Laurène Cabon
Table des matières
Chapter 1 : Leading Proactively to Manage Your Employee ................................................................... 5
1-
Evolution of the Human Resources Function .......................................................................... 5
2-
Roles of HRM Players .............................................................................................................. 5
a-
Employees ........................................................................................................................... 5
b-
Managers ............................................................................................................................. 5
c-
Senior management ................................................................................................................ 6
d-
Human resources professionals .......................................................................................... 6
e-
Unions.................................................................................................................................. 6
3-
Roles of influencers ................................................................................................................. 6
a-
Customers............................................................................................................................ 6
b-
Governments ....................................................................................................................... 6
c-
External HR consultants .......................................................................................................... 6
d-
Advocacy groups.................................................................................................................. 7
4-
Objectives and Models of the HR Function ............................................................................. 7
a-
Contribution to organizational performance ...................................................................... 7
b-
HRM models ........................................................................................................................ 8
c-
Different configurations of the HR function............................................................................ 8
Chapter 2 : Managing Individual Employment Relationship ................................................................... 9
1-
Managerial Roles and Responsibilities and the Legal Environment........................................ 9
a-
The managerial role............................................................................................................. 9
b-
The manager’s management rights ..................................................................................... 9
c - The manager’s legal environment in the management of individual employment
relationship...................................................................................................................................... 9
2-
Managing Individual Employment Relationships. ................................................................. 10
a-
Managing diversity ............................................................................................................ 10
b-
Managing and respecting standards ................................................................................. 10
c-
Managing the termination if individual employment relationships ..................................... 11
Chapter 3 : Managing in a Unionized Environment .............................................................................. 12
1-
Managerial Objectives ........................................................................................................... 12
2-
Unionization .......................................................................................................................... 12
a-
Why do workers join unions .............................................................................................. 12
b-
The unionization process................................................................................................... 13
c-
The manager’s role in the unionization campaign ................................................................ 13
3-
Who are the Main Players in a Union ? ................................................................................. 14
4-
The Manager’s Role in Collective Bargaining (=négociation) ................................................ 15
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5-
The Manager’s Role During a Work Stoppage (=grève) ........................................................ 15
a-
Pressure tactics in the case of a dispute ........................................................................... 15
b-
Work stoppage : strikes and lockouts ............................................................................... 15
c-
Dispute settlement and return to work ................................................................................ 16
6a7-
Collective Agreements : Union “Shock” ................................................................................ 17
The collective agreement : management tool or manager’s constraint ? ........................ 17
Labour Relations Models ....................................................................................................... 19
Chapiter 4 : Attracting Good Candidates .............................................................................................. 20
1-
Manager’s Staffing Goal ........................................................................................................ 20
2-
Quantitative Personnel Planning ........................................................................................... 20
a-
Determining personnel needs ........................................................................................... 20
b-
Determining personnel availability ................................................................................ 21
c-
Balancing demands and availability ...................................................................................... 22
3-
Qualitative Personnel Planning ............................................................................................. 22
a-
Job analysis and job description ........................................................................................ 22
b-
Definition of required competencies ................................................................................ 23
c-
Choosing selection criteria .................................................................................................... 24
4-
Recruiting Candidates............................................................................................................ 24
a-
Recruitment methods........................................................................................................ 25
b-
Writing a job posting ......................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 12 : Managing Using a HR Indicators ....................................................................................... 27
1-
Human Resources Management Using Indicators : A Shared Responsibility ....................... 27
a-
The manager and indicators .............................................................................................. 27
b-
Sharing responsibilities for the development and use of indicators................................. 27
2-
Use of Indicators.................................................................................................................... 27
3-
What Can Be Measured ? ...................................................................................................... 28
a-
Indicators related to attracting, selecting, and integrating candidates ............................ 29
b-
Compensation management indicators ............................................................................ 30
Chapter 5 : Choosing the Right People and Integrating Them .............................................................. 31
1-
Manager’s Recruitment Goals ............................................................................................... 31
2-
Considerations for the Selection Process ............................................................................. 31
3-
The Screening Process ........................................................................................................... 31
a-
Sorting applications ........................................................................................................... 32
b-
The screening interview .................................................................................................... 32
4a-
The selection process ............................................................................................................ 32
The selection interview ..................................................................................................... 32
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b-
Selection tests ................................................................................................................... 33
c-
Background check.................................................................................................................. 34
d-
The final decision ............................................................................................................... 34
5-
Hiring ..................................................................................................................................... 34
6-
New employee orientation ................................................................................................... 35
a-
Preparing for the new employee’s arrival ......................................................................... 35
b-
A new employee’s first day ............................................................................................... 35
c-
Follow-up ............................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter 6 : Compensating Employees Fairly ......................................................................................... 36
1-
A Manager’s Goals in Matters of Compensation .................................................................. 36
2-
Respecting Internal Equity..................................................................................................... 36
a-
Managerial roles and responsibilities in internal equity ................................................... 36
b-
Job description and competency profile ........................................................................... 36
c-
Job evaluation ....................................................................................................................... 37
d-
Pay Equity Act .................................................................................................................... 37
3-
Respecting External Equity .................................................................................................... 37
a-
Managerial roles and responsibilities in external equity .................................................. 37
b-
Choosing benchmark markets ........................................................................................... 37
c-
Salary survey.......................................................................................................................... 38
d-
Salary positioning .............................................................................................................. 39
e-
Pay structure and ranges ................................................................................................... 39
4-
Respecting Individual Equity ................................................................................................. 40
a-
Managerial roles and responsibilities in individual and collective equity ......................... 40
b-
Salary increases and individual bonuses .......................................................................... 40
c-
Piece rate pay and commission plans ................................................................................... 40
5-
Respecting Collective Equity ................................................................................................. 40
a-
Short-term group variable pay plan .................................................................................. 40
b-
Long-term group variable pay plans.................................................................................. 41
6-
Indirect Compensation .......................................................................................................... 41
a-
benefits .............................................................................................................................. 41
b-
Paid time off ...................................................................................................................... 41
c-
Other services ........................................................................................................................ 41
Chapter 8 : Developing Competencies .................................................................................................. 42
1-
Manager’ Goals ..................................................................................................................... 42
2-
Managerial Roles and Responsibilities .................................................................................. 42
a-
Developing competencies : a well-established process : .................................................. 42
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b3-
Competency: multiple players’ concern............................................................................ 43
Competency In All Its Forms .................................................................................................. 43
a-
Competency: not so easy to define ................................................................................... 44
b-
Competency capital: a biodegradable asset...................................................................... 44
c-
What is a “quality” competency? .......................................................................................... 45
4-
Deciding Which Competencies to Develop. .......................................................................... 46
a-
What is a competency need ? ........................................................................................... 46
b-
How to determine competency needs ? ........................................................................... 46
c-
Gathering the relevant information ...................................................................................... 48
d-
Confirming the diagnosis of your competency needs ....................................................... 49
e-
From diagnosis to development plan ................................................................................ 50
5-
Choosing Learning Strategies ................................................................................................ 50
a-
The desire to learn, at the heart of the training experience ............................................. 50
b-
Available learning strategies ............................................................................................. 50
c-
A great variety of methods and practices ............................................................................. 52
d-
Choosing learning environments and trainers .................................................................. 52
e-
Learning strategies: is there a winning formula ? ............................................................. 53
f-
Take advantage of the ripple effect ...................................................................................... 53
6-
The Manager: A Central Player.............................................................................................. 54
Chapter 7 : Managing Employee Performance. .................................................................................... 55
1a2-
A Manager’s Performance Management Goals .................................................................... 55
Managerial roles and responsibilities................................................................................ 55
Performance Managing Process ............................................................................................ 55
a-
Master strategic goals ....................................................................................................... 56
b-
Define expectations ........................................................................................................... 57
c-
Support performance ............................................................................................................ 57
d-
Appraise performance ....................................................................................................... 59
e-
Suggest an action plan....................................................................................................... 60
Chapter 9 : Managing Discipline and Conflict ....................................................................................... 61
1-
The Consequences of Conflicts.............................................................................................. 61
Laurène Cabon
Chapter 1 : Leading Proactively to Manage Your Employee
1 - Evolution of the Human Resources Function
19th : business was based on small and familial enterprises, whose owner ran all the operations.
20th : industrialization came with the standardization of process and products aimed at increasing
productivity. Management practices came to light.
1930’s : Elton Mayo demonstrated that a more humanistic approach (break, changing schedules, …)
increase productivity and reduce lake of interest and absenteeism. When manager shows
consideration and value for work, employees are also more productive.
1980’s : company start looking for reducing costs and develop new market, this support
globalization. All this transformation needs changes in the relationship between employers and
employees.
2 - Roles of HRM Players1
The players (employees, manager, unions, HRM professional, and senior manager) do not have a
direct impact on HRM practices while stakeholders (customers, governments, consultants, external
suppliers, and influencers2).
a - Employees
A company achieve its objectives through employees’ actions, skills, and energy.
The characteristic of employees (education, age, gender, and origin) has an impact on the way you
manage. Policies can’t be the same management when the average age is high or when it’s low.
b - Managers
They translate the objectives of the business into specific targets, so he contributes to organizational
performance. The manager has multitude responsibility :
-
Communication : he is the conduit between management and employees.
Management task related to his team : plan, implement and oversee.
Mobilizing employees with his leadership to direct efforts toward the objective.
Administration task
Problem-solving role
By carrying out all these roles the manager is adopting HR practices3.
1
A person or entity that is part of the employment relationship that affect HRM.
A individual, company or external interest group that can influence the organization’s HRM
3
The approaches put into action by a manager when he has mastered employee management
2
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c - Senior management
Senior management ensures that organizational objectives are aligned with the :



Mission : the reason why the organization was created.
Vison : an ideal to be achieved that will change over time (source of motivation).
Values : the principles and guidelines on which decision are based.
They also oversee the implementation of HR policies4.
d - Human resources professionals
They are specialist who formalize HR practices and policies that will support the organization. They
also develop tools and programs and give advice to manager to manage their team.
They work in the HR department to protect the organizational practices.
e - Unions
The union is the representatives of the employees. It will negotiate with management the work
conditions of the employees it represents.
3 - Roles of influencers
a - Customers
They can change HRM by choosing whether or not to be loyal to an organization. They have the
possibilities to boycott a company for its bad reputation.
b - Governments
Governments are trying to legislate in response to social changes. They aim to adopt and reform
labour laws to benefit the common good or to respond to demands.
The laws, which must be respect by employees and employers, are numerous and affect many
aspects of HRM.
c - External HR consultants
Their specialized expertise is often required within organizations for specific and time-critical needs.
They are also use as a complement to the existing HR department.
4
Formal rule or regulation that an organization sets up to oversee HRM
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d - Advocacy groups
He is composed of the Conseil du patronal du Québec, political parties, environmental and citizens’
groups, large labour unions or other organizations.
4 - Objectives and Models of the HR Function
a - Contribution to organizational performance
The ultimate goal of HRM is to contribute to organizational performance in order to ensure its
sustainability.
Employees produce value through their skills and through the development of HR activities
Ensure the sustainability
Positive effect on the quality of
products and services
Promotion of specific attitudes
and behaviors
HRM practices have changed and continue to evolve as the needs of organizations changes. The
internal and the external situation of the organization must be taken in consideration and adjust
accordingly.
Laurène Cabon
b - HRM models
The diversity of the roles of HR function could be expressed as a continuum with :
Traditional practices
Innovative practices
 Labour is abundant and represent more a
cost or an expanse
 Employees are an asset and a critical
resource
 Employee is a simple production unit and
can be interchangeable
 They are difficult to manage and can’t be
interchangeable
This model is not outdated as we can think.
 strategic
 bureaucratic
 contingent (not universal)
 unfocussed
c - Different configurations of the HR function
HR function is influence by the size of the organization. The more the organization grows, the more
HR function become complexified. Operational activities are more important in smaller organizations
than in larger one.
The HR operation must be efficient and effective because a mistake can undetermined the credibility
of the HR function.
Laurène Cabon
Chapter 2 : Managing Individual Employment Relationship
1 - Managerial Roles and Responsibilities and the Legal Environment
a - The managerial role
Your managerial function made you wear 2 hats :
- As an employee, you have right and obligation to fulfill
- As a manager, you may be an executive5 to the image of your employer.
In fairly straightforward situations, the manager will make the decision but sometimes he will require
the intervention of HR department.
He will be in charge of putting together the file or reconstructing the facts.
b - The manager’s management rights
Managers are the channel for communicating decisions and information, they exercise management
rights through delegation. By the presence of specialists, manager can lose power.
The manager can contact associations, sectoral committees, or government organization to obtain
information and documentation.
c - The manager’s legal environment in the management of individual employment
relationship
In the legal environment he works, there is several legal sources such as administrative directives,
regulations, employment contracts, collective agreements, and laws.
The manager decides whether federal or provincial labour law applies to his or her business based
on the activity in which it is engaged.
Companies who 1) deal with other countries
2) have interprovincial links
3) have national interest
The legal environment is very fragmented because each law has a specific purpose and deals with a
particular group of people.
It is very important to clearly define the problem the manager is facing to identify the laws that best
fix the situation. Each right granted by a law engenders a forum for debate  create jurisprudence6.
Normally the collective agreement defines employee’s working conditions but if the collective
agreement doesn’t exist, the employment contract details employment relationship. The collective
agreement always prevails.
5
6
Employee to whom the employer delegates part of his authority.
A body of decisions, sufficiently in agreement, handed down by jurisdictions on a question of law
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The development and the implementation of human resources management policies are a part of
the employer’s right. They have to be specified in a handbook where employee can be informed of
them.
2 - Managing Individual Employment Relationships.
a - Managing diversity
The employment world has changed because of :
- A large number of women in the labour market
- Immigration
- Shortage of people in certain sectors
This diversity of people generates a diversity of contracts (full-time, part-time, on-call).
The employment relationship between an employee and a self-employed worker is different. The
self-employee worker is independent in his work and is hire for his specific expertise.
Managers have to respect the principle of equality (same opportunities and right) in the workplace,
and to protect employee against discrimination (Race, Sex, Age, Gender identity, Pregnancy, Sexual
orientation, Civil status, Religion or Political convictions, Handicap, etc.). There are several types of
discrimination, including direct and indirect, they both have the same consequences. If a quality or
an ability is objectively required for employment, the discrimination can be justified.
b - Managing and respecting standards
The Act Respecting Labour Standards is one of the most important laws managers must consider. It is
public policy and applies in the context of individual reports.





Time and money : Contract or agreements provide for salaries or wages that cannot below a
certain amount in order to limit poverty and protect workers.
Hours of work : A regular workweek is 40 hours after that the employee work overtime. The
manager must authorize any overtime hours in advance. In some sector of activity, the
number of hours for a workweek can be more than 40h (a security guard outside a security
firm is 60h).
Annual leave with pay : They can take vacation at the end of the reference period (May 1 to
April 30). They are eligible for a leave equal to 1 day of each month of service during the first
year.
Statutory holidays : There is 7 statutory holidays (Easter Monday, Thanksgiving, Canada day,
Xmas, …) for employee if they haven’t been absent from work without authorization.
Absences : There is three categories such as absences owing for sickness, absences and
leaves for family reasons and parental leave.
The employee and the manager have both obligations to each other.
The employment contract can be oral or written with fixed or indeterminate terms. In a fixed term
contract the termination may be a date and a planned event.
Laurène Cabon
Managers have 3 obligations  Allow the performance of the work and pay for it
 Protect the health and safety of employee
Preserve the dignity of the employee
The manager has to made decision about to keep or to fire employee. In certain case using ploys to
coerce an employee to resign can be deemed a constructive dismissal by the manager.
The Quebec Civil Code says that employees must perform their work under the supervision and
control of the employer. But they have the right to refuse to adhere to an order if it
 is contrary to good morals,
Work performed with
 could affect health and safety,
prudence and diligence
 is unreasonable or discriminatory,
 couldn’t be done properly
Employees are bound to respect the confidentiality of information obtained.
c - Managing the termination if individual employment relationships
The termination may be by common agreement and may be initiated by the employee or by the
employer.




Resignation is done by the employee and take the form of a letter
Permanent layoff is done for economic reason by the employer
Dismissal consists of a cancellation of an employment contract at the employer’s initiative.
An agreement can be made between the two parties.
Termination requires that a notice and the reason be provided. The notices must be issued in
accordance with the time periods presented, based on the length of uninterrupted service. If the
notice is not given, the company must pay a compensatory indemnity. Dismissal should be based on
law and on sufficient cause because it could have serious effect on an employee’s life.
Laurène Cabon
Chapter 3 : Managing in a Unionized Environment
1 - Managerial Objectives
The manager operates in an environment where there are a number of constraints (growing
competition, new regulation, …) and different players who have their own demands and claims.
The presence of the union7 imposes power-sharing on the company and specific obligations on
managers. It does not necessarily mean that he is deprived of decision-making authority or limited in
the achievement of organizational objectives.
A good manager use influence instead of power. Manager who takes an approach that respect the
well-being of their HR and who invest in human capital will send a positive signal to the union that is
likely to foster collaboration rather than confrontation.
2 - Unionization
a - Why do workers join unions
There are three major factors at the source of unionization :
-
Feeling of injustice and a sense of powerlessness facing the manager’s decisions.
The insecurity that employees may experience.
The desire to improve working conditions.
The unionization zone (Haiven, 2006) can be illustrated be a graph with to axes (figure 3.1) :


Vertical : “Qualifications and autonomy of workers” = skills and control over their work.
Horizontal : “Mutuality on the workplace”
The unionization zone represents the traditional pool of unions.
7
A group of employees whose purpose is to study, safeguard and develop the economic, social, and
educational interests of its members.
Laurène Cabon
The self-employed workers are engaged to perform specific tasks (lawyers, web designer, …). They
are loosely integrated into the organization and have a high degree of autonomy. Their relationship
with the employer is contractual so there are not employees in the and can’t be part of the union.
The highly skilled workers enjoy a high degree of autonomy. It is more profitable form the employer
to keep employment relationship rather than use them on an ad hoc basic. There a more inclined to
promote their personal career than to defend collective interest.
The vulnerable and low-skilled workers are more easily integrated into the organization or more
likely to occupy a less strategic position. They can be easily replaceable and vulnerable to
robotization due to technological advances.
b - The unionization process
The decision to form a union is an employee right guaranteed in the laws.
To form the union the employee must sign membership cards and pay union dues. They must show
that the union represent an absolute majority of a bargaining unit8 who refers to a group with similar
characteristic. Once certified by the TAT, the union becomes the only representative and executive
spokesperson for all the employees.
The employer is obligated to negotiate a collective agreement with the union and no longer has the
authority to negotiate working conditions directly with employees. He is also obligated to deduct
union dues from each employee’s pay and to confer this amount to the certified union.
c - The manager’s role in the unionization campaign
The Labour Code protects an employee who is taking part of the union as well as the union that is
being formed by prohibited any manager interference.
 The manager and the union can’t threaten or intimidate workers to become or not a member ;
 The manager can’t refuse to hire an employee because of their union activities ;
The manager can’t interview an employee to find out the names of the people who are
participating in the organizing campaign ;
 The employer can’t seek to dominate, hinder, or finance the formation of a union ;
 The employer can’t encourage an employee to be part of the union.
The employer must monitor the content of its message to employees as well as the context in which
it is delivered to maintain the balance between the freedom of association and expression.
8
A group of workers who will be represented by the certified union, for which a collective agreement can be
negotiated and concluded
Laurène Cabon
3 - Who are the Main Players in a Union ?
Managers interact with the local union in their day-to-day work, it is at that level that key decisions
are made.
The local union is made of various structures and participants.
- The Executive Committee take care of the routine business. Members are elected by their
peers.
- The Union Steward is designated by his colleagues to represent them, make claim and to
oversee the application of the collective agreement. Stewards’ main task is to defend
members in dealing with their immediate supervisor. So, in some unions, you elect a
representant for each supervisor. He has to be very familiar with the collective agreement
and the right of the employees and the union.
- The General Assembly is the supreme authority of the union. The most important decisions
of the union life are taken such as the decision to strike or ratify a collective agreement.
The affiliation with a central labour body provides many advantages :
- Access to greater expertise
- Better material resources
- Increased visibility through political and social representation
- Involvement of a union representative, which is a not an employee of the company. He has
to advice and support the local union in its activities.
Laurène Cabon
4 - The Manager’s Role in Collective Bargaining (=négociation)
Once the union is certified the manager has to prepare for the negotiating of a collective agreement.
Senior managers define the bargaining mandate of the management party and brief the bargaining
committee accordingly.
During the preparatory stage of collective bargaining the supervisor may be called to support, assist,
and advise the negation committee. This step helps in identifying the issues, demands, strategies,
and tactics to be adopted. Systematically this stage involves an analysis of many aspects of the
organization and the business.
The manager has a unique perspective on the operations and the company’s future needs. During
negotiation managers’ freedom of expression is governed by the same rules as those that apply
when the unionization process is undertaken by employees.
Beginning of the
negotiation
between the
employer and the
union
If it’s needed a
nomination of a
conciliator
If you can’t find
and agreement
an adjudicator
will do it
5 - The Manager’s Role During a Work Stoppage (=grève)
a - Pressure tactics in the case of a dispute
In the case of a disagreement concerning negotiations or collective agreement renewal, the union
have recourse to various pressure tactics going beyond work stoppages. This pressure tactics are
neither prohibited or illegal if they are exercised in compliance with the contractual obligation
provided for by law, the employment contract, and the collective agreement.
A work slowdown is prohibited under any circumstances by the Labour Code.
b - Work stoppage : strikes9 and lockouts10
The objective is to force the other party to accept the working conditions proposed in collective
bargaining. During the strikes, the manager can’t hire someone to replace someone else. Only the
manager can work during the strike. But if you are under federal jurisdiction, the manager can hire
someone to replace someone else.
 Preparatory tasks :
If a conflict seems inevitable, the employer and the union must prepare for the work stoppage. As a
manager, you may be called on to assume many responsibilities depending on the size of the
9
A concerned cessation of work by a group of employees
The refusal by an employer to give work to a group of its employees in order to compel them to accept
certain conditions of employment, or to similarly compel employees of another employer.
10
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company there will be shared among various executive levels or departments. The HR has to provide
for a communication plan with its employees and the media during the labour conflict.
 Taking anti-scab provisions into account :
To ensure adequate preparation task while respecting legislation, the manager must pay careful
attention to the Labour Code, which prohibits employers from using replacement workers
(strikebreaker11).
Employees are deprived of their salaries and receive an allowance from strike fund. The amount
received is lower than a regular salary and depend on what union fund are available.
In an organization involved in a conflict, the duties of employees on strikes or locked out may be
performed by :
 The executives working in the organization who were hired before the negations began.
 Volunteers
 Subcontractors
 Picketing :
The manager must know what rules apply when striking or locked-out employees’ resort to picketing.
This activity is aimed at informing various players involved with the company of the conflict and
convincing them to stop conducting business with the company until the conflict is settled.
Picketing is covered by the Criminal Code, who consider that is simply exercising the freedom of
expression.
c - Dispute settlement and return to work
 Conciliation and dispute arbitration :
Conciliation aims to help the employer and the union negotiate their collective agreement. Either of
the parties may request, at any time, the Ministère du Travail appoint a conciliation officer to find
common ground.
Dispute arbitration provides for the intervention of an arbitrator appointed by the Minister of
Labour, whose role is to submit an arbitration award in lieu of a collective agreement for a period of
one to three years.
11
A worker hired specially to do the work of an employee on the strike or locked out
Laurène Cabon
 Return to work :
At the end of a labour conflict, management and the union parties usually negotiate a return-towork protocol. A work stoppage doesn’t change employment relationship unless an employer cites
just or sufficient cause such as serious acts of vandalism. The return-to-work protocol covers :
-
Employee working condition during the work stoppage
Employee return to work procedure
Waiver of any action by the parties
It’s important to understand the reasons of the conflict to facilitate the return to work.
6 - Collective Agreements : Union “Shock”
Once the negotiation is complete, a new collective agreement binds the employer and its
representative, as well as the union and the employees. To be valid the collective agreement must
meet conditions :
-
Negotiation has to be between an employer and a certificated union as per the Labour Code ;
He must be written in French as per the Charter of French Language ;
He must be filed with the Ministry of Labour within 60 days of its signature ;
He must be for a fixed term of at least one year.
a - The collective agreement : management tool or manager’s constraint ?
The arrival of a union causes a genuine “Shock” for an organization. The union will force the
management to thoroughly review its policy and practices.
The manager wants to improve efficiency and productivity, so it results with high labour cost ;
unlikely the union try to force manager to review their way of doing things and introduce
management innovations in order to recover labour cost increases.
The union will create other impacts :
 The positive side :
- Discrimination are constrained by rules and standards that limit employer arbitrariness ;
- It gives the opportunity to express themselves more often and freely ;
- There are more likely to invest in training and employees skills development ;
- It can increase the likelihood of labour practices being adopted that will contribute to productivity.
 The negative side :
- Reduce the flexibility of the companies ;
- Different form of variable pay are less likely to be accepted by the union ;
- The communication between managers and employees is less direct ;
- There is less use of formal performance appraisal systems.
Laurène Cabon

Collective agreement and HRM practices :
The manager must keep in mind that he has to respect the public policy laws and the assertion of
residual management rights. The collective agreement, supplements or improves the minimum
conditions provided for by the laws, but it does not replace them. The employer possesses all the
rights related to the management of the company, except those limited by the agreement. This
principal corresponds to the residual management rights theory.
All HRM practices will be governed by the provisions of the collective agreement.
The manager’s first reflex should always be to consult the collective agreement or the HRM specialist
before making decisions regarding working conditions.
 Grievances (=reclamation) :
When an action taken contravenes the agreement, employees and their union may file a grievance12,
the settlement of which will incur costs. The Labour Code stipulates that any grievance that cannot
be settled by the parties must be submitted to a grievance arbitrator13. They have the power to
interpret and apply the collective agreement and the laws and to decide on disputes, but they can’t
modify the actual agreement.
12
Any disagreement respecting the interpretation or application of a collective agreement.
A process by which the signatories of a collective agreement call upon a third party to make a final
settlement of any disagreement.
13
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The manager can become actively involved in managing problems, especially at the start of the
internal grievance settlement process unlike the HRM who are in charge of the final steps.
A grievance results in costs for an organization in terms of time, productivity, and resources. In the
private sector, these costs are shared equally by the union and the employer.
7 - Labour Relations Models
While collaboration is desirable, it remains demanding and requires a willingness on the part of the
parties to build harmonious relationships.
Different approach can be built :  Traditional approach is characterized by a mistrust and tension
between the management and the union. Each defends its own interest and seeks to extract a
maximum of benefit for itself.
 Collaborative approach focuses on the collaboration between
parties working together to broaden the sphere of their converging interest. This relationship is
characterized by trust and transparency. The collaboration brings staff mobilization, productivity, less
conflict, better working condition,…
 Realistic approach focused on understanding roles and interest
that are sometimes convergent but sometimes divergent or pluralistic.
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Chapiter 4 : Attracting Good Candidates
To choose associates carefully, the manager must determine the company’s needs and draw up a
profile of the person best able to get the job done.
The first step in the HRM is staffing14 :
-
Personnel planning : determining the number of positions and people needed, as well as
their competency profile.
-
Recruitment : attract qualified candidates. Recruiting can be done internally or externally.
Selection : choose the one person among all the candidates who best fits the competency.
Orientation : make sure the new employee quickly become efficient in his job.
 A bad recruitment decision can have disastrous consequences for both the company and the
people involved.
In an organization, staffing activities are part of the HR department or that of its manager. Staffing is
therefore an activity for which responsibilities are shared between senior management, the HR
department, and managers.
1 - Manager’s Staffing Goal
When assessing personnel needs15 a manager has to consider 2 aspects of the HR planning :
-
Quantitative planning : allows manager to know they have enough people at the right time.
Qualitative planning : assures manager that they will have the people with the necessary
competencies to do their job.
2 - Quantitative Personnel Planning
a - Determining personnel needs
As manager you must determine your department’s human resources demands :



Expected changes in activity : increase in activities, decrease in sales, …
Structural changes : expansion project that would require additional personnel.
Constraints or opportunities within the company or from outside : competitor that have
plans to enter tour target market.
Once you have planned the HR demands for your department, you will know :
14
The number of positions required ;
The general responsibilities ;
The time when these positions will be required.
The process of filling a vacant position.
The number of full-time positions and competency profiles required to successfully carry out the
organization’s activities.
15
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b - Determining personnel availability
The manager must assess personnel availability in order to project how many people will actually be
free and able to fill position in the department.
Projecting of available human resources :
Managers must base their projection on their department average over the preceding years.
Predicting personnel availability depends on a great extent on projections or trends. As a result, any
attempt to ascertain personnel availability involves a certain margin of error.
Staff movements :
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c - Balancing demands and availability
Once the manager has established both his HR demands and availability, he can ascertain what steps
to take to reduce the gap between demands and availability.
Staffing is not the only foreseeable or even the most desirable solution that results from planning
exercise. Other decisions are possible, such as to implement layoffs or training programs.
Balancing personal demands and availability :
If employees are unionized, certain clauses in the collective agreement may apply to measures
proposed to reduce gap.
HR demands and availability is the quantitative comportment of planning. At the end of this
process manager will know :
-
The number of people they need to successfully carry out their departments’ activities ;
When they will need them ;
The steps to take to ensure that these people are actually on the job at the right time and at
the least possible cost.
3 - Qualitative Personnel Planning
The first step in qualitative personnel planning is to describe the tasks performed by the person who
holds the position (the incumbent). One can them determine the competencies required to perform
the activities successfully.
a - Job analysis and job description
A job analysis consists of gathering information on the tacks and responsibilities involved in a
position as well as the work context, especially the physical working conditions, the materials used
or the hierarchical level. This information is then synthesized into a document called a job
description.
There are many ways of analyzing positions, each with its own advantages and disadvantages
depending on the circumstances.
Once the information has been collected, all that is left to do is summarize the information and write
up the job description. The job description will be used in many HRM activities.
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Methods for performing a job analysis :
b - Definition of required competencies
A competency profile is usually added to the list of tasks and responsibilities found in the job
description as is the case of sample job description appended.
A competency profile list qualities that are favorable to work performance include :



Knowledge
Skills
Attitudes
If a competency is crucial to most of the responsibilities, it will be considered essential for holding
the job. The more competencies you require, the more difficult is to find candidates. A candidate
with more qualification will expect a higher salary than a less-skilled person.
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It is important that the proficiency level of competencies required for a position truly correspond to
what is needed to perform the tasks adequately.
The definition of the competencies is equally crucial. It may be relatively easy to define knowledge
and skills, but describing attitudes is more of a challenge.
c - Choosing selection criteria
Preparing the list of selection criterion means deciding (based on the competency profiles) which
criteria to use in the selection process and how to measure them. To establish the selection criteria,
we must ask three questions about each of the competencies:
-
Is the competency important?
Is the competency necessary at the beginning of the job?
Does the competency allow us to evaluate applications?
Competencies that make up selection criteria :
Although a specific degree/diploma and experience do not constitute competencies, they are
competency indicators.
By choosing selection criteria to screen candidates, the following 3 elements can be accomplished
during the selection process:



Compare candidates fairly with each other ;
Match candidates with the job profile ;
Measure the competencies required for the position.
Once these criteria are established, what remains to do is attract candidates with the desired profile.
4 - Recruiting Candidates
The objective of these recruiting activities is to attract a sufficient number of quality candidates. The
person in charge of staffing must consider 2 types of questions:
 How do I find candidates or what are the recruitment sources?
 How do I contact these candidates or what are the recruitment methods?
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The choice of sources as well as of methods depends on previous personnel planning, the nature of
the position and the desired competency profile.
When the required competencies are not available internally, candidate must be attracted from
outside the organization.
a - Recruitment methods
 Websites
Due to the rise in Internet use, companies are increasingly turning to online recruitment since it
offers easy access to many candidates at a relatively low cost.
There are several forms of online recruitment :
-
Private recruitment websites
The organization’s website
Government websites
While many recruitments site have emerged, they are increasingly challenged by social media.
 Social media
Social media permits the sharing of news, so people will see employment advertisement regardless
of whether or they are actively looking for a job.
Networking site such as Facebook or LinkedIn are the most widely used in recruitment.
 Job posting in print media
The publication of job vacancies in the print media is a declining recruitment method, but it
continues to be used in some business sectors. You must choose the publication you intend to
advertise in carefully, it should be based in :
-
Candidate profile
Job location
Recruitment budget
Lead time
Type of advertisement
 These types of advertisement are only read by candidates seeking employment.
 Private recruitment agencies
Private agencies act as intermediaries between employers and people looking for a job. Since
contract specifications and service costs vary from one agency to another, you must closely
examinate the different types of agencies and what they offer. There is Employment agencies,
Temporary employment agencies, and Executive search firms
 Job fairs
Job fairs are the only ones that allows you, within a few days, to establish a direct contact with a
large number of potential candidates. You should choose the fairs based on your specific needs :
-
Campus job fairs  students training sessions or entry-level jobs.
Open job fairs  person with no particular skill or profession.
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-
Specialized job fairs  direct and specific groups of people.
Virtual lounges
 Networking
This method presents risks if it does not succeed in attracting quality candidates. Two practices can
help to improve both quality and quantity of recruiting candidates :
-
Recommendation
Unsolicited applications.
 Others
Public agencies and bureaus, educational institutions, professional associations, and unions, …
b - Writing a job posting
This advertising is the first contact with candidates, so you should :




Attract the attention ;
Spark their interest by clearly identify the ideal candidate profile ;
Create a desire for theme to apply ;
Give them the information they need to take action.
Your advertising shouldn’t contain any information or requirement involving one of illegal ground for
discrimination, especially regarding age or sex.
But it must include :








Overview of the organization or industry
Job title, description, and location
Competency requirements
How to apply
Particular working condition
Name of the company
Compensation and benefits
Commitment to employment equity
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Chapter 12 : Managing Using a HR Indicators
1 - Human Resources Management Using Indicators : A Shared Responsibility
Managing human resources requires making decisions to function well on a daily basis and also in the
near future.
Managers must know :  the destination (the objectives)
 the routine (the action plan)
 the resources at their disposal (time, budget, people, …)
a - The manager and indicators
The manager mission is composed of :
 Set performance objectives, which will be achieved by using indicators (effectiveness
indicator and efficiency indicator)
 Adjusting along the way because changes take place in organizations’ external and internal
environments.
 Monitoring the variation between results achieved and objectives set.
b - Sharing responsibilities for the development and use of indicators
Players sharing responsibilities for indicators and HR management : senior management, operational
managers, and employees.
The manager needs to align his objectives with those of the organization, by translating them into
more specific objectives for his department or work team.
These objectives must consider the challenges and the resources at your disposal. The resource
includes time, coaching, access to tools, …
The HR department supports managers in the performance of their duties.
2 - Use of Indicators
More organization is using HR data to inform their decision-making about employees. A number of
challenges are bound to arise in terms of the optimal use of indicators.
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Optimal use of indicators requires data collection as a first step. In the absence of quantified data on
a phenomenon such as absenteeism, you will have to manage solely on the basis of your perceptions
and intuition.
Then, the manager should analyze the results and make a judgment on the situation. The judgment
made on the results obtained determines the fourth decision-making step, which consist of making a
certain number of actions.
This result suggests nothing in itself if it is not compared to something else. An external comparison
can also be made. In such a case, as in the compensation survey, it is important to choose a
benchmark market.
3 - What Can Be Measured ?
The manager has to achieve performance objectives within a specific timeframe and based on a finite
budget.
HR management activities can be monitored to document the effectiveness and efficiency of
indicators. When applying this strategy to a specific HR management area, we have in mind
operational HR dashboards. A dashboard16 can be designed for staffing, training, compensation,
performance management, …
16
A management tool consisting of a set of indicators that gives the most complete and exhaustive possible
picture of a complex reality.
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a - Indicators related to attracting, selecting, and integrating candidates
Staffing involved many steps that required certain investment in time, money, and people.
In the process of workforce, different objectives need to be set :
-
Quantitative planning : number of availability of personnel.
Qualitative planning : defining jobs in term of tasks, responsibilities, …
Recruitment involved generating a pool of good-quality candidates in sufficient numbers.
Once the applications have been analyzed and a choice made, recruits must be welcomed and
integrated into the organization.
 table 12.4
Using the table above, we can establish rationales for measurement indicators based on each step of
the staffing process. This approach provides a lot of information, so it requires time and effort.
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However, if the performance is inadequate and there are no indicators to document the various
staffing steps, it becomes impossible to determine whether the result obtained is attributable to one
or more of these steps. A negative judgement on staffing performance will have consequences on
decision-making.
b - Compensation management indicators
There are several compensation models :
 Direct compensation consists of base salary, salary increases, cost of living and market
adjustments, incentives, and profit-sharing schemes. This type of compensation can be divided into a
fixed portion and a variable portion.
 Indirect compensation includes benefits, paid time off and services that employees can receive
The total of all employee compensation arrangement makes up the payroll.
Compensation is not only a cost for an organization; it can be a real lever for creating value. So they
have to be fair :




Depending on its vale within the organization (internal equity)
Be competitive with similar position in comparable organization (external equity)
Reflect employee loyalty and performance individual equity)
Consider the collective efforts of employees in achieving the objectives (collective equity)
 Table 12.5 
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Chapter 5 : Choosing the Right People and Integrating Them
1 - Manager’s Recruitment Goals
It is up to the manager to integrate the employee, he decided to hire, into the team.
The manager should ensure a certain level of quality in the selection process. The candidate must be
treated fairly and professionally, to have a good reputation, so the company will attract the best
potential employee.
The main purpose of a selection process is to predict how well a candidate will perform on the job
and integrate into the company.
2 - Considerations for the Selection Process
When a company has an HR department, this will handle a large part of the selection work, but a
number of other people can also play a role, including consultant. There may also be an internal
selection committee, which usually include the manager of the position, a person from HR
department and someone who is particularly familiar with the tasks of the position to be filled.
 table 5.1
Staff selection decision are all the more important because a mistake could end up being enormously
costly. This mistake can also cause a drop of productivity and clientele, but also it could cost stress
and decreased motivation in the other employees.
A structured process increases your chances of making a successful selection :
-
The application screening being as soon as the candidates apply, narrowing down the
selection to those who will be invited to the next stage of the process
The actual selection, which can itself be broken down into several phases
Hiring a candidate and signing an individual employment contract containing the terms
negotiated with the employee.
Some questions have to be avoided during the selection process such as those on the age, the civil
status, the ethnic, pregnancy, religion, sex, weight, height, … ; it could cause discrimination
3 - The Screening Process
During the recruitment stage, the manager invited interested candidates to submit their
applications. He received résumés accompanied by a cover letter. The first task is to read these
documents and eliminate the ones that do not meet the basic requirements .
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a - Sorting applications
Screening is based on a selection of criteria you have determined for the position. But some criteria
such as attitude or personal qualities are difficult to access from simply reading a résumé, which is
composed of education, length, work experience, language mastery, …
Even before reading the application files, the manager should decide what criteria you will apply to
classify the applications. Then, create a screening grid to analyze and sort the applications.
Using the screening grid, you can divide the résumé into 3 groups :
 Candidates who closely resemble the desired profile
 Candidates who are close enough to the desired profile
 Candidates who are not qualified for the job
If the first group do not contain enough applications, you can :
-
Continue looking for candidate
Review your screening or selection criteria
Go over application in the second group to make certain none if the candidates have been
under-evaluated
On the other hand, if the first group have too much candidate, the manager can apply screening
criteria more strictly or set up telephonic interview.
b - The screening interview
The screening interview consists of a short conversation that allows the manager to check certain
candidate’s qualifications. If the answers are satisfactory, you will be able to invite them to take part
in the rest of the selection process.
It could be the time for the manager to contact the candidate that have not been accepted, it
demonstrated professionalism but this demarch involve cost and time.
4 - The selection process
You should be left with a small number of candidates who a priori have the qualifications you are
looking for. During the selection process, you will verify the competencies of the candidates with an
interview, tests, and background check.
a - The selection interview
The face-to-face interview is the tool companies use the most often to select candidates. The
selection interview is made to verify whether the person has the competencies required to occupy
the position you wish to fill.
The best way to reach this goal is to prepare a structured interview :
-
Questions are similar for all candidates and based on the tasks and responsibilities described
in the job analysis
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Questions are developed systematically to target the specific competencies required for the
job
-
Candidates’ answers are evaluated against pre-established criteria
During an interview, you can ask several types of questions:
 Behavioural questions : these question helps to discovered how candidates behaved in previous
situations, context, and similar tasks to those involved in the job they are applying for.
 Follow-up questions : questions that give answer that allow you to assess the situation referred to
the candidate’s task, the action taken, and the result achieved. This is referred to as a STAR answer :
S – Situation
T – Task
A – Action
R – Results
 Scenarios : they involved describing a realistic work situation that targets one or more
competencies and asking candidates to explain what they will do in those circumstances.
 Role plays : candidates are expected to become characters in the role plays and act as they would
in a real situation.
You need to organize your questions, scenarios, and role plays ; so, they will be easy to use during
the interview. A guide interview will help following the steps of the interview :
o
o
o
o
o
o
A cover page
An introduction (to remind what to do at the beginning of the interview)
The list of questions
A copy of instructions for the role plays and scenarios
A conclusion (to remind what to do at the end of the interview)
A list of answers for the question a candidate might ask
A structured interview is the kind that allows you to evaluate all the candidates in the same way ,
using pre-established criteria. When the questions are composed, the manager should think about
how he is going to assess the answers.
You should prepare an evaluation grid to assess the candidates on each of the question, scenarios,
and role plays planned, to be completed after each interview.
b - Selection tests
Selection tests are generally used to provide additional information to what is gathered during the
interview. The purpose of using one or more selection tests is to see how closely the candidate’s
competencies match the job profile.
 Achievement tests are designed to measured what a candidate knows about a particular
field. They are useful when the competency profile includes specific knowledge that cannot
be guaranteed by a diploma
 Performance tests require a candidate to do part of the actual work done in the position to
be filled. There are very realistic and faithfully predict candidate performance on the job.
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 Personality tests assess the characteristic or personality of the candidates. They are usually
reserved for professional or executive positions, where personal characteristics from an
important part of the desired competency.
 Physical fitness tests give you the information about physical ability. These tests can have a
negative effect on people belonging to a group that are protected by anti- discrimination
legislation.
As a manager you should weigh the pros and cons before deciding which test to use.
c - Background check
A candidate’s employment history is the element that is the most often checked during the selection
process, but you can also look into other aspect (criminal record, credit rating, …). You must comply
with legal provisions protecting candidates :
-
You must obtain written consent from the candidate for a background check according to the
Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector.
-
You may only verify information that is clearly and reasonably a bona fide occupational
requirement
Checking employment history doesn’t take very long and enables you to greatly reduce the chance
of making an error in the selection process.
d - The final decision
Once the entire candidate evaluation process has been completed, you have all the information
needed to classify the candidates and make the final decision. An application revealing too many
contradictions is a risky one. Sometimes it is better not to fill a position than to hire the wrong
candidate.
If none of the candidates appears to meet the job requirement, you can :
-
Take a chance and hire a candidate who doesn’t exactly meet your expectation
Review the applications that were rejected during the process
Start the whole process over again.
5 - Hiring
Once you have chosen the candidate, you have to inform him of the decision and make an
employment offer. A letter will follow with the employment contract and the deadline for accepting
the offer.
If the position is part of bargaining unit, hiring, and working conditions are part of the collective
agreement negotiated by the union on behalf of the employees.
If the position is not unionized, the contents of the employment contract may be negotiated
individually.
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Candidates may wish to negotiate their employment contract. To do so, you need four kinds of
information:
-
About the job : hours, salary, condition for hiring, …
About the candidates : salary expectations, why they left their previous job, …
About the selection process : shortage of manpower, urgency to fill the position, …
About your negotiation mandate
You can negotiate any hiring condition, as long as you remain within what is prescribed by law.
6 - New employee orientation
Starting a new job gives rise to positive feelings as well as apprehension in recruits. The manager has
to weighty task of ensuring that all the time and effort that went into recruiting and selecting this
person don’t end up in a hasty resignation.
a - Preparing for the new employee’s arrival
The manager should start planning the integration, before the start date of the employee, such as
ensuring that the office is available, order equipment, …
New employee always received a pie of documents on their first day (assurance, company
registration, collective agreement, …), to give them time to consult them, the manager can make the
document available before the first day.
The manager should also let the various department know that a new employee is starting work.
Last, he should need to free up some time to spend with the worker on his first day.
b - A new employee’s first day
The first day, the manager should :
-
Make certain they file welcome  that a way to introduce to the co-workers.
Give them information to understand the organization and the job  inform them about
what resources are available to help them to perform and the names of people who can assist when
necessary.
-
Complete administrative elements of his hiring  it is done by the HR department or by the
person in charge of personnel files in smaller company.
c - Follow-up
Over the ensuing weeks, the manager needs to follow up to make certain that the employee is
integrating well into his work environment.
The employee is on probation, so at the end of the probatory period, the company can unilaterally
and without notice terminate the employment contract.
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Chapter 6 : Compensating Employees Fairly
After the recruitment and selection of candidates, we have to determine an employee’s salary. This
aligns with the objectives if equitable treatment of employees. So, the three basic principles should
be applied :
-
Internal job consistency : compensation must reflect the value of a job compared to other
jobs within the organization.
-
External salary competitiveness : salaries a company offers must be comparable to those
offered by its competitors
-
Employee motivation and mobilization : compensation must be motivating in order to
encourage performance and loyalty
 figure 6.1 
1 - A Manager’s Goals in Matters of Compensation
The aim of compensation is to attract, motivate and retain employees to meet your needs, while at
the same time creating and an enjoyable work climate.
There are four important objectives in setting salaries : internal equity17, external equity18,
individual equity19 and collectives equity20.
2 - Respecting Internal Equity
a - Managerial roles and responsibilities in internal equity
To have a good company’s work climate, so an equity point of view, it is necessaire to apply a steps
and techniques :
-
Job analysis involves gathering information about tasks and requirements, as well as about
work conditions.
-
Job description brings together the information collected during the job analysis
Job evaluation attributes a relative worth or value to jobs based on various factors.
b - Job description and competency profile
A job description is an important tool that benefits many HRM activities, among them compensation
management. A job description and a competency profile that faithfully reflect the position’s tasks
and requirements provide the basis for making a sound judgment on the relative value of a given job.
17
The equity between salaries and requirements for similar or different jobs within the organization.
The equity among salaries for similar jobs in different organization.
19
Equity between a wage of individuals in the same job in the same organization.
20
Equity in recognizing collectives efforts to achieve the organization’s objectives.
18
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c - Job evaluation
Job evaluation attributes a relative value to jobs based on their worth to the organization. It is a
systematical procedure aimed at ranking jobs within a company in order to establish fair salary
differentials between them.
Following the recommendation of the Quebec Pay Equity Act, job evaluation generally consider these
factors :
 Qualification and experience required (education and work experience)
 Responsibilities
 Intellectual and physical effort
 Working conditions
In general evaluation committee based their work on a number of factors.
Job evaluation permit to the company to let employees know what it values. The criteria chosen to
compare employee with one another are signals reinforcing organizational values and goals.
d - Pay Equity Act
The Pay Equity Act stipulates that an organization must correct salary differences due to systemic
discrimination based in gender in female-dominated jobs (60% or + of the incumbents are female). If
female-dominated job has an equivalent value to male-dominated job, salaries must be equivalent.
The purpose of job evaluation is to rank jabs in comparison with one another. An evaluation
identifies the jobs that contribute the most to the organization and those whose contribution is
secondary.
3 - Respecting External Equity
a - Managerial roles and responsibilities in external equity
External salary competition is a determining factor in the company’s ability to attract and retain a
sufficient number of quality employees.
There are several steps to consider when creating a compensation package :
-
Choosing benchmark markets
Salary surveys
Salary positioning
Salary ranges
Indirect compensation
b - Choosing benchmark markets
A benchmark market represents a group of companies an organization wishes to compare itself with
in order to determine salaries.
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In order to set the base salary, HR advisors consider what type of company might compete with their
organization for the vacant position.
The relevance of salary data depends on what benchmark market is chosen. If the vacant position
requires more general competencies, the sector candidate come from matters little. This kind of
competency is easily transferable from one sector to another.
c - Salary survey
A salary survey collects information about wages offered by companies in the benchmark market.
Direct and indirect compensation are the two major categories of overall compensation. Direct
compensation refers to monetary comportment. Indirect compensation refers to non-monetary
comportment.
The base salary corresponds to the initial hourly wages or annual salary and must comply with the
minimum dictated by the Act Respecting Labour Standards.
Salary increases assigned yearly on an individual basis acknowledge the seniority, competencies, and
performance of each employee. The seniority starts to be calculated on the first day of work.
Some employers afford annual cost-of-living and market adjustments in order to guarantee that
their employees maintain their purchasing power. These adjustments are calculated on the basis of
the consumer price index (CPI) or rate of inflation.
Incentive and profit-sharing plans are usually bonus plans based on performance goals, which range
from individual and team goal to production unit or business unit objectives and global goals for the
entire organization.
Benefits are protection measures to help employees deal with life’s uncertainties.
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Paid time off refers to holidays paid by the employer that employees are entitled to.
Employee services consist of various type of assistance offered to support employees in their work
and their personal life.
By obtaining information about the various compensation components, we can calculate a
company’s overall compensation. While supervisor play a rather limited role in the salary survey
process, they are capable of evaluating and analyzing the result.
Salary surveys are the most common source of wages information. Public websites of a general or
specific nature provide organization access to salary data. When salary data is available, the
organization lust decide which salary position is preferable compared to the chosen benchmark
market.
d - Salary positioning
Company management has three options when it come to wage positioning :



Paying above the market level – a lead pay policy
Paying below the market level – a lag pay policy
Paying equal to the market reference point – a match pay policy
A company’s pay policy can be a determining factor in achieving its goal to attract and retain
employees. The lead policy increase chance of attracting quality candidates and result in a higher
payroll. The lag policy create trouble attracting and keeping employees, especially when available
manpower is limited. The match pay policy is by far the most common.
Responsibility for salary positioning belongs to HR in collaboration with the finance department.
e - Pay structure and ranges
Setting up wage range allow you to recognize the varied requirements in employee experience and
involvement. It also means you can distinguish among people based on their seniority, performance,
and competencies. A pay range is created by setting a minimum and a maximum salary, based on
salary survey results.
A set of salary ranges, and grades constitutes a pay structure. Each grade in a pay structure includes
a certain number of jobs with similar evaluation results. Increases can be achieved in 3 principles :
-
Merit : advancement within a salary range based on annual performance
Seniority : advancement within a salary range based on years of service with the company
Competencies : advancement based on the number and complexity of competencies
acquired and mastered.
A wage range affords you a certain leeway in determining a new employee’s salary.
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4 - Respecting Individual Equity
a - Managerial roles and responsibilities in individual and collective equity
As a manager, his role, varies with position and the plan being considered. The supervisor plays a
major role in individual plans, mainly salary increases and individual bonuses. The director assumes
more responsibilities if the company does not have a HR department.
b - Salary increases and individual bonuses
Salary increases can be granted in different ways. The most common applications are seniority,
merit, and competencies. When the seniority rules are applied, it is simply the number of years of
service that dictates the increase each employee is entitled to.
When merit is a criterion, the company grants employee an annual pay increase based on their
performance, so, for this a performance evaluation is necessaire.
Some companies have opted for a lump-sum bonus plan that reduces demands on the payroll
because it is not integrated into the salary scale. Lump-sum bonus have no lasting effect.
Managers have to conduct performance reviews and follow the budget allocation fir bonuses.
Some organization based their salary increases on the acquisition and mastery of new competencies.
Employees see their salary increases as their acquire more and increasingly complex skills.
c - Piece rate pay and commission plans
Some organizations use piece rate pay and commission plan for certain categories of employees.
Piece rate pay is a very old form of compensation. Standards for individual performance are set by
the number of units to be produced within a given period of time. These are quantity and quality
standards.
Commission plans play a major role in organization. Sales personnel, whose work is often isolated
and autonomous, appear to appreciate this kind of compensation. Compensation is generally a
combination of fixed and variable factors, with a base salary to which a commission is added.
5 - Respecting Collective Equity
a - Short-term group variable pay plan
Short-term group variable pay plans are gaining ground quickly in companies across Canada. They
enable employee to receive bonus based on short-term performance.
 table 6.6 
To be efficient, the plans require a certain amount of employee participation in decision making and
good communication between team member and various hierarchical level.
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b - Long-term group variable pay plans
These plans, usually based on stock market performance, are mainly stock purchase plans and stock
option plans.
 table 6.7 
This important series of tools allows the manager to achieved one of the objectives of a
compensation plan : to attract and retain talent.
6 - Indirect Compensation
 table 6.4
a - benefits
benefits are made up of private and public government plans. Private plans, different from one
company to another, are mainly composed of retirement plans and insurance plans;

Retirement plans offered by the employer may be registered or unregistered. When they are
registered, they allow employers to contribute without tax consequences for the employee. When
they are not registered, they are Registered Retirement Savings Plans.

Insurance plans offering employee various forms of protection in case of illness, accident or
for medical care.

Government plans : all employees must participate to the government plans. The Québec
government offers its citizens a pension plan financed by contribution from employers and
employees and is available starting at age 65.
b - Paid time off
Paid time off cover all paid leave offered to employees by the employer, mainly : annual leave,
statutory holidays, sick days, parental leave, and special leave.
The number of days varies from one employer to another.
c - Other services
An employer can also offer a range of additional services to make life easier on and off the job.
Attraction and retention are two major issues that any good compensation plan must address. The
race among organizations to acquire the best talent necessitates a good understanding of the role
that compensation management can play.
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Chapter 8 : Developing Competencies
1 - Manager’ Goals
As a manager, you must make sure that you always have the right number and diversity of employees
with the necessary competencies to perform the work appropriately and reach the performance goals
set for your department. If the required competencies are not available, dysfunction will occur, and a
series of direct and indirect costs will result.
Competency development activities can serve 4 goals. Depending on your activities and priorities, you
may focus on some of these goals, but more often you will learn to pursue several goals at a time so
that each result will reinforce another.
The 4 goals of competency development activities:
2 - Managerial Roles and Responsibilities
When it comes to competency development, the manager is at the heart of the process but shares
some responsibilities with other players.
a - Developing competencies : a well-established process :
The role a manager plays in the competency development process comprises 5 major stages. The 1 st
stage is the most difficult to define. It refers to those occasions when managers must step back and
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take stock of how things are going in their department. Problems the analysis bring to light, upcoming
challenges and of course on the state of their human resources in terms of current capabilities and
future potential (an individual’s personal resource pool, indicative of their ability to succeed in a future
professional activity).
A manager’s role in the competency development process:
b - Competency: multiple players’ concern
In small businesses (less than 50 employees), you may find yourself in charge of the whole process.
You might choose to call on external suppliers to help you assess needs, design, and conduct learning
activities. In a larger company, you will usually work with HR specialists, internal committees, external
resources, sectoral committees, teaching institutions, or unions.
3 - Competency In All Its Forms
Versatility is the aptitude of an employee to accomplish efficiently several tasks or to occupy several
posts of comparable level. Competency is undoubtedly one of the most used concepts in HRM.
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a - Competency: not so easy to define
A competency is the aptitude to act effectively in the framework of one’s professional activity. In
Québec and Canadian businesses, a competency is a characteristic that forms the basis of an
individual’s work performance or behavior.
It is a composite of:
1. Knowledge
2. Skills
3. Attitudes
From this perspective, employees are considered “competent” if they master the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes necessary to perform to perform their job in an effective manner.
In the opinion of Le Boterf (2015), it is imperative to distinguish between “being competent” and
“having competencies”. Many authors define competency as the ability to solve problems, react
appropriately in unexpected situations or correct dysfunction that occur in the department.
Competency would thus relate not only to the technical mastery of certain processes, but also to the
ability to make decisions on their own and find solutions adapted to each situation.
b - Competency capital: a biodegradable asset
Competency is an abstract notion. It only becomes apparent while carrying out a professional activity.
Life cycle of a competency:
All competencies have their own “life cycle”, which includes at least 3 phases:

Acquisition: an employee becomes acquainted with new knowledge/skills or works at adopting
new attitudes on is job.
 Optimization: an employee is fully operational and applies competencies daily. It is during this
phase that employers can recover their investment.
 Obsolescence: a competency loses its relevance rapidly. It needs to be updated or replaced.
Under the pressure of multiple factors, this cycle has tended to accelerate in the past couple of
decades. Competencies must be acquired faster, they become obsolete earlier and, it is increasingly
difficult to guarantee optimization.
Types of jobs and competencies create different effects:
Some competencies are more likely than others to require regular updating and therefore quickly lose
their relevance. This is the case for those based on technical or process-related knowledge and skills.
On the other hand, competencies based on certain personal or interpersonal skills are likely to broaden
and deepen with use (ex: speak a foreign language).
The crocodile syndrome:
For a significant portion of the competencies mobilized in a department’s operations, 2 dynamics may
unite over time and make your work as a manager more complex:

More and more examples of knowledge and job skills are in danger of losing all or a good part
of their relevance in your department’s operations (obsolescence).
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
Changes related to the normal evolution of tasks and work organization will result in making
task more complex, and consequently modify the nature of the competencies required to
perform the work effectively (complexification).

The crocodile syndrome and challenges of continuous learning:
These 2 phenomena can develop over short or longer periods and may occur at the same time; their
combined effect will create ever-increasing and damaging gaps between what employees can do
(acquired competencies) and what they theoretically should be able to do (required competencies).
In fact, the existence of non-competency zone (a field of activity where a person lacks competency
completely/partially) situations where employees lack the competencies needed to carry out their
work properly, can have devastating effects on your department. They will lead either directly or
indirectly to non-performance, and the price you will have to pay if nothing is done can be high.
c - What is a “quality” competency?
As indicated by Le Boterf and his colleagues (1992), a development activity will be considered
successful if the competencies it produces meet at least 3 criteria: relevance, timing, and critical mass.
Relevance: a competency will be relevant if it closely matches the nature of the problems to be
addressed or situations to be improved. This competency must of course be acquired by the right
person, in other words, the person who will be most effective in a given situation.
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Timing: not all competencies require the same amount of time to be developed and mastered. Ideally,
the competency should be mastered just in time, so that it is available when needed. A competency
that is acquired too soon will result in considerable obsolescence costs, because it cannot really be
applied on the job. On the other hand, a competency acquired too late will automatically result in noncompetency costs (errors, delays, etc.) during the time it was needed but not available. It is therefore
important to develop competencies in good time!
Critical mass: it represents the quantity of pertinent competencies (persons affected and nature of
competency to be developed) that must be acquired to have a significant effect on performance or the
desired improvement. Doing too much can quickly lead to an unnecessary increase in activities
(content, workload, length), a more difficult learning curve, eventual dropouts among learners and a
definite increase in unnecessary expenditures. However, not doing enough can be even more harmful.
Often, training sessions are too short, don’t allow for enough in-dept study of certain notions, or don’t
provide enough hands-on work to significantly change professional behaviors.
4 - Deciding Which Competencies to Develop.
The competency-needs analysis that you undertake will be the cornerstone on which to build your
development process, because it has direct effect on the relevance, timing and critical mass of the
competencies that will be acquired.
We prefer the expression “competency needs” to the more commonly used “training needs”. If the
problem you detect has arisen because of a lack of competencies, this does not necessarily mean that
a training activity, in the traditional sense, is the only solution. It might be advisable to suggest that
the employee change teams, work at another job temporarily, or undertake a lighter workload for a
certain period of time.
a - What is a competency need ?
Detecting competency needs consists of creating a clear picture of exactly what knowledge, skills and
attitudes employees need to expand or acquire to conform to work methods in use or prepare for an
eventual move into new areas along their career path. It is practically always an assessment of the gap
that exists between the current situation and the envisaged or projected situation. These gaps can be
measured both in terms of individual competencies and collective competencies. The gaps can be
diagnosed on a continuous basis or at specific times, for example during individual performance
reviews.
b - How to determine competency needs ?
Depending on the situation, there are 2 major approaches you could take (in each case, you will be
following problem-solving logic). You will aim to define as precisely as possible the non-competency
zone that must be dealt with or the gap that must be filled.
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1st situation: using problems and shortcomings (defaults) as a basis:
Deliveries of your department’s manufactured products are regularly late in reaching the point-of sales
networks; tolerance standards for thickness are barely met; customer complaints about some of your
employees are on the increase, and management is wondering about your department’s overall
performance. All these elements indicate that there is a problem, and the root of it probably has to do
with a lack of competency.
Competency needs analysis based on dysfunctions:
As a manager, you will need to undertake the following tasks:
1. Detect the factors affecting performance that are related to the employee’s competency
capital.
2. Identify the problems affecting competency that could be solved by providing training
activities or other types of learning situations, and those that require some other kind of
intervention (ex: motivating the employee, redefining the position).
3. Focus on developing a proactive approach, despite the urgency of the situation, to acquire
competencies as often as possible on a just-in-time basis.
2nd situation: using job-related competency profiles as basis:
A competency profile refers to requirements related to the job or position occupied by an employee.
This profile includes core competencies that must be mastered to perform well in the job and indicates
the level of mastery required for each one.
A competency assessment evaluates the degree of mastery (beginner, advanced or expert level) an
employee has reached for each competency in his profile. It outlines the competencies the employee
has acquired, summarizing all the abilities actively mastered in his job at a given time. This is what is
“acquired”.
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Competency-needs analysis based on competency profiles:
The gap between the current competency profile and the future profile for the position will give you
an indication as to how the position might evolve over the coming years and how the initial profile will
be modified. Then, you will have a good idea of the short, medium, and longer-term support you need
to devote to this employee.
c - Gathering the relevant information
You might tempt to use your judgment and common sense as the sole basis for your decision making.
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Methods used to identify competency needs:
d - Confirming the diagnosis of your competency needs
Whatever the method used, you must 1st take the time to confirm your diagnosis before even thinking
about designing development activities and committing resources. One quick, direct way is to
interview a few key people (employees involved, team leader, suppliers, customers, etc.) or bring
together whole teams. These meetings can bring out into the open any reservations, fears or even
resistance about the training under consideration and will provide an excellent opportunity for you to
present the key orientations of your development strategy.
The identified competency needs rarely provide objective data and might be the result of negotiations
and compromises among the people involved.
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e - From diagnosis to development plan
Once the main needs have been identified for both employees and the department, it is often a good
idea to formalize the procedure. You have 2 options:

Negotiate an individual development plan with each employee. This plan is a true
psychological contract (the unofficial agreements about contractual obligations between an
employee and his manager) made between the 2 of you and will list the targets to reach,
procedures to follow and schedules to meet over the coming year. Although it cannot be
viewed as a legal document in the proper sense of the world, this plan often provides an
excellent means of reinforcing your employees’ commitment to their work, their department,
and their company.

Create a global development plan for your department, detailing the objectives, targets and
methods for the various development activities that are scheduled for the year to come and,
if appropriate, subsequent years. This document, which should be updated on a regular basis,
can be used as a communication and reference, tool for discussions with employees,
management, and unions.
5 - Choosing Learning Strategies
Once you have established what kind of competencies need to be acquired, selected the people who
will take the training, and decided exactly when to intervene, you can get things underway and make
decisions about the design and implementation of the development activities required. Competency
development means learning!
a - The desire to learn, at the heart of the training experience
Acquiring a new competency will always involve gaining new abilities. Some people learn better and
faster when they participate in hands-on learning. You need to pay close attention to the cognitive and
motivational characteristics of your various employees and make certain to take these into account
when you organize development activities.
b - Available learning strategies
If the situation requires that competencies be acquired or expanded, you will be faced with 3
possibilities, reflecting 3 ways of establishing relationships between learners and their work.
1) Learning outside the job:
The context in which learning takes place and the job is performed correspond to quite separate times
and places. An employee who learns outside the job may attend a training Centre within the company,
a public teaching institution that may grant a degree or certificate, or private institution. The most
widely used methods are separate courses and seminars dealing with specialized topics.
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Here are some examples of methods being used:
Simulation, using the simulator, an operator can experiment with practically every possible situation,
without disrupting the company’s operations. Learners are placed in work environments that very
closely resemble their real work world, but they are not interacting with real customers so there are
no risks.
Self-training, company goals for the fiscal year feature “quality above all” among its priorities. To
facilitate this culture change, the HR department makes available various training tools and other
support geared towards this specific subject (books, software, online exercises, movies…)
Self-training does not replace more traditional training methods, but it does allow learners to enjoy
more control over the topics, time, pace and often the place where they do their learning. These are
all factors that may reinforce their autonomy and their motivation.
Work and learning: 3 main scenarios:
2) Learning around the job
This approach generally has two-fold purpose:
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
to correlate the learning content and environment as closely as possible to the reality of the
job.
 To prepare as much as possible for the time when the new competencies will be required.
This category includes training practices that have a long track record in companies, such as task
learning exercises, behavior modelling or one-on-one tutoring. The difference here is that the learning
situations have been reworked at the operational unit level and managers play a much more active
role than before.
When you are a tutor, depending on the situation, you will act as instructor, confidant, and authority
figure. If the chemistry between the 2 employees works, this special relationship should result in:



A faster personal and professional integration of the new employee.
A particularly enriching work experience for Michel.
Increased cohesion within the department.
3) Learning during the job process
Traditionally, training was done outside the job by expert professionals and instructors. The opposite
is true in this approach. The job itself is meant to be the source of continuous learning for the
employee. But it doesn’t often happen this way. In bureaucratic and Taylor-based approaches to work
organization, tasks are almost always divided up, repetitive and unproductive for employees. You will
probably have only limited power over what exist in your department, but you can nevertheless
attempt to move things along bit by bit. Using these organizational principles as inspiration, you can
make learning a priority I your daily management practices.
c - A great variety of methods and practices
A two-day training seminar on developing team leader competencies could include such tool as:
lecture; individual online activities; group exercises; short leadership exercises; a case study; a role
play; audiovisual presentations.
d - Choosing learning environments and trainers
Internally, anyone with basic knowledge of technology and adult learning can be powerful
trainer/instructor/tutor. It is quite easy to see that there is no ready-made ideal formula. You can
delegate this responsibility to trusted employee, use the service of an external organization, or
combine the 2 approaches. Remember that, as a manager, you are perhaps the best person to support
your employees’ learning activities.
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Comparative advantages of development activities depending on where the training is designed and
done.
e - Learning strategies: is there a winning formula ?
No magic formula for success exists! Although the goal is to produce quality competencies, many
factors must be considered, and the range of possible strategies is quite extensive. However, you will
almost always have to consider the following eight variables when making your choice:
f - Take advantage of the ripple effect
It is not uncommon to see companies (for example when major technological change is involved) take
advantage of the ripple effect in competency development. One or several employees, carefully
chosen for their technical skills as well as teaching abilities, are sent for training with a supplier or
specialized organization to acquire a set of very specific competencies that can be directly transferred
to the work environment.
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When the development activity has been completed, employees usually go back to their position and
resume their work. It is at this point that the learning transfer process begins.
The manager’s role in supporting the transfer:
Learning transfer appears to be a fragile phenomenon that can be reinforced or slowed down by a
multitude of factors:



Employees: their experience, capacity for learning, self-confidence, professional aspirations,
willingness to acquire new competencies and strategies to implement them in their job…
The development activity itself: when it is offered, how it is organized, teaching support
provided, how it is given, content, level of difficulty, pace…
Work environment: workload, availability of resources, support from co-workers, work
climate, possibilities for recognition and promotion…
6 - The Manager: A Central Player
To summarize: the closer the relationship between the attainment of your performance goals
(quantity, quality, innovation, flexibility…) and the quality of the competencies acquired and shared by
your employees, the more these competencies become a source of concern for you, and the more
attention you pay to them.
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Chapter 7 : Managing Employee Performance.
1 - A Manager’s Performance Management Goals
Managing employee performance means attaining at least five objectives involving various players
 For top-level managers, it is essential that the organization have a management system that
facilitates the implementation of strategic priorities. Good leaders emphasize the importance of
building a strong culture within the organization.
 Managers are the people primary responsible for performance in the organization. They
must adopt performance management practices that create an atmosphere conductive to optimal
performance.
 Human resources professionals have a role to play in good performance management.
 Employees are directly affected by the management of their work performance. They expect
a lot from their managers and are concerned about how they will support them and evaluate their
job performance.
 Legislators and organization mandated to develop and apply laws and regulations pay careful
attention to how employee performance is managed, especially in the case of dismissals.
a - Managerial roles and responsibilities
The best managers consistently achieve superior employee results in terms of satisfaction, retention,
performance, collaboration, and innovation.
 Table 7.1
2 - Performance Managing Process
The performance management process is generally composed of fives steps that will lead managers
to work with their employees as a team and pool resources to support and constantly improve each
person’s contribution.
Many companies have focused on the assessment stage in order to make good human resources
decisions, neglecting to express clear and on-strategy expectations or to provide sufficient support
during the year to the employees who are contributing the most to the strategic objectives.
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1. To set a strategic objective by ensuring that the performance expectations of employees are
aligned with the organization’s priority
2. Administrative objective in that many HR decisions are based in annual performance.
3. Motivational objective of mobilizing employee and encouraging them to perform better.
a - Master strategic goals
One of the goals of performance management is to concentrate all employee effort on implementing
the organization’s strategic priorities. The manager is the channel of communication between
management and employees.
1st step  Knowing their company’s strategic environment. They must reflect, inquire, and learn
about it. Explanation supplied by the manager are fundamentally responsible for the employees’
adherence or resistance for a project.
2nd step  Communicate these objectives and explain them to employees. It is necessaire to
communicate the strategi goals to employees. This is usually done by first creating operational unit
goals and then goals for managers.
To really excel, employees must be able to make the connection between their employer’s strategic
priorities and the mandates given them.
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b - Define expectations
Formulating performance expectations constitutes a decisive step in the performance management
process.
Employees can consult two documents that should provide the information they need on
performance expectation
 The job description
 The evaluation form used for the performance review and the meeting conducted with the
employee at the end of the year.
Information contained in these documents can only be used as an outline or to provide guidelines for
employees on their work.

Determine the type of performance expectations
To perform their job, employees must know what is expected of them. Performance expectations
can be grouped into two board categories :
1. Results represent the outputs of an employee’s work : they are the targets to be achieves that can
be translated into number of sales, units produced, or quality levels ; or often in term of objectives.
Performance expectations might also be linked to one-time project.
2. Observable behaviors are those that employees must present in their work. They are used to
describe how employees should go about achieving their work goals or the recurring results expected
of them.

Set quality expectations
It is important that the expectations set by you and your employee are of high quality
- Specific : the expectation to be motivating must be personalized to everyone
- Measurable : in order to properly evaluate whether the target has been met at the end of the
period, it is important to specify how it will be measured.
- Aligned : manager need to take the time to explain to an employee why they are being set such a
performance expectation.
- Realistic : a motivating expectation will encourage employees to excel, but it must remain realistic.
- Time-based : the manager must be sure to specify the expected time frame.
c - Support performance
As a manager, you will delegate certain tasks to your employees and encouraging constructive
dialogue, while improving your ability to listen and offer feedback.

Delegate effectively
Delegating reduce stress, allows manager to concentrate on the really strategic files that cannot be
entrusted to other people and is an opportunity for employees to learn and improve.
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What ? Managers should specify exactly what they wish to delegate, so the employees know what
tasks or responsibilities are theirs.
How ? State work goals or expected outcomes clearly. This will decrease the risk of error and make it
much easier for the manager to evaluate employee’s work.
Whom ? Some managers trust some members of their team more than others and make an
unfortunate habit of delegating task to their favorite group. But manager must treat their employees
fairly.

Encourage constructive dialogue
It is difficult for employees to do their job confidently and effectively when their supervisor’s only
feedback comes during the annual performance review. Managers can avoid this king of situation by
making assignments and goals less ambiguous.

Know how to listen
Listening skills is important in order to learn more about the employees’ situations, and also to avoid
misunderstanding and quickly defuse situations that could become problematic.
It means that you really listen to what your employee wants to communicate. An employee will feel
that you are really paying attention if you show signs of agreement.
You sometimes need to encourage employees to talk more if you want to understand their message
better or if you are dealing with shy person. You can ask questions as the open-ended question that
encourage employees to say more, or as the closed question that allow employees to give details
about certain elements.

Provide positive or corrective feedback
Giving feedback means providing information about a specific action or behavior. Whether it is
positive or negative, the feedback you provide to your employee on a regular basis is an opportunity
to reinforce your relationship.
Positive feedback is a powerful motivating tool that can be expressed by a thank-you, letter of
congratulations or recommendation for promotion. To be effective, positive feedback should be :
- Precise : you should base your message on observable facts, so employees understand why they are
being congratulated.
- Immediate : feedback loses a lot of effectiveness when it comes too long after the even.
- Public : giving employee feedback un front of the person’s co-workers adds weight to the message.
Corrective feedback, or negative feedback, is more common. It usually comes as criticism from
supervisor, a complaint letter written by a customer, or refusal for a project. Negatives feedback can
be valuable for an employee, but it is often misused.
The corrective feedback must be precise and immediate but private rather than public.

Provide ongoing follow-up
Although the manager’s monitoring should be ongoing organizations can schedule a number of
formal manager-employee meeting as part of their performance management cycle.
The frequency with which these meetings take place depends on several factors, including the
position held and the individual employee performance.
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d - Appraise performance
A performance appraisal provides an occasion for employees to take stock of their strengths as well
as aspects of their work activity that need to be improved in order for them to be successful in their
job.

Use effective tools
There are two types of tools :
 Rating scales represent the most common of evaluation tools used by organizations. Managers
evaluate every employee under their supervision using a grid that has predefined criteria related to
the job. These criteria may correspond to behavior, competencies, or even task to performed.
A rating scale appraisal has the advantage of being very simple and quick to fill out. It also supplies
precise information on the employee’s performance. By consulting their forms, employees can
readily discover their strengths as well as aspect they will have to correct to improve their
performance.
This tool’s effectiveness depends on the balance between criteria uniformity from one job to another
and their pertinence for each position.
 Management by Objectives establish goals to be reached before the next evaluation. This tool is
used more often in evaluating management, since their work consists mainly of coordinating
activities and completing projects rather than carrying out precise tasks.
The form consists of a small number of general objectives formulated to indicate clearly whether
they have been met or not.

Document and evaluate performance
Good performance evaluation depends above all on concrete, observable facts, which explains why
employee performance must be documented. To have information, it is strongly recommended that
manager take notes throughout the year on any critical incidents affecting the employee.
When evaluate an employee manager should consult the performance expectation, then to gather
the most relevant information from what they have collected over the year.

Use a variety of evaluation sources
As a manager, you do not have complete information on the performance of your employees.
The principal advantage of using several sources of evaluation is the diversity and wealth of the
various points of view it offers on an employee’s performance. There are five sources of evaluation :





Employees – self-evaluation is useful mainly in placing value on an employee’s work and
motivating them in relation to their performance.
Colleagues – peer evaluation is relevant when working in teams.
Subordinates – this assessment source is useful for appraising managerial skills, at it involves
the employees who are directly affected by the manager’s skills.
Managers – as the lost frequent source of evaluation in organization, the supervisory role is
essential in appraising employee performance.
Clients – whenever a job requires frequent and repeated contact with clients, they could be
called upon for evaluation purposes.
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Evaluating every employee in a company using all possible sources would obviously require an
enormous amount of time, money, and physical resources. As a result, you must choose your
appraisal sources carefully based on what you want to evaluate.

Consider the work context
In order to conduct a good evaluation, you must definitely consider any recent changes in the
employee’s functions and other contextual factors that could have repercussions on his
performance.
By taking these contextual aspects into account, regularly documenting your employees’
performance, and seeking information from other sources of evaluation, you will avoid under- or
over-evaluate your employees for the wring reasons.

Prepare for the evaluation meeting and conduct it properly
You must conduct proper evaluation meeting following certain guidelines.
You should choose a neutral and secluded place where the interview will take place so that employee
feels comfortable. The evaluation meeting should be seen as an opportunity for constructing
exchanges with an interlocutor.
To create a favorable climate, you must make sure that there are as few distractions as possible. It is
a good idea to encourage employees to contribute their comments, ideas, and suggestion
throughout the meeting. During the conversation take care to apply the principle of active listening
and feedback.
Before concluding the meeting, it is useful take a few minutes to summarize the main positive and
negative elements that have come out of the evaluation and take care the employee has drawn the
same conclusions.
e - Suggest an action plan
The manager must now determine the appropriate rewards for the efforts made and find ways to
help the employee develop and improve.
Once the evaluation is completed, the manager will have to categorize the employees according to
their respective performance to determine who deserve the biggest bonuses and who doesn’t.
manager should be able to defend their decision both to their superiors and to potential employee
who are dissatisfied with their bonuses.
During the discussion of the action plan, you should put the accent on the future. The manager has
two responsibilities during this stage :
1. depending on the performance level and the issues, it will be up to the manager to work with
the employee to set up a performance maintenance plan or a performance improvement
plan.
2. Drawing up a competency development plan in central to the action plan, just as succession
planning is a crucial responsibility for managers.
A good professional development plan should be based on an in-depth analysis of performance
factors.
The action plan will serve to the employees as the basis for developing new performance
expectation, leading to another performance management cycle.
Laurène Cabon
Chapter 9 : Managing Discipline and Conflict
1 - The Consequences of Conflicts
Chap 12 (p344-346)
Chap 12 (p342-343)
Chapter 9 + chap 12 (p347-352)
Chapter 10
Chapter 12 (p330-359) + chapter 13