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KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING










STC-C-205/CBA 502
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1




LUCY MUGWERE




DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION







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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

LESSON 2 WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

LESSON 3 HISTORY AND GROWTH OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
LESSON 4 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

LESSON 5 JOB ANALYSIS

LESSON 6 THE RECRIUTMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS

LESSON 7 TRAINING AND DEVELOPING HUMAN POTENTIAL

LESSON 8 PERORMANCE APPRAISALS

LESSON 3 JOB ANALYSIS

LESSON 4 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

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LESSON5 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

LESSON 6 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

LESSON 7 PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEMS














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INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Preface

This module aims at providing all students undertaking to study Human Resource
Management and all practicing managers with a complete, comprehensive review of
essential Human Resource Management concepts and techniques in a simple, reader
friendly, understandable yet concise manner.

While the module focuses almost entirely on essential Human Resource Management
topics like Job Analysis, Human Resource planning, Compensation, Training
Recruitment and Selection , practical applications such as how to conduct a job analysis
exercise , how to conduct human resource planning exercise or how to establish a pay
plan are used throughout the module to provide students with practical, hands-on human
resource management skills that they will find useful when practicing in the real world.

This is a book about managing people or what is now known as Human Resource
Management (HRM). HRM is a management discipline aimed at improving
organizational effectiveness by utilizing a firms human resources. Its also about
managing in a changing world .In the past managers aimed for success in a relatively
stable and predictable world. Today however in the hyper turbulent environment of the
twenty-first century managers confront accelerating change. They are facing constant
innovation in computer and information technology and a chaotic world of changing
markets and consumer lifestyles. Todays organization must be able to transform and
renew to meet these changing forces.

The subject of human resource management covers a combination of wide areas. It
borrows from psychology, business organization, training of industrial relations. This
wide range of subject matter causes problems for the student i.e that the core reality for a
human resource management unit is usually scattered over numerous text books. This is a
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problem especially in our public universities which are still short of good HRM text
books.


In writing this module it is my belief & hope though that this course / book will provide a
strong foundation in human resource management not only to the students undertaking
HRM or to the HR managers out there but to all those who are in the business of
managing people.




















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INTRODUCTION
An organization is nothing without human resources. What is Kenya Breweries
without its employees? A lot of factories, expensive equipment and some impressive
bank balances. Similarly if you remove the employees from such varied organizations
as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Toyota what would you have left? Not much.

The above paragraph is meant to dramatize something that most of us take for granted.
When you think of about the millions of organizations that provide us with goods and
services, any one or more which may probably employ you during your lifetime, how
often do you explicitly consider that these organizations depend on people to make
them operate? It is only under unusual circumstances like when the teachers in public
schools went on strike and the children were not being taught or when the lecturers
went on strike and no learning was taking place at the University or when the city
council workers went on strike and our streets were filled with filth that we recognize
the important role that employees play in making organizations work.

But how were these people in these organizations found and selected? Why do they
come to work everyday? How do they know what to do in their jobs? How does
management know the workers are performing effectively? How do we decide how
much to pay each worker or each manager? Will todays worker be prepared for work
that will be expected of him in twenty, thirty years from now?

These are some of the questions whose answers lie in the subject of Human Resources
Management.





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LESSON 2 WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Objectives: By the end of this lesson the student should be able to explain what Human
Resource Management is and give an appropriate definition of HRM.

To understand what Human Resource management is we must first review what
managers do. Most experts agree that management is getting work done through others
Management can be said to be the process of getting activities completed with and
through people .Most experts also agree that there are 5 basic functions all managers
perform: planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. In total these functions
represent the management function.
Some of the specific activities involved in these functions include:

Planning: Establishing goals and standards, developing rules & procedures; developing
plans and forecasting-predicting or projecting some future occurrence

Organizing: Giving each subordinate a specific task; establishing departments,
delegating authority to subordinates, establishing channels of authority and
communication; coordinating the work of subordinates

Staffing : Deciding what type of people should be hired; recruiting prospective
employees, selecting employees, setting performance standards, compensating
employees, evaluating performance; counseling employees; training and developing
employees

Leading: Getting others to get the job done; maintaining morale; motivating subordinates

Controlling: Setting standards such as sales quotas, quality standards or production
levels; checking to see how actual performance compares with these standards; taking
corrective action
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In this module we are going to focus on one of these functions: the staffing function,
Personnel Management or as it is usually called today Human Resource Management.

Human resource management refers to the practices and policies you need to carry out
the people or personnel aspects of your management job. These include:
Conducting job analysis (determining the nature of each employees job)
Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates
Selecting job candidates
Orienting and training new employees
Managing wages and salaries (how to compensate employees)
Providing incentives and benefits
Appraising performance
Communicating (interviewing, counseling ,disciplining)
Training and developing
Building employees commitment

Human Resources Management (HRM) concerns the human side of the management of
enterprises and employees relations with their firms. Its purpose is to ensure that the
employees of a company i.e its human resources are used in such a way that the employer
obtains the greatest possible benefit from their abilities and the employees obtain both
material and psychological rewards from their work. Human Resources management is
based on the findings of work psychology and uses the techniques and procedures known
collectively as personnel management i.e that part of human resource management
concerned with staffing the enterprise, determining and satisfying the needs of people at
work and the practical rules and procedures that govern relationships between employees
and the organization.( Graham & Bennett,1998)




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Human Resources Management can also be defined as the management of activities
undertaken to attract, develop, motivate and maintain a high-performing workforce
within the organization. HRM involves moving towards corporate excellence by
integrating the desires of individuals for growth and development with organizational
goals. (Bowin & Harvey, 2001)

It is people who design and produce the goods and services, maintain quality, market the
goods and services, use financial resources and develop strategies and objectives for the
organization. Without an effective workforce it would be impossible for an organization
to achieve its objectives. The HR managers role is to develop an effective relationship
between the organization and its employees.

Human resource management efforts, then, are planned, systematic approaches to
improving organizational performance. They involve HRM programs aimed at the total
organization or to relatively large segments of it .The purpose of HR programs is to
increase the effectiveness of the system and also to develop the potential of all individual
members. There are a series of planned HRM activities which will ultimately influence
the productivity of the organization .These human resource activities will be discussed in
the succeeding lessons of this module.

Decenzo (1993) gives a somewhat similar definition of Human Resources Management
by saying that it is a process consisting of the acquisition, development, motivation, and
maintenance of human resources.
We can elaborate further on this definition of Human Resources management .Let us
reflect on the major activities existing within the functions of acquisition, development,
motivation and maintenance.

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ACQUISITION
- Human Resource
Planning
- Recruiting-Internal
- External
- Employee
Socialization



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Note-It is important to note that there are important environmental / external
influences like government regulations, labor unions and management practice, EEO
(Equal Employment Opportunity) that have an impact on Human Relations
Management. Human Resource Management activities in any of the 4 functions are
constrained or guided by these external influences.
It has been argued that these forces have a major impact on Human Resource
Management by constraining the decision-making discretion of managers. Who can
be hired and fired, how personnel information is disseminated, what methods can be
used for evaluating jobs and employee performance, what equipment can and cannot
be used, how wage rates are determined, are just a few of the issues that constrained if
not most, organizations.
DEVELOPMENT
Employee training
Management
Development
Career Development
DEVELOPMENT
Employee training
Management
Development
Career Development
DEVELOPMENT
Employee training
Management
Development
Career Development
DEVELOPMENT
Employee training
Management
Development
Career Development


L
CES


L
CES


L
CES


L
CES
EXTERNA
INFLUEN
uman Resource
anning
ployee
cialization
EXTERNA
INFLUEN
uman Resource
anning
ployee
cialization
EXTERNA
INFLUEN
MOTIVATION
Job Design
Performance
Evaluation
Rewards
Job Evaluation
Compensation/Benef
it
uman Resource
anning
ployee
cialization
EXTERNA
INFLUEN
MOTIVATION
Job Design
Performance
Evaluation
Rewards
Job Evaluation
Compensation/Benef
it
MAINTENANCE
Safety and Health
Employee/Labour
Relation


MAINTENANCE
Safety and Health
Employee/Labour
Relation


MAINTENANCE
Safety and Health
Employee/Labour
Relation


MAINTENANCE
Safety and Health
Employee/Labour
Relation


ACQUISITION
- H
Pl
- Recruiting-Internal
- External
- Em
So
ACQUISITION
- H
Pl
- Recruiting-Internal
- External
- Em
So
ACQUISITION
- H
Pl
- Recruiting-Internal
- External
- Em
So

Let us now look more closely at these HRM activities that are described:

1. Acquisition of Human Resources
The discussion of the Human Resource Management process begins with human
resource planning. It is here that management ensures that it has the right number and
kinds of people, at the right places, and at the right times, capable of effectively and
efficiently completing the work required so that the organization can achieve its
overall objectives. The onset of much of the human resources planning is job
analysis. If human resource planning, uncovers the need to hire additional
employees, one must discover potential applicants. This requires locating candidates
recruiting sources, which we shall discuss in the lesson on recruitment. These
potential applicants must be screened to identify job applicants who are likely to be
successful if hired. We shall also discuss the selection process and specific selection
devices.
The acquisition function is completed when the selected applicants have been placed
in the organization and have adapted to the organizations culture and their work
environment.

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The organizations culture conveys how things are done and what matters. When
employees have adapted to the organizations culture they have learned the ropes.
This is also called socializing the new employee.

2. Development of Human Resources
Competent employees will not remain competent forever. Some are minimally
qualified upon entering the organization but require additional training or education.
Others enter the organization capable of performing at an optimal level but their skills
become obsolete over time. And of course, organizations change over time, and
management must ensure that there is an appropriate match of individual abilities
with organizational needs for the future. Each of these issues is considered in the
development function.

Employee training gives individuals specific skills that they will use on the job.
Management development looks at practices for ensuring a continual flow of
managers. These three topics employee training, management development ,career
development will be examined later in this module.
When human resources have been developed effectively, one can expect to have
competent employees with up-to-date skills and knowledge.

3. Motivation of Human Resources
High performance depends on both ability and motivation. Many employees with
extraordinary talents do not perform satisfactory because they will not exert the
necessary effort. Therefore we desire to have capable employees who are also highly
motivated.
If a person is to perform effectively extrinsic factors such as job design, working
conditions, job security must be seen as satisfactory. But that alone is not enough.
Many people also look for intrinsic factors such as achievement, recognition and
responsibility from their work. For individuals who place high value on intrinsic
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factors, the absence of these factors can reduce ones willingness to exert high
degrees of effort.

But other factors can also influence motivation. The performance appraisal process
and its outcome will affect an employees motivation. People expect their work to be
objectively evaluated if they think their efforts will be unfairly judged, motivation
will decrease.

So its important to consider performance appraisals and how they are done. Furthermore
the rewards or punishments that follow the appraisal will influence motivation. Rewards,
compensation administration, benefits are considered in the motivation function.
Discipline too has an effect on motivation.

At this juncture if we have effectively motivated the individual who has up to date skills
and knowledge we can expect to have a competent employee who desires to exert a high
level of effort.

4. Maintenance of Human Resources
The objective of the last function is to retain people who are performing at high levels.
This requires that the organization provide safe and healthful working conditions and
satisfactory labor relations. If these activities are performed effectively we can expect to
have competent employees who are committed to the organization and satisfied with their
jobs.











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Why is Human Resource Management Important to All Managers

Why are these concepts and techniques important to all managers?
Perhaps its easier to answer this by listing some of the personnel mistakes you dont
want to make while managing:

For example you dont want:

To hire the wrong person for the job- have someone who cannot perform or who
cannot fit in the organization
To experience a high turnover due to poor policies because this is expensive to the
company
To find your people not doing their best because they are not trained or motivated
To waste you time on useless interviews
To have your company taken to court for flouting the safety laws
To have some of your employees demoralized because they think their salaries are
unfair and inequitable
To allow a lack of training to undermine your organizations competitiveness

To commit any unfair labor practices.


Carefully studying this book will help you avoid mistakes like these.













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SUMMARY

Human resource management is an important subject .It is important because human
resources are the critical element to the organization .Without an effective workforce it
would be impossible for the organization to achieve its goals.

We can define human resource management as the management of activities undertaken
to attract, develop, motivate and maintain a high performing workforce within the
organization. HRM involves moving towards corporate excellence by integrating the
desires of individuals for growth and development with organizational goals.

There are basic functions all managers perform: planning, organizing, staffing, leading
and controlling. These represent what is often called the management process. Staffing is
the function focused on in this module. It includes activities like recruiting, selecting,
training, compensating, appraising and developing.

HR management is very much a part of every line managers responsibilities .These HR
responsibilities include interviewing, orienting, training and compensating to improve the
workers job performance.

The HR Manager and his her department carry out three main functions .First the HR
Manager exerts line authority in his or her unit and implied authority elsewhere in the
organization .He or she exerts a coordinative function to ensure that the organizations
HR objectives are coordinated and implemented .And he or she provides various staff
services to line management for example the HR Manager assists in the hiring, training,
evaluating ,rewarding ,promoting and disciplining of employees at all levels




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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Explain what Human Resource Management is and how it relates to the
management process
2. Define Human Resource Management
3. Why is Human Resource Management important to all managers?
4. Present examples of how HRM activities are used in an organization you work for
or know about.
5. Give examples of HRM activities that are carried out by line managers.
6. The Human Resource Manager and his department carry out three distinct
functions .Describe these.
7. Distinguish between the line and staff aspects of HRM
8. Why is the acquisition phase important in HRM?
9. Why is the development phase important in HRM?
10. Why is the motivation phase important in HRM?
11. Why is the maintenance phase important in HRM?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss and explain the basic HR functions
2. Discuss exactly which HR management activities are carried out by line managers
and staff managers. Using examples discuss the cooperative line staff human
resource management.
3. What is HRs role in todays organization?
4. Working individually or in groups discuss how modern trends like globalization,
information technology have affected organizations and the way they are
managed
5. How can HR contribute to giving a company a competitive edge?
6. People who are having trouble performing should be transferred to the Personnel
Department. Do you agree or disagree
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7. .In organizations that you have worked for, how have you seen the major
personnel functions being performed?





























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LESSON 3 THE HISTORY AND GROWTH OF HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Objective: By the end of this lesson students will be able to describe how the field of
human resource management emerged and how it has evolved

Introduction
Human resources management emerged from personnel management which itself
developed from the activities of industrial welfare workers in the latter half of the
nineteenth century. Throughout the history of HRM a single common factor has been
paramount namely the needs of people at work.

The foundation of modern HRM emerged from several interrelated sources. These
include conflict management associated with the tensions and contradictions which are
inherent in the employment relationship and the increased specialization of labor related
to the growth in the scale of work organizations ,the scientific approach of management
to managing people ,the empire building activities of the specialists and the
employment related law of the last three decades .

Stages In The History Of Human Resource Management

The first stage of development involved a handful of employers and philanthropists who,
driven by the desire to improve the conditions of people at work, initiated various
programs for bettering physical working environments and the quality of working life.

Stage two may be said to have emerged during the First World War when faced with
acute labor shortages and the urgent need to increase industrial productivity, governments
in Europe and the USA actively encouraged the systematic study of employer employee
relations and the human aspects of industrial work. This led to a fresh understanding of
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labor management problems and hence to a more technical and sophisticated approach to
the personnel officers role.

The third stage was characterized by the advancement in the 1930s and 40s of various
academic theories of management and the integration of management studies into general
social science

By the 1960s specializations had developed within the personnel function which itself
had become recognized as a valuable discipline in its own right applicable to all forms
and sizes of business and work situation.

Company personnel policies and procedures now encompassed recruitment and selection,
training, industrial relations, labour planning, salary administration and employee
appraisal.

Intense business competition in the 1980s and 1990s, the introduction of new
production technologies which depended heavily on multi skilled flexible working
practices frequently involving team working, and changing cultures at both the national
and individual enterprise levels, catapulted personnel management to increasingly critical
positions within firms. Personnel work became associated with wider business functions
and with business strategy in the round. Inevitably, therefore, personnel managers were
more and more involved with general business management and concerned with profit.
maximizing activities such as staff motivation, performance management, empowerment
of workers total quality management (TQM), organizational modification and so on.
Human resourcing decisions had to be taken at the very top level of management within a
company.

The history of human resource management reflected prevailing beliefs & activities held
in society about employees, the response of employers to public policy, reactions to trade
union growth and reactions to a hyper turbulent environment of the twenty first century
where managers confront accelerating change.
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Evolution Of Human Resource Management.

PERSONNEL TO HRM
Personnel departments were once called Health and Happiness departments. The
people assigned to deal with personnel issues were often individuals who were past their
prime. The personnel department was seen as a place where less productive employers
could be placed with minimal damage to the organizations ongoing operations.
Individuals in the personnel department were perceived as those responsible for planning
company picnics, vacation schedules, Christmas parties & retirement parties. Personnel
as an activity was seen as a necessary but unimportant part of the organization.
Yet as the field of management begun to mature, more emphasis was being placed on the
workers. Various studies revealed that recognizing workers for the work they had done
could influence their productivity.
Workers were becoming more demanding in what they wanted from a job and society by
means of law and legislation was placing new demands on employers.

Examples of historical influences on the discipline of Personnel Management:

1911 Fredrick Taylor Publishes Principles of professional management
1946 Employment Act was passed
1963 Equal pay act
1964 Civil Rights Act
1967 Age discrimination in Employment Act
1973 Health maintenance organization Act
1974 Employee Retirement income Security Act.
1986 Tax Reform Act

Events such as these mandated changes in personnel practices.


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No longer could the personnel department be treated as a detour on the road to success.
Organizations had to hire the best qualified candidate without regard to race, religion,
color, sex or national origin.
The individual hired needed to be trained to function effectively within the organization.
Furthermore once hired and trained the organization had to provide a means of
continuing the personal development of each employee. Practices were needed to ensure
that these employees maintained their productive affiliation with the organization. Finally
work conditions had to be established such that the work environment induced workers to
stay with the organization and simultaneously attracted new applicants to the
organization.

In the past, managers aimed for success in a relatively stable and predictable world, today
however in the hyper turbulent environment of the twenty - first century managers
confront accelerating change. They are facing constant innovation in computer and
information technology and a chaotic world of changing markets and consumer lifestyle.
Todays organization must be able to transform and renew to meet these changing forces.

HRM is an emerging behavioral science discipline that provides a set of methodologies
for systematically bringing about high performing organizations. Human resources
management has therefore become an increasing important element in organizations
Robert Reich suggests that in the future the organizations ability to attract, develop and
retain a talented work force will be a critical factor in developing a high performing
organization.







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Personnel Management and Human Resource Management.

Personnel Management is an important element of the broader subject of Human
Resource Management, although in practice the two terms are frequently used
interchangeably emphasizing the fact that the people employed in a company are
resources which are at least as important as financial or material resources and must be
given careful and expert attention.
The Institute of Personnel & Development has published the following definition.

Personnel Management is that part of management concerned with people at work and
with their relationships within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring together and develop into
an effective organization the men and women who make up an enterprise and having
regard for the well being of the individual and of working groups to enable them to make
their best contribution to its success.
In particular personnel management is concerned with the development and application
of policies governing
-human resources planning
-education and training
-terms of employment,
-methods & standards of remuneration
-working conditions & employee services
-formal & informal communication and consultation both through the representative of
employers and employees at all levels throughout the organization.
-negotiation and application of agreements on wages and working conditions, procedures
for avoidance and settlement of disputes.





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-
Personnel management is also concerned with the human and social implications of
change in internal organization and methods of working and economic & social changes
in the community.

Further personnel management responsibilities:
- Conducting research into local wage levels to ensure that the firms reward system is
competitive with those in other organizations
- Incentivating- devising remuneration systems to stimulate workers into enhanced
effort & efficiency
- Administration of super annuation schemes & advising employees about their
pension schemes and other entitlements
- Maintenance of personnel records and statistics
- Preparation of accurate job descriptions and other recruitment aids.
- Implementation of health & safety regulations, accident prevention and the provision
of first and facilities.
- Management training, development and succession planning
- Employer communications, transmitting information of interest to employers via,
newsletter, notice boards, briefing session.

Another way of defining personnel management is to regard it as range of policies,
institutions & procedures which enable the principles of work psychology to be put into
practice .








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The following relationships and differences between Human Resource
Management (HRM) and Personnel Management may be distinguished.

1.Personnel Management is practical utilitarian and instrumental and mostly concerned
with administration and the implementation of policies. Human Resources Management
conversely has strategic dimensions and involves the total deployment of Human
Resource within the firm. Thus for example HRM will consider such matters as:
(i) The aggregate size of the organization labor force in the context of an overall
corporate plan , design of the organization etc.
(ii) How much to spend on training the workforce, given strategic on target
quality levels , product prices, volume of production.
(iii) The desirability of establishing relations with trade unions from the viewpoint
of the effective management control of the entire organization.
(iv) Human asset accounting i.e the systematic measurememt and analysis of the
costs and financial benefits of alternative personnel policies e,g effects of
various salary structures and the valuation of the human worth of the
enterprises employees.

The strategic approach to HRM involves the integration of personnel and other HRM
considerations into the firms overall corporate planning and strategy formulation
procedures.

The strategic approach to HRM involves the integration of personnel and other HRM
considerations into the firms overall corporate planning and strategy formulation
procedures. It is proactive; seeking constantly to discover new ways of utilizing the labor
force in a more productive manner thus giving business a competitive edge. Practical
manifestations of a strategic approach to HRM might include

(i) Incorporation of a brief summary of the firms basic HRM policy into its
mission statement.
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(ii) Explicit consideration of the consequences for employees of each of the firms
strategies and major new projects.
(iii) Designing organization structures to suit the needs of employees rather than
conditioning the latter to fit it with the existing form of organization.
(iv) Having the head of HRM as the firms board of directors.

More than ever before human resource managers are expected to contribute to
productivity and quality improvement. The stimulation of creative thinking, leadership
and the development of corporate skills.

2. HRM is concerned with the wider implications of the management of change and not
just with the effects of change on working practices. It seeks proactively to encourage
flexible attitudes and the acceptance of new methods

3. Aspects of HRM constitute major inputs into organizational development exercises.

4. Personnel Management is reactive and diagnostic. It responds to changes in
employment law, labor market conditions, trade union actions, government codes of
practice and other environmental influences. HRM on the other hand is prescriptive and
concerned with strategies, the initiation and the development of the fresh ideas.

5. HRM determines general policies for employment relationships within the enterprise.
Thus it needs to establish within the organization a culture that is conducive to employee
commitment and cooperation. Personnel management on the other hand has been
criticized for being primarily concerned with imposing compliance with company rules
aid procedures among employees rather than with loyalty and commitment for the firm.

6. Personnel Management has shortterm perspectives; HRM has long-term perspectives,
seeking to integrate all the human aspects of the organization into a coherent whole and
to establish high level employee goals.

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7. The HRM approach emphasizes the needs:
-For direct communication with employees rather than collective presentation
-To develop an organizational culture conducive to the adaptation of flexible
working methods
-For group working and employee participation in group decisions
-To enhance employees long term capabilities, not just their competence at
current duties.

A contentious view of the difference between HRM and Personnel Management is the
preposition that whereas the latter is pluralistic in orientation, HRM has a unitaristic
approach.

Although the term human resources management has been in use since the 1960s the
work of a number of U.S academics led to the term assuming a new meaning in certain
contexts in the 1980s & 1990s. This new perspective on HRM emphasizes.

1. Individualism rather than collectivism resulting from the long term decline in
the number of employees belonging to trade unions
2. Wage systems based on personal contracts wherein a workers pay is set thro
individual negotiation with the firm as opposed to collective bargaining involving
trade unions.
3. Increasing levels of casual and part-time employees
4. The idea that managers and workers have common interests of management and
workers in achieving company goals
5. The need for cost-cutting and lean production methods consequent to the ever-
increasing international business competition
6. Greater emphasis on interpersonal relationships and communication using the
latest management techniques
7. Flexible labor practices
8. Teamwork
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Current Trends
A number of importance factors have altered the scope & nature of human resource
management in recent years notably the following.

1. Greater involvement of line managers in personnel management and a greater
decentralization and devolution of the function. Increasingly the managers are
required to undertake duties previously completed by personnel specialists. This
results in part from firms seeking to cut costs through reducing the sizes of their
personnel departments or partially in consequence of the view that line managers
ought to be able to complete this work.
2. Economic recession in the early 1990s the down sizing of organizations and a
shift in the nature of the relationship between management and labor.
3. New working methods based on flexible labor practices
4. Recognition of the importance of a firms human resources as a means for securing
competitive advantage, spurred on by the success achieved by Japanese
companies which pay greater attention to the personnel role.

The Development & Role of Personnel /HRM
The management of personnel today therefore presents a greater challenge than ever
before. Each generation of employee is better educated and more enlightened than the
preceding one. They expect intelligent leadership and more considerable treatment.
Because of the protection afforded them by their unions and by government legislation.
the employees of today are able to reject arbitrary on unfair treatment that only few
decades ago they would have been forced to accept.
Meeting the growing challenges requires managers to have a through understanding of
human behavior. They must know how to avoid behavioral problems with subordinates
and be able cope with those that do arise. If employees are unionized, managers need to
possess all understanding of labor relations & be able to interpret & administer properly
the agreement with the union.
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Most important as a result of the growing body of law relating to personnel management
it is essential for managers to know what they legally can & cannot do in their relations
with employers & their unions. Fortunately for managers, a growing body knowledge
relating to personnel management is continuing to evolve as a result of research and the
shared experience of practitioners in helping managers to avoid mistakes of the past.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 Distinguish between Personnel management & Human resource management.
Why are they both necessary in the organization?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Personnel and marketing courses are viewed as soft compared with accounting
finance and statistics. Does that make personnel less relevant to business
students? Discuss.

2. The job of a Personnel Manager is one that is given to an individual who has
trouble performing in the mainstream of the organization of the organizations
operations. Do you agree or disagree. Discuss.

3. A manager of marketing or production should not become involved in personnel
department. Do you agree or disagree? Discuss.

4. Discuss the difference between a HR greatest & HR specialist.
Which would you rather be & why?




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Summary

Successful management of human resources is essential to organizational success and the
field associated with it is in a transitional phase that expands the function to include both
HRM & personnel management. Both Personnel Management & HRM are necessary.

Though the terms Personnel Management and Human Resource Management are most
often used interchangeably Personnel Management is an important element of the broader
subject of Human Resources Management .Though there are some differences both
emphasize that people are an important resource and must be given careful and expert
attention.

Personnel management is a set of activities encompassing the ongoing management of
the human resources within an organization.

The need for a separate HR department grows as an organization grows .Personnel /HR
departments can be highly centralized or decentralized depending upon the size and
management philosophy of the organization & upon the need for specialized knowledge
of a limited set of activities.

HR departments are composed of HR generalists and HR specialists. A generalist has a
broad knowledge of a number of HR activities whereas a specialist has intensive
knowledge of a limited set of activities.

An interface between the HR. manager & operating manager creates a point of contact on
P/HR activities.




28 28


HRM MODEL

In recent years there has been relative agreement among HR specialists as to what
constitutes the field of HRM
The model that provided the focus was developed by the American Society for Training
& Development (ASTD). In its study ASTD identified nine human resource areas:

1. Training and Development focus: - Identifying & assessing and through planned
learning helping develop the key competencies which enable individuals to
perform current or future jobs.
2. Organization & Development focus : assuring healthy listen and infra unit
relationships and helping initiate and manage change.
3. Organization /Job Design focus: defining how tassels, authority and systems will
be organized and integrated across organization units and in individual jobs.
4. Human Resource Planning focus: determining organization major human resource
needs, strategies and philosophies.
5. Selection and staffing focus: matching people and their needs and capabilities
with jobs and career paths
6. Personnel research and information systems for assorting a personnel information
base
7. Compensation / benefits focus: providing personal problem solving counseling to
individual employees
8. Employees Assistance focus: providing personal problem solving counseling to
individual employees
9. Union / Labor Relations focus: assuring healthy / union organization relationship
29
Source: American Society for Training Development models for excellence (ASTD,
1983)


29

These nine areas have been termed spokes of the wheel in that each area impacts on the
Human Resource outputs quality of work life, productivity and readiness for change.
Let us now take a closer look at the outputs of this model

1. Quantity of the work
Quantity of the work life is multi faceted concept. The precise of quantity of work life
is having a work environment where employees activities become more important. This
means implementing procedures on policies that make the work less routine and more
rewarding for the employer. These procedures or * include autonomy, recognition,
belonging, progress and development and external rewards.
- Autonomy deals with the amount of freedom that employees can exercise in their
jobs. For example if employers must get permission to purchase $2 in postage stamps
to mail job related material the freedom to act is significantly reduced

- recognition refers to being rewarded by others in the company. An individual
contribution to the organization is noticed and appreciated.

- Belonging refers to being part of the organization is one who shares the organizations
values and is regarded as being a reversible part of the firm.

- Progress & development refers to the Internal rewards available from the
organizations challenges and accomplishment
- And finally
- External rewards which are usually in the form of salary & benefits but also include
Promotion, Rank and Status

- Taken together these components provide for the quality of work life for the
individual if the quantity of work life is lacking, the work productivity may suffer.
- Productivity is the quantity or volume of the major product or service that an
organization provides. In other words it is the amount of work that is being produced
30 30
in the organization in terms of how much & low well High productivity is what
makes an organization thrive without a good product or service to sell. Problems in
an organization are sure to arise accordingly productivity programs are becoming
more popular with organizations

- Readiness for change
- If one thing in the world would be said to be true is that things will never remain the
same. Change is a fact of life in both our private & our work lifes

- Examples eg if you remain a bachelor all your life people may be asking what is
wrong with you why are you not changing. Change is a part of life thats why many
of us allowed NARC because we wanted change.

- At the work site we must be aware that changes will occur. The change ay be subtle
such as getting a new boss, or it might be a major Endeavour such as an
organization installing a computer system for the first time autonomy many of the
manual operators. But change rarely comes easily for everyone
At the work site we must be aware that changes will occur. The change may be subtle
such as getting a new boss, or it might be a major endeavor such as an organization
installing a computer system for the first time automating many of the manual
operations. But change rarely comes easily for everyone in some cases it is resisted e.g.
imagine the secretary who has had twenty-five years experience in the organization being
made to go from a typewriter to a word processor. This can be traumatic and the change
could be resisted. How do you overcome this resistance? There are a few ways but
probably the greatest two would be to inform the secretary that the word processor was
designed to make her job more efficient; it was not designed to take over her job. The
fear associated with a possible treat to job security would negate any advantage that
might accrue by automating an office because this fear might manifest itself as decreased
morale.

31 31
To reduce the fear associated with change, training is important. Once the secretary had
been given time to learn how to use the new equipment and to experience how efficient it
is and how it makes her job easier the fear of change can be reduced. From an
organizational perspective employers must make changes to remain competitive. But it is
also their responsibility to communicate the forth coming changes to their employees,
identify why changes are necessary and lend their total support in ensuring that the
change takes place. Through this process employers can create a work atmosphere that
news change as a positive and progressive endeavor.

In the remaining lessons we will discuss the various activities involved in human
resources necessary to achieve these outputs. The HRM model presented in figure 1 is
generic in nature and is too broad for our purposes. Because of the interrelatedness of all
the human resource functions and the impossible complexing of studying them in that
state, more specificity is warranted. To accomplish this objective we offer a model that
represents a more manageable form.
This model reflects the major activities existing within the functions of acquisition,
development, motivation and maintenance.
Earlier we defined HRM as a process consisting of the acquisitions, develop, motivations
and maintenance. At the hub of this model are the external influences
-government regulations
-trade/labor unions
-management practice
Remember that human resource activities in any of the 4 functions are constrained or
guided by these external influences. The outer circle represent the flow of major
activities in HRM. There is no beginning or end to the HRM process; it is a continual
process within which each circle are the major sub divisions of each function.







32 32

Discussion Questions

In the organization in which you work, how have you seen the 4 functions of HRM being
performed?

1.Acquisition HR planning
Job analysis
Recruitment and selection

2.Development Employee Training and Mg. Development
- Career Development

3.Motivation Job Design
- Performance
- Rewarding the production employee
ACQUISITION
esource
ning.
- Internal
rnal
ization.
- Human R
Plan
- Recruiting

- Exte
-Employee Social

C

MOTIVATION
-Job Design
-Performance Evaluation
-Rewards
-Job Evaluation
-Com pensions/benefits
-Discipline.

EXTERNAL
INFLUENCES
MAINTAINAN
E
-Safety & Health
-Employee/labor
relations.
DEVELOPMENT
-Employee Training
-Management
Development
-Career
Development.

4.Maintenance of Human resource - Compensation administration
- benefits and services
- disciplining the problem employee
- safety and health
- labor relations collective bargaining






















33 33

LESSON 4 HUMAN RESORCE PLANNING

Objective: By the end of this lesson students should be able to
define human resource planning
explain the importance of human resource planning
conduct a human resource planning exercise
explain the benefits of Human Resource Planning


Njeri : Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?

Onyango : That depends a good deal on where you want to go.

Njeri : I dont care where

Onyango : Then it doesnt matter which way you go!

Introduction
Before you can depart on a journey it is necessary to know your destination. The steps
you take before beginning any trip appear quite simple:
determining where you are
determining where you want to go
finally, suggesting a route that can take you from where you are to
where you want to be.

In an elementary form this is what planning is all about:
Knowing where you are going and how you are going to get there.

34 34

Importance of Human Resource Planning

If an organization is to achieve its goals, it needs inputs: financial resources (such as
money and credit), physical resources (such as buildings and equipment), and people.
Too often, managers forget about how important that third factor the people variable is to
the success of an organization. Many managers have failed because they have taken their
human resources for granted.

To dramatise the value of the human factor consider for a moment an organization like
the Xerox Corporation, the duplicating machine company. It is a publicly held company
whose Stock Exchange has sales of over $11 billion a year and employs over 102,000
people. The hypothetical questions we pose are these:
If these 102,000 people were to quit at once, what would happen to the
organization?
What would happen to the price of the companys stock?.

The answers are
(1) The organizations survival would immediately be in jeopardy.
(2) The market price of the stock would plummet!

The point being made is simple:
Organizations are composed of people and these people represent one of the
organizations most valuable assets. However because the organization does not own
people, as it does capital and physical assets, this resource is seldom given proper
attention.

To ensure the healthy operation of the organization whether it be a business firm, a
government parastatal , a university or a professional football team its supply of human
resources must be sufficient. Towards this objective of continuing healthy operations the
organization requires human resource planning
35 35

People represent the most flexible resource available to senior managers of an
organization. Deploying people in the right numbers, with the right skills and in the right
place is fundamental to success. The reason that we have had to do so many
retrenchments in Kenya especially in the public sector is because there was a lack of
proper human resource planning in the first instance. People were just recruited at
random without first establishing if there was a real need to employ them in the first
place. As a result organizations became bloated with excess manpower. It is also the
reason why donor agencies like the IMF, World Bank have implored the Kenyan
Government to cut back on staff in some organizations especially those in the Civil
Service amidst huge protest.

Human resource planning is one of the most important elements in a successful HRM
program. A survey of chief executives found that 85% listed HRP as one of the most
critical management undertakings of this decade. But what does the term human resource
planning mean?

Definitions of Human Resource Planning
Specifically human resource planning is the process by which an organization ensures
that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right places, at the right time,
capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the
organization achieve its overall objectives.

Human resource planning then translates the organization objectives and plans into the
number of workers needed to meet those objectives. Without clear-cut planning an
estimation of an organizations human resource need is reduced to mere guesswork.


36 36

In many organizations, few employees outside of the top executive group really know the
short and long range objectives. It is not surprising, therefore, that management may find
itself without the necessary human resources to fill unexpected vacancies, make
replacements created by natural attrition or meet opportunities created by the growth or
development of new products or services because critical human resources are
unavailable.

Human resources planning (HRP) may also be defined as an attempt to forecast how
many and what kind of employees will be required in the future and to what extent this
demand is likely to be met. It involves the comparison of an organizations current
human resources with likely future needs and consequently, the establishment of
programs for hiring, training, redeploying and possibly discarding employees.
Effective Human Resource Planning should result in the right people doing the right
things in the right place at precisely the right time.

Human resource planning or manpower planning as it was originally called had its start
after World War II in the Industrial Training Boards in Great Britain whose mandate was
to require effective manpower planning at the industrial level .It resulted from the
influence of socialistic government policies in England to provide the correct number of
skilled employees within certain age groups for their national industries.

Although a few large companies have special departments to develop human resource
plans and forecasts most companies that employ up to a few thousand cannot afford to
staff such specialists .In some large companies the responsibility of human resource
planning is assigned to the Human Resource Manager. However regardless of where
assigned, if a company is to grow and prosper, the functions of human resource planning
must be carried out effectively.

37 37


Human Resource planning systems depend upon three key factors:

1. Knowledge of the Human Resource Environment: this provides information to answer
the question, `What has been and is happening to our human resources?` The answer
resides in the collection and analysis of such factors as labor turnover rates, recruiting
effectiveness and levels of training .These three factors comprise what is called the
human resource audit. Other human resource management environment factors that need
to be considered in the human resource audit are technological and economic changes.
These changes ,while difficult to quantify must be identified and evaluated.

2 Knowledge of the present corporate human resources. This is a prerequisite for
planning for the future The HRM manager must know what skills and potential are
presently available before beginning to plan. This initial inventory is called the human
resource inventory.

3. Knowledge of the present and future objectives of Corporate Planning : this requires
that business plans and objectives must be expressed in meaningful human resource terms
For example consider the following : The 5 year objective is to increase our market share
to 30% at a rate of 6% per year resulting in the bottom line increase of $ 150,000 in sales
volume .The preceding statement needs to be changed to meet our criteria by reducing
the expressed needs into an expression of human resource required for each year of the
planning cycle in terms of type and level of skill. This is essential since such a statement
of human resource requirements represents the central core of human resource planning



38 38


Purpose of Human Resource Planning
Human resources planning can help management in making decisions in the following
areas:
Recruitment
Avoidance of redundancies
Training numbers and categories
Management development
Estimates of labor costs
Productivity bargaining
Accommodation requirements












39 39

Human Resource Planning Process





COMPANY OBJECTIVES
DEMAND FOR
LABOUR
HOW MANY?
WHAT KIND?
WHEN?
WHERE?
SUPPLY OF LABOUR
Present supply Minus wastage

+ external labor value + fines
+ changes in hours, producing or
working conditions.
+ Possible and economic
increases in supply of
labor e.g. use of part-time
workers.
HUMAN RESOURCES PLAN

Recruitment /redundancy program
Training & Development program
Industrial relations policy
Accommodation Plan



40 40

The Importance of Company Objectives

The essential first step in company HRP is a statement of company objectives which
covers products, methods, markets, etc. From this is derived the demand for labor which
is then related to the supply of labor to produce the human resources plan.

The implications of the human resources plan must then be considered by the top
management of the company incase company objectives need amendment for example
it may not be possible to increase production by the planned amount because labor of the
kind required is either impossible to train in the time available or does not exist in the
quantity needed.

Company HRP needs continuous adjustment because the goals of an organization are
unstable and its environment uncertain. It is also complex because it involves so many
independent variables- invention, population changes, consumer demand, foreign and
domestic competition, etc. It must include feedback because if the plan cannot be
fulfilled the objectives of the company may have to be modified so that they are feasible
in human resource terms.











41 41

Steps In Long-Term Company Human Resource Planning

In step format the Human Resource Planning process will involve the following steps
1. The first step in HRP requires
(a) Assessing the current status of the organizations resources:
- a human resource inventory describes skills available within
the organization.
- A job analysis provides information about jobs currently being
done.
-
2. The second step is to review the organizations overall objectives and revenue
projections.

3. The third step translates the organizations revenue projections into a forecast of
demand for human resources.

4. The fourth step involves an assessment and forecast of internal and external supply
sources.

5. The final step in the human resource planning process consists of matching the
forecasts of future demand and supply. This will highlight shortages and overstaff
positions.

A long term company human resources plan is usually regarded as one which attempts to
forecast for about 5 years ahead.
The company must consider the demand for labor, its potential supply (with corrections
for its present misuse, overuse or under-use) and the external environment. By studying
the interaction of all these factors it can then produce a plan showing how many and what
kind of employees are expected to be required in the future.

42 42


The main points to be considered are:-
(a) the creation of a company HRP group including the managers in charge of the
main functions within the company.
(b) The statement of human resource objectives in the light of company objectives by
considering
- capital equipment plans
- reorganization e.g. centralization or decentralization
- changes in products or in outputs
- marketing plans
- financial limitations

(c) The present utilization of human resources in particular
i) numbers of employees in various categories
ii) estimation of labor turnover for each grade of employee and the
analysis of the effects of high and low turnover rates on the
organizations performance.
iii) amount of overtime worked
iv) amount of short-time
v) appraisal of performance and potential of present employees
vi) general level of payment compared with that in other firms.

Note that for all the above accurate and complete personnel records are essential.

(d) The external environment of the company
i) recruitment position
ii) population trends
iii) local housing and transport plans
iv) national agreements dealing with conditions of work
v) government policies in education, retirement, regional subsidies, etc.
43 43


(e) The potential supply of labor in particulars
i) effects of local emigration and immigration
ii) effects of recruitment or redundancy by local firms
iii) possibility of employing categories not now employed e.g. part-time
workers
iv) changes in productivity, working hours and/or practices.

The Final Company HRP
After considering and coordinating these factors a human resources plan may then be
made, showing in detail, by function, occupation and locations, how many employees it
is practicable to employ at various stages in the future.

The following should appear in it:
o Jobs which will appear, disappear or change
o To what extent redeployment or retraining is possible
o Necessary changes at supervisory and management levels
o Training needs
o Recruitment, redundancy or retirement programs
o Industrial relations implications
o Arrangement for feedback in case modifications in the plan or company
objectives are necessary.
o Details of arrangements for handling any human resource problems arising from
labor deficits or surpluses (e.g. early retirement or other natural wastage
procedures)



44 44
The Advantages of Human Resource Planning
These include :

1. The organization should be better equipped to cope with the human resourcing
consequences of changed circumstances.

2. Careful consideration of likely future human resource requirements could lead the
firm to discover new and improved ways of managing human resources.

3. Labor shortfalls and surpluses might be avoided

4. It helps the firm create and develop employee training and management succession
programs

5. Some of the problems of managing change may be foreseen and their consequences
mitigated. Consultations with affected groups and individuals can occur at an early stage
in the change process: decisions can be taken unhurriedly and by considering all relevant
options rather being taken in crisis situations.

6. Management is compelled to assess critically the strengths and weakness of its labor
force and personnel policies.

7. Duplication of effort among employees can be avoided i.e. coordination and
integration of workers efforts is improved.

When agreed the plan must be communicated to all levels of employees but particularly
to managers and unions or employee representatives; it is often necessary and advisable
to negotiate with the trade unions on the detailed implementation of the plan.



45 45

A short term company HR plan which usually covers a period of up to one year ahead is
much more common than a long term plan. Many firms do not have the quality of
management to forecast long-term objectives or they feel that the nature of their business
makes it impossible to look ahead for more than one year. A short-term manpower plan
is comparatively easy because a firm will usually make a production or marketing plan
for a year ahead involving budgets, orders for new materials and components and sales
quotas. From this can be derived the amount of direct labor and the amount of indirect
labor may be estimated partly by fixed commitments and partly as a rule thumb.

Limiting Factors
In practice human resource planning can be difficult and often inaccurate.

Chief reasons are:-

type of industry some depend on new product development or work on
tendering basis so that plans can only be short term because is never known
whether a tender will be accepted.

opposition or skepticism among members of management.

the difficulty of forecasting social and economic changes
accurately, positively is an era of high unemployment.

need to have complete and accurate employee records maintained
for at least the last 5 years.




46 46


In more general terms, the possible benefits from a planned approach to the acquisition,
use and deployment of people throughout the organization include:-

o appropriately skilled and flexible workforce

o ability to respond to change

o stability in the core of the workforce

o reduced need to recruit externally

o improved morale and employee relations

o improvement in quality of products/services

o higher productivity.

47 47



Review Questions

1 Define Human Resource Planning

2 What is the importance of Human Resource Planning?

3 What are the benefits of Human Resource Planning?


Discussion Questions

1 Explain how as a Human Resource Manager of a large organization how you would
conduct a Human Resource Planning exercise.
























48 48





LESSON 5: JOB ANALYSIS


Objectives: By the end of this lesson students should be able to:

Explain the nature of job analysis
Explain its purpose and uses
Describe the methods of collecting job analysis information
Be able to conduct a job analysis
Write Job descriptions
Write Job Specificatons

Job Analysis Defined

A Job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. Job analysis is
the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of
person who should be hired for it.
The analysis produces information on job requirements which is then used for developing
job descriptions and job specifications.

A job description is a list of a jobs duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships,
working conditions and supervisory responsibilities, reporting relationships, working
conditions and supervisory responsibilities. It is one product of a job analysis.

A job specification is another product of job analysis. It is a list of a jobs human
requirements that is the requisite education, skills, personality and so on. It is another
product of a job analysis.


49 49
Job analysis can also be defined as the process of gathering information about a job. It
provides information in several areas including:-

How much time is taken to complete basic tasks.
How are tasks grouped together into a job
How can a job be designed so that employee performance can be improved?
What kinds of skills are needed to perform a given job?
What kind of person is best suited for a certain type of job.
What group of tasks can be handled by a team or small group?

Note : This information provides a foundation for other HR activities.

In simple words we can therefore say that job analysis indicates what activities and
accountabilities the job entails. There is no mystery to a job analysis; it is just an accurate
recording of the activities involved

During job analysis the supervisor or HR specialist normally aims to collect one or more
of the following types of information:

1. Work activities information is usually collected on the actual work activities
performed such as cleaning, selling, teaching or painting. Such a list may also
indicate how, why and when the worker performs each activity.

2. Human behaviors information on human behaviors like sensing,
communicating, decision making and writing may be collected. Included here
would be information regarding human job demands such lifting weights, walking
long distances and so on.

2. Machines, tools, equipment and work aids used. Included here would be
information regarding products made, materials processed, knowledge dealt with
or applied (such as finance or law) and services rendered (such as counseling or
50 50
repairing)

3. .Performance standards: Information is also collected regarding performance
standards (in terms of quantity, quality or speed for each job duty for instance) by
which an employee in this job will be evaluated.

4. .Job context: - Included here is information about such matters as physical
working conditions, work schedule, and the organizational and social context for
instance in terms of the number of people with whom the employee would
normally have to interact. Also included here might be information regarding
incentives for doing the job.

5. Human requirements: - Finally, information is usually compiled regarding human
requirements of the job such as job-related knowledge or skills (education,
training, work experience) and required personal attributes (aptitudes, physical
characteristics, personality, interests).

Uses Of Job Analysis Information

The information produced by job analysis is the basis for several interrelated HR
management activities

1. Recruitment and Selection
Job analysis provides information about what the job entails and what human
characteristics are required to carry out these activities. Such job description and job
specification information is used to decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.

2. Compensation
Job analysis information is also essential for estimating the value of and appropriate
compensation for each job. This is so because compensation (such as salary and bonus)
51 51
usually depends on the jobs required skill and education level, safety hazards, degree of
responsibility and so on all factors that are assessed through job analysis.

Well also see that many employers classify jobs into categories and job analysis
provides the information for determining the relative worth of each job so that each job
can be classified.

3. Performance Appraisal
A performance appraisal compares each employees actual performance with his or her
performance standards. It is often through job analysis that experts determine the
standards to be achieved and the specific activities to be performed.

4. Training
Job analysis information is also used for designing training & development programs
because the analysis and resulting job description show the skills and therefore training
that are required.

5. Ensure complete assignment of duties
The job analysis is also useful for ensuring that all the duties that have to be done are in
fact assigned to particular positions. For example in analyzing the current job of your
companys production manager you may find she reports herself as being responsible for
two dozen or so specific duties including planning weekly production schedules,
purchasing raw materials and supervising the daily activities of each of her first-time
supervisors. Missing, however, is any reference to managing raw material or finished
goods inventories. On further investigation you find that none of the other manufacturing
people is responsible for inventory management either. Your job analysis has identified a
missing duty to be assigned. Missing duties like this are often uncovered through job
analysis.

As a result job analysis plays a role in remedying problems of the sort that would arise if
for example there was no one assigned to manage inventories.
52 52

Job Analysis Methods

There are various techniques you can use for collecting information on the duties,
responsibilities and activities of the job and we will discuss the important ones in this
section.
The methods therefore that managers use to determine job elements and the concomitant
knowledge for successful performance include the following:

1. Observation Method:
Using this method, a job analyst watches employees directly or reviews films of workers
on the job. While the observation method provides first hand information, workers in
many cases do not function most efficiently when they are being watched. Thus
distortions in the job analysis may occur. This method also requires that the entire range
of activities be observable; possible with some jobs but impossible for many e.g. most
managerial jobs.

2. Individual Interview Method.
Using this method job incumbents are selected and extensively interviewed. The results
of these interviews are combined into a single job analysis. This method is effective for
assessing what a job entails but is very time consuming.

3. Group Interview Method.
This method is similar to the individual interview method except that a number of job
incumbents are interviewed simultaneously. Accuracy is increased in asserting jobs but
group dynamics may hinder its effectiveness.

4. Technical conference Method
This method utilizes supervisors with extensive knowledge of the job. Here, specific
characteristics of a job are obtained from the experts. Although a good data gathering
53 53
method, it often overlooks the incumbent workers perceptions about what they do on
their job.

5. Diary Method
This method requires job incumbents to record their daily activities. It provides much
information but is seldom applicable to job activities. The diary method is the most
intrusive of the job analysis methods requiring much work on the part of the incumbent
and accordingly requiring much time. To capture the entire range of work activities this
method may have to continue for long periods of time.-all adding to its cost.























54 54


Steps In Conducting Job Analysis

The six steps in doing a job analysis are as follows:

Step 1: Identifying the use to which the information will be put, since this will
determine the types of data you collect and how you collect them. Some data collection
techniques like interviewing the employee and asking what the job entails and what his
responsibilities are good for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the job.
Other job analysis techniques e.g. the position analysis questioner do not provide
qualitative information for job descriptions but rather numerical ratings for each job.
These can be used to compare jobs to one another for compensation purposes.

Step 2: Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process
charts, and job descriptions. Organization charts show how the job in question relates to
other jobs and where it fits in the overall organization. The chart should identify the title
of each position and, by means of its interconnecting lines, show who reports to whom
and with whom the job incumbent is expected to communicate.

A process chart provides a more detailed understanding of the work flow than is
obtainable from the organization chart alone. The existing job description if there is one
can provide a starting point for building the revised job description.

Step 3: Select representative positions to be analyzed. This is done when many similar
jobs are to be analyzed and it is too time-consuming to analyze, say the jobs of all
assembly workers.



55 55

Step 4: Next actually analyze the job by collecting data on job activities, required
employee behaviors, working conditions and human traits and abilities needed to perform
the job.

Step 5: Review the information with job incumbents. The job analysis information
should be verified with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate
supervisor. This will help to confirm that the information is actually correct and
complete. This review step can also help gain the employees acceptance of the job
analysis data and conclusions by giving that person a chance to review and modify your
description of his or her job activities.

Step 6: Develop a job description and job specification. A job description and a job
specification are usually two concrete products of the job analysis. The job description is
a written statement that describes the activities and responsibilities of the job as well as
important features of the job such as working conditions and safety hazards. The job
specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills and background required for
getting the job done, it may be either a separate document or on the same document as
the job description.

Class activity:

Develop a job description and job specification for your current job. If not working at
the moment prepare a job description and job specification for a job that you are
familiar with.






56 56

Summary

Job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job
and the kind of person who should be hired for it. In fewer words we can say that job
analysis indicates what activities and accountabilities the job entails
.A job analyst seeks to collect information on work activities, human behaviors,
machines, tools, equipment, work aids, performance standards, job context and human
requirements. The methods that managers can use to collect this information include
observation, individual interview, group interview, structured questionnaire, technical
conference and the diary method.
Job analysis information can be used for making decisions on recruitment and selection,
compensation, performance appraisal, training and to ensure complete assignment of
duties .





















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Review Questions

1.What is job analysis?

2 What kind of information is collected during job analysis

3 Describe the methods can you use to collect this kind of information

4 What are the uses of job analysis information

5 Compare and contrast the individual interview method and the group interview methods
of job analysis

6 Identify the advantages and disadvantages of the following job analysis techniques :
observation method, structured questionnaire and diary method.

7 What are job descriptions?

8 What are job specifications?

9.Describe the process involved in conducting a job analysis.

Discussion Questions

1.Job analysis is just another burden for the organization and is not really
necessary. Discuss

2.Smaller organizations do not need a job analysis for their jobs because most of
their employees are generalists. Discuss

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LESSON 6 THE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS

Objectives:

By the end of this lesson students should be able to
Discuss the recruitment and selection process
Discuss the pros and cons of the various recruitment and selection methods

Introduction

Emphasizing the essential nature of the recruiting function in todays business
environment, Peter Drucker notes that every organization is in competition for its most
essential resource: qualified, knowledgeable people
An organization needs to hire the most qualified people it can at the most competitive
price. Before an organization is able to hire an individual, it must locate qualified
applicants who are looking for work. How does a company attract these people?
This is the recruiting process and it represents one of the major responsibilities of the HR
Manager

Case

Merck, the pharmaceutical company in U.S.A has been rated as the most admired
company is a fortune magazine survey. Richard Markhan, head of worldwide marketing
for the company, credits its success to attracting, developing and keeping good people.
He says We look at recruiting with the same kind of intensity as we do discovering new
molecules in the lab. Part of the Merck competitive advantage is their approach to
recruiting. Their focus is on business and the need to hire the best people they can find.




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In Lesson 4 we discussed the human resource planning .Successful human resource
planning will tell us about our manpower needs. Once we know these needs we will want
to do something about them .Human resource planning therefore helps us see the future
openings and whether these will be filled by inside or outside candidates.

Sometimes the term succession planning is used and this refers to the process of planning
how the companys most important executive positions will be filled. The fundamental
employment planning decision is whether projected positions will be filled internally or
externally. In other words should the projected open positions be filled by current
employees or whether they should be filled by recruiting outside candidates.

Like any good plans, employment plans are built on premises. If you are planning for
employment requirements, youll usually need three sets of forecasts:
One for personnel needs
One for the supply of inside candidates
And one for the supply of outside candidates
First predict the demand for your product or service ie the need for product and service.
Next project the volume of production required to meet these estimates
Finally, relate personnel needs to these production estimates.

Once personnel needs are projected the next step is to build up a pool of qualified
applicants











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Definitions of recruitment

Recruitment can be defined as the first part of the process of filling a vacancy; it includes
the examination of the vacancy, the consideration of sources of suitable candidates,
making contact with those candidates and attracting applications from them.

We can also define recruitment in other ways several definitions have been offererd by
several authors as given below :

Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated
organizational vacancies. Or from another perspective it is a linking activity bringing
together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs.
(Decenzo, 1993)

Recruiting may be defined as the process of seeking, attracting and identifying a pool of
qualified candidates in sufficient numbers to fill current and future workforce needs.
(Robert Bruce Bowin, 2000)

Once you have been authorized to fill a position the next step is to develop an applicant
pool, probably using internal recruitment or other recruitment sources described next.
Recruiting is important because the more applicants you have the more selective you can
be in your hiring. If only two candidates apply for two openings you may have little
choice but to hire them. But if 10 or 20 applicants appear then you can employ
techniques like interviews and tests to screen out all but the best.

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The Recruiting Process

The recruiting process therefore involves several steps:
It begins with human resource planning and job analysis, and a determination of the
organizations short and long term personnel needs based on these needs and existing
conditions, the firm then recruits them both internal and external sources. This provides a
pool of qualified job applicants, and the final step then is the selection from the applicant
pool.

We will now discuss several sources of candidates including internal sources (promotion
from within) advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters, college recruiting,
the internet, referrals and walk ins.

Remember that it is unlawful to discriminate against any individual with respect to
employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. Unless (religion,
sex or origin are bona fide occupational qualifications.











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External Sources of Candidates

As mentioned earlier once the organization has become aware it needs additional
employees the HR Manager is faced with the decision about how to generate the
applicant pool necessary to satisfy labor needs. The organization can use internal sources
and if necessary external sources for generating a sufficient number of applicants
whenever there is a shortage of labor and skills inside the organization.

External recruiting is used when the organization is unable to fill its hiring needs from
internal sources. The organization may be growing too rapidly or may require highly
specialized (technical skills not available in the current work force. The organization
may want new ideas and approaches. When an organization decides to recruit from
outside the organization the process becomes more involved and uncertain. Very many
vacancies are filled new external sources; even when an internal candidate is transferred
or promoted the final result is usually a vacancy elsewhere in the company which has to
be filled from outside. They are both advantages and disadvantages to internal recruiting
as we will see later.


Once it has been decided to reach out to external candidates it will use one or several of
the following external sources can be used:

1. Advertising
2. Employment Agencies /
Temporary help agencies
3. College Recruiting as a source of candidates
4. Executive recruiting as a source of candidates
5. Referrals and walk ins as a source of candidates
6. Computerized Employee Database.
7. The internet.

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Very many vacancies are filled from external sources .Even when an internal candidate
is transferred or promoted. The final result is usually a vacancy elsewhere in the
company, which has to be filled from outside.

External recruitment can be time consuming, expensive and uncertain, although it is
possible to reduce these disadvantages to some extent with forethought and planning.

External sources can be divided into 2 classes:
Those which are comparatively inexpensive but offer a limited choice for example walk-
ins, unsolicited applications.
Those which are comparatively expensive but give the employer access to a wider range
of candidates e.g. advertising, use of private agencies.


Even when unemployment is high certain categories of employees who possess scarce
skills are difficult to find and the employer may have to use the more expensive means of
recruitment. Other types for example unskilled workers can be found very easily using
inexpensive means, the problem then lies in selecting the suitable candidate from among
a very large number of applicants.


Recruitment is more likely to achieve its objective if recruiting sources reflect the type of
position to be filled. For example an advertisement in the Standard business employment
section is more likely to be read by a manager seeking and executive position in the
K75,000 to K100,000 a year bracket than by a watch repairer, seeking to find
employment.
Dont look for the right person in the wrong place.
e.g. dont look for a professional with a number of years working experience at a college.
At a college look for a management trainee.

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Certain recruiting sources are more effective than others for filling certain types of jobs

Let us consider several external sources of candidates.
As we review each source try to see the strengths & weaknesses in attempting to attract
lower level and managerial personnel .

1.Advertising as a Source of Candidates

Is your advertising getting results? It sure is! Last week we advertised
for a night watchman and the next night we were robbed.

The most popular method of recruitment is to advertise the vacancy and invite candidates
to apply to the company. To use advertisements successfully you need to address 2
issues.
- The media to be used.
- The ads construction
The selection of the best medium-be it the Daily Nation, the Times or a technical journal
depends on the type of positions for which you are recruiting. To recruit professionals for
example a C.E.O or Accountant you should choose a suitable medium like the East
African Standard, for blue collar help you may choose other more suitable medium. It
would not be appropriate for example to advertise for the position of CEO on a placard
outside the factory building or in the classified help-wanted section of the dailies nor
would it be appropriate to advertise for a sweeper in the Times. You must always
choose the correct medium. or specialized employees you can advertise in trade and
professional journals.One draw back to this type of trade paper advertising is the long
lead-time that is usually required; there may be a month or more between insertion of the
ad and publication of the journal.

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Some media for example the Nation is particularly good for its wide geographical
coverage such that the entire country can be targeted for coverage.

The advertisement can become the first stage in selection by describing the job and
qualifications required so comprehensively that borderline candidates will be deterred
from applying and good candidates encouraged.

The small amount of research that has been done in this field shows that information
about the job contributed much more to the effectiveness of an advertisement that its style
or size. There is also general agreement that including the word training in an
advertisement increases the response.

Advertising may be also made more effective and less expensive if the following
principles are observed.

a. The advertisement should contain a job specification and job description in miniature,
including the following:
- Job Title
- Description of job and employer
- Experience, skills and qualifications required.
- Age range
- Working conditions e.g. wage/ salary, fringe benefits
- Training given
- What action the candidate should take e.g. write a letter, telephone for an application
form, etc.
b. It should appear in the appropriate publication e.g. professional journal for specialists.
c. Experiments should be made to test the response for different sizes headings,
wordings, page position, day of the week.
d. Careful records should be kept showing
- Which publication was used
- Which date and day of the week
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- Which position on the page
- Which style and size
- Names of the candidates replying to each advertisements
- Names of the candidates who are selected for the interview
- Name of the candidate who was successful.

e. The response should be analyzed so that advertising expenditure can be directed
towards the publication and style of advertisement which give the best result for a
particular type of vacancy.
f. Rejected candidates should be sent a prompt and courteous letter; Inconsiderate
treatment will eventually detract from a companys reputation and adversely affect
the response to future advertisements.

The small amount of research that has been done in this field shows that information
about the job contributes much more to the effectiveness of an advertisement than its
style or size.

Sometimes other considerations besides cost and response must be kept in mind. The
company may decide that small advertisements are not consistent with its prestige or
image and that large advertisements must be used even though they can be shown to be
wasteful. In this case part of the cost of the advertisement should logically be paid out of
the companys general advertisement account as it is concerned as much with public
relations as with recruitment.

On the other hand, prestige of the company can sometimes be made use of; a recruitment
campaign is very often more successful if it follows a national advertising campaign for a
new product which has brought the company into the public eye.

Other media, which may be used in advertisement, are billboards, subway and bus
posters, radio and television. For example radio is best when multiple jobs are involved,
such as staffing a new facility. Ads need to be carefully prepared. If the company name is
67 67
used, too many people may respond and screening procedures for a large number of
applicants can be costly. This is one of the decisions in preparing a recruiting
advertisement.

In addition the firm must be careful not to violate EEO requirements by indicating
preferences for a particular race, religion, national origin or sex..
While most employers know that discriminating ads are generally illegal, questionable
advertising still appears. Therefore, its important to remember that ads that are sex-
specific (calling for man, woman) are questionable as are sex-related gender terms like
yard man, repairman or ads implying a certain age ( such as student, recent graduate or
referee). Similarly also terms like bilingual or Japanese are also questionable. Employers
using ads like these may have to defend their rationale for limiting their search to the type
of person identified in the ad.

2. The Internet
Many company recruiters are now using the Internet as an easy and subtle method to
contact employed job candidates. This controversial turn is not restricted to the highly
aggressive technology companies but is now spreading to airlines, banks, oil and
biotechnology companies. Some companies have websites where they post vacant
positions.
It is fast and one can recruit globally.

3. Employment Agencies as a source of Candidates
There are 2 basic types of employment agencies.
1. Government owned agencies
2. Privately owned agencies

Private agencies which are run as commercial enterprises for supplying employers with
candidates for jobs are also of 2 main types.
i) Office staff employment agencies-which mainly deal with clerical, typing and
office machine operator vacancies.
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ii) Selection agencies for senior staff which usually undertakes the complete
recruitment process and the first stages of selection for managerial and
professional vacancies. The agency analyzes the job, prepares job and personnel
specifications, advertises, sends out application forms, and interviews selected
candidates sometimes testing them also. The employer is then presented with a
short list of candidates, the career and qualifications of each being described so
that he makes the final choice

Private employment agencies are important sources of devices, white-collar and
managerial personnel. Such agencies charge fees for each applicant they place. Many
private agencies now offer temporary help service and provide secretarial clerical or
semi-skilled labour in a short-term bases. These agencies can be useful in helping you
cope with peal loads and fill in for vacationing employees.

Some specific situations in which you might want to turn to an agency include the
following.

1. Your firm does not have its own HR department and is not geared to do recruiting and
screening.
2. Your firm has found it difficult in the past to generate a pool of qualified applicants.
3. A particular opening must be filled quickly.
4. There is a perceived need to attract a greater number of minority or female applicants.
5. The recruitment effort is aimed at individual who are currently employed who might
feel more comfortable dealing with employment agencies rather than competing with
them.

There are several other reasons to use as employment agency for some or all of your
recruiting needs advantages like
Cut down on your interviews
Interview only the right people
Selecting only the most qualified candidates for your final living process.
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Employment agencies are no panacea. For example an employment agency prescreens
applicants for your job but this advantage can also backfire. The employment agencies
screening may let poor applicants by pass the preliminary stages of your own selection
process.
Unqualified applicants may thus go directly to the supervisors responsible for the hiring,
who may in turn naively hire them.
Such errors show up in high turnover, absenteeism rates, morale problems, low quality
and productivity. Suitably successful applicants may be blocked from entering your
application pool.
To help avoid such problems
1. Give the agency an accurate and complete job descriptions.
2. Periodically review data on accepted/rejected candidate.
3. Specify devices/tools the employment agency should use in screening.
4. Develop a long-term relationship with one or two agencies.

4. Head Hunting
Very senior managers are sometimes recruited by a process known as executive search
or head hunting. Its advocates believe that the best candidates are not those who reply to
advertisements or look for new jobs in other ways but those who are successful in their
present jobs and are not thinking of moving elsewhere.

On receipt of a commission from a client the headhunter will search for potential
candidates.
i) In competing businesses (possibly obtaining names from company reports
brochures)
ii) In the membership lists of professional bodies, trade association year books.
iii) Through confidential head hunting networks.


70 70
Selected individuals are then approached discreetly and following a discussion regarding
the job and its remuneration, one or two of them are introduced to the client firm.

Advantages to Headhunting are:

1. Headhunters should possess expert knowledge of the salary levels and fringe benefits
necessary to attract good calibre candidates. Also they will analyze the vacancy, and
offer an opinion about the type of person required, will conduct initial screening,
administer psychometric tests etc.
This saves the client many administrative and advertising expenses.

2. Possibly, top managers already in employment will not bother to read job
advertisements, newspapers and other conventional means and so might not be
reached by these means.
3. Senior managers prepared to make a move sometimes make this known to leading
headhunters even though they would not openly apply to competing companies.
4. If a targeted candidate does not want the job, he/she may suggest someone else who is
equally suitable and who may be interested.
5. Recruiting firms are assured that candidates presented to them will almost certainly
be well equipped for the vacant position.
6. The anonymity of the recruiting organization is preserved until the final stage in the
procedure.

Criticisms of Headhunting/executive Search :
1. Headhunting is highly disruptive to successful businesses, which stand to lose
expensively-trained senior manager.

2. It can be used to avoid equal opportunities laws on recruitment and selection.

3. A headhunted individual might subsequently be enticed by other headhunted to leave
his/her new firm after a short period.
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To avoid this some companies attach golden handcuffs to senior management
positions i.e they pay large cash bonuses, which are only available to executives who
stay with the firm a certain number of years.

4. Arguably head hunters rely too heavily on existing networks and trade contacts,
creating thereby a glorified old boy system which ignores good people from other
sources.

5. Headhunters fees are far higher than for conventional employment agencies.

6. An unsuitable candidate may bribe the headhunter to recommend that person for the
vacant job.

7. The headhunter might acquire confidential information about the client which would
then be passed on to competing firms.

8. Headhunters are not subject to the same long-term accountability as personnel
managers employed within the business.

Executive recruiters are special employment agencies retained by employers to seek out
top management talent for their clients. These firms can be very useful. They have many
contacts and are especially adept at contacting qualified candidates who are not actively
working and are good at analyzing jobs. They can also keep your firms name
confidential until late in the search. The recruiters fee might actually turn out to be
insignificant compared to the cost of the executive time saved. But there are some
pitfalls. As an employer it is essential for you to explain completely what sort of
candidate is required- and remember that some recruiters are more of sales people than
professionals. They may be more interested in persuading you to hire a candidate than in
finding one who will really do the job. Therefore be prepared for some in-depth
dissecting of your request.

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Guidelines:
1. Make sure the firm you hire is capable of conducting a thorough search.
2. Meet the individual who will be handling your assignment.
3. Ask how much the search firm charges.
4. Choose a recruiter you can trust
5. Talk to some of their clients.

5. College Recruiting as a Source of Candidates.
Many promotable candidates are originally hired through college recruiting.
This is therefore an important source of management trainees, as well as professional and
technical employees. There are two main problems with campus recruiting. First it is
relatively expensive and time consuming for the recruiters. Second recruiters are some
times ineffective or unprepared. Many recruiters often do not screen their student
candidates. For example students physical attractiveness often outweighs more valid
traits and skills. One main function as a recruiter is screening, which means determining
whether a candidate is worthy of further consideration and then attract to your firm.

A sincere and informal attitude, respect for the applicant as an individual and prompt
follow up letters can help you sell the employer to the candidates.
Many employers maintain connection with universities, colleges and schools but
candidates are usually available from these sources only at one time of the year.

6.Computerised Employee Databases

Some firms sell resume databases. Organizations can quickly and efficiently gain access
to prospective applicants by using a database.
In general data bases can be classified into 5 categories:

1. Databases maintained by executive search firms.
2. Data bases maintained by University alumni groups.
3. Databases owned by private agents .
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4. Corporate data bases.
5. Databases open to the general public.

Organization can also gain access to a large pool of potential applicants by developing
partnerships with government affiliated job services

7. Walkins
Direct applications made at your office- are a major source of applicants.
They should be treated with respect. Remember to always give a positive image of your
firm as a recruiter.

Recruiting a more diverse work force

It is not just socially responsible, it is a necessity.
Older workers as a source of candidates
Is it practical in terms of productivity to keep old workers on?
The Answer is Yes!
Age related changes in physical ability, cognitive performance and personality traits have
little effect on workers output except in the most physically demanding tasks.
Similarly creative and intellectual achievements do not decline with age and absenteeism
drops as age increases.
Older workers also usually display more company loyalty than youthful workers, and
tend to be satisfied with their jobs and supervision and can be trained or retrained as
effectively as anyone.

However the company must do several things to make it an attractive place in which the
older worker can work specifically:

- Examine your personnel policies
- Develop flexible work options
- Create or redesign suitable jobs
74 74
- Offer flexible benefit plan


Other Recruiting Sources
More and more employers are turning to relatively non-traditional sources of applicants.

Moonlighters
Moonlighters have often been shunned by employers on the assumption that workers with
full-time jobs at other firms might not have the required commitment to a second
employer. Yet more employers are finding that moonlighters take a second job because
they must and that their commitment to their second employer is thus high enough to do
their jobs well.

Retired and exiting military personnel are another source that a firm may consider

Note:
Line and staff cooperation in recruitment as in all other functions is essential.

The HR manager who recruits and initially screens for the vacant job is not usually the
one responsible for supervising its performance. He must know exactly what the job
entails and this, in turn, means speaking with the supervisor involved. For example the
HR Manager might want to know something about the behavioral style of the super visor
and members of the work group.
Is it a tough group to get along with, for instance? He/ she might also want to visit the
worksite and review the job description with the supervisor to ensure that the job has not
changed, ensure the description was written and to obtain any additional sight to the
skills) and talents the worker will need..





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Line and staff cooperation in recruitment and selection

The HR manager who recruits and initially screens for the vacant job is seldom the one
responsible for supervising its performance. He/she must know what the job entails and
this in turn, means speaking with the supervisor involved. The HRM may want to know
the behavioral style of the supervisor and members of the group is it a tough group?
He may also want to visit the work site and review JD with the supervisor to ensure that
the job has not changed since the description was written and to obtain additional insight
into the skills and talents the new workers will need.

One of the best sources of Job candidates is the existing workforce. Later we will look a
the advantages of recruiting internally.
















Human
Resource
Planning

Recruiting Applicant
High- performing
Employees
Job
s

Selection











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INTERNAL RECRUITING SOURCES

Internal recruiting seeks applicants for positions among those currently employed. Most
organizations seek to fill positions with current employees. One study indicated that
96%of the companies use internal recruiting beyond entry-level positions.

Organizations can use job or skills inventories for identifying internal applicants job
openings. It is unlikely, however that the manager is aware of all existing employees
who are interested in a job opening.

One method of solving this problem is called Job posting or job biddings:

Announcements of positions are made available to all current employees through bulletin
boards, news letters and other company information sources.

1. HRM Job Posting

In the past job posting often used bulletin boards and company publications for
advertising job openings.
Currently job posting has become one of the more innovative recruiting approaches used
by organizations. Many companies such as Hewlett-Parkard now apply job posting as an
integrated part of a comprehensive career development system. Job postings are now
frequently computerized and easily accessible to all employees. Computer posting
systems allow the employee to match an available job opening with their own skills and
experience. The posting presents information so the employee knows what needs to be
done if they wish to apply for this position in any size of firm the principal shall apply.
To fill an opening look at your current employees first? Do you need someone for
marketing? Your hard working clerk already a member of your team may be enthusiastic
about making a move but still stay with your organization.




77 77





2. Referrals

Another internal source of recruitment is a referral system in which present employee are
asked to encourage friends or relatives to apply. You may be amazed at the connections
your people have. Referrals are perhaps the most often used recruiting tool for many
small organizations.

Some organizations even offer a finders fee or monetary incentive for successful
referrals. If they are used selectively referrals of this kind can be a powerful recruiting
technique. Organizations must be careful, however, not to unintentionally violate equal
employment laws, while they are using employee referrals. As an example in EEOCV.
Detroit Edison the US Court of Appeals found problems of racial discrimination that are
related to using referrals in recruitment.

The court stated:
The practice of relying on referrals by a predominantly new employees in the market
place for jobs was found to be discriminating.
This suggests that employee referrals should be used cautiously especially if the
workforce is already row in protected classes. It also suggests that it might not be wise to
rely exclusively on referrals but rather to use them as supplements to other recruiting
activities.

In a tight labor market, many companies are paying their employees referral bonuses for
new recruits who join their company. Some HRM departments are paying a commission
to human resource employees for the information systems employees they recruit. All of
this increases recruiting costs than using outside recruiting firms.

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Most organizations will attempt to develop their own employees for positions beyond the
lowest level.

Advantages of promotion from within
It is good public relations
It builds morale
It encourages good individuals who are ambitious.
It improve the probability of a good selection since information on the
individuals performance is readily available.
It is less costly than going outside to recruit.
Those chosen internally already know the organizations
When carefully planned, promotions from within can also act as a training device
for developing middle aid top level managers.

Disadvantages to using internal sources
Obviously it can be dysfunctional to the organization to utilize inferior internal
sources only because they are there, when excellent candidates are available on
the outside.
However an individual from the outside may appear more attractive because the
recruiter is unaware of the outsiders faults.
The organization should avoid excessive in-breeding. Occasionally it may be
necessary to bring in some new blood to broaden the present ideas, knowledge
enthusiasm and to question the but were always doing-it that way mentality.

The organization personnel files should provide information as to which employees
might be considered for positions opening up within the organization..
Manager- replacement charts and job postings-in many organizations it is standard
procedure to post any new job openings to bid for the position
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Factors influencing Recruiting efforts

Although all organizations will at one time or other engage in recruiting activity, some do
so to a much higher extent than others. Obviously size is one factor.
An organization with one hundred thousand employees will find itself recruiting potential
applicants much more often than an organization with one hundred employees. However
certain other variables will influence the extent of recruiting.

1. Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will
influence how much recruiting takes place.

2. The effectiveness of past recruiting efforts will show itself in the organizations
historical ability to locate and keep people who perform well.

3. Working conditions, salary ad benefit packages offered by the organization will
influence turnover and therefore the need for future recruiting.

4. Organizations that are not growing or those that are actually declining will find
little need to recruit. On the other hand, organizations that are growing rapidly
will find recruitment a major human resource activity.













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SELECTION

Once you have a pool of completed application forms, the next step is to select the best
person for the job. In most firms this means whittling down the applicant pool by using
certain screening tools including tests, assessment centers, background and reference
checks. The prospective supervisor can then interview a handful of viable candidates and
decide who will be hired.

Defining Selection
Selection is the next stage after recruitment .it can be defined as assessing the candidates
by various means and making a choice followed by an offer of employment.

Why Selection is Important
Employee selection is important for three reasons:
1. Your performance always depends in part on your subordinates. Employees who
havent the right skills or who are abrasive or obstructionist wont perform
effectively and you performance in turn will suffer. The time to screen out
undesirables is before they are in the door not after.

2. second effective screening is important because its costly to recruit and hire
employees for example one expert estimates that the total cost of hiring a manager
who earns $ 60,000 a year is about $ 47,000 once search fees, interviewing time,
reference checking and travel and moving expenses are taken into consideration.
The cost of hiring non executive employees, although not as high proportionally
is still high enough to warrant effective screening.





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3. Legal implications and legal urgent hiring


Good selection is also important because of the legal implications of ineffective or
incompetent selection. For one equal employment legislation requires you to
systematically evaluate the effectiveness of your selection procedures to ensure
that you are not unfairly discriminating against minorities, women , the elderly or
handicapped. Second courts are increasingly finding employers liable for damages
when employees with criminal records or other problems take advantage of access
to customer homes or other similar opportunities to commit crimes. Hiring
workers with such backgrounds without proper safeguards is called negligent
hiring.


As mentioned earlier selection involves assessing the candidates by various means
followed by an offer of employment. Important tools :

1. The Application Form
Once you have a pool of applicants the selection process can begin and for most
employers the application form is the first step in this process.
The application form is the form that provides information on education, prior work
records and skills. Whatever method of recruitment is used the candidate should be
asked to fill in an application form:
ii) firstly to ensure that no important details are omitted.
iii) Secondly to provide information about the candidate in a logical and
uniform order.




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The layout of application form varies but most of them contain the following headings.
1. Job applied for
2. Name, address, telephone no.
3. Date and place of birth
4. Education
5. Training and qualifications
6. Medical History e.g. any serious illness, disabled
7. Employment history
8. Any other information the candidate wishes to provide
9. Signature under the words This information is correct to the best of my
knowledge
10. Date

The application form is not only the basis of selection but it is the fundamental document
in an employees personnel records and has legal importance in the contract of
employment.

Application forms are also useful for

1. Projecting a favorable image of the recruiting organizations
2. Obtaining the names and addresses of people to contact when future vacancies
arise.
3. Researching the effectiveness of various recruitment advertising media
4. Monitoring the effectiveness of equal opportunities policies.

The initial screening in most organizations begins with an application form.
Most managers use these to obtain background data. However, you can use applications
form data to make predictions about the applicants future performance for example
applications forms have been used to predict job tenure, job success and employee theft.


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Selection Method
The next step is to compare the application form with the personnel specification, looking
for attributes which show the candidates to be apparently suitable for the job and
shortcomings which might rule out the candidate from consideration or necessitate
special training if he/she were engaged.

From this comparison the manager can make a list of candidates for interview and those
to be rejected. The latter should be written to at once regretting the lack of success.

When because of high employment a large number of applications is received the task of
compiling a list of candidates to be interviewed becomes very difficult and time
consuming, various suggestions have been made for dealing with this problem.


When managerial, supervisory or specialist vacancies are being dealt with an enlarged
application form can be used asking for precise details of past employment candidates are
then rejected or not following a ruthless comparison of their experience with the demands
of the post as shown by job analysis. A few companies ask candidates to complete a
biographical questionnaire which has been carefully designed in respect of the job to be
filled through the process compiling and validating the questionnaire is in itself a lengthy
and expensive undertaking. The majority of vacancies however, are not suitable for such
additional procedures, which assume that candidates have above average powers of self
expression and are willing to complete complicated forms.
Perhaps the usual method in such cases is first to reject some candidates on the
applications form and then give quick interviews to the remainder (often a very large
number) concentrating on relevant experience. This will produce a shortlist who will go
through a more searching selection procedure.
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After the shortlist has been drawn up the manager will decide what type of interview
should be given individual, successive or panel and what tests should be used. There
are many types of personnel tests in use today including
- Intelligence tests
- Tests of physical skills
- Tests of achievement
- Aptitude tests
- Interest inventories
- Personality tests.

A test is basically a sample of a persons behavior but some tests are more clearly
representative of the behavior being sampled than others.

A good test should meet certain criterion.

1. Validity test validity answers the question what does this test measure? there are
aspects of validity to consider.
a) criterion validity means demonstrating that those who do well on the test do
well on the job.
b) Content validity is demonstrated by showing that the tests constitutes a fair
sample of the content of the job.

2. Reliability as used by psychologists the term reliability always means consistency.
One way to measure reliability is to administer the same test to the same people at two
different points in time.

3. Some basic testing guidelines include
a) Use tests as supplements to
b) Validate the tests for appropriate jobs
c) Always all current hiring and production standards
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d) Beware of certain tests
e) Use a certified psychologist
f) Maintain good test conditions

Offer of the job assuming a suitable candidate has emerged from the selection process
he/she must now receive an offer. The initial offer needs special care as regards the
following :

1. The wage/salary offered must not only be appropriate to the job and attractive to
candidates but consistent with earnings of present employees.

2. Job must be named and special conditions set.

3.Any proviso must be clearly stated subject to satisfactory references and medical
exams.
















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Summary
We have defined recruitment as the first part of filing a vacancy and generally
building a qualified pool of candidates whereas selection is the next stage and usually
involves assessing the candidates by various means and making a choice followed by
an offer of employment We also discussed external sources of candidates such as
advertising, colleges, agencies, headhunting, the internet and the internal sources such
as job posting and referrals. We also reviewed the pro and cons of using the various
methods

Questions

1. What are the pros and cons of using the various recruiting methods?


Group Discussion

1.Compare and contrast the advantages of filling the vacancy internally and advantages
of filling the vacancy externally











87 87

LESSON 7 TRAINING AND DEVELOPING HUMAN
POTENTIAL
Objectives

By the end of this lesson students should be able to:

Define the concepts of training and development

Explain the major purposes of training in an organization

Describe the training process

Identify the major types of training methods and techniques

Identify the major types of development methods and techniques

Introduction

During the Year 2000s employee training will become increasingly important because of
the pressures to reduce costs and increase productivity. Companies everywhere are
learning that they cant compete in the world markets unless they boost productivity and
invest in a higher-trained and skilled workforce. Employee training is a key feature in
improving levels of organizational productivity. Therefore it is important the
organization enable employees to upgrade their skills and knowledge to meet these
changing conditions.

Todays managers face greater challenges than ever to maintain their position among the
top economic powers. Businesses everywhere are realizing that their place at the top is
not guaranteed and that they must find solutions for the declining productivity,
competitiveness, motivation and creativity of the workforce.

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests workplace training offers a significant
return on investment. A study reported that firms who spend an average of $900 per
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employee increased net sales $386171 on average per employee from one year to the
next. Firms who spent $275 per employee increased net sales $245,001.
This represents a difference of net sales per employee of $141,170.

One person said Traditional Management may be a lot easier but it is much less
rewarding. Empowering people is a lot tougher, but it is a lot of fun. You enjoy it
more. People want to be challenged. The workforce is completely changed; its
imperative that companies make the change with them if they dont want to lose their
best and brightest people. Some companies today operate with a positive employee
philosophy (PEP) that stresses services, commitment, teamwork, ownership and ethical
behavior. Rohrs Human Resource Director Michael Murray said, If you want to be a
world-class manufacturer the greatest resource is the force working for you.

In the future, the only winning companies will be those that respond quickly to changing
conditions, increasing workforce diversity and the critical issue of training related
problems.

At one company, turnover was reduced by better screening, pre-employment
requirements, a good benefits program and a good training and communication program.

Preparing employees to function in a high performing system is an important HR activity.
The modern HR manager must not only be flexible and adaptive in a changing
environment, but must also be able to develop a systems approach to training. Rapidly
changing technology necessitates employees who have the skills, abilities and knowledge
to keep up with new, complex production processes and techniques.

Training is a process that begins with the orientation of the new employee and continues
throughout an employees career. Therefore it is important that the HR manager develop
training programs to improve employee skills and performance in a changing labor force.

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WHAT ARE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduction

What makes one organization a winner when another fails to make use of the same
opportunities. Too many people lack the skills needed to flourish in the laser- fast, high-
performance, totally empowered, fully global world of the 2000s. Companies need to be
urged to treat their workers as assets to be developed rather than as costs to be cut. Smart
businesses realize that they, not the government must take responsibility for training
workers.

Nearly four in ten members of the National Association of Manufacturers in America say
that deficiencies in math, reading and technical skills are causing serious problems in
upgrading factories and increasing productivity. Companies cannot wait for the schools
to solve Americans education crisis.

Training is critical because it provides the skills needed both now and in the future. The
underlying assumption is: if an individual employee becomes more productive and more
involved, the total organization will also be improved. An overlooked benefit of training
is when it is a continuing process rather than occasional. It has been found that when
companies train their employees continually not only is there a high level of performance
but it, also helps to eliminate a negative work place.

Training
Although training and development are similar and both are critical to success there are
some important differences.
Training may be defined as an attempt to improve performance by the attainment of
specific skills such as typing, welding, running a computer and so forth, to do the current
job.

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The goal of training is to ensure that a number of job skills will be performed at
prescribed quality levels by trained employees. In essence training is investing in human
resources. It tends to broaden the focus of the employee being trained.
Some of the best training in America takes place at Motorola. Its factory workers study
the fundamentals of computer-aided design, robotics, and customized manufacturing, not
just by reading manuals or attending lectures but by inventing and building their own
plastic knick-knacks as well. Motorola calculates that every dollar it spends on training, it
receives $30 in productivity gains within 3 years. The company has cut costs by $3.3
billion not by the normal expedient of firing workers, but by training them to simplify
processes and reduce waste. Sales per employee have doubled in the past 5 years and
profits have increased 47%.

Other Definitions of Training

Training gives new or present employees the skills they need to perform their jobs.
Training might thus means showing a machinist how to operate his new machine, a new
sales person how to sell her firms product or a new supervisor how to interview and
appraise employees.

Training is a learning experience in that it seeks a relatively permanent change in an
individual that will improve his or her ability to perform on the job. We typically say that
training can involve the changing of skills, knowledge, attitudes or social behavior. It
may mean changing what employees know, how they work, their attitudes toward their
work, or their interactions with their coworkers or their supervisors.

Whereas training focuses on skills needed to perform employees current jobs, employee
and management development is training of a long-term nature. Its aim is to develop
current or future employees for future jobs with the organization or to solve an
organizational problem concerning, for instance, poor inter-departmental communication.
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The techniques used in both training and development are often the same, however, and
the distinction between the two is always some what arbitrary. Let us now try to define
development more closely:

Development
Development however, is more general than training, and refers to learning opportunities
designed to help employees grow. This provides employees with less detailed
information but provides broader learning which may be utilized in a variety of settings
and for future jobs.
- learning computer programming so one could write programs.
- understanding human behavior as it relates to motivation
- understanding TQM so it may be applied to quality control and so on. The goal of
development is to broaden the employees comprehension of generalized situations that
they may overlap into specific events.

Management development is more future oriented, and more concerned with education
than is employee training or assisting a person become a better performer .By education
we mean that management development activities attempt to instill sound reasoning
processes- to enhance ones ability to understand and interpret knowledge rather than
imparting a body of serial facts or teaching a specific set of motor skills. Development,
therefore focuses more on the employees personal growth.

In essence development is macro, not micro. It results in comprehension of processes
and through this understanding, results in better job performance.

An example of such a program is six stigma which is used by general electric, Johnson
&Johnson & Motorola to develop new management talent. The challenge is to master the
six stigma discipline that leads to black belts -so what is a business black belt?
Candidates in training need to be grounded in math, statistics, data analysis, finance and
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computer skills. Upon completion of the intensive training which takes months you
become a green belt capable of reducing certain quality and you graduate to a defects in
black belt.
Combination Programs
Training programs that combine both training and development is becoming more of a
factor in training programs as the business world begins to experience the serious
deterioration of the education system. As global competition increases, training
programs for management are becoming more educational in scope, with instruction in
such fields as ethnic and cultural development in the world market place.
Problems In Training
The size of the training problem becomes evident when one considers that in U.S.A. for
example some 95% of 21-25 year olds in the country only read at fourth grade level. If
we are to solve the training problem it will require upgrading the skills of 50 million
Americans by a factor of 40% in the twenty-first century. Even with a 100% success rate
it would take 5 years to succeed. Time is rapidly running out.
What has caused this problem?
Many, members of the media, the public and even some school administrators blame the
educational system for bad habits. This would include use of calculators instead of
learning mathematical tables and using computers for spell checks rather than learning
the basic spelling for themselves. Although the above organizations have merit, we
should not overlook the benefits that calculators and computers have brought us. Without
them we would not be enjoying the wide spread of prosperity of the twenty-first century.


The Training Process
The present expenditure by business firms in the United States for training exceeds $100
billion. Unfortunately some of this money is wasted on unnecessary or obsolete training
programs. To ensure that training dollars are invested wisely requires the same logic
used in all managements decisions.

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The Manager Must:
1. Identify training needs and establish specific objectives and evaluation criteria.
2. Design the appropriate training methods and conduct the training.
3. Evaluate the results of the training

Step One: Identifying Training Needs
The initial step in a training program is to identify training needs, often termed as needs
assessment.
The needs assessment refers to a systematic, objective identification of training needs.
Training needs can usually be determined by consulting with appropriate managerial
personnel regarding the results of assessment centers, areas of need revealed through
employee performance appraisal, and determining managers, concerns for specific
training needs to improve bottom-line performance. If such needs can be pin-pointed by
hard data, survey information and not by vague concerns needs, training improvements
will result in increased employee efficiency.

Step Two: Developing training objectives and criteria
The second step in a training program is developing training objectives and criteria. The
institutional objectives and criteria describe the performance in terms of training. One
example of an objective would be the attainment of a specific skill or performing a work
task within a certain time frame. An example of a criteria would be a specified score on a
test instrument or validation of performing a specific operation flawlessly a number of
times.

There are 2 advantages of developing objectives:
(1) The objectives provide criteria for evaluating the training program.
(2) The objectives provide trainers with the specific topics and content to focus on.


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This ensures that training programs are focusing on important topics and goals that have
meaning to trainees.

Achieving the objectives and criteria can be accomplished through the selection of an
appropriate training approach.
The basic techniques include
i) Coaching
ii) Internship
iii) On-the-job training
iv) Apprenticeship
v) Job rotation
vi) Job Instruction Method
vii) Mentoring
viii) Case method
ix) Continuing education
x) College and correspondence courses
xi) Lectures
xii) Role playing
xiii) Simulation
xiv) Programmed Instruction
xv) Vestibule training

These training methods can be used to achieve either one or a combination of learning
objectives:
Cognitive
Non cognitive
Psychomotor.

Cognitive learning relates to job specifics. It is concerned with facts and method
sequences.
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Non cognitive is concerned with behaviors creating and responding to position
requirements.
Psychomotor involves performing tasks requiring the use of the hands, feet and body.

These 3 learning types can be accomplished thro the following training methods:

1. In-House coaching
Coaching requires a person who has the necessary knowledge to instruct other individuals
on a one- to one or small group basis. The coach most often is a supervisor, but may be
a co-worker. Coaching is often associated with team sports such as baseball and football,
where individual and team skills are developed through practice and critique.

Although knowledge of the table is important, an effective coach must also possess the
ability to communicate the information to the individual in an efficient manner.

The coach and the one being coached must develop a mutual trusting relationship if this
method is to be successful.

2. Coaching Consultants

A significant number of companies are recognizing the twenty-first century will witness
the departure of 40% to 50% of their executives.
This is particularly true of the larger, older companies. The continuing pace of early
retirements, restructuring, mergers and lean hieratical have greatly reduced the once deep
pool of middle mangers. This is the very same group that was traditionally developed to
become the next generation of executives.

The problem is very common in workplaces around the country and is creating the
soaring popularity of a management tool called executive coaching. These coaches are
consultants who assist companies to prepare for succession by identifying and training
96 96
the future top executives. They act as confidants to help and produce executives to
enhance their performance on the job.

Some executive consultants guide just appointed managers fulfill the expected role in
their new jobs. In our global world of work force the role of the executive consultant has
found a special niche. Approximately 70% of the top 1000 firms worldwide do some
form of executive consultant coaching. A large number of mergers and acquisitions fail to
achieve projected bottom-line because executives lack soft people skills to overcome
cultural clashes. Companies are finding that week long training programs fail to produce
long-term results. However when the executive consultant is added to the mix,
employees are learning continually.

Although training programs are usually general in nature, the executive consultant is
more tailored to a managers potential and skills.

3. Internships
Interns usually follow a formalized training program. An internship program usually
consists of a series of job assignments over specific time periods designed to prepare a
person for grater job responsibilities. To ensure interns make the necessary progress in
their job assignments, a daily log of their activities is kept and/or written reports are
interviewed by appropriate supervisors. These jobs are usually channeled through the
internship coordinator who oversees the progress and functions as the administrator of the
internship program.








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ON THE JOB TRAINING
On the job training is probably the most widely used method of training.
One survey suggests that 90% of all industrial training is conducted at the work site. In
on-the-job training, the employee is placed in the work station and the supervisor
instructs the employee in how the job is done directly at the work station.

On-the-job training has several major advantages:
a) It is cost efficient
b) Workers actually produce while they learn
c) It builds motivation and involves a feedback situation
d) Finally, it minimizes problems if transfer of learning.
When employees learn in the actual job situation, the skills learned are the ones
needed.
Although on-the-job training is usually low cost and practical it does have some
disadvantages. Because training is conducted at the normal production point, trainees
may :
a) damage equipment
b) cause excessive waste materials
c) involve significantly higher accident rates.

Another major disadvantage of on-the-job training centers around the trainers. In the
majority of cases, the instructors are either supervisors or experienced line workers. In
either case the trainer may not have the training skills, interest or time necessary to
properly train the new employee. These conditions could produce improperly trained
employees who, through no fault of their own, are not performing the job at a high level
of productivity and safety.


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Apprenticeship Training

Among the oldest type of on-the-job training is apprenticeship training. This training is
commonly used by industries including metalworking, construction and auto repair where
the apprentices are trainees who spend a set period of time (usually 2 to 3 years) working
with an experience journey man. When used properly an apprenticeship program allows
the worker to earn wages while learning in both on and off-the-job situations.

The major disadvantages to apprenticeships training seems the set time period placed on
all enrolled in the program. People have different abilities and learning rates, but all must
serve the predetermined training period.

Apprenticeships are often used by unions. The apprentice agrees to work at less than
trade wages in exchange for training at a specific trade (i.e. plumber, electrician, etc).
On-the-job training is founded by fully qualified union personnel. Depending upon the
trade, there are varying amounts of classroom training. Although the apprenticeship may
run from 2 to 5 years, the programs are very comprehensive and may actually result in
over training.

In the changing technological environment of the 2000s, apprenticeship programs also
face new challenges. A trainer may spend several years learning a specific job skill, and
then find upon completion of the apprenticeship training that these job skills are no
longer needed.






99 99
Job Rotation

Job rotation training involves moving trainees around among different jobs within the
organization. The system is often used for management-level training and self-managed
work team programs. Job rotation allows the employee to learn several job skills and a
wide range of operations within an organization.
Cross-trained personnel also provide greater flexibility for organizations when
unexpected transfers, absence, promotions or other replacements may become necessary
Job rotation usually takes place at the same pay rate. It often occurs when the Job is
temporarily vacant due to a vacation, illness or termination. The employee benefits from
learning a variety of skills. The company benefits from having a group of experienced
candidates from whom to choose when vacancies occur.

An example is the electronics company, Graphic Controls Corporation that established a
program to cross train workers for highly skilled positions in its twenty department
manufacturing area. The programs goals were to produce a versatile, qualified
workforce, willing to work in departments where there was a need.

The Job Instruction Method.
The Job Instruction Method is a formalized on-the-job training method where the
employee follows a series of written instructions to complete a procedure or to operate
machinery. These written instructions may be provided by the manufacturer of the
equipment or by skilled company employees. The JIM is effective for repetitive
situations.

Programmed instruction (PI) provides the employees with short segments of information
who then respond to selected questions. If the answer is correct, the employee moves on
to newer more complicated segments of information. If the answer is wrong, the
employee returns to the previous short segment of information and tries again. Because
this approach is self-correcting it is fast and for some individuals is a more effective
learning tool.
100 100

Computer-Assisted Instruction
One popular method of training is programmed instruction or computer-assisted
instruction. This involves a self-taught, self-paced learning system usually using
computers which eliminates the need for an instructor. Material is presented to trainees
in written form, or by computer programs through a series of self-paced steps. Each step
consists of factual material to be mastered which is directly followed by a question. The
trainees responses are immediately verified after each question. If the replies are correct
the trainees proceed to the next item. If the responses are incorrect the question is
repeated. Computer-aided instruction offers the advantage of individualized training.
Trainees progress at their own pace, receive immediate feedback, and are active, as
opposed to passive learners. The potential of computer-aided instruction is limited only
by the amount of training needs and is becoming one of the most popular training
methods.

Vestibule Training
The vestibule is one of the easiest methods used in business training. It originally
referred to a hallway where the employee learned to operate equipment correctly and then
proceeded to the shop floor for the real thing. It provides an environment where the
employee can learn to produce a high-quality volume of goods with a minimum loss to
the employer in defective goods and costly repair.

In vestibule training, the trainee learns the job in an off-site environment that stimulates
the actual workplace. Many companies have a small area within the plant set up for this
type of training. Many larger organizations actually develop training schools. One
example would be the flight stimulators which duplicate an air plane cockpits used by
Boeing to train airline pilots.



101 101

Mentoring
Mentoring establishes a formal relationship between junior and senior colleagues or
between persons with superior knowledge and a less experienced employee. .It is similar
to a parent child relationship in that one provides guidance and tutorship in the ways of
career success, including sponsorship, coaching and protection of the colleague, exposure
to important contacts, and assignment of challenging work.

A mentor can be a valuable aid in the development of a junior person and may also be
valuable for improving the job involvement and satisfaction of the mentor. Several
companies who offer formal mentoring include Federal Express and Xerox.
The mentor begins by determining the employees job and direction of the subsequent
career path. Together the mentor and the employee should develop career goals based on
abilities and company promotional opportunities. One approach is for both parties to
maintain a diary of events both as feedback and agreement of the progress attained. An
evaluation format should be set at the start of the mentoring program. This can be as
simple as both parties discussing progress or evaluations by other managers of the
employee ,or more formal committee reviews at various points in the program.


Of- the- Job Training

Aside from initial orientation, on the job apprenticeship, and vestibule training programs
most other industry training occurs away from the actual job location. These programs
may be taught by staff, professional trainers and consultants or university faculty.
Off the job training provides a variety of training which would not otherwise be available
to smaller companies .Programs can be designed to meet training needs without being
restricted by lack of organizational resources. Typically off-the job creates an
environment of learning
102 102
Employers need not only know the training needs of their employees but also need to
understand their learning preferences. Once the training program is completed the
employee can continue self-directed learning.

Continuing Education
Continuing education courses may be offered by colleges or professional organizations
.They are usually of short duration and take place away from the organization .Topics
range from self-improvement and learning particular skills to maintaining a desired level
of professionalism ( such as in accounting or nursing)
College and correspondence courses include educational, vocational and technical .As a
result of their broad range they provide a valuable supplement to a companys training
program .From the companys point of view, problems that occur include the course
content may not satisfy the organizations specific needs and employee progress is
difficult to monitor.


Step Three: The Evaluation of training

Evaluation involves gathering information on whether trainees were satisfied with and
learned from the training .The evaluation considers several areas:
Was the designated need or objective met and the specified criteria satisfied?
Was the teaching method selected effective for the individual to learn?
And finally will the evaluation assist the instructor to be more effective in the
teaching role

The answer to the first area of concern whether the designated needs were met and the
specific criteria satisfied involves both the trainee and the trainees supervisor. Some type
of test will measure the trainees accumulation of knowledge .However the key area is
whether the training received by the employee translates back on the job to increased
effectiveness. This knowledge is possessed by the supervisor who should be surveyed
thro some form of written appraisal after the trainee has returned to the job for an
appropriate time period.
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Whether the selected method of teaching was effective will be the result of summating
the trainees test scores and the supervisors rating of whether the employee is now more
effective on the job.

The final area of concern is the effectiveness of the instructor. The same evaluative data
used in the previous appraisal can be used here also although the analysis will be
somewhat different. The student test scores and the supervisor evaluation needs to be
reviewed for possible areas of course weakness and curriculum deficiencies. After
determining these effects, the instructor can determine the appropriate changes at the
teaching level to increase effectiveness.

Management Development

Management development is any attempt to improve managerial performance by
imparting knowledge, changing attitudes or increasing skills .The ultimate aim is of
course to enhance the future performance of the organization itself.

Management development is important for several reasons. For one thing, promotion
from within is a major source of management talent. One survey of 84 employers reports
that about 90% of supervisors, 73% of middle-level managers, and 51% of executives
were promoted from within; virtually all these managers, in turn, required some
development to prepare them for their new jobs. Similarly, management development
facilitates organizational continuity by preparing employees and current m anager to
smoothly assume higher-level positions. It also helps to socialize management trainees by
developing in them the right values and attitudes for working in the firm. And, it can
foster organizational responsiveness by developing the skills that managers need to
respond faster to change.


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The Changing Nature of Management Development

Some management development programs are company wide and involve all or most
new (or potential) management recruits. Thus, new college graduates may join Enormous
Corp. and (with two dozen colleagues) become part of the company wide management
development program. Here they may be rotated through a preprogrammed series of
departmental assignments and educational experiences; the aims are identifying their
management potential, and at providing the breadth of experience (in, say, production
and finance) that will make the new managers more valuable in their first real
assignment as group product leaders. Then superior candidates may be slotted onto a
fast track, a development program that prepares them more quickly to assume senior-
level commands.
On the other hand, the management development program may be aimed at filling a
specific position, such as CEO, perhaps with one of two potential candidates. When it is
an executive position to be filled, the process is usually called succession planning.
Succession planning refers to the process through which senior-level openings are
planned for and eventually filled.

Such a succession program typically takes place in stages, first, an organization
projection is made, here you anticipate your departments management needs based on
factors like planned expansion or contraction. Next the HR department reviews its
management skills inventory to identify the management talent now employed. These
inventories, you may recall, contain data on things like educational and work
experiences, career preferences, and performance appraisals. Next management
replacement charts are drawn. These summarize potential candidates for each of your
management slots, as well as each persons development needs. For example the
development needs for a future division General Manager might include job rotation (to
obtain more experience in the firms finance and production divisions), executive
105 105
development programs (to provide training in strategic planning), and assignment for two
weeks to the employers in-house management development centre.

HR AND THE RESPONSIVE ORGANIZATION
For the past few years management developments focus has been shifting from
preparing managers to fill higher-level slots to preparing them to meet the challenges of
managing in a fast-paced environment. Increasingly, therefore, the emphasis is on
developing a managers ability to learn and make decisions under conditions of rapid
change.
Two experts put it this way: As decision makers take on increasing responsibility across
their careers, their learning needs move from the arena of task learning to behavioral
learning to conceptual or policy-level learning? For example, todays corporate
managers are under enormous pressure to find the strategic opportunities their
competitors have yet to find. This means more emphasis on developing their conceptual
ability to search for internal strategic opportunities to improve quality, service, and
prices.
Similarly, all managers-not just those to be posted overseas-have to be well schooled in
global economic, foreign markets, and cross-cultural negotiating. And to manage in
flatter, more empowered organizations the leader must increasingly become a teacher,
coach and consultant rather than a boss.
This is causing a corresponding change in the techniques that are emphasized in
management development programs. Historically on-the-job experience, including on-
the-job training, coaching, and rotational assignments, has been far and away the most
popular management development techniques. The problem is that these techniques tend
to emphasize showing managers current procedures or (at best) getting them to think
about how to do what were doing today a little better. Today theres a shift toward
development techniques that teach managers how to learn and how to develop the
competencies they need to cope with change, such as sizing up foreign markets and
searching for new strategic opportunities. Special in-company executive development
programs, action learning and lifelong learning, are examples to be discussed later.
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Managerial On-the-Job training

On-the-job training is one of the most popular development methods. Important
techniques here include job rotation, the coaching/understudy approach, junior boards,
and action learning.

Job Rotation
Job rotation means moving management trainees from department to department to
broaden their understanding of all parts of the business. The trainee often a recent college
graduate-may spend several months in each department; this helps not only broaden his
or her experience , but also discover the jobs he or she prefers. The person may just be an
observer in each department but more commonly gets fully involved in its operations.
The trainee thus learns the departments business by actually doing it whether it involves
sales, production, finance, or more some other function.

Job rotation has several other advantages. In addition to providing a well rounded training
experience for each person, it helps avoid stagnation through the constant introduction of
new points of view in each department. It also tests the trainee and helps identify the
persons strong and weak points. Periodic job changing can also improve
interdepartmental cooperation; managers become more understanding of each others
problems while rotation also widens the trainees acquaintances among management.

Rotation does have disadvantages. It encourages generalization and tends to be more
appropriate for developing general line managers than functional staff experts. You also
have to be careful not to forget inadvertently a trainee at some deserted outpost.

There are several things you can do to improve a rotation programs success. The
program should be tailored to the needs and capabilities of the individual trainee and not
be a standard sequence of steps that all the trainees take. The trainees interests, aptitudes,
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and career preferences should be considered, along with the employers needs; the length
of time the trainee stays in a job should then be determined by how fast he or she is
learning. Furthermore, the managers to whom these people are assigned should
themselves be specially trained to provide feedback and to monitor performance in an
interested and competent way.

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Companys training program for college graduates is a
good example of job rotation. Each trainees program is tailored to match his or her
experience, education, and vocational preference. Programs vary from 6 to 15 months,
beginning with three weeks in an orientation program to make the trainees thoroughly
acquainted with Goodyear. (Here they study the organizations structure, company
objectives, and basic manufacturing processes and participate in informal meetings with
top company officials). After an additional month of factory orientation, trainees, discuss
their career interests with top-level managers and select up to six assignments in special
departments, each of which will last about one month. (for example, a chemical
engineering graduate might rotate through departments for fabric development, chemical
materials development research, central process engineering, process development, and
chemical production). Trainees then select specific job assignments as the starting point
of their careers.

GLOBAL HRM
Global job rotation and management

As firms expand multinationally, job rotation is taking on a new meaning. At firms like
shell and British Petroleum (BP), rotation managers globally are a primary means
through which the firms maintain their flexibility and responsiveness even as they grow
to an enormous size.
The rationale for extensive global job rotation is summarized as follows by a Shell senior
executive:
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The word summarizing todays business outlook is uncertainty, and the response must
be flexibility. For a complex, international, multifunctional organization like the Shell
group, the prerequisite for flexibility is a highly skilled, international body of staff.


The advantage of global job rotation (rotating managers from, say, Sweden to New
York, and from New York to Japan) is that it builds a network of informal ties an
information network that ensures superior cross-border communication and mutual
understanding as well as tight interunit coordination and control.
Improved communication and understanding stem from the personal relationships that are
forged as managers work in the firms various locations. These activities can also
enhance organizational control. When employees from a firms global locations are
rotated or brought together at, say, Harvard Business School or Europes INSEAD for a
management training program, the aim is more than just teaching basic skills. It is also to
build a stronger identification with the companys culture and values. By creating shared
values and a consistent view of the firm and its goals, management development
activities like these can facilitate communication and ensure that through a sense of
shared values and purpose the firms policies are followed, even with a minimum
reliance on more traditional forms of control.

Coaching/understudy approach
In the coaching/understudy approach, the trainee works directly with the person he or s
he is to replace; the latter is in turn responsible for the trainees coaching. Normally, the
understudy relieves the executive of certain responsibilities, thereby giving the trainee a
chance to learn the job. This helps ensure that the employer will have trained managers to
assume key positions when such positions are vacated due to retirement, promotions,
transfer, or terminations. It also helps guarantee the long-run development of company-
bred top managers.

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To be effective, the executive has to be a good coach and mentor. Furthermore, this
persons motivation to train the replacement will depend on the quality of relationship
between them. Some executives are also better at delegating responsibility, providing
reinforcement, and communicating than are others; this also will affect the results.


Junior Boards
Unlike job rotation, which aims to familiarize the trainees with the problems of each
department, junior boards aim to give promising middle managers experience in
analyzing overall company problems. The idea of a junior board (also called multiple
management) is to give trainees top-level analysis and policymaking experience by
having 10 to 12 trainees sit on a junior board of directors. The members of such boards
come from various departments. They make recommendations regarding top-level issues
like organizations structure, executive compensation, and interdepartmental conflict to
the official board of directors. This technique provides middle-management trainees with
on the job training and experience in dealing with organization wide problems.

Action Learning
Action learning gives managers released time to work full time on projects, analyzing and
solving problems in departments other than their own. The trainees meet periodically
with a four-or five person project group, where their findings and progress are discussed
and debated.
Action learning is similar to and grounded in other development methods.
It is similar to the junior boards previously discussed except that trainees generally work
full time on their projects, rather than analyzing a problem as a committee as they would
on junior boards. It is also similar to giving a management trainee a special assignment or
project. However, with action learning several trainees work together as a project group
to compare notes and discuss each others projects. Action learning often requires
cooperation among several employers. For example, an employee from General Electric
might be assigned to a government agency for a research project, while the agency might
assign one of its managers to G.E.
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As an example, a CIGNA International Property and Casualty Corp. vice president spent
four intensive weeks in an action learning group. The group was assigned the problem of
analysing the strategies of one of the insurance companys business units over the
previous three years. They were told not to formulate a new business strategy but to
recommend whether the existing strategies required minor adjustments and whether they
were being implemented incorrectly. The vice presidents group consisted of 11 upper-
and middle-management members from various CIGNA divisions with no one coming
from the same division. Each of the four weeks was devoted to a different set of
activities. In the first week the group received training from business professors as well
as a briefing from the division staff that had the business problem. In the second week
they split into four teams and traveled the country interviewing about 100 of the
divisions employees, distributors, and customers on a one-to-one basis. In the third week
the group assimilated and analysed the data, and in the fourth week they formulated
recommendations and wrote a 40-pus-page paper. The group presented its
recommendations to the president and executions staff of the troubled division at the end
of the fourth week and fielded questions from the executives.

The idea of developing managers this way has pros and cons. It gives trainees real
experience with actual problems, and to that extent it can develop skills problem analysis
and planning. Furthermore, working with the others in the group, the trainees can and do
find solutions to major problems. The main drawback is that in releasing trainees to work
on outside projects, the employer loses, in a sense, the full-time services of a competent
manager.








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Off-the-Job Management Development Techniques

There are many techniques you can use to develop managers off the job, perhaps in a
conference room at headquarters or off the premises entirely at a university or special
seminar. These techniques are addressed next.

The Case Study method
The case study method presents a trainee with a written description of an organizational
problem. The person then analyses the case in private, diagnoses the problem, and
presents his or her findings and solutions in a discussion with other trainees. The case
method approach is aimed at giving trainees realistic experience in identifying and
analyzing complex problems in an environment in which their progress can be subtly
guided by a trained discussions leader.
Through the class discussion of the case, trainees learn that there are usually many ways
to approach and solve complex organizational problems. Trainees also learn that their
solutions are often influenced by their own needs and values.
The case method ideally has five main features. (1) The use of actual organizational
problems; (2) the maximum possible involvement of participants in stating their views,
inquiring into others views, confronting different views, and making decisions, resulting
in (3) a minimal degree of dependence on the faculty members; who, in turn, (4) hold the
position that there are rarely any right or wrong answers, and that cases are incomplete
and so is reality; and (5) who still strive to make the case method as engaging as possible
through creation of appropriate levels of drama. As you can see, the instructor plays a
crucial role.

Problems to avoid unfortunately, the case approach often falls far short of this mark. In
practical, faculty often dominate classroom discussions by asking students questions that
they then themselves proceed to answer, through answering specific questions asked by
students and through presenting statements of the facts about the case. Faculty also use
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mystery to achieve mastery by intentionally withholding information (for instance,
regarding what the company actually did and what its competitors were doing at the time
when the case was written) with the aim of maintaining control of the classroom
discussion. In one study of the case method, Argyris found that there were
inconsistencies between the approach that the faculty espoused and what they actually
did. For example, (1) faculty said there are no right or wrong answers, yet some faculty
members did take positions and give answers (2) faculty said there are many different
points of view possible; yet they seemed to select viewpoints and organize them in a way
to suggest that they have a preferred route. Finally, few attempts were made by the
faculty to relate the trainees behavior in the classroom to their behavior back home.
There are several things you can do to make the case approach more effective. If
possible, the cases should be actual cases from the trainees own firms. This will help
ensure that trainees understand the background of the case, as well as make it easier for
trainees to transfer what they learn to their own jobs and situations. Argyris also
contends that instructors have to regard against dominating the case analysis and make
sure that they remain no more than a catalyst or coach. Finally, they must carefully
prepare the case discussion and let the students discuss the case in small groups before
class.

Management games
A development technique in which teams of managers compete with one another by
making computerized decisions regarding realistic but simulated companies. In a
computerized management game, trainees are divided into five-or six person companies,
each of which has to compete with the other in a simulated marketplace. Each company
sets a goal (such as maximize sales) and is told it can make several decisions. For
example, the group may be allowed to decide (1) how much to spend on advertising, (2)
how much to produce, (3) how much inventory to maintain, and (4) how much of which
product to produce. Usually the game itself compresses a two-or three year period into
days, weeks, or months. As in the real world, each company usually cant see what
decisions the other firms have made, although these decisions do affect their own sales.
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For example, it a competitor decides to increase its advertising expenditures, that firm
may end up increasing its sales at the expense of yours.
Management games can be good development tools. People learn best by getting
involved in the activity itself, and the games can be useful for gaining such involvement.
Games are almost always interesting and exciting for the trainees because of their realism
and competitiveness. They help trainees develop their problem-solving skills, as well as
focus their attention on the need for planning rather than on just putting out fires. The
companies also usually elect their own officers and develop their own divisions of work;
the games can thus be useful for developing leadership skills and for fostering
cooperation and teamwork.
Management games also have their drawbacks .One is that the game can be expensive to
develop and implement.


Games also usually force the decision makers to choose alternative from a closed list (for
instance, they might have choices of only three levels of production); in real life
managers are more often rewarded for creating new, innovative alternatives. On the
whole, though, trainees almost always react favorably to a well-run game, and its a good
technique for developing problem-solving and leadership skills.

Cutside Seminars
Many organizations offer special seminars and conferences aimed at providing skill-
building training for managers. The American Management Associations (AMA), for
instance, provide thousands of courses in areas such as the following:
General management
Human resources
Sales and marketing
International management
Finance
Information systems and technology
114 114
Manufacturing and operations management
Purchasing, transportation, and physical distribution
Packaging
Research and technology management
General and administrative service
Insurance and employees benefits.

The courses themselves range from how to sharpen your business writing skills to
strategic planning and assertiveness training for managers. The outline of a typical
course is presented in Figure 8.2; it is advanced management techniques for experienced
supervisors. As you can see, it is a two-and-a- half-day advanced course for first-line
manufacturing supervisors with three to five years experience who want to enhance their
management skills. Topics covered include review of management and organization
concepts, developing effective interpersonal skills, communication, motivation, and
developing leadership skills. Many of the AMA courses can also be presented on site at
the employers place of business if ten or more employees are enrolled. Other
organizations offering management Board, and Xerox Educational Systems.
Many of these programs often continuing education units (CEUs) for course completion,
Earning CEUs provides a recognized measure of educational accomplishment, says the
AMA, one that is today used by more than, 1,000 colleges, CEUs generally cant be to
obtain degree-granting credit at most colleges or universities, but they do provide a
record of the fact that the trainee participated in and completed a special conference or
seminar.








115 115

An Example of a typical middle-management training program.

Who should attend:
An advanced course for first-line manufacturing supervisors with 3-5 years experience
who want to enhance their management skills. Especially useful for supervisors who have
completed course.
The management course for new manufacturing supervisors, or course productivity
improvement methods and techniques.

Key topics
Review of management and organization concepts and how they relate to todays
employees: planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, authority, responsibility,
accountability, reportability, dollar relationship to human resources utilization and
lost time.
How to develop effective interpersonal skills, understanding behaviour and
personality, relating to people as individuals, selfawareness and opportunities to
develop, how to positively affect attitudes and working relationships, team
development, how to develop a warmer, more relaxed climate in dealing with people,
how to come across firmly but fairly.
The communication workshop for supervisors: develop increased listening kills,
writing and speaking clearly, concisely, and with more organization, how to use
communication to reduce stress and fear, assertiveness in communication, how to sell
your ideas to management.
The motivation workshop for supervisors, analysing management style and its role in
motivation, creating an environment where employees will work effectively,
behavioural foundation for self-motivation, relating program content to actual
problem situations.
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Developing your leadership skills, how you are perceived by others, habits that
reduce your leadership potential, applying course content to leadership development.

Special feature:
Examination of the supervisors role- defining responsibilities, duties, authority and the
restriction of authority. Discussions on work psychology how the supervisor can
effectively motivate, and the importance of communications. Discussion of various
discipline techniques-when and where to use them and their effects on performance and
morale, presentation on reviewing employee performance with emphasis on improving
their production and morale.

CASE Advertisement for Harvard Executive Training Program

Harvard Business School executive education offers dynamic and though-provoking
study in a wide spectrum for disciplines. These intensive programs are specifically
designed to provide you with the fresh perspectives and strategic focus needed to
improve the performance of your company.
In 1996, the Harvard business school offers more than twenty courses that run form two
and one-half days to eleven weeks. Two programs will be of particular interest to CEOs
their direct reports, and senior level executives.
Advanced management program is for senior level general managers with more than 15
years experience. The program fosters a greater appreciation of complex business
challenges and new strategies to change and lead organizations in todays global
marketplace.
Program of management development is designed for new general managers as well as
senior-level functional managers in succession for a general management role.
This course helps executives improve their overall efficiency, develop a new framework
for problem solving and expand their range of responsibility.
Join your colleges in the learning experience that has had measurable impact on
companies and corporations around the world for more than fifty years. Then see the
117 117
results for yourself. Explore the opportunities with executive education at the Harvard
Business School.

University Related Programs.
Colleges and universities provide three types of management development activities.
First, many schools provide continuing education programs in leadership, supervision,
and the like. These range from one- to four- day program to executive development
programs lasting one to four months. The advanced management program of the graduate
school of business administration at Harvard university is an example of one of these
longer programs. As you can see in figure 8.3, each class in this program consists of a
group of experienced managers from all region of the world. The program uses cases and
lecturers to provide top-level management talent with the latest management skills, as
well as with practice in analysing complex organization problems. Similar programs
include the Executive program of the graduate school of business administration at the
university of California at Berkeley, the management Development seminar at the
university of Chicago, and the Executive in business administration program of the
Graduate of Business at Columbia University. Most of these programs take the
executives away from their jobs, putting them in university-run learning environments for
their entire stay. The Colombia University program, for instance, is offered at Arden
House in the Ramapo Mountains of New York.
Second, many colleagues and universities also offer individualized courses in areas like
business, management, and health care administration. Managers can take these as
matriculated or nonmatriculated students to fill gaps in their backgrounds.
Thus, a prospective division manager with a gap in experience with accounting controls
might sign up for a two-course sequence in managerial accounting.
Finally, of course many schools also offer degree programs such as the MBA or
Executive MBA. The latter is a Master and above, who generally take their courses on
weekends and proceed through the program with the same group of colleagues.



118 118

The employers contribution the employer usually plays a role in university related
programs. First, many employers offer tuition refunds as an incentive for employees to
develop job-related skills. Thus, engineers may be encouraged to enrol in technical
courses aimed at keeping them abreast of changes in their field. Supervisors may be
encouraged to enroll in programs to develop them for higher level management jobs.
Employers are also increasingly granting technical and professional employees extended
sabbaticals periods of time off the attending a college or university to pursue a higher
degree or to upgrade skills. For example, Lucent Corporation has a program that includes
a tuition refund and released time for up to one year of on-campus study. In addition, the
company has a doctoral support program that permits tuition refund and released time for
studies one day a week (and, for some, a full years study on campus to meet residence
requirements).
Some companies have experienced with offering selected employees in house degree
programs in cooperation with colleges and universities. Many also offer a variety of in-
house lectures and seminars by university staff.

For example, Technicon, a high-tech medical instruments company, asked Pace
University to offer an executive education program for its key middle managers. The
theme of the 14-month program was successful management of high-tech business. the
coursework covered topics ranging from finance to executive communication.

Universities and cooperations are also experimenting with video-linked classroom
education. For example, the school of business and public administration at California
State University, Sacramento, and a Hewlett-Packard facility in Roseville, California, are
video-linked. A video-link allows for classroom learning on campuses with simultaneous
broadcasting to other locations via telephone communication lines.




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Example of a Role playing exercise

Typical role in a role playing exercise.
Walt Marshall supervisor of repair crew
You are the head of a crew of telephone maintenance workers, each of whom drives a
small service truck to and from the various jobs. Every so often you get a new truck to
exchange for an old one, and you have the problem for deciding to which of your crew
members you should give the new truck. Often there are hard feelings, since each seems
to feel entitled, to the new truck, so you have a tough time being fair. As a matter of fact,
it usually turns out that whatever you decide is considered wrong by most of the crew
truck, a Chevrolet, has just been allocated to you for assignment.
In order to handle this problem you have decided to put the decision up to the crew. You
will tell them about the new truck and will put the problem in terms of what would be the
fairest way to assign the truck. Do not take a position yourself, because you want to do
what you think is most fair.

Role Playing
The aim of role playing is to create a realistic situation and then have the trainees assume
the parts (or roles) of specific persons in that situation.
One such role from a famous role-playing exercise called the New Truck Dilemma is
presented above when combined with the general instructions for the role playing
exercise, roles like these for all of the participants can trigger a spirited discussion among
the role players, particularly when they all throw themselves into the roles. The idea of
the exercise is to solve the problem at hand and thereby develop trainees skills in areas
like leadership and delegating.

Role playing can be an enjoyable and inexpensive way to develop many new skills.


120 120

With the New Truck Dilemma exercise, for instance, participants learn the importance of
fairness in bringing about acceptance of resource allocation decisions. The role players
can also give up their inhibitions and experiment with new ways of acting. For example,
a supervisor could experiment with both a considerate and autocratic leadership style,
whereas in the real world the person might not have this harmless way of experimenting.
Role playing also trains a person to be aware of and sensitive to the feelings of others.

Role playing has some drawbacks. An exercise can take an hour or more to complete,
only to be deemed a waste of time by participants if the instructor doesnt prepare a wrap-
up explanation of what the participants were to learn. Some trainees also feel that role
playing is childish, while others who may have had a bad experience with the technique
are reluctant to participate at all. Knowing your audience and preparing a wrap-up are
thus advisable.

Behavior Modeling
Behavior modeling involves (1) showing trainees the right (or model) way of doing
something, (2) letting each person practice the right way to do it, and then (3) improving
feedback regarding each trainee performance. It has been used for example, to:

1. Train first-line supervisors to handle common supervisor-employee interactions
better. This includes giving recognition, disciplining, introducing changes, and
improving poor performance.
2. Train middle manages to better handle interpersonal situations, for example,
performance problems and undesirable work habits.
3. Train employees and their supervisors to take and give criticism, ask and give help,
and establish mutual trust and respect.




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The basic behavior modeling procedure can be outlined:

Modeling, first, trainees watch films or videotapes that show model persons behaving
effectively in a problem situation. In other words, trainees are shown the right way to
behave in a simulated but realistic situation. The film might thus show a supervisor
effectively disciplining a subordinate, if teaching how to discipline is the aim of the
training program.

Role playing, next the trainees are given roles to play in a simulated situation, here they
practice and rehearse the effective behaviors demonstrated by the models.

Social reinforcement. The trainer provides reinforcement in the form of praise and
constructive feedback based on how the trainee performs in the role playing situation.

Transfer of training. Finally, trainees are encouraged to apply their new skills when they
are back on their jobs.

In-House Development Centers.
Some employers have in-house development centers. These centers usually combine
classroom learning (lectures and seminars, for instance) with other techniques like
assessment centers, in-basket exercises, and role playing to help develop employees and
other managers.
For example the CBs management school is set in country club surroundings in Old
Westbury, New York. Its basic aim is to give young managers first hand experience at
decision making.

To accomplish this, both the general management program (for upper-level managers)
and the professional management programs (for entry-level managers) stress solving
concrete business problems. The programs use various teaching methods but stress
computerized case exercises. In one exercise, for instance, each student acts as a regional
122 122
sales manager and has to make decisions regarding how to deal with a star saleswoman
who wants to leave. As trainees make decisions (like whether or not to boost the
saleswomans salary to entice her to stay), the computer indicates the implications of the
decision; thus if she is paid more, others may also want that increase in pay. At the end of
each day students get printouts evaluating their decisions with respect to setting goals,
organizing work, managing time, and supervising subordinates.
Organizational Development
Organization development (OD) is a method that is aimed at changing the attitudes,
values, and beliefs of employees so that the employees themselves can identify and
implement the technical changes such as reorganizations, redesigned facilities, and the
like that are required, usually with the aid of an outside change agent or consultant.
Action research is the common denominator underlying most OD interventions. It
includes (1) gathering data about the organization and its operations and attitudes, with an
eye toward solving a particular problem (for example, conflict between the sales and
production departments); (2) feeding back these data to the parties (employees) involved;
and then (3) having these parties team-plan solutions to the problems. In OD, the
participants always get involved in gathering data about themselves and their
organization, analyzing these data, and planning solutions based on these analysis. OD
efforts include survey feedback, sensitivity training, and team building.
Survey feedback survey feedback is a method that surveys employees attitudes and
provides feedback to department managers so that problems can be solved by the
managers and employees. Attitude surveys such as the one in figure 8.5 can be a useful
OD technique. The results can be used to compare departments and to underscore
dramatically the existence of some problem like low morale, and serve as a basis for
discussion among the employees for developing alterantive solutions. Finally, results of
attitude surveys can also be used to follow up on any change to see whether it has been
successful in changing the participants attitudes.

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Sensitivity training sensitivity training aims to increase participants insights into their
behavior and the behavior of others by encouraging an open expression of feelings in the
trainer-guided T-group laboratory. (The T is for training).
The assumption is that newly sensitised employees will then find it easier to work
together amicably as a team. Sensitivity training seeks to accomplish its aim of increasing
interpersonal sensitivity by requiring frank, candid discussions in the T-Group,
discussions of participants personal feelings, attitudes, and behavior.
Participants are encouraged to inform each other truthfully of how their behavior is being
seen and to interpret the kind of feelings it produces. As a result, it is a controversial
method surrounded by heated debate and is used much less today than in the past.

Team building team building refers to a group of OD techniques aimed at improving the
effectiveness of teams at work. And, in fact, the characteristic OD stress on action
learning-on letting the trainees solve the problem is perhaps most evident when the OD
program is aimed at improving a teams effectiveness.
Data concerning the teams performance are collected and then fed back to the member
of the group. The participants examine, explain, and analyze the data and develop
specific action plans or solutions for solving the teams problems.
The typical team-building program begins with the consultant interviewing each of the
group members and the leader prior to the group meeting asking them that their
problems are, how they think the group functions, and what obstacles are in the way of
the groups performing better. (or the consultant may interview the entire group at once,
using open-ended questions such as: What things do you see getting in the way of this
groups being a better one? Sometimes, an attitude survey is used to gather the basic
background data for the meeting). The consultant usually categorizes the interview data
into themes and presents the themes to the group at the beginning of the meeting. They
might include, for example, Not enough time to get my job done, or I cant get any
cooperation around here. The themes are then ranked by the group in terms of their
importance. The most important ones from agenda for the meeting. The group examines
and discusses the issues, examines the underlying causes of the problem, and begins work
on solution to the problems.
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During one of these sessions it is likely that certain non agenda items will emerge as a
result of the participants interaction. In discussing the theme I cant get any
cooperation around here, for instance, the group might uncover the fact that the manager
is not providing enough direction. The manager might be allowing vacuums to develop
that are leading to conflict and a breakdown of cooperation. These new items or
problems, as well as the agenda items or themes, are generally pursued under the
guidance of the consultant. The steps are formulated to bring abut the changes deemed
desirable and a follow-up meeting is often scheduled. Here it is determined whether the
steps have been implemented successfully.
Notice how the typical team-building intervention relies on the participants themselves
doing the research: information about the groups problems is obtained from the group,
members of the group analyze and discuss the data in an atmosphere of cooperation, and
finally, the participants develop solutions or action steps for solving the problems that
they themselves have identified.
Grid training is a formal approach to team building designed by Blake and Mouton. As
summarized in Table 8.1, grid training is based on a device called the managerial grid.
This represents difference leadership styles, identifying specifically whether the leader is
more concerned with people or with production.
The Grid program is aimed first at developing 9, 9 managers managers who are
interested in getting results by being high on their concern both for production and for
people; they want to get results through committed, cooperative subordinates, say Blake
and Mouton. The Grid program assumes that possessing such a style makes it easier for
you to work with subordinates, superiors, and peers in analysing group, inter group, and
organizational problems and developing action steps to solve these problems.
Using HR To Build A Responsive Learning Organization
The former head of strategic planning at Royal Dutch Shell has said, In the future, the
only sustainable competitive advantage may be an organizations ability to learn faster
than its competitors. His statement underscore the fact that in a fast-changing world, the
last thing a company needs is for new information about competitors actions, customers
preferences, or technological improvements to be ignored by the companys managers, or
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lost in a bureaucratic sinkhole of non activity. For years, for instance, General Motors
seemed oblivious to the competitive and technological advances of its foreign
competitors, it finally awoke only when its board decided that too much market share had
been lost. On the other hand, firms like Microsoft and General Electric are traditionally
quick on their feet, adept at translating new knowledge into new ways of behaving.



Table 8.1 summary of managerial grid leadership styles

Type of leader concern concern
As ranked on grid for people for production
(1-1) Low Low
(1-9) High Low
(9-1) Low High
(9-9) High High




HRs Role in Building Learning Organizations
Firms like GE have successfully made the leap into rebuilding themselves as learning
organizations. A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating,
acquiring, and transferring knowledge, ,and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new
knowledge and insights. Learning organizations engage in five activities, which well
discuss next. Systematic problem solving, experimentation, learning from experience,
learning from others and transferring knowledge. HR can play a crucial role in each
activity of building learning organizations.


126 126

HR and systematic problem solving. The learning organization depends on the scientific
method rather than on guesswork for diagnosing problems. Employees and managers
here dont make decisions based on assumptions, instead they insist on having data and
using simple statistical tools to organize data and draw inferences.
Training and development is crucial for fostering such systematic problem solving skills.
At Xerox, for instance, employees receive skill training in four areas. They are trained in
using technique like interviewing and surveying to generate ideas and collect
information, to reach consensus by using simple statistical charts, and to plan the actions
they will take to solve the problem using special planning charts.

Hr and experimentation the learning organizations depends on experimentation, which
means the systematic searching for and testing of new knowledge.
For example, Corning Glass continuously experiments with new formulations to
increase yields and provide better grades of glass. Steel maker Allegheny Ludlam
continually experiments with new rolling methods and improved technologies to raise
productivity and reduce costs.
HR is crucial for developing such an experimentation orientation on the part of
employees and managers. For example, Chaparral Steel regularly sends its first line
supervisors on development trips around the globe to visit industry leaders and foster a
better understanding of new work practices and technologies. GE sends manufacturing
managers to Japan to study factory innovations. Both firms have training programs for
building the skills required to perform and evaluate experiments, such as how to use
statistical methods and design experiments. Its also HRs role to formulate incentive
plans that ensure that employees who experiment with new processes or produces arent
inadvertently punished fro trying a new approach.

HR and learning from others
A learning organization is also one that effectively learns from others. Sometimes, in
other words, .. the most powerful insights come from looking outside ones
immediate environment to gain a new perspective.
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Training and development plays a role in obtaining such expertise. For example,
,employees have to be trained to cultivate the art of open, attentive listening in order to
gain the fullest understanding of the other companys operations. Employees and
managers also must be trained to benchmark, the process through which the best industry
practices are uncovered, analysed, adopted, and implemented.

HR and transferring knowledge
Finally, learning organizations are adept at transferring knowledge, in other words,
spreading knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization.
Training and development plays an important role in cultivating such expertise. For
example, rotating assignments can be useful for transferring knowledge. The CEO of
Time Life shifted the president of the companys music division (who had produced
several years of rapid growth through innovative marketing) to the presidency of the
book division where profits were flat. As another example, in the late 1980s workers in
one PPG glass plant were organized by the plant manager into small, self-managing
teams with responsibility for work assignments. Several years later in an attempt to
transfer the knowledge gained from this experience, the plant manager was promoted to
director of human resources for the entire glass group. He then developed a training
program for teaching first level supervisors the behaviors they needed to manage
employees in a participative, self-managing environment.

In summary, learning organizations are skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring-
knowledge, and at modifying their behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.
Learning organizations are built on a foundation of systematic problem solving,
experimentation, learning from past experience, learning from others, and transferring
knowledge. HR and particularly training and development play entire roles in developing
employees and managers skills and expertise in each of these areas.

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Providing employees with lifelong learning
Employers cant build learning organizations just around managers. In todays downsized,
flattened, high-tech, and empowered organizations, employers must also depend on their
first-line employees the team members building the Saturn cars, or the Microsoft
programmers to recognize new opportunities, identify problems, and react quickly with
analyses and recommendations. As a result, the need has arisen for encouraging lifelong
learning, in other words, for providing extensive continuing training from basic remedial
skills to advanced decision making techniques throughout employees careers.

The experience at one Canadian Honeywell manufacturing plant provide an example.
This plant called its lifelong learning program the Honeywell-Scarborough Learning for
Life Initiative. It was a concerted effort to upgrade skill and education levels so that
employees can meet workplace challenges with confidence.

Honeywells Lifelong Learning Initiative had several components. It began with adult
basic education. Here the company, in partnership with the employees union, offered
courses in English as a second language, basic literacy, numeracy, and compute literacy.
Next the factory formed a partnership with a local community college. Through that
partnership Honeywell provides college-level course to all factory employees-hourly,
professional and managerial giving them the opportunity to earn college diplomas and
certificates. This includes a 15 hour skills for success program designed to refresh
adults in the study habits required to succeed academically. All courses take place at the
factory immediately after work.
In addition, job-related training is provided for two hours every other week.
These sessions focus on skills specifically important to the job, . Such as the
principles of just-in-time inventory systems, team effectiveness, interpersonal
communication skills, conflict resolution, problem solving and dealing with a diverse
work force.

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Executive Development: Key Factors For Success
The idea that there are several keys factors for an executive development programs
success is illustrated by the results of a survey of executive development practices in 12
leading corporations. This study found a surprisingly high degree of consensus among the
12 firms regarding the characteristics of effective and ineffective executive development
processes. In particular, five major success criteria were listed by over 75% of the survey
participants.

Five key factors for success
These five key factors were as follows:
1. Extensive and visible involvement the chief executive (CEO) is critical.
In all but one of the companies, extensive and visible involvement by the CEO was
described as essential and the single most important determinant of success for the
executive development program. This extensive involvement helped guarantee that the
companys executive development process was consistent with the direction the CEO
wanted the company to follow. It also lent the process a credibility unachievable in any
other way.

2. Corporations with a successful executive development process have a clearly
articulated and understood executive development policy and philosophy.

For example, 10 of the 12 companies surveyed listed four common objectives of their
executive development processes: ensuring that qualified executives would be available
to fill current and future assignments, serving as a major vehicle to perpetuate the
organizations heritage and shape its culture by communicating its mission, beliefs,
values, and management practices, preparing executives to respond to the complex
business issues of the changing environment by providing managers with the experience,
knowledge, and skills they need in future assignments, and developing a cadre of
individuals prepared to assume senior-level general management responsibilities.

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3. Successful executive development policies and strategies are directly linked to the
corporations business strategies, objectives challenges.
Nine of the 12 companies emphasized that their executive development policies and
strategies. For example, plans to expand overseas, diversify into new product lines, or
consolidate manufacturing operations have implications for management/executive
development activities. In the successful programs the development process was molded
around the companys plans.

4. Successful executive development processes include three main elements. An
annual succession planning process, planned on-the-job development
assignments, and customized, internal, executive education programs
supplemented by the selected use of university programs.
First, in all 12 companies succession plans were in place and were actively managed for
key positions and individuals. Second, development needs were continually identified
(based on these plans), and plans were developed and implemented to address these
development needs. Third, a formal annual planning and review phase was in place to
assess each candidates progress and to review the companys replacement plans.
With respect to on-the-job development, all the study participants agreed that it was the
single effective developmental tool available to organizations. The four types of on-the-
job experience used most often were, assignment of people to membership on task forces
assembled to address specific issues, job rotation experiences lasting from one to two
years, overseas assignments, and temporary assignments of relatively short duration.
With respect to executive education, all the companies offered a mix of external
university-type programs and customized internal programs. Some of the companies
expressed concern about the prohibitive costs of the external programs, although virtually
all sent selected employees to them.

5. Executive development is the responsibility of line management rather than of the
HR function.


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In all but one of the companies in this survey, the role of HR department was seen as
crucial but advisory .HR serves as a resource for line management regarding the
development programs and activities to use and how to use them.
However, the actual responsibility for achieving the goals of the executive development
program deciding who will fill future positions, or how to eliminate current managers
shortcomings, for instance is line management responsibility.

Executive development in Global companies.

Selecting and developing executives to run the employers overseas operations present
management with a dilemma. One expert cites an alarmingly high failure rate when
executives are relocated overseas. This failure rate is usually caused by inappropriate
selection and poor preplacement development. Yet in an increasingly globalized
economy, employers must develop mangers for overseas assignments despite these
difficulties.
A number of companies, including Dow, Colgate-Palmolive, and Ciba-Geigy, have
developed and implemented international executive relocation programs that are
successful. In addition to the general requirements for successful executive development
programs previously listed, preparing and training executives for overseas as assignments
should also include the following considerations.

1. Choose international assignment candidates whose educational backgrounds and
experiences are appropriate for overseas assignments. As in most other endeavors, the
best predictor for future performance is often a persons past performance. In this
case the person who has already accumulated a track record of successfully adapting
to foreign cultures (perhaps through overseas college studies and summer internships)
will more likely succeed as an international transferee.

2. Choose those whose personalities and family situations can withstand the cultural
changes they will encounter in their new environments. When many of these
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executives fail, it is not because these individuals couldnt adapt but because their
spouses or children were unhappy in their new foreign setting. Thus, the persons
family situation probably should have more influence on the assignment than it would
in a domestic assignment.

3. Brief candidates fully and clearly on all relocation policies. Transferees should be
given a realistic preview of what the assignment will entail, including the companys
policies regarding matters such as moving expenses, salary differentials, and benefits
such as paid schooling for the employees children.

4. Give executives and their families comprehensive training in their new companys
culture and language. At Dow Chemical, for instance, orientation begins with a
briefing session, during which the transfer policy is explained in detail to the
relocating executive. He or she is also given a briefing package compiled by the
receiving area containing important information about local matters, such as shopping
and housing. In addition, an advisor, who is often the spouse of a recently returned
expatriate, will visit the transferee and his or her spouse to explain what sort of
emotional issues they are likely to face in the early stages of the move-such as feeling
remote from relatives, for instance. The option of attending a two-week language and
cultural orientation program are also offered.

5. Provide all relocating executives with a mentor to monitor their overseas careers and
help them secure appropriate jobs with the company when they repatriate. At Dow,
for instance, this person is usually a high-level supervisor in the expatriates
functional area. The overseas assignee keeps his or her mentor up to date on his or
she is overseas. Specifically, all job changes and compensation actions involving the
expatriate must be reviewed with and supported by the mentor. This helps to avoid
the problem of having expatriates feel lost overseas, particularly in terms of career
progress.


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6. Establish a repatriation program that helps returning executives and their families
readjust to their professional and personal lives in their home country. At Dow, for
instance, ,the head of the overseas assignees department or division gives the
transferee a letter stating that the foreign subsidiary guarantees that he or she will be
able to return to a job at least at the same level as the one he or she is leaving. As
much as a year in advance of the expatriates scheduled return to headquarters, his or
her new job is arranged by the persons mentor.

Small business applications
The Managing Director of a smaller enterprise faces both unique advantage and
disadvantages when it comes to developing employees for higher-level executive roles.
On the negative side, this MD has neither resources nor time to develop full-blown
executive succession programs or to fund many outside programs like sending potential
executives to the Harvard Business School. Yet at the same time the president of a
smaller firm has the advantage of working more closely with and knowing more about
each of his or her employees than does the CEO of a bigger, less personal firm.
A relative lack of resources notwithstanding, the smaller firms president has few needs
more important than that of developing senior managers. For most small firms with
successful products, it is not a lack of financing that holds them back but a lack of
management talent. This is so because all growing firms inevitably reach the point where
the entrepreneur/owner can no longer solely make all the decisions. For the Dows and
Mercks of the world, the question of succession planning and executive development is
mostly a question of selecting the best of the lot and then developing them. There is
usually an adequate supply of talent given these companies enormous influx of new
recruits. For the smaller company, the problem usually is not of selecting the best of the
lot. Instead its main sure that key positions are filled and that the MD will have the
foresight to know when to surrender one set of reins over a part of the companys
operations.

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There are thus four main steps in the smaller companys executive development process.
Step 1. Problem assessment
Particularly here the executive development process must begin with an assessment of the
companys current problems and the owners plans for the companys future. Obviously,
if the owner/entrepreneur is satisfied with the current size of the firm and has no plans to
retire in the near future, no additional management talent may be required.
On the other hand, if plans call for expansion, or current problems seem to be growing
out of control, management development/succession planning might be the key. It often
happens, for instance, that as a small company evolves from a mon-and pop operation to
a larger firm, the management system that adequately served that were previously
profitable now incur overtime costs and excessive waste, and the informal order-writing
process can no longer keep up with the volume of orders.

At this point the president must assess the problems in his or her firm. Begin with an
analysis of the companys financial statements. For example, what is the trend of key
financial ratios, such as the ratio of manufacturing costs to sales, or of sales overhead to
sales? Are your profit margins level, or heading up or down? Are fixed costs remaining
about the same, or heading up as a percentage of sales? Next analyze the organization
function by function. In sales, is the backlog or orders growing? In manufacturing are
there inventory problems that required attention? In accounting, are you getting the
accounting reports that you need and are the monthly and end-of year reports produced in
a timely fashion? Does the company have a personal system in place such that as many
personnel matters as possible-recruitment, testing, selection, training , and so forth are
routinized and carried out in an effective manner? The point is that the owner must assess
the problems in his or her firm with an eye toward determining whether and when new
management talent is required.




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Step 2. Management audit and appraisal
One reason management selection and development are so important in small firms is
that the problems assessed in step 1 are often just symptoms of inadequate management
talent in smaller firms. Its simply not possible for the owner/entrepreneur to run a
$5million company the way he or she did when the company was one-tenth the size.
Therefore, the lack of adequate management is a depressingly familiar cause for many of
the problems in the small growing firm.
Use the problems found in step 1 as a starting point conducting a management audit and
appraisal of the people now helping you manage your firm. One simpl and effective way
do this is by evaluating them on the traditional management functions of planning,
organizing staffing, leading, and controlling. For example, within their own areas of
responsibility have they instituted plans, policies, and procedures that enable their
actitivites to be carried out efficiently? Have they organized their activities in such a way
that their subordinates have job descriptions and understand what their responsibilities
are? In terms of staffing, have they selected competent employees, are their people
adequately oriented and trained, and are the pay rates within their group viewed as fair
and equitable?
In terms of leadership, is the morale in their department satisfactory, and do their people
seem to enjoy what they are doing? Are each persons interpersonal relations with other
members of your team satisfactory? And in terms of control, has each person
recommended and/or instituted a set of reports that provides both of you with the
information you need to assess adequately how that department is doing?

Step 3. Analysis of development needs
Your next step is to determine whether any inadequacies uncovered in step 2 can be
remedied via some type of development program. At one extreme, the person may not
have the potential to grow beyond what he or she is now, and here development may
serve no purpose. At the other extreme, the problems uncovered may just reflect a lack of
knowledge. For example, sending your bookkeeper/accountant back to school for a
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course or two in management accounting could alleviate the problem. Another question
to answer here is whether you (as the owner/entrepreneur) may be responsible for some
of the problems yourself, and whether you should direct yourself direct yourself to a
management development program (or out of the firm altogether).

Step 4 identify replacement needs
Your assessment may uncover a need to recruit and select new management talent. Here,
as explained in Chapter 3, you should determine ahead of time the intellectual,
personality, interpersonal and experience criteria to be used. You should map out an on-
the-job development program that gives the person the breadth of experience he or she
needs to perform the job.

SUMMARY

1 In the past decade, training has become increasingly popular as an HR technique for
improving employee and managerial performance in organizations. We defined training
as an attempt to improve performance by the attainment of specific skills such as typing,
welding, running a computer etc to do the current job.

2. For training to be effective we have to adopt a systematic approach which includes a
careful needs assessment, program design, and evaluation of results

3. We also discussed both on-the job training methods such as apprenticeship training,
job rotation, job instruction method, computer-assisted instruction, vestibule training and
mentoring. We also discussed off-the job training like continuing education courses and
outside seminars

4. Management development is aimed at preparing employee for future jobs with the
organization, or at solving organization wide problems concerning, for instance,
inadequate interdepartmental communication.

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5. On-the-job experience is by far the most popular form of management development.
However, the preferred techniques differ by organizational level, with in-house
programs being preferred for first-line supervisors and external conferences and
seminars more widely used for top executives.

6. Managerial on-the-job training methods include job rotation, coaching, junior boards,
and action learning. Basic off-the-job techniques include case studies, management
games, outside seminars, university related programs, role playing, behavior
modelling, and in-house development centers.


7. HR can contribute to building the learning organization through its impact on:
systematic problem solving, experimentation, learning from experience and from
others, transferring knowledge, and providing employees with lifelong learning.

8. Organizational development (OD) is an approach to instituting change in which
employees themselves play a major role in the change process by providing data, by
obtaining feedback on problems, and by team-planning solutions. We described
several OD methods including sensitivity training. Grid development, and survey
feedback

9. Grid programs and other intergroup team-building efforts aim at developing better
problem solving and more cooperation at work through the action research process.
Each work group analyses work team problems and generates action plans for solving
then. Then this same approach is used by special intergroup teams so that company
wide problems are solved.

10. Successful development programs require CEO involvement, a clear development
policy, linkage to plans, succession planning and development and line responsibility.
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Discussion Questions and Exercises

1. As a Human Resource Manager of a large organization how would you go about
ensuring your training programs are effective?
2. How does the involvement approach to attitude surveys differ from simply
administering surveys and returning the results to top management?
3. Compare and contrast three organizational development techniques.
4. Describe the pros and cons of five management development methods.
5. Discuss the key considerations in a typical small business management
development program.
6. Do you think job rotation is a good method to use for developing management
trainees? Why or why not?
7. Workings individually or in groups, contact a provider of management
development seminars such as the American Management Association. Obtain
copies of their recent listings of seminars offerings. At what levels of managers do
they aim their seminar offerings? What seems to be the most popular types of
development programs? Why do you think thats the case?
8. Working individually or in groups, use the definition of a learning organization
found in this chapter to discuss whether or not you think the college you are
currently attending is (or is not) a learning organization? On what do you base
your conclusion?
9. Working individually or in groups, develop a series of concrete examples to
illustrate how a professor teaching human resource management could use at least
eight of the management development techniques describe in this chapter in
teaching his or her HR course.




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LESSON 8 PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
Objectives:
By the end of this lesson students should be able to:
Explain why it is important to effectively appraise performance
Describe the various performance appraisal methods
Discuss the major problems inhibiting effective performance appraisals
Conduct a more effective appraisal interview

Introduction
All managers are constantly forming judgments of their subordinates and are in that sense
continuously making appraisals. Whether formal or informal almost all companies have a
way of appraising their employees performance . Most of us have therefore had an
experience with performance appraisal. One of the most important activities for the
Human Resource Manager is maintaining and enhancing the workforce. After all the
efforts and costs of the recruiting and selection process it is important to ensure that
employees are using their fullest capabilities, thus improving the effectiveness of the
organization.
Therefore it is important that the organization develop procedures and policies which
comply with the process. The development of a standard performance appraisal process
will help companies to improve their bottom-line performance, uplift motivational efforts
and resolve most morale problems.

Definitions
Performance may be defined as the accomplishment of an employee or managers
assigned duties and the outcomes produced on a specific job function or activity during a
specified time period.


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Performance appraisal, review or evaluation refers to a systematic description and review
of an individuals job performance.

Performance appraisal may also be defined as any procedure that involves:
1. Setting work standards
2. Assessing the employees actual performance relative to these standards
3. Providing feedback to the employee with the aim of motivating that person to
eliminate performance deficiencies or to continue to perform above par.

Appraisal may also be viewed as the judgment of an employees performance in a job
based on considerations other than productivity alone. It is sometimes called merit rating
more frequently when its sole object is to discriminate between employees in granting
increases in wages or salaries.

Performance Management refers to the total system of gathering information, the review
and feedback to the individual and storing information to improve organizational
effectiveness.

The primary goal of performance management appraisals is to improve organizational
performance.

Why should You Appraise Performance
There are several reasons to appraise performance.
First, appraisals provide information upon which promotion and salary decisions can be
made.
Second, they provide an opportunity for you and your subordinate to review the
subordinates work related behavior .This in turn helps you develop a plan for correcting
any deficiencies the appraisal might have unearthed, and reinforce the things that the
subordinate does right

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Finally ,the appraisal should be central to your firms career-planning process because it
provides a good opportunity to review the persons career plans in light of his or her
exhibited strengths and weaknesses.

There has been in recent years reaction against formal appraisals, largely because of their
tendency to decay into routine form-filling, managers sometimes copying what they
wrote the previous year.
It has been said that a manager should as a normal part of the managerial process,
continually assess the merits of his subordinates and consider what training they need to
improve their performance or meet new demands. The manager should take action e.g
initiate a transfer if his or her assessment indicates it is necessary and be ready to give a
written appraisal when it is required e.g if the subordinate has applied for a promotion
There is general agreement, however that an annual general meeting between the
manager and subordinate to review the latters work during the year is useful because it
gives formal recognition of the subordinates efforts.

The Supervisors Role in Appraisal
The supervisor does the actual appraising .Therefore he or she must be familiar with
basic appraisal techniques, understand and avoid problems that can cripple an appraisal
and conduct the appraisal fairly.
The HR Department serves a policymaking and advisory role. In one survey ,for example
about 80% of the firms responding said that HR provides advice and assistance regarding
the appraisal tools but leaves final decisions on appraisal procedures on operating
division heads . In the rest of the firms the personnel office prepares detailed forms and
insists that all departments use them. HR is responsible for training supervisors to
improve their appraisal skills. Finally HR is also responsible for monitoring the appraisal
systems use and particularly or ensuring that the format and criteria being measure
comply with EEO laws and dont become outdated. In one survey half of the employers
were in the process of revising their appraisal programs while others were conducting
reviews to see ho well their programs were working.
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Steps in Appraising Performance
A performance appraisal contains 3 steps:

1. Define the job-make sure that you and your subordinate agree on his or her duties
and job standards

2. Appraising performance- it means comparing your subordinates actual
performance to the standards that have been set; this usually involves some form
of rating form

3. Performance appraisal usually requires one or more feedback situations- here the
subordinates performance and progress are discussed and plans are made for any
development that is required

The appraisal interview
An appraisal usually culminates in an appraisal interview. This is an interview in which
the supervisor and his subordinate review the appraisal and make plans to remedy
deficiencies and reinforce strengths. In many companies today appraisal is one-way and
secret .it can therefore only fulfill the first three purposes of appraisal and cannot be used
to motivate the employee, by reviewing his or her job performance. A problem solving
approach is usually recommended, encouraging the subordinate to talk freely about his or
her successes and failures over that period. The self-criticism that may occur in this
process is much more likely to lead to action by the subordinate to remedy faults than
criticism by the manager .
However some argue that companies relations between supervisors and subordinates are
not good enough to permit a problem solving interview to take place. The subordinate
will try to hide shortcomings rather than discuss them .Managers who have time
patience and social skills to conduct problem-solving interviews are also rare.Moreover
one of the functions of a manager is to assess subordinates and tell them if their work is
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satisfactory; subordinates expect this and a manager who avoids this task will not be
respected.

Guidelines for conducting an effective appraisal interview:

Begin the interview with an outline of its purpose, the assessment criteria and
state the object of the exercise is to improve performance, not to bully or harass
the employee
Put the subordinate at ease, emphasizing the positive aspects of his work
Offer an opinion on subordinates performance
Diagnose the causes of problems and root out the histories of specific failures
Be direct and specific
Dont get personal
Encourage the person to talk
Dont tiptoe around

The Appraisal Itself: Appraisal Methods
The appraisal itself is generally conducted with the aid of a predetermined and formal
method like the one or more of those described below.

1.Graphic Rating Scale Method
It is the simplest and most popular technique for appraising performance. It is a scale that
lists a number of traits ( such as quality and reliability ) and a range of performance
values (from satisfactory to outstanding ) for each trait. The supervisor rates each
subordinate by circling or checking the score that best describes his or her performance
for each trait. The assigned values for the trait are then totaled

2. Alteration Ranking Method
Ranking employees from best to worst on a trait or traits is another method for evaluating
employees. Since it is usually easier to distinguish between the worst and best employees
than to rank them an alteration ranking method is most popular. It involves ranking
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employees from best to worst on a particular trait. List all subordinates and indicate the
employee who is highest on the characteristic being measured and also the one who is the
lowest. Then choose the next highest and the next lowest, alternating between the highest
and the lowest until all the employees t be rated have been ranked.

3.Paired Comparisons
The paired comparison method makes the ranking method more precise .For every trait
(quantity of work ,quality of work and so on) every subordinate is paired with and
compared with every other subordinate. Suppose there are 5 employees to be rated. In the
paired comparison you make a chart of all possible pairs of employees for each trait.
Then for each trait indicate (with + or -) who is the better employee of the pair. Next the
number of times an employee is rated better is added up.

4.Forced Distribution Method
The forced distribution method is similar to grading on a curve .With this method
,predetermined percentages of rtes are placed in performance categories. For example
you may decide to distribute employees as follows :
15 % high performers
20% high-average performers
30% average performers
20% low average performers
15% low performers
As at school this means that not everyone can get an A and that ones performance is
always relative to that of his or her peers. One practical way to do this is to write each
employees name on a separate index card. Then for each trait being appraised ( quality
of work ,creativity and so on),place the employees card in one of the appropriate
performance categories.




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5. Critical Incident Method
With the critical incident method the supervisor keeps a log of desirable or undesirable
examples or incidents of each subordinates work-related behavior. Then every six
months or so the supervisor and subordinate meet and discuss the latters performance
using the specific incidents as examples.
The critical incident is often used to supplement a ranking technique. It is useful for
identifying specific examples of good and poor performance and planning how
deficiencies can be corrected. It is not useful for salary decisions.

6. Narrative forms
Some employers use narrative forms to evaluate personnel.It may use for example a
Performance Improvement Pan to evaluate the progress and development of its
employees. A summary performance appraisal discussion then focuses on problem
solving.

7. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
A behaviorally anchored rating scale combines the benefits of narratives, critical
incidents and quantified ratings by anchoring a quantified scale with specific behavioral
examples of good or poor performance. Its proponents claim that it provides better more
equitable appraisals than do other tools we discussed.
Developing a BARS typically requires 5 steps:
Generate critical incidents
Develop performance dimensions
Reallocate incidents
Scale the incidents
Develop final instrument
A BARS can be time consuming than developing other appraisal tools .However it has
the advantages of being more accurate, providing clearer standards, consistency and
feedback

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Management by Objectives ( MBO ) Method
Stripped to its essentials, management by objectives (MBO) requires the manager to get
specific measurable goals with each employee and then periodically discuss his or her
progress towards theses goals. You could engage in a modest MBO program with
subordinates by jointly setting goals and periodically providing feedback. However the
term MBO almost always refers to a comprehensive, organization wide ,goal-setting and
appraisal program that consists of six main steps:

Set the organizations goals
Set department goals
Discuss departments goals
Define expected results
Performance Reviews
Provide feedback

Appraising Performance: Problems and Solutions
Few of the things the manager does is fraught with more peril than appraising
subordinates performance .Employees in general tend to be overly optimistic about what
their ratings will be, and also know their raises, career progress, and peace of mind may
well hinge on how they are rated. This alone should make it somewhat difficult to rate
performance; even more problematical, however are the numerous structural problems
that can cast doubt on just how fair the whole process is.
Five main problems can undermine appraisal tools such as graphic rating scales.






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Let us look at the main appraisal problems and how to solve them :

1. Unclear Standards
This is an appraisal scale that is too open to interpretation using terms like good
performance or fair performance. This may result in unfair appraisals because the traits
and degrees of merit are open to interpretation. Different supervisors would define good
performance and fair performance differently. There are several ways to correct this
problem .The best way is to include descriptive phrases that define each trait like Specify
what is meant by outstanding, superior and good. This specificity results in
appraisals that are more consistent and more easily explained.

2. Halo Effect
The halo effect means that the way you rate your subordinate on one trait (such as gets
along with others) biases the way you rate the person on other traits ( such as quantity of
work done).This problem usually occurs with employees who are friendly( or unfriendly)
towards the supervisor. For example an unfriendly employee will often be rated
unsatisfactory for all traits rather than just for the trait gets along with others.
Supervisory training can help alleviate the problem.

3. Central Tendency
Most supervisors have a central tendency when filling in rating scales. For example if the
rating scale ranges between 1 to 7 they tend to void the highs ( 6 and 7) and lows ( 1 and
2) and rate most of their people between 3 and 5.If you use a graphical scale this central
tendency could mean that all employees are simply rated average. Such a restriction can
distort the evaluations making them less useful for promotion, salary, or counseling
purposes .Ranking the employees instead of using a graphic rating scale can void this
central tendency problem because all employees must be ranked and cannot all be rated
average .


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4. Leniency or Strictness
Some supervisors tend to rate all their subordinates consistently high or consistently low
,just as some instructors are notoriously high graders and others are not.This
strictness/leniency is especially serious with graphic rating scales since supervisors arent
necessarily required to avoid giving all their employees high (or low) ratings. On the
other hand when you must rank subordinates you are forced to distinguish between high
and low performers. Thus strictness is not a problem with the ranking or forced
distribution. In fact if a graphic rating must be used it may be a good idea to assume a
distribution of performances that, say, about 10% of your people should be rated
excellent and 20% good. In other words try and get a spread unless you are sure that al
your people do fall into one or two categories.

5. Bias
Individual differences among ratees in terms of characteristics like age, race, sex can
affect their ratings, often quite apart from each ratees actual performance. In one study
for instance ,researchers found a systematic tendency to evaluate older ratees ( over 0
years) lower on performance capacity and potential for development than younger
employees. The ratees sex and sex also affect the persons rating. In another study high-
performing females were often rated significantly higher than were high performing
males.

How to Avoid Appraisal Problems
There are at least three ways to minimize appraisal problems:
1. Be sure to be familiar with the problems as discussed. Understanding the
problem can help you avoid it.
2. Choose the right appraisal tool. Each tool has its own advantages and
disadvantages.
3. Training supervisors to eliminate rating errors such as halo, leniency and
central tendency can help them to avoid these problems

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SUMMARY

People want and need feedback regarding how they are doing, and appraisal
provides an opportunity for you to give them that feedback.

Performance appraisal tools include the graphic rating scale, alternation
ranking method, forced distribution method, BARS, MBO and the critical
incident method.

Steps in appraising performance include defining the job, appraising
performance and providing feedback.

To prepare for the appraisal interview assemble the data, prepare the
employee and choose the time and place.

Appraisal problems to be aware of include unclear standards, halo effect,
central tendency, leniency or strictness problems and bias.

Review Questions
1. Explain how to conduct an appraisal interview
2. Discuss the pros and cons of at least 4 appraisal tools
3. Explain how you would use the alternation ranking method, the paired
comparison method, and the forced distribution method.

Discussion Questions
1. Working in groups develop a rating scale
2. How would you get an interviewee to talk during an appraisal interview?

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