Managing Employee Separations in Human Resources Management

This set of flashcards covers the key concepts and legal aspects related to managing employee separations, including definitions, predictors of turnover, and best practices in termination interviews.

What is employee relations?

The managerial activity involving the establishment and maintenance of positive employee-employer relationships that contribute to productivity, motivation, morale, and maintaining a cohesive work environment.

What are the consequences of unfair treatment in the workplace?

Unfair treatment reduces morale, poisons trust, negatively impacts performance, and leads to lower job satisfaction and increased workplace deviance.

What kinds of turnover are there in employment?

Voluntary turnover, which is employee-initiated (e.g., quits, retirements), and involuntary turnover, which is employer-initiated (e.g., dismissals, layoffs).

What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional turnover?

Functional turnover involves bad performers leaving while good performers stay, whereas dysfunctional turnover involves good performers leaving while bad performers remain.

What are the predictors of voluntary turnover?

Low organizational commitment, low role clarity, low tenure, high role conflict, low job satisfaction, age, educational levels, and marital status.

What is the purpose of progressive discipline in the workplace?

To effectively manage disciplinary actions through a system of graduated penalties, ensuring that employees have opportunities to correct behaviors.

What does dismissal for just cause entail?

It involves the involuntary termination of employment due to an employee's poor behaviors, without severance or notice required.

What is constructive dismissal?

Employer-initiated unilateral changes in the employment contract deemed unacceptable by the employee, potentially leading to a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal.

What guidelines should be followed during a termination interview?

Plan and schedule the meeting, get to the point immediately, describe the situation without attacking the person, listen to reactions, review severance details, and outline follow-up actions.

What are punitive damages in wrongful dismissal suits?

Damages reserved for extreme cases where an employer treated an employee harshly or caused undue distress by not providing adequate notice of termination.

What is distributive justice?

fairness of a decision outcome.

What is procedural justice?

fairness of the process used to make a decision.

What is interactional justice?

fairness in interpersonal interactions, treating others with dignity and respect.