Motors in the past used a traditional work environment for assembly of
electronic parts. There, workers performed a simple task repeatedly and spent
less than a minute on each unit or machine part. Now they have specially
designed work islands where three to seven people work and they can not
only rotate jobs, hence avoiding boredom, but also socialize. This has lead to a
higher level of QWL.
Ergonomics is the study of the relationship between physical attributes of a
worker and the physical demands of his job. This study aims at reducing the
mental and physical stress of a job while heightening QWL. The automobile
industry uses it along with socio-technical systems to revolutionize assembly
line production. They have proven to be world leaders in using these systems
to lessen job dissatisfaction and boredom. Employees no longer have to waste
away after one mindless yet tedious task.
Little things such as raising or lowering the work stations, relocating handles
to an easily reachable height or place, and fixing parts bins that are slightly
tilted- to provide ease in extracting part- can help reduce a workers stress level
considerably.
Code Termination is a term that stands for Industrial Democracy. Formal
sessions are arranged where the workers meet the company management to
share concerns and decide worker related key issues through voting.
Autonomous Work Groups
El is encouraged by this rare method also. The term refers to work groups or
teams of workers that dont have any company appointed team leader. In such
groups all issues are addressed by the team members
=nd Assessment
151
with mutual consensus and they often resolve problems that might have been
handled by a supervisor in a different approach.
They enjoy a high degree of self determination in the management of their
daily tasks and have a collective control over certain parts of their jobs, such
as, pace of work, distribution of tasks, organization of breaks, and even a say
in recruitment and training of new employees. Due to this more often direct
supervision of workers is not deemed necessary.
It is expected that QWL will improve in the years to come as the workers
today select jobs based on appropriate behavioral features. The new
workforce comprised of educated individuals is eager for jobs that are
challenging and offer some degree of autonomy. Also participation in
decision-making process of the company is extremely desirable for them.
However the slow birth rate in Industrial countries may lead to an increase in
the shortage of new workers.
Union-
Management
Labor Unions for their success in employee relations. Absence of unions does
Relations
Introduction
are all interdependent. For instance, the union is dependent on the company
for the successful running of the business and creating jobs for the workers. It
also relies on the government to shield and protect the rights of its members.
Government protection mainly prevents employers from firing workers just for
the fear of them joining or starting a union. The management relies on the
unions to fulfill their commitment with justice. They both depend on the
government for the fair enforcement of laws to which they are both subject. In
turn the government expects both parties to provide the buyers quality
products and services, to fulfill publics needs.
Take whatever pay and benefit cuts the firm offers or,
153
or even pay cuts. The future state of this issue depends on increase or decrease
in competitive pressure, ability of unions to influence the government,
through national politics and the unions internal cohesion. If they stay united
and put enough pressure on the government, the situation might improve.
Ups and downs and swing in the balance of power is pretty common, but it is
of note here that this structure of labor-management relation is very resilient.
The evidence being that it has been in existence since 1947. The look of this
structure has evolved and become refined as the partners have also advanced
overtime. This bond is also flexible enough to cope with and even out last
numerous legal, social and economic challenges.
Labor unions tend to change the whole dynamic of the relationship between
Labor
Unions
HR Management
and
No matter the changing condition of the factors, there exists a common core of
unmoving goals. These common goals are the purpose of the
Business Unionism
OR
Maximize number of
employed members
Social Unionism
benefits of members
Maximize welfare of
Maximize welfare of
OR
members
working people
However, higher cost per worker results in the organization cutting back on
job positions in the company; it may even fire workers, and increases their
reliance on mechanization. Trade offs made under the head of social
unionism are less apparent. Here the labor organizations are under duress on
whether to maximize the benefits to all workers, hence minimizing the
benefits for the unions members alone. HR departments and officials are
influenced by both business and social unionism goals, as most incentives
were borne out of the pressure exerted by the unions. Firms that do not have
a union in their midst, also give their employees benefits in order to stay in
the running of successful companies and more importantly delay
unionization.
Union Structure and Functions
Authors believe that the growth and expansion of a company results in loss
of contact between managers and workers. To make up and over this loss of
direct contact labor unions are formed. Unions help workers exercise or take
come degree of control over their jobs and work environment. When
employees face wage cuts they turn to the unions for assistance in ceasing
the cut. (This happened in the past. But today, such pressure from the
workers tends to start rifts and divide the union
155
into factions.) Earlier when the business world was made up of small
businesses, an effort to exert such control came from local town unions. Later
development and building of rail-roads extended the boundaries of the towns
merging them into cites and linking them to the entire country. Thus small
businesses grew into large firms. This expansion resulted in the formation of
r
national unions, comprising of members from the whole country. Now w hen
several national unions are affected by the decisions of a firm, they join
together and form multi-union associations.
Local Unions: HR administrations consider local unions to be the most
important of all unions. This is because the revenue, the labor force and power
of the entire union movement comes from them.
Local Unions are of three types:
1.
Craft unions
2. Industrial unions
3. Mixed locals
Craft unions are organized on the basis of shared skill or trade among workers
of one geographical area. Industrial unions have both u nskilled and semiskilled workers where as local unions have a variety of people working in
different localities. At each location a different local union represents workers,
and they may be a combination of both semi and unskilled workers. A mixed
local union, which is a combination of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled
workers, it exists today in the Electric utility industry.
The framework of a local union is depicted in Figure 4-6. Starting from the
ground level, we first have the steward, who is most often elected by the
workers. In a mixed or Industrial union any problem that the steward is unable
to handle is passed onto the grievances committee, who in turn present it to
the higher management or the HR department. For craft unions the process is
different. The steward-known as representative- himself reports the issue to a
full time employee of the union or their business agent. This process is called
grievance procedure. It tends to limit the power of the HR specialist and line
managers by questioning and challenging their decisions. A successful
complaint works as a model that helps the union limit any such decisions in
the future. Whether workers would come to the HR specialist with complaints
about the union depends on their experience with the unions local
management and its image in the o the workers mind.
Grievance
Committee
iI Bargaining
committee
HMSIMSH
day-to-day
affairs,
with
their
contracts
terms
and
the
working
conditions,
grievance
procedures,
safety
standards,
follow its constitution and it is by laws. The national union heading the craft
unions often leaves some decisions up to the discretion of the locals.
However, industrial national unions involve themselves with all issues
pertaining to the native workers. An example being that the national union
orders that all bargained contracts are to be signed by it, to ensure equal
treatment of allworkers.
Multi-union associations: are a group of affiliated national unions and
include most unions as their members. Their goal: attain the social unionism
goal of organized labor. This type of union supports the new laws and social
changes that would have a positive impact on the workers as well as the HR
management.
Why Are Unions Unions do not form on their own accord. They are a reaction to an Formed?
unfair act or silence of the management on worker related issues. The
particular reasons for the formation of any union vary a lot as each area and
each industry has its own specific problems. The reason why an employee
joins a union is dependent on his own perception of his job and his particular
needs. However there is always some common ground, otherwise such an
organization would no exist.
Craft Unions
Craft unions offer workers opportunities to learn a craft or skill. They offer an
apprentice ship program that provides a job along with train Hence people
join this kind of union for practical reasons, for ins"' finding a job. For
instance, in construction industry workers are ta on a project by project basis.
After the job is done they are laid off the contractor and they approach the
union for recommendation other firms, in need of their services. Thus Craft
unions do the w job placement and have great benefit. They offer other
services, as such as, as health insurance, life insurance, and pension plans t'
financed through employer payments. Union
industrial Unions
These are formed when HR policies cause mistreatment. HR po'
affect discipline, layoffs, compensation, job design, and comm are
especially important. When these policies are ignored employers are
acting indifferently to employee needs, a unier formed to bring
changes in the policies. First level manag who link employees and
management. If the supervisor unable to take care of the workers, a
union may be formed is easier to attract members for it. People who
are already put pressure on their peer to join the group. The peer p
superbly on new workers as they are there to make an im
1S8
friends, and prove their worth. Pressure can also be used to sway wociers who are indifferent
to such efforts in the past. At times manageen: may arrange union shops. Under this all
;
External Factors
Have any labor commandments influencing your industry changed lately causing the union
organizers interest to develop in your organization?
Is your organization preparing for an increase in workforce in order to arouse the union
organizers and motivate them to organize the corporation'prior to its expanding magnitude
making it difficult to organize?
Internal Factors
All through the increasing previous organizing efforts, has your organization been unsuccessful
Have fringe benefits and rewards to employees plunged down the average industry, community,
or unionized firms rate?
Are the workers infrequent in implementing and fail to use companys procedures for sorting
related matters?
Do management decisions and policies criticisms appear more vocal?
Have the disappearance rate of employee directories increasing?
Are employees inquiring managements response to unions?
Are solicited questions being raised about the companys rules?
The existence of a union organization committee can bring about another constraint. The
committee consists ofthe union drive supporting employees who encourage and persuade their
colleagues to join it. They do this with the help of pamphlets, speeches, conversations, and even
home visits. The objective of the committee id to get the employees to sign agreement cards
indicating employees interest in the union. The committee, after getting 30 percent of
employees to sign the cards, approaches the respective government authorities for the
arrangement of representation elections. This elections result determines the existence of the
union. The committee during this procedure may raise questions regarding the managements
activities that influence employees, even if its practices are just.
Lastly, unionization creates another concern towards the actions of the management. When any
member of the management commits an unfair labor practice, the organization has to go
through expensive, time-consuming lawsuits. As further validation for creating a union, the
organizing committee may highlight any violations committed by the management. Union
leaders may file claims for the introduction and implementation of new more employee favorable
policies, despite the fact that the actions of the management are lawful.
examination of how people learn, and the different learning styles that we all
have.
The reasons why organizations carry out training will then be considered,
followed by a description of a systematic approach organizations may tike to
training. The chapter concludes by considering the different levels of training
evaluation that maybe used by organizations.
This is the training that is given to individuals when they join an rsanization.
Normally there will be both generic and specific elements to this induction
training. The generic elements are suitable for anyone who joins the
organization and will cover topics such as the : riranizations mission and
values, the reward systems, performance ~ inagement, health and safety, etc.
Many businesses will run this training with participants drawn from a range of
business units. What the participants have in common is that :hey are new to
the organization. Indeed, some organizations tailor their recruitment process
to ensure that new entrants to the business start
163
this type of training on their first day, before going to their units.
Thereafter, the induction training will be specific to the unit and role to
which the new entrant has been recruited.
Technical Training
-
This is the training that an individual receives to provide thr the skills and
knowledge that they need in order to perform ~ role. This training will
almost certainly occur as part of an in induction training, but it will also
happen throughout the ' time with the organization. For example, it may be
that for a role, the volume of this training is too great to be carried ota one
course; therefore a staged approach is taken whereby the broken down into
smaller chunks or steps.
At the end of each stage of the training, the trainees perfo be assessed by
the trainer or some other assessor, for exarr.r-r leader or a trainer. Once the
trainee is deemed to be compe:= area, they then go to the workplace to
deal with this type of so build up their proficiency. Once they are deemed to
be . in this area, they then move on to the next step in the training before
putting these new skills into practice, and so on.
Professional Training
This is training for an individual on the softer skills that ire for them to be
_
The Approach to
Learning
Learning Styles
and
learned
Insight is needed in a situation if a person is to r.
164
Learning can also occur when knowledge is stored from experience and then
integrated so that the individual can adapt to new situations and achieve
personal goals.
What we are looking at here can also be called experiential learning. This is
the way that we have learned throughout our lives from learning how to
walk to mastering how to operate a pc effectively! In order to engage with
experiential learning, those being trained need to
* How did the team perform in comparison with the other teams?
Did I manage to prepare and print the document correctly?
Did I close on the sale at terms beneficial to the bank and the customer?
As can be seen from the above, all we are looking at here is a factual reflection
on what actually happened. A more in-depth analysis will rbllow in the next
stage.
Now, having considered the points made thus far, we decide will do
differently the next time we carry out this exercise, forward to do so.
Examples here include:
Giving clearer instructions to a team at the start of an ensure that they
The stages and personality types associated with each staac of are:
Activists
Involve themselves fully in any new experience. They live for moment
and their thinking is dominated by immediate They are o'pen-minded
people who are not usually skerrJji result they tend to be enthusiasts.
Their outlook in life is * try anything once. They tend to react to
_
situations first. a a of the consequences. They will fill their days with
activity. - on brainstorming. They are gregarious people who set f with
others, but by being like this, they seek to be the cer.:rr
Reflectors
166
s\
Theorists - are keen to adapt and integrate what they see into complex but
logically sound theories. They like to think theories through in a step-by-step
logical way. They are skilled at pulling disparate facts into coherent theories.
They are often perfectionists who will not be satisfied until everything is tidy
and in their rational scheme of things. They are keen on questioning basic,
underpinning assumptions. Questions that they will frequently ask are Does
this make sense? How does this fit with that?What are the basic
assumptions?
Pragmatists
Want to try out learning to see how well they will work in practice. They will
actively seek new ideas, and experiment with their application. They are the
type who will return from a course full of ideas and cant wait to try them out.
Pragmatists like to get on with things sooner rather than later and will quickly
get impatient with prolonged discussion.
%y Training
Should Be
Carried Out
Today, some form of training is carried out at all levels within financial
services. Why is this training considered to be such a necessary part of
organizational life?
Enhances Performance
As outlined at the start of this chapter, training can improve the individuals
performance on a job through induction and later training. This improved
personal performance will result in improved organizational performance.
*
Legislative/ Regulatory Requirements
Organizations are often required to carry out training initiatives to comply
with legislation and regulation.
Maintenance and Development of Skills
Training also helps to maintain and further develop the skills of employees.
Developments in technology make it essential to train and update staff on
changes; for example, either the introduction of a new front end computer
system or the enhancement of an existing system, say with the provision of
new screens, to capture additional customer information and thus aid the sales
process.
Increased Motivation
Training increases the motivation of employees by retaining their interest and
giving them a wider range of skills. In addition, staff can have increased
feelings of belonging to the organization due to the investment they see their
employer making in their development. Motivation may also be increased due
to the social contact that face-to-
i-Jt vanagement
167
face training events allow to happen, thus giving course participants the
opportunity to network.
The Systematic Approach to Training
Stage 1: Analysis of Organizational Needs
Is the organization short of particular skills or jobs? Where and in what areas
are further skills required?
Analysis Of
Organization
al Needs
Job Analysis
training Needs
Now identified
Objectives
Performance
>
r
For
<"
Person Analysis
Training Needs
Nov/ identified
Feedback
*
*
*
*
Of
Programme
implementation
And
The job analysis involves an examination of the duties, responsibi.rrkfl and skills
required by the job. The person analysis will assess the abflr and skills of the
individual.
Stage 3: Objective Setting
This involves setting objectives for job performance and what individual is
expected to achieve.
Stage 4: Identifying Training Needs
After objectives have been set, training needs can be identified can be
influenced by changes in legislation/regulation, ways of i and the activities
carried out by the organization.
The exact content of the programme is determined by its design and the
objectives are broken down, setting out in greater detail exactly what the
j:nee should
used is also established at this stage, as well as the type and placc of ' - and
assessments if appropriate.
Stege 7: Validation of The Training Program and Implementation
evaluation oftraining is the final but integrative part of any training r:'gramme and can occur at several different levels and stages based on tne
individuals response to the training, others assessment of his/her
rerrormance and the individuals contribution to the organization.
r'. aiuation is concerned with the cost benefit of training in monetary terms
and the perceived value and usefulness from the point of view of the people
involved and the work they do. It can occur for the employee a number of
levels.
A well known four level model of training evaluation was developed r.
Donald Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatricks model states that evaluation of .'l ining
should always begin with level one, and then, as time and other resources
(such as budget) allows, should move sequentially through e . eis two, three,
and four. Information from each prior level serves as a rase for the next levels
evaluation. Thus, each successive level represents
- more precise measure of the effectiveness of the training programme, rut at
the same time requires a more rigorous and time-consuming analysis.
Level 1 Evaluation Reaction level
If you have ever attended a training course, you will almost certainly be
ramiliar with this type and level of evaluation. Level 1 evaluation seeks to
measure how participants in a training event react to it immediately on
the conclusion of the course. It attempts to answer questions regarding the
participants perceptions:
169
How do they feel about the way in which the trainer delivered the material?
What did they feel about the training environment and support materials?
Therefore, having attended a training course, you will almost certainly have
completed some type of level i evaluation document and either returned it to the
trainer or sent it directly to the organizations training department.
This type of evaluation is often called a happy sheet. According to Kirkpatrick,
every training event should at least be evaluated at this level to provide feedback
for the potential improvement of a training programme. In addition, the
participants reactions have important consequences for learning (level two).
Although a positive reactier does not guarantee learning (for example, the
participant may ha-.; enjoyed the event, but they do not have the opportunity to
consolidate their learning by practicing the skills learned once they return to the
workplace), a negative reaction almost certainly reduces its possibility.
Level 2 Evaluation Learning
Assessing at this level moves the evaluation beyond learner satisf. and
attempts to assess the extent participants have advanced in knowledge or
attitude. Measurement at this level is more diffic_t laborious than level one.
Methods range from formal to informal i to team assessment and selfassessment. If possible, participants test or assessment before the training
(pre test) and after train: test) to determine the amount of learning that has
occurred.
Level 3 Evaluation Transfer
This level measures the transfer that has occurred in learners due to the
training event. Evaluating at this level attempts to question - are the
newly acquired skills, knowledge or ate! used in the everyday working
environment of the participant? this level represents the truest
assessment of a programs e.
However, measuring at this level is very difficult as it is to predict
when the change in behavior will occur arc ascribable this change in
behavior is to the training e*
requires important decisions in terms of when to evaluate, how often to evaluate,
and how to evaluate.
Level 4 Evaluation Results
Frequently thought of as evaluation on the bottom line, this level measures the
success of the programme in terms that managers can understand - increased
production, improved quality, decreased costs, reduced frequency of accidents,
increased sales, and even higher profits or return on investment.
From a business and organizational perspective, this is the overall reason for a
training event, yet level four results are not typically addressed. Determining results
170
in financial terms is difficult to measure, and is hard to link directly with training.
For example, it is almost impossible to relate the outcomes of a behavioral training
event on the organizations bottom line as there can be a number of other factors
that may either change the participants behavior, or the bottom line itself.
HRM Challenges
In This Part Chapter 1: Workplace Diversity
Workplace Diversity
'' = icgement
171
If workplace diversity is limited, there are both benefits and challenges. Some
of the benefits are:
It is easier to manage because most of the employees are similar in their
mindsets, background and working styles.
There is little or no chance of prejudice or aggression towards peers and
fellow employees. Misunderstandings that may be created due to customs
such as diet, greeting practices, maintenance of personal space and dressing
can easily be avoided.
Limited diversity may lead to the following challenges:
1.
2. The company may miss out on a broader talent pool that might have been
available. When employee selections are not limited by such criteria as
age group, educational experience or location, this increases the
possibility of finding the right employee-employer match.
3. Companies may be reluctant to venture into new areas because of a
limited resource pool.
Employee Employee engagement is about the level of comm itment and involvement
Engagement an employee has towards their organization and its values. An
engaged employee istaware of the business context, and works with
colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the
organization. It is a positive attitude held by the employees towards the
organization and its values. HR practitioners believe that the engagement
challenge has a lot to do with how the employee feels about the work
experience and how he or she is treated in the organization. It has a lot to do
with emotions which are fundamentally related to driving bottom line
success in a company. There will always be people who never give their best
efforts no matter how hard HR and line managers try to engage them. But
for the most part employees want to commit to companies because doing so
satisfies a powerful and basic need in connecting with and contributing to
something significant.
Employee engagement defines an employees dedication and involvement
towards the organization and its moral values. Engaged employees wellequipped and knowledgeable about the organizations frame'.', cn and thus
attempt to improve the performance of existing jobs for * benefit of the firm
:
118
companys bottom line success. Despite the HR officials and line managers efforts of bringing
improvement through employee engagement, certain people in the workforce tend to show lax
attitude towards their work thus failing to give their best shot.Nevertheless, most of the times,
employees eagerly obligate to the companies in order to satisfy the fundamental need of
connecting with and contributing to something momentous.
Aspects of Employee Engagement
Global studies highlight three fundamental aspects of employee engagement:
1.
The employees along with their distinctive psychological framework and know-how.
2. The employers and their skills of crafting an environment promoting employee engagement.
3.
Engaged employees are considered to be builders. They willingly yearn to understand and know
the expectations of the organization in order to fulfill and even surpass them. They are eagerly
inquisitive about their company and their position in it. They show persistent high level
performances and are keen to display and make use of their aptitude and skills at work. They
act as a driving force for their organization and with their zeal and novelty facilitate its growth.
Not Engaged
These types of employees focus more on the completion of the tasks rather than on the
achievement of anticipated goals and the end result. They expect to be given responsibilities
and carry out these jobs just for the sake of finishing them. Such employees are under the
impression that the organization does not acknowledge their efforts and does not contribute to
tapping their talents. This is because of the disengaged employees weak relationship with their
mangers and co-workers.
Actively Disengaged
These employees are considered to be the cave dwellers. They are Consistently against
Virtually Everything. They show their d issatisfaction from work by acting it out. These workers
seek every cha nee of disseminating pessimism in the organization and make attempts of
demoralizing the achievements of their committed coworkers. The problems cultivated by these
employees can harm the organizations operation greatly due to the fact that all the workers
highly depend on each other for the creation of the organizations products and services.
Importance of Engagement
It is prudent for the organizations to develop employee engagement, as the root cause of the
employees lack of involvement and motivation is their disengagement and estrangement to
their work. Lack of interest and impassiveness to ones work mostly leads to meaningless work.
Another research shows that variables like employee turnover, customer satisfaction - loyalty,
safety and, to a lesser degree, productivity and profitability criteria are connected to employee
Talent recognition
Talent appreciation and feedback mechanism
Creation of a genial aptitude development environment
Alas, organizations mostly fail to mu 11 over some of the issues mentioned above.
HR is still considered a support service and fails to assimilate with the corporations
strategic vision, mission and objectives. Thus the placement of personnel is done for
nothing more than filling in the vacancy in a given place. It scarcely happens that
the HR carries out proper induction process, scans the CVs of applicants and
shortlists the most appropriate people placing them at their rightful place. The
managements key setback is that they have a contracted list of options available and
variety of considerations, apart from pure merit due to the intrusion of different
quarters, drives all the HR roles.
MAX O*I a^e.\s> atvol'tae.T m . tYvera\cs\.. Tr\e
in the public sector is over 50 years compared to the 30-35 age b: in the private
sector firms. A lot of partition and pointless h exists between different classes
of people depending on age. s officers vs. workmen, and so on. Management
has failed to e: this high level antagonism among people despite the many
efforts! made, thus failing to produce a favorable environment for the
professionals to permeate in.
Talent Development
There are numerous concerns that should be addressed prior to . a longterm commitment to a career, apart from creating condu. environment for
the employees to prosper in. These concerns the achievement of
satisfaction through job enrichment r recognition for good work, prospects
of performance based 7 accomplishment of flexibility in terms of job hours
and other aspects, receiving monetary and non-monetary benefits and
promotion process. The public sector is unable to provide such not because
the management is reluctant to provide them r _r the government, its
regulatory systems and procedures are ut
Therefore, it becomes hard to retain the right talent in i : set-up. In contrast to
the general deregulation in the co change is occurring at a slower pace.
Preserving taler: a challenge due to the absence of appropriate talent
approaches. The introduction and production of voluntary programs by the
organizations elaborated and confirmed ** as these programs involved the
expiration of talented contradictory to the managements intention.
179
Succession This is the procedure which involves ensuring the supply of planning
beneficiaries for the current and future chief jobs.
It is specifically essential to anticipate the accessibility of L executive
contenders in a succession plan. For instance the pote most suitable
-
Appraising the present administrative talent for anticipating the future supply from
internal sources.
Forecasting individual career paths through objective approximation of future needs and
assessments of the potential.
Career counseling considering the future needs of the corporation and the individuals.
Pa
"l
Chapter 2
Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
Three Different
There are three major groups of theories of motivation. The first and earliest
Approaches to
Motivation
The second is the human relations view (also known a? social or actualizing
man). The complex man view or process theories are the third approach.
The Traditional View/ Utilitarian Man
This traditional approach to motivation and encouraging a satisfactory level
of employee involvement and effort is expressed in McGregor's
Theory X (which also summarizes the authoritarian style of leadership). This view states
that people need to be controlled and threatened before they put in enough effort at work.
You may have heard reference made to the carrot and stick approach to motivation - this
is the traditional view.
Fortunately, according to Theory X, not all people are like this; there are some superior
people who can assume authority and control (those destined to be team leaders and
managers).
A predecessor, who held similar views, although writing 50 years earlier, is Frederick W
Taylor with his view' of man as a purely rational, economic being. He assumes employees
are motivated purely by economic reward and will work harder if they believe there is to be
more money.
The Human Relations View
A number of different theories fall within this area. The earliest approach could perhaps be
termed that of social man. This view developed from the Hawthorne experiments
conducted by Elton Mayo which supported the concept that man is asocial animal, who
gains a sense of identity, self respect and fulfillment from social relationships. To
rationalize work and take the social element out of it takes the meaning out of work.
According to this theory, the manager needs to build social relationships into the work
situation and design organizations around work groups, so as to help fulfill these social
needs.
Self Actualizing Man
These theories developed from the concept that man is selt-motivated and self-controlled.
This view maintains that the usual managerial actions tend to reduce responsibility and
autonomy and so reduce motivation. This group of theories can be summarized in
McGregors Theory Y - people enjoy working and can exercise control over their own work.
hierarchy This is one theory that could be said to belong to the self-actualizing of Needs approach.
Peoples needs are arranged in a hierarchy; when one need is satisfied, individuals move on to the next
level. His hierarchy arranges individual needs in an order of prepotency -the stronger ones at the bottom
and the weaker (but more distinctly human) ones at the top.
The hierarchy starts at the bottom with physiological needs and extends through four
levels of psychological needs:
Physiological needs are basic survival needs that are satisfied by:
eating
drinking
sleeping
obtaining adequate shelter and warmth
sex
Safety and security covers the need to feel safe both now and in the future.
Working and saving can characterize the behavior used in an attempt to
satisfy this level of need.
Social needs include the need to belong to and to be accepted by a group, to
communicate with others, to give and receive affection and love.
Esteem needs cover the need to achieve both self respect and the respect of
others.
Self actualizing includes the desire to realize ones potential - to feel that I am
more than a cog in the wheel, to achieve self fulfillment by creating,
innovating, learning and developing.
Maslow argued that unsatisfied needs motivate, and they emerge in
particular order. When each level of need is satisfied, a new one takes place
and the capacity of the now satisfied need to motivate is reducr If we cannot
s
a
t
Managers should strive to find out where their individual team me are
i
placed on the hierarchy. An organization will gain most by sa: the lower
s
order needs because then an individual is motivated by? rather than
f
money. Organizations need to be able to satisfy- u levels of needs for
y
different individuals.
The ways in which an organization can use Maslows hierarchy - in the
o
following diagram:
u
Self-fulfilling
Promotions 6 appraisals
Selfactualization
lob design
Although
examined,
Physiologica
l
Can the theory be put into effect because there is no timescale to indicate when satisfaction is
supposed to occur at a particular level? The organization will therefore need to be constantly
checking and rechecking the satisfaction level of employees.
*
Although Maslow implied the need pattern was the same in all individuals, it does seem to vary
from one person to another (for example, penniless artists who could be said to be on the esteem
level without satisfying the physiological).
It is difficult to fit motivators into categories (for example, a company car satisfies physiological
and esteem needs).
Research carried out into Maslows theory has found no empirical evidence to support his views.
Lawler and Suttle (1972) found no evidence to indicate that satisfied needs become any less
important than unsatisfied ones or that the satisfaction of lower level needs
<
-erzberg's Two
This theory evolved in the later 1950s from a questionnaire answered by 200 engineers and
Factor Theory
accountants asking them what made them feel exceptionally good or bad at work.
Achievement
Recognition
Supervision
Work itself
Salary
Responsibility
Interpersonal relations
Advancement
Working conditions
::,vational Approaches
185
Herzberg drew the conclusion that characteristics in the work situation fell into two categories:
Those that led to satisfaction and were intrinsic to the job - motivators (the first set of factors)
Those extrinsic to the job - hygiene factors. Although these could prevent dissatisfaction to some
extent, they never provided true satisfaction (the second set of factors).
He used the term hygiene factors by way of analogy, in the same way as providing a hygienic
sewerage system, you may prevent the plague from starting, but hygienic sewers will not cure a
plague once it has started.
Implications of Herzberg's theoy for organizations
If managers wish to motivate employees they can only do so through job content. Pay increases or
better working conditions alone cannot vcvcrease. VC\O\\N?A.\O'CV 'occa.vvse. Sx \s A
\_\xe.
e,vsv^\o^e.c.
can never become completely satisfied.
Autonomy and responsibility for organizing and controlling ones own work is the real answer. No
amount of environmental improvement can compensate for task impoverishment. However, this
presents significant challenges for organizations in the present day as the need for consistent levels
of customer service has led to many organizations agreeing standards and procedures that cover
many of the routine jobs in the business; therefore there is a reduction in the autonomy levels of the
individuals operating in this type of environment.
There are also some other problems wi
The theory is method bound - if the same methodology is used, the same results are always
obtained, but if more searching questions are asked, the results are not the same.
The two groups of factors are not mutually exclusive as Herzberg suggested -motivators can also
act as sources of dissatisfaction.
However, Herzbergs contribution is still considered to be important as he established the
theoretical basis for job enrichment and new job designs.
McClelland developed his theory in the 1970s, citing various needs and motives (over 40 in total)
McClelland's theory
which are of importance to individuals and act as factors which influence behavior and
which, McClelland claims, is of particular importance in our competitive society is the need for
achievement.
Individuals differ in the extent to which they experience this need. In order to assess this, McClelland
uses TPT (thematic perception tests) - a mixture of pictures to interpret verbal questions and
problems. The role of management is to determine the level of needs an individual possesses and
assign organizational duties in line with this.
Some of the ways people might demonstrate a particular need are:
likes initiative
enjoys new things and change, but is not so concerned about attention to detail
Belonging
enjoys being a member of a team or club loyal to department or team
Motivational Approaches
187
The more recently expressed views on motivation (from the late 1960s) accept that people
View or Process
may have hierarchies of needs but maintain that these hierarchies can change as
Theories
circumstances change. Man is variable; he has many needs and does not necessarily find
fulfillment of all his needs in any one solution. He can respond to a variety of managerial
strategies - his reaction is dependent on the situation and the needs which are dominant at the time.
This view of motivation, together with some of the problems associated with the earlier theories,
gives an indication that simple theories of motivation are not enough to account for behavior in
organizations.
The theoretical models do not explain the individual context, how individuals understand, attach
meaning to and interpret the work situations they find themselves in.
Porter
and
Lawler's
Expectancy Theory
There are several theories very similar to that presented by Lawler and Porter but theirs is
perhaps one of the simplest to understand.
Percived Effort
It takes account of the many intervening factors that determine motivation and attitudes to work.
This theory states that people are only likely to exert some effort when they value the rewards and see
that they will get these rewards as a result of doing what is required. An individuals social
background can greatly affect their valuation of different kinds of reward. Some groups may strive for
improved social status, others will not.
191
It cannot be assumed (and the theory quite rightly allows) that work is the
central life interest. The importance of work may vary with socioeconomic
background, age, gender, etc. The theory also accepts that the people the
manager is trying to motivate may not believe that their effort will result in
the offered reward; promotion is not always available. Similarly, the
effectiveness of effort is mediated by their own skills, the resources available
to them and their own perceptions of their role.
As always, there are several difficulties with the theory that have to be
resolved:
The theory has become very complex because it tries to incorporate so
many variables.
The theory tends to concentrate on prediction in terms of present events,
such as how the needs relate to current work attitudes and behavior,
rather than how the needs arise in the first place - why does someone feel
the need to be promoted?
Managers often hope that there is a technology of motivation that can be
applied to unmotivated employees. They are usually disappointed. The value
of studying motivation lies in helping people think about their own views (or
sometimes prejudices) on the matter. The employees managers are trying to
motivate often seethe world quite differently and it may be more beneficial
for managers and team leaders to reflect uqon emQlovees perceptions.
Practical Although different factors can both motivate and de-motivate, there are
Applications of some common factors to consider, such as:
Motivation
.,,
*
High absenteeism
Late finishes
Backlog of work
Bad timekeeping
Team leaders and managers need to be aware of the signs so that they can
recognize them and intervene as necessary. Again, there is no prescriptive list
of these factors, but they may well include:
Boredom
Lack of training
P3,t6
Chapter 1
Learning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
List the steps businesses must take to ensure the ex standards are
met
Introduction Ethics considers what is right and wrong and \v What is Ethics?
individuals and organizations is good or bad. Stra i we see
that there is an element of judgment in this, of ethics is
centered on human behavior; either for benefit or by humans
on behalf of organizations. One the subjective nature of
ethics is that you will rarely b that a behavior or outcome is
absolutely right or wr examination will present you with case
study see will be asked to exercise judgment about ethical the
examiner will give you credit for your conclus: may be
different to those in the next script marked as long as you
back your answer with rational a.gi are bound to arise in
capitalist systems because the enterprises are usually defined
in relation to ma value, which may in turn create wealth but
have for other individuals and groups.
Branches of ethics
The term ethics is generic, and is often studied in the broader context of philosophy. As stated
earlier, it addresses right and wrong, though some consider ethics in relation to attitudes, behaviors
and actions that will enrich ones life.
1S8
Some parts of this section consider descriptive ethics, which concern what is generally regarded as
right and wrong. Many writers address this empirically, by studying how people take decisions and
react to situations in real life.
Normative ethics is of most relevance to our study. It looks at how people actually act and whether
such actions are right or wrong. There are three established branches of normative ethics:
Virtue ethics
Deontological ethics
*
193
number of people. The problem is that this may cause misery to the few, or the minority, justifying to
some extent the protections afforded to the minority.
The Bentham principle can also be used to justify unethical actions taken to secure a contract on the
basis that nobody actually loses out. A higher principle might be to test whether the individual would
be proud to tell his or her family of such actions.
The one ethical question is the extent to which the organization must pursue broader purposes.
Business Ethics
issues. The accountability for addressing the organizations ethical position or stance lies with the
board of directors. The decisions taken by the board in this respect are likely to be unstructured (nonprogrammable) and will be influenced by many factors, including:
Their own personal values and views
The traditions, founding values, culture and heritage of the organization
The influence of regulators and others who can force the organization to behave in a particular
manner
Other external stakeholders, particularly existing and potential customers
The level of discretion at different levels of the organization and the nature of decisions has a crucial
bearing on the extent to which the organizations values are applied consistently or otherwise. During
the 1980s and 1990s, there was a shift in management thinking that moved towards empowerment of
managers. The idea underpinning this is that managers further down the hierarchy will be more
intimately familiar with the needs of their stakeholders, particularly their customers and their staff.
With competition increasing, organizations had to demonstrate that they could adapt to change
quickly. Successful organizations were those who could not only react to small changes in their
environment but also predict and pre-empt such changes.
This notion of empowerment sits comfortably with the traditional role of managers in banks.
Historically, retail branch managers were seen as important figures in the community. They could
take important decisions, some of which could mean the difference between the success and failure of
small companies who banked with them.
194
The managers took many decisions without having to refer to head office or
regional office, and where they were able only :o make recommendations;
their recommendations would seldom be reacted. Empowerment had further
benefits for young banking professiona'.s. who could aspire to follow a
defined career path and become manager; themselves.
A notable spin-off from the traditional model of management in banking was
diversity in the ways in which different managers operated. The system
encouraged individualism, so while some managers would have great
organizational and administrative strengths, delegating sales activities to
others, some managers would lead the sales effort from the front, often
through powerful networks of contacts in local business communities. This
had numerous benefits to the manager, including considerable credit in the
community.
In some banks it was also accepted practice for the manager to personally
receive commissions from business referred to other organizations (such as
insurance companies) resulting in a practice of incoming managers making
goodwill payments to those who retired or moved on to more senior
appointments. This would of course be totally unacceptable (and illegal)
today.
The financial services sector has evolved in a different way. Today,
empowerment is applied not at individual level but to strategic business
units. Banking organizations are now structured according to core business
competences - retail, treasury, international trade, and so on. Managers are
less empowered, not more so.
The decisionsthey take are controlled centrally orthrough control systems
and manuals. Information technology enables senior management to adopt
flatter organization structures and therefore employ less people. The focus is
on securing and retaining business. Higher risk decisions are managed at
higher levels. Those decisions taken closer to the point of sale tend to be
structured or semi-structured (that is. with a imited and tightly defined level
of discretion). More important, not oni\ the decision but the way that the
business unit thinks and operates has to be totally consistent with the ethos
embraced by strategic decision takers.
195
The concept of fiduciary responsibility is difficult to define, bui f* generally be regarded as a high
Fiduciary form of moral responsibility - goes further than contractual accountability to others.
Responsibility
Some de>:~ fiduciary responsibility as a duty of faithful service. Others express ir B terms
of a person having responsibility for the property or interests others.
A director of a company has a fiduciary responsibility to a comra~ and its shareholders. At
corporate level, fiduciary responsibility may be perceived as external accountability - to the
political system, to the community and to society at large. Fiduciary obligations may be
interpreted in a subjective manner and quite independently of any legal constraints. It is generally
accepted that the decision takers in a~ organization are not only in place to achieve the strategic
goals of the business but also to meet the broader expectations of society.
The ethical standards expected from companies in the global economy are:
Ethical Standards in c
Global Economy
Workers are not required to lodge deposits or identity papers with their employer
196
Working Conditions
Safe and hygienic work environment - considering the industry/ type of business
No child labor
No new recru itment
Transition of any existing child labor
Wages
Level of wages must be enough to meet basic necessities
*
Working Hours
Must comply with laws and benchmarks
Overtime shall be voluntary (unless agreed in advance)
Overtime shall be compensated at premium rate
No discrimination
*
Treatment
Physical abuse or discipline, the threat of physical abuse, sexual or other harassment and
verbal abuse or other forms of intimidation shall be prohibited.
For customers
Business Ethics
197
Working conditions
management
Implication of ethical conduct is becoming an imperative function for management. While
compliance requires adherence to the law, most accept that the values and culture of the
organization should refer to broader objectives.
Personal ethics-based on persona I beliefs and values, and supported by legislation such as
that relating to matters like whistle blowing
Organizational cultures that foster the right behaviors. Paine suggests that ethical decisions
are becoming more significant and may be supported by two approaches:
the compliance-based approach, designed to ensure that companies operate within the
letter of the law
The integrity-based approach, which places greater emphasis on managers taking
responsibility for ethical behavior.
Ethical Stance
Johnson and Scholes define ethical stance as the extent to which the organization will
exceed its minimum obligation to stakeholders. The ethical stance of any business can be
evaluated by considering the following issues.
A major determinant of ethical stance is where the responsibility for ethical conduct lies in the
sector or company concerned. For example, in the medical profession (in the United Kingdom)
this is influenced by the policies of the National Health Service which sets out broad (and
sometimes specific) guidelines on the use of certain treatments. Linked to this factor is the
regulatory regime.
Johnson and Scholes refer to the key actor in business ethics. This could be
a supranational authority such as the government, a government agency, a
trade association or a group of large organizations in the same industry. Key
guidelines for ethical standards may be laid down by any of these bodies. It is
also necessary to consider the key issues. In the financial services sector these
have firmly moved towards establishing practices that ensure that customers
are treated fairly, whereas twenty years ago the focus was mainly on sales
practices for certain types of product and their distribution, such as life
assurance products and regulated investments.
To whom the business is responsible is a crucial determinant. This is not
always the government or a government agency. In the legal profession
ethical conduct is often regulated from within and usually through a
professional body.
It is often difficult to assess whether an individual or firm is compliant with
the necessary standards, so deciding how this should be measured and
reported will influence ethical stance.
Johnson and Scholes also suggest that how the ethical stance is incorporated
into business activity will shape ethical behavior in an organization. This will
be affected by organizational structure and the level of autonomy of business
units, together with the zeal with which the organizations cultural values are
communicated and implemented.
Ethical problems facing managers
The primary duty of managers is often regarded as the pursuit of profit,
consistent with corporate goals. The ethical standards expected of managers
impose broader duties - to guard, preserve and enhance the value of the
enterprise for the benefit of its stakeholders. Some of this broader
responsibility arises from the more litigious society in which businesses
operate. Other issues that have to be considered include the potential
exposure to influences such as extortion, bribery, gifts and the need for
softeners.
Business Ethics
199
Absolutism implies that all-embracing truths are known and should be applied to benefit society.
The deontological approach can sometimes be absolutist when the system is influenced by natural
law. Here there is a view that there is a natural system of moral principles that should be
automatically adopted to guide society. Therefore, absolutism (or cognitism) can be sourced in
religious values, detailed legislation or natural principles.
Advantages of Absolutism
In some countries citizens are used to rules driven from a central source, such as a religion or central
government. In Germany, a proverb states If there is no rule it is forbidden, though modern
Germans usually quote this in an ironic manner nowadays.
When principles are derived directly from religious authority, the majority of citizens will accept it.
The absolutism approach is more definite. Everyone knows where they stand. In Pakistan adultery
and alcohol are forbidden and thats it. If you have a relationship outside your marriage or make or
consume alcohol, you are breaking the law and your actions are judged to be wrong.
Disadvantages of absolutism
Over time the norms of society change which means that what was once universally accepted may
no longer be so. If the absolute model is driven by central government and legislation, this may not
be a problem. The most obvious contemporary example is homosexual relationships, which were
forbidden by law in the United Kingdom but are now legal. However, if the views of society run
deeper, such as religious principles, there can be a big problem in facilitating change.
As universally applicable laws are regarded as binding, a problem occurs when the acknowledged
sources of law differ. For example, the state may disagree with the church.
Furthermore, those within the decision-taking hierarchy may also differ. A major problem arises
when two sources fundamentally differ on the same principle, or where the same source is
apparently contradictory. Some would argue that it is never right to tell a lie. Consider then the
dilemma of an individual who knows that his mother is terminally ill but the mother is not aware of
this. If the mother asks Am I dying? is it really wrong to say no in every case?
Relativism
This is sometimes called the non-cognitive approach to ethics. It states that it is not possible to
acquire objective knowledge of moral principles; therefore all moral statements are subjective and
open to challenge or debate.
Relativism accepts the differences between rules of behavior in different
cultures and communities.
When carrying out business across international frontiers it is important to
recognize whether an absolute or relative approach is adopted in a host
country.
Advantages of relativism
199
By accepting that everything is relative, some argue that this approach will
always result in contradictions and ethical dilemmas. If everyone is right, who
is wrong? Some suggest that relativism promotes a belief that anything is
acceptable. This may compromise moral values and decent behavior.
A wholly subjective approach is not always appropriate and in most societies
there are universally identifiable and agreed standards. For example, most
religions agree on certain truths. Some of the principles contained in codes of
conduct are pretty much accepted by all, such as the bankers duty to adopt
standards of the highest integrity.
ate rest Financial services organizations and their employees and agents have a duty to
take reasonable care to identify potential conflicts of interest and take actions
that are appropriate to address them. A conflict of ir.re'est can arise from two
situations:
The individual may have a personal interest in a transact! n :-at : client is
making or proposing
A decision will have a positive impact on one client and a negative impact
on another client.
Generally, the first situation is less difficult to resolve than the second
situation.
Sources of conflicts of interest
There are five generic ways in which conflicts can arise. These correspond
broadly to the threats identified in the Code of Ethics for Professional
Accountants.
241
Self-interest
The individual may have a financial interest in a transaction proceeding. The most
commonly encountered situation is where a broker or employee will receive
commission income from completion of a contract with the client. There are several
safeguards in place to prevent mis-selling. The
individual may have a close business or personal relationship with the client. This can
be of enormous significance to a banking organization. In the 1980s a major freight
company was permitted to increase its overdraft to unacceptable levels because the
banks business adviser did not have the courage to say no to the clients
representative with whom he had a close business relationship, developed over many
years. Today such situations arise rarely as banks are much more rigorous in applying
centralized controls over large exposures.
Soft commissions, such as gifts and hospitality, can create a conflict of interest. This
is most likely to occur when such gestures cease to be rewards and turn into
inducements to do further business. There is sometimes a thin line between a thank
you and an inducement.
Many organizations attempt to reduce the risks arising from self-interest in a proactive
way; for example, they may:
Introduce and maintain a gift register and make it a policy of the organization that
all gifts be declared and recorded.
Sometimes the fear of losing the customer may result in the financial institution
agreeing a fee or charging structure that is simply too low. This practice is sometimes
referred to as low balling.
Self-review
These conflicts often arise in the field of auditing work, or where the client has
responsibility for evaluating the work or standing of others. For example, an internal
auditor may have to evaluate the quality of
a system but may also have been involved in developing and installing the system. The
individual here is bound to have preconceived opinions about certain aspects of the
202
The term advocacy means to support. In the context of professional services, this threat
arises where a professional firm is called upon to support the client. There are many
examples of this, including banking organizations providing corporate finance services
and then being asked to support legal action by other financial institutions in the event of
default on loans. A bank may also provide small business loans to a client whose affairs
are then conducted in an exemplary manner, only later to be asked by a second
mortgagee to enforce securities.
Banking organizations now reduce the advocacy threat by taking a neutral position when
considering the business plans of clients. The well-known Verity case involved a branch
manager agreeing that the clients business assumptions were sound, only to be sued later
for giving misleading advice. The clients won their case.
Familiarity
<
The main risk here is where a client threatens litigation against the financial services
organization. The threat may be an empty- one or i real preparedness to take legal action.
The consequences may re:
Self-interest
The individual may have a financial interest in a transaction proceeding. The most
commonly encountered situation is where a broker or employee will receive commission
income from completion of a contract with the client. There are several safeguards in
place to prevent mis-selling. The
individual may have a close business or personal relationship with the client. This can be
of enormous significance to a banking organization. In the 1980s a major freight
company was permitted to increase its overdraft to unacceptable levels because the
banks business adviser
whom he had a close business relationship, developed over maaf Today such
situations arise rarely as banks are much more r,rrc* applying centralized controls
over large exposures.
Soft commissions, such as gifts and hospitality, can create a of interest. This is
most likely to occur when such gestures eeisc rewards and turn into inducements to
do further business, sometimes a thin line between a thank you and an induce-ea.
Many organizations attempt to reduce the risks arising frorr. seJ-rr in a proactive
way; for example, they may:
Introduce and maintain a gift register and make it a : Eq| organization that all
gifts be declared and recorded.
Sometimes the fear of losing the customer may result in ire institution agreeing a
These conflicts often arise in the field of auditing work, or client has responsibility
for evaluating the work or sr^~-~
For example, an internal auditor may have to evaluate d
a system but may also have been involved in developing and installing the system. The
individual here is bound to have preconceived opinions about certain aspects of the
system and cannot therefore make a truly objective assessment.
The term advocacy means to support. In the context of professional services, this threat
arises where a professional firm is called upon to support the client. There are many
examples of this, including banking organizations providing corporate finance services
and then being asked to support legal action by other financial institutions in the event of
default on loans. A bank may also provide small business loans to a client whose affairs
are then conducted in an exemplary manner, only later to be asked by a second mortgagee
to enforce securities.
Banking organizations now reduce the advocacy threat by taking a neutral position when
considering the business plans of clients. The well-known Verity case involved a branch
manager agreeing that the clients business assumptions were sound, only to be sued later
for giving misleading advice. The clients won their case.
Familiarity
The main risk here is where a client threatens litigation against : .e financial services
organization. The threat may be an empty one or i real preparedness to take legal action.
The consequences may be:
Damage to the firms reputation, even if it is innocent
3ws
203
Loss of
the client
general
public.
The threat of litigation can be reduced but never avoided entirely. All
providers of professional services should have adequate professional
indemnity insurance in place to ensure that the compensation and expenses
incurred can be paid if a case against the firm is successful. This does not
reduce the liability of the firm and cannot avoid the damage to reputation,
but it does ensure that the claimant can be paid. Some regulators and many
professional bodies insist that practicing firms have this insurance cover in
place.
When litigation occurs, it may be necessary to reassign some individuals or
teams to other duties. The audit committee should be appraised at an early
stage of the potential threat. The firm may also choose to involve an
additional independent and suitably qualified person in reviewing the work
carried out.
Intimidation threats also arise when a client seeks a second opinion from
another professional firm. This occurs in the accountancy, legal and medical
professions in particular. It is also quite common for the second opinion to
differ from that of the original firm. There are often two or more views of any
given situation and intelligent people have a right to disagree with one
another.
Whenever a second opinion is sought, there are risks to all parties involved. It
cannot be assumed that all will be working from the same information, or
even when they are working from the same information, that it will be
represented in exactly the same way. The directors of the client company may
deliberately withhold information, making a variance between opinions
inevitable.
There are various ethical considerations to take into account here. For
example, if an accountancy firm is invited to consider information with a view
to forming a second opinion, it should seek permission to contact the original
audit firm if it is necessary to do so.
There are numerous decision-taking models that have been developed to deal
with ethical dilemmas and conflicts of interest. Many of these originate in the
accountancy profession which is especially vulnerable to threats arising from
such situations.
When faced with ethical conflicts firms should consider:
internal procedures
What is the best course of action, consistent with the norms, principles
and values identified?
What are the consequences of each course of action?
What is the decision?
Dealing with conflicts of interest
jr5S EthiCS
205
A framework setting out the safeguards that will apply to address the threats
posed by non-compliance.
208
Integrity
Principle
Objectivity
Knowledge, skill
Confidentiality
Professional
behavior
Safeguards
209
Do Codes of
further debate about ethical behavior, but they cannot complete the task of
Work?
Corporate Codes
211
Organizational Behavi
Concepts
In This Part
Organizational Behavior
Concepts
-5~ning Outcome By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
Introduction Organizational Behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that
individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for
the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organizations
effectiveness. OB is a distinct area of expertise with a common body of
knowledge.
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study that explores how the behavior
within the organization is influenced by individuals, groups and structures,
thus assisting the organization in using this knowledge in enhancing its
operations and efficiency. It is a distinct and unique area of proficiency that
contains a common body of knowledge.
OB defines three factors that reflect the behaviors in the organization;
individuals, groups and structures. Moreover, as already mentioned, it
implements the knowledge acquired from these determinants to help the
organization operate more effectively.
OB particularly highlights the employee-related situations and thus stresses
the connection of behavior with elements like jobs, work, absenteeism,
employment turnover, productivity, human performance, and management.
Vision defines the way an organization or enterprise will look in the future.
Vision is a long-term view, sometimes describing how the organization would
like the world to be in which it operates. For example, a charity working with
the poor might have a vision statemer.: which reads A World without
Poverty.
Mission defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise,
succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision.
Comparison of mission and vision
Mission and vision can be written as statements to guide certain actions and
future states:
Mission equals the action; vision is the ultimate result of the action
Mission answers the question What would not happen if we were not
here as an organization? Or more positively, What change is achieved
because we exist?
Vision answers the question: What are the results, the ends, the
consequences of our action?
Clearly, the organizations values must be in line with its purpose or mission,
and the vision that it is trying to achieve. So to summarize, articulated values of
an organization can provide a framework for the collective leadership of an
Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior | Reference Book 2
culture
is
holistic,
historically
determined,
related
to
218
of the three levels act as building blocks of each other as every level is erected
on the previous level. Group concepts stem out of the foundation laid down at
the individual levels, while to understand and comprehend the organizational
behavior, we edge the structural constrictions on the individual and group.
The Dependent Variables
A dependent variable is the fundamental factor that is described and projected
by the organization and that relies upon another factor. According to some
scholars, traditionally productivity, absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction
are the key dependent variables in OB. Yet, lately, two new variables have been
added to this list; deviant workplace behavior and organizational citizenship
behavior. We will precisely highlight these variables and ensure your
understanding of their importance and reason for being distinctly added to this
list of variables.
Productivity
and
219
Absenteeism
Absenteeism is the failure of an employee to report to work and is a major
disturbance and expense to employers. An organization is unable to achieve its
prospective goals and function smoothly if the employees continuously fail to
report to their jobs. It leads to a disturbance in the workflow and thus leads to
prolonged holdups in imperative decisions. Absenteeism can create a great
commotion in organizations that depend immensely on assembly-line
production as it can lead to a sweeping fall in the organizations output quality.
Moreover, in certain cases, it can also lead to a complete shutdown of
production facility.
A corporations competence and efficacy are heavily influenced if the level of
absenteeism goes way out of bounds. But are all absences bad? Most of the
times, an employees absence negatively effects the organization. However,
there are certain envisaged situations where an employees absence turned out
to be beneficial for the firm. For example, this situation is applicable in jobs that
require great vigilance of the employee, like a surgeon or an airline pilot. If a
pilot or a surgeon fails to report to work due to illness or exhaustion, his/her
absence would prove to be beneficial as he/she w'ould not be able to give his/
her hundred percent and might result in having an accident. This cost of
accident
could
be
devastatingly
massive.
Yet,
these
examples
are
nonconforming. Our major focus still remains on the fact that low absenteeism
is favorable for an organization.
Turnover
Turnover is the concept that signifies the voluntary and involuntary permanent
departure from an organization. High turnover signifies high enrollment and
selection and training costs. These costs can be immensely high and may take
you as a surprise. When highly qualified and erudite employees leave an
organization, and the replacements most appropriate and willing to take up the
jobs need to be found, a high turnover rate may lead to a huge disruption in the
manning process of the organization.
Every organization has a certain turnover rate. However, in case the right
people are leaving the organization, the turnover rate can be positive. This
includes the departure of marginal (unimportant) and sub-marginal employees.
It helps the organization replace a poorly performing employee with a more
experienced and motivated employee, it can open up a gate towards increased
promotions and it could equip the organization with novel and fresh ideas.
Moreover, in this dynamic world, a decent level of employee-initiated turnover
may facilitate the organization to taste flexibility and experience employee
independence, thus reducing the organizations headache of
221
223
Decision Making
A situation which calls for a decision to be made only arises because a problem
has been noticed. Most of us will probably notice a problem exists because:
The performance of our area of operations is falling
There is negative customer reaction to service
*
Productivity
Absence
Turnover
Deviant I
workplace
b
e
h
Citizenship
a
vior
Wurnan resource policies and
* +
Satisfaction
Organizational
Culture
Organization
Systems Level
Leadership
L and tiust
**
Conflict
Work teams
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There are several characteristics associated with decision making that let us
determine whether the decision is strategic. The first area to think about is
whether the decision is likely to affect the long-term existence of the
organization. If the answer to this question is yes, then we are likely to be
looking at a strategic decision.
Secondly, a strategic decision will usually come about if the company is
attempting to gain some competitive advantage through the decision. For
example, is the company trying to steal a march on the competition, by
making a move before they do?
Strategic decisions are likely to be concerned with the range of activities in
which an organization is engaged. For example, does the company specialize
in one area of operations, or do they spread their activities over a number of
areas? This is a vital decision for any organization as the range of activities is
central to any organizations strategic direction. When looking at the range of
an organizations activities, we should also think in terms of geography. For
example, does the company wish to operate on global or domestic areas?
Again, this decision will be central to the strategic direction of the company.
Strategic decisions may well result in major resource changes for the
organization.
Administrative/ Managerial Decisions
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The decision objectives have to be specified with the key result areas and
clearly defined standards of performance. The likely risks and constraints
need to be identified. What the decision makers hope to achieve should be
clarified.
Diagnosis
The problem must be analyzed and the causes scrutinized before action can
be taken.
Develop alternative courses of action
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This involves the assessment of the consequences of the decision and leads to
monitoring for new problems. This is an important stage because it is a way of
ensuring that action is carried out in accordance with the plans.
Factors in decision making
Risk
Any decision involves a certain amount of risk that may affect the outcome of
the decision. In its simplest terms, risk can be defined as the possibility of
loss, injury, disadvantage or destruction.
Risk can be minimized by:
reducing to a minimum the timescale between the point of decision and
emergence of results
Ensuring that the information available is adequate for the decision. Risk
management
stages,
(according
to
Whyte
and
Plenderleith)
in
risk
management.
The stages of risk management are:
1.
Analysis of risk
This list is not exhaustive as models form part of many business units who
will have specific and unique requirements. Models are used in situations
where an event or outcome cannot be assessed or observed in real life. The
purpose of models is to bridge the gap between theory and application to
allow us to accurately forecast what future outcomes are likely to be.
Individual influences
mpa r the capacity to react to circumstances although the employee will 'r-e c
fess time analyzing the problem and therefore it can be to their cc -'
Organizational influences
229
certain information.
All organizations possess a grapevine (the informal communication system).
The grapevine ca n ease the burden of overloaded com mu nication channels
but sometimes it is inaccurate and the quality ofinformation received from
this source can have an effect on decision making.
When to refer a decision
Decision making not only involves what to do but also how to do it.
Sometimes decisions have to be passed up to the next organizational level.
Questions which help to identify this are:
Is it a unique problem?
Leadership Those features which characterize a groups effective performance are high morale
and high productivity. If productivity is high, unit costs will be lowered and
this will make the firms products more competitive. By the same token, high
morale is a good indication of low labor turnover and low absenteeism. These
are all positive indicators of effective leadership - a leader is someone who
influences others.
There are a number of definitions of leadership from the various writers in this
field. Mullins has defined leadership as: A relationship through which one
person influences the behavior of other people.
Fieldman and Arnold take things a little further, when they state:
Leadership involves one person (the leader) consciously trying to get other
people (the followers) to do something the leader wants them to do.
However, both of these definitions infer that some form of personal
relationship exists between the leader and the led. It seems that it is
impossible to separate (as Mullins states) the process of leadership from the
activities of groups. The job of the manager normally involves some
leadership ability, but as you may well be aware from your own experience,
not all leaders are managers. The difference between leadership and
management (although sometimes they may
One issue which has concerned organizational theorists is why some leaders are effective and
others ineffective. You may well have experience of this from your own working life. A popular
boss is not always an effective boss. This person can sometimes hinder the performance of a
team by always putting the needs of the individual (or a number of individuals) first.
An effective boss is often the one who balances the needs of the team, individual and task that
has to be completed. The management of balancing these needs is generally known as action
centered leadership
Action centered leadership
In order to provide effective leadership, John Adair takes what he calls a functional approach
towards teams or groups and identifies overlapping sets of needs which must be satisfied in an
organization for effective performance to occur. These are set out in the diagram below.
The leader of a team has to get results, such as productivity, sales, etc. Consequently the
leaders main contribution in achieving the required results lies in:
231
To achieve these objectives, the group needs to be cohesive. People need to be working
together in a coordinated fashion in the same direction; teamwork will ensure that the teams
contribution is greater than the sum of its parts. Conflict within the team must be used
effectively. Therefore the key functions of the leader in meeting group needs are to:
Within working groups, individuals also have their own set of needs they need to know
what their responsibilities are, how they will be needed, how well they are performing. So that
each individual is sufficiently instructed to give satisfaction at work, he/she must:
*
feel that they are making a worthwhile contribution to the groups objectives
feel that the job demands the best of them and is giving them the responsibility to match
their capability
feel that, as an individual, they are developing and advancing in experience and ability
A team leader must try to achieve the required results and to manage his/her interpersonal
relationships and those within the group by acting in all three areas of overlapping needs.
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A leader can be appointed, selected or chosen informally. Attempted leadership occurs when
a n d one in the group tries to exert influence over others. You may have experienced this on
a leadership training course .vhere one course participant will try to exert influence over
his/her fellow participants.
Successful leadership occurs when influence brings about the behavior and results intended
by the leader. Effective leadership occurs when it results in functional behavior and the
achievement of team goals. Within an organization, the leadership influence will be
dependent on the type of power the leader can exercise over others. This exercise of power is a
social process and explains how different people can influence the behavior of others.
There are five main sources of power, as identified by French and Raven:
Reward powerbased on fact and on the team members perception that the leader has
the ability and resources to obtain rewards for those who comply, such as pay, promotion
Coercive power based on the fact and the team members perception that the leader has
the ability to punish those who do not comply
Referent power based on the team members identification with the leader who
exercises influence because of perceived attractiveness - charisma; a manager may not be
able to reward subordinates but can still command respect
Expert power based on the team members perception of the leader as someone who is
competent and has special knowledge
Another category of power defined by other writers is political power, which is derived from
knowing how things work, in other ords. :he politics of the organization.
Your power bases will depend on your job and position, but you will probably have at least
expert power. The sources of power ire based on the team members perception of the leader.
If suppliers believe ; manager has the power to withdraw an order, then the manager can
exercise considerable influence even though he/she may not have this power in reality.
233
234
of the target we observe can affect what we perceive. La. c re pie are
more likely to be noticed in a group than quiet ones. Sa.