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www.downloadslide.net Managing Human Resources Chapter 12 It’s Your Career Acing Your Interviews Although it may feel that way, you’re actually not going to be in college forever. Graduation is coming soon (hopefully) and you’ll be looking for a job. A big hurdle in that search is the job interview. An interview allows potential employers to solicit information about you and to see you “in action.” You want to put your best foot forward and show that you’re a good catch! Here are some suggestions for helping you “ace” that interview: Source: Kativ/iStock A key to success in management and in your career is knowing how to interview for a job effectively. 1. Research the company ahead of time. You already know you need to do this, but do you know what to look for? Know the company’s competitive advantages—what makes this company unique. Look closely at its financial “health.” Know the company’s strategic initiatives. Find out what you can about the company’s culture. Where do you find this information? Check the company’s Web site, especially the “About Us” and financial sections. Check the company’s social media presence: blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, Twitter. Check out information on other Web sites such as Glassdoor and The Muse, and business news sites. 2. Research the industry and competitors. Familiarize yourself with this industry and the main competitors, but only the big-picture stuff, not minute details. 3. Decide ahead of time how you will answer certain “standard” interview questions. • The “Tell me about yourself” question: Although this question seems easy enough, you want to show how you’re the perfect fit for the job. One expert suggests a “present-past-future” approach.1 Describe where you are right now, describe a little about your past experiences and the skills you’ve gained, finish with describing the future and why you’re excited about this particular job opportunity. www.downloadslide.net MyManagementLab® Improve Your Grade! When you see this icon, visit www.mymanagementlab.com for activities that are applied, personalized, and offer immediate feedback. Learning Objectives 1 Explain the importance of the human resource management process and the external influences that might affect that process. 2 Discuss the tasks associated with identifying and selecting competent employees. Know how to be a good interviewee. ● Develop your skill at being a good interviewer. 3 Explain the different types of orientation and training. 4 Describe strategies for retaining competent, high-performing employees. 5 Discuss contemporary issues in managing human resources. ● • The “What’s your greatest weakness” question: If you’re not prepared, this question can trip you up. You don’t want to give the cliché answers of “I’m a perfectionist” or “I work too hard.” All these do is show you’re not prepared with a good answer. One expert suggests talking about weaknesses that don’t relate to the job (e.g., if you know the job doesn’t require public speaking and public speaking is one of your weaknesses, talk about that). This shows you’re selfaware and realize you have weaknesses, like all of us do.2 Another approach is to talk about past weaknesses and how you dealt with them by getting advice or additional training. This expert also said never mention these weaknesses: “I’m not a team player, I’m not trustworthy, I’m not reliable, I have difficulty accepting feedback, I’m not able to take initiative and work independently.” We would agree 100 percent with that! 4. Watch your body language.3 You want to present a polished, poised, and professional demeanor. So, NO: bad posture, too weak/too forceful handshake, lack of eye contact, fidgeting, appearing distracted or uninterested, not smiling. And definitely no cell phone going off in the middle of your interview! 5. Review the job description carefully. Pay particular attention to stated requirements outside the standard “various duties as assigned.” Come up with possible questions an interviewer might ask about those requirements and think about how you would answer those questions. 6. Review your résumé with the critical eye of an interviewer. What stands out? What would you ask a person who had those statements/descriptions on their résumé? 369 www.downloadslide.net 370 Part 4 Organizing With the organization’s structure in place, managers have to find people to fill the jobs that have been created or to remove people from jobs if business circumstances ­require. That’s where human resource management (HRM) comes in. It’s an important task that involves having the right number of the right people in the right place at the right time. In this chapter, we’ll look at the process managers use to do just that. In addition, we’ll look at some contemporary HRM issues facing managers. A major HRM challenge for managers is ensuring that their company has a highquality workforce. Getting and keeping competent and talented employees is critical to the success of every organization, whether an organization is just starting or has been in business for years. If an organization doesn’t take its HRM responsibilities seriously, performance may suffer. Therefore, part of every manager’s job when organizing is h ­ uman resource management. Research has shown that when line managers are responsible for recruiting, performance management, and retention, their companies are 29 percent more successful.4 That’s a good reason for all managers to engage in some HRM activities, such as interviewing job candidates, orienting new employees, and evaluating their employees’ work performance, even if there is a separate HRM department. The Human Resource Management Process Many organizations profess that their people are their most important ­asset and acknowledge the important role that employees play in ­organizational success. However, why is HRM important, and what external factors ­influence the HRM process? LO1 Why Is HRM Important? high-performance work practices Work practices that lead to both high individual and high organizational performance HRM is important for three reasons. First, as various studies have concluded, it can be a significant source of competitive advantage.5 And that’s true for organizations around the world, not just U.S. firms. The Human Capital Index, a comprehensive study of more than 2,000 global firms, concluded that people-oriented HR gives an organization an edge by creating superior shareholder value.6 Another study found that 71 percent of CEOs say that their “human capital” is the key source of sustained economic value.7 Second, HRM is an important part of organizational strategies. Achieving competitive success through people means managers must change how they think about their employees and how they view the work relationship. They must work with people and treat them as partners, not just as costs to be minimized or avoided. That’s what people-oriented organizations such as Southwest Airlines and W. L. Gore do. Finally, the way organizations treat their people has been found to significantly impact organizational performance.8 For instance, one study reported that improving work practices could increase market value by as much as 30 percent.9 Another study that tracked average annual shareholder returns of companies on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For found that these companies significantly beat the S&P 500 over 10-year, 5-year, 3-year, and 1-year periods.10 Another study found a positive relationship between companies’ high- performance work practices and the ability of the organization to efficiently adapt to changing and challenging markets.11 Work practices that lead to both high individual and high organizational performance are known as high-performance work practices. (See some examples in Exhibit 12-1.) The common thread among these practices seems to be a commitment to involving employees; improving the knowledge, skills, and abilities of an organization’s ­employees; increasing their motivation; reducing loafing on the job; and enhancing the ­retention of quality employees while encouraging low performers to leave. Even if an organization doesn’t use high-performance work practices, other specific HRM activities must be completed in order to ensure that the organization has qualified people to perform the work that needs to be done—activities that comprise the HRM process. Exhibit 12-2 shows the eight activities in this process. The first www.downloadslide.net Chapter 12 Managing Human Resources Exhibit 12-1 • Self-managed teams High-Performance Work Practices • Decentralized decision making • Training programs to develop knowledge, skills, and abilities • Flexible job assignments • Open communication • Performance-based compensation • Staffing based on person–job and person–organization fit • Extensive employee involvement • Giving employees more control over decision making • Increasing employee access to information Sources: C. H. Chuang and H. Liao, “Strategic Human Resource Management in Service Context: Taking Care of Business by Taking Care of Employees and Customers,” Personnel Psychology, Spring 2010, pp. 153–196; M. Subramony, “A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Relationship Between HRM Bundles and Firm Performance,” Human Resource Management, September–October 2009, pp. 745–768; M. M. Butts et al., “Individual Reactions to High Involvement Work Practices: Investigating the Role of Empowerment and Perceived Organizational Support,” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, April 2009, pp. 122–136; and W. R. Evans and W. D. Davis, “High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Internal Social Structure,” Journal of Management, October 2005, p. 760. three activities ensure that competent employees are identified and selected; the next two involve providing employees with up-to-date knowledge and skills; and the final three ensure that the organization retains competent and high-performing employees. Before we discuss those specific activities, we need to look at external factors that ­affect the HRM process. External Factors That Affect the HRM Process An administrative assistant job opening paying $13 an hour at a Burns Harbor, Indiana, truck driver training school for C. R. England, a nationwide trucking company, was posted on a Friday afternoon.12 By the time the company’s head of corporate recruiting arrived at work on Monday morning, there were about 300 applications Exhibit 12-2 HRM Process External Environment Human Resource Planning Recruitment Selection Identify and select competent employees Decruitment Orientation Performance Management 371 Training Compensation and Benefits Provide employees with up-to-date skills and knowledge Career Development External Environment Retain competent and high-performing employees www.downloadslide.net 372 Part 4 Organizing in the company’s e-mail inbox. And an inch-and-a-half stack of résumés was piled up by the now out-of-paper fax machine. Out of those 500-plus applicants, one person, who had lost her job four months earlier, impressed the hiring manager so much that the job was hers, leaving the remaining 499-plus people—including a former IBM analyst with 18 years of experience, a former director of human resources, and someone with a master’s degree and 12 years of experience at accounting firm Deloitte & Touche—still searching for a job. During the economic slowdown, filling job openings was an almost mind-boggling exercise. As you can see, the entire HRM process is influenced by the external environment. Those factors most directly influencing it include the economy, employee labor unions, governmental laws and regulations, and demographic trends. The global economic downturn has left what many experts believe to be an enduring mark on HRM practices worldwide. For ­instance, in Japan, workers used to count on two things: a job for life and a d ­ ecent pension. Now, lifetime employment is long gone and corporate pension plans are crumbling.13 In the European Union, the early 2014 jobless rate was 11.9 percent, with Greece and Spain being hit hardest with an unemployment rate of 27.5 percent and 25.6 percent respectively.14 And in Thailand, employees in the automotive industry dealt with reduced work hours, which affected their pay and their skill ­upgrades.15 In the United States, labor economists say that jobs are coming back slowly but aren’t the same ones employees were used to. Many of these jobs are temporary or contract positions, rather than full-time jobs with benefits. And many of the more than 8.4 million jobs lost during the recession aren’t coming back at all, but they may be replaced by other types of work in growing industries.16 All of these changes have affected employers and workers. A Global Workforce Study survey by global professional ­services company Towers Watson confirmed that the recession has “fundamentally altered the way U.S. employees view their work and leaders. . . . U.S. workers have dramatically lowered their career and retirement expectations for the foreseeable future.”17 Such findings have profound implications for how an organization manages its human resources. The Economy’s Effect on HRM Hundreds of workers at Amazon’s two fulfillment centers in Germany used a series of wildcat strikes—the first of any kind against the company—to make a statement about their demands.18 A planned series of three five-day work stoppages by Unite, the union representing British Airways cabin crews, had the potential for a serious negative effect on Europe’s third-largest airline in an industry already struggling from the prolonged economic downturn.19 If negotiations b ­ etween management and the union didn’t resolve the disputes over work practices, then employees vowed to hit the airline with more strikes during the busy summer ­period. Then, in China, strikes at Honda and Toyota factories highlighted that country’s struggle with income inequality, rising inflation, and soaring property prices. ­Factory workers, who had been “pushed to work 12-hour days, six days a week on monotonous low-wage assembly line tasks, are pushing back.”20 Work stops, ­labor disputes, and negotiations between management and labor are just a few of the c­ hallenges organizations and managers face when their workforce is unionized. A labor union is an organization that represents workers and seeks to protect their interests through collective bargaining. In unionized organizations, many HRM decisions are dictated by collective bargaining agreements, which usually ­define things such as recruitment sources; criteria for hiring, promotions, and l­ayoffs; training eligibility; and disciplinary practices. Due to information availability, it’s difficult to pin down how unionized global workforces are. Current estimates are that about 11.3 percent of the U.S. workforce is unionized.21 But the percentage of unionized Employee Labor Unions A new law in Germany that lowers the retirement age from 67 to 63 for some workers affects the HRM practices of Marie-Christine Ostermann, general manager of Rullko, a family-owned food and kitchen supply wholesaler in Hamm, Germany. Along with a shortage of skilled labor in Germany, the law challenges Ostermann to find new employees to replace those who now can retire earlier than they planned. Source: Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC labor union An organization that represents workers and seeks to protect their interests through collective bargaining www.downloadslide.net Chapter 12 Managing Human Resources 373 workers tends to be higher in other countries, except in France, where some 7.8 percent of workers are unionized. For instance, in Japan, some 18 percent of the labor force belongs to a union; in Germany, 18 percent; in Denmark, 68.5 percent; in Australia, 17.9 percent; in Canada, 26.8 percent; and in Mexico, 13.6 percent.22 One union membership trend we’re seeing, especially in the more industrialized countries, is that the rate in private enterprise is declining while that in the public sector (which includes teachers, police officers, firefighters, and government workers) is climbing. Although labor unions can affect an organization’s HRM practices, the most significant environmental constraint is governmental laws, especially in North America. Legal Environment of HRM Two hundred fifty million dollars. That’s the amount a New York City jury awarded in punitive damages to plaintiffs who claim drug company Novartis AG discriminated against women.23 As this example shows, an organization’s HRM practices are governed by a country’s laws and not following those laws can be costly. (See Exhibit 12-3 for some of the important U.S. laws that affect the HRM process.) For example, decisions regarding who will be hired or which Exhibit 12-3 Major HRM Laws LAW OR RULING YEAR DESCRIPTION Equal Employment Opportunity and Discrimination Equal Pay Act 1963 Prohibits pay differences for equal work based on gender Civil Rights Act, Title VII 1964 (amended in 1972) Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, or gender Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967 (amended in 1978) Prohibits discrimination against employees 40 years and older Vocational Rehabilitation Act 1973 Prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disabilities Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 Prohibits discrimination against individuals who have disabilities or chronic illnesses; also requires reasonable accommodations for these individuals Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act 1990 Requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff or facility closing Family and Medical Leave Act 1993 Gives employees in organizations with 50 or more employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for family or medical reasons Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1996 Permits portability of employees’ insurance from one employer to another Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 Changes the statute of limitations on pay discrimination to 180 days from each paycheck Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 Health care legislation that puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1970 Establishes mandatory safety and health standards in organizations Privacy Act 1974 Gives employees the legal right to examine personnel files and letters of reference Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA) 1985 Requires continued health coverage following termination (paid by employee) Compensation/Benefits Health/Safety Source: United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, www.eeoc.gov; United States Department of Labor, www.dol.gov; United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.osha.gov. www.downloadslide.net 374 Part 4 Organizing affirmative action Organizational programs that enhance the status of members of protected groups employees will be chosen for a training program or what an employee’s compensation will be must be made without regard to race, sex, religion, age, color, national origin, or disability. Exceptions can occur only in special circumstances. For instance, a community fire department can deny employment to a firefighter applicant who is confined to a wheelchair; but if that same individual is applying for a desk job, such as a dispatcher, the disability cannot be used as a reason to deny employment. The issues, however, are rarely that clear-cut. For example, employment laws protect most employees whose religious beliefs require a specific style of dress—robes, long shirts, long hair, and the like. However, if the specific style of dress may be hazardous or unsafe in the work setting (such as when operating machinery), a company could refuse to hire a person who won’t adopt a safer dress code. As you can see, a number of important laws and regulations affect what you can and cannot do legally as a manager. Because workplace lawsuits are increasingly targeting supervisors, as well as their organizations, managers must know what they can and cannot do by law.24 Trying to balance the “shoulds” and “should nots” of many laws often falls within the realm of affirmative action. Many U.S. organizations have affirmative action programs to ensure that decisions and practices enhance the employment, upgrading, and retention of members from protected groups such as minorities and females. That is, an organization refrains from discrimination and actively seeks to enhance the status of members from protected groups. However, U.S. managers are not completely free to choose whom they hire, promote, or fire, or free to treat employees any way they want. Although laws have helped reduce employment discrimination and unfair work practices, they have, at the same time, reduced managers’ discretion over HRM decisions. We do want to mention some U.S. laws that will and some that are likely to affect future HRM practices. The first of these, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA and commonly called the Health Care Reform Act), was signed into law in March 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2012.25 This law is affecting current HRM practices as employers are beginning to sort through the requirements and the deadlines for compliance. Other proposed legislation that is likely to affect HRM practices includes (1) the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA), which has been introduced and would prohibit employers from requiring a username, password, or other access to online content; 26 and (2) immigration reform, which is aimed at providing a way for undocumented individuals to become legal citizens.27 The best source of advice about these and other important legal issues will be your company’s HR department. What about HRM laws globally? It’s important that managers in other countries be familiar with the specific laws that apply there. Let’s take a look at some of the ­federal legislation in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Germany. Canadian laws pertaining to HRM practices closely parallel those in the United States. The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, marital status, sex, physical or mental disability, or national origin. This act governs practices throughout the country. Canada’s HRM environment, however, is somewhat different from that in the United States in that it involves more decentralization of lawmaking to the provincial level. For example, discrimination on the basis of language is not prohibited anywhere in Canada except in Quebec. In Mexico, employees are more likely to be unionized than they are in the United States. Labor matters in Mexico are governed by the Mexican Federal Labor Law. One hiring law states that an employer has 28 days to evaluate a new employee’s work performance. After that period, the employee is granted job security and termination is quite difficult and expensive. Those who violate the Mexican Federal Labor Law are subject to severe penalties, including criminal action that can result in steep fines and even jail sentences for employers who fail to pay, for example, the minimum wage. Recently, Mexican labor laws underwent a major overhaul. Some of the important new changes include controls on outsourcing jobs, hiring and firing, wrongful discharge, and additional antidiscrimination requirements.28 www.downloadslide.net Chapter 12 Managing Human Resources 375 Leader making a Difference Source: Google Australia’s discrimination laws were not enacted until the 1980s and generally apply to discrimination and affirmative action for women. Yet, gender opportunities for women in Australia appear to lag behind those in He’s in charge of the people/HR function at the comthe United States. In Australia, however, a pany that’s number one on the World’s Most Attractive significant proportion of the workforce is Employer list and the number one company on the list of unionized. The higher percentage of unionthe 100 Best Companies to Work For.29 As senior vice ized workers has placed increased importance president of people operations at Google Inc., Laszlo on industrial relations specialists in Australia Bock knows and understands people and work. You and reduced the control of line managers over shouldn’t be surprised that the comprehensive (and complicated) analysis workplace labor issues. In 1997, Australia overthat goes into Google search efforts also characterizes its approach to hauled its labor and industrial relations laws with the ­ objective of increasing productivity ­managing its human resources. (Look back at Chapter 1 on pages 56–57 for and ­ reducing union power. The Workplace a discussion of its Project Oxygen study of effective managers.) Bock’s curRelations Bill gives employers greater flexibility rent pursuit is a long-term study of work (patterned after the long-­running to negotiate directly with employees on pay, Framingham Heart Study that transformed what we know about heart hours, and benefits. It also simplifies federal ­disease). Bock says, “I believe that the experience of work can be—should regulation of labor–management relations. be—so much better.”30 He and his team hope to learn more about work-life Our final example, Germany, is similar balance, improving employee well-being, cultivating better leaders, doing a to most Western European countries when it better job of engaging Googlers (the name for Google employees) long term, comes to HRM practices. Legislation requires and how happiness and work impact each other. Undoubtedly, there will be companies to practice representative particisome interesting insights that result! (P.S. If you’d like to work at Google pation, in which the goal is to redistribute power within the organization, p ­ utting labor and want to know more about getting hired, check out the references cited on a more equal footing with the interests above! There are good tips in there!) What can you learn from this leader of management and stockholders. The two making a difference? most common forms of representative participation are work councils and board representatives. Work councils link ­employees work councils Groups of nominated or elected with management. They are groups of nominated or elected employees who must be consulted when management makes decisions involving personnel. Board represen- employees who must be consulted when management makes decisions involving tatives are employees who sit on a company’s board of directors and represent the personnel interests of the firm’s employees. A few years back, the head of BMW’s 2,500-employee power train plant in Dingolfing, Lower Bavaria, was worried about the potential inevitable future decline in productivity due to an aging workforce.31 That’s when company executives decided to redesign its factory for older workers. With input from employees, they implemented physical changes to the workplace—for instance, new wooden floors to reduce joint strain and special chairs for sitting down or relaxing for short periods—that would reduce wear and tear on workers’ bodies. Other organizations worldwide are preparing for a shift as baby boomers retire. Many older workers delayed their retirement during the recession, reducing the threat of mass turnover for a few years. “But now it’s sneaking up on companies.” Companies are responding by creating succession plans, bringing retirees on as consultants, and increasing crosstraining efforts to prepare younger workers to fill the void. Almost half of HR professionals surveyed said this potential loss of talent over the next decade is a problem for their organizations.32 As these examples show, demographic trends impact HRM practices worldwide. Much of the change in the U.S. workforce over the last 50 years can be attributed to federal legislation enacted in the 1960s that prohibited employment discrimination. With these laws, avenues opened up for minority and female job applicants. These two groups dramatically changed the workplace in the latter half of the twentieth century. Women, in particular, have changed the composition of the workforce as they now hold some 49.1 percent of jobs. And because women tend to be employed Demographic Trends board representatives Employees who sit on a company’s board of directors and represent the interests of the firm’s employees www.downloadslide.net 376 Part 4 Organizing in education and health care industries, their jobs are less sensitive to economic ups and downs.33 If this trend continues, women may, at some point, become the majority group in the workforce. Workforce trends in the first half of the twenty-first century will be notable for three reasons: (1) changes in racial and ethnic composition, (2) an aging baby boom generation, and (3) an expanding cohort of Gen Y workers. By 2050, Hispanics will grow from today’s 13 percent of the workforce to 24 percent, blacks will increase from 12 percent to 14 percent, and Asians will increase from 5 percent to 11 percent. Meanwhile, the labor force is aging. The 55-and-older age group, which currently makes up 13 percent of the workforce, will increase to 20 percent by 2014. Another group that’s having a significant impact on today’s workforce is Gen Y, a population group that includes individuals born from about 1978 to 1994. Gen Y has been the fastest-growing segment of the workforce—increasing from 14 percent to more than 24 percent. With Gen Y now in the workforce, analysts point to the four generations that are working side-by-side in the workplace34: • The oldest, most experienced workers (those born before 1946) make up 6 percent of the workforce. • The baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) make up 41.5 percent of the workforce. • Gen Xers (those born 1965 to 1977) make up almost 29 percent of the workforce. • Gen Yers (those born 1978 to 1994) make up almost 24 percent of the workforce. These and other demographic trends are important because of the impact they’re having on current and future HRM practices. Identifying and Selecting Competent Employees Executives at Texas-based global engineering giant Fluor are expected to recognize and mentor high-performing employees. The company’s senior vice president of human resources and administration says such efforts are necessary because “you can’t create a senior mechanical engineer overnight. It takes years.” Here’s a company that understands the importance of tracking talent on a global scale.35 Is a job in the insurance industry on your list of jobs you’ll apply for after graduation? Unfortunately for the insurance industry, it’s not for many college graduates. Like many other nonglamorous industries, including transportation, utilities, and manufacturing, the insurance industry is not “particularly attractive to the so-called ‘millennials’—people who turned 21 in 2000 or later.” In all these industries, the number of skilled jobs is ­already starting to overtake the number of qualified people available to fill them.36 Every organization needs people to do whatever work is necessary for doing what the organization is in business to do. How do they get those people? And more importantly, what can they do to ensure they get competent, talented people? This first phase of the HRM process involves three tasks: human resource planning, recruitment and decruitment, and selection. LO2 Recruiting good people who become loyal employees and are happy with their jobs is an important part of Federal Express Corporation’s human resource planning and plays a major role in maintaining an employee turnover rate of just one percent. The company operates recruiting centers at 25 locations in the United States that help process and screen applicants. Source: Robert Nickelsberg/Alamy Human Resource Planning human resource planning Ensuring that the organization has the right number and kinds of capable people in the right places and at the right times Human resource planning is the process by which managers ensure that they have the right number and kinds of capable people in the right places and at the right times. Through planning, organizations avoid sudden people shortages and surpluses.37 HR planning entails two steps: (1) assessing current human resources and (2) meeting future HR needs. www.downloadslide.net Chapter 12 Managing Human Resources 377 Current Assessment  Managers begin HR planning by inventorying current employees. This inventory usually includes information on employees such as name, education, training, prior employment, languages spoken, special capabilities, and specialized skills. Sophisticated databases make getting and keeping this information quite easy. For example, Stephanie Cox, Schlumberger’s director of personnel for North and South America, uses a company planning program called PeopleMatch to help pinpoint managerial talent. Suppose she needs a manager for Brazil. She types in the qualifications: someone who can relocate, speak Portuguese, and is a “high potential” employee. Within a minute, 31 names of possible candidates pop up.38 At Hoover’s Inc., a Dun & Bradstreet subsidiary, getting a clear picture of employees’ skills and finding the right people for projects is done through a sophisticated software program and an internally developed employee appraisal system that charts employees’ progress along their career paths.39 That’s what good HR planning should do— help managers identify the people they need. An important part of a current assessment is job analysis, an assessment that defines a job and the behaviors necessary to perform it. For instance, what are the duties of a level 3 accountant who works for General Motors? What minimal knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary to adequately perform this job? How do these requirements compare with those for a level 2 accountant or for an accounting ­manager? Information for a job analysis is gathered by directly observing individuals on the job, interviewing employees individually or in a group, having employees complete a questionnaire or record daily activities in a diary, or having job “experts” (usually managers) identify a job’s specific characteristics. Using this information from the job analysis, managers develop or revise job descriptions and job specifications. A job description (or position description) is a written statement describing a job—typically job content, environment, and conditions of employment. A job specification states the minimum qualifications that a person must possess to successfully perform a given job. It identifies the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to do the job effectively. Both the job description and job specification are important documents when managers begin recruiting and selecting. Meeting Future HR Needs Future HR needs are determined by the organization’s mission, goals, and strategies. Demand for employees results from demand for the organization’s products or services. After assessing both current capabilities and future needs, managers can estimate areas in which the organization will be understaffed or overstaffed. Then they’re ready to proceed to the next step in the HRM process. Recruitment and Decruitment Competition for talent by India’s two largest technology outsourcing companies has led to an all-out recruiting war. In the United States, the tech sector is also in a hiring push, pitting start-up companies against giants such as Google and Intel in the hunt for employees.41 At CH2MHill, a global engineering firm based in Colorado, it’s a real struggle to recruit foreign employees. To be successful at global talent acquisition, its company’s talent acquisition director has a plan for dealing with different recruiting cultures in different parts of the world.42 If your professor has assigned this, go to www.mymanagementlab.com to watch a video titled: CH2MHill: Human Resource Management and to respond to questions. If employee vacancies exist, managers should use the information gathered through job analysis to guide them in recruitment—that is, locating, identifying, and attracting capable applicants.43 On the other hand, if HR planning shows a surplus of employees, managers may want to reduce the organization’s workforce through decruitment.44 job analysis An assessment that defines jobs and the behaviors necessary to perform them job description (position description) A written statement that describes a job job specification A written statement of the minimum qualifications a person must possess to perform a given job successfully FYI • 28 percent of executives said that identifying good interpersonal skills was the biggest challenge when developing job descriptions.40 Watch It 1! recruitment Locating, identifying, and attracting capable applicants decruitment Reducing an organization’s workforce