Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
Chapter Two: Trends in Human Resource
Management
Welcome to your guide to teaching Chapter Two, Trends in Human
Resource Management!
This guide will provide you with a chapter summary, learning objectives, lecture outlines,
solutions to in-chapter case questions and end of chapter discussion questions and possible
responses.
Chapter Two Roadmap
We hope you find each chapter of your Instructor Manual practical and useful, but also,
exciting! You can adapt the chapter text, the PowerPoint, and the video to work in an online
class environment, a guided independent study environment, or a face to face or on-ground
environment.
When presenting Chapter Two, have the students first read the chapter and encourage
them to absorb the “big picture” of Human Resource Management.
Use the PowerPoint for Chapter Two to frame your lecture.
Have students read and discuss the cases and their respective questions.
Have students validate their knowledge of the chapter by working through the
Discussion Questions at the end of the Chapter.
Lastly, have students review, journal, or discuss the Key Vocabulary Terms at the end of
the chapter.
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Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
ROADMAP: THE LECTURE
Chapter Summary
This chapter provides your students with knowledge of the environment of Human Resource
Management. This chapter will present trends in the labor force and it will explain the
internal labor force (an organization’s workers) and the external labor market (individuals
who are actively seeking employment). Students will read about how the workforce is
becoming older and increasingly diverse. Students will acquire an understanding of skill
deficiencies in the worforce and they will learn how HRM can address those deficiencies.
The chapter will discuss how HRM can help organizations become high-performing, and
the benefits of empowering employees. HRM is a strategic partner during other changes
that are occuring in the business environment, including mergers and acquisitions, and
technological changes. Lastly, the chapter will present the change in the employment
relationship, where organizations expect employees to take more responsibility for their
own careers, from seeking training to balancing work and family. Employees, in turn, seek
flexible work schedules, comfortable working conditions, control over how they accomplish
their work, training and development opportunities, and financial incentives based on
corporate performance.
Learning Objectives for Chapter Two
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
1. Describe trends in the labor force composition and how they affect human resource
management.
2. Summarize areas in which human resource management can support the goal of creating a
high-performance work system.
3. Define employee empowerment and explain its role in the modern organization.
4. Identify ways HR professionals can support organizational strategies for growth, quality, and
efficiency.
5. Summarize ways in which human resource management can support organizations
expanding internationally.
6. Discuss how technological developments are affecting human resource management.
7. Explain how the nature of the employment relationship is changing.
8. Discuss how the need for flexibility affects human resource management.
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Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
Lecture Outline
I. Introduction
The way in which organizations conduct business continues to change. In this vignette there
are two examples of organization that have gotten rid of their HR departments and delegated
the HR responsibilities to line managers. LRN Corporation found that it wasn’t so easy just to
get rid of HR. Their line managers struggle with job and salary information which slows down
the hiring process. Beam Company took their HR and made some into “business partners”
which advise line managers on basic HR questions. There are a lot of ways to “do HR” and not
one right way for each organization. HR is not going away, but there are different ways to get
the job done.
Discussion Question and Suggested Response
1. Should students be concerned that they won’t get a job in HR if companies continue to
make these types of changes?
No, because the HR function still needs to be done. Students need to understand that
they might work in an HR department or they might work as an internal business partner,
and external outsourcing partner, or a PEO type of organization. There are a lot of ways
to be a strategic HR partner and students should keep their minds open on how they
might use their skills in the workplace of the future.
This chapter will describe major trends that are affecting human resource management. It will
examine the modern labor force, including trends that are determining who will participate in the
workforce of the future. The chapter will explore the ways that HRM can support a number of
trends in organizational strategy, from efforts to maintain high-performance work systems to
changes in organizational size and structure.
II. Change in the Labor Force
1. The labor force is a general way to refer to all people willing and able to work.
2. The internal labor force consists of the organization’s workers-its employees and the
people who have contracts to work at the organization.
3. The external labor market is comprised of individuals who are actively seeking
employment.
2. An organization’s internal labor force is derived from its external labor market.
3. Human resource professionals need to be aware of trends in the composition of the
external labor market because these trends affect the organization’s options for creating
a well skilled, motivated internal labor force.
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duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
A. An Aging Workforce
1. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has projected that from 2012 to 2022, the
total civilian U.S. labor force will grow from 155 million to 163 million workers.
2. Figure 2,1 Age Distribution of the U.S. Labor Force, presents the proportions
of workers in different age ranges in the United States between the years 2012
and 2022.
2. By 2022, all baby boomers will be at least 55 years old, swelling the ranks of
workers.
3. Human resource professionals will spend much of their time on concerns related
to planning retirement, retraining older workers, and motivating workers whose
careers have plateaued.
4. Organizations will struggle with ways to control the rising costs of health care and
other benefits, and many of tomorrow’s managers will supervise employees much
older than themselves.
B. A Diverse Workforce
1. Another kind of change affecting the U.S. labor force is that it is growing more
diverse in racial and ethnic terms.
2. Figure 2.2, Projected Racial/Ethnic Makeup of the U.S. Workforce, 2022,
identifies the estimated diverse makeup of the working population by 2022.
3. The greater diversity of the U.S. labor force challenges employers to create HRM
practices that ensure they fully utilize the talents, skills, and values of all
employees.
4. The growth in the labor market of female and minority populations will exceed the
growth of white non-Hispanic persons.
5. The Hispanic share of the U.S. labor force is expected to near 19 percent of the
total in 2022.
6. Along with greater racial and ethnic diversity, there is also greater gender
diversity. By 2022, the share of women in the civilian labor force is expected to
reach about 47 percent.
7. Managing cultural diversity involves many different activities such as creating an
organizational culture that values diversity, ensuring that HRM systems are bias-
free, encouraging career development for women and minorities, promoting
knowledge and acceptance of cultural differences, ensuring involvement in
education both within and outside the organization, and dealing with employees’
resistance to diversity.
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duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
8. Figure 2.3, HRM Practices that Support Diversity Management, summarizes
ways in which HRM can support the management of diversity for organizational
success.
9. The greater the diversity of the U.S. labor force challenges employers to create
HRM practices that ensure that they fully utilize the talents, skills, and values of all
employees. Organizations cannot afford to ignore or discount the potential
contribution of women and minorities.
10. Employers will have to ensure that employees and HRM systems are free of bias
and value the perspectives and experience that women and minorities can
contribute to organizational goals such as product quality and customer service.
11. Managing cultural diversity involves many different activities:
a. Creating an organizational culture that values diversity, ensuring that HRM
systems are bias-free.
b. Encouraging career development for women and minorities
c. Promoting knowledge and acceptance of cultural differences
d. Ensuring involvement in education both within and outside the organization
e. Dealing with employees’ resistance to diversity
HRM Social
Managers debate the issue of the value of social media in the workplace. Most are concerned
that social media lowers productivity. A Canadian worker study found that one third of the
workers felt that social media was distracting and did lower productivity. However, a Warwick
Business School survey found that information workers felt access to social media increased
their productivity. In general, the younger the worker, the more social media helped productivity.
Discussion Questions with Possible Responses
1. Thinking about your current job or a job you would like to have, would access to social
media help or distract you? Do you think your age plays a role in your opinion? Why?
Student answers will vary.
2. How could human resource management support decisions about creating a policy for
using social media?
Social media is a not a passing trend. It is here to stay and organizations can get a
better handle on the value of social media by understanding how it impacts workers and
their productivity. It is important to make a realistic policy and not one that can’t be
enforced. Best practice would suggest that a focus group of cross sectional employees
would be part of the group to work on the policy.
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duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
C. Skill Deficiencies of the Workforce
1. The increasing use of computers to do routine tasks has shifted the kinds of skills
needed for employees in the U.S. economy.
2. Often, when organizations are looking for technical skills, they are looking for skills
related to computers and using the Internet.
3. Today’s employees must be able to handle a variety of responsibilities, interact
with customers, and think creatively. To find such employees, most organizations
are looking for educational achievements. A college degree is a basic
requirement for many jobs today.
4. The gap between skills needed and skills available has decreased U.S.
companies’ ability to compete because they sometimes lack the skills to upgrade
technology, reorganize work, and empower employees.
III. High-Performance Work Systems
1. High-performance work systems are organizations that have the best possible fit
between their social system (people and how they interact) and technical system
(equipment and processes).
2. Among the trends that are occurring are reliance on knowledge workers, empowerment
of employees to make decisions, and use of teamwork.
3. Table 2.1, Top 10 Occupations for Job Growth, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, from employee projections, 2012-2022. These jobs require widely different
levels of training and responsibility, and pay levels vary considerably.
A. Knowledge Workers
1. The growth in e-commerce, plus the shift from a manufacturing to a service and
information economy, has changed the nature of employees that are in demand..
2. The number of service jobs has important implications for human resource
management. Research shows that if employees have a favorable view of HRM
practices, they are more likely to provide good service to customers.
3. Of the jobs expected to have the greatest percentage increases, most are related
to healthcare and computers.
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duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
4. The fastest growing occupations are expected to be biomedical engineers,
network systems and data communications analysts, home health aides, personal
and home care aides, and financial examiners. Many of these occupations require
a college degree.
5. The future U.S. labor market will be both a knowledge economy and a service
economy.
6. Knowledge workers are employees whose main contribution to the organization
is specialized knowledge.
7. As more organizations become knowledge-based, they must promote and capture
learning at the level of employees, teams, and the overall organization.
8. The reliance on knowledge workers affects organizations’ decisions about the
kinds of people they are recruiting and selecting.
B. Employee Empowerment
1. To completely benefit from employees’ knowledge, organizations need a
management style that focuses on developing and empowering employees.
2. Employee empowerment means giving employees responsibility and authority to
make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service.
3. HRM practices such as performance management, training, work design, and
compensation are important for ensuring the success of employee empowerment.
4. Employees must be properly trained to exert their wider authority and use
information resources such as the internet.
5. The use of employee empowerment shifts the recruiting focus away from technical
skills and toward general cognitive and interpersonal skills.
C. Teamwork
1. Organizations need to set up work in a way that gives employees the authority
and ability to make decisions. One of the most popular ways is to increase
employee responsibility and control is to assign work to teams.
2. Teamwork is the assignment of work to groups of employees with various skills
who interact to assemble a product or provide a service.
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duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Chapter 02 – Trends in Human Resource Management
3. Work teams often assume many activities traditionally reserved for managers
such as selecting new team members, scheduling work, and coordinating work
with customers and other units of the organization.
4. In some organizations, technology is enabling teamwork even when workers are
at differed locations or work at different times. These organizations use virtual
teams. Virtual teams are teams that rely on communication technology such as
videoconferences, e-mail, and cell phones to keep in touch and coordinate
activities.
5. Teamwork can motivate employees by making work more interesting and
significant.
6. At organizations that rely on teamwork, labor costs may be lower as well.
IV. Focus on Strategy
1. The strategic role for HRM has evolved gradually. At a growing number of
organizations, HR professionals are strategic partners with other managers.
2. The specific ways in which human resource professionals support the organization’s
strategy vary according to their level of involvement and the nature of the strategy.
3. Strategic issues include emphasis on quality and decisions about growth and efficiency.
Human resource management can support these strategies, including efforts such as
quality improvement programs, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring.
4. Figure 2.4, Business Strategy: Issues Affecting HRM, summarizes strategic issues
facing human resource management.
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