Chapter 3 Flashcards
(94 cards)
1
Q
Being responsive to environmental changes is a prerequisite for what?
A
> building dynamic capabilities and gaining a first-mover advantage.
2
Q
To understand strategic HR planning, we must understand how HRM is affected by what?
A
> the environment in which it operates.
3
Q
What is environmental scanning?
A
> is the systematic monitoring of the major factors influencing the organization to identify trends that might affect the formulation and implementation of both organizational and HR strategies.
4
Q
Environment is a fuzzy term; why?
A
> Environment is a fuzzy term; it covers factors as broad as national and multinational contexts that influence an organization.
> also includes the industrial environments
5
Q
What are Porter’s Five Competitive Forces?
A
6
Q
What are the four components of the environmental analysis process?
A
1) Scanning
2) monitoring
3) forecasting
4) assessing
7
Q
Scanning and monitoring the general environment entails:
A
> economics
globalization
politics/legislation
technology
demographics
social and cultural factors
8
Q
Scanning and monitoring the business environment entails:
A
> Porter’s five forces
constituent groups (management, employees, unions)
9
Q
What does HR forecasting and assessing entail?
A
> determining issue priority
SWOT analysis
scenario planning
10
Q
What is scanning?
A
An attempt to identify early signals of changes and trends in the environment. This information is ambiguous, incomplete, and unconnected.
11
Q
What is monitoring?
A
> A systematic approach to following some key indicators that may affect the organization, such as legislative changes.
12
Q
What is forecasting?
A
After monitoring a trend, an attempt to project the possible impact on the organization.
13
Q
What is assessing?
A
An attempt to describe the impact of the monitored trend on the organization and make a judgment of the probability of each of several possible outcomes (Certo and Peter 1993). For example, what would be the impact of a trend in drones delivering products?
14
Q
How do HR professionals monitor change?
A
> monitor changes that might affect their programs and policies through HR/business publications and media, attending conferences/workshops, using professional consultants, and being a member of the provincial HR association.
15
Q
HR professionals can use several methods to generate predictions about the future or extrapolate from current events to determine their impact on HR practices. These methods include:
A
> trend analysis, the Delphi technique, nominal group technique, impact analysis, and scenario planning
16
Q
Scenario-Based HR Planning - what are the 4 steps?
A
> Step one: Identify three business scenarios that might be played out over the next five years (most desirable case, most likely case, and least desirable case).
> Step two: For each scenario, assess the firm’s HR readiness. What are the challenges faced under each scenario (e.g., labour shortages, safety concerns)? Then identify the HR department’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to these challenges.
> Step three: Over the next five years, what are the likely trends with rivals, employees, and candidates? What are the threats posed by rivals? What are the predicted needs and motivations of key employees? What changes do we forecast in the quality and quantity of our labour pool?
> Step four: For each scenario, identify HR initiatives and programs that must be undertaken to deal with the threats and opportunities. For example, to meet a labour shortage of skilled mechanics, a joint program with a community college might be established.
17
Q
What is competitive intelligence?
A
> Competitive intelligence (or business intelligence) is a formal approach to obtain information about your competitors.
18
Q
What is the simplest form of competitive intelligence?
A
> The simplest method is to study their websites for information about their strategies and plans for product launches.
> Other companies train their employees to ask questions from vendors about the purchasing decisions of their competitors. Some organizations hire competitors’ employees to obtain insider information about future plans.
19
Q
There are problems in scanning the environment. These include:
A
> our inability to accurately predict the future and to isolate what really is important to HR
20
Q
Most HR strategists limit themselves to what kind of time period?
A
> Most HR strategists limit themselves to a two- to three-year period and extrapolate from current trends.
21
Q
Four criteria have been suggested for identifying significant trends:
A
1) Are there ripple effects (change in one aspect impacts another, such as social networking sites affecting both friendships and professional relationships)?
2) How profound are the impacts on people’s priorities, roles, and expectations?
3) How large is the impact scope (number of people impacted)?
4) Will the changes endure over time?
22
Q
The economic indices we are so familiar with from the media are also important to HR strategists - what are they?
A
- concerned with the unemployment rate because it affects their ability to recruit;
- worried about the cost of fuel and employees’ willingness to commute;
- worried about the value of the Canadian dollar because it affects the company’s ability to sell products internationally, and thus affects employment levels;
- troubled by the amount of public debt because it affects business taxes, and therefore a company’s ability to survive and grow;
- and anxious about interest rates because they affect how much a company is willing to borrow to grow its business and invest in employees.
23
Q
The gig economy can be described as:
A
> The gig economy can be described as one in which workers are hired for projects (gigs) and are not employed full-time.
24
Q
Independent workers can be clustered into four categories:
A
1) Free agents who choose this work and derive their income from it (30 percent)
2) Casual earners who use it to supplement their incomes (40 percent)
3) Reluctants who would prefer traditional jobs (14 percent)
4) Financially strapped individuals who work like this out of necessity (16 percent)
25
Other actions that are taken by HR managers to cope with economic uncertainty include:
> becoming knowledgeable about outsourcing.
> linking employee performance with organizational goals;
> increasing expectations of employee productivity;
> putting emphasis on succession planning and readiness;
> investing in leadership development; using non-cash rewards such as time off, time flexibility, and learning opportunities;
> and retraining employees for new jobs
26
What is globalization?
> Globalization is the growth in flows of trade and financial capital across borders
27
What does globalization affect?
> Globalization affects sovereignty, prosperity, jobs, wages, and social legislation.
28
Globalization issues now include what and as a result, what does HR have to do?
> crisis management and evacuation in cases of terrorism, civil war, and the outbreak of infectious diseases. HR managers will need to develop international competencies
29
Governments – municipal, provincial, and federal – can influence what kind of environment?
> can influence the business environment through political programs that result in changes to laws and regulations.
30
The employer–employee relationship is governed by what?
> is governed by a legal framework that includes common law (judicial precedents that do not derive from specific laws),
> constitutional law (e.g., the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
> acts of federal and provincial parliaments),
> and contract law (e.g., collective agreements).
31
HR professionals need to continuously monitor what?
> continuously monitor legislative changes and ensure compliance with legal requirements.
32
The decisions not governed by law are usually governed what instead?
> usually governed by morals or an ethical code.
33
Human resources technology is a broad term encompassing:
> software and hardware that automates HR tasks, such as recruitment, hiring, payroll, compensation, benefits, andperformance management
34
Job roles that are: INCREASING DEMAND:
Data Analysts and Scientists
AI and Machine Learning Specialists
Big Data Specialists
Digital Marketing and Strategy Specialists
Process Automation Specialists
35
Job roles that are decreasing demands:
Data Entry Clerks
Administrative and Executive Secretaries
Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Clerks
Accountants and Auditors
Assembly and Factory Workers
36
What is the fourth industrial revolution?
> Although still in its early stages, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) (or Industry 4.0), which involves a broad range of artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning technologies, will fundamentally change the way many of us work and relate to one another
> Driven by technology, this transformation presents a range of challenges, as well as opportunities, where we might expect HR professionals would lead the way. However, little is currently known in relation to how prepared HR professionals are to ready their organizations for this new era of work and associated resourcing.
37
Impact of Technology on Organizations and their level of impact
> Requires changes in skills and work habits of employees
- Employees have to be provided with constant training, and skills are no longer viable for decades.
> Elimination of some lower-level positions and layers of management
- Routine tasks, normally done by those lowest in the organization hierarchy, are automated, and the surviving employees need more advanced skills. Fewer managers and fewer layers of management are needed.
> Less hierarchy, more collaboration
- The adoption of technology decreases the need for management as a supervisory control technique. Power has shifted from management to technical workers, who hold the knowledge about system processes.
> Telecommuting options
- Telecommuting allows employees to locate farther from their offices, and allows employers to choose office facilities farther from major cities.
> Electronic monitoring and employee privacy
- Employers monitor email, social media, etc. for several reasons, including legal compliance and liability, performance assessment and productivity measures, and security concerns.
38
Every HR function has the potential to what?
> become managed electronically
39
Nearly one in five Canadian employees are in occupations at high risk of what?
> high risk of automation with few or no options to transition into lower-risk occupations without significant retraining.
40
The top five industries in which these occupations are most concentrated for automation are:
> are accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail trade, construction, and health care and social assistance
41
When HR professionals were asked why they were doing nothing about adopting technology, they offered three logical reasons:
1) The company has many other competing priorities in the near term. Is it worth investing in something that is so long-term and uncertain in its impact?
2) Job changes and automation are moving a lot more slowly than the experts predicted. We’ll be able to adjust as the changes come.
3) There’s so much uncertainty around the prognostication that we’re likely to be wrong.
42
Attitudes of HR towards Adopting Technology - those that are building digital skills (provide an example)
> Amazon, for instance, has committed to spending 700 million dollars on retraining to ensure that its employees have the skills they will need to thrive in an increasingly digital job market.
43
Attitudes of HR towards Adopting Technology - Predicting Job Trends:
- based on a “suitability for machine learning” (SML) assessment – which skills and jobs are most likely to be replaced by AI.
44
Attitudes of HR towards Adopting Technology - Helping Workers Choose Their Own Futures
> Unilever is helping workers take more ownership of their own paths.
> The company begins by describing alternative career progressions.
> Then, workers choose target occupations and the skills needed to attain them.
> The company then provides training to help them gain those skills.
45
What are demographics? Provide some examples of demographic factors
> Demographics, the study of population statistics, affect HR profoundly.
> The increasing number of working women, the greying of the workforce, and the number of generations working together all influence HR practices.
46
What is the most important demographic factor?
> The labour market is the most important demographic factor that should be monitored by HR professionals.
47
What is a labour market?
> A labour market is the area from which an organization recruits its employees. Such an area may be metropolitan, regional, provincial, national, or international.
48
Demographic issues facing Canadian employers include:
> the underutilization of designated groups, especially those with disabilities and Aboriginal people and immigrants.
49
One trend facing Canadian workers is (in relation to demographics)L:
: the dramatic reduction in semi-skilled jobs (those requiring a few courses or on-the-job training) in sectors such as manufacturing and resources. These jobs no longer exist and workers do not have the skills to apply for high-skilled jobs such as engineering technicians, for which employers face labour shortages.
50
In what shape can the labour market be analyzed?
> the labour market can be described as an hourglass shape.
> At the top are knowledge workers, with high-level skills and opportunities for development, working full-time for high compensation.
> The squeezed middle is composed of the traditional middle managers and white collar professionals, whose jobs (such as those that involve legal processes) are being automated.
> At the bottom of the hourglass are routine jobs, requiring few skills or little training.
51
The labour market influences an organization’s ability to:
> to implement strategy.
52
The increasingly diverse workforce demographics present challenges as well as opportunities for organizations to meet their talent needs
- opportunity: The ability of businesses to tap into underutilized pools of highly educated minority groups and effectively manage the diverse workforce will be an important source of competitive advantage in the future
53
What are the baby boomers?
> The supply of baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are characterized by values such as security, authority, tradition, and a rigid moral code.
> The combination of the surge of workers in their 50s and the flattening of organizations has created a cadre of plateaued workers who are approaching retirement.
54
What are baby busters?
> (those born between 1965 and the mid-1970s) follow the boomers, and have created a bottleneck in the organization. There are far fewer baby busters, and most are very well educated and trained, so can command significant incomes.
55
What is gen x?
> employees (those born between the mid-1970s and 1980) have lived with technology all their lives. They have fewer expectations of organizations and perceive themselves as independent agents.
56
What is Gen Y/Millennials?
> Gen Y, also called Millennials, born after 1981, are completely comfortable with technology and have a more global and tolerant outlook than people older than they. Gen Y employees are not very interested in climbing a career ladder; indeed, they assume that they will change jobs frequently.
57
What is gen z?
> (born after the mid-1990s) will represent 30 percent of the workforce by 2030. Their attributes are agility, creativity, curiosity, and digital competence (The Conference Board of Canada, and Conference Board, Inc. 2022).
58
What is the implication on HR for having many generational employees?
> The implication for HR managers is the need for employee segmentation, in the same way that marketers segment customers.
> HR managers will have to segment or customize career management models for different types of employees.
59
Close and unpredictable employee monitoring has been shown to do what to employees?
> has been shown to negatively impact employees’ self-efficacy and reduce organizational citizenship behaviours (voluntary helping behaviors).
60
How have workplaces responded to issues of work-life balence?
> organizations have responded to this issue by increasing workplace flexibility. Some options include flextime, part-time work, job sharing, telecommuting, elder care, and child care.
61
What is the most important HR issue currently?
> The ability to work remotely, accelerated by the pandemic, is probably the most important HR issue currently.
62
What is remote work?
> Remote work is the practice of an employee working at their home (Figure 3.12), or in some other place that is not an organization's usual place of business
> Many terms are used when people talk about “remote work,” including telework, teleworking, telecommuting, distance work, working from home (WFH), mobile work, work from anywhere (WFA), e-working, and the flexible workplace
63
Employee advantages to remote work:
> Saving in time and money (no commute, no parking, no eating out, etc.)
> Improved productivity, as employees are more able to concentrate on individual work tasks and experience fewer distractions from the office
> Increases in autonomy and flexibility (i.e., more control over when you work, what you work on)
> Increases in job satisfaction, morale, and engagement with work
> Increased ability to avoid office politics
> Employees with in-demand skills can live where they choose
64
Employee dis-advantages to remote work:
> lonely
>Efforts less likely to be recognized (“out of sight, out of mind”)
> May negatively impact career advancement; danger of being overlooked for promotion
> Less social contact: harder to get to know colleagues, share ideas, build trust
> Fewer spontaneous communications
> More difficult to work as a team—especially if others are office-based
> Can result in overwork, as people do not keep regular work hours
> Work–life balance blurring; more difficult to separate work from personal life
> Long hours of teleconferencing can be exhausting
> Lack of needed equipment and support and challenges with Internet/WiFi
65
Employer advantages to remote work:
> Enhanced ability to recruit and retain talent: increased talent pool to choose from, as employers can source talent from anywhere in the world with Internet connectivity
> Reduction in hassles and costs associated with immigration
> Reduction in company costs, mostly due to real estate savings
> Employee productivity enhanced
> Increased profitability
> Reduction in absenteeism
> Enhanced disaster preparedness
> A more level playing field for organizations that wish to improve diversity, equity, inclusion
66
Employer disadvantages to remote work:
> more difficult for managers to effectively supervise remote workers
> Increases in management’s workload
> More difficult to onboard and acculturate new employees
> More difficult to mentor employees
> Reduces social cohesion in the organization
> Challenges with data security and regulation
> Difficult to schedule team meetings
> Negatively impacts the organization’s ability to successfully engage in brainstorming, problem-solving, and knowledge-sharing
67
Research on Remote Work Tells Us:
> It is voluntary—employees considered their situation and preferences and how to supervise employees who are working remotely. They elected to work at home.
> Optimum results: work from home one to three days a week.
> They have a “home office” that conforms to ergonomic design principles.
> Remote workers are supervised by managers who have received training on how to motivate, engage, and evaluate employees who are working remotely.
> Remote workers chose tasks to do at home that benefit from the ability to work without interruptions and that require concentration. During COVID-19 it is assumed that all tasks can be done at home with little to no loss in productivity.
> Remote workers have access to everything that they need to productively work on chosen tasks at home/outside the office.
> Remote workers understand that you cannot work from home if your children or elderly parents are at home with you and are unsupervised.
> Your experiences as a remote worker should not vary with age, gender, marital status, parental status, etc.
> Remote work improves work–life balance.
> Remote work enhances productivity, as expectations with respect to start and stop times, communication protocols, etc. are shared before people start to work at home. Expectations are respected by managers, colleagues, and clients.
> Employers select carefully when determining who can work remotely—this work arrangement is given only to those with the discipline/desire to work outside the office
68
Realities to working from home:
> Worker had no choice (enforced work at home)—public health mandated work from home.
> 24/7 working
> Many employees who worked from home during COVID-19 did not have a “home office" and worked where they could find a spot.
> Managers are also working from home. Many had no training on how to supervise employees who are working remotely.
> Interruptions are common and many reported finding it hard to concentrate with children and partners also at home (Figure 3.13).
> Many employees had to cobble together what they needed to work productively away from the office. Internet connections were sometimes unreliable.
> At many points during the pandemic, employees had to balance working at home with schooling and child care. Many were also concerned with the health and well-being of their elderly relatives.
> Young single people without children or elder care are having a very different experience with remote work than are employees in the full-nest stage of the life cycle.
> Emergency work from home is destroying work–life balance for parents—COVID-19 means that many employees and their families cannot use time or space cues to separate work and life.
> Many employees are having to squeeze work in around schooling of children, caring for children, and other demands on their time—they are getting up early or staying up late to get work done. In many cases, productivity gains during the pandemic can be linked to an increase in work hours.
> All non-essential workers are working from home or were laid off. Some of these employees who worked remotely during the pandemic either did not have the discipline to work from home or did not want to work remotely.
69
What are contingent workers? What do they do and what are some perks / downsides?
> Congent workers are a group of people who do not have a contract that explicitly defines any long-term employment with a company
> They work as independent contractors, contract workers, freelancers, gig workers, consultants, temporary talent, or remote workers. HR staff do not normally use the term contingent worker.
> They refer to these types of workers as freelancers, consultants, independent or contract workers, or gig workers.
> These workers may or may not voluntarily choose to pursue contingency employment and may experience different work-life challenges than traditional worker
70
Advantages for contingent workers:
> Flexibility in type and amount of labour resources
> Save costs in benefits and tax
> Immediate access to expertise not present internally
> Savings in long-term compensation costs
71
Disadvantages for contingent workers:
> Lack of loyalty to employer or company
> Disturbs organization's core morale and culture
> training costs
> Worker carries the full risk; limited benefits
72
In addition to the general environment, organizations also need to consider the industrial and organizational environment, particularly the relevant groups in this context. Many groups have an influence on an organization’s strategy. What are these groups known as?
> These groups, referred to as constituent groups, hold expectations of the HR function, which can influence HR strategy and practices.
73
What are constituent groups?
> Constituent groups are groups of people who have an interest in the projects, policies, or outcomes of an organization’s decisions
> sometimes called interested parties, they follow the actions of the organization and lobby to have their interests satisfied.
< These groups affect strategy formulation.
> Employees want higher wages and job security, suppliers want longer-term relationships, customers want faster service, and shareholders want more dividends and higher stock prices. Organizations will often adapt their strategies to accommodate powerful constituent groups such as unions, regulatory agencies, or customers.
74
This group develops the vision, mission, strategy, and objectives for the organization (constituent groups) therefore, the HR issues that interest them the most are:
> include the workforce implications of strategic options such as restructuring, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, and going international
> They have a particular interest in succession management and leadership development.
75
An emerging trend is having the CHRO report to who and do what? What are the three factors that drive this?
> an emerging trend is having the CHRO report to the CEO and interact frequently with the board of directors
> This trend has been driven by three factors. (1) War for talent is a high priority for CEOs.
(2) Corporate scandals have brought attention to the excessive pay of CEOs and the board worries how this might drive dysfunctional decision-making—boards rely on the CHRO to set pay.
(3) High-profile failures of some CEOs make succession planning very important to boards
76
Much of the research on HR planning recognizes the powerful influence of what figure in the company?
> recognizes the powerful influence of the CEO on the organization’s ability to attain its goals
77
Senior managers are typically responsible to what?
> responsible to the executives for the execution of the strategy and organizational performance.
> Therefore, they are most interested in the HR programs and practices that affect performance: workforce planning and utilization, incentive compensation, training and development, and performance management systems.
> They want metrics that spotlight performance indicators such as employee commitment scores, absenteeism, and turnover rate
78
What do supervisors want from HR?
> This group is responsible for the management of employees and their role in meeting organizational goals.
> As a group, they want HR to help them with recruitment, selection, compensation, training and development, coaching, and policy development.
> Their needs are often based on individual employee issues such as poor performance (and the need to terminate an employee) or difficulties in recruiting specialists.
79
Employees want the HR department to :
> Employees want the HR department to expedite their requests efficiently, confidentially, and fairly.
> They want HR policies that enable them to be satisfied at work, and to develop skills to be able to do their jobs, now and in the future.
> They are concerned with HR policies on compensation, training and development, health and safety, and overall working conditions.
80
The presence of unions in the environment will affect HRM strategy for what businesses?
> for firms entering new sectors with high unionization rates
81
Employees who are currently unionized within an organization can influence strategy in two ways:
1 - One is a restrictive way, in which the collective agreement limits an organization’s ability to make drastic changes in working methods or jobs to accommodate changes in strategic direction.
2 - A second way is that unions now play a larger role, and are more co-operative than adversarial, with regard to HR practices such as profit sharing, plant locations, selection procedures, and quality improvement. S
82
Most organizations examine the following two factors to determine which are the important trends that may affect them:
1) The probability of these trends actually occurring
2) The likely impact of each of these trends on the organization
83
Most professional associations have what kind of groups and firms?
> a group that lobbies for legislation that will favour the association membership.
> Most have public relations firms that try to shape the perception of the profession and its goals (thus influencing public opinion favourably toward regulations).
84
After the general environment scanning, companies can analyze what kind of environment?
> can analyze the business environment to determine the impact on the organization and the actions that the organization needs to take.
85
At the environmental scan meetings at Global wood, what was brought up?
> At these meetings, managers assess performance regarding labour efficiency, defect rates, raw material usage, scrap rates, and energy consumption and compare them to their pre-set goals and past performance.
86
In order to benchmark their performance and set goals, the managerial staff at Global Wood do what?
> access information from multiple external sources.
87
What external sources would Global wood assess to set their own goals?
1) Professional associations
2) Professional conferences and seminars
3) Trade publications
4) WSIB approved Safety Group and Safety Excellence Program
5) Multiple management systems
6) External consultants, academic institutions, and trainers:
88
Describe global woods networking abilities with professional associations and why they did this as a part of their environmental analysis?
> Networking with these groups provides Global Wood with access to pertinent industry information.
> For example, members of Global Wood’s management first formally became aware of proposed changes to American government policy regarding the importation of furniture from Asia, proposed changes to applicable free-trade agreements, and revisions of environmental and labelling standards while attending functions hosted by these groups.
89
Why did Global wood attend professional conferences and seminars as a part of their environmental analysis?
> Global Wood representatives are able to gain information from multiple reliable sources. This includes viewing displays and presentations by organizations selling machinery and equipment to furniture manufacturers, learning of any efficiencies that may be gained by acquiring new equipment, ascertaining the competitors who are purchasing new machinery, and benchmarking the production techniques they are using.
90
Why did Global Wood subscribe to trade publications as a part of their global analysis?
> publications reveal information about new products coming onto the market, new production techniques, and the latest offerings of industrial equipment manufacturers.
91
Why did Global Wood participate in Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)-approved Safety Group and Safety Excellence Programs as a part of their environmental analysis?
> Participation in this program has resulted in improved working conditions and a reduction in workplace safety incidents from the base year of over 78 percent, and has had a beneficial impact on corporate culture, employee well-being, and employee engagement.
92
Why did Global Woods implement multiple management systems as a part of their environmental analysis?
> By implementing and becoming certified or registered in multiple international management standards, Global Wood is able to benchmark its quality, environmental, energy management, corporate social responsibility, and occupational health and safety programs.
> also requires auditors from international locations - allowing Global Wood to gain insights from auditors who have international experience with and exposure to multiple industries and organizations. These auditors provide updates and feedback regarding production techniques, automation, technology, quality, and environmental and safety management best practices.
93
Why did Global Woods use External consultants, academic institutions, and trainers in their environmental analysis?
> These individuals or organizations are able to apprise Global Wood of new practices and research into areas impacting Global Wood’s ongoing operations.
> Global Wood established relationships with universities and colleges by hiring co-op and summer students from a variety of programs, including engineering, public health, environmental studies, and fire protection engineering.
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