Organisational Behaviour - People Management, HRM, Equality

Q: What is the definition of Human Resource Management (HRM)?

A: A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasises that leveraging people’s capabilities and commitment is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, accomplished through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and practices.

Q: What are the four HRM policy choices in the Harvard Model?

A: Employee influence, Human resource flow, Reward systems, Work systems.

Q: What is the "Black Box" in HRM research?

A: It seeks to understand the psychological processes (the how and why) that link HRM policies to performance, focusing on the employee experience.

Q: What is the central premise of the Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm?

A: Competitive advantage is achieved through an organization's internal resources (like HR) if they are Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non-substitutable (VRIN criteria).

Q: According to the AMO model, what three factors do HRM policies aim to influence?

A: Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity to participate.

Q: According to Schuler and Jackson, what are the three generic business strategies and their associated HRM styles?

A: 1) Cost Reduction (efficiency, low pay, minimal training), 2) Quality Enhancement (employee participation, continuous training, employment security), 3) Innovation (creativity, long-term focus, broad skill development).

Q: What are the two main perspectives on the link between HRM, employee well-being, and organizational performance?

A: The Mutual Gains perspective (HRM benefits both) and the Conflicting Outcomes perspective (HRM benefits the organization at the expense of employee well-being).

Q: According to the Van de Voorde et al. (2012) review, which well-being dimension showed a conflicting outcome with HRM?

A: Health well-being (e.g., stress, strain) showed a strong conflicting outcome (88% of studies).

Q: According to the same review, which well-being dimensions showed a mutual gains outcome with HRM?

A: Happiness (e.g., satisfaction, commitment) and Relational (e.g., trust, morale) well-being showed mutual gains.

Q: What is the "Business Case" for diversity management?

A: The argument that diversity is necessary for effective organisational performance, leading to benefits like superior recruitment, enhanced creativity, improved decision-making, and better market share.

Q: How can diversity sometimes negatively affect group dynamics?

A: Ethnic and racial diversity can undermine group cohesion and performance if group members ostracize people from outside their own group (linking to in-groups/out-groups from social identity theory).

Q: What is a key goal of diversity training and development?

A: To develop an understanding of diversity, address prejudices and stereotypes, and develop skills to communicate effectively with a diverse workforce.

Q: What is the purpose of Workforce Planning?

A: To forecast the demand for and supply of human resources, and then to develop plans to match them through recruitment, retention, or reduction.

Q: What is the difference between Reliability and Validity in the context of selection techniques?

A: Reliability is consistency of measurement over time. Validity is whether a technique actually measures what it is intended to measure.

Q: What are the three main categories of employee rewards?

A: Individual rewards (e.g., base pay, bonuses), Team rewards (e.g., team bonuses), and Organizational rewards (e.g., profit sharing).

Q: According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions, how might a culture with high "Uncertainty Avoidance" view performance-based pay?

A: They would be uncomfortable with it, preferring pay that is consistent and predictable.

Q: What is a major critique of Performance Appraisals?

A: They are often expensive, can create conflict, may reduce motivation, and are riddled with rater errors (e.g., halo effect, recency effect), making them potentially inaccurate and dysfunctional.

Q: What is the "Halo/Horns Effect"?

A: When a rater's overall positive (halo) or negative (horns) impression of an employee influences their ratings on specific, unrelated dimensions.

Q: What is the "Similar-to-Me Effect"?

A: The tendency to give more favorable ratings to people who are similar to the rater in background or attitudes.

Q: What is the "Recency Effect"?

A: The tendency to base ratings primarily on the employee's most recent behavior, rather than their performance over the entire appraisal period.

Q: What is "Central Tendency"?

A: The rater's tendency to avoid the highest and lowest ratings and instead rate all employees as "average."