Human Resource Management Review

Today I walk away with so much better understanding of the human resource field. The role HR plays is more than recruiting, hiring and managing benefits, but also a key partner in helping the organization achieve its strategic business goals. Some of the topics I enjoyed most include incentive systems and performance management. Actually I have implemented a performance based reward system at my company using the knowledge I have gained from this course. I have also revised our employee handbook and added some key policies such as social media.   I also greatly enjoyed the board discussions, everybody was on top of his/her game. The discussions were very robust and the knowledge depth of all the participants was amazing. I never thought of ever writing a blog, but guess what..I am doing it and liking it. Last but not least, I think the Professor did a great job in keeping us on track without micro-managing the course too much. I greatly enjoyed this course.

Reasons Why Managers Oppose Public Sector Unions

Author: Dr. John Sullivan

Source:  http://www.ere.net/2011/03/07/reasons-why-managers-oppose-public-sector-unions/

Reasons Why Managers Oppose Public Sector Unions

The ongoing public-sector collective bargain rights controversy in Wisconsin reminds us how emotive this issue can be. In this article Dr. John Sullivan a professor of Management at San Francisco State University takes a non-partisan look on why public-sector managers resist unions. I will highlight some of what I think are very compelling reasons;

1. Long-term contracts can limit flexibility required by public managers to make major changes in response to fast changing economic realities.

2. Work rules can limit reengineering and innovation, strict work rules usually do not allow managers to reengineer their departments and redesign jobs in response to budget cuts or for innovation reasons

3. "Members first" values can limit technology - public-sector unions are by definition advocates of their members. Unions and their members usually engage in efforts to slow down implementation of new technologies, thus sacrificing efficiency and reduced costs in production.

4. In a monopoly situation, strikes can cripple -public sector officials are more pressured to succumb to the demands of unions because government agencies usually operate as a monopoly and strikes can really damage the community.

5.  Job security as a value may reduce necessary terminations - Strong union support may lead to severe restrictions on firing poor performers.

In my opinion Dr. Sullivan has presented a fair case why public sector union representation might not be in the best interest of the Tax Payers.  However I still believe both parties can benefit from a well structured contract, which protects workers rights and also benefits the public sector organizations. This can only be achieved if both sides stay away from emotional arguments and focus on the core issues.

Employers Boosting Work-Life Balance Benefits

I read an article in ere.net a recruiting community website Click Here for Article which talks about the benefits of boosting work-life balance benefits. A survey conducted by hiring managers, recruiters, and human resource professionals found out  "unlike the flashy perks and glitzy giveaways some offered in the frenetic late 1990′s, companies are now increasingly focused on ‘bennies’ that support their employees’ sense of work-life balance."
This JobKite survey revealed that "56 percent of the 263 responding companies have made some significant enhancements to the employee benefits they are offering for retention or recruiting purposes, with most geared toward improving the quality of employees’ work and home lives." Such benefits include increased vacation time, alternative working arrangements such as flex time or telecommuting etc
This survey proves that employee retention and satisfaction can be accomplished not only by offering high perks but also other benefits which boost work-life balance such as telecommuting, flexible scheduling and extended paid time off.
Those employers who will quickly enhance or boost their  work-life balance benefits will reap the benefits of employee loyalty and retention.

Is it possible to control Executive Compensation?

Reining in executive pay has been a hot topic especially in the aftermath of the housing crisis followed by the financial meltdown. To fend off a public backlash the house approved legislation ' the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009', dubbed as 'say-on-pay' this legislation called for companies to set up advisory boards  to oversee pay and allow shareholders to cast a non-binding vote on executive compensation pay. However this legislation is stuck in the senate.
 Despite all these ongoing efforts to control executive compensation, I personally think that's executive compensation problems cannot be resolved by legislation. I read an article on the Institutional Investor written by David Adler in which he interviews a finance professor from Stanford: "Any regulatory restriction on compensation can be and will be circumvented by any financial institution that wants to do so," asserts Dirk Jenter, a finance professor and executive compensation expert at Stanford Graduate School of Business. "It's an open question if the public mood will be appeased by subtle reforms like Say onPay rather than more draconian limits on executive pay , but it is crucial to understand that financial engineering is what these institutions do for a living. If they want to pay an executive pay or a trader in a certain manner, they will find a way." I believe the best way forward is to tie executive compensation to the organization performance. If a company does well then the executives should be compensated well, otherwise they should feel the financial pain when their firms perform dismally.

Source: Adler, D. (2009). More to say on executive pay. Institutional Investor, (00203580), n/a-08+. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/221507411?accountid=11920

HRD is more than sorting Screws!

The field of human resources and development is not only about recruiting and selection, sort of sorting out screws from bolts but an integral part of the development of talent that is key to the profitability of firms.
"It’s no secret that the speed of change in business is incredibly fast. And as a result products, operational processes, customer expectations, and even business models are constantly changing. Every time one of these business factors is upgraded, it simultaneously requires the raising of the needed skills and the expected performance levels of the employees" writes Dr. John Sullivan click here. As companies keep changing strategies to stay competitive, the HRD field must stay a step ahead of the game, in ensuring that the correct talent is not only abound but also kept sharp through training and development. Without a recharged and well developed work force companies have little chance in staying competitive in the brutal global market. Now than ever the field of HRD must stand up side by side with other business units in support of the organizational profitability goals.

Is Facebook the new kid in the block, in the recruiter's arsenal toolkit?

To assess the true impact of facebook and other SNW sites, on recruiting, I scoured the internet to find out if there is any research related to how recruiters are using facebook or SNW sites.
I found out this very interesting article touching on that topic. Click here for Article.
A study conducted on the college campuses in Indiana, Illinois and at Auburn University is asserting that facebook, and potentially other social media as well can be used to assess a person's potential job for success.
In this study a group of moderately trained evaluators could better predict success after spending a few minutes on a facebook profile than could a self-assessment of personality traits often used by industry.
What's even more interesting in this study is that evaluation team was able to assess the facebook profiles of the volunteers on the so called Big Five personality traits - Conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability and openness often used in pre-employment assessments. The researchers were able to conclude that a few minutes the evaluators spent studying each person's facebook data produced a correlation to job academic performance that was consistently better than standardized self-assessment tests.
But the author's are also quick to warn; "“We suggest that SNW-based personality assessment may provide a useful tool for organizational research, but only if further validation research is conducted and consideration of legal risks fully considered.”
 In my opinion, this study reinforces my believe that with the advent of the internet especially in the SNW arena, recruiters are provided with another tool in their toolkit arsenal to be able to make informed decisions when it comes to recruitment and selection.

Creating a Pool of qualified Applicants

Creating a pool of qualified applicants is a key HR function and an important one too. I read an article in www.ere.net an online gathering place for recruiters, which talks about how to adjust hiring standards to increase the pool of candidates. I found two interesting areas  that can be adjusted to increase a pool of candidates:

1. Requirements
HR Recruiters should revisit the job requirements to make sure they are truly critical to the job performance and not just 'nice to haves'. For example 'Proficiency in English' is not necessary to perform many jobs unless it involves customer interactions.

2.  Experience and Education
Setting up demanding expectations regarding a candidate's previous experience and education, will definitely decrease a potential pool of candidates. Experience and Education should be used to establish whether a person has skills and capabilities to perform the job. Therefore hiring managers should consider alternative education and experience as long as it allows the candidate to perform the job duties even if they come from unrelated field.

The underlying  theme in this article is structured flexibility in the staffing process, by finding those things that can be adjusted, an applicant pool can be increased tremendously.

Source: http://www.ere.net/2007/05/30/how-to-adjust-hiring-standards-to-increase-your-applicant-pool/

Social Media at Work

With the advent of social media, employers are looking for a better control. The field of human resources management is being tasked to play a bigger role as far as policy formulation is concerned. Effective policies will be able to govern the use of social media in an effective and  productive manner. If social media is not properly controlled some activities might come back to haunt employers. As shown in the recent past a raid in a suspected militants in West Bank by Israel soldiers  had to be cancelled because a soldier posted details of the raid on facebook. ( click here for article)
An incident like this shows why an effective social media policy is no longer an option for companies to have but a must. Employees might  inadvertently post company secrets or confidential information to these social media website.
The good news is that most employers have put some kind of social media policy in place. A survey conducted by The American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute  on their approach to digital media, shows that more than 60 percent of the companies had some social media policy in place. Like e-mail, employees’ social media creates a trail that could be used in litigation. (Click here for article)
In short the field of human resources management must be at the fore front in guiding companies on how to formulate effective policies that govern the use of social media in a productive manner that does not stifle genuine communications between family, friends and business partners but also ones that protect the company secrets, proprietary information and does not trample on privacy rights of individuals.

No more angling for the best seat; more meetings are stand- up jobs

Appearing on the Wall Street Journal, is an article on how the fast moving tech culture is evolving. From a human resource management point of view, the evolving tech culture is a growing external environment phenomenon that should be embraced and fostered by human resources managers as it has a direct impact on productivity. In this article the writer highlights several companies which conduct their meetings without chairs or conference tables - 'stand-up' only meeting, where sitting has become synonymous with sloth. "The objective is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play angry birds on their cellphones or tune out.". According to Allen Bluedorn, a business Professor at the University Missouri, a number of companies have adopted stand-up meetings over the years. Mr. Bluedorn did a study back in 1998 that found standing meetings were about a third shorter than sitting meetings and quality of decision making about the same. In my own opinion, in this tough competitive economic environment, where a small edge, can result in big gains, any phenomenon which increases productivity and gives a company an edge over their competitors should be fully embraced and fostered by human resource managers. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577193460472598378.html?KEYWORDS=Stand-up+only