CBA 390 (H/R)
CH 10 – HUMAN RESOURCES AND JOB DESIGN
I. Southwest Airlines
A. Profitable for 25 years
B. Strategy: Human Resources
1. Culture of caring people in the totality of their lives, not just work.
C. Empowers employees
D. Wages higher than industry average
E. Stock options for some employees
F. Treats employees like customers
G. Everybody understands what everyone else’s problems are
H. No gimmicks!
II. Objective of Human Resource Strategy
A. To manage labor and design jobs so that people are effectively and efficiently utilized.
III. Labor Planning/Stability Policies
A. Follow demand exactly
1. Keeps direct labor costs tied closely to production
2. Incurs costs of:
a. hiring and firing
b. unemployment insurance
c. labor wage premium
B. Hold employment constant
1. Maintains a trained workforce
2. Incurs costs of:
a. Idle time when demand is low
b. Meeting increased demand when demand is high
IV. Work Schedules
A. Standard work schedule
1. Five eight-hour days
B. Flex-time
1. Allows employees, within prescribed limits, to determine their own schedule
C. Flexible work week
1. Four 10-hour days
D. Part-time
1. Less than eight hours per day, on an irregular schedule
V. Job Classifications and Work Rules
A. Specify
1. Who can do what
2. What they can do
3. Under what conditions can they do it
B. Often the result of union pressure
C. Restricts flexibility in assignments, consequently restricts efficiency of production
VI. Job Design
A. Specifying the task that make up a job for an individual or group
B.
Involves determining:
1. What is to be done (i.e., responses)
2. How it is to be done (i.e., tools, etc.)
3. Why it is to be done (i.e., purpose)
C. Results in job description
1. Shows nature of job in task-related behaviors
VII. Components of Job Design
A. Job specialization
B. Job expansion
1. Process of adding more variety to jobs
2. Intended to reduce boredom associated with labor specialization
3. Methods
a. Job enlargement
b. Job enrichment
c. Job rotation
d. Employee empowerment
C. Psychological components
D. Self-directed teams
E.
Motivation and incentive systems
F.
Ergonomics and work methods