HR Oops
Workers Often Don’t Have What They Need to Succeed
AtTask, a maker of project management software, conducted a survey of over 500 U. S. workers
in a variety of industries to determine what causes employees to struggle with, or miss,
deadlines. According to the survey, 60% of workers stated they were completely overwhelmed
or barely meet deadlines. One-third stated they were unable to turn assignments in on time
because of lack of resources and 50% said they do not have enough people to do the work
without doing overtime. More than a third stated they were somewhat, a little, or not clear about
desired outputs. Work Flow analysis spells out the human and other resources needed to carry
out objectives and many companies miss the opportunity to use this important concept.
Discussion Question with Possible Responses
1. What consequences might an organization expect to result from the conditions described
by the AtTask Survey?
2. How might an organization use work flow analysis to prevent some of these problems?
An effective work flow analysis will help to identify lack of resources, clarify outcomes,
and assign employees and overall accountability to the project. It can help streamline
resources and improve the communication links within the organization. The outcome is
improved workflow which will have a positive impact on productivity.
HR How To
Identifying Relevant KSAO’s
Organizations, without a strong human resource influence, may be tempted to use shortcuts in
defining job specifications. Sometimes managers put arbitrarily high expectations hoping to get
a better candidate when the skills really are needed to begin the job. Expects have
recommendations on how to pinpoint relvant KSAO’s. Instead of asking for education, ask for
certain skills or competencies. Write standards for someone who can succeed in the position.
Use performance data to help determine reasonable KSAO’s.
Discussion Questions and Possible Responses
1. Why do you think many companies include education level and years of
experience in their job specifications?
2. Suppose you were writing job specifications for the position of production
supervisor. Suggest a few ways to identify KSAO’s for that position.
HRM Social
With Good Analysis, Work Isn’t Just a Game
Gamification is a hot new trend in that businesses are using to yield better results
from employees and improve overall performance. Employers use concepts from
sports or games to build leader boards and to engage employees in collaborations
to help defeat an enemy (a competitor.) A job analysis can help support the
gamification process by pinpointing what employees should be accomplishing and
what skills and resources are needed.
Discussion Questions and Possible Responses
1. Suppose you are a human resource manager at a company that is going to gamify
the job of its salespeople. How would job analysis help you advise the team on
which behaviors to reward?
2. In the same scenario, how would job analysis help you advice the team on which
kinds of reward to incorporate?
Best Practices
Big Data for High Efficiency at UPS
Big data and the way in which it is gathered, analyzed, and applied is a key to
businesses saving resources. UPS is the world’s largest package-shipping
company, and even reducing each route by one mile per day can save them
more than $50 million per year. The company spent years developing their new
Orion (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation) system which is
designed to gather data from customers, vehicles, and drivers’ handheld
computers. It will analyze the data and design routs for each driver to use the
minimum time and fuel.
Discussion Questions with Possible Responses
1. What benefits does UPS derive from using Orion to help it make drivers’ work more
efficient?
2. What challenges does the system pose for drivers and their managers?
Discussion Question with Possible Response
1. What advantages of telework make it the most widely used form of flexibility?
Discussion Questions with Possible Responses
1. How do the basic human rights defined in Chapter 1 – free consent, privacy, freedom of
conscience, freedom of speech, and due process – apply to professional football players
and the safety risks described here?
2. Will making football players’ jobs safe achieve the ethical goal of the greatest good for
the greatest number of people? Why or Why not? Is there an ethical level of safety in
football?
ROADMAP: Review and Discussion Questions
1. Assume you are a manager of a fast-food restaurant. What are the outputs of your work
unit? What are the activities required to produce those outputs? What are the inputs?
2. Based on Question 1, consider the cashier’s job in the restaurant. What are the outputs,
activities, and inputs for that job?
3. Consider the “job” of college student. Perform a job analysis on this job. What tasks are
required in the job? What knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary to perform those
tasks? Prepare a job description based on your analysis.
4. Discuss how the following trends are changing the skill requirements for managerial jobs
in the United States: (a) increasing use of social media, (b) increasing international
competition, and (c) increasing work-family conflicts.
5. Suppose you have taken a job as a trainer in a large bank that has created competency
models for all of its positions. How could the competency models help you succeed in
your career at the bank? How could the competency models help you develop the
bank’s employees?
6. Consider the job of a customer service representative who fields telephone calls from
customers of a retailer that sells on-line and through catalogs. What measures can an
employer take to design this job to make it efficient? What might be some drawbacks or
challenges of designing this job for efficiency?
7. How might the job in Question 6 be designed to make it more motivating? How well
would these considerations apply to the cashier’s job in Question 1?
8. What ergonomic considerations might apply to each of the following jobs? For each job,
what kinds of costs would result from addressing ergonomics? What costs might result
from failing to address ergonomics?
A. A computer programmer
B. A UPS delivery person
C. A child care worker
9. The chapter said that modern electronics have eliminated the need for a store’s cashiers
to calculate change due on a purchase. How does this development modify the job
description for a cashier? If you were a store manager, how does this affect the skills
and qualities of job candidates you would want to hire? Does this change in mental
processing requirements affect what you would expect from a cashier? How?
10. Consider a job you hold now or have held recently. Would you want this job to be
redesigned to place more emphasis on efficiency, motivation, ergonomics, or mental
processing? What changes would you want and why? (Or why do you want the job to
be redesigned?)
Taking Responsibility
How Google Searches for the right Job Requirements
Google is a sought after employer with around 2.5 million applying to work there each year.
Google is well known for a variety of perks that tie to their philosophy of valuing employees.
The decisions about job design are data driven and Google frequently asks employees how
they feel about the various HR programs. Google has many job programs that help motivate
the employees. One is the way in which the job functions are described. They put the functions
in exciting terms that employees want to rally around. They also let employees negotiate flex
time which is empowering to the employees. The employees are also allowed up to 20 percent
of their work time to work on projects not assigned but still in their functional area. Google is
also concerned about employee health and allows employees ergonomic work space options as
well as healthy snacks. The head of People Operations states that these programs are
associated with 15% great productivity.
Discussion Questions with Possible Responses
1. What elements of motivating jobs has Google put into place, according to this
description? Name a few other elements that might be appropriate at Google.
2. What are the ergonomic challenges of jobs at Google? How does the company give
workers flexibility in meeting those challenges?
Managing Talent
Amazon’s Warehouse Jobs: Good or Grueling Work?
Amazon is growing an expected to add 5,000 full-time jobs to fill orders in distribution centers.
The question that many are asking deals with if these are quality jobs or not. Amazon says
these are not typical warehouse jobs because of the scale at which they operate. It is hard
work, but in exchange Amazon offers 30% higher pay than the average retail worker. Full-time
employees also receive health insurance, retirement, stock, and tuition reimbursement.
Although Amazon feels they offer good pay and benefits and a great place to work, they have
borrowed Zappos policy of paying employees to quit. If an employee, within the first year of
employment, wants to quit, they will receive a $2000 severance package and that increases
each year for the first 4 years. The slogan of the program is “Please Don’t Take This Offer.”
Amazon feels this is a good way to keep satisfied workers and give an out to those who don’t
like the company or work.
Discussion Questions with Possible Responses
1. Based on the information provided, write a simple work flow analysis listing inputs,
activities, and outputs of an Amazon distribution center?
2. Suppose Amazon hired you as a consultant to help minimize the cost of severance pay
to fulfillment center workers. Suggest a few ways Amazon might consider improving
the design of the jobs?
HR in Small Business
Inclusivity Defines BraunAbility’s Products and Its Jobs
This case highlights the company, BraunAbility, which has become the world’s largest maker of
wheelchair-accessible vans and wheelchair lifts. Recruiting is inclusive at BraunAbility, which
especially great appreciation for the potential of disabled workers.
Questions
1. In what ways is work at Braunability motivating? What other features of motivating work
might BraunAbility be able to offer its employees?
2. What place would efficient job design have in a company like BraunAbility? How could
BraunAbility improve job efficiency in a way that is consistent with the company’s
emphasis on inclusiveness and flexibility?
3. Imagine that you work with the HR director at BraunAbility, and she has asked you to
suggest some ways to reinforce employees’ sense that their jobs have an important
impact on others. What would you suggest?
HRM DVD Vol 3 Suggested Video with Discussion Questions and Possible Responses
Video Part 1 : Calling Center (3:47)
Video Summary
Everyone has had a bad experience with customer service. Emily Yellin, author of “Your Call is
Not That Important to us,” states that when we call customer service, all we want to hear is yes;
nothing else.
American call centers receive 43 billion calls per year, and approximately 3 million people work
in call centers around the United States, and an additional 2 million people outside the United
States. It costs about $7. 50 per call to have an American agent answer a call, to outsource to a
foreign country is about $2.35 per call, voice response systems cost about $.35 per call.
Everyone was happy except the customer, and customer service agents who have had to clean
up the mess.
Sixty percent of complaints respond that they received nothing to resolve their complaint.
Seventy percent of people who have called for help with customer service report that they have
experienced rage. Getting people to see the human face of the problem.
Discussion Questions
1. How does FedEx handle customer service issues in a way that is different than most?
2. Think of a positive customer experience. What are the behavioral success factors that made
the encounter so successful?