HRM Midterm

Triple Bottom Line

People, Planet, Profit.

Human Capital

The knowledge, skills, and capabilities of individuals that have economic value in the organization.

Human Resources

The people employed by the organization.

Why is every manager an HR manager?

Managers throughout an organization manage people and therefore perform HR-related responsibilities, even if they do not work in the HR department.

Why can people provide an organization with a competitive advantage?

Business plans and products can be copied, but people are unique, so organizations need to attract and retain good employees.

What individual outcomes can HRM issues affect?

Job satisfaction; person-job fit; health and well-being; relational outcomes.

What business outcomes can HRM issues affect?

Performance and productivity; public perception; triple bottom line.

What is the difference between human capital and human resources?

Human capital is the knowledge, skills, and capabilities people have; it is intangible and owned by employees. Human resources are the people employed by the organization and are more tangible and countable.

What happens to human capital when an employee leaves?

The employee's human capital leaves with them, while the job position remains.

An experienced employee leaves a company and takes years of specialized knowledge and skills with them. What has the organization lost?

Human capital.

What are the six competitive issues in HRM?

1. Responding strategically to crises, changes, and disruptions in the local and global marketplace

2. Setting and achieving CSR and sustainability goals;

3. Advancing HRM with technology

4. Containing costs while retaining top talent and maximizing productivity;

5. Responding to demographic and diversity challenges;

6. Adapting to educational and cultural shifts affecting the workforce.

Change Management

A systematic way to bring about and manage organizational and individual change.

Six Sigma

A set of principles and practices that encourage doing things right the first time and continuous improvement; using data and process improvement to minimize errors and make performance consistently high.

Re-engineering

Re-thinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, and speed.

What is the difference between Six Sigma and re-engineering?

Six Sigma focuses on continuous improvement and minimizing errors. Re-engineering involves radically redesigning a business process.

HR analyzes hiring data, discovers unstructured interviews lead to poor fit, and introduces structured interviews and standardized scoring to reduce hiring mistakes. What is this?

Six Sigma.

A company replaces its annual performance review system with continuous, real-time digital feedback. What is this?

Re-engineering.

Downsizing

Planned elimination of jobs.

Outsourcing

Contracting jobs out that were previously done by employees.

Reactive Change

Changes that occur after external forces have already affected performance.

Proactive Change

Change initiated to take advantage of targeted opportunities.

What is the difference between reactive and proactive change?

Reactive change occurs after external forces have already affected performance. Proactive change is initiated to take advantage of targeted opportunities.

A recession hurts a company's performance, so the company changes its staffing strategy. What type of change is this?

Reactive change.

A company sees a new opportunity and changes its workforce strategy before being forced to do so. What type of change is this?

Proactive change.

Globalization

The trend to opening up foreign markets to international trade and investment.

What are some impacts of globalization?

• “Anything, anytime, anywhere” markets;

• partnerships with foreign firms;

• lower trade and tariff barriers.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The responsibility of the firm to act in the best interests of the people and communities affected by its activities.

Is helping and supporting employees considered CSR according to the professor?

No. Helping and supporting employees is not CSR.

Sustainability

Doing business in a way that does as little harm to the environment and depletes as few natural resources as possible.

What is the difference between CSR and sustainability?

CSR focuses on acting in the best interests of people and communities affected by the firm's activities. Sustainability focuses on minimizing environmental harm and depletion of natural resources.

A company introduces green policies designed to reduce paper use and environmental impact. What concept does this demonstrate?

Sustainability.

Knowledge Worker

A worker whose responsibilities extend beyond the physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and problem solving.

How can automation and AI affect work?

Web robots or bots can affect routine jobs such as data entry. Algorithms can also allocate, monitor, and reward gig work.

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

A computerized system that provides current and accurate data for purposes of control and decision making.

What are the three impacts of HRIS?

Operational; relational; transformational.

Operational Impact of HRIS

Makes everyday HR tasks faster, easier, and more efficient.

Relational Impact of HRIS

Improves how HR connects and interacts with employees and job applicants.

Transformational Impact of HRIS

Uses employee information to make better long-term HR decisions and support organizational goals.

Workforce (HR) Analytics

The process of gathering and analyzing data to improve a firm's human resources management.

What is the difference between HRIS and HR Analytics?

HRIS is a computerized system that provides current and accurate HR data. HR Analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing data to improve HRM.

A company uses computerized software to provide managers with current and accurate employee data for decision making. What is this?

HRIS.

HR analyzes employee data to predict which employees are most likely to quit. What is this?

Workforce (HR) Analytics.

What five approaches to lowering labour-related costs are identified by the professor?

Downsizing; furloughing; outsourcing; offshoring; employee leasing.

What are the downsides of downsizing?

Increased costs, legal risks, loss of knowledge and trust, and lower employee morale.

What are the benefits of a no-layoff policy?

A loyal, more productive workforce; higher customer satisfaction; readiness to snap back with the economy; a recruiting edge; workers who aren't afraid to innovate because their jobs are safe.

Furloughing

organization asks or requires employees to take time off for either no pay or reduced pay. It is temporary unpaid leave.

What is the difference between downsizing and furloughing?

Downsizing is the planned elimination of jobs. Furloughing is temporary time off for no pay or reduced pay.

A company permanently eliminates 15% of its jobs during a recession. What is this?

Downsizing.

Employees are required to take three weeks off without pay but will return afterward. What is this?

Furloughing.

Offshoring (Global Sourcing)

Sending jobs to other countries.

Nearshoring

Moving jobs closer to one's home country.

Homeshoring

Moving jobs to work-from-home domestic contractors.

What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring?

Outsourcing means contracting jobs out that were previously done by employees. Offshoring means sending jobs to other countries.

A Canadian company moves customer-service jobs to another country. What is this?

Offshoring.

A company stops processing payroll internally and contracts another company to handle payroll. What is this?

Outsourcing.

Employee Leasing

The process of dismissing employees who are then hired by a leasing company, which handles all HR-related activities, and contracting with that company to lease back the employees.

Professional Employer Organization (PEO)

A company that can become a co-employer and perform HR duties such as hiring, payroll, and performance appraisal.

Employees are hired by a PEO that handles payroll and other HR activities while they continue working for the original organization. What is this?

Employee leasing.

What significant demographic changes in Canada's workforce are identified by the professor?

More diverse workforce; aging workforce; gender; more educated workforce.

What major issue is associated with Canada's aging workforce?

A large portion of the workforce is nearing retirement, including the retirement of baby boomers, although some older workers remain in the workforce.

Experienced baby boomers retire and take decades of knowledge and skills with them. What is the organization losing?

Human capital.

Why must organizations respond to gender distribution in the workforce?

Women make up nearly half of the workforce in Canada, and organizations must realize the value of diversity and inclusion.

What cultural and societal changes affecting the workforce are identified by the professor?

Employee rights; privacy concerns; changing nature of the job; changing attitudes toward work; balancing work and family.

What is happening to the education level of Canada's workforce?

The workforce is becoming more educated.

Line Manager

A non-HR manager who is responsible for overseeing the work of other employees.

How do line managers and HR managers work together?

Successful organizations combine the experience of line managers with the expertise of HR managers to develop and utilize the talents of employees.

What are the major activities of an HR manager?

Strategic advice and counsel; service; policy formulation and implementation; employee advocacy.

What are the four major competencies of an HR manager?

Business mastery; HR mastery; change mastery; personal credibility.

Business Mastery

Business acumen; customer orientation; external relations.

HR Mastery

Staffing; performance appraisal; rewards systems; communication; organization design.

Change Mastery

Interpersonal skills and influence; problem-solving skills; innovativeness and creativity.

Personal Credibility

Trust; personal relationships; lived values; courage.

HR continuously studies errors in its hiring process and makes improvements to reduce bad hires. What approach is being used?

Six Sigma.

HR completely redesigns the company's hiring process rather than making incremental improvements. What approach is being used?

Re-engineering.

An organization changes only after an external event has already hurt its performance. What type of change is this?

Reactive change.

An organization makes a change because it sees an opportunity it wants to take advantage of. What type of change is this?

Proactive change.

A manager supervises employees but does not work in the HR department. What type of manager are they?

Line manager.

A worker's responsibilities include planning, decision making, and problem solving rather than only physically executing work. What type of worker is this?

Knowledge worker.

A company uses an outside provider for work that its own employees previously performed. What is this?

Outsourcing.

An organization wants to reduce labour costs without permanently eliminating jobs, so employees temporarily take unpaid leave. What is this?

Furloughing.

HR gathers and analyzes historical employee data to determine which applicants are likely to become high performers. What is it using?

Workforce (HR) Analytics.

An organization wants a computerized system providing current and accurate HR data for control and decision making. What should it use?

Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Define Strategic Planning.

Procedures for making decisions about the organization's long-term goals and strategies.

Define Human Resources Planning (HRP).

The process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization.

Define Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM).

The pattern of human resources deployments and activities that enable an organization to achieve its strategic goals.

What is the difference between HRP and SHRM?

HRP anticipates workforce movement and needs; SHRM aligns HR deployments and activities with organizational strategy.

Define High Performance Work Systems (HPWS).

HR practices that increase an organization's ability to attract, select, hire, develop, and retain high-performing employees.

What are the three main focuses of HPWS?

Employee skills, employee involvement, and a culture of commitment rather than control.

What are two benefits and two drawbacks of HPWS?

Benefits: better employee performance and more efficient work processes. Drawbacks: risk of burnout and high implementation costs.

What are the six steps of the strategic planning process?

1. Mission, vision, values;

2. External analysis; I

3. nternal analysis;

4. Strategy formulation;

5. Strategy implementation;

6. Evaluation and assessment.

Define Mission.

The basic purpose of the organization as well as its scope of operations.

Define Strategic Vision.

A statement about where the company is headed and what it can become in the future; clarifies its long-term direction and strategic intent.

Define Core Values.

The strong and enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as a foundation for its decisions.

Define Environmental Scanning.

Systematic monitoring of the major external forces influencing the organization.

What are the five major business-environment factors examined during external analysis?

Economic and ecological changes, technological changes, demographic and labour market changes, social changes, and legal and regulatory changes.

What are Porter's Five Forces?

Threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and rivalry among competitors.

A streaming service loses customers to gaming and social media. Which of Porter's Five Forces is illustrated?

Threat of substitutes.

A company faces intense competition from other firms offering similar products. Which of Porter's Five Forces is illustrated?

Rivalry among competitors.

A supplier can demand higher prices because few alternatives exist. Which of Porter's Five Forces is illustrated?

Bargaining power of suppliers.

Define Stakeholders.

Key people and groups that have an interest in a firm's activities and that can either affect them or be affected by them.