Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
Best Practices
How Abbott Laboratories Creates a Healthy Business
Abbott Laboratories is a global company operating in more than 150 countries. They specialize in
medical devices and pharmaceuticals. The industry is fast paced and Abbott needs to stay nimble in
order to remain competitive. A key to their success is their talent management philosophy which
includes careful hiring, a commitment to training and an internal mentoring program. In this vignette a
finance employee’s career path is outlined as an example of how Abbott values career development
which includes paying for an MBA program.
Discussion Questions and Suggested Response
1. How could a company such as Abbott benefit from sending an employee to study finance or
another business subject?
2. How do you think hiring and training could work hand-in-hand to help a company such as Abbott
meet its business objectives?
F. Maintaining Positive Employee Relations
1. Organizations often depend on HR professionals to help them identify and perform many
of the tasks related to maintaining positive relations with employees. This function often
includes providing for communications to employees.
2. The HR department also can expect to handle certain kinds of communications from
individual employees such as: questions about benefits and company policy, discrimination
issues, safety hazards, and dissatisfaction with a supervisor’s response. In unionized
organizations, the HR department also maintains communication with union representatives.
G. Establishing and Administering Personnel Policies
1. Organizations depend on their HR departments to help establish policies related to
hiring, discipline, promotions, benefits, and other activities of HRM.
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
2. All aspects of HRM require careful record keeping ranging from preparation of employee
handbooks to processing of job applicants, performance appraisals, benefits enrollment, and
government mandated reports.
3. The handling of employee records requires accuracy as well as sensitivity to employee
privacy. Organizations must have methods for ensuring accuracy and for balancing privacy
concerns with easy access for those who need information and are authorized to see it.
HR How To
Writing Effective HR Policies
Effective policies clarify expectations in the workplace. In order for policies to be effective they
need to be clearly communicated and relevant to the employees. There are six key principles
for writing policies.
1. Decide if a policy is needed.
2. Determine if any legal requirements impact the policy.
3. Consult with experts to be sure situation is clear.
4. Be specific about the purpose of the policy, who it impacts, and consequences for breaking
the policy.
5. Give examples of where the policy might come into play.
6. Give contact information where employees can get questions answered about the policy.
Discussion Questions and Suggested Response
1. Why do you think it is important to tell employee the purpose of a policy?
2. Suppose some employees are coming to work dressed in a way that distracts others. How
could writing a dress code policy help in this situation? If you were a manager, would you
rather handle the situation by referring to a policy or discussing a specific clothing choice?
Why?
H. Ensuring Compliance with Labor Laws
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
1. The government has many laws and regulations concerning the treatment of employees.
These laws govern such matters as equal employment opportunity, employee safety and
health, pay and benefits, privacy, and job security.
2. Requirements include filing reports and displaying posters as well as avoiding unlawful
behavior.
3. Ensuring compliance with laws requires the HR personnel keep watch over a rapidly changing
legal landscape. Such areas undergoing change include: use of electronic employee
databases, individuals with disabilities, discrimination based upon genetic makeup, fair
employment practices, and job security.
I. Supporting the Organization’s Strategy
1. As more organizations have come to appreciate the significance of highly skilled human
resources, many HR departments have taken a more active role in supporting the
organization’s strategy. An important element of this responsibility is human resource
planning. This means identifying the numbers and types of employees the organization will
require in order to meet its objectives.
2. A key to supporting the organizations strategy is an effective talent management program
which is a systematic, planned effort to attract, retain, develop, and motivate highly skilled
employees.
3. Evidence-based HR is collecting and using data to show that HR practices have a positive
influence on the company’s bottom line or key stakeholders.
4. Often an organization’s strategy requires some type of change. Common reactions to change
include fear, anger, and confusion. The organization may turn to its HR department for help in
managing the change process. Skilled HR professionals can apply knowledge of human
behavior along with performance management tools to help the organization manage change
constructively.
5. Sustainability is an organization’s ability to profit without depleting its resources, including
employees, natural resources, and the support of the surrounding community.
HR Oops!
“Talent Management Sounds great, but…”
A recent survey by Risk Management found that only 12 percent of company have established and
implemented a strategy for talent management despite more than half stating talent management is a
high priority. Even worse, almost 38% of companies stated that talent management wasn’t a priority.
These stats raise many questions about the value organizations place on talent management.
Discussion Questions and Suggested Response
1. Why do you suppose half the managers say talent management is important at their
company but only 12 percent say their company is doing it right? In other words, what is
missing when people fail to do what they say is important?
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
2. How might a company that uses talent management gain an advantage over a competitor
that treats HR tasks as unrelated activities?
III. Skills of HRM Professionals
Figure 1.3, Competencies and Example Behaviors for HR Professionals, is based on the new SHRM
defined set of behaviors and skills associated with HR success. SHRM has identified 9 categories of
competencies.
1. Relationship management
2. Ethical practice
3. HR Expertise
4. Business acumen
5. Critical evaluation
6. Diversity and inclusion
7. Leadership and navigation
8. Consultation
9. Communication
HR professionals also need to bring together a pool of skills that are identified below.
A. Credible Activists
1. Delivers results with integrity.
2. Shares information.
3. Builds trusting relationships.
4. Influences others, providing candid observations, taking appropriate risks.
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
B. Cultural and Change Steward
1. Facilitates change.
2. Develops and values the culture.
3. Helps employees navigate the culture (find meaning in their work, manage work/life balance,
encourage innovation).
C. Talent Manager/Organizational Designer
1. Develops talent.
2. Designs reward systems.
3. Shapes the organization.
D. Strategic Architect
1. Recognizes business trends and their impact on the business.
2. Applies evidence-based HR.
3. Develops people strategies that contribute to the business strategy.
E. Business Allies
1. Understands how the business makes money.
2.Understands the language of business.
F. Operational Executors
1. Implements workplace policies.
2. Advances HR technology.
3. Administers day-to-day work of managing people.
Did You Know?
CEO and CFO Relationship with HRM
Many CEO’s recognize the value HR brings to the organization however few CFO’s agree.
The biggest complaint from CFO’s is the lack of quantitative analysis from HR
professionals.
Discussion Question and Suggested Response
1. What skills or competencies could help HR manager build stronger relationship with
chief &nancial o’cers?
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
IV. HR Responsibilities of Supervisors
1. Although many organizations have HR departments, HR activities are by no means limited to the
specialists who staff those departments. Non-HR managers need to be familiar with the basics of HRM
and their role with regard to managing human resources.
2. Figure 1.4, Supervisor’s Involvement in HRM: Common Areas of Involvement, identifies some HR
responsibilities that supervisors are likely to be involved in. These areas of responsibilities include:
a. Help define jobs
b. Forecast HR needs
c. Interview (and select) candidates
d. Appraise performance
e. Recommend pay increases and promotions
f. Communicate policies
g. Motivate with support from pay, benefits, and other rewards
V. Ethics in Human Resource Management
1. Ethics refers to the fundamental principles of right and wrong; ethical behavior is behavior that is
consistent with those principles.
2. Recent surveys indicate that the general public and managers do not have positive perceptions of the
ethical conduct of U.S. businesses. For example, in a Gallop poll on honesty and ethics in 21
professions, only 18 percent of Americans rated business executives as high or very high; three times
as many rated them low or very low.
3. From a global perspective, an international poll of Facebook members found that two-thirds believe
individuals do not apply values they hold in their personal lives to their professional activities.
4. Ethical lapses often relate to compensation and other HR policies (See the “HR Oops” box).
A. Employee Rights
1. Applied to HRM, ethical principles view employees as having some basic rights. A widely
adopted understanding of human rights, based on the work of philosopher Immanuel Kant,
assumes that in a moral universe, every person has certain basic rights. These basic rights
include:
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
a. Right of free consent
b. Right of privacy
c. Right of freedom of conscience
d. Right of freedom of speech
e. Right to due process
2. One way to think about ethics in business is that the morally correct action is the one that
minimizes encroachments on and avoids violations of these rights.
B. Standards for Ethical Behavior
1. Ethical, successful companies act according to four principles.
a. First, in relationships with customers, clients, and vendors, these companies emphasize
mutual benefits.
b. Second, employees assume responsibility for the actions of the company
c. Third, such companies have a sense of purpose or vision that employees value and use in
their day-to-day work
d. Fourth, they emphasize fairness. That is, another person’s interests count as much as their
own.
2. For human resource practices to be considered ethical, they must satisfy the three basic
standards summarized in Figure 1.5, Standards for Identifying Ethical Practices. The three
basic standards include (1) HRM practices must result in the greatest good for the largest
number of people, (2) employment practices must respect basic human rights of privacy, due
process, consent, and free speech, and (3) managers must treat employees equitably and fairly.
These standards are most vexing when none of the alternatives in a situation meet all three of
them.
VI. Careers in Human Resource Management
1. There are many different types of jobs in the HRM profession. Figure 1.6, Median Salaries for HRM
Positions, identifies selected HRM positions and their salaries.
2. Some positions involve work in specialized areas of HRM such as recruiting, training, or labor and
industrial relations. HR generalists usually perform the full range of HRM activities including recruiting,
3. The vast majority of HRM professionals have a college degree and many also have completed
postgraduate work. The typical field of study is business, especially HR or industrial relations.
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Chapter 01 – Managing Human Resources
4. A well-rounded educational background will likely serve a person well in an HRM position. HR
professionals can also increase their career opportunities by taking advantage of training and
5. Some HRM professionals have a professional certification in HRM, but many more are members of
professional associations. The primary professional organization for HRM is the Society for Human
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