RSM100Y1 Chapter 8: CHAPTER 8-Managing Human Resources
CHAPTER 8: Managing Human Resources
The Foundations of HR Management
-HR Management (HRM) is a set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing and
maintaining an effective work force.
Strategic importance of HRM
- newfound importance of HRM is because of increasing complexities in firms and the recognition
that HR are a valuable means for improving productivity and the new awareness of costs
associated with poor HR
- effectiveness of HR has a huge impact on the firm¶s bottom line performance
HR Planning
- attracting qualified human resources is planning. HR planning involves job analysis and
forecasting the demand and supply of labour
JOB ANALYSIS: this is a detailed study of the specific duties in a particular job and the human
qualities required for that job. It is a systematic analysis of jobs within an organization. It has 2
parts: job description (lists the duties of the job, the working conditions, the tools, materials, and
equipment used to perform it, as well as its relationship to other position and the skills needed to
perform it). There¶s also job specification (lists the specific skills, education and experience
needed to perform a job). Job analysis is important in HR activities because knowing about job
content and requirements is necessary in order to decide about things
like compensation
FORECASTING HR DEMAND & SUPPLY: once managers fully understand the jobs that need to
be performed within an organization, they start planning for the organization¶s future HR needs.
Start with assessing trends in HR past usage, future organizational plans, and general economic
trends.
- Managers use a sales forecast to predict the demand for labour. Using historical ratios, the
managers can estimate what kind of employees it needs.
- Forecasting the supply of labour involves forecasting the internal supply of labour (number and
type of employees who will be in the firm) and external supply of labour (the number and type of
people who will be available from the market)
- very large firms have models to keep track of when there will be too many qualified people
competing for few promotions or too few good people available to fill important positions
- Replacement charts: managers make plans for specific people and positions. The
replacement chart is most common HR technique for this. The replacement chart lists
each important managerial position, who occupies it, how long he/she will probably
remain in that position before moving on and who is qualified to move into that position.
This allows for managers to identify potential successors.
- Skills inventories: this is to facilitate planning and identifying people for transfer or
promotion. It is a computerized system that contains information on each information on
each employee¶s education, skills, work experience and career aspirations. This system
quickly finds qualified people in the organization
- to forecast external supply of labour, a manager relies on external sources (ie
government reports and statistics)
Matching HR supply and demand
- after comparing future demand and internal supply, managers can make plans to manage
predicted shortfalls/over staffing. If a short fall is approaching, the firm will take steps like
transferring employees into understaffed areas and convincing employees who are approaching
retirement to stay in the firm
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- if the organization needs to hire, the external labour supply forecast helps managers plans how
to recruit according to whether the type of person is readily available or scarce in the labour
market
STAFFING THE ORGANIZATION: once managers decide what positions they need to fill, they
must hire people who fit the job requirements.
- top 3 characteristics employers are looking for: good work ethic, reliability and willingness to
stay on the job
- the process of acquiring staff from outside the company = external staffing
- the process of promotion staff from within the company = internal staffing
- external and internal staffing starts with RECRUITING.
Recruiting HR
- recruiting is the phase that a firm undergoes once it has an idea of its future HR needs. It is the
process of attracting qualified people to apply for a position
INTERNAL RECRUITING: This means considering present employees as candidates for job
openings.
EXTERNAL RECRUITING: this involves attracting people from outside the organization for jobs.
Methods include advertising, interviews, union hiring, referrals by present employees, hiring walk-
ins
- a job fair - candidates browse through positions available and employees can see a sample of
skills the candidates have
- internships - these are short term paid positions where students focus on a specific project . If
the student works well, the company will often hire the student after he/she graduates
Selecting HR
- once the recruiting process has attracted a good selection of applicants, the next step is to
choose someone to hire
- the point of the selection process is to gather information from applicants that will predict their
job success and then to hire the candidates likely to be most successful
- the organization can only gather information about factors that are predictive of future
performance.
Validation is the process of determining the predictive value of information
- SEE FIGURE 8.2 ON PG 244 to see the most common selection techniques
APPLICATION FORMS: the first step in the selection process. It gathers info about the
candidate¶s previous work history, educational background. It is strictly looking for information that
has to do with the job itself. The data on the application form is used informally to decide whether
a candidate deserves further evaluation or not.
TESTS: tests of ability, skill, aptitude, and knowledge relevant to a particular job are the best
predictors of job success. All candidates should be tested according to the same level and in the
same environment
- an assessment centre is a series of exercises in which candidates perform realistic
management tasks while being observed. Assessors check to see how each participant reacts to
stress or to criticism.
- video assessment involves showing potential workers videos or realistic work situations and
asking them to choose a course of action to deal with the situation
- the test must always be job related and a valid predictor of performance
INTERVIEWS: can sometimes be a poor predictor of job success because biases are inherent to
the way people perceive and judge others.
- to avoid biases, interviewers may follow a structured list of questions that were written out
before the actual interview.
- people may also ask ³off the wall questions´ like how would you sell me a glass of water in order
to gain insight into the candidates strengths and weaknesses
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OTHER TECHNIQUES: if it¶s a manufacturing company (for example), the manager may want to
assess a candidate physically to ensure that he/she is physically fit to do the job
- drug tests have recently been banned because it does not relate enough to job performance
Developing HR
- regardless of how effective the selection system is, most employees need additional training if
they want to grow and develop in their jobs
- the process is orientation -> assessment of training and development needs -> selection of the
best training techniques and methods
1) New Employee Orientation:
- this is an important part of an organization¶s training and development program in new
employee orientation
- it is the process of introducing new employees to the company¶s policies and programs, other
employees, who they will interact with and the nature of the job
- effective orientation will help newcomers feel a part of the organization and ease the transition
into the firm
- some firms will include an overview of the business itself (ie the firm¶s history, evolution,
successes, failures) and the firm¶s corporate culture
2) Training and development
- employees must be continually trained and developed to improve the quality fo the contributions
they make to the organization
- starting point in assessing training needs is conducting a needs analysis- determining the
organization¶s true needs and the training programs that will help meet them
- what knowledge, skills, abilities does the organization need to compete? What skills must the
employees possess to perform the firm¶s work efficiently?
- Work Based programs:
x work based programs: this is a technique that combines training and development
directly to task performance.
x On-the-job training is development training in which employees gain new skills while
performing them at work . For example, a current employee shows a new employee how
to work the photocopier
x Vestibule training: this is work stimulation- the job is performed under conditions that are
similar to the actual work environment
x systematic job rotation and transfers: an employee is systematically transferred from one
job to another. This way, the employee learns more tasks, acquires more abilities and
develops a better view of the work that the organization does
-Instructional Based programs:
x This means training workers through the use of classroom based programs (ie lecture)
x lecture approach: trainer presents material in a descriptive fashion to those attending a
trainee program
x off the job training - employees learn new skills at a location away from the normal work
site (ie. videotapes that the trainee watches at home, computer based instruction)
-Team Building and Group Based programs:
x more organizations are using teams as a basis for doing jobs so companies are
developing training programs specifically designed to facilitate intra-group cooperation
among team members. IE outdoor obstacle - must work together to overcome it
Evaluating Employee Performance
- performance appraisal is a formal program for evaluating how well an employee is performing
the job
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Document Summary
Hr management (hrm) is a set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing and maintaining an effective work force. Newfound importance of hrm is because of increasing complexities in firms and the recognition that hr are a valuable means for improving productivity and the new awareness of costs associated with poor hr. Effectiveness of hr has a huge impact on the firms bottom line performance. Hr planning involves job analysis and forecasting the demand and supply of labour. Job analysis: this is a detailed study of the specific duties in a particular job and the human qualities required for that job. It is a systematic analysis of jobs within an organization. It has 2 parts: job description (lists the duties of the job, the working conditions, the tools, materials, and equipment used to perform it, as well as its relationship to other position and the skills needed to perform it).
