Human Resource Management

Cheatsheet Content

### Introduction to HRM - **Definition:** Human Resource Management (HRM) is the strategic approach to the effective management of an organization's employees, so they help the business gain a competitive advantage. - **Key Functions:** Staffing, Training & Development, Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Relations, Health & Safety, HR Planning. - **Goal:** To maximize employee performance in service of an employer's strategic objectives. ### HR Planning & Strategy - **Definition:** The process of forecasting an organization's future demand for and supply of employees, and matching supply with demand. - **Strategic HRM (SHRM):** Aligning HR practices with organizational business strategies to achieve long-term goals. - **Steps:** 1. **Environmental Scanning:** Analyze external (economic, legal, social) and internal (culture, structure) factors. 2. **Labor Demand Forecasting:** Project future employee needs (quantitative: trend analysis, Delphi; qualitative: expert judgment). 3. **Labor Supply Forecasting:** Project availability of employees (internal: skills inventory, Markov analysis; external: labor market analysis). 4. **Gap Analysis:** Identify surpluses or shortages. 5. **Action Planning:** Develop strategies to address gaps (e.g., recruitment, training, layoffs, early retirement). ### Job Analysis & Design - **Job Analysis:** Systematic process of collecting information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. - **Outputs:** - **Job Description:** A written statement of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job. - **Job Specification:** A list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform a job successfully. - **Job Design:** Organizing tasks, duties, responsibilities, and other elements into a productive unit of work. - **Approaches:** - **Mechanistic:** Focus on efficiency, specialization, repetition (e.g., scientific management). - **Motivational:** Focus on increasing job satisfaction and involvement (e.g., job enrichment, enlargement, rotation). - **Biological:** Focus on reducing physical strain and fatigue (ergonomics). - **Perceptual-Motor:** Focus on reducing mental demands and errors. ### Recruitment & Selection - **Recruitment:** Process of attracting qualified job applicants from which to select the most appropriate person for a job. - **Sources:** Internal (promotions, transfers) and External (job boards, referrals, agencies, colleges). - **Selection:** Process of choosing individuals who have the relevant qualifications to fill existing or projected job openings. - **Steps:** 1. **Application Blanks/Resumes:** Initial screening. 2. **Employment Tests:** Cognitive ability, personality, physical ability, work sample tests. 3. **Interviews:** Structured, unstructured, behavioral, situational. 4. **Reference & Background Checks:** Verify information. 5. **Contingent Assessments:** Drug tests, medical exams (post-offer). 6. **Offer:** Extend job offer. - **Reliability:** Consistency of a measure (e.g., test scores are consistent over time). - **Validity:** Whether a measure accurately assesses what it's supposed to measure (e.g., a test predicts job performance). ### Training & Development - **Training:** Planned effort to facilitate employee learning of job-related KSAOs. Focus on current job. - **Development:** Efforts to help employees acquire KSAOs for future positions or changes in their current job. Focus on future. - **Training Process (ADDIE Model):** 1. **Assess Needs:** Organizational, task, person analysis. 2. **Design:** Objectives, content, methods. 3. **Develop:** Create materials. 4. **Implement:** Deliver training. 5. **Evaluate:** Reaction, learning, behavior, results. - **Training Methods:** On-the-job, classroom, simulations, e-learning, mentoring. ### Performance Management - **Definition:** The process through which managers ensure employees' activities and outputs are aligned with organizational goals. - **Performance Appraisal:** Formal evaluation of an employee's job performance. - **Methods:** - **Graphic Rating Scales:** Rate traits/behaviors on a scale. - **Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS):** Specific examples of behaviors tied to performance levels. - **Management By Objectives (MBO):** Mutually agreed-upon goals. - **360-Degree Feedback:** Feedback from multiple sources (supervisors, peers, subordinates, self). - **Common Errors:** Leniency/Strictness, Central Tendency, Halo/Horn Effect, Recency Error, Contrast Effect. - **Feedback:** Should be timely, specific, constructive, and balanced. ### Compensation & Benefits - **Compensation:** All forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship. - **Direct Compensation:** Wages, salaries, incentives, bonuses, commissions. - **Indirect Compensation (Benefits):** Health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans, tuition reimbursement. - **Pay Structures:** - **Job-based pay:** Based on job evaluation (worth of the job). - **Skill-based pay:** Based on skills employees possess. - **Competency-based pay:** Based on competencies employees demonstrate. - **Legislation:** Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers minimum wage, overtime, child labor. - **Equity Theory:** Employees compare their input/output ratio to others. Perceived inequity can lead to demotivation. ### Employee Relations - **Definition:** The relationship between employers and employees, including collective bargaining and individual employee issues. - **Labor Unions:** Organizations that represent workers to bargain collectively with employers over wages, hours, and working conditions. - **Collective Bargaining:** Negotiation process between management and union representatives regarding terms and conditions of employment. - **Discipline & Grievance Procedures:** - **Progressive Discipline:** Increasing severity of penalties for repeated offenses (e.g., verbal warning, written warning, suspension, termination). - **Grievance Procedure:** Formal process for employees to resolve workplace disputes. - **Employee Engagement:** The emotional commitment an employee has to their organization and its goals. ### Health & Safety - **OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act):** Federal law ensuring safe and healthful working conditions. - **Responsibilities:** - **Employer:** Provide a workplace free from recognized hazards, comply with OSHA standards. - **Employee:** Comply with OSHA standards, follow safety rules. - **Workplace Hazards:** Physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic. - **Stress Management:** Programs to help employees cope with work-related stress. - **Wellness Programs:** Initiatives to promote employee health and well-being. ### Legal & Ethical Issues in HRM - **Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO):** Laws prohibiting discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, etc. - **Key Acts:** - **Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:** Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin. - **Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA):** Protects individuals 40 years or older. - **Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):** Prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities; requires reasonable accommodation. - **Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA):** Provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons. - **Discrimination Types:** - **Disparate Treatment:** Intentional discrimination. - **Disparate Impact:** Unintentional discrimination resulting from a seemingly neutral practice that has a disproportionately negative effect on a protected group. - **Sexual Harassment:** - **Quid Pro Quo:** "This for that" (e.g., promotion for sexual favors). - **Hostile Work Environment:** Conduct that makes the workplace intimidating, hostile, or offensive. - **Ethics in HRM:** Adhering to moral principles and values in HR decisions (e.g., privacy, fairness, transparency).