Strategic Implications of a Dynamic HRM Environment

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Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Eighth
Edition DeCenzo and Robbins
Chapter 1 Strategic Implications of a Dynamic
HRM Environment
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Introduction

• The World of Work - continues to change, but at
  an even more rapid pace(speed).
• HR must understand the implications of
• globalization
• technology changes
• workforce diversity
• changing skill requirements
• continuous improvement initiatives
• the contingent work force
• decentralized work sites
• and employee involvement

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• Todays business world is truly a global village.
  This term refers to the fact that businesses
  currently operate around the world.

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• HRM must ensure that
• employees can operate in the appropriate language
  
• communications are understood by a multilingual
  work force
• Ensure that workers can operate in cultures that
  differ on variables such as
• status differentiation
• societal uncertainty
• assertiveness
• individualism
• HRM also must help multicultural groups work
  together.

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• GLOBE Dimensions
• Assertiveness
• Future Orientation
• Gender Differentiation
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Power Distance
• Individualism/collectivism
• In-group collectivism
• Performance orientation
• Humane orientation

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Understanding Cultural Environments

• Cultural Implications for HRM
• Not all HRM theories and practices are
  universally applicable.
• HRM must understand varying cultural values.

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The Changing World of Technology

• Has altered the way people work.
• Has changed the way information is created,
  stored, used, and shared.
• The move from agriculture to industrialization
  created a new group of workers the blue-collar
  industrial worker.
• Since WWII, the trend has been a reduction in
  manufacturing work and an increase in service
  jobs.

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The Changing World of Technology

• Knowledge Worker - individuals whose jobs are
  designed around the acquisition and application
  of information.
• Why the emphasis on technology
• makes organizations more productive
• helps them create and maintain a competitive
  advantage
• provides better, more useful information

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The Changing World of Technology

• How Technology Affects HRM Practices
• Recruiting
• Employee Selection
• Training and Development
• Ethics and Employee Rights
• Motivating Knowledge Workers
• Paying Employees Market Value
• Communication
• Decentralized Work Sites
• Skill Levels
• Legal Concerns

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Workforce Diversity

• The challenge is to make organizations more
  accommodating to diverse groups of people.

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Workforce Diversity

• Diversity is the existence of many unique
  individuals in the workplace, marketplace and
  community. This includes men and women from
  different nations, cultures, ethnic groups,
  generations, backgrounds, skills, abilities and
  all the other unique differences that make each
  of us who we are.

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Workforce Diversity

• The Workforce Today
• minorities and women have become the fastest
  growing segments
• the numbers of immigrant(migrators) workers and
  older workers are increasing

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Workforce Diversity

• How Diversity Affects HRM
• Need to attract and maintain a diversified work
  force that is reflective of the diversity in the
  general population.
• Need to foster(further) increased sensitivity to
  group differences.
• Must deal with the different
• Values
• Needs
• Interests
• Expectations of employees

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Workforce Diversity

• What Is a Work/Life Balance?
• A balance between personal life and work
• Causes of the blur between work and life
• The creation of global organizations means the
  world never sleeps.
• Communication technologies allow employees to
  work at home.
• Organizations are asking employees to put in
  longer hours.
• Fewer families have a single breadwinner.

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Labor Supply

• Do We Have a Shortage of Skilled Labor?
• The combination of the small Gen-X population,
  the already high participation rate of women in
  the workforce, and early retirements will lead to
  a significantly smaller future labor pool from
  which employers can hire.

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Labor Supply

• Why Do Organizations Lay Off During Shortages?
• Downsizing is part of a larger goal of balancing
  staff to meet changing needs.
• Organizations want more flexibility to better
  respond to change.
• This is often referred to as rightsizing, linking
  employee needs to organizational strategy.

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Labor Supply

• How Do Organizations Balance Labor Supply?
• Organizations are increasingly using contingent
  workers to respond to fluctuating needs for
  employees.
• Contingent workers include
• Part-time workers
• Temporary workers
• Contract workers

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Labor Supply
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Labor Supply

• Issues Contingent Workers Create for HRM
• How to attract quality temporaries
• How to motivate employees who are receiving less
  pay and benefits
• How to have them available when needed
• How to quickly adapt them to the organization
• How to deal with potential conflicts between core
  and contingent workers

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Continuous Improvement Programs

• Continuous improvement - making constant efforts
  to provide better products and service to
  customers
• External
• Internal
• Quality management concepts have existed for over
  50 years and include the pioneering work of W.
  Edwards Deming.

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Continuous Improvement Programs

• Key components of continuous improvement are
• Focus on the customer
• Concern for continuous improvement
• Improvement in the quality of everything
• Accurate measurement
• Empowerment of employees

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Continuous Improvement Programs

• Work Process Engineering involves radical,
  quantum changes to entire work processes.
• How HRM Assists in Work Process Engineering
• Helps employees deal with the emotional aspects
  of conflict and change
• Provides skills training
• Adapts HR systems, such as compensation,
  benefits, and performance standards.

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Employee Involvement

• Delegation having the authority to make
  decisions in ones job
• Work teams workers of various specializations
  who work together in an organization
• HRM must provide training to help empower
  employees in their new roles.
• Involvement programs can achieve
• greater productivity
• increased employee loyalty and commitment

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A Look at Ethics

• Three views of ethics
• Utilitarian View decisions are made on the
  basis of their outcomes or consequences
• Rights View decisions are made with concern for
  respecting and protecting individual liberties
  and privileges
• Theory of Justice View decisions are make by
  enforcing rules fairly and impartially
• Code of ethics - a formal document that states an
  organizations primary values and the ethical
  rules it expects organizational members to
  follow.