中国经济管理大学 《心理学与人力资源管理》 （MBA研究生课程班）Chapter 3 – People, Decisions, and the Systems Approach

      韦恩.F.卡西欧（Wayne F. Cascio）美国科罗拉多大学（丹佛校区）商学院Robert H. Reynolds全球领导与管理讲座教授，拥有罗切斯特大学工业与组织心理学博士学位。担任美国心理学会工业／组织心理学分会、美国管理学会、全美人力资源学会等多个组织会士。
　　赫尔曼·阿吉斯（Herman Aguinis）美国科罗拉多大学（丹佛校区）商学院Mehalchin管理讲座教授。曾担任美国管理学会研究方法分会会长。

Chapter 3 – People, Decisions, and the Systems Approach

Overview 
 Chapter three presents the study of organizational decision-making, specifically focusing on the decisions surrounding employment processes.  Utilitarian decision-making and the concepts of cost benefits analysis begin the discussion. Subsequently, the sequential processes and primary decisions per process are discussed with special attention paid to the concepts of erroneous acceptances and erroneous rejections. The sequential processes discussed include job analysis & evaluation, workforce planning, recruitment, initial screening, selection, performance management, training and development, and organizational exit.
Annotated Outline
I. At a Glance
a. Organizations as Systems
  i.  Day-to-day operations require decisions
 ii. Decisions result in costs or benefits to the organization
b. Utility Theory provides framework for considering each alternative’s
 i.   Costs
 ii.  Consequences
 iii. Payoffs (benefits)
c. Decision consequences affect entire organizations
d. Open Systems Theory improves quality of organizational decisions 
 i.   Inputs come from multiple sources
 ii.  Process may be affected within and without the organization 
 iii. Outputs of the decisions reach beyond the organization’s boundaries
e. Personnel Psychology is an example of apples Open Systems Theory 
 i.    Job analysis and evaluation
 ii.   Workforce planning
 iii.  Recruitment
 iv.  Initial Screening 
 v.    Selection
 vi.   Training and development
 vii.  Performance management
 viii. Organizational exit
II. Utility Theory – A Way of Thinking
 a.  Requires decision-makers to consider all aspects for each organizational  decision 
 i.   Risks
 ii.  Costs
 iii. Benefits
 iv. Pluses
 v.  Timing
b. Utility Theory helps organizations to clarify their purposes 
c. Within human resource management, utility theory links
 i.  People decisions to
 ii. Organizational goals 
d. All employment decisions have utilitarian aspects
 i.   Must make a decision about a person
 ii. Must decide to take an action with this person
 iii. Must determine the consequences of the action 
 iv. Must determine the results of the action
e. Example, from pool of applicants a test may be administered
 i.   Applicants may be grouped by scores
 ii.  Decisions to proceed may be determined by grouping
f. Another example, given a group of employees without specific skills
 i.   Must decide whether to train or to replace
 ii. If decide to train, aptitude test may be administered
  1. Trainees may be grouped by aptitude scores
  2. Type and or speed of training must be determined
   a) If train too slow, some may quit
   b) If train too fast, some may quit or give up
  3. Must decide for a given time frame, which is riskier for the    organizations?
 iii. Given this decision-making technique, hidden costs may be  disclosed. 
 iv. Training everyone at the same speed may cost less initially but result  in more expensive turnover.
g. Systems Analysis considers multiple causes and effects, costs and benefits, over time.
III. Organizations as Systems 
a. Definitions 
 i.   System – collection of interrelated parts, unified by design, created to        achieve objective
  ii.  Analysis – understanding impact to individuals, groups, organizations,     communities, industries, nations
  iii. Systems thinking –
   1. Seeing wholes rather than parts
   2. Focusing on interrelationships rather than specifics
   3. Looking for patterns of change
   4. Recognizing that seemingly unrelated events have wide range      impacts
b. Organizations as Systems
i.   Classic Management Theory – an organization can make all decisions effectively without considering influences or impacts beyond the organization
ii.  Open Management Theory – An organization must consider many sources of input for all decisions and must consider impacts of decisions beyond the organization
 1. Applies systems analysis and systems thinking
 2. Considers hierarchies of systems
 3. Example, from super system to sub-systems
  a) Economy
  b) Industry
  c) Companies
  d) Divisions
  e) Organizations
  f) Departments
  g) Groups
  h) Individuals
 4. Example – IBM
 5. Prior to personal computers, IBM did not consider foreign market  competition
 6. Results to IBM, more than 100,000 jobs lost, forced to re-invent itself
iii. Effective organizational managers must
 1. Scan and sense changes in outside environment
 2. Bridge and manage critical boundaries, interdependencies
 3. Develop appropriate strategies
iv. Effective Human resource managers must
 1. Scan and sense changes in organizational needs for human resources
 2. Scan and sense changes in availabilities and sources of human  resources
 3. Bridge and manage boundaries within and without the organization
 4. Develop, implement, and manage these needs and boundaries
IV. A Systems View of the Employment Process
a. Introduction
i.   Employment is a process
 1. Networked
 2. Sequential
 3. Interrelated or interdependent decisions
ii.  Different jobs require different recruitment, selection, training strategies
iii. All phases are highly interdependent
b. Job Analysis and Evaluation – fundamental building block all other decisions
i.    Specifies work to be done
ii.   Identifies skills needed
iii.  Documents necessary training
iv.  Assigns worth or monetary value for each position within organization
v.  Different responsibilities have different values
vi.  Valuation procedures must be documented and replicable
vii. Best to have analysis and evaluations completed independent of incumbents in the position
c. Workforce Planning – based on projections of organizational needs and goals
i.   Build an inventory of existing knowledge, skills, abilities, experience
ii.  Forecast supply and demand of human resources
 1. Internal to the organization
 2. External to the organization
 3. Form action plans to meet the forecasted needs
iii.  Develop control and evaluation procedures for the workforce plan
d. Recruitment
i.   Begins with a request to hire from a department, person, division
ii. Must answer how, where, media, other sources, when
iii. Must estimate
 1. Cost of recruiting – how much money is available to spend
 2. Selection ratio – how many applicants before offer made
e. Initial Screening – of accepted applicants, how do they compare 
i.   Strategy I – set minimum standards, for low cost positions 
 1. Intellectual baselines
 2. Physical abilities
 3. Equipment experience
ii.  Strategy II – set extensive standards, for high risk positions 
 1. Intellectual preferences based on past performances
 2. Physical abilities determined by position
 3. Equipment knowledge and skill
 4. Emotional abilities
 5. Interpersonal skills
 6. Managerial experiences
 7. Financial abilities
iii. Erroneous Acceptances – hiring a person
 1. Who is not able or
   2.  Who cannot perform or
   3.  Who does not perform to expectations or
   4.  Who does not fit in the organization  but
   5.  Who would do exceptionally well in another position
   6.  Costs are readily determined
 iv. Erroneous Rejections – passing on a potentially good hire
   1.  Costs are difficult to ascertain
   2.  Costs may be harder to bear than an erroneous acceptance
f. Selection
i.   Occurs in the middle of the process or the central phase of placing individuals
ii.  Goal is to best place individual in the job or the job to persons available
iii. Decisions used to hire, reject, place on waiting list
iv. Must keep in mind the utilitarian aspects of these decisions 
 1.  Interviewers’ expenses
 2.  Production time lost due to vacancies
v.   There is no one best selection procedure, must consider contingencies 
vi.   Most expensive is not always the best method
vii.  Previous successes or failures can guide the selection process
viii. For some organizations, hiring occurs first, placement second
ix.   For other organizations, hiring happens because position placement is needed
x.    After hiring, orientation occurs, and immediate training needs completed
g. Training and Development
  i.  Definition – competency – clusters of interrelated
     1)  Knowledge
    2)  Skills
     3)  Abilities
  4). Attitudes
  5). Personalities
  ii.  All training should be matched to organizational needs
 iii.  Training should also consider individual competency needs
 1)  to develop or
 2)  to improve
  iv.  Training must consider utilitarian aspects
 1)  Hire minimal skills, what cost to develop additional skills or
 2)  Hire experienced, minimal training costs
  v.  Training must also consider individual preferences and job requirements
h. Performance Management
i.   Selection decisions involve some risk and must be analyzed for effectiveness
ii.  Performance management should occur after reasonable & predetermined time
 1)  Observable behaviors
 2)  Documented actions, decisions, insights, efforts
 3)  Per person, per group, per department, per job
iii. Post performance management decisions include
 1)  Promotions
 2)  Compensation
 3)  Transfers
 4)  Disciplinary actions
iv. Performance management is continuous, aims to develop & improve
v.  Performance appraisal
 1)  occurs at specified times and generally tied to compensation
 2)  are at heart of merit based systems
 3)  generally well accepted
 4)  generally expected as described per organization policy 
vi. Can minimize bias and errors through specific performance appraisal training
i. Organizational Exit – happens for everyone, circumstances vary
i.    Voluntary
 1)  Retirement
 2)  Recruited to new organization
 3)  Family change
ii.  Involuntary
 1)  Layoffs
  a)  Individual effects
   i)    Anticipatory job loss
   ii)   Shock
   iii)  Relief
   iv)  Relaxation
   v)   More effort
   vi)  Vacillation
   vii)  Self-doubt, anger
   viii) Resignation, withdrawal
  b) Organizational effects
    i)   Communication
   ii)  Participation
   iii) Control
   iv) Planning
   v)  Support
 2).  Termination for cause
  a). Individual effects
   i)   Loss of face, embarrassment
   ii)  Anger, hostility
   iii) Denial
   iv) Depression
  b). Organizational effects
   i)  Confusion
   ii)  Fear
   iii) Disagreement, decreased commitment
   iv) Relief, increased commitment
iii.  Retirements
 1.  May be per schedule, per plan
  a). Generally well accepted
  b). Can be source of continued motivation 
 2.  May be forced or encouraged, can be accepted if
  a).  Financial arrangements considered fair
  b). Handled with dignity and respect
 3.  Need to be considered in
  a).  Succession plans
  b).  Workforce plans
  c).  Recruiting efforts
  d).  Development efforts
Discussion Questions
1. How is Utility Theory useful as a framework for making decisions? Why must considerations of utility always be tied to the overall strategy of an organization?
Answers should be based on information from pages 39 - 43.
 Utility Theory is a powerful tool for understanding decision making as it creates a conceptual structure or a sequence of thoughts with the projected goal being better quality outcomes or results.  Utility Theory forces a person or persons to think through in advance what the costs and benefits will be for any given decision.  Individuals practicing utilitarian decision making must identify the overall goals, the sequence of events, the priority of those events and goals, the anticipated efforts to achieve the events and goals, the associated costs for the events, the risks involved, and the potential benefits for the events. Utility theory practice supports goal-setting and can identify actions that will not yield benefits sufficient to offset the expenses.
 Within organizations, utility theory practice ties in an organization’s missions, values, and goals to the human resources necessary to carry out the goals, mission, and values of an organization.   For example, an organization experiencing increased demand for existing services can apply utilitarian theory to the costs and benefits of hiring additional staff who have no experience and must be trained to the costs and benefits of hiring additional staff who do have experience, need no training but who will take longer to locate and recruit. This same organization may go through the same decisions process but come up with different actions when considering the addition of a new service which requires re-training all employees compared to the option of hiring new employees who also require training but can be hired in at lower salaries. 
2. Describe three examples of open systems. Can you think of a closed system? Describe your thoughts on this decision.  Why are organizations open systems?
Answers should be based on information from pages 41 & 42.
Three examples of open systems are on-line interactive courses, the political process, and economic development programs. An online interactive course is an example of an open system when it includes information from lecture, online discussions between students and faculty, and inclusion of information from other sources, and the explorations of other online sources.   The openness could be extended by the inclusion of self-evaluation, peer evaluations, and faculty evaluation as a part of students’ course grades.
The political process is an open system because people desiring election must seek support from constituents, from community organizations, from individuals holding elected offices, staff members, and others.  Once elected, politicians must be responsive to all individuals within their sphere of influence, to organizations within their sphere, and to other government offices and departments.  
Economic development programs must function as open systems to be effective. These programs draw input from the available local workforce, employers seeking additional growth opportunities, existing laws supporting development, and projections of required worker skill sets.  The implementation of their plans impact individuals locally, regionally, nationally, and potentially globally. 
An example of a closed system would be an online credit application. When a person completes a form, submits their information, and then receives instant approval or rejection. There is only one person, the information processing, and then one person (at least in theory) receives the decision.
Organizations should be considered open systems because their plans and actions need to reflect multiple sources of input. Their ability to provide staff to support the plans must consider multiple sources of employees, the various jobs to be completed, the impacts that completing the jobs will have, their ability to sustain the product production or services provided, their legal obligations, their competition with other organizations, and their environmental impacts. 
3. Why is it useful to view the employment process as a network of sequential, interdependent decisions?
Answers should be based on information from pages 43 - 49 and the chart from page 44.
 Individuals are not hired at random. Jobs are not created based on a whim. Organizations do not function without purpose.  Instead, after an organization determines its goals and its procedures to accomplish these goals, then the organization will determine how many people are needed to complete and to support the attainment of the goals. The procedures become jobs. The jobs require people. Hence the employment process is based on the sequential decision making process that flows from organizational strategic planning, to job analysis, to workforce planning, to recruitment, to screening, to selection, to placement, to development, to performance management and back to strategic planning for repetition of the employment process.  At each decision-making point, a yes, no, do over, try again, or release (reject) action must be implemented. The results of the actions must be evaluated and the process repeated.
4. What is the difference between an erroneous acceptance and an erroneous rejection? Describe situations where one or the other is more serious.
Answers should be based on information from page 46.
 An erroneous acceptance occurs when an individual is hired but is not able to complete the work or does not “fit” the organization’s expectations.  Another example of an erroneous acceptance occurs when a person is successful in one position within an organization, receives an assignment to another position, and then fails to complete the new responsibilities successfully.  Erroneous acceptances are known and the costs can be determined. For example, an erroneous acceptance cost may include training costs, replacement costs (people, products, lost clients), legal fees, benefits expenditures, etc. 
 An erroneous rejection occurs when a person is turned down for a position when this person would have been very successful for the organization in this capacity. Costs associated with erroneous rejections are hard to determine but can be even more expensive for an organization should the rejected person go to work for a competitor and bring that organization phenomenal success.
5. Suppose you had to choose between “making” competent employees through training and “buying” them through selection. Which would you choose? Why?
Answers should be based on information from pages 46 - 48.
 My decision to “make” or to “’buy” would depend on the circumstances and the motivating factors behind the decision. For example, if my organization must upgrade information processing and improve customer services, then I would recommend that existing employees be “made” through training. Organizations have an ethical obligation to develop their employees. This investment may not result in specific profits, but the refusal to develop employees may result in decreased organizational commitment and increased voluntary turnover.  My decision whether to train in-house or to send employees off-site for training would be determined by how many employees must be trained, how quickly they must be trained, the risk for the organization if training is not completed quickly, how soon the return on the training investment can be experience by the organization, and whether there are any legal risks to the organization if the training is postponed. 
 If my organization was implementing a new product, providing a completely new service, or branching into a completely new area of business, then I would recommend that the organization “buy” some of the competence and to institute a mentoring/coaching  program such that the bought talent trained “made” talent.  I would also recommend that “made” talent socialize the “bought” talent into the operations of the organization.  The assumption here is that training existing talent would be cost prohibitive to the organization. I would present this decision to existing employees from the framework that new talents bring new opportunities and that existing talents will be given equivalent opportunities for additional successes and challenges, too.

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