Ch 8:Managing Human Resources
and Labor Relations
• The Foundations of Human Resource
Management (HRM)
– Set of organizational activities directed at attracting,
developing, and maintaining an effective workforce.
– HRM has a strategic importance for organizations
– HR Planning
• Job analysis
– Job description: lists the duties of a job, working conditions, and
tools, materials, equipment needed.
– Job specification: description of the skills, abilities and
qualifications needed.
• Forecasting HR Demand and Supply
– Forecast both internal and external supply of labor
– We can use replacement charts, employee information
systems (skills inventory)
• Matching HR Supply and Demand
Staffing the Organization
• Recruiting Human Resources
– Recruiting: process of attracting qualified
persons to apply for jobs an organization is
seeking to fill.
• Internal recruiting: considers present employees as
candidates for openings
• External recruiting: attracting persons outside the
organization to apply for jobs
• Selecting Human Resources
– Application forms: work history, education,
other job related data.
– Tests: ability, aptitude, knowledge.
Sometimes personality and intelligence is also
tested.
– Interviews: very popular selection device – be
prepared!!
– Other techniques: health exams, drug tests,
check the references etc.
Developing the Workforce
• Training
– on-the-job training: usually informal, train while
performing the job
– off-the-job training: usually formal, done in a
controlled environment
– vestibule training: off-the-job training conducted in a
simulated environment
• Performance appraisal
– Evaluation of a employee’s job performance to see if
the employee is performing effectively.
Compensation and Benefits
• Compensation system: set of rewards that
organizations provide to individuals in return for
their willingness to perform various jobs and
tasks within the organization.
– Wages and salaries:
• Wages: compensation in the form of money paid for time
worked.
• Salaries: Compensation in the form of money paid for
carrying out the responsibilities of the job.
– Incentive Programs: special compensation
program designed to motivate high
performance.
– We have:
• Individual incentives
– E.g., bonus, merit salary system.
• Company-wide incentives
– E.g., profit-sharing plan, gainsharing plan, pay-forknowledge plan
– Benefits Programs: compensation other than
wages and salaries. Can be more valuable
than wages and salaries.
• E.g., retirement plans, health/life insurance, social
security payments, vacation, holidays, company
car etc.
• Containing the costs of benefits???
The Legal Context of HR
Management
• A HR manager must be knowledgeable
about the legal system
• Equal employment opportunity
– Affirmative action plan, sexual harassment
etc.
• Other topics
– child labor, illegal workers etc,
New Challenges in the Workplace
• Immigration, global competition and
technology are important factors
• Managing a diverse workforce
– Range of workers’ attitudes, values, and
behaviors that differ by gender, race, and
ethnicity.
• Managing knowledge workers
• Contingent workers and temporary
employment
Dealing with Organized Labor
• Labor Union: Group of people working
together to achieve job-related goals, such
as higher pay, shorter working hours, more
job security, greater benefits or better
working conditions.
• Labor Relations: Process of dealing with
employees who are represented by a
union.
• Collective Bargaining: process by which labor
and management negotiate conditions of
employment for union-represented workers.
• Unions Today: It is declining. Why???
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Composition of the workforce
Rise of the service sector
Anti-unionization strategies
Negotiated concessions
Collective Bargaining
• Reaching agreement on contract terms =
labor contract.
• Contract issues: cost of living adjustment
(COLA), benefits, job security, other minor
issues, and management rights
• When Bargaining Fails
– Unions Tactics
• Strike: labor action in which employees temporarily
walk off the job and refuse to work
• Picketing: labor action in which workers publicize
their grievances at the entrance to the company
• Boycott: labor action in which workers refuse to
buy the company’s products
• Slowdown: labor action in which workers perform
jobs at a lower rate.
• Management tactics
– Lockouts: workers are not allowed into the
workplace
– Strikebreaker: new workers are hired to
replace the striking workers.
Sometimes third parties try to help ---with mediation or arbitration.
Mediation and Arbitration
• Mediation: a neutral third party suggests,
but cannot impose, a settlement.
• Arbitration: a neutral third party passes a
judgment, and thus can impose a
settlement.