Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Eighth Edition De Cenzo and Robbins

1. Fundamentals of Human
Resource Management
Eighth Edition
De Cenzo and Robbins

2. Chapter 1
“Strategic Implications
of a Dynamic
HRM Environment”

3. Introduction
• The World of Work - continues to change, but at an even
more rapid pace.
• HRM must understand the implications of:
– globalization
– technology changes
– workforce diversity
– changing skill requirements
– continuous improvement initiatives
– the contingent workforce
– decentralized work sites
– employee involvement

4. Understanding Cultural Environments
Today’s business world is truly a global village.
This term refers to the fact that businesses
currently operate around the world. For e.g.
BMW.

5. Understanding Cultural Environments
• HRM must ensure that
– employees can operate in the appropriate language
– communications are understood by a multilingual work
force
• Ensure that workers can operate in cultures that differ on
variables such as
– status differentiation
– societal uncertainty
– assertiveness
– individualism
• HRM also must help multicultural groups work together.

6. Understanding Cultural Environments
• The GLOBE Framework:
• GLOBE Dimensions:
– Assertiveness
– Future Orientation
– Gender Differentiation
– Uncertainty Avoidance
– Power Distance
– Individualism/collectivism
– In-group collectivism
– Performance orientation
– Humane orientation

7. Understanding Cultural Environments
• Cultural Implications for HRM (“HRM Practice
Must Be Adjusted”)
– Not all HRM theories and practices are
universally applicable.
– HR manager must understand varying cultural
values.

8. The Changing World of Technology
• Has altered the way people work.
• Has changed the way information is created,
stored, used, and shared.
• The move from agriculture to industrialization
created a new group of workers – the blue-collar
industrial worker.
• Since WWII, the trend has been a reduction in
manufacturing work and an increase in service
jobs.

9. The Changing World of Technology
• Knowledge Worker - individuals whose jobs are
designed around the acquisition and application
of information.
• Information wave (1970’s)

10. The Changing World of Technology
• Why the emphasis on technology?
– It has replaced the human labor with
electronic and computer equipment e.g.
General Motors.
– makes organizations more productive.
– helps them create and maintain a competitive
advantage.
– provides better, more useful information e.g.
information on sales.

11. The Changing World of Technology
• How Technology Affects HRM Practices
– Recruiting
– Employee Selection
– Training and Development
– Ethics and Employee Rights
– Motivating Knowledge Workers
– Paying Employees Market Value
– Communication
– Decentralized Work Sites
– Skill Levels
– Legal Concerns

12. Workforce Diversity
• The challenge is to make organizations more
accommodating to diverse groups of people.

13. Workforce Diversity
• The Workforce Today
– minorities and women have become the fastest
growing segments
– the numbers of immigrant workers and older
workers are increasing

14. Workforce Diversity
• How Diversity Affects HRM
– Employers need to attract and maintain a diversified
work force that is reflective of the diversity in the
general population.
– Employers need to foster increased sensitivity to
group differences.
– Employers must deal with the different
• Values
• Needs
• Interests
• Expectations of employees

15. Workforce Diversity
• What Is a Work/Life Balance?
– A balance between personal life and work
– Causes of the blur between work and life
• The creation of global organizations means the
world never sleeps.
• Communication technologies allow employees
to work at home.
• Organizations are asking employees to put in
longer hours.
• Fewer families have a single breadwinner.

16. Labor Supply
• Do We Have a Shortage of Skilled Labor?
– The combination of the small Gen-X
population, the already high participation rate
of women in the workforce, and early
retirements will lead to a significantly smaller
future labor pool from which employers can
hire.

17. Labor Supply
• Why Do Organizations Lay Off During
Shortages?
– Downsizing is part of a larger goal of an
organization to balance staff to meet changing
needs.
– Organizations want more flexibility to better
respond to change.
– This is often referred to as rightsizing, linking
employee needs to organizational strategy.

18. Labor Supply
• How Do Organizations Balance Labor Supply?
– Organizations are increasingly using contingent
workers to respond to fluctuating needs for
employees.
– Contingent workers include
• Part-time workers
• Temporary workers
• Contract workers

19. Labor Supply

20. Labor Supply
• Issues Contingent Workers Create for HRM
– How to attract quality temporaries
– How to motivate employees who are receiving
less pay and benefits
– How to have them available when needed
– How to quickly adapt them to the organization
– How to deal with potential conflicts between core
and contingent workers

21. Continuous Improvement Programs
• Continuous improvement - making constant
efforts to provide better products and service to
customers
– External
– Internal
• Quality management concepts have existed for
over 50 years and include the pioneering work of
W. Edwards Deming.

22. Continuous Improvement Programs
• Key components of continuous
improvement are:
– Focus on the customer
– Concern for continuous improvement
– Improvement in the quality of everything
– Accurate measurement
– Empowerment of employees

23. Continuous Improvement Programs
• Work Process Engineering involves radical, quantum
changes to entire work processes.
• How HRM Assists in Work Process Engineering
– Helps employees deal with the emotional aspects
of conflict and change
– Provides skills training
– Adapts HR systems, such as compensation,
benefits, and performance standards.

24. Employee Involvement
• Delegation – having the authority to make decisions
in one’s job.
• Work teams – workers of various specializations who
work together in an organization.
• HRM must provide training to help empower
employees in their new roles.
• Involvement programs can achieve:
– greater productivity
– increased employee loyalty and commitment

25. A Look at Ethics
• Three views of ethics:
– Utilitarian View – decisions are made on the basis of
their outcomes or consequences
– Rights View – decisions are made with concern for
respecting and protecting individual liberties and
privileges
– Theory of Justice View – decisions are make by
enforcing rules fairly and impartially
• Code of ethics - a formal document that states an
organization’s primary values and the ethical rules it
expects organizational members to follow.