business leadership unit 3

Top-down change

• Changes with the goal of improving organizational performance 

• Driven by top leadership

• Top workers tell bottom or middle workers what they want done 

• Made possible by the support of middle-level and lower-level workers 

Bottom-up change

• The initiatives for change come from any and all parts of the organization not just top management

• Lower levels suggest change after working and analyzing their experience  

• Crucial for organizational innovation 

• Made possible by employee empowerment, employee involvement, and employee participation

Transformational change

major and comprehensive redirection (Ex: replacing an old car with a new car)

Incremental change

adjusting existing systems and practices through improvements (Ex: tuning up the engine on a car)

Functional structure

A functional organizational structure is one where an organization is split up into departments. Each department has its own specific function.  There are clear patterns of hierarchy. Employees with similar skill sets and day-to-day functions are grouped together into formal working units.

Divisional structure

Employees are often grouped together based on a similar process, or by-product, or perhaps serve similar groups of customers. Divisional structures are also often organized by geographic regions.

Hybrid/Matrix

A hybrid or matrix organizational structure is one that combines elements of the functional and divisional structures into one. The goal of the hybrid/matrix structure is to benefit from the advantages of the functional and divisional structures while minimizing the disadvantages of each.

Team organizational structure

 is a flexible setup where employees work in small, collaborative groups instead of following a strict hierarchy. Teams are formed based on projects or goals, allowing for faster decision-making and better communication. Ex: Google

Network organizational structure:

is a flexible, decentralized system where a company relies on external partners, suppliers, or subcontractors to perform key business functions instead of handling everything in-house. It focuses on collaboration and outsourcing to improve efficiency and innovation. Ex: NIKE - NIKE does not own factories, rather they rely on other suppliers for manufacturing their products.

Boundaryless organizational structure

removes traditional barriers between departments, levels of hierarchy, and even external organizations. It focuses on flexibility, open communication, and collaboration across teams, often using technology to connect employees and partners globally. Ex: TESLA.

Unfreezing

The phase in which a situation is prepared for change and needs for change are developed.

Changing

The phase in which something new takes place in the system, and change is actually implemented.

Refreezing

The phase of stabilizing the change and creating the conditions for its long-term continuity.

Force-coercion Strategies:

• Uses power bases of legitimacy, rewards, and punishments to induce change 

• Relies on the belief that people are motivated by self-interest.

• Often in the unfreezing stage

• Produces limited and temporary results

Rational Persuasion Strategies

• Bringing about change through persuasion backed by special knowledge, empirical data, and rational argument 

• Relies on expert power

• Useful in the unfreezing and refreezing phases

• Produces longer-lasting and internalized change

Shared Power Strategies:

Pursues change by participating in assessing change needs, values, and goals.

Dealing with change resistance:

1. Check the benefits: those involved see a clear advantage

2. Check the compatibility: keep change similar to existing values/processes

3. Check the simplicity: make it as easy as possible to understand

4. Check the trialability: allow people to slowly try the change adjusting as progression is made

Human Resources Department

• Recruiting: Attracting and hiring new employees 

• Developing a quality workforce/maintaining: Ensuring work life balance among employees, fair procedures 

• Hiring process (orientation) 

• Appraisals: performing checks to asses employees 

• Training - safety training 

• Compensation/ Benefits 

• Legal responsibilities: Ensuring all legal requirements are being followed

Human Resource Planning

• Job analysis examines exactly what is done in a job and why 

• Job description duties and responsibilities of job holder 

• Job specifications list the qualifications required

What is recruitment:

Set of activities designed to attract a qualified pool of job applicants

Three typical recruitment steps:

• Advertisement of job vacancy 

• Preliminary contact with potential job candidates

• Initial screening to create a pool of qualified applicants

External recruitment

candidates are sought from outside the hiring organization (Ad in the newspaper) 

Internal recruitment

candidate are sought from within the organization (posting in the room or emailing to employees)

Traditional recruitment

candidates receive information only on the most positive organizational features (wanting to work for a specific company from knowing their values and their popularity so you try to figure out how you can work for them) 

Realistic job previews

candidates receive all pertinent information (posting job on Indeed with full description) 

What is selection?

Choosing from a pool of applicants the person or persons who offer the greatest performance potential

Steps in the selection process

• Step 1: Application forms

• Step 2: Interviews

• Step 3: Employment tests 

• Step 4: Reference and Background Check 

• Step 5: Physical examinations 

• Step 6: Final decision to hire or reject

Organic organizations: 

• Low degree of formality, specialization, and standardization. 

• Decision-making is decentralized

• Activities are well-integrated

• The organic model is usually flat, and it usually uses cross-hierarchical and cross-functional teams and possesses a comprehensive information network 

Mechanistic organizations: 

• Centralized decision-making and formal, standardized control systems.

• They are bureaucracies

• Work well in stable, simple environments

• Managers integrate the activities of clearly defined departments through formal channels and in formal meetings.

• Feature many hierarchical layers and a focus on reporting relationships

Tuition

a sum of money charged for teaching or instruction by a school, college, or university.

Performance Appraisals:

• A regular and consistent task of the human resources department is to ensure the performance of all staff members are monitored and appraised

• Employee performance appraisals are designed and implemented by the human resources department at regular intervals. The appraisal process ensures that workplace standards and organizational objectives are being met

• If an employee performs poorly on a performance appraisal, successful organizations make plans to help an employee get back on track by providing specific feedback on how an employee can improve  

Fringe benefits

Include non-monetary forms of compensation

Flexible Benefits

Help in choosing a set of benefits within a dollar amount

Family-friendly benefits

Help in balancing work and non-work responsibilities

Employee assistance programs

Help employees deal with troublesome personal problem

Profit-sharing plans

Some or all employees receive a proportion of net profits earned by the organization

Gain-sharing plans

Groups of employees share in any savings realized through their efforts to reduce costs and increase productivity

Employee stock ownership plans

Employees own stock in the company that employs them

Skill-based pay

Links pay to the number of job-relevant skills an employee masters

Bonus pay plans

One-time or lump-sum payments based on the accomplishment of specific performance targets or some extraordinary contribution

Paying people for performance is consistent with:

• Equity theory

• Expectancy theory

• Reinforcement theory

Merit pay

• Awards a pay increase in proportion to individual performance contributions

• Provides performance contingent reinforcement

• May not succeed due to weakness in performance appraisal system or lack of consistency in application

Union 

Labor unions deal with employers on the workers’ behalf

Legal Environment of HR Management:

• Discrimination in employment: Occurs when someone is denied a job or job assignment for reasons that are not job-relevant 

• Employment equity: The right to employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or physical or mental ability

Current legal issues in HRM:

• Sexual harassment: Equal pay and comparable worth - everyone paid at comparable levels for the same job 

• Pregnancy discrimination: Legal status of independent contractors - not hired as part of the company 

• Workplace Privacy 

• Sexism 

• Ageism

Human Resources Department - all responsibilities*

• Recruiting: Attracting and hiring new employees 

• Developing a quality workforce/maintaining: Ensuring work life balance among employees, fair procedures 

• Hiring process (orientation) 

• Appraisals: performing checks to asses employees 

• Training - safety training 

• Compensation/ Benefits 

• Legal responsibilities: Ensuring all legal requirements are being followed