Strategic Implications of a Dynamic HRM Environment

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Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Ninth
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.
• 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

• The Workforce Today
• minorities and women have become the fastest
  growing segments
• the numbers of immigrant 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 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.

22
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.