HR Management Exam 2

Employee orientation

A procedure for providing new employees with basic background information about the firm

Employee handbook

Should include proper disclaimers such as “nothing in this ___________ should be taken as creating a binding contract between employer and employees, and all employment is on an at will basis.”

Training

Means giving new or current employees the skills that they need to perform their jobs

Aligning Strategy and Training

Identify the employee behaviors the firm will need to execute its strategy

Deduce what competencies employees will need

Put in place training goals and programs to impart those competencies.

Competency model

The A D D I E Five-Step Training Process

Analyze the training need

Design

Develop

Implement

Evaluate

Strategic training needs analysis

Identifies the training employees will need to fill these future jobs.

Task analysis

Is a detailed study of the job to determine what specific skills (like reading spreadsheets for a clerk) the job requires. For ___________________ , job descriptions and job specifications are essential

Performance analysis

The process of verifying that there is a performance deficiency and determining whether the employer should correct such deficiencies through training

Designing the Training Program

Design means planning the overall training program

Setting learning objectives

Identify constraints

Creating a motivational learning environment

Make the learning meaningful

Make skills transfer obvious and easy

Reinforce the learning

Ensure transfer of learning on the job

What not to do

Program delivery

Developing the Program

Assemble training content and materials

Training Methods

iPads

Workbooks

Lectures

PowerPoint slides

Web- and computer-based activities, course activities

Trainer resources and manuals

Designing the Training Program

Design means planning the overall training program

Setting learning objectives

Identify constraints

Creating a motivational learning environment

Make the learning meaningful

Make skills transfer obvious and easy

Reinforce the learning

Ensure transfer of learning on the job

What not to do

Program delivery

On-the-job training (O J T)

Training a person to learn a job while working on it

Coaching/understudy

An experienced worker or the trainee’s supervisor trains the employee

Job rotation

In which an employee (usually a management trainee) moves from job to job at planned intervals, is another OJT technique.

Special assignments

Give lower-level executives firsthand experience in working on actual problems

Lecturing

A quick and simple way to present knowledge to large groups of trainees

Behavior modeling

Involves (1) showing trainees the right (or “model”) way of doing something, (2) letting trainees practice that way, and then (3) giving feedback on the trainees’ performance. Behavior modeling is one of the most widely used, well researched, and highly regarded psychologically based training interventions

Vestibule training

Trainees learn on the actual or simulated equipment but are trained off the job

Videoconferencing

Involves delivering programs over broadband lines, the Internet, or satellite

Virtual classroom

Uses collaboration software to enable multiple remote learners, using their PCs, tablets, or laptops, to participate in live audio and visual discussions, communicate via written text, and learn via content such as PowerPoint slides

Lifelong learning

Providing employees with continuing learning experiences over their tenure with the firm

Diversity training

Aims to improve cross-cultural sensitivity, so as to foster more harmonious working relationships among a firm’s employees.

Cross training

Means training employees to do different tasks or jobs than their own

Management development

Any attempt to improve managerial performance by imparting knowledge, changing attitudes, or increasing skills

Organizational Development

A special approach to organizational change in which employees themselves formulate and implement the change that’s required.

Evaluating the Training Effort (Kirkpatrick)

Designing the study

Controlled experimentation

Reaction

Measure level of customer satisfaction

Overall experience may bias some reports

Good way to obtain feedback and to get it quickly and inexpensively

Extent of Learning

Determine what participants have learned

Pre-test-post-test control group design

Differences are attributed to training provided

Problem: Controlling for variables other than training

Behavioral Change

Tests may accurately indicate what trainees learn

Tests may give little insight into whether participants to changed their behavior

Best demonstration of value: When learning translates into lasting behavioral change

Results

Has training achieved stated objectives and actually impacted performance

Might establish a return on investment (ROI) metric

Performance appraisal

Evaluating an employee’s current and/or past performance relative to his or her performance standards.

Three-step process

Set work standards

Assess performance

Providing feedback to the employee with the aim of helping him or her to eliminate performance deficiencies or to continue to perform above par

Effective appraisals

Begins before the actual appraisal, with the manager defining the employee’s job and performance criteria.

Defining the job

Means making sure that you and your subordinate agree on his or her duties and job standards and on the appraisal method you will use.

Peer appraisals

Crowd appraisals

Virtual games

Rating committees

Self-ratings

Who Should Do the Appraising?

360-degree feedback

The employer collects performance information all around an employee—from his or her supervisors, subordinates, peers, and internal or external customers—generally for developmental rather than pay purposes.

The usual process is to have the raters complete online ratee appraisal surveys. Computerized systems then compile this feedback into individualized reports to rates

Graphic rating scale

It is the simplest and most popular method for appraising performance. You’ll find several varieties. A scale that lists a number of traits and range of performance for each.

Alternation ranking method

Involves ranking employees from best to worst on a particular trait, choosing highest, then lowest, until all are ranked.

Paired comparison method

Ranks employees by making a chart of all possible pairs of the employees for each trait and indicating which is the better employee of the pair.

Forced distribution method

Similar to grading on a curve; predetermined percentages of rates are placed in various performance categories.

Critical incident method

Involves keeping a record of uncommonly good or undesirable examples of an employee’s work-related behavior and reviewing it with the employee at predetermined

A Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

An appraisal method that aims at combining the benefits of narrative critical incidents and quantified ratings by anchoring a quantified scale with specific narrative examples of good and poor performance.

Management by Objectives

The term management by objectives (MBO) usually refers to a multistep companywide goal-setting and appraisal program. MBO requires the manager to set specific measurable, organizationally relevant goals with each employee, and then periodically discuss the latter’s progress toward these goals.

Electronic performance monitoring (E P M) systems

Uses computer network technology to allow managers to monitor their employees’ computers.

They allow managers to monitor the employees’ rate, accuracy, and time spent working online. ____________ can improve productivity, but also seems to raise employee stress.

Unclear standards

Occurs when an appraisal is too open to interpretation

Halo effect

Occurs when a supervisor’s rating of a subordinate on one trait biases the rating of that person on other traits

Central tendency

Is a tendency to rate all employees the same way, such as rating them all average

Standardization

Firms should use the same evaluation instrument for all employees in the same job category

Appraisal Interview

An interview in which the supervisor and subordinate review the appraisal and make plans to remedy deficiencies and reinforce strengths.

Four situations

Satisfactory—Promotable

Satisfactory—Not promotable

Unsatisfactory—Correctable

Unsatisfactory—Not correctable

Performance management

Is the continuous process of identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning their performance with the organization’s goals.