Introduction toHuman Resource Management

中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

（加里·德斯勒）

Introduction toHuman Resource Management

1

Lecture Outline

Strategic Overview

What is Human Resource Management and Why is it Important?

      What is HR Management?

Why is HR Management Important to all Managers?

Line and Staff Aspects of HRM

Line Managers’ Human Resource Duties

Human Resource Manager’s Duties

New Approaches to Organizing HR

Cooperative Line & Staff HRM: An Example

Moving from Line Manager to HR Manager

The Trends Shaping HR Management

Globalization and Competition Trends

Indebtedness and Deregulation

Technological Trends

Trends in the Nature of Work

Workforce and Demographic Trends

Economic Challenges and Trends

Important Trends in HR Management

The New Human Resource Managers

Strategic Human Resource Management

High-Performance Work Systems 

Evidence-Based Human Resource Management

Why You Should be Evidence-Based?

Managing Ethics

HR Certification

The Plan of This Book

The Basic Themes and Features

Chapter Contents Overview

Part 1:  Introduction

Part 2: Recruitment and Placement

Part 3: Training and Development

Part 4: Compensation

Part 5: Employee Relations

In Brief:  This chapter explains what Human Resource Management is, how it relates to the management process, and how it is changing in response to trends in the workplace.  It illustrates how all managers can use HR concepts and techniques, HR’s role in strategic planning and improved organizational performance, the competencies required of HR managers and the plan of the book.  

Interesting Issues:  Human Resources play a key role in helping companies meet the challenges of global competition. Strategic objectives to lower costs, improve productivity, and increase organizational effectiveness are changing the way every part of the organization, including the HR department, does business.

ANNOTATED OUTLINE

I.What is Human Resource Management and Why it is Important – The Management process involves the following functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.  The “people” or personnel aspects of management jobs involve conducting job analyses; planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates; selecting job candidates; orienting and training new employees; managing wages and salaries; providing incentives and benefits; appraising performance; communicating; training and developing managers; building employee commitment; being knowledgeable about equal opportunity, affirmative action, and employee health and safety; and handling grievances and labor relations.

A.Why Is HR Management Important to All Managers?  Managers don’t want to make mistakes while managing, such as hiring the wrong person, having their company taken to court because of discriminatory actions, or committing unfair labor practices.

B.Line and Staff Aspects of HRM – Although most firms have a human resource department with its own manager, all managers tend to get involved in activities like recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and training.

C.Line Managers’ HR Duties – Most line managers are responsible for line functions, coordinative functions, and some staff functions.

D.Human Resource Manager’s Duties – Human Resource Managers also have line, coordinative, and staff functions. However, they exert line authority only within the HR department. They have implied authority with line managers due to the fact that they have the ear of top management on many important issues contributing to organizational health.

E.New Approaches to Organizing HR – Employers are experimenting with offering human resource services in new ways.  For example, some employers organize their HR services around the following four groups:  transactional, corporate, embedded, and centers of expertise.

F.Cooperative Line and Staff HR Management: An Example – In recruiting and hiring, it’s generally the line manager’s responsibility to specify the qualifications employees need to fill specific positions.  Then the HR staff takes over.  They develop sources of qualified applicants and conduct initial screening interviews.  They administer appropriate tests, then refer the best applicants to the supervisor (line manager), who interviews and selects the ones he/she wants.

G.Moving from Line Manager to HR Manager:  Line managers may make career stopovers in staff HR manager positions.

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II.The Trends Shaping HR Management - Human Resource responsibilities have become broader and more strategic over time in response to a number of trends. The role of HR has evolved from primarily being responsible for hiring, firing, payroll, and benefits administration to a more strategic role in employee selection, training, and promotion, as well as playing an advisory role to the organization in areas of labor relations and legal compliance.

A.Globalization and Competition Trends – Globalization refers to the tendency of firms to extend their sales, ownership, and/or manufacturing to new markets abroad. Globalization of the world economy and other trends has triggered changes in how companies organize, manage, and use their HR departments. The rate of globalization continues to be high, and has several strategic implications for firms.  More globalization means more competition, and more competition means more pressure to lower costs, make employees more productive, and do things better and less expensively.

B.Indebtedness and Deregulation – In many countries, government stipends stripped away rules and regulations.  In the United States and Europe, for example, the rules that prevented commercial banks from expanding into new businesses, such as stock brokering, were relaxed.

C. Technological Trends – Virtual online communities, virtual design environments and Internet-based distribution systems have enabled firms to become more competitive.  HR faces the challenge of quickly applying technology to the task of improving its own operations.

D. Trends in the Nature of Work – Jobs are changing due to new technological demands. Dramatic increases in productivity have allowed manufacturers to produce more with fewer employees.  Nontraditional workers, such as those who hold multiple jobs, “contingent” or part-time workers, or people working in alternative work arrangements, enable employers to keep costs down.

1. High-Tech Jobs – More jobs have gone high tech, requiring workers to have more education and skills. Even traditional blue-collar jobs require more math, reading, writing, and computer skills than ever before.

2. Service Jobs – Most newly created jobs are and will continue to be in the service sector. 

3.    Knowledge Work and Human Capital – This refers to the knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of a firm’s workers. The HR function must employ more sophisticated and creative means to identify, attract, select, train, and motivate the required workforce. 

E.      Workforce Demographic Trends – The labor force is getting older and more multi-ethnic.  The aging labor force presents significant changes in terms of potential labor shortages, and many firms are instituting new policies aimed at encouraging aging employees to stay, or at attracting previously retired employees. Growing numbers of workers with eldercare responsibilities, and high rates of immigration also present challenges and opportunities for HR managers.

F.    Economic Challenges and Trends – All of these trends are occurring in a context of challenge and upheaval.  In Figure 1-6, gross national product (GNP) – a measure of the United States of America’s total output – boomed between 2001 and 2007.

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III.Important Trends in HR Management – HR’s central task is always to provide a set of services that make sense in terms of company strategy.  Trends of globalization, technology, nature of work and workforce demographics have implications for how companies now organize, manage, and rely on their HR operations.  HR managers must partner with top managers to design and implement company strategies.  The focus on operational improvements means that all managers must be more adept at expressing their departmental plans and accomplishments in measurable terms.

A.The New Human Resource Managers – Today, we’ve seen that companies are competing in a very challenging new environment.  Globalization, competition, technology, workforce trends, and economic upheaval confront employers with new challenges.  In that context, they expect and demand that their human resource managers exhibit the competencies required to help the company address these new challenges proactively.

B.Strategic HRM – Management expects HR to provide measurable, benchmark-based evidence for its current efficiency and effectiveness, and for the expected efficiency and effectiveness of new or proposed HR programs.  Management expects solid, quantified evidence that HR is contributing in a meaningful and positive way to achieving the firm’s strategic aims. 

C.High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) – HR can impact organizational performance in 3 ways: through the use of technology, through effective HR practices, and by instituting HPWS to maximize the competencies and abilities of employees throughout the organization. 

D.Evidence-Based Human Resource Management – Is the use of data, facts, analytics, scientific rigor, critical evaluation, and critically evaluated research/case studies to support human resource management proposals, decisions, practices, and conclusions.

1.Managing Ethics – has gained increasing exposure as a result of ethical lapses in corporate behavior.  Ethics needs to play a bigger role in managers’ decisions. The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act was passed in 2003 to ensure that management takes these responsibilities seriously.  HR has an important role in promoting ethical behavior at work, which will be explored more fully later in the text.

2.HR Certification – Through the Society of Human Resource Management, this has become increasingly important as human resource management is becoming more professionalized.   Certifications of PHR (Professional in HR) and SPHR (Senior Professional in HR) are earned by those who successfully complete all the requirements of the certification program.

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IV.The Plan of This Book – Each topic interacts with and affects the others, and all should fit with the employer’s strategic plan.

A.  The Basic Themes and Features

- HR is the responsibility of every manager.

- HR managers must defend plans and contributions in measurable

terms.

- HR systems must be designed to achieve the company’s strategic aims.

- HR increasingly relies on technology to achieve the strategic aims.

- Virtually every HR decision has legal implications.

- Globalization and diversity are important HR issues today.

V.Chapter Contents Overview

A.Part 1:  Introduction

1.Chapter 1:  Introduction to Human Resource Management

2.Chapter 2:  Equal Opportunity and the Law

3.Chapter 3: The Manager’s Role in Strategic HRM

B.Part 2: Recruitment and Placement

1.Chapter 4: Job Analysis

     2.Chapter 5: Personnel Planning and Recruiting

     3.Chapter 6:  Employee Testing and Selection

     4. Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates

C.Part 3: Training and Development

     1.Chapter 8: Training and Developing Employees

     2.Chapter 9: Performance Management and Appraisal

      3. Chapter 10: Coaching, Careers, and Talent Management 

D.Part 4: Compensation

     1. Chapter 11: Establishing Strategic Pay Plans

     2.Chapter 12: Pay for Performance and Financial Incentives

     3.Chapter 13: Benefits and Services

E.Part 5: Employee Relations

1.Chapter 14: Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment in HR Management

     2.Chapter 15: Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

     3.Chapter 16: Employee Safety and Health

4.Chapter 17:  Managing Global Human Resources

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.Explain what HR management is and how it relates to the management process.  There are five basic functions that all managers perform:  planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.  HR management involves the policies and practices needed to carry out the staffing (or people) function of management.  HR management helps the management process to avoid mistakes and get results.

2.Give examples of how HR management concepts and techniques can be of use to all managers.  HR management concepts and techniques can help all managers to ensure that they get results – through others.  These concepts and techniques also help you to avoid common personnel mistakes such as: hiring the wrong person; experiencing high turnover; finding your people not doing their best; wasting time with useless interviews; having your company taken to court because of discriminatory actions; having your company cited under federal occupational safety laws for unsafe practices; having some employees think their salaries are unfair and inequitable relative to others in the organization; allowing a lack of training to undermine your department’s effectiveness, and committing any unfair labor practices.

3.Illustrate the HR responsibilities of line and staff managers.  Line managers are someone's boss; they direct the work of subordinates in pursuit of accomplishing the organization's basic goals.  Some examples of the HR responsibilities of line managers are: placing the right person on the job; starting new employees in the organization (orientation); training employees for jobs that are new to them; improving the job performance of each person; gaining creative cooperation and developing smooth working relationships; interpreting the company’s policies and procedures; controlling labor costs; developing the abilities of each person; creating and maintaining department morale; and protecting employees’ health and physical conditions.  Staff managers assist and advise line managers in accomplishing these basic goals.   They do, however, need to work in partnership with each other to be successful.  Some examples of the HR responsibilities of staff managers include assistance in hiring, training, evaluating, rewarding, counseling, promoting, and firing of employees, and the administering of various benefits programs. 

4.Why is it important for a company to make its human resources into a competitive advantage?  How can HR contribute to doing so?  Building and maintaining a competitive advantage is what allows a company to be successful, and to remain profitable and in business.  HR can make a critical contribution to the competitive advantage of a company by building the organizational climate and structure that allows the company to tap its special skills or core competencies and rapidly respond to customers' needs and competitors' moves.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES

1.Working individually or in groups, develop several lists showing how trends like workforce diversity, technological trends, globalization, and changes in the nature of work have affected the college or university you are now attending.  Present in class.  The list might include items such as the growth of adult (non-traditional aged) students, the use of computer and communications technology, diversity issues, and others.

2.Working individually or in groups, contact the HR manager of a local bank.  Ask the HR manager how he or she is working as a strategic partner to manage human resources, given the bank’s strategic goals and objectives.  Back in class, discuss the responses of the different HR managers.  The students should ask the HR manager to discuss how his/her role as a strategic partner is improving the bank’s performance, and if the bank’s culture is more innovative and flexible as a result of the strategic partnership.

3.Working individually or in groups, interview an HR manager; based on that interview, write a short presentation regarding HR's role today in building a more competitive organization.  The response here will, of course, depend upon the organization and HR manager interviewed.  Hopefully, items such as workforce diversity, technological trends, globalization, high-performance work systems, HR metrics or ethics will be mentioned.

4.  Working individually or in groups, bring several business publications such as Business Week and The Wall Street Journal to class.  Based on their content, compile a list entitled, “What HR managers and departments do today.”  The students should look for articles and advertisements that deal with any of the following topics: conducting job analyses, planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates; selecting job candidates; orienting, training, and developing employees; managing wages and salaries; providing incentives and benefits; appraising performance; communicating; training and developing managers; building employee commitment; equal opportunity; affirmative action; employee health and safety; and labor relations.

5.  Based on your personal experiences, list ten examples showing how you did use (or could have used) human resource management techniques at work or school.  Depending on the degree of their work experience, students will cite a wide range of examples, possibly including some of the following:   1) situations where they have improved the efficiency of their work through the use of technology made available to them through human resource systems; 2) employed the services of non-traditional workers (or been employed as a non-traditional worker);   3)  developed metrics to measure how they have added value in terms of human resource contributions; 4) kept themselves abreast of employment law in order to minimize risk to their company; 5) utilized self-service HR technology; 6) employed High-Performance Work Systems concepts in their job/department.

6.  Laurie Siegel, senior vice president of human resources for Tyco International took over her job in 2003, just after numerous charges forced the company’s previous Board of Directors and top executives to leave the firm.  Hired by new CEO Edward Breen, Siegel had to tackle numerous difficult problems starting the moment she assumed office.  For example, she had to help hire a new management team.  She had to do something about what the outside world viewed as a culture of questionable ethics at her company.  And she had to do something about the company’s top management compensation plan, which many felt contributed to the allegations by some that the company’s former CEO had used the company as a sort of private ATM.  

      Siegel came to Tyco after a very impressive career.  For example, she had been head of executive compensation at Allied Signal, and was a graduate of the Harvard Business School.  But, as strong as her background was, she obviously had her work cut out for her when she took the senior vice president of HR position at Tyco.

Working individually or in groups, conduct an Internet search and do library research to answer the following questions:  What human resource management-related steps did Siegel take to help get Tyco back on the right track?  Do you think she took the appropriate steps?  Why or why not?  What, if anything do you suggest she do now?

Tyco’s top executives, (the Chairman/Chief Executive as well as the CFO) had been accused of playing fast and loose with corporate accounting and of using the company’s coffers as personal piggy banks.  Upon taking office, Breen, fired the entire board of directors, and then dismissed the entire headquarters staff of 125 people. He recruited a new, completely independent board of directors and hired a CFO, an ombudsman, and a vice president of corporate governance, who reports directly to the board.

Breen’s directive to Siegel was that her first priority was to set up corporate-governance and compensation systems and controls, then to transition "to really driving the talent machine." Siegel’s first step was to draft a strict company code of ethics. She then arranged to have it taught simultaneously at a special ethics training day to every Tyco employee. She advised the compensation committee on how to replace Tyco’s old salary and bonus policy, which rewarded acquisition-based company growth. The new system is based on measurable company performance. Bonuses and restricted-stock grants are linked to objective measurements, including each business unit’s earnings before interest and taxes, and Tyco International’s overall performance.  Top officers are required to hold company stock worth 3 to 10 times their yearly base salary. They must hold 75 percent of their restricted stock and stock options until a minimum level has been reached. Above that level, they must hold 25 percent for at least three years. Severance pay is limited to two times an individual’s yearly salary plus bonus. Post-handshake perks, like consulting contracts and free transportation in company aircraft, have been abolished. 

As a result of the above steps, Tyco is now aiming for higher marks in ethics. It has written and circulated a multi-page ethics policy, and hired more than 100 internal auditors to enforce it. It has a new corporate ombudsman, to address employee concerns about ethics or policies. All of Tyco’s employees attended mandatory one-day ethics seminars, and more detailed programs are in the works for its 25,000 managers. In the past, the practice was to award huge bonuses to anyone who “somehow drove the numbers up.” The new system assesses how well managers set and meet goals. As a result, Tyco’s bonus budget for the fiscal year 2003 was reduced by $90 million. 

Students will probably agree that, in general, Siegel took the appropriate steps, and the turnaround and recovery of Tyco’s finances, profits, and stock prices are testimony to the effectiveness of her approach.  Suggestions for what Siegel should do moving forward may include continued ethics training, HR strategies and scorecards that drive the appropriate employee behaviors in support of the business strategy.

7.  The HRCI “Test Specifications” appendix at the end of this book lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of human resource management.  In groups of four to five students, do four things: (1) Review that appendix now. (2) Identify the material in their chapter that relates to the required knowledge the appendix lists. (3) Write four multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam.  And (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so the students on other teams can take each other’s exam questions.

EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES & CASES

Experiential Exercise:  Helping “The Donald” 

1.  Divide the class into teams of three to four students.

2.  Read this:  As you may know by watching “the Donald” as he organizes his business teams for “The Apprentice” and “The Celebrity Apprentice,” human resource management plays an important role in what Donald Trump, and the participants on his separate teams, need to do to be successful.  For example, Donald Trump needs to be able to appraise each of the participants.  And, for their part, the leaders of each of his teams needs to be able to staff his or her teams with the right participants, and then provide the sorts of training, incentives, and evaluations that help their companies succeed and that therefore make the participants themselves (and especially the team leaders) look like a “winner” to Mr. Trump.  

3.  Watch several of these shows (or reruns of the shows), and then meet with your team and answer the following questions:

a.What specific HR functions (recruiting, interviewing, and so on) can you identify Donald Trump using on this show?  Make sure to give specific examples based on the show.

Recruiting, interviewing, candidate evaluation, selection, and termination are the obvious functions that Donald Trump uses throughout the series.  Students will give specific examples related to the episode they select.  Challenge students to evaluate whether Donald Trump effectively utilizes these practices in the examples they cite, and why or why not.

b.What specific HR functions can you identify one or more of the team leaders using to help manage his or teams on the show?  Again, please make sure to give specific answers.

Examples may include team leaders employing human resource strategies, planning labor needs, selecting job candidates, training and development of team members, developing compensation models, appraising performance, building commitment, implementation of high-performance work system concepts, and identifying and reporting metrics and/or scorecards. 

c.Provide a specific example of how HR functions (such as recruiting, selection, interviewing, compensating, appraising, and so on) contributed to one of the participants coming across as particularly successful to Mr. Trump?  Can you provide examples of how one or more of these functions contributed to a participant being told by Mr. Trump, “you’re fired”?

Encourage students to identify specifically what was done effectively in the example they cite from an HR perspective, and how that would be viewed in a true organizational setting.  There are mixed views of the effectiveness of both Trump’s and team leaders’ approach and implementation of human resource functions in terms of “best practice.”  Many critics have suggested that if what was portrayed on the show were carried out in the “real world,” the consequences would be lawsuits and significant dollars laid out both in direct and indirect costs.  Have students reflect on this idea and facilitate discussion on what both “The Donald” and team leaders could have done more effectively from a human resource perspective in the examples cited.

d.Present your team’s conclusions to the class.

Solicit feedback from the class on each team’s conclusions and facilitate a discussion on reactions to each group’s presentation.  Ask the following questions:

i.Do you agree with the team’s conclusions?  Why or Why Not?

ii.Do you agree with Donald’s decision to fire/not fire?

iii.If you were the team leader in this example, what would you have done differently?

Application Case:  Jack Nelson's Problem 

1.  What do you think was causing some of the problems in the bank home office and branches?  There is clearly a problem with communication, and the effects are felt in the area of employee commitment.  Additional contributing factors include the lack of consistency in the policies and procedures of various locations.  There is no cohesiveness to the staffing activities of this organization.

2.  Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would help?  Of course we think it would!  Since there are HR-related problems both in the home office and in the branches, it is clear that if a personnel office were set up, it would need to help to coordinate the HR activities in the branches.

3.  What specific functions should it carry out?  What HR functions would then be carried out by supervisors and other line managers?  What role should the Internet play in the new HR organization?  There is room for quite a bit of variation in the answers to this question.  Our suggested organization would include:  HR Unit:  job analyses, planning labor needs and recruiting, providing advising and training in the selection process, orientation of new employees, managing wage and salary administration, managing incentives and benefits, providing and managing the performance appraisal process, organization-wide communications, and providing training & developing services.  Supervisors and Other Line Managers: interviewing and selection of job candidates, training new employees, appraising performance, departmental & personal communications, and training & development.  Internet and HR: shift some activities to specialized online service portals and/or providers.

Continuing Case:  Carter Cleaning Company

1.  Make a list of 5 specific HR problems you think Carter Cleaning will have to grapple with.

Potential answers could include the following:

1)  Staffing the company with the right human capital by identifying the skills and competencies that are required to perform the jobs and the type of people that should be hired.  Sourcing candidates and establishing an efficient and effective recruiting and selection process will be an important first step.

2)  Planning and establishing operational goals and standards and developing rules and procedures to support business goals and strategies.  Failure to do so will result in a lack of clarity around performance expectations down the line as each store becomes operational.

3)  Implementing effective Performance Management through setting performance standards, high quality appraisal of performance, and providing ongoing performance coaching and feedback to develop the abilities of each person and support positive employee relations.

4)  Designing an effective compensation system that will give the company the ability to attract, retain, and motivate a high-quality workforce, providing appropriate wages, salaries, incentives and benefits. A poorly designed system will result in difficulty in attracting candidates, turnover, and low employee morale.

5) Training and developing employees both at the management and employee level to be able to perform the job to meet the performance expectations.  This should include a new hire orientation program as well as a program for ongoing training and development.    Lack of attention to this component may result in errors, increase in operational costs, turnover, and morale problems.

2.  What would you do first if you were Jennifer?

Answers will vary.  However, probably the most important first step is to ensure that the staffing process is well designed and targeting the right mix of skills and abilities needed among candidates.  A thorough job should be done in analyzing the requirements of each job, developing a complete job description for each role, and sourcing candidates that meet those requirements.  Significant time should be invested in the hiring process to ensure that the candidates hired meet the requirements and possess the skills and abilities to do the job.

Teaching Tips: It is important for students to understand at this point in the course that Human Resource Management is a topic that applies to each of them, regardless of whether they plan a career in the HR department, i.e., every manager must be cognizant of methods for improving employee performance, and the need to think strategically. Also, managers act as agents of the company, and as such, must be fluent in the law of the workplace to avoid embarrassment and/or liability. Students who do not plan careers in management will be exposed to decisions made by their managers and the HR function. A firm grounding in HR practice can make them better consumers. 

KEY TERMS

organizationPeople with formally assigned roles who work together to achieve the organization’s goals.

managerThe person responsible for accomplishing the organization’s goals, and who does so by managing.

management processThe five basic functions of management are:  planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. 

human resource The staffing functions of the management process.  Or, the policies and

management (HRM)practices needed to carry out the "people" or human resource aspects

of a management position, including recruiting, screening, training, rewarding, and appraising.  

authorityThe right to make decisions, to direct the work of others, and give orders. 

line authorityAuthority to direct the activities of people in his or her own department. 

staff authorityStaff authority gives the manager the right to advise other managers or employees.

line managerAuthorized to direct the work of subordinates – they're always someone's boss.  In addition, line managers are in charge of accomplishing the organization's basic goals.  

staff managerAssist and advise line managers in accomplishing the basic goals.  HR managers are generally staff managers. 

functional authorityThe authority exerted by an HR manager as coordinator of personnel activities.

 globalizationThe tendency of firms to extend their sales or manufacturing to new markets abroad. 

nontraditional workersThose who hold multiple jobs, or who are “contingent” or part-time workers, or people working in alternative work arrangements.

human capitalKnowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of a firm’s workers.

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