Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

Ninth Edition

DeCenzo and Robbins

Chapter 1

Strategic Implications of a Dynamic HRM Environment

Introduction

• The World of Work - continues to change, but at an even more rapid pace.

• HR must understand the implications of:

• globalization

• technology changes

• workforce diversity

• changing skill requirements

• continuous improvement initiatives

• the contingent work force

• decentralized work sites

• and employee involvement

Understanding Cultural Environments

• Today's business world is truly a global village.

This term refers to the fact that businesses currently operate around the world.

Global Village

Multinational Corporations

__ National Culture DImensions Global Fmaework

-- HRM Practice Muot Be Adjusted

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• HRM must ensure that

• employees can operate in the appropriate language

• communications are understood by a multilingual work force

• Ensure that workers can operate in cultures that differ on variables such as

• status differentiation

• societal uncertainty

• assertiveness

• individualism

• HRM also must help multicultural groups work together.

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• GLOBE Dimensions:

• Assertiveness

• Future Orientation

• Gender Differentiation

• Uncertainty Avoidance

• Power Distance

• Individualism/collectivism

• In-group collectivism

• Performance orientation

• Humane orientation

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• Cultural Implications for HRM

• Not all HRM theories and practices are universally applicable.

• HRM must understand varying cultural values.

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The Changing World of Technoloav

• Has altered the way people work.

• Has changed the way information is created, stored, used, and shared.

• The move from agriculture to industrialization created a new group of workers - the bluecollar industrial worker.

• Since WWII, the trend has been a reduction in manufacturing work and an increase in service jobs.

The Changing World of Technoloav

• Knowledge Worker - individuals whose jobs are designed around the acquisition and application of information.

• Why the emphasis on technology:

• makes organizations more productive

• helps them create and maintain a competitive advantage

• provides better, more useful information

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The Changing World of Technoloav

• How Technology Affects HRM Practices

• Recruiting

• Employee Selection

• Training and Development

• Ethics and Employee Rights

• Motivating Knowledge Workers

• Paying Employees Market Value

• Communication

• Decentralized Work Sites

• Skill Levels

• Legal Concerns

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Workforce Diversit

• The challenge is to make organizations more accommodating to diverse groups of people.

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Workforce Diversitv

• The Workforce Today

• minorities and women have become the fastest growing segments

• the numbers of immigrant workers and older workers are increasing

Workforce Diversitv

• How Diversity Affects HRM

• Need to attract and maintain a diversified work force that is reflective of the diversity in the general population.

• Need to foster increased sensitivity to group differences.

• Must deal with the different

• Values

• Needs

• Interests

• Expectations of employees

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Workforce Diversitv

• What Is a Work/Life Balance?

• A balance between personal life and work

• Causes of the blur between work and life

• The creation of global organizations means the world never sleeps.

• Communication technologies allow employees to work at home.

• Organizations are asking employees to put in longer hours.

• Fewer families have a single breadwinner.

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Labor SUDDlv

• Do We Have a Shortage of Skilled Labor?

• The combination of the small Gen-X population, the already high participation rate of women in the workforce, and early retirements will lead to a significantly smaller future labor pool from which employers can hire.

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Labor SUDDlv

• Why Do Organizations Lay Off During Shortages?

• Downsizing is part of a larger goal of balancing staff to meet changing needs.

• Organizations want more flexibility to better respond to change.

• This is often referred to as rightsizing, linking employee needs to organizational strategy.

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Labor Supplv

• How Do Organizations Balance Labor Supply?

• Organizations are increasingly using contingent workers to respond to fluctuating needs for employees.

• Contingent workers include

• Part-time workers

• Temporary workers

• Contract workers

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Labor Su

Labor Supply

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• Issues Contingent Workers Create for HRM

• How to attract quality temporaries

• How to motivate employees who are receiving

less pay and benefits

• How to have them available when needed

• How to quickly adapt them to the organization

• How to deal with potential conflicts between core and contingent workers

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Continuous Improvement Proarams

• Continuous improvement - making constant efforts to provide better products and service to customers

• External

• Internal

• Quality management concepts have existed for over 50 years and include the pioneering work of W. Edwards Deming.

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Continuous Improvement Proarams

• Key components of continuous improvement are:

• Focus on the custorner

• Concern for continuous improvement

• Improvement in the quality of everything

• Accurate measurement

• Empowerment of employees

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Continuous Improvement Proarams

• Work Process Engineering involves radical, quantum changes to entire work processes.

• How HRM Assists in Work Process Engineering

• Helps employees deal with the emotional aspects of conflict and change

• Provides skills training

• Adapts HR systems, such as compensation, benefits, and performance standards.

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Employee Involvement

• Delegation - having the authority to make decisions in one's job

• Work teams - workers of various specializations who work together in an organization

• HRM must provide training to help empower employees in their new roles.

• Involvement programs can achieve:

• greater productivity

• increased employee loyalty and commitment

A Look at Ethics

• Three views of ethics:

• Utilitarian View- decisions are made on the basis of their outcomes or consequences

• Rights View - decisions are made with concern for respecting and protecting individual liberties and privileges

• Theory of Justice View- decisions are make by enforcing rules fairly and impartially

• Code of ethics - a formal document that states an organization's primary values and the ethical rules it expects organizational members to follow.

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