Management Chapter 4 The Competitive Environment Positive Attitudes Toward Their Work And Organization Then

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

Chapter 4: The Competitive Environment

positive attitudes toward their work and organization, then they will be more committed to

making contributions to organizational effectiveness and in helping achieve strategic goals.

Workers with negative attitudes, on the other hand, are less likely to make this commitment and

coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates. These processes are becoming even more important as

organizations move more and more toward having employees work as part of a team instead of

as individuals. HR managers must deal with various issues rising from the emphasis on teams,

ranging from deciding who should be part of a team to how to evaluate the performance of team

members and reward them.

various behavioral processes.

V. Evaluating the Human Resource Function in Organizations

Evaluating the effectiveness of the HR function has become an important trend in recent years.

More recently, however, many organizations have become more concerned with the cost as well

as the benefits of HRM for two seemingly contradictory reasons. First, many organizations are

evaluating entire systems of HR activities. Instead of determining if any one HRM practice can

produce value, this approach examines the relationship between “bundles” of practices and the

overall performance of the organization in terms of factors such as profitability, stock price, and

productivity. Although the specific practices that have been investigated differ somewhat from

Closing Case: Using Strategic Goals to Drive Diversity

Case Summary

In 2015, Sodexo came in second on DiversityInc’s list of Top 50 Companies for Diversity.

Coming on the heels of #1 finishes in 2010 and 2013 and #2 finishes in 2011, 2012, and 2014,

Sodexo’s 2015 ranking made it the only company to make DiversityInc’s top two for six straight

years. Strictly speaking, that commitment began in earnest in 2005, when Sodexo, a French–

based multinational provider of food and facilities-management services, agreed to pay $80

million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2001 by black employees who charged that they weren’t being

promoted at the same rate as white coworkers. “It was a very painful thing for the company,”

recalls Dr. Rohini Anand, Global Chief Diversity Officer. A specialist in multicultural issues, she

began evaluating the experiences not only of African American employees, but those of

Hispanics, Asians, and gays and lesbians. She also instituted a program of metrics to measure the

performance of every diversity-related initiative, including a diversity scorecard to align the

Chapter 4: The Competitive Environment

Case Questions

1. Do you think diversity goals should be a part of a company’s strategy? Why, or why not?

2. Over the past few decades, a number of firms that were sued for discriminatory

employment practices ended up becoming exemplars for promoting diversity. What might

explain this pattern?

3. Describe the link between developing strategies for increasing diversity and then

implementing those strategies.

The formulation of an HR strategy is clearly important and can be affected by many

factors. Ultimately, the best strategy will not help unless it is properly implemented.

1. Discuss the influence of organizational purpose, mission, and the top management team on

human resource strategy.

The purpose and mission of an organization are two of the most fundamental contextual

forces that define the strategic context of human resource management. An organization’s

purpose is its basic reason for existence, while its mission is how its managers have

2. Distinguish among corporate, business, and functional strategies. How does each general

level of strategy relate to human resource management (HRM)?

Corporate strategy is the set of strategic alternatives that an organization chooses as it

manages its operations across several industries and markets. This includes the choice of a

3. Specify the circumstances under which, from a strategic perspective, a firm’s human

resources might be seen as an organizational strength. Specify the circumstances under

which human resources might be seen as a weakness.

A firm’s human resources might be seen as a strength if the people who work within the

4. Discuss how the specific business strategies relate to HRM.

Particular business strategies relate to human resource management in different ways.

Under the adaptation model of business strategy, an organization may choose the defender,

analyzer, or prospector strategy or may operate under the reactor strategy. A defender

strategy is best when a business operates in an environment with relatively little uncertainty

Chapter 4: The Competitive Environment

The analyzer strategy falls between the prospector and defender strategies. The analyzer

firm is most likely in a relatively stable environment with a moderate degree of uncertainty

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages for an individual who accepts a job as an HR

manager in a firm that is in the midst of a retrenchment corporate strategy and a reactor

business strategy?

Students’ answers will vary. Within a retrenchment corporate strategy or a reactor business

strategy, advantages and disadvantages will be similar. In both situations, the organization

6. If you were hired as an HR manager in a large firm where the HR function was poorly

integrated with other functional areas, what steps would you take to improve this

integration?

Students’ answers will vary. To better integrate the human resource function with other

functional areas, various steps could be taken. The manager could begin by examining the

7. Explain how organization design, culture, and unionization issues are related to HRM.

Organization design refers to the framework of jobs, positions, groups of positions, and

reporting relationships among positions within an organization. The design of the

organization will dictate the design of the human resource department as well. Simple

functional designs may only require a central human resource department that coordinates

8. How does the firm’s HR strategy interact with other functional strategies and the strategic

leadership of top management to affect organizational effectiveness?

The new view of the human resource manager is that the human resource manager’s job is

to help operating managers achieve their strategic goals by serving as a center of expertise

for all employment-related activities and issues. An organization must adopt human

9. Why is it important for all managers to understand behavioral forces in organizations?

Why might it be especially important for HR managers to understand these forces?

All managers need to understand the actions of those with whom they work. Individual

processes such as psychological contracts, personality traits, employee attitudes,

10. What are the two primary reasons many businesses today are interested in evaluating the

effectiveness of their HRM function?

Additional Resource

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

This is a TED Talk by Martin Reeves available here:

Chapter 4: The Competitive Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE_ETgaFVo8.

Martine Reeves is a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group, the director of the BCG

Henderson Institute, and a coauthor of the book, Your Strategy Needs a Strategy (Harvard