HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

UNIT-1
Basic concepts

■ Human resources (HR): “People who work in an organization”

■ Manager: “A person who is in charge of others and is responsible for the timely and correct execution of actions
that promote his or her unit’s success

■ Line employee: “Employee involved directly in producing the company’s good(s) or delivering the
service(s)”

■ Staff employee: “An employee who supports line employee

Evolution of HRM (Pande & Basak, 2012)

■ 1800 BC: Minimum wage rate and incentive wage plan – Babylonian code of Hammurabi.
■ 300 BC: Kautilya’s Arthashastra
■ India:
1920s: interest in management as a discipline
1931: Government intervening to protect the interests of workers through the appointment of labour
welfare officers.
1948: Factories Act: Appointment of labour welfare officers compulsory.
1970s: Shift of focus from concern for the welfare of people to concern for the performance of
organizations.
1980: National Institute of Labour Management & Indian Institute of Personnel Management
merged to form the National Institute of Personnel Management.
1980s: Personnel management morphed into HR as new technologies came to be discussed to manage people
and their differences.
1990: American Society of Personnel Management renamed itself as The Society of Human Resource
Management.
Defining HRM (Pande & Basak, 2012)
■ 50 years ago: “Personnel management aims to achieve both efficiency and justice. It seeks to bring together
and develop into an effective organization the men and women who make up the enterprise, enabling each
to make his own best contribution to its success. It seeks to provide fair terms and conditions of
employment and satisfying work for those employed.”
 Personnel management & HRM
(Pande & Basak, 2012)
Personnel Management Human Resource Management
Reactive, servicing role Proactive, innovative role

Emphasis on implementation of Emphasis on strategy

procedures

Specialist department General management activity

Focus on employees’ need in Focus on employees’ requirements in

their own right the light of business needs

Employees seen as a cost to be Employees seen as an investment to be

controlled nurtured as well as a cost to be
controlled

Presumption of union manager Conflicts dealt with by team members

conflicts within their teams

Preference for collective Management led planning of people

bargaining of pay and working resources & employment conditions
conditions
Personnel Management Human Resource Management
Emphasis on settling pay more in Emphasis on competitive pay and
terms of the organization’s internal conditions to stay ahead of competitors
market

Serving other departments/ units Contributing ‘added value’ to business

Supporting change Stimulating change

Challenging business goals in the Total commitment to business goals

light of effect on employees

Less flexible approach to staff Completely flexible approach to staff

deployments deployment
The HRM System
Staffing
o Identifying work requirements within an organization
 Determining the numbers of people and the skills mix necessary to do the work
o Recruiting selecting and promoting qualified candidates
Retention
o Rewarding employees for performing their jobs effectively
 Ensuring harmonious working relations between employees and managers Maintaining a safe, healthy
work environment
Development: To preserve and enhance employees’ competence in their jobs by improving their knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics (Competencies)
Adjustment: Activities intended to maintain compliance with the organization’s HR policies (e.g. discipline) and
business strategies)
Managing change: Ongoing process whose objective is to enhance the ability of an organization to anticipate and
respond to developments in its external and internal environments, and to enable employees at all levels to cope with
the changes
 Responsibilities of HR Department

Activity Responsibility of HR Department

Staffing Job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, compliance

with civil rights laws and regulations, application blanks, written
tests, performance tests, interviews, background investigations,
reference checks, physical examinations

Retention Compensation and benefits, employee relations, health and

safety, employee services

Development Development of legally sound performance management

systems, morale surveys, technical training, management and
organizational development, career planning, counseling, HR
research

Adjustment Investigation of employee complaints, outplacement services,

retirement counselling

Managing change Provide expertise to facilitate the overall process of managing

change
 Challenges of HRM (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Environmental challenges: “Forces external to the firm”
Rapid change
■ New company townships
■ Dealing with stress
Rise of the Internet
■ Necessitating better written communication skills
■ Dealing with information overflow
■ Breaking down labor market barriers – workers & companies know where to get what they need
■ Using online learning
■ Enabling HR to focus on management
Workforce diversity

■ Environmental challenges
Globalization
■ Worldwide company culture
■ Worldwide recruiting
■ Industrial metamorphosis
■ Global alliances
■ A virtual workforce
■ The global enterprise
■ Wage competition
Legislation
Evolving work and family roles: Dual career families, changing family structure, etc.
Skill shortages & rise of the service sector Natural disasters
■ Organizational challenges: “Concerns or problems internal to a firm”
Competitive position: Cost, quality, or distinctive capabilities
■ Controlling costs
■ Improving quality
■ Creating distinctive capabilities
Decentralization Downsizing
Organizational restructuring Self managed work teams
Growth of small businesses

■ Organizational challenges (Contd.):

Organizational culture: “Basic assumptions and beliefs shared by members of an organization”
■ “Observed behavioral regularities
■ Norms
■ Dominant values espoused by an organization
■ Philosophy that guides organization’s policy
■ Rules of the game
■ Feeling or climate
Technology
■ Rise of telecommuting
■ Ethics of proper data use
■ Electronic monitoring
■ Medical testing
■ Increase in egalitarianism
 ■ Organizational challenges (Contd.)
Internal security Data security
Outsourcing
Product integrity

■ Individual challenges:
Matching people and organizations Ethics and social responsibility
Productivity
Employee ability Motivation
Empowerment Brain drain
Job insecurity

Responses of firms to the new competitive realities (Cascio, 2003)

■ Smaller companies that employ fewer people
■ The shift from vertically integrated hierarchies to networks of specialists
■ Technicians, ranging from computer repair specialists to radiation therapists, replacing manufacturing
operatives as the worker elite.
■ Pay tied less to a person’s position or tenure in an organization and more to the market value of his or
her skills
■ A change in the paradigm of doing business from making a product to providing a service, often by
part-time or temporary employees
■ Outsourcing of activities that are not core competencies of a firm (e.g. Payroll, or Collections, or
downsizing – movie Up in the air)
■ Redefinition of work itself: Constant learning, more higher order thinking, less nine to five mentality
■ New forms of organization: Virtual, offshoring, telecommuting
■ Restructuring, including downsizing
■ Total quality management
■ Reengineering: Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in cost, quality and speed.
■ Flexibility

Planning and implementing strategic

HR policies
Strategic HR planning: “Process of formulating HR strategies & establishing programs or tactics to implement
them.”Benefits:
■ Encouragement of proactive rather than reactive behavior
■ Explicit communication of company goals
■ Stimulation of critical thinking and ongoing examination of assumptions
■ Identification of gaps between current situation and future vision
■ Encouragement of line managers’ participation
■ Identification of HR constraints and opportunities
■ Creation of common bonds

Challenges of strategic HR planning

■ Maintaining a competitive advantage

■ Reinforcing overall business strategy
■ Avoiding excessive concentration on day to day problems
■ Developing HR strategies suited to unique organizational features
■ Coping with the environment
■ Securing management commitment
■ Translating the strategic plan into action
■ Combining intended and emergent strategies
■ Accommodating change
Strategic HR Choices
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Strategic HR choices: Options it has available in designing its HR system
■ Work flows:
Efficiency/ innovation Control/
flexibility
Explicit/ broad job descriptions Detailed/ loose
work planning
■ Staffing:
Promoting from within/ hiring from outside
Empowering immediate supervisors/ centralizing decisions in HR dept
Emphasizing good fit between applicant/ hiring most knowledgeable applicant regardless
of interpersonal considerations
Hiring new workers informally/ formal & systematic hiring

Specialization
Strategic HR Choices (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
■ Employee separations
Voluntary inducements (e.g.VRS)/ layoffs Hiring freeze/ recruiting as
needed
Continued support to separated employees/ leaving them to fend for themselves
Committing to rehiring laid off employees / fresh unbiased recruitment if circumstances permit
■ Performance appraisal
Customised/ standardized appraisal system
Appraisal data as developmental tool/ control mechanism Designing appraisal system with multiple
objectives/
narrow purpose
Appraisal system with active participation/ only inputs from employees
Strategic HR Choices (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
■ Training and career development
Individual/ group training
Training on the job/ by external agencies Job specific/ generic training
Hiring external experts at a higher wage/ training own employees to become experts
■ Compensation
Fixed salary and benefits/ variable compensation Compensation based on position/ individual
contribution
Rewarding for length of service/ performance
Centralizing pay decisions/ empowering supervisors to make pay decisions
Strategic HR Choices (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
■ Employee & labor relations
Top-down communication/ bottom-up feedback Avoiding or suppressing/ dealing with unions
Adversarial approach/ responding to employee
needs
■ Employee rights
Discipline/ proactive encouragement for appropriate behavior
Employer’s / employee’s interest
Informal/ explicit standards and procedures for ethical behavior
Strategic HR Choices (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

■ International management
Creating common company culture to reduce inter-country cultural differences/ expecting foreign
subsidiaries to adapt to local culture
Sending expats to / hiring locals in foreign country offices
Repatriation agreement with/ no commitment to or from employees on foreign assignments
Centralized/ decentralized company policies for multi-country operations
Selecting HR strategies to increase firm
performance (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
■ “The better the match between the HR strategy & the firm’s overall organizational strategies
■ The more the HR strategy is attuned to the environment in which the firm is operating
■ The more closely the HR strategy is moulded to unique organizational features
■ The better the HR strategy enables the firm to capitalize on its distinctive competencies
■ The more the HR strategies are mutually consistent or reinforce one another”
■ And eventually, the better the firm performance
Thank You
 Session 2

Human Resources Management - I

Aradhna Malik (PhD) Assistant Professor VGSOM, IIT

Kharagpur
 Sources

Briscoe, D.R., Schuler, R. S. & Claus, L. (2009). International human resource management: Policies and practices for
multinational enterprises. NY: Routledge.
Cascio, W. F. (2003). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits. New Delhi: Tata McGraw
Hill.
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B. & Cardy, R. L. (2012). Managing human resources (7th Ed.). New Delhi: PHI Ltd.
Pande, S. & Basak, S. (2012). Human resources management: Text and cases. New Delhi: Pearson.
Basic concepts (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Human resources (HR): “People who work in an organization”
Discuss whether the above should be called ‘personnel’ or ‘human resources’ and why?
Manager: “A person who is in charge of others and is responsible for the timely and correct execution of actions
that promote his or her unit’s success
Line employee: “Employee involved directly in producing the company’s good(s) or delivering the
service(s)”
Staff employee: “An employee who supports line employees”
HR managers try to answer the following questions

(Cascio, 2003)
Who specifies the content of each job?
Who decides how many jobs are necessary?
How are the interrelationships among jobs determined and communicated?
Has anyone looked at the number, design and content of jobs from the perspective of the entire organization?
What is the big picture?
What should training programs stress?
How should performance on each job be measured?
How much is each job worth?
Basic Concepts (Cascio, 2003; Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Business processes: “Value adding, value creating activities such as product development, customer service, &
order fulfilment”
Business process re-engineering: “Fundamental re-thinking & radical re -design of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, & speed.”
Job design: “The process of organizing work into the tasks required to perform a specific job”
Job analysis: The process of obtaining information about jobs
Job description: An overall written summary of task requirements
Job specification: An overall written summary of worker requirements
Work flow: “The way we work is organized to meet the organization’s production or service goals.”
Work flow analysis: “Examin[ation of] how work creates or adds value to the ongoing business processes”
Why study job requirements? (Cascio, 2003)

Organizational structure and design

Human resource planning
Job evaluation and compensation
Recruitment
Selection
Placement
Orientation, training, and development
Performance appraisal
Career path planning
Labor relations
Engineering design and methods improvement
Job design
Safety
Vocational guidance and rehabilitation counseling
Job classification systems
Types of organizational structure
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Bureaucratic organizational structure:

Top down management approach
Many levels of management
Hierarchical career paths within one function
Highly specialized jobs
Narrowly specified job descriptions
Rigid boundaries between jobs & units
Employees or individuals working independently
Types of organizational structure
(Contd.) (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Flat:
Decentralized management approach
Few levels of management
Horizontal career paths that cross functions
Broadly defined jobs
General job descriptions
Flexible boundaries between jobs and units
Emphasis on teams
Strong focus on the customer
Boundaryless
Joint ventures with customers, suppliers & competitors
Emphasis on teams whose members may cross organizational boundaries
Process based organizations (Cascio, 2003)

A process is a collection of activities (such as procurement, order fulfillment, product development, or credit issuance),
that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to a customer.
Priorities of a process based organization:
Identification of job specifications (i.e. The personal characteristics – knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics – necessary to do the work)
Identification of the environment, context, and social aspects of work
A change in emphasis, from describing jobs to describing roles
 Job characteristics theory
(Gomez-mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
“States that employees will be more motivated to work and more satisfied with their jobs to the extent that jobs
contain certain core characteristics, as these will lead to psychological states that will further lead to specific work
outcomes.”
Core job characteristics:
Skill variety: Degree to which a job requires a person to do different things
Task identity: Degree to which a person can do the job from beginning to end with a visible outcome
Task significance: Degree to which the job has a significant impact on others – inside & outside
Autonomy: Amount of freedom, independence, & discretion the employee has in areas such as scheduling
the work, making decision, & determining how to do the job”
Feedback: Degree to which the job provides the employee with clear & direct information about job
outcomes & performance”
Job characteristics theory (Contd.)
(Gomez-mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Physiological state affected by job characteristics
Experienced meaningfulness: Extent to which the employee experiences the work as important,
valuable, & worthwhile
Experienced responsibility: Degree to which the employee feels personally responsible or accountable for the
results of the work
Knowledge of results
Personal & work outcomes:
High internal work motivation
High quality work performance
High satisfaction with the work
Low turnover & absenteeism
Link between core job characteristics & outcomes – Strength of relationships which is determined by intensity of
employee growth need, which thrives on & affects feedback & commitment of employees to their teams &
organization
Characteristics of jobs (Cascio, 2003)

Dynamic characteristics
Time
People
Environment and context
Job specifications and people requirements
Minimally acceptable qualifications and skills
Ideal qualifications and skills
 Legal Issues: India
Religious minorities and the Indian Constitution
(https://www.nls.ac.in/csseip/Files/Material%20for%2
0uploading/Minorities.pdf)
The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995
(http://socialjustice.nic.in/pwdact1995.php)
National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 (http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ncbcact1993.pdf)
National Commission for Backward Classes Rules, 1994 (http://socialjustice.nic.in/ncbcrules94.php)
 How do we study job requirements
(Cascio, 2003)

Job performance: Actual experience on the job

Observation: Physical first hand observation of people at work
Interview: Descriptions of workers
Critical incidents: Reports of significant incidents highlighting effective and ineffective worker behaviors
Structured questionnaires: Job oriented. e.g. Position Analysis Questionnaire – 194 items in following categories
Information input
Mental processes
Work output
Relationships with other persons
Job context
Other job characteristics
Designing jobs (Gomez-mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Job design: “The process of organizing work into the tasks required to perform a specific job”
Influences:
Work flow analysis
Business strategy
Organizational structure
Approaches to job design (Gomez-mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Work simplification: “Assumes that work can be broken down into complete, repetitive tasks that maximise
efficiency”
Work elimination: Combining tasks or eliminating parts of tasks that one can do without
Job enlargement: Expansion of a job’s duties
Job rotation: “Rota[tion] of workers among different narrowly defined tasks without disrupting the flow of
work”
Job enrichment: “Puts specialized tasks back together so that one person is responsible for producing a while
product or an entire service”
Team based job designs: “Focus on giving a team, rather than an individual, a whole and meaningful piece of work to
do. Team members are empowered to decide among themselves how to accomplish the work.”
 Job analysis (Gomez-mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

“Task: Basic element of work that is a logical and necessary step in performing a job duty
Duty consists of one or more tasks that constitute a significant activity performed in a job
Responsibility is one or several duties that identify and describe the major purpose or reason for the job’s
existence.”
Methods of gathering job
information (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Interviews
Observation
Diaries
Questionnaires
Internet-based data collection
Why analyze jobs?
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Recruitment
Selection
Performance appraisal
Compensation
Training & career development
 Techniques of job analysis
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & cardy, 2012)
Task Inventory Analysis: “Used to determine knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)”
Steps:
Interview
Survey
Generation of a task by the KSA matrix
e.g. http://nau.edu/human-resources/management -resources/hiring-selection/applicant-evaluation/sample-matrices/
Critical Incident Technique: “Supervisors & workers generate behavioral incidents of job performance.
Steps:
Generate dimensions
Generate incidents
Retranslate
Assign effectiveness values
 Techniques of job analysis (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & cardy, 2012)
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): “Seeks to determine the degree to which different items or job
elements, are involved in performing a particular job.” 194 items in six sections:
Information input: Where & how a worker gets information needed to perform the job
Mental processes: Reasoning, decision-making, planning, & information-processing activities
involved in performing the job
Work output: Physical activities, tools, & devices used by the worker to perform the job
Relationships with other persons
Job context
Other characteristics
Functional Job Analysis (FJA):
What the job incumbent does to people, data, & things
Methods & techniques the job incumbent uses to perform the job
Machines, tools & equipment used by the job incumbent
Materials, projects, or services produced by the job incumbent
 Advantages & Disadvantages of Job Analysis Methods
(Cascio, 2003)

Method Advantages Disadvantages

Job Exposure to actual job tasks, physical, Inappropriate for jobs that require
performance environmental, & social demands of job. extensive training or are
Appropriate for hands on jobs that can hazardous to perform
be learnt quickly.
Observation Direct exposure can provide a richer, Not suitable for jobs that require
deeper understanding of job critical thinking and analysis.
requirements than second hand
information through peers.
Interviews Information about standard & Lack of faith in the interviewer can
nonstandard & mental work. Personal lead to distortion/ falsification of
reports about work that can’t be information.
observed or documented.
Critical Insight into job dynamics. Info can be Time consuming (gathering,
incidents used for job analysis. summarizing & categorizing
incidents).
Structured Cheap, quick, easy, can be done off Difficult to develop, explanations
questionnaire work, mass administration, quantifiable, may be required, impersonal.
analyzable.
 O*Net Content Model

http://www.onetonline.org/
http://www.onetcenter.org/dl_files/ContentMod el_Summary.pdf
http://www.onetcenter.org/dl_files/ContentMod el_Detailed.pdf
http://www.onetcenter.org/dl_files/ContentMod el_DetailedDesc.pdf
 Relationship of job analysis to workforce

planning (Cascio, 2003)

Types of plans
Strategic: Plan about changing industry rules or creating tomorrow’s industries
Defining philosophy
Formulating statements of identity, purpose and objectives
Evaluating strengths, weaknesses, and competitive dynamics
Determining design
Developing strategies
Devising programs
Tactical/ Operational planning: Addresses issues associated with the growth of current or new operations as well
as with any specific problems that might disrupt the pace of planned growth
Workforce planning: Focuses on questions such as
What do the proposed business strategies imply with respect to human resources?
What kinds of internal and external constraints will (or do) we face?
Foundations for workforce planning
(Cascio, 2003)
What level will the wage rate for an occupation be?
How many people will be employed?
How much more will the firm have to pay to attract more employees?
How would the number of people the company employs change if the wage were lower?
Activities comprising a workforce planning
system (Cascio, 2003)
Talent inventory
Workforce forecast
Action plans
Control and evaluation
 Talent inventories (TI) (Cascio, 2003)
TI facilitates assessment of the current workforce
Forecasts of workforce supply and demand help to determine future needs
Typical information included on a TI
Current position info
Previous positions in the company
Other significant work experience
Education (Degrees, licences etc.)
Language skills and relevant international experience
Training and development programs attended
Community or industry leadership responsibilities
Current and past performance appraisal data
Disciplinary actions (when specifically required)
Awards received
 Uses of a talent inventory (Cascio, 2003)

Identification of candidates for promotion

Management succession planning
Assignment to special projects
Transfers
Training
Workforce diversity planning and reporting
Compensation planning
Career planning
Organizational analysis
 Workforce forecasts (Cascio, 2003)
Estimate labor requirements at some time in future
External: Depends on the external business environment
Internal: Succession plan: Includes setting a planning horizon, identifying replacement candidates for each
key position, assessing current performance and readiness for promotion, identifying career development
needs, and integrating the career goals of individuals with company goals
Types
External and internal supply of labor
Aggregate external and internal demand for labor

* Internal supply forecasts relate to conditions inside the organization, such as the wage distribution of the
workforce, terminations, retirements, and new hires within job classes.
Concerns Regarding Job Analysis
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Legal compliance
Organizational flexibility
Guidelines for conducting a job analysis
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Determine the desired applications of the job analysis

Select the jobs to be analyzed
Gather the job information
Verify the accuracy of the job information
Document the job analysis by writing a job description
Job Descriptions (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
“Job description is a summary statement of the information collected in the job-analysis process.”
Elements of a job description
Make sure the job titles do not refer to a specific gender
Make sure job descriptions are updated regularly so that the date on the job description is current.
Avoid inflating a job title to give the job a more impressive-sounding status than it deserves
Ensure that the supervisor of the job incumbent(s) verifies the job description.
“Job summary is a short statement that summarizes the job’s duties, responsibilities, and place in the
organizational structure.”
Job Descriptions (Contd.)
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
“Job duties & responsibilities explain what is done on the job, how it is done, and why it is done.”
“Job specifications section lists the worker characteristics (KSAs) needed to perform a job
successfully.
“Minimum qualifications are the basic standards a job applicant must have achieved to be considered for the job.”
Caution:
A college degree should be a minimum qualification only of it is related to the successful performance of the job
Work experience qualifications should be carefully specified so that they do not discriminate against a specific
gender, minorities or persons with disabilities, etc.
The Flexible Workforce (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Core Workers: Have full time jobs & enjoy special benefits/ privileges
Contingent Workers: Hired as per need and convenience; Are usually not paid as well as core workers; Do not
usually get special benefits/ privileges
Temporary
Part-time
Outsourced/ subcontracted: Employees transfer routine or peripheral work to another organization that
specializes in that work & can perform it more efficiently.
Local
Offshore
Contract workers
Flexible work schedules (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Flexible work hours: “Divide core schedules into core time, when all employees are expected to be at work,
and flexible time (flextime), when employees can choose to organize work around personal activities.”
Compressed workweeks: “Alter the number of workdays per week increasing the length of the work day to 10 or
more hours”, & adjust the number of hours accordingly
Telecommuting: Working location not specified/ flexible
 Forecasting workforce demand
(Cascio, 2003)
Factors affecting the forecasting of workforce demand
Changes in technology
Consumer attitudes and patterns of buying behavior
Local, national, and international economies
Number, size, and types of contracts won or lost
Government regulations that might open new markets or close off old ones
…
Selection Methods (Briscoe, Schuler & Claus, 2009)

Interviews (international assignee and spouse/ partner)

Formal assessment
Committee decision
Career planning
Self-selection
Internal job posting and individual bid
Recommendations
Assessment centers
Thank You
 Session 3

Human Resources Management - I

Aradhna Malik (PhD) Assistant Professor VGSOM, IIT

Kharagpur
 Sources

Angell, P. (2007). Business communication design (2nd Ed.). NY: McGraw Hill.
Briscoe, D.R., Schuler, R. S. & Claus, L. (2009). International human resource management: Policies and practices for
multinational enterprises. NY: Routledge.
Cascio, W. F. (2003). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits. New Delhi: Tata McGraw
Hill.
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B. & Cardy, R. L. (2012). Managing human resources (7th Ed.). New Delhi: PHI Ltd.
Pande, S. & Basak, S. (2012). Human resources management: Text and cases. New Delhi: Pearson.
Basic Concepts (Cascio, 2003; Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Business processes: “Value adding, value creating activities such as product development, customer service, &
order fulfilment”
Business process re-engineering: “Fundamental re-thinking & radical re -design of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, & speed.”
Job design: “The process of organizing work into the tasks required to perform a specific job”
Job analysis: The process of obtaining information about jobs
Job description: An overall written summary of task requirements
Job specification: An overall written summary of worker requirements
Work flow: “The way we work is organized to meet the organization’s production or service goals.”
Work flow analysis: “Examin[ation of] how work creates or adds value to the ongoing business processes”
The hiring process (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Recruitment: Process of generating a pool of candidates
Selection: Deciding who from this pool of candidates would be the best fit and who may not be suitable
 Recruitment (Cascio, 2003)
Specifying human resource requirements (numbers, skills mix, levels, time frame)
Initial screening: Rapid, rough selection
Selection process: Interview, tests etc.
Orientation (in the case of junior management)
Placement: Assignment of specific job (in the case of senior management, orientation occurs after placement)
Performance appraisal usually leading to confirmation or termination
 Developing recruitment policies:
Labor market issues (Cascio, 2003)
Labor market: Geographical area within which the forces of supply interact with the forces of demand
Loose labor market: Supply of labor more than demand
Factors affecting or defining limits of a labor market:
Geography
Education and/ or technical background required to perform a job
Industry
Licensing or certification requirements
Union membership
Internal vs. external labor markets
(Cascio, 2003)
External labor markets: labor market outside the organization, i.e. the jobs are open to people from within and outside
the organization
Internal labor market: Jobs are open only to people within the organization
 Sources of recruiting (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Current employees
Referrals from current employees
Former employees
Former armed forces personnel
Customers
Print & radio/ television advertisements
Advertising through the Internet (Career websites, social media sites, etc.)
Employment agencies
Temporary workers
College recruiting
Non-traditional recruiting – prisoners, welfare recipients, senior citizens, workers from foreign countries, e.g. Sheroes
– café in Agra that recruits only victims of acid attacks (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F3tFlPfsE4JjNMtsfE3FGP/R
ebuilding-a-life-after-an-acid-attack.html)
Evaluation hiring (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Hiring workers for a trial period of 90 days, then deciding whether they should be retained or not
Benefits:
Staffing firm handles recruitment & pays salary & benefits
Company can make a better determination of who will best fit in an organization than with just an interveiw
& test
Tryout period helps employers avoid making bad hiring decisions
Ethical issues:
Is the uncertainty about job permanence fair?
Should the trial period be longer/ shorter?
Comparison with temporary hiring
 Workforce utilization (Cascio, 2003)

A way of identifying whether or not the composition of the workforce – measured by race and sex – employed in a
particular job category in a particular firm is representative of the composition of the entire labor market available to
perform that job
The process of recruitment (Cascio, 2003)
Recruitment pipeline: Time between the receipt of a résumé and the time a new hire starts work
Internal recruitment:
Job posting
Employee referrals
Temporary worker pools: e.g. homeguards
External recruitment
University relations
Executive search firms
Employment agencies
Recruitment advertising
Diversity oriented recruitment (Cascio, 2003)
Gender and cultural diversity essential among:
Recruiters
Public faces of the organization
Advertisements
Managing recruitment operations
(Cascio, 2003)
Re-engineered recruitment in the information age – Using technology to screen résumés
Evaluation and control of recruitment operations
Cost of operations, i.e., labor costs of company recruitment staff, operational costs (e.g., recruiting staff’s travel
and living expenses, agency fees, advertising expenses, brochures, supplies, and postage)
Cost per hire, by source
Number and quality of résumés by source Acceptance offer/ ration
Analysis of post-visit and rejection questionnaires Salary offered – acceptances
versus rejections
Realistic Job Previews (RJP): Requires that, in addition to telling applicants about the nice things a job has to offer,
recruiters must also tell applicants about the unpleasant aspects of the job. Benefits
– Improvement in retention rates, more organizational involvement, more trust in the organization
The other side of recruitment: Job search
(Cascio, 2003)
Scenario 1: Unemployed
Scenario 2: Employed but searching for a new job
Challenges in the hiring process
(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)
Turnover costs
Separation: Exit interview, paperwork processing
Recruitment: Advertising, recruiter fees
Selection: Pre-employment testing
Hiring: Orientation, training
Productivity: Vacancy cost, disruption
Determining characteristics important to performance
Measuring characteristics that determine performance
Motivation factor
Who should make the decision?
Staffing
Organizational considerations in staffing decisions (Cascio, 2003)
Business strategy:

Developmental Embryonic High growth Mature Aging

•High growth rates •Refining & extending •Maintenance of •Struggle to hold
Stage of •Basic product lines product lines market share market share
•Heavy emphasis •Building customer
organization on loyalty •Cost reduction through •Extreme cost control

product engineering economies of scale •Struggle for

•Minimal customer •Rigid management economic survival
loyalty control over

workers’ actions
•Generation of cash
to develop
new product lines

Entrepreneurs
Bureaucrats who who will cut,
Management are comfortable re-organize,

Selection Entrepreneurs for growth, with repetition, and survive

Strategy Entrepreneurs but growth directors to can develop

build stable management economies of scale

systems
Organizational considerations in staffing decisions (Contd.) (Cascio, 2003)
Organizational culture:
Transmitted through:
Formal statements of organizational philosophy and materials used for recruitment, selection, &
socialization of new employees
Promotion criteria
Stories, legends, and myths about key people & events
What leaders pay attention to, measure, and control
Implicit & possibly unconscious criteria that leaders use to determine who fits key slots in the
organization
Implications:
Important consideration for prospective employees
If consistent with the values, beliefs, and attitudes of employees, can lead to high productivity and
satisfaction among employees
Organizational considerations in staffing decisions (Contd.) (Cascio, 2003)
Logic of personnel selection
Reliability and validity of measurement while predicting the relative level of job performance
Screening and selection methods (Cascio, 2003)

Employment application forms:

Should not contain the following:
Questions that might lead to an adverse impact on the employment of members of groups protected under civil
rights law
Questions that cannot be demonstrated to be job related or that do not concern a bona fide occupational
qualification
Questions that could possibly constitute an invasion of privacy
Screening and selection methods (Contd.)
(Cascio, 2003)
Recommendations and reference checks
Provide information about:
Education & employment history
Character & interpersonal competence
Ability to perform the job
Willingness of the past or current employer to re-hire the applicant
Meaningful only if the referee
Has had an adequate opportunity to observe the applicant in job-related situations
Is competent to evaluate the applicant’s job performance
Can express such an evaluation in a way that is meaningful to the prospective employer, and
Is completely candid
Recommendations & reference checks
(Contd.) (Cascio, 2003)
Guidelines for writing letters of recommendation:
Indicate degree of familiarity with the candidate in terms of time known and time observed
Indicate degree of referee familiarity with the job in question
Indicate specific examples of performance
Indicate comparison with other individuals and groups who might be applying for the position
Guidelines for seeking information through letters of reference
Request job-related information only
Obtain candidate’s written permission to check references prior to doing so
Stay away from subjective areas like the candidate’s personality
Evaluate the credibility of the source of the reference material
Wherever possible, use public records to evaluate on-the-job behavior or personal conduct
Stay within the purview of the law governing seeking of personal information
Recommendations & reference checks
(Contd.) (Cascio, 2003)
Guidelines for providing reference information
Obtain written consent from the employee prior to providing reference data
Do not blacklist former employees
Keep a written record of all released information
Make no subjective statements. Provide specific information where necessary.
Do not provide any information esp. negative information that cannot be backed by official records
If you are contacted by phone, get the phone number and call people back to give them the information
they seek, as far as possible after checking with the candidate
Release only the following general types of information: Dates of employment, job titles and duration,
promotions, demotions, attendance record, salary, & officially cited reason for termination/ employee resigning
from present job
Screening and selection methods (Contd.)
(Cascio, 2003)
Tests and inventories
Physical tests
Tests of physical fitness
Drug testing
Procedures for testing
Inform all candidates in writing of the company’s policies regarding fitness standards and drug
use
Include the policy, and the possibility of testing, in all employment contracts
Present the program in a medical & safety context
Check the testing laboratory’s experience, its analytical methods, & the way it protects the security &
identity of each sample
Ensure uniformity of testing
Screening and selection methods (Contd.)
(Cascio, 2003)
Controversial selection techniques
Handwriting analysis
Polygraph examinations
Tests of integrity
Shrinkage: Industry term for losses due to bookkeeping errors and employee, customer, and vendor theft
Types of tests of integrity:
Overt
Personality-based
Tests of mental ability
Validity generalization: Validity of job descriptors &
predictors: ref: O*Net Content Model
Screening and selection methods (Contd.)
(Cascio, 2003)
Measures of personality
General measures
Neuroticism
Faking
Projective measures: Present an individual with ambiguous stimuli and allow him/ her to respond in an open-
ended fashion
Measures of leadership ability
Consideration: Reflects management actions oriented toward developing mutual trust, respect for subordinate’s
ideas, and consideration of their feelings
Initiating structure: reflects the extent to which an individual defines and structures his or her role and the roles
of his or her subordinates toward accomplishing tasks
Personal History Data
Employment interviews
Peer assessment:
Peer nomination
Peer rating
Peer ranking
Screening and selection methods (Contd.)
(Cascio, 2003)
Work-sample tests
Standardized measures of behavior whose primary objective is to assess the ability to do rather than the ability to
know
Examples
Leaderless Group Discussion
In Basket Test
Business Games
Assessment centers: process that evaluates a candidate’s potential based on multiple assessment techniques,
standardized measures, and pooled judgments, that assess the following
Administrative skills
Interpersonal skills
Intellectual ability
Stability of performance
Work oriented motivation
Career orientation
Dependency on others
The employment interview (Angell, 2007)
“An employment interview involves the interpersonal communication exchange between a
potential employer & a job applicant.”
The process:
Depending upon the no. of people interviewing:
One on one interview
Panel interview
Depending upon the traits being tested:
Traditional: Questions & answers
Behavioral: Expression of skills required for the job
Goals of an employment interview
(Angell, 2007)
To gather relevant information regarding a specific topic for subsequent evaluation and use for the purpose of:
Assessing a match between the applicant’s qualifications & the requirements for the position
Evaluation of the applicant’s personality, attitude, disposition, team skills, & general ability to fit in with
other employees
Determining the applicant’s motivation, communication skills, & dependability
Orientation of the applicant to the job requirements & background of the organization
What should one ask in an interview?
(Gomez-Mejia, Balki & Cardy, 2012)

Open-ended questions:
Set the tone for the interview
Help build rapport between interviewer & interviewee
Situational questions: “Elicit from candidates how they would respond to particular work situations.”
Job knowledge: “Assess whether candidates have the basic knowledge required to perform the job.”
Worker requirements questions: “Assess willingness of candidates to perform under prevailing job
conditions.”
What should one not ask during the interview?

(Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2012)

Do not ask applicants if they have children, plan to have
children, or what child-care arrangements they have made
Do not ask the age of the applicants
Do not ask whether the candidate has a physical or mental disability that could interfere with doing the job
Do not ask for the applicant’s height or weight even on the job application if this information does not directly
pertain to the work the applicant is required to do
Do not ask a female candidate for her maiden name
Never ask any candidate about their marital status or plans to get married if they are single
Thank You