Chapter Review
Key Takeaways
- Human Resource Management (HRM) consists of all actions that an organization takes to attract, develop, and retain quality employees.
- A strategic HR plan lays out the steps that an organization will take to ensure that it has the right number of employees with the right skills in the right places at the right times.
- A job analysis identifies the tasks, responsibilities, and skills that a job entails, as well as the knowledge and abilities needed to perform it. Managers also use the information collected for the job analysis to prepare two documents: A job description, which lists the duties and responsibilities of a position, and a job specification, which lists the qualifications, skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to perform the job.
- HR forecasting is the process of predicting how a company’s staffing needs change with time so that it can remain prepared to operate successfully. There are three steps to forecasting HR needs: Identify supply, predict the future needs (demand), and measure the gap (shortage or surplus).
- Recruiting is the process of identifying suitable candidates and encouraging them to apply for openings in the organization.
- Discrimination occurs when a person is treated unfairly on the basis of a characteristic unrelated to ability.
- Hiring internally sends a positive signal to employees that they can move up in the company—a strong motivation tool and a reward for good performance. HR managers generally post openings on bulletin boards (often online) or announce them in newsletters when recruiting internally.
- Hiring externally gives you an opportunity to bring fresh ideas and skills into the company. In any case, it’s often the only alternative, especially if no one inside the company has just the right combination of skills and experience. When recruiting externally, job opportunities may be shared on social media, at job fairs, on the corporate website, and in other places.
- Contingent workers are hired to supplement a company’s permanent workforce.
- Selection is the process of determining which people in the applicant pool possess the qualifications necessary to be successful on the job.
- During initial screening, an applicant completes an application form and/or submits a résumé and has a brief interview of 30 minutes or less. Following initial screening, the applicant may be asked to take one or more tests.
- The tool most widely used in making hiring decisions is the selection interview, an in-depth discussion of an applicant’s work experience, skills and abilities, education, and career interests.
- In Canada, pre-employment drug testing and physical exams could be considered discriminatory (Canadian human rights law), unless an employer can prove that there is a bona fide occupational requirement (BFOR) for testing.
- If applicants pass the selection interview, most firms examine their background and check their references. References are people who will attest to your skills and abilities. The best references are former or current employers.
- If an applicant progresses satisfactorily through all the selection steps, a decision to hire the person is made. Usually, for higher-level jobs or jobs within unionized environments, the decision will be based on the test scores (if applicable) and the interview scores each candidate obtained.
- Initially, when an employee is hired, the organization uses an orientation program to introduce the employee to the company’s people, policies, and procedures.
- Even with some experience, knowledge, and skills, your new employer will still want to provide you with training specific to the technologies, processes, and practices used by the organization. There are many types of training, and training is very costly for employers. Compliance training covers the standards for a healthy working environment and teaches safety and accident prevention procedures.
- Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) are a set of practices that aim to ensure that people from a variety of backgrounds are represented and can thrive.
- Equity is a process that ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities.
- Diversity is the presence, in an organization or a community, of a wide range of people with different backgrounds, abilities and attributes, including ethnicity, race, colour, religion, age, gender and sexual orientation.
- Inclusion refers to taking into account differences among individuals and groups when designing something (e.g., policy, program, curriculum, building, shared space) to avoid creating barriers.
- Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible.
- The average employee spends more than two thousand hours a year at work. If the job is tedious, unpleasant, or otherwise unfulfilling, the employee probably won’t be motivated to perform at a very high level. The practice of job rotation allows employees to rotate from one job to another on a systematic basis, often but not necessarily cycling back to their original tasks. In theory, you’d be less bored and more highly motivated if you had a chance at job enlargement—the policy of enhancing a job by adding tasks at similar skill levels. Job enrichment is the practice of adding tasks that increase both responsibility and opportunity for growth.
- Work-life balance generally refers to a balance between your personal and work life.
- Some common alternate work arrangements embraced by employees include flextime, compressed workweeks, job sharing, and telecommuting. In addition to alternative work arrangements, many employers offer programs and benefits designed to help employees meet family and home obligations while maintaining busy careers.
- In addition to salary and wages, compensation packages often include other financial incentives, such as bonuses and profit-sharing plans, as well as benefits, such as medical insurance, vacation time, sick leave, and retirement accounts.
- Formal performance appraisals are conducted on an annual or semiannual basis to discuss and evaluate employees’ work performance.
- 360-degree feedback ensures employees (mostly managers) get feedback from all directions—from supervisors, reporting subordinates, coworkers, and even customers.
- Work culture can have a profound impact on several significant aspects of the employee experience, like individual and team morale, workplace engagement and job satisfaction.
- Voluntary termination is when an employee chooses to leave their job of their own accord, without pressure from their employer. It’s also known as voluntary resignation.
- Involuntary termination is when an employer ends an employee’s employment without the employee’s consent. It can happen for a number of reasons, including poor performance, unprofessional behaviour, policy violations, economic factors, and organizational changes.
End-of-Chapter Exercises
- Diversity in the Workplace. Use the Internet and visit Statistics Canada or other websites to determine the percentages of different groups in the workforce. What did you learn? Was there a group that was under-represented or over-represented? Why do you think that is? Discuss your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Best Diversity Employers. Use the Internet to research last year’s best diversity employers. Review how the rankings were established. What were the reasons that placed these companies on the list? From what you learned, would you want to work there? Why or why not? Discuss your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Job Description. Create a job description and job specification for a job of your choice, or your professor’s. Start with a job analysis. You’ll probably need to ask your professor some questions along the way. Share your results with your class and/or professor.
- Contingent Worker. Use the Internet to visit an HR Recruiting Agency (e.g., Robert Half, Kelly, Adecco, Manpower) and learn about becoming a temporary or contingent worker. Would you like to do this to get started in your field of work? Use the Job Search feature to look for several types of jobs that interest you. Choose your current city and one where you would like to live. What are the advantages of being a temporary worker? What other services does the agency offer job seekers? Share your findings with the class and/or professor.
- Starbucks Working Conditions. Use the Internet to find recent articles pertaining to Starbucks, its employees, labour laws, or unionization. What did you learn? Is Starbucks still one of the best companies to work for today? Who is the current CEO? What did Howard Schultz do wrong? Share your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Staffing Agency. Locate a staffing agency (HR Recruiting Firm) near you, phone them or email, and ask for information about their recruitment and placement services. Enquire about the processes the agency uses to register, interview, test, and place a job applicant. Does it cost money to register? What skills must you have? What does the interview process entail? What type of tests do they use? Do you notice similarities between the processes used by the agency and those discussed in this chapter? Do you think you might be interested in registering with an agency once you graduate? Why or why not? Share your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Wrongful Dismissal. Use the Internet to locate a recent case (within the past five years) of wrongful dismissal at a company in Canada or the United States. Read about it and gather some details. Determine what went wrong. Where did either the employer or the employee make mistakes? Could this situation have been resolved earlier, before employment was terminated? Is the employee or the employer right? What was the legal outcome? Summarize your findings and share them with the class and/or professor.
- Benefits and Insurance Coverage. Explore what is offered for student health insurance plans at your college or university. How much do they cost? What is covered? Do you need this, or are you still covered by your parents’ health insurance? If you are covered by your parents’ plan, then you can often save on ancillary fees by letting your institution know you are already covered by another plan. Do you think health insurance coverage is worth the cost? Do you think only older adults need this coverage? Discuss with your class and/or professor.
- Management Training Programs. Use the Internet to locate one firm that provides management training programs. Provide some details about the firm’s management program and share your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Employee Training. Use the Internet to locate one of the Top Companies to Work for in your location in the world. What are the employee training practices of this company? Research to find out if there have been issues with customers being dissatisfied. If so, were these customers upset due to poor customer service or a lack of adequately trained employees? If you were to work for this company, what types of training do you think you would need or appreciate? Share your findings with your class and/or professor.
- Research Fortune Global 500 Companies. Use the Internet to locate one of the Fortune Global 500 companies. Research answers to the following questions, then prepare a summarized report with citations and submit it to your professor.
- Provide the name and headquarters of the company. Provide the locations where the company operates.
- How many employees work there (overall or by geographical location)?
- What type of compensation and rewards (perks) does the company offer employees? Benefits?
- Do the employees have a union? If so, gather information about the union (how many members, where it operates).
- Do the company’s foreign locations manage employees differently than their Canadian locations? Why?
- Have there been any employee disputes publicized over the past five years?
Self-Check Exercise – Human Resources Management Quiz
Check your understanding of this chapter’s concepts by completing this short self-check quiz.
Additional Resources
- Human Resource Management: Explained in 10 Minutes. YouTube Video.
- Canadian Human Rights Act
- Employment equity
- What is the ‘gig’ economy? YouTube Video.
- The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. YouTube Video.
Attributions
This chapter compiles content from various Open Educational Resources (OER). For details, please refer to the Attributions page.
