Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Diversity and Inclusion Slide 14
Learning Outcome 5: Explain how HRM supports diversity and inclusion in the
workplace.
HR’s Challenge:
Create a culture that welcomes diverse groups of people by addressing different
lifestyles, family needs, and work styles.
Attract and maintain a work force that is reflective of the diversity in the general
population.
Increased sensitivity to group differences.
Accommodate different values, needs, interests, and expectations of employees.
Workforce Diversity Slide 15
Varied personal characteristics of workforce
Many organizations go beyond EEO laws to also recognize and protect:
Politics
Spirituality
Socioeconomic status
Family
Culture
In addition to legally protected characteristics
Inclusion refers to a culture of acceptance.
Diversity and Work-Life Balance Slide 16
Different groups have different needs and expectations out of life and work:
Age groups
Ethnic groups
Lifestyle
Requiring workplace flexibility for:
Family responsibilities
Leisure time
Quality of life
Global differences in culture and time
Again, technology helps and complicates the issue.
Exhibit 1-3 FedEx Corporation Diversity Mission Statement page 11 is an
example of how businesses value diversity so highly that they create a specific
mission statement to emphasize those values. Does your college or any local
organizations have a Diversity Mission Statement?
Diversity Topics – Glass Ceiling Still a Barrier for Women Globally page 12
provides some surprising statistics on the percent of women in senior
management positions. The biggest surprise? China has more than twice the
percentage of women executives as the U.S.
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Labor Costs Slide 17
Learning Outcome 6: Explain the contingent workforce and other methods used to
control labor costs.
Labor costs are frequently an organization’s biggest expense.
Core employees make up the most expensive part of the workforce because of training
and benefit costs to name a few.
HR is required to control labor costs in a variety of ways:
Reduced hours
Reduced pay
Downsizing
Outsourcing
Offshoring
Contingent labor
Managing expense of:
oEmployee benefits
oWorkers compensation and disability claims
Downsizing
Also referred rightsizing
May be necessary due to
Economic pressure
Strategic changes
Structural changes
Increased efficiencies
Outsourcing moves work to outside sources such as contractors.
Contingent Workforce Slide 18
Saves money for the organization due to
Lower costs
Increased flexibility in scheduling
Examples include:
Part-time employees
oTypically work less than 40 hours per week
oTemporary employees
oAlso called “temps”
Employed for short term assignments
oContract workers
oContractors are not employees
oMay be called freelancers, subcontractors or consultants
Contingent Worker Issues:
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Core employees often receive more generous amenities than contingent workers.
Contingent workers may perceive their treatment to be less favorable and view
themselves as less critical to the organization.
What are they entitled to?
Compensation
Training and development
Scheduling
Move to full-time?
Pay and benefits conflicts
Pay rates do not include benefits, causing perception problems.
Contingent workers moving to full-time often find lower net pay when
benefits and deductions are considered.
Classifying employees correctly Slide 19
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets standards for many employment
issues including pay and who is and is not an employee.
Department of Labor(DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforce
employment relationship guidelines:
Behavioral: how much control does employer have over worker
activities?
Financial: how much control does employer have over pay,
expense? reimbursement, purchase of supplies and other materials.
Relationship: does a contract define the relationship, what types of
benefits are provided, what promises have been made?
Offshoring Slide 20
Moving jobs to another country, usually for economic reasons.
Lower labor costs
Lower production costs
Tax advantages
Weaker union environment
Favorable business climate with fewer regulations
A variety of types of jobs have been outsourced including Human Resources.
Reshoring involves returning jobs to home country.
Continuous Improvement Programs Slide 21
Learning Outcome 7: Explain how HRM supports continuous improvement programs.
Continuous improvement involves constant efforts to provide better products and service
to customers, with today’s definition of customer including everyone both external and
internal to the organization.
Quality management
Concepts have existed for over 50 years and include the pioneering work of W.
Edwards Deming.
Key components of continuous improvement are listed in Exhibit 1-7.
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Intense focus on the customer
Concern for continuous improvement
Improving quality of everything the organization does
Accurate measurement of operations
Empowering employees
Kaizen is the Japanese term for commitment to continuous improvement.
Work Process Engineering
Involves radical, quantum changes to entire work processes.
Differs from the incremental change usually obtained through continuous
improvement programs.
How HRM Can Support Improvement Programs
Helping employees cope with the emotional aspects of conflict and change
Providing skills training.
Adapting HR systems, such as compensation, benefits, and performance
standards.
Employee Involvement Slide 22
Learning Outcome 8: Define employee involvement and list its critical components.
How Organizations Involve Employees
Organizational culture must support involvement.
Top management must also support involvement.
Employees at all levels will need to delegate some of their activities and
responsibilities.
Emphasis needs to be on participative management using group decision
making
Involvement of employees on work teams.
Employee Involvement Implications for HRM
HRM must provide training to help empower employees in their new roles.
Involvement programs can achieve greater productivity, as well as increased
employee loyalty and commitment.
Other HRM Challenges Slide 23
Learning Outcome 9: Outline emerging challenges facing HRM.
To be honest, it isn’t necessary to look any further than your favorite news source to find
emerging challenges. They change every day. Your students will have their own list, but
let’s start with this one.
Economy
Recessions mean layoffs.
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
HR professionals are confronted with challenges that accompany a
recession with layoffs, lower morale, worker resentment, and the need to
retrain those that remain.
The benefit of a recession is that higher unemployment makes it possible
to attract and hire better qualified people when the need arises.
Economic recovery is often slow and uneven.
Employers may be cautious about hiring.
Contingent workers may be utilized.
Labor shortages may exist for some skills in some areas.
Workers may need retraining to cope with either recession or recovery.
Mergers
Involve two or more organizations joining in ownership.
Acquisitions involve one organization taking ownership and control of another.
Used for financial gain:
Entering new markets
Acquiring technology or patents
Achieve economies of scale
HR responsibilities
Communication
Facilitate culture
Merge workforces
Labor Unions
Employees organize to secure better wages, hours and working conditions.
HR typically would rather not have to deal with employee unions.
Unions are on the decrease in the U. S. except for the public sector and service
jobs.
Covered in depth in chapter 14
Ethics
Ethics is a set of rules or principles that defines right and wrong conduct.
“Right” and “wrong” are often difficult to distinguish.
Code of ethics state an organization’s primary values and the ethical rules it
expects organizational members to follow.
Sarbanes – Oxley (SOX)
Established in 2002 after colossal ethical failures resulted in bankruptcy of Enron
and Worldcom.
HRM is largely responsible for ethical training.
Class Activity: Ethical Issues in HRM – Guidelines for Acting Ethically page
19 provides practical guidelines for making ethical decisions that avoid
embarrassing problems for people and businesses. As a class activity, use a recent
newsworthy example of unethical behavior and apply each of these six guidelines.
Can the action by justified by any of them?
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Sustainability
Involves responsible and ethical ways of
Living
Doing business
Employing individuals
Individuals prefer to work for employers they perceive to support sustainability.
HRM helps achieve sustainability by promoting:
Energy conservation
Recycling and other “green” initiatives
Ethical business practices
Community involvement and volunteer activities
Sustainable production resources
Safe workplaces
Inclusive culture
Class Activity: Ethical Issues in HRM – Everyday Ethics page 21 Students
often find it difficult to relate to examples of unethical behavior by people in large
corporations or government. After reading these “everyday” examples of unethical
but not illegal behavior by managers or owners, ask students to provide their own
examples and explain how HR could provide ethical training to prevent the
behaviors and the undesirable results of those behaviors.
HRM Workshop
The HRM Workshop includes several different types of activities requiring students to apply
chapter concepts aligned with the learning outcomes. Suggested answers follow this
introduction.
Reviewing Important Concepts: Chapter review questions aligned with chapter
learning outcomes. Designed to require critical thinking skills.
Evaluating Alternatives: Thought provoking questions that require students to apply
chapter concepts and consider the purpose, application and consequences of HRM
decisions from different perspectives. Aligned with chapter learning outcomes.
Research and Communication Skills: HR managers need a variety of skills, but one of
the most important may be the ability to keep current. In the words of a wise HR
Director, “Having your certification is good, but that knowledge is only current for so
long. My question to new HR professionals is ‘Can you do the research?'”
These activities require students to research HR best practices and how they are
implemented in local or global organizations, and exercise communication and
presentation skills so necessary for success as an HR professional. Activities vary in the
type of research and presentation required, but evaluation forms or rubrics may be used to
communicate expectations and facilitate easier grading. The form below can be accessed
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
on the website and contains basic elements for grading activities. You may wish to
customize it by changing requirements or adding point values.
Activity Evaluation Form
Objective/Criteria Performance Indicators
Below Requirements Needs Improvement Meets Expectations Exceptional
Length Insufficient length to
discuss issues and
apply relevant
concepts.
Length significantly
under minimum.
Adequate length to
fully discuss issues and
apply relevant
concepts. On the low
side of length
requirement.
Length requirement
used carefully to
provide excellent
content.
Format Many errors Few errors in grammar
punctuation, spelling or
typos.
Error free Professional quality
product.
Research Relevant concepts are
not applied or are
applied on a surface
level that does not
indicate depth of
understanding beyond
knowing the
definitions.
Concepts from the text
are mentioned, but
explanation and
application indicate a
minimal level of
understanding of
relevant concepts and
issues.
Relevant concepts from
the chapter material are
applied in adequate
depth to indicate
understanding of the
concepts and issues.
Thoughtful and
insightful discussion of
the concepts learned in
chapter material as they
apply to the activity.
Presentation Paper or presentation
contains many errors
and lacks
professionalism or was
not presented.
Paper or presentation
contains errors or
shows a lack or
preparation that
distracts from the
message.
Paper or presentation is
free of errors.
Paper or presentation is
creatively and
professionally
presented.
Making a Difference Service Learning Projects: Service learning activities help
students practice HR skills, gain experience, develop a stronger resume, increase
employability and demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. These activities can be
assigned to groups or individuals. A sample assignment with requirements and grading
materials is available as a download from the text website.
Case Applications:
Each chapter includes two cases in the textbook and two continuing cases on the textbook
website.
Case A in the text is a hypothetical case. It is closely aligned with the chapter learning
outcomes and requires students to use critical thinking skills to apply concepts.
Case B is pulled from the headlines and court cases. It is also closely aligned with
learning outcomes and requires students to use critical thinking skills.
Case C is the popular Team Fun! continuing case involving brothers running a sports
equipment manufacturing company. Freshly updated and aligned with chapter learning
outcomes and some new thought provoking questions.
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Chapter 1: The Dynamic Environment of HRM
Case D is a new continuing case that follows a couple as they build an online active wear
company and cope with the challenges and changes of managing human resources in a
growing start-up.
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